Ministry at the Edge of the Earth: Moffet Chapel

Two and a half years ago, in June 2012, the beautiful and historic Chapel on Moffett Federal Airfield was officially closed. This saddened me greatly, as the Chapel was going to be boarded up and left to rot and go to ruin.

This did not sit well with me, so I made it one of my main "projects" to get the Moffett Chapel re-opened. I also wanted to have our chaplain team provide Sunday services in the Chapel for the people of the 129th Rescue Wing and the wider community the weekends we were on duty.

I found out the Chapel itself and the plot of land it sat on was actually "owned" by the US Army and the Army Reserve. This was surprising, as Moffett used to be an active duty Navy base, and when they left in 1994 all the land was turned over to NASA.

But that's the "joy" of working in a giant bureaucracy. Or bureaucracies I should say. You discover all kinds of things as you go layer upon layer into the various governmental agencies trying to get done what you are trying to get done! To get things "done" in a giant bureaucracy, you also have to be very persistent and follow up on things constantly.

Besides the 129th Rescue Wing, (my unit), Moffett also houses an Army Reserve unit across the base and the NASA Aims Research Center. Also, there are many people who live on Moffett, (various active duty people). And just outside the fences and gates of Moffett is Google (to the north) and many of the Silicon Valley corporations we all have become so familiar with; Yahoo, Hewlett Packard, eBay, Apple, etc. etc.

Moffett was built back in the 1920's and '30s. There are some very odd looking oblong hangars on Moffett. This is because the base used to have blimps way back when.

And as for the Chapel, it was built back in the late '30s, and looks like a Spanish mission. It has many very beautiful stained glass windows, very detailed with various military and spiritual themes. Two of the windows have Jewish symbols, with a Star of David and the other with a Menorah.

The Chapel also has a very unique "rotating" altar, that can be rotated to three different worship settings, a Roman Catholic mass, a Jewish Tabernacle for the Torah for a Jewish service, and a generic setting that can be for any religion.

Video clip - rotating altar

Check out this video clip of the rotating altar!

They just don't make Chapels like this anymore!

And so, after many emails, phone calls, meetings, etc. etc. with the Army, the chaplain at Camp Parks and Ft. Hunter Liggett, and so forth, it was decided to re-open the Chapel!

The "Grand Re-Opening" was held on Dec 7th, 2014, Pearl Harbor Day!

And on that day, two worship services were provided by the Chaplain team of the 129th Rescue Wing! 9 am Liturgical service, and an 11 am Nondenominational service. Live music was provided by the 562nd Band of the West, a brass quintet and a cantor!

129th Chaplain Team serving at Moffett Chapel

The 129th used to have a band as part of the wing for many years. Sadly, the band was deactivated in 2013 due to budget cuts and downsizing. Many of the 129th musicians went to the 562nd Band of the West, which is housed at the wing down in Channel Islands. Others left the military or retired. And two of these fine musicians came to our chaplain team!

We in fact have a very talented and diverse chaplain team!

But that's the military, very diverse, talented, multicultural, as well as multi-religious!

One thing I have always enjoyed about serving in the military chaplaincy all these years is that we have everyone from everywhere! Every ethnicity and all religions!

By working together, the chaplains of the US Army and Army Reserve, and the 129th Rescue Wing, California Air National Guard, the Chapel at Moffett is now officially re-opened!

Various Sundays of the month, chaplains from Camp Parks or Ft. Hunter Liggett will provide services. My team, the 129th Chaplain Team, California Air National Guard provides Sunday services the "drill weekend" we are there. Also, volunteer chaplains from the VA in Palo Alto and other local veteran's organizations will at times lead services.   Being that the Chapel is owned by the Army, the Army will provide for the utilities and upkeep.

This way, the Chapel stays open at minimal cost. The people of Moffett now have a beautiful Chapel in which to worship. And that includes the local wider community, military, civilian and veterans!

How wonderful it is now to be able to hold and provide worship services at the beautiful, historic Moffett Chapel!

And how wonderful it is when people work together to make something good happen!

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Below are some photos from the grand re-opening services, (Dec 7th, 2014):