Deadlines to apply are the first Friday of March, June and September
by Beth Waltemath | Presbyterian News Service
The Rev. Maggie Alsup, second from left in the first row, helps undergraduates engage biblical ideas around sabbath and learn spiritual practices to encourage rest and mental health as part of the Sabbath Scholars Program at Lyon College. (Contributed photo)
The Rev. Maggie Alsup, chaplain and director of service at Lyon College, had been brainstorming with the director of the college’s counseling and student life center on “ways to help students integrate practices to help them rest and address stress and anxiety” when she saw a call for applications from the PC(USA)’s Teaching the Bible Grant. Lyon College, a Presbyterian-related college and member of the Association for Presbyterian Colleges and Universities, is in Batesville, Arkansas, two hours west of Memphis, Tennessee, and 90 minutes north of Little Rock, Arkansas.
Alsup describes sending the grant “off to the ether webs” with a prayer while not holding tightly to the result. When the admissions office called her in September 2023 and said, “There’s a check for $10,000 sitting here from the Presbyterian Church,” her prayer became a blessing, one she said she must share and make real for others.
The Teaching the Bible Grant provides support for Presbyterian-related schools, colleges and universities. Grants of up to $10,000 fund activities ranging from campus-wide engagement through lectures and Bible study to the development of new curriculum. Yesenia Ayala, associate in the Office for Financial Aid for Service, manages the grant application process and deadlines, which are on the first Friday of March, June and September.
The Sabbath Scholars Program began in the spring of 2024 at Lyon College with the intention of creating a new curriculum that combined spiritual wisdom, practices and mental health awareness. The application for participants was long, and along with measuring interest in spirituality and religion, Alsup and her co-director also included screening questions for anxiety and depression so that they could measure the mental health benefits of their 12-week program centered on the Judeo-Christian concept of sabbath and engaging embodied practices to align the mental health and spiritual needs of undergraduates.
Fifteen students, all but one identifying as male, jumped at the chance to be taught how to be intentional about keeping sabbath through contemporary practices and ancient wisdom.
At each gathering, the students were introduced to a new teaching and a corresponding practice and given the tools to experiment with it until the next gathering, when they discussed how helpful or meaningful it had been to them.
Sabbath Scholars at Lyon College enjoy the meditative gardens during their final retreat. (Contributed photo)
At the end of the semester, Alsup and the other leaders rented a nice retreat space with gardens and walking paths and provided the students with nourishing meals for the weekend. At first the students, who were living on strict budgets, did not believe the space and time had been set aside for them. They were asked to reflect on what they had learned about themselves by engaging in the practices and processing with the group throughout the semester. They were also asked to take the mental health surveys again. Alsup reported that while the major markers for anxiety and depression were still present, the students experienced a 60% increase in the ability to relax overall. At the beginning of the semester, students who reported having trouble relaxing 60% of the time now said they felt uptight only 10% of the week.
Sabbath Scholars received a care package as part of their retreat. (Contributed photo)
Simple principles and actions like those underscored by the Bible mattered. For instance, students rediscovered the importance of breath. Others saw the importance of dedicated time to stop, reflect and connect with why they are here. “It’s hard for a lot of college students, I think, to figure out a routine,” said Alsup. The Teaching the Bible Grant upholds the sacred wisdom of gathering around revelation and learning in community. The community learning model encouraged by the grant offered another benefit not necessarily intended by Alsup and her co-leader when they set out to give individual students the tools for self-regulation through sabbath practices. As much as the practices themselves, the space to come together and reflect in community was new and nourishing to the young adults.
“A lot of this generation of young men are needing connection and community,” said Alsup. “They are needing to have conversations about mental health, but they don’t know where to turn, and they’re not necessarily as social as maybe their female counterparts.”
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