Samaritans at Heathrow: Encounters at an airport chapel

I had a connecting flight through London’s Heathrow Airport and plenty of time to wait. With little to occupy me, I found my thoughts turning to a major decision that I’d been putting off. I knew I had to make that decision soon but was at a loss as to how to proceed. I stood for a moment in the airport terminal, unsure where to go. Then I saw a sign pointing the way to a chapel.

I like airport chapels. Airports are in the business of shuffling hurried people from point A to point B as efficiently as possible. What a surprise, then, in the midst of all that motion, to come upon a place deliberately set apart for stillness—for the luxury of simply being in the presence of God.

Airport chapels vary widely in style and purpose. Some are faith or denomination specific such as the ones at New York’s Kennedy Airport and Johannesburg’s O. R. Tambo; some are interfaith or nondenominational (Atlanta, Beijing, Paris’s Charles de Gaulle). Others are somewhere in between. Some are thoughtfully decorated and supplied with religious art and texts; others are uninspiring empty rooms. Heathrow has an extensive airport chaplaincy program and regularly scheduled religious services, as well as chaplains and religious representatives who are nearby or on call for special needs.