By 8:45 every Thursday morning, Rev. Peter J. Gomes has descended the suspended stairwell of his grand yellow house on Kirkland Street, strolled to the Yard and taken his usual seat in Appleton Chapel.

For 15 minutes each day, students, faculty and community members come together to hear a brief sermon and prayers before beginning the workday.

"It is meant to appeal to the higher nature of the community," Gomes explains. "It's a very centering way to begin the day."

Morning Prayer Service turns out to be the calmest part of a whirlwind schedule for the popular minister. He's meeting with chaplains from the University Ministry in the morning, counseling members of the Faculty in the afternoon, serving tea, writing commentaries and planning speaking tours well into the night.

"Religion is not regularly regarded as the centerpiece in my life, but it is in fact," he explains.

Intrigued by Gomes' identity as an African-American, Republican, gay minister, the national media--including the Village Voice, "60 Minutes" and Time--has featured him in countless profiles as an anomaly in the religious realm.

Yet despite his popular image, Gomes and many of those around him see him as a preacher first and foremost. And, after 25 years at the helm of the Memorial Church, the Plummer professor of Christian morals is uniquely attuned to the spiritual heartbeat of the campus he loves.