new church life: march/april 2016
Steve David: Huh? What’s this basket still doing here, covering our lamp?
There are a couple of billion people who are trying (or used to try) to read the
Word [Bible] – but without enough light. In the New Church, we’ve got that
light, but there’s this inadvertent basket over it. We’ve tried to get rid of it, but
it keeps hanging around. How can we get break through?
Dr. Kristin King: Gardens of Heaven and Earth
This title plays on the idea both of location and of content: gardens in heaven
and on earth, but also gardens made of heaven (or what the Writings call
“substance”) and gardens made of earth (or matter). The talk will focus on
some connections between textual gardens in the revelatory language of
correspondences, and earthly gardens in history and our own backyards.
Dr. Jane Wlliams-Hogan: The Call of Charismatic Books: Swedenborg,
Artists, Writers, and Spiritual Seekers
This talk will discuss the Writings as “charismatic” books and also the impact
of one artist, one writer, one seeker: American Landscape painter, George
Inness (1825-1894), Argentinian writer, Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986), and
American humanitarian and spiritual seeker, Helen Keller (1880-1968).
regional clergy meetings
The General Church has conducted a number of regional clergy meetings this
year, which provide more intimate small group sessions and also save on the
expense of bringing all ministers to Bryn Athyn for plenary clergy meetings.
At these sessions participants are invited to present doctrinal papers, and the
groups are small enough for lively discussions.
Meetings held this year include:
U.S. East Coast Regional Meetings in Kempton, Pennsylvania, February 1518. Attendees included:
• The Rt. Rev. Brian Keith, Bryn Athyn
• The Revs. Lawson Smith, Andrew Heilman and Brett Buick, Kempton
• The Revs. Michael Gladish, Brian Smith and Michael Ferrell,
Mitchellville, Maryland
• The Rev. Matthew Genzlinger, Boston, Massachusetts
• The Rev. Calvin Odhner, Atlanta, Georgia
• The Rev. Kenneth Alden, Boynton Beach, Florida
• The Rev. Ryan Sandstrom, Ivyland, Pennsylvania
• Candidate Elmo Acton, Bryn Athyn
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