new church life : november / december 2016
“ Blessed are those who do His commandments , that they may have the right to the tree of life , and may enter through the gates into the city .” ( Revelation 22:14 )
To know the Word is good . To obey the Word is good . But to love the Word -- this is the best of all . And the Word is lovable , because the Word is the Lord , and the Lord is Love itself .
This is not always apparent in the literal sense , especially in the Old Testament . But when , in light of the Heavenly Doctrine revealed by the Lord in His Second Coming , we see the Lord in the Word , and hear Him speaking to us from its heart , then the difficulties that appear in some of the literal statements that form the outer covering of it fall away like dry husks from ripe fruit to reveal the sweetness within .
The second pillar of Norman ’ s philosophy of life which we ’ ll speak about is his devotion to the New Church .
Norman was born 90 years ago in Accrington in the north of England , the fourth of five children in a family that had been in the New Church for five generations . He actually gave his first sermon there , as a lay preacher , at the age of 17 .
He attended the New Church College of the British Conference in London and was ordained into the ministry in 1950 . He and his wife Maureen were married in 1959 , while he was serving in his first pastorate , in Middleton , England .
They would have five daughters : Jayne , Joy , Philippa , Melinda and Vivienne ; three sons-in-law that Norman thought the world of : Stuart Burke , Andrew Bruell , and Westley Friesen ; and four grandchildren : Ursula , Jarvis , Rosalie and Ryan .
At various times , Norman served four branches of the New Church : including five congregations in the British Conference ; Perth in the Australian Conference ; the Lord ’ s New Church Which Is Nova Hierosolyma in Bryn Athyn ; and the General Church in Bryn Athyn , England and South Africa .
But it was the doctrines and the people that especially interested him , not the organizations or church policies . And , as he said , being a pastor was , to him , not a job or a career but a calling . Priests are called to their office by a love for the salvation of souls .
Norman enjoyed meeting and talking with people everywhere he went : in England , Australia , America and South Africa . But he had a special fondness for Africa , and the Africans for him . He was the superintendent of the General Church Mission in South Africa , he served at Kent Manor in Zululand , and founded the Transvaal Circle , which later became the Buccleuch Society .
An interest in doctrine and a love for people should go hand in hand , as they did for Norman . For it is by means of the truths of doctrine that the Lord
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