New Church Life November/December 2017 | Page 50

new church life: november/december 2017 see through the doorway up the aisle – almost a tunnel vision with the 12 steps up to the golden altar – the altar upon which lies the Threefold Word. This was the early Academy and the continuing Academy vision. To come and worship and to know what God has revealed by His Word. This is the access to the Temple of Wisdom, spoken of in other passages (Divine Providence 36) in the Word for the New Church. A higher, interior education is set before us. These steps, made of stone, are actually made of love. Do you see what I see? Steps of Love? It is permitted for us to see the steps made from love. To see the pages written by the Divine Human God of our newly opened understanding. To see, to share the vision of the Academy, not an Academy of a bunch of people who are all dead now. But as the Academy of the New Church. It becomes our own Academy as we continue to walk the walk, when we continue to see the vision given by the Divine. He sets before us the open door which no one can shut. He invites us to enter with our understanding to receive a higher education, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and continue to come in year in and year out to inquire and seek in His Temple. It becomes our own Academy as we continue to walk the walk, when we continue to see the vision given by the Divine. He sets before us the open door which no one can shut. The Rev. Michael K. Cowley is pastor of the Olivet New Church in Toronto, Canada. He has served also in the Immanuel Church in Glenview, Illinois, the Midwestern District of the United States, the Carmel Church in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, and Phoenix, Arizona. He lives in suburban Etobicoke with his wife, Gwenda (Parker). Contact: [email protected] 516