making what was written on these pages the irrefutable truth! I immediately
had a crisis of conscience, realizing that, Oh no, not only is this true, heaven
and hell are real, and the Word has an internal sense, but I am so far from what
these books are telling me to be like that I am in real trouble!
“That is when I tried to catch up what I was preaching with how I was
living. Turns out this is going to take a lifetime of work but just really knowing
the path to take has saved my marriage and made me someone worth being
with. Looking back I don’t know why Maggie stayed, but looking forward we
are now having a lot of fun together.”
Backing up a bit, Calvin says he always had known he would be a minister
since he was the spiritual counselor at Camp Blairhaven in 1980. He was 20
years old, reading the Dole Notes to 11- and 12-year-olds “who were actually
listening intently. I can’t describe the delight I got from sharing the spiritual
messages but it was so intense. I couldn’t imagine getting paid to do this.
“Having a great grandfather as a bishop (Bishop Acton), a grandfather
who was a minister, and then great uncles Elmo Acton and Wynne Acton, plus
minister cousins like Alfred Acton II, I feel like it must be in the blood! It’s a
feeling that has always been with me, and it is a great feeling to be a servant of
the Lord.”
That heredity no doubt helped to influence his eventual career path, but
there was also a great love “for the intellectual elements of the Writings. Only
later have I come to love the whole spiritual structure of the spiritual world
and everything related to that world.”
Asked about key experiences in Theological School that affected how he
approaches the ministry, he said he would prefer to reframe the question to
key experiences afterward “because while you are in Theological School you
are basically shell-shocked. There is so much coming at you and you have to
face your fears of speaking in front of people.
“However, I can relate one incident that stands out in my mind. We were
about to give morning worship to 325 children and teachers at the Bryn Athyn
Elementary School. This would be the biggest crowd we had been allowed to
speak to and the Rev. Kurt Hy. Asplundh was our instructor. ‘All you have to
do is go up there, open the Word, close it, and come down,” he said in his cool
tone of confidence. ‘If you say anything, that’s icing on the cake.’ Do you know
that one of us forgot to close the Word and one forgot to open it! It looks easy
but it is very deceptive – even with a forgiving audience like the elementary
school.”
After his ordination in 2011, Calvin was assigned to Toronto “and had an
excellent experience at the Olivet New Church and School. I was a teacher,
counselor, minister and friend to so many people that it was not hard for
Maggie to see that we had stepped into something we both love – people!
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