A frail and shaken old man talked wistfully about his hopes and dreams.
Tears welled in his eyes and he was unable to go on.
The students were chastened but the noble experiment had failed –
although it would take on new life. Not long after this the old man died – his
dream still an inspiration but unfulfilled. Engraved on his tombstone were the
simple words: “Thomas Jefferson – Author of the Declaration of Independence
and Father of the University of Virginia.”
Thomas Jefferson, of course, had grand dreams but no idea that this
fledgling college would become one of the great universities of the country.
But it was not an impossible dream because he had a noble vision and inspired
others to pursue it.
We are stewards of a dream even grander and more significant than
Jefferson’s – a dream we celebrate each Charter Day in Bryn Athyn and nurture
with our own hopes and ideals.
The men dreaming of an Academy of the New Church – a “great house” of
New Church education – were William Henry Benade, Frank Ballou, Walter
Childs and John Pitcairn. Like Jefferson, they could not foresee what would
become of their dream – how that infant College and Divinity School in a
basement on Cherry Street in Philadelphia would grow to what it is today, with
a horizon extending beyond our sight.
That is what Charter Day is all about – celebrating the dream and pursuing
the destiny.
(BMH)
beyond the reformation
October is also an important month in overall church history – the 500 th
anniversary of the Reformation. That profound challenge to the authority of
the Catholic Church was launched on October 31, 1517, by Martin Luther with
his famous “95 Theses.” And what became a transformative movement helped
to bring profound religious, social and political change throughout Europe.
This also occurred – not coincidentally – with the invention of the
Gutenberg printing press, which not only brought the Word to the people
again but provided the means for the printing and distribution of religious
books and pamphlets, which flooded Europe.
The challenge to such Catholic practices as indulgences – buying your
way out of purgatory and virtually eliminating the need for repentance – was
necessary. But for all the “reformation” and religious churning the movement
brought about, it was fatally flawed by its insistence that salvation came from
faith alone.
Still, we can see the Lord’s Providence at work here in helping to pave
the way for the new revelation to come through the Writings of Emanuel
455