n e w c h u r c h l i f e : j u ly / au g u s t 2 0 1 5
To fare means to travel, or to journey, to
experience something. We are all wayfarers on
this earth, seeking truth, setting out to make
a difference, building communities, giving
back, finding watering holes, and relying as
much as possible on a moral compass and
Divine guidance to bring us safely home to
heavenly community.
To journey well, to fare well, you need
provisions. Your Bryn Athyn College education
is a powerful provision. Whether you are
going to be a pastor, professor, psychologist,
choreographer, engineer, teacher, web
designer, marketer, scientist, social worker,
entrepreneur, homemaker, publisher, or any
number of professions and jobs – some that
haven’t been invented yet – you will return to
the well of your education over and over. It is a
living pool to sustain you.
True, not all your memories of college
life are good. And you will forget many
things, especially the facts you memorized at 3 a.m. for a 9 a.m. exam. But
the training of your mind remains, preparing you for ongoing growth. And
the strengthening of your heart remains – the moments when you rose to
higher ground, or at least saw that there was higher ground. Education is not
something you did in the past and now hang on a wall. Rather, it is a precious
part of you that grows and evolves with you, if you are willing to keep learning
and growing.
Swedenborg describes evil spirits as people who have stopped learning
and developing. Angels, on the other hand, learn continually. The greater their
humility, the deeper their wisdom. And the wiser they become the better able
they are to bless others through the myriad workplaces of heaven.
You graduates (and all of us) are angels-in-the-making. How do we fare
well? How do we move through this magnificently beautiful and strikingly
flawed world? One approach is to be grateful, generous, and steadfast:
• Grateful for all the things we have learned and the life God pours into
each of us every day
• Generous with giving back our talents and resources to whatever
workplaces, causes, or initiatives are bringing heaven and earth closer
together
• Steadfast in living and supporting moral, civil and spiritual values
Swedenborg
describes evil
spirits as people
who have stopped
learning and
developing. Angels,
on the other hand,
learn continually.
The greater
their humility,
the deeper their
wisdom.
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