New Church Life November/December 2017 | Page 48

So the spirit we celebrate this morning is a Spirit of Love . A higher education to train our minds to achieve , not primarily academic goals , but a training of the heart , and an ability to have a vision , to see a door the Lord places before you . students , international students , visitors , friends – wherever you are going in your life , be mindful of what open doors the Lord is setting before you .
new church life : november / december 2017
So the spirit we celebrate this morning is a Spirit of Love . A higher education to train our minds to achieve , not primarily academic goals , but a training of the heart , and an ability to have a vision , to see a door the Lord places before you . students , international students , visitors , friends – wherever you are going in your life , be mindful of what open doors the Lord is setting before you .
Doors are visions . Doors are portals to new places . Early “ Academicians ” asked each other , “ Do you see what I see ?” A star appeared in a constellation of ideas about the teachings of the New Church . “ Do you see what I see ?” they said to one another . So those who saw , they gathered under a banner . And open fields became the Academy of the New Church .
There is a door , there is a portal to a higher vision , to a higher education , provided by the Academy . This door was first opened , and has been kept open by the Divine Human and not by a mortal human hand . Just as it is the Divine of the Lord who makes heaven , and the angels constitute it ( Heaven and Hell 12 ), so it is the Divine of the Lord which makes the Academy of the New Church , and the students and faculty constitute it . The Lord sets before us an open door , an open vision leading us to spiritual heights of angelic wisdom .
So the spirit we celebrate this morning is a Spirit of Love : a higher education to train our minds to achieve , not primarily academic goals , but a training of the heart , and an ability to have a vision , to see a door the Lord places before you .
More than a hundred years ago , Bishop Nathaniel Dandridge Pendleton told a group such as this : “( The Academy ) is for the sake of the Church , and not the Church for the sake of the Academy . . . A coldly intellectual learning will not take us to our goal , but only a learning that is based upon the law of love , the law of love to God and love to one another . All our learning , and all our doctrinal attainments , are gathered up and contained in the two great , simple principles of our religion : love to God and love to the neighbor . And the measure of our success ( of the Academy movement ) will depend upon how far we can put aside the passions and conceits of the natural man .” And achieve higher goals .
On a beautiful day like today , we march from the school buildings to the church . It ’ s a way for us to pay tribute to the Lord for the privilege of the doors He has opened over all the years to us and all who have come before us .
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