Some of the first passages of the Bible I memorized and learned as a child were the last chapters of Revelation. For nearly as long as I can remember I have known the words about the “holy city, New Jerusalem… prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:3). Even as I memorised it I liked the imagery but didn’t understand the idea. 

My dad is a General Church pastor, and I have been raised with the ideas of the New Church.  The church organization has significantly affected the trajectory of my life since that is what dictated where my family lived.  I am now married to a General Church pastor, so still most of the major life decisions I’m making are directly affected by the church organization.  This impact hasn’t always been easy and tidy, and after years of ups and downs I have at times seriously questioned the benefits of a humanly established church organization. Recently I had a few things connect for me about the teachings of the church being the bride and wife that have helped me resolve some of these questions.

Continue reading Prepared as a Bride →

This year, I’ve been thinking about education a lot. My oldest child (wasn’t she a newborn yesterday?) recently celebrated her fourth birthday. For some children, four is school age, so my daughter is often the oldest kid on the playground during school hours, and I often get questions about where and when she goes to school. While she probably won’t attend school next year, education is on my mind.

My own educational background is a patchwork. I had two intelligent, kind, involved parents. In many ways, my formal education held little weight compared to my rich home life. My father was a military officer and I attended about a dozen primary and secondary schools, mostly public. I earned my bachelor’s degree in Biology from the Bryn Athyn College of the New Church, then taught biology and geometry,not too badly, I hope, for two years at the Academy of the New Church. After which I retired into motherhood.

Continue reading What Could New Church Education Look Like? →

As a Swedenborgian, who grew up far outside any GC “society”, I had many opportunities in my childhood to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the other religious organizations around me. My family drove the hour to church each Sunday, but we were often the only family with kids to show up. My friends were mostly Mormons (with a few Catholics and a Protestant thrown in).

With Mormons, discussing your religion and comparing it to other perspectives is common practice. I had frequent conversations throughout my childhood where I was asked to compare my Swedenborgian faith to others. These friendly conversations became very satisfying to me; the more I analyzed the doctrines of the people around me the more impressed I became with the clarity and consistency of the New Christianity.

However, I still deeply envied my Mormon friends.  For although the logic of their church was “iffy”, the practices of their organization were admirable. As a girl, I was particularly struck by what the Mormon church offered my girlfriends. Every Wednesday night they met with Mormon women to learn from them and to do activities and charity work together. They went on trips with other girls. They read articles in their Mormon magazines specifically for them. They received encouragement, guidance and support in a form only women can provide other women. They had a truly healthy and vibrant “women’s ministry”, as it is called in the Christian world. I saw the beauty of it and I wanted it too.

Continue reading Call for a New Christian Women’s Ministry →