The following includes some repetition of earlier observations, and accents the idea that this is presented as a personal rendition of a life lived in a Christian context, highly influenced by formal education, both secular and Christian. Education, both formal and informal, is important to a fully furnished life. That fully furnished life includes what may be gained from the gifts of God to a life. The lengthy introduction preceding the initial quarter of TODAY’S PAGE, admittedly holding some repetitions (redundancies) for emphasis, is for clarity about my purpose, and determination, to focus on Christian education and what it means to the individual, society, and appreciation for the gifts of life from God, understood by Christians as personal and interesting in the human venture.
I have read with profit many biographies that included success and failure. I began to believe I might get a few readers, concerned about their own orientations, by observing some of my years in a frenetic world. So I prepared these personal, daily, single page, editorials, sometimes devotionals, based on my experience and thought, generated by a spiritual and human interest in my family, and projected for future generations of my family – and my students and friends, at home and abroad. At this writing I have received response from former students going back over more than seventy years in my experience since high school graduation. All have responded favorably to this approach, and note they have drawn some fresh opinions, even directions, that they sometimes want to discuss with me, to be sure of meaning for themselves, perhaps also to shift my emphasis a bit. The Pages seem to me to be helpful for general information about living for God, self and others of our human race, persons who will add their own amendments – embellishing or changing. The whole of this project occupies 1,460 Pages, not including the various addenda for indexing. If life and wits continue for me, I will launch a Graduate Series.
The style of writing is standard, but with additions that may be helpful or irritating, depending upon the language preferences of the reader. I have chosen to use italics for many words. That is my attempt to write with a feeling of conversation. Many of the words in italics are meant to give the reader a sense of popular conversation in which the nuance of voice and the use of gesture provides meaning with the words, words that can have several meanings, depending upon the contexts of readers. The meaning is implied to be larger or smaller than the word might otherwise indicate in fact or inference. The practice is deliberate so to gain something from the imagination of the reader to the meaning of the context in which the word appears. It is not likely that traditional grammarians will always like the approach, especially in that I use italics for quotations – rather than using quotation marks. They may also object to word coinage, or combinations, here and there. I apologize for any violation of taste, but hold out, nonetheless, for my attempts at encoding implications of voice or gesture – or an acknowledgment for ranges of meaning for a symbol/word. I know, in some instances that the reader will follow his or her own interpretation of the word, but I have made my own point in that expectation.
On the occasion of my seventeenth birthday, I determined to live my life as a Christian, that is to say one who believes in Christ as the Son of God, Scripture as God’s word of communication, and a belief in redemption in Christ to immortal life. This last is the hope of the Christian – as the word hope is used in Scripture in 1 Corinthians 13:13. From that time I prepared personally to be in some profession advancing Christian objectives in the world. As already noted, that took me to several institutions of higher learning. My education was found in both Christian and secular schools of learning contexts or orientations. I served a number of churches in various denominations, usually as minister or interim minister, or as a conference speaker at home and abroad. Most of my years were related to professorships in college classrooms. For seventeen years I served as president of an accredited (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) church related college, and after retirement, was involved in several business and consultant programs, remaining active (and continuing with writing projects) into the tenth decade of my life. Books, articles, and various other writing programs were a part of my life occupation. My professional life has been largely taken up with academia, the church, and after collegiate retirement to some businesses. I feel deep gratitude for the privileges and freedom that I enjoyed with colleagues in both secular and religious orientations, of practical values and objectives – for family, intellect, living, devotion and occupation. My final yearning in life is to put in words my understanding of learning and life that may be used for meaning to anyone interested in such a review. In the context of conscious formation, the normal Christian will feel, or ought to feel, successful and gratified at the close of his or her mortal life. I seek to communicate that belief.
My wife, mother of our four children, died in January 2001. After fifty seven years of loving marriage with one now absent from earth experience, I was faced with making a different life context for myself. I discovered that the matters I had held in high regard for previous decades were further enhanced when I could give even more time to them than formerly. One of these matters was the practice of devotional experience, like prayer and reading, especially related to Bible and values as well as other publications, on both secular and sacred subjects from both secular and religious sources. I found the experience so personally rewarding that I periodically sent copies of some of my notes to my children and others, ideas to friends who showed interest in exchanges. Some of the supportive materials came from my extensive files – of letters, writings and sermons from seventy years of professional work and experience. Some of these writings have appeared here and there in statements made by other persons and institutions, sometimes crediting the source, a factor not important to me when writing materials for which there was no financial remuneration, or desire to advance any spin of another. I did write extensively for an internationally eminent Christian for a year or so, with the materials published worldwide in a number of languages. I find this early venture to be one of the most satisfying of my life’s work. It gave me a strong belief in the power of the printed page, as well as the spoken word. I launched out on my own recognizance. This current project partly grew out of that experience and influence.
Others heard about the family pattern I designed for my closest family members and asked to be included. One said, Could I be one of your kids to receive the Pages? Another, I want to be a part of your invisible congregation. All persons were given whatever was requested. The project was not foisted on anyone, nor denied. Feeling my family may not really have time for the project, I tended to keep the work to myself, planning to circulate it when finished. I have not been tightly scheduled in the project until recently as mortality presses upon my psyche, but the project has arrived to a full Page for each day of each year for four years. At this writing, I have completed the collection of days – for forty-eight months. Following the death of my wife, the first Volume turned into a ten years’ project with varying degrees of application on my part. Each Page has been edited, over and over, with the editing of all Pages, continuing until release. Each Page has had from seven to ten readings from me and several by my editor to its present form so it may be assumed that I meant to convey whatever the material may say to readers.
Readers will have to move about in the Pages to line up a current appearance of a holiday, or for some other purpose. The Pages were seldom written on the day designated for each. When they are so written, the reader will sense it as a factor of meaning for me. There are some ideas that will find repetition, such as the reference to the wisdom of Proverbs – to seek information and understanding that lead to wisdom. Repetitions of some ideas are quite deliberate, as is this statement on repetitions. At this writing TODAY’S PAGE is a project now advanced in formation, for the purpose of suggesting Christian maturity as a goal for all persons of faith. There is an underlying belief that mankind can find human success in secular life without God in that context (Common Grace) but that it provides no hope for immortality (Divine Grace). Faithful humanism is much like the application of Christian ideals to mortal context, but with significant and vital differences.
One of my sons suggested that these texts and observations ought to be put in a form that might become a devotional book. The idea touched a chord. I was published from time to time during my professional years, and may be again in a publication of this memoir/devotional/educational written conversation – even if I publish it myself. At the beginning of the project these single sheets (and I am determined to keep each one within the boundaries of one page) were given a date of the year. When 365 of them were completed they were arranged, perhaps as a few of the topics became most fitting to the calendar year. For example, themes suitable for Christmas appear in December and those for Easter in the Spring of the year. Each theme, I trust, is taken a bit higher in treatment with each successive year – for four years. For me this will be thought of as a dynamic project – fresh and refreshed. I expect to keep going with new and current material and experience. If my dream project comes to pass in adoption, a similar project will be picked up by someone after my time for influencing persons and cultures. I wish I could be present a century from this date and respond to the notes that my own family members, and my former students and other families, might add to this modest offering – if it survives. A project of this nature ought to go forward in Christian colleges/universities – from some acceptable author and sponsorship.
For some persons, the Pages will be reproduced on perforated, letter-size sheets. For these involved readers I suggest they mount a notebook, with the sheets using the daily dates for arrangement of the material, and see what happens in their own experiences as growing Christians, cultivating relationships, and motivating responsible citizens, especially Christian readers. They ought to include their own notes either on these pages, or on fresh sheets. So we can create our own life school without walls – so to compose a life pattern in language that helps us to maturity and wisdom in conduct and faith. Studies show that we are better held in our own ideas when we write them down – for ourselves or others. Even so, I have been asked to send them by internet, or even a blog, without personal involvement of idea exchanges. At this writing, I am investigating that possibility. I wait for the counsel and suggestions of the college/university presidents and deans to whom the material has been sent. I presume there will be several ideas on how to utilize materials, if they are deemed worthy of circulation. Surely there will be variant recommendations.
It is important that in interpreting Christian life, one appreciates parables. Jesus taught in parables. A parable is a story that teaches, sometimes explains, an idea or experience. It is presumed to be a faithful parable, if in the style of Jesus, so it teaches truth for life. Readers and critics have often wrestled with Scripture on the matter of whether a story was an actual event (history) or an imagined one (parable or story, even a myth). The made-up story may be more useful than the factual one, in that material may be left out so as to focus on the main point, and avoid distraction. Persons then do not resort easily to the luxury of escaping the truth of the parable. Out of fiction’s manufactures we have learned truths. Jesus apparently used the pattern on many occasions. We commonly say that he taught by parables. I would like for my life experience, as articulated here, to become a parable (model to consider, perhaps analyze for application) to the benefit of self or other persons. In the spirit of a memoir, for my purposes, the usual documentation seldom appears here. The Pages are conversations between the reader and the writer. In that spirit the quotes are few, limited, and put in italics so as not to be plagiarized, but also not to be overly accented. This is meant to be conversation. It appears that with electronics the free use of materials will become the norm. It remains that we should not take someone else’s material as our own. Italics and short references achieve my purpose.
Some of Christianity’s best writers have used parable well. C. S. Lewis was such a person. His great parable was the Lion, Aslan, whom he used most commonly as an illustration of God at work among human beings. To mix the metaphor – the lion dogs the steps of mankind. For the Bible and Jesus, the favorite parable tended to be forged from the family – a father, a mother, and children. The Bible is written in the idiom of the family. The human family becomes the parable. The family of Abraham and through the patriarchs and leaders was used as the story of the Old Testament. The long lists of parentages for the various tribes are one proof of God’s family interest. Even God is cast to us in the idiom of the family – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Mother). The Church is perceived in the Scripture as the Bride of Christ. The use of the idiom of the family, for both individuals and groups, is to be understood; 1) in the biblical meaning of the family in spiritual application; and, 2) in the most idealistic representation of the family in human thought related to man, woman and child – including other family member contexts (as Moses and Aaron, Esther and Mordecai, Ruth and Naomi, even Jesus and John the Baptist). The family is the great parable of Scripture – for good and ill. (Note the closing verses in Ephesians 5.) This is repeated and remarked upon a number of times in these Pages. It is appropriate that Christian education begins, after God and the individual person, with the family. These pages are firm on the personal development, not only related to formal education, but the perception of effective thought and action that is verified in the informal education rooted in the family. One of the barriers to effective Christian education is that many Christian homes do not prepare the new generation to receive higher education in its primary emphasis – for the individual in effective belief, living and service with and to others. These Pages are meant to overcome some of the oversight. We find, in the family, the model for individualism and social relationships.
Numerous books and articles on the theme of education in the Christian context have appeared since the turn to the current century, and just before. Even as this Recap conclusion was being edited again, Christianity Today, March, 2012, included articles focusing the theme of Christian higher education. The first page of my series, written more than fifteen years ago, focuses on one of the points in the edition – wisdom. A point made here related to the uses of Christian biography as a factor in education for the Christian context. That too has been a strong influence in my own education, and a part of these Pages. It is time well spent to read these writers, many known to me for their integrity, who have presented various facets of Christian higher education, meaningful to the lives of thoroughly furnished persons of faith. The themes appearing there buttress my own beliefs not only on what Christian education means, but how satisfying it is in the course of a life lived with meaningful respect for Christian life, history, theory and mission.
For those reading these Pages, the purpose is to suggest that spiritual and practical truth is prowling around our lives, and will continue to do so, ready to pounce upon us for acceptance. We wait for a few minutes, the pause that may make a difference in the substance of things. Each Page requires about five minutes or so to identify and read, and a few moments to give some thought, or acquiescence, or amendment. I hope it all leads to prayer and consideration, for any insight and application for individual and cultural Christian life. Out of this short daily exercise there can appear for involved individuals, refreshment, insight, improvement, action, decision-making, counsel, formation and prayer. Perhaps they will also appropriately gain the reader’s serious, interested attention, at least here and there along the way, through this sheaf of Pages. The open purpose is to find spiritual maturity – maturity to which the Apostle Paul refers as a major matter, especially significant in the narrative teaching of the Epistle to the Philippians.
October 30, 2015
Addenda – The following is added simply to verify that my experience has been varied and seriously related to the needs of both educated Christians, and well-formed Christian institutions, but including secular/social ones as well, both in industry and government. The Pages have grown out of the information gleaned from a broad and privileged experience for my purposes.
Christian oriented colleges with which I have held close observation as a student, professor, and administrator include Nyack College (New York); Wheaton College (Illinois); University of Northwestern – St. Paul (Minnesota); Crown College (Minnesota); Whitworth University (Washington); and, Simpson University (California). Others relate to consultant invitations, speaking on campuses, attending special programming, and professional duty. On extended occasions I was guest to Biola University, Ambrose College (Canadian Bible College) in Canada, and Toccoa Falls College in Georgia, Fuller and Bethel Seminaries and others for special periods of participation. By journal count (diary records), there were thousands of presentations at various churches and secular institutions in the United States, Canada, and overseas countries. With my son I worked for a period of time after retirement as consultant to religious institutions and charities, including Habitat for Humanity and Lutheran Brotherhood, individual churches, and others. Evaluation programs were used in a number of churches. My contracts with public universities in the United States and Canada were largely related to communications programs, and evaluation of administrative processes related to programs and leadership, some for government, expected to be fulfilled without reference to spirituality, but with universal values.
During my professional years, I was invited to interview for Presidency at colleges (some now universities): Nyack, Wheaton, Whitworth, Simpson, Azusa-Pacific, King’s, Westmont, Cascade, and for administration positions elsewhere. There were included invitations to consider positions in secular universities of rank. These events inspired me to study and observe life in various contexts, but especially in the history and programming of various Christian institutions. All this impressed me to prepare these Pages so to make a personal approach to interested readers and students, what the applied meaning of Christianity and Christian education means personally to effective living, and to history, principally for those persons having gained or seeking formal education. The focus here is on any life that is successful, even if not publicly celebrated or rewarded highly in financial considerations – but for persons holding values, abilities or gifts, and modeling them to themselves and others effectively. I hold high opinion of the advancements of higher education, but also believe that some adjustments are in order, largely related to the scope, meaning and place of values in any education and faith in God and life. The accent on financial gain as test for life success is, in my view, becoming too pervasive. It has become the measure of educational/personal success.
I was ordained by The Christian and Missionary Alliance in the late 1940s, and hold retirement credentials with the C & M A. and President Emeritus from Simpson University. I have ministered to many scores of Alliance churches and overseas sites. I served on the national board, and chaired it for two or so of the years. I was also approved for ministry in the Covenant Church, the Evangelical Free Church and the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. although not taking permanent credentials with those offices. I spoke often in independent churches including Baptist and ethnic congregations. I served in programming for twelve or so denominations and missionary societies, and spoke in churches of varying denominational identities beginning in my student days in New York in the early 1940s.
In State Universities, I have had warm personal relationships with faculties that included teaching and other professional assignments during doctoral studies: University of Minnesota (Minneapolis), and as a Teaching Assistant that included assignments in the classroom and public service off campus, at the University of Washington (Seattle) while completing doctoral studies there. These are eminent universities that include modern and classical traditions. They gave me what I looked for in the development of my life and education.
I have been assisted in my project by several readers representing different generations. Dr. Sara Robertson has served as my major responder. She was a student of mine more than sixty years ago and has volunteered, at my behest, many hours to my interests in the project serving as editor, and is now a member of the Board of Trustees of the College (now university) where she attended, and I was a professor. Her life has been devoted to education, both in public and private contexts. She has given the greatest amount of feedback to the material. All of it has been at my insistence, but matched with gracious response and objectivity. Her reviews have saved me from what would have been embarrassment for me in both editing and some factual concerns. As able, I will be pleased to provide documentation for any factual information that may be requested. I tended to write from my experience, and may expect some requests for documentation here and there. This presentation deliberately avoids, for the most part, attempts to meet research documentation. The clue for me is taken from the biblical approach to declare a point-of-view taken from personal experience. I plan to develop a biblical reference sheet of texts related to Christian life in the twenty-first century – especially related to the theme and sub-theme for each of the Pages. I will tend to follow the book lists of the Mars Hill program which, the collections of Christianity Today and InterVarsity Press may have the best listings of current materials related to Christian thought and analysis in the biblical context.
January 1, 2016