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What the Chapel Means to Me
Some thoughts from Jackie Lageson
I am a gypsy of sorts that has been given the opportunity to have many different chapters in one lifetime. I was given my grounding and initial indoctrination living with my parents on a farm in the Midwest. The pragmatic approach honed from the agrarian life and Christian principals given me during my developing years in the Lutheran church, has served me well in all the venues I have taken it to.
I pursued my undergraduate studies in a small state college nestled in a farming community about three hours from my father's farm. I received two Bachelors of Science Majors; Corrections and Minority and Ethnic Studies, and Two minor concentrations; Native American Studies and Afro-American Studies. It was at the Newman Center on this small state college campus that I got the answer to my questions about Christianity, faith, and all the different religions that have existed and do exist on a global level. A Jesuit Priest said "God is at the top of the mountain, there are many paths to the top of the mountain, you have to pick the one that is right for you." This gave me great solace, and a solid foundation for me to understand how all the cultures that God created on this plant and how the religions, set center to these cultures, provided harmony for the culture. This insight also gave me the open eyes and heart to see all that I experience through the appropriate lens. It also affirmed by belief in God of LOVE and WISDOM.
My spiritual life continued to grow. Working with my clients as a probation and parole officer I learned to appreciate each one for the piece of God that they are, and all, and I do mean ALL, had much knowledge for me to learn from them, and kindness for me to receive. I often felt I took more from them than I was able to give in return.
The Criminal Justice system troubled me, I saw in seventeen years that what the system was doing was NOT working, and doing more of what wasn't working, was not going to bring a solution. This is where my agrarian pragmatism kicked in and asked, so what are you going to do? The answer to this question led me, or maybe more appropriately catapulted me, back into the academic setting.
I returned to the small state college that I received my undergraduate studies from and obtained my Masters of Arts in Sociology. While pursuing my master's degree, I was opened to the healing energy of God through the art of spiritual healing. I received personal spiritual healings and instructions on being a channel for God's healing protective loving energy. For the past six years I have been honored to be a part of God's healing process by serving as a channel of his knowledge, wisdom, love, guidance, and protection.
My path than lead me to Boston to attend a university to further my studies. At this institution I further looked at the issues of the Criminal Justice System through a legislative and policy perspective. This is the area my dissertation studies continue, with an emphasis on restorative justice and the faith community.
It was during the classroom years at this university in Boston that I was introduced to the Swedenborgian Philosophy of the Church of the New Jerusalem. I found a true home at the Cambridge Society of the Church of the New Jerusalem, and the philosophy of Swedenborg has centered my childhood Christianity and my Spiritual Healing perspectives into a cogent and powerful belief that is ever evolving.
What excites me about the Cambridge Society of the Church of the New Jerusalem is:
- The intimacy of the congregation
- The warmth and openness that is felt as a new comer
- The open acceptance to all religious forums with the understanding that God has been given many names
- The dedication of the members to see the enormous potential of God working through the endeavors of the society's challenges
These four principals serve as a testimony to me that the membership maybe small in number but it is enormous in vision, determination, will, love, and undying dedication to the community in which it serves. This is the energy that our communities need to become healthy and to provide a healthy environment for the citizens of our communities to live and grow, on a spiritual plane as well as a physical plane.
Seventeen years of experience in the Criminal Justice System as prison guard, law enforcement officer, and as a probation and parole officer gave witness to what is not working in building healthy communities. Watching the Cambridge Society and the surrounding community working together on community concerns demonstrated what does work to build healthy thriving communities on an integrated level to support itself and the members of the community. This is the kind of team I envision myself being a part of, that is dedicated to the spiritual and physical health of itself and the community it is a part of.
Coming from an agrarian background, when my father's crops yield less grain and more weeds he did not arrest the weeds and punish them, he evaluated what he needed to do to better prepare the soil he planted the seed in, he applied the appropriate nutrients to the ground to foster growth, and invoked an enormous amount of faith and prayer. [Divine intervention goes a LONG ways.] From what I have experienced at the Cambridge Society of the Church of the New Jerusalem I see the willingness to apply these principles on a community level and I am very excited to be a part of the church and to help prepare the ground to foster spiritual growth for the community it is a part of, to assist in planting the seeds, and nurturing the endeavor to produce a high yield.
Jackie Lageson, March 2001
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