News & Announcements

Save the Date for Convention 2023!

The Massachusetts New Church Union is Excited to Welcome You to Bridgewater!

Saturday, July 1st – Wednesday, July 5th, 202

This summer’s 199th annual convention will convene in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, at Bridgewater State University. This annual convention is hosted by the churches of the Massachusetts New Church Union: Bridgewater Church of the New Jerusalem, Cambridge Swedenborg Chapel, and the Elmwood New Church.

In her 1903 book Optimism, Helen Keller detailed her conviction that true optimism (not to be mistaken with “the false optimism of the prosperous”) compels the faithful to a life of active engagement in the affairs of the world. Pessimism, in her view, kills the instinct to struggle against poverty, ignorance, and crime. Optimism is the “faith that leads to achievement” compelling us to a time when “no man shall live at his ease while another suffers.” Inspired by Helen Keller’s life and faith, the theme of this year’s annual Convention of the Swedenborgian Church of North America will be “The Practice of Optimism.”

Registration will open online on April 15, 2023.

Read the full issue of the January/February 2023 Messenger