506 Follow the Star: The Tradition of the Creche (Nativities Exhibit)

Visitors to Glencairn Museum in Bryn Athyn can learn how Christians around the world have adapted the Nativity scene to represent their own cultures through a new exhibit featuring more than 30 crèches from 20 countries. A special section on New Church Nativities includes the “Representation” made by Winfred S. Hyatt (circa 1925), another variation of which was set up in the East Room of the Eisenhower White House in the 1950s (see photo); the original Nativity figures made by Bernice Stroh Sandström (circa 1937); and chalkware Nativity figures made by Theta Alpha, an organization for New Church women. Theta Alpha began making Nativities in 1941 to send to families who did not live near a New Church congregation, and kept up the tradition until the early 1990s. (See our next New Church History Fun Fact for more information on the Theta Alpha Nativities.)

An early New Church Nativity scene, at the Cherry Street Church in Philadelphia, was described in New Church Life in 1889:

“On Christmas Eve, instead of the usual tree, the spaces on each side of the platform in the Hall were occupied by wide tables on which were arranged representations, taken from the literal sense of the Word, of scenes at the birth of our LORD. On the left was a landscape where were flocks of sheep whose attendant shepherds, in attitudes expressive of awe and astonishment, gazed at the angel who announced the glad tidings of the babe in the manger. Continue reading » » » »

502 Francis Bailey, Revolutionary War Printer (1744-1817)

“FRANCIS BAILEY/The First/American New Churchman/1784/The First/American Publisher/of the Writings of/EMANUEL SWEDENBORG/1787/A bright example of active love/and of doing good to others” (Francis Bailey tombstone).

 

Francis Bailey, Revolutionary War printer and New Churchman, was a remarkable individual. He was born in 1744 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, displaying a special talent for mechanics at an early age. In his twenties he decided he wanted to learn the art of printing, but was not willing to apprentice; instead, he spent three weeks learning the basics from his friend Peter Miller, at the Ephrata Cloister religious community. He quickly set up a printing shop in Lancaster, later moving his business to Philadelphia in 1778. He was appointed printer to the State of Pennsylvania and began to edit a daily paper titled The Freeman’s Journal.(Click on “I accept these terms” to see a painting of Bailey in the Cincinnati Art Museum.) 

Bailey was a deacon in the Presbyterian Church when James Glen of Scotland came to America in 1784 and delivered a series of lectures on Emanuel Swedenborg at Bells Book Store in Philadelphia. A number of Swedenborg’s books arrived in Philadelphia from England after Glen had already left the city, and Bailey ended up buying some of them. Becoming convinced of the truth of Swedenborg’s teachings, Bailey used his profession to produce the first publication of a New Church work in America, A Summary View of the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Church (1787). In 1789 he sent out a proposal for publishing True Christian Religion serially; he obtained about fifty subscribers, including Benjamin Franklin, a fellow Philadelphia printer. Two other signers of the Declaration of Independence were also subscribers: Robert Morris and Thomas McKean. Continue reading » » » »