Grand Rapids Christian High School - Memoir Yearbook (Grand Rapids, MI)

Page 11 text:

Mr. Principal. Board. Faculty and Students: I Wonder Whether you see What I see as I stand here this morning in this beautiful place of worship. That question was not meant to be flippant or superficial or naive. I Wonder whether you do see what l see as I stand here this morning. This building is more than wood and stone and metal. It is more than carpentry and masonry. There is that in this building which you cannot see with the physical eye and which l'm trying to see as I stand here now. I Wonder Whether you see it. Back of these Walls and this floor and these ceilings is an invisible beauty that even surpasses the beauty of this structure, and it is a beautiful structure. lt is the beauty of the love and the sacrifice that made possible this building. It is the love and the self-giving that was in the hearts of your fathers and your mothers and of friends of this school that made possible this building. This building would not be here except for that which I see and which is not visible as you look at the externals. lf you see what I see now, don't you think it would be Well when you return home, to tell your parents what you saw when you sat in this building this morning? It may bring a great deal of happiness to them and even perhaps a tear of genuine joy if you tell them that you saw in this beautiful structure their love for you. I see something else in this building as l stand here this morning. I see not only emotion and devotion embodied in this structure but l see ideas and thought put into the form of plaster and wood and metal -thought embodied in this structure. Or, to use a rather ritzy Word, and say 'ideology' in this building. There are ideas put into concrete form in this building. What are these ideas? Well, there are several of them. This is not an assembly room. When I Went to high school We had an assembly room. This is a chapel. And there is an idea back of that, a tremendous idea. The Wood and the stone, the carpentry and the masonry are the same in a chapel and in an assembly. The material things can be at least the same. But there is an entirely different idea back of it, too. What is the idea: what are some of the ideas that are back of this building? The first idea that I see and I hope you can see with me: it is the idea that the board saw, and I'm sure the faculty saw, and the parents saw, the idea that this is a God-cen- tered school. The chapel is the most beautiful room in this entire institution. It is the largest, it is the most beautiful. Worship, relationship to God is pri- mary in this institution. That is what makes this institution distinctive, different, and if you can't see that this room reveals that idea, then you're blind to one of the beauties of this room. For this says loudly, declares very decidedly, in this institution God is central. I see something else which is not to be seen in the Walls or on the floor or ceiling or on this platform, but it's here, it's there, it's everywhere. There Was an idea, a principle in the minds of the parents and the Board that the students that attend this school have a soul and that the primary thing is the soul of the pupil. In many schools the gymnasium is the most costly and the largest room in the school. In this school the chapel. Why? Because We l7l

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Q nding lil Q. Vanden Fic.-ig Mr. Vfrnt Hof Mr. l, Temple Mr. H. E-lekmin Hr. YN. De Graaf l 'N.e,L:nd Treasurer- 'l' '. Feinsizf' mf D1'-55.rie5-:1t- fr, G, Corrs Ptesdent' Mr. L. if e :ecretsry lust cr Word, Seniors: Your high school experiences, l trust, were different from those of thousands of other Seniors graduating this year. As a Board we have sought, through a consecrated staff of teachers, and under the leadership of a capable Chris- tian principal, and with the splendid support and prayers of godly parents, to give you a high school education that is distinctive. We have tried to keep before you the consciousness of a relationship other than that to textbooks, teachers, school, and community. We have tried to have you aware of your relationship to God. The atmosphere of our school, as well as its instruction, sought to make real the great fact that you are in Gods world and are related to l-lim. We have sought to keep you aware of the fact that He must be taken into consideration as a part of the reality with which you are constantly dealing. That being so, the Board expects and trusts that as you leave this school the distinctiveness of your training will show itself in your life. We trust that you will ever live in the realization that all that you have and are comes from God, and should in turn be used for l-lim, who not only made you, but through Christ, redeems you. The Board is grateful for the way in which you have cooperated with the principal and the faculty during your stay at school, and congratulates you upon the attainment of your goal and the completion of your work. We trust and pray that you may ever be a credit to your parents, to the school, and to the church which has invested heavily in effort, love, and prayers in your behalf. G. Goins In the name of the Board

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believe that education has failed in its purpose unless it has developed and nurtured the soul. And this building is a place particularly, this room par- ticularly, Where the spirit is developed. Then I see something else in this building. It is very closely related to the previous and it merges right into the previous just like a projecting picture often merges into the one following, I see in this building, purpose. It is written all over this building. just as in the previous I saw such texts as these: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God' What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? What shall it profit a man if he gain the Whole World and lose his own soul? But I saw also embodied in this building purpose, objective. Why did your parents and friends, Why did the Board spend so much for a chapel, when there was needed a gymnasium, and there was needed, probably, also better facilities for your domestic science room and other rooms? Why so much in this particular room? I'll tell you Why. And that's What I see as I stand here and look at this building. It was the purpose of bringing you to God. You are children of promise, sometimes called covenant children, and the purpose of this school is to bring you into relationship with the God Who promised to be your God. This school is just one of three links in a chain, but all have one great purpose -leading you to God. The home, the school, the church have one great objective, and that is to lead you to God -into a relationship with God. It is not only to prepare you to duties for the mental and the intellectual and the physical problems that shall be placed upon you but that you may know God, and in this room you are to Worship God. God is to speak to you. You through the leader are to address him and through your singing address him. There is to be a fellowship with God-a cultivation of the relationship with the God who promised to be your God. And in closing I Want to say that unless you see some of these things that I see as I look at this building, then you miss the greatest beauty of all. And as you sit here from morning to morning, may God open your eyes daily to see that which this chapel should cause you to see-GOD. DR. G. Gonrs l. 8 .I