Frank H. Nelson of CincinnatiHerrick, Warren Crocker
Religion
Frank H. Nelson of Cincinnati
Herrick, Warren Crocker
Nelson, Frank Howard, 1869-1939
It is now more than five years since Mr. Nelson's death, and today the
old church in the hands of his successor, Nelson M. Burroughs, whose
first name singularly suggests a prolongation of the Nelson dynasty, and
whose spirit and abilities are a worthy continuation of an unusual
rectorship, is still animated by Frank Nelson's vision, his joy in
service. His ideals live today in the parish of Christ Church, which has
not failed him but carries out that which he committed unto them in his
farewell address:
The Church is the important thing to all of us. We need the
Church, for faith, for courage, for guidance. The Diocese needs
this Parish--its loyalty--its support--its fellowship--as we need
the Diocese. The City needs this Church. You will never forget,
will you, the Vision, and the power that came with it, that Mr.
Stein gave us forty years ago, viz;--that the Church is the Body
of Christ, not a club, to minister, and not to be ministered to.
The people all about us, the whole city, are our concern, to
bring them the Gospel of Christ. So, I pray God you will go
forward into the new day with high faith and enthusiasm. You have
a mission from God.
The mission goes on in the spirit of readiness to embark on great
ventures, and of youth not knowing defeat, for on Easter Day, 1941 the
authorities of Christ Church announced it as their purpose to erect a
glorious new building on the site of the present edifice as the only
adequate memorial to Frank Nelson. As in the dark days of 1917 the
parish audaciously built the Centennial Chapel, so the tragic repetition
of world war sees in the present rector and people no diminishing of
that daring and firmness of vision. This plan is, as Mr. Nelson would
have it, not for his own glory, but for the larger range of the Church
in the service of the city. He had said, "This is the work of those who
will come after me."
Christ Church will one day be clothed in garments of new beauty because
Frank Nelson preached the Gospel that is the hope of a better democracy.
The grandeur of his accomplishment impels men to undertake this task;
and thus it is a living fact that his vision is still an influence in
the city, and is the choice heritage of an unnumbered host.
If because of human frailty we think of heaven as rest, his spirit
corrects us. If in our partial understanding he seems to deserve release
from labor, yet for the very reason that he "wrought with tireless hand
through crowded days,"[22] we know in our moments of vision that for so
knightly a spirit the only possible reward is authority over ten cities.
From that kingdom of the spirit, he speaks to us across the abyss of
time, and nowhere is his voice stronger, his thought clearer than in the
first chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians. Here, forever sealed in
the enduring words of Saint Paul, is the heart of Frank Nelson's
ministry, a ministry valiant and without blemish:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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