As this month begins, we will be honored as a family to gather in Chicago once more in
our old home at 5258 N. Spaulding, now occupied by North Park University President
David Parkyn and his wife Linda, who earlier this year recommended, with board
approval, that it be renamed “Hawkinson House.” Since its building in the late 1920s, this marvelous two-flat has had only three owner- occupants, though many have rented its second floor and garden apartments over the years. We bought it from the Kron sisters, last members of the family that first built and occupied it. They were retiring to Covenant Village in Northbrook in 1966 as we were returning to Chicago to become editor-in-chief and four years later executive secretary of Covenant Publications. On leaving in 1995 we sold it to North Park University. Ever since it has been the President’s home.
The honor of giving it our family name really belongs more to our extended family than
to us. My father Eric and brother Zenos were stalwart professors in both college and seminary for over 30 years, and were central in faculty and administrative efforts to both move the former to its present accreditation as a four-year school and the latter to
full academic standing in the National Association of Theological Seminaries.
Shortly after our moving in one faculty member, after making his way on an errand
down Spaulding Avenue past Zenos and Barbara’s home to Foster Avenue and returning
by way on Christiana Avenue past Eric and Lydia’s two-flat, commented in jest while
passing by our place on his way home, "I don’t know. Three Hawkinson families on the
same block seem a bit much!"
Our family legacy, as the legacy of North Park and the Covenant itself, is surely communal. We are all a part of God’s larger family by grace, and none of us own it by ourselves. Praises will rise on the honoring day for the extended Hawkinson family, but we will sit light--as did our forebears—on the praise. For we are well aware that whatever we have been able to add to the North Park and Covenant stories is minor in comparison to what God has invested in us through them.
Our prayers are even now going up that he will bless all present and future occupants of
Hawkinson House, even as he blessed our families that once lived there or nearby. After
all, it is only his presence and blessing that make a house—mere brick and mortar-- into
a home to which one can repair at night and from which one can serve others.
Like Abraham, the father of us all--and our own great-grandfather Peter Abel, an
immigrant blacksmith and farmer--we know we have no lasting city here. Yet we are full of praise and hope as we keep moving with them toward the city that has eternal
foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
In that light, as the North Park University motto has it, quoting Scripture, we see light
(Psalm 36:9). And we pray for God’s continuing help to view the houses in which all of
us live as dwelling places for his Spirit and stations along life’s way for the renewal of
others.
October, 2009
James R Hawkinson
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For more reflections check My Blog.
Reflections on an Honor Given
Special Update FYI
Though it has taken time to get it right for your ordering convenience, you can now order any or all of the publications listed under the “Resources” tab by accessing that link and scrolling through its listings. Just click on the “Add to Cart” button for any items you want to order and when you are done click on submit order and you will be led through the Credit Card purchase process at Covenant Bookstore. For a fuller listing of all that is available there go to the Covenant Website and link to “Bookstore.” You may also access there the ”Covenant Resource Center,” where all other resources the Covenant has for you—including study materials for small groups—are available. Both links are at www.covchurch.org.
