The scene pictured here is an important part of Chautauqua Institution. It is a scale model of Palestine, with the Jordan River running through it. (Off to the left is Lake Chautauqua, which for this landscape model represents the Mediterranean Sea.)
Chautauqua was founded in 1874 as Chautauqua Lake Sunday School Assembly. It was at a time when college education was rare for ordinary folks, yet there was a hunger for learning. Two Methodist Church leaders envisioned Chautauqua as a place where dedicated Sunday School teachers could receive some education in a place that would provide "vacation learning." From the early days Chautauqua was ecumenical, with a program that ranged over academic subjects, music, art, and physical education. Chautauqua was a leader in early distance learning, forming the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, which to this day features a four-year correspondence course that is quite rigorous.
The founders of Chautauqua had their sights on a societal problem that they thought they could address: How best to use leisure time and avoid the growing availability of idle pastimes.
At Chautauqua in 2012 I found new meaning to the terms BUSINESS and RECREATION. Busy-ness or busi-ness can be consuming activity. Although we are at leisure, people at Chautauqua are busy. The calendar of daily offerings is more than one person can handle. As we pick and choose among activities, we each experience Chautauqua a different way. Recreation is also different. At Chautauqua I find re-creation, renewal.
Re-creation is also possible at home, and I'm going to try it. I'm also going to remember something I saw on a bumper sticker, something which is emblematic of the Chautauquan concerns of faith and thought. The bumper sticker said:
DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU THINK.
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