From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Tue Jan 5 00:17:57 1999 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 4 Jan 1999 19:17:57 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: Getting Rid of Your Wild Animals Message-ID: <199901041149_MC2-656E-9F2E@compuserve.com> Getting Rid of Your Wild Animals By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell January 3, 1999 No one can approach someone who keeps a leopard or a panther in his room, and lives safely with them because he feeds them, unless he has first removed those wild animals. True Christian Religion 331:1 Can there be any doubt about how dangerous a person King Saul was to be around? Saul could solemnly swears to his son Jonathon that David should not be killed and yet still hurl a spear at him while David sat before him playing music to soothe his mind. One chapter later I Samuel records that Saul also threw a spear at his son and heir, Jonathan, apparently because he was so angry at Jonathan's allegiance to David. When Saul interrogates Jonathan about David's whereabouts and Jonathon gives a gracious excuse, I Samuel records the following: Then Saul's anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, "You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Now therefore, send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die." And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, "Why should he be killed? What has he done?" Then Saul cast a spear at him to kill him, by which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David. (I Samuel 20:30-33) This relates a double attack on Jonathon. Before Saul's physical attack, there is the vicious verbal abuse of Jonathon's mother. One Biblical commentator observes about this abuse: A popular form of cursing was then, and is now, to berate a person's mother; hence the words your mother's nakedness, as though she were a prostitute or something of that sort. (The New Oxford Annotated Bible, pp 359-360) Saul was not a safe person to be around for many reasons. It is amazing that Jonathon accepts Saul's violent behavior as simply as he does. He seems to be more hurt and sad about how shamefully David has been treated than about the near escape he just had. It is easy to be thankful that we live in a place and age in the physical violence shown by Saul would not be tolerated by any truly sane person. But hurtful verbal abuse not far from that expressed by Saul is far too common. The Lord wants us to recognize that this is one of the expressions of the hells that He would warn us away from. Consider the familiar words from the Sermon on the Mount: You have heard that it was said to those of old, "You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment." But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, "Raca!" [or "You are an empty-headed person"] shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, "You fool!" [or "You are a godless person!"] shall be in danger of hell fire. (Matthew 5:21-22) Anger and its supporting thoughts is certainly one of the states of mind that nearly all human beings experience. This is one of the personal wild animals that the Lord would like to help us get rid of so that we can be safer and more useful human beings. This is what the Lord refers to in the True Christian Religion: No one can approach someone who keeps a leopard or a panther in his room, and lives safely with them because he feeds them, unless he has first removed those wild animals. (True Christian Religion 331:1) The Lord wants us to know and acknowledge a fundamental idea about all evil that exists within our motives and thoughts. It all comes from the influence of evil spirits within us. For example we are told: "evil in a person is what creates anger in him." (Arcana Caelestia 6071) There is a tendency to see expressions of evil within ourselves or others as coming from other sources. There can be a tendency to see them as being fundamentally caused by events in the past or present. If this were the case then anyone who experienced these events would have to be controlled by an anger produced from what had happened. But events don't produce anger by themselves. It is our reaction to the events that produces anger. A person could experience a substantial inconvenience and be furious or he could accept it as unfortunate but unavoidable. Some people can experience an apparent case of rudeness by another driver without being strongly upset, and some people experience it and become irritated, and a small percentage of people are filled with a true murderous rage. Another tendency in our thoughts about anger is that the fundamental problem with anger is that it is impolite or poor manners to directly express it. It was if we all operated by the rule that truly genteel people never express anything less than perfectly controlled speech. But this doesn't really address the fundamental problem. We know that a person can be terribly cruel and hurtful without raising his or her voice. A verbal knife can be poked into a person and turned while the source can have the sweetest smile on his or her face. The Lord wants us to fundamentally recognize a need to change with His help. We are told: Self-love and love of the world which belong to a person's will are nothing else than hatred. For insofar as anyone loves himself he hates the neighbor. Because these loves are so contrary to heavenly love, it is inevitable that such things as are contrary to mutual love should be constantly flowing in from them. All of those things [flowing into] the understanding part are false ideas, and from them arises all the obscurity and darkness that is there. (Arcana Caelestia 1047) Another passage on this subject is the following one: With people who have no charity there is unending contempt of others, that is, unending mockery of them. And as often as the occasion allows, errors are exposed. They are prevented from doing this openly solely by external restraints - by fear of the law, fear for their life, fear of losing their position, wealth, and reputation on account of these. Consequently they harbor such contempt inwardly, but outwardly produce a semblance of friendship to others. As a result of this they acquire two spheres, which are perceived clearly in the next life. The first, which is interior, is full of hatred; the second, which is exterior, is a mere semblance of good. And because these spheres are in complete disagreement, they inevitably conflict. This also is why when the exterior sphere is taken away from them so that they are not able to dissemble they rush into everything unspeakable. And when it is not taken away, the hatred, which is perceived, lurks in every word they speak. From this arise their punishments and torments. (Arcana Caelestia 1080) The Lord wants us to know and acknowledge that we need to change. He wants us to recognize the dangers to ourselves and others that our inherited tendencies to evil produce. He wants us to see the specific ways that these tendencies have hurt us and others. He wants us to acknowledge these to Him, ask for His help, and to do our part to not think or act on the results of this heredity. There is one very important way though in which the Lord doesn't want us to feel guilty due to the feelings and thoughts that first jump into our heads as a result of those feelings. There is the remarkable statement in the Writings of the New Church that perhaps you've heard before: If a person were to believe as things really are, which is that everything good and true comes from the Lord and everything evil and false from hell, he could not have been found guilty of any offence or had evil ascribed to himself. But because he believes that it begins in himself he takes evil as his own; for his belief causes this to happen. Thus evil clings and cannot be separated from him. (Arcana Caelestia 6324) The Lord wants to help us become better human beings. He wants us to see the dangers in our inherited patterns of values and thought. He encourages us to work together with Him to fight against their impact on our lives. As we face the milepost of another a new calendar year we can reflect on the patterns that have characterized our lives in the past and hopefully feel gratitude for some of the changes the Lord has already been able to bring about in our lives. We can also look forward with hope and trust to the future knowing that our efforts together with Lord will certainly bring about more changes for the better in the coming weeks and months. May we do our part with the sure trust that the Lord will do His. AMEN. Lessons: I Samuel 19:1-10 Evil and good cannot exist together, and in so far as evil is removed, good is sought and felt. This is because in the spiritual world the sphere of a person's love radiates from that person. This spreads around and affects others, making them to like or dislike the person. It is these spheres which effect the separation of the good from the wicked. There are many parallels in the natural world to show that evil must be removed before good is recognized, felt and loved. For instance, no one can approach someone who keeps a leopard or a panther in his room, and lives safely with them because he feeds them, unless he has first removed those wild animals. A person ought to purify himself of evils, and not wait for the Lord to do this for him directly, as can be seen by comparison with a servant coming in with his face and clothes filthy with soot and dung and going up to his master and saying: "Please wash me, Sir." Would not his master say to him: "What do you mean, you fool? Here are water, soap and a towel. Haven't you got hands and the ability to use them? Wash yourself." So the Lord God will say: "The means of purification I have given you, and your will and ability also are given by me; so use these gifts and talents of mine as if they were yours, and you will be purified," and so on. The Lord teaches us that the external person is to be cleansed, but by means of the internal True Christian Religion 331:1,4 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. From leewoof@tiac.net Sun Jan 10 20:24:18 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1999 20:24:18 +0000 Subject: SERMON: "New Every Year, New Every Morning," By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990110194049.00b284c0@pop.tiac.net> New Every Year, New Every Morning By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, January 10, 1999 New Year & Communion Readings: Lamentations 3:22-26: New compassions every morning Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, For his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is his faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; Therefore I will wait for him." The Lord is good to those who hope in him, To those who seek him; It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Luke 22:7-20: The new covenant Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover." "Where do you want us to prepare for it?" they asked. He replied, "As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there." They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover. When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God." After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you." Arcana Coelestia #8426.2: Evening and morning In the next life we go through cycles that are like the times of day in this world: morning, noon, evening, and night, and then morning again. Everyone in the spiritual world goes through changes in their state of mind. This makes it possible for them to be continually perfected. Without changes of state--meaning variations continually flowing one after another--we cannot be perfected. Like the times of day and the seasons of the year, the stages that follow one after another in order are never exactly the same when they come around again; rather, they are varied. The first stage corresponds to earth's morning, and is often symbolized by morning in the Bible. The last stage corresponds to evening, and it is often called "evening" in the Bible. It is morning when we are in a stage of love, and noon when we are in a stage of light or truth. But it is evening when we are in a stage of obscurity about truth and when we have cooled off toward goodness, since in this stage we are governed by the pleasures of our material loves. Sermon: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is his faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22, 23) We are already a week and a half into 1999, but since church was canceled last week due to an ice storm that never materialized, this is the first chance I have to say: Happy New Year! It is a tradition in this church to celebrate the Sacrament of Communion on the first Sunday of the year. We do celebrate Communion on Palm Sunday, which is appropriate since that is the time it was originally instituted: just before the Lord's crucifixion and resurrection. But our reading from the Gospel of Luke gives us a hint that the beginning of a new year is also an appropriate time to celebrate communion. When Jesus shared the cup with his disciples, he said "this cup is the _new_ covenant in my blood." Although we call that first communion meal the _Last_ Supper, it was also the start of the new covenant--a covenant that began a new church: the Christian Church. And so, here in our Gospel story, we have the old giving way to the new, just as the old year is now giving way to the new. This reminds us that in spiritual things, as in nature, there are cycles of old and new, cycles of summer and winter, cycles of day and night. As Swedenborg tells us, God created the world that way because we humans need cycles in order to grow spiritually. We need our spiritual times of warming up and cooling off, of seeing clearly and of groping around in the dark. And even though it sometimes seems as if we are going around in circles, if we are growing spiritually, each new year and each new day brings us a little farther along our path toward heavenly community. I've been going through an experience in the last few days and weeks that illustrates for me the renewal of old giving way to new. A few months ago, I came to the conclusion that my eight-year-old computer simply couldn't keep up anymore. I had souped it up about as much as possible, but it was coming to the end of the upgrade road. There was no getting around it: this old computer was slowing down my work. So I ordered a new one, which arrived about a month and half ago. At first I had a few problems getting the new computer set up the way I wanted it, but for the most part it went fairly smoothly. However, getting the old computer set up for the rest of the family to use was a different story. There was eight years worth accumulated treasures and trash on the computer's hard drives, and I decided it would be best to make a clean start. So after copying all the files on the old computer to the new one, I erased everything on the old computer and started over from scratch. And then the problems began. I won't bore you with the details--there's nothing worse than being a captive audience obliged to listen to a lot of computer talk! Let's just say that the moment I started setting things up again on the old computer, Murphy's Law went into overdrive. I don't know how many times I opened up the computer case to fix something, or how many times I reinstalled the same program I had already installed before. Like the cycles of day and night, summer and winter, it seemed as if I kept doing things over and over again. There were several times when I could have very happily picked up the whole computer and thrown it bodily into the trash can! But you know, each time I installed something yet again, I got a little bit better at it. As I went along I learned new things, and re-learned things I had once known but had forgotten. As a result, the computer's setup was getting better and better each time. I still have a lot of work to do on that computer; it is a work in progress. But I'm getting there. Each one of us is a work in progress, too. Sometimes, when we have headed down the wrong path, or have simply gone as far as a particular path in life is going to take us, we need to wipe the slate clean and start over again. And when we face our times of ending the old and starting over again with a new, it is nice to know that there is someone with us as we make these new beginnings--someone far wiser in the ways of human beings than I am in the ways of computers. There is someone we can turn to who will help us avoid so many of the mistakes we might otherwise make. We read in Lamentations: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is his faithfulness. When I had a problem that I simply couldn't figure out while I was reinstalling the computer, I called technical support. When we have problems making are new _spiritual_ beginnings, we have an even better technical support line: we have a direct line to the Lord through the Bible and through prayer. With technical support, the line might be busy, or we may have to wait and wait on hold, or we may have a problem after hours when tech support isn't open. But as our text tells us, the Lord's compassions _never_ fail. The Lord will carry us right through the night if we need it, and then, even though _we_ may be exhausted, the Lord's compassions will be new each morning. And so we continue in Lamentations: I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The Lord is good to those who hope in him, to those who seek him. We all have our times of emotional winter, our periods of spiritual midnight. When we are in the middle of those times we may sometimes feel ready to give up and give in. But one of the nice things about the cycles of life is that after we have gone through them time and time again, we begin to have faith that the morning _will_ come, that our winter of struggle and hardship _will_ give way to the spring of new hope and new life. At the same time, our emotional winters are tempered by the memory of past springs, and our experience of the Lord's presence with us in times past gives us new hope in the present. We are able to call on the Lord with a certain confidence that he will help us through this passage as well. We know that the Lord is good to those who seek him. And so we can echo the words of Lamentations: It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of Lord. In all of our winters and summers, all of our nights in days, all of our endings and new beginnings, we have the consolation, the hope, and the joy of knowing that we are gaining something truly new. In each of our cycles, both the small and large, we learn a little, we grow a little, we gain a little more understanding of one another, we become more able to love one another. And through it all, as our days and our seasons come and go, we are setting aside those old and worn out parts of ourselves, and with the Lord's help, we are becoming a new person. This is what the new year and the new covenant of communion are all about: renewing our spirits and our lives in the image of the Lord's love, wisdom, and kindness. Amen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From leewoof@tiac.net Mon Jan 18 00:40:28 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 17 Jan 1999 19:40:28 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Reviving the Spirit," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990117183618.00acd980@pop.tiac.net> Reviving the Spirit By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, January 17, 1999 Martin Luther King Day Words of Welcome Good morning! Once again I'd like to welcome you to our service this morning. I must tell you that the whole time I was preparing today's service, I was humming and singing the songs we'll be singing today. In fact, I've been humming and singing ever since I attended a revival at the Faith Chapel Assemblies of God Church here in Bridgewater on Monday. I have always wanted to attend a revival, and even though the experience was very different from what goes on in our faith tradition, I enjoyed the spiritual power that was present in the revival service. Today I'd like to bring a little bit of that spirit into our church. Don't worry, I promise I won't speak in tongues! My conversational Latin is getting rusty anyway. However, even though we have a different view of some of the Biblical prophecies than our Pentecostal brothers and sisters, we have plenty of reason to celebrate the power and the joy of God's spirit moving in our church. Now that we are in the winter season, when our spirit is often at a low ebb, it is a good time to revive our spirit by remembering the divine source of our faith, and by opening ourselves up to the spirit of God moving among us. And so today, in this special service, we are going to get the spirit moving in our church! Later in a service the children will help us to revive our spirits. And I hope that by the time you head home today, you will have something to hum and sing about. Meanwhile, please open your spirits and your hearts to experience something of the power of God's spirit speaking in his Holy Word. I am going to read to the last chapter of the book of the prophet Habakkuk. This is a prayer of praise for God's power in bringing about justice and righteousness in times of oppression and sorrow. Habakkuk lived in a dark time of wars and empires; the stark, even violent imagery of his prayer reflects that. On a purely literal level this prayer is a difficult one for our modern sensibilities to hear. So as you listen to this prayer, when it speaks of plagues and pestilence, swords and destruction, it may help if you raise your mind above these earthly calamities, and think instead of the calamities that you have experienced in your own soul: the times of pain and loss, the times of conflict and despair, the times when you were ready to give up hope. And as the physical calamities described in the prayer call up these spiritual struggles in your soul, feel the even greater power of God moving within you to overcome through the power of the spirit all that would otherwise overwhelm you. Feel the tremendous power of God's spirit, at first bringing discomfort, uncertainty, and perhaps even fear as you confront the changes that you may need to make in your attitudes, the difficult issues you may need to face, and the adjustments that may be necessary in your way of living. And then, feel that same power of the spirit bringing comfort, new purpose, and new joy into your life. Habakkuk 3:1-19: A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden. Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps. He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal. I saw the tents of Cushan in distress, the dwellings of Midian in anguish. Were you angry with the rivers, O Lord? Was your wrath against the streams? Did you rage against the sea when you rode with your horses and your victorious chariots? You uncovered your bow, you called for many arrows. You split the earth with rivers; the mountains saw you and writhed. Torrents of water swept by; the deep roared and lifted its waves on high. Sun and moon stood still in the heavens at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lightning of your flashing spear. In wrath you strode through the earth and in anger you threshed the nations. You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one. You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness, you stripped him from head to foot. With his own spear you pierced his head when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as though about to devour the wretched who were in hiding. You trampled the sea with your horses, churning the great waters. I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen nor cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Lord Almighty is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights. The Power of the Lord our God When I read this passage, I feel a tingling in my spine at the power of the words. There are great forces at work: forces of destruction, disease, and depression arrayed against us, and even greater and more powerful forces of truth and justice, hope and love overcoming all that is evil and destructive. All of these forces are far greater than we finite human beings can handle. If we had to take them on alone, we would have no more chance than if we were to jump into the cone of an active volcano, or fly a spaceship directly into the sun. Sometimes we feel that way about the forces we face in our lives. Sometimes the forces of financial reality press in on us, and we struggle and wonder whether we will be able to keep a roof over our heads; whether we will be able to take care of our families. Sometimes the forces of physical sickness press in on us, and we struggle through setbacks in our health, trips to the hospital, through pain and discouraging limitations in what our bodies can do. Sometimes the forces of emotional upheaval press in on us, as relationships with our loved ones become strained or we lose someone we care very deeply about. Sometimes we feel that we will not make it through--that we will be crushed by life's load. And then we read passages like this one from Habakkuk, and we realize once again that the power of God's spirit is more powerful than even the strongest and most frightening of those evil influences on our lives. We realize that whatever may happen to us financially, whatever may happen to us physically, whatever may happen to us emotionally, we have an infinitely powerful friend to turn to who can help us _spiritually through all the challenges and struggles we face. Our Evangelical brothers and sisters see this power manifested in physical healings, in speaking in tongues, and in other outward signs and wonders. Personally, I do not discount those things. Of course, there are plenty of "spiritual healers" out there who are simply out to make a name--or a buck--for themselves. Still, I believe that the Lord is every bit as able now as he was in Biblical times to work miracles on the physical as well as the spiritual level of existence. Wherever there is faith in the Lord and in his ability to bring about what would be impossible for mere human beings, there is the potential for wonders of healing. And yet, these physical signs and wonders count for little by themselves. Our bodies may last seventy, eighty, ninety, or even a hundred years; our spirits last _forever_. It is good to heal the body; it is far better to heal the soul. The purpose of this physical world and the purpose of our physical bodies is to serve as vessels of the spirit of God. Our bodies are meant to be tools in our hands as we build God's kingdom within us and around us. Each one of us has been created to be a vessel of the Holy Spirit, spreading the love and light of God to all the people around us. Let us rise now and express our longing and our thankfulness for that spirit of God. Responsive Reading: Psalm 51:10-17 Hymn: Amazing Grace Matthew 10:5-20: Jesus sends out the twelve Jesus sent out the twelve disciples with these instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals, or a staff; for workers deserve their food. "Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as wise as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard against people; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. Because of me, you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you." Living in the Spirit This reading from Matthew both promises and illustrates the power that can be within each one of us if we are willing to live from the spirit of God--if we are willing to give our lives over to the purposes that God has in mind for us. We may not personally face some of the dangers and persecutions that the Lord's disciples did. But we can be inspired both by the disciples and by present-day disciples of the Lord who have faced the powers of this world and have overcome through the spirit. One of those disciples who is a continual inspiration to me and to millions of others is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose faith and power we celebrate tomorrow with a national holiday in his name. I remember the first time I listened to Martin Luther King giving his "I Have A Dream" speech. I wish I could say that I was there with the crowd, or even listened to it as it was given. But I was a bit young at the time. Instead, I watched it for the first time on video in a carrel in the audio-visual department of the Western Washington University Library. There could hardly have been a less inspiring setting. Institutional chairs and furniture, headphones, and a small-screen TV. But as I watched and listened, the words stirred me to my soul. The power of God's spirit speaking and working through that spirit-filled human being leaped out from the poor and scratchy rendition in that little cubicle. It is the same power of the spirit that can shine out in our lives--lives that often seem poor and scratchy themselves in comparison with great historical figures like Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, and Mother Theresa. Some people may be destined to show forth God's spirit in great and world-changing ways. They are called by God. But we are also called by God to show forth God's spirit in our own ways, and among our own people. We are sent out in this world by God, and if we will open our hearts and minds to the Lord, then the Lord will give _us_ the words to say and the things to do to express the spirit of God's love and understanding to the people around us. Let us open our hearts and minds now as we turn to the Lord in prayer. Prayers for the Gift of the Spirit Faith: An Experience of the Whole Person As we move along in this service, we will use more than our vocal chords to express the Lord's spirit in our church. The children will help us to get the rest of our bodies involved in expressing the joy and power of the spirit. Sometimes we adults _need_ children to get us fully involved, body and soul, in the goodness of the life that God gives us. We tend to think that faith is a matter of mind and perhaps even heart; children know, not intellectually, but physically that what is in their minds and hearts _must_ be expressed in their bodies. Faith--real faith that comes from the power of the spirit--is an experience of the whole person. Emanuel Swedenborg, who gave us the basic theology of our Swedenborgian faith, knew that religion and faith must involve our whole selves: heart, mind, and outward action. I would like to share with you a brief reading from Swedenborg's book _Apocalypse Explained_ about spiritual power as it is expressed in our bodies. Apocalypse Explained #79: Spiritual Power Our body expresses all of its power through our hands. Because of this, whatever our mind wants our body to do, our arms and hands do it. This is why in the Bible, "arms" and "hands" symbolize power. But this kind of power is material power; when we exercise it, it is the action of our physical abilities. Spiritual power is wanting good things for other people, and wanting to give to others what is our own as much as we are able. Spiritually, our hands represent this kind of power--and touching someone with our hands means communicating and passing on this power to another person. The Healing and Attracting Power of the Spirit There _is_ tremendous power in our hands--probably much more than we realize. Our feet may get us places, but when we get there, it is our hands that do whatever our feet carried us there for. We also express our deepest and most gut-level feelings toward others through our hands. Uncontrolled anger, rage, and frustration are all too often expressed in physical violence against others. Our hands can become weapons to inflict pain and even death on another person. This is an expression of the power of hell working through human hands. But our hands can also express the tenderest of love and thoughtfulness for others. We show others through a hug, a touch, a pat on the back that we care about them, that we love them and value them as people. Or we use our hands to make something that we know another person will enjoy, and we express our love in that way. Every day we use our hands to do our jobs, contributing our ideas and energy to the people of our communities in a thoughtful and useful way. When we express the spirit of God through our hands in these and many other ways, there is healing in our touch. There is healing for those who receive the hug or the pat on the back, for those who receive the gift we have made, or who benefit from the work that we are doing. As we express God's spirit in our lives, we are building day by day the kingdom of God both within ourselves and among the people in our families and our communities. We bring about new strength and new growth both in ourselves and in others--and that strength is physical and spiritual at the same time. And when we live from the power of God's spirit, there is an even greater effect than healing, as wonderful as that is. There is a tremendous _attractive_ power in the spirit of God working through our lives. That attractive power is the power of God's love, which brings people closer to each other and to God wherever it is expressed. When we express God's love to the people around us, we draw them closer to us--and more often than not, they respond by opening up their hearts to us as well. If we show others the love that comes into our souls from God, then whenever we bring people together we are also bringing people closer to God. God is love; and wherever love is expressed, God's Holy Spirit is coming into our world with power and joy. Amen. From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Tue Jan 19 16:10:18 1999 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 19 Jan 1999 11:10:18 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: Every Tree is Known by Its Fruit Message-ID: <199901191107_MC2-672E-2837@compuserve.com> Every Tree is Known by Its Fruit By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell January 17, 1999 A good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. (Luke (Luke 6:43-44) How are we guided by the Lord from the mis-impressions and tainted motives of our natural heredity to the wisdom and love of a genuinely good life? One key answer is that we need to learn what the Lord teaches in His Word. We need to learn and we need to consciously work to make different choices from many that come naturally to us. We need to ask the Lord's help in this work. We need to pray that the light of heaven shine upon our minds. We also need to pay attention to the fruits of our present motives and ideas. We cannot, of course, judge what is genuinely good and true from our own perspective. We can learn this even in natural issues. Over and over again a person can make a choice based on a superficial impression of something. He can be at a restaurant, see a dish being served at another table, think to himself, "That looks good," order it only to discover that he really doesn't like how it tastes. It looked good, but didn't taste good. A person can be hired for a job based on her impressive resume and interview, but turn out to be a very difficult person to work with and a poisoning influence in the office environment. A gesture of good will and courtesy can backfire because the recipient feels demeaned by it. Some people have seen so little pattern to life that they rarely reflect or put much effort into their decision-making because it doesn't seem to make a difference whether they try to make an informed decision or not. There can be many reasons why a person gets this state. Consider the lot of the young child growing up with a mother who is an active alcoholic. Sometimes she will be truly attentive and wisely loving. Sometimes she may be very easy-going and ready to laugh no matter what the child does. Sometimes she will be grumpy and irritable at the slightest sound or intrusion on hung-over state of mind. Such a child will have a very difficult time making sense of life at first. Eventually the child may grow enough to recognize that his mother often isn't really herself and that her highs and lows have pattern that has little to do with him and his behavior. Once he sees this, then he can start making some sense of his own choices and behavior. Until then he will be trying as hard as he can to see how his behavior by itself causes his mothers response, even though this is an impossible task. The reality is that all of us have a hard time at the beginning of our spiritual journey knowing what is genuinely good and true. It isn't merely a matter of learning. Consider the implications of the following passage from the Arcana Caelestia: Facts are indeed a means towards becoming wise, but they can also be a means towards becoming insane. For people who are leading a good life facts are a means to becoming wise, but for those leading an evil life they are a means to becoming insane since they use facts to support not only a life of evil but also false assumptions, which they do arrogantly and convincingly because they believe that they are wiser than others. This leads to the destruction of their rational. It is not the person who is able to reason from facts, doing so sometimes in a seemingly more masterly way than others, who is endowed with rationality. This skill which he possesses is the product of a wholly illusory light. But that person has the proper gift of rationality who is able to see clearly that good is good and truth is truth, and as a consequence that evil is evil and falsity is falsity. But anyone who looks on good as evil and on evil as good, and who also looks on truth as falsity and falsity as truth, cannot in any sense be called rational, but rather irrational, no matter how capable he is at reasoning. With the person who sees clearly that good is good and that truth is truth, and conversely that evil is evil and falsity is falsity, there is light flowing in from heaven and enlightening the area of his understanding and causing reasons which he sees with the understanding to be just so many rays of that light. The same light also gives light to facts so that they serve to support those reasons, besides imposing order and the heavenly form on such facts. People however who stand opposed to good and truth, as all do who are leading an evil life, do not allow that heavenly light in. Instead they take delight solely in their own illusory light, whose nature is such that one sees things rather like a person in the dark who sees streaks on a wall, and is deluded into making all kinds of shapes out of them, when yet they are not shapes, for as daylight falls on them they are seen to be merely streaks. From all this it may be seen that facts are a means to becoming wise and also a means to becoming insane; that is, that they are a means to perfecting the rational or else a means to destroying it. (Arcana Caelestia 4156:2-4) The light that is spoken of in this passage is the light of heaven that flows into a person's mind whose is willing to receive it. Such a person has consciously worked on shunning evils as sins asking the Lord's help in this work. Such an individual is said to have his internal person open to heaven and the Lord as following passage: Those human beings whose internal person is closed have no knowledge of the existence of the internal person; nor do they believe in the reality of heaven and of eternal life. And what is astonishing, those people even suppose that they are wiser than others in their thinking; for they love themselves and what is their own, and adore it. It is different with those whose internal person is opened towards heaven, all the way to the Lord. They live in the light of heaven and so depend for their enlightenment on the Lord, whereas the former do not live in the light of heaven but in the light of the world and so depend for their enlightenment on themselves. Those who depend on themselves for enlightenment and not on the Lord see falsity as truth and evil as good. Arcana Caelestia 9709. People who depend on their own intelligence separate from the Lord are like Adam and Eve eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They believe that their own unaided senses can tell them what is right and wrong. By themselves such people tend to place way too much emphasis on what is good for themselves alone and not so much considering the welfare of others. They tend to place way too much emphasis on worldly goals and possessions and give little consideration to spiritual issues. This problem has plagued the human race through out its history as reflected in the following passage taken from the Arcana Caelestia's commentary on the story of Adam and Eve eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The evil of the Most Ancient Church which existed before the flood, as well as that of the Ancient Church after the flood, and also that of the Jewish Church, and subsequently the evil of the new church, or church of the Gentiles, after the coming of the Lord, and also that of the church of the present day, was and is that they do not believe the Lord or the Word, but themselves and their own senses. Hence there is no faith, and where there is no faith there is no love of the neighbor, consequently all is false and evil. (Arcana Caelestia 231) But the Lord doesn't want us to forever blindly obey our first understanding of what He teaches. There are many situations that we face in life that don't have direct answers given to us in the pages of Divine revelation. The Lord expects us to learn the ideas, principles, and commandments that He teaches us and He expects us to grow in our understanding of how to live according to them. At first there will be things that we think are evil that are really good and there will be things that we think are good but which are really evil. But if we are watching to see the patterns that the Lord can open our eyes to we will recognize that some of the ways we are inclined to be helpful aren't really helpful at all in the long run. Some of the words and behaviors that we might be inclined to think are nice things to do, don't turn out to be nice in the long run. For example there are ways that parents can try to protect their children from problems and hurt that in the long run leave their children far too incapable of caring for themselves. On the other extreme there are ways that parents can allow their children to experience disorder and problems, without any effort to influence them. These disorders and problems can do their children tremendous harm. A parent can be too protective and can be too permissive. And what makes this even more difficult is that appropriate protectiveness and permissiveness varies as a child grows older and also varies from child to child. How is a parent supposed to know what to do? Part of the answer will come from the person learning from the Lord, part from recognizing the imperfect and hurtful motivations and ideas that can divert us from doing what is most useful, part from paying attention, not just to the initial results of our actions, but rather to the broad pattern of results over time. The Lord calls us to bear fruit in our lives. This fruit is the good that our lives bring forth in thought, word, and deed. This fruitfulness of good in our life is the most important feature of who we are as human beings as reflected in the following passage: The Lord flows in with a person through good, and arranges truths into order through it, but not vice versa; and to the extent that truths are arranged into order through good, evils and falsities are removed. Various places in the Word liken a person to a tree; and in those places his truths of faith are meant by "the leaves", and forms of the good of love by "the fruit." From this it is evident not only that 'becoming fruitful' means the increase of good but also that the most important feature of a person is good, just as the most important feature of a tree is the fruit. The leaves, it is true, grow first, but they do so for the sake of the fruit as the end in view. (Arcana Caelestia 9337) The Lord wants us to grow in love and wisdom from Him. He wants us to have ever more fruitful lives. This fruitfulness will be a blessing to all with whom our lives come in contact. It will also be the source of heavenly blessings for us as we reflect in gratitude to the Lord that we've been able to make a difference for good for others. AMEN. Lessons: Luke 6:39-45 In every deed which proceeds from a person his whole nature is fully present, as regards his mind, or essential character. By mind is meant the affection of his love and his thought from this; these form his nature and, in general terms, his life. If we consider deeds in this way, they are so to speak mirrors reflecting the person. This can be illustrated by similar facts about animals and wild beasts: an animal is an animal, and a wild beast is a wild beast, in every one of its acts. A wolf is a wolf in every one of its acts, a tiger is a tiger in every one of its, a fox is a fox in every one of its, and a lion is a lion in every one of its. Likewise a sheep and a kid in all of their acts. The same is true of man, but his nature is such as it is in the internal man. If in this he is like a wolf or a fox, every internal deed of his is wolf-like or fox-like; and on the other hand the same is true if he is like a sheep or a lamb. But the fact that he is like this in every one of his deeds is not plain in his external man, for this can be twisted round the internal, although this character lies concealed within. True Christian Religion 373 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. From leewoof@tiac.net Mon Jan 25 02:25:17 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 25 Jan 1999 02:25:17 -0000 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Doing Dishes," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990124211231.00b5e870@pop.tiac.net> Doing Dishes By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, January 24, 1999 Readings: Exodus 30:17-21: The basin for washing Then the Lord said to Moses, "Make a bronze basin, with its bronze stand, for washing. Place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it. Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it. Whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting an offering made to the Lord by fire, they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come." Matthew 23:23-26: How to wash dishes "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill, and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will also be clean." Arcana Coelestia #5120.6: Washing the inside of the cup In the Bible's inner meaning, a cup stands for the true ideas in our faith. If we cultivate these ideas without the goodness that goes with them, we are "cleaning the outside of the cup"--especially when there are hypocrisy, deception, hatred, revenge, and cruelty inside of us. When we are like this, our faith is only in our outward self, and not at all in our inner self. But when we cultivate and become filled with the _goodness_ of faith, then truth is united with goodness in our inner self, even when we have accepted mistaken ideas. This is what it means to "first clean the inside of the cup, and the outside will also be clean." Sermon: First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will also be clean. (Matt. 23:26) Today's theme, "Doing Dishes," came to me one evening last week when I was . . . doing dishes. We had spaghetti for supper that night--which can be quite exciting with a three-year-old and a nearly two-year-old! So there I was, standing at the sink after supper. Some of the dishes were piled up in the sink, and the rest were on the kitchen table (where our family eats our meals), or scattered around on various countertops. I washed what was already in the sink, and then began to work my way outward through the kitchen, gathering and cleaning the various plates, cups, bowls, and silverware. The moment I laid eyes on Caleb's post-spaghetti bowl, I knew the text for my sermon: "First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will also be clean." As I looked at that bowl, I said to myself, "Obviously, Jesus never did the dishes for my two boys!" Yes, the bowl had the remains of Caleb's spaghetti on the inside, and I _would_ have to wash the inside of it. But that bowl also had spaghetti sauce on the _outside_. It even had spaghetti sauce on the _bottom_. And there were distinct signs of spaghetti on a one foot radius of table top around where Caleb was sitting--not to mention on his chair and on the floor underneath. Let me tell you, I had a lot more to clean than the inside of that bowl! Well . . . some of us are messier eaters than others. Chris, at 31/2, does a much better job of keeping the food either in the bowl or in his mouth--though his accuracy is not 100%! Heidi (9) has long since perfected the art of keeping the mess on the inside of the cup and dish. This is a long way of saying that as we grow up, we gradually learn to contain our messes so that there is not so much cleaning up to do. Or at least, that's the idea. Heidi can still do a great job of scattering various projects throughout the entire house. And now that I've brought it up, I must confess that my study is not the tidiest room in the house. Still, whether we are neatniks or like to arrange our things in piles all over the place, by this time most of us are pretty good at keeping the outside of the cup and dish clean while we are eating. Jesus was speaking to an adult audience--the Scribes and Pharisees. And when we are washing dishes for adults, we do indeed mainly have to wash the inside of the dishes for them to be entirely clean--perhaps giving the outside a quick once-over just to be sure. Of course, Jesus wasn't really talking about doing dishes at all. The genius of his teaching was that he took common, everyday activities such as doing dishes, and used them to illustrate the deeper issues of spiritual life. Our mind holds onto the concrete image of washing cups and plates, helping our spirits to hold onto insights that can help us to live in a more thoughtful and constructive way. If we can build up these associations of everyday tasks with the everyday tasks of the spirit, then none of our daily activities--even the menial and repetitive ones like doing dishes--will be a waste of time for us, because as we are doing those dishes, we will be growing spiritually as we do our _inner_ dishes as well. So let's take a deeper look at dishwashing and see what help we can get from the Lord's words about it. What does it mean to do the dishes spiritually? To get our minds steered toward some answers to this question, let's go back to our reading from Exodus. The passage we read is a snippet from a much longer section of over a dozen chapters describing the way the ancient Jewish Tabernacle (a sort of portable temple) was to be set up... Let's read the section on the basin for washing again: Then the Lord said to Moses, "Make a bronze basin, with its bronze stand, for washing. Place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it. Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it. Whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting an offering made to the Lord by fire, they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come." Earlier in the week, some of you noticed the sermon topic out on the Wayside Pulpit, and we were joking that for this service we could have ushers standing at the doors handing out basins of soapy water. Well . . . in some ways that would be appropriate. After all, as we just read in Exodus, the ancient Jewish people had a wash basin in _their_ church! As a matter of fact, we already do have a wash basin in our church. But we call it by a much fancier name. Our wash basin is our baptismal font, which dutifully keeps its post on the lower level of our chancel week in and week out. Of course, we don't use the baptismal font for washing dishes! The point is, the symbolic act of washing holds an honored position in our church's ritual and life. In fact, the sacrament of baptism, which is a ritual of washing, is the way Christians welcome newcomers to our faith--whether they are infants, children, teenagers, or adults. There is something about the act of _spiritual_ washing that is so important that we re-enact it symbolically whenever someone enters our faith. As Swedenborgians, when we wish to understand the meanings of Christian rituals, we turn to Emanuel Swedenborg's teachings about "correspondences"--that living symbolism that describes how spiritual realities manifest themselves in physical objects and events. When it comes to rituals of washing, the spiritual meaning is clear. Just as we must wash our bodies regularly to get the dirt and sweat and smell off of ourselves, we must also regularly wash our _spirits_ by using the water of spiritual truth to purify ourselves of any faulty attitudes or mistaken notions that we may have picked up along the way, and that cling to us just as dirt and sweat cling to our bodies. Getting back to the dishes, when we do the dishes we use water (and soap) to wash the remains of our dinner off the dishes so that they will be clean for the next time we use them. Doing the dishes may seem to be a waste of time day after day. But just think what would happen if we _didn't_ do the dishes. If the leftover food stayed nice and fresh on our plates and in our bowls, it might not be so much of an issue. But have you ever come across a bowl or plate of something that was forgotten in some out-of-the-way corner of the house--or of the refrigerator? Ugh! Sometimes it's so bad that you just want to throw it away dish and all, and be done with it! When it comes to dishes, the result of not washing regularly is all sorts of mold and rot too fierce to mention. The very same thing happens to us emotionally if we never bother to do our spiritual dishes. Spiritually, our cups and dishes are those everyday ideas that we use to help us nourish our souls. A good example of a spiritual dish would be the Golden Rule: "Do unto others what you would have them do unto you." This is an idea that we can live by every day. And it is an idea that _contains good things_, just as a cup or bowl contains the good things we eat. What are the good things we would like people to do for us? Most of them are simple: a kind and supportive word when we're feeling down; a friendly, listening ear when we have something on our mind; a bit of help on that project around the house that we haven't been looking forward to; maybe even some help with the dishes! These are some of the spiritual foods of human kindness that we can heap onto the plate of the Golden Rule, to serve up a meal that nourishes our own souls and the souls of those around us. And yet, each time we enjoy these meals of human kindness with one another, there is a bit of messiness left behind. Perhaps when we lent that helping hand, we patted ourselves on the back saying, "What a good boy am I." Perhaps when we lent that listening ear, we were a little too sure that we had all the answers to the other person's problems, and gave advice instead of giving sympathy. Perhaps when we offered that kind word or did that kind deed, we mentally filed it away, noting that now that person owes us one in return. We're all human. We all have mistaken attitudes that cling to our spiritual dishes like the sauce and bits of noodle after a spaghetti dinner. Just as we need to wash the dishes after each meal, we also have to wash our _spiritual_ dishes daily to keep all that fierce psychological mold and fungus from growing inside us--the mold of creeping self-righteousness and the fungus of pride and insensitivity. Each time start mentally building up those brownie points for all the good things we've done today, we need to quickly wash our spiritual dishes. Each time we start feeling resentful because nobody is doing for us what we're doing for them, we need to wash our spiritual dishes. Each time we start thinking _we_ know what's best for the people around us, we need to wash our spiritual dishes. Yes, it's a bit of a chore to keep on using the water of our spiritual beliefs day in and day out to wash away those less-than-noble attitudes that regularly flit through our heads. It's a bit of a chore to do the dishes each day. But let's remember what those dishes do for us day after day: they enable us to feed our bodies so that we can do our work, pursue our goals, and be with our loved ones. Doing our spiritual dishes may seem like a chore; but keeping our attitudes fresh and clean each day is what enables us to continue toward our _spiritual_ goals. Doing our spiritual dishes helps us to keep our minds and hearts fed each day with fresh and nourishing spiritual foods of thoughtfulness and kindness, so that we can move toward our goals of useful service and loving relationships with each other and with God. Amen. From leewoof@tiac.net Mon Feb 8 02:23:08 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 7 Feb 1999 21:23:08 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Paradigm Shift," By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990207193026.00aa2970@pop.tiac.net> Paradigm Shift By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, February 7, 1999 Readings: Psalm 98: Sing to the Lord a new song Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The Lord has made his salvation known, and revealed his righteousness to the nations. He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; Make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, With trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn-- shout for joy before the Lord, the King. Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; Let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity. Revelation 21:1-5 I am making everything new! Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with people, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, "Look! I am making everything new!" True Christian Religion #784 A new religion, inward & outward It fits into to the divine pattern for a new heaven to be formed before a new religion is formed on earth. Religion is both inward and outward. Inward religion goes together with the religion in heaven, and therefore with heaven itself. Inner things must be formed before the outward things that go with them, since outward things are formed afterwards from the inward ones. . . . The religion inside of us is made from what is in the new heaven. As much as the new heaven grows, the New Jerusalem, meaning a new religion, comes down from it. This cannot happen in a moment. But it does happen as the false beliefs of the previous religion are banished. . . . This is why the Lord said: No one pours new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out, and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. (Matthew 9:17) Sermon: Look! I am making everything new! (Revelation 21:5) We call ourselves "The New Jerusalem Church." The New Jerusalem. That gleaming city coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. The New Jerusalem. A city whose wall is made of jasper, and whose streets and buildings are of pure gold, as pure as glass. The New Jerusalem. Whose foundations are decorated with every kind of precious stone, and whose twelve gates are each made of a single pearl. It is a city that has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it, for it is brilliantly lit by the glory of God. This is the name that we have chosen for our church. We often think of this name and all that it represents as a privilege the Lord has given to us. We think of the tremendously illuminating and freeing truths of the new Jerusalem, and count ourselves blessed to have those truths available to us. We think of the enlightening and freeing power of being able to see deep into the spiritual meaning of the Bible, giving us an amazing, divinely inspired road map for our lives. We think of the clear and comforting teachings of our church about heaven in hell, and what awaits us when we die. And we think especially of the wonderful teaching that God is a God of pure love--a God who loves _all_ people regardless of race or nationality, regardless of religion or creed. And we are, indeed, very blessed have these teachings. And yet, I wonder if we realize what an awesome _responsibility_ it is to bear the name of the New Jerusalem. . . . This morning I would like to talk about shifting our paradigm; about changing the way we perceive things. And one paradigm shift that is absolutely essential for us, both as individuals and as the church, is that we see the wonderful gifts that Lord has given to us in the teachings of the New Jerusalem, not as a privilege, but as a responsibility. A privilege is something that makes us _better_ than other people; a privilege gives us special status, a special advantage, special rights. But we are _not_ better than other people--not in God's eyes. From a divine and spiritual perspective, no one has special status. We all have equal access to God; we all have equal access to heaven; we are all equally loved and treasured by God. The wonderful teachings that we have been gifted with do not give us any special privilege or status with God. But our teachings do give us a special responsibility. They give us a responsibility to learn what our church teaches; to accept it and appreciate it deep in our heart. And especially, they give us a responsibility to put what we learn into practice every day of our lives. There is a popular idea that God's gifts have no strings attached. In one sense this is true: God's love is unconditional. We do not have to do anything to earn it, and God will give it to us no matter what we do. In fact, if God did not love us every second, we would instantly cease to exist. We are _made_ of God's love. But in another sense, there _are_ strings attached to God's gifts. And the most basic of these strings is simply this: use it or lose it. If we do not accept God's love willingly by showing the same love to others, the love will be there for us, but it won't do us any good. If we do not _use_ the true ideas that we learn here in church and from our own reading and study and experience--if we do not use them as guides and patterns for daily living--then those wonderful truths will be relegated to our memory, where they will slowly fade away, doing us no good whatsoever. Paradigm shift. We call ourselves the _New_ Jerusalem Church. What does that mean? In the description of the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven, the one sitting on the throne says "Look! I am making everything new!" What is new about the New Jerusalem? And what does it mean for us? At the time management seminar that this church sent me to the few weeks ago, I picked up several sets of audio tapes that the speaker recommended, and that I thought would be helpful to me in my work for this church. One of them is called _The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People_, by Dr. Stephen R. Covey. So far, I have listened to two of the six tapes, and I have found them very thought-provoking--and quite harmonious with the teachings our church. Dr. Covey speaks of paradigm shifts, and I would like to use one of his illustrations of what it means to shift paradigms, adapted to our purposes. Let's say you're from out of state. You want to attend a service, but you have never been to our church before, so you ask me for directions. I'm glad to oblige! I photocopy a map and send it to you, along with some directions. The only problem is, I got a little mixed up and sent you a map of Bridgeton, Maine instead of Bridgewater, Massachusetts. And unfortunately, the map's title got cut off when I copied it, so you don't realize my mistake. Sunday comes. You head out of your hotel room, get in your rental car, and soon you are hopelessly lost. You give me a call. Sunday school hasn't started yet, so I pick up the phone and you tell me what's happening. "I got your directions," you say, "but I can't find any of the roads you mention on the map." "It's really easy to find," I reply. "It's right in the center of town! Try a little harder." "Okay, I'll try harder," you reply, and you're off and running--driving twice as fast and getting twice as lost. Soon your spirits begin to sink. You've been driving around for forty-five minutes, you're more lost them ever, and you don't have much time left to make it to church. So you give me another call. My Sunday School class has just ended, so I pick up the phone. I immediately sense that you're getting discouraged, so I say "It sounds like trying harder wasn't the answer. What you really need is a _positive mental attitude_." Well! That wise suggestion strikes you like a bolt of lightning, and your mental attitude is instantly transformed. You get back in that car and you start driving, and everything is wonderful. You're still completely lost--in fact, you never do make it to church. But that doesn't matter . . . you're at one with the universe! You don't _need_ church anymore! The problem is, you're still lost. Listening to my sage advice, you first tried changing your _behavior:_ you tried harder. Next you tried changing your _attitude_ by looking at the positive side of things. But what really needed changing was your road map. Trying harder is good. Having a positive attitude is good. But if you are following the wrong map, changing your behavior and your attitude won't do much good. You need to change the map you are following. You need a paradigm shift. The New Jerusalem is not just a change of behavior. The New Jerusalem is not just a change of attitudes. The New Jerusalem is a whole new paradigm. It is a whole new way of looking at life. And if we want to be a part of the New Jerusalem in reality, and not merely in name, we must shift our own paradigm so that it is in harmony with the paradigm presented to us in the teachings of our church. And we must make that shift not only in the way we _think_, but in the way we _feel_ deep in our hearts. We must change our values. We must change what we love. We must change our goals and priorities. And from these, we must change the way we live. This is the responsibility of being a part of the New Jerusalem. It is also the _joy_ of being part of the New Jerusalem. When we change our paradigm, we are no longer lost on confusing and discouraging roads of life. When we change our paradigm--when we truly accept in our minds and hearts the road map that the Lord has given to us in the Bible and in the teachings of our church--then we can see the road ahead of us clearly, and we can follow it through all its twists and turns. And as we follow that road, we can bring into reality in our own lives the vision of the New Jerusalem that the Lord has given to us. We can gain a life of loving one another; a life of understanding one another; a life of serving one another and bringing happiness to one another. There are many different ways we could look at shifting our paradigm. There is the question of whether we view ourselves as controlled primarily by outside forces, or controlled primarily by the choices that we make and the goals that we set within ourselves. This is an entire topic in itself, and I plan to explore it with you on another Sunday. Today, I would like to leave you with four paradigms to choose from. They are the four basic loves from which, as our teachings tell us, all other loves come. They are the four basic loves that we can choose from in deciding what we want to focus our life on. They are the four basic paradigms of human life. These four basic paradigms are: loving _ourselves_ first, loving _material things_ first, loving _other people_ first, and loving _God_ first. Every goal or love or motivation and that we can possibly have revolves around one or more of these four basic loves. The question is, which one of them do we want our entire life to revolve around? A life that revolves around self is . . . a _selfish_ life. When we are stuck in this paradigm, we view everyone and everything in terms of how it serves us. If someone agrees with us or serves our needs, we value that person. If not, we consider that person to be of no account, or to be an enemy. If we do something for another person, it is not because we care about that person, but because we are thinking about what we will get in return. Everything revolves around ourselves and our own status--around getting praise and power for ourselves. A life that revolves around material things is . . . a _materialistic_ life. We just want the _stuff!_ We want nice clothes, nice cars, nice houses, and preferably lots of money. We view others in terms of how they can make a buck for us. We latch onto people who look like they will be profitable to us, and we ignore those who show little potential for getting us the money and the toys that our hearts desire. Our hearts are set on the things of this world, and we rise and fall with our material fortunes. A life that revolves around other people is a _humanitarian_ life. We truly want to serve. When we see others carrying burdens, we want to lighten their burden for them, and we don't mind carrying some of it on our own back. We are not focused on serving only our own needs, since we are not happy unless those around us are happy. When our paradigm involves serving the good of others, we live a life of helpfulness and service to others. Our life rises and falls, not with our own position or our bank account, but with the happiness or unhappiness of those around us. Finally, a life that revolves around God is a _heavenly_ and _spiritual_ life. When our life revolves around God--when loving God is our paradigm--all the other loves fall into place. We love ourselves and material things, not for their own sake, but for their usefulness in serving God and serving other people. We take care of ourselves and provide for our material needs so that we will be able to show love to others. And we serve others not only because we feel that it is what we ought do with our life, but because we have the love of God in our hearts, and we see those around us as children of God. Our spirit does not rise and fall with material events _or_ human events, because we are rooted in the unchanging love and wisdom of God. No matter what situation we are in, our joy will be to show God's love to others by loving them and serving their genuine needs. Shifting to a higher paradigm is not something that happens all at once. The important thing is that we begin to make the shift in our _hearts_ and _minds_. As our reading from Swedenborg points out, we must change what is inside of us first, and once our inner paradigm has shifted, our outward behavior will follow. This is both a comforting and an exciting teaching. For we are assured that if we will change our focus--if we will center our lives on God's love and God's teachings--it will transform our lives so that we can experience the joy of the angels right here on earth, and give that joy to others as well. Amen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Tue Feb 16 03:41:43 1999 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 16 Feb 1999 03:41:43 -0000 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: Seeing and Hearing Message-ID: <199902151114_MC2-6A80-192E@compuserve.com> Seeing and Hearing By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell February 14, 1999 Your eyes shall see your teachers. Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it." Isaiah 30:20-21 This is the second in a series of sermons on the laws that guide the Lord's care for each of us or as we often call them, the laws of the Divine Providence. The first sermon focused on the law that each person needs to act in freedom according to reason. This means that each person needs to have a sense that he or she is making choices in events large and small based on an personal understanding of what is to be done. We could not be truly human nor could anything of genuine happiness be ours if we weren't making free choices as the fundamental basis of our lives. The second law of the Divine Providence is: . . . that people should as from themselves remove evils as sins in their external person, and thus and not otherwise can the Lord remove evils in their internal person, and then at the same time in the external. (Divine Providence 100) It is a fundamental part of the Lord's government in caring for us that He wants us to work on our bad habits from a sense of internal motivation and choice. He has given us an inner spiritual freedom that allows us to consider what we do and don't want to do. While there may be many external forces that affect how we actually behave, we can still have an inner determination that no one can absolutely control. The Lord has given us a mind that can learn many ideas, think, see relationships, and understand. He wants us to use these two abilities to learn from Him and to freely choose to follow what we've learned and understood by working to change fundamental habits in our lives. He wants us to recognize the destructive habits of motivation, thought, word, and action that exist and work consciously to change these habits in thought, word, and action. The text for this sermon is from the prophet Isaiah. Prior to its message Isaiah was forewarning the people of Jerusalem of the dangers that threatened them. In the Word, Jerusalem, represents the Lord's church in general or the quality of that church as it exists with each of us. Sometimes Jerusalem is exalted and praised, other times it criticized and condemned. So too the Lord's presence with each of us can be strong and good with tremendous potential or it can be weak and flawed inclining us to be led into trouble for ourselves and anyone around us. When the people of Jerusalem obeyed the commandments, worshiped the Lord, listened to His prophets they were always blessed. Isaiah spoke at a time when this wasn't the case. In this section of the book of Isaiah the Lord reflects on the qualities of the people of Jerusalem. He said: This is a rebellious people, Lying children, Children who will not hear the law of the LORD; Who say to the seers, "Do not see," And to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. Get out of the way, Turn aside from the path, Cause the Holy One of Israel To cease from before us." Isaiah 30:9-11 Part of the freedom that the Lord gives us as human beings is the freedom to reject or deny the ideas and life to which the Lord calls us. We know that people can make this denial overtly, proclaiming that this or that commandment is foolish or does not apply today or to a particular setting. We know also that people can announce allegiance to the commandments but in their own lives they can ignore and break them, particularly when they think no one will know of these hidden evils. We can smile when a little girl calls out to a parent, "Don't look at me now" as she is intent on breaking a household rule, but we as adults can be similarly hopeful that evil choices can be hidden. The foolishness is that being hidden doesn't take away their destructive effects. The Lord had a second criticism of the people of Jerusalem in this chapter of Isaiah. "In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." But you would not, And you said, "No, for we will flee on horses"; Therefore you shall flee! And, "We will ride on swift horses"; Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift! One thousand shall flee at the threat of one, At the threat of five you shall flee, Till you are left as a pole on top of a mountain And as a banner on a hill. (Isaiah 30:15-17) Trust in the Lord's help is the only true source of rest and strength. But human beings can choose to put their trust in their own powers of thought and understanding. This understanding is represented by a horse. Seeking spiritual safety and happiness through natural learning and thought will not work. There are clear examples of people who may have a Ph.D. in child psychology and be among the least effective parents. There are other examples of people with no formal education at all who are capable of providing the best parenting any child could ever hope for. The western world in the last two to three hundred years has, at intervals, seemed to put it faith and trust in human reason or science to solve all our problems. We live in a culture that can incline us in this direction. The Lord comes to us in His Word to remind us that natural human learning and thought will not lead us to happy and useful lives by itself. The Lord promised the people of Jerusalem that there was cause for hope. He said: "Your eyes shall see your teachers. Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it." ( Isaiah 30:20-21) "Seeing" in the Word refers to understanding what the Lord teaches. "Hearing" refers to obeying. The simple value of understanding and obeying what the Lord teaches might seem so clear that we might wonder if there is an alternative that anyone would consider. History shows that the human mind does seek alternatives and even has believed itself to have some. Why do we seek alternatives? Rather obviously, following what the Lord teaches is absolutely incompatible with some of the motives, thoughts, and actions that we really like to do. There is a part of our thought that believes that we have to be able to continue with some of these things that the Lord has labeled evil and destructive. What are the alternatives? Medieval Christianity developed the idea that a person could make up for bad choices with other behaviors. The concept of penance, in popular thought, meant that evils could be done, but then another behavior, say going on a difficult pilgrimage, could be done to wipe out the sin of the initial behavior. But isn't this like a person whose job is to do one thing but who doesn't do that thinking he can make up for it in some other way. Can a lawyer be a lawyer and not serve his clients legal needs because he writes nice poetry to them? Can a father be a good father to his children if he fails to teach and lead them toward maturity because he takes them to a sporting event every so often? If the Lord asks us to do certain things and not do other ones, will He really be just as happy if we break these commandments but try to make up for it with other actions? The other historical alternative to understanding and obeying what the Lord teaches is the belief that this is unnecessary except as a principle of thought. The reaction to Medieval Christianity was to say that evils were so pervasive in the human spirit that we could do nothing to rid ourselves of them. Rather than try we need to rely on the Lord miraculously giving us a clean heart and mind apart from any effort by us. The result of this concept and its continued teaching is that many people don't reflect on any specific bad habits they have. In fact, the Writings describe such people as being petrified at the thought of even considering specific evils they might harbor in their mind. I have asked many of the Reformed in the spiritual world why they did not really repent, when this duty was laid upon them, both in the Word and at baptism, as well as before Holy Communion in all of their churches. They gave varying replies. Some said that contrition was sufficient, followed by a verbal confession of being a sinner. Some said that such repentance does not square with the universally received faith, because it is achieved by a person's action as a result of his will. Some said, 'How can anyone examine himself, when he knows he is nothing but sin? This would be like casting a net into a lake full from bottom to surface of mud teeming with noxious worms.' Some said, 'How can anyone engage in such deep introspection as to see Adam's sin in himself, the source from which all his actual evils have poured forth? Have these not been together with original sin washed away by the water of baptism, and wiped out and covered up by Christ's merit? What is repentance then but an imposition which sorely troubles the conscientious? Are we not as the result of the Gospel under grace, and not subject to the harsh law of that repentance you preach?' And there was more said of the same sort. Some said that when they have it in mind to examine themselves, they are struck by fear and terror, as if they saw a monster beside their bed in the twilight. These facts have made plain why it is that real repentance in the world of the Reformed Christian churches is as it were in decay and abandoned. (True Christian Religion 562) The second law of the Divine providence states "that people should as from themselves remove evils as sins in their external person, and thus and not otherwise can the Lord remove evils in their internal person, and then at the same time in the external." (Divine Providence 100) The Lord wants us to recognize that He has given us the capability of cooperating with Him in becoming better human beings. He has given us minds that can learn, understand, and think. He has given us to inner spiritual freedom to choose what values and ideas we will use as a basis for our lives. He calls us to work together with Him by learning from His Word and by reflecting on the meaning of what He teaches us for our daily lives. The Lord wants us to recognize the specific areas of our lives in which we need to change habits of motivation, thought, word, and deed. If we work with Him, we will indeed change. This change will not come in a moment or without significant spiritual battles, but it will come surely. The Lord has promised it. This is the meaning of the Lord's words to the people of Jerusalem through the prophet Isaiah. Your eyes shall see your teachers. Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it." Isaiah 30:20-21 AMEN. Lessons: Isaiah 30:18-21 Matthew 5:13-20 It is a law of the Divine Providence that people should as from themselves remove evils as sins in their external person, and thus and not otherwise can the Lord remove evils in their internal person, and then at the same time in the external. Evils in the external person cannot be removed except through a person's instrumentality, because it is of the Divine Providence of the Lord that whatever a person hears, sees, thinks, wills, says and does should appear to be entirely as his own. Without this appearance there would be no reception of Divine Truth with each person, no choice of doing good, no reception of love and wisdom and of charity and faith, and no relationship thereby with the Lord, and consequently no reformation and regeneration and thus no salvation. It is clear that without this appearance there can be neither repentance from sins nor even faith. It is also clear that without this appearance a person is not a person, but a being devoid of rational life like an animal. Let anyone who will, consult his reason as to whether it does not appear that a person thinks from himself about good and truth, spiritual as well as moral and civil. Let that person then accept this tenet of doctrine that everything that is good and true is from the Lord and nothing from a person alone. That person will then acknowledge this as a consequence, that people ought to do good and think truth as of themselves, but yet should acknowledge that they do these things from the Lord, and that people should remove evils as of themselves but yet should acknowledge that they do so from the Lord. Divine Providence 100, 116 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Tue Feb 16 03:41:52 1999 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 16 Feb 1999 03:41:52 -0000 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: 1st Law of the Lord's Government Message-ID: <199902151114_MC2-6A80-1934@compuserve.com> The First Law of the Lord's Government By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell January 31, 1999 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. Revelation 3:20 If we are going to be led by the Lord to a happy and useful life over and over again we need to be able to recognize His knock at the door of our minds and we need to open the door and welcome Him into our lives. The Lord will not be able to lead us unless we can cooperate with Him in these two ways. Firstly, we need to be able to recognize what He does and doesn't want us to do in our lives. Secondly, we need to consciously invite Him into our lives through following what He wants us to do and seeking His help in being able to do it. The Lord has revealed in the Writings of the New Church that the first law of His government or His Divine providence is that human beings should act in freedom according to their reason or best understanding what is true and good. (see Divine Providence 71, 78) The Lord knows that true human happiness is impossible unless in the predominate part of our lives we have a sense of inner freedom that says, "I'm choosing to do what I'm doing right now because an important part of me wants to be doing this particular thing." If we are choosing to do something primarily from external pressure or concern there will always be an inner resistance to that choice. There will always be a yearning desire to escape that pressure or concern. There will always be an element of unhappiness within it. The happiness of heaven cannot exist where there isn't the inner freedom within what we choose to do. Many people are quite confused about the qualities of God or the Lord. Some people see Him as terribly busy with the big issues of the universe with little or no ability to attend to individual human beings. Others see Him as being essentially a set of perfect, unchanging laws of the universe. In either of these cases having a relationship with Him is impossible or irrelevant. In either of these cases we as humans have a pretty lonely job of trying to make our lives work essentially all by ourselves. Some people see God as being like a parent or master with very high expectations. In their view God's primary quality is that He has a tremendously long list of dos and don'ts that He wants us to attend to. People vary in how much they think He knows about a person's obedience to this list. Some live with a somewhat terrifying sense that He knows all and is constantly displeased with what they are doing. Others functionally seem to assume that if most of the human beings surrounding them don't know their failings then they don't count or matter very much. The Lord does have many things to teach us about the life that He wants us to live. He has given us much to read and reflect on in the Old Testament, New Testament, and Writings of the New Church. He has spoken to many different states of mind. He knows that there are times and states in which we need to hear a clear black and white message of "Don't do these things!" There are other states in which He can approach us from the perspective reflected in Isaiah, "^?Come let us reason together,' says the Lord." (Isaiah 1:18) There are times when He addresses us with warmth and comfort, with encouragement and inspiration. Without a knowledge of what the Lord teaches in His Word it is difficult or impossible to recognize His knock at the door of our minds. The reality of our lives is that there are many values and ideas regularly knocking at the door of our conscious thought. There can be the knock of our stomach saying, "Hey, I'm hungry." There can be the knock of worldly desire saying, "You need or deserve this or that item." There can be the knock of hellish condemnation saying, "Did you see what that person just did? He deserves to be terribly punished for his actions." Within this welter of thoughts and motivations we need to grow in our ability to hear the Lord's knock and turn our attention to it. Just as a parent of a young child can focus on that child's distant and relatively quiet cry of sadness or call for help amid a chaos of other noises, so too can we grow in our ability to attend to the Lord's guidance. Sometimes we might wish that the Lord's direction in our life was less of a still small voice and were instead a more powerful guide. In reality, the Lord knock can be heard very powerfully on the door of our mind particularly when we have not attended to quieter calls for our attention. It is like a person at work who is failing in substantial ways. He may at first not pick up the cues that his own interactions could bring to his attention. He may ignore the indirect and quiet guidance of his coworkers or supervisor. He may only begin to attend to his problems when he is put on probation or has been fired from a job. Sometimes it takes being fired from several jobs before a person attends to the issues that are causing him to stumble. Sometimes in spite of what would seem to be deafeningly loud hammers at the door of his mind, he continues to see himself as a victim of circumstance and unreasonable expectations of others. He continues to excuse his choices and actions no matter what the consequences pile up in his life. This is an element of the freedom of thought that the Lord gives us. We are capable of doggedly continuing in a path that is harmful to us and those who our lives touch. The Lord wants us to freely choose a life that brings joy, fulfillment, and peace to us and many around us. He knows that this is only basis for heavenly happiness. He knows that we have to freely choose to invite Him into our lives. Concerning this basic choice we read the following in the book of the New Church, The Apocalypse Explained: There are two things that are in person's freedom by reason of the perpetual presence of the Lord, and His perpetual desire to conjoin Himself with each human being. The first thing therefrom in a person's freedom is that he has the means and faculty to think well about the Lord and the neighbor; for everyone is able to think well or ill about the Lord and the neighbor; if he thinks well the door is opened, if ill it is shut. To think well about the Lord and the neighbor is not from the person himself and from what is his own, but instead it is from the Lord, who is perpetually present and by His perpetual presence gives each person that means and faculty; but to think ill about the Lord and the neighbor is from a person himself and from what is his own [separate from the Lord].. The other thing which is in a person's freedom by reason of the perpetual presence of the Lord with him, and the Lord's perpetual desire to conjoin Himself with each person, is his ability to abstain from evils; and so far as he does abstain the Lord opens the door and enters; for the Lord is unable to open and enter so long as evils are in a person's thought and will, since these block the way and close it up. Moreover, it has been granted to each person by the Lord to know the evils of the thought and will, as also the truths by which evils are to be dispersed; for the Word is given wherein these things are disclosed. From this it can be seen that nothing is lacking that each person may be reformed if he wishes to be; for all the means of reformation have been bequeathed to each human being in his freedom; but it should be well known that this freedom is from the Lord, as was said above, and that the Lord effects reformation thereby, provided the person, from the freedom that is given to everyone, receives. There must absolutely be reception on the part of each person, which is meant by "If anyone hear My voice and open the door." (Apocalypse Explained 248:2-3) We may be sure that the Lord is working to guide us far beyond anything we could possibly imagine. It doesn't even matter that at first we are relatively unaware of His work as is described as the passage quoted above continues: It does not matter, if a person, because he does not perceive the inflowing, does not know in the beginning that this is from the Lord, provided he afterwards believes from the Word that all the good of love and the truth of faith are from the Lord, for the Lord effects these things, although the person does not know it, and this by His perpetual presence, which is signified by "I stand at the door and knock." In short, it is the Lord's wish that each individual of himself should abstain from evil things and do good, if he only believes that the ability to do so is not from himself, but from the Lord; for it is the Lord's will that there be reception on the person's part, and reception is possible only as that person acts as of himself, though it is from the Lord. Thus something reciprocal is given with each human being, and this is his new will. (Apocalypse Explained 248:3) The Lord has told us that the first law of His Divine providence is that human beings should act from freedom according to their best capability of understanding. Our limited understanding at any point guarantees that we will often make flawed decisions. As it were, we won't do the right thing. But from the Lord's perspective, if we are acting freely from our best understanding and trying to follow Him we will be doing exactly what He wants us to be doing. Within our efforts He will bring much good and He will surely temper the detrimental elements arising our imperfections. And at each moment He will be standing at the door of our mind ready to be of ever greater help and guidance. May we hear His knock and welcome Him into our lives. AMEN. Lessons: Revelation 3:14-21 It is a law of the Divine Providence that a person should act from freedom according to reason. It is well known that people have the freedom of thinking and willing as they please, but not the freedom to say whatever they think and to do whatever they will. Therefore the freedom that is here meant is spiritual freedom, and not natural freedom, except when the two make one; for thinking and willing are spiritual but speaking and doing are natural. Moreover, these are clearly distinguished in people; for human beings can think what they do not speak, and can will what they do not do. From this it is clear that the spiritual and the natural in a person are discriminated, so that he cannot pass from one to the other unless by an act of choice. This choice may be compared to a door, which must first be unlocked and then opened. The door stands open as it were in those who think and will from reason in accordance with the civil laws of the state and the moral laws of society; for they say what they think and do what they will. But the door stands closed as it were in those who think and will in opposition to those laws. People who pay attention to what they will and to their consequent actions will observe that such determination takes place, sometimes frequently in a single conversation and in a single action. Divine Providence 71 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. From leewoof@tiac.net Mon Feb 22 00:18:37 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 22 Feb 1999 00:18:37 -0000 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: The Millennium: A New Spiritual Era? by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990221190827.00b65bf0@pop.tiac.net> The Millennium: A New Spiritual Era? By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, February 21, 1999 Readings: Psalm 90:1-4, 12: A thousand years are like a day gone by O Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. You turn us back to dust, saying, "Turn back, you mortals." For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.... So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. Revelation 20:1-6: The thousand years And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss, and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations any more until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with him for a thousand years. Arcana Coelestia #2575.4: The meaning of a thousand Since one thousand is a definite number in math, it seems as if it simply means "one thousand" in the prophecies--especially when they are given in the form of historical descriptions. However, in prophecy "a thousand" simply means "many" or "countless," and not any particular number. Historical descriptions tend to limit our thinking to the most obvious and strict meanings of the words and names in them. But in the Bible, numbers, like names, mean real things.... Some people think that the thousand years referred to in Revelation 20:1-7 mean a thousand years or periods of time, since the prophecies in the book of Revelation are given in the form of historical descriptions. But in fact, in that book "a thousand years" simply means a very large amount of time--and in some places an infinite amount of time, or eternity. Sermon: I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4) It is nice to be back in Bridgewater after Patty and I spent a week at EdFest in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. Thank you once again for your help in sending us there! It was a much needed break for both of us. We had a wonderful time visiting with other ministers and spouses, hiking among the cactus, and hearing various points of view on the new millennium and new possibilities for the Swedenborgian Church in it. Since you helped to pay our way there, it is only fair that I should bring you back some thoughts and ideas from the workshop. I must admit, though, that I was firmly in relaxation mode all week, and took very few notes. So today's sermon is less of a summary of what was presented at EdFest than a survey of some of my own thoughts on the millennium, inspired by EdFest. The passage from Revelation that Tammie read this morning is the main source of the Christian idea of the millennium as a time of epochal, perhaps world-ending change brought about by the power of Christ. If she had continued reading the rest of Revelation chapter 20, we would have heard about Satan being released from his prison after the thousand year reign of Christ. Satan then goes out to deceive the nations, and to gather his forces for battle against God and the holy city Jerusalem. But in a bit of an anti-climax, before the battle is even engaged, fire comes down from heaven and devours them, and the devil and his cohorts are thrown into a lake of burning sulfur, where they will remain in torment forever. After this comes the famed and feared Last Judgment, when the dead are judged according to what they have done, and either rise to heaven (though that is not spelled out in this particular prophecy) or are cast into the lake of fire along with Satan. Of course, there are millions of people today, mostly in the Fundamentalist and Evangelical wings of Christianity, who take these prophecies literally. We have all heard about Christian sects whose leaders predicted a specific date for the end of the world, and then had to do some fancy spin control after that date came and went much like any other day. As a result of these embarrassing debacles, I have detected a distinct muteness among Fundamentalists of late when it comes to specific predictions that the year 2000 means curtains for this world of sin and darkness, and the coming of the golden reign of Christ. Even without going into the spiritual meaning, we could realize that the thousand years of our reading is not meant to be taken literally. As the Rev. Frank Rose points out in his booklet _Relax, It's Not the End of the World_, a thousand was simply the largest number that the people in Biblical times had a name for. It is usually not meant to be taken literally any more than when we say, "I wouldn't do that in a million years!" or "I've told you a million times not to exaggerate!" When we say things like that, we don't mean literally one million. We mean lots and lots--or perhaps, as Swedenborg says in our reading from _Arcana Coelestia_, we mean forever, to eternity. This hints at the real meaning of the thousand years. When we read of the thousand year reign of Christ, the words are not meant to convey a literal thousand years. As our Psalm points out, one year, a thousand years, or even a trillion years have no meaning for God, "for a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night" (Psalm 90:4). We are not dealing with matters of time here. We are dealing with matters of eternity. Matters of the soul. Matters of _our_ souls. The coming and going of great kingdoms and epochs here on earth looks grave and important to our worldly eyes. But compared to the events of eternity, they are insignificant--like yesterday when it has passed. Of course, we _are_ concerned with what happens to us here on earth. But it is infinitely more important what happens to our souls--what course we set for ourselves forevermore. The temporary events of this world are simply a matrix from which we are born into eternal life--or, if we refuse to accept eternal life, into the eternal death of materialism and self-centeredness. With these thoughts in mind, let's take a look at the millennium from a Swedenborgian historical perspective, with some thoughts along the way about how it relates to our own spiritual development, and what it might mean for our church. Though Swedenborg rejected the millenarian idea of a literal coming of Christ to rule an earthly kingdom, he did present a clear picture of five great _spiritual_ ages of humankind marking the epochs of history. As with nearly everything in Swedenborg, his view of human spiritual ages is closely linked with the Biblical story. Human spiritual history began, Swedenborg says, with an age that he called the "Most Ancient Church," or in modern language, the very earliest spiritual era. This age corresponds to the Garden of Eden in the Bible, and has come down to us in mythology as the Golden Age. In our individual development, it corresponds to the time of earliest infancy. For humankind, as for babies, it was a time when there was no division in our minds. Everything flowed directly from what we wanted and loved into action, with no intervening rational thought as to whether we should or should not do such a thing. From the outside, it would have looked like these early humans were acting from mere instinct. But according to Swedenborg, that is simply an appearance. In reality, they were acting from love and wisdom that flowed into them directly from God and heaven. This age did not last, though. Just as babies grow into toddlers with a will of their own, early humans soon wanted to think for themselves. They metaphorically "ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil," and began filtering their feelings through their thinking, rational minds. And like children who often do not want to listen to their parents, they made choices that brought about conflict and pain--or in a word, evil. This was the Silver Age of mythology, when the mind rather than the heart ruled human conduct. In Biblical chronology, this period stretches from the flood of Noah to the call of Abram in Genesis 12, when something like literal history first begins in the Bible story. Momentum was building in a downward spiritual trend. Soon, through following our own ideas instead of God's, we lost contact with spiritual reality and began living largely from material needs, urges, and ideas. This was the Iron Age, when human kingdoms rose and fell, and material might held more sway over human lives than spiritual power. In the Bible, it is represented by the rest of the Old Testament, covering the Israelitish and Jewish periods. In our own lives, this perhaps corresponds to the later teenage and early adult years, when we are making our way into the world, and must focus on material concerns of supporting ourselves and our family, and of establishing ourselves in the world. If this were the end of history, it would be a depressing picture from a spiritual point of view. But it is not the end. When humanity reached its lowest, most materialistic ebb, it was precisely the point at which the greatest event in history took place: God came into our world as Jesus Christ to turn the tide of history. This initiated a long climb back upward toward spirit- and God-centered life. In our individual lives, this may come at a time of mid-life crisis, when we have a chance to re-evaluate our lives from a spiritual perspective. The First Coming of the Lord began a new Silver Age for humankind. The light of the world had arrived in person. Now, those who had eyes to see could learn the great spiritual principles that form the foundation and framework for any truly spiritual way of life. The two Great Commandments. The Golden Rule. The Blessings. "Love your enemies." These and so many other teachings of Jesus gave the new light humanity needed to begin rebuilding the spiritual life that we had lost through our own stubbornness and bad choices. But it wasn't quite enough. Or rather, we weren't quite ready for what the Lord wanted to give us. As Jesus said to his closest followers, "I have much more to say to you--more than you can bear. But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth" (John 16:12, 13). History tells the sad story of how, over time, the glorious new light of Christianity was converted into human institutions and empires grasping for wealth and power instead of bringing spiritual light and life to the people. Over the centuries, Christianity became utterly corrupt. A new Christian era was needed. From our perspective as Swedenborgians, this new Christian era did not have its beginning in a literal millennium such as 1000 or 2000 AD. In fact, we believe that it started nearly 250 years ago--and like the first coming of the Lord, most people did not even notice. As far as I know, we are unique among Christians in believing that the promised Second Coming of the Lord has already happened, and is happening all around us even as we speak. Secular history does acknowledge that something major happened a few centuries ago. There was a huge explosion of scientific knowledge, technological progress, and human social evolution that was all part of a "new age" of human progress. Emanuel Swedenborg was brash enough to give a specific date for the Last Judgment, which is linked to the Second Coming of the Lord. In his booklet _The Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed_ (#46) he writes, "This Last Judgment started at the beginning of the year 1757, and was fully accomplished by the end of that year." How's that for a prediction of the end of the world? "Sorry, folks! You missed it! It already happened in 1757." But Swedenborg's date for the "end of the world" is different from fundamentalist predictions. He said that this Last Judgment and Second Coming of Christ are not _worldly_ events, but _spiritual_ ones. This is the crucial point on which we Swedenborgians differ from Christian Fundamentalists--and where we could show the way for mainline Christians, who are mostly dubious and confused about the prophecies in the Book of Revelation. For us, the year 2000 by itself has little meaning or importance. It is an accident of our particular calendar that we are approaching a millennium. In fact, scholars tell us that we got it a bit off: Jesus was probably born between 6 and 4 BC, which would mean that the "real" millennium has already happened. From our perspective, even the "correct" date would miss the _real_ real "millennium" by nearly a _quarter_ of a millennium. But let's look deeper. People are excited and a bit worried about this new millennium. There is the Y2K computer problem, which has technological types working overtime to avoid collapse in our information and communications infrastructure. There are various Christian Fundamentalist predictions that get many people exercised. And there are those who figure that basically, it's a good excuse for a really big party! From a Swedenborgian perspective, the millennium is an opportunity to bring to a wider audience the message of a new _spiritual_ era. Perhaps that new era began in the mid-1700s, but I believe that many of its deeper effects are only now starting to be felt. We have had our technological revolution. I believe we are now standing at the threshold of a new _spiritual_ revolution. It is a revolution that you and I can have a part in, if we are willing to look forward to the future with faith and hope, rather than back to the past with longing. We can take our cue for this new Christian era from the great epochs of spiritual history that Swedenborg maps out. This new Christian era is meant to be a new _Golden_ Age. Gold is the metal of love. Yes, we have wonderfully illuminating teachings in our church. But I do not believe that we are truly a part of this new Christian era until we are acting, not from the silver of intellectual understanding, but from the pure gold of love. The Lord's Second Coming happens within us and among us when our lives and our church become an expression of the warm pulse of divine love that is the center and soul of the universe. Amen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From leewoof@tiac.net Sun Feb 28 23:52:31 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 28 Feb 1999 18:52:31 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] your mail Message-ID: <4.1.19990228152938.00b07d30@pop.tiac.net> Baptism: A Lifelong Journey By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, February 28, 1999 Readings: Psalm 24:1-6: Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? The earth is the Lord's, and all that is in it, the world, and all who live in it; For he built it upon the deep waters, and laid its foundations in the ocean depths. Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? Those who have clean hands and pure hearts; who do not lift up their souls to idols, and do not make false promises. They will receive blessings from the Lord, and God the Savior will declare them innocent. These are the people who seek God, who come into the presence of the God of Jacob. Mark 1:1-11: Baptism: the beginning of the good news The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way." "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'" And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt round his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven saying, "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." The Heavenly City #202, 203: The significance of baptism Baptism was set up as a symbol that we are religious, and as a reminder that we are meant to be reborn. The washing in baptism is spiritual washing, which is rebirth. All rebirth comes from the Lord through the true ideas in faith, and by living in harmony with them. So baptism demonstrates that we are religious, and that we can be reborn. It is through our religion that we know the Lord, who gives us rebirth, and through religion we have the Bible, where there are true ideas of faith through which we can be reborn. Sermon: Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to idols, and do not make false promises. They will receive blessings from the Lord, and God the Savior will declare them innocent. (Psalm 24:3-5) I love this passage from Psalm 24 because it gives a sense of our life as a journey--a _spiritual_ journey ascending the hill of the Lord to stand in his holy place. A couple of weeks ago, when Patty and I were in Arizona for a week-long retreat, we went on a mountain climb led by the Rev. Frank Rose, pastor of the Sunrise Chapel in Tucson, Arizona. We climbed Mt. Wasson, which is a 4,600 foot peak at the upper end of a long ridge. The first part of the climb was not a climb at all. We walked along the trail for a mile or so on the flat plain leading to the base of the ridge, surrounded by the surrealistic landscape of cactus and dry desert plants and trees. Then we headed up the side of the ridge on long, switchbacking trails that kept the climb from getting too steep, but also made it a longer journey than if we had simply made a beeline for the top of the mountain. When we reached the top of the ridge, we were rewarded with a view to both sides of the ridge, giving us a taste of what was to come. We traveled on a fairly flat trail near the top of the ridge, with special vistas at various points along the way. The last part of the climb was the most challenging. There were high winds that day, and we had to struggle along the windswept side of the mountain for the last mile and a half of the trip. Any hats that were not tied or held down were soon blown off! Finally we reached the top, and were rewarded with a panoramic view of southern Arizona. It was not a clear view, since the wind storm had kicked up the dust, and the valleys were obscured. But it had a beauty all its own. The dust gave a water color effect to the scene, softening all the lines of the mountains and ridges, and giving a sense of mystery to the landscape that was laid out before our eyes. With that experience still fresh in my mind, when I read the words from the Psalm, "Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?" I think of life as a journey. Life is a mountain climb leading to the beautiful and still mysterious mountain of the Lord--a heavenly kingdom of mutual love and understanding. It is a kingdom that we do not have to wait to die in order to experience, since we can be building it here on earth among the people we see each day. That is what baptism is all about. The Psalmist asks, "Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?" And the response is, "Those who have clean hands and pure hearts; who do not lift up their souls to idols, and do not make false promises." To climb a _physical_ mountain, the qualifications are that we are physically fit enough to be able to make it to the top. Whether we are clean or not doesn't make much difference. But the hill of the Lord is a _spiritual_ mountain, and the qualifications for climbing it are different. As the Psalmist suggests, to climb a spiritual mountain, we need to have clean hands and pure hearts. In the Gospel of Mark, the story of the Lord's journey here on earth begins with baptism. We are immediately introduced to John the Baptist, who prepares the way of the Lord by "baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." Baptism is a ritual of washing. To put John the Baptist's message in more modern terms, baptism is all about cleansing our hearts, minds, and actions of everything that keeps us from living in the spirit of love and service to one another. The water of baptism is a clear symbol of the spiritual truth that we learn from God's Word. The Bible gives us beautiful teachings such as the Golden Rule: that whatever we would like others to do for us, that is what we should do for them. It tells us that we should not hate our enemies, but love them instead. It tells us that we should put God first in our lives, and love others as much as we love ourselves. These teachings are like clean and flowing water in our minds, helping us to wash away our faulty and negative attitudes, our bad and hurtful habits, and everything else that makes us treat other people and ourselves in a way that is less than thoughtful and loving and kind. In baptism, we use physical water as a sign and symbol of the _spiritual_ washing that is the essence of a truly religious life. That is why we begin the journey of life with baptism. Little Tommy hasn't had time to develop negative and faulty attitudes, or the kind of bad habits that plague us as we grow older. In our church, we don't baptize babies because we believe there is anything dirty or wrong about them. There is no sin in a newborn baby. Of course, there are the seeds of problems that may develop later--just as we are born with hereditary tendencies toward certain physical and emotional illnesses that run in our family. But babies come to us in the atmosphere of the highest, heavenly angels, who carry with them the tender love of God. And so, just as in the Gospel of Mark, where baptism begins a spiritual journey, Thomas's baptism today is the beginning of a lifelong journey of both physical and spiritual growth that will continue throughout his life here on earth, and on into eternal life. Each one of us here today is somewhere along that journey. Each one of us has followed a particular path through life to get us to where we are today, and each one of us has a path ahead of us, too. Like the mountain climb that Patty and I took a couple of weeks ago, that journey is sometimes flat and level as we travel along in our usual routines. Sometimes life takes more effort as we climb up an emotional ridge in order to reach a higher level of understanding and caring about the people we see each day. Sometimes our journey is windswept and stormy as we struggle with difficult and painful events both around us and within us. Sometimes it switches back and seems to be going downhill again--although when we look back on those times we realize that they, also, were necessary parts of the journey. Yes, each one of us is on our own journey. And as we celebrate the baptism of Thomas Anderson--of that wonderful new life that has joined us here on earth--we can look ahead to the journey that he will travel in his life. We, his family and friends, can rededicate ourselves to learning more and more every day about how to set aside our own faulty and self-involved attitudes, our own prejudices and unkind thoughts. We can rededicate ourselves to our own lifelong journey of allowing ourselves to be baptized with the Lord's pure teachings about loving the Lord our God above all else, and our neighbor as ourselves. This is the message and the reminder to each one of us as we celebrate the happy event of baptism. The Lord is asking each one of us to continually look for ways in which we can have clean hands and pure hearts, so that we may ascend the hill of the Lord. And as we each dedicate ourselves to this sacred task, we are building a better world both within us and around us. We are building a world in which Thomas and all the other precious new lives may grow and flourish, and receive blessings from the Lord. Amen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Mon Mar 1 05:01:41 1999 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 1 Mar 1999 00:01:41 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: Third Law of the Divine Providence Message-ID: <199902282257_MC2-6C39-B754@compuserve.com> The Lord Will Not Use Miracles to Make People Believe By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell February 28, 1999 So Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, "All the words which the LORD has said we will do." (Exodus 24:3) It is amazing that the Children of Israel witnessed so many miracles and still regularly forgot about the Lord or rejected His commandments. They experienced the plagues on Egypt, the wonderful rescue the Lord provided by parting the Red Sea, and the miracles that saved them over and over again as they journeyed for three months through the wilderness to Mount Sinai. They were terrified by the appearance of the Lord with thunderings, lightening flashing, a sounding trumpet, and the whole of Mount Sinai smoking and covered with thick cloud. Several times they solemnly promised to obey the Lord's commandments. Nevertheless, in a months time they were dancing around a golden calf. While it would be tempting to chalk it up to unsurpassed thick-headedness, it actually reflects a quality of human beings that we share with them. This is the third in a series of sermons on the laws that guide the Lord's care for each of us or as we often call them, the laws of the Divine Providence. The first sermon focused on the law that each person needs to act in freedom according to reason. This means that each person needs to have a sense that he or she is making choices in events large and small based on our own best understanding of what is to be done. The second law of the Divine Providence states that it is our task to work on changing our habits of thought, speech, and action from ones that are more evil and destructive to ones that are good and useful. Without this effort at conscious obedience on our part the Lord cannot bring us a new will or a new heart. It is this new will that has us wanting to do good and useful things that we had not previously wanted to do. The third law of the Divine Providence is: . . . people should not be compelled by external means to think and will, and therefore to believe and love, the things of religion, but should persuade and at times compel themselves to do so. (Divine Providence 129) We've probably all joked about God striking us or someone else with a lightning bolt for swearing or doing something bad. But we know perfectly well that good people don't always have good things happen to them and people who do bad things don't seem to have Divine retribution "strike them down." We probably all wondered why God hasn't intervened to prevent tragedies large and small that have formed the personal histories of each of us as well as the wars, tragedies, and disasters that have occurred in the history of the human race. We're inclined to think that if He loves us and is all powerful, why doesn't He more obviously care for us? The Lord has such a quiet presence that a segment of the human race doubts that He exists at all. They look at the world around them and see only natural forces, random chance, unguided evolution and change, and consequently do not believe in any kind of God at all. But the Lord has chosen this quiet presence for the sake of our eternal welfare. Without inner freedom of thought and choice there can be no happiness. Without conscious choice made seemingly by each of us from ourselves there can be no happiness. To get some picture of what life might be like with little choice, imagine what it would be like to attend church and have each of the pew seats wired such that a button could be pushed by some overseer administering an electric shock to anyone who did not seem to be paying attention. What would happen? Yes, a number of us would get shocked on a regular basis. But would it really increase attention to the ideas that the Lord wants us to understand? Might it not focus our minds both on appearing to be attentive and also on a dread of being shocked. Wouldn't it also likely cut short some of the very useful reflections we can have, initially stimulated by something in the service, but which don't directly relate to the whole flow of the sermon. External means of prompting attention, like the threat of electric shock cannot by themselves lead to internal states of reception. In fact, they can actually get in the way of a person receiving and accepting what the Lord's guidance. The absolute need for freedom if we are to make good loves and true ideas our own isn't very well understood. Consider the implications of the following passage: Every joining together of truth and good, and therefore all reformation and regeneration, is effected in freedom, that is, is the outcome of what is freely chosen. Consequently no joining together of truth and good, thus no regeneration, is possible in the absence of freedom, that is, through compulsion. . . . Anyone who is unaware of the fact that no joining of truth and good, that is, no making of these one's own, and so no regeneration, is possible except in a person's freedom, ends up - if he reasons about the Lord's Providence, about human salvation, and about the eternal damnation of many - with utterly dim misconceptions and then with serious errors. For he imagines that if the Lord is willing, He is able to save anyone, and to do so by all manner of means beyond number - by miracles, by the dead coming back again, by direct revelations, by angels withholding people from evils, and driving them to good by the plain use of force, and by many states into which a person is introduced and becomes repentant, and by many other means. (Arcana Caelestia 4031:2) This passage lists a whole series of possible means that the Lord could use to redirect us. Picture a person who is about to repeat a piece of particularly malicious gossip and then suddenly a angel with flaming sword appears before them and says, "Do not spiritually murder that person by saying what you're about to say." Picture a person who is driving recklessly and suddenly has his car lifted off the ground and over a child who is about to be hit and badly hurt or even killed. Picture a father who is about to physically abuse his son in the name of discipline suddenly hearing a deep voice from the sky saying, "Don't you dare hit that child." Picture a person finding that every time she contemplated doing some evil she was paralyzed by some invisible force. The passage quoted above continues with following words: But he does not know that all of these means involve compulsion and that nobody can be reformed through them. For anything that compels a person does not impart any affection to him; or if it is of such a nature that it does impart an affection, it binds itself to an affection for evil. Indeed it seems to instill, and does in fact instill, some holiness, but even so, when the state is altered he goes back to his previous affections, which are evils and falsities. In that case that holiness links itself to the evils and falsities and is turned into profanity, such as leads him into the worst hell of all. For that person first of all acknowledges and believes, and also has an affection for what is holy; but after that he denies it, indeed he loathes it. For profaners are those who at one point acknowledge with the heart and after that deny, not those who have not acknowledged with the heart. . . For this reason evident miracles do not take place at the present day, only miracles which are not evident or plain to see and which are of such a nature that they do not enforce any holiness or take away a person's freedom from him. This is why the dead do not come back again and why no one is withheld from evil by direct revelations, or by angels, and led to good by the plain use of force. (Arcana Caelestia 4031:3) God has indeed created this world so that there are consequences and rewards. There is a life after death in which people who over and over again chose to live caring, giving, and useful lives enjoy the blessings of that life in heaven and those who chose to live self-centered or crudely worldly lives experience the relative emptiness and unhappiness of that life in hell. God has worked to forewarn us of this reality through Divine Revelation. He works every moment of every day with all human beings to help them recognize this reality. And He leaves us the freedom to believe that happiness comes from self-centered and worldly choices. We would not have this freedom nor could we ever be really happy if He directly intervene to force our choices. In the last decade or so there have been many stories of angels helping and guiding people. Do these contradict this law of the Lord's government? Obviously, they haven't compelled all people to believe in the life after death. While the people who relate them have often had their life profoundly changed by their experience, there is still the possibility of them wondering if they had just imagined the experience or whether the help they received was just a fortunate coincidence. We probably all can smile at the familiar scene from Charles Dickens Christmas Carol in which Scrooge is explaining to the ghost of Jacob Marley that he is probably just the result of indigestion, but this does show how even profound experiences can be discounted for those who wish to explain them away. Once again, the third law of the Divine Providence is: . . . people should not be compelled by external means to think and will, and therefore to believe and love, the things of religion, but should persuade and at times compel themselves to do so. (Divine Providence 129) While this means that we should not expect a certain kind of miracle to occur, it does not mean that there are no miracles. For anyone who has eyes to see them there are a multitude of miracles occurring in daily life. There is the miracle of human life emerging within an infant. There is the many miracles within the world of nature. There are the miracles of human regeneration and spiritual change. For anyone who is willing to see it the nature of the human mind with its abilities of thought, memory, and affection is an amazing miracle. There have been miracles in the past as recorded in the Old and New Testaments, but the record of these books is that they didn't compel belief and obedience even then. We are not to expect these kinds of miracles today. Concerning this consider the following statement about the miracles that are part of the life of the New Church: For many reasons this New Christian Church is not being established through any miracles as the former was. But, instead of the, the spiritual sense of the Word is revealed, and the spiritual world disclosed, and the nature of both heaven and hell manifested; also, that each person lives a human being after death; which things surpass all miracles. (Coronis 50-51) It is a key part of the Lord's government that He will not make us do what is good or not do what is evil by external force or my miraculous intervention. We would not be human if He did. We could not really be happy if He did. Human beings are free. Our external environment doesn't absolutely determine our state of mind. There are people who can experience the worst depravation of an inhuman prison camp and still be wise, caring, and relatively happy. There are people who have many of the external benefits this world has to offer and can be foolish, self-centered, and terribly unhappy. These contrasting states reflect a key part of the way the Lord has created each of us and guides each day of our lives. It is essential that this guidance take place in way that we sense that the values and principles we use to guide our lives are our own and are freely chosen. May we wisely acknowledge the Lord's wisdom in creating us as He has. May we recognize the need to use the gifts of freedom and understanding that He has given us. May we consciously work to understand and follow the life towards which the Lord guides us. May we be grateful that He will always work with hidden care unless we have the eyes to see and freely acknowledge how much He does for us each moment of each day. AMEN. Lessons: Exodus 19, 20, 24, 32 portions It is a law of the Divine Providence that a person should not be compelled by external means to think and will, and therefore to believe and love, the things of religion, but should persuade and at times compel himself to do so. This law of the Divine Providence follows from the two preceding which are, that a person should act from freedom according to reason; and that he should do this of himself although from the Lord, thus as of himself. Since being compelled is not acting from freedom according to reason, and is not from oneself but is from what is not freedom and is from another, therefore this law of the Divine Providence follows in order after the two former. Moreover, everyone knows that no one can be compelled to think what he is not willing to think, and to will what his thought forbids him to will, and thus to believe what he does not believe, and certainly what he is not willing to believe, and to love what he does not love, and certainly what he is not willing to love; for a person's spirit or mind is in full liberty to think, will, believe and love. . . People may be compelled to say that they think and will the things of religion, and that they believe and loves them; but if these things are not, or do not become, matters of affection and consequently of their reason, they nevertheless do not think, will, believe and love them. A person may also be compelled to speak in favor of religion and to act according to it; but he cannot be compelled to think in favor of it from any faith in it, or to will the things of religion from any love of it. Moreover, in kingdoms where justice and judgment are guarded, everyone is restrained from speaking and acting against religion; but still no one can be compelled to think and will in favor of it. For it is within the liberty of everyone to think with hell and to will in its favor, and also to think and will in favor of heaven; but reason teaches what man's nature is in the one case and in the other, and the nature of his abiding lot; and it is from reason that the will has liberty to choose and make its selection.. Divine Providence 129 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Mon Mar 8 04:42:06 1999 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 7 Mar 1999 23:42:06 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: Being Led by the Lord: The Fourth Law of the Divine Providence Message-ID: <199903072339_MC2-6D14-968D@compuserve.com> Being Led by the Lord: The Fourth Law of the Divine Providence By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell March 7, 1999 I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD. (II Kings 22:8) In the busy lives that many of us lead it isn't hard for something to get lost in our homes. It can get temporarily mis-placed and covered over with other stuff. This is the case especially if it is something we only use once or twice a month or even less frequently. If an effort to find it fails to produce anything, it can drift from mind, until we have nearly forgotten about it. But consider what it means that the people of Judah "lost" the Book of the Law. The Five Books of Moses were the written record of the covenant between the Lord and the ancient Israelites. It described what they should and shouldn't do. It foretold of the rewards for obedience and the terrible consequences of disobedience. Whenever the Israelites followed its commandments and served the Lord they were blessed as reflected in the following words from Leviticus: If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them, then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid; I will rid the land of evil beasts, and the sword will not go through your land. You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you. (Leviticus 26:3-8) Whenever they turned away from the Lord the opposite was their lot: But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you. (Leviticus 26:14-17) Yet, despite the clear consequences of disobedience and of failing to follow what the Lord had commanded, the people of Judah had not only chosen disobedience but had given so little attention to the laws of the covenant that they were lost. Imagine the decades, even generations of neglect that would be necessary for this to happen. Apparently King Josiah of Judah had never once heard the words of the Law read through out his life. I think you can already picture where I'm heading with this sermon. Within each of our lives there can be significant periods of time when we, for all intents and purposes, lose sight of what the Lord teaches. It is as if we lost His Word so completely that it is unknown to us. This sermon is the fourth in a series of sermons on the laws that guide the Lord's care for each of us or as we often call them, the laws of the Divine Providence. The first sermon focused on the law that each person needs to act in freedom according to reason. This means that people need to have a sense that they are making choices in events large and small based on their own best understanding of what is to be done. The second law of the Divine Providence states that it is our task to change our externals, that is our habits of thought, speech, and action from ones that are more evil and destructive to ones that are good and useful. Without this effort at conscious obedience on our part the Lord cannot bring us a new will or a new heart. It is this new will that has us wanting to do good and useful things that we had not previously wanted to do. The third law of the Divine Providence states that on one should be compelled by external means to think and will, and therefore to believe and love, the things of religion. This means that the Lord will not use miracles, interventions by angels, lightening bolts and so on to make us think and do what is right. In spite of His Infinite wisdom, knowledge, and power, the Lord very purposefully chooses a relatively quiet presence in this world. He leaves us freedom to believe or to disbelieve. He won't make us believe and do what it is right but there are many times that we need to persuade and at times compel ourselves to do so. The fourth law of the Divine Providence states that: . . . people should be led and taught by the Lord from heaven by means of the Word, and doctrine and preaching from the Word, and this to all appearance as of themselves. (Divine Providence 154) The best and wisest way for the Lord to provide external direction for our life is through His Word. He has given us the words and images of the Old Testament, New Testament, and the Writings of the New Church to be a guide for our lives. If we reflect on the meaning of what the Lord has revealed for our own lives and use it as a guide the Lord can provide direction for every issue that form our lives here and our qualities in the next life to eternity. It is amazing how much freedom the Lord gives us. It is amazing to what extent He allows and provides that we sense that we live, think, and choose all by ourselves. We feel quite independent within our minds. We can learn many things. We can hold many principles and values gained from people in our lives, things we've read or heard, from our own reflection. They feel like they are our own. From them we form the daily pattern of our lives. Obviously, there is tremendous variety in the patterns of life that people choose. Some of this variety is exactly what the Lord would wish for. Some of it reflects the many different qualities of heavenly life that exist. The Lord sees a perfection being brought about through the varieties of love and wisdom that exist among the angels. He sees perfection being brought about through some people living lives of very simple obedience, others being guided by a continuing effort to understand and live from that understanding, and still others being guided by a continuing effort to wisely love others and to live from that wise love. Some of the variety in life that exists is not what the Lord would want for us, yet it is variety that He allows. He allows people to be crudely self-centered and worldly. He allows people to justify apathetic responses to important needs. He allows people to essentially deny their ability to choose and to let external forces apparently direct what they do and don't do. The Lord allows these evil and destructive qualities in human beings but not without an effort to bring about change within each of us. There is much that the Lord does working with the tiniest aspects of our lives to gently guide and direct us. This work of His is powerfully presented in the following passage: . . .the Lord's foresight and providence are present within the tiniest details of all the smallest individual things with each person, and in details so tiny that it is impossible to comprehend in any manner of thought one in many millions of them. For every smallest fraction of a moment of a person's life entails a chain of consequences extending into eternity. Indeed every one is like a new beginning to those that follow, and so every single moment of the life both of his understanding and of his will is a new beginning. And since the Lord foresaw from eternity what each human being was going to be like in the future and even into eternity it is clear that providence is present in the smallest individual things, and, as has been stated, is governing him and diverting him so that he may be such, this being achieved by constant re-shaping of his freedom. (Arcana Caelestia 3854) The Lord is doing this work with every single human being. It is a powerful force but it also has its limits. The Lord cannot produce radically new ideas completely out of nowhere within a person's thoughts. We wouldn't feel free if He did. We wouldn't feel human if He did. Instead the Lord has revealed through out the ages the words and ideas that He can use to guide us with great power. We can learn what the Lord teaches and from that knowledge the Lord can then bring ideas to our minds that we sense as our own but can acknowledge are from the Lord. This is a wonderful miracle of our loving heavenly Father. But it is greatly limited without our cooperation. The Lord is guiding us each moment of each day. The Lord is the source of all the wise and useful ideas that come to our thoughts as we reflect on what we've learned from His Word. All of those thoughts are part of His careful and wise direction of our lives. All of this direction that the Word can provide is the Lord at work. To be taught by the Word is to be taught by directly by the Lord. Nevertheless to accomplish this teaching the Lord makes use of many people. The fact that [the Lord's direct teaching] is done by means of preaching does not destroy its immediate nature. The Word can only be taught by means of parents, teachers, preachers, books, and especially through the reading of it. Nevertheless, it is not taught by these, but by the Lord through them. A preacher is indeed able to declare the Word and bring it to the understanding of many, but not to the heart of anyone; and what is not in the heart perishes in the understanding; and by the heart is meant a person's love. From these considerations it may be seen that people are led and taught by the Lord alone; and that they are taught immediately by Him when this is done from the Word. This is the central secret of angelic wisdom. (Divine Providence 172) There is much that we can do as members of the congregation to help the Lord teach and lead. There are ideas that the Lord would like each of us to recognize within His Word that by ourselves we may have a very hard time recognizing. The most important ones of these are not deep abstractions. The most important ideas that we need to recognize are the ones that will profoundly change the direction of our lives. They will help us to see things that we must flee from. They will help us see things that we need to give far greater attention to. All of us have the capability of helping the Lord in this work. We through our conversations with friends, family, co-workers, and acquaintances can help them see the implications of what the Lord has revealed in His Word for our daily lives. Often the very model of our own reflections and efforts to understand and live provide this opportunity for the Lord to directly teach and lead those who witness this model. Parents have a very important role in this work. Our schools try to do much to support the Lord's work of directly teaching our children. All the power of the Lord's Word to lift and guide us depends on our understanding of what it means. This understanding needs to be an active growing part of our life. It cannot be like a book that we read in childhood and then only call to memory in its simplest form. The Lord's Word can be like the lost book of the Law in the time of King Josiah for us--hidden away and relatively forgotten as we live our lives. Or it can be the central focus for our lives. In our church services we have the Lord's Word as the central focus of our worship. It is central in physical position. It should be central in the lessons and sermon. Making the Lord's Word a central part of our lives takes our conscious effort. Regular reading helps in accomplishing this. Reading a bare ten to fifteen minutes a day a person can read the entire Old and New Testament books contained in the Word. Certainly the thirty or so volumes of the Writings are a far bigger task. But part of the Lord's order is that we need not expect to gain huge amounts of wisdom while we live in this world. But those few true ideas that we can learn are sufficient to help the Lord open the doors of our minds to untold depths of insight and wisdom. They are just what the Lord needs to guide us from the natural and unhealthy habits that we received from our spiritual heredity to ones that are a blessing for us and for all who we serve by our speech and action. May the Lord's Word truly have a central place within our daily lives--one that is so central it could never, ever be lost. AMEN. Lessons: II Kings 22:3-13 It is a law of the Divine Providence that people should be led and taught by the Lord from heaven by means of the Word, and doctrine and preaching from the Word, and this to all appearance as of themselves. It appears that people are led and taught of themselves; but the truth is that they are led and taught by the Lord alone. Those who confirm in themselves the appearance and not at the same time the truth, are unable to remove from themselves evils as sins; but those who confirm in themselves the appearance and at the same time the truth, are able to do so, for it appears that it is the individual person who puts away evils as sins, but in truth it is the Lord. To be taught from the Word is to be taught by the Lord Himself, because it is to be taught from Good itself and from Truth itself, or from Love itself and from Wisdom itself, which are the Word, as has been said; but everyone is taught according to the understanding appropriate to his own love; what is taught beyond this does not remain. All those who are taught by the Lord in the Word are instructed in a few truths while in the world, but in many when they become angels. The fact that this is done by means of preaching does not destroy its immediate nature. The Word can only be taught by means of parents, teachers, preachers, books, and especially through the reading of it. Nevertheless, it is not taught by these, but by the Lord through them. A preacher is indeed able to declare the Word and bring it to the understanding of many, but not to the heart of anyone; and what is not in the heart perishes in the understanding; and by the heart is meant a person's love. From these considerations it may be seen that people are led and taught by the Lord alone; and that they are taught immediately by Him when this is done from the Word. This is the central secret of angelic wisdom. Divine Providence 154, 172 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. From leewoof@tiac.net Sun Mar 14 18:01:36 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1999 18:01:36 +0000 Subject: SERMON: "Who Runs Your Life?" by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990314175726.00b31170@pop.tiac.net> (Note: Services at the Bridgewater New Jerusalem Church were canceled on March 7 due to snow. This sermon was originally written to be preached on the 7th, and was preached on the 14th instead.) Who Runs Your Life? By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, March 14, 1999 Readings: Leviticus 26:1-8, 14-17, 36-38: A leaf blowing in the wind Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God. Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord. If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land. I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no-one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.... But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.... I will make your hearts so fearful in the lands of your enemies that the sound of a leaf blowing in the wind will make you flee in terror. You will run as though fleeing from the sword, and you will fall, even though no one is pursuing you. You will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing you. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies. You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you. John 8:31-36: True freedom To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?" Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it for ever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." Apocalypse Explained #935: Who (or what) is your god? The first commandment, "You shall not worship other gods," includes not loving selfish and material things. When we love ourselves and material things more than anything else, we are worshiping other gods, since our god is whatever we love above all else. Sermon: But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, . . . I will make your hearts so fearful in the lands of your enemies that the sound of a leaf blowing in the wind will make you flee in terror. (Leviticus 26:14, 36) I remember when I first read this passage from Leviticus as a teenager. My reaction was, "Aw, come on! Running from a leaf blowing in the wind?!?" For me, the sound of leaves blowing in the wind has always been a cheerful sound. I'm not sure why, since it is a sign of the coming winter. But somehow, hearing those leaves rustling and skittering along in the fall brings up happy associations. Maybe it is the thought of raking leaves into a big pile and then tearing across the lawn to take a flying leap into that big, soft pillow! So when I first read that passage, it simply didn't ring true. But it did stick in my mind, and over the years it has grown on me. I now appreciate that verse for its brief, pithy image of the reversal that takes place in our lives when we are going down the wrong path: when we turn our backs on what we know to be right--on what the Lord teaches us in the Bible--and get ourselves stuck in destructive habits, both physical and emotional. An autumn leaf is one of the most benign and harmless objects I can think of. So far, I have never heard of any murder case in which the lethal weapon was a dried up leaf! Under any normal circumstance--in any normal state of mind--leaves are simply not something we perceive as a threat. Yet our Bible verse gives us a picture of a state of mind so disordered and paranoid that a harmless, even beautiful autumn leaf is cause for terror and dread. How could this happen? Personally, I am not a fan of horror films. I am just as happy not to have those dark and scary images skulking around in my head. I do sometimes enjoy a good thriller, however. And these film genres give us an insight into the emotional impact of our verse from Leviticus. One of the most effective techniques in film making is the slow buildup of suspense. Through the use of dark, foreboding images, lighting, scenery, and music, a skillful storyteller can bring the audience right to the edge of their seats in fearful anticipation of that terrible shock that they just _know_ will strike any second. A classic motif is the woman alone in her house at night, trembling behind the door, iron skillet raised, ready to strike down the feared intruder. Suddenly, the door swings open! Screams ring out in the movie theater . . . . as the woman's husband, returning late from work, strolls in and is knocked out cold by the woman of his dreams. It was all in her mind! And in the minds of the viewers, as the screenwriter skillfully plays on their inner fears. At our World Religions Workshop on Buddhism the speaker, David Strom, offered us insights and ideas from a Tibetan Buddhist perspective. The part I enjoyed most was when he spoke about where our emotions come from. As he pointed out, the common view is that our emotions come from outside. We express this belief in our everyday language: "He makes me so mad!" "That really makes me sad." "It would make me so happy if you married me!" These and many other things that we say come from our natural belief that our feelings come from outside of us. However, our church's teachings agree with Buddhism in saying our emotions come, not from the outside, but from within. In the opening paragraphs of his booklet _Soul-Body Interaction_, Swedenborg discusses three theories about how the physical and spiritual worlds interact. "Physical inflow" is the idea that things flow into our spirits from the outside world. According to this theory, we would be right to say that we are made happy, sad, or mad by things that happen outside of us. "Spiritual inflow" is the idea that things flow from the spiritual world outward and downward into our minds and bodies. And "pre-established harmony" is the idea that there is no cause and effect relationship between spiritual and natural things; they are simply arranged so that they automatically operate in parallel with one another. Swedenborg dismisses pre-established harmony very quickly. He spends a bit more time with physical inflow. He acknowledges that it certainly _appears_ as if things flow into us from outside. When we see something with our eyes, for example, rays of light come from the object we see, go through the pupils of our eyes, and strike the nerve endings of the retina inside our eyeballs. Doesn't this demonstrate that the process of sight happens through physical inflow? Ask a blind person that question. It is true that light rays flow into our eyes. But if there is nothing there to receive and process them, those rays of light produce no vision at all. As we have learned from studies of human physiology, vision is actually a complex process in which the nerve endings in the retina actively monitor the precise wavelengths and intensity of the light that strikes them, and subject them to sophisticated processing before sending the appropriate signals to our brain. Our brain, in turn, takes the signals that are generated in the retinal nerve cells and processed along the way, and does some even more sophisticated processing in order to interpret them as the images that we perceive. Vision is not a simple process of light rays flowing into our minds and causing us to see. Rather, it is a process in which our minds reach out, sample the light rays that enter our eyes, and process them into something that we experience as visual images. Our initial idea of active light striking passive nerve endings turns out to be mistaken. It is the light rays which are acted upon by the nerve endings and the brain, making it possible for us to see. This is simply one example of a deeper reality that leads Swedenborg to make a startling statement: "There is no such thing as physical inflow--meaning things from the material world flowing into the spiritual level. There is only inflow from the spiritual world into the material world" (_Arcana Coelestia_ #10199.2). By now you are probably thinking, "Startling! Fascinating! But what in the world does all of this have to do with me?" Swedenborg makes the connection in his very next sentence: "The inner parts of human beings, which relate to our understanding and motivation, are in the spiritual world, and our outer parts, which relate to our physical senses, are in the material world." So let's put Swedenborg's earlier statement into human terms and see if it sounds more startling now: "The things in the material world, which we perceive with our physical senses, do not flow in and affect our minds and spirits. Rather, our minds and spirits flow out and affect the things that we perceive with our physical senses." This is what David Strom was saying in the Buddhism workshop: that it is an illusion to believe that the things outside of us affect us and cause our emotions and thoughts. Instead, it is our emotions and thoughts that determine what we perceive around us. Do you believe that? Do you believe that when a person hits you or says something nasty to you, and you become angry, that it is not that person's words or actions that make you angry? Do you believe that when someone you love dies, or walks out on you, that it is not the fact that they have died or walked out on you that causes you to grieve? Do you believe that when someone says they love you and want to marry you, that it is not that person's expression of love that gives you the joy and happiness you feel? Common sense shouts out to us that these external events _do_ make us angry or sad or happy. But our church's teachings tell us that this is simply the way it _appears_ to us. If we were to look at the situation more deeply, we would discover that just as light does not really give us vision, but only makes it possible for our minds to reach out and perceive what is there, neither do external events really give us our emotions. Our emotions involve a much more complex process. When we feel an emotion that seems to be caused by something happening around us, it is actually the anger or sadness or joy that we carry in our own spirits reaching out and finding expression in the outer event that has happened. Let's take the extreme case to see how this can be true. When someone we love dies, we naturally feel grief and depression, and sometimes other emotions that seem less appropriate, such as anger or guilt. We think that these are caused by the person's death. But the death in itself causes none of them. If you don't believe this, consider the feelings of someone who never knew your loved one, but simply read the obituary in the paper. That person may feel nothing at all, even though the external event--the death--is exactly the same. It is the feelings that _we personally_ carry within ourselves that reach out from our spirits and give us grief, sadness, and other, more complex and confusing emotions when someone we love dies. When the emotions in our spirit reach out and touch that outward event, then we feel and perceive what is already within our soul. Does this mean that nothing that happens outside of us, and nothing that anyone else does, affects us in any way? No. If the world and the people around us present our soul with little or no opportunity to reach out from its centers of love and joy, we will tend to shrivel and die emotionally just as a plant will shrivel and die where there is no warmth, sunlight, and moisture in its environment. We do need a material and _human_ atmosphere in which our spirits can grow and flourish. And our actions--kind and loving or mean-spirited and hurtful--_do_ help to create the environment in which other souls flourish or languish. But the flourishing itself comes from within. A human community of love and kindness may provide a rich atmosphere for the growth of our soul, but growth will come only when love flows out from our souls. If we do not have the love that comes from God within us; if we do not open ourselves up to that deeper love so that it can flow out, no amount of love and kindness in the people around us will cause us to grow and flourish spiritually. We know that this is true. We have all seen people who are surrounded by others who love them and care about them, and yet pass their days with a chip on their shoulder, certain that every kindness done for them has an ulterior motive behind it, and that nobody _really_ cares about them or _truly_ loves them. As Jesus once explained to his disciples (Matthew 15:1-20), it is not what goes into us that makes us unclean; it is what comes out of us from our heart that makes us unclean. And it is also what comes out of our heart that makes us clean, whole, and joyful. Now, what about that leaf blown in the wind? Is the leaf what makes us run in terror when we have turned our backs on everything we know to be good and right, and have gone off on our own path? No. It is our own inner awareness that we are badly mistaken. It is our own stubborn insistence on doing things the hard way. It is the atmosphere that we build up within ourselves of anger, mistrust, and fear, when we turn away from the Lord's way and follow our own way instead. Who, then, runs our lives? Is our life determined by the rise and fall of our financial fortunes? Is it determined by the way people treat us? Is it determined by whether we find Mr. or Mrs. Right? Is it determined by whether or not we have been able to get ourselves into a position of authority and respect in our business or our community, so that others look up to us and say good things about us? As nice as these things are, we are deceiving ourselves if we think anything from the world around us will make us truly happy. And we are deceiving ourselves if we think that these external things somehow run our lives. Because our lives are not run from outside, but from within. They are run by whatever we choose to place at the center of our lives. If money seems to be running our lives, it is really we ourselves who have put the love of money at the center and given it that power. And then have made ourselves a slave of money. But if we put the Lord at the center of our lives, then, as our Gospel reading tells us, we will be truly free--and truly happy. Why? Because then the greatest power in the universe will be running our lives: the power of God's infinite love. Amen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From leewoof@tiac.net Mon Mar 22 15:06:17 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 22 Mar 1999 10:06:17 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Lazarus, Come Forth!" by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990322091722.00cf2880@pop.tiac.net> Lazarus, Come Forth! By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, March 21, 1999 Readings: Psalm 68:19, 20: The Lord gives escape from death Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, Who bears our burdens day by day. Our God is a God who saves; From the Lord God comes escape from death. John 11:1-16, 38-45: Jesus raises Lazarus from death Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick." When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. Then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea." "But Rabbi," they said, "a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light." After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up." His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better." Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."... Jesus came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. "Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days." Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I know that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go." Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. Heaven and Hell #445: Death and resurrection When our body can no longer perform its functions in the physical world, expressing the thoughts and feelings of our spirit (which we have from the spiritual world) we say that we die. This happens when our lungs stop breathing and our heart stops beating. Yet we do not die, but are only separated from the body that had been useful to us in the world. We ourselves continue to live. I say we ourselves continue to live since we are not human because of our body, but because of our spirit. It is the spirit within us that thinks--and thinking together with feeling makes us human. This means that when we die, we only pass from one world to another. Because of this, when "death" is mentioned in the Bible, its deeper meaning is re-awakening and continued life. Sermon: Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go." (John 11:43, 44) I am sure that I was meant to be a minister and not a weather forecaster. In this month's _Correspondent_, I began my Pastor's Column by saying, "Now that the snow has melted away . . ." only to have two more snowstorms hit us in rapid succession! Still, this season is a time of resurrection. We've already been through the coldest months, and the warm days are starting to come back. Last week I was delighted to see the first crocuses coming up in our front borders at home, assuring us that the spring that officially started yesterday really is on its way. And the flowers of nature are perfect emblems of the Lord's resurrection, which we celebrate at Easter time. Our reading today, which we also studied in Sunday School, gives us an opportunity to prepare our minds and hearts for the events of Holy Week, from Palm Sunday to Easter. And the first thing we realize as we read the story of Lazarus is that before the Lord resurrected him, he experienced death--just as the world of nature experiences the dormancy of winter before the new resurrection of spring. Of course, when _we_ read the story of Lazarus, we know the ending. But for a moment, let's put ourselves in the shoes of Lazarus, and consider how he experienced these events. When the realization hit Lazarus that he was dying, he could not have known that he would be brought back to life to continue living here on earth. He had to face his own death with the same sense that we all face death: that this was the end of his earthly life. Depending on his particular faith, he may have felt that this was the end of his existence, or that he would continue on in some form of afterlife. If he shared his sister's views, he probably thought he would be raised up in a great resurrection at some future last day. But all of these would have been speculations. The reality for him at that moment was that he was dying. His old, familiar life was over. What happened next, if anything, would be very different from what he had ever experienced before. Perhaps it was with thoughts like these that he breathed his last breath, and subsided into the sleep of death. And in fact, his life ever after that _was_ entirely different--even if in many ways it was the same. Lazarus could never have anticipated hearing, or perhaps _sensing_, those powerful words, "Lazarus, come forth!" and walking out of the grave to rejoin his family and friends. And when he experienced that wonder, he could hardly help becoming a different person. He knew that his life had a meaning far deeper than he could have suspected. As we learn later on in the Gospel story, the religious leaders of the day made plans to kill Lazarus just as they planned to kill Jesus. And so he continued to live in the balance between life and death. Unlike Lazarus, most of us experience physical death only once. But we can experience death in our spirits many times. Of course, we experience death whenever a loved one dies. But we also experience death whenever we leave behind something that has been a part of us, and we experience death whenever a particular phase of our life ends. I still remember my first bicycle. I got it for Christmas one year when I was about six years old. It was shiny and red, with white trim. I loved that bike! At first I needed training wheels to ride it, but in time the training wheels came off, and after numerous scrapes and bruises, I was proudly riding it up and down the road all by myself. But a time came when the bicycle seat just wouldn't go up any higher, and that bike that had been so _big_ when I first got it was seeming mighty small to me. I hated to let it go, but I had to admit, it was time for another bike. The bike that had been my pride and joy became a hand-me-down for my younger brother, and I, in turn, received a bike that had belonged to one of my older brothers. It was traumatic to leave behind that not-quite-so-shiny bicycle, but it certainly did feel good to have a bike that fit again! We all went through these childhood "deaths" of the old as we moved on to the new. Sometimes we cried when a beloved toy was broken beyond repair, and we realized we would never be able to play with it again. The pain could linger on; but it was usually overcome with the passage of time, as new toys and new interests took the place of the old. It is harder to get over are the emotional deaths that we have had to endure. For me, one of the most difficult times in my childhood was when our family moved away from the neighborhood in Missouri where I had good friends, to a new place where I never quite regained the same sense of belonging in the neighborhood. I remember sitting on the curb at the new house with my sister, and both of us knew it would never be the same. Yet life goes on. I learned to find good things about the new town where we were living. I was getting old enough to range farther abroad on my own, and soon grew to appreciate the woods, streams, ponds, and lakes in the new place. And I found my own small circle of friends that I could share thoughts with and enjoy their company. But even deeper are the deaths we must face as we go through the changes that come with our growth as a person. We may face the death of our youthful idealism as we leave school and find that the practical realities of life are dictating how we spend most of our time. We may face the death of our independence as we settle down with a marriage partner and start a family, learning what it means to be responsible to another person and not just to ourselves. We may struggle with further loss of independence as we grow older and are no longer able to fully take care of ourselves. We may struggle against the death of old, ingrained habits as we realize that they are hurting both ourselves and the people we love, and are damaging our relationships. Each of us, if we look at our lives, can find many deaths, on many levels, that we have had to go through--and that we may be going through right now. And yet, both this season and the events of our Bible story assure us that these emotional and spiritual deaths are not the end. Through these experiences, a new and deeper life can come forth that we had never known before. For all the struggles that come with family life, there are also newer and deeper satisfactions with our marriage partner and our children. And when we have struggled against a faulty attitude or bad habit that has been hurting both ourselves and those around us, we gain a new level of freedom within ourselves, and often a new level of love and connection with the people around us. We must endure many deaths during our lifetime. But we have the comforting assurance that death is not the end, but the beginning of new life and new love. And so we can say with the Psalmist, "Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who bears our burdens day by day. Our God is a God who saves; from the Lord God comes escape from death." Amen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From leewoof@tiac.net Mon Mar 29 04:33:03 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 28 Mar 1999 23:33:03 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "The Stones Will Cry Out," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990328190213.00b24ef0@pop.tiac.net> The Stones Will Cry Out By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, March 28, 1999 Palm Sunday Readings: Exodus 24:9-13: Sapphire stone as clear as the sky Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire stone, as clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank. The Lord said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandments that I have written for their instruction." Then Moses set out with Joshua his assistant, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. Luke 19:28-40: The triumphal entry into Jerusalem Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it.'" Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?" They replied, "The Lord needs it." They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt, and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began to joyfully praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop!" He replied, "I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." Arcana Coelestia #9407: Deeper truth shining through "A pavement made of sapphire stone" means the quality of the literal meaning of the Bible when we perceive the deeper meaning within it. When this happens, divine truth flowing from the Lord shines through it, just as it does in heaven. For the Bible is divine truth flowing from the Lord.... When our lives are ruled by goodness, and from this goodness we are guided by truth, we are lifted up into that divine light.... This gives us a general enlightenment through which the Lord enables us to see countless truths, and to perceive them from goodness. When we are in this state of mind, the Lord leads us to grasp and absorb the true ideas that will be most helpful to us. Sermon: When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began to joyfully praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop!" He replied, "I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." (Luke 19:37-40) The stones will cry out. It's a nice bit of hyperbole. But on that particular day, the disciples could have believed that almost anything was possible. This, they knew, was the greatest day their nation had ever seen. The Messiah, long prophesied, was entering the city in triumph to establish the Kingdom of God, and to rule the nations from Jerusalem. This was an event that reached right up to heaven. "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!" they shouted. "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" Of course, in hindsight we know that their hopes of an earthly kingdom were soon to be dashed. The triumph of Palm Sunday would seemingly end in the death of their great king on the cross. The nation of Israel, instead of becoming the ruler of the world, was soon destroyed by the Roman Empire, and its people scattered throughout the then-known world. And yet, we still celebrate Palm Sunday nearly two thousand years later. And we still read those cryptic words of Jesus, "I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." Now, you and I both know that stones are inanimate objects, and they do not cry out. Not without a little help anyway. Some of you may remember using a crystal radio set in your younger days. I had one that I liked to play around with, even though there were much better radios by that time. At the heart of that crystal radio was an actual crystal, which is simply a highly organized type of stone. The crystal in the radio did not "cry out" by itself, but took the incoming signal and helped to convert it into sounds that we could hear in the earphone. Even today, many radio transmitters and receivers use quartz crystals. Now, I doubt this was what Jesus was talking about when he said that if the disciples kept quiet, the stones would cry out. Even if radios had existed at the time of the Lord, I suspect he would have been less interested in the technology than in the message it carried. And even if his words to the Pharisees may have been a bit of hyperbole, there was a deeper message behind them. This was an event that _had_ to be celebrated. It may not have been the beginning of an earthly kingdom, but it was the beginning of a great _spiritual_ kingdom. Just as the crystal in a radio only puts out sounds that come to it in the form of radio waves that are transmitted through the electromagnetic field, the words of the Lord come alive only when their deeper meaning shines through to our minds. And to grasp the meaning of his words, we need to look deeper, to their spiritual sense. For this, we get help from a strangely beautiful passage in the book of Exodus--at the time the Lord gave Moses the Ten Commandments--and from Swedenborg's equally beautiful explanation of it. We read: Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire stone, as clear as the sky itself. "Something like a pavement made of sapphire stone, as clear as the sky itself." We can imagine the scene laid out in front of these seventy-four leaders of Israel: the great Jehovah, appearing to them as a glorious human being, standing on a floor of pure, blue crystal with the sun shining through it just as the sun shines through the blue sky and gives light to everything below. Perhaps they even saw Jehovah as the source of that sunlight shining through the sapphire firmament. It was a rare and beautiful sight. When we look into its deeper meaning, we find that the translucent sapphire stone of the vision is an image of the literal meaning of the Bible when the deeper, spiritual meanings within shine through to our open and receptive minds. This openness to a deeper meaning within does not happen when we read the Bible simply out of curiosity, or from scholarly interest, or as a historical or cultural text that gives insight on earlier periods of humanity. When we read the Bible from these or any other human perspective, it is simply a collection of ancient myth, cultural history, poetry, stories, and religious teachings. Nothing more shines through because our mind is not looking for anything more in it. The stories are ordinary rocks, not translucent crystals. But it is different when, from goodness and love in our hearts, we look to the Bible stories to gain understanding and enlightenment to help us live in a good and loving way. When we approach the Bible in this spirit, we gradually begin to see deeper meanings for our own lives. The stories come alive for us, and we see in them reflections of our spiritual struggles and triumphs. We see the story of our own spiritual journey told in the journeys and struggles of the people of the Bible. And we gain insights that help us to take the next steps along our path. The story of Palm Sunday offers an especially beautiful message to our open hearts. "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" Jesus' entry into Jerusalem did not bring political peace to the troubled people of Palestine. Politically speaking, his presence brought not peace, but a sword (Matt. 10:34). But he did offer a much deeper peace to those whose hearts were open to his presence and his teaching. He offered people then--and continues to offer to us today--the peace of knowing that we are loved and forgiven; the peace of knowing that God created each one of us for a purpose; the peace of knowing that we are created as precious human crystals, able to receive the love and wisdom that comes from God, and transmit it to others as we show them the love and the kindness that God has shown us. Jesus offers each one of us the peace that passes understanding, deep within our souls. The source of that peace is the knowledge that our Lord and Savior is the king and ruler of the world, God with us, enlightening us and showing us the way. As the Gospel of John says, "In him was life, and the life was the light of all people. . . . He was the true light that enlightens every person coming into the world" (John 1:4, 9). This is what we celebrate on Palm Sunday. We celebrate our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, entering the Jerusalem of our inmost heart and highest mind to bring the joyful message that God, the Lord, is the true king and the true light of our lives. And if the stones could cry out today, I am sure that is exactly what they would be saying. Amen. From leewoof@tiac.net Tue Apr 6 18:02:37 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 6 Apr 1999 14:02:37 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Resurrection to Internal Life," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990406135920.00b44140@pop.tiac.net> My apologies if this is a duplicate. The first one apparently bounced, and has not gone out on the Sermons list as far as I can tell. --Rev. Lee Woofenden Resurrection to Internal Life By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, April 4, 1999 Easter Sunday Readings: Psalm 118:14-21: I will not die, but live! The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: "The Lord's right hand has done mighty things! The Lord's right hand is lifted high; The Lord's right hand has done mighty things!" I will not die but live, And will proclaim what the Lord has done. The Lord has chastened me severely, But he has not given me over to death. Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord Through which the righteous may enter. I will give you thanks, for you answered me; You have become my salvation. Matthew 28:1-9: The Lord's resurrection After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here! He has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you." So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet, and worshipped him. Arcana Coelestia #9405.7: The morning of resurrection "Morning," in its genuine sense, means the Lord, his coming, and the coming of his kingdom. So another sense of "morning" becomes clear: it is the rise of a new religion--since religion is the Lord's kingdom on earth. This kingdom is meant both overall and individually, and even in the details. Overall, it refers to a time when any religion on earth is being established anew. Individually, it refers to a time when we are personally being reborn as new people, since the Lord's kingdom is then being established within us, and we are becoming an embodiment of our religion. In the details, it refers to whenever the goodness that comes from love and faith is at work in us, since that is what constitutes the Lord's coming. So in the individual and detailed senses, the Lord's resurrection on the third morning expresses the truth that in the minds of people who are spiritually reborn, the Lord rises again every day, and even every moment. Sermon: After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen! . . . So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy. (Matthew 28:1-6, 8) What a different reaction to the same events! The guards were being paid to make sure Jesus' body remained firmly sealed in the tomb. Their employers had seen to it that Jesus got the death penalty, and they intended to prevent even the slightest rumor that they hadn't put him away for good. So when the guards felt the earth shaking under their feet, and their eyes were blinded by the presence of a powerful angel who rolled away the stone from the tomb, they quaked with fear and became like dead men. For them, the miracle of the angel's presence, and of Jesus' absence from the tomb, was a matter of pure fear. And there was the awful realization that they had failed to do their job, and would have to face consequences--which could mean their own deaths. But Mary Magdalene and the other Mary had gone to the tomb out of love, wishing to do what they could for the one they knew as their Lord and Savior. Yes, they felt fear at the earthquake and the brilliant, powerful angel. Who wouldn't? But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid." Then he gave them the amazing news of the Lord's resurrection. In contrast to the guards, the women hurried away from the tomb afraid, yet _filled with joy!_ For them, this was the most wonderful thing that could possibly have happened. For the guards, the Lord's resurrection meant fear and even death. For those who loved him and believed in him, it meant joy and renewal of life. As is so often the case, the reactions to the Lord's resurrection did not have as much to do with the event itself as with the _attitudes_ of those who experienced it. The dramatic story of Easter has a powerful ability to highlight the differences in our attitudes. It deals with crucial issues of life and death, of the power of the material world versus the power of the spirit. From an earthly, materialistic viewpoint, physical death has the last word. The grave is the final arbiter of our human drama--the point at which all our consciousness stops. But from a Christian and spiritual point of view, death and the grave are simply the beginning of a new chapter of our existence when we have finished our work here on earth. Spiritually, death means resurrection to spiritual life. This is the first message of Easter. As wonderful as this message is, there are deeper layers of meaning within the Easter story of death and resurrection to new life. There are other kinds of death besides the death of our physical body. Have you ever felt dead emotionally? Have you experienced the death of a relationship? Have you ever felt dead spiritually--cut off from your faith in God? These inner and interpersonal deaths can bring us every bit as much grief as physical death. In fact, they often feel much _more_ painful to us; in the worst of our emotional and spiritual deaths, we may long for physical death as a release from a far deeper pain. Of all these deaths, the deepest and most profound is the death of our spiritual life. When we are cut off from God and from our own deeper sense of meaning and purpose in life, we experience a living death of separation from the deepest stirrings of life and love within us. We human beings are not simply bodies. We are _living spirits_, with loves and feelings, thoughts and ideas, goals and purposes. And it is on the level of our spirits that we truly live and die. In _The Heavenly City_ #38, Emanuel Swedenborg writes: Our inner self is also called our "spiritual self," because it is in heaven's light, which is spiritual. And our outer self is also called our "material self" because it is in the world's light, which is material. If our inner part is in heaven's light and our outer part is in the world's light, we are spiritual on both levels. However, if our inner part is not in heaven's light, but only in the world's light (which our outer part is in as well), we are materialistic on both levels. In the Bible, spiritual people are called "living" and materialistic people are called "dead." In the Bible, spiritual people are called "living," and materialistic people are called "dead." We could read this statement as a judgmental condemnation of people who have no interest in spiritual things. However, it is not a matter of judgment, but of personal experience. Each one of us, if we think about it, has experienced the difference between the death of being completely absorbed in materialistic concerns versus the life of being open to the deeper, spiritual dimensions of life. At this stage of my own life, the issue of spiritual life and death hits most strongly when it comes to balancing work with family. As anyone who has done it knows, supporting a family in today's economic and social climate is no easy task. Keeping a roof over the family's head, clothes on their bodies, and food in their stomachs is just the beginning. There are a multitude of other wants and needs that can easily absorb every minute of a parent's life. Have you had times when every waking moment was spent simply in making ends meet? In working, shopping, maintaining the house and the car, paying the bills, shoveling the snow, mowing the lawn, cooking supper, changing diapers, doing the laundry, fixing the faucet, and on and on and on? I have. It feels like a turmoil of constant activity, with a gnawing sense of emotional emptiness--of emotional death--underneath. My children will not remember all the time I spent working away so that they could have a warm house, clothes to wear, and food to eat. That work is part of _my_ experience, but not part of theirs--except, perhaps, as time when their father is not available to them. But they _will_ remember the times that I take to be with them. Last week, I spent some wonderful time with Chris and Caleb, walking in the woods and stopping at the streams to throw sticks into the current on one side of the bridge and watch them come out the other side. As they get older, they will remember those times with their father. Two days ago I spent several hours with Heidi doing the six mile Good Friday walk and then going out for lunch together. She'll remember that time with her father, too. I don't remember all the time my parents spent working to support me--as necessary as it was. But I do remember the times my father took me to the baseball stadium in St. Louis to watch the Cardinals play. I got to pick where we sat. The first time I chose to sit near home plate for a close-up on the action; the second time I chose to sit way up toward the top of the stands, where the players looked like ants running around the field. I also remember the times my mother read stories to us, and when she taught my Sunday School class, telling us about the drama and the deeper meanings of the Bible stories. We all have memories of those bright spots in our childhood, when our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, did special things with us. In the family, these are the times we experience _spiritual_ life, because these are the times we share love and understanding with one another. No matter what phase of our lives we may be in, when we take time out from our busy schedules to have special times with our loved ones, that is when we begin to feel alive again. We realize once again that, in the words of Jesus, "life is more important that food, and the body is more important than clothes" (Matthew 6:25). Of course, as long as we are living on this earth, we do have to expend our six days of labor securing the food and clothes that our bodies need. Yet if we do not look beyond these material things to the seventh day of _spiritual_ fulfillment, we condemn ourselves to the grave of an empty and meaningless existence. If we do not take the time to show our love to the people we live and work with, what will we leave behind but dead monuments to an earthly existence spent skating across the surface of life? We were created to experience far greater depths of human life. When the angel rolled away the stone from the mouth of the grave, it was a message to us as well, showing us where our deepest satisfaction and our fullest life can be found. "Do not be afraid," the angel said. Do not be afraid of the deadening pressures of life in the material world. Do not be afraid that you will be swallowed up in an existence that has no meaning. "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified." What are we _really_ looking for, in our heart of hearts? As children, we sought the love of our parents, and we blossomed when we felt its warmth shining on us. As adults aren't we all, in our own way, looking for our divine Parent--for our all-wise and all-loving Creator--to give us the infinite, unconditional love and understanding that only God can give? Aren't we looking for the deepest fulfillment that comes only from following a path toward our Lord? Yes, Easter carries a message even deeper than the assurance life after death. It carries a message of resurrection to new life within us and among us right here on earth. We know that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, has risen and is still with us. We know that when we turn to the Lord, we can find a meaning and purpose that goes far beyond the busyness of physical and material life. With the risen Lord at the center of our lives, our truest and deepest aspirations can become living realities for us every day, and even every moment. "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here! He has risen, just as he said." Amen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Thu Apr 8 14:21:18 1999 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 8 Apr 1999 10:21:18 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: Rolling Back the Stone Message-ID: <199904080855_MC2-710C-B98E@compuserve.com> My apologies if this is a duplicate. I sent it earlier but it didn't seem to be sent out. Rolling Back the Stone By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell April 4, 1999 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. Matthew 28:2 Easter morning was a time of revelation. The women who came to the sepulcher at first light had many expectations. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were quite certain that the Lord was dead. They were expecting to find His body lying where Joseph of Arimathea had placed it approximately thirty-six hours earlier. They had seen him place Jesus body there with their own eyes. They had seen him roll the large stone in front of the door of the tomb. The women did not expect to see Jesus alive ever again. They probably felt a desolation and emptiness that would be hard to describe to anyone who hasn't been touched by a similar loss. For them the first light of that Sunday morning meant that they could now go pay their last respects to the grave site of their teacher and leader. But, as we well know, for them Easter morning was a time of revelation, and a time of great joy. Not only was the Lord risen, but new life came once again to their hopes and beliefs. Picture the journey of sadness that the women would have taken to sepulcher and how different their journey in haste back to Jerusalem would have been. Easter morning was a time of wonderful revelation. In spite of all that the Lord had taught his disciples they weren't ready for the events of Good Friday. Even though He had foretold His crucifixion and promised to rise on the third day, those who followed Him could not yet understand what He meant. Everything that He had said needed to come to pass before they would come to see the Lord's true role. It was the undying relationship that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary sensed with Jesus that was a key to the revelation of Easter morning. They came to the sepulcher as the day began to dawn and so could be the first to know the good news. They were the first to behold the risen Lord. It was they who carried the first news of this most wonderful miracle to the apostles in Jerusalem. The Lord is leading each of us to times of revelation like the first Easter morning. There are many things that we too cannot possibly understand as we begin our spiritual journeys toward heaven. Although we can read over and over again things that the Lord has carefully described for us in His Word, the ideas will be empty of their true meaning at first. In reality, the influence of our natural inclinations to evil makes it inevitable that we will not be able to understand the Lord when He first speaks to us. The evil spirits who can inflow into our thoughts by means of these hereditary inclinations twist and misshape what we learn. They work to twist the meaning of truth into a form that is in itself false. This is a deadly dangerous work that they do. They would have us do things that are evil, that are self-centered or focused on worldly things, but justify it by something that the Word states. The Writings of the New Church call this "the falsification of truth." It is defined as follows: "falsifying the Word consists in taking truths from it and using them to prove untrue propositions; this is done by taking truths from the Word out of context and murdering them." (True Christian Religion 162:8) These final chilling words can bring to mind the sad events of Good Friday for a good reason. The things that were done to Jesus represent what an evil person does to the truth of the Word. It is what the evil spirits working within our minds seek to do within our own thoughts and intentions. They would like the Lord's truth to be dead and sealed up behind a great rock within our minds. But the Lord constantly seeks to be a living presence within us. This is described in the following words: No one can do good from charity unless his spiritual mind is opened, and the spiritual mind is opened only by man's abstaining from doing evils and shunning them, and finally turning away from them because they are contrary to the Divine commandments in the Word, thus contrary to the Lord. When a person so shuns and turns away from evils all things that he thinks, wills, and does, are good because they are from the Lord; for the Lord is continually present, knocks at the door, is urgent and wishes to enter, but evils oppose; therefore a person must open the door by removing the evils, for it is only when evils are removed that the Lord enters and sups there (Revelation 3:20). It is said that a person opens and removes, because it is from self that a person does evils; and inasmuch as the Lord is continually present, knocks at the door, and is urgent, as has been said, the person has the ability to refrain from evils as if of himself; this ability is also given to every human being. This is why, since a person can of himself close heaven to himself he can also as if of himself open heaven, provided he thinks and wills to refrain from evils, looks to the Lord, and when he refrains acknowledges that it is from the Lord ( Apocalypse Explained 798:6) As we have been told many times over by the Lord, He cannot be present with us unless we do our part to act differently from the way our natural heredity inclines us. Sometimes acting differently takes a slight effort. Sometimes it is a tremendous battle. The battle is the battle of temptation during which the evil spirits with us bring out every false idea and stimulate every natural and evil motivation they possibly can to keep us from following the Lord. These battles are the cross that the Lord says that each of us must take up. In these battles a person will face times of despair as Jesus did in His temptations. The end of such temptations is not a triumphant victory. It can often feel like a death and certain numbness follows. If a person has held on with the Lord's help the darkness of temptation is followed by the gentle light of spiritual dawn. In this spiritual dawn our mind is prepared for a revelation of truth like that of the first Easter morning. The false ideas like a huge stone rolled in front of the sepulcher can now be rolled back. And when this happens we can see with joy what we thought would be our dead and buried hopes and goals. We see then an empty sepulcher. By holding on in the battles of temptation the Lord has prepared us to receive His life and His wisdom in a new way. This is described as follows: Knowledges of truth from the Word are not living with an individual until the internal spiritual person has been opened; and this is opened by the Lord while the person is being regenerated; and then through the opened spiritual person the spiritual out of heaven flows into the knowledges of truth and good that are from the Word in the natural person and makes them alive. It makes them alive in such a way that the knowledges of truth and good in the natural person become correspondences of the spiritual things that are in the internal spiritual person; and when they are correspondences they are living, for then the spiritual is enclosed in the particular knowledges or truths as the soul is in its body. (Apocalypse Explained 967:2) The rolling back of the stone from the sepulcher by the angel is like the opening of truth within our minds. This opening up is accomplished by living according to what the Lord teaches. In its simplicity this is described as: "To think well about the Lord and about the neighbor opens the way from heaven; while to think not well about the Lord and to think evil about the neighbor shuts that way." (Apocalypse Explained 208:3) The revelation of truth that Easter morning represents isn't a matter of deep intellect as it is normally defined. Instead it is the basis of clear wisdom, trust and a deep inner peace. peace is. . .like the dawn on earth, which fills people's minds with overall delight. And the truth of peace is like the light of dawn. This truth which is being called the truth of peace is the Divine Truth itself present in heaven and coming from the Lord; it influences all there without exception, and causes heaven to be heaven. Peace holds within itself trust in the Lord, the trust that He governs all things and provides all things, and that He leads towards an end that is good. When a person believes these things about Him he is at peace, since he fears nothing and no anxiety about things to come disturbs him. How far a person attains this state depends on how far he attains love to the Lord. (Arcana Caelestia 8455) This is further described in the following: The truth of peace is Divine Truth that goes forth from the Lord and is present in heaven. This being inmost, it introduces itself into the truth underneath it and gives it life, as dew usually enlivens grass or crops on which it settles in the morning. When the truth underneath is given life by it the truth of peace goes up; that is, it no longer seems to be there; only the truth that has received life from it is to be seen. This is how the truth of faith is born; for no truth contained in doctrine or in the Word becomes a truth residing with a person until it has received life from the Divine. It receives that life through the introduction of truth that goes forth from the Lord, called the truth of peace. This truth is not the truth of faith; rather it is the life or soul of the truth of faith. It organizes into a heavenly form everything within the truth which is called the truth of faith, and also after that the truths themselves in relation to each other. All this goes to show what happens when the introduction of truth by means of the truth of peace takes place in a person. (Arcana Caelestia 8456) The joy of Easter morning is the joy of new seen truth. It is the joy of a huge stone rolled away to reveal not a dead knowledge, but living truth triumphant. May we experience this joy of Easter morning many times over in our own lives. May we learn and live according to what the Lord teaches. May we fight the battles to follow Him. As we do this the knowledge we first learn and hardly understand will be opened up and we will see ever more clearly the Lord and His living presence in all things. AMEN. Lessons: Matthew 28:1-10 The "great earthquake" that occurred when the angel descended from heaven and rolled away the stone from the mouth of the sepulcher signified that the state of the church was altogether changed. The Lord then rose again, and as to His Human assumed all dominion over heaven and earth, as He Himself says in Matthew (28:18). "The angel rolled away the stone from the mouth and sat upon it" signifies that the Lord removed all the false ideas that had shut off access to Him, and that He opened Divine truth, "the stone" signifying the Divine truth which people of the church at that day had made false by their tradition; for it is said that: The chief priests and Pharisees sealed the stone with a guard; but that an angel from heaven removed it and sat upon it. (Matthew 27:66; 28:2). The things that have been said respecting the earthquake and the stone before the mouth of sepulcher, are but a few, but the things signified by them are many, for each and everything that is written in the Gospels respecting the Lord's Passion involves hidden wisdom and has deep significance. Apocalypse Explained 400:14 The angel seen by the women at the tomb represented the Lord's glorification, and of introduction of people into heaven by Him; for the "stone" that was placed before the sepulcher, and that was rolled away by the angel, signifies Divine truth, thus the Word, which was closed up by the people of the church at that day, but opened by the Lord. Apocalypse Explained 687:18 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. From leewoof@tiac.net Fri Apr 9 01:21:39 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 8 Apr 1999 21:21:39 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Lead Us Not Into Temptation," by William Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990408211731.00b43100@pop.tiac.net> Here is a sermon by my father that I put into email form to answer a message in the Seekers list. I thought the followers of this sermon list might enjoy it as well. --Lee LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION By the Rev. Dr. William Ross Woofenden Connecticut Association, Oct. 2, 1993 Readings: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Matthew 6:1-13 "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." --Matt. 6:13 This is probably the least clearly understood petition in the Lord's Prayer. Oh, the _intent_ of it is clear enough: we first express our wholesome fear of moral testing or temptations (based undoubtedly on numerous painful encounters with the process), and then we ask the Lord to save us from the evils which cause the testing or temptations. The difficulty which has been wrestled with down through the centuries has been the actual wording of the first half of the petition. Many devout and well meaning scholars have searched for some defect in the Greek text, hoping that some other valid and less puzzling wording might be substituted for "lead us not into temptation." For this seems to imply that we are sort of enticed into temptation situations by God. But this possibility was strongly denied by the apostle James when he wrote, "When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone" (James 1:13). Even among Swedenborgian scholars the tendency has been to conclude that the _intent_ of the phrase is something like this: "Do not allow us to be overcome in temptation." Several very plausible arguments in this general direction may be found in our collateral works. My intention is not to challenge such hypotheses, but rather to suggest that they tend to bypass the underlying problem inherent in the text. One of the truly significant ideas or insights given to us by Swedenborg is that the literal text of the Bible is written in the form of "apparent truth," or "appearances of truth." There is no negative connotation in this description; nor is there any suggestion that therefore the letter of the Word is not "true." It is simply calling attention to a widely used and often appropriate form of truth. Without this mode, much of our daily speech would be tiresomely stilted and awkward. For instance, we schedule many event on the basis of the time the sun "rises" or "sets." But you and I know that the sun neither rises nor sets, even though that is the appearance. Or, society has a whole set of customs sometimes called "amenities." Often they contain little "real" truth, but serve instead to promote peace and harmony by appearing to be true. "How lovely it has been to have you visit us," we may say; while what we are thinking is, "Thank goodness these bores are finally leaving!" Or, "What a lovely dress (or tie or hat, or what-have-you) you have on today!"--which, being interpreted, would come out something like this: "What ghastly taste you have in clothing!" It would be inexcusable to _say_ what we really feel or think--not only in the sense of bad manners but also because of the unavoidable cruelty and callousness involved in always insisting on saying "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." If, for instance, each time you were asked, "How are you?" you insisted on giving a full-blown account of your present state of health, people would soon stop greeting you in this way, you can be sure. The appearance of truth is also a necessary adaptation in a great many parent/child relationships. The wise and loving parent who from time to time may feel the only loving thing to do is to resort to punishment or strict discipline in guiding or safeguarding the child, in order to make such conduct effective, must often appear to the child to be truly angry, or even, in some instances, unfair or vindictive. The wisest and most loving of all parents, our heavenly Father, has also apparently found it prudent from time to time to let himself be seen in a similar light. Many such appearances of truth can be found in the Bible. For instance, we read in the 7th Psalm that "God is angry with the wicked every day" (KJV), or more accurately, he is "a God who expresses his wrath every day." (NIV) Other passages that I am sure you can recall picture him not only as angry but as vengeful, repenting, etc. Some people have claimed to have been turned away from religion because of such Biblical statements. But the fact is that none of these statements is true. God is by nature _incapable_ of such human failings as anger, vengefulness, or change of heart. These statements are simply reflections of how men recorded their impressions of encounters with God. Or, to use our term, "appearances of truth." Now, to turn to our text: the _real_ truth is that God neither tempts us nor leads us into temptation situations. Well, you may say, then obviously the text "Lead us not into temptation" must be erroneous. I think not. Informed and responsible translators continue to translate it the same way. So far as I know there is no convincing evidence that the received text is faulty. For that reason, a major point of this sermon is to try to show that the text as it stands is both correct and fully appropriate to the situations it addresses. First we might ask what the logic would be that would lead the Lord to teach us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation"? There are two ways to answer this: (1) The words can be differently understood by us when we are in different states of mind (as witness the adaptation cited earlier, "Let us not be overcome in temptation"), and (2)--and I think more importantly--often when one is involved in the testing or temptation process, it appears that the temptation _is_ from God. How often have you heard it said--or perhaps said yourself--"Why did God do this to me?" With a bit of reverse English (but really meaning the same thing) some say, with a deep air of resignation in their voice, "It is God's will." And you and I may say (under our breath if we're charitable), "Nonsense!" But that's still not the whole story: a sense of despair, of being abandoned, of being harshly treated or punished, is a _normal_ part of temptation. In short, to note the existence of such feelings is not to criticize temptation, it is to notice a _fact_ of temptation. AC 8351 says, "Spiritual temptations are usually carried to despair." And in NJHD 197, speaking of temptation, it says, "In a state of desperation, a person speaks bitter things, but the Lord pays no attention to them." Perhaps it would not be inappropriate also to remind ourselves of words Jesus spoke from the cross--the state of his last and most severe temptation--"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" We can be sure that in less troubled times Jesus knew full well that the Divine (which he knew was dwelling within him) would never abandon him. What sorts of things can we learn from this fuller knowledge of the nature of spiritual testing or temptation? Let me try to list a few: For one thing, we should get out of the habit of taking offense at the nature of temptation. We should try to learn to appreciate that our intellectual _idea_ of its nature is quite different from the _effect_ which temptation has on us when we are in its grips. At times our intellect may be elevated to see higher degrees of truth than that which is sometimes contained in the letter of the Word. But during the _experience_ of temptation, the apparent truth may become quite real to us. Whenever we are under the direct influence of worldly or selfish affections, our capacity to reason spiritually is temporarily stifled. And, if we will only believe it, at such times we really believe that the Lord _has_ somehow led us into that particular temptation. Let me try to illustrate this: What is our usual thought pattern whenever we are groping about for some plausible excuse for our faults? More often than not, don't we tend to excuse ourselves on the grounds of difficult or "impossible" circumstances? Given the circumstances, we rationalize, who could have done anything else? Now we may not willingly allow the following pattern of words to form in our consciousness, but what we are really thinking is that "if God hadn't let us get into that spot in the first place _we_ would not have let _him_ down!" Or, to put it in Biblical terminology, "if only the Lord hadn't led us into temptation, he wouldn't have had to deliver us from the evil!" Are you still with me? If so, let's next ask: How can we prepare ourselves in our free, un-temptation-laden times, to break from this specious way of thinking whenever our minds are under the constraints of temptation? Or, what is it that we think gives _circumstances_ such power over us that we believe them to be capable of betraying us into sin? Well, one thing we need to realize or admit it that circumstances are never the _cause_ of sin. They are at most a means of exposing hidden tendencies, of showing us something of our real spiritual state, of manifesting some of the carefully hidden selfish affections which lurk in our heart--affections which we probably normally refuse to own up to, or, at most, which we usually gloss over with some plausible excuse. The fact is that if all of our inner affections were pure and spiritual, then no matter how filled with temptation potential any given set of circumstances might be, we would have no trouble with them whatever. We would in fact consistently do and say only that which is good and true. Under _any_ circumstances, each person's actions are as pure and holy (or the reverse) as the affections of the heart from which they proceed. Unlike Sir Lancelot (whose strength was as the strength of ten because his heart was pure), earthbound creatures that most of us are, we are _not_ so constituted. So we need to build some sort of reservoir of strength for our use in time of trial. As a first step in that direction, we need to acknowledge that it is neither God nor circumstances that cause us to yield to temptation. At the same time we need to admit to ourselves that whenever we find ourselves in the context of a tempting situation, the natural level of our mind, if left unchallenged, will invariably react unwisely, not looking _within_ for the source of our error, but pettishly looking _without_. We need to take notice that when we do commit an act that disturbs our conscience, we seldom turn our thoughts back on ourselves first, searching for the cause within. Instead, as we said before, our more usual reaction is to think, "If I hadn't been placed in those tempting circumstances, I wouldn't have committed the act." Now, let me try to tie this fact of life into our text from the Lord's Prayer. First, there is no way that I know of that we can change the intrinsic structure of spiritual trial or temptation. Despair, resentment, blaming anyone or anything but ourselves--these will always be with us. And of course the Lord _knows_ this. So how divinely appropriate that he should teach us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation"! This expresses perfectly the first spontaneous outlook of a repentant mind, at the only level at which a mind in such a state can be reached. Even if the motivating cause of praying these words is far from worthy--perhaps no more than a crying out against the uneasiness and discomfort of the moment--still, as a prayer, these are words of sorrow for sin, and a petition to the Lord for help to overcome in the future. Any higher expression of truth than this would be not only inappropriate but impossible in the state from which every regenerating person must begin. The words "Lead us not into temptation" are perfectly suited to the first incipient state of spiritual life in every human being. And that is where all of us must begin. However, as a person advances spiritually, there is nothing morally or spiritually wrong with--at that time--qualifying one's understanding of the words so that they are suited to one's present state. Earlier I said that I had no desire to quarrel with the tendency among Swedenborgian writers to qualify the intent of the phrase to be, "Do not allow us to be overcome in temptation." Perhaps now you can see why. It is surely true that if we are regenerating, our understanding of the petition must at some point rise to this level. But this does not alter my concern that we be fully aware that no one _starts_ there: we all must slowly and painstakingly _grow_ to that state. As Isaiah put it, "Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there." (28:10) At no time in our life should we be afraid or ashamed to pray at this rudimentary level, for to do so is to face humbly our real spiritual state. Even though we may be praying on the basis of an appearance of truth, still we cannot sincerely pray, "Lead us not into temptation" unless there is at the same time at least the beginning of a desire to be "delivered from evil." The very form of the words, which most of learned by heart as children, helps teach us that it is our responsibility to set our minds against getting into so-called compromising circumstances or associating with apparently evil companions. As we have said, it is not wrong--in fact, it is quite right in the early stages--that a person believe that circumstances and bad companions _are_ the actual _causes_ of one's sins. Understanding comes only through experience. This is especially true in regard to the process of temptation. If one will only begin with the right will: a true desire to shun or flee from evils, looking to the Lord for help, that person will place himself or herself in a state to receive help, in both understanding and will. It is only gradually and through experience that any person can learn that neither the Lord nor circumstances are the cause of our spiritual trials. Only in this way can one come to realize that it is not the Lord's _will_ that we face temptations; that he simply tolerates them as necessary disciplines for our spiritual growth. At the same time the regenerating person can begin to appreciate that circumstances, instead of being the cause of temptations, are instead a divinely gracious means of exposing to us, to the extent that we can face it, our true character at any stage of our life. And it is perhaps only then that we can fully appreciate the words Paul spoke to the Christians at Corinth, "God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way so that you can stand up under it." (I Cor. 10:13) Amen. From leewoof@tiac.net Sun Apr 11 22:41:46 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 11 Apr 1999 18:41:46 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Forgive, Forget, and Bear Fruit," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990411143450.00b365f0@pop.tiac.net> Forgive, Forget, and Bear Fruit By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, April 11, 1999 Readings: Genesis 41:45-52: Forgetfulness and Fruitfulness Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah and gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt. Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh's presence and traveled throughout Egypt. During the seven years of abundance the land produced plentifully. Joseph collected all the food produced in those seven years of abundance in Egypt and stored it in the cities. In each city he put the food grown in the fields surrounding it. Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain, like the sand of the sea; it was so much that he stopped keeping records because it was beyond measure. Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, "It is because God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's household." The second son he named Ephraim and said, "It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering." Matthew 18:21-35: Forgiveness and unforgiveness Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. "The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, cancelled the debt, and let him go. "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow-servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded. "His fellow-servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. "Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow-servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." Arcana Coelestia: #5352, 5353, 5355, Forgetfulness and fruitfulness "Forgetting" means moving away from something, and "hardship" means the struggles of temptation. So the words "God has made me forget all my hardship" means moving away after temptations--in other words, moving away from the evil things that had brought us pain. . . . In the original language, "Manasseh" means "forgetfulness." So in the inner sense it means moving evil things away from ourselves--both those we do ourselves and those that are passed down to us. When these are moved away, we gain a new motivation through the goodness that flows in from the Lord. . . . The words "God has made me fruitful" refer to the resulting multiplication of good and true things. . . . In the original language, "Ephraim" means "fruitfulness." Sermon: Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, "It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household." The second son he named Ephraim and said, "It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering." (Genesis 41:51, 52) In one of my favorite stories, set in medieval times, two monks who are on a long journey are walking through a great forest. One is middle-aged, and has been with their monastic order for years. The other is a young novitiate. As they walk along the path, the hours go by, sometimes in conversation, sometimes in silence. At one point, they come upon a wide, rapid stream. Sitting at the edge of the water is a young woman, who is evidently in some distress. As soon as she sees the two monks, a look of relief comes over her face, and she hurries up to them. "Father," she says, addressing the older of the two, "you would be doing me the greatest favor if you would carry me across. The water is swift, and I do not know how to swim. If I should slip and fall . . ." "Of course, my child," the monk replies, "I would be most willing to carry you across." The young novitiate shoots his companion a surprised glance--for under the rules of their order, they are strictly forbidden to touch women. Nevertheless, the older monk takes the young woman up in his arms, carries her across the stream, and sets her down safely on the other side. After thanking them graciously, she goes on her way, and the two monks continue on their journey. There is silence between them for an hour, then two. Finally, the younger monk musters the courage to speak. "Father," he says, "you know that we are not allowed to touch women." "Yes, I know." "How, then, could you carry that woman across the stream?" My son," he replied, "I put the young woman down two hours ago. But you are still carrying her." This little story is a gentle variation on an ancient theme of sin and forgiveness--a theme that is put in much starker terms in our reading from Matthew. In the Gospel story, the experienced monk is represented by the king, and the novitiate by one of the king's servants. The issue, instead of being illicit contact with a woman, has to do with the forgiveness of monetary debt. The king evidently does have a soft spot in his heart. When his servant, faced with ruin and slavery for his whole family, begs the king for mercy, the king relents and forgives him the debt. But like the young monk who could not let go of the woman, the king's servant is still tightly gripping his own greed to his chest. No sooner has his debt to the king been forgiven than he turns around and throws one of his fellow servants into prison until he has repaid a much smaller debt. We know the end of the story. That man's greed and lack of forgiveness landed him in the torture chamber. Jesus does not mince his words in illustrating for us the great issues of moral and spiritual life. Though the words of this parable may be hard for us to swallow, living as we do in a modern country whose justice is not nearly so harsh, the story does put the issues of forgiveness and unforgiveness in sharp relief. For most of us, it is not our _physical_ life and limb that will be in jeopardy if we do not forgive our brothers and sisters their offenses against us. Rather, it is our _spiritual_ life that is endangered by a harsh and unforgiving attitude. Let's face it. Sometimes people do things to us that they really shouldn't have done. In fact, sometimes people are downright mean and nasty. And that hurts! Especially if the one who did that mean and nasty thing was a family member, or someone we had thought of as a friend or partner. We feel hurt and betrayed, and our natural first impulse is to want to get back at them. Oh, we may be house-trained enough that we will not take a swing at the person. But sometimes we think it would feel so _good_ to get in that perfect cutting remark that will put that person in his or her place! Or sometimes we feel we just _can't resist_ spreading some juicy rumors and gossip about that person. Of course, when we do these sorts of things, we do hurt the other person. We also perpetuate a cycle of conflict, hard feelings, and pain that is likely to boomerang back on ourselves, just as the unmerciful servant's lack of compassion boomeranged back on him. But what we should fear most is not the _external_ consequences of the times when we can't find it in our heart to forgive another person; what we should fear is the _internal_ consequences. It is the state of our _spirit within us_ that will determine what our life will be like ever after. When we do not forgive others their offenses against us, it creates a hardness within our minds and hearts. This hardness not only prevents from reaching reconciliation with those that we feel have harmed us, and keeps us from building a better relationship with them. It also affects our relationships with others. We start _expecting_ others to hurt us and let us down just as that other person did. Soon this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, as we find ourselves becoming offended with others and breaking off our relationships with them. Fortunately, the Bible also has positive role models for us to follow--and Joseph is certainly one of them. Oh, he's not perfect. But as we follow his story in the later chapters of the book of Genesis, we find a person who gains peace in his soul because he is willing to let past wrongs remain in the past. Joseph could easily have become a suspicious, embittered soul. His own brothers had caused him to be sold into slavery in a foreign land. But he did not let that hold him back. He concentrated on excelling at his tasks, and was soon put in charge of his Egyptian master's household. Once again he was betrayed by his master's wife, and landed in prison through no fault of his own. Still, he refused to become embittered, but continued to live with integrity even in prison. Once again, he was put in charge of the other prisoners. It was Joseph's willingness to forgive and live with integrity despite the wrongs done to him that enabled the Lord to bless him over and over again, so that in the end, he became second only to Pharaoh himself as ruler of the entire nation of Egypt. This is where we find him as we pick up our Old Testament reading. He has reached the height of his favor and power, and has now been given a wife with whom he may settle down and have children. The names that he gives to his two sons are both touching and instructive. The name of his firstborn, Manasseh, comes from a word that means "forgetfulness." This is not forgetfulness of the type that we curse when we can't remember where we have put our glasses! No, it is forgetfulness in the positive sense of being able to forgive and forget past wrongs and hardships, and move on from them to new richness and abundance of life. This is the deeper meaning of Manasseh's birth. The forgetfulness represented by Manasseh, Swedenborg tells us, means moving away in our hearts from the hardships of our struggles, conflicts, and temptations. It means moving away from the evil things in our past that have brought us pain. And we can only do this when, like Joseph, we are willing to forgive and forget the wrongs done to us by others. We can only do this when we are willing to set that woman down when we reach the other side of the stream, rather than carrying her accusingly in our minds for hours, weeks, months, years, even _decades_ after the original incident is over. When we are able to open our hearts to the _good_ forgetfulness of letting bygones be bygones, of forgiving those that have wronged us either in fact or in our imagination, then we can move on to the birth of our spiritual Ephraim. Ephraim's name comes from a Hebrew word that means "twice fruitful." This name is a perfect image of the fruitfulness that comes to our lives when we are willing to forgive and forget past wrongs. Ephraim represents the multiplication of good and true things in our lives when we are ready to leave behind the pain and struggle of our past conflicts, and open ourselves up to the new joys and blessings that the Lord has in store for us. When, like Joseph, we do not dwell on the past, but look to the future while doing our best in the present, we open our minds to a new understanding of the people around us, and we open our hearts to the goodness and love that can exist in our relationships with them. If we have had particular conflicts with someone in our life, opening our minds and hearts in this way may make it possible to build a bridge over those differences and come to a new appreciation of one another. Realistically speaking, though, sometimes we won't be able to bridge the gap. Sometimes our relationship with that person will remain broken, perhaps forever. Still, all is not lost. The other person may refuse to accept our forgiveness, or to extend their forgiveness to us. But our own willingness to forgive--and to apologize where we have been wrong--will enable us to clear our own spirit of the heavy weight of anger and bitterness that would otherwise continue to hold us down emotionally and spiritually. By forgiving and forgetting, we throw off the baggage of our past so that we can go with spiritual lightness into a fruitful future. Amen. From leewoof@tiac.net Mon Apr 19 08:53:25 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 09:53:25 +0100 Subject: SERMON: "A God of All Religions," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990419095134.00b5fac0@pop.tiac.net> A God of All Religions By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, April 18, 1999 Readings: Isaiah 2:2-5: The mountain of the Lord In the last days, the mountain of the Lord's house will be established as highest of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more. Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord. Revelation 7:9-12: A great multitude in white robes I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." All the angels were standing round the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen!" Divine Providence: #330 People of all religions are saved The idea that only people who are born in the Christian religion are saved is a foolish heresy. Those who are born outside Christianity are people just as much as those living within it. They have the same heavenly origin, and they are equally living and immortal souls. They also have a religious faith from which they recognize that there is a God, and that they should live good lives. And all who believe in God and live good lives become spiritual in their own way, and are saved. Some people object that non-Christians have not been baptized. But baptism saves people only when they are spiritually washed, meaning spiritually reborn, since baptism is a symbol and a reminder of that. Some people also object that non-Christians do not know the Lord [Jesus], and that without the Lord no one can be saved. But salvation does not come to us because we know the Lord; it comes to us because we follow the Lord's commandments. Besides, everyone who believes in God knows the Lord, since the Lord is the God of heaven and earth. Sermon: I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. (Rev. 7:9) When Patty and I were in Tucson, Arizona for a week in February, our group took a drive up Mt. Lemmon, a 9,000 foot peak just outside the city. We didn't have enough time to make it all the way to the top, so we stopped at an overlook lower down the mountain. There, we were treated to a panoramic view of Tucson, which was laid out before us in its broad, bowl-shaped valley nestled among the mountains. It was quite a beautiful sight, especially since the air was a little misty that day, which softened the stark lines of the city. Our guide was the local Swedenborgian pastor, the Rev. Frank Rose. Never one to pass up an opportunity to preach, he promptly stepped up on a large boulder and informed us that he was going to give us his one minute sermon. "Do you see that city?" he said. "Right now in that city there are old people dying and there are babies being born. There are people in the peak of health working out at the gym and people lying sick in hospital beds. There are people losing their jobs and people starting a new jobs. There are couples who are getting divorces and couples who are conceiving children. There are rich people living in big houses and homeless people living under bridges. There are Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and Jews. There are blacks, whites, Asians, Indians, Mexicans, and so on. Some people are speaking English; some are speaking Spanish; some are speaking other languages. There is all that joy and sorrow, all those contrasts. And yet, from our perspective up here on the mountain, we see only a single, beautiful city. . . . That is how God sees the entire world." We spend most of our time, day in and day out, down in that valley, in the thick of things, seeing all the contrasts and controversies, the struggles and triumphs, the acts of meanness and the acts of kindness. Today, I would like to be your guide on a trip up the mountain. Even though we will not get God's view of the world from there, since we will still be standing on the earth, still, on that mountain we can go just a _little bit_ closer to God, and get something a little bit closer to God's view of the world. The mountain that I am talking about is the mountain of spiritual vision. It is the mountain of the spiritual depths--or should I say, spiritual _heights_--that are common to all the great religions of the world. Those of us who were able to get to some of the workshops in our recently concluded World Religions workshops had a chance to climb several spiritual mountains with leaders from the various faiths covered in the workshops: Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Native American, Jewish, and Hindu. After several of the workshops I heard some of the Swedenborgians there saying about the workshops' leaders, "These people are Swedenborgians!" Then again, those _were_ Swedenborgians making that remark . . . . Once when I was over at the Catholic church, a man told me the old story about how a Protestant (as he told it) went to heaven, and was told by an angel never to climb over that big, high wall over there. Of course, the fellow couldn't resist. When he came _back_ over the wall, his angel friend was waiting for him. "They didn't see you, did they?" the angel asked. "No, I don't think so." "Oh good!" the angel replied. "Those are the Catholics. They think they're the only ones up here." The man who was telling me this story then pointed to himself and said, "I'm Catholic, you know!" 235 years ago, when Emanuel Swedenborg wrote the words that we read from his book _Divine Providence_, there was precious little of that broad-mindedness among Christians. Both the official doctrine and the common belief was that only Christians could be saved--and often, only Christians from one's own particular sect. I find it to be deliciously ironic that Swedenborg was so brash as to apply the phrase "foolish heresy" to an idea that was perhaps the core teaching of the Christian Church--and which millions of conservative Christians continue to believe today. He termed "heresy" the idea that only those who have literally accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior can be saved from the fires of hell. And he goes on to tell us just _why_ this is heresy. To fully appreciate the great step forward that Swedenborg was taking, it might be helpful to look briefly at the idea behind the belief that still persists among many Christians that only Christians can be saved. In a nutshell, traditional Christianity taught (based on a few Bible passages taken out of context and then misinterpreted) that God the Father, in his "perfect justice," had pronounced a death sentence on all humankind because of the sin of Adam and Eve. This sin had been passed down to all their descendants--meaning everyone on earth. God the Son, however, volunteered to take the penalty for that sin, and in payment of that penalty he, Jesus, died on the cross. Now, anyone who believes that Jesus died instead of them will have their sin forgiven by God the Father, and so they will be saved. Millions of conservative Christians continue to believe this today. That is why they are so intent on converting people to their religion. They think that unless people are "saved" by believing in Jesus, they will burn forever in hell. But Swedenborg had a very different view of God. First of all, Swedenborg's God would never condemn anyone to hell. In fact, according to Swedenborg, God is never even _angry_ with anyone--no matter how badly they have "sinned." Swedenborg's God is a God of pure love, who loves _all_ people no matter how virtuous or how sinful they are. To use the words from Matthew's Gospel, "Your heavenly Father causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45). Such a God would never consign to hell fire the majority of the world's population simply because they had never converted to Christianity. Never! According to Swedenborg, the great religions of the world were _all_ founded by God in order to reach out to the people of various cultures in ways that were appropriate to their particular character. The prophets of all religions were sent by God on a mission to bring spiritual enlightenment to people who were sorely in need of it. And so, although both Swedenborg and the church founded in his name remained firmly Christian in their own belief and practice, it was a much broader Christianity--one that accepted all religions as valid paths to God. How could Swedenborg reconcile his own strongly Christian belief with such a broad, interfaith vision of God's working in our world? Don't we read in John 3:16, the verse that finds its way into almost every Fundamentalist tract: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that all who believe in him will not perish, but have eternal life"? And don't we read two verses later the verse that confounds liberal Christians and non-Christians alike: "Those who believe in him are not condemned, but those who do not believe stand condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of God's only Son"? Swedenborg's reply to this comes in our reading from _Divine Providence:_ Some people object that non-Christians do not know the Lord [Jesus], and that without the Lord no one can be saved. But salvation does not come to us because we _know_ the Lord; it comes to us because we _follow the Lord's commandments_. Besides, everyone who believes in God knows the Lord, since the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, as he himself teaches in Matthew 28:18. In other words, it is a small-minded view of Jesus (whom Swedenborg saw as one with God the Father), to think that only a literal belief in the Jesus of history can save people. Swedenborg's far broader view is that anyone who believes in and lives by the _spirit_ of what Jesus taught is, in fact, believing in God--or in the "Son of God," to use the Biblical phrase. And, Swedenborg continued, God has ensured that the basic teachings needed to live a good life are present in all the religions of the world. So the _spirit_ of Jesus is present in all religions. The challenge that Swedenborg placed squarely before the Christians of his day was simply this: Is your God big, or is your God small? Is your God a universal God, or is your God a small and petty God, who favors one particular culture and religion over another? Now, over two hundred years later, we humans--some of us, anyway--are finally maturing enough that we can begin to see the same broad and universal vision of God that Swedenborg saw well ahead of his time. Now, at last, forward-looking people of all faiths are beginning to see that the God they believe in is the same God that people of all the other religions believe in. Now, finally, we are beginning to climb the spiritual mountain--the mountain of higher vision and greater enlightenment--so that we can see the world a little bit more as God sees it. Today, we can build a vision of a world that is one in God's sight. A world in which all the differences of race, culture, and religion are simply human varieties that reflect the infinite variations of God's divine being. From the perspective of the spiritual mountain, we can see the great beauty of the incredible diversity in God's creation. And we can go much farther than merely _tolerating_ or _accepting_ the racial, cultural, and spiritual diversity that we see in the world around us. We can _celebrate_ that diversity, because through each part of that diversity, God is speaking to us in a special way. Amen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Mon Apr 19 22:38:31 1999 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 19 Apr 1999 18:38:31 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: We Aren't Supposed to Know the Future Message-ID: <199904191736_MC2-72A2-F334@compuserve.com> We Aren't Supposed to Know the Future By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell April 18, 1999 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" Exodus 3:11 The beginning of the book of Exodus describes how the Children of Israel prospered and grew very numerous in the land of Egypt where they had gone during the great famine of Joseph time. It recounts the suspicions that Pharaoh had and how he tried to reduce the population by various means including having all the male babies cast into the river. The mother of an infant boy tried to protect him from this death until he was too old and presumably too noisy to hide any longer and then she partially fallowed Pharaoh's command. She put her son in the river but protected in a water-proof basket which served as a tiny boat for the little one. It seemed that by chance one of Pharaoh's daughters came to that spot to wash. She saw the basket, retrieved it, and claimed the child as her own, named him Moses, and took him home to be raised as a prince in Pharaoh's court. By these remarkable means an Israelite was trained to be a leader in the palaces of the Israelites oppressor. But then by apparent twist of fate, Moses had been forced to flee from his princely life out into the wilderness of Sinai where he lived and guided a flock as a shepherd for a considerable amount of time. Meanwhile back in Egypt it seems that the death of one Pharaoh led to another who was even worse than his father. We read the following from end of chapter two following the description of Moses being settled in the land of Midian: Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them. (Exodus 2:23-25) How is God going to help a slave nation caught in a foreign land? Actually, He has already prepared the perfect leader to lead them from their misery. He has raised up a man who is an Israelite, who has been trained as a leader and is familiar with the workings of the court of Pharaoh, who also is experienced with the rigors and challenges of living in the wilderness of Sinai. This set of qualifications was a most unusual and demanding one. Yet the Lord had the perfect person: Moses. But Moses wasn't at all aware of his past life as being a preparation for anything in particular. He may have thought it a remarkable tale, but he seemed content where he was serving as a shepherd for his father-in-law. When the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush and called him to return to Egypt to lead the Israelites from their slavery, Moses responded: "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" Exodus 3:11 When the Lord answers all his questions, Moses tries nevertheless to tell Him to find someone else. But in reality there was no one else for the job. Moses had a unique set of qualities that the Lord had carefully overseen develop in Moses life. He was the one and only right person to lead the Children of Israel from slavery. Moses had a very hard time accepting that this was the case. He resisted strongly. This story of Moses' preparation and call reflects qualities of the Lord's government. It shows the Lord guiding the life of an individual in a remarkable way. A series of seemingly chance events, some of which seemed tragic at the time, all gathered together for good in Moses life. They were important for him and absolutely essential for the Israelites who were suffering in slavery. This story is a remarkable reflection of the Lord's work. This sermon is the fifth in a series of sermons on the laws that guide the Lord's care for each of us or as we often call them, the laws of the Divine Providence. The first sermon focused on the law that each person needs to act in freedom according to reason. This means that people need to have a sense that they are making choices in events large and small based on their own best understanding of what is to be done. The second law of the Divine Providence states that it is our task to change our externals, that is our habits of thought, speech, and action from ones that are more evil and destructive to ones that are good and useful. Without this effort at conscious obedience on our part the Lord cannot bring us a new will or a new heart. It is this new will that has us wanting to do good and useful things that we had not previously wanted to do. The third law of the Divine Providence states that on one should be compelled by external means to think and will, and therefore to believe and love, the things of religion. This means that the Lord will not use miracles, interventions by angels, lightening bolts and so on to make us think and do what is right. In spite of His Infinite wisdom, knowledge, and power, the Lord very purposefully chooses a relatively quiet presence in this world. He leaves us freedom to believe or to disbelieve. He won't make us believe and do what it is right but there are many times that we need to persuade and at times compel ourselves to do so. The fourth law of Divine Providence states that we are to be led and taught by the Lord from heaven by means of the Word, and doctrine and preaching from the Word, and this to all appearance as of ourselves. The fourth law of the Divine Providence states that: If people perceived and felt the operation of the Divine Providence they would not act from freedom according to their thought and planning (that is, their "reason"), nor would anything appear to them to be coming from themselves. It would be the same if they foreknew events. (Divine Providence 176) Consider what would have happened if the Lord had appeared to Moses while he was a prince in Pharaoh's court and told him that he needed to go to the land of Midian and get experience as a shepherd in the wilderness. How likely would it have been that Moses would have thought this was a good idea? How likely would he have been even more resistant to the Lord's plans? The Lord from His infinite love and wisdom knows the tiniest details of our lives. He is aware of all that we experience and how we experience it. He knows the ebb and flow of the tiniest concerns or affections that arise in our minds. He sees the source of every thought that occurs to us even in the vaguest way. He has a clear sight of what is important for each of us in the immediate present, in the coming hours, days, and years of our natural life. He has a knowledge of our capabilities and roles in the life after death to eternity. He knows all of this for all of us. In a manner that absolutely exceeds any conception we could possibly have, the Lord weaves these infinitely complicated and numerous strands to serve each and all of us to eternity. A key part of the Lord's work is to prepare us for things that we will care about in the future, but don't care about now. Think of the development of a single person. What might a little girl think was the most important thing in her life? Would it be the same as she thought was most important when she was a teenager, in her twenties, forties, sixties, and so on? Of course not. Yet if someone was to tell a teenager that in her fifties she would be committed to certain goals and would be willing to sacrifice her time and energy to accomplish them she might think it was either silly or even worse would reject this future with horror. Having once had this foretold she might fight against any event, motivation, or thought that might incline her to this life. For example, she might in her fifties sense a strong desire to care for her aging parents. Imagining how this might work when she was a teenager may be impossible or so undesirable that she might harden herself against the possibility. But having lived a number of decades more of life and having grown as a wisely caring human being, she might be wonderfully well prepared to do this work with a deep sense of usefulness and satisfaction when took it on. If our future was foretold and we didn't fight against it, we would become like a pre-programmed robot following a path that had been given to us. If we could know the future, a part of many people would incline them to seek guidance on the tiniest details. It would be like a child working on a recipe in the kitchen asking at each step of the way, "And now what do I do?" Then a few moments later, "And now what?" Certainly we can benefit from guidance and help when we're first beginning a job or working on something quite unfamiliar, but the Lord has given us eyes to see, ears to hear, and a mind that can think so that we can have the delight of planning and working on things as if we were the only ones contributing to our own choice and direction. There is one further possible problem from our knowing the future, depending on how it came to us. We might think this knowledge was from ourselves and so make ourselves God. We would take credit for the insights and understanding that can only be a part of infinite wisdom and love. While we may feel tension and doubt about the future outcome of important areas of our lives, it is in the Lord's government that we do not and can not know these outcomes with sureness. The Lord wants us to have the delight of thinking and planning, of hoping and dreaming. He wants us to have the delight of working at things that don't come easily for us. He wants us to be able to love what our present state is focused on without being too concerned about roles and a future that is beyond our present comprehension. He wants us to have something of the heavenly happiness that comes from accomplishing something important through using the body and mind that He has given us. For all these reasons He carefully guides our lives without revealing our futures beyond what we are ready to see. AMEN. Lessons: Exodus 3:1-11 If a people perceived and felt the operation of the Divine Providence they would not act from freedom according to their thought and planning (that is, their "reason"), nor would anything appear to them to be coming from themselves. It would be the same if they foreknew events. It is a law of the Divine Providence that people should act from freedom according to their thought and planning; also that everything people will, think, speak and do should appear to them as if it came from themselves. Without this appearance people would have nothing of their own, nor would they be human beings in their own right. People would have no liberty to act according to their thought and planning, and nothing would appear to them to be as from themselves if they perceived and felt the operation of the Divine Providence because if they perceived and felt it, they would also be led by it. Therefore, if people had a conscious perception and feeling of being led they would not be sense that they lived: and they would then be moved to utter sounds and to act much like a robot. If they did still sense that they were alive they would be led like one bound hand and foot, or like a beast of burden yoked to a cart. People are not granted a knowledge of future events in order that they may be able to act from freedom according to their thought and planning. It is well known that people desire to accomplish whatever they love, and they lead themselves to this goal by their thought and planning. It is also known that everything people consider in their thought and planning arises from the love of accomplishing it by means of their thought. Therefore, if they knew the effect or result from Divine prediction their thought and planning would come to rest, and with it their love; for love with reason comes to an end in the effect, and from that point it begins anew. Divine Providence 176, 178 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible, are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. From leewoof@tiac.net Mon May 3 13:17:04 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 3 May 1999 09:17:04 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Pointing Fingers," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990503084743.00b5c270@pop.tiac.net> Pointing Fingers By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, May 2, 1999 Readings: 2 Samuel 12:1-13: Nathan's parable to David The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup, and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. "Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him." David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity." Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.' "This is what the Lord says: 'Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.'" Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." Luke 6:27-36: Love your enemies "I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one also. If someone takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. "But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." True Christian Religion #43.2: God's love for good and evil people God's love goes out and reaches not only to good people and things, but also to evil people and things. So it reaches not only to the people and things in heaven, but also to the people and things in hell; not only to Michael and Gabriel, but also to the Devil and Satan. For God is everywhere and to eternity the same. He also says in Matthew 5:45 that he makes his to sun rise on the good and the evil, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Sermon: David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die!" . . . Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man!" (2 Samuel 12:5, 7) It is so easy to point fingers. David was the king of all Israel, and Nathan the prophet had a tough job to do. You see, David had let his power go to his head. One day, as he was walking around on the roof of his magnificent palace (flat roofs were the norm in Palestine), looking out at the city laid out below him, he caught sight of a woman taking an evening bath. The woman was very beautiful, and David decided he wanted her. So he sent someone to find out who she was, and learned that her name was Bathsheba . . . and she was married. David was not deterred by this, as he should have been. After all, he was the king! Besides, her husband was off fighting against the Ammonites in David's army, and he would never know the difference. So David used his kingly power to have Bathsheba brought to him. And there at the palace, he committed adultery with her. Nature took its course, and soon David received word from Bathsheba that she was pregnant. David had to do something about this embarrassing situation, so he turned to the natural first line of defense of those caught in the act: deception. He had Bathsheba's husband Uriah sent home from war and brought to the palace, where he asked him how the war was going. But this was just a cover for his real purpose: David sent Uriah to his house to be with his wife, so that Uriah would think that the child was his own. But Uriah was too loyal to his fellow soldiers, and would not take his pleasure while they were fighting and dying. He would not go down to his house, but insisted on sleeping with the men at the door of the castle. David tried a second time, getting Uriah drunk so that his resistance would be lowered. Uriah would still not go down to his house. So David, frustrated no doubt by the stubborn loyalty of this subject, had to take stronger measures. He used Uriah as the messenger of his own doom, giving him a letter for his commander with instructions for Uriah to be put in the front lines where fiercest fighting was taking place, and then to be left unsupported so that he would be killed by the enemy. When deception didn't work, David turned to murder. And now, Nathan the prophet had the job of carrying the message of the Lord's displeasure to David, who had just used the position of power in which the Lord had placed him to steal another man's wife, commit adultery with her, and then practice deception and murder in order to cover up his offenses. Of course, Nathan hoped to keep his own head on his shoulders, so either from his own acumen or under inspiration from the Lord, he told David the parable that we heard in our Old Testament reading--and succeeded in getting David to point an accusing finger straight at himself. It is so easy to point fingers that we rarely realize, when we are pointing an accusing finger at someone else, that all too often we may as well be pointing that finger at ourselves. The apostle Paul hit the nail right on the head when he said, "You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things" (Romans 2:1). It is easy to see what everyone else is doing wrong; it is much harder to see what we ourselves are doing wrong. We hear in the news about people who do terrible things: murder, robbery, rape, embezzlement, fraud. And we are quick to hand down harsh sentences for those malefactors--just as David, in his anger, blurted out that the rich man who took the poor man's ewe lamb deserved to die, and then decreed fourfold restitution. But how could David pay restitution to a man who was dead by the king's own command? Perhaps our sins aren't quite as spectacular as David's. Power is a double-edged sword. It can be used to do great good, but when misused, it can also do great damage. None of us here in church today has the power of a king--at least, not outwardly. But within our own souls, we _are_ king. _We_ are the ones who will make the "big decisions" about how we will direct our lives, and what we will do with what the Lord and our society have given to us. _We_ are the ones who will decide whether we will turn our lives toward good or toward harm. And every one of us has, at times, made the wrong choice. Every one of us has personal weaknesses and failings that we struggle with even now--weaknesses that push us toward the wrong decision when we are in a tight spot. And like David, every one of us has tried to paper over with excuses some wrong thing we have said or done--and if that didn't work, we have resorted to the more subtle murder of character assassination by blaming our conduct on someone else. "He made me so mad I couldn't help it!" Or, "Did you hear what she was saying about me? I had to defend myself!" Or perhaps, after we have been in a conflict with someone, we discredit the other person to make ourselves look like the aggrieved party: "His father had a nasty temper, and so does he. Nobody could get along with someone like that!" And so, like David, we try to walk away from the situation without taking any responsibility for our own words and actions. But somewhere in our mind and heart, the Lord is trying to get a message through to us. Somewhere inside of us, the word of the Lord is coming to us, asking to be heard. That message might sound something like this: I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, offer the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Luke 6:27-31) These are difficult words to follow. Living as we do in a society that places a high value on material possessions and on personal sovereignty, our minds rebel at the idea of simply letting people attack us and take away what belongs to us. And yet, even on the literal level, the principles of nonviolent resistance that come from Gospel passages such as these have conquered where retaliation and violence never would have. Gandhi drove the mighty British empire out of India, not with violence, but by teaching the people to absorb the cruelty of the occupying power without striking back, while not participating in the economic oppression that the British were imposing upon them. And so the British, with their overwhelming military power, were driven out by the moral and spiritual power of those they were oppressing. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., used the same principles to show the moral bankruptcy of prejudice and racial segregation, so that the moral power of love and respect for all people began to win the battle. The power of loving our enemies and doing good to those who hate us works also on the deeper, spiritual levels of life. And it works when we are in the wrong as well as when we are in the right. When we feel that we are in the right, it is so easy to look down on the other person. But even as we look down on the other person, we are committing spiritual murder inwardly: we are killing their worth as a person in our hearts. And when we are in the wrong, it is so easy to turn a blind eye to our own attitudes and actions, and blame someone else instead. But in doing so, as Paul said, we pass judgment on ourselves, because we are accusing others of the very failings that we ourselves have fallen into. The way of not resisting evil is a more difficult one, but the rewards are so much greater! I experienced this once in my early twenties, when I was making my living doing odd jobs and yard work. But I was getting lazy, and not taking the work--or the people--seriously. One day I showed up hours late to do some work for a man that I worked for regularly. This was the last straw. As soon as I arrived, he started yelling at me. Naturally, I didn't like that very much, and I was just about to start defending myself. But a voice inside me said, "No, he has a right to be angry, and you need to listen to him." And so I did. He yelled at me for perhaps twenty minutes or half an hour, recounting all my failings and my shortcomings in a way that was most painful for me. And I stood there and took it. If I had tried to "strike back" and defend myself, my work relationship with that man would have been over. But because that time I listened to the inner voice, and did not resist the painful onslaught of words, the relationship continued. I admitted to myself and to him that I had not been treating him right. He decided I wasn't such a bad guy after all, and had me come back to work for him many more times. And after that, I showed up on time! It is easy to point fingers. But in the long run, it works out so much better to listen to the inner voice of the Lord that says, _"You_ are the one!" _We_ are the ones who need to look inside ourselves and see where we have been mistaken and have not treated others right. _We_ are the ones who need to look to the Lord for the strength to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who mistreat us. Amen. From leewoof@tiac.net Sun May 9 20:40:33 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 9 May 1999 20:40:33 -0000 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "A Joyful Mother of Children," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990509134558.00b6fea0@pop.tiac.net> A Joyful Mother of Children By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, May 9, 1999 Mother's Day Readings: Psalm 113: A joyful mother of children Praise the Lord. Praise, O servants of the Lord, Praise the name of the Lord. Let the name of the Lord be praised, Both now and for evermore. >From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, The name of the Lord is to be praised. The Lord is exalted over all the nations, His glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, The One who sits enthroned on high, Who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust And lifts the needy from the ash heap; He seats them with princes, With the princes of their people. He settles the childless woman in her home As a joyful mother of children. Praise the Lord. John 16:12-24: Pain and joy in birth "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. "In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me." Some of his disciples said to one another, "What does he mean by saying, 'In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,' and 'Because I am going to the Father'?" They kept asking, "What does he mean by 'a little while'? We don't understand what he is saying." Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, "Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, 'In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me'? I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. Apocalypse Explained #660: Joy and sadness All joy and gladness come from love, since we all rejoice and are glad when things go according to what we love, and also when we go after and get what we love. In a word, all of our joy comes from what we love, and all of our soul's sadness and grief comes from things that go against what we love. Sermon: Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. . . . He settles the childless woman in her home as a joyful mother of children. (Psalm 113:1, 9) As beautiful and appropriate as this passage from the 113th Psalm is for Mother's Day, I hesitated about preaching on it. Of course, there is the perennial issue for men who preach to women about Mother's Day: I am not and never can be a mother! A father, yes, but as Patty is quick to remind me, being a father just isn't the same as being a mother. In most two-parent households, it is still the mother who does the lion's share of the child-raising. More often than not, it is to mommy that the crying child will go first; she is the one who is usually on the front line to take care of the children's wants and needs. And, of course, there is the stubborn biological fact that it is women who bear children, not men. By way of our reading from the Gospel of John, which speaks of both the joy and the pain of bearing children, this leads to my second reason for hesitating in preaching on this passage. We are past those supposed halcyon days when bearing children was considered to be an unmitigated joy. Of course, this never was realistic: bearing and raising children has always had its struggles and heartbreaks--not to mention its drudgery--no matter what rose-colored glasses society may have worn about the joys and wonders of motherhood. At the time when this Psalm was written, bearing children--especially sons--was the greatest thing a woman could hope for, and represented her greatest fulfillment. These days, many women have found other ways to fulfill themselves, and although we still value our children highly, the negative sides of motherhood get much more press than they used to. Further, there is a distinct sense in today's society that if a woman is "just a mother," she has somehow fallen short of her potential as a human being. And so we have a situation in which bearing and raising children is just as much of a challenge as ever, but it no longer gives women the almost automatic status and respect in society that it did at one time. (Of course, women have made gains in other areas where they once received no status and respect at all.) Still, bearing children remains a desirable and even crucial goal for many millions of women in our society. Women who want children but are unable to have them, for whatever reason, continue to feel the age-old pain of the childless woman evoked by the Psalmist. And women who have gone through the pain of labor continue to feel the joy of which Jesus spoke: the joy that a child is born into the world. Both the pain and the joy are real. One of the things that our society has _gained_ from taking motherhood off of the unrealistic pedestal that it used to be on is that we now recognize, and can talk openly about, both the joys and the struggles of motherhood. Because of this, young women who are considering having children do not have to be quite so surprised by the difficulties and emotional struggles that often come when the initial joy of childbirth has passed, and they are suddenly twenty-four-hour-a-day mothers. Perhaps this new realism is one of the reasons that teen pregnancy has actually gone _down_ significantly in the past few years, and the teens who _are_ having children are more likely to be older teens. Our church's teachings put high value on freedom of choice. So although it may not seem positive to some people, another thing we can view as a gain is that women now have much more choice about whether or not they wish to conceive children. As with other things in life, if women have children because they have no choice, or simply because it is "the thing to do," some of them will not have the same commitment to raising their children _well_ as if it is something they think about and choose to do--especially if the choice is made with an awareness of both the ups and the downs of motherhood. As this view of motherhood (and fatherhood) as a _choice_ embeds itself more deeply into our society, I believe we will see continued growth in the commitment do doing a better and better job of raising our children. However, what we have been talking about so far are largely _social_ issues. As important as these are, the church's primary reason for existence is not to address _social_ issues, but _spiritual_ ones. Of course, the church does need to be concerned with social issues as well. But it is through presenting the _spiritual_ side of every issue that the church can have its greatest impact on the social and family life of our culture. And it is by looking deeper--looking to the spiritual meanings contained in our Bible readings--that we can deal most deeply and effectively with the issues of pain and joy in motherhood. Let's take a look at the deeper meaning of marriage and of childbearing. Swedenborg tells us that when the Bible speaks of a marriage between a man and a woman, it symbolizes a marriage that takes place within us: the marriage of our thinking side and our feeling side. In religious terms, it is the marriage between our _faith_ in God and in the teachings of the church, and _our_ love for God, the church, and our neighbor. If we do not have this marriage within us, our spiritual life bears no fruit. Faith alone, without the warmth of love, is dead because it does not lead to a life of kindness and service. (See James 2:14-26) On the other hand, love without the light of faith directing it is blind and aimless, and can lead us in the wrong direction just as well as the right one. But when the two are together--when we _love_ God and other people, and have a strong and clear _faith_ that shows us how to express that love--then this marriage within us bears children. What are the children of our love and faith? Of course, as I've already mentioned, they are acts of kindness toward others. But they are also new insights into the deeper realities of life, and new feelings of love for God and for one another. In the biological world, when men and women come together, they bear children who also grow up to be men and women--men and women whom their parents hope will go on to do greater things than they themselves did. In the spiritual realm, when love and faith get together, they bear the seeds of new and greater love and faith--of new and greater kindness and understanding. This may all seem a little bit theoretical, so let's bring these thoughts to bear on the issue we were grappling with earlier: the pain and the joy of motherhood. Let's face it: children can be a challenge. Patty is more on the front lines of it than I am, but some days it does seem that our job as parents is less parenting than fire-fighting! The whole day is devoted to dousing the erupting flames of jealousy and conflict among the children--and dousing our _own_ flames of frustration, preferably before the erupt into outright anger at the children. When a mother is in the middle of one of those days, she may start wondering why she had those pesky children in the first place! This is exactly where it can help (_after_ the children have gone to bed!) to step back and consider the spiritual meaning of marriage and children, and how that meaning relates to our own parenting--which is so often stuck on the earthly level of physical wants and needs. If we think about it deeply, what we are trying to achieve with our children is exactly the same as the _spiritual_ meaning of childbirth. If we want raise our children from spiritual motives and for spiritual goals, we will not be content if our children merely grow up to be successful in this world--to be respected members of society with secure, well-paying jobs. If we are parenting from spiritual motives, we also want to see our children grow up to be men and women who have a living faith in God--a faith that is grounded in love, and that moves them to live a life of thoughtfulness and service to their fellow human beings. What good would it do our children to gain the whole world, but lose their own souls? (Matthew 16:26; Mark 8:36) And so, as we face the trials of children who don't always do as their told, who often squabble and sometimes do nasty things to one another, who say and do things that hurt themselves as well as others, it helps to keep the deeper meaning of childbearing and child-raising in mind. As we douse those flames of jealousy and hostility, isn't there more to it than simply stopping the kids from hurting each other--and from driving their parents crazy? Aren't we also aiming to bring about new births of love and thoughtfulness in them? Aren't we aiming to bring together the love that is in them from God and their growing awareness of right and wrong so that as they grow physically, there will also be a loving and heavenly character growing within them? If we look at it this way, then every time we have to direct and correct our children, we can look at it as one more opportunity to bring the goodness and the wisdom of God into their lives. As we become more and more conscious of this goal in our parenting, then both the times of happiness and joy with our children and the times of conflict and correction can become occasions for rejoicing--because both are giving us an opportunity to bring the Lord more fully into our children's lives. Sometimes the birth of God's love and light into our children's lives does happen with struggle and pain. But there is joy when we see that the birth has taken place, and our children have learned more constructive ways to relate to one another. I feel that joy with Chris (3) and Caleb (2) when a fight over some coveted toy is transformed into sharing their toys, and I hear those little voices saying, "I love you, Caleb." "I love you too, Chris." I feel that joy when Heidi (9) gets over her annoyance that one of the boys has been playing with her precious stuffed animal without asking her, and decides to play a game with them or read them a story. I feel that joy in those blessed moments when they are all getting along together, and really enjoying each other's company. For you see, we can be childless even when we have children if we are not bringing to birth the _spiritual_ children of new faith in God's loving ways, and new understanding and love for one another. If we are not guiding our children toward God's heavenly kingdom, then we are truly, spiritually childless. And as we see our children grow up without the faith and love that we could have offered them, we may recognize with regret just how barren our family life has become. But there is no need for that. We know that God is with us--whether or not we have _physical_ children--showing us how we can have joyful new births of love and understanding that we can share with our loved ones and our friends, and with the people we see each day. And if we do have children, the spiritual awareness that we build in ourselves through our own inner births will help us to encourage that awareness in them, so that we can take joy in seeing our children grow into faith-filled, loving, and thoughtful human beings. Praise, O servants of the Lord, Praise the name of the Lord. . . . He settles the childless woman in her home As a joyful mother of children. Amen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From leewoof@tiac.net Sun May 16 20:25:11 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 16 May 1999 20:25:11 -0000 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "The New Christianity," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990516154050.00b695a0@pop.tiac.net> The New Christianity By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, May 16, 1999 Readings: Jeremiah 31:31-34: The New Covenant "The time is coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the Lord. "This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the Lord. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbors or their brothers, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the Lord. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." Revelation 21:1-5, 22-26: The New Jerusalem Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is among humans, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." . . . I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. The Heavenly City #8, 9: Faith and kindness in religion A religious era comes to an end when there is no more faith because there is no more kindness. Today [1758], the Christian denominations are divided among themselves only by points of faith. But when there is no kindness, there is no faith. So . . . I would like to say something about the ancient people's perspective on kindness. . . . The perspective on kindness, a philosophy about life, was the central concept in the ancient religions. This perspective united all the religions; though there were many of them, they all worked together, since they considered all people who spent their lives doing good things through kindness to be religious people. They called them brothers even if they disagreed about what was true--which is what we call "faith" in our day. Sermon: "This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the Lord. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbors or their brothers, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:33, 34) Today, over two hundred and forty years after Emanuel Swedenborg declared that the Last Judgment had taken place, and the long-awaited Second Coming of the Lord was underway, things finally do seem to be going in our direction. When those early readers of Swedenborg's works first gathered together a decade or so after his death and began moving toward the formation of a distinct church organization that would go under the name of the New Jerusalem, the political, social, and religious scene was very different than it is today. Politically, most of Europe was still under monarchy of one kind or another, and the people of most nations had little say over how their country was run. Socially, the lines of class, race, and gender were sharply drawn, and dictated much of people's lives. And the religious scene was dominated by established church hierarchies that had little use for any upstart group that dared to challenge their authority. And so, the brave little band of New Church people huddled together for support. They pressed forward with the preaching and the living of their beliefs in a world that was largely hostile, or perhaps worse, indifferent to the wonders that were opening on the minds of those few receivers of the new Christianity. There were wonders of the spiritual world: of heaven, hell, and the intermediate World of Spirits, hidden for ages, that were now opened through the mind and the pen of Emanuel Swedenborg. And even more precious to these devout Christian converts to the New Church, there were the wonders of the spiritual meaning of the Bible, as the veil that had hidden so much of the Bible in the mists of literal obscurity was torn in two, and the whole Bible shown brilliantly with a divine light. It must have been painful for those early pioneers of the Swedenborgian Church to see how indifferent the larger world around them was to these wonders. Although they lectured and published extensively, they learned to be careful about gushing to their friends and acquaintances about the wonders of their beliefs. Most people, they found out, were not all that interested, beyond mere politeness, and some were downright hostile. And so, we as a church inherited their reluctance to talk about the wonders of our faith. When I was growing up in the church, the common wisdom was that when talking to a new person, it was best to take our time about bringing up Swedenborg's claimed to have spent the last twenty-seven years of his life with full access to the spiritual world, walking and talking with angels and spirits. It was just too weird, and people would think we were strange if we talked about such things right away. So we'd start with the big three: our beliefs about the Lord, the Bible, and the life that leads to heaven . . . and hold off on Swedenborg's spiritual experiences until they were "hooked," or until they asked too many questions. How things have changed! In the last few decades we have seen an accelerating pace of popular interest in angels, near death experiences, personal development, and generally in things spiritual. Where we used to be a bit shy about Swedenborg's spiritual experiences, now we're almost inclined to brag. It's a little like the old fish stories: "You say that an angel talked to your guy? Why, that's nothing! _Our_ guy spent almost thirty years talking to 'em! And that was over two hundred years ago--_before_ everyone started doing it!" Seriously, though, things really do seem to be going our way. In so many areas where in previous decades we felt like isolated islands of belief, we now find that thousands, even millions of others in our society share our beliefs. There are highly popular angel programs right on TV, and everyone is talking about personal development and spiritual growth. We can relax and talk much more openly about our beliefs--and many people don't even gasp anymore when we say that we think the Second Coming has already happened! Of course, there are still many areas where we have a long way to go. The heavenly city hasn't quite hit the ground yet. But as we approach the new millennium, I do believe that the world is moving in that direction more quickly and more clearly than we did in the first two centuries after Swedenborg published his message of spiritual reality to the world. There is one area, though, where we as a church have not quite gotten our walking legs. It was highlighted for me recently by a friend, who, after I mentioned a nice thought about heaven from Swedenborg, replied, "Oh, he had some looks at heaven, all right. . . . Too bad he had to fit his visions and enlightenments into the existing Christian framework." The problem we have had is this: For millions of people who are not committed Christians themselves, Christ has a bad name. And it's not hard to see why. Looking over the history of the Christian Church since just a few centuries after Christ, it is not a pretty picture. With the emperor Constantine in the early 300s AD, Christianity became a state religion, and the grasping for power and wealth in the name of Christ began in earnest. Corruption piled upon corruption, and soon Christians were killing non-Christians, and even fellow Christians who happened to be of a different stripe, all in the name of Christ. Meanwhile, as the Christian Church became a vehicle of the human hankering for power and money, the beautiful teachings of Christ--which were based on loving one another and doing good for both friends and enemies--were increasingly trampled underfoot. In their place grew a monstrosity of so-called "faith" as the sole avenue of salvation, without the need for love and kindness to our fellow human beings. Senseless dogmas and formulas took the place of real religion. Meanwhile, other parts of the Christian Church taught that good works were still necessary, but drove people to them through guilt and shame rather than through infusing people's lives with the powerful love of the Lord. These schemes seemed to work as long as human minds were kept in bondage to powerful church institutions that commanded faith on pain of ostracism, ruin, and even death. But in the fullness of time the Lord saw that this situation could no longer be allowed to continue. The people of earth needed to be freed from their mental and spiritual bondage. And so, Swedenborg tells us, in the mid-1700s the Lord saw fit to accomplish a Last Judgment and clear the spiritual atmosphere, freeing human minds to think for ourselves and make up our own minds about religion. In the centuries since that happened, an increasing number of people have used that freedom to completely leave behind what they saw as the irrational tyranny of religion. They either became atheists, or they pushed religion to the side and lived their lives largely in the material and social planes of existence, with little reference to God or spirit. Then, starting earlier in this century, a popular spiritual revival began. Under a loose umbrella that is sometimes called the New Age Movement, people who had rejected the Christianity in which they had grown up were turning to every form of spirituality _except_ Christianity. Meanwhile, the revival of fundamentalist Christianity, with its harshness of teaching, helped to drive those spiritual seekers farther away from the religion of their birth. We Swedenborgians were caught in the middle. On the one hand, we could appreciate the spiritual seekers' groping for a deeper basis for spirituality than the existing Christian churches seemed to be offering. But on the other hand, our own faith and theology was thoroughly and firmly Christian--although of a different flavor than traditional Christian teaching. And so we were caught in the conundrum of whether to proclaim our Christianity, and thereby turn off many spiritual seekers who would otherwise be open to our message, or downplay our Christianity and thereby wrap in a blanket the most beautiful part of our faith. I believe that this is one of the growing edges of our church right now: Becoming fully Christian, while opening our Christianity up to the full power of the deeper and truer spirit of Christ--which was so absent from the Christian Church for so many centuries. And I believe that the mainline churches are working on the same growing edge. What we have to offer, both to ourselves and to those who might be open to our message, is a belief about Jesus Christ that overcomes the old resistance to Christianity by raising our vision of Christ out of the mire of power politics and the desire to be _right_ at all costs, and into the sphere where Jesus truly is: the sphere of the human heart and mind. And here, we come full circle to where we started: "This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the Lord. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbors or their brothers, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:33, 34) Isn't this what the coming of Jesus Christ into our world is all about? It is not about appeasing God the Father; God never had to be appeased in the first place. And although Jesus was willing to die for us, even his death was not about paying some supposed penalty for our sins. God is not a tyrant who requires punishment for every infraction. No, even Jesus' death on the cross was about the lengths and depths to which God's love will go to show us just how much God cares about us. As Jesus himself said, "Greater love has no one than this: that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). Jesus is not about paying penalties and appeasing an angry God. Not at all! Jesus is about God loving us so deeply and so fully that God just had to come among us, as one of us, and show us how to find our way back to our Lord and our God. Jesus is about expressing God's infinitely human love and understanding in a human presence that we can know and love--a personal Savior that we can turn to in our struggles and our triumphs, our grief and our joy. Jesus Christ is about God showing tender love to each one of us, and asking for our love in return. Jesus is about blanketing the world with the knowledge of the Lord, so that we will no longer have to make the Lord known to one another, because we will all feel the Lord's living presence in our hearts and minds. This is a new Christian faith that we can talk to our friends and acquaintances about without feeling shy or nervous in calling ourselves Christian. It is a Christian faith that we believe is destined to fill the earth with a new era of spiritual enlightenment--and especially, with a new era of mutual love and kindness among all people. I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. (Revelation 21:22-25) Amen. From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Mon May 17 21:46:24 1999 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 17 May 1999 17:46:24 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: Let Your Light Shine Message-ID: <199905171736_MC2-7607-1861@compuserve.com> Let Your Light Shine By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell May 16, 1999 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16 The Lord calls us to live in a way that reflects the fundamental beliefs and values He teaches us. He asks us to do this because by so doing we wisely care for our neighbors, we wisely care for ourselves, and so we prepare for an eternal life in heaven. From this perspective the core of a life of religion is very simple. It involves learning from the Lord and trying to live according to what we've learned. It involves the regular effort to consciously turn from evil and hurtful motives, thoughts, and actions and the regular effort to consciously choose good and useful motives, thoughts, and actions. The book of the Writings of the New Church called The Doctrine of Life begins with the simple assertion that everyone who has religion knows and acknowledges that a person who leads a good life is saved, and that a person who leads an evil life is damned. (Doctrine of Life 1). After explaining this a little further the next paragraph begins: That religion is of the life and that the life of religion is to do that which is good is seen by everyone who reads the Word, and is acknowledged by him while he is reading it. The Word contains the following declarations: Whoever shall break the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called the least in the kingdom of the heavens; but whoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of the heavens. For I say to you unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of the heavens (Matthew 5:19-20). Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you shall know them (Matthew 7:19-20). Not every one that says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens; but he that does the will of My Father who is in the heavens (verse 21). Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied by You name, and in Your name done many mighty things? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from Me you who work iniquity (verses 22, 23). Everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does them, shall be likened to a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and everyone that hears these words of Mine, and does them not, shall be likened to a foolish man who built his house upon the sand (verses 24, 26). Jesus said, Behold, the sower went forth to sow; some seeds fell on the hard way, others fell upon the rocky places, others fell among the thorns, and others fell into good ground; he that was sown upon the good ground, this is he that hears the Word, and attends to it, who therefore bears fruit, and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. When Jesus had said these things, He cried, saying, He that has ears to hear, let him hear (Matthew 13:3-9, 23, 43). For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father, and then shall He give to every one according to his deeds (Matthew 16: 27). The passage goes on quoting similar phrases for another page and a half. It would seem that the idea the Lord is trying to teach us by these statements is beyond doubt. But unfortunately this has not been the case. There is a part of the human mind that can take any idea that could be clear but obscures it with precise and limiting definitions. Or it takes a clear idea but notes a flaw in the way it can be applied. It goes on to reason that because it is possibly flawed in some situations, it can be rejected totally. In the medieval Christian world there grew up many habits and practices involving expressions of faith that were supposed to improve one's own afterlife or that of a loved one. Gifts to the church or going on pilgrimages, or the Crusades were commonly thought of as a way to make up for evils that a person had done. Sometimes the idea went so far as to imply that if a person did the right actions that individual could be guaranteed a home in heaven. At times these actions were offensively external and associated with other aspects of people's lives that were disorderly and "unchristian." The response of to the excesses of this externalism was the Protestant Reformation. It led to the establishment of an idea that is still taught and believed today--the idea that faith alone saves a person. To avoid the problems of a corrupted medieval Christianity, the leaders asserted that no action that a person does or does not do gains that person heaven or gets in the way of his being saved. As one current Christian pastor has said, religion as thought of from the perspective of medieval Christianity was spelled "DO." A person had to do, do, do, so many things. But he asserts that Christianity is spelled "DONE." Christianity from the perspective of a faith alone doctrine states that salvation rests solely on what Christ has done--all we need to do is believe in the effectiveness of His death on the cross. The Doctrine of Life makes the following observation about faith alone: In the Christian Churches, however, there are many who teach that faith alone saves, and not any good of life, or good work, and they add that evil of life or evil work does not condemn those who have been justified by faith alone, because such are in God and in grace. Wonderful to say, however, although they teach such things, they nevertheless acknowledge (in consequence of a perception from heaven common to all) that those who lead a good life are saved, and that those who live an evil one are damned. (Doctrine of Life 4) While the Lord does want us to know that we cannot earn heaven by external good deeds, He does not want us to see the daily actions of our lives as inconsequential. In the Writings of the New Church the Lord has stated that a person cannot from self do good that is really good. Under this heading the following point is made: That hitherto scarcely anyone knows whether the good done by him is from self or from God, is because the church has sundered faith from charity, and good is of charity. A person gives to the poor; relieves the needy; endows places of worship and hospitals; has regard for the church, his country, and his fellow citizen; is diligent in his attendance at a place of worship, where he listens and prays devoutly; reads the Word and books of piety; and thinks about salvation; and yet is not aware whether he is doing these things from himself, or from God. He may be doing the very same things from God, or he may be doing them from self. If he does them from God they are good, if from self they are not good. In fact there are goods of this kind done from self which are eminently evil, such as hypocritical goods, the purpose of which is deception and fraud. (Doctrine of Life 9) But any wise person would realize that just because a person can act in a hypocritically good way doesn't mean that efforts to act better than we are initially inclined to are bad or unnecessary. The Lord wants us to see that there should be a seamless connection between what we care about, what we think, and what we say and do. This seamless connection brings the life of heaven to a person. The angels get to do what they want to all the time because they want to follow the Lord and serve others. Their daily actions reflect their love and their understanding. We, in this world, do not start our adult lives being able to have this seamless connection between what we care about, what we think, and what we say and do. We know there are concerns and ideas that come to our minds that we need to temper or just plain hide from others or incur unpleasant consequences. We can temper or hide what we really care about and think in a merely external way, that is, only for the sake of avoiding trouble or maintaining our reputations and the other benefits that go with people thinking we're better than we really are. Or we can consciously choose to act differently from the way a part of us wants to and thinks would be best because we believe that acting in that way is contrary to what the Lord wants us to do. The part of the human mind that can take any idea that could be clear but obscures it with precise and limiting definitions, might seize on the idea that all hypocrisy is bad. It would then assert that acting differently from whatever spontaneously comes to us is also hypocritical and bad. This is a foolish idea. The Lord calls us to act differently from the way part of our mind is inclined to. The life of religion has to start with a person seeking the Lord's help to consciously choose to act better than he or she is inclined to do. It involves self-compulsion. It involves praying to the Lord for the strength to conquer in the battles of temptation with the doubts and misery these battle inevitably bring. The Lord calls us to let our light shine. He wants us to use the wisdom we can gain from reading His Word, from prayer, and to follow Him to speak and act differently from what we would naturally do. We can know that any progress we make and any good that we do would be impossible without His help. We can know it for ourselves and we can know it for others. And in so knowing we can be grateful to the Lord for His work of leading us day-by-day toward the life of heaven. May we daily follow the Lord's call: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." AMEN. Lessons: Matthew 5:13-16 If a person wills and does good things before he shuns evils as sins, these good things are not good. This is because, as already said, he is not in the Lord before he does so. For example: if a person gives to the poor, renders aid to the needy, contributes to places of worship and to hospitals, renders good service to the church, his country, and his fellow-citizens, teaches the Gospel and makes converts, does justice in his judgments, acts with sincerity in business, and with uprightness in his works; and yet makes no account of evils as being sins, such as fraud, adultery, hatred, blasphemy, and other like evils, then he can do only such goods as are evil within, because he does them from himself and not from the Lord, and therefore self is in them and not the Lord, and the goods in which is a person's self are all defiled with his evils, and have regard to himself and the world. And yet these very deeds that have just been enumerated are inwardly good if the person shuns evils as sins (such as fraud, adultery, hatred, blasphemy, and other like evils), because in this case he does them from the Lord, and they are said to be "wrought in God" (John 3:19-21). If a person thinks and speaks pious things while not shunning evils as sins, the pious things are not pious. This is because he is not in the Lord. If for example he frequents places of worship, listens devoutly to the preaching, reads the Word and books of piety, goes to the sacrament of the Supper, pours forth prayers daily, and even if he thinks much about God and salvation, and yet regards as of no moment the evils which are sins (such as fraud, adultery, hatred, blasphemy, and other like evils), he then cannot do otherwise than think and speak such pious things as inwardly are not pious, because the man himself is in them with his evils. At the time indeed he is not aware of them, yet they are present within deeply hidden out of his sight; for he is like a spring the water of which is foul from its source. His performances of piety are either mere customs of habit, or else are the outcome of self-merit or hypocrisy. They do indeed rise up toward heaven, but turn back before they get there, and settle down, like smoke in the atmosphere. Doctrine of Life 24,25 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible, are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. From leewoof@tiac.net Sun May 23 20:46:06 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 23 May 1999 16:46:06 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Growing in Spirit," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990523150058.00b90850@pop.tiac.net> Growing in Spirit By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, May 23, 1999 Children's Sunday Readings: Genesis 2:4-9: God plants a garden for Adam and Eve This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created: When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, no vegetable of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up. For the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth, and there was no one to work the ground. But streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees to grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. He made the tree of life to grow in the middle of the garden, and also the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Mark 4:26-32: Parables about growing seeds Jesus said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like: Someone scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows. He does not know how it happens. All by itself the soil produces grain: first the stalk, then the head, then the head full of grain. But as soon as the grain is ripe, he goes in with a sickle, because the harvest has come." Jesus continued, "What is the kingdom of God like? What parable will we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed that is planted in the ground. Yet when it is planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all the garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air come and make their nests in its shade." Sermon: The Lord God planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees to grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. (Genesis 2:8, 9) I know that our annual membership meeting was over a month ago, but I want to make an addition to my Pastor's Report--one had to wait until now: _Our church has grown this year!_ We did lose one member: our dear friend Gladys Wheeler died in January and went on to her heavenly home. But last month Tammie Wilson was confirmed into our church; and today we celebrate the confirmation of three of our teens--Beki and Ben Phinney and Kristine Williams--into the membership of our church. Meanwhile, we are enjoying the presence of several new people in our services and activities. It is easy to fall into the trap of focusing on what our church _hasn't_ accomplished. It is easy to get stuck on our small numbers. But today is a day to celebrate what we _have_ accomplished. Thanks to a dedicated group of teachers and parents, our Sunday School has had a wonderful year, with classes that both the children and the teachers have learned from and enjoyed. Our Youth League has continued sponsoring the popular weekend retreats, and our Youth Confirmation Class has led up to the happy event of today's confirmations. Meanwhile, we have had an active year of programs serving our adult members and the people of our community. Invite-A-Friend Sunday energized our outreach efforts. The Women's Reading Group finally got going thanks to the leadership of Tammie Wilson, our Field Education student. The World Religions Series we hosted was a great success, attracting many visitors from the community. And now our Newcomers' Class on Swedenborgian Faith and Practice has gone beyond our original expectations for attendance. All of these projects and activities of our congregation, and others that I could list as well, have added to the unmistakable feeling that _we are a growing church!_ Our new steeple, which caused our church to grow forty feet taller this year, is symbolic of the way the rest of our church has been going. There is a sense of optimism and upward motion in our congregation--and that means even more than the fact that we have added to our numbers this year. Because as good as numerical growth is, the _best_ kind of growth when we grow in spirit! This is what both of our Bible readings are all about. In the story of the Garden of Eden, the Lord God "made all kinds of trees to grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food." We can think of our church, and our own spiritual selves, as a tree. We may not grow very fast. But like trees, we can add a little bit each year, growing slowly, steadily, and solidly. That is the kind of growth that lasts. The roots that feed this kind of growth are the roots of our groundedness in the faith of our church--those wonderful teachings that give us the spiritual perspective we need to direct our lives toward the deeper realities of existence. As we send our roots deeper into this ground, we can make our lives more and more an expression of warm and genuine love for our fellow human beings: Love that is a gift from the Lord placed in our hearts. Love that motivates us to serve others and do our best to make them happy. Love that gives us the only true happiness that we ourselves can ever experience. That groundedness in faith and love gives us the firm foundation we need to build upward and outward, like the trunk and branches of the tree. We reach up toward God and out toward others with our thoughts and ideas. And we take all the best of the faith and love that God gives us--that spiritual lifeblood that runs through us--and express it in the living fruit of kindness and thoughtfulness to the people around us. Like the person who planted seeds and then slept and woke up without knowing how the seeds grow, we don't know how the Lord causes us to grow from the tiny seeds of our first spiritual awareness to the lush plants and sturdy trees of spiritual maturity and fruitfulness. Like the growth of plants, animals, and even our own bodies, the growth of our spirit is a wonderful and mysterious gift from God. Today, as we celebrate the growth of our children and the growth of our church, we can also celebrate our growth in spirit and our growth in love for one another and for the Lord. Amen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From owner-sermons-weekly@newearth.org Sun May 30 04:07:17 1999 From: owner-sermons-weekly@newearth.org (sermons-weekly) Date: 30 May 1999 04:07:17 -0000 Subject: [Sermons] sermons-weekly V1999 #20 Message-ID: <199905300407.AAA10328@sapphire.newearth.org> sermons-weekly Sunday, May 30 1999 Volume 1999 : Number 020 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 23 May 1999 15:01:30 +0100 From: Lee Woofenden Subject: SERMON: "Growing in Spirit," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Growing in Spirit By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, May 23, 1999 Children's Sunday Readings: Genesis 2:4-9: God plants a garden for Adam and Eve This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created: When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, no vegetable of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up. For the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth, and there was no one to work the ground. But streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees to grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. He made the tree of life to grow in the middle of the garden, and also the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Mark 4:26-32: Parables about growing seeds Jesus said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like: Someone scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows. He does not know how it happens. All by itself the soil produces grain: first the stalk, then the head, then the head full of grain. But as soon as the grain is ripe, he goes in with a sickle, because the harvest has come." Jesus continued, "What is the kingdom of God like? What parable will we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed that is planted in the ground. Yet when it is planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all the garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air come and make their nests in its shade." Sermon: The Lord God planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees to grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. (Genesis 2:8, 9) I know that our annual membership meeting was over a month ago, but I want to make an addition to my Pastor's Report--one had to wait until now: _Our church has grown this year!_ We did lose one member: our dear friend Gladys Wheeler died in January and went on to her heavenly home. But last month Tammie Wilson was confirmed into our church; and today we celebrate the confirmation of three of our teens--Beki and Ben Phinney and Kristine Williams--into the membership of our church. Meanwhile, we are enjoying the presence of several new people in our services and activities. It is easy to fall into the trap of focusing on what our church _hasn't_ accomplished. It is easy to get stuck on our small numbers. But today is a day to celebrate what we _have_ accomplished. Thanks to a dedicated group of teachers and parents, our Sunday School has had a wonderful year, with classes that both the children and the teachers have learned from and enjoyed. Our Youth League has continued sponsoring the popular weekend retreats, and our Youth Confirmation Class has led up to the happy event of today's confirmations. Meanwhile, we have had an active year of programs serving our adult members and the people of our community. Invite-A-Friend Sunday energized our outreach efforts. The Women's Reading Group finally got going thanks to the leadership of Tammie Wilson, our Field Education student. The World Religions Series we hosted was a great success, attracting many visitors from the community. And now our Newcomers' Class on Swedenborgian Faith and Practice has gone beyond our original expectations for attendance. All of these projects and activities of our congregation, and others that I could list as well, have added to the unmistakable feeling that _we are a growing church!_ Our new steeple, which caused our church to grow forty feet taller this year, is symbolic of the way the rest of our church has been going. There is a sense of optimism and upward motion in our congregation--and that means even more than the fact that we have added to our numbers this year. Because as good as numerical growth is, the _best_ kind of growth when we grow in spirit! This is what both of our Bible readings are all about. In the story of the Garden of Eden, the Lord God "made all kinds of trees to grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food." We can think of our church, and our own spiritual selves, as a tree. We may not grow very fast. But like trees, we can add a little bit each year, growing slowly, steadily, and solidly. That is the kind of growth that lasts. The roots that feed this kind of growth are the roots of our groundedness in the faith of our church--those wonderful teachings that give us the spiritual perspective we need to direct our lives toward the deeper realities of existence. As we send our roots deeper into this ground, we can make our lives more and more an expression of warm and genuine love for our fellow human beings: Love that is a gift from the Lord placed in our hearts. Love that motivates us to serve others and do our best to make them happy. Love that gives us the only true happiness that we ourselves can ever experience. That groundedness in faith and love gives us the firm foundation we need to build upward and outward, like the trunk and branches of the tree. We reach up toward God and out toward others with our thoughts and ideas. And we take all the best of the faith and love that God gives us--that spiritual lifeblood that runs through us--and express it in the living fruit of kindness and thoughtfulness to the people around us. Like the person who planted seeds and then slept and woke up without knowing how the seeds grow, we don't know how the Lord causes us to grow from the tiny seeds of our first spiritual awareness to the lush plants and sturdy trees of spiritual maturity and fruitfulness. Like the growth of plants, animals, and even our own bodies, the growth of our spirit is a wonderful and mysterious gift from God. Today, as we celebrate the growth of our children and the growth of our church, we can also celebrate our growth in spirit and our growth in love for one another and for the Lord. Amen. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. ------------------------------ End of sermons-weekly V1999 #20 ******************************* From leewoof@tiac.net Sun May 30 13:07:04 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 30 May 1999 09:07:04 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "A New Model of Manhood," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990530081910.00bad3d0@pop.tiac.net> A New Model of Manhood By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, May 30, 1999 Memorial Day Joshua 6:20, 21, 24: The destruction of Jericho When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it--men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, and donkeys.... Then they burned the whole city and everything in it; but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord's house. Micah 4:1-5: Swords into plowshares In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more. Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken. All the nations may walk in the name of their gods; we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. Matthew 10:32-39: Not peace, but a sword Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies will be the members of his own household. Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. John 14:23-27: Peace I leave with you Jesus said, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. "All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." Marital Love #32: Masculine and feminine I will now explain briefly the essential nature of masculinity and femininity. Here is what the basic difference is: the innermost aspect of masculinity is love, and this is covered over with wisdom. In other words, masculinity is love clothed in wisdom. The innermost aspect of femininity is this masculine wisdom, and its covering is love. Sermon: They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more. Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken. (Micah 4:3, 4) For several decades now, the women's movement has successfully challenged traditional notions of the "proper" roles of women and men. Women have made major inroads into areas of life that were once the exclusive province of men: business, finance, law, broadcasting; even military service is now open to women. There continue to be more men than women in most traditionally "male" professions, and more women doing traditionally "female" work. But in our society the gender barriers are no longer as rigid as they once were. This has caused us to do much soul-searching as to what it means to be a woman, and what it means to be a man. As we observe Memorial Day--a holiday set aside in memory of those who have lost their lives in battle--I would like to focus especially on our changing views of men and masculinity. For one of the most enduring models of masculinity has been the model of man as a warrior, whose prime characteristics are strength, bravery, and skill in wielding the weapons of war. This ancient model of masculinity is found throughout the Bible, but especially in the Old Testament, where there are so many wars and bloody battles that many Christians prefer to ignore the Old Testament and focus almost entirely on the New Testament. The passage that we read from Joshua is an example of what sends some people scurrying away from the Old Testament. In the battle of Jericho--the very first battle after the Israelites crossed the Jordan and entered the Holy Land--the slaughter was not confined to the enemy men of fighting age. The destruction of the city and its inhabitants was complete: men and women, young and old, even the livestock was put to the sword, and the entire city was burned to the ground. Only the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron were saved, to be added to the treasury of the Lord's house. We are left with the impression that the God of the Israelites was smiling down on this wholesale slaughter and destruction. Although such scenes are repugnant to most civilized people today, back in the time when this battle was recorded such conquests were an occasion for celebration, not for apology. War was a fact of life. Often the destruction of enemies was presented as the will of God. The people of those times believed that national conquest was a divinely sanctioned activity, and that the enemies of their nation were fit only for death or slavery. It has been only in recent centuries, and especially in recent decades, that there has been a widespread and sustained movement away from war as a legitimate occupation for men and nations. Yet even in the ancient scriptures the seeds of that movement are present: He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more. (Micah 4:3) This passage comes from a universal truth about war: War means the death of human beings and the destruction of their homes and communities, not to mention great damage to the world of nature. The people who lived in more warlike times may have exulted in battle when they were on the winning side; but they knew its terrors and devastation when they were on the losing side. And some of them--especially when they were on the losing side--longed for a reign of peace in which war would be a thing of the past. Many of us have this same longing, even as our country continues to mount wars against various countries around the world. Some people wish for the complete banishment from our society both of war and of the weapons and language of war. This longing becomes especially strong when we cannot even banish the weapons of war from our schools, and our places of learning are turned into battlegrounds. And yet, for those of us who look to the Bible as the Word of God, there is the stubborn fact that the Bible is full of war and all its trappings. Much of the Old Testament is one long battle--first to wrest the Holy Land from its former inhabitants and to enlarge its borders by conquering the surrounding nations; then to engage in civil war as the nation of Israel fell apart; and finally to become a conquered nation subject to the great powers of Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, and Rome. Even the New Testament has its climactic battles in the Book of Revelation. How can we glean any redeeming social or spiritual value from this violent epic of human struggle? And how can the model it presents of man as warrior help us in giving shape to the new model of manhood that is developing in our time? Jesus addressed these questions when he took the traditional language of war and peace and used it to point to spiritual realities. "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth," he said. "I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." Yet the sword of which he spoke was not a literal sword. The one time that one of his followers did use a sword, Jesus admonished him, "Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword" (Matthew 26:52). When Jesus said he had come to bring, not peace, but a sword, he did not mean the literal sword of war, but of the _spiritual_ sword of conflict and struggle against all that would stop us from living in the way that the Lord shows us. This is clear from what he says to introduce that surprising statement: "Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown him before my Father in heaven" (Matthew 9:32, 33). For Christians, _this_ is the battle in which we must draw the sword that the Lord puts into our hands. It is the battle over whether we will acknowledge the Lord before others by living according to the Lord's commandments, or whether we will disown the Lord before others by setting aside our higher principles and joining in with--or condoning by our inaction--attitudes and actions that we know are wrong. And within that battle there is a deeper battle over whether we will allow the Lord or our own blind thoughtlessness to control our lives. Will we be controlled by the higher self that the Lord gives us, or by the lower self that values only material and personal gain? As we contemplate these deeper issues of spiritual peace and conflict, we can begin to build a new model of manhood. We do this, not by closing our eyes to the old model of man as warrior, but by and opening our eyes to the deeper model of man as _spiritual_ warrior. We can build a model of masculinity as strength, bravery, and skill in wielding the weapons of spiritual truth and genuine morality in the war against everything within us and around us that tears down and destroys human life and kills the presence of God's love among us. This deeper model of manhood helped me through my own adolescence. I was young for my grade and small for my age--the quintessential skinny little "brain." The model of big, macho masculinity simply didn't apply! For many boys who didn't fit that rough, tough mold, living with a constant barrage of macho men on TV and in the movies meant growing up with deep-seated doubts about their own masculinity. Many boys today continue to struggle with this kind of self-doubt. Yet I was able to escape most of that self-doubt, not because I was better or smarter than any other non-macho boy, but simply because I had been gifted with a deeper and more compelling image of what it meant to be a man. Despite the allure of the well-muscled warrior image of masculinity, I knew within myself that this was an external and temporary image of manhood. I knew that there were deeper qualities of manhood that were far more real, and that applied just as much to skinny little schoolboys and to men who had aged beyond their physical prime as it did to those in the height of their physical prowess. This image of manhood came to me from the teachings of our church. It is boiled down to its essence in our reading from Swedenborg's book on _Marital Love_. He writes, "The innermost aspect of masculinity is love, and this is covered over with wisdom. In other words, masculinity is love clothed in wisdom." Here we have a definition of masculinity that does not depend on the outward, physical form, but relates to our _inward_ form--to the parts of us that make us truly human. It relates to the strength of love deep in the heart of a man. And it relates to a spiritual bravery and skill in expressing that love in wise and thoughtful ways that will bring improvement to our own life and to the lives of those around us. What is unusual and even startling about this definition of masculinity is that it looks past the traditional identification of male with intelligence and female with love--a definition that Swedenborg himself uses hundreds of times in his theological writings. We learn here that although the male does tend to express himself outwardly through the medium of intelligence, ideas, and physical skill, this comes from an underlying reality of love that is the essence of masculinity. Conversely, although women do tend to express themselves outwardly through love--through relationships, through compassion and connection with other human beings--within that outward expression is a core of wisdom that relates especially to understanding the human spiritual situation at a deep level. This image of male and female is expressed through the Eastern symbol of the yin-yang, in which the outward color of one element in the circle becomes the inward color of the other. For boys and men who are confused about their identities in a time of changing roles for men and women, this new image of masculinity offers a welcome relief. Because of it, we now have a basis in our faith for allowing ourselves to express the full range of our character, rather than limiting ourselves to certain parts of our personality, such as intellect and competitiveness, as we so often have in the past. We now know that concealed within that rougher and less beautiful exterior, the genuine essence of masculinity is a deep love that is placed in our hearts by the Lord, and that motivates everything we do. This new model of manhood allows _all_ men to exercise the desire for strength, bravery, and skill that we feel in our veins. We can develop the strength of love in our hearts, the bravery of standing up for what we know is right, and the skill of expressing these things in a way that brings about genuine good in each situation we face. When we express this kind of manhood throughout our lives, we can finally leave our inner battles behind and find peace in our souls. As our Lord tells us: If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.... Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:23, 27) Amen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From owner-sermons-digest@newearth.org Mon May 31 04:06:40 1999 From: owner-sermons-digest@newearth.org (sermons-digest) Date: 31 May 1999 00:06:40 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] sermons-digest V1999 #23 Message-ID: <199905310405.AAA22775@sapphire.newearth.org> sermons-digest Monday, May 31 1999 Volume 1999 : Number 023 SERMON: "A New Model of Manhood," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 30 May 1999 08:20:02 +0100 From: Lee Woofenden Subject: SERMON: "A New Model of Manhood," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden A New Model of Manhood By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, May 30, 1999 Memorial Day Joshua 6:20, 21, 24: The destruction of Jericho When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it--men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, and donkeys.... Then they burned the whole city and everything in it; but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord's house. Micah 4:1-5: Swords into plowshares In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more. Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken. All the nations may walk in the name of their gods; we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. Matthew 10:32-39: Not peace, but a sword Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies will be the members of his own household. Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. John 14:23-27: Peace I leave with you Jesus said, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. "All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." Marital Love #32: Masculine and feminine I will now explain briefly the essential nature of masculinity and femininity. Here is what the basic difference is: the innermost aspect of masculinity is love, and this is covered over with wisdom. In other words, masculinity is love clothed in wisdom. The innermost aspect of femininity is this masculine wisdom, and its covering is love. Sermon: They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more. Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken. (Micah 4:3, 4) For several decades now, the women's movement has successfully challenged traditional notions of the "proper" roles of women and men. Women have made major inroads into areas of life that were once the exclusive province of men: business, finance, law, broadcasting; even military service is now open to women. There continue to be more men than women in most traditionally "male" professions, and more women doing traditionally "female" work. But in our society the gender barriers are no longer as rigid as they once were. This has caused us to do much soul-searching as to what it means to be a woman, and what it means to be a man. As we observe Memorial Day--a holiday set aside in memory of those who have lost their lives in battle--I would like to focus especially on our changing views of men and masculinity. For one of the most enduring models of masculinity has been the model of man as a warrior, whose prime characteristics are strength, bravery, and skill in wielding the weapons of war. This ancient model of masculinity is found throughout the Bible, but especially in the Old Testament, where there are so many wars and bloody battles that many Christians prefer to ignore the Old Testament and focus almost entirely on the New Testament. The passage that we read from Joshua is an example of what sends some people scurrying away from the Old Testament. In the battle of Jericho--the very first battle after the Israelites crossed the Jordan and entered the Holy Land--the slaughter was not confined to the enemy men of fighting age. The destruction of the city and its inhabitants was complete: men and women, young and old, even the livestock was put to the sword, and the entire city was burned to the ground. Only the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron were saved, to be added to the treasury of the Lord's house. We are left with the impression that the God of the Israelites was smiling down on this wholesale slaughter and destruction. Although such scenes are repugnant to most civilized people today, back in the time when this battle was recorded such conquests were an occasion for celebration, not for apology. War was a fact of life. Often the destruction of enemies was presented as the will of God. The people of those times believed that national conquest was a divinely sanctioned activity, and that the enemies of their nation were fit only for death or slavery. It has been only in recent centuries, and especially in recent decades, that there has been a widespread and sustained movement away from war as a legitimate occupation for men and nations. Yet even in the ancient scriptures the seeds of that movement are present: He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more. (Micah 4:3) This passage comes from a universal truth about war: War means the death of human beings and the destruction of their homes and communities, not to mention great damage to the world of nature. The people who lived in more warlike times may have exulted in battle when they were on the winning side; but they knew its terrors and devastation when they were on the losing side. And some of them--especially when they were on the losing side--longed for a reign of peace in which war would be a thing of the past. Many of us have this same longing, even as our country continues to mount wars against various countries around the world. Some people wish for the complete banishment from our society both of war and of the weapons and language of war. This longing becomes especially strong when we cannot even banish the weapons of war from our schools, and our places of learning are turned into battlegrounds. And yet, for those of us who look to the Bible as the Word of God, there is the stubborn fact that the Bible is full of war and all its trappings. Much of the Old Testament is one long battle--first to wrest the Holy Land from its former inhabitants and to enlarge its borders by conquering the surrounding nations; then to engage in civil war as the nation of Israel fell apart; and finally to become a conquered nation subject to the great powers of Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, and Rome. Even the New Testament has its climactic battles in the Book of Revelation. How can we glean any redeeming social or spiritual value from this violent epic of human struggle? And how can the model it presents of man as warrior help us in giving shape to the new model of manhood that is developing in our time? Jesus addressed these questions when he took the traditional language of war and peace and used it to point to spiritual realities. "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth," he said. "I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." Yet the sword of which he spoke was not a literal sword. The one time that one of his followers did use a sword, Jesus admonished him, "Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword" (Matthew 26:52). When Jesus said he had come to bring, not peace, but a sword, he did not mean the literal sword of war, but of the _spiritual_ sword of conflict and struggle against all that would stop us from living in the way that the Lord shows us. This is clear from what he says to introduce that surprising statement: "Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown him before my Father in heaven" (Matthew 9:32, 33). For Christians, _this_ is the battle in which we must draw the sword that the Lord puts into our hands. It is the battle over whether we will acknowledge the Lord before others by living according to the Lord's commandments, or whether we will disown the Lord before others by setting aside our higher principles and joining in with--or condoning by our inaction--attitudes and actions that we know are wrong. And within that battle there is a deeper battle over whether we will allow the Lord or our own blind thoughtlessness to control our lives. Will we be controlled by the higher self that the Lord gives us, or by the lower self that values only material and personal gain? As we contemplate these deeper issues of spiritual peace and conflict, we can begin to build a new model of manhood. We do this, not by closing our eyes to the old model of man as warrior, but by and opening our eyes to the deeper model of man as _spiritual_ warrior. We can build a model of masculinity as strength, bravery, and skill in wielding the weapons of spiritual truth and genuine morality in the war against everything within us and around us that tears down and destroys human life and kills the presence of God's love among us. This deeper model of manhood helped me through my own adolescence. I was young for my grade and small for my age--the quintessential skinny little "brain." The model of big, macho masculinity simply didn't apply! For many boys who didn't fit that rough, tough mold, living with a constant barrage of macho men on TV and in the movies meant growing up with deep-seated doubts about their own masculinity. Many boys today continue to struggle with this kind of self-doubt. Yet I was able to escape most of that self-doubt, not because I was better or smarter than any other non-macho boy, but simply because I had been gifted with a deeper and more compelling image of what it meant to be a man. Despite the allure of the well-muscled warrior image of masculinity, I knew within myself that this was an external and temporary image of manhood. I knew that there were deeper qualities of manhood that were far more real, and that applied just as much to skinny little schoolboys and to men who had aged beyond their physical prime as it did to those in the height of their physical prowess. This image of manhood came to me from the teachings of our church. It is boiled down to its essence in our reading from Swedenborg's book on _Marital Love_. He writes, "The innermost aspect of masculinity is love, and this is covered over with wisdom. In other words, masculinity is love clothed in wisdom." Here we have a definition of masculinity that does not depend on the outward, physical form, but relates to our _inward_ form--to the parts of us that make us truly human. It relates to the strength of love deep in the heart of a man. And it relates to a spiritual bravery and skill in expressing that love in wise and thoughtful ways that will bring improvement to our own life and to the lives of those around us. What is unusual and even startling about this definition of masculinity is that it looks past the traditional identification of male with intelligence and female with love--a definition that Swedenborg himself uses hundreds of times in his theological writings. We learn here that although the male does tend to express himself outwardly through the medium of intelligence, ideas, and physical skill, this comes from an underlying reality of love that is the essence of masculinity. Conversely, although women do tend to express themselves outwardly through love--through relationships, through compassion and connection with other human beings--within that outward expression is a core of wisdom that relates especially to understanding the human spiritual situation at a deep level. This image of male and female is expressed through the Eastern symbol of the yin-yang, in which the outward color of one element in the circle becomes the inward color of the other. For boys and men who are confused about their identities in a time of changing roles for men and women, this new image of masculinity offers a welcome relief. Because of it, we now have a basis in our faith for allowing ourselves to express the full range of our character, rather than limiting ourselves to certain parts of our personality, such as intellect and competitiveness, as we so often have in the past. We now know that concealed within that rougher and less beautiful exterior, the genuine essence of masculinity is a deep love that is placed in our hearts by the Lord, and that motivates everything we do. This new model of manhood allows _all_ men to exercise the desire for strength, bravery, and skill that we feel in our veins. We can develop the strength of love in our hearts, the bravery of standing up for what we know is right, and the skill of expressing these things in a way that brings about genuine good in each situation we face. When we express this kind of manhood throughout our lives, we can finally leave our inner battles behind and find peace in our souls. As our Lord tells us: If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.... Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:23, 27) Amen. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. ------------------------------ End of sermons-digest V1999 #23 ******************************* From owner-sermons-weekly@newearth.org Sun Jun 6 04:07:35 1999 From: owner-sermons-weekly@newearth.org (sermons-weekly) Date: 6 Jun 1999 00:07:35 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] sermons-weekly V1999 #21 Message-ID: <199906060407.AAA23508@sapphire.newearth.org> sermons-weekly Sunday, June 6 1999 Volume 1999 : Number 021 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 30 May 1999 08:20:02 +0100 From: Lee Woofenden Subject: SERMON: "A New Model of Manhood," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden A New Model of Manhood By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, May 30, 1999 Memorial Day Joshua 6:20, 21, 24: The destruction of Jericho When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it--men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, and donkeys.... Then they burned the whole city and everything in it; but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord's house. Micah 4:1-5: Swords into plowshares In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more. Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken. All the nations may walk in the name of their gods; we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. Matthew 10:32-39: Not peace, but a sword Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies will be the members of his own household. Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. John 14:23-27: Peace I leave with you Jesus said, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. "All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." Marital Love #32: Masculine and feminine I will now explain briefly the essential nature of masculinity and femininity. Here is what the basic difference is: the innermost aspect of masculinity is love, and this is covered over with wisdom. In other words, masculinity is love clothed in wisdom. The innermost aspect of femininity is this masculine wisdom, and its covering is love. Sermon: They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more. Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken. (Micah 4:3, 4) For several decades now, the women's movement has successfully challenged traditional notions of the "proper" roles of women and men. Women have made major inroads into areas of life that were once the exclusive province of men: business, finance, law, broadcasting; even military service is now open to women. There continue to be more men than women in most traditionally "male" professions, and more women doing traditionally "female" work. But in our society the gender barriers are no longer as rigid as they once were. This has caused us to do much soul-searching as to what it means to be a woman, and what it means to be a man. As we observe Memorial Day--a holiday set aside in memory of those who have lost their lives in battle--I would like to focus especially on our changing views of men and masculinity. For one of the most enduring models of masculinity has been the model of man as a warrior, whose prime characteristics are strength, bravery, and skill in wielding the weapons of war. This ancient model of masculinity is found throughout the Bible, but especially in the Old Testament, where there are so many wars and bloody battles that many Christians prefer to ignore the Old Testament and focus almost entirely on the New Testament. The passage that we read from Joshua is an example of what sends some people scurrying away from the Old Testament. In the battle of Jericho--the very first battle after the Israelites crossed the Jordan and entered the Holy Land--the slaughter was not confined to the enemy men of fighting age. The destruction of the city and its inhabitants was complete: men and women, young and old, even the livestock was put to the sword, and the entire city was burned to the ground. Only the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron were saved, to be added to the treasury of the Lord's house. We are left with the impression that the God of the Israelites was smiling down on this wholesale slaughter and destruction. Although such scenes are repugnant to most civilized people today, back in the time when this battle was recorded such conquests were an occasion for celebration, not for apology. War was a fact of life. Often the destruction of enemies was presented as the will of God. The people of those times believed that national conquest was a divinely sanctioned activity, and that the enemies of their nation were fit only for death or slavery. It has been only in recent centuries, and especially in recent decades, that there has been a widespread and sustained movement away from war as a legitimate occupation for men and nations. Yet even in the ancient scriptures the seeds of that movement are present: He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more. (Micah 4:3) This passage comes from a universal truth about war: War means the death of human beings and the destruction of their homes and communities, not to mention great damage to the world of nature. The people who lived in more warlike times may have exulted in battle when they were on the winning side; but they knew its terrors and devastation when they were on the losing side. And some of them--especially when they were on the losing side--longed for a reign of peace in which war would be a thing of the past. Many of us have this same longing, even as our country continues to mount wars against various countries around the world. Some people wish for the complete banishment from our society both of war and of the weapons and language of war. This longing becomes especially strong when we cannot even banish the weapons of war from our schools, and our places of learning are turned into battlegrounds. And yet, for those of us who look to the Bible as the Word of God, there is the stubborn fact that the Bible is full of war and all its trappings. Much of the Old Testament is one long battle--first to wrest the Holy Land from its former inhabitants and to enlarge its borders by conquering the surrounding nations; then to engage in civil war as the nation of Israel fell apart; and finally to become a conquered nation subject to the great powers of Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, and Rome. Even the New Testament has its climactic battles in the Book of Revelation. How can we glean any redeeming social or spiritual value from this violent epic of human struggle? And how can the model it presents of man as warrior help us in giving shape to the new model of manhood that is developing in our time? Jesus addressed these questions when he took the traditional language of war and peace and used it to point to spiritual realities. "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth," he said. "I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." Yet the sword of which he spoke was not a literal sword. The one time that one of his followers did use a sword, Jesus admonished him, "Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword" (Matthew 26:52). When Jesus said he had come to bring, not peace, but a sword, he did not mean the literal sword of war, but of the _spiritual_ sword of conflict and struggle against all that would stop us from living in the way that the Lord shows us. This is clear from what he says to introduce that surprising statement: "Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown him before my Father in heaven" (Matthew 9:32, 33). For Christians, _this_ is the battle in which we must draw the sword that the Lord puts into our hands. It is the battle over whether we will acknowledge the Lord before others by living according to the Lord's commandments, or whether we will disown the Lord before others by setting aside our higher principles and joining in with--or condoning by our inaction--attitudes and actions that we know are wrong. And within that battle there is a deeper battle over whether we will allow the Lord or our own blind thoughtlessness to control our lives. Will we be controlled by the higher self that the Lord gives us, or by the lower self that values only material and personal gain? As we contemplate these deeper issues of spiritual peace and conflict, we can begin to build a new model of manhood. We do this, not by closing our eyes to the old model of man as warrior, but by and opening our eyes to the deeper model of man as _spiritual_ warrior. We can build a model of masculinity as strength, bravery, and skill in wielding the weapons of spiritual truth and genuine morality in the war against everything within us and around us that tears down and destroys human life and kills the presence of God's love among us. This deeper model of manhood helped me through my own adolescence. I was young for my grade and small for my age--the quintessential skinny little "brain." The model of big, macho masculinity simply didn't apply! For many boys who didn't fit that rough, tough mold, living with a constant barrage of macho men on TV and in the movies meant growing up with deep-seated doubts about their own masculinity. Many boys today continue to struggle with this kind of self-doubt. Yet I was able to escape most of that self-doubt, not because I was better or smarter than any other non-macho boy, but simply because I had been gifted with a deeper and more compelling image of what it meant to be a man. Despite the allure of the well-muscled warrior image of masculinity, I knew within myself that this was an external and temporary image of manhood. I knew that there were deeper qualities of manhood that were far more real, and that applied just as much to skinny little schoolboys and to men who had aged beyond their physical prime as it did to those in the height of their physical prowess. This image of manhood came to me from the teachings of our church. It is boiled down to its essence in our reading from Swedenborg's book on _Marital Love_. He writes, "The innermost aspect of masculinity is love, and this is covered over with wisdom. In other words, masculinity is love clothed in wisdom." Here we have a definition of masculinity that does not depend on the outward, physical form, but relates to our _inward_ form--to the parts of us that make us truly human. It relates to the strength of love deep in the heart of a man. And it relates to a spiritual bravery and skill in expressing that love in wise and thoughtful ways that will bring improvement to our own life and to the lives of those around us. What is unusual and even startling about this definition of masculinity is that it looks past the traditional identification of male with intelligence and female with love--a definition that Swedenborg himself uses hundreds of times in his theological writings. We learn here that although the male does tend to express himself outwardly through the medium of intelligence, ideas, and physical skill, this comes from an underlying reality of love that is the essence of masculinity. Conversely, although women do tend to express themselves outwardly through love--through relationships, through compassion and connection with other human beings--within that outward expression is a core of wisdom that relates especially to understanding the human spiritual situation at a deep level. This image of male and female is expressed through the Eastern symbol of the yin-yang, in which the outward color of one element in the circle becomes the inward color of the other. For boys and men who are confused about their identities in a time of changing roles for men and women, this new image of masculinity offers a welcome relief. Because of it, we now have a basis in our faith for allowing ourselves to express the full range of our character, rather than limiting ourselves to certain parts of our personality, such as intellect and competitiveness, as we so often have in the past. We now know that concealed within that rougher and less beautiful exterior, the genuine essence of masculinity is a deep love that is placed in our hearts by the Lord, and that motivates everything we do. This new model of manhood allows _all_ men to exercise the desire for strength, bravery, and skill that we feel in our veins. We can develop the strength of love in our hearts, the bravery of standing up for what we know is right, and the skill of expressing these things in a way that brings about genuine good in each situation we face. When we express this kind of manhood throughout our lives, we can finally leave our inner battles behind and find peace in our souls. As our Lord tells us: If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.... Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:23, 27) Amen. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. ------------------------------ End of sermons-weekly V1999 #21 ******************************* From leewoof@tiac.net Sun Jun 6 20:24:07 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 6 Jun 1999 16:24:07 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Make Music to the Lord," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990606140131.00ba9340@pop.tiac.net> Make Music to the Lord By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, June 6, 1999 Readings: Psalm 33:1-11, 20-22: Sing joyfully to the Lord Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; It is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the Lord with the harp; Make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; Play skillfully, and shout for joy. For the word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all he does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of his unfailing love. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, Their starry host by the breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; He puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth honor the Lord; Let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be He commanded, and it stood firm. The Lord foils the plans of the nations; He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, The purposes of his heart through all generations.... We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, For we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, Even as we put our hope in you. Revelation 15:2-4: A song of praise to the Lord And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. Who will not honor you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, For your righteous acts have been revealed. Arcana Coelestia: #8337.2 Music and spirit It is well-known that some types of musical instruments are used to express one kind of natural emotion, and other types to express other kinds--and that when an appropriate melody is played, it actually does stir our emotions. Skilled musicians know all about this, and make good use of it. This comes from very nature of sound, and its connection with our emotions. Humans first learned about music, not from science and art, but through the ear and its sharp sense of hearing. So it is clear that our musical ability does not come from the natural world, but from the spiritual world. It comes from the correspondences of things in the natural world with things in the spiritual world, which flow into them in an orderly pattern. Musical harmonies in their various forms correspond to states of joy and gladness in the spiritual world. And states of joy and gladness there spring from people's loves--which in that world are loves for what is good and true. So we can understand that musical instruments correspond to the joys and pleasures that go with spiritual and heavenly emotions. Sermon: Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love. (Psalm 33:1-5) Last weekend I had the pleasure of being on staff for the Memorial Day Youth Retreat co-sponsored by the Swedenborgian Church Youth League (national) and our Youth League here in Bridgewater. Thirty-three young people and staff gathered at Blairhaven Retreat Center on Kingston Bay for a weekend focusing on the topic, "Music and Spirituality." There were a lot of people there, a lot of energy, and, of course, a lot of music! Today we end our regular church year on an upbeat note (excuse the pun!) by focusing our service on music, spirit, and, of course the Lord. I would like to thank our special musicians today: Patty Woofenden on flute and Ted Foster on piano and organ. Music isn't something we can just talk about. Music is something we have to _experience!_ In fact, as Swedenborg points out in our reading from _Arcana Coelestia_, music did not come from some scientific study of the effect of tones and rhythms on human beings. Nor did it come from a conscious effort to create a musical art form. Both science and art can help us to _develop_ our music. But even today, when science and art have progressed to an impressive level, the inspiration for practically all music still comes directly from the human heart, and is guided primarily by the human ear. This is another way of saying that music is an expression of our spirit. Music expresses the feelings in our souls--both positive and negative--and communicates those feelings in a way that can stir the same feelings in others. Instrumental music, especially, is almost pure feeling, with only the structure of the music to add an element of human thought processes; whereas vocal music combines the thought and poetry of words with the emotions of melodies and harmonies. In other words, music "corresponds" to the deeper songs of our hearts and minds. This is not a mere mechanical symbolism, but a genuine correspondence: the music is an actual expression in outward form of the deeper feelings and thoughts within us. We do not have to be trained in music theory to know when a piece expresses happiness or sadness, grief or joy, exultation in victory or the crush of defeat. These feelings are right in the music, and they stir the same feelings in us when we hear the music--if we are in a state of mind that can be receptive to those feelings. Yet Swedenborg brings us even deeper than seeing music as an expression of our inner loves and emotions. In a step upward, he ties music specifically to our _spiritual_ loves: Musical harmonies in their various forms correspond to states of joy and gladness in the spiritual world. And states of joy and gladness there spring from people's loves--which in that world are loves for what is good and true. So we can understand that musical instruments correspond to the joys and pleasures that go with spiritual and heavenly emotions. (_Arcana Coelestia_ #8337.2) Of course, not _all_ music stirs in us the joys and pleasures of spiritual and heavenly emotions. Some music expresses just the opposite. Music does have the ability to carry us downward into the entanglements of physical pleasures separated from their spiritual source, and also into black states of hopelessness and despair. But these types of music represent a corruption of the musical art, and not its higher origins. The greatest pieces in _all_ types of music--classical, folk, rock, and so on--are those that reach up toward the spiritual level of existence. They are the pieces that lift the human soul to the spiritual and heavenly emotions of love for one another, of joy and satisfaction in making others happy, and especially, the greatest pieces of music are the ones that lift the human soul to God. In another place Swedenborg writes: When the religious people of ancient times gave glory to the Lord, they did it through songs, psalms, and various kinds of musical instruments. They experienced a joy surpassing all other joys when they called to mind the Lord's coming and his saving of the human race. (_Arcana Coelestia_ #8261.3) It is no accident that the greatest and best-loved music of all times is the music that expresses the supreme joy of the Lord's coming into our world and into our lives. Here in this church, we have over four times our regular church attendance at our Christmas Eve service. Why? Well, the sermon _is_ shorter that evening. . . . But mainly, we come to church in throngs on Christmas Eve to experience the joy of the Lord's coming into the world. And on that evening we experience the Lord's coming, not only through words that touch our minds, but through the wonderful music of Christmas--those favorite songs and carols that touch the deepest chords of our soul. This is the joy that is expressed in the thirty-third Psalm: Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; It is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the Lord with the harp; Make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; Play skillfully, and shout for joy. For the word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all he does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of his unfailing love. We are all here in church because have felt the Lord's unfailing love during the course of our lives. Or perhaps we are here because at the deepest level of our soul, we _long_ to feel the Lord's unfailing love. As we contemplate the struggles and the pain in our own lives and in the world around us, we also long to have our lives and our world filled with the righteousness and justice that the Lord loves. And we know that our world will be filled with the love and justice of the Lord only when, as it says in the Book of Revelation, all nations come and worship before the Lord (Revelation 15:4). Here in this church we have many reasons to sing joyfully to the Lord and shout for joy. The Lord has carried our church through a year of growth for our building, for our programs, for our numbers, and especially for our spirits! We as a congregation have put in a lot of work to bring our church to where it is today. Yet we know that without the Lord's presence in this congregation, we could accomplish nothing at all. It is good to end our church year with music. It is the music of praise to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, from whom all joy and blessings come. Let us offer our gifts to the Lord with joy, and go out from the Lord's house with a song of praise in our hearts. Amen. From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Mon Jun 7 03:34:27 1999 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 6 Jun 1999 23:34:27 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: Things that are Missing from the Holy City New Jerusalem Message-ID: <199906062330_MC2-7869-C78B@compuserve.com> Things that are Missing from the Holy City New Jerusalem By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell June 6, 1999 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. . . Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). Revelation 21:22-23, 25 The Holy City New Jerusalem described by John in the book of Revelation is a representative image of the qualities that the Lord's New Church will have with those who receive it in heart, mind, and life. That city has many qualities such as its golden walls with multiple foundations of different colored gems and its twelve gates opened to all corners of the compass. This sermon will not be focusing on these details but instead will consider some of the things that are specifically said to not needed in that city. We are told that there was no temple there, no need for the sun or moon, that its gates never needed to be shut. The essential qualities of the Lord's New Church are not ones that exist as ideas written in books or stored as facts in a person's memory. This Church also cannot be defined by any membership role in this world. The Writings give several short definitive statements to help define this Church. The qualities which constitutes heaven with a person, also constitutes the church; for just as love and faith constitute heaven, so they also constitute the church . . . . (New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 214) The Lord has taught us that "[T]he kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21) This means that it is the qualities of caring and believing within each of us that will allow for the joy of eternal life. It is also these qualities that fundamentally define the quality of the church within us in this world and likewise the degree of true happiness and inner peace that we can experience in this world. The church can be said to exist where the Lord is acknowledged and where the Word is, for the essentials of the church are love and faith in the Lord from the Lord; and the Word teaches how a people must live that they may receive love and faith from the Lord. (New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 215) One of the ideas that the Lord wants us to know is that human experience and reasoning by itself cannot lead us to see saving truth and so cannot lead us to the life of heaven and the church. We need written revelation from the Lord to guide us. For the church to exist within us we need to return over and over again to the living fountain of spiritual water by reading and reflecting on the things that the Lord has taught us in His Word. That there may be a church, there must be doctrine from the Word, since without doctrine the Word is not understood. Doctrine alone, however, does not constitute the church with a person, but a life according to it. >From this it follows that faith alone does not constitute the church with a person, but the life of faith, which is charity. Genuine doctrine is the doctrine of charity and faith together. . . . (New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 216) Divine revelation is essential, but it must be understood. When we form an idea from what we have read that idea can be called "doctrine." But it is essential that we recognize that the fundamental purpose of doctrine is not that we have correct ideas in our thoughts and are capable of stating them when asked. The fundamental purpose of doctrine is that it should guide us in a profound change of our priorities, plans, and actions. When we understand what the Lord has taught in His Word, we will look at ourselves and others with different eyes. We will turn our eyes and thoughts away from some things that had previously seemed so very important and focus them on other things. How we respond to the ups and downs of our life in this world will significantly change for the better. What we say in a given situation will be fundamentally altered. We, as best we can in this world, will be living the life of heaven. The Holy City New Jerusalem can be said to have "descended" and exist with a person who is living the life of faith and charity. The different qualities of that city that John described show aspects of that life of faith and charity when understood on a deeper level. John specifically noted that there were some things that were not in that city. It is not surprising that John states: "there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie." (Revelation 21:27) We wouldn't expect any kind of evil or uncleanness existing within that heavenly life. But there are several things that John stated did not exist or were unnecessary that are not as intuitive. John described that he saw no temple in the Holy City New Jerusalem. He said this was the case because, "the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple." (Revelation 21:22) The Writings of the New Church state concerning the absence of any temple: [I]n the church [represented by the New Jerusalem] there will not be any external behavior separated from the internal motivation, because the Lord Himself in His Divine Human, from whom is the all of the church is alone approached, worshiped, and adored. "I saw no temple therein" does not meant that in the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, there will not be temples, but in it there will not be an external separated from the internal; the reason is because by "a temple" is signified the church as to worship, and, in the highest sense, the Lord Himself as to the Divine Human, who is to be worshiped. (Apocalypse Revealed 918) We know very well that there are many times when we have to act differently from the way we feel. A person can feel frustrated and angry at a co-worker and still try to act as constructively with that person as possible. The external behavior doesn't directly reflect a significant quality in the person's internal state. Or a woman can be feeling very tired and like nothing would be better than to take a nap and yet could still make herself get around to some phone calls that others are depending on her getting done. The Lord has told us that part of preparing for eternal life is compelling ourselves to do things that a significant part of us doesn't want to do. This kind of self-compulsion is a mark of wisdom and obedience. But there can also be times when a person's external doesn't match his internal that is dangerously evil. This is when a person is acting in way that he hopes will intentionally deceive others. It can also be dangerously evil when a person believes that salvation is accomplished merely through external acts of worship and token expressions of charity. Neither of these are qualities of the Lord's Church. There is a fundamental integrity within a person who has been regenerated by cooperating with the Lord. In one sense everything that such a person does is an act of worship because everything comes from a belief in and desire to follow the Lord. It is living religion that far transcends the walls of a church or a few hours on a Sunday morning. Another quality that John described in the Holy City was that it had no need for the sun or moon to shine in it. When seen on a deeper level all things in the Word and indeed all things in the created world can represent either something good or something bad. Often when the sun is spoken of in the Word it represents something very good. But in this case it does not. Concerning it we are told: "The sun" signifies natural love separated from spiritual love, which is self-love; and "the moon" signifies intelligence, also natural faith, separated from intelligence and spiritual faith, which is their own intelligence and faith from self. . . (Apocalypse Revealed 919) One of the major stumbling blocks to our happiness and usefulness is the idea that we don't need the Lord's guidance and help. It is the belief that we can by ourselves determine what is good. It produces a life guided by a person's natural inclinations and by a limited human understanding and reasoning. We know how dangerous this can be. Over and over again in our lives we've experienced the consequences of decisions and actions that seemed perfectly reasonable and desirable to us at the time, only to discover that we were very unhappy with the results. A person who has been regenerated by the Lord, such that he or she has the Church within is guided moment to moment by an appropriate insight into what should and shouldn't be done. This comes as naturally to such as person as if he thought of it himself. But it is the presence of the Lord. As John said of the Holy City it didn't need the sun to shine because "the glory of God illuminated it." The third quality of the Holy City described by John was that its gates are never shut. While the New Jerusalem is described as having a magnificent wall it also had twelve gates, three of which faced each of the four quarters of the compass. These gates are opened to welcome all are ready to receive the heavenly life that the Lord seeks to bring to us. Within our own lives we can think of this as being an invitation from the Lord to approach Him in so many facets of our lives. We can draw near to the Lord in the way we help others, in our marriages, in raising children, in friendships and recreation. We can draw near the Lord in times of quiet prayer, in activity of daily usefulness, and in the happiness of community of people who care about and wisely support each other. No essential part of life need be closed as an pathway to the Lord. He ever welcomes us to approach Him. The Holy City described by John in the book, Revelation, is an image of the Church the Lord would like to exist within each of us. The same qualities that make this Church also make the life of heaven. We cannot just assume we are already have this Church as the Lord would like it to be. Each day we can look at the way we live our lives and consider how we could better follow the Lord. We can seek His wisdom by reading and reflecting on what He has taught us. We can pray for the wisdom and strength to follow the Lord. We can consciously turn away from the evil loves and false ideas that would prevent the Holy City descending into our lives. As we do this we can be sure that the Lord will be working with us. At times we may sense some of the peace and joy of heaven. When this happens may we picture in our minds that heavenly city New Jerusalem descending into our hearts and minds. May we, with deep gratitude, sense qualities of the Lord's presence growing within us. AMEN. Lessons: Revelation 21: 1-4, 22-27, And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty is the temple of it, and the Lamb, signifies that in the church [represented by the New Jerusalem] there will not be any external behavior separated from the internal motivation, because the Lord Himself in His Divine Human, from whom is the all of the church is alone approached, worshiped, and adored. "I saw no temple therein" does not meant that in the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, there will not be temples, but in it there will not be an external separated from the internal; the reason is because by "a temple" is signified the church as to worship, and, in the highest sense, the Lord Himself as to the Divine Human, who is to be worshiped. And the city hath no need of the sun, and the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and its lamp is the Lamb, signifies that the people of that church will not be in self-love and in their own intelligence, and from this in natural light alone, but in spiritual light from the Divine truth of the Word from the Lord alone. "The sun" signifies natural love separated from spiritual love, which is self-love; and "the moon" signifies intelligence, also natural faith, separated from intelligence and spiritual faith, which is their own intelligence and faith from self. . .By "the glory of God" which lightens it is signified the Divine truth of the Word. And the gates of it shall not be shut by day; for there shall be no night there, signifies that they will be continually received into the New Jerusalem who are in truths from the good of love from the Lord, because there is not any falsity of faith there. By "its gates shall not be shut by day" is signified that they are continually admitted who desire to enter in. Apocalypse Revealed 918, 919, 922 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible, are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. From owner-sermons-digest@newearth.org Mon Jun 7 04:06:05 1999 From: owner-sermons-digest@newearth.org (sermons-digest) Date: 7 Jun 1999 00:06:05 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] sermons-digest V1999 #24 Message-ID: <199906070405.AAA07458@sapphire.newearth.org> sermons-digest Monday, June 7 1999 Volume 1999 : Number 024 SERMON: "Make Music to the Lord," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden SERMON: Things that are Missing from the Holy City New Jerusalem ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 06 Jun 1999 14:02:08 +0100 From: Lee Woofenden Subject: SERMON: "Make Music to the Lord," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Make Music to the Lord By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, June 6, 1999 Readings: Psalm 33:1-11, 20-22: Sing joyfully to the Lord Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; It is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the Lord with the harp; Make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; Play skillfully, and shout for joy. For the word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all he does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of his unfailing love. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, Their starry host by the breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; He puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth honor the Lord; Let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be He commanded, and it stood firm. The Lord foils the plans of the nations; He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, The purposes of his heart through all generations.... We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, For we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, Even as we put our hope in you. Revelation 15:2-4: A song of praise to the Lord And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. Who will not honor you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, For your righteous acts have been revealed. Arcana Coelestia: #8337.2 Music and spirit It is well-known that some types of musical instruments are used to express one kind of natural emotion, and other types to express other kinds--and that when an appropriate melody is played, it actually does stir our emotions. Skilled musicians know all about this, and make good use of it. This comes from very nature of sound, and its connection with our emotions. Humans first learned about music, not from science and art, but through the ear and its sharp sense of hearing. So it is clear that our musical ability does not come from the natural world, but from the spiritual world. It comes from the correspondences of things in the natural world with things in the spiritual world, which flow into them in an orderly pattern. Musical harmonies in their various forms correspond to states of joy and gladness in the spiritual world. And states of joy and gladness there spring from people's loves--which in that world are loves for what is good and true. So we can understand that musical instruments correspond to the joys and pleasures that go with spiritual and heavenly emotions. Sermon: Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love. (Psalm 33:1-5) Last weekend I had the pleasure of being on staff for the Memorial Day Youth Retreat co-sponsored by the Swedenborgian Church Youth League (national) and our Youth League here in Bridgewater. Thirty-three young people and staff gathered at Blairhaven Retreat Center on Kingston Bay for a weekend focusing on the topic, "Music and Spirituality." There were a lot of people there, a lot of energy, and, of course, a lot of music! Today we end our regular church year on an upbeat note (excuse the pun!) by focusing our service on music, spirit, and, of course the Lord. I would like to thank our special musicians today: Patty Woofenden on flute and Ted Foster on piano and organ. Music isn't something we can just talk about. Music is something we have to _experience!_ In fact, as Swedenborg points out in our reading from _Arcana Coelestia_, music did not come from some scientific study of the effect of tones and rhythms on human beings. Nor did it come from a conscious effort to create a musical art form. Both science and art can help us to _develop_ our music. But even today, when science and art have progressed to an impressive level, the inspiration for practically all music still comes directly from the human heart, and is guided primarily by the human ear. This is another way of saying that music is an expression of our spirit. Music expresses the feelings in our souls--both positive and negative--and communicates those feelings in a way that can stir the same feelings in others. Instrumental music, especially, is almost pure feeling, with only the structure of the music to add an element of human thought processes; whereas vocal music combines the thought and poetry of words with the emotions of melodies and harmonies. In other words, music "corresponds" to the deeper songs of our hearts and minds. This is not a mere mechanical symbolism, but a genuine correspondence: the music is an actual expression in outward form of the deeper feelings and thoughts within us. We do not have to be trained in music theory to know when a piece expresses happiness or sadness, grief or joy, exultation in victory or the crush of defeat. These feelings are right in the music, and they stir the same feelings in us when we hear the music--if we are in a state of mind that can be receptive to those feelings. Yet Swedenborg brings us even deeper than seeing music as an expression of our inner loves and emotions. In a step upward, he ties music specifically to our _spiritual_ loves: Musical harmonies in their various forms correspond to states of joy and gladness in the spiritual world. And states of joy and gladness there spring from people's loves--which in that world are loves for what is good and true. So we can understand that musical instruments correspond to the joys and pleasures that go with spiritual and heavenly emotions. (_Arcana Coelestia_ #8337.2) Of course, not _all_ music stirs in us the joys and pleasures of spiritual and heavenly emotions. Some music expresses just the opposite. Music does have the ability to carry us downward into the entanglements of physical pleasures separated from their spiritual source, and also into black states of hopelessness and despair. But these types of music represent a corruption of the musical art, and not its higher origins. The greatest pieces in _all_ types of music--classical, folk, rock, and so on--are those that reach up toward the spiritual level of existence. They are the pieces that lift the human soul to the spiritual and heavenly emotions of love for one another, of joy and satisfaction in making others happy, and especially, the greatest pieces of music are the ones that lift the human soul to God. In another place Swedenborg writes: When the religious people of ancient times gave glory to the Lord, they did it through songs, psalms, and various kinds of musical instruments. They experienced a joy surpassing all other joys when they called to mind the Lord's coming and his saving of the human race. (_Arcana Coelestia_ #8261.3) It is no accident that the greatest and best-loved music of all times is the music that expresses the supreme joy of the Lord's coming into our world and into our lives. Here in this church, we have over four times our regular church attendance at our Christmas Eve service. Why? Well, the sermon _is_ shorter that evening. . . . But mainly, we come to church in throngs on Christmas Eve to experience the joy of the Lord's coming into the world. And on that evening we experience the Lord's coming, not only through words that touch our minds, but through the wonderful music of Christmas--those favorite songs and carols that touch the deepest chords of our soul. This is the joy that is expressed in the thirty-third Psalm: Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; It is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the Lord with the harp; Make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; Play skillfully, and shout for joy. For the word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all he does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of his unfailing love. We are all here in church because have felt the Lord's unfailing love during the course of our lives. Or perhaps we are here because at the deepest level of our soul, we _long_ to feel the Lord's unfailing love. As we contemplate the struggles and the pain in our own lives and in the world around us, we also long to have our lives and our world filled with the righteousness and justice that the Lord loves. And we know that our world will be filled with the love and justice of the Lord only when, as it says in the Book of Revelation, all nations come and worship before the Lord (Revelation 15:4). Here in this church we have many reasons to sing joyfully to the Lord and shout for joy. The Lord has carried our church through a year of growth for our building, for our programs, for our numbers, and especially for our spirits! We as a congregation have put in a lot of work to bring our church to where it is today. Yet we know that without the Lord's presence in this congregation, we could accomplish nothing at all. It is good to end our church year with music. It is the music of praise to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, from whom all joy and blessings come. Let us offer our gifts to the Lord with joy, and go out from the Lord's house with a song of praise in our hearts. Amen. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Jun 1999 23:30:10 -0400 From: Eric Carswell Subject: SERMON: Things that are Missing from the Holy City New Jerusalem Things that are Missing from the Holy City New Jerusalem By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell June 6, 1999 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. . . Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). Revelation 21:22-23, 25 The Holy City New Jerusalem described by John in the book of Revelation is a representative image of the qualities that the Lord's New Church will have with those who receive it in heart, mind, and life. That city has many qualities such as its golden walls with multiple foundations of different colored gems and its twelve gates opened to all corners of the compass. This sermon will not be focusing on these details but instead will consider some of the things that are specifically said to not needed in that city. We are told that there was no temple there, no need for the sun or moon, that its gates never needed to be shut. The essential qualities of the Lord's New Church are not ones that exist as ideas written in books or stored as facts in a person's memory. This Church also cannot be defined by any membership role in this world. The Writings give several short definitive statements to help define this Church. The qualities which constitutes heaven with a person, also constitutes the church; for just as love and faith constitute heaven, so they also constitute the church . . . . (New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 214) The Lord has taught us that "[T]he kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21) This means that it is the qualities of caring and believing within each of us that will allow for the joy of eternal life. It is also these qualities that fundamentally define the quality of the church within us in this world and likewise the degree of true happiness and inner peace that we can experience in this world. The church can be said to exist where the Lord is acknowledged and where the Word is, for the essentials of the church are love and faith in the Lord from the Lord; and the Word teaches how a people must live that they may receive love and faith from the Lord. (New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 215) One of the ideas that the Lord wants us to know is that human experience and reasoning by itself cannot lead us to see saving truth and so cannot lead us to the life of heaven and the church. We need written revelation from the Lord to guide us. For the church to exist within us we need to return over and over again to the living fountain of spiritual water by reading and reflecting on the things that the Lord has taught us in His Word. That there may be a church, there must be doctrine from the Word, since without doctrine the Word is not understood. Doctrine alone, however, does not constitute the church with a person, but a life according to it. >From this it follows that faith alone does not constitute the church with a person, but the life of faith, which is charity. Genuine doctrine is the doctrine of charity and faith together. . . . (New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 216) Divine revelation is essential, but it must be understood. When we form an idea from what we have read that idea can be called "doctrine." But it is essential that we recognize that the fundamental purpose of doctrine is not that we have correct ideas in our thoughts and are capable of stating them when asked. The fundamental purpose of doctrine is that it should guide us in a profound change of our priorities, plans, and actions. When we understand what the Lord has taught in His Word, we will look at ourselves and others with different eyes. We will turn our eyes and thoughts away from some things that had previously seemed so very important and focus them on other things. How we respond to the ups and downs of our life in this world will significantly change for the better. What we say in a given situation will be fundamentally altered. We, as best we can in this world, will be living the life of heaven. The Holy City New Jerusalem can be said to have "descended" and exist with a person who is living the life of faith and charity. The different qualities of that city that John described show aspects of that life of faith and charity when understood on a deeper level. John specifically noted that there were some things that were not in that city. It is not surprising that John states: "there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie." (Revelation 21:27) We wouldn't expect any kind of evil or uncleanness existing within that heavenly life. But there are several things that John stated did not exist or were unnecessary that are not as intuitive. John described that he saw no temple in the Holy City New Jerusalem. He said this was the case because, "the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple." (Revelation 21:22) The Writings of the New Church state concerning the absence of any temple: [I]n the church [represented by the New Jerusalem] there will not be any external behavior separated from the internal motivation, because the Lord Himself in His Divine Human, from whom is the all of the church is alone approached, worshiped, and adored. "I saw no temple therein" does not meant that in the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, there will not be temples, but in it there will not be an external separated from the internal; the reason is because by "a temple" is signified the church as to worship, and, in the highest sense, the Lord Himself as to the Divine Human, who is to be worshiped. (Apocalypse Revealed 918) We know very well that there are many times when we have to act differently from the way we feel. A person can feel frustrated and angry at a co-worker and still try to act as constructively with that person as possible. The external behavior doesn't directly reflect a significant quality in the person's internal state. Or a woman can be feeling very tired and like nothing would be better than to take a nap and yet could still make herself get around to some phone calls that others are depending on her getting done. The Lord has told us that part of preparing for eternal life is compelling ourselves to do things that a significant part of us doesn't want to do. This kind of self-compulsion is a mark of wisdom and obedience. But there can also be times when a person's external doesn't match his internal that is dangerously evil. This is when a person is acting in way that he hopes will intentionally deceive others. It can also be dangerously evil when a person believes that salvation is accomplished merely through external acts of worship and token expressions of charity. Neither of these are qualities of the Lord's Church. There is a fundamental integrity within a person who has been regenerated by cooperating with the Lord. In one sense everything that such a person does is an act of worship because everything comes from a belief in and desire to follow the Lord. It is living religion that far transcends the walls of a church or a few hours on a Sunday morning. Another quality that John described in the Holy City was that it had no need for the sun or moon to shine in it. When seen on a deeper level all things in the Word and indeed all things in the created world can represent either something good or something bad. Often when the sun is spoken of in the Word it represents something very good. But in this case it does not. Concerning it we are told: "The sun" signifies natural love separated from spiritual love, which is self-love; and "the moon" signifies intelligence, also natural faith, separated from intelligence and spiritual faith, which is their own intelligence and faith from self. . . (Apocalypse Revealed 919) One of the major stumbling blocks to our happiness and usefulness is the idea that we don't need the Lord's guidance and help. It is the belief that we can by ourselves determine what is good. It produces a life guided by a person's natural inclinations and by a limited human understanding and reasoning. We know how dangerous this can be. Over and over again in our lives we've experienced the consequences of decisions and actions that seemed perfectly reasonable and desirable to us at the time, only to discover that we were very unhappy with the results. A person who has been regenerated by the Lord, such that he or she has the Church within is guided moment to moment by an appropriate insight into what should and shouldn't be done. This comes as naturally to such as person as if he thought of it himself. But it is the presence of the Lord. As John said of the Holy City it didn't need the sun to shine because "the glory of God illuminated it." The third quality of the Holy City described by John was that its gates are never shut. While the New Jerusalem is described as having a magnificent wall it also had twelve gates, three of which faced each of the four quarters of the compass. These gates are opened to welcome all are ready to receive the heavenly life that the Lord seeks to bring to us. Within our own lives we can think of this as being an invitation from the Lord to approach Him in so many facets of our lives. We can draw near to the Lord in the way we help others, in our marriages, in raising children, in friendships and recreation. We can draw near the Lord in times of quiet prayer, in activity of daily usefulness, and in the happiness of community of people who care about and wisely support each other. No essential part of life need be closed as an pathway to the Lord. He ever welcomes us to approach Him. The Holy City described by John in the book, Revelation, is an image of the Church the Lord would like to exist within each of us. The same qualities that make this Church also make the life of heaven. We cannot just assume we are already have this Church as the Lord would like it to be. Each day we can look at the way we live our lives and consider how we could better follow the Lord. We can seek His wisdom by reading and reflecting on what He has taught us. We can pray for the wisdom and strength to follow the Lord. We can consciously turn away from the evil loves and false ideas that would prevent the Holy City descending into our lives. As we do this we can be sure that the Lord will be working with us. At times we may sense some of the peace and joy of heaven. When this happens may we picture in our minds that heavenly city New Jerusalem descending into our hearts and minds. May we, with deep gratitude, sense qualities of the Lord's presence growing within us. AMEN. Lessons: Revelation 21: 1-4, 22-27, And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty is the temple of it, and the Lamb, signifies that in the church [represented by the New Jerusalem] there will not be any external behavior separated from the internal motivation, because the Lord Himself in His Divine Human, from whom is the all of the church is alone approached, worshiped, and adored. "I saw no temple therein" does not meant that in the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, there will not be temples, but in it there will not be an external separated from the internal; the reason is because by "a temple" is signified the church as to worship, and, in the highest sense, the Lord Himself as to the Divine Human, who is to be worshiped. And the city hath no need of the sun, and the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and its lamp is the Lamb, signifies that the people of that church will not be in self-love and in their own intelligence, and from this in natural light alone, but in spiritual light from the Divine truth of the Word from the Lord alone. "The sun" signifies natural love separated from spiritual love, which is self-love; and "the moon" signifies intelligence, also natural faith, separated from intelligence and spiritual faith, which is their own intelligence and faith from self. . .By "the glory of God" which lightens it is signified the Divine truth of the Word. And the gates of it shall not be shut by day; for there shall be no night there, signifies that they will be continually received into the New Jerusalem who are in truths from the good of love from the Lord, because there is not any falsity of faith there. By "its gates shall not be shut by day" is signified that they are continually admitted who desire to enter in. Apocalypse Revealed 918, 919, 922 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible, are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. ------------------------------ End of sermons-digest V1999 #24 ******************************* From leewoof@tiac.net Tue Jun 8 12:25:35 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 8 Jun 1999 08:25:35 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: Summer break for sermons Message-ID: <4.1.19990607084222.00b98a80@pop.tiac.net> Dear Virtual Congregation, I hope you have been enjoying the sermons I have been sending you throughout this church year. It has been my pleasure to have you as my virtual congregation each week! The church year has now ended in Bridgewater. There will be no more weekly sermons until regular services start up again in September. Meanwhile, if I write a sermon for any occasion during the summer, I will send it to you. If you would like sermons to keep you going during the summer, please visit the online edition of _Our Daily Bread_ at: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/odb.html Many of my previous sermons are also available at: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html You may be interested to know that my virtual congregation has grown larger than my in-person congregation, with over 80 people currently receiving the sermons through email, not counting those who receive them via Michael David's Sermons list. Have a wonderful and blessed summer! --Rev. Lee Woofenden P.S. If you no longer wish to receive my sermons, please let me know and I will take you off the list. Thank you! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From owner-sermons-digest@newearth.org Wed Jun 9 04:05:57 1999 From: owner-sermons-digest@newearth.org (sermons-digest) Date: 9 Jun 1999 00:05:57 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] sermons-digest V1999 #25 Message-ID: <199906090405.AAA17427@sapphire.newearth.org> sermons-digest Wednesday, June 9 1999 Volume 1999 : Number 025 SERMON: Summer break for sermons ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 07 Jun 1999 08:51:43 +0100 From: Lee Woofenden Subject: SERMON: Summer break for sermons Dear Virtual Congregation, I hope you have been enjoying the sermons I have been sending you throughout this church year. It has been my pleasure to have you as my virtual congregation each week! The church year has now ended in Bridgewater. There will be no more weekly sermons until regular services start up again in September. Meanwhile, if I write a sermon for any occasion during the summer, I will send it to you. If you would like sermons to keep you going during the summer, please visit the online edition of _Our Daily Bread_ at: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/odb.html Many of my previous sermons are also available at: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html You may be interested to know that my virtual congregation has grown larger than my in-person congregation, with over 80 people currently receiving the sermons through email, not counting those who receive them via Michael David's Sermons list. Have a wonderful and blessed summer! - --Rev. Lee Woofenden P.S. If you no longer wish to receive my sermons, please let me know and I will take you off the list. Thank you! - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. ------------------------------ End of sermons-digest V1999 #25 ******************************* From owner-sermons-weekly@newearth.org Sun Jun 13 04:07:44 1999 From: owner-sermons-weekly@newearth.org (sermons-weekly) Date: 13 Jun 1999 00:07:44 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] sermons-weekly V1999 #22 Message-ID: <199906130407.AAA12416@sapphire.newearth.org> sermons-weekly Sunday, June 13 1999 Volume 1999 : Number 022 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 06 Jun 1999 14:02:08 +0100 From: Lee Woofenden Subject: SERMON: "Make Music to the Lord," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Make Music to the Lord By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, June 6, 1999 Readings: Psalm 33:1-11, 20-22: Sing joyfully to the Lord Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; It is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the Lord with the harp; Make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; Play skillfully, and shout for joy. For the word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all he does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of his unfailing love. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, Their starry host by the breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; He puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth honor the Lord; Let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be He commanded, and it stood firm. The Lord foils the plans of the nations; He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, The purposes of his heart through all generations.... We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, For we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, Even as we put our hope in you. Revelation 15:2-4: A song of praise to the Lord And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. Who will not honor you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, For your righteous acts have been revealed. Arcana Coelestia: #8337.2 Music and spirit It is well-known that some types of musical instruments are used to express one kind of natural emotion, and other types to express other kinds--and that when an appropriate melody is played, it actually does stir our emotions. Skilled musicians know all about this, and make good use of it. This comes from very nature of sound, and its connection with our emotions. Humans first learned about music, not from science and art, but through the ear and its sharp sense of hearing. So it is clear that our musical ability does not come from the natural world, but from the spiritual world. It comes from the correspondences of things in the natural world with things in the spiritual world, which flow into them in an orderly pattern. Musical harmonies in their various forms correspond to states of joy and gladness in the spiritual world. And states of joy and gladness there spring from people's loves--which in that world are loves for what is good and true. So we can understand that musical instruments correspond to the joys and pleasures that go with spiritual and heavenly emotions. Sermon: Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love. (Psalm 33:1-5) Last weekend I had the pleasure of being on staff for the Memorial Day Youth Retreat co-sponsored by the Swedenborgian Church Youth League (national) and our Youth League here in Bridgewater. Thirty-three young people and staff gathered at Blairhaven Retreat Center on Kingston Bay for a weekend focusing on the topic, "Music and Spirituality." There were a lot of people there, a lot of energy, and, of course, a lot of music! Today we end our regular church year on an upbeat note (excuse the pun!) by focusing our service on music, spirit, and, of course the Lord. I would like to thank our special musicians today: Patty Woofenden on flute and Ted Foster on piano and organ. Music isn't something we can just talk about. Music is something we have to _experience!_ In fact, as Swedenborg points out in our reading from _Arcana Coelestia_, music did not come from some scientific study of the effect of tones and rhythms on human beings. Nor did it come from a conscious effort to create a musical art form. Both science and art can help us to _develop_ our music. But even today, when science and art have progressed to an impressive level, the inspiration for practically all music still comes directly from the human heart, and is guided primarily by the human ear. This is another way of saying that music is an expression of our spirit. Music expresses the feelings in our souls--both positive and negative--and communicates those feelings in a way that can stir the same feelings in others. Instrumental music, especially, is almost pure feeling, with only the structure of the music to add an element of human thought processes; whereas vocal music combines the thought and poetry of words with the emotions of melodies and harmonies. In other words, music "corresponds" to the deeper songs of our hearts and minds. This is not a mere mechanical symbolism, but a genuine correspondence: the music is an actual expression in outward form of the deeper feelings and thoughts within us. We do not have to be trained in music theory to know when a piece expresses happiness or sadness, grief or joy, exultation in victory or the crush of defeat. These feelings are right in the music, and they stir the same feelings in us when we hear the music--if we are in a state of mind that can be receptive to those feelings. Yet Swedenborg brings us even deeper than seeing music as an expression of our inner loves and emotions. In a step upward, he ties music specifically to our _spiritual_ loves: Musical harmonies in their various forms correspond to states of joy and gladness in the spiritual world. And states of joy and gladness there spring from people's loves--which in that world are loves for what is good and true. So we can understand that musical instruments correspond to the joys and pleasures that go with spiritual and heavenly emotions. (_Arcana Coelestia_ #8337.2) Of course, not _all_ music stirs in us the joys and pleasures of spiritual and heavenly emotions. Some music expresses just the opposite. Music does have the ability to carry us downward into the entanglements of physical pleasures separated from their spiritual source, and also into black states of hopelessness and despair. But these types of music represent a corruption of the musical art, and not its higher origins. The greatest pieces in _all_ types of music--classical, folk, rock, and so on--are those that reach up toward the spiritual level of existence. They are the pieces that lift the human soul to the spiritual and heavenly emotions of love for one another, of joy and satisfaction in making others happy, and especially, the greatest pieces of music are the ones that lift the human soul to God. In another place Swedenborg writes: When the religious people of ancient times gave glory to the Lord, they did it through songs, psalms, and various kinds of musical instruments. They experienced a joy surpassing all other joys when they called to mind the Lord's coming and his saving of the human race. (_Arcana Coelestia_ #8261.3) It is no accident that the greatest and best-loved music of all times is the music that expresses the supreme joy of the Lord's coming into our world and into our lives. Here in this church, we have over four times our regular church attendance at our Christmas Eve service. Why? Well, the sermon _is_ shorter that evening. . . . But mainly, we come to church in throngs on Christmas Eve to experience the joy of the Lord's coming into the world. And on that evening we experience the Lord's coming, not only through words that touch our minds, but through the wonderful music of Christmas--those favorite songs and carols that touch the deepest chords of our soul. This is the joy that is expressed in the thirty-third Psalm: Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; It is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the Lord with the harp; Make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; Play skillfully, and shout for joy. For the word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all he does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of his unfailing love. We are all here in church because have felt the Lord's unfailing love during the course of our lives. Or perhaps we are here because at the deepest level of our soul, we _long_ to feel the Lord's unfailing love. As we contemplate the struggles and the pain in our own lives and in the world around us, we also long to have our lives and our world filled with the righteousness and justice that the Lord loves. And we know that our world will be filled with the love and justice of the Lord only when, as it says in the Book of Revelation, all nations come and worship before the Lord (Revelation 15:4). Here in this church we have many reasons to sing joyfully to the Lord and shout for joy. The Lord has carried our church through a year of growth for our building, for our programs, for our numbers, and especially for our spirits! We as a congregation have put in a lot of work to bring our church to where it is today. Yet we know that without the Lord's presence in this congregation, we could accomplish nothing at all. It is good to end our church year with music. It is the music of praise to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, from whom all joy and blessings come. Let us offer our gifts to the Lord with joy, and go out from the Lord's house with a song of praise in our hearts. Amen. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Jun 1999 23:30:10 -0400 From: Eric Carswell Subject: SERMON: Things that are Missing from the Holy City New Jerusalem Things that are Missing from the Holy City New Jerusalem By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell June 6, 1999 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. . . Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). Revelation 21:22-23, 25 The Holy City New Jerusalem described by John in the book of Revelation is a representative image of the qualities that the Lord's New Church will have with those who receive it in heart, mind, and life. That city has many qualities such as its golden walls with multiple foundations of different colored gems and its twelve gates opened to all corners of the compass. This sermon will not be focusing on these details but instead will consider some of the things that are specifically said to not needed in that city. We are told that there was no temple there, no need for the sun or moon, that its gates never needed to be shut. The essential qualities of the Lord's New Church are not ones that exist as ideas written in books or stored as facts in a person's memory. This Church also cannot be defined by any membership role in this world. The Writings give several short definitive statements to help define this Church. The qualities which constitutes heaven with a person, also constitutes the church; for just as love and faith constitute heaven, so they also constitute the church . . . . (New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 214) The Lord has taught us that "[T]he kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21) This means that it is the qualities of caring and believing within each of us that will allow for the joy of eternal life. It is also these qualities that fundamentally define the quality of the church within us in this world and likewise the degree of true happiness and inner peace that we can experience in this world. The church can be said to exist where the Lord is acknowledged and where the Word is, for the essentials of the church are love and faith in the Lord from the Lord; and the Word teaches how a people must live that they may receive love and faith from the Lord. (New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 215) One of the ideas that the Lord wants us to know is that human experience and reasoning by itself cannot lead us to see saving truth and so cannot lead us to the life of heaven and the church. We need written revelation from the Lord to guide us. For the church to exist within us we need to return over and over again to the living fountain of spiritual water by reading and reflecting on the things that the Lord has taught us in His Word. That there may be a church, there must be doctrine from the Word, since without doctrine the Word is not understood. Doctrine alone, however, does not constitute the church with a person, but a life according to it. >From this it follows that faith alone does not constitute the church with a person, but the life of faith, which is charity. Genuine doctrine is the doctrine of charity and faith together. . . . (New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 216) Divine revelation is essential, but it must be understood. When we form an idea from what we have read that idea can be called "doctrine." But it is essential that we recognize that the fundamental purpose of doctrine is not that we have correct ideas in our thoughts and are capable of stating them when asked. The fundamental purpose of doctrine is that it should guide us in a profound change of our priorities, plans, and actions. When we understand what the Lord has taught in His Word, we will look at ourselves and others with different eyes. We will turn our eyes and thoughts away from some things that had previously seemed so very important and focus them on other things. How we respond to the ups and downs of our life in this world will significantly change for the better. What we say in a given situation will be fundamentally altered. We, as best we can in this world, will be living the life of heaven. The Holy City New Jerusalem can be said to have "descended" and exist with a person who is living the life of faith and charity. The different qualities of that city that John described show aspects of that life of faith and charity when understood on a deeper level. John specifically noted that there were some things that were not in that city. It is not surprising that John states: "there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie." (Revelation 21:27) We wouldn't expect any kind of evil or uncleanness existing within that heavenly life. But there are several things that John stated did not exist or were unnecessary that are not as intuitive. John described that he saw no temple in the Holy City New Jerusalem. He said this was the case because, "the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple." (Revelation 21:22) The Writings of the New Church state concerning the absence of any temple: [I]n the church [represented by the New Jerusalem] there will not be any external behavior separated from the internal motivation, because the Lord Himself in His Divine Human, from whom is the all of the church is alone approached, worshiped, and adored. "I saw no temple therein" does not meant that in the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, there will not be temples, but in it there will not be an external separated from the internal; the reason is because by "a temple" is signified the church as to worship, and, in the highest sense, the Lord Himself as to the Divine Human, who is to be worshiped. (Apocalypse Revealed 918) We know very well that there are many times when we have to act differently from the way we feel. A person can feel frustrated and angry at a co-worker and still try to act as constructively with that person as possible. The external behavior doesn't directly reflect a significant quality in the person's internal state. Or a woman can be feeling very tired and like nothing would be better than to take a nap and yet could still make herself get around to some phone calls that others are depending on her getting done. The Lord has told us that part of preparing for eternal life is compelling ourselves to do things that a significant part of us doesn't want to do. This kind of self-compulsion is a mark of wisdom and obedience. But there can also be times when a person's external doesn't match his internal that is dangerously evil. This is when a person is acting in way that he hopes will intentionally deceive others. It can also be dangerously evil when a person believes that salvation is accomplished merely through external acts of worship and token expressions of charity. Neither of these are qualities of the Lord's Church. There is a fundamental integrity within a person who has been regenerated by cooperating with the Lord. In one sense everything that such a person does is an act of worship because everything comes from a belief in and desire to follow the Lord. It is living religion that far transcends the walls of a church or a few hours on a Sunday morning. Another quality that John described in the Holy City was that it had no need for the sun or moon to shine in it. When seen on a deeper level all things in the Word and indeed all things in the created world can represent either something good or something bad. Often when the sun is spoken of in the Word it represents something very good. But in this case it does not. Concerning it we are told: "The sun" signifies natural love separated from spiritual love, which is self-love; and "the moon" signifies intelligence, also natural faith, separated from intelligence and spiritual faith, which is their own intelligence and faith from self. . . (Apocalypse Revealed 919) One of the major stumbling blocks to our happiness and usefulness is the idea that we don't need the Lord's guidance and help. It is the belief that we can by ourselves determine what is good. It produces a life guided by a person's natural inclinations and by a limited human understanding and reasoning. We know how dangerous this can be. Over and over again in our lives we've experienced the consequences of decisions and actions that seemed perfectly reasonable and desirable to us at the time, only to discover that we were very unhappy with the results. A person who has been regenerated by the Lord, such that he or she has the Church within is guided moment to moment by an appropriate insight into what should and shouldn't be done. This comes as naturally to such as person as if he thought of it himself. But it is the presence of the Lord. As John said of the Holy City it didn't need the sun to shine because "the glory of God illuminated it." The third quality of the Holy City described by John was that its gates are never shut. While the New Jerusalem is described as having a magnificent wall it also had twelve gates, three of which faced each of the four quarters of the compass. These gates are opened to welcome all are ready to receive the heavenly life that the Lord seeks to bring to us. Within our own lives we can think of this as being an invitation from the Lord to approach Him in so many facets of our lives. We can draw near to the Lord in the way we help others, in our marriages, in raising children, in friendships and recreation. We can draw near the Lord in times of quiet prayer, in activity of daily usefulness, and in the happiness of community of people who care about and wisely support each other. No essential part of life need be closed as an pathway to the Lord. He ever welcomes us to approach Him. The Holy City described by John in the book, Revelation, is an image of the Church the Lord would like to exist within each of us. The same qualities that make this Church also make the life of heaven. We cannot just assume we are already have this Church as the Lord would like it to be. Each day we can look at the way we live our lives and consider how we could better follow the Lord. We can seek His wisdom by reading and reflecting on what He has taught us. We can pray for the wisdom and strength to follow the Lord. We can consciously turn away from the evil loves and false ideas that would prevent the Holy City descending into our lives. As we do this we can be sure that the Lord will be working with us. At times we may sense some of the peace and joy of heaven. When this happens may we picture in our minds that heavenly city New Jerusalem descending into our hearts and minds. May we, with deep gratitude, sense qualities of the Lord's presence growing within us. AMEN. Lessons: Revelation 21: 1-4, 22-27, And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty is the temple of it, and the Lamb, signifies that in the church [represented by the New Jerusalem] there will not be any external behavior separated from the internal motivation, because the Lord Himself in His Divine Human, from whom is the all of the church is alone approached, worshiped, and adored. "I saw no temple therein" does not meant that in the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, there will not be temples, but in it there will not be an external separated from the internal; the reason is because by "a temple" is signified the church as to worship, and, in the highest sense, the Lord Himself as to the Divine Human, who is to be worshiped. And the city hath no need of the sun, and the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and its lamp is the Lamb, signifies that the people of that church will not be in self-love and in their own intelligence, and from this in natural light alone, but in spiritual light from the Divine truth of the Word from the Lord alone. "The sun" signifies natural love separated from spiritual love, which is self-love; and "the moon" signifies intelligence, also natural faith, separated from intelligence and spiritual faith, which is their own intelligence and faith from self. . .By "the glory of God" which lightens it is signified the Divine truth of the Word. And the gates of it shall not be shut by day; for there shall be no night there, signifies that they will be continually received into the New Jerusalem who are in truths from the good of love from the Lord, because there is not any falsity of faith there. By "its gates shall not be shut by day" is signified that they are continually admitted who desire to enter in. Apocalypse Revealed 918, 919, 922 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible, are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 07 Jun 1999 08:51:43 +0100 From: Lee Woofenden Subject: SERMON: Summer break for sermons Dear Virtual Congregation, I hope you have been enjoying the sermons I have been sending you throughout this church year. It has been my pleasure to have you as my virtual congregation each week! The church year has now ended in Bridgewater. There will be no more weekly sermons until regular services start up again in September. Meanwhile, if I write a sermon for any occasion during the summer, I will send it to you. If you would like sermons to keep you going during the summer, please visit the online edition of _Our Daily Bread_ at: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/odb.html Many of my previous sermons are also available at: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html You may be interested to know that my virtual congregation has grown larger than my in-person congregation, with over 80 people currently receiving the sermons through email, not counting those who receive them via Michael David's Sermons list. Have a wonderful and blessed summer! - --Rev. Lee Woofenden P.S. If you no longer wish to receive my sermons, please let me know and I will take you off the list. Thank you! - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. ------------------------------ End of sermons-weekly V1999 #22 ******************************* From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Wed Jul 7 03:53:09 1999 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 6 Jul 1999 23:53:09 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: Our Relationship to Our Country Message-ID: <199907061706_MC2-7C10-BE99@compuserve.com> Our Relationship to Our Country By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell July 4, 1999 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD. Psalm 33:12 How does a country choose its God? How do we as individual's choose our God? A single individual or a collective group of people choose their God when they choose the values and principles that will guide regular decision-making. A single individual can be committed to obedience to the Lord's commandments and from goodwill caring for the people around him or her, in spite of short-term personal sacrifice that will involve. A country can be committed to a belief in supporting spiritual, moral, and civil order both within its boundaries and with the other countries with which it shares this world. A country can be committed to wisely caring for the welfare of human beings both within its borders and beyond. We know that we can personally only do what seems to be a small amount to influence the values and principles by which our country is run. But we can take heart from the Lord's power to multiply our efforts, just as He multiplied a young boys few fish and loaves to feed thousands. All we need ask ourselves is to do our part. The Writings of the New Church have several powerful teachings about our relationship to our country. They define a number of areas of behavior that might be surprising to many. One of the ideas that the Lord has given us is that loving our neighbor doesn't just mean loving individual human beings and doesn't just mean loving those geographically near us or related to us. The Lord calls us to recognize that a community of people one is living in is a higher or more important degree of the neighbor than an individual. We should be willing to accept certain sacrifices or personal disadvantage coming to one or more individuals if we believe that the essential welfare of the community will benefit from it. A still higher or more important degree of the neighbor is one's country. We should be willing to accept certain sacrifices and disadvantages coming to individuals or communities within the country if we believe that the essential welfare of the country will benefit from it: Anyone who loves his country and out of goodwill does good to it will in the next life love the Lord's kingdom, for there the Lord's kingdom becomes his country. And anyone who loves the Lord's kingdom loves the Lord since the Lord is the All in all of His kingdom, for strictly speaking the Lord's kingdom is the goodness and truth which reside with the inhabitants of that kingdom, and which they receive from the Lord. (Arcana Caelestia 6821) The Lord calls us not to love a country from its external attributes alone. We are not to love it merely because it is the one we were born in. We are to love it for the sake of the good qualities and true ideas that are fostered by it. One direct application of this principle can be seen in the following situation. If a genuinely good human being from the United States was asked, "You have a choice of helping a person who is from your country, or one from Spain, or one from India? Who are you going to help?" The genuinely good person would observe that he or she didn't yet know any basis on which to choose who to help. That genuinely good person would want to know the qualities of the three people who could be helped. The book of the Writings, The Doctrine of Charity, defines this concept with these words: Birth does not make one more the neighbor than another, not even mother and father; neither does education. These are from natural good. Nor does nearness of abode, nor relationship make one person more the neighbor than another; nor, therefore, one's native country. This is to be loved according to the quality of its good. (Doctrine of Charity 85) It then goes on to specifically state: I can love all in the universe according to their religion, not more those in my own country than in other kingdoms, nor more those in Europe than in Africa. I love a Gentile more than a Christian if he lives well according to religion, if from the heart he worships God, saying, "I will not do this evil because it is against God." (Doctrine of Charity 89) We are to love another individual, a community, or a country based on its quality of good. But the Lord wants us to recognize that even if we feel suspicious or somewhat alienated from the quality of good of the community or the country in which we live that we are still to care for it to the extent we are capable of doing so. Consider the following observation: For example: if I [fundamentally disagree with the spiritual principles in my country], am I to love [this] country, or the country where I was born, because of its spiritual good? I cannot. Nor with respect to its moral and civil good, so far as this depends for existence upon its spiritual good. But so far as it does not depend upon this I can, even if that country hates me. Thus, I must not in hatred regard it as an enemy, nor as an adversary, but must still love it; doing it no injury, but consulting its good, so far as it is good for it, not consulting it in such a way that I confirm it in its false principles and evil values. (Doctrine of Charity 86) A person who cares most about what is good and true looks to this as a powerful driving force. The Writings compare this to the patriotism that leads a soldier to willing sacrifice in battle: When the eyes of [genuinely good] people are fixed on what is right and good they are like soldiers fighting in battle for their country. During it they give no thought at all to their life, nor thus to their status or their assets in the world, which compared with what they are doing are of no importance to them. But those who rank self and the world at the top are the kind of people who do not even see what is right and good, because their eyes are fixed on themselves and on gain. (Arcana Caelestia 9210:2) Our relationship to our country is not a simple matter. Consider the implications of the following passage for this subject: The nature of ideas is hardly known to anyone. People imagine that there is nothing complex about them, when in fact every idea within thought contains countless elements variously linked together so as to produce a certain form and consequent picture image of the person, the whole of which is perceived and even seen with the eyes in the next life. Take this merely as an example: When the idea of a place comes to mind - whether of a region, or a city, or a house - the idea and an image of all the things the person has ever done in that place crop up at the same time, and spirits and angels see them all. . .The same applies to ideas of all things, but when these present themselves every single detail that he has conceived of and impressed upon himself regarding a particular matter becomes apparent. Furthermore, the idea of one thing merges into the idea of the next and colors it just as a tiny quantity of black placed in water darkens the whole volume of water. Consequently a spirit is recognized by his ideas, and what is remarkable, each one of his ideas bears his own image or likeness. (Arcana Caelestia 1008:2-3) Everything we have ever thought about our country is linked together in our mind. Certainly there is a huge variety of these thoughts from those of childhood and youth through the many states of our adult life. The Lord calls us to watch this pattern. It will be similar to our pattern of thoughts about many other parts of our lives. What are we making most important? What are we willing to stand up for, to work for, to sacrifice for? The Lord calls us to a commitment to the welfare of our country that is deep, powerful, and wonderfully rewarding to us. The Lord has said: Someone who loves his country and is so governed by an affection for it that he desires out of goodwill to further its welfare would be hurt if prevented from doing so and would plead to be given an opportunity to further its welfare. For such is the object of his affection and consequently of his desire and blessedness. (Arcana Caelestia 3816:3) A person doesn't get to this love of country without the spiritual battles against powerful self-interest and worldly desire. Our lives have been blessed because we live in a country that has had many people who were willing to sacrifice so that we might be here today with the opportunities that lie before us. May we from gratitude do our part to wisely love this country and so grow in a deep love that one day can be transferred to the Lord's Kingdom. AMEN. Lessons: Psalm 33:1-12 Someone who loves his country and is so governed by an affection for it that he desires out of goodwill to further its welfare would be hurt if prevented from doing so and would plead to be given an opportunity to further its welfare. For such is the object of his affection and consequently of his desire and blessedness. Arcana Caelestia 3816:3 The nature of ideas is hardly known to anyone. People imagine that there is nothing complex about them, when in fact every idea within thought contains countless elements variously linked together so as to produce a certain form and consequent picture image of the person, the whole of which is perceived and even seen with the eyes in the next life. Take this merely as an example: When the idea of a place comes to mind - whether of a region, or a city, or a house - the idea and an image of all the things the person has ever done in that place crop up at the same time, and spirits and angels see them all. Or, if the idea of somebody whom he has hated presents itself, the idea of all he has thought, said, and done against that person arises at the same time. The same applies to ideas of all things, but when these present themselves every single detail that he has conceived of and impressed upon himself regarding a particular matter becomes apparent. Furthermore, the idea of one thing merges into the idea of the next and colours it just as a tiny quantity of black placed in water darkens the whole volume of water. Consequently a spirit is recognized by his ideas, and what is remarkable, each one of his ideas bears his own image or likeness Arcana Caelestia 1008:2-3 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible, are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. From owner-sermons-digest@newearth.org Wed Jul 7 04:05:53 1999 From: owner-sermons-digest@newearth.org (sermons-digest) Date: 7 Jul 1999 00:05:53 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] sermons-digest V1999 #26 Message-ID: <199907070405.AAA06755@newearth.org> sermons-digest Wednesday, July 7 1999 Volume 1999 : Number 026 SERMON: Our Relationship to Our Country ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 17:06:19 -0400 From: Eric Carswell Subject: SERMON: Our Relationship to Our Country Our Relationship to Our Country By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell July 4, 1999 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD. Psalm 33:12 How does a country choose its God? How do we as individual's choose our God? A single individual or a collective group of people choose their God when they choose the values and principles that will guide regular decision-making. A single individual can be committed to obedience to the Lord's commandments and from goodwill caring for the people around him or her, in spite of short-term personal sacrifice that will involve. A country can be committed to a belief in supporting spiritual, moral, and civil order both within its boundaries and with the other countries with which it shares this world. A country can be committed to wisely caring for the welfare of human beings both within its borders and beyond. We know that we can personally only do what seems to be a small amount to influence the values and principles by which our country is run. But we can take heart from the Lord's power to multiply our efforts, just as He multiplied a young boys few fish and loaves to feed thousands. All we need ask ourselves is to do our part. The Writings of the New Church have several powerful teachings about our relationship to our country. They define a number of areas of behavior that might be surprising to many. One of the ideas that the Lord has given us is that loving our neighbor doesn't just mean loving individual human beings and doesn't just mean loving those geographically near us or related to us. The Lord calls us to recognize that a community of people one is living in is a higher or more important degree of the neighbor than an individual. We should be willing to accept certain sacrifices or personal disadvantage coming to one or more individuals if we believe that the essential welfare of the community will benefit from it. A still higher or more important degree of the neighbor is one's country. We should be willing to accept certain sacrifices and disadvantages coming to individuals or communities within the country if we believe that the essential welfare of the country will benefit from it: Anyone who loves his country and out of goodwill does good to it will in the next life love the Lord's kingdom, for there the Lord's kingdom becomes his country. And anyone who loves the Lord's kingdom loves the Lord since the Lord is the All in all of His kingdom, for strictly speaking the Lord's kingdom is the goodness and truth which reside with the inhabitants of that kingdom, and which they receive from the Lord. (Arcana Caelestia 6821) The Lord calls us not to love a country from its external attributes alone. We are not to love it merely because it is the one we were born in. We are to love it for the sake of the good qualities and true ideas that are fostered by it. One direct application of this principle can be seen in the following situation. If a genuinely good human being from the United States was asked, "You have a choice of helping a person who is from your country, or one from Spain, or one from India? Who are you going to help?" The genuinely good person would observe that he or she didn't yet know any basis on which to choose who to help. That genuinely good person would want to know the qualities of the three people who could be helped. The book of the Writings, The Doctrine of Charity, defines this concept with these words: Birth does not make one more the neighbor than another, not even mother and father; neither does education. These are from natural good. Nor does nearness of abode, nor relationship make one person more the neighbor than another; nor, therefore, one's native country. This is to be loved according to the quality of its good. (Doctrine of Charity 85) It then goes on to specifically state: I can love all in the universe according to their religion, not more those in my own country than in other kingdoms, nor more those in Europe than in Africa. I love a Gentile more than a Christian if he lives well according to religion, if from the heart he worships God, saying, "I will not do this evil because it is against God." (Doctrine of Charity 89) We are to love another individual, a community, or a country based on its quality of good. But the Lord wants us to recognize that even if we feel suspicious or somewhat alienated from the quality of good of the community or the country in which we live that we are still to care for it to the extent we are capable of doing so. Consider the following observation: For example: if I [fundamentally disagree with the spiritual principles in my country], am I to love [this] country, or the country where I was born, because of its spiritual good? I cannot. Nor with respect to its moral and civil good, so far as this depends for existence upon its spiritual good. But so far as it does not depend upon this I can, even if that country hates me. Thus, I must not in hatred regard it as an enemy, nor as an adversary, but must still love it; doing it no injury, but consulting its good, so far as it is good for it, not consulting it in such a way that I confirm it in its false principles and evil values. (Doctrine of Charity 86) A person who cares most about what is good and true looks to this as a powerful driving force. The Writings compare this to the patriotism that leads a soldier to willing sacrifice in battle: When the eyes of [genuinely good] people are fixed on what is right and good they are like soldiers fighting in battle for their country. During it they give no thought at all to their life, nor thus to their status or their assets in the world, which compared with what they are doing are of no importance to them. But those who rank self and the world at the top are the kind of people who do not even see what is right and good, because their eyes are fixed on themselves and on gain. (Arcana Caelestia 9210:2) Our relationship to our country is not a simple matter. Consider the implications of the following passage for this subject: The nature of ideas is hardly known to anyone. People imagine that there is nothing complex about them, when in fact every idea within thought contains countless elements variously linked together so as to produce a certain form and consequent picture image of the person, the whole of which is perceived and even seen with the eyes in the next life. Take this merely as an example: When the idea of a place comes to mind - whether of a region, or a city, or a house - the idea and an image of all the things the person has ever done in that place crop up at the same time, and spirits and angels see them all. . .The same applies to ideas of all things, but when these present themselves every single detail that he has conceived of and impressed upon himself regarding a particular matter becomes apparent. Furthermore, the idea of one thing merges into the idea of the next and colors it just as a tiny quantity of black placed in water darkens the whole volume of water. Consequently a spirit is recognized by his ideas, and what is remarkable, each one of his ideas bears his own image or likeness. (Arcana Caelestia 1008:2-3) Everything we have ever thought about our country is linked together in our mind. Certainly there is a huge variety of these thoughts from those of childhood and youth through the many states of our adult life. The Lord calls us to watch this pattern. It will be similar to our pattern of thoughts about many other parts of our lives. What are we making most important? What are we willing to stand up for, to work for, to sacrifice for? The Lord calls us to a commitment to the welfare of our country that is deep, powerful, and wonderfully rewarding to us. The Lord has said: Someone who loves his country and is so governed by an affection for it that he desires out of goodwill to further its welfare would be hurt if prevented from doing so and would plead to be given an opportunity to further its welfare. For such is the object of his affection and consequently of his desire and blessedness. (Arcana Caelestia 3816:3) A person doesn't get to this love of country without the spiritual battles against powerful self-interest and worldly desire. Our lives have been blessed because we live in a country that has had many people who were willing to sacrifice so that we might be here today with the opportunities that lie before us. May we from gratitude do our part to wisely love this country and so grow in a deep love that one day can be transferred to the Lord's Kingdom. AMEN. Lessons: Psalm 33:1-12 Someone who loves his country and is so governed by an affection for it that he desires out of goodwill to further its welfare would be hurt if prevented from doing so and would plead to be given an opportunity to further its welfare. For such is the object of his affection and consequently of his desire and blessedness. Arcana Caelestia 3816:3 The nature of ideas is hardly known to anyone. People imagine that there is nothing complex about them, when in fact every idea within thought contains countless elements variously linked together so as to produce a certain form and consequent picture image of the person, the whole of which is perceived and even seen with the eyes in the next life. Take this merely as an example: When the idea of a place comes to mind - whether of a region, or a city, or a house - the idea and an image of all the things the person has ever done in that place crop up at the same time, and spirits and angels see them all. Or, if the idea of somebody whom he has hated presents itself, the idea of all he has thought, said, and done against that person arises at the same time. The same applies to ideas of all things, but when these present themselves every single detail that he has conceived of and impressed upon himself regarding a particular matter becomes apparent. Furthermore, the idea of one thing merges into the idea of the next and colours it just as a tiny quantity of black placed in water darkens the whole volume of water. Consequently a spirit is recognized by his ideas, and what is remarkable, each one of his ideas bears his own image or likeness Arcana Caelestia 1008:2-3 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible, are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. ------------------------------ End of sermons-digest V1999 #26 ******************************* From owner-sermons-weekly@newearth.org Sun Jul 11 04:07:26 1999 From: owner-sermons-weekly@newearth.org (sermons-weekly) Date: 11 Jul 1999 00:07:26 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] sermons-weekly V1999 #23 Message-ID: <199907110407.AAA24593@newearth.org> sermons-weekly Sunday, July 11 1999 Volume 1999 : Number 023 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 17:06:19 -0400 From: Eric Carswell Subject: SERMON: Our Relationship to Our Country Our Relationship to Our Country By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell July 4, 1999 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD. Psalm 33:12 How does a country choose its God? How do we as individual's choose our God? A single individual or a collective group of people choose their God when they choose the values and principles that will guide regular decision-making. A single individual can be committed to obedience to the Lord's commandments and from goodwill caring for the people around him or her, in spite of short-term personal sacrifice that will involve. A country can be committed to a belief in supporting spiritual, moral, and civil order both within its boundaries and with the other countries with which it shares this world. A country can be committed to wisely caring for the welfare of human beings both within its borders and beyond. We know that we can personally only do what seems to be a small amount to influence the values and principles by which our country is run. But we can take heart from the Lord's power to multiply our efforts, just as He multiplied a young boys few fish and loaves to feed thousands. All we need ask ourselves is to do our part. The Writings of the New Church have several powerful teachings about our relationship to our country. They define a number of areas of behavior that might be surprising to many. One of the ideas that the Lord has given us is that loving our neighbor doesn't just mean loving individual human beings and doesn't just mean loving those geographically near us or related to us. The Lord calls us to recognize that a community of people one is living in is a higher or more important degree of the neighbor than an individual. We should be willing to accept certain sacrifices or personal disadvantage coming to one or more individuals if we believe that the essential welfare of the community will benefit from it. A still higher or more important degree of the neighbor is one's country. We should be willing to accept certain sacrifices and disadvantages coming to individuals or communities within the country if we believe that the essential welfare of the country will benefit from it: Anyone who loves his country and out of goodwill does good to it will in the next life love the Lord's kingdom, for there the Lord's kingdom becomes his country. And anyone who loves the Lord's kingdom loves the Lord since the Lord is the All in all of His kingdom, for strictly speaking the Lord's kingdom is the goodness and truth which reside with the inhabitants of that kingdom, and which they receive from the Lord. (Arcana Caelestia 6821) The Lord calls us not to love a country from its external attributes alone. We are not to love it merely because it is the one we were born in. We are to love it for the sake of the good qualities and true ideas that are fostered by it. One direct application of this principle can be seen in the following situation. If a genuinely good human being from the United States was asked, "You have a choice of helping a person who is from your country, or one from Spain, or one from India? Who are you going to help?" The genuinely good person would observe that he or she didn't yet know any basis on which to choose who to help. That genuinely good person would want to know the qualities of the three people who could be helped. The book of the Writings, The Doctrine of Charity, defines this concept with these words: Birth does not make one more the neighbor than another, not even mother and father; neither does education. These are from natural good. Nor does nearness of abode, nor relationship make one person more the neighbor than another; nor, therefore, one's native country. This is to be loved according to the quality of its good. (Doctrine of Charity 85) It then goes on to specifically state: I can love all in the universe according to their religion, not more those in my own country than in other kingdoms, nor more those in Europe than in Africa. I love a Gentile more than a Christian if he lives well according to religion, if from the heart he worships God, saying, "I will not do this evil because it is against God." (Doctrine of Charity 89) We are to love another individual, a community, or a country based on its quality of good. But the Lord wants us to recognize that even if we feel suspicious or somewhat alienated from the quality of good of the community or the country in which we live that we are still to care for it to the extent we are capable of doing so. Consider the following observation: For example: if I [fundamentally disagree with the spiritual principles in my country], am I to love [this] country, or the country where I was born, because of its spiritual good? I cannot. Nor with respect to its moral and civil good, so far as this depends for existence upon its spiritual good. But so far as it does not depend upon this I can, even if that country hates me. Thus, I must not in hatred regard it as an enemy, nor as an adversary, but must still love it; doing it no injury, but consulting its good, so far as it is good for it, not consulting it in such a way that I confirm it in its false principles and evil values. (Doctrine of Charity 86) A person who cares most about what is good and true looks to this as a powerful driving force. The Writings compare this to the patriotism that leads a soldier to willing sacrifice in battle: When the eyes of [genuinely good] people are fixed on what is right and good they are like soldiers fighting in battle for their country. During it they give no thought at all to their life, nor thus to their status or their assets in the world, which compared with what they are doing are of no importance to them. But those who rank self and the world at the top are the kind of people who do not even see what is right and good, because their eyes are fixed on themselves and on gain. (Arcana Caelestia 9210:2) Our relationship to our country is not a simple matter. Consider the implications of the following passage for this subject: The nature of ideas is hardly known to anyone. People imagine that there is nothing complex about them, when in fact every idea within thought contains countless elements variously linked together so as to produce a certain form and consequent picture image of the person, the whole of which is perceived and even seen with the eyes in the next life. Take this merely as an example: When the idea of a place comes to mind - whether of a region, or a city, or a house - the idea and an image of all the things the person has ever done in that place crop up at the same time, and spirits and angels see them all. . .The same applies to ideas of all things, but when these present themselves every single detail that he has conceived of and impressed upon himself regarding a particular matter becomes apparent. Furthermore, the idea of one thing merges into the idea of the next and colors it just as a tiny quantity of black placed in water darkens the whole volume of water. Consequently a spirit is recognized by his ideas, and what is remarkable, each one of his ideas bears his own image or likeness. (Arcana Caelestia 1008:2-3) Everything we have ever thought about our country is linked together in our mind. Certainly there is a huge variety of these thoughts from those of childhood and youth through the many states of our adult life. The Lord calls us to watch this pattern. It will be similar to our pattern of thoughts about many other parts of our lives. What are we making most important? What are we willing to stand up for, to work for, to sacrifice for? The Lord calls us to a commitment to the welfare of our country that is deep, powerful, and wonderfully rewarding to us. The Lord has said: Someone who loves his country and is so governed by an affection for it that he desires out of goodwill to further its welfare would be hurt if prevented from doing so and would plead to be given an opportunity to further its welfare. For such is the object of his affection and consequently of his desire and blessedness. (Arcana Caelestia 3816:3) A person doesn't get to this love of country without the spiritual battles against powerful self-interest and worldly desire. Our lives have been blessed because we live in a country that has had many people who were willing to sacrifice so that we might be here today with the opportunities that lie before us. May we from gratitude do our part to wisely love this country and so grow in a deep love that one day can be transferred to the Lord's Kingdom. AMEN. Lessons: Psalm 33:1-12 Someone who loves his country and is so governed by an affection for it that he desires out of goodwill to further its welfare would be hurt if prevented from doing so and would plead to be given an opportunity to further its welfare. For such is the object of his affection and consequently of his desire and blessedness. Arcana Caelestia 3816:3 The nature of ideas is hardly known to anyone. People imagine that there is nothing complex about them, when in fact every idea within thought contains countless elements variously linked together so as to produce a certain form and consequent picture image of the person, the whole of which is perceived and even seen with the eyes in the next life. Take this merely as an example: When the idea of a place comes to mind - whether of a region, or a city, or a house - the idea and an image of all the things the person has ever done in that place crop up at the same time, and spirits and angels see them all. Or, if the idea of somebody whom he has hated presents itself, the idea of all he has thought, said, and done against that person arises at the same time. The same applies to ideas of all things, but when these present themselves every single detail that he has conceived of and impressed upon himself regarding a particular matter becomes apparent. Furthermore, the idea of one thing merges into the idea of the next and colours it just as a tiny quantity of black placed in water darkens the whole volume of water. Consequently a spirit is recognized by his ideas, and what is remarkable, each one of his ideas bears his own image or likeness Arcana Caelestia 1008:2-3 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible, are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. ------------------------------ End of sermons-weekly V1999 #23 ******************************* From leewoof@tiac.net Mon Jul 19 02:28:12 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 18 Jul 1999 22:28:12 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "We Worship the One God," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990718214137.00baac40@pop.tiac.net> "We Worship the One God" By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Yarmouthport, Massachusetts, July 18, 1999 Readings: Isaiah 45:18-24: There is no other god besides me Thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it a chaos, he formed it to be inhabited!): I am the Lord, and there is no other. I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, "Seek me in chaos." I the Lord speak the truth; I declare what is right. Assemble yourselves and come together, draw near, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge, those who carry about their wooden idols and keep on praying to a god that cannot save. Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord? There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that will not return: "To me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear." It will be said of me, "Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength." John 1:1-18: The Word became flesh and lived among us In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him not one thing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'") From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known. The Heavenly City #280-282: There is one God There is one God, who is the creator and keeper of the universe. So he is the God of both heaven and earth. Two things make our life heaven: good actions done out of love and true ideas that come from faith. We get this life from God; not a single bit of it comes from ourselves. So the most important thing in religion is to accept God, believe in God, and love him. If we are born Christian, we should accept the Lord--both his divinity and his humanity--and believe in him and love him, since all spiritual well-being comes from the Lord. Sermon: There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is no one besides me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God and there is no other. (Isaiah 45:21, 22) It is a real pleasure to be back in Yarmouthport again. I have been cheering from the sidelines for the efforts to renovate this church and restore it to its former glory. Yet as beautiful as this building is and can become once again, there is a greater beauty that shines through this church on these summer Sundays here on Cape Cod. It is the beauty of the heavenly teachings of the New Jerusalem Church. As a Swedenborgian minister, I am so immersed in those teachings week in and week out that, like the proverbial forest and trees, I am not always able to stand back and see what a beautiful forest it is that we inhabit doctrinally. In the past few months I have had two experiences that have helped me to step back for a broader look. The first is a six week Swedenborg Newcomers' Class that we recently completed at the Bridgewater New Jerusalem Church, where I serve as Pastor. Having grown up in the New Church, I never had the joy of discovering its teachings for the first time. But I experienced some that joy in others through the eagerness with which the newcomers at the class learned about our teachings and saw their beauty for the first time. The second experience that has given me a greater appreciation of the beauty of our teachings involves some discussions I have been having on the Internet with various fundamentalist and evangelical Christians. These people are very sincere. But their idea of God as a trinity in three distinct Persons rather than in a single God has led them away from the core of Christ's message, down some rather unfortunate and confused side-paths. Fresh from these experiences, I come to you with a renewed appreciation of the great beauty of our church's teaching about the Lord. I hope to be able to share some of that beauty with you this morning. Their beauty is expressed very compactly in the opening phrases of the faith statement that we said together this morning: "We worship the one God, the Lord, the Savior Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world; in whom is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." For those of us who use this faith statement regularly in our service, it is easy to repeat it by rote, without pausing to consider the tremendous power that is packed into that simple opening statement. Swedenborgians assent to it automatically, often without realizing what a radical departure it is from the traditional Christianity out of which our church came--and at the same time how fully it brings the church back to the original Gospel message about the Lord, which was all but lost over the centuries since Christ walked the earth. You see, as the early Christian Church descended from a spiritual movement to a worldly power, its faith became corrupted through doctrinal conflicts and power struggles within the Church. Various creeds were written, which codified these departures from the Gospel message. Things were going downhill fast when the Athanasian Creed, written several centuries after Christ, for the first time said that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were three distinct Persons of God. The confusion caused in the church by this idea of three Persons in one God is reflected in the Athanasian Creed itself, where we read: For just as we are compelled by Christian truth to acknowledge each person by himself to be God and Lord, so we are forbidden by the Christian religion to say that there are three Gods or three Lords. In other words, a struggle was set up in the minds of Christians between the idea of three gods--which any reasonable person would gather from the statement that there are three Persons of God--and the clear teaching of the Christian Church that there is only one God. Into this mental and spiritual confusion roared a multitude of false and contradictory ideas. One of the most damaging was the Vicarious Atonement, with its accompanying dogma that faith alone saves without the need for good works. Here is the Vicarious Atonement in a nutshell: All people are born sinful, and can never satisfy the "perfect justice" of God the Father. Therefore, God has condemned the entire human race to eternal death. God the Father's justice can be satisfied only through the perfect death of God the Son. All who believe that the Son died for them are saved. (This is the "vicarious" part.) All who do not believe remain under divine condemnation to eternal death. So it is faith alone that saves us. This doctrine of the Vicarious Atonement applies traits to God that we would be ashamed to apply to the most insane, tyrannical dictator on earth. Not even the worst despot would condemn to death every one of his subjects because they fall short of standards that they cannot possibly meet, and then be mollified only by the bloody death of his own son. Much of Christianity still labors under this gross corruption of the Gospel message. As I talk to people who are still caught in a Vicarious Atonement, faith alone theology, my heart goes out to them. They struggle so valiantly to turn these dregs of doctrine into something beautiful and compelling that will give meaning and purpose to their lives. Of course, there _are_ some harsh fundamentalists who seem to glory in the heavy-handed, us-versus-them nature of faith alone theology. But most fundamentalist and evangelical Christians are basically good-hearted people who sincerely desire the eternal welfare of all people. We watch as their human decency struggles with the harshness of the faith they have been taught: that all who do not believe what _they_ believe will be condemned to eternal death. And we watch the sad spectacle of needless conflicts that fundamentalist Christians get themselves into with so many people of good will whose primary "sin" is that they do not and cannot share that harsh Vicarious Atonement faith. Knowing this dark background in which our faith arose, we can give special thanks that the Lord has, in his merciful providence, given to the world a beautiful, harmonious, and Bible-based faith to overcome the harshness of human error that crept into Christianity over the centuries. We can thank the Lord that he called his servant, Emanuel Swedenborg, to deliver a message that both renews the simple faith of the Gospels and brings it to a deeper and higher level than humankind was ready for two thousand years ago. The most beautiful and precious gem in this renewed Christian faith is the teaching that God is one, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is that God. In Deuteronomy, right after the Ten Commandments, we find these words: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. (Deut. 6:4, 5) These very some words are quoted by Jesus in the New Testament when he is asked which is the most important commandment of all (Mark 12:28-30). The one God of the Jewish religion is the same God as the one God of the Christian religion. Yet something new and precious has been added in the Christian religion. For our faith is that God did not remain invisible and unseen in heaven, but that, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, he has "torn open the heavens and come down" (Isaiah 64:1). Our faith is that the Word which "was God" (John 1:1) "became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). Who is this God who comes to us as a personal, approachable, divinely human being? First, God is not a being of wrath, but _a being of love._ The Apostle John tells us, "Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:8). And again, "God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them" (1 John 4:16). Second, God is not a being of arbitrary decrees, but _a being of truth._ God, the eternal Word, is the true light that enlightens everyone. And as we are told in John's Gospel, the truth of God is expressed in the person of our Lord. We read, "The law indeed was given through Moses; but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). And third, God is not a being of arbitrary condemnation, but _a being of righteous acts_ of kindness toward all, "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him" (John 3:17). In the words of the Psalm, "Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great things" (Psalm 71:19). This is the trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that we worship. We worship God the Father of Love, God the Son of Truth, and God the Holy Spirit of loving and righteous actions toward all created beings. We do not worship these as three separate persons, but three aspects of the one Person of God, who is at once Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--Love, Truth, and Action. As Jesus said, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). Swedenborg tells us that "the most important thing in religion is to accept God, believe in God, and love him" (_The Heavenly City_ #281). Further, our idea of God determines everything else in our faith. As Swedenborg says in another place, "The whole body of religious faith depends upon a correct idea of God just as a chain hangs on its first link" (_True Christian Religion_ #163). The first link of the New Jerusalem Church is made out of pure gold. It is our beautiful faith in one God, who is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We do not have to struggle with the confusing and contradictory notion of a God who is at once three Persons--three Gods--and one Person--one God. We do not have to struggle with a God who contains contradictory traits of wrath and love, truth and arbitrariness, kindness and condemnation. In a word, we do not have to struggle with a God who is both good and evil. For "We worship the one God, the Lord, the Savior Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world; in whom is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." We worship the one God who is pure Love, pure Truth, and pure Kindness. We worship a God who never condemns us, but who came to _save_ us from death by freeing us from slavery to our own destructive compulsions--from our own sins. We worship a God who knows us fully and intimately--even the parts that we would be ashamed or embarrassed to admit to others--yet continues to love us completely, unconditionally, with a love beyond anything we can ever conceive. This is the love that can overcome all our evil. This is the love that, if we open ourselves up to it, can overcome every false thought and every wrong and selfish motive in us. This is the pure, infinite, unbounded God of love that is far, far stronger than all human evil put together. This is the Lord our God, who has fought against the power of hell and overcome it, so that we need never be slaves to hell and to our own lower selves again. _This_ is the God of infinite love, infinite wisdom, and infinite power that we worship. This is the beautiful and precious gem that is the center and soul of all genuine Christianity. This is the Lord who has revealed himself to us in a brilliant show of truth, which, for those who seek and find it, flashes like lightning from east to west across the heavens of their minds. This is the new and beautiful light that the Lord has shed on his holy Word and on our lives through his servant Emanuel Swedenborg. This is the beauty that continues to shine forth from this church on summer Sundays here on Cape Cod. This beautiful truth is also our greatest challenge. The same Lord who fully understands each one of us, and loves us with an infinite love, gives us a great task to do--a task that our statement of faith leaves us with each week. Speaking in the Gospel of John, our Lord Jesus says, "I give you a new commandment: that you love one another, just as I have loved you" (John 13:34). This commandment is enough to keep us busy for a lifetime, and for an eternity afterwards. For we will never reach the end of God's love, and we will never run out of opportunities to show that love to our fellow human beings. Amen. From owner-sermons-digest@newearth.org Mon Jul 19 04:05:56 1999 From: owner-sermons-digest@newearth.org (sermons-digest) Date: 19 Jul 1999 00:05:56 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] sermons-digest V1999 #27 Message-ID: <199907190405.AAA22579@newearth.org> sermons-digest Monday, July 19 1999 Volume 1999 : Number 027 SERMON: "We Worship the One God," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1999 21:42:38 +0100 From: Lee Woofenden Subject: SERMON: "We Worship the One God," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden "We Worship the One God" By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Yarmouthport, Massachusetts, July 18, 1999 Readings: Isaiah 45:18-24: There is no other god besides me Thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it a chaos, he formed it to be inhabited!): I am the Lord, and there is no other. I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, "Seek me in chaos." I the Lord speak the truth; I declare what is right. Assemble yourselves and come together, draw near, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge, those who carry about their wooden idols and keep on praying to a god that cannot save. Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord? There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that will not return: "To me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear." It will be said of me, "Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength." John 1:1-18: The Word became flesh and lived among us In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him not one thing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'") From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known. The Heavenly City #280-282: There is one God There is one God, who is the creator and keeper of the universe. So he is the God of both heaven and earth. Two things make our life heaven: good actions done out of love and true ideas that come from faith. We get this life from God; not a single bit of it comes from ourselves. So the most important thing in religion is to accept God, believe in God, and love him. If we are born Christian, we should accept the Lord--both his divinity and his humanity--and believe in him and love him, since all spiritual well-being comes from the Lord. Sermon: There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is no one besides me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God and there is no other. (Isaiah 45:21, 22) It is a real pleasure to be back in Yarmouthport again. I have been cheering from the sidelines for the efforts to renovate this church and restore it to its former glory. Yet as beautiful as this building is and can become once again, there is a greater beauty that shines through this church on these summer Sundays here on Cape Cod. It is the beauty of the heavenly teachings of the New Jerusalem Church. As a Swedenborgian minister, I am so immersed in those teachings week in and week out that, like the proverbial forest and trees, I am not always able to stand back and see what a beautiful forest it is that we inhabit doctrinally. In the past few months I have had two experiences that have helped me to step back for a broader look. The first is a six week Swedenborg Newcomers' Class that we recently completed at the Bridgewater New Jerusalem Church, where I serve as Pastor. Having grown up in the New Church, I never had the joy of discovering its teachings for the first time. But I experienced some that joy in others through the eagerness with which the newcomers at the class learned about our teachings and saw their beauty for the first time. The second experience that has given me a greater appreciation of the beauty of our teachings involves some discussions I have been having on the Internet with various fundamentalist and evangelical Christians. These people are very sincere. But their idea of God as a trinity in three distinct Persons rather than in a single God has led them away from the core of Christ's message, down some rather unfortunate and confused side-paths. Fresh from these experiences, I come to you with a renewed appreciation of the great beauty of our church's teaching about the Lord. I hope to be able to share some of that beauty with you this morning. Their beauty is expressed very compactly in the opening phrases of the faith statement that we said together this morning: "We worship the one God, the Lord, the Savior Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world; in whom is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." For those of us who use this faith statement regularly in our service, it is easy to repeat it by rote, without pausing to consider the tremendous power that is packed into that simple opening statement. Swedenborgians assent to it automatically, often without realizing what a radical departure it is from the traditional Christianity out of which our church came--and at the same time how fully it brings the church back to the original Gospel message about the Lord, which was all but lost over the centuries since Christ walked the earth. You see, as the early Christian Church descended from a spiritual movement to a worldly power, its faith became corrupted through doctrinal conflicts and power struggles within the Church. Various creeds were written, which codified these departures from the Gospel message. Things were going downhill fast when the Athanasian Creed, written several centuries after Christ, for the first time said that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were three distinct Persons of God. The confusion caused in the church by this idea of three Persons in one God is reflected in the Athanasian Creed itself, where we read: For just as we are compelled by Christian truth to acknowledge each person by himself to be God and Lord, so we are forbidden by the Christian religion to say that there are three Gods or three Lords. In other words, a struggle was set up in the minds of Christians between the idea of three gods--which any reasonable person would gather from the statement that there are three Persons of God--and the clear teaching of the Christian Church that there is only one God. Into this mental and spiritual confusion roared a multitude of false and contradictory ideas. One of the most damaging was the Vicarious Atonement, with its accompanying dogma that faith alone saves without the need for good works. Here is the Vicarious Atonement in a nutshell: All people are born sinful, and can never satisfy the "perfect justice" of God the Father. Therefore, God has condemned the entire human race to eternal death. God the Father's justice can be satisfied only through the perfect death of God the Son. All who believe that the Son died for them are saved. (This is the "vicarious" part.) All who do not believe remain under divine condemnation to eternal death. So it is faith alone that saves us. This doctrine of the Vicarious Atonement applies traits to God that we would be ashamed to apply to the most insane, tyrannical dictator on earth. Not even the worst despot would condemn to death every one of his subjects because they fall short of standards that they cannot possibly meet, and then be mollified only by the bloody death of his own son. Much of Christianity still labors under this gross corruption of the Gospel message. As I talk to people who are still caught in a Vicarious Atonement, faith alone theology, my heart goes out to them. They struggle so valiantly to turn these dregs of doctrine into something beautiful and compelling that will give meaning and purpose to their lives. Of course, there _are_ some harsh fundamentalists who seem to glory in the heavy-handed, us-versus-them nature of faith alone theology. But most fundamentalist and evangelical Christians are basically good-hearted people who sincerely desire the eternal welfare of all people. We watch as their human decency struggles with the harshness of the faith they have been taught: that all who do not believe what _they_ believe will be condemned to eternal death. And we watch the sad spectacle of needless conflicts that fundamentalist Christians get themselves into with so many people of good will whose primary "sin" is that they do not and cannot share that harsh Vicarious Atonement faith. Knowing this dark background in which our faith arose, we can give special thanks that the Lord has, in his merciful providence, given to the world a beautiful, harmonious, and Bible-based faith to overcome the harshness of human error that crept into Christianity over the centuries. We can thank the Lord that he called his servant, Emanuel Swedenborg, to deliver a message that both renews the simple faith of the Gospels and brings it to a deeper and higher level than humankind was ready for two thousand years ago. The most beautiful and precious gem in this renewed Christian faith is the teaching that God is one, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is that God. In Deuteronomy, right after the Ten Commandments, we find these words: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. (Deut. 6:4, 5) These very some words are quoted by Jesus in the New Testament when he is asked which is the most important commandment of all (Mark 12:28-30). The one God of the Jewish religion is the same God as the one God of the Christian religion. Yet something new and precious has been added in the Christian religion. For our faith is that God did not remain invisible and unseen in heaven, but that, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, he has "torn open the heavens and come down" (Isaiah 64:1). Our faith is that the Word which "was God" (John 1:1) "became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). Who is this God who comes to us as a personal, approachable, divinely human being? First, God is not a being of wrath, but _a being of love._ The Apostle John tells us, "Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:8). And again, "God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them" (1 John 4:16). Second, God is not a being of arbitrary decrees, but _a being of truth._ God, the eternal Word, is the true light that enlightens everyone. And as we are told in John's Gospel, the truth of God is expressed in the person of our Lord. We read, "The law indeed was given through Moses; but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). And third, God is not a being of arbitrary condemnation, but _a being of righteous acts_ of kindness toward all, "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him" (John 3:17). In the words of the Psalm, "Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great things" (Psalm 71:19). This is the trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that we worship. We worship God the Father of Love, God the Son of Truth, and God the Holy Spirit of loving and righteous actions toward all created beings. We do not worship these as three separate persons, but three aspects of the one Person of God, who is at once Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--Love, Truth, and Action. As Jesus said, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). Swedenborg tells us that "the most important thing in religion is to accept God, believe in God, and love him" (_The Heavenly City_ #281). Further, our idea of God determines everything else in our faith. As Swedenborg says in another place, "The whole body of religious faith depends upon a correct idea of God just as a chain hangs on its first link" (_True Christian Religion_ #163). The first link of the New Jerusalem Church is made out of pure gold. It is our beautiful faith in one God, who is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We do not have to struggle with the confusing and contradictory notion of a God who is at once three Persons--three Gods--and one Person--one God. We do not have to struggle with a God who contains contradictory traits of wrath and love, truth and arbitrariness, kindness and condemnation. In a word, we do not have to struggle with a God who is both good and evil. For "We worship the one God, the Lord, the Savior Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world; in whom is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." We worship the one God who is pure Love, pure Truth, and pure Kindness. We worship a God who never condemns us, but who came to _save_ us from death by freeing us from slavery to our own destructive compulsions--from our own sins. We worship a God who knows us fully and intimately--even the parts that we would be ashamed or embarrassed to admit to others--yet continues to love us completely, unconditionally, with a love beyond anything we can ever conceive. This is the love that can overcome all our evil. This is the love that, if we open ourselves up to it, can overcome every false thought and every wrong and selfish motive in us. This is the pure, infinite, unbounded God of love that is far, far stronger than all human evil put together. This is the Lord our God, who has fought against the power of hell and overcome it, so that we need never be slaves to hell and to our own lower selves again. _This_ is the God of infinite love, infinite wisdom, and infinite power that we worship. This is the beautiful and precious gem that is the center and soul of all genuine Christianity. This is the Lord who has revealed himself to us in a brilliant show of truth, which, for those who seek and find it, flashes like lightning from east to west across the heavens of their minds. This is the new and beautiful light that the Lord has shed on his holy Word and on our lives through his servant Emanuel Swedenborg. This is the beauty that continues to shine forth from this church on summer Sundays here on Cape Cod. This beautiful truth is also our greatest challenge. The same Lord who fully understands each one of us, and loves us with an infinite love, gives us a great task to do--a task that our statement of faith leaves us with each week. Speaking in the Gospel of John, our Lord Jesus says, "I give you a new commandment: that you love one another, just as I have loved you" (John 13:34). This commandment is enough to keep us busy for a lifetime, and for an eternity afterwards. For we will never reach the end of God's love, and we will never run out of opportunities to show that love to our fellow human beings. Amen. ------------------------------ End of sermons-digest V1999 #27 ******************************* From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Tue Jul 20 10:27:45 1999 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 20 Jul 1999 06:27:45 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: The Parable of the Sower Message-ID: <199907191136_MC2-7D84-6034@compuserve.com> The Parable of the Sower By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell Glenview New Church July 18, 1999 Behold, a sower went out to sow. Matthew 13:3 Among the many parables told by the Lord one of the best known and understood is the parable of the sower. It is one that the Lord Himself told the disciples something of the internal sense or inner meaning of its images and progression of ideas. The parable is about the fruitfulness that our lives can have and also the obstacles to that fruitfulness. When understood it presents two important roles that we have if we desire a heavenly harvest. This harvest is a wonderful bounty of caring, patience, strength, commitment, hope, and trust. It is also a nourishing richness of wise and useful ideas about what to do and not do, what to say and not say, a powerful insight into what is most important in any situation. Finally the harvest that the Lord intends for us is a cornucopia of words and actions that a person can do to express their caring and understanding. There are times when a person can sense his or her life is like a beautifully growing garden or field of grain. In these states a person can reflect with gratefulness on the good things with which he or she has been blessed. There are also times when a person can reflect on life and see almost exclusively a dismal wilderness and wasteland, devoid of lush green growing things. There are two important things we need to do if we want our minds to reflect more of a bountiful garden or field of grain. In the parable of the sower, two things needed to come together for there to be a crop, "some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." (Matthew 13:8) There needs to be the seed and there needs to be the healthy ground to receive that seed. The Lord explained to His disciples that He was the sower. In a very important way the Lord is working to sow seeds of wisdom in every single human's mind throughout the world. But the Lord also knows that He cannot suddenly introduce entirely new ideas into a person's thoughts and understanding apart from the framework of what that person already knows. All ideas in our minds must have some basis or background related to experience in this world. Fully-formed new ideas cannot suddenly jump into a person's head. For example, a woman who has never used or even known about a microwave oven will not suddenly stop in the middle of her kitchen and say, "I know what I need, I need a microwave oven." Life would be rather spooky if we did have this kind of thought jump into our consciousness. We would know that it wasn't our own thought and would feel directed by some external force. The Lord wants each of us to act in freedom according to our own best understanding. If the Lord is going to be able to sow the seeds of truth in our minds, we need to turn to Him in His Word and turn to Him in prayer. Without instruction from the Word the Lord is far more limited in what He can do to guide a person's life. Day by day if we make time to read and reflect on what we read the Lord has an opportunity to sow the seeds of infinite wisdom in our minds. He can bring to us ideas that we will first understand in only a rudimentary way, but will be able to understand better and better to eternity. The Writings over and over again assert the power and importance of what can be gained from reading the Word. For example the following passage: The reason why the Word is living and therefore confers life is that in its highest sense the subject is the Lord, while in the inmost sense it is His kingdom in which the Lord is everything. And this being so it is life itself which the Word contains and which flows into the minds of those who read the Word devoutly. (Arcana Caelestia 3424) So the first thing we must do for the Lord to have our minds fruitful is read His Word. But we also have to do our part to prepare the ground to receive the seeds. We all by our natural hereditary inclinations to evil have qualities that prevent the seeds of truth that we can receive from bearing fruit. For example, the Lord has told us that a person can read the Word and get little out of it for various reasons. Consider the contrasting states presented in the following passage from the Apocalypse Explained. Those who read the Word solely for repute of erudition, or to acquire fame that they may be exalted to honors or may gain wealth, never see and perceive truths, but falsities instead; and the truths that stand out before the eyes in the Word they either pass by as if not seen or they falsify them. The reason is, that to read the Word solely for the repute of erudition or for fame, that they may be exalted to honors and gain wealth, is to read it for the sake of self and the world as ends, thus from the loves of self and the world. And as these loves are of a person's proprium [the person's self] so the things that person sees and perceives from them are from self-intelligence. But those who read the Word from the spiritual affection of truth, which affection is a love of knowing truth because it is truth, see truths in the Word, and rejoice in heart when they see them; and this because they are in enlightenment from the Lord. Enlightenment descends from the Lord through heaven from the light there, which light is Divine truth. It is therefore given to them to see truths from the light of truth, and this in the Word, because the Word is Divine truth, and in it are stored up all the truths of heaven. But those only are in this enlightenment who are in the two loves of heaven, which are love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor; for these loves open the inner or higher mind, which is formed to receive the light of heaven, and through that mind in them the light of heaven flows in and gives light. But so long as they live in the world they do not perceive truths in that mind, but they see them in the lower mind, the mind of the external or natural person. Such as these do not think from self-intelligence when they read the Word. The especial reason why these do not think from their self-intelligence when they read the Word is, that their interior or spiritual mind looks to the Lord, and the Lord then elevates it up to Himself, and with it the lower or natural mind, thus withdrawing it from a person's proprium [the person's self] which cannot be done with those who are concerned first and foremost about themselves and the world. (Apocalypse Explained 177:2-3) Because of the differences that people can bring to their reading of the Word and consequently what they get out of this reading the Lord has promised that it is hard to know in this world who will be wise in the next life and who won't. We are told: Those who love knowledge alone and do not lead a life in accordance with it are usually led to boast of what they know; to themselves they seem to be wiser than everyone else. Thus they love themselves and despise others, especially those governed by good, whom they look upon as being simple and untaught. But an inversion of positions awaits them in the next life. Those who seemed to themselves to be wise become the stupid there, while the simple become the wise. (Arcana Caelestia 7749. The parable of the sower describes three states or types of ground that prevent a person from receiving the truth and bearing fruit. In the parable, the first type of ground is the hardened dirt of the pathway next to the cultivated field. The seeds that land on this hard surface remain on the surface where they are easily spotted and picked up by birds. The hard ground of the pathway represents false ideas that a person can have learned or formulated in his own mind. Take the simple example of the person who lives by the motto, "You've got to look after yourself first." Any idea that might qualify this principle of behavior such as the Lord's call for us to love our neighbors as our selves can easily be snatched up as idealistic foolishness. It is almost instantly overwhelmed or consumed by the confirmed belief that one's own welfare is the highest concern. All human beings go through states in which parts of their mind are like hardened ground. The Lord calls us to watch the broad patterns of our daily life and decisions and if we want to He will help us see the false principles that are deadly foes of the truth. The person who perhaps has spent years consciously or unconsciously thinking, "You've got to look after yourself first," is capable of seeing the horror of its effect on himself, his relationships, and his usefulness. He can then work to daily fight its influence and consciously ask the Lord to give him a different principle to guide his every thought. The second type of ground is rocky. Although there is a thin layer of dirt allowing the seeds to germinate, there isn't the basis of deep moist earth to sustain them in the hot sun. In this case a person may feel moved or excited by hearing what is true. As the Lord said of the plants from these seeds, they instantly sprang up. But they never bore fruit. The evil spirits of hell really want us to keep our minds divided as it were into different compartments. If they succeed in doing this then a person can powerfully affirm a truth each Sunday morning or in conversation with friends and acquaintances, but never think of it when it should guide a specific decision in his life. Because such truth isn't being lived it is in reality just an empty fact in the person's memory. Much that we learn from the Lord starts out like these empty facts. They can stay that way through out a person's life and if so will be taken from the person in the next life. But if we have the daily prayer, "Lord, what do You want me to do? Guide me that I may know" then the Lord will help us to see every more clearly how to apply the truth that we learned to living a better life. This process will be like removing the stones from the ground so that it is deep and fertile. The third type of ground is filled with filled with choking thorns or weeds. We can accept the truth of an idea. We can try to live according to it, but when it comes into increasing conflict with so other goal that we have it gets overwhelmed. For example a person can have a point in her life in which she strongly believes in the importance of being a good friend. She lives according to it. But then she gets to a point that she actually has more money and time than she perhaps had earlier and becomes more and more involved in work, her own recreation, perhaps has contact with a more exclusive and socially desirable set of people, and eventually finds herself almost completely turning her back on the friendships of her earlier adult life. Charles Dickens's description of Ebenezer Scrooge's early loving relationship with his fiancee, Belle, and then the gradually hardening of his heart in pursuit of money is a good example of the choking thorns the Lord describes. We all have inclinations from our natural heredity that keep parts of our minds from being receptive to the truth that the Lord would bring to us. But this isn't just a fixed state. We are capable of seeking the Lord's help to cultivate these areas of our thoughts and motivations. We can seek the seed of truth by devoutly reading the Word and we can cultivate the ground through shunning evils and seeking to do what is good. As we do this work with the Lord's help the miracle of growth will occur within us. There will be a fruitfulness of what we've learned from the Lord that will be a blessing to our own lives and to everyone with whom our lives have contact. May we daily cooperate with the Lord that this fruitfulness may take place. AMEN. Lessons: Matthew 13:1-9, 10-11,18-23, The Church is not the Church by virtue of matters of doctrine except to the extent that these have the good of life as the end in view, or what amounts to the same, unless matters of doctrine are joined to the good of life, 'the field' therefore means primarily the good of life. But in order that such good may be that of the Church, matters of doctrine from the Word which have been implanted within that good must be present. In the absence of matters of doctrine the good of life does indeed exist, but it is not as yet that of the Church, and so not as yet truly spiritual, except in the sense that it has the potentiality to become so, like the good of life as this exists with gentiles who do not possess the Word and therefore do not know the Lord. That 'the field' is the good of life in which the things of faith, that is, spiritual truths existing with the Church, are implanted, becomes quite clear from the Lord's parable about the sower in Matthew . . . . This describes four types of land or ground within the field, that is, within the Church. The fact that here 'the seed' is the Lord's Word, and so the truth which is called the truth of faith, and that 'the good soil' is the good which is called the good of charity is evident to anyone, for it is the good in man that receives the Word. 'The pathway' is falsity, 'rocky ground' is truth which is not rooted in good, 'thorns' are evils. Arcana Caelestia 3310:1-2 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible, are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. From owner-sermons-digest@newearth.org Wed Jul 21 04:05:49 1999 From: owner-sermons-digest@newearth.org (sermons-digest) Date: 21 Jul 1999 00:05:49 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] sermons-digest V1999 #28 Message-ID: <199907210405.AAA08970@newearth.org> sermons-digest Wednesday, July 21 1999 Volume 1999 : Number 028 SERMON: The Parable of the Sower ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 11:35:40 -0400 From: Eric Carswell Subject: SERMON: The Parable of the Sower The Parable of the Sower By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell Glenview New Church July 18, 1999 Behold, a sower went out to sow. Matthew 13:3 Among the many parables told by the Lord one of the best known and understood is the parable of the sower. It is one that the Lord Himself told the disciples something of the internal sense or inner meaning of its images and progression of ideas. The parable is about the fruitfulness that our lives can have and also the obstacles to that fruitfulness. When understood it presents two important roles that we have if we desire a heavenly harvest. This harvest is a wonderful bounty of caring, patience, strength, commitment, hope, and trust. It is also a nourishing richness of wise and useful ideas about what to do and not do, what to say and not say, a powerful insight into what is most important in any situation. Finally the harvest that the Lord intends for us is a cornucopia of words and actions that a person can do to express their caring and understanding. There are times when a person can sense his or her life is like a beautifully growing garden or field of grain. In these states a person can reflect with gratefulness on the good things with which he or she has been blessed. There are also times when a person can reflect on life and see almost exclusively a dismal wilderness and wasteland, devoid of lush green growing things. There are two important things we need to do if we want our minds to reflect more of a bountiful garden or field of grain. In the parable of the sower, two things needed to come together for there to be a crop, "some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." (Matthew 13:8) There needs to be the seed and there needs to be the healthy ground to receive that seed. The Lord explained to His disciples that He was the sower. In a very important way the Lord is working to sow seeds of wisdom in every single human's mind throughout the world. But the Lord also knows that He cannot suddenly introduce entirely new ideas into a person's thoughts and understanding apart from the framework of what that person already knows. All ideas in our minds must have some basis or background related to experience in this world. Fully-formed new ideas cannot suddenly jump into a person's head. For example, a woman who has never used or even known about a microwave oven will not suddenly stop in the middle of her kitchen and say, "I know what I need, I need a microwave oven." Life would be rather spooky if we did have this kind of thought jump into our consciousness. We would know that it wasn't our own thought and would feel directed by some external force. The Lord wants each of us to act in freedom according to our own best understanding. If the Lord is going to be able to sow the seeds of truth in our minds, we need to turn to Him in His Word and turn to Him in prayer. Without instruction from the Word the Lord is far more limited in what He can do to guide a person's life. Day by day if we make time to read and reflect on what we read the Lord has an opportunity to sow the seeds of infinite wisdom in our minds. He can bring to us ideas that we will first understand in only a rudimentary way, but will be able to understand better and better to eternity. The Writings over and over again assert the power and importance of what can be gained from reading the Word. For example the following passage: The reason why the Word is living and therefore confers life is that in its highest sense the subject is the Lord, while in the inmost sense it is His kingdom in which the Lord is everything. And this being so it is life itself which the Word contains and which flows into the minds of those who read the Word devoutly. (Arcana Caelestia 3424) So the first thing we must do for the Lord to have our minds fruitful is read His Word. But we also have to do our part to prepare the ground to receive the seeds. We all by our natural hereditary inclinations to evil have qualities that prevent the seeds of truth that we can receive from bearing fruit. For example, the Lord has told us that a person can read the Word and get little out of it for various reasons. Consider the contrasting states presented in the following passage from the Apocalypse Explained. Those who read the Word solely for repute of erudition, or to acquire fame that they may be exalted to honors or may gain wealth, never see and perceive truths, but falsities instead; and the truths that stand out before the eyes in the Word they either pass by as if not seen or they falsify them. The reason is, that to read the Word solely for the repute of erudition or for fame, that they may be exalted to honors and gain wealth, is to read it for the sake of self and the world as ends, thus from the loves of self and the world. And as these loves are of a person's proprium [the person's self] so the things that person sees and perceives from them are from self-intelligence. But those who read the Word from the spiritual affection of truth, which affection is a love of knowing truth because it is truth, see truths in the Word, and rejoice in heart when they see them; and this because they are in enlightenment from the Lord. Enlightenment descends from the Lord through heaven from the light there, which light is Divine truth. It is therefore given to them to see truths from the light of truth, and this in the Word, because the Word is Divine truth, and in it are stored up all the truths of heaven. But those only are in this enlightenment who are in the two loves of heaven, which are love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor; for these loves open the inner or higher mind, which is formed to receive the light of heaven, and through that mind in them the light of heaven flows in and gives light. But so long as they live in the world they do not perceive truths in that mind, but they see them in the lower mind, the mind of the external or natural person. Such as these do not think from self-intelligence when they read the Word. The especial reason why these do not think from their self-intelligence when they read the Word is, that their interior or spiritual mind looks to the Lord, and the Lord then elevates it up to Himself, and with it the lower or natural mind, thus withdrawing it from a person's proprium [the person's self] which cannot be done with those who are concerned first and foremost about themselves and the world. (Apocalypse Explained 177:2-3) Because of the differences that people can bring to their reading of the Word and consequently what they get out of this reading the Lord has promised that it is hard to know in this world who will be wise in the next life and who won't. We are told: Those who love knowledge alone and do not lead a life in accordance with it are usually led to boast of what they know; to themselves they seem to be wiser than everyone else. Thus they love themselves and despise others, especially those governed by good, whom they look upon as being simple and untaught. But an inversion of positions awaits them in the next life. Those who seemed to themselves to be wise become the stupid there, while the simple become the wise. (Arcana Caelestia 7749. The parable of the sower describes three states or types of ground that prevent a person from receiving the truth and bearing fruit. In the parable, the first type of ground is the hardened dirt of the pathway next to the cultivated field. The seeds that land on this hard surface remain on the surface where they are easily spotted and picked up by birds. The hard ground of the pathway represents false ideas that a person can have learned or formulated in his own mind. Take the simple example of the person who lives by the motto, "You've got to look after yourself first." Any idea that might qualify this principle of behavior such as the Lord's call for us to love our neighbors as our selves can easily be snatched up as idealistic foolishness. It is almost instantly overwhelmed or consumed by the confirmed belief that one's own welfare is the highest concern. All human beings go through states in which parts of their mind are like hardened ground. The Lord calls us to watch the broad patterns of our daily life and decisions and if we want to He will help us see the false principles that are deadly foes of the truth. The person who perhaps has spent years consciously or unconsciously thinking, "You've got to look after yourself first," is capable of seeing the horror of its effect on himself, his relationships, and his usefulness. He can then work to daily fight its influence and consciously ask the Lord to give him a different principle to guide his every thought. The second type of ground is rocky. Although there is a thin layer of dirt allowing the seeds to germinate, there isn't the basis of deep moist earth to sustain them in the hot sun. In this case a person may feel moved or excited by hearing what is true. As the Lord said of the plants from these seeds, they instantly sprang up. But they never bore fruit. The evil spirits of hell really want us to keep our minds divided as it were into different compartments. If they succeed in doing this then a person can powerfully affirm a truth each Sunday morning or in conversation with friends and acquaintances, but never think of it when it should guide a specific decision in his life. Because such truth isn't being lived it is in reality just an empty fact in the person's memory. Much that we learn from the Lord starts out like these empty facts. They can stay that way through out a person's life and if so will be taken from the person in the next life. But if we have the daily prayer, "Lord, what do You want me to do? Guide me that I may know" then the Lord will help us to see every more clearly how to apply the truth that we learned to living a better life. This process will be like removing the stones from the ground so that it is deep and fertile. The third type of ground is filled with filled with choking thorns or weeds. We can accept the truth of an idea. We can try to live according to it, but when it comes into increasing conflict with so other goal that we have it gets overwhelmed. For example a person can have a point in her life in which she strongly believes in the importance of being a good friend. She lives according to it. But then she gets to a point that she actually has more money and time than she perhaps had earlier and becomes more and more involved in work, her own recreation, perhaps has contact with a more exclusive and socially desirable set of people, and eventually finds herself almost completely turning her back on the friendships of her earlier adult life. Charles Dickens's description of Ebenezer Scrooge's early loving relationship with his fiancee, Belle, and then the gradually hardening of his heart in pursuit of money is a good example of the choking thorns the Lord describes. We all have inclinations from our natural heredity that keep parts of our minds from being receptive to the truth that the Lord would bring to us. But this isn't just a fixed state. We are capable of seeking the Lord's help to cultivate these areas of our thoughts and motivations. We can seek the seed of truth by devoutly reading the Word and we can cultivate the ground through shunning evils and seeking to do what is good. As we do this work with the Lord's help the miracle of growth will occur within us. There will be a fruitfulness of what we've learned from the Lord that will be a blessing to our own lives and to everyone with whom our lives have contact. May we daily cooperate with the Lord that this fruitfulness may take place. AMEN. Lessons: Matthew 13:1-9, 10-11,18-23, The Church is not the Church by virtue of matters of doctrine except to the extent that these have the good of life as the end in view, or what amounts to the same, unless matters of doctrine are joined to the good of life, 'the field' therefore means primarily the good of life. But in order that such good may be that of the Church, matters of doctrine from the Word which have been implanted within that good must be present. In the absence of matters of doctrine the good of life does indeed exist, but it is not as yet that of the Church, and so not as yet truly spiritual, except in the sense that it has the potentiality to become so, like the good of life as this exists with gentiles who do not possess the Word and therefore do not know the Lord. That 'the field' is the good of life in which the things of faith, that is, spiritual truths existing with the Church, are implanted, becomes quite clear from the Lord's parable about the sower in Matthew . . . . This describes four types of land or ground within the field, that is, within the Church. The fact that here 'the seed' is the Lord's Word, and so the truth which is called the truth of faith, and that 'the good soil' is the good which is called the good of charity is evident to anyone, for it is the good in man that receives the Word. 'The pathway' is falsity, 'rocky ground' is truth which is not rooted in good, 'thorns' are evils. Arcana Caelestia 3310:1-2 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible, are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. ------------------------------ End of sermons-digest V1999 #28 ******************************* From owner-sermons-weekly@newearth.org Sun Jul 25 04:07:51 1999 From: owner-sermons-weekly@newearth.org (sermons-weekly) Date: 25 Jul 1999 00:07:51 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] sermons-weekly V1999 #24 Message-ID: <199907250407.AAA15608@newearth.org> sermons-weekly Sunday, July 25 1999 Volume 1999 : Number 024 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1999 21:42:38 +0100 From: Lee Woofenden Subject: SERMON: "We Worship the One God," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden "We Worship the One God" By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Yarmouthport, Massachusetts, July 18, 1999 Readings: Isaiah 45:18-24: There is no other god besides me Thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it a chaos, he formed it to be inhabited!): I am the Lord, and there is no other. I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, "Seek me in chaos." I the Lord speak the truth; I declare what is right. Assemble yourselves and come together, draw near, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge, those who carry about their wooden idols and keep on praying to a god that cannot save. Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord? There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that will not return: "To me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear." It will be said of me, "Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength." John 1:1-18: The Word became flesh and lived among us In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him not one thing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'") From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known. The Heavenly City #280-282: There is one God There is one God, who is the creator and keeper of the universe. So he is the God of both heaven and earth. Two things make our life heaven: good actions done out of love and true ideas that come from faith. We get this life from God; not a single bit of it comes from ourselves. So the most important thing in religion is to accept God, believe in God, and love him. If we are born Christian, we should accept the Lord--both his divinity and his humanity--and believe in him and love him, since all spiritual well-being comes from the Lord. Sermon: There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is no one besides me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God and there is no other. (Isaiah 45:21, 22) It is a real pleasure to be back in Yarmouthport again. I have been cheering from the sidelines for the efforts to renovate this church and restore it to its former glory. Yet as beautiful as this building is and can become once again, there is a greater beauty that shines through this church on these summer Sundays here on Cape Cod. It is the beauty of the heavenly teachings of the New Jerusalem Church. As a Swedenborgian minister, I am so immersed in those teachings week in and week out that, like the proverbial forest and trees, I am not always able to stand back and see what a beautiful forest it is that we inhabit doctrinally. In the past few months I have had two experiences that have helped me to step back for a broader look. The first is a six week Swedenborg Newcomers' Class that we recently completed at the Bridgewater New Jerusalem Church, where I serve as Pastor. Having grown up in the New Church, I never had the joy of discovering its teachings for the first time. But I experienced some that joy in others through the eagerness with which the newcomers at the class learned about our teachings and saw their beauty for the first time. The second experience that has given me a greater appreciation of the beauty of our teachings involves some discussions I have been having on the Internet with various fundamentalist and evangelical Christians. These people are very sincere. But their idea of God as a trinity in three distinct Persons rather than in a single God has led them away from the core of Christ's message, down some rather unfortunate and confused side-paths. Fresh from these experiences, I come to you with a renewed appreciation of the great beauty of our church's teaching about the Lord. I hope to be able to share some of that beauty with you this morning. Their beauty is expressed very compactly in the opening phrases of the faith statement that we said together this morning: "We worship the one God, the Lord, the Savior Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world; in whom is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." For those of us who use this faith statement regularly in our service, it is easy to repeat it by rote, without pausing to consider the tremendous power that is packed into that simple opening statement. Swedenborgians assent to it automatically, often without realizing what a radical departure it is from the traditional Christianity out of which our church came--and at the same time how fully it brings the church back to the original Gospel message about the Lord, which was all but lost over the centuries since Christ walked the earth. You see, as the early Christian Church descended from a spiritual movement to a worldly power, its faith became corrupted through doctrinal conflicts and power struggles within the Church. Various creeds were written, which codified these departures from the Gospel message. Things were going downhill fast when the Athanasian Creed, written several centuries after Christ, for the first time said that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were three distinct Persons of God. The confusion caused in the church by this idea of three Persons in one God is reflected in the Athanasian Creed itself, where we read: For just as we are compelled by Christian truth to acknowledge each person by himself to be God and Lord, so we are forbidden by the Christian religion to say that there are three Gods or three Lords. In other words, a struggle was set up in the minds of Christians between the idea of three gods--which any reasonable person would gather from the statement that there are three Persons of God--and the clear teaching of the Christian Church that there is only one God. Into this mental and spiritual confusion roared a multitude of false and contradictory ideas. One of the most damaging was the Vicarious Atonement, with its accompanying dogma that faith alone saves without the need for good works. Here is the Vicarious Atonement in a nutshell: All people are born sinful, and can never satisfy the "perfect justice" of God the Father. Therefore, God has condemned the entire human race to eternal death. God the Father's justice can be satisfied only through the perfect death of God the Son. All who believe that the Son died for them are saved. (This is the "vicarious" part.) All who do not believe remain under divine condemnation to eternal death. So it is faith alone that saves us. This doctrine of the Vicarious Atonement applies traits to God that we would be ashamed to apply to the most insane, tyrannical dictator on earth. Not even the worst despot would condemn to death every one of his subjects because they fall short of standards that they cannot possibly meet, and then be mollified only by the bloody death of his own son. Much of Christianity still labors under this gross corruption of the Gospel message. As I talk to people who are still caught in a Vicarious Atonement, faith alone theology, my heart goes out to them. They struggle so valiantly to turn these dregs of doctrine into something beautiful and compelling that will give meaning and purpose to their lives. Of course, there _are_ some harsh fundamentalists who seem to glory in the heavy-handed, us-versus-them nature of faith alone theology. But most fundamentalist and evangelical Christians are basically good-hearted people who sincerely desire the eternal welfare of all people. We watch as their human decency struggles with the harshness of the faith they have been taught: that all who do not believe what _they_ believe will be condemned to eternal death. And we watch the sad spectacle of needless conflicts that fundamentalist Christians get themselves into with so many people of good will whose primary "sin" is that they do not and cannot share that harsh Vicarious Atonement faith. Knowing this dark background in which our faith arose, we can give special thanks that the Lord has, in his merciful providence, given to the world a beautiful, harmonious, and Bible-based faith to overcome the harshness of human error that crept into Christianity over the centuries. We can thank the Lord that he called his servant, Emanuel Swedenborg, to deliver a message that both renews the simple faith of the Gospels and brings it to a deeper and higher level than humankind was ready for two thousand years ago. The most beautiful and precious gem in this renewed Christian faith is the teaching that God is one, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is that God. In Deuteronomy, right after the Ten Commandments, we find these words: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. (Deut. 6:4, 5) These very some words are quoted by Jesus in the New Testament when he is asked which is the most important commandment of all (Mark 12:28-30). The one God of the Jewish religion is the same God as the one God of the Christian religion. Yet something new and precious has been added in the Christian religion. For our faith is that God did not remain invisible and unseen in heaven, but that, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, he has "torn open the heavens and come down" (Isaiah 64:1). Our faith is that the Word which "was God" (John 1:1) "became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). Who is this God who comes to us as a personal, approachable, divinely human being? First, God is not a being of wrath, but _a being of love._ The Apostle John tells us, "Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:8). And again, "God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them" (1 John 4:16). Second, God is not a being of arbitrary decrees, but _a being of truth._ God, the eternal Word, is the true light that enlightens everyone. And as we are told in John's Gospel, the truth of God is expressed in the person of our Lord. We read, "The law indeed was given through Moses; but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). And third, God is not a being of arbitrary condemnation, but _a being of righteous acts_ of kindness toward all, "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him" (John 3:17). In the words of the Psalm, "Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great things" (Psalm 71:19). This is the trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that we worship. We worship God the Father of Love, God the Son of Truth, and God the Holy Spirit of loving and righteous actions toward all created beings. We do not worship these as three separate persons, but three aspects of the one Person of God, who is at once Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--Love, Truth, and Action. As Jesus said, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). Swedenborg tells us that "the most important thing in religion is to accept God, believe in God, and love him" (_The Heavenly City_ #281). Further, our idea of God determines everything else in our faith. As Swedenborg says in another place, "The whole body of religious faith depends upon a correct idea of God just as a chain hangs on its first link" (_True Christian Religion_ #163). The first link of the New Jerusalem Church is made out of pure gold. It is our beautiful faith in one God, who is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We do not have to struggle with the confusing and contradictory notion of a God who is at once three Persons--three Gods--and one Person--one God. We do not have to struggle with a God who contains contradictory traits of wrath and love, truth and arbitrariness, kindness and condemnation. In a word, we do not have to struggle with a God who is both good and evil. For "We worship the one God, the Lord, the Savior Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world; in whom is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." We worship the one God who is pure Love, pure Truth, and pure Kindness. We worship a God who never condemns us, but who came to _save_ us from death by freeing us from slavery to our own destructive compulsions--from our own sins. We worship a God who knows us fully and intimately--even the parts that we would be ashamed or embarrassed to admit to others--yet continues to love us completely, unconditionally, with a love beyond anything we can ever conceive. This is the love that can overcome all our evil. This is the love that, if we open ourselves up to it, can overcome every false thought and every wrong and selfish motive in us. This is the pure, infinite, unbounded God of love that is far, far stronger than all human evil put together. This is the Lord our God, who has fought against the power of hell and overcome it, so that we need never be slaves to hell and to our own lower selves again. _This_ is the God of infinite love, infinite wisdom, and infinite power that we worship. This is the beautiful and precious gem that is the center and soul of all genuine Christianity. This is the Lord who has revealed himself to us in a brilliant show of truth, which, for those who seek and find it, flashes like lightning from east to west across the heavens of their minds. This is the new and beautiful light that the Lord has shed on his holy Word and on our lives through his servant Emanuel Swedenborg. This is the beauty that continues to shine forth from this church on summer Sundays here on Cape Cod. This beautiful truth is also our greatest challenge. The same Lord who fully understands each one of us, and loves us with an infinite love, gives us a great task to do--a task that our statement of faith leaves us with each week. Speaking in the Gospel of John, our Lord Jesus says, "I give you a new commandment: that you love one another, just as I have loved you" (John 13:34). This commandment is enough to keep us busy for a lifetime, and for an eternity afterwards. For we will never reach the end of God's love, and we will never run out of opportunities to show that love to our fellow human beings. Amen. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 11:35:40 -0400 From: Eric Carswell Subject: SERMON: The Parable of the Sower The Parable of the Sower By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell Glenview New Church July 18, 1999 Behold, a sower went out to sow. Matthew 13:3 Among the many parables told by the Lord one of the best known and understood is the parable of the sower. It is one that the Lord Himself told the disciples something of the internal sense or inner meaning of its images and progression of ideas. The parable is about the fruitfulness that our lives can have and also the obstacles to that fruitfulness. When understood it presents two important roles that we have if we desire a heavenly harvest. This harvest is a wonderful bounty of caring, patience, strength, commitment, hope, and trust. It is also a nourishing richness of wise and useful ideas about what to do and not do, what to say and not say, a powerful insight into what is most important in any situation. Finally the harvest that the Lord intends for us is a cornucopia of words and actions that a person can do to express their caring and understanding. There are times when a person can sense his or her life is like a beautifully growing garden or field of grain. In these states a person can reflect with gratefulness on the good things with which he or she has been blessed. There are also times when a person can reflect on life and see almost exclusively a dismal wilderness and wasteland, devoid of lush green growing things. There are two important things we need to do if we want our minds to reflect more of a bountiful garden or field of grain. In the parable of the sower, two things needed to come together for there to be a crop, "some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." (Matthew 13:8) There needs to be the seed and there needs to be the healthy ground to receive that seed. The Lord explained to His disciples that He was the sower. In a very important way the Lord is working to sow seeds of wisdom in every single human's mind throughout the world. But the Lord also knows that He cannot suddenly introduce entirely new ideas into a person's thoughts and understanding apart from the framework of what that person already knows. All ideas in our minds must have some basis or background related to experience in this world. Fully-formed new ideas cannot suddenly jump into a person's head. For example, a woman who has never used or even known about a microwave oven will not suddenly stop in the middle of her kitchen and say, "I know what I need, I need a microwave oven." Life would be rather spooky if we did have this kind of thought jump into our consciousness. We would know that it wasn't our own thought and would feel directed by some external force. The Lord wants each of us to act in freedom according to our own best understanding. If the Lord is going to be able to sow the seeds of truth in our minds, we need to turn to Him in His Word and turn to Him in prayer. Without instruction from the Word the Lord is far more limited in what He can do to guide a person's life. Day by day if we make time to read and reflect on what we read the Lord has an opportunity to sow the seeds of infinite wisdom in our minds. He can bring to us ideas that we will first understand in only a rudimentary way, but will be able to understand better and better to eternity. The Writings over and over again assert the power and importance of what can be gained from reading the Word. For example the following passage: The reason why the Word is living and therefore confers life is that in its highest sense the subject is the Lord, while in the inmost sense it is His kingdom in which the Lord is everything. And this being so it is life itself which the Word contains and which flows into the minds of those who read the Word devoutly. (Arcana Caelestia 3424) So the first thing we must do for the Lord to have our minds fruitful is read His Word. But we also have to do our part to prepare the ground to receive the seeds. We all by our natural hereditary inclinations to evil have qualities that prevent the seeds of truth that we can receive from bearing fruit. For example, the Lord has told us that a person can read the Word and get little out of it for various reasons. Consider the contrasting states presented in the following passage from the Apocalypse Explained. Those who read the Word solely for repute of erudition, or to acquire fame that they may be exalted to honors or may gain wealth, never see and perceive truths, but falsities instead; and the truths that stand out before the eyes in the Word they either pass by as if not seen or they falsify them. The reason is, that to read the Word solely for the repute of erudition or for fame, that they may be exalted to honors and gain wealth, is to read it for the sake of self and the world as ends, thus from the loves of self and the world. And as these loves are of a person's proprium [the person's self] so the things that person sees and perceives from them are from self-intelligence. But those who read the Word from the spiritual affection of truth, which affection is a love of knowing truth because it is truth, see truths in the Word, and rejoice in heart when they see them; and this because they are in enlightenment from the Lord. Enlightenment descends from the Lord through heaven from the light there, which light is Divine truth. It is therefore given to them to see truths from the light of truth, and this in the Word, because the Word is Divine truth, and in it are stored up all the truths of heaven. But those only are in this enlightenment who are in the two loves of heaven, which are love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor; for these loves open the inner or higher mind, which is formed to receive the light of heaven, and through that mind in them the light of heaven flows in and gives light. But so long as they live in the world they do not perceive truths in that mind, but they see them in the lower mind, the mind of the external or natural person. Such as these do not think from self-intelligence when they read the Word. The especial reason why these do not think from their self-intelligence when they read the Word is, that their interior or spiritual mind looks to the Lord, and the Lord then elevates it up to Himself, and with it the lower or natural mind, thus withdrawing it from a person's proprium [the person's self] which cannot be done with those who are concerned first and foremost about themselves and the world. (Apocalypse Explained 177:2-3) Because of the differences that people can bring to their reading of the Word and consequently what they get out of this reading the Lord has promised that it is hard to know in this world who will be wise in the next life and who won't. We are told: Those who love knowledge alone and do not lead a life in accordance with it are usually led to boast of what they know; to themselves they seem to be wiser than everyone else. Thus they love themselves and despise others, especially those governed by good, whom they look upon as being simple and untaught. But an inversion of positions awaits them in the next life. Those who seemed to themselves to be wise become the stupid there, while the simple become the wise. (Arcana Caelestia 7749. The parable of the sower describes three states or types of ground that prevent a person from receiving the truth and bearing fruit. In the parable, the first type of ground is the hardened dirt of the pathway next to the cultivated field. The seeds that land on this hard surface remain on the surface where they are easily spotted and picked up by birds. The hard ground of the pathway represents false ideas that a person can have learned or formulated in his own mind. Take the simple example of the person who lives by the motto, "You've got to look after yourself first." Any idea that might qualify this principle of behavior such as the Lord's call for us to love our neighbors as our selves can easily be snatched up as idealistic foolishness. It is almost instantly overwhelmed or consumed by the confirmed belief that one's own welfare is the highest concern. All human beings go through states in which parts of their mind are like hardened ground. The Lord calls us to watch the broad patterns of our daily life and decisions and if we want to He will help us see the false principles that are deadly foes of the truth. The person who perhaps has spent years consciously or unconsciously thinking, "You've got to look after yourself first," is capable of seeing the horror of its effect on himself, his relationships, and his usefulness. He can then work to daily fight its influence and consciously ask the Lord to give him a different principle to guide his every thought. The second type of ground is rocky. Although there is a thin layer of dirt allowing the seeds to germinate, there isn't the basis of deep moist earth to sustain them in the hot sun. In this case a person may feel moved or excited by hearing what is true. As the Lord said of the plants from these seeds, they instantly sprang up. But they never bore fruit. The evil spirits of hell really want us to keep our minds divided as it were into different compartments. If they succeed in doing this then a person can powerfully affirm a truth each Sunday morning or in conversation with friends and acquaintances, but never think of it when it should guide a specific decision in his life. Because such truth isn't being lived it is in reality just an empty fact in the person's memory. Much that we learn from the Lord starts out like these empty facts. They can stay that way through out a person's life and if so will be taken from the person in the next life. But if we have the daily prayer, "Lord, what do You want me to do? Guide me that I may know" then the Lord will help us to see every more clearly how to apply the truth that we learned to living a better life. This process will be like removing the stones from the ground so that it is deep and fertile. The third type of ground is filled with filled with choking thorns or weeds. We can accept the truth of an idea. We can try to live according to it, but when it comes into increasing conflict with so other goal that we have it gets overwhelmed. For example a person can have a point in her life in which she strongly believes in the importance of being a good friend. She lives according to it. But then she gets to a point that she actually has more money and time than she perhaps had earlier and becomes more and more involved in work, her own recreation, perhaps has contact with a more exclusive and socially desirable set of people, and eventually finds herself almost completely turning her back on the friendships of her earlier adult life. Charles Dickens's description of Ebenezer Scrooge's early loving relationship with his fiancee, Belle, and then the gradually hardening of his heart in pursuit of money is a good example of the choking thorns the Lord describes. We all have inclinations from our natural heredity that keep parts of our minds from being receptive to the truth that the Lord would bring to us. But this isn't just a fixed state. We are capable of seeking the Lord's help to cultivate these areas of our thoughts and motivations. We can seek the seed of truth by devoutly reading the Word and we can cultivate the ground through shunning evils and seeking to do what is good. As we do this work with the Lord's help the miracle of growth will occur within us. There will be a fruitfulness of what we've learned from the Lord that will be a blessing to our own lives and to everyone with whom our lives have contact. May we daily cooperate with the Lord that this fruitfulness may take place. AMEN. Lessons: Matthew 13:1-9, 10-11,18-23, The Church is not the Church by virtue of matters of doctrine except to the extent that these have the good of life as the end in view, or what amounts to the same, unless matters of doctrine are joined to the good of life, 'the field' therefore means primarily the good of life. But in order that such good may be that of the Church, matters of doctrine from the Word which have been implanted within that good must be present. In the absence of matters of doctrine the good of life does indeed exist, but it is not as yet that of the Church, and so not as yet truly spiritual, except in the sense that it has the potentiality to become so, like the good of life as this exists with gentiles who do not possess the Word and therefore do not know the Lord. That 'the field' is the good of life in which the things of faith, that is, spiritual truths existing with the Church, are implanted, becomes quite clear from the Lord's parable about the sower in Matthew . . . . This describes four types of land or ground within the field, that is, within the Church. The fact that here 'the seed' is the Lord's Word, and so the truth which is called the truth of faith, and that 'the good soil' is the good which is called the good of charity is evident to anyone, for it is the good in man that receives the Word. 'The pathway' is falsity, 'rocky ground' is truth which is not rooted in good, 'thorns' are evils. Arcana Caelestia 3310:1-2 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible, are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. ------------------------------ End of sermons-weekly V1999 #24 ******************************* From leewoof@tiac.net Mon Sep 13 11:37:19 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 13 Sep 1999 07:37:19 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "New Year's in September," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990912133519.0583c220@pop.tiac.net> New Year's in September By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, September 12, 1999 Readings: Genesis 1:14-19: The great lights to mark the days and seasons And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. God made two great lights--the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the fourth day. John 4:31-36: The fields are ripe for harvest! Meanwhile Jesus' disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" Jesus said, "My food is to do the will of the one who sent me, and to finish his work. Do you not say, 'Four months more and then it will be the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. The reaper is already drawing wages and harvesting the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together." Arcana Coelestia #37: The change of the days and seasons The statement that the lights will "serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years" contains more secrets than can be presented at this point, even though in the literal meaning, there seems to be no secret at all. For now, I can say only this: When it comes to spiritual and heavenly things, change takes place both on the large scale and on the small scale, and is very much like the changes that take place throughout the day and the year. Changes throughout the day are from morning to midday, from then on to evening, and through the night to the morning. Changes in the year are similar, from spring to summer, from then on to autumn, and through winter to spring. These bring changes in the temperature and amount of daylight, and therefore in the fertility of the earth. The changes that take place in spiritual and heavenly things can be compared to these changes in nature. Life without change and variation would lead to sameness, and therefore to no life at all. Sermon: And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." (Genesis 1:14, 15) Hello again, everyone! (Well, not quite everyone--there are several who could not be here today for our opening service.) It's great to be back, starting another year at our church. This will be my fourth year with you, and I don't know if you're feeling it, but I'm feeling that this year promises to be one of growth and change in this church. And in that spirit of change, I've decided to change the time that we celebrate New Year's to . . . today! Let me be the first to say, Happy New Year! (I considered throwing confetti at this point, but reconsidered when I realized that if I did, I'd probably have to clean it all up!) Now this may seem to be a strange thing to do. But I experienced an even stranger holiday switch this summer. I was on my way to the Post Office in Middleboro, humming along with the church bells that were chiming out a melody, when I suddenly realized that here I was, walking down the sidewalk in my shorts and T-shirt on a hot July afternoon, humming "The First Noel"! When I got back home and told Patty about this strange occurrence, she said, "Oh yes, the church thrift shop is having a "Christmas in July" sale. So if their church can celebrate Christmas in July, our church can celebrate New Year's in September! And in fact, yesterday was Rosh Hashanah, which is the New Year on the Jewish calendar. So that's another excuse for celebrating the New Year at this time. But the real reason I want to celebrate New Year's today is that in our church year, the New Year comes, not after Christmas, but in the fall, when summer schedules end and regular services and Sunday School start up again. This is the time that congregations gather together again and begin the worship, activities, and programs of the church year. As we begin this new church year, then, let's take a look at where the cycles of seasons and years, months and days came from. We do not have to look very far; their origin is in the very first chapter of the Bible, in the Creation story--which we will be learning more about next week in our first Sunday School session. We read, in an expanded version of our text: And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. God made two great lights--the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. (Genesis 1:14-16) The very first thing to notice here is that the seasons and the days and the years are _created by God._ And God does not create things just for the heck of it, but in order to accomplish definite divine purposes. So why did God create the changes of the seasons and the days? Swedenborg helps us begin to answer this question when he writes, "Life without change and variation would lead to sameness, and therefore to no life at all" (_Arcana Coelestia_ #37). That's a challenging statement! Sameness leads to no life at all? Let's think about it. Here in the temperate zones, we're used to major shifts in the weather from the warmth of spring through the heat of summer, to the coolness of fall and the coldness of winter. And many of the plants and animals that live in parts of the world that have these major seasonal shifts _depend_ on those changes to complete their life cycles. Deciduous trees renew themselves by dropping their leaves each fall and growing a new crop of leaves in the spring. Many mammals renew themselves by hibernating through the winter, giving their bodies a long, nearly complete rest, so that they can make a new start in the spring. Even the insects have life cycles adapted to the seasonal changes so that they winter over in cocoons or in underground nests, gradually germinating next year's hatch of new insects. And many of these plants and animals that are adapted to these great seasonal shifts cannot survive in the tropical climates, where there is not such a big variation in the seasons. But what about those lush, tropical areas? They don't have the kind of seasons we do, and yet they seem to survive just fine in such "sameness." Yet even though their seasons may be more subtle, they still exist. In many tropical areas there is a rainy season and a dry season, and the plant and animal life is adapted to _those_ variations. In some warmer areas of the world, there is a fall crop and a spring crop. The summer is too hot, and the winter too cool for the crops to grow well at those times. And the same variations of day and night exist in the tropical areas as in the more temperate climates. Everywhere, life depends on the variations of day and night, and of spring, summer, winter, and fall. If we think further about Swedenborg's statement that "Life without change and variation would lead to sameness, and therefore to no life at all," we realize that change is part of the essence of life. Consider it. What is the difference between a rock and a kitten. Yes, the kitten is a lot warmer and fuzzier! But even more basic, a kitten grows and changes over time, whereas a rock stays mostly the same. In fact, things that are not alive are characterized mostly by erosion and decay, whereas things that are alive experience not only erosion and decay, but growth and development. That is what makes them alive rather than dead. Even in a relatively stable adult animal or human being, there is constant change as long as life continues. There are the gradual changes in our bodies that take place as we mature and then age. There are the weekly and daily cycles of labor and rest, sleep and wakefulness, eating and eliminating wastes. There is the moment-by-moment cycle of breathing in and breathing out, and always the constant, rhythmic beating of our heart. Without these, we cannot continue to live. On an even smaller scale, within our bodies there are those amazing processes of the blood carrying oxygen and nutrients to each cell in our body, and carrying away the waste products that are no longer useful. Some cells are dividing and multiplying; other cells are dying and being reabsorbed. Change, renewal, and growth are the constant companions of all life. Yet as astounding and unfathomable as this intricate, living web of nature is, there is an even more astounding and unfathomable level of life. For as Swedenborg tells us, every type of change, growth, death, and rebirth that we see in the world of nature around us and within our own bodies is an expression of still more amazing processes of change, growth, death, and rebirth that happen within our souls, and in our communal life with one another. It is not only the life of plants and animals that depends on constant change, but also the life of our souls and our communities. If sameness in the world of nature leads to no life at all, than sameness of spirit would just as surely lead to _spiritual_ death. This can be both an unsettling teaching and a comforting one. On the one hand, we humans tend to be more comfortable with sameness--with our usual paths and our usual routines--than we are with continual change. Change is scary. Change means we can't do things the way we're used to doing them--that we have to learn new ways. Change means that things will never, ever be the same again. And our tendency toward nostalgia causes us to look back and think that the way things used to be is better than the way they are now. If only things could have stayed the same as when I was growing up, and everything was wonderful and carefree! (Of course, they weren't very carefree for our parents!) And yet, that is not the way life is. And it is _good_ that it is not the way life is. Because just as with plant and animal life, sameness leads to deadness. We are _not_ the same as we were when we were children, or teenagers, or young adults, or middle aged. And it is _good_ that we are not the same. Because we have grown. We have grown in our understanding of the world and the people around us, and that means we can treat both the world and our neighbors better than we did when we were younger and less understanding. We have grown through difficult experiences of facing sickness and death among our families and friends; we have grown through struggling with personal and financial difficulties, through struggling with our parents, our children, our brothers and sisters, our friends, our lovers. And because of that growth, we are able to weather hardships and setbacks that would have crushed our younger selves. We are also able to help others through their pain and their struggles in ways that our younger selves could not have done. And as we look back at the ways we have grown through our life's _spiritual_ summers and winters, our _spiritual_ days and nights, our faith tells us that as our life continues on from this point, we will continue to grow through all the pleasures and the pain, all the sorrows and the joys that our life still holds in store for us. For we know that it is God who has created us to be _living, changing_ beings--beings that do not just sit there like a rock, gradually weathering away, but beings that _change and grow_ through every new and different circumstance that we encounter. It is in that spirit that I invite you to celebrate with me this New Year that we are now beginning together as a church. Just as each of us individually goes through our spiritual summers and winters, our spiritual days and nights, we together as a church experience our times of lying fallow and wintering through the slow times, and our new springtimes of growth and renewal. As individuals, we can each look back at our lives and see the growth that has taken place through it all, and look to the future with faith that God will bring about new growth in the life ahead of us. In the very same way, we as a church can look back at the times of struggle and the times of renewal in our church, and see the ways we have grown as a community of faith. And we can look forward to this new year, and all the years to come, with faith that through our present and future labors, God has a rich harvest of spiritual growth awaiting us--a harvest of growth in love and wisdom; a harvest of new kindness and new ways of being of service to one another and to our community. "Do you not say, 'Four months more and then it will be the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. The reaper is already drawing wages and harvesting the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together" (John 4:35, 36). Amen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From owner-sermons-digest@newearth.org Tue Sep 14 04:05:53 1999 From: owner-sermons-digest@newearth.org (sermons-digest) Date: 14 Sep 1999 00:05:53 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] sermons-digest V1999 #29 Message-ID: <199909140405.AAA01926@newearth.org> sermons-digest Tuesday, September 14 1999 Volume 1999 : Number 029 SERMON: "New Year's in September," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 13:41:26 +0100 From: Lee Woofenden Subject: SERMON: "New Year's in September," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden New Year's in September By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, September 12, 1999 Readings: Genesis 1:14-19: The great lights to mark the days and seasons And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. God made two great lights--the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the fourth day. John 4:31-36: The fields are ripe for harvest! Meanwhile Jesus' disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" Jesus said, "My food is to do the will of the one who sent me, and to finish his work. Do you not say, 'Four months more and then it will be the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. The reaper is already drawing wages and harvesting the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together." Arcana Coelestia #37: The change of the days and seasons The statement that the lights will "serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years" contains more secrets than can be presented at this point, even though in the literal meaning, there seems to be no secret at all. For now, I can say only this: When it comes to spiritual and heavenly things, change takes place both on the large scale and on the small scale, and is very much like the changes that take place throughout the day and the year. Changes throughout the day are from morning to midday, from then on to evening, and through the night to the morning. Changes in the year are similar, from spring to summer, from then on to autumn, and through winter to spring. These bring changes in the temperature and amount of daylight, and therefore in the fertility of the earth. The changes that take place in spiritual and heavenly things can be compared to these changes in nature. Life without change and variation would lead to sameness, and therefore to no life at all. Sermon: And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." (Genesis 1:14, 15) Hello again, everyone! (Well, not quite everyone--there are several who could not be here today for our opening service.) It's great to be back, starting another year at our church. This will be my fourth year with you, and I don't know if you're feeling it, but I'm feeling that this year promises to be one of growth and change in this church. And in that spirit of change, I've decided to change the time that we celebrate New Year's to . . . today! Let me be the first to say, Happy New Year! (I considered throwing confetti at this point, but reconsidered when I realized that if I did, I'd probably have to clean it all up!) Now this may seem to be a strange thing to do. But I experienced an even stranger holiday switch this summer. I was on my way to the Post Office in Middleboro, humming along with the church bells that were chiming out a melody, when I suddenly realized that here I was, walking down the sidewalk in my shorts and T-shirt on a hot July afternoon, humming "The First Noel"! When I got back home and told Patty about this strange occurrence, she said, "Oh yes, the church thrift shop is having a "Christmas in July" sale. So if their church can celebrate Christmas in July, our church can celebrate New Year's in September! And in fact, yesterday was Rosh Hashanah, which is the New Year on the Jewish calendar. So that's another excuse for celebrating the New Year at this time. But the real reason I want to celebrate New Year's today is that in our church year, the New Year comes, not after Christmas, but in the fall, when summer schedules end and regular services and Sunday School start up again. This is the time that congregations gather together again and begin the worship, activities, and programs of the church year. As we begin this new church year, then, let's take a look at where the cycles of seasons and years, months and days came from. We do not have to look very far; their origin is in the very first chapter of the Bible, in the Creation story--which we will be learning more about next week in our first Sunday School session. We read, in an expanded version of our text: And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. God made two great lights--the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. (Genesis 1:14-16) The very first thing to notice here is that the seasons and the days and the years are _created by God._ And God does not create things just for the heck of it, but in order to accomplish definite divine purposes. So why did God create the changes of the seasons and the days? Swedenborg helps us begin to answer this question when he writes, "Life without change and variation would lead to sameness, and therefore to no life at all" (_Arcana Coelestia_ #37). That's a challenging statement! Sameness leads to no life at all? Let's think about it. Here in the temperate zones, we're used to major shifts in the weather from the warmth of spring through the heat of summer, to the coolness of fall and the coldness of winter. And many of the plants and animals that live in parts of the world that have these major seasonal shifts _depend_ on those changes to complete their life cycles. Deciduous trees renew themselves by dropping their leaves each fall and growing a new crop of leaves in the spring. Many mammals renew themselves by hibernating through the winter, giving their bodies a long, nearly complete rest, so that they can make a new start in the spring. Even the insects have life cycles adapted to the seasonal changes so that they winter over in cocoons or in underground nests, gradually germinating next year's hatch of new insects. And many of these plants and animals that are adapted to these great seasonal shifts cannot survive in the tropical climates, where there is not such a big variation in the seasons. But what about those lush, tropical areas? They don't have the kind of seasons we do, and yet they seem to survive just fine in such "sameness." Yet even though their seasons may be more subtle, they still exist. In many tropical areas there is a rainy season and a dry season, and the plant and animal life is adapted to _those_ variations. In some warmer areas of the world, there is a fall crop and a spring crop. The summer is too hot, and the winter too cool for the crops to grow well at those times. And the same variations of day and night exist in the tropical areas as in the more temperate climates. Everywhere, life depends on the variations of day and night, and of spring, summer, winter, and fall. If we think further about Swedenborg's statement that "Life without change and variation would lead to sameness, and therefore to no life at all," we realize that change is part of the essence of life. Consider it. What is the difference between a rock and a kitten. Yes, the kitten is a lot warmer and fuzzier! But even more basic, a kitten grows and changes over time, whereas a rock stays mostly the same. In fact, things that are not alive are characterized mostly by erosion and decay, whereas things that are alive experience not only erosion and decay, but growth and development. That is what makes them alive rather than dead. Even in a relatively stable adult animal or human being, there is constant change as long as life continues. There are the gradual changes in our bodies that take place as we mature and then age. There are the weekly and daily cycles of labor and rest, sleep and wakefulness, eating and eliminating wastes. There is the moment-by-moment cycle of breathing in and breathing out, and always the constant, rhythmic beating of our heart. Without these, we cannot continue to live. On an even smaller scale, within our bodies there are those amazing processes of the blood carrying oxygen and nutrients to each cell in our body, and carrying away the waste products that are no longer useful. Some cells are dividing and multiplying; other cells are dying and being reabsorbed. Change, renewal, and growth are the constant companions of all life. Yet as astounding and unfathomable as this intricate, living web of nature is, there is an even more astounding and unfathomable level of life. For as Swedenborg tells us, every type of change, growth, death, and rebirth that we see in the world of nature around us and within our own bodies is an expression of still more amazing processes of change, growth, death, and rebirth that happen within our souls, and in our communal life with one another. It is not only the life of plants and animals that depends on constant change, but also the life of our souls and our communities. If sameness in the world of nature leads to no life at all, than sameness of spirit would just as surely lead to _spiritual_ death. This can be both an unsettling teaching and a comforting one. On the one hand, we humans tend to be more comfortable with sameness--with our usual paths and our usual routines--than we are with continual change. Change is scary. Change means we can't do things the way we're used to doing them--that we have to learn new ways. Change means that things will never, ever be the same again. And our tendency toward nostalgia causes us to look back and think that the way things used to be is better than the way they are now. If only things could have stayed the same as when I was growing up, and everything was wonderful and carefree! (Of course, they weren't very carefree for our parents!) And yet, that is not the way life is. And it is _good_ that it is not the way life is. Because just as with plant and animal life, sameness leads to deadness. We are _not_ the same as we were when we were children, or teenagers, or young adults, or middle aged. And it is _good_ that we are not the same. Because we have grown. We have grown in our understanding of the world and the people around us, and that means we can treat both the world and our neighbors better than we did when we were younger and less understanding. We have grown through difficult experiences of facing sickness and death among our families and friends; we have grown through struggling with personal and financial difficulties, through struggling with our parents, our children, our brothers and sisters, our friends, our lovers. And because of that growth, we are able to weather hardships and setbacks that would have crushed our younger selves. We are also able to help others through their pain and their struggles in ways that our younger selves could not have done. And as we look back at the ways we have grown through our life's _spiritual_ summers and winters, our _spiritual_ days and nights, our faith tells us that as our life continues on from this point, we will continue to grow through all the pleasures and the pain, all the sorrows and the joys that our life still holds in store for us. For we know that it is God who has created us to be _living, changing_ beings--beings that do not just sit there like a rock, gradually weathering away, but beings that _change and grow_ through every new and different circumstance that we encounter. It is in that spirit that I invite you to celebrate with me this New Year that we are now beginning together as a church. Just as each of us individually goes through our spiritual summers and winters, our spiritual days and nights, we together as a church experience our times of lying fallow and wintering through the slow times, and our new springtimes of growth and renewal. As individuals, we can each look back at our lives and see the growth that has taken place through it all, and look to the future with faith that God will bring about new growth in the life ahead of us. In the very same way, we as a church can look back at the times of struggle and the times of renewal in our church, and see the ways we have grown as a community of faith. And we can look forward to this new year, and all the years to come, with faith that through our present and future labors, God has a rich harvest of spiritual growth awaiting us--a harvest of growth in love and wisdom; a harvest of new kindness and new ways of being of service to one another and to our community. "Do you not say, 'Four months more and then it will be the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. The reaper is already drawing wages and harvesting the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together" (John 4:35, 36). Amen. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. ------------------------------ End of sermons-digest V1999 #29 ******************************* From owner-sermons-weekly@newearth.org Sun Sep 19 04:07:14 1999 From: owner-sermons-weekly@newearth.org (sermons-weekly) Date: 19 Sep 1999 00:07:14 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] sermons-weekly V1999 #25 Message-ID: <199909190406.AAA07784@newearth.org> sermons-weekly Sunday, September 19 1999 Volume 1999 : Number 025 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 13:41:26 +0100 From: Lee Woofenden Subject: SERMON: "New Year's in September," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden New Year's in September By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, September 12, 1999 Readings: Genesis 1:14-19: The great lights to mark the days and seasons And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. God made two great lights--the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the fourth day. John 4:31-36: The fields are ripe for harvest! Meanwhile Jesus' disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" Jesus said, "My food is to do the will of the one who sent me, and to finish his work. Do you not say, 'Four months more and then it will be the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. The reaper is already drawing wages and harvesting the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together." Arcana Coelestia #37: The change of the days and seasons The statement that the lights will "serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years" contains more secrets than can be presented at this point, even though in the literal meaning, there seems to be no secret at all. For now, I can say only this: When it comes to spiritual and heavenly things, change takes place both on the large scale and on the small scale, and is very much like the changes that take place throughout the day and the year. Changes throughout the day are from morning to midday, from then on to evening, and through the night to the morning. Changes in the year are similar, from spring to summer, from then on to autumn, and through winter to spring. These bring changes in the temperature and amount of daylight, and therefore in the fertility of the earth. The changes that take place in spiritual and heavenly things can be compared to these changes in nature. Life without change and variation would lead to sameness, and therefore to no life at all. Sermon: And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." (Genesis 1:14, 15) Hello again, everyone! (Well, not quite everyone--there are several who could not be here today for our opening service.) It's great to be back, starting another year at our church. This will be my fourth year with you, and I don't know if you're feeling it, but I'm feeling that this year promises to be one of growth and change in this church. And in that spirit of change, I've decided to change the time that we celebrate New Year's to . . . today! Let me be the first to say, Happy New Year! (I considered throwing confetti at this point, but reconsidered when I realized that if I did, I'd probably have to clean it all up!) Now this may seem to be a strange thing to do. But I experienced an even stranger holiday switch this summer. I was on my way to the Post Office in Middleboro, humming along with the church bells that were chiming out a melody, when I suddenly realized that here I was, walking down the sidewalk in my shorts and T-shirt on a hot July afternoon, humming "The First Noel"! When I got back home and told Patty about this strange occurrence, she said, "Oh yes, the church thrift shop is having a "Christmas in July" sale. So if their church can celebrate Christmas in July, our church can celebrate New Year's in September! And in fact, yesterday was Rosh Hashanah, which is the New Year on the Jewish calendar. So that's another excuse for celebrating the New Year at this time. But the real reason I want to celebrate New Year's today is that in our church year, the New Year comes, not after Christmas, but in the fall, when summer schedules end and regular services and Sunday School start up again. This is the time that congregations gather together again and begin the worship, activities, and programs of the church year. As we begin this new church year, then, let's take a look at where the cycles of seasons and years, months and days came from. We do not have to look very far; their origin is in the very first chapter of the Bible, in the Creation story--which we will be learning more about next week in our first Sunday School session. We read, in an expanded version of our text: And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. God made two great lights--the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. (Genesis 1:14-16) The very first thing to notice here is that the seasons and the days and the years are _created by God._ And God does not create things just for the heck of it, but in order to accomplish definite divine purposes. So why did God create the changes of the seasons and the days? Swedenborg helps us begin to answer this question when he writes, "Life without change and variation would lead to sameness, and therefore to no life at all" (_Arcana Coelestia_ #37). That's a challenging statement! Sameness leads to no life at all? Let's think about it. Here in the temperate zones, we're used to major shifts in the weather from the warmth of spring through the heat of summer, to the coolness of fall and the coldness of winter. And many of the plants and animals that live in parts of the world that have these major seasonal shifts _depend_ on those changes to complete their life cycles. Deciduous trees renew themselves by dropping their leaves each fall and growing a new crop of leaves in the spring. Many mammals renew themselves by hibernating through the winter, giving their bodies a long, nearly complete rest, so that they can make a new start in the spring. Even the insects have life cycles adapted to the seasonal changes so that they winter over in cocoons or in underground nests, gradually germinating next year's hatch of new insects. And many of these plants and animals that are adapted to these great seasonal shifts cannot survive in the tropical climates, where there is not such a big variation in the seasons. But what about those lush, tropical areas? They don't have the kind of seasons we do, and yet they seem to survive just fine in such "sameness." Yet even though their seasons may be more subtle, they still exist. In many tropical areas there is a rainy season and a dry season, and the plant and animal life is adapted to _those_ variations. In some warmer areas of the world, there is a fall crop and a spring crop. The summer is too hot, and the winter too cool for the crops to grow well at those times. And the same variations of day and night exist in the tropical areas as in the more temperate climates. Everywhere, life depends on the variations of day and night, and of spring, summer, winter, and fall. If we think further about Swedenborg's statement that "Life without change and variation would lead to sameness, and therefore to no life at all," we realize that change is part of the essence of life. Consider it. What is the difference between a rock and a kitten. Yes, the kitten is a lot warmer and fuzzier! But even more basic, a kitten grows and changes over time, whereas a rock stays mostly the same. In fact, things that are not alive are characterized mostly by erosion and decay, whereas things that are alive experience not only erosion and decay, but growth and development. That is what makes them alive rather than dead. Even in a relatively stable adult animal or human being, there is constant change as long as life continues. There are the gradual changes in our bodies that take place as we mature and then age. There are the weekly and daily cycles of labor and rest, sleep and wakefulness, eating and eliminating wastes. There is the moment-by-moment cycle of breathing in and breathing out, and always the constant, rhythmic beating of our heart. Without these, we cannot continue to live. On an even smaller scale, within our bodies there are those amazing processes of the blood carrying oxygen and nutrients to each cell in our body, and carrying away the waste products that are no longer useful. Some cells are dividing and multiplying; other cells are dying and being reabsorbed. Change, renewal, and growth are the constant companions of all life. Yet as astounding and unfathomable as this intricate, living web of nature is, there is an even more astounding and unfathomable level of life. For as Swedenborg tells us, every type of change, growth, death, and rebirth that we see in the world of nature around us and within our own bodies is an expression of still more amazing processes of change, growth, death, and rebirth that happen within our souls, and in our communal life with one another. It is not only the life of plants and animals that depends on constant change, but also the life of our souls and our communities. If sameness in the world of nature leads to no life at all, than sameness of spirit would just as surely lead to _spiritual_ death. This can be both an unsettling teaching and a comforting one. On the one hand, we humans tend to be more comfortable with sameness--with our usual paths and our usual routines--than we are with continual change. Change is scary. Change means we can't do things the way we're used to doing them--that we have to learn new ways. Change means that things will never, ever be the same again. And our tendency toward nostalgia causes us to look back and think that the way things used to be is better than the way they are now. If only things could have stayed the same as when I was growing up, and everything was wonderful and carefree! (Of course, they weren't very carefree for our parents!) And yet, that is not the way life is. And it is _good_ that it is not the way life is. Because just as with plant and animal life, sameness leads to deadness. We are _not_ the same as we were when we were children, or teenagers, or young adults, or middle aged. And it is _good_ that we are not the same. Because we have grown. We have grown in our understanding of the world and the people around us, and that means we can treat both the world and our neighbors better than we did when we were younger and less understanding. We have grown through difficult experiences of facing sickness and death among our families and friends; we have grown through struggling with personal and financial difficulties, through struggling with our parents, our children, our brothers and sisters, our friends, our lovers. And because of that growth, we are able to weather hardships and setbacks that would have crushed our younger selves. We are also able to help others through their pain and their struggles in ways that our younger selves could not have done. And as we look back at the ways we have grown through our life's _spiritual_ summers and winters, our _spiritual_ days and nights, our faith tells us that as our life continues on from this point, we will continue to grow through all the pleasures and the pain, all the sorrows and the joys that our life still holds in store for us. For we know that it is God who has created us to be _living, changing_ beings--beings that do not just sit there like a rock, gradually weathering away, but beings that _change and grow_ through every new and different circumstance that we encounter. It is in that spirit that I invite you to celebrate with me this New Year that we are now beginning together as a church. Just as each of us individually goes through our spiritual summers and winters, our spiritual days and nights, we together as a church experience our times of lying fallow and wintering through the slow times, and our new springtimes of growth and renewal. As individuals, we can each look back at our lives and see the growth that has taken place through it all, and look to the future with faith that God will bring about new growth in the life ahead of us. In the very same way, we as a church can look back at the times of struggle and the times of renewal in our church, and see the ways we have grown as a community of faith. And we can look forward to this new year, and all the years to come, with faith that through our present and future labors, God has a rich harvest of spiritual growth awaiting us--a harvest of growth in love and wisdom; a harvest of new kindness and new ways of being of service to one another and to our community. "Do you not say, 'Four months more and then it will be the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. The reaper is already drawing wages and harvesting the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together" (John 4:35, 36). Amen. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. ------------------------------ End of sermons-weekly V1999 #25 ******************************* From leewoof@tiac.net Mon Sep 20 00:45:44 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 19 Sep 1999 20:45:44 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Spirit: The Final Frontier," By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19990919185420.03701e90@pop.tiac.net> Spirit: The Final Frontier By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, September 19, 1999 Readings: Genesis 1:1-5, 24-28, 31: The Beginning In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning--the first day. . . . Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created humankind in his image. In the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. . . . And God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day. John 3:3-8: Born of the Spirit Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." Jesus answered him, "Truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again." Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Arcana Coelestia #1, 2: The spiritual meaning of the Bible The Word of the Old Testament contains heavenly secrets, with every single detail focusing on the Lord, his heaven, religion, faith, and what belongs to faith. But no one realizes this from the letter. Judging it by the letter--or the literal meaning--no one views it as anything more than a story that is concerned mostly with the outward aspects of the Jewish religion.... Yet every single detail, even the smallest, down to the tiniest jot, means and embodies spiritual and heavenly things. Sermon: Truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:5, 6) Now that I am starting my fourth year with you, I feel that we have built up a certain amount of trust and rapport. So it's about time I 'fessed up: I am a big fan of Science Fiction in general, and of Star Trek in particular. Whenever I watch an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," I thrill to the grand voice of Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, intoning those inspiring words in the show's opener: Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before. Yet as much as I enjoy venturing with Picard and his crew on an exciting voyage into the frontiers of space (as the human mind imagines it), there is always a little voice in the back of my head saying "Yes . . . but space isn't the _final_ frontier." So I offer you this modified version of that famous call to exploration: Spirit: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Humankind. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds of spirit, to seek out new ways of living and new levels of civilization, to boldly go where we have never gone before. Let's call it "Spirit Trek." This truly _is_ a voyage into the final frontier--not the frontier of _outer_ space, but the frontier of _inner_ space. It is a voyage into the frontier of spirit. This is the voyage on which Jesus sends us when he says: Truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again. . . . Truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. When Jesus originally spoke these words, Nicodemus was confused by them. For someone steeped in a form of religion that involved mostly the observance outward rituals and literal laws, the things of spirit truly were a strange new world. The spirit was unexplored territory. It involved a whole new way of living--a way of life inspired by deeper goals of faith in the Lord, and by love and kindness toward our fellow human beings, rather than a life driven by the desire for more money, more power, more status, more possessions. If all the people on earth--or even a sizable percentage of the world's people--were to live in this new and spiritual way, the earth _would_ see a whole new level of civilization: a civilization built on mutual respect and service rather than on competition and striving for domination. It would lead to a civilization, a world, being newly created in the pattern of the holy city, New Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God. And that is a place--no, it is a _state of mind and being_--where we, the human race, have never gone before. It is a whole new and very exciting way for us to live. It is a way of life that we long for in our heart of hearts, as we struggle along in a world that seems so far from the heavenly ideal--and as we realize that we ourselves fall far short of the glory for which God, our Creator, designed us. As we look forward with longing for that great future age of peace, harmony, and mutual goodwill among all the peoples of the earth, let's look back for a moment to another time when the churches of the Western world had fallen far from their heavenly state, and were concerned mostly with the material concerns of wealth and power. By the eighteenth century, the Christian Church had long since left behind spiritual power for worldly power. Some nations were under the sway of the Catholic Church; others were under the sway of various Protestant churches. People who defied the political power of the church usually did not live to tell of it. And when Catholics and Protestants met, it was usually with drawn swords and murderous intent. The harps and clouds of heaven were taken very literally--and so was the fire and brimstone of hell. God was a God to be feared, and the Bible was a book to be literally and strictly obeyed. Yet under a thin veneer of civilization, the most cruel, inhuman, and degraded abuses went on largely unchallenged. It was a dark chapter in a long and weary human history that abounds in dark chapters. It is no wonder that just as the Lord Jesus' strange words of spirit and life confused and confounded his listeners, there was an equally confounded and confused reaction when another bold explorer of the world of spirit, Emanuel Swedenborg, published the first volume of his religious writings. In the opening lines of that work wrote: The Word of the Old Testament contains heavenly secrets, with every single detail focusing on the Lord, his heaven, religion, faith, and what belongs to faith. But no one realizes this from the letter. Judging it by the letter--or the literal meaning--no one views it as anything more than a story that is concerned mostly with the outward aspects of the Jewish religion. . . . Yet every single detail, even the smallest, down to the tiniest jot, refers to and embodies spiritual and heavenly things. These are the opening lines of _Arcana Coelestia_, or _Heavenly Secrets_. The first volume of this massive spiritual work, written entirely in Latin, was published in London in 1749. It was followed by seven more volumes of heavenly secrets, each continuing the remarkable, and to many people, the unbelievable story of Swedenborg's voyage into the strange new world of Spirit as found within the pages of the Holy Bible. Like Nicodemus, most of Swedenborg's contemporaries regarded these spiritual voyages as strange and confusing flights of fancy. They asked, "How can these things be?" But Swedenborg had already replied to this question, quite calmly, in that first volume: The Lord, in his divine compassion, has enabled me to understand the inner meaning of the Bible. This meaning contains deeply hidden secrets which no one has ever had the slightest conception of before now. It would be impossible to understand them without knowing what the other life is like, since this is what most of the Bible's inner meaning refers to and describes. Now, however, I can tell about what I have heard and seen while I have been with spirits and angels during the last few years. I realize that many people will say it is not possible for anyone to talk with spirits and angels while still living in the physical body. Some will say I am hallucinating and some will say I am writing these things just to get a following. Others will make other objections. But none of this discourages me, because I have seen, I have heard, and I have felt. (_Arcana Coelestia_ #67-68) With these words, Swedenborg invites us to explore strange new worlds of spirit, to seek out new ways of living and new levels of civilization, to boldly go where we have never gone before. These are the voyages of the starship Humankind into the worlds of the spirit--the true final frontier. That voyage begins simply, gently, yet oh, so powerfully in the opening words of the book of Genesis--the beginning of God's Word to humankind: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. To material, human eyes, these words seem to be merely an ancient, mythic account of the creation of the physical universe. Yet the light that God created with these words was not limited to the kind of light that our physical eyes can see. Not at all! The light that God creates is the kind of brilliant _inner_ light that illuminates our understanding. It is a light that enables us to see those amazing new worlds of spirit that Swedenborg found in his inspired voyages into inner space. This is the light of spiritual truth. The voyage of our own personal starship into the vast reaches of spirit begins when the Lord opens our inner eyes to that deeper light, which radiates out from the Creator so gloriously. When our eyes have been opened to _this_ light, we can never again be satisfied with the fleeting, temporary possessions and pleasures of this earth. As much as we continue to appreciate the wonders of God's creations in the physical world, when our spiritual eyes are opened we see far greater wonders--wonders that had previously been hidden from our eyes. The Lord is calling each one of us to a voyage into that world far beyond the stars. It is an exciting voyage of discovery, because every discovery is not only tremendously enlightening, but intensely personal. On this journey we will discover our own ability to understand both ourselves and the people around us in ways that can heal past hurts and make new and deeper connections of trust and friendship. On this journey, we will discover that beyond all the ways we have been stifled, beyond the ways we have stifled ourselves, there is a power of love within us that is greater than anything we had ever conceived of before. This power of love can propel us to deep and lasting joy as we express our love to one another through acts of kindness and compassion. On this journey, we will make the most exciting discovery of all: that beyond all our power to grasp it, there lies at the center of the universe an infinite, powerful, intimate, compassionate, and intensely personal love. This love is in the person of the Lord God, our Creator and Savior, Jesus Christ. Spirit: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Humankind. Amen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From owner-sermons-digest@newearth.org Mon Sep 20 04:05:56 1999 From: owner-sermons-digest@newearth.org (sermons-digest) Date: 20 Sep 1999 00:05:56 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] sermons-digest V1999 #30 Message-ID: <199909200405.AAA05101@newearth.org> sermons-digest Monday, September 20 1999 Volume 1999 : Number 030 SERMON: "Spirit: The Final Frontier," By the Rev. Lee Woofenden ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 18:55:53 +0100 From: Lee Woofenden Subject: SERMON: "Spirit: The Final Frontier," By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Spirit: The Final Frontier By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, September 19, 1999 Readings: Genesis 1:1-5, 24-28, 31: The Beginning In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning--the first day. . . . Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created humankind in his image. In the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. . . . And God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day. John 3:3-8: Born of the Spirit Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." Jesus answered him, "Truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again." Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Arcana Coelestia #1, 2: The spiritual meaning of the Bible The Word of the Old Testament contains heavenly secrets, with every single detail focusing on the Lord, his heaven, religion, faith, and what belongs to faith. But no one realizes this from the letter. Judging it by the letter--or the literal meaning--no one views it as anything more than a story that is concerned mostly with the outward aspects of the Jewish religion.... Yet every single detail, even the smallest, down to the tiniest jot, means and embodies spiritual and heavenly things. Sermon: Truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:5, 6) Now that I am starting my fourth year with you, I feel that we have built up a certain amount of trust and rapport. So it's about time I 'fessed up: I am a big fan of Science Fiction in general, and of Star Trek in particular. Whenever I watch an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," I thrill to the grand voice of Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, intoning those inspiring words in the show's opener: Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before. Yet as much as I enjoy venturing with Picard and his crew on an exciting voyage into the frontiers of space (as the human mind imagines it), there is always a little voice in the back of my head saying "Yes . . . but space isn't the _final_ frontier." So I offer you this modified version of that famous call to exploration: Spirit: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Humankind. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds of spirit, to seek out new ways of living and new levels of civilization, to boldly go where we have never gone before. Let's call it "Spirit Trek." This truly _is_ a voyage into the final frontier--not the frontier of _outer_ space, but the frontier of _inner_ space. It is a voyage into the frontier of spirit. This is the voyage on which Jesus sends us when he says: Truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again. . . . Truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. When Jesus originally spoke these words, Nicodemus was confused by them. For someone steeped in a form of religion that involved mostly the observance outward rituals and literal laws, the things of spirit truly were a strange new world. The spirit was unexplored territory. It involved a whole new way of living--a way of life inspired by deeper goals of faith in the Lord, and by love and kindness toward our fellow human beings, rather than a life driven by the desire for more money, more power, more status, more possessions. If all the people on earth--or even a sizable percentage of the world's people--were to live in this new and spiritual way, the earth _would_ see a whole new level of civilization: a civilization built on mutual respect and service rather than on competition and striving for domination. It would lead to a civilization, a world, being newly created in the pattern of the holy city, New Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God. And that is a place--no, it is a _state of mind and being_--where we, the human race, have never gone before. It is a whole new and very exciting way for us to live. It is a way of life that we long for in our heart of hearts, as we struggle along in a world that seems so far from the heavenly ideal--and as we realize that we ourselves fall far short of the glory for which God, our Creator, designed us. As we look forward with longing for that great future age of peace, harmony, and mutual goodwill among all the peoples of the earth, let's look back for a moment to another time when the churches of the Western world had fallen far from their heavenly state, and were concerned mostly with the material concerns of wealth and power. By the eighteenth century, the Christian Church had long since left behind spiritual power for worldly power. Some nations were under the sway of the Catholic Church; others were under the sway of various Protestant churches. People who defied the political power of the church usually did not live to tell of it. And when Catholics and Protestants met, it was usually with drawn swords and murderous intent. The harps and clouds of heaven were taken very literally--and so was the fire and brimstone of hell. God was a God to be feared, and the Bible was a book to be literally and strictly obeyed. Yet under a thin veneer of civilization, the most cruel, inhuman, and degraded abuses went on largely unchallenged. It was a dark chapter in a long and weary human history that abounds in dark chapters. It is no wonder that just as the Lord Jesus' strange words of spirit and life confused and confounded his listeners, there was an equally confounded and confused reaction when another bold explorer of the world of spirit, Emanuel Swedenborg, published the first volume of his religious writings. In the opening lines of that work wrote: The Word of the Old Testament contains heavenly secrets, with every single detail focusing on the Lord, his heaven, religion, faith, and what belongs to faith. But no one realizes this from the letter. Judging it by the letter--or the literal meaning--no one views it as anything more than a story that is concerned mostly with the outward aspects of the Jewish religion. . . . Yet every single detail, even the smallest, down to the tiniest jot, refers to and embodies spiritual and heavenly things. These are the opening lines of _Arcana Coelestia_, or _Heavenly Secrets_. The first volume of this massive spiritual work, written entirely in Latin, was published in London in 1749. It was followed by seven more volumes of heavenly secrets, each continuing the remarkable, and to many people, the unbelievable story of Swedenborg's voyage into the strange new world of Spirit as found within the pages of the Holy Bible. Like Nicodemus, most of Swedenborg's contemporaries regarded these spiritual voyages as strange and confusing flights of fancy. They asked, "How can these things be?" But Swedenborg had already replied to this question, quite calmly, in that first volume: The Lord, in his divine compassion, has enabled me to understand the inner meaning of the Bible. This meaning contains deeply hidden secrets which no one has ever had the slightest conception of before now. It would be impossible to understand them without knowing what the other life is like, since this is what most of the Bible's inner meaning refers to and describes. Now, however, I can tell about what I have heard and seen while I have been with spirits and angels during the last few years. I realize that many people will say it is not possible for anyone to talk with spirits and angels while still living in the physical body. Some will say I am hallucinating and some will say I am writing these things just to get a following. Others will make other objections. But none of this discourages me, because I have seen, I have heard, and I have felt. (_Arcana Coelestia_ #67-68) With these words, Swedenborg invites us to explore strange new worlds of spirit, to seek out new ways of living and new levels of civilization, to boldly go where we have never gone before. These are the voyages of the starship Humankind into the worlds of the spirit--the true final frontier. That voyage begins simply, gently, yet oh, so powerfully in the opening words of the book of Genesis--the beginning of God's Word to humankind: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. To material, human eyes, these words seem to be merely an ancient, mythic account of the creation of the physical universe. Yet the light that God created with these words was not limited to the kind of light that our physical eyes can see. Not at all! The light that God creates is the kind of brilliant _inner_ light that illuminates our understanding. It is a light that enables us to see those amazing new worlds of spirit that Swedenborg found in his inspired voyages into inner space. This is the light of spiritual truth. The voyage of our own personal starship into the vast reaches of spirit begins when the Lord opens our inner eyes to that deeper light, which radiates out from the Creator so gloriously. When our eyes have been opened to _this_ light, we can never again be satisfied with the fleeting, temporary possessions and pleasures of this earth. As much as we continue to appreciate the wonders of God's creations in the physical world, when our spiritual eyes are opened we see far greater wonders--wonders that had previously been hidden from our eyes. The Lord is calling each one of us to a voyage into that world far beyond the stars. It is an exciting voyage of discovery, because every discovery is not only tremendously enlightening, but intensely personal. On this journey we will discover our own ability to understand both ourselves and the people around us in ways that can heal past hurts and make new and deeper connections of trust and friendship. On this journey, we will discover that beyond all the ways we have been stifled, beyond the ways we have stifled ourselves, there is a power of love within us that is greater than anything we had ever conceived of before. This power of love can propel us to deep and lasting joy as we express our love to one another through acts of kindness and compassion. On this journey, we will make the most exciting discovery of all: that beyond all our power to grasp it, there lies at the center of the universe an infinite, powerful, intimate, compassionate, and intensely personal love. This love is in the person of the Lord God, our Creator and Savior, Jesus Christ. Spirit: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Humankind. Amen. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. ------------------------------ End of sermons-digest V1999 #30 ******************************* From owner-sermons-weekly@newearth.org Sun Sep 26 04:07:34 1999 From: owner-sermons-weekly@newearth.org (sermons-weekly) Date: 26 Sep 1999 00:07:34 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] sermons-weekly V1999 #26 Message-ID: <199909260407.AAA31146@newearth.org> sermons-weekly Sunday, September 26 1999 Volume 1999 : Number 026 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 18:55:53 +0100 From: Lee Woofenden Subject: SERMON: "Spirit: The Final Frontier," By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Spirit: The Final Frontier By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, September 19, 1999 Readings: Genesis 1:1-5, 24-28, 31: The Beginning In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning--the first day. . . . Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created humankind in his image. In the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. . . . And God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day. John 3:3-8: Born of the Spirit Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." Jesus answered him, "Truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again." Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Arcana Coelestia #1, 2: The spiritual meaning of the Bible The Word of the Old Testament contains heavenly secrets, with every single detail focusing on the Lord, his heaven, religion, faith, and what belongs to faith. But no one realizes this from the letter. Judging it by the letter--or the literal meaning--no one views it as anything more than a story that is concerned mostly with the outward aspects of the Jewish religion.... Yet every single detail, even the smallest, down to the tiniest jot, means and embodies spiritual and heavenly things. Sermon: Truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:5, 6) Now that I am starting my fourth year with you, I feel that we have built up a certain amount of trust and rapport. So it's about time I 'fessed up: I am a big fan of Science Fiction in general, and of Star Trek in particular. Whenever I watch an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," I thrill to the grand voice of Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, intoning those inspiring words in the show's opener: Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before. Yet as much as I enjoy venturing with Picard and his crew on an exciting voyage into the frontiers of space (as the human mind imagines it), there is always a little voice in the back of my head saying "Yes . . . but space isn't the _final_ frontier." So I offer you this modified version of that famous call to exploration: Spirit: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Humankind. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds of spirit, to seek out new ways of living and new levels of civilization, to boldly go where we have never gone before. Let's call it "Spirit Trek." This truly _is_ a voyage into the final frontier--not the frontier of _outer_ space, but the frontier of _inner_ space. It is a voyage into the frontier of spirit. This is the voyage on which Jesus sends us when he says: Truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again. . . . Truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. When Jesus originally spoke these words, Nicodemus was confused by them. For someone steeped in a form of religion that involved mostly the observance outward rituals and literal laws, the things of spirit truly were a strange new world. The spirit was unexplored territory. It involved a whole new way of living--a way of life inspired by deeper goals of faith in the Lord, and by love and kindness toward our fellow human beings, rather than a life driven by the desire for more money, more power, more status, more possessions. If all the people on earth--or even a sizable percentage of the world's people--were to live in this new and spiritual way, the earth _would_ see a whole new level of civilization: a civilization built on mutual respect and service rather than on competition and striving for domination. It would lead to a civilization, a world, being newly created in the pattern of the holy city, New Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God. And that is a place--no, it is a _state of mind and being_--where we, the human race, have never gone before. It is a whole new and very exciting way for us to live. It is a way of life that we long for in our heart of hearts, as we struggle along in a world that seems so far from the heavenly ideal--and as we realize that we ourselves fall far short of the glory for which God, our Creator, designed us. As we look forward with longing for that great future age of peace, harmony, and mutual goodwill among all the peoples of the earth, let's look back for a moment to another time when the churches of the Western world had fallen far from their heavenly state, and were concerned mostly with the material concerns of wealth and power. By the eighteenth century, the Christian Church had long since left behind spiritual power for worldly power. Some nations were under the sway of the Catholic Church; others were under the sway of various Protestant churches. People who defied the political power of the church usually did not live to tell of it. And when Catholics and Protestants met, it was usually with drawn swords and murderous intent. The harps and clouds of heaven were taken very literally--and so was the fire and brimstone of hell. God was a God to be feared, and the Bible was a book to be literally and strictly obeyed. Yet under a thin veneer of civilization, the most cruel, inhuman, and degraded abuses went on largely unchallenged. It was a dark chapter in a long and weary human history that abounds in dark chapters. It is no wonder that just as the Lord Jesus' strange words of spirit and life confused and confounded his listeners, there was an equally confounded and confused reaction when another bold explorer of the world of spirit, Emanuel Swedenborg, published the first volume of his religious writings. In the opening lines of that work wrote: The Word of the Old Testament contains heavenly secrets, with every single detail focusing on the Lord, his heaven, religion, faith, and what belongs to faith. But no one realizes this from the letter. Judging it by the letter--or the literal meaning--no one views it as anything more than a story that is concerned mostly with the outward aspects of the Jewish religion. . . . Yet every single detail, even the smallest, down to the tiniest jot, refers to and embodies spiritual and heavenly things. These are the opening lines of _Arcana Coelestia_, or _Heavenly Secrets_. The first volume of this massive spiritual work, written entirely in Latin, was published in London in 1749. It was followed by seven more volumes of heavenly secrets, each continuing the remarkable, and to many people, the unbelievable story of Swedenborg's voyage into the strange new world of Spirit as found within the pages of the Holy Bible. Like Nicodemus, most of Swedenborg's contemporaries regarded these spiritual voyages as strange and confusing flights of fancy. They asked, "How can these things be?" But Swedenborg had already replied to this question, quite calmly, in that first volume: The Lord, in his divine compassion, has enabled me to understand the inner meaning of the Bible. This meaning contains deeply hidden secrets which no one has ever had the slightest conception of before now. It would be impossible to understand them without knowing what the other life is like, since this is what most of the Bible's inner meaning refers to and describes. Now, however, I can tell about what I have heard and seen while I have been with spirits and angels during the last few years. I realize that many people will say it is not possible for anyone to talk with spirits and angels while still living in the physical body. Some will say I am hallucinating and some will say I am writing these things just to get a following. Others will make other objections. But none of this discourages me, because I have seen, I have heard, and I have felt. (_Arcana Coelestia_ #67-68) With these words, Swedenborg invites us to explore strange new worlds of spirit, to seek out new ways of living and new levels of civilization, to boldly go where we have never gone before. These are the voyages of the starship Humankind into the worlds of the spirit--the true final frontier. That voyage begins simply, gently, yet oh, so powerfully in the opening words of the book of Genesis--the beginning of God's Word to humankind: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. To material, human eyes, these words seem to be merely an ancient, mythic account of the creation of the physical universe. Yet the light that God created with these words was not limited to the kind of light that our physical eyes can see. Not at all! The light that God creates is the kind of brilliant _inner_ light that illuminates our understanding. It is a light that enables us to see those amazing new worlds of spirit that Swedenborg found in his inspired voyages into inner space. This is the light of spiritual truth. The voyage of our own personal starship into the vast reaches of spirit begins when the Lord opens our inner eyes to that deeper light, which radiates out from the Creator so gloriously. When our eyes have been opened to _this_ light, we can never again be satisfied with the fleeting, temporary possessions and pleasures of this earth. As much as we continue to appreciate the wonders of God's creations in the physical world, when our spiritual eyes are opened we see far greater wonders--wonders that had previously been hidden from our eyes. The Lord is calling each one of us to a voyage into that world far beyond the stars. It is an exciting voyage of discovery, because every discovery is not only tremendously enlightening, but intensely personal. On this journey we will discover our own ability to understand both ourselves and the people around us in ways that can heal past hurts and make new and deeper connections of trust and friendship. On this journey, we will discover that beyond all the ways we have been stifled, beyond the ways we have stifled ourselves, there is a power of love within us that is greater than anything we had ever conceived of before. This power of love can propel us to deep and lasting joy as we express our love to one another through acts of kindness and compassion. On this journey, we will make the most exciting discovery of all: that beyond all our power to grasp it, there lies at the center of the universe an infinite, powerful, intimate, compassionate, and intensely personal love. This love is in the person of the Lord God, our Creator and Savior, Jesus Christ. Spirit: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Humankind. Amen. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. ------------------------------ End of sermons-weekly V1999 #26 ******************************* From leewoof@tiac.net Mon Oct 4 11:06:26 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 4 Oct 1999 07:06:26 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Our Spiritual Investments," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19991003172238.058088e0@pop.tiac.net> Our Spiritual Investments By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, October 3, 1999 Readings: Psalm 19:7-11: More precious than gold The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring for ever. The ordinances of the Lord are true and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; They are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Matthew 25:14-30: The parable of the talents The kingdom of heaven will be as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one--to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing five more talents, saying, "Master, you handed over to me five talents. Look! I have made five more talents." His master said to him, "Well done, good and trustworthy slave! You have been faithful in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master." And the one with two talents also came forward, saying, "Master, you handed over to me two talents. Look! I have made two more talents." His master said to him, "Well done, good and trustworthy slave! You have been faithful in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master." Then the one who had received one talent also came forward, saying, "Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed. So I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours." But his master replied, "You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Apocalypse Explained #193b.10: Money and investing Talents, pounds, and money symbolize the knowledge of what is true and good that we gain from the Bible. To trade, make a profit, invest, and put money in the bank means to use these things to gain for ourselves spiritual life and intelligence. Hiding them in the earth or in a napkin symbolizes merely storing them in our earthly memory--in which case, what we have is taken away from us. Sermon: You ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. (Matthew 25:27-29) Brace yourselves, because I am going to say a word that is not usually considered polite in church. Are you ready? MONEY! Now relax and take a few deep breaths. It's going to be okay. My main interest this morning is _not_ the green stuff we carry around in our wallets and purses. Still, I do want to take a swipe at this idea that money-talk is inappropriate in church. Our readings this morning are all about money. In fact, money is one of the most common subjects in the Bible--especially in the New Testament. Jesus talks about money all the time. Treasures in heaven. The hidden treasure. The pearl of great price. The temple tax. The unmerciful servant. The rich young man. The workers in the vineyard. Paying taxes to Caesar. We could go on and on. Isn't money materialistic and dirty? What does it have to do with religion? And why does the Bible talk about money so much? Let's think about it. In itself, money means very little. You can't eat it or drink it or wear it or use it to keep yourself warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It is bits of metal and pieces of paper. Not very useful. Yet ever since we hit upon the idea of using these bits of metal and pieces of paper to make it easier to trade with one another, money has been a focal point of culture. Why? Because money is our measure of _value_. More specifically, it is our measure of _material_ value. We are worth a lot of money--we are rich--when we possess or control a lot of material things and can hire many people to work for us. We are worth very little money--we are poor--when we possess and control very few material things, and when we have to do most of our work for ourselves. In the material world, money is where the rubber hits the road. We are materially comfortable when we have a lot of it, and materially uncomfortable when we don't have enough of it. This is true, not because money has any great value or usefulness in itself, but because we as a culture have agreed that it has universal value. We live in a materialistic culture, whose values we have consciously or unconsciously internalized and made a part of ourselves. So we tend to measure ourselves by how much money we have. No matter how often we say "money can't buy happiness," we still tend to assume that we would be happier if we had more money. Sometimes we even do silly things to get more money. When I was in my early twenties, I decided to try out one of those get-rich-quick chain letter schemes. I sent five dollars to the person on the top of the list, rented a mailing list, and sent the letter out to a hundred people with my own name on the bottom. The letter promised that if I did this, I would soon have thousands of dollars jamming my mailbox. It didn't quite work out that way. I did get some five dollar bills in my mailbox over the next month or so. In fact, I got almost exactly enough to cover my expenses for this hare-brained scheme! As for my labor--that was a loss. I would have done better spending the time mowing lawns. Last weekend, at the Cabinet meetings of the Swedenborgian Church, Larry and I had a different experience with money. I usually don't enjoy attending Cabinet meetings. Our job always seems to be to start with the budget everyone wants, and then cut out as much of it as we possibly can in order to arrive at a balanced budget. Not much fun. This year, it was just the opposite. Under the leadership of the Rev. Ron Brugler, President of the Swedenborgian Church, we went through a very different process. First, each of us present at the meeting spent time thinking about what is least and most important for our particular board or committee to be doing. We thought about our vision for the church, and what the committee we represented could do to further that vision. And we thought about things we are now doing that aren't contributing much to that vision. We set goals. We set priorities. And then, instead of paring down the budgets we had brought with us, we built up the budgets to accomplish some of those goals and priorities. Of course, this would not have been possible if it hadn't been for the phenomenal growth of the stock market over the past several years, and the consequent growth of our denomination's endowment fund. The difference was that this year, we decided that instead of putting most of the growth in our investments away for our church's retirement, we would use some of it to make our church stronger and younger. Instead of assuming we are in decline--and hanging on for dear life to what we have--we decided to invest some of our wealth in programs that will help make our church grow. Now you can see why I was drawn like a magnet to today's reading from the Gospels. Here are three slaves, each entrusted with a large sum of money by their master. To give you an idea of just _how_ large a sum of money it was, one "talent," in Biblical terms, was equal to what the average laborer in those days could earn in fifteen years. In other words, the one who received ten talents was getting as much as he would have earned if he had worked steadily for seventy-five years, and then received this extra-long lifetime's worth of pay all in one lump sum! Even the slave who received just one talent was still receiving fifteen years worth of pay--which is nothing to sneeze at. Yet the response of the third was very different from the first two. The first two put to work the huge sums of money that had been entrusted to them, and doubled their value. The third, acting out of fear, did not put to work the money he had received. Instead, he let it lie uselessly in the ground until his master returned. For that he was severely chastised, whereas the other two were praised and given greater responsibility--and greater joy. Now, as a parable about investing and money management, this story does have a lesson for us. Money has no value in itself, and accomplishes nothing if we let it lie idle. It is far better to put it to good use so that our material means will increase. We can do that by investing it or putting it to work in other ways. But we don't come to church to learn about investment strategies. At least, not _material_ investment strategies . . . . Jesus said: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21) Jesus was not very concerned with material wealth and poverty. But he _was_ concerned with how we invest our _spiritual_ wealth. What is the spiritual money that is ours to invest? The Psalmist tells us: "The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. . . . The ordinances of the Lord are true and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold." Swedenborg agrees: the priceless gold of the spirit is "the knowledge of what is true and good that we gain from the Bible." The Lord's teachings and commandments are the "ten talents" that our divine Master has entrusted to us. We learn them in Sunday School and church; we learn them through our parents and mentors; we learn them from our own reading and study; we learn them through the experience of living with one another. But the test is not how much we _know_. It is what we _do_ with what we know. We are like the lazy and worthless slave when we bury all of this golden spiritual knowledge in our memory--when we regard the teachings of the Bible merely as interesting knowledge, and make no attempt to put it to use in our lives. This is what we do when we spend our lives focusing on material wealth and pleasure instead of helping to build the Lord's kingdom within and around us. If we do this, in the end we will find that everything we thought we had will be taken away from us. Spiritually, we will find ourselves in the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. That is not where any of us want to be! And we _don't have to_ end out there. Because each of us has been given great treasures of knowledge in the form of the Lord's teachings as found in the Bible. And each one of us can take what we have learned--and what we continue to learn each day--and put it to work in our lives. We _can_ make our spiritual wealth grow, if we invest it wisely. We can look for ways to grow in kindness and thoughtfulness. We can look for ways to make life grow better and happier for the people around us. We can make our friendships, our relationships, grow closer and more loving as we grow in willingness to care about the other person as much as we care about ourselves. We can grow in closeness to God as we open ourselves up more and more to the endlessly rich gifts of love and wisdom that the Lord lavishes upon us. If we make the effort to invest God's precious gifts of wisdom in lives of love and service, our spiritual wealth will grow, and we will enter into the joy of our Master. Amen. From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Mon Oct 4 14:23:44 1999 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 4 Oct 1999 10:23:44 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: The Call of Abram Message-ID: <199910041016_MC2-8787-8946@compuserve.com> The Call of Abram By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell September 26, 1999 Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Go away from your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you." Genesis 12:1 Abram's father Terah had moved his family from the city of Ur of the Chaldeans to the city of Haran. We do not know how long they lived there. Terah died in Haran and Abram, his wife Sarai, his nephew, Lot continued to live there. The words of the text for today's sermon carry the momentous message or call from the Lord to Abram to leave that city and go to a distant land. The Lord's words also carried the promise that Abram would become a great nation and would be blessed and would himself be a blessing to all the families of the earth. Most of us have thrilled to stories of people who have been called on a heroic mission or to accomplish some important task. Our heart is touched by the idea of someone who is motivated over a long period of time by an inner drive to accomplish a goal. The idea of living beyond a day-to-day existence can fill us with a sense of longing ourselves. Couldn't we be called on a great mission? Couldn't our lives become part of some important event? The draw of being called to some large event or some crusade is qualified by what we would have to leave behind if we followed this call. There are an incredible number of worthy causes that will seek our support including our time and talents. The idea of a great mission is exciting but a part of our mind isn't at all happy about deprivation and sacrifice. Accomplishing something great usually involves giving up some things that we rather enjoy. What has the Lord called you to do? For many people this question would evoke a puzzled response. "Called me? I'm not really sure I have been called to something that is readily describable." While there are a few people who can say, "From my early childhood I always knew that I wanted to be . . . a teacher, or an inventor, or a singer, or a very focused parent." Probably most people haven't had this kind of continuous underlying goal. Our lives have progressed less like someone who knew a distant goal and followed it relentlessly, but rather more like someone walking through unknown territory and as at each fork in the road we've looked at the options and chosen what seemed best, following that path until the next fork. The call of Abram represents the first glimmering in our mind that the Lord wants us to be different in some aspect of our lives. In a very important sense it is a Divine call to undertake a mission of eternal significance. This call can be the first dawning of the insight that "I've really am hurting myself and my usefulness with my tendency to be too influenced by the people around me." It can be the beginning of idea that "I've been spending too much of my time on less important issues and not enough on ones that are important and lasting." The Writings of the New Church define the call of Abram with the following words: The implications of "Jehovah said to Abram" meaning a first awareness of all things. . . as when in the Ancient Church someone through conscience, or through some other dictate, or through their Word, was made aware that something was so. Arcana Caelestia 1410 This first awareness or stirring of conscience may come to us as quietly as a whisper at night--so quiet that we can be aware of it for some time before we even recognize it as a distinct idea. Other times it can come to us alike a crash of thunder accompanied by a bolt of lightening that shakes us with its power. A person can have a profound insight that something absolutely needs to be paid attention to. Sometimes we think of this kind of insight as being like a criticism of something we really should have already changed. Sometimes this is the case and we have had opportunities, perhaps many opportunities to recognize a need to improve. But each time the call comes from the Lord it is talking to where we are presently in our spiritual state and inviting us to move forward--to move to something nearer the life of heaven. This call always comes because the Lord loves us and wishes us well. Whether we hear the Lord's call as the quietest whisper or if it comes to our attention far more dramatically hearing this call is an essential first step to any spiritual progress in our lives. The Lord has told us very clearly in His Word that we need to be profoundly changed if we are to be ready for heavenly life. We all must be born again. Our nature from birth is inherently flawed. It is too focused on self, on the world, on small issues, on the here and now, and not the treasures of heaven that will last forever. The Lord has told us that we must be changed from the patterns of thought and motivation with which we started our adult lives. But He has also promised that this change will take place "Little by little." (Exodus 23:30) In explaining why this is the case the Writings the following points. When a person is born he is, so far as his hereditary evils are concerned, a miniature hell. He also becomes an embodiment of hell to the extent that he draws on hereditary evils and adds his own to them. This being so, the order of a person's life which exists by reason of what he receives at birth, and by reason of his own acts in life, is the opposite of heavenly order. For what is a person's own leads him to love self more than the Lord and to love the world more than heaven, whereas the life of heaven consists in loving the Lord above all things and the neighbor as oneself. From this it is evident that the first life, which is that of hell, must be completely destroyed, that is, evils and falsities must be removed, in order that the new life, which is that of heaven, may be implanted. This cannot possibly be done hurriedly, for every deep-rooted evil, together with its falsities, is interconnected with all other evils and their falsities. Such evils and falsities are countless, and their interconnection is so complex that it cannot be comprehended, not even by angels, only by the Lord. From this it is evident that the life of hell with a person cannot be destroyed suddenly; for if it were destroyed suddenly the person too would perish. Nor can the life of heaven be implanted suddenly, for if this were implanted suddenly the person would again perish. There are thousands and thousands of hidden ways, scarcely a single one of which is known to human beings, by which the Lord leads a person from the life of hell to the life of heaven. . . Since people know scarcely anything at all about these things many have fallen into errors concerning human deliverance from evils and falsities, which is the forgiveness of sins. They think that the life of hell with a person can be changed to the life of heaven with him in an instant, by mercy. But in actual fact mercy lies in the whole act of regeneration; and none undergo regeneration apart from those who receive the Lord's mercy in faith and life while they are in the world. (Arcana Caelestia 9336:2-3) In order for a gradual change to take place in an orderly way in our lives we must have an ear to hear the Lord calling us to change. This will take place many times through out our lives. The call of Abram represents the first awareness within our consciousness that spiritual progress needs to take place in some aspect of our lives. This call is to be distinguished from indications that we can get from our natural experience that on a more pragmatic level something we've done has hurt us or not succeeded in bringing us what we hoped for. The most evil person can still be prompted by these kind of indications. They can also bring about changes in a person's life, but they don't bring a person closer to the Lord and to heaven. The journey that the Lord was calling Abram to make is defined by the Writings as follows: "Go away from your land" means the bodily and worldly things from which He was to depart. . ."To the land which I will cause you to see" means the spiritual and heavenly things that were to be brought to view. (Arcana Caelestia 1411, 1413) The journey itself from Haran down into and partially through the land of Canaan represents a growing state of motivation to focus on and bring about change in the area of life that was first recognized in the call. This growing motivation may take place without, as yet, clearly defined ideas. In the Arcana Caelestia the primary focus of the internal sense that is explained through this story is a state of very early childhood. In fact, much of the explanation deals with the very early mental life of Jesus as a young infant. Concerning this journey we are told: The Lord had first of all to be endowed from infancy with the celestial things of love - the celestial things of love consisting in love towards Jehovah and love towards the neighbor, and in innocence itself present in those loves From these, as from the very sources of life, flows every single thing, for all other things are simply derivatives. These celestial things are implanted in a person chiefly in the state of infancy through to childhood, and in fact independently of cognitions [that is formed ideas or knowledge]; for they flow in from the Lord and stir that person with affection before he knows what love is or what affection is, as the infant state shows, and after that the state of early childhood. Those things with man are the 'remnants' . . .which are implanted by the Lord and stored away for use in his later life. Since the Lord was born as any other is born, He too was introduced according to order into celestial things, step by step from infancy on into childhood, and after that into cognitions. (Arcana Caelestia 1450) Each of us will be called by the Lord to recognize the need for change in our lives. He will draw to our attention some aspect of our thoughts or motivations that stand in the way of His life being received by us. This call is part of His deep love of our welfare. It is part of His gentle and wise care for our lives. May we have open ears to hear this call and may we respond with willingness and energy as Abram did. AMEN. Lessons: Genesis 11:31-32,12:1-9 Arcana Caelestia 1410, 1411, 1413 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible, are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. From owner-sermons-digest@newearth.org Tue Oct 5 04:05:47 1999 From: owner-sermons-digest@newearth.org (sermons-digest) Date: 5 Oct 1999 00:05:47 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] sermons-digest V1999 #31 Message-ID: <199910050405.AAA18102@newearth.org> sermons-digest Tuesday, October 5 1999 Volume 1999 : Number 031 SERMON: "Our Spiritual Investments," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden SERMON: The Call of Abram ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 03 Oct 1999 17:22:59 +0100 From: Lee Woofenden Subject: SERMON: "Our Spiritual Investments," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Our Spiritual Investments By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, October 3, 1999 Readings: Psalm 19:7-11: More precious than gold The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring for ever. The ordinances of the Lord are true and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; They are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Matthew 25:14-30: The parable of the talents The kingdom of heaven will be as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one--to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing five more talents, saying, "Master, you handed over to me five talents. Look! I have made five more talents." His master said to him, "Well done, good and trustworthy slave! You have been faithful in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master." And the one with two talents also came forward, saying, "Master, you handed over to me two talents. Look! I have made two more talents." His master said to him, "Well done, good and trustworthy slave! You have been faithful in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master." Then the one who had received one talent also came forward, saying, "Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed. So I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours." But his master replied, "You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Apocalypse Explained #193b.10: Money and investing Talents, pounds, and money symbolize the knowledge of what is true and good that we gain from the Bible. To trade, make a profit, invest, and put money in the bank means to use these things to gain for ourselves spiritual life and intelligence. Hiding them in the earth or in a napkin symbolizes merely storing them in our earthly memory--in which case, what we have is taken away from us. Sermon: You ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. (Matthew 25:27-29) Brace yourselves, because I am going to say a word that is not usually considered polite in church. Are you ready? MONEY! Now relax and take a few deep breaths. It's going to be okay. My main interest this morning is _not_ the green stuff we carry around in our wallets and purses. Still, I do want to take a swipe at this idea that money-talk is inappropriate in church. Our readings this morning are all about money. In fact, money is one of the most common subjects in the Bible--especially in the New Testament. Jesus talks about money all the time. Treasures in heaven. The hidden treasure. The pearl of great price. The temple tax. The unmerciful servant. The rich young man. The workers in the vineyard. Paying taxes to Caesar. We could go on and on. Isn't money materialistic and dirty? What does it have to do with religion? And why does the Bible talk about money so much? Let's think about it. In itself, money means very little. You can't eat it or drink it or wear it or use it to keep yourself warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It is bits of metal and pieces of paper. Not very useful. Yet ever since we hit upon the idea of using these bits of metal and pieces of paper to make it easier to trade with one another, money has been a focal point of culture. Why? Because money is our measure of _value_. More specifically, it is our measure of _material_ value. We are worth a lot of money--we are rich--when we possess or control a lot of material things and can hire many people to work for us. We are worth very little money--we are poor--when we possess and control very few material things, and when we have to do most of our work for ourselves. In the material world, money is where the rubber hits the road. We are materially comfortable when we have a lot of it, and materially uncomfortable when we don't have enough of it. This is true, not because money has any great value or usefulness in itself, but because we as a culture have agreed that it has universal value. We live in a materialistic culture, whose values we have consciously or unconsciously internalized and made a part of ourselves. So we tend to measure ourselves by how much money we have. No matter how often we say "money can't buy happiness," we still tend to assume that we would be happier if we had more money. Sometimes we even do silly things to get more money. When I was in my early twenties, I decided to try out one of those get-rich-quick chain letter schemes. I sent five dollars to the person on the top of the list, rented a mailing list, and sent the letter out to a hundred people with my own name on the bottom. The letter promised that if I did this, I would soon have thousands of dollars jamming my mailbox. It didn't quite work out that way. I did get some five dollar bills in my mailbox over the next month or so. In fact, I got almost exactly enough to cover my expenses for this hare-brained scheme! As for my labor--that was a loss. I would have done better spending the time mowing lawns. Last weekend, at the Cabinet meetings of the Swedenborgian Church, Larry and I had a different experience with money. I usually don't enjoy attending Cabinet meetings. Our job always seems to be to start with the budget everyone wants, and then cut out as much of it as we possibly can in order to arrive at a balanced budget. Not much fun. This year, it was just the opposite. Under the leadership of the Rev. Ron Brugler, President of the Swedenborgian Church, we went through a very different process. First, each of us present at the meeting spent time thinking about what is least and most important for our particular board or committee to be doing. We thought about our vision for the church, and what the committee we represented could do to further that vision. And we thought about things we are now doing that aren't contributing much to that vision. We set goals. We set priorities. And then, instead of paring down the budgets we had brought with us, we built up the budgets to accomplish some of those goals and priorities. Of course, this would not have been possible if it hadn't been for the phenomenal growth of the stock market over the past several years, and the consequent growth of our denomination's endowment fund. The difference was that this year, we decided that instead of putting most of the growth in our investments away for our church's retirement, we would use some of it to make our church stronger and younger. Instead of assuming we are in decline--and hanging on for dear life to what we have--we decided to invest some of our wealth in programs that will help make our church grow. Now you can see why I was drawn like a magnet to today's reading from the Gospels. Here are three slaves, each entrusted with a large sum of money by their master. To give you an idea of just _how_ large a sum of money it was, one "talent," in Biblical terms, was equal to what the average laborer in those days could earn in fifteen years. In other words, the one who received ten talents was getting as much as he would have earned if he had worked steadily for seventy-five years, and then received this extra-long lifetime's worth of pay all in one lump sum! Even the slave who received just one talent was still receiving fifteen years worth of pay--which is nothing to sneeze at. Yet the response of the third was very different from the first two. The first two put to work the huge sums of money that had been entrusted to them, and doubled their value. The third, acting out of fear, did not put to work the money he had received. Instead, he let it lie uselessly in the ground until his master returned. For that he was severely chastised, whereas the other two were praised and given greater responsibility--and greater joy. Now, as a parable about investing and money management, this story does have a lesson for us. Money has no value in itself, and accomplishes nothing if we let it lie idle. It is far better to put it to good use so that our material means will increase. We can do that by investing it or putting it to work in other ways. But we don't come to church to learn about investment strategies. At least, not _material_ investment strategies . . . . Jesus said: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21) Jesus was not very concerned with material wealth and poverty. But he _was_ concerned with how we invest our _spiritual_ wealth. What is the spiritual money that is ours to invest? The Psalmist tells us: "The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. . . . The ordinances of the Lord are true and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold." Swedenborg agrees: the priceless gold of the spirit is "the knowledge of what is true and good that we gain from the Bible." The Lord's teachings and commandments are the "ten talents" that our divine Master has entrusted to us. We learn them in Sunday School and church; we learn them through our parents and mentors; we learn them from our own reading and study; we learn them through the experience of living with one another. But the test is not how much we _know_. It is what we _do_ with what we know. We are like the lazy and worthless slave when we bury all of this golden spiritual knowledge in our memory--when we regard the teachings of the Bible merely as interesting knowledge, and make no attempt to put it to use in our lives. This is what we do when we spend our lives focusing on material wealth and pleasure instead of helping to build the Lord's kingdom within and around us. If we do this, in the end we will find that everything we thought we had will be taken away from us. Spiritually, we will find ourselves in the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. That is not where any of us want to be! And we _don't have to_ end out there. Because each of us has been given great treasures of knowledge in the form of the Lord's teachings as found in the Bible. And each one of us can take what we have learned--and what we continue to learn each day--and put it to work in our lives. We _can_ make our spiritual wealth grow, if we invest it wisely. We can look for ways to grow in kindness and thoughtfulness. We can look for ways to make life grow better and happier for the people around us. We can make our friendships, our relationships, grow closer and more loving as we grow in willingness to care about the other person as much as we care about ourselves. We can grow in closeness to God as we open ourselves up more and more to the endlessly rich gifts of love and wisdom that the Lord lavishes upon us. If we make the effort to invest God's precious gifts of wisdom in lives of love and service, our spiritual wealth will grow, and we will enter into the joy of our Master. Amen. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999 10:15:43 -0400 From: Eric Carswell Subject: SERMON: The Call of Abram The Call of Abram By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell September 26, 1999 Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Go away from your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you." Genesis 12:1 Abram's father Terah had moved his family from the city of Ur of the Chaldeans to the city of Haran. We do not know how long they lived there. Terah died in Haran and Abram, his wife Sarai, his nephew, Lot continued to live there. The words of the text for today's sermon carry the momentous message or call from the Lord to Abram to leave that city and go to a distant land. The Lord's words also carried the promise that Abram would become a great nation and would be blessed and would himself be a blessing to all the families of the earth. Most of us have thrilled to stories of people who have been called on a heroic mission or to accomplish some important task. Our heart is touched by the idea of someone who is motivated over a long period of time by an inner drive to accomplish a goal. The idea of living beyond a day-to-day existence can fill us with a sense of longing ourselves. Couldn't we be called on a great mission? Couldn't our lives become part of some important event? The draw of being called to some large event or some crusade is qualified by what we would have to leave behind if we followed this call. There are an incredible number of worthy causes that will seek our support including our time and talents. The idea of a great mission is exciting but a part of our mind isn't at all happy about deprivation and sacrifice. Accomplishing something great usually involves giving up some things that we rather enjoy. What has the Lord called you to do? For many people this question would evoke a puzzled response. "Called me? I'm not really sure I have been called to something that is readily describable." While there are a few people who can say, "From my early childhood I always knew that I wanted to be . . . a teacher, or an inventor, or a singer, or a very focused parent." Probably most people haven't had this kind of continuous underlying goal. Our lives have progressed less like someone who knew a distant goal and followed it relentlessly, but rather more like someone walking through unknown territory and as at each fork in the road we've looked at the options and chosen what seemed best, following that path until the next fork. The call of Abram represents the first glimmering in our mind that the Lord wants us to be different in some aspect of our lives. In a very important sense it is a Divine call to undertake a mission of eternal significance. This call can be the first dawning of the insight that "I've really am hurting myself and my usefulness with my tendency to be too influenced by the people around me." It can be the beginning of idea that "I've been spending too much of my time on less important issues and not enough on ones that are important and lasting." The Writings of the New Church define the call of Abram with the following words: The implications of "Jehovah said to Abram" meaning a first awareness of all things. . . as when in the Ancient Church someone through conscience, or through some other dictate, or through their Word, was made aware that something was so. Arcana Caelestia 1410 This first awareness or stirring of conscience may come to us as quietly as a whisper at night--so quiet that we can be aware of it for some time before we even recognize it as a distinct idea. Other times it can come to us alike a crash of thunder accompanied by a bolt of lightening that shakes us with its power. A person can have a profound insight that something absolutely needs to be paid attention to. Sometimes we think of this kind of insight as being like a criticism of something we really should have already changed. Sometimes this is the case and we have had opportunities, perhaps many opportunities to recognize a need to improve. But each time the call comes from the Lord it is talking to where we are presently in our spiritual state and inviting us to move forward--to move to something nearer the life of heaven. This call always comes because the Lord loves us and wishes us well. Whether we hear the Lord's call as the quietest whisper or if it comes to our attention far more dramatically hearing this call is an essential first step to any spiritual progress in our lives. The Lord has told us very clearly in His Word that we need to be profoundly changed if we are to be ready for heavenly life. We all must be born again. Our nature from birth is inherently flawed. It is too focused on self, on the world, on small issues, on the here and now, and not the treasures of heaven that will last forever. The Lord has told us that we must be changed from the patterns of thought and motivation with which we started our adult lives. But He has also promised that this change will take place "Little by little." (Exodus 23:30) In explaining why this is the case the Writings the following points. When a person is born he is, so far as his hereditary evils are concerned, a miniature hell. He also becomes an embodiment of hell to the extent that he draws on hereditary evils and adds his own to them. This being so, the order of a person's life which exists by reason of what he receives at birth, and by reason of his own acts in life, is the opposite of heavenly order. For what is a person's own leads him to love self more than the Lord and to love the world more than heaven, whereas the life of heaven consists in loving the Lord above all things and the neighbor as oneself. From this it is evident that the first life, which is that of hell, must be completely destroyed, that is, evils and falsities must be removed, in order that the new life, which is that of heaven, may be implanted. This cannot possibly be done hurriedly, for every deep-rooted evil, together with its falsities, is interconnected with all other evils and their falsities. Such evils and falsities are countless, and their interconnection is so complex that it cannot be comprehended, not even by angels, only by the Lord. From this it is evident that the life of hell with a person cannot be destroyed suddenly; for if it were destroyed suddenly the person too would perish. Nor can the life of heaven be implanted suddenly, for if this were implanted suddenly the person would again perish. There are thousands and thousands of hidden ways, scarcely a single one of which is known to human beings, by which the Lord leads a person from the life of hell to the life of heaven. . . Since people know scarcely anything at all about these things many have fallen into errors concerning human deliverance from evils and falsities, which is the forgiveness of sins. They think that the life of hell with a person can be changed to the life of heaven with him in an instant, by mercy. But in actual fact mercy lies in the whole act of regeneration; and none undergo regeneration apart from those who receive the Lord's mercy in faith and life while they are in the world. (Arcana Caelestia 9336:2-3) In order for a gradual change to take place in an orderly way in our lives we must have an ear to hear the Lord calling us to change. This will take place many times through out our lives. The call of Abram represents the first awareness within our consciousness that spiritual progress needs to take place in some aspect of our lives. This call is to be distinguished from indications that we can get from our natural experience that on a more pragmatic level something we've done has hurt us or not succeeded in bringing us what we hoped for. The most evil person can still be prompted by these kind of indications. They can also bring about changes in a person's life, but they don't bring a person closer to the Lord and to heaven. The journey that the Lord was calling Abram to make is defined by the Writings as follows: "Go away from your land" means the bodily and worldly things from which He was to depart. . ."To the land which I will cause you to see" means the spiritual and heavenly things that were to be brought to view. (Arcana Caelestia 1411, 1413) The journey itself from Haran down into and partially through the land of Canaan represents a growing state of motivation to focus on and bring about change in the area of life that was first recognized in the call. This growing motivation may take place without, as yet, clearly defined ideas. In the Arcana Caelestia the primary focus of the internal sense that is explained through this story is a state of very early childhood. In fact, much of the explanation deals with the very early mental life of Jesus as a young infant. Concerning this journey we are told: The Lord had first of all to be endowed from infancy with the celestial things of love - the celestial things of love consisting in love towards Jehovah and love towards the neighbor, and in innocence itself present in those loves From these, as from the very sources of life, flows every single thing, for all other things are simply derivatives. These celestial things are implanted in a person chiefly in the state of infancy through to childhood, and in fact independently of cognitions [that is formed ideas or knowledge]; for they flow in from the Lord and stir that person with affection before he knows what love is or what affection is, as the infant state shows, and after that the state of early childhood. Those things with man are the 'remnants' . . .which are implanted by the Lord and stored away for use in his later life. Since the Lord was born as any other is born, He too was introduced according to order into celestial things, step by step from infancy on into childhood, and after that into cognitions. (Arcana Caelestia 1450) Each of us will be called by the Lord to recognize the need for change in our lives. He will draw to our attention some aspect of our thoughts or motivations that stand in the way of His life being received by us. This call is part of His deep love of our welfare. It is part of His gentle and wise care for our lives. May we have open ears to hear this call and may we respond with willingness and energy as Abram did. AMEN. Lessons: Genesis 11:31-32,12:1-9 Arcana Caelestia 1410, 1411, 1413 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible, are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. ------------------------------ End of sermons-digest V1999 #31 ******************************* From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Tue Oct 12 23:35:34 1999 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 12 Oct 1999 19:35:34 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: The Blessings and Dangers of Learning Message-ID: <199910121842_MC2-88BD-9C37@compuserve.com> The Blessings and Dangers of Learning By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell October 10, 1999 So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh's house. Genesis 12:14-15 Abram obeyed the Lord's call to move his family to the land of Canaan. The Lord promised him wonderful blessings were in store as he followed this command. Abram moved his family from Haran on the long journey to Canaan and traveled well into that land. He had followed the Lord's call. He had come to Canaan. But there were not immediate blessings. In fact there was such a severe famine in the land that Abram and his family journeyed from Canaan to Egypt to find food. It may seem rather odd that Abram faced this problem. Isn't obedience to God supposed to result in good things happening to a person? It is supposed to and it does, but not always in the time-frame and way that we think it should. The Lord doesn't look at our lives in a simplistic and short-term pattern. He knows that the temporary happiness of a single state of mind or even that of a few days or weeks means almost nothing compared to what provides for our eternal welfare. That is the prize that He has His eyes most focused on. The Lord considers the tiniest details of our lives now from the perspective of what will best help us to be as useful and as happy as possible to eternity. We tend to think on a much shorter scale and wonder why things happen as they do. The New Church has as one of its foundation truths that all the stories that the Lord has revealed in the Old and New Testaments can be seen as parables or stories with a higher level of meaning than is first apparent to any reader. While we would assert that there really was a historical figure named Abram who traveled to the land of Canaan and then on to Egypt because of a famine, we would also say that every least detail of his life as recorded in Genesis has been carefully guided and chosen to chronicle the spiritual development of a human being. The story starts with Abram living in a town far distant from Canaan. The Lord appears to him there and calls him to do something that would become part of a long saga. Abram obeys. The Lord's call to Abram is the first step. It represents an event that can happen many times in each of our lives. It represents a subtle realization that something isn't what it should be in the way we are living our lives. A person can first be aware of a lurking consciousness that he is too regularly impatient with the people and situations in his life. A person can be aware that she is feeling almost habitually discouraged and sad. It could be that a person has a dawning awareness that some important relationship in his life isn't at all what is could or should be. Whenever we turn our minds to these sorts of quiet awareness as they flit through our consciousness, it is like hearing the Lord calling us to change. The journey from Haran down into and partially through the land of Canaan represents a growing state of motivation to focus on and bring about change in the area of life that was first recognized in the call. This growing motivation may take place without, as yet, clearly defined ideas. The famine in the land of Canaan that Abram faced represents this lack of definition and understanding. His call and his journey represent essential first steps in any important change that can take place within our lives, but they are only the beginning. There are two aspects to the life of our mind: caring and knowing. Other terms that reflect these two aspects are: will and understanding; love and wisdom; affection and knowledge. One without the other produces little. Caring is essential and primary. It is what directs our understanding, organizes our knowledge, focuses our attention. But by itself, it is like unharness power. Just as an automobile engine converts the power within gasoline into forward motion in a car, so knowledge and understanding provide the direction that love needs to accomplish its goal. A person can desperately want to do something but without knowing how the person's desire may produce little more than random agitated efforts. The famine in the land of Canaan represents a person lacking especially the understanding that only the Lord can bring to a person's life. It represents the ideas that the Lord can teach us about what is and isn't important; about how we are to love others; His calls to do some things and not do others. In His universal care for all human beings He has ensured that each person, no matter when and where that person is born and grows up, has the opportunity to learn that a worldly and self-centered life is to be avoided. But this most basic of ideas is hardly enough to guide the multitude of daily decisions that life in this world requires. It doesn't provide much protection against subtle forms of evil and false ideas. The Lord has revealed the Old and New Testaments and the Writings of the New Church to provide a far richer source knowledge and definition to feed our understanding and so to guide our lives. It is part of the Lord's order that human beings are born more ignorant and incapable than any other living thing. The following passage from the Arcana Caelestia reflects on the wonder of the instinctive knowledge of animals: Animals are propelled by nothing else than the loves and accompanying affections into which they have been created and afterwards born; for every animal is carried in the direction its affection and love take it. That being so, animals also have all the knowledge that ever accompanies that love. For they know from a love resembling the love that belongs to marriage how they are to mate, cattle in one way, birds in another. Birds know how they must build nests, lay eggs and sit on them, how they must hatch chicks and feed them. They know these things without any instruction, solely from a love resembling that which belongs to marriage and from a love for offspring, which loves have all that knowledge implanted in them. Similarly they know which food they must eat and how they must look for it. More than that, bees know how to look for food in flowers of various kinds, and also to gather wax to make cells with, in which first they place their offspring and after that store food. They also know how to make provision for the winter, not to mention many other things. All this knowledge is included in their loves and resides in them right from the start. Creatures are born into that knowledge because they exist in the order which belongs to their true nature and into which they have been created; and as such they are driven by a general inflow from the spiritual world. (Arcana Caelestia 6323:2) Why are we so different from animals? Why do we need to learn all of these sorts of things? The above passage continues: If the human being were living in the order into which he was created - that is to say, in love towards the neighbor and in love to the Lord, for these loves are peculiar to the human being - he would be born, pre-eminently over all animals, not only into knowledge but also into all spiritual truths and all celestial forms of good, thus into all wisdom and intelligence. For the human being is able to think about the Lord and to be joined to Him through love, and so to be raised up to what is Divine and eternal, which animals cannot be. Thus if he were living in his true order he would be governed solely by general influx from the Lord through the spiritual world. But because he is not born into his true order but into one contrary to it, he is born totally without knowledge. (Arcana Caelestia 6323:3) People have sometimes thought that humans coud by nature know what is good and right. This can lead to a hands-off approach to the education of children and teens or apathy in own own learning. But this tremendously handicaps a person's potential usefuness. Many, many times in our lives we have already recognized that we needed to learn more in order to accomplish some goal. Many times we've faced the mental famine that led us to seek more knowledge. Spiritually we have journeyed to Egypt for food. In the story of Genesis, Abram expressed a deep fear to his wife Sarai as they approached Egypt. Sarai was a very beautiful woman. Abram didn't trust the morality of the Egyptians. He feared that some man would want Sarai and seeing Abram as an obstacle to this goal would kill him. To prevent this, Abram asked Sarai to say that the two of them were brother and sister. This appeared to be a bad idea. Sarai's beauty was recognized and she was taken to Pharaoh's house. The taking of Sarai represents a natural fault to which human beings are inclined. It represents the a state of mind that becomes captivated with learning for its own sake. It represents the delight of gaining knowledge almost like a miser loves money for its own sake and not for what it is able to accomplish. This can take place in many situations large and small. Imagine you are trying to cook something and you've asked a friend who is with you in the kitchen to look up something about it in a cookbook. You really want and need the information as soon as possible. Your friend though is getting enticed by all the beautiful picture in the cookbook and is being distracted by recipes that have nothing to do with the information you need. Most of us would get exasperated in this setting. A person can get caught up with learning from the Word because he delights in the beauty of some of the phrases, or he senses a pride in knowing subtle details that he senses many others don't know. He can be pursuing learning like a young person much too concerned about saving for retirement. A person can be so focused on storing up money for the future that he lets important present needs suffer significantly. So too a person can be learning but not trying to use the knowledge as it could be in the present issues of his life. We don't prepare for heaven by the facts we have stored in our memories, but rather by the life we lead from what we've learned. The wonder of the story of Genesis is that Abram received a huge benefit from this apparent tragedy of having his wife taken from him. Following a common custom of ancient times, Pharaoh lavished many gifts of livestock and servants on Abram as the nearest relative of a woman that he was brought into his household. But all of this would have been hollow comfort for Abram. He did not however lose his wife. The Lord plagued Pharaoh's household because of Sarai and apparently Pharaoh recognized why the plagues had befallen him. He called for Abram, returned Sarai to him and scolded him saying: What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, 'She is my sister'? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way. (Genesis 12:18-19) The plagues on Pharaoh's household represents that problems that inevitably come when a person becomes captivated by learning without using the knowledge for any good purpose. Imagine a young mother who recognizes that there is much that she can learn about wise parenting. But what if she becomes consumed with reading books and magazines on parenting and raising children and actually gives relatively little attention to her little children. No doubt the little children will behave in ways that attract her attention. If she ignores the small sounds of children starting to get into trouble, far louder noises will doubtless arise. The same thing will happen in our spiritual lives if we don't apply what we're learning from the Lord. Little problems will not stay little. Quieter issues will get louder. One of the cultural qualities that we share as a group in the United States makes it less likely that we will fall into this trap. We have a long history of highly valuing practical things. We have tended to be interested in what works and suspicious of learning separated from life. But this tendency has its downside as well. It can keep us from thinking that there is any value in seeking knowledge that doesn't come to us on its own. It can have us feeling dangerously self-sufficient. In the story of Genesis the riches that Pharaoh heaped upon Abram represents the knowledge that a person can very usefully gain from a short period of being captivated with learning for its own sake. Over and over again the Lord calls us to recognize that our lives need to grow and change. He calls us to care about the need for this change. This caring will seek knowledge and understanding to give it form. Abram's sojourn in Egypt represents this time of learning. Yes, there is the danger of getting captivated by learning without using what is learned, but learning from the Lord's Word is an essential first step for anyone who wants the spiritual treasures of heavenly life. May we seek to learn from the Lord, and may we be guided by the Lord to put this knowledge to use. Day by day, He will certainly guide us and lead us to as we grow toward being the human beings and eventually the angels that He wants us to be. AMEN. Lessons: Genesis 12:10-20 Factual knowledge of ideas from the Word [is attractive]; and it also has a certain naturalness within it. This is seen with children when they first start to learn - that is to say, the higher things are, the more they desire them; and all the more so when they hear that these things are heavenly and Divine. But this delight is natural and arises from a strong desire that belongs to the external person. With others that strong desire causes them to take delight solely in factual knowledge of ideas from the Word, without any other end in view; yet that knowledge is nothing else than a certain means that exists to achieve an end, which is use. That is to say, ideas from the Word exist to serve as vessels for heavenly and spiritual things, and when they are performing that service, for the first time they have a use, and from that use receive their delight. It may become clear to anyone, if he pays the matter any attention, that in itself the knowledge of ideas from the Word exists for no other reason than that a person should become rational, and from that become spiritual, and at length heavenly, and that by means of those ideas from the Word his external person may be allied to his internal. When this point is reached he has arrived at the use itself, the internal person having nothing else in view than doing useful things. For the sake of the same end also the Lord instills the delight that childhood and youth experience in forms of knowledge. When however a person begins to take delight in knowledge alone, it is a bodily desire that carries him away; and to the extent it carries him away, that is, to the extent he takes delight in knowledge alone, to the same extent does he move away from what is heavenly, and to the same extent do the facts he knows close themselves up in the Lord's direction and become materially inclined. But insofar as facts are learned with a view to use - such as for the sake of human society, for the sake of the Lord's Church on earth, for the sake of the Lord's kingdom in heaven, and still more for the sake of the Lord Himself - the more they are opened out towards Him. Arcana Caelestia 1472 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible, are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. From leewoof@tiac.net Wed Oct 20 01:33:06 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 19 Oct 1999 21:33:06 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: 1997 sermons online Message-ID: <4.1.19991019205808.00c36f00@pop.tiac.net> Dear sermon subscribers, I am pleased to say that I have just filled in a gap in my sermons web page by posting all of my sermons from 1997. My online sermons are now complete from 1996 (when my ordained ministry began) to the present. You can find them, along with a few other assorted goodies, at: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html Comments are welcome. Enjoy! --Rev. Lee Woofenden -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From leewoof@tiac.net Wed Oct 20 01:48:30 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 19 Oct 1999 21:48:30 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "The Sabbath: A Family Event," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19991019214627.00c93c60@pop.tiac.net> The Sabbath: A Family Event By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, October 17, 1999 Readings: Mark 10:13-16: Jesus blesses the children People brought little children to Jesus to have him touch them. But the disciples scolded them. When Jesus saw this, he was angry, and said to his disciples, "Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to people who are like them. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them, and blessed them. Psalm 78:1-7: Teach our children Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a decree in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach to their children; that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and rise up and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments. Arcana Coelestia: #5598 Heavenly families In heaven, the only kind of birth they think about is the kind called "rebirth," which happens through the truth of faith and the good of kindness. By this kind of birth the children of humans become children of the Lord. . . . There is endless variety in heaven, but the differences are arranged by the Lord so that they are like families in which there are brothers, sisters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, grandsons, granddaughters, and so on. Still, they are all organized so that they make one united whole. They are like the variations within the human body, in which no part is exactly the same as any other, . . . yet all the different parts are organized into a form in which they act as a single whole. Sermon: Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. (Psalm 78:1-4) Today we are joining other churches in Bridgewater and around the country in observing a Children's Sabbath sponsored by the Children's Defense Fund. This event focuses on the needs of the children in our society, and is meant to lead to _action_ on behalf of children. The Bridgewater Council of Churches has been focusing lately on the issue of children, youth, and the Sabbath. The problem is this: whereas Sundays were once sacrosanct in our society, today, with an increasingly unchurched population, Sundays have become fair game (so to speak) for the scheduling of youth sports and other activities for our children. Even Sunday mornings are no longer immune. This is a serious problem for families who wish to take part in Sunday worship, and have their children attend Sunday School. Families are being forced to choose between practicing their faith and allowing their children to take part in their favorite sports activities. It is a difficult choice, since for many children and teens, playing sports is a highlight of their lives. For most of them, it is too much to expect that they will drop out of the team in order to take part in Sunday School. So the churches get the short end of the stick. Really, though, it is not the churches, but the children themselves and their families who get the short end of the stick. Our society, in allowing this direct competition between recreation and faith, is making it ever more likely that children will grow up without a strong and living faith in God, and that parents will not be able to fully share their faith with their children. Our ability to share our faith with the next generation--which God commands us to do, and which was once taken for granted--is now in serious jeopardy. In short, what is at stake here is not merely whether our churches can keep a Sunday School going. What is at stake is the moral and spiritual foundations of our children's lives. Although our government-run school system does strive to pass on our culture's ethical values to the children, they are forbidden to teach any _spiritual_ values due to the constitutional separation of church and state. As a result, religiously-based moral values tend not to reflected in the curriculum, either. These things are left to the families, and especially to the churches, to teach to our children and youth. Yet now, even the _churches'_ ability to give our children a moral and spiritual foundation is being compromised by competition from sports and other youth activities. Of course, another problem is our tendency these days to overschedule both ourselves and our children. For some families, Sunday morning is the only free time they have, and getting out to yet _another_ activity--namely, church--loses its appeal. This is a very sad situation. If churches cannot reach our children with a moral and spiritual message, and families do not have time to teach these values to their children, what is left is a spiritual vacuum that will be filled by the more materialistic values presented on TV, in the movies, and in our culture generally. When we add up one child here and one child there with no religious education, we come up with hundreds, then thousands, then millions of people reaching adulthood in our society with a rather vague moral compass, and with no solid faith in God as a guiding force in their lives. It is no wonder that so many people, both teens and adults, are having their lives torn down or trivialized by addiction to drugs and alcohol, by the lure of money and wealth, by status-seeking and social climbing. Now, I could keep on complaining about the erosion of spiritual values in our society. But the Children's Sabbath is meant to lead to _action_ on behalf of children. And the Bridgewater Council of Churches is sponsoring a specific action to reclaim the Sabbath for our youth and families. On the back table there is a petition in the form of an open letter which the Council of Churches has drafted as a first step toward resolving the competition between faith and recreation. We are gathering signatures on the letter, which we will present to the various people who schedule youth activities as an opening statement in what we hope will be a cooperative dialogue aimed at making sure that our children and youth can participate fully both in recreation and in church. To encourage you to sign the letter--and so that each of you won't have to take the time to read it separately, I will read it to you now: Reclaiming the Sabbath: An Open Letter Sponsored by the Bridgewater Council of Churches We, the undersigned, believe that a weekly Sabbath of rest from regular activities is essential for all children, young people, and their families. In a world that is increasingly busy both for adults and for children, our youth need time to rest, relax, and simply be themselves; and our families need time to spend together. For religious parents, passing on to their children the teachings and values of their faith is a key part of practicing their beliefs. It is also one of the foundations of a stable, happy, and healthy society. We therefore respectfully yet urgently request that the leaders of all programs for children and young people--both in and out of the schools--refrain from scheduling activities on Sundays before 1:00 PM. Leaving this time period free will ensure that most religious families will be able to take part in worship and Sabbath school programs, and that other families will have time to reconnect with one another. If there are circumstances that make it difficult to avoid scheduling on Sunday mornings, such as insufficient playing fields or other facilities, we urge that instead of taking away the ability of families to practice their faith, the obstacles themselves be addressed. For example, the construction of new playing fields and new facilities may be necessary to meet the recreational needs of the growing population in our community. We urge all who are responsible for scheduling activities for children and youth to respect the right of families to engage in worship and to spend time together. This open letter is meant to be a respectful yet challenging opening statement from the Bridgewater religious community to the people who run the various programs for children in this town. (And yes, people who live outside of Bridgewater can sign. If you are here in church, you are part of the Bridgewater religious community!) We hope that it will be the beginning of a process that will eventually make it so that children, youth, and their families do not have to choose between religion and recreation. Of course, this open letter also implies a challenge to the Bridgewater religious community. We must be willing to listen as well as talk, and to find out what the issues are on the other side of the fence. If there are real problems that are causing events to be scheduled on Sunday--such as insufficient playing fields--we will be most effective in our initiative if we are willing to work with secular youth leaders to correct those problems. However, I believe that we have an even deeper challenge ahead of us. There _are_ an exceptional few young people and families who will choose church over sports if they are forced to make that choice. But in general, these days sports and recreation win hands down over church. What is more, some secular youth leaders apparently do not have a sense that young people's participation in family religious activities is important enough that they cannot interfere with it. In short, we live in a culture that does not put a high value on giving its children and youth a spiritual foundation to their lives. Once again, we could complain about the lack of spiritual values in our society. But doing so won't accomplish much. It is far more constructive to seek out ways that we can raise the value of the spiritual foundation that our church is offering, and at the same time make it more attractive. We can seek positive ways to change the community attitude toward children's participation in religious activities. We may think that we could never compete with all the other things that are going on in the lives of children and young people these days. Yet we and other churches do attract families that attend the Sunday School programs we offer. If these parents did not believe in the value of a religious upbringing for their children, and if their children did not enjoy the Sunday School and other programs we provide for them, they would not come back week after week. When it comes to teens, many of them will give up a lot of other activities--even paying work!--to attend one of our Youth Retreats. Why? Because these programs for children and youth reach out to them in ways they can't get anywhere else. They provide religious instruction and give our children and young people spiritual values in a way that is engaging and fun, and also emotionally satisfying. As a congregation and a as religious community, we do have successes to build on when it comes to passing on our spiritual values to our children and youth. Our challenge is to bring the spirit and joy of the Lord ever more fully into everything we do here. Our challenge is to make this church a place where the Sabbath is truly a Spirit-filled family event--one that people young and old would not miss for all the world! Amen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Fri Oct 22 22:35:44 1999 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 22 Oct 1999 18:35:44 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: Learning Leads to New Choices Message-ID: <199910221758_MC2-8A0E-AE7C@compuserve.com> Learning Leads to New Choices By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell October 17, 1999 Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. (Genesis 13:6-7) This is the third in a series of sermons about the spiritual journey each of us is to follow on our way to heaven. The series follows the story of Abram's life as recorded in the book of Genesis. The first sermon was on the call of Abram when the Lord told him to leave the city of Haran and travel a long distance to the land of Canaan. The Lord promised him wonderful blessings for obeying this call. It represents an event that can happen many times in each of our lives. It represents a subtle realization that something isn't what it should be in the way we are living our lives. A person can first be aware of a lurking consciousness that he lacks the wisdom and judgment that he needs to better serve his loved ones. A person can be aware that she spends way too much time fretting and fuming over relatively trivial inconveniences. It could be that a person has a dawning awareness that some important role in his life isn't at all what is could or should be. Whenever we turn our minds to these sorts of quiet awareness as they flit through our consciousness, it is like hearing the Lord calling us to change. Abram's journey to Canaan represents the growing strength of motivation to attend to what needs to be changed. The second sermon dealt with the famine in the land of Canaan that forced Abram and his family to journey to Egypt. This famine represents the lack of knowledge or understanding that inevitably faces a person when he or she is first recognizing some need for change. Caring about the need for change is an essential first step, but caring by itself is like undirected and un-contained energy that is rapidly dispersed, accomplishing little. Abram journeyed to Egypt looking for food. This represents a person learning or reflecting on what he has already learned. It especially refers to a person learning those things from the Lord's Word that he would never recognize on his own. The power of our God-given intellectual abilities to learn and reflect is tremendous, but there is also a danger carried within learning. Abram feared that some man seeing the beauty of his wife would kill him to take her. He asked that she say she was his sister. As it turned out, her beauty was recognized and Pharaoh takes her to his palace. The taking of Sarai by Pharaoh represents a person getting so captivated by the learning that it becomes an end in itself to the detriment of the useful things that person should be getting to in his or her life. As it were the goal gets forgotten in the preparation. But there is a benefit hidden within this state. In the story Abram, as Sarai's brother, was given many rich gifts by Pharaoh. Times of focused learning can provide a rich and broad array of knowledge to guide our thinking. In the story Pharaoh's household was plagued because he had taken Sarai and Pharaoh apparently recognized what had happened and returned Sarai, untouched, to Abram. These plagues represent the aspects of our lives that will suffer if we become captivated by learning without sufficiently using what we've learned. When Abram left Egypt to return to Canaan with Sarai, his nephew Lot, and the rest of his household he was far richer than he had been when he had arrived there. But, as the story continues, this very wealth is the source of a new problem. Not only is Abram rich in livestock, but so also is Lot. As they travel together there is insufficient watering spots and good grass for all the livestock. Strife breaks out between some of Abram's herdsmen and some of Lot's herdsmen. Lot, his wealth, livestock, and herdsmen, represent the life of our mind that most immediately arises from our five senses as described in the following passage from the Arcana Caelestia: 'Lot' represented things of the senses, by which are meant the external person and the pleasures he derives from sensory things, thus the most external things which usually captivate the mind in childhood and lead it away from the things that are good. For to the extent a person indulges in pleasures arising from evil desires he is drawn away from the heavenly things that belong to love and charity. Indeed, present within those pleasures there is love originating in self and in the world, and with those loves heavenly love cannot accord. Besides these however there are pleasures which, despite having similar external appearance, do accord completely with celestial things. . . . Pleasures however that have their origins in evil desires must be brought under control and wiped out because they block the approach to celestial things. It is these pleasures, not those that accord with celestial things, that are meant in this chapter by Lot's separation from Abram. (Arcana Caelestia 1547) The Writings of the New Church state that there are two major barriers to a person becoming truly heavenly. These two are described as follows: There are with a person two things which prevent his becoming heavenly; one belongs to the understanding part of his mind, the other to the will part. Belonging to the understanding part are the useless or empty facts which he absorbs in childhood and adolescence; belonging to the will part are the pleasures arising out of the evil desires which he inclines to. (Arcana Caelestia 1542) Lot represents these pleasures that can lead us astray. Think of a child who is so enticed by getting a cookie that he will do almost anything to get it. He may fear punishment and/or a negative reaction from a parent, but he hopes not to be caught. Lot can represent a person being too concerned with wearing the right clothes, having the right car, with eating or eating the right foods. It is the quality represented by Lot that can keep a person warmly snuggled into bed repeatedly hitting the snooze button on the alarm when there are more important things to be done. It is the quality represented by Lot that motivates a person to watch television shows and movies that are relatively mindless or even rather corrupting providing they entertain or titillate. If a person never reflects or doesn't know enough to be able to reflect external pleasures represented by Lot will drive aspects of a person's life. But once a person has been educated and especially learned what the Lord wants us to focus our lives on he can no longer mindlessly pursue what feels good and brings contentment. Choices are forced on him. Sometimes the learning that a person needs comes from experience. A person can slowly slide into spending habits that far exceed his income. At first the problem may not be very apparent, but eventually he will face an overwhelming debt. This should lead him to reflect on how that debt arose. He can lead him to realize that he needs to look to a fundamental change in his spending habits. Sometimes the learning comes from the Lord's Word as in the following words from Matthew, familiar to many of you: Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21) A person can set her heart on an earthly treasure, for example a clean and orderly kitchen, and over and over again she will find that the course of its being used leaves it far from clean and orderly. Imagine though a person who has such a beautiful kitchen and so hates to see it messed up that she allows it to be used as little as possible. But if this keeps her children from experiencing the joy and usefulness of learning how to cook and stands in the way of the kitchen being one of the happy family gathering places, think of what is lost. Once a person has learned that there is an alternative to old behaviors choice will be required of him. He or she cannot simultaneously hold onto the old choices with their pleasures and fulfill the call for a higher goal and use. Something has to win out. As the Lord observed: No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Matthew 6:24) The conflict between Abram's herdsmen and Lot's represents the impossibility of simultaneously serving both the corrupt sensual pleasure of the external person and the call of a higher life. Abram spoke to Lot offering him a choice of which way he wanted to go separate from Abram. The Arcana Caelestia observes the following about his words: Here the internal person addresses the external person, or rather addresses these things in the external person which do not agree with the internal, addressing them in the way that a person is accustomed to do when he detects some evil present in himself from which he wishes to be separated, as happens in times of temptation and conflict. It is the well known experience of those who have undergone temptations and conflicts to detect within themselves things that disagree, from which they cannot be separated as long as conflict exists. Yet they still desire such a separation; indeed they sometimes desire it so much that they are furious with that evil and want to drive it out. (Arcana Caelestia 1580) For many people all of these ideas would seem as nonsense. They would have no idea of the difference between the internal human and the external. The reason for this is given as follows: What it is that severs the external man from the internal, the individual does not know; and there are a number of reasons for his not knowing. For one thing he does not know of - or if he has heard of, does not believe in - the existence of the internal man. And for another thing he does not know - or if he has heard, does not believe - that self-love and its desires are what cause the severance, also the love of the world and its desires, though not so much as self-love. The reason he does not know of - or if he has heard of, does not believe in - the existence of the internal man is that the life he leads is immersed in things of the body and the senses, which cannot possibly see what is interior. Interior things are able to see that which is exterior, but exterior things cannot possibly see what is interior. (Arcana Caelestia 1594) In the story Lot looks about and sees the rich and green land around Sodom and Gomorrah and chooses to go that direction. For anyone who knows the fiery destruction that will befall those two cities this choice has to carry an ominous feeling to it. But the quality represented by Lot cannot help but make bad choices. This is why it is so important that it not direct our life. This is why the Lord calls us to seek His help in fighting its urges and supporting ideas. Sometimes a person can have a sense that life was simpler when he was relatively ignorant. He could pretty much follow his whims and then shrug at the consequences as being inevitable--or someone else's fault and/or problem. But once we've recognized the possibility of a higher and more useful life we are faced with choices. Making ever wiser choices day-by-day is what helps to form a basis for a far more useful, happy, and peaceful life. But at first there will be strife and discontent. May we seek to ever better understand the spiritual pathway that the Lord would lead us on toward the life of heaven. May we learn ever better what He wants us to do and not do. May we use this knowledge to make good choices. Through it all may we ever trust that the Lord will be there to guide us and strengthen us. He will guide us ever homewards. AMEN. Lessons: Genesis 13 Matthew 6:19-24 That 'the land was unable to bear them, that they might dwell together' means that the things which belonged to the heavenly internals could not remain together with the [external things of the person], that is to say, with those things meant here by 'Lot' . . . 'Lot' represents the external, and at this point the things that had to be separated from the external person, with which things internals could not dwell together. In the external person there are many things with which the internal person is able to dwell together, such as affections for good and the delights and pleasures arising from them, for those delights and pleasures are the effects of the goods of the internal person and of his joys and happiness. . .Take, for example, charity: when this shines out of the face, it is produced not by the face but by the charity within that so controls the face and produces the effect. . . . From these considerations it is clear that many things exist with the external person which are able to dwell or accord with the internal. But there are also many things which do not accord, that is, with which the internal person is unable to dwell, namely all that streams forth from self-love and love of the world; for everything resulting from these loves regards self or the world as its end in view. With these, heavenly things that go with love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor cannot agree, for heavenly things regard the Lord as the end in view, and His kingdom and all that belongs to Him and His kingdom similarly as ends. The ends which self-love and love of the world have in view look to things of a more external or lower kind, whereas those which love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor have in view look to things of a more internal or higher kind. From these considerations it becomes clear that they are too discordant ever to remain together. Arcana Caelestia 1568 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible, are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. From leewoof@tiac.net Sat Oct 23 22:39:09 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 23 Oct 1999 18:39:09 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Renewing Our Relationships," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19991023140547.00ce8410@pop.tiac.net> Renewing Our Relationships By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, October 10, 1999 (Transcribed from audio tape) Readings: Psalm 133 The blessings of unity How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down upon the beard, Running down on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Mount Hermon, which falls upon the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, which is life forevermore. John 15:1-17 Vine and branches I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. This is my command: love one another. Divine Love and Wisdom #47 What is love? The true nature of love is not loving ourselves, but loving others, and being joined with others through love. The essence of love is also being loved by others. This is how we are united with one another. The essence of every love is joining together. This applies to love's life, which we call pleasure, charm, delight, sweetness, blessedness, prosperity, and happiness. Love is giving of ourselves to others, and feeling another person's joy as joy in ourselves. Sermon: Behold, how good and how pleasant it is when kindred dwell together in unity! (Psalm 133:1) Our sermon is going to be a little bit different this morning because given the Youth Retreat and preparing for that, it was difficult to find time to write all of this down. But beyond that, I wanted to bring you something of the spirit of our Youth Retreat this morning. So what I'm going to do is present to you a shortened version of a session that we did with the teenagers yesterday evening. I'm happy to report that the teens are having a wonderful time there. And I'm especially happy to report that they were so into this topic of "Interpersonal Relationships" that our session last night went for an hour and a half instead of the hour that was scheduled, and nobody was making a move to get up. So the retreat is going very well! I'm not going to preach for an hour and a half this morning, but I will try to bring you some of the thoughts that I brought to the young people yesterday at the retreat. In particular, my focus this morning is on growing and renewing our relationships. Because relationships are not static; they're growing, living things. As we all know when we go through different things with people, our relationships with people change: we learn more about them, we grow, and that is part of the wonder of being in relationships with other people--that they are growing and living things. Now, what I'd like to present to you this morning is one model for bringing our relationships to the next step--for moving forward and growing, not just willy-nilly, but _intentionally;_ making a decision that "I'm going to move this relationship forward." The model that I'm going to bring you this morning is not the only one available. But it is one that we find in our church's teachings--in Swedenborg's writings. I'd like to read you, from the newly reprinted version of _The Heavenly City_, just a few numbers about the process of regretting and giving up our faults. That sounds a little negative, but we're going to put it in a positive light as we go along. This is #159-61 from _The Heavenly City_. Swedenborg writes: LW> If we want to be set free, we have to recognize our faults and LW> regret them. We recognize our faults when we learn what sorts of LW> things are wrong, see them in ourselves, admit them, take LW> responsibility for them, and criticize ourselves for them. When LW> we do this in front of God, we are recognizing our faults. We LW> regret our faults when, once we have admitted them and asked LW> with a humble heart for help in giving them up, we stop acting LW> on them and start living a new life in harmony with the rules of LW> kindness and faith. What I'd like to do for you this morning is boil that down to a four step process. We like to have these things done in steps, so we can say one, two, three, four . . . . It's not as though we actually _finish_ this process--it's a lifelong and eternal process. But it helps to have some idea of where we're coming from and where we're going. And to give you the overall picture, this is a model that focuses on overcoming the blockages--the things that prevent us from being in deeper relationship with one another. The first step for doing that is building our ideals of relationship. In this particular passage Swedenborg talks about learning what sorts of things are wrong. In other places he says that the first thing we need to do when we develop spiritually is to learn what's right and wrong. In our Sunday School class this morning we talked about going down to Egypt, and how Egypt represents learning, especially learning _spiritual_ knowledge: knowledge from the Bible; knowledge from Church and Sunday School--all the things that we need to know in order to live a spiritual life. We have to _learn_ these things because when we first start, we really don't know. We don't know how you go about living a spiritual life. When we go into a relationship, we _can_ just go into it willy-nilly and say "I'm going to hook this thing up." But it works a lot better if we have an ideal in our mind and in our heart of what we want this relationship to be. At the retreat we spend quite a while (what I thought would be the first half of the session, but what turned out to be the first _third_ of the session), writing down on the board different things that we see as ideals in relationships. We also did another column of things that we need to avoid. That's learning what's right and wrong. In the session we did it interactively: I asked the kids and they gave ideas. I want to bring you a few of the things they wrote down, which were some of their ideals for what they wanted in their relationships. There were things like _trust:_ being able to trust the other person. There was _communication:_ being able to share. When you have that trust, you can share things with the other person that you couldn't share if you didn't have that trust. So they also wrote down a sense of _caring_ for one another: that if you share something with the other person, instead of putting you down for it, they will sympathize with you and help you. If it's something that you're having difficulty with, something that's really hurting you at the time, they will help you to overcome it. So there's a sense of _compassion_ and _helping_ in that relationship. They talked about wanting to have _fun_ in the relationship. It's important to be able to laugh sometimes and have fun and enjoy yourself and realize that life isn't all serious--that we're meant to have those Sabbaths of rest. In terms of our living, Sabbaths of just enjoying life together and having fun. They also mentioned having _common interests:_ that some of the things you like are also things that they like, so that you can share with that other person or those other people the things that you enjoy. They talked about maybe going to movies or liking the same books, or liking the same sports. We had a couple teens there who, every time we had a break, they'd get out their Field Hockey sticks and whack the ball around the field. They were sharing common interests and activities with one another. These are some of the things that they mentioned as their ideals for relationships. There were a number of others as well. On the negative side, on the "don'ts" or things to avoid, they talked about criticizing; they talked about not listening (and so on the positive side there was _listening_ to the other person); they talked about talking behind others' backs, sharing secrets, and hurting people in that way; they talked about _not_ trusting. They talked about a lot of different things that are blockages to relationships, which end out breaking up and destroying our relationships. So this is the very first step that we need in order to be conscious and intentional about growing in our relationships. What are our ideals? What do we want this relationship to look like? What _should_ a relationship be like? And on the other hand, what are the things we want to avoid? In Swedenborgian or Christian terms, this is learning what's good and evil in relationships. This is the foundation on which we build. Now, the next step is to take a look at the ideal we have and identify places in our relationships with the other people or person that we're thinking about where we don't quite reach our ideals. In every relationship there are good and bad parts. Some people say, "We should just always focus on the good, and not pay any attention to the bad." But paying attention to the bad at least _sometimes_ is where we manage to grow. We need to rejoice for the good, but we also need to recognize that in some areas we fall short. Perhaps, as in the example that I used at the retreat, we have a hard time saying "I'm sorry." Perhaps we sometimes do things that hurt the other person. And we feel, "If I say 'I'm sorry,' they're going to say, 'I told you so, you dummy!'" And then we're going to feel bad. And so we hold it in and we don't apologize when we really _need_ to apologize for something. Maybe the other person is thinking the same thing--they felt bad about it too. And now we have these two people, both wanting to apologize, but neither one of them has quite taken that step. Then we realize, "Now wait a minute. My ideal is to be open and honest with my partner, and to be thoughtful and caring. And here I am not even willing to apologize for that thing I said or did." There's a break here. There's a dichotomy between my ideal for this relationship and what is actually happening. So we've identified a problem. Of course, it will be all different things for different people. This is just an example. But when we compare our ideals with what is actually happening, we'll find places where we fall a little bit short. One of Swedenborg's helpful of pieces advice here is: Don't try to do the whole thing all at once! Don't try to say, "I'm just this terrible, awful person. I've got all these problems and there is no way I can ever be in a healthy relationship." Just pick one or two things that you want to work on--things that you think you can deal with. There may be things that are just too hard for you to work on at this particular time. Don't set yourself up for loss and defeat right at the beginning. Pick a smaller one where you think you can make some progress, and identify it. That is, then, step two: to _identify the problems in ourselves._ And that's important. It's easy to identify problems in the _other_ person. But that's not where we can have our best effect. Because we really can't change the other person. But we _can_ change the way _we_ are acting in the relationship, and we can change our own attitudes. Usually when we do . . . usually if we decide "Well, I _am_ going to apologize," and if we go to the other person--yes, every once in a while they do say, "Yeah! See, you dummy!"--but most of the time the other person is feeling bad too, and they say, "Well, I'm sorry, too," and you make up in the relationship, and things can move on. Usually the other person responds. But we can take the first step. And that is step three: to _take personal responsibility_ for our place in this relationship. As long as we're blaming the other person and saying _"They've_ got to change," that means that we've given away our own power and ability to make a difference. We don't have to say, "I'm a terrible person." We don't have to do the guilt trip thing. But we have to say, "I'm going to take responsibility for what's going on here . . . for _my part_ in what's going on here." Responsibility is a positive word. It's saying "I'm going to take to myself, with the Lord's help, the power to make a difference for good in this relationship. And if there's any place where I've been wrong--where I've been making a mistake--I'm going to try to make amends for that. And if there's any way that I can be better and more thoughtful and caring in this relationship, I'm going to do that no matter _what_ the other person does. Because it's the right thing to do. So the third step is to take responsibility, at least for _our part_ in the relationship. And that give us the power, from the Lord, to make a difference--a _good_ difference--in this relationship. So we've started with an _ideal_ for the relationship, we've moved to _comparing_ the reality to the ideal and seeing where we're falling a little short, and we've moved to taking _responsibility_ for those parts and deciding that we want to do something about it. And then what I have written down here is the second step three, but it is actually step four: to _make the changes_. If we need to change our attitudes--if our attitude is that the other person has to apologize first, that's an attitude that is going to keep making breaks in our relationships. If we say, "I'm going to apologize because it's the right thing to do, and because that can help this relationship, and because it is caring, then we've changed our attitudes. And we change our _actions_ when we actually go and apologize to the person. We have to make the actual change. It may not be easy. We may have to drag ourselves over to the other person and we may mumble it through our lips at first. But when we make ourselves actually take the steps and make the change, that is, in a sense, the final step. That's where the rubber hits the road. That's where the benefits start to come in. So we have to go ahead and do the change. And of course, one of the greatest helps for doing this is to ask the Lord for help. To pray and say, "Lord, you know I would like to do so-and-so, and this is the way I usually do it. Help me to be a little bit different now. Give me the strength and give me the inspiration to take this step in this relationship that I need to take. So we ask the Lord for help. We may also need to ask other people for help. If it's a difficult problem and we can't handle it by ourselves, we may need to go to a counselor. We may need to talk to our wife or husband if it's somebody outside of that relationship. We may need to go to some special friend and say, "I need your help now. I'm dealing with a difficult problem. Would you just give me a little help and support." So asking for help is very important. And the wonderful thing about this is that it is part of building relationships. We're not meant to just tough it out all by ourselves and bust our way through. The whole point of all of this is to build connections; to build union with one another; to join together with other people. That's what Swedenborg talks about in our reading from _Divine Love and Wisdom:_ that the essence of love, the very nature of love, is to join together with other people from love; to give of ourselves to them; and to feel their joy as joy in ourselves. So when we reach out to another person and ask for their help, we're making a deeper relationship with them. We're trusting them with one of our problems, with one of our issues or difficulties. And that builds a relationship with them. And when we reach out to the Lord, we're also building that relationship with the Lord that can be with us all of our lives, growing and building all the time. Just to look back for a minute: * Step 1: Build our ideals of relationship. It's a matter of learning and visioning for what we want this relationship to be. * Step 2: Identify certain specific places where we're falling short, and where we think we can make a difference--where we think we can make some changes. * Step 3: Take personal responsibility. Say, "This is something _I_ need to do something about." * Step 4: Pray to the Lord, and with his help make the changes in our lives. If we fall down sometimes in this step, don't beat ourselves over the head and be guilty about it. Pick up again and start over again where we left off. But _make the changes_. Then we will be able to move to the Sabbath state. We talked about four steps here. We could have done it in seven if we wanted. At the end of this work, there is a Sabbath of rest. There is a "reward," in a sense. There is a feeling--a wonderful feeling--that this relationship has gone somewhere _new;_ that we have built a deeper connection with one another. Within ourselves there is a new strength because we realize, "I, with the Lord's help and with my friends' help, have overcome something that's been a problem for a while. And I am actually _able to do_ this." So the next time we face something, maybe a little bit harder, we have a winning track record that we can go from, to say "I managed to take care of that last one with the Lord's help. Now I think I can handle this next one, too." So we gain strength within ourselves to face the different issues that come to us. We also become a person that others can come to when _they_ need help. Because now we've struggled our way through, we've asked for help, we've gone through the process, we've made some progress. And people see that in us. They recognize that this is a person who is really working to be helpful and loving and caring and kind. We become people that others can come to as well when they need help. That also builds our relationships, because now we have this deeper connection with all these people that we may have only known on the surface before. So there are wonderful things that come from this process. And I would say that the most wonderful is that we not only make deeper relationships with one another and make progress in that area, but we also bring God consciously into all of our relationships. When our relationships are really a triangle with the two people (or a quadrangle, or however many people) and God present in them, then they are always going to grow. Because God is the greatest ideal that we can have for our relationships. And so I would like to leave you with the words of Jesus: "This is my commandment: that you love one another, just as I have loved you" (John 15:12). Amen. From leewoof@tiac.net Sun Oct 24 23:15:46 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 24 Oct 1999 19:15:46 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Serving With Joy," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19991024172527.00d757f0@pop.tiac.net> Serving With Joy By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, October 24, 1999 Readings: Deuteronomy 28:1-6, 15-19, 47, 48: Blessings and curses If you obey the Lord your God by carefully observing all his commandments that I am commanding you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your livestock, both the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading bowl will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.... But if you do not obey the Lord your God by carefully observing all his commandments and decrees, which I am commanding you today, then all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. Your basket and your kneading bowl will be cursed. The fruit of your womb will be cursed, the fruit of your ground, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.... Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and with gladness of heart for the abundance of everything, therefore you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and lack of everything. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. Luke 10:1-9, 16-20: Jesus sends out the seventy After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!' And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'"... "Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me." The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Yet do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." The Heavenly City #104: The joy of kindness Kindness is an inner desire that makes us want to do good things even if we do not get anything in return. It is the joy of our life to do them. When we do good things from this inner desire, there is kindness in everything we think, say, want, and do. You could even say that as people or as angels, when we think of goodness as our friend, we _are_ kindness in our inner self. Sermon: Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and with gladness of heart for the abundance of everything, therefore you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. (Deuteronomy 28:47, 48) What a tough text to start out a sermon on "Serving With Joy"! The Bible does have a way of jarring us out of our complacency. Sometimes we do like to complain about this and that--our financial woes, our aches and pains, our missed opportunities. But the fact is, compared to just about any time and place throughout human history, we've got it pretty good these days. We live in a wealthy country where even most poor people can survive reasonably well. We enjoy freedoms that are rare in history, and in much of the world. We have riches of science, knowledge, and intellect far beyond anything our grandparents could have imagined. Even more, we live in a time when the greatest riches of all--the riches of love and compassion--are growing in value. These days, even _men_ are becoming more sensitive . . . at least, _some_ of them are! The Lord our God has given us an abundance of everything--material, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual. It is natural for us to take these gifts for granted. Once we have achieved a certain level of material or emotional comfort, we get used to it. It becomes a part of the furniture. And we forget that _everything_ we have is a gift and a blessing from the Lord. We forget that it is the Lord who keeps every single little thing in existence every minute of every day. We forget that if the Lord were not continually giving us these gifts new every moment, they would instantly vanish, and we would have nothing. We forget . . . except when we lose a blessing that we had taken for granted. When we lose a job or a relationship or a loved one, then we know by that absence the blessing which the Lord had been giving us each day. Our Old Testament reading makes it sound as though the Lord punishes us for our lack of joy and thankfulness in all the divine gifts we have received: "Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and with gladness of heart for the abundance of everything, therefore you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and lack of everything. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you." Yet underneath the stern warnings and threats, there is God's love for us and God's concern that if we get complacent and take our blessings for granted--that if we forget to _use_ the good things we have been given by serving God and one another with gladness and joy--we will lose the Lord's blessings eternally. We will lose them because we have not stored them up in our hearts, minds, and lives, which is the only way anything can become eternal for us. So God gives us passages in the Bible such as these in order to jar us out of our complacency and get us back on track spiritually. For it _is_ true that if we do not serve the Lord our God joyfully and with gladness of heart, we _will_ serve our enemies--the enemies of apathy and ungratefulness, jealousy and bitterness that take over our lives when we do not appreciate and enjoy the gifts of God. We will serve these enemies while hungering for the appreciation and kindness of others--which we are continually driving away. We will serve them while thirsting for an understanding of why our life has gone so sour--an understanding that continually eludes us. Sooner or later, as we serve these inner enemies, we will find ourselves emotionally naked when our hidden bitterness and jealousy become clearly exposed to the people around us. Even in the midst of material and spiritual riches, we will serve our spiritual enemies with a feeling that we lack everything; that we have nothing at all; that everything we _do_ have is worthless. Now, I want you to know that I speak from some experience. As I was growing up, I acquired nicknames as easily as Rajneesh acquired Rolls Royces. One of my nicknames was "Eyore," after Winnie the Pooh's four-legged friend who was always moping about this or that. I'm afraid that in my case, nickname was well-earned. At one stage in my life, there wasn't a silver lining for which I couldn't find a cloud. If I found a quarter, well, you couldn't buy much for a quarter anyway. If I won a game of chess, so what--I was sure I'd lose the next one. If someone said a nice word to me, I wondered what they wanted from me. There was no reason I couldn't have a perfectly nice day . . . but I'd made other plans. When we're caught up in that kind of thinking, God does not need to bring calamities upon us; we bring them on ourselves! We become experts in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Even if we experience material success, inwardly we feel as if life has cheated us. We conclude that life just isn't fair. Yet all of this negativity really isn't necessary. When we find ourselves getting too wrapped up in our own woes, there is a simple solution: do something for someone else! There is no better way to get our mind off our own problems than by focusing our attention on the needs and the happiness of those around us. This is the positive side of our reading from Deuteronomy. If we _do_ obey the Lord our God by observing his commandment to love and serve one another, then all of the curses we have experienced will turn into blessings. It is hard to feel bitter and jealous when we are truly thinking about another person's needs and happiness. When we look outside ourselves and pay real attention to the people around us, we find that they have their difficulties and struggles just as we do. We discover, to our amazement, that God has _not_ singled us out for special hardships after all! We find that we are a part of this web of human life; that we share both our struggles and our joys with the other people whom God has created to be with us. When, instead of looking for ways to make ourselves feel better, we look for ways to be of service to the people around us, both our attitude toward life and our effectiveness as people changes. Wilson Van Dusen sums up this contrast beautifully in his booklet, _Uses, A Way of Personal and Spiritual Growth:_ Swedenborg makes a subtle distinction that has to do with our purposes. We have two shoe repairmen, both making a living at this trade. One has as his aim making the most money. He cuts corners on materials and workmanship. He has to grind out as many repairs as possible. The second also is concerned with profit, but he enjoys meeting customers, talking of shoe problems, and he enjoys his craft. The aim of the first is _his_ profit above the customer's welfare. The aim of the second is profit _through_ the customer's welfare. This is the difference between hell and heaven. If you visited these two shops, you probably would quickly sense the difference. If we sent in a shoe repair expert, he could probably find the difference in the repaired shoes. This moves us along to the next stage in our progress toward serving with joy. It is not enough simply to go out and do something for someone. If in our job our work around the house we are simply seeking our own welfare and advancement, we will feel none of the blessings of serving others. It is only when we are thinking of the welfare of others that being useful can lift us out of ourselves and our own problems, and start carrying us toward the blessings of heavenly community even while we are here on earth. This is one of the reasons that all too often, the work we do to make our living or to take care of our household is flat, boring, and unsatisfying. We have neglected the most vital and living part of service: keeping the purpose in our heart of serving other people's needs and helping to make them happy. Even if we are involved in work that, from an external view, is repetitive drudgery, our satisfaction in doing it can leap upwards if we keep in mind the good results for others of our work. Cleaning the house becomes a sacred task when we are thinking of the comfort of those who live in the house. Agricultural work becomes a sacred task when we think of people enjoying the food we are growing, and having healthy bodies as a result. Any trade, profession, or task can be a sacred calling if we focus on the welfare of those served by the work we do. And when the welfare of others is our primary motive, we will continually do a better job of _whatever_ we are doing, since we will continually be looking for ways to serve better. As we devote our lives to this pursuit of better and deeper service, we will gradually begin to discover the kind of service that gives us the most joy. As Van Dusen writes: If you don't know your highest use, it can be found eventually while exploring uses in whatever needs to be done. You are nearing your highest use when you come on uses that you can hardly help performing because they give such pleasure. These uses are the high points of life. To borrow a phrase from Joseph Campbell, the path of "following our bliss" is one of looking for ways that we can be of more and more service to those around us, giving joy both to ourselves and to those we are serving. It is a path of serving the Lord our God joyfully and with gladness of heart for the abundance of everything that the Lord has given us. If we do this, the words of Jesus will come true spiritually in our own lives. We will tread on the snakes and scorpions of material snags and sorrows, and have power over our inner enemies of bitterness and jealousy, so that nothing can hurt our spirits. And we will rejoice, not just because we have gained power over these damaging spiritual forces, but because our names are written in heaven. There, we can spend eternity serving one another with joy--a joy that we have already discovered in our daily tasks here on earth. Amen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From leewoof@tiac.net Mon Nov 1 01:42:12 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 31 Oct 1999 20:42:12 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Angels and Devils," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19991031183018.00c65440@pop.tiac.net> Angels and Devils By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, October 31, 1999 (Transcribed from Audio Tape) Readings: Genesis 50:15-20: Evil turned to good When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?" So they sent word to Joseph, saying, "Your father left these instructions before he died: 'This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.' Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father." When their message came to him, Joseph wept. His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. "We are your slaves," they said. But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended evil, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done: the saving of many lives. Matthew 13:24-30: The parable of the weeds Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like someone who sowed good seed in the field. But while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed ears, then the weeds also appeared. "The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?' "'An enemy did this,' he replied. "The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' "'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'" Divine Providence #251: Why does God permit evil? Since the time of the very earliest humans, symbolized by Adam and his wife, the love that is the life of humankind has become one that desires to rule over other people, and eventually over everything; and also to possess all the wealth of the world, and eventually all the wealth there is. These two loves cannot be kept in chains, since it is in harmony with divine providence that we are all allowed to act in freedom according to our rationality. Also, if bad things were not allowed to happen, the Lord could not lead us out of evil, so that we could be reformed and saved. For unless evils were allowed to surface, we would not see them; therefore we would not acknowledge them, and so we could not be led to resist them. Because of this, evil cannot be suppressed by any act of providence. If it were, it would remain shut in, and like a disease such as cancer or gangrene, would spread and destroy our entire life. For from birth we are like a little hell--and between this hell and heaven there is never-ending conflict. And the Lord cannot lead us out of our hell unless we see that we are in hell, and want to be led out of it. Sermon: Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended evil, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done: the saving of many lives. (Genesis 50:19, 20) This passage is a reference to the fact that Joseph's brothers had sold him into slavery in Egypt. They had intended that for evil because they were jealous of their brother. And yet, by that happening, Joseph was able to lead the Egyptians to store away grain for the years of famine, and therefore save the lives of thousands of people. So the brothers had intended it for evil, but the Lord had intended it for good. Today is Halloween, and I put a couple of pictures on the front of your service bulletin: one of a little angel, and one of what you might call a little devil. It always used to bother me that a lot of the Halloween costumes were these evil figures: ghouls and goblin and aliens that are going to come and take over the human race. I thought, "What kind of a holiday is this where we dress up our kids as all these awful characters?" Of course, there were some nice characters too, but still, when you see all those little devils running around, you kind of wonder about it. Today I want to look at this issue of angels and devils, or in more abstract terms, good and evil. Where does evil come from? Why do we have it in our world? And what is good about evil? There's a little paradox for you. So the question we have in front of us is where did evil come from, and why does God allow it? Why does God allow war? Why does God allow disease? Suffering? Why does God allow crime? Why doesn't God stop the criminal from doing what he has in his heart before it happens? Swedenborg, in our reading this morning, makes a rather startling and disturbing statement. A lot of people, when they have read this sort of thing in Swedenborg, have been bothered by it. He says that we all start out like a little hell. Well . . . that doesn't look like the babies I knew when _my_ little babies were born. We like to think of our babies as a little _heaven_. Yet, as any parent knows, babies can be a little hell when they're fussy and whiny and you're dead tired, and all that they're concerned about is their own immediate needs, no matter how tired and distraught _you_ are. So there is one sense in which we are born a little hell, and that is that we are born entirely wrapped up in ourselves. Swedenborg does, though, make the balancing statement in other places: that when we're born, and when we're little babies, we're surrounded by angels of the highest heaven. And so in babies, that self-centeredness isn't really evil, in a sense, because it's innocent: they don't mean any harm to their parents when they're crying for three hours in the middle of the night, and the parents are up taking care of them and wondering how they are going to get through the next day. There's no bad intent in those babies, but there _is_ a self-centeredness. And if we carry that self-centeredness with us through our growing up years and into our adulthood, it _does_ become evil. Imagine adults living the same way as babies: not caring what the people around them think, doing whatever they happen to feel like at that time no matter what it does to the others around them. Then you can see that that self-centeredness grown up, _would_ create a hell on earth, because we would all be thinking only about ourselves, and not about the people around us. And the fact is that some people do reach adulthood and all they're thinking about is themselves. So this is what Swedenborg is referring to: that self-centeredness that's natural in babies, but becomes a bad thing when we don't get rid of it as we grow older. We are all _mixtures_ of good and evil. We do have good about us. We see good in little children. Sometimes my little boys are really nice to each other. And if my daughter gets in the right mood, she'll take care of the two boys, and she's just like a little mother--she's as sweet as can be. Then later on she'll be picking fights with them. So we're all mixtures of good and evil. We know that within ourselves we do have high aspirations; we have things that we want to accomplish in this life. We have ideals for our own lives, for the lives of our children, for our work. And yet we also know that within us there are parts that don't really want to put out the effort, or that don't care as much about other people as about how we ourselves feel. We have those negative parts of ourselves as well. We are a mixture of good and evil. And we gain this--both the good and the evil--from our parents and our society. There are mixtures of good and evil in our society. And so, when I think about the children dressing up for Halloween, it reminds me that most of our holidays only look at the good side of things. We have Thanksgiving--that's pretty good; we have Christmas--that's pretty good; we have Easter--that's pretty good. Halloween is a holiday that recognizes that there truly is evil as well as good. We dress up, and maybe we don't take it very seriously, but when we see those little ghosts and goblins running around, if we think about it we realize that those are expressions of the evil in our society and in ourselves; and the good costumes are an expression of the good in us. And so Halloween, in a sense, is a realistic holiday: it recognizes that we as people and we as a society are a mixture of good and evil. Now, what could be good about having that evil parading around and showing itself to us? Here, Swedenborg gives us some help when he says that we cannot overcome the evil . . . the _Lord_ cannot _help_ us to overcome the evil in ourselves until we see that it is there. If we're going along blissfully ignorant, totally ignoring the feelings of others, and we don't even realize how rude and how hurtful we're being, there's nothing that the Lord can do to help us out of acting that way toward other people. But as soon as we realize, "You know, that was a pretty nasty thing that I said. That must have hurt," then the evil is coming out into our consciousness, and we're recognizing that there is a problem that we need to work on. So actually, if we get to the point where we realize, "I'm not such a great person," that may be a _positive_ step. Because the fact is that everybody else around us knew that we were being a jerk all that time--we were the only ones that didn't. And when we become aware of it, then is when we can begin to work on it. So I'm not quite as bothered by the little ghosts and goblins running around anymore because it's one way that our society recognizes that there are evil things within us and in our society that need to be worked on. Swedenborg says that evil must appear before it can be rooted out. This brings us to our Gospel reading: the parable of the wheat and the tares, to use the old language. The "tares" were a weed that looked very much like wheat when it was first growing up, and it was hard to tell the difference. This is why, when the master, the owner of the land was approached by the servants saying, "should we pull them out," he said, "No, don't do that, because you will pull out the wheat along with the weeds. Wait until they grow up." Then it becomes obvious, because the wheat is bearing nice heads of grain, whereas the weeds are doing nothing useful except taking up the nutrients in the soil. Then you will be able to see clearly what is the good--what's the wheat--and what is the evil. Sometimes we need to let that evil mature in us a little bit. We need to let it show itself. Perhaps we need to make that nasty remark. We've been feeling inside, "What a jerk that person is," but we've never done anything about it. Then at some point we just get too frustrated and the word comes out: we say that mean thing, and we hurt the other person. Then we realize that this is the result of those feelings we've had inside ourselves toward that person. And this is the first time we've recognized how hurtful those feelings are. The evil has matured. It has matured into action. And now we can pull out that weed. We can say, "I have to get rid of the attitude that this other person is a lesser person than I am; that he or she is a bad person. I have to root that out of myself so that I won't treat them that way anymore. And so, in an odd way, what we see as evil, God intends for good. Every evil that comes out in our lives is an opportunity for us to make ourselves into better people. Because whether we recognize it or not, those bad feelings _are_ there, and our personal faults _are_ there. And now we have seen them. The Lord is bringing them out so that we can see them and reform ourselves--make ourselves into a more thoughtful person. So what we see as evil: that nasty remark we made to that person . . . the Lord doesn't necessarily see the nasty remark as good, but the fact that we made it and saw that it was wrong, the Lord intended for good. So the Lord turns that evil into goodness. If we have a bad temper or a drinking problem, sooner or later it is going to come out. And if we recognize that, then the Lord can bring good out of it. Here is where we come back full circle to the story of Joseph. The brothers had intended this act for evil. They hated their brother. They were jealous of him because he was their father's favorite. Their father gave him special presents--the coat of many colors. (We're going to see a few more coats of colors in a minute!) [After the sermon and offertory, the children came into the sanctuary wearing their costumes and joined the congregation for a Children's Talk and a rousing chorus of "Oh When the Saints Go Marching In."] They hated him because they were jealous. And they did an act that was intended to hurt him. Later on, they recognized that they had made a mistake, that they were wrong. And in sort of an offhand way, they were coming to him to apologize to him--to say, "We're sorry for what that we did." Now, part of it was out of _fear:_ he was a very powerful man by that time, and they had _better_ apologize to him. Yet on the other hand, they had all matured some. They had all recognized that they had done it out of jealousy, and it wasn't such a good thing to do. And if we continued with the story, we would find that they had a wonderful coming back together--a rapprochement--where they were weeping on one another's necks, in the Biblical phrase. They did come together and appreciate each other. So in the end, through all of the hard things that happened, the Lord brought the goodness of the reconciliation. The Lord brought goodness out of that evil. Spiritually, this is also a story of our higher part, our good part, our spiritual part coming to rule in the end. Whatever may have ruled our lives meanwhile, when Joseph becomes the ruler and then gets back together with his brothers, it's a picture of our higher selves finally coming to rule in our lives, and putting everything else into order. Back to the question of evil. In the short term, evil is painful. If somebody we love dies; if we lose our job; if somebody who we cared about betrays us, it hurts. There's no way we can deny that at least in the short term, we are hurt by these things. Yet, the Lord can turn these things around into long term good. There's another saying of Jesus that helps us here: "What good is it for a person to gain all the world but lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36). And the flip side of that is: how much does it matter if we have temporary pain, if we are growing spiritually as a result, and becoming more thoughtful and loving people? Halloween reminds us of all these struggles that we have between the good and the evil in us. And I hope that as we contemplate this, and as we struggle with these issues in our lives, that the angel side of us will win out over the devil side, so that in the end, we can become angels of light. Amen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From leewoof@tiac.net Sun Nov 14 21:54:42 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 14 Nov 1999 16:54:42 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Growing in Love," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19991114160400.00d27d80@pop.tiac.net> Growing in Love By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, November 14, 1999 Readings: Isaiah 61: The Lord has sent me to bring good news to the poor The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to provide for those who mourn in Zion--to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory. They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, foreigners shall till your land and dress your vines; but you shall be called priests of the Lord, you shall be named ministers of our God; you shall enjoy the wealth of the nations, and in their riches you shall glory. Because their shame was double, and dishonor was proclaimed as their lot, therefore they shall possess a double portion; everlasting joy shall be theirs. For I the Lord love justice; I hate robbery and wrongdoing; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations. John 13:34, 35: You are my disciples if you love one another I give you a new commandment: that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. Matthew 28:16-20: Go and make disciples of all nations Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Arcana Coelestia #9925.2: Proclaiming the good news Proclaiming the good news means spreading the truth about the Lord, his coming, and the things that come from him--which relate to salvation and eternal life. Sermon: The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners. (Isaiah 61:1) As all of you know by now, next week is Invite A Friend Sunday. And it couldn't come at a better time for our church. Let's put the facts right out on the table: attendance at our services is down this year. In fact, even though our level of programming and outreach activity has steadily increased, our average Sunday morning attendance has been gradually decreasing each year since I came here as pastor in September of 1996. There--I've said it! Of course, there are various reasons that we have lost people from our services: some of our members have died; some have moved away; some have family or work situations that make it difficult for them to attend. In other words, we have had the usual attrition that every church experiences due to the natural changes that are a part of human life. There were also good reasons for the higher attendance in 1996. After a devastating fire, this congregation had pulled together to rebuild, and received wonderful support from the larger community. Disasters have a way of bringing people together to support one another in getting through and beyond them. And when we nearly lose something we care about--such as this church--it gives us a greater appreciation for it, and a greater dedication to it. When the initial rebuilding was complete, and the first pastor after the fire arrived, it was a wonderful high point for this congregation. Appreciation, dedication, and commitment were strong. This was reflected in our Sunday morning attendance. However, rebuilding the church was a lot of work! A congregation--especially a small congregation such as ours--can't sustain that level of effort forever. To draw an analogy with the human body, when we are faced with a dangerous, life-threatening situation, the adrenaline kicks in and we go into overdrive. We expend tremendous amounts of energy and effort dealing with the threat--much more than we would in any normal period of time. We _have to_ do so in order to preserve our life or the lives of those we love. When the threat is over and everyone is safe, what do we do? We collapse. After our overexertion, we need a break to rest and recuperate before we go back to our normal activities. Of course, different people in this church may be at different phases of the cycle. Some may just now be reaching the limits of their energy and are ready to step back for a while. Others may have rested up, and are ready to start pitching in again. And, of course, we have new faces here that were not a part of this congregation at the time of the fire, and therefore will be on a whole different cycle. This is all part of the natural dynamics of a congregation that has suffered and come back from a disaster. For that matter, these ups and downs are part of the life of _every_ congregation, disaster or no. The stubborn fact remains that as far as our Sunday attendance is concerned, we are definitely on the down part of the cycle. What do we need in order to start it back upwards again? Another disaster? I certainly hope not! Is there anything that could pull us together the way the fire did, without having to damage and destroy something? A year or two ago, one of you remarked, "What every church needs is a fire without having to have a fire." Fortunately, the Lord _has_ provided us with a type of fire that builds and strengthens instead of damaging and destroying. It is the fire of God's love. Divine love is an infinitely powerful force. It powered the creation of the entire universe, material and spiritual; it continues to power everything that goes on in the world of nature, in the human world, and in the world within us. It is the same power that can give us the will and the strength as a congregation to reach out and invite others into our circle. It's really very simple. Welcoming people into our church starts with that deceptively simple, yet truly radical statement of Jesus: I give you a new commandment: that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. This is the membership requirement of the Christian Church, given from the Lord's own mouth. There is no mention of affirming a particular set of doctrines or signing a book. We are the Lord's disciples, he tells us, when we have love for one another. And doesn't our membership in this church start and end with love? Not a single one of us would be here if there were not some things that we loved about this church. Perhaps we love the warmth of our church family; perhaps we love the inspiration and comfort of our church's teachings; perhaps we find here a place to engage in the joy of service. I believe that most of all, we love our church because it helps us to love one another--and the Lord--more fully, deeply, and joyfully. As extensive and expansive as the teachings of our church are, they all boil down to God's love in our hearts, guided by the light of God's wisdom in our minds, so that we can truly and happily serve one another. You may be thinking to yourself, "Yes, of course, Lee. You say that every Sunday! Love and wisdom; goodness and truth; usefulness and service. . . ." Those of us who are blessed with these beautiful teachings can easily take them for granted. They become the natural pathways of our minds and our lives. And like a well-worn path, at times we don't even notice the underlying presence of these spiritual pathways, keeping our lives flowing along through the inevitable struggles, pains, and disappointments of life. And yet, for so many people in our world today, there is no such open pathway for God's love and wisdom to flow into their hearts, minds, and lives. So many people are moving through life day by day, struggling against the very same personal disasters, frustrations, and disappointments as we do, yet without the deep comfort and inspiration that comes from having a living faith in the Lord, and a supportive church family. So many people that we see around us every day are spiritually poor, emotionally brokenhearted prisoners of the secular worldview that prevails in our society and in our media. So many people do not have the wonderful power of God's love and guidance that we all too often take for granted. This is where the power of God's love can have a wonderful effect in growing our church. Our goal in building up the church is not--or at least should not be--simply to enlarge our membership base and ensure the survival of our church. No! The Lord calls us to a much more powerful mission. It is a mission of the spirit, which calls us to grow in love. It is the same call that the prophet Isaiah felt when he wrote these deeply moving words: The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to provide for those who mourn in Zion--to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. Yes, our church and our Lord call us to reach out from pure love and compassion to those who are going through life without the healing balm of a living faith in God and a loving church community. We are called to guide them toward the same path of love and faith that has meant so much to us, toward the sense of satisfaction, comfort, and joy that binds us to this church so that we keep coming back over and over again. Further, we are called to love our neighbor so much that we are willing to overcome our shyness, our awkwardness, our feelings of inadequacy, our sense that we will somehow be bothering them or imposing something on them. We are called to overcome _anything_ that blocks us from carrying out the powerful work of reaching out to others as the Lord has commanded us. We are called to break down the mental and emotional walls that separate us from others, and to share with them what has the deepest meaning for us about our faith and our church. Yes, it is a risky thing to do. What if they say no? What if we give them the wrong impression? What if we open our hearts and tell them how much our church means to us, only to have them pass it off as something insignificant? What if . . . ? There is always a risk in doing _anything_ worthwhile. And since there is nothing that is worth more than giving someone the gift of a living faith in God, it makes sense that we might have to take some even greater risks than usual in offering people that faith. And of course, some of the people we ask will not be prepared to receive that gift. Yet if even _one_ person does accept the gift we offer, what we have accomplished for that person and for the Lord's kingdom is worth all the risk, and all the resistance we may have had to get through in order to give that gift. In the words of Jesus: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Amen. From leewoof@tiac.net Sun Nov 7 19:42:34 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: Sun, 07 Nov 1999 19:42:34 +0000 Subject: SERMON: "Veterans of Inner Wars," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19991107194157.00c5e4f0@pop.tiac.net> Veterans of Inner Wars By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, November 7, 1999 Readings: Psalm 144: The Lord trains my hands for war Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; my rock and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues the peoples under me. O Lord, what are human beings that you regard them, or mortals that you think of them? They are like a breath; their days are like a passing shadow. Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down; touch the mountains so that they smoke. Make the lightning flash and scatter them; send out your arrows and rout them. Stretch out your hand from on high; set me free and rescue me from the mighty waters, from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hands are false. I will sing a new song to you, O God; upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you, the one who gives victory to kings, who rescues his servant David. Rescue me from the cruel sword, and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hands are false. May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars, cut for the building of a palace. May our barns be filled, with produce of every kind; may our sheep increase by thousands, by tens of thousands in our fields. and may our cattle be heavy with young. May there be no breach in the walls, no exile, and no cry of distress in our streets. Happy are the people to whom such blessings fall; happy are the people whose God is the Lord. Matthew 10:34-39: Not peace, but a sword Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one's foes will be members of one's own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. Arcana Coelestia #3696.2: The inner war of temptation When we are being spiritually reborn, at first we experience a state of serenity. But as we move into our new life, we move into a state that is not serene. This is because the evil and false things that we had previously made a part of ourselves then come and show themselves. They trouble us so much that we go through temptations and trials brought about by the devil's crew, who constantly try to destroy the new life we are beginning. Despite this, we are at peace deep within ourselves. Without this inmost peace, we would not put up any fight at all, since in all the conflicts we experience, we see that peaceful state as our goal. If we did not have that goal in mind, we would never have the power and strength to fight. This is also what enables us to overcome. And since this is the goal that we have in mind, we also enter a state of peacefulness when our conflicts or temptations are over. It is like the spring, which comes after autumn and winter, or like the dawn, which comes after evening and night. Sermon: Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle (Psalm 144:1) What a warlike verse! What a warlike God it describes! This past Thursday, I read this Psalm for an opening meditation that I gave to begin that day's Field Education Supervision class, which I am taking at Andover Newton Theological School. Afterwards, another minister in the class thanked me for the meditation, saying, "That was always the kind of Old Testament passage that I would just pass right over when I came to it." It is hard on our modern sensibilities to read Bible passages describing the Lord as a God of battle, who trains people for war and commands them to conquer their enemies. Although war is certainly not a thing of the past, we would prefer to leave the God that commands and blesses war firmly in the Old Testament. Yet even in the New Testament, Jesus--whose birth was heralded with a chorus of angels singing, "Peace on earth to people of good will" (Luke 2:14)--said, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." What is all this war talk? And why is it in the Bible? With Veterans' Day approaching, this is as good a time as any to address these questions. And the 144th Psalm gives us a perfect way to do it. I would like to take a journey through this Psalm with you this morning, from its warlike beginning to its beautiful and peaceful conclusion. The Psalm begins: Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; My rock and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, My shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues the peoples under me. Swedenborg tells us that in the Bible's spiritual meaning, wars represent "the temptations of religious people, which are nothing but battles and wars with the evil things within ourselves, and therefore with the devil's crew, which stirs up these evil things, and tries to destroy both religion and religious people" (_Arcana Coelestia_ #1659.3). We have all experienced these inner wars. Perhaps some of us are experiencing right now the battles that rage in our hearts and minds when what we _want_ to do and what we know we _ought_ to do are struggling to control what our hands _will_ do; when our commitment to love and care for one another struggles with the bitter foes of jealousy, apathy, and despair; when the voices of our friends, our family, and our God are telling us that they love us and care for us, but hellish voices from within are telling us that we are no good, destroyed beyond repair, that we might as well give up and give in. And we have experienced the even more bitter struggle when we believe that all who have ever loved us--even God--have turned their backs on us. Psalm 144 begins by reminding us that it is God who trains and teaches us to face such battles, and it is God who gives us the strength, support, protection, and power to _win_ them. God also gives us spiritual weapons to use in these battles. Paul describes these weapons beautifully in his letter to the Ephesians: Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. (Ephesians 6:10-17) Yes, it is with the weapons of truth, righteousness, and faith that we can do battle against all of the enemies within us and around us, which seek to destroy us from within outward. These spiritual weapons are gifts from the Lord. We may think we are not worthy of them--and the Psalmist seemed to feel the same way when he wrote: O Lord, what are human beings that you regard them, or mortals that you think of them? They are like a breath; their days are like a passing shadow. The feeling of our personal insignificance in the face of mighty material and spiritual forces is not new. When we contemplate the vastness of the physical universe in which we live, or when, with the scientists, psychologists, and mystics, we peer beyond the surface of the human mind and gain merely a glimpse of the unfathomable depths within, how can we help feeling small and insignificant in the face of such vastness? Yet, God cares for us so much that it is not too much to ask for God to exercise the tremendous power of the Divine against our spiritual enemies. The Psalm continues: Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down; touch the mountains so that they smoke. Make the lightning flash and scatter them; send out your arrows and rout them. Stretch out your hand from on high; set me free and rescue me from the mighty waters, From the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hands are false. God makes that tremendous power available to us, not in some xenophobic way to rescue us from literal foreigners, but to rescue us from everything that is foreign to our true, spiritual nature. God can rescue us from lying words which tell us that money and possessions are the most important thing in this life; that we can find rest for our souls in some bottle or box; that feeling pleasure this moment is so important that we should ignore the "idealistic" and "unrealistic" dictates of religion and ethics. God can rescue us from every lie that we tell ourselves when we are trying to justify attitudes, words, and actions that we know in our heart of hearts will lead only to pain and suffering. As we equip ourselves with the spiritual armor and weapons that the Lord offers us to struggle against these lies, and as we use them to overcome all that is false within us, we begin to feel the joy of victory. We begin to overcome those parts of ourselves that had always held us back. As a veteran, not of foreign wars, but of _inner_ wars, we feel the joy of _spiritual_ victory. The Psalmist celebrates that victory with us: I will sing a new song to you, O God; upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you, The one who gives victory to kings, who rescues his servant David. Rescue me from the cruel sword, and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hands are false. When we have been rescued from the hand of evil influences that are foreign to our true, spiritual nature, we begin to feel the fruitfulness of spiritual life. Previously, our days had been a battle zone in which we were never satisfied with our lot in life, never happy with the blessings all around us, never joyful simply to be alive. Now, as God's love and truth begin to take hold within us, we find ourselves blossoming in ways we had never thought possible. In place of our former conviction that life on earth is a struggle that ends in death, we find new life and new joy in ordinary, everyday things. We find deeper satisfactions with our family and friends. There is a new fullness to life, expressed beautifully by the Psalmist: May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, Our daughters like corner pillars, cut for the building of a palace. May our barns be filled, with produce of every kind; May our sheep increase by thousands, by tens of thousands in our fields, and may our cattle be heavy with young. May there be no breach in the walls, no exile, and no cry of distress in our streets. We find that our love and affection for the people around us grows stronger and stronger, until it is like a pillar that sustains a spiritual palace of mutual understanding and support, where before there was a slum of mutual distrust and discord. Our mental and emotional crops of insight and inspiration come in so thick and fast that we can hardly store it all; we simply _must_ share it with those around us, so that everyone may be full and satisfied. This is the beauty of spiritual warfare. In literal warfare, what is left when the battle is over is a field strewn with bodies and soaked in blood. But when we engage in the inner, _spiritual_ battles to which the Lord calls us, there is no such bloody end. Instead, as we conquer our inner enemies, we find that the demons within us that continually try to drag us down will gradually melt away under the greater power of God's love and wisdom. We will find that the longer we resist them through the power of faith and prayer, the weaker will be their hold over us, until the clash of inner battle eventually becomes a faint echo. In the place of a spiritual battlefield, we will find vast pastures dotted with the sheep and cattle of love and kindness. Our mental storehouses will be full to overflowing with rich crops of faith and understanding that can sustain us through our inner winters, when our love and enthusiasm cools off and we need to draw on the spiritual gifts we have stored up within us. We will find that the Lord has blessed us with more than enough for a full and happy life, whatever our outward circumstances may be. We may want to shrink from the battles that life puts in our way. We may want to leave them for another day--to simply coast along on our past accomplishments. But it is only when we face those battles, and gain victory through the Lord's power, that we can know the joy of true spiritual life. It is only when we have become veterans of our inner wars that we can know the deep peace and satisfaction of living in single-minded love and kindness toward everyone around us. It is only when we have conquered our inner demons that we can know the serenity and the joy of living up to our true, spiritual, God-given nature. These are joys and satisfactions that we can know only when we turn fully to our lives over to the Lord, and struggle against everything that blocks the Lord from coming fully into our lives with all the blessings that infinite Love can bring. And as the Psalmist concludes: Happy are the people to whom such blessings fall; happy are the people whose God is the Lord. Amen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Mon Nov 15 19:38:54 1999 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 15 Nov 1999 14:38:54 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: The Blessings and Dangers of Following Rules Message-ID: <199911151156_MC2-8D27-820B@compuserve.com> The Blessings and Dangers of Following Rules By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell November 7, 1999 And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations, that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). Genesis 14:1-2 As chapter fourteen of Genesis begins we are suddenly jolted from the Abram's family saga into the inter-national politics of that time. We're told of four kings of the north who dominated five kings of the south, including the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, and how after a dozen years the kings of the south rebelled, but that this rebellion was powerfully suppressed. The story reconnects with Abram when we learn that the victorious kings took the spoils of war from the conquered cities and including Lot and his goods. Abram learned of this from a man who escaped the disastrous defeat and organized a rescue expedition. This sermon is the fourth in a series of sermons on the story of Abram's life. The first sermon was on the call of Abram when the Lord told him to leave the city of Haran and travel a long distance to the land of Canaan. The Lord promised him wonderful blessings for obeying this call. It represents an event that can happen many times in each of our lives. It represents a subtle realization that something isn't what it should be in the way we are living our lives. The second sermon dealt with the famine in the land of Canaan that forced Abram and his family to journey to Egypt. This famine represents the lack of knowledge or understanding that inevitably faces a person when he or she is first recognizing some need for change. Abram journeyed to Egypt looking for food. This represents a person learning or reflecting on what he has already learned. The power of our God-given intellectual abilities to learn and reflect is tremendous, but there is also a danger carried within learning. Abram feared that some man seeing the beauty of his wife would kill him to take her. As it turned out, her beauty was recognized and Pharaoh takes her to his palace. The taking of Sarai by Pharaoh represents a person getting so captivated by the learning that it becomes an end in itself to the detriment of the useful things that person should be getting to in his or her life. In the story Pharaoh's household was plagued because he had taken Sarai and Pharaoh apparently recognized what had happened and returned Sarai, untouched, to Abram. These plagues represent the aspects of our lives that will suffer if we become captivated by learning without sufficiently using what we've learned. The third sermon dealt with the conflict that arose between Abram's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen as they returned to the land of Canaan. Their stay in Egypt had brought them many riches. This wealth of flocks and herds brought conflict over the best grazing and watering spots. Abram told Lot that they would have to separate and offered him the choice of where he would like to go. Lot represents the thoughts and attractions in our mind that come most directly from the senses. They are natural, worldly focused, and tend to be self-centered. When a person is young and/or ignorant their decisions will inevitably be heavily influenced by these natural thoughts and attractions. But once a person has learned of broader and higher perspectives and goals especially from the Lord, a conflict within his or her mind is inevitable. Choices have to be made about what to do and not do. This is represented by Lot separating from Abram. The verses that follow in chapter fourteen may seem like an unnecessarily long introduction to why Abram needed to go rescue Lot. A person might picture that it would have been preferable to condense the first ten verses of the chapter to a simple statement of, "While Lot lived in Sodom the city was defeated and he was captured by a army from the north." The details and issues that are described in the first ten verses seem unnecessary for what has will continue to be the focus of Genesis in this section: the saga of Abram's and his families's lives. But there are important reasons why the Lord guided the inclusion of the additional description of the four kings of the north and their conflicts with the kings of the south including the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. In the Writings of the New Church, we are told that Chedorlaomer and the other kings of the north represent, "means just so many kinds of apparent goods and truths which are not in themselves goods and truths." (Arcana Caelestia 1661:1) Apparent goods and truths refer to things that a person believes are good and true but which are in themselves rather simplistic and limited expressions of a far deeper reality. We are referring to a similar idea when we cite the aphorism, "Appearances can be deceiving." What something looks like on its outside doesn't always reflect what its true nature is on the inside. In the case of apparent goods and truths it is like a young man who is trying to learn how to be more of a success dating women. He goes to a friend to ask what he should do. The friend may give him a whole series of suggestions or "rules" for dating. The young man may try to follow them. He may make sure he is on time for the date, that he is dressed suitably, has flowers for the woman. He may have pre-thought out some topics to raise to help provide pleasant conversation. He can follow all of these rules and still be a terrible bore and self-centered person. Does this mean that the "rules" for dating that he was following are incorrect. No. But they are only expressions of what should be a deeper quality within a person that in itself makes real friendships possible. Continuing with this example, the young man may return to his friend and say, "It isn't working." The friend may listen to what has happened and say, "I think you really need to be more focused on and considerate of your date." If the young man is rather simple, he might say, "What do you mean?" To explain the friend might cite some examples of behavior that would reflect such a focus and consideration. If the young man really doesn't get the inner issue and merely tries to follow the examples, he is likely to be just as inept as he was in the past. Apparent goods and truths can be thought of as rules for life. We learn them from parents and teachers. We gain them from our juvenile attempts to understand complex interactions and issues. They can be thought of as directives for natural behavior. "These things should be done, those things shouldn't be done." They are both very powerful and useful and highly limited. To the extent that they are dictates stored in our memory from others, they can be rather like a short taped message from a parent or other adult that guides our life. "But, Dad said, We aren't to do that!" If a young child is questioned about why Dad may have said it, he may be relatively clueless about why this rule may have importance or value. In this sense the rule or apparent good and truth is quite external to the individual's own life. It is almost like a voice from outside playing within his mind. The five kings of the south including the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah represent "evil desires and false persuasions." (Arcana Caelestia 1663) In some cases these need not be thought of as terrible things. Given that all of us start out life with tendencies to be rather self-centered and go through phases when this has greater or lesser hold on us, all of us needed to be told over and over again, "Please don't interrupt." This simple rule of life can have beneath it a deep appreciation of the value of taking turns, listening to others, and making their needs and perspectives at least equal to our own. But we don't try to explain all of these things to a five year old every time the situation comes up. He isn't ready to really see and understand them. He is well equipped if he can learn the principle of behavior, "Don't interrupt when others are talking." In the story the kings of the north, who represent apparent goods and truths, rule over the kings of the south, who represent evil desires and false persuasions, for twelve years. Then the kings of the south rebelled. At some point in life each of us needs to take on responsibility for our own behavior. We will no longer be closely observed or answerable to an adult as a little child is. Then there will inevitably come a conflict between the inclinations of our natural life and the principles of behavior that we have learned from parents, teachers, and from what we've been taught from the Lord's Word. We are fortunate if these principles of behavior continue to dominate our decisions, like the kings of the north being victorious over the kings of the south. Without their influence we would hurt ourselves and others in ways large and small. These principles are very important in maintaining order in what we do and don't do. But these "rules of life" have their weaknesses. The more external they are, the clumsier they will tend to be. Remember they aren't good and true in themselves, but rather are the external appearances of something good and true. Because of their relatively external nature, they can easily be misapplied in certain situations. Consider the useful rule, "Don't interrupt." There are times when this rule needs to be broken because of an emergency or other pressing issue. There are many other rules, particularly ones that have absolutes within them, "Always do thus and such," or "Never do that," that can useful in the majority of settings but at times are foolish, dangerous, or otherwise hurtful to some higher good or true thing. When a person blindly applies such a rule, it has, as it were captured his external self. This is what is represented in the story by Lot being captured by the kings of the north. When we clumsily apply rules of behavior or simplistic ideas of what is good and truth, we will at times find ourselves doing things that any objective observer would see as not being useful or wise. We can be so captivated by one perspective that we are blinded to some of its effects. In this state of mind we are dogmatically applying a principle of behavior even when it doesn't serve the use it is intended to support. Fortunately the Lord has given us the ability to reflect and see more broadly than a simple perspective would support. In the story in Genesis, a man escapes from the sack of the cities and reports to Abram that Lot has been captured. Abram, here represents the interior self that allows us to reflect on patterns in our behavior. The Arcana Caelestia summarizes it as follows: When the Interior Self meant by 'Abram the Hebrew' perceived that the goods and truths from which the battle was being fought were not in fact goods and truths except in appearance, and that these had possession of the entire External Self meant by 'Lot his brother's son', the Interior Self . . . purified them. (Arcana Caelestia 1707:2) It is a wonderful that the Lord gives us the ability to consider what we are thinking, planning, are doing, or have done. We can sometimes catch ourselves and reflect that a pattern of behavior is rather foolish or destructive even though it is an off-shoot of a rule that has often been valuable in our lives. Consider the rules of "Be nice" or "Don't hurt people's feelings." Without some form of these rules, particularly starting in childhood, our actions would be badly flawed and anti-social. But as we grow up we can recognize that there are times when protecting something good or true requires us to stand up for it. Sometimes it requires us to object to another's behavior. Sometimes it requires us to point out the destructive effects of another person's words or actions. Doing these things often doesn't fit what is commonly called "nice behavior." Doing these things may result in a person feeling hurt or angry --particularly in his or her initial reaction. But at times there are far more important things at stake than a single individual's peace of mind and happiness in the moment. When an individual is absolutely controlled by the "don't hurt people's feelings" without the important qualifier "needlessly" he or she will sometimes not do exactly what is required in a situation. Abram rescued Lot and all of his goods. We have the capability from the Lord of gradually improving our understanding of what is good, true, and useful in His eyes. He will guide us to see what is truly working or not working within our lives according to His order. The Lord oversees the development of those rules of life in our thoughts. He knows perfectly well what their limitations are. But they are just what we need in certain states and at certain times to guide our behavior. They do have their limits. Because of their limits, they shouldn't dictate our behavior at all times. The Lord calls us to realize that the path toward the wisdom and love that He is capable of give us isn't simple. Day by day we need to live our lives, making judgements and choices according to our present best perspective of what is right and wrong. When we go astray due to the limits of the perspective we have the Lord will be there to guide us back to a better path. May we be grateful for His wise and loving guidance and care. May we look for it as we read and reflect on what His Word teaches. May we daily pray for the light of His wisdom and the warmth of His love as try to obey and serve Him and do the useful things He calls us to do. AMEN. Lessons: Genesis 14:1-16 That 'he divided himself against them by night' means the shade which the apparent goods and truths were in . . . It is called a state of shade when a person does not know whether good and truth are apparent or genuine. While a person is limited to apparent good and truth he imagines that these are genuine good and truth. It is the evil and falsity present in apparent good and truth that produce the shade and cause them to be seen as genuine. What else can people who are in ignorance know than that the good they do is their own, and that the truth they think is their own? . . . But if people confirm themselves in the notion that they are able to do good and to withstand evil by their own powers, and that thus they merit salvation, such a notion remains attached, and causes the good to be evil, and the truth to be falsity. Yet for all this, order requires that a person should do good as though from himself, and ought not therefore to stay his hand and think to himself, 'If I am unable to do anything good at all from myself I must wait for immediate influx' and so remain inactive. This is also contrary to order. Each person ought to do good as though from himself; but when he stops to reflect on the good he is doing or has done, let him think, acknowledge, and believe that the Lord present with him has accomplished it. If by thinking as described he gives up acting as of himself he is not a subject into whom the Lord can operate. The Lord cannot flow into anyone who deprives himself of everything into which power has to be introduced. He is like someone who is not willing to learn anything except through a revelation made to him; or like someone who is not willing to teach anything unless the words are put into his mouth; or like someone who is unwilling to attempt anything unless he is directed as one without a will. But if this were done he would be more indignant still at being like an inanimate object. In fact however that which is animated by the Lord in a person is the very thing which makes it seem as though it were from himself. That man does not live from himself is an eternal truth; yet if he did not appear to do so he could not possibly live at all. Arcana Caelestia 1712 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible, are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church merely as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments. From leewoof@tiac.net Sun Nov 28 20:21:45 1999 From: leewoof@tiac.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 28 Nov 1999 15:21:45 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "An Expectant Church," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19991128142846.00c90cb0@pop.tiac.net> An Expectant Church By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, November 28, 1999 First Sunday in Advent Readings: Micah 5:1-5 A ruler promised from Bethlehem Marshal your troops, O city of troops, for a siege is laid against us. They will strike Israel's ruler on the cheek with a rod. But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth, and he will be their peace. Luke 1:26-38 The birth of Jesus foretold In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God." "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her. Arcana Coelestia #9042 Spiritual pregnancy "A pregnant woman" means forming goodness out of truth. The reason it has this meaning is that in the internal sense, the birth of physical life that we receive from our parents stands for our rebirth, which is the birth of spiritual life within us. When we are born anew, we are first conceived, then carried in the womb so to speak, and finally born. And since rebirth, or the birth of spiritual life, consists of uniting truth and goodness--in other words, uniting faith and kindness--"carrying in the womb" means developing our truth into goodness. From this we can see that spiritually, "a pregnant woman" means a stage in which goodness is being formed from our true ideas. Sermon: Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. (Luke 1:30, 31) Good morning! I hope all of you had a good Thanksgiving. We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with Patty's family on Thursday, and then spent some time with my family yesterday. When we are with family, we are reminded of times when we were younger. We share stories of the times when we were growing up, or when we were raising our own families. If we look back far enough, we come to the time of our birth--though most of us do not remember that particular event. And then there are the births of our children, our grandchildren. . . . Now, with Thanksgiving past, we are entering into Advent: a time when we look forward with anticipation to the Lord's birth among us, which we celebrate at Christmas. Christmas is also a time of family gatherings. And it is a time of special gatherings for our church family, too. In fact, just as for many families, Christmas brings the biggest family gatherings of the year, here at our church--and in many other churches, too--the Christmas Eve service brings our biggest family gathering of the year as we celebrate the wonderful birth that happened two thousand years ago. Let's look back to that birth for a moment. At this time, a few weeks before her child was delivered, Mary was still an expectant mother. We can imagine her, probably a teenaged girl, nine months pregnant, her first baby moving and kicking strongly inside her. She knew that the baby would be born soon. Perhaps she was already on her way to Bethlehem with Joseph, to whom she was engaged to be married. Yet this was no ordinary baby moving about inside her womb. This was a baby with no human father, whose coming had been announced to Mary by the angel Gabriel. "Do not be afraid, Mary," the angel said, "you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." This was not only to be a miraculous birth; it was to be a royal birth. "How will this be?" Mary asked the angel, "Since I am a virgin?" The fact that she was a virgin was the most obvious problem with Gabriel's message. But she might also have asked, "How could I, a common girl engaged to a common craftsman, give birth to a king?" Surely this was too much even to dream of; too much to take seriously. Yet the angel reminded her that nothing is impossible with God. This is how this miraculous royal birth would take place, he said: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." Mary accepted the message which the angel gave her. "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said." And now, a few weeks before her baby was due to be born, Mary was expecting not only the birth of a baby boy, but the birth of a great king. And even more than that, she was expecting the birth of the Son of God. I suspect, though, that even after hearing the angel's message, and even after becoming pregnant before she had come together with her husband-to-be, Mary could not possibly have grasped the full implications of what the angel was telling her. Even today, two thousand year later, the world still does not fully grasp what the angel Gabriel told Mary so many centuries ago. Even today, much of the world's population, even many of the people in so-called Christian nations, do not see the birth of Jesus Christ as any different than any other birth--though they may recognize that this particular baby had more influence on the world's history than most. Becoming more personal, even those of us who are committed Christians--even you and I--do not and cannot ever grasp the _full_ implications of that birth. Our finite, limited minds simply cannot grasp the full infinity and eternity of God's greatest miracle. No matter how deeply we open our minds and hearts to the wonder of that birth in Bethlehem, there will always be infinitely greater depths remaining for us to explore. And yet, each one of us is expectant in our own way. Each one of us hopes that something special will happen this Christmas. Each one of us hopes to feel some of the magic of Christmas. Yes, we want it to touch our children and grandchildren. But none of us is so old and worldly wise to have that we do not still have somewhere in our heart the childlike wish that we, too, will be touched by the wonder of Jesus' birth. Each one of us is like an expectant mother. And what a mixture of feelings expectant mothers have! Of course, being male I had to share these feelings vicariously through Patty as we waited together for each of our children to be born. But I do know something of them myself--for as a father, my heart is also bound up with my children. There is a feeling of anticipation of the new life about to enter the world. There is a sense of awe at the amazing miracle of a new human being forming within--so quietly, so intricately, so powerfully. And yet, mixed in with these joyful feelings of wonderment is a feeling of anxiety, even fear, lest anything should go wrong with this precious new life. Will the baby be healthy? Will there be any problems with the birth? And then there are concerns about the practicalities of life: of making ends meet and getting things done with a helpless new baby to care for. Yes, our anticipation of the birth of a baby is a mixture of joy and fear, of anxiety and awe, of mundane concerns and high aspirations. These are exactly the feelings that we have when we are expectant mothers for the birth of the Lord Jesus into our lives. We do have within us a sense of anticipation of the new spiritual life represented by the Lord's birth at Christmas. We do wonder at the miracle of this divine birth. Perhaps sometimes we can't quite accept the miracle, and begin to think of Jesus as a merely human being like any other. And yet, our souls reach out to a God who is so human and so loving that he would be born among us as a baby and share with us our life on earth. We want to believe that God could be so human, so present with us. And when we open our hearts and minds to our deeper, spiritual aspirations, we begin to feel more certainty that indeed, the Lord has come among us in this wondrous, miraculous way. But we cannot always hold onto those feelings. All too often we get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparations that we begin to think that Christmas is simply a lot of extra work to make others happy, while we ourselves feel the magic of Christmas passing us by. "I'm too old for Christmas," we may say. "Now it's my turn to work, work, work so that the children and grandchildren can enjoy their Christmas--just as I loved Christmas when I was young." Or perhaps we have even deeper doubts. Perhaps we have fears within us that the Lord Jesus will come stillborn into our lives; that we could never feel that divine presence within us; that God cannot be present for us in that personal way; that we have strayed too far away, and are lost to the deeper, spiritual magic of Christmas. Perhaps we have anxious fears that there really is nothing more to Christmas--that it is a hollow celebration. These, too, are the feelings of an expectant mother. And yet, through all our elations and our fears, there is something more powerful than we could ever imagine working within us. The power of the Most High overshadows each one of us as well. And the holy one that will be born within us and among us is cared for by Almighty God. This is no ordinary birth. This is the birth of the divine presence within us. This is not a merely human birth, but the birth of the Son of God. And if we are willing to open our hearts to that birth, we _will_ feel its miraculous divine power working in our lives. What is this new and powerful birth that is even now growing and gestating in the spiritual womb of our hearts and minds? This new birth is not a material birth that gives us more money, a better car, a better house. It is not a birth of new status, a higher reputation, more worldly influence. No, the birth of the Lord into our lives is a birth of new truth and new goodness in our lives. In fact, Swedenborg tells us, when the baby Lord is growing within us, it is a time when the truth ideas we have learned about loving God and loving our neighbor are forming not just our minds, but our hearts into new human vessels of love and goodness. It is a time when our thinking minds and our feeling hearts are being knit together within us, forming us into a new, more thoughtful and more loving person. I would like to share with you how this has been happening for me lately in relationship with you, the members of this congregation. One of the items in my job description as Pastor here is "To attend to Pastoral Care: visitations and counseling (from a pastoral view) and to be available for crisis care." Of course, we learn in seminary that pastoral care is a vital part of ministry; and we are taught many things about providing pastoral care, and about what an active program of pastoral care can do for a congregation and its members. These are all concepts in a minister's head until he or she actually goes out and begins visiting members of the congregation, being with families through weddings, funerals, and other times of joy and of crisis. This fall, knowing that I have a three month sabbatical coming up, in which I will not see very much of you, I have given extra time to visiting. My goal has been to spend some time with as many of you as I can before January rolls around. I have also reached out to a few people I hadn't met before, and to people I hadn't seen for some time. Meanwhile, there have been various family events--some happy, some painful--that have brought me into closer contact with some of you. Through all of my personal visits with you during the three years I have been here, and now through the greater amount of time I have spent with you this fall, something has happened within me. Pastoral Care has moved beyond being something I learned about in seminary and began to practice through the Field Education program. Pastoral Care has become far more than an item in my job description, and something that I know is good and healthy for the congregation and its members. Visiting with you and spending time with you in your joys and sorrows has touched more than my mind. It has touched my heart. As I get to know you better, and share with you both your painful struggles and the goodness and love that is in each one of you, I find that I am growing to love more and more the uniqueness of each one of you, and the warmth and genuineness of this group of people bound together as a church family. You see, the true ideas I learned about ministering to others have been knit together with the love and kindness that we have shared with one another. And now I do feel a bit like an expectant mother, eagerly anticipating with both anxiety and joy the birth of a new relationship with this congregation as we move through and beyond the sabbatical. This expectancy is happening at the very time we as a church are expectant of the new birth of the Lord Jesus among us. It is happening as we look forward to Christmas, hoping that we will be touched anew by the Lord's presence within us and among us. Yes, we are an expectant church. It is to us, too, that the angel Gabriel speaks those beautiful, powerful words: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." Yes, the Holy Spirit is coming upon us, too, this Advent. The power of the Most High is overshadowing each one of us, and all of us together as a church family. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ loves us, and has a wonderful new spiritual birth in store for us. Amen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From leewoof@mediaone.net Sun Dec 5 19:08:07 1999 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 5 Dec 1999 14:08:07 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "The Blessed Mother," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19991205133431.00c33900@pop.ne.mediaone.net> The Blessed Mother By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, December 5, 1999 Second Sunday in Advent Readings: Isaiah 7:13-15: A virgin will conceive and bear a son Then Isaiah said, "Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of mortals? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right." Luke 1:39-56: Elizabeth and Mary In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord." And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever." And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home. True Christian Religion #102.3: Mary in heaven I was once allowed to speak with Mary, the mother of Jesus. She happened to be passing by, and appeared in heaven above my head, dressed in white garments that looked like silk. She paused for a moment to say that she had been the Lord's mother, and he was born to her, but he became God, putting off everything human that he had from her; and that she therefore worships him as her God, and she does not want anyone to think of him as her son, because all the divine is in him. Sermon: Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. (Luke 1:48, 49) With a title like "The Blessed Mother" out on the wayside pulpit, anyone passing by could be forgiven for thinking we were a Catholic church. Catholicism has lifted Mary up above all the other saints, so that she is almost as likely to be seen carved in stone out in front of a Catholic church as is Jesus himself. Partly in reaction to this, Protestant churches have tended to de-emphasize Mary, focusing almost entirely on Jesus Christ. Swedenborgians have long had the same focus. And well we should, since we go one step beyond Protestantism in worshipping Jesus Christ not only as the Son of God, but as God himself come to us in human form. We believe that ever since Jesus rose from the dead after the crucifixion, and ascended to God the Father, the divine Father and Son are no longer two distinct persons (if, indeed, they ever were), but are one and the same God. So for us, comparing Mary to Jesus is comparing the finite and limited to the infinite and limitless: there is simply no comparison. Yet our Gospels are the same as those read by Catholics and Protestants. And in the divinely inspired Gospel of Luke, we do indeed find Mary saying that "from now on all generations will call me blessed." So as we continue our Advent theme of "Unto Us a Child is Born," let's turn aside for a moment to consider the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Sainthood aside, the Gospels do have good cause to consider Mary blessed. After all, from among all the young women who would have been available to be the vessel by which Jehovah God was born into the world, she was the one who was chosen. And though the Gospels tell us that the Lord chose to be born in humble circumstances rather than in the lap of luxury, they also tell us that the Lord chose a good and upright woman to be the vessel of his birth--one engaged to be married to a good and upright man. Jesus may have been born into a dysfunctional world, but he chose not to be born into a dysfunctional family! Perhaps it is the humble acceptance of the Lord's will that made Mary a suitable vessel for Jesus' birth. As we read last week, Mary finished her conversation with the angel Gabriel, who foretold Jesus' birth to her, by saying, "I am the Lord's servant; may it be to me as you have said." Though she was surprised at the honor of being chosen to carry the divine infant in her womb, and also at the mode of his conception, she was willing to take on that sacred task. And we know from the rest of the Gospel story and from the book of the Acts of the Apostles that Mary herself became one of Jesus' followers. Mary was an exception to Jesus' own later statement, during his brief ministry, that "only in his home town, among his relatives and in his own house, is a prophet without honor" (Mark 6:4). Perhaps this was another quality that made it possible for Mary to be the vessel of the Lord's birth. She was willing to put aside her own preconceptions and her natural motherly pride, and accept even the fruit of her own womb as being more than her own flesh and blood. She was receptive to the angel's prophecy that the holy one to be born of her would be called the Son of God. So the words she spoke to Swedenborg from heaven are quite characteristic of her, and quite believable to those who do not reject Swedenborg's spiritual experiences outright. She told Swedenborg "that she had been the Lord's mother, and he was born to her, but he became God, putting off everything human that he had from her; and that she therefore worships him as her God, and she does not want anyone to think of him as her son, because all the divine is in him." This attitude of humility rather than pride at being a vessel of the Lord is reflected in the rest of our text for this morning: "Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed," Mary said, "for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name." Yes, it was Mary's view that it was not because of anything she herself did that she would be called blessed, but because of what the Mighty One, Jehovah God, was doing for her. She gave all the glory and honor to the Lord, and took none of it for herself. This is where we, too, can count ourselves blessed if we will follow Mary's example. None of us, I would guess, will ever have quite such an epoch-making responsibility as that of Mary: raising the Son of God, who, glorified, would become one with the God of the universe, so that, as Matthew tells us, all power in heaven and earth was given to him (Matthew 28:18). Yet in a way, we do have the very same responsibility Mary did--if not for the whole world, at least for our own little world. For each of us will also hear the voice of the angel Gabriel within us, if our ears are open to hear it, foretelling the birth of the Lord, our Savior, within us. We may not hear it in the literal words of an angel. But if we can be anywhere near as humble and receptive as Mary was, then when we are ready for the divine birth within, it will be announced to us. It may come as an inspiration while we are in church, or while we are thinking spiritual thoughts, or while we are simply going about our daily tasks. We will know and feel the certainty that the Lord is coming to us in a special way; that the Lord is about to be born anew within us; that we are about to enter a new, more spiritual and loving phase of our life. When we receive and feel this heavenly assurance, then we, too, can be the blessed mother of Jesus. We, too, can be vessels for Jehovah God to descend into this world of ours and be born within us and among us, filling us with tender and infinitely human love, and enlightening us with the brilliant radiance of divine wisdom. When we feel and know that this divine birth is about to take place within us, we will be truly blessed for all generations if we respond as Mary did, exulting not because we have been singled out for special honor, but because the Mighty One, whose name is holy, has loved us so much that he has done great and wonderful things for us. If we can, like Mary, accept the Lord's presence in our lives with both humility and joy, then the Holy Spirit will come upon us as it did upon her, giving us, not a literal child of flesh and blood, but the spiritual child of the Lord's birth into our lives. Like a child of flesh and blood, this child will grow in our lives. At times it may seem to be a long and difficult process: nurturing that divine presence, putting aside our own thoughtlessness and impatience in favor of the divine qualities of compassion, kindness, and a joyful desire to serve one another. Yet as these qualities grow in us, the Lord is growing in us as well. As our lives are transformed by the gentle yet powerful presence of Jesus Christ within us, like Mary we will come to see the divine one who has been born within us, not as our own child, but as our Lord and our God--as the center of all our worship and all our life. Then we will be truly blessed, both here on earth and to all eternity. Amen. From leewoof@mediaone.net Mon Dec 13 00:42:57 1999 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 12 Dec 1999 19:42:57 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "A Little Baby Prophet," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19991212144044.00c3f3b0@pop.ne.mediaone.net> A Little Baby Prophet By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, December 12, 1999 Third Sunday in Advent Readings: Malachi 4 I will send you the prophet Elijah "Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the Lord Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things," says the Lord Almighty. "Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a curse." Luke 1:57-80 The birth of John the Baptist Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, "No; he is to be called John." They said to her, "None of your relatives has this name." Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, "His name is John." And all of them were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them pondered on them and said, "What then will this child become?" For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him. Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. "And you, my child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel. Apocalypse Explained #724b.7 John the Baptist prepares the way John the Baptist was sent beforehand to prepare the people to receive the Lord through baptism because baptism represented and symbolized purification from evil and false things, and also rebirth from the Lord through the Bible. Unless this representation had come first, the Lord could not have shown himself nor taught and lived in Judea and Jerusalem. For the Lord was the God of heaven and earth in a human form, and he could not have been present with a nation that had completely false beliefs and completely evil lives. So unless that nation had been prepared to receive the Lord through a representation of being purified from false and evil things through baptism, it would have been destroyed by all kinds of diseases in the presence of the Divine itself. This is the meaning of the words, "lest I come and strike the land with a curse." Sermon: And you, my child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. (Luke 1:76, 77) Generally speaking, cuteness is not one of the first things that comes to mind when we think about prophets. In fact, those who were on the receiving of the prophets' messages were much more likely to think of them as a thorn in the side--and a real downer at parties. Even today, just as in Biblical times, we do not like to listen to people who tell us everything that is wrong with our society, and we especially don't like to listen to people who tell us what is wrong with ourselves. Whistle-blowers have never had an easy time of it. John the Baptist, a New Testament prophet, fit right in with the austere image of the prophets. The end of our Gospel reading informs us that he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel. Mark tells us that "John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt round his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey" (Mark 1:6; also Matthew 3:4). Perhaps this Spartan lifestyle had something to do with the sharp tongue that John developed; a little later in Luke, we find John saying such endearing things as, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?" (Luke 3:7). And the great theme of John the Baptist's whole ministry is expressed in these words of his: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Luke 3:2). In our reading today, though, we have a very different look at that famously austere prophet, John the Baptist. We find him at his birth--which was not as miraculous as the Lord's birth, but had its own wonder about it, given that his parents were elderly, his mother will beyond the usual childbearing years. His father Zechariah knew that this was a special birth not only because of that circumstance, but because like Mary, he had received a visit from the angel Gabriel, who foretold the birth and give him a name for his son. I have heard that some people do have the experience, when a child is born to them, of seeing a vision of their child's future laid out before them. This was the kind of vision that the Holy Spirit gave to Zechariah eight days after his son John was born, on the day of the baby's circumcision--a ritual that has accomplished for the Jewish culture what baptism does for Christians. Earlier, in Zechariah's encounter with the angel, he had lost his speech because did not believe what Gabriel told him. Now, as the infant John was being dedicated to the Lord in the traditional manner, Zechariah regained his speech, and inspired by the Holy Spirit, spoke those graceful words about the coming of the Lord and his son's part in preparing the way for that coming. And so the Gospel begins with the story of two intertwined births, both announced beforehand by angels. John the Baptist was born first, and about six months later Jesus was born. We will look more fully at the birth of Jesus next week, on Christmas Sunday. Today, let's spend some time considering this baby who was born to be the prophet who would prepare the way for Jesus--for as we approach Christmas, we, too, must prepare the way for our Lord's birth. We can imagine the elderly Zechariah, who was a very devout and upright man, holding his little baby son in his arms and looking at that sweet, innocent face as he spoke these powerful words: And you, my child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. What did Zechariah see in his son's face that could prompt such a prophecy? Our story tells us that it was not merely Zechariah who was looking, but God as the Holy Spirit, who spoke through Zechariah to tell people what this baby was destined to become. And so, as with the works of the Holy Spirit that surrounded Jesus' own birth, the people were being prepared for the Lord's ministry on earth well before it happened. And also like Jesus' birth, this preparation began, not with overwhelming and terrifying power, but with the birth of a baby who was as helpless and dependent--and as cute--as any baby. Just like every great person who has ever changed the course of history, the life-changing ministry of John the Baptist was built upon his birth, childhood, and youth. Great people are not created whole all in one day; they do not come from nowhere; they are born, and they grow year after year, gradually developing into the people they will be as adults. And though the circumstances of our birth and our childhood do have a powerful effect on our present and our future, there is something far greater at work in those people, famous or unknown, whose lives make a difference for those around them. Yes, there is usually at least one inspiring person in their lives who gives them an ideal to look to. Yet a far greater power than any material circumstance or human mentor is the power of God working in our lives. And that power can work in us only when we make a conscious choice to put aside our own smaller aspirations in favor of the greater ones God has in store for us. The greatness of John the Baptist was prophesied at his birth. But if he had not willingly embraced the difficult yet powerful mission that God gave him, God would have had to find another prophet. The path that God called John to was a lonely and dangerous one, and led eventually to John's execution by those whose sins he denounced. This depth of dedication to the Lord's way comes only in those who have consciously chosen to lay aside everything else in order to follow the Lord. Some of you may be thinking, "That's all well and good for John the Baptist, but I'm not being called to anything as life-consuming as that!" This is quite a natural thing to think. It is also the reason why God's call to us does not come fully grown, any more than John the Baptist or Jesus himself came to us fully grown. The fact is that God calls _every one of us_ to a life and a ministry just as powerful in our own sphere as John was called to in his time and place. But God knows that we cannot hear that call all at once. God knows that it would be far too great a thing for us to instantly change our lives from the ordinary, earthly existence we start out with to the powerful angelic existence for which we were created. We cannot make such a big leap all at once. And God knows that. So _especially_ when God is preparing to come into our live in a new and more personal way, God prepares us for it by coming gently and gradually at first, softening our resistance and our natural crustiness through the innocence and charm of spiritual infancy. When our lives are very distant from spiritual values, and we are far from following divine laws, the Lord gives us the pleasant and uplifting experiences of religious holidays such as Christmas and Easter, so that we can get a taste of the beauty, love, and deep power that is available to us through the Lord and his Word. As we make our adult way in a world that has more than its share of selfishness, greed, conflict, pain, and sorrow, God gives us the promise of a child--the promise of new possibilities for peace, innocence, and mutual trust that a child represents. God gives us the inner, spiritual child of these new ideals and aspirations within us. Yet as gently and wondrously as this new spiritual birth comes to us, it is anything but frivolous. We may think that babies do not contribute anything to the workings of our society. But without them, it would not be many years before our entire society ceased to exist, as no new young adults came along to take the place of their elders who are moving on. In the case of John the Baptist, the necessity of his birth and ministry was even more critical. The very last words in the Old Testament, which we read earlier, give us this prophecy about John the Baptist--a prophecy that is filled with both hope and dread: See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a curse. Lest I strike the land with a curse? Why would the Lord strike the land with a curse? Of course, from a Swedenborgian perspective the Lord never curses anyone; we bring the curses on ourselves--and then blame the Lord, or whoever else happens to be handy. In fact, it is our very resistance to the Lord that causes us to regard his presence, not as a blessing, but as a curse. As the Apostle John wrote, "Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Those who do evil hate the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed" (John 3:19, 20). When the Lord comes into our lives, all our bad attitudes and hurtful ways of living are exposed to our eyes--and we don't like that. We don't like change. We would prefer to go on living the way we always have. We would prefer not to give up our favorite bad habits. And those habits often become addictions that are very _hard_ to give up. So if the Lord were to come directly into our lives in full force, without preparing us and softening us up, we would immediately reject him. We would be unable or unwilling to suddenly make the radical changes in our lives that a powerful presence of the Lord would require. Instead of embracing the Lord, we would run and hide. The prophecy of Hosea would come true for us: "They will say to the mountains, 'Cover us!' and to the hills, 'Fall on us!'" (Hosea 10:8). Instead of being healed by the Lord, we would rush even farther into our misguided ways to get away from that blinding light, and we would bring even more destruction on ourselves and on those around us. The Lord knows just how painful it is for us to have to confront head on all of our faults and bad habits, our addictions and our sins. And so, before coming in a powerful and confrontational way--as both John the Baptist and Jesus did in their adult ministries--the Lord comes to us gently at first, showing us the beauty and the promise of a better and more heavenly life. The Lord comes to us first, not as a full-grown prophet, calling down destruction on us because we flout the Lord's ways, but as a little baby prophet, giving us a simple and beautiful promise of the new life we will have if we will turn from our old ways and give our lives fully to the Lord. God does not start with a threat, but with a promise. A promise is something we can listen to. And if we listen, each one of us _will_ hear the Lord giving us the inspiring promise that if we will follow the example of the Lord Jesus, we can and will overcome everything that holds us back from being a good and loving and understanding and _joyful_ person. We do not have to be held down by our circumstances or by our past or even our by own fears and self-doubts. We _can_ become the angelic version of ourselves that we each cherish and long for somewhere in our heart of hearts. It will not be an easy road. John the Baptist's road certainly was not an easy one, as he struggled against the callous evils of his own day. Neither will our road be easy as we struggle against every bad habit that stands in the way of the Lord's birth and growth in our lives. Yet the birth of that little baby prophet within us is a promise that with time, as we do listen to the Lord's call, and as we do face our daily struggles against our inner and outer demons, Zechariah's prophecy over the infant John the Baptist will come true for us as well: You will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. Amen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Swedenborgian sermons are available on the Worldwide Web: Sermon of the Week--the Online Edition of _Our Daily Bread_: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ Current and past sermons by the Rev. Lee Woofenden: http://www.tiac.net/users/leewoof/sermons/lswsermons.html The Rev. Lee Woofenden's email sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 USA Thank you, and God be with you. From leewoof@mediaone.net Sun Dec 19 22:49:30 1999 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 19 Dec 1999 17:49:30 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Unto Us a Child is Born," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19991219154104.00c69c70@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Unto Us a Child is Born By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, December 19, 1999 Christmas Sunday Readings: Isaiah 9:2-7: Unto Us a Child is Born The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, and will be fuel for the fire. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. Luke 2:1-20: The birth of Jesus In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. This was the first enrollment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he belonged to the house and lineage of David. He went to be enrolled with Mary, his espoused wife, who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were very afraid. But the angel said to them, "Do not fear; for behold, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests!" When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. Sermon: Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, and will be fuel for the fire. For unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:5, 6) "For unto us a Child is born." This beautiful phrase, and the entire verse that goes with it, has been indelibly etched into the world's consciousness at Christmas time by the powerful chorus devoted to it in Handel's _Messiah:_ "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." However, in Handel's libretto for _The Messiah,_ the verse that came just before this now famous one did not make the cut. Perhaps it was too graphic. Yet in its own way, it is just as beautiful, for it gives us a promise of what this Child will bring to us: the end of war and conflict. "Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, and will be fuel for the fire." In the reign of the Prince of Peace, there will be no need for the warrior's boot, and garments stained with the blood of battle will be a thing of the past. Thankfully, this year at Christmas time our country is not at war as it was a year ago. At the moment, we are not engaged in armed conflict, and our country is enjoying a time of relative peace. Other countries are not so fortunate. This year, instead of the U.S. and Great Britain pounding Iraq, it is Russia pounding Chechnya. There always seems to be a war going on somewhere in the world. The Prince of Darkness still contends with the Prince of Peace for control of our world and its people. "Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, and will be fuel for the fire." This is the promise we are given for the Christ child's birth. But wasn't Jesus born two thousand years ago? Then why haven't the prophecies come true? Why are the soldiers in their boots still marching off to battle? Why do we still see the footage on television of garments rolled in the blood of war? Perhaps the skeptics and atheists are right when they say that this Son of God thing is all an illusion, an opiate for the masses, the irrational product of wishful thinking. "Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, and will be fuel for the fire." In fact, it does not say that war will immediately be a thing of the past when the Child is born unto us. It says that the trappings of war will be _destined_ for burning. We know from Jesus' own words that his coming would not bring an immediate end to conflict. He said: Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; one's enemies will be the members of one's own household. (Matthew 10:34-36) Now that's hitting close to home. Most of us are not directly involved in the military conflicts of nation against nation. But how many of us can say we have had no conflict in our homes and in our extended families over the past year? The past month? Even the past week? We may not be fighting on distant battlefields, but we engage in battles and skirmishes right in our own homes and in our own communities. Sometimes those battles are with one another, as when Patty and I struggle to keep three young children, each with minds of their own, from squabbling with one another--and meanwhile try to work out our different viewpoints with one another on how to raise our children. Each of us faces various struggles in our families, many of them much more difficult and painful than this particular example. All too often, we stomp on one another's feelings with the warrior's boot of our thoughtless desires, creating a battle scene in which our lifeblood flows out through the emotional wounds that we inflict upon each other. Sometimes our battles are not with one another, but with various life circumstances, such as sudden or ongoing health problems, financial difficulties, or tough work situations. And sometimes our battles are entirely within ourselves, as we struggle with pride or depression or apathy or anxiety or anger or any of the multitude of inner enemies that plague us. The Lord's birth does not automatically end all of these battles. We will still have to struggle against our own ego, pride, materialism, and thoughtlessness. And as imperfect beings, we will still find ourselves in conflict with one another more often than we would like. But when the Lord is born within us and among us, we receive the beautiful promise that these conflicts and battles are destined for destruction--that their days are numbered. When the Lord is born and grows in us, our battles will not last forever, because the battlefield itself changes. Less and less do we fight with those around us, because we have a new enemy to engage: our own thoughtlessness; our own self-centeredness; our own lack of commitment to God's way of unconditional love and joyful service to our neighbor. As the Lord helps us to overcome these inner enemies, the Lord is also helping us to overcome the very roots of war and conflict. Because the root of every war and every conflict, both in the larger world and in our own homes, is our own lack of spiritual maturity. When we yield to our lower desires and motives, we create conflict and war around ourselves. But when we struggle with these enemies with the Lord's help, we will gradually, over the course of our lifetimes, gain the victory over them. "Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, and will be fuel for the fire. For unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders." Yes, when the divine Child is born within us, we continue to have our conflicts and struggles. But instead of dragging us down, these conflicts turn into spiritual victories that make us stronger, better, and more loving people. As we gain victory over our inner enemies through our faith in the Lord, we gradually turn over the government of our lives to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ--who is the divine Child that is born to us. And as the Lord Jesus becomes the ruler of our lives, we find that the attitudes and desires that used to bring us into conflict with those around us are replaced with more thoughtful, loving, and peaceful feelings. Instead of creating conflict around ourselves, we feel the Lord's love reaching out from us to bring a little more harmony and peace to our corner of the world. And we know the divine Child of Christmas as our Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Amen. From leewoof@mediaone.net Sun Dec 26 21:13:49 1999 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 26 Dec 1999 16:13:49 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Go Tell It On the Mountains," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.19991226124510.0461c930@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Go Tell It On the Mountains By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, December 26, 1999 Advent Celebration Readings: Isaiah 52:7-15: How beautiful upon the mountains How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the Lord returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes. Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the Lord. But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard. See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him--his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness--so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand. Matthew 18-23: The birth of Jesus The birth of Jesus the Christ took place in this way: When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man, and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, "Behold, a virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will name him Emmanuel," which means, "God with us." Matthew 17:1-8: The transfiguration of Jesus After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!" When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground, overcome with fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying "Get up and do not be afraid." When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. Arcana Coelestia #6435.15: Mountains and hills "Mountains and hills" mean different kinds of heavenly and spiritual love, since they are places that rise up above the earth, and places that rise up high symbolize things that relate to heaven--and in the highest sense, things that relate to the Lord. "The land of Canaan" means the Lord's heavenly kingdom, so everything in that land has a spiritual meaning--its mountains and hills meaning the kinds of things that are high. For when the most ancient people, who belonged to the heavenly church, went up a mountain, the idea of height came to mind, and from height, the idea of what was holy, since Jehovah or the Lord was said to live in the most high places, and also because in the spiritual sense "height" means the goodness of love. Sermon: How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" (Isaiah 52:7) I can't resist repeating a conversation that took place in the car last night as we were driving toward our second Christmas at my parents' place. Chris (4) spoke up and said, "Christmas is not just about toys. It's about love." Caleb (almost 3) quickly added "and presents!" Chris persisted: "No, it's not just about presents, it's about love." Caleb, always ready with an answer, came back with, "I _love_ to open presents." That just about sums up both the beauty and the paradox of Christmas. Christmas is about love--and about presents. And for all our hand-wringing about over-commercializing Christmas, spending too much on stuff, and so on, underneath it all even the presents are about love. The wise men from the East brought the baby Jesus presents of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And though our modern Christmas gift-giving is a relatively recent Christmas tradition, it does have those Biblical roots from Matthew's account of Jesus' birth. Perhaps we do sometimes go overboard on the material side of Christmas. However, I believe that even this is a result of our searching for love, and for ways to express our love to one another. Paradoxically, in our culture it seems that when we have a hard time expressing our love to one another directly, we often go even more strongly toward using material things--gifts--as messengers of our love. This year, with Christmas on a Saturday, our family celebrations are bracketed on both sides by church services. This gives us a perfect opportunity to lift our minds and hearts above the material side of Christmas and remember the source of all our family celebrations: the love of God that is shown to us in the best gift of all: the birth of the Lord Jesus. That is what today's readings are all about. And the hymn that we just sang echoes those stories: Go, tell it on the mountains, Over the hills and everywhere; Go tell it on the mountains, Our Jesus Christ is born. Swedenborg helps us to understand what this is all about when he tells us that the high places of mountains and hills correspond to the inner high places of heavenly and spiritual love. In another place, he tells us how angels and spirits relate to mountains and hills: "Mountains" symbolize heaven, so they symbolize the goodness of love. This meaning comes from the other life. Mountains, hills, rocks, valleys, and many other things appear there just as on earth. And on the mountains there are people who live in heavenly love, on the hills those who live in spiritual love, on the rocks those who live in faith, and in the valleys those who have not yet been lifted up to the goodness of love and faith. . . . Because these things appear in the other life and symbolize these realities, they have the same meaning in the Bible. (_Arcana Coelestia_ #10438) Here's a translation of what Swedenborg is saying: People and angels who live in "heavenly (or celestial) love" are those who love the Lord above all else--who have the Lord not just in their minds, but in their hearts, and are moved by that love to love everyone around them, deeply and fully. This state of being is the mountain height of human life. People and angels who are in "spiritual love" are those who put the neighbor--other people--first. Their love tends not to be centered quite as much in their heart as in their head, which tells them that loving others is the way to have happiness among all people. The Lord is present in them as well, but not quite as fully and consciously. These uplifted hills of mutual concern and love are where many of us live in our better moments, in which we can think of others first, an ourselves afterwards. We have all experienced the rocks of the kind of faith that does not put love first. Those who say that it is what we _believe_ that saves us, and not the way we _live,_ can become very dogmatic about their faith. Sometimes when they are "witnessing" to us, we feel more like we're having rocks thrown at us than that we're having the Lord's love expressed to us. And I think that if we are honest, we'll all admit that sometimes we approach one another with hard heads rather than with open hearts. The valleys are where we live when we haven't yet gotten the idea that it is love and faith that make life truly human and truly worth living. When we think that Christmas is _only_ about presents, and do not realize that behind all the material trappings there is a love that runs deeper than anything we can ever imagine, then we are stuck in the spiritual valleys of materialism. Our deeper and higher selves are undeveloped--yet waiting to be born. The Christmas story helps to guide us out of the valleys of worldliness and up onto the mountains of love. Three of Jesus' disciples, Peter, James, and John, had a tremendous experience of the true meaning of the mountain of the Lord's love. Having been with him in the ordinary valleys of human experience, they went up the mountain with him and saw something of the glory of the Lord, which was unseen within him all along. There, on the mountain, "he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light." And the words they heard from above tell us something of the meaning of this transfiguration: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!" This glorious Jesus they were experiencing with their spiritual eyes opened is the same Jesus who was born so simply and quietly on that first Christmas. When our minds are running in their common, everyday paths, we may not realize what depths of love and wisdom were and are present in that divine being who has been born to us. When we do raise our minds up to the mountains of God's love, then we can also see with the eyes of our minds and hearts what the disciples saw. We can see Jesus of Nazareth transformed into Immanuel: God With Us. We can feel the warmth and light of the spiritual sun--the warmth of love and the light of enlightenment--shining within us. We can feel the Lord warming us from the inside out, and moving us to show to one another the same love that he shows to us. We can feel the brilliant light of the Lord shining through his words and his teachings, showing us how to express this love to one another. When we raise our minds above the valleys of the material side of Christmas, then we can know the true and deep joy of the Gospel according to Christopher: Christmas is not just about toys. It's about love. Amen. From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Mon Dec 27 17:33:18 1999 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 27 Dec 1999 12:33:18 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: Taking Good Care of Yourself Message-ID: <199912271036_MC2-9281-424@compuserve.com> Taking Good Care of Yourself by the Rev. Eric H. Carswell December 26, 1999 As we look at the multitude of images of the infant Jesus that the Christmas season brings, we know that His birth was only the beginning of a long story. He was born into the world to become our Savior and Redeemer. The first step in this work involved Him learning everything that a normal human being needs to learn. His natural mind and memory was as empty of information as any of ours was when we were first born. He would have had to learn the words and meaning of human language. He would have learned how to walk and run. He would have had a time that He read each of the stories and passages of the Old Testament for the first time. Day by day Jesus needed to consciously make choices that would have contributed to His becoming strong in spirit, and filled with the wisdom. (cf. Luke 2:40). Concerning the Lord's development we are told: He had, so as to become truly a human being, to be conceived, be carried in the womb, be born, be brought up and learn items of knowledge one by one, and by their means be brought into a state of intelligence and wisdom. Therefore in His Human He was a child like any other child, a boy like any other boy, and so on, the only difference being that He achieved that progress more quickly, fully and perfectly than others. (True Christian Religion 89) Sometimes we might wonder what He would have been like as a five year old or who it was that taught him how to read. But, for some reason, this has not been revealed to us. Of the Lord's thirty years of preparation for His public ministry we are given only one short story that occurred when He was twelve years old. It is interesting in what it reveals about the relationship that Jesus had with Joseph and Mary who served as His parents. Consider the events of that story. Jesus, at age twelve, causing significant anxiety to Mary and Joseph by remaining behind in Jerusalem, after a trip there to celebrate the Passover. His parents began their journey home assuming that He was part of the large group that apparently was traveling together back up to Galilee. It was only at the end of the first day's journey that they realized that He was gone. They returned to Jerusalem to search for Him and had to look for three days before finding Him. He had stayed behind without telling Joseph and Mary in order to talk with the best scholars at the temple. What do you think of this story? Why would He make a choice that would result in such worry for his parents? Mary asked Him this question "Son, why have you done this to us? We can imagine her saying to herself, "What were you thinking of? You weren't thinking of us." The implication of her words and these thoughts are that Jesus was thinking of Himself and His own needs, wants, and interests. What was His answer? "Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business." He didn't stay in Jerusalem on a whim. He had been listening and asking questions--learning. He had been feeding His mind by interacting with people who could give Him the best available human interpretation of the Old Testament books. He had been working on a key part of his mission in life--His Father's business, His own business. He had been taking care of His own need to learn. How well do we take care of ourselves? Many of us grew up being told of--and at times seeing for ourselves--the destructive evil within self-centered thoughts and concerns. We've been exhorted with the words: "Don't be selfish" and "Think about others." Learning not to be self-centered is an important, even essential, lesson. Much evil comes from exclusive self love. But self-love can be misunderstood. Consider how you were taught to care for things that had been given to you when you were young such as clothes, toys or a new bicycle. Take for example the care of tools. Many of us grew up in houses where there was a father who wanted us to not misuse, lose or even haphazardly leave around his tools. We were supposed to take good care of them. We were not to lend them to someone else who will mistreat them or lose them. Even if the tool was our very own, we were expected to take care of it. It would not have been acceptable if we asserted, "It's my hammer, I can leave it out in the rain if I want." The same is true of good clothes we were given as children. They were not to be worn at the wrong time so that they were rapidly destroyed or stained so that were not longer useful as dress clothes. We know that the Lord does not want us to love clothes or tools in themselves, but rather we are to appreciate their ability to serve higher goals, to be useful. Now consider that the Lord has given each of us a wonderful set of gifts. He has given us our natural body, our natural mind and our spirit. He has given them to us and they are "ours." How well do we take care of these gifts. How well do we take care of ourselves? Consider the passage from Divine Love and Wisdom that was one of the lessons for this sermon (Divine Love and Wisdom 396): Through it the Lord speaks of us taking care of the welfare of our body by giving consideration to food, clothing, and housing. He speaks of being attentive to the welfare of our family, attentive to securing a good job, and even to being honored for what we do. He speaks of us taking time for recreation, worldly enjoyment. The Lord speaks to us of these things all for the sake of each of us being a more useful person. In another part of the book, Divine Love and Wisdom, the Lord talks about things He has created for us--things that take care of our natural bodies, such as food, clothing, shelter, recreation, enjoyment and also provide protection for us, community, country. ( Divine Love and Wisdom 331) All of these allow us to be useful. Consider that our natural bodies are tools or clothing for our spirit. Do we take good care of them? Most of us take reasonable care about what we eat and drink but could probably do better without becoming too obsessed with healthy food. We take reasonable care for staying warm and healthy. We take reasonable care for recreation, for sleep. We have to think of ourselves in all of these and we know it isn't evil. Taking care of ourselves is necessary for us to be useful. Similarly our natural mind is a tool. It is affected by state of natural body. We know what happens if we do not get enough sleep, or consume too much of the wrong food or drink. We also know that we can feed our natural mind in itself. Consider the following passage from the True Christian Religion: In what way...each person ought to be his own neighbor can be seen from this analogy. Everyone ought to provide his body with food; this is the first consideration, but for the purpose of having a healthy mind in a healthy body. Everyone ought also to provide his mind with the food it needs, such things as fall within the domain of intelligence and judgment, but in order that he may as a result be in a position to be of service to his fellow citizen, his community, country, the church and so the Lord. Anyone who does this provides well for himself for ever. (True Christian Religion 406) Do you take time to feed your mind? Certainly there are some who read too much or read rather empty material-- but this is not the norm. Yet for many of us reading can seem self-indulgent. We can wonder whether it is right to make time for it with everything else we have to do. Likewise do we take time to allow our mind to sort through experiences? This sort of reflection is an important part of learning from those experiences. As a comparison, consider that in the coming days most of us will make time to find proper places for new Christmas gifts. We want to put them in a place where they will be easily found, where they will be most useful. Reflecting on our experience is similarly a process of putting things in their proper place. When we allow time for our mind to reflect on ideas and events we can see their true significance, how we might want to do things differently in the future. The Writings are also very clear about the value of taking time for recreation, allowing refreshment from the press of our regular duties. If we don't make appropriate time for this refreshment, if we don't make time to care for ourselves, we will not be as useful to others. The Lord also wants us to take care of our spiritual life and health. This likewise takes time and conscious choices. One way to take care of yourself spiritually is by making time to read the Word and reflect on its meaning for your own life. It can mean taking time to read other books that help us better understand how the Lord has created us, how He cares for us, and our responsibilities in following Him. Taking care of ourselves spiritually also means making time for prayer, for talking with the Lord about the important issues of our spiritual life. We can pray asking for strength, for insight. We can ask the Lord to guide us as we seek better self-understanding--so that we may see ourselves as the Lord sees us. Likewise there can be value in taking time to explore questions and issues with friends. Taking appropriate care of one's own natural body, mind, spiritual life may at times seem self-indulgent. We may feel that we are being self-centered when our choices to take wise care of ourselves results in negative responses from others. Like the example of Jesus staying in Jerusalem and causing Joseph and Mary great worry, it can seem to others like we are making the wrong choice. But apparently in the example Jesus' need to be about His business took precedence. It was not selfish because He was taking care of Himself for the sake of being useful. It is not easy for us to find a balance of taking care of ourselves and be appropriately concerned with the needs of others. It is not a balance that we will be able to find once and for all, but rather will need to keep establishing over and over again with the Lord's help. The evil spirits that seek to influence our daily thoughts and decisions love to have us be self-centered when this will be destructive and they love to distract us from taking care of ourselves when this will keep us from being as useful as we could be. They love to distract us with the important issues of taking wise care of others and ourselves and turn our attention to the trivial and inconsequential. As we begin a new year, think of the Lord inviting you to reflect on how well you take care of yourself and how He asks us to balance our caring for ourselves and others. It is a balance that we need to decide for ourselves. There are times when we should recognize that others needs and wants are not always higher than our own. Some of us need to beware of this more than others. If we always give of ourselves, no matter what the personal cost, we will be mistreating, misusing, even waste the wonderful gifts that the Lord has given us. Today, in this coming week, and through out this coming year, the Lord invites you to consider what you can do to better care for your body, mind and spirit. He invites you to this work not for the sake of yourself alone, but so that you can take better care of the gifts the Lord has given you-- so that you can better serve those around you. The Lord invites you to take good care of yourself so that you can better serve Him. Lessons: Luke 2:41-52 The love of self and the love of the world by creation are heavenly loves; for they are loves of the natural person serviceable to spiritual loves, as a foundation is to a house. For a person, from the love of self and the world, seeks the welfare of his body, desires food, clothing, and habitation, is concerned for the welfare of his family, and to secure employment for the sake of use, and even, in the interest of obedience, to be honored according to the dignity of the affairs which he administers, and to find delight and recreation in worldly enjoyment; yet all this for the sake of the end, which must be use For through these things a person is in a state to serve the Lord and to serve the neighbor. When, however, there is no love of serving the Lord and serving the neighbor, but only a love of serving himself by means of the world, then from being heavenly that love becomes hellish, for it causes a person to sink his mind and disposition in what is his own, and that in itself is wholly evil. Divine Love and Wisdom 396 All books mentioned, other than from the Bible are written by Emanuel Swedenborg and are often referred to in the New Church as "the Writings." We believe that they are equally the Word of God as the revelation of the Old and New Testaments.