From leewoof@mediaone.net Mon Jan 3 03:25:49 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 2 Jan 2000 22:25:49 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Why I Am a Swedenborgian," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20000102203316.00c443d0@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Dear Sermon Service Subscribers, I hope you are enjoying these weekly sermons by email. Since I am going on sabbatical from the Bridgewater New Jerusalem Church for three months, this will be my last sermon for a while. During my absence from the church, there will be a series of sermons by lay people and visiting ministers on the topic "Why I Am a Swedenborgian." Instead of my own sermons, I will be sending out the sermons of those speakers at the church who consent to have their thoughts distributed to a wider audience. The sermon below is the first in this series. There are many more Swedenborgian sermons available at the Online Edition of Our Daily Bread, which you will find at: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/ I wish you blessings and joy in this New Year and New Millennium that the Lord has given us. With love, --Rev. Lee Woofenden Why I Am a Swedenborgian By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, January 2, 2000 Readings: Exodus 3:1-15: "I Am Who I Am" Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, "I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up." When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Then he said, "Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." He said further, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord said, "I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt." But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" He said, "I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain." But Moses said to God, "If I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I Am Who I Am." He said further, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I Am has sent me to you.'" God also said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations." Matthew 22:34-40: The Two Greatest Commandments When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." 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: Happy New Year and Happy New Millennium! I'm pleased to be here with you this morning breaking the sabbatical in order to kick off our church's three month series of services on "Why I Am a Swedenborgian." I know there are misgivings about my sabbatical. And I know that it will mean extra work for the people of this congregation. However, my absence from the pulpit will give you, the members and friends of this church, a wonderful opportunity to share with one another what this church means to you--and I know that it means a _lot_ to you, just as it does to me. Contrary to the fears that while I am away the church will lose the ground we have gained together over the past few years, I believe that this congregation will _grow_ in spirit through these three months, and come out _stronger_ in our faith and our vision of what the Bridgewater New Jerusalem Church is--and what it can become. For me, coming to this church as your pastor was like coming back home. Though the roots of my Swedenborgian faith go far back into my family's history, it was during my association with this church in my pre-teen and teenage years that my conscious devotion to this faith was formed. Over twenty years ago, I was confirmed into the Swedenborgian faith by my father in this very sanctuary. And even if the road I traveled after that day was not quite what I expected, I have never looked back. For me, it was the beginning of a good and exciting journey of faith--a journey that I hope and pray will continue forever. Why am I a Swedenborgian? For those of you who know my family history, it seems like a silly question. I am a cradle Swedenborgian. I am a Swedenborgian because my parents were Swedenborgians, and their parents were Swedenborgians, and _their_ parents were Swedenborgians. . . . There are devoted Swedenborgian ministers and lay people stretching back for several generations on both sides. In that sense, it is the most natural thing in the world that I am a Swedenborgian. It is in my blood and in my bones. Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if I had not been born into the Swedenborgian Church. Would I have eventually discovered this church, or would I have taken a completely different path? Then I realize that if I had been born in different circumstances and to different parents, I would no longer be me. I would be someone else. And I continue to believe that the Lord, in his divine providence, provided me with the beginning that I needed in order to be the person I am--and the angel that I hope to become. Would I have chosen the Swedenborgian faith if I had not been born into it? That is a question that cannot be answered, because I _was_ born into it. For me, the question becomes: Why have I _remained_ a Swedenborgian? Why have I committed my life to this faith instead of drifting off, or choosing another faith to give my life direction and meaning? For this question, there is a more definite answer. And as intellectually satisfying and stimulating as this religion can be, my answer is not an intellectual one. Faith that is real is grounded not primarily in _truth,_ but in _love._ For me, it was not as much the _truth_ of this faith as its _goodness_ that drew me to embrace it as the focal point of my life. This may be surprising to some--especially those of you who knew me as an overly-intellectual teenager and young adult who prided myself in being (as I thought) smarter than everyone else around me. At that time, I thought of the Swedenborgian Church as being what was _true_ and _right._ It took me longer to see that for any religion to be genuine, beyond and within the truth it teaches, there must be what is _good_ and _loving._ Even as a teenager I knew that the choice of one faith or another--or of having faith versus _not_ having faith--could not be made on a purely intellectual level. Of course, any faith I adopted _did_ have to make sense. But I distinctly remember the time when I realized that no matter how much sense these Swedenborgian teachings made, I could decide whether I believed them or not--and whatever decision I made, I would find reasons to back it up and convince myself that I had made the right choice. And if I could mentally convince myself either way, what could I base this crucial decision on? The answer that has been growing on me ever since is that the choice of faith is not based so much on what we believe is the _truest,_ but on what we feel is the _"goodest."_ By that time in my life, I had learned something about various religions, and had also encountered atheism, agnosticism, and mere apathy toward religion. And as I considered whether to embrace or abandon the faith I had grown up in, I thought less and less about what was the most _convincing_ belief, and more and more about what the world would be like if people adopted this belief as compared to any other belief I had encountered. In other words, I thought more and more about what _good_ would come from the Swedenborgian faith. Somewhere around the time all these thoughts were going through my mind, I read Voltaire's _Candide_--a biting, satirical attack on the philosophy of Optimism. The optimistic main character in _Candide_ continually has his conviction that this is "the best of all possible worlds" battered by disasters, both natural and man-made, until he finally rests in simple pragmatism. In the end, he sums it all up by remarking, "but we must cultivate our garden." _Candide_ was a challenge to the belief growing within me that whatever is the best way the universe could be created, that is how God _would_ create it--because any God, I believed, must be a God of goodness and love. Voltaire was a Deist: he believed that God "started up" the world and then left it to fend for itself, without caring about the fates of the people living in it. To me, that view was not satisfying. It seemed to me that if God cared enough to create a universe that included conscious beings such as ourselves, God would also care enough to cultivate _his_ garden: to take care of the beings whom he had created. What continually drew me back to the Swedenborgian faith in which I had grown up was Swedenborg's view of God as _pure love._ This gave me the conviction, which Voltaire apparently lacked, that even if we humans have done our best to foul up what God created, God's work is entirely motivated by pure, unselfish love--and everything in the created universe reflects that infinite love. In no other religion or philosophy have I found such a complete unity and harmony, throughout the entire structure of belief, with the central reality of God as pure love, from which everything else flows. This pure reality of Love is the "I Am" of the universe. It was this divine love that engulfed that desert bush in blazing fire that did not consume it. It was this divine love that turned Moses aside to see the great sight--which is the presence of the Creator of the universe. It is this same divine love that has turned aside you and me and everyone who has ever become aware, no matter how dimly, of a deeper love at the core of our existence. I believe that it was not I who turned myself toward the acceptance of faith, but God who reached out in love and turned me toward himself as I was ready to accept it. As important as a thorough knowledge of spiritual principles is to our lives, what is needed for you or I or anyone to accept faith is not simply an intellectual grasp of the spiritual truths of reality. What is needed is for us to open up our hearts to the possibility that there is a God of pure love who _loves us_--you and I and every single person in this world--so fully and completely that no greater love could ever exist. I feel like a mere infant in opening myself up to that love. Yet it is the little sliver of God's love and light that I have let in through a crack in the door that has illuminated my whole life. I sometimes wonder what my life would have been like if I had made the other choice back when I was contemplating whether to believe or not to believe. With the particular type of mind that the Lord saw fit to give me, I believe that without a sense of God's love burning within--without a sense of God's love blazing behind _everything_ we see in the world around us--I would have lived up to my one of my childhood nicknames: "Eyore." I would have gone beyond skepticism to cynicism. I would have become one of those sorry souls who looks around and sees nothing but the dark side of our world. From the spiritual riches God had given me, I would have snatched a life of spiritual and emotional poverty. Of course, there are plenty of things that we could use to justify a cynical view of the world. I do not subscribe to the blind optimism which holds that everything that happens is the best thing that possibly _could_ happen. There certainly is evil and hatred in this world, and it does tremendous damage. But I believe that the goodness and love of God is far stronger--and that if we accept God's love into our lives, it will eventually overcome all the world's evil and hatred. The best of all possible worlds will not happen automatically. But it _will_ happen gradually, powerfully, as we open ourselves up to the infinite love and wisdom of God. Why am I a Swedenborgian? Because I have found in this faith a God who created the world and all that is in it from pure love, through pure wisdom; a God who, from that love, continually reaches out to us in the incredible beauty of nature and in the infinite depths of Sacred Scripture. Most of all, I am a Swedenborgian because I have found in this faith a God who did not remain distant and aloof from his creation, but who, when every other means of expressing his love had failed to express it fully, came to us personally. In the Lord Jesus Christ as illuminated in Emanuel Swedenborg's writings, I have found the best of all possible Gods: a God of pure, wise, tender, powerful, and infinitely human _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://people.ne.mediaone.net/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 Jan 4 17:33:47 2000 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 4 Jan 2000 12:33:47 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: The Promise and Problems of Human Reason Message-ID: <200001041224_MC2-9350-5866@compuserve.com> The Promise and Problems of Human Reason By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell November 28, 1999 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, "See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her." (Genesis 16:1-2) In ancient times a couple's grown children were the primary and best means of ensuring a safe and well cared for old age. A grown child was also the most desirable heir to their property and continued the family line. For these reasons as well as many others that exist today a couple's childlessness was considered a tremendous concern. According to ancient legal traditions of ownership, if a child was conceived by Abram and one of Sarai's servant women, that child would legally be Abram and Sarai's child. It has been suggested that it was Sarai's duty to have made for such an arrangement long before she actually did. The fact that Abram waited and remained loyal to Sarai through many years of waiting for a child appears as an indication of genuine love for her. Although traditionally and legally supported from ancient traditions as appropriate behavior, such arrangements were fraught with several potential problems. These problems are among the reasons why the Lord calls us to have a high standard of behavior in regard to the sanctity of marriage and especially the deepest expression of its closeness and commitment. The problem that showed itself in this case was Hagar's apparently haughty behavior when she knew she had conceived a child and heir from Abram. She is said to have despised Sarai. While we are not given specifics, the second half of the chapter indicates that Hagar wasn't willing to do what Sarai asked her to do as she had in the past. Hagar apparently felt equal or superior to Sarai because of her role as the mother of Abram's child. But we know that this story isn't simply a retelling of a troubled event in one couple's marriage long, long ago. The Lord has directed and chosen each detail of what happened and is recorded to convey universal truths about the nature and development of the human mind and about the pathway to a heavenly life that each of us are called to follow. This sermon continues a series on the story of Abram's life. The last sermon in this series focused on Abram's complaint to God that he did not have an heir. Abram said to God, "Look, You have given me no offspring." (Genesis 15:3) This complaint represents the state of mind of a person who had learned and is relatively mechanically following rules of behavior for a good life or is almost parroting what he or she has learned to be true. There is something inherently empty or unsatisfying about this state of life. The behavior and ideas don't feel like our own. They tend to be rather rigid and somewhat crude and ineffective when we try to use them. For example, many a parent has read a book on discipline or attended a useful seminar on how to better raise their children and then as the parent has tried to apply this knowledge over a period of days or weeks receives the caustic comment of an older child, "Mom, please don't use that book stuff on me." The child recognizes something distinct and foreign about his mother's new behavior or phrasing. This foreign quality may be felt by the mother herself. Similarly there are jokes in church circles about congregations worrying about their pastor returning from a seminar with some new idea or practice. This concern might be reflected by the words, "Oh, no, what is he going to inflict on us this time." It is nearly inevitable that any new idea or behavior will at first not seem natural or feel like it belongs. As we follow a pathway toward a heavenly life, we need to develop spiritually through a series of steps. Those described in previous sermons in this series are that we need to: recognize issues in our lives that would benefit from change, get to the point that we care enough about the issue that we are committed to work on it, seek the knowledge or facts that define the issue and a more useful response to it, recognize the need to change habits of thought, speech, and action concerning this issue, and establish rules for new habits that we make a conscious effort to follow. To the extent that the "rules of life" that we have recognized and are trying to follow feel somewhat like an external dictate-- "Do this" or "Don't do that"--they will not really be satisfying to us. They won't feel like our own. They will feel like we have adopted someone else's view and overlaid it on our own life. There is a degree of hollowness to this state. Fortunately we can often not recognize this hollowness. Many a teacher has been amused to watch upper elementary school children debate political candidates as an election approaches. The children will expound very strong and emphatic opinions on who is or isn't good and why. But remarkably these children's propounded views with almost no exception reflect the views they've heard spoken by their parents. It would not be a kind act to bluntly tell a child, "You just think what you do because your parents think that way." Inevitably though a child who so strongly asserts opinions in one age will face questions or issues that he or she isn't really able to address. Once the discussion leaves the ground that the child has heard someone talk about before, he or she is very limited in being able to respond. There is a fragileness to the strongly held opinions of childhood. A skilled questioner could relatively easily raise issues or facts beyond the child's understanding. The strength and bluster of the child's opinion can in these situations turn out to be little more than the appearance of a great and powerful Wizard of Oz produced by a small man behind a curtain. Obviously there is a tremendous weakness to this state of life. Abram and Sarai's childless state represents that a person cannot yet think from the ideas and concepts of a rational understanding. It is obvious to anyone who has experience with children that they think differently from the way adults are capable of thinking. Their thought and perspective is very limited and flawed. For example a very young child doesn't apparently know that objects which disappear from view still exist. Their thinking is concrete in many areas. Concerning this state the Writings observe: The rational person does not exist with anyone when he is first born, only a potentiality to become rational, as may become clear to anyone from the fact that new-born babies do not possess reason but become rational as time goes by through the response of the senses to stimuli from without and from within, as knowledge and concepts are bestowed on them. Rationality does, it is true, appear to exist with children; but rationality does not in fact do so, only something of the first beginnings of it, as may be recognized from the fact that reason resides with people who are adult and advanced in years. (Arcana Caelestia 1893:1) The Lord does not want us to go through our lives feeling like we are constantly referring to a fixed and memorized book of rules. We don't feel very much like the life produced by this state is our own. Without a sense that what we think, say, and do comes from our own mind the happiness of heavenly life will inevitably elude us. A key step towards this sense is represented by the child conceived of Abram and Hagar. Hagar represents the affection for knowledge that the Lord gives each human being. The power of this affection for knowing shows itself dramatically in a very young child's capability of learning the complexities of human language and grammar with remarkable skill merely through observation and experience. While a four-year-old may not be able to describe the rules that he or she uses with high accuracy, it is obvious that their use has been learned with little or no direct instruction. Although we vary as human beings in our curiosity about some knowledge as compared to others, we all have a part of us that likes to learn and know. But learning doesn't come merely through experience. A person can have the experience of seeing some sport like football for decades and still not have a clue about what is happening. All the person sees is a confusing series of behaviors, punctuated by periodic whistles by the referees. Although the person may experience the game in the sense of having their eyes see the players moving around on the field their is little learning or understanding taking place. The Lord has told us that the key issue to learning is the affection, motivation, or caring we have about the subject. This is reflected in the following passage: The rational is not born from knowledge and cognitions, as people suppose, but from the affection for them, as becomes clear merely from the fact that nobody can possibly become rational unless some delight in or affection for such knowledge and cognitions burns within him. The affection constitutes the maternal life itself, while the celestial and spiritual within that affection constitute the paternal life. Consequently it is the degree and the quality of a person's affection that determine the degree and the quality of the rationality that is developed in him. In themselves facts and cognitions are nothing other than things that are dead, or instrumental causes, which are made alive by the life that belongs to affection. This is how everyone's rational man is conceived. The reason why the servant-girl was Egyptian and why that fact is mentioned is that "Egypt" means knowledge. (Arcana Caelestia 1895:2) Affection is necessary for understanding to take place. In the example of a person, say for example a woman, who had watched but never understood football, all of this might change in a short period of time if it is her son who is playing on the team she is watching. Now, from her desire to know the part he plays in the game, she may want to understand what is happening. Or again a woman, for herself, may not care about football but may recognize that understanding it may provide many opportunities for her to share time and conversation with her husband. This is the affection that may guide her to gain an understanding of the game. A statement of fundamental principle is: "when the end is loved the means also are loved." (True Christian Religion 43) None of us is born with a wise understanding of anything. Part of what the Lord calls us to is a recognition that there are important goals that we want to strive for in our lives. Focusing on these goals or ends can help foster within us the affection or caring that will focus our mind on learning and from this gaining understanding. This understanding is represented by the child conceived of Abram and Hagar. The impending birth of an heir for Abram and Sarai was wonderful and was potentially a cause for rejoicing. But a problem arose. Hagar quite clearly showed that she despised Sarai and felt superior to her. The coming of our own understanding or natural reasoning ability that Hagar's pregnancy represents has its own danger. Natural human reasoning by its very nature is inclined to be in conflict with genuine truth. By its very nature it can feel itself superior to that truth. In the section of the Arcana Caelestia that deals with this chapter there are many examples of this as in the following quote: The rational conceived first is unable to acknowledge intellectual or spiritual truth as truth because it has clinging to it many illusions that are a product of what is known about the world and the natural order, and many appearances which are not truths but are a product of things known from the literal sense of the Word. For example, it is an intellectual truth that all life is from the Lord. The rational conceived first does not apprehend this, but supposes that if it did not live of itself it would possess no life at all; indeed it is angry if anything different is asserted. (Arcana Caelestia 1911:1-2) The Lord has given us the ability to be aware of this happening within our own minds. We can sense ourselves scoffing at certain things the Lord has stated to be true. When we recognize that this is happening, we are wise if we are hard on that state of mind just as Abram told Sarai that she was free to hard on Hagar. The ability the Lord gives us to think from ourselves is a potential source of great fulfillment and usefulness. He calls us to see the jobs and roles that we can serve through our lives and to focus our minds on what is necessary to do them well. He calls us to seek an understanding that we can apply to fulfilling those roles justly, faithfully, and honestly. He also forewarns us that by its very nature our own understanding will at first be likely to feel itself superior to some of what He would teach us. May we pray that the Lord ever renew the affections within our hearts that produces the miracle of understanding. May we pray that our eyes focus on the uses that we most need to serve in our lives. May He give us the gifts of His wisdom and love to lead us forward toward an ever more heavenly life. AMEN. Lessons: Genesis 16:1-6 If human beings were not steeped in any hereditary evil, the rational would be born straightaway from the marriage of the celestial things belonging to the internal person with the spiritual things belonging to the same; and through the rational the faculty of knowing would be born. This would mean that on entering the world a person would possess straightaway within himself fully-formed faculties of reason and of knowing, for this would all be in accordance with the order that belongs to influx. This may be deduced from the fact that all animals without exception are born into a fully-formed faculty of knowing what they need and what is suitable for them in the way of food, safety, habitat, and producing offspring, because their inborn nature is in accordance with order. For what other reason are human beings born without the same faculties than that in our case order has been destroyed - for we alone is born without any knowledge? That which causes us to be born without any knowledge is hereditary evil each of us received from our father and from our mother. Because of that evil all our faculties are turned in a contrary direction insofar as good loves and true ideas are concerned, so that the latter are not able through an immediate influx of celestial and spiritual things from the Lord to be ordered into correspondent forms. This is the reason why each human being's rational has to be formed in an entirely different manner or way, that is to say, by means of facts and cognitions entering in through the senses, and so by the external route, thus by what is a reversal of order. In this way, miraculously so, a person is made rational by the Lord. Arcana Caelestia 1902:1-12 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 Jan 4 17:33:50 2000 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 4 Jan 2000 12:33:50 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: Longing for an Heir Message-ID: <200001041224_MC2-9350-5869@compuserve.com> Longing for an Heir By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell November 21, 1999 But Abram said, "Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?"Then Abram said, "Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!" Genesis 15:2-3 Does it seem somewhat outspoken of Abram to question the Lord's blessings the way he did? It is almost like Abram is saying, "So You've given me all these wonderful promises of wealth and land but what value do these gifts have if I have no son to pass them on to?" Certainly a basis of all wisdom is the acceptance of "Thy will be done" but it is also important that we recognize what we hope and long for. It can be very useful to express these things in prayer to the Lord. These prayers of one of the ways that the Lord can provide us with answers, as He also answered Abram. Isn't this part of what is meant by the following quote: Regarded in itself prayer is talking to God and at the same time some inner view of the things that are being prayed for. Answering to this there is something akin to an influx into the perception or thought of the person's mind, which effects a certain opening of his internals towards God. But the experience varies according to the person's state and according to the essence of whatever he is praying for. (Arcana Caelestia 2535) This sermon continues a series on the saga of Abram's life. In Genesis, prior to chapter fifteen we read of (a) Abram being called by the Lord to come to the land of Canaan, (b) traveling there, (c) experiencing a famine and going to Egypt, (d) nearly losing his wife Sarai to Pharaoh, (e) returning to Canaan so enriched that he and his nephew Lot can no longer travel together, and (f) rescuing Lot when he is captured by Chedorlaomer and the other kings of the north. These events can be seen to represent the spiritual development that each of us can go through many times in our pathway toward a heavenly home. They can be seen to represent (a) how we can first sense the need to change some aspect of our lives, (b) a growing commitment to bring this change about, (c) recognizing the need for knowledge to accomplish this change, (d) overcoming the inclination to be captivated by learning as a goal in itself, (e) facing the need to make choices brought about by the knowledge that we have gained, and (f) recognizing the benefits of following new rules for some aspect of our life and (g) the dangers of clumsy application of those rules even when they don't properly apply in a situation. Imagine a man who (a) recognizes that he is uncomfortable with aspects of the conversation that take place with some of his co-workers. He has a sense that it isn't evoking a spiritually healthy response within himself. >From the day he first has this thought glimmer within his conscious mind, (b) little issues or occurrences keep reinforcing the idea that this is something he wants to attend to. Eventually (c) he focuses his mind on what the issues are. Perhaps there is a pattern of innuendo and banter that he senses is corrosive of a respect for marriage and the commitment it represents. It may be a pattern of gossip or criticism that is coloring his view of others in a destructive manner. The man can reflect in his mind that he knows that the Lord has given us powerful teachings about the sanctity of marriage or that charity calls us to wish well to our neighbors. He may realize that (d) while he is regularly have these ideas come to mind, he isn't doing anything more about his response to the conversation patterns other than remembering that aspects of them don't seem to be what the Lord would wish for him. The man can (e) recognize that he cannot continue to be the same regular part of the banter with his co-workers and also take better care of his spiritual states. He (f) may establish a rule for himself that says, "I will leave the room anytime the conversation seems to head in an undesirable." This may have some very useful results but (g) he can also recognizes that sometimes he is rudely interrupting or cutting off his co-workers to leave the room even when they get close to a topic or issue that he thinks might be undesirable. This is producing some unnecessary distance between himself and them. He realizes that he needs to be more discerning in his application of any self-given rules. After Abram had rescued Lot from the four kings, the Lord appeared to him saying: "Do not be afraid, Abram, I am you shield, your exceeding great reward." These words represent the Lord's promise to each of us that as we follow Him we will receive protection against evil loves and false ideas. (Arcana Caelestia 1787) In the example just given about the man and his co-workers, we can see that he has made real progress on doing his part to bring about a change in that part of his life. While he may have been having his mind muddied by some of the perspectives, stories, and jokes of his co-workers, the Lord promises that He will lead him to a state that will no longer be prey to the evils loves and false ideas they have evoked in him. Abram's response to the Lord's promise is raise his concern or complaint: But Abram said, "Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?"Then Abram said, "Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!" Genesis 15:2-3 These words reflect a state of mind that human beings can experience as they are trying to follow the Lord but sense that their efforts feel like ill-fitting clothing. It seems so external or superficial compared to the more typical patterns of inner response that have come so naturally to them in the past. While external order is very important by itself it can feel relatively lifeless. Consider the following quote: The external things of the Church when they are without the internal things are of no value. It is to those internal things that they owe their existence, and in character they are the same as those internal things. The situation with them is as it is with a person: with him what is external or bodily is in itself something valueless unless that which is internal exists to give it soul and life. As is the character therefore of that which is internal, so is the character of that which is external; or, as is the character of the disposition and mind, so is the worth of all the things which come forth through that which is external or bodily. The things of the heart make a person, not those of the lips and gestures. It is the same with the internal things of the Church. Nevertheless the external things of the Church are as the external things with a person, in that they serve as stewards or overseers; or what amounts to the same, the external or bodily self may be called the steward or overseer of the house when 'the house' is that which belongs to interior things. From this it is evident what 'childless' means, namely a time when no internal dimension of the Church exists, only an external. (Arcana Caelestia 1795:2) As we look toward our celebration of Thanksgiving, we certainly all can be thankful for so many external blessings that exist in our lives. We can see the benefits that we have from our homes and family. We can sense the opportunities that each of us have that many people in this world lack. We can reflect on the value of the ideas of the New Church that can have such power and hope within them. But to the extent that all of these things seem outside of who we are personally, they can evoke little inner peace, joy, and gratitude. Real gratitude has to come from the inside. It comes from our response to the things outside of us. It is a Divinely created feature of human beings that our happiness is dependent on sensing that our life is our own. We are not merely following a set of rules by rote. We are not just fitting into patterns that others have told us are right and correct. We desire to understand and from ourselves freely choose these things are our own. In the example of the man and his co-workers, the man may long for a different inner response to the less than perfect external circumstances that his co-workers conversations provide. He doesn't like feeling like he has to run or dodge around them as his sole response. He wishes for an inner conviction about the holiness of marriage or the value of wishing well to the neighbor. The Lord heard Abram's concerns about a lack of an heir and He promised Abram what he hoped for. We read in Genesis: And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir." Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." (Genesis 15:4-5) The Lord wishes us to have His life freely received within our own. He wants us to sense the greatest delights that can come from being able to think, will, and choose good and useful things. But this isn't something that He can give us in a moment. The truly grateful heart is one that can occur only after spiritual progress that takes time. May we long for the heavenly internal life that is a gift of the Lord. May we seek it day by day. May we do our part to receive it. AMEN. Lessons: Genesis 15;1-7 "Abram said, See, to me You have not given seed" means that there was no internal dimension of the Church. No other kind of faith that constitutes the internal dimension of the Church is meant than the faith which is a product of love or charity, that is, which originates in love or charity. In a general sense faith embraces everything that is taught by the Church; but doctrinal teachings separated from love or charity do not in any way constitute the internal dimension of the Church, for such teachings are no more than knowledge which is present in the memory and which also exists with the worst of people, even with those in hell. But doctrinal teachings which originate in charity, that is, which are a product of charity, do constitute the internal dimension of the Church, for this dimension is essentially its life. The life itself constitutes the internal aspect of all worship, and so too do all doctrinal teachings that flow from the life that belongs to charity. It is these teachings when they comprise faith that are meant here, and it is faith such as this that constitutes the internal dimension of the Church, as may become clear from the single consideration that anyone who is leading a charitable life has an awareness of all things of faith. Just examine, if you care to do so, any doctrinal teachings, so that you may see what they are and what they are like. Do they not all have regard to charity, and so to faith that derives from charity? Take simply the Ten Commandments, the first of which is that you should worship the Lord God. Anyone who possesses the life of love or charity worships the Lord God, for it is in this that the life within him consists. Another commandment says that you should keep the Sabbath. Anyone in whom the life of love, that is, in whom charity, is present keeps the Sabbath holy since nothing delights him more than worshiping the Lord and declaring His glory day by day. Arcana Caelestia 1798:1-3 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 leewoof@mediaone.net Sun Jan 9 23:54:26 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 9 Jan 2000 18:54:26 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Why I'm a Swedenborgian," by Marie Morey Message-ID: <4.1.20000109182135.00c53730@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Why I'm a Swedenborgian By Marie Morey Bridgewater, Massachusetts, January 9, 2000 Readings: Psalm 103 Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-- Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger for ever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; For he knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; The wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children-- With those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Luke 12:22-34 Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? "Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Heaven and Hell #455, 493 When the body is no longer able to perform its functions in the natural world, we are said to die. Yet we do not die, but are only separated from the body that was useful in the world. We still live; for we are not a person because of a body, but because of spirit. It is the spirit in us that thinks, and thought united to feelings is what makes a human being. This life continues into the other; death is merely a transition. Sermon: After Lee's wonderful service last week I thought, "Wow, what a tough act to follow!" I was very moved by his choice of hymns, Bible readings, and especially his heartfelt testimonial about how his Swedenborgian faith has allowed the Lord to shine into his life. Actually, if you're looking for two contrasting paths to the topic "Why I'm a Swedenborgian," I'm your person! Last week we had a professional minister followed this week by a lay person; a man followed by a woman; a several generation Swedenborgian followed by a person with an eclectic religious background; a life-long Swedenborgian followed by someone who wandered into the New Church at 30 years old. A real alternate route but leading to the same love and appreciation of that wonderful illumination of God's love and purpose found in the work of Emanuel Swedenborg. I was brought up in the Catholic Church and have some fond memories of church fairs, hay rides, and a young priest who ran a summer program for children. It was the time of the "Smile, God loves you" catch phrase. However, I also remember the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, going to confession, and all the other guilt provoking and self-esteem deflating parts of the experience. As an adult getting married in the church, having my children baptized, and burying my brother, Steve, I never felt the Lord's presence or any spiritual enlightenment in church. All of my connections with the Divine came outside the church--in reading, in nature, in my children, and in quiet contemplation. When it came time to take our children for religious education, my husband, Ed, and I decided we didn't want to bring them up Catholic. From the windows upstairs in the house we were living in we could see the steeple of the Elmwood New Church. I didn't know much about the church. My brother, Steve, had sung in the choir and we would go to the Christmas Eve service and walk home at midnight in the beautiful, dark starry night and try to keep our "Silent Night" candle lit until we got home. A friend of ours, Dick Campbell, said for me to come and bring the boys--they had a new minister at Elmwood, Ken Turley, who was right out of school. There were 6 if us at that first service I went to. The organist was still on summer vacation, and Ken played the guitar while Dick sang. The service was simple, the prayers were meaningful, and I felt welcome and comfortable. I picked up some literature to read; I had never heard of Emanuel Swedenborg. One pamphlet was on death. It had been written by Marilyn Turley, who had lost her husband not long before. This pamphlet _spoke_ to me like nothing I had ever read before. I kept reading--I couldn't believe there were people who thought and felt as I did about God and religion and the afterlife. I always said I would have to go to "HA": Heretics Anonymous; but there really was a church for me--and here I am giving my testimonial! "Hi. I'm Marie and I'm a Swedenborgian." I joked last week that Swedenborg wrote the "Green Thirty" [volumes] but I could write the "Blue Sixty" about why I'm a Swedenborgian. So I thought I would pare it down to about four or five of my favorite insights and inspirations from Swedenborg. When I told my Grandmother that I had enjoyed the service at the Elmwood Church she said, "Oh, I have a great book that Louise Glover gave me about that religion." It was _My Religion,_ by Helen Keller. My Gram was a closet Swedenborgian. She gave me the book to read. One of my favorite quotes is about what happens to you when you die: "What is so sweet as to awake from a troubled dream and behold a beloved face smiling upon you? I love to believe that such shall be our awakening from earth to heaven." When I teach children's classes in Sunday school or at camp I like to use this Helen Keller quote because children always want to know what it is like to die, and can relate to this quote at a gut level. Swedenborg is at his most comforting when he talks about the process of dying in this world and awakening to the spiritual world. The quote I read from "Heaven and Hell" sums it all up for me: When the body is no longer able to perform its functions in the natural world, we are said to die. Yet we do not die, but are only separated from the body that was useful in the world. We still live; for we are not a person because of a body, but because of spirit. It is the spirit in us that thinks, and thought united to feelings is what makes a human being. This life continues into the other; death is merely a transition. (_Heaven and Hell_ #445, 493) Swedenborg's descriptions of heaven and hell, while more comforting than the "hellfire and damnation" version, offer a _real_ challenge and a very _real_ sense of purpose to this life here on earth. When I was a kid my father sang a song about "Oh you can't get to heaven" that was full of the stereotypes of pearly gates and living on top of the clouds. The vision that Swedenborg offers of communities of like spirits living, working, worshipping, and loving together with the Lord makes much more sense to me. The God I believe in is a loving God that gives us the freedom to choose heaven or hell each day--and not a vindictive God who sends people to hell and sends evil into people's lives. Swedenborg says "God _is_ love." Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8) Read this passage again and substitute "God" for "love" and "it." Everyone recognizes this passage from the Bible. I had never really read the Bible before reading it with Ken Turley in a Bible study class. The Bible had seemed like some improbable stories and some nice poetry. Learning the internal meaning and relating it to the literal meaning opened up a whole new way of learning about and getting in tune with the Divine. Swedenborg's explanations of regeneration and spiritual growth throughout the Bible and our lives is another of my favorite treasures. I have always said that if you believe the same things about God and life at forty-four that you did at fourteen or twenty-four, you haven't been doing much growing. Which leads me to my last topic: Divine Providence. I had a hard time grasping this concept at first. It is one of the ones I'm "growing" into. However, the more I look for evidence of the Lord's help and care in my life, the more obvious it becomes. In the beginning, I couldn't see it at all. Then I could only see Divine Providence in retrospect. Now, occasionally, I can actually see it in process or feel it working at a gut level. It gives me a sense of peace that the Lord will work with me, if I let him, to solve problems or make decisions. The Lord wants--and is always working to bring about--goodness and love in this world, without taking away our freedom to choose evil or interfering in the laws of nature. Some days it's just hard to tell, if you turn on the TV news. I could go on about Swedenborg, from "there is truth in all religions" to the "doctrine of uses," but I think I'll end with the people I have met. I have met so many kindred spirits at the Elmwood Church, here at the Bridgewater Church, at Convention, Blairhaven, and Fryeburg Camp. From the Women's Group to exploring world religions, being a Swedenborgian has been "a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." This is where the Lord calls my name. From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Thu Jan 13 17:06:10 2000 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 13 Jan 2000 12:06:10 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: Choosing to Follow the Lord Message-ID: <200001131121_MC2-949C-3E68@compuserve.com> Choosing to Follow the Lord By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell January 9, 2000 The Angel of the Lord said to Hagar, "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand. Genesis 16:9 There is a deep and powerful drive within nearly every human being to be independent. While we can often appreciate help that is offered, we really don't like being in the position of having to depend on it. Think of how a very young child will, at times, resist assistance with the indignant cry, "Do it myself!" This powerful drive to independence can help us to become responsible, mature adults. Imagine what a mess it would be if a thirty-year-old still expected all the help that is appropriate for a parent to give to a four-year-old. There is an important way in which each human being, over and over again, needs to make a personal "Declaration of Independence." He or she needs to insist on the right to make certain fundamental decisions about what to do and not do and also the person needs to accept the responsibility of the consequences of these decisions. The Lord wants us to act in freedom according to our own best understanding of what is true and good. He works as our loving heavenly Father in ways that are often quiet and indirect so that we will take appropriate responsibility for our actions. He wants us to act as independent human beings, but He also forewarns us that we strongly need the guidance His Word can provide. If we try to act independent of that guidance, we will inevitably hurt ourselves and others, and the efforts we make to accomplish truly useful things will be terribly flawed. Each of us needs to be willing to humbly submit our flawed understanding to the direction He can provide us. This is a huge challenge for every human being. Consider the sweeping quality of the following quote from the Arcana Caelestia: Not believing the Lord or the Word but themselves and their own senses was the evil not only of the Most Ancient Church before the Flood, but also of the Ancient Church after it. It was also the evil of the Jewish Church, and later on of the new or gentile Church established after the Lord's Coming, as well as the evil of the Church of today. Consequently no faith exists, and when no faith exists neither does any love of the neighbor. Everything therefore is false and evil. (Arcana Caelestia 231) Believing the Lord and His Word means being willing to follow what it teaches even when a part of our mind believes it has a better and more rewarding perspective and direction. Over and over again the merely human perspective sees the path to heaven as a route to a dry, empty, unhappy life. It sees the path to hell as attractive, desirable, and more useful or practical. The flawed human perspective stands at the crossroads of a decision and uses its own experience and inclinations to look at the different paths, it consults its own map of how things work and don't work. The Lord then calls us to set that experience, inclination, and determination aside if it conflicts with what He has taught us. This sermon resumes a series that I began in the fall. It is a series that follows the saga of Abram life as it is recorded in the book of Genesis. In Genesis, prior to chapter sixteen we read of (a) Abram being called by the Lord to come to the land of Canaan, (b) traveling there, (c) experiencing a famine and going to Egypt, (d) nearly losing his wife Sarai to Pharaoh, (e) returning to Canaan so enriched that he and his nephew Lot can no longer travel together, (f) rescuing Lot when he is captured by Chedorlaomer and the other kings of the north and (g) complaining to the Lord that he doesn't have an heir to inherit the blessings that the Lord keeps promising to Abram. These events can be seen to represent the spiritual development that each of us can go through many times in our pathway toward a heavenly home. They can be seen to represent (a) how we can first sense the need to change some aspect of our lives, (b) a growing commitment to bring this change about, (c) recognizing the need for knowledge to accomplish this change, (d) overcoming the inclination to be captivated by learning as a goal in itself, (e) facing the need to make choices brought about by the knowledge that we have gained, recognizing the benefits of following new rules for some aspect of our life, (f) the dangers of clumsy application of those rules when they don't properly apply in a situation, and (g) facing a sense of emptiness that our life doesn't feel very much like it is our own as we follow the rules of life we accepted. To illustrate this progression imagine a woman who (a) begins to recognize that she too often finds herself thinking of everything that is going wrong, focusing on this alone, and getting depressed. She starts to get a sense of how this pattern of reaction and thought is getting in the way of her potential happiness, usefulness, and is driving some of her friends away because they can take only so much of her blue moods. From the day she first has something of this realization glimmer within her conscious mind, (b) a number of different insights or occurrences keep reinforcing the idea that this is something she wants to attend to. Eventually (c) she focuses her mind on what the fundamental issues really are. Perhaps she realizes that this habit is one that she grew up with one of her parents modeling it day after day. She might reflect on how her pattern of thought is incompatible with a wise faith in the Lord care and ability to lead each and all of us to a far better life. She may see that part of her perspective comes from too great a focus on here and now natural stuff and that this isn't where she wants to set her heart. She may realize that (d) while she is getting these ideas ever more clearly defined in her mind, she hasn't significantly changed her pattern of thoughts that lead to feeling so discouraged. The woman can (e) recognize that she cannot continue this pattern of thinking and take better care of her spiritual states. She (f) may establish a rule for herself that says, "If a negative thought comes to mind I will turn my thinking to something else." This may have some very useful results but she can also recognize that sometimes she is trying to ignore or distract herself from issues that really do need attention. Some of the things that she sees going wrong really do need to be have something done about them. She realizes that she needs to be more discerning in applying her self-given rule about turning her attention away from negative thoughts. She will probably experience states (g) in which all of the effort she is making feels so external and put-on. She doesn't feel much of her own life in the efforts she is making to follow better habits. Genesis chapter sixteen begins with Sarai choosing to provide an legal heir by giving her slave woman, Hagar, to her husband Abram to conceive and bear the child that she is apparently unable to have. Hagar does indeed conceive a child with Abram as the father. This conception marks the beginning of the adult reasoning faculty that the Writings of the New Church call the "natural rational." This reasoning faculty is a powerful ability to think, compare, and see relationships and differences. It provides a basis for us to develop concepts that are broad and deep in their basis and implications. The natural rational is a key human faculty that provides for independent thought. But the natural rational is also deeply flawed. It inevitably is organized and focused by motivations that are tainted. It cannot help but skew our perspectives and warp our view of what is and isn't happening. It can easily see the faults in others and has a much harder time recognizing it own key failings. An important part of our pathway to heaven is to recognize that we need to be dependent on the Lord for direction. We need to submit our own perspective to the measure He gives us. Then we need to follow what He teaches overcoming the inner resistence that will inevitably arise to this course of action. The Writings of the New Church refer to this effort to overcome our inner resistence, "self-compulsion." Concerning this quality we're told: Within all self-compulsion towards what is good a certain freedom exists, which is not recognized as freedom while a person is exercising self-compulsion, but is nevertheless inwardly present. Take for example one who is willing to risk death for the sake of some particular end, or one who is willing to endure physical pain for the sake of his health. There is a willingness and so a certain freedom in those actions, though while he is taking risks or suffering pain these remove any feeling of willingness or freedom. So also with those who compel themselves to do what is good. Present within them there is a willingness and thus freedom, which is the source of and the reason for their self-compulsion. That is to say, they compel themselves for the reason that they may obey the things which the Lord has commanded and that their souls may become saved after death; and within these a still greater reason is present, though the person himself is not aware of it, namely the Lord's kingdom, and indeed the Lord Himself. (Arcana Caelestia 1937:4) Note how in the inner meaning of the story of Abram's life this teaching about self-compulsion comes at the very point in which independent thought really begins. Certainly elements of it has existed before. Even young children need to exercise a quality of self-compulsion. But here the Lord is referring to us as adult human beings, capable of thought that feels like it is our own, being willing to recognize the need to submit to a higher authority. He wants us to understand that He recognizes that we will often doubt that He knows best. The Lord wants us to understand that He appreciates that it will feel like a major sacrifice to submit our judgment to His. It is hard and yet this is the only way that He can work the miracle of regeneration or spiritual rebirth within our lives. Each of us has already learned many things from the Lord. We have seen their implications in many aspects of our lives. Over and over again we will inevitably find ourselves wanting to make choices independent of what the Lord would guide us to do. When we face this challenges we can know that the Lord is very closely present with us. He will give us the strength we need to follow what He teaches. He does not promise that the effort will be easy, but the reward will far and away exceed anything we feel we're giving up now. AMEN. Lessons: Genesis 16:7-16 The words, "humble yourself beneath her hands" mean that the first human rational faculty ought by self-compulsion to place itself under the controlling power of interior truth. . . . Within all self-compulsion towards what is good a certain freedom exists, which is not recognized as freedom while a person is exercising self-compulsion, but is nevertheless inwardly present. Take for example one who is willing to risk death for the sake of some particular end, or one who is willing to endure physical pain for the sake of his health. There is a willingness and so a certain freedom in those actions, though while he is taking risks or suffering pain these remove any feeling of willingness or freedom. So also with those who compel themselves to do what is good. Present within them there is a willingness and thus freedom, which is the source of and the reason for their self-compulsion. That is to say, they compel themselves for the reason that they may obey the things which the Lord has commanded and that their souls may become saved after death; and within these a still greater reason is present, though the person himself is not aware of it, namely the Lord's kingdom, and indeed the Lord Himself. This applies most of all in times of temptation. In these, when a person practices self-compulsion and sets himself against the evil and falsity that are implanted and prompted by evil spirits, more freedom is present than there would ever be in any state outside those times of temptation, though the person cannot comprehend it then. It is an interior freedom, which produces in him the will to subdue evil and which is great enough to match the power and might of the evil assailing him; otherwise he would not be able to fight at all. Arcana Caelestia 1937 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@mediaone.net Sun Jan 16 18:55:42 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 16 Jan 2000 13:55:42 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: Why I Am a Swedenborgian, by Gloria Costello Message-ID: <4.1.20000116130825.00c906d0@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Why I Am a Swedenborgian By Gloria Costello Bridgewater, Massachusetts, January 16, 2000 Readings: Psalm 138 I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; before the gods I will sing your praise. I will bow down towards your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, For you have exalted above all things your name and your word. When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stout-hearted. May all the kings of the earth praise you, O Lord, when they hear the words of your mouth. May they sing of the ways of the Lord, for the glory of the Lord is great. Though the Lord is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever-- do not abandon the works of your hands. Mark 14:12-15 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus' disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?" So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, 'The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there." An Explanation of the "Upper Room" In our Gospel story, the Lord sends two disciples to find the right place for the Passover feast, and to prepare for it. The number two always means that we want to know the truth not just for its own sake but for the sake of doing it--that is, that our will and our understanding must go together if we are to accomplish anything. The Lord did not let the two find a place of their own choosing: they were to follow a man with a pitcher of water. This means that we must follow the truth which the Lord gives us in His Word. The place that they found was a "large upper room furnished and prepared." What they were about to do was to share with the Lord a very holy feast. We remember that a house represents our character. The upper room is the part of us which is above the level of merely worldly thoughts. We all have this upper room--the ability to think about the Lord and heavenly things--but we often keep it closed and unused. And sometimes we do not even bother to furnish and prepare it for receiving the Lord--we do not try to supply it with knowledge from the Word and to prepare it by trying to understand what the Lord wants of us. (Anita Dole, _Bible Study Notes,_ Vol. 5, p. 137) Sermon: I am delighted to be asked to speak about one of my favorite topics: why I am a Swedenborgian. And I'm very grateful to Patty for volunteering to read my notes to you this morning. Just because Swedenborgianism has been in my family for five generations now, it doesn't mean that I didn't have a choice in the matter. Although my parents provided me with a New Church upbringing, they encouraged me to visit other churches and study other theologies so that the religion that I would choose when I was old enough to make that decision mould be one which I felt answered all my questions satisfactorily. I think that it is very important to question and analyze doctrine before you say, "OK, I believe in that." What are some of the reasons that the Swedenborgian faith appeals to me? First, I like the _"Nunc Licet"_ phrase. It has become sort of the Latin motto of the church. Translated, the phrase in its entirety means: "Now it is permitted to enter into the mysteries of faith with understanding." Throughout history, people have been told to accept dogma just because religious leaders said that they must. It was a mystery, they said, and one should have faith and shouldn't ask why it was so. At the time of the Enlightenment, great thinkers were daring enough to ask why, and were not getting any answers. Inquiring minds wanted to know. Swedenborg was one of these inquiring minds. The time had come for some light to be shed on religious enigmas. Swedenborg's mystical experiences and resulting revelation answered some puzzling questions and explained some seeming contradictions in the Bible. Also, the unfathomable images in Revelation were interpreted in a comprehensible manner, consistent with the correspondences throughout the rest of the Bible. It was a system of interpretation which all hung together quite nicely. It was something that made sense to me. And it made sense to me that God would reach out and try to satisfy those logical thinkers who wanted some answers. The inner, spiritual meaning of the Bible was now made available to complement the powerful message on the literal level. The spiritual story could be gleaned from the parables found throughout the Bible. I have been overwhelmed and awestruck by the perfect cohesion and the logical analogy between the history of the Israelites and our own spiritual development. All the ups and downs in the lives of the Israelites reflect the psychological drama which goes on daily in our lives. The most impressive point about the Bible, I think, is the blueprint it gives us for the spiritual progress which we are supposed to make in our lives. Genesis describes our innocent baby-like state, which necessarily evolves into the struggling child who grows to question authority and rebels in order to establish his own sense of self separate from his parents. It is so fascinating for me to read that Jacob and Joseph, for example, represent certain stages which we all go through at some point in our lives. Another beautiful pearl of doctrine in the New Church is the description of our lives as being spirits which will live on in another consciousness which is called heaven and hell. It has been proven to my satisfaction that we all are spirits inhabiting physical bodies, so it seems logical to me that after the physical part of us expires, something living remains. Swedenborg's description of a busy and useful life for all eternity just makes sense. And it makes sense to me that God, who is Love Itself, would need recipients of his love--which is why he created us. The hard truth is that there are no shortcuts to a life bound for heaven. Other religions would have us believe that salvation is something we can attain simply by saying that we believe. We are told by Swedenborg, however, that there is a lot of work involved in achieving that goal. Life is a constant struggle between the influences of good and evil, each prodding us to choose one over the other. The Lord will fight for us, but we must ask him for help. The evil tendencies within us which rear their ugly heads must be put down, and it's no easy task. It helps to learn as much as we can about what's going can spiritually within us. Reading Swedenborg's writings informs us and enables us to understand the Bible better. Learning to love is a lifelong challenge, and I am most grateful for the help which Swedenborg's inspired writings provide. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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://people.ne.mediaone.net/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 Jan 17 03:07:12 2000 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 16 Jan 2000 22:07:12 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: The Sign of the Covenant Message-ID: <200001162157_MC2-94FD-B339@compuserve.com> The Sign of the Covenant By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell January 16, 2000 This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised. Genesis 17:10 This is one of the stories in the Lord's Word that could easily cause a skeptical person to shake his head about its nature as Divine revelation. Why would God choose this particular symbol as a key sign of His sacred covenant with Abram and his descendants? Why would God choose the cutting away of an intimate part of the human body and why would He choose something to be applied to just the males? Sometimes people have explained some of the Old Testament laws, such as restrictions on what the ancient Israelites were and were not supposed to eat, as being practical health issues. But this still does not explain why God commanded them as sacred requirements. If you want to understand what the Lord has revealed in His Word, it is important to understand that He always is speaking both to a particular people at a particular time and also speaking for all people in all time. One of the remarkable assertions of New Church doctrine is that the fate of the human race depends on there always being a Church on earth that connects us all to the angels of heaven. In this context, "Church" does not mean a building or a human organization. It refers to a group of people who are trying to learn of Lord and His will and follow it. The number of people who form this Church and provide this connection with heaven need not be large. If that connection were ever lost, all human beings would not be able to have the guidance and spiritual life that comes through the angels. The New Church asserts that the Lord has seen to it that a Church always exists to provide for this connection. The early stories of Genesis, Adam and Eve, Noah and the Flood, the tower of Babel, all describe through symbolism language qualities and events in the earliest of those churches. Sadly these stories describe a descent from a Church established in an initial "golden age" to ones that were more and more corrupt. Eventually, we have been told, the human race got to a point that no genuine Church of the Lord could be established and yet it was not yet time for the Lord Himself to be born into the world and to establish a distinctly new and truly spiritual church. So it was necessary for the Lord to set up a Church of people who acted in a way that the simplest of angels would see as being a Church. The ancient Israelites were given forms of worship, such as animal sacrifices, that made sense to them, but could also, when translated symbolically, give an image of faith and charity. But because of the limitations of the group of people the Lord was talking to, it often what He said, understood on its most literal level was not what the Lord might otherwise have chosen have say. Consider the following ideas from the Arcana Caelestia: [T]he Word would have been different if it had been written among a different people, or if that people had not been such as it was. For the most literal meaning the Word treats of that people, because the Word was written among them, as is plain from both the historic and the prophetic parts of the Word, and that people was in evil, because at heart it was idolatrous; and yet in order that the internal and the external sense might agree together, that people had to be lauded, and to be called the people of God, a holy nation, a peculiar possession; consequently the simple, who were to be instructed by the external sense of the Word, had to believe that that nation was such as it is called; as also that nation itself believes, and as also believe very many of the Christian world at this day. Moreover, also many things are present in the external sense of the Word, and make it, that were permitted them on account of the hardness of their hearts. Arcana Caelestia 10453:3 A following passage adds: [The following are] the ways in which the outward or literal sense was changed on account of that nation. . . On account of that nation altars, burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain and drink offerings were commanded, and therefore are referred to in both the historical and the prophetical parts of the Word as the holiest things of worship. But they were in fact no more than concessions made to that nation. Arcana Caelestia 10603:3 In this context we can perhaps recognize that the sign of the covenant the Lord gave Abram was adapted to his state of mind, but in a wonderful way could also symbolize something truly spiritual and universal. It is this quality that we would most want to focus on. This sermon continues a series on the saga of Abram's life as recorded in Genesis. Earlier sermons spoke of how each event from the Lord's first appearance to Abram far from the land of Canaan on through the birth of his first son, Ishmael, describe, on a deeper level, the spiritual journey each of us must follow if we are to grow to be the human beings the Lord wants us to be. The earlier stories describe all the ways that a person's heart and mind are prepared to the point that adult concepts of truth and good can exist within that person's mind. The birth of Ishmael represents the faculty of the adult mind that is capable of these concepts. But the Lord isn't so interested in what we know, but rather what we care about and do. The Lord has created us such that we can mature into an adult state in which we are capable of understanding some of what He wants for us. This understanding is given to us in a way that it feels like the thoughts and concepts are our own. It is given to us that we may freely choose to follow the Lord. In order to freely follow the Lord each of us needs to battle against some things that stand in the way. So we are told: Circumcision or cutting off the foreskin meant nothing else than the removal and rejection of those elements which stand in the way of and defile heavenly love, namely evil desires, especially those of self-love, and falsities resulting from those desires. (Arcana Caelestia 2039:1) As with any external action that a person can do, the Lord does not focus on the act alone, but rather on what is in the heart and mind of the person doing it. This is clearly and powerful spoken of in the following sentence. That circumcision is no more than the sign of a covenant or of conjunction becomes quite clear from the fact that circumcising the foreskin counts for absolutely nothing if unaccompanied by circumcision of the heart; and that purification from those filthy loves is what circumcision of the heart means. (Arcana Caelestia 2039:2) The Lord allowed the sign of the covenant He did because of what it can correspond to or symbolize. The angels of heaven think of circumcision in terms of its relationship to the universal joining together or marriage of good loves and true ideas the Lord wants for us all. (cf. Arcana Caelestia 2039:1) It commanded of every male not because females aren't important or don't have to face these spiritual battles, but rather from the symbolism of male as having relationship to truth. This is explained in this way: The reason why the word "male", meaning the truth of faith, is used is that nobody can be purified from those filthy loves except the person who is governed by truth. From truth he recognizes what is pure or impure, and what is holy or unholy. Until he possesses such knowledge there are no channels into which and through which heavenly love flowing in constantly from the Lord is able to operate, for it cannot be received except within truths. It is by means of concepts of truth therefore that a person is reformed and regenerated, but this does not take place before he has been endowed with them. (Arcana Caelestia 2046) We cannot make spiritual progress unless we are willing to acknowledge that there are patterns in our thinking and motivation that are dangerous to us, to those around us, and to the useful things we hope to accomplish in our lives. These patterns are not something that a child is capable of seeing for him or herself. It takes an adult mind to be able to recognize them. In some states of mind they are elusive or disguised as described in the following passage: People who are immersed in self-love and love of the world are quite incapable of believing that they are under the influence of such filthy and unclean loves as in fact they are. Indeed a certain pleasure and delight exists which coaxes, encourages, and allures, and causes them to love that life, to prefer it to every other kind of life, and so to imagine that there is nothing bad about it at all. For whatever encourages anyone's love and resulting life is considered to be good. For this reason also the rational agrees to and produces confirmatory false ideas which lead to blindness so great that people see nothing at all of what heavenly love is. And if they did see it they would in their hearts say that it was something wretched, or not really anything at all, or something in the nature of a delusion which takes possession of the mind as it does in sickness. (Arcana Caelestia 2045:1) Fortunately we are not constantly immersed in this dark state of mind. The Lord can give us times of reflection and perspective. He can help us recognize the blindness of some of our patterns of thought, word, and action. He can inspire us to consciously monitor our future behavior to eliminate or limit those patterns. Day by day, the Lord calls us to use what we've learned to change our habits. He wants each of us to become a different person from what we've been in the past. It is our job to cooperate with Him in this effort. We can daily pray, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me." (Psalm 51:10) And, day by day, we can work to recognize and remove anything that stands in the way. A wonderful part of the story of Abram's life is that as soon as the covenant of circumcision two things also happened. The Lord changed both Abram's and Sarai's names adding an "h" from His own Divine name, "Yehowah." This change is a symbol of a deeper presence of the Lord with a person who has reached this stage of spiritual development. The second thing that happened was that the Lord also promised Abram a son by his beloved wife Sarai. This son, Isaac, represents the new spiritual life that we can receive as our own. It is a far wiser pattern of thinking and caring than we could possibly have at the beginning of our adult life. It brings much joy, peace, and usefulness. It is this new life that the Lord is leading all of us to receive, to the extent that we are willing to be led. May we recognize our role in this journey. May we turn to the Lord in His Word to learn what we are to do and not do; what we are to think and not think; what we are to love and not love. May we learn and then consciously use that knowledge, with a strong and continuing prayer for the Lord's help, to consider who we have been and what we would want to do differently in the future. AMEN. Lessons: Genesis 17:1-14 John 13:34-35 "You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin" means the removal of self-love and love of the world. This is clear from the representation and the meaning of 'circumcision' as purification from filthy loves. There are two loves so-called, and their desires, which obstruct the influx of heavenly love from the Lord. For when these reign in the interior self and in the external self and take possession there they either reject or they stifle, and also degrade and defile, heavenly love flowing in, for they are absolutely contrary to heavenly love.. To the extent they are removed however, heavenly love flowing in from the Lord starts to make its appearance, and in fact starts to dawn in his interior self; and to that extent he starts to notice first that he is under the influence of evil and falsity, then that he is under the influence of what is impure and filthy, and lastly that this has been his proprium. It is with those who are being regenerated that those loves are removed. That removal may also be recognized from what goes on in those who are not regenerate when the desires belonging to those loves become quiescent, as happens sometimes when they are engaging in meditation on holy things or when they are languishing - as is the case with them in times of misfortune, sickness, and disease, and above all when they are about to die. At these times, since bodily and worldly interests have grown languid and are so to speak dead, such persons become aware of something of heavenly light and of the comfort brought by this. But with these it is not a removal of those desires, only a languishing, for the moment that these people return to their previous state they sink back into those desires. It should be realized that with each person heavenly love from the Lord is flowing in constantly, and that nothing else stands in the way, obstructs, or prevents the reception of it than the desires belonging to those loves, and the falsities resulting from them. Arcana Caelestia 2041 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@mediaone.net Mon Jan 24 21:30:41 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 24 Jan 2000 16:30:41 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Why I Am a Swedenborgian," by the Rev. Dr. Wilma Wake Message-ID: <4.1.20000124154026.00c72b70@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Why I Am a Swedenborgian By the Rev. Dr. Wilma Wake Bridgewater, Massachusetts, January 23, 2000 Readings: Psalm 147 Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground. Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp. He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call. His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a human being; the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. Extol the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion, For he strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you. He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat. He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. He hurls down hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast? He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow. He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws. Praise the Lord. John 15:1-4 I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. True Christian Religion #600 If our inner self is reborn without our outer self being reborn along with it, it can be compared to a bird flying through the air with no dry land to rest on, but only a marsh where it is harassed by snakes and frogs, so that it flies off and dies. It can also be compared to a swan swimming in the middle of the sea, unable to reach the shore and make its nest, so that the eggs it lays sink into the water and are eaten by fish. It can be compared to a soldier standing on a wall, who, when the wall is undermined beneath his feet, falls down and is killed in the collapse. It can be compared to lovely tree transplanted into rotten soil, where hordes of worms eat up its roots so that it withers and dies. And it can be compared to a house without a foundation, or to a column with no base to stand on. This is what we are like if only our inner self is reformed, and not our outer self along with it--for we lack all determination to do good. Sermon: So why am I a Swedenborgian? I asked myself that a number of times this week. This was one of those weeks when I wondered if my spirituality was of any practical use to me whatsoever. It was a week when our uncharacteristically warm winter weather turned to record cold, with snow, ice, and howling winds. My cozy little house in the country became a lot less comfortable when my wood stove door became stuck and I had to call for repairs. There was a two week wait (now one week). That meant turning on my back-up electric heat, which couldn't really take the chill out of the air. Then I woke up Wednesday morning to no water. After thawing all of my pipes, I had to call a plumber, who told me the pump that pumps water from my well to my house had stopped working. He spent a day installing a new pump, then found that the water had frozen inside the well--something he had told me the day before never happens. He broke up the ice, and I had water again! He said it could freeze again unless I insulated my well by piling a hale of hay around it, covering it with a tarp to keep the hay from blowing away, and then putting bricks around the tarp to keep _that_ from blowing away. I spent the afternoon finding hay and a tarp, and insulating my well as instructed. Then the water stopped again, and I left a desperate message on my plumber's home phone. We _all_ have days and weeks like this. Everything goes wrong. Whatever _can_ fall apart _does_ fall apart. For me, the things I had planned got put on hold while I searched for necessities like bottled water and hay. During weeks like this I can only ask: "Where is God for me in the midst of this chaos? What does it mean to me this week that I'm a Swedenborgian?" For many of you, this question takes you back into a childhood, when you were raised in this church. For me, the question is both easier and harder. I "discovered" Swedenborg in my late 40's as I was completing my seminary training for the Episcopal priesthood. I chose to become a Swedenborgian. So in responding to the question, "Why am I a Swedenborgian?" I'd like to start with why I chose to join this church. Then I'd like to talk about why I stay, and how my Swedenborgianism sustains me in the dead of a New Hampshire winter when my well freezes. To tell the first part of my story I need to go back to how I got to the Episcopal Divinity School, hoping to become a priest. I had been raised as a Baptist in the Bible Belt of Illinois. I remember how proud I was when, at age ten, I chose to be baptized and was immersed in front of the entire congregation. When I was a teenager, my parents switched to the Presbyterian Church, and that's where I attended youth programs until I left for college. It didn't take long on the large college campus of the University of Illinois in the 1960s to find the cool coffee house where the great rock music was played: The Red Herring. It was sponsored by the Unitarian-Universalist (UU) church. Soon I was a UU which, to me, involved honoring all the world's religions. However, I had no religion of my own. I wasn't a Christian, and didn't accept faith as a basis on which to accept a religion. I was jolted out of that mode by an auto accident in the early 1970s. I was in graduate school working on a Ph.D., and was on my way to class one day when I had to stop quickly and was hit from behind by a car that wasn't prepared to stop. I developed whiplash and had chronic pain for months afterwards. In desperation, I began doing weird things like Hatha Yoga exercises and meditation. They helped the back pain considerably, and opened up a new world to me. Through meditation, I experienced a sense of being part of something Larger and Greater than just me, or than any one of us. I felt Love as the essence of the universe, and something that could flow through me and guide my life. I needed help understanding all of that, but didn't find it with the Unitarians. Nor did I feel that returning to the Baptists or Presbyterians would help very much either. I began a search to find a spiritual home. I spent some years exploring the New Age, where I felt supported in exploring meditation, yoga, world religions, an understanding of psychic phenomena, and a mystical approach to spirituality. Then my mystical experiences led me back into Christianity. One Easter week, after a Eucharist service in an Episcopal Church, I felt the presence of Christ in my life. It was something very real and vibrant to me. I felt I was being called to ordained ministry to serve Christ. Yet as much as I valued this love of Christ, I was also open to all religions and all paths to God. I had found God and my own spirituality, but I felt alone. Where would I find a denomination to support my commitment to Christ, my acceptance of all religious paths, and the mystical spirituality that had brought me to Christ? I had found the Eucharist to be a powerful way of opening myself to Christ, so I became an Episcopalian. As I pursued my path to ordained ministry, it became clear to me that I was not in the right church for my beliefs. I felt that I could be at home within the Anglican tradition, and in fact within the larger Christian tradition. I felt that the way I saw Christianity was a perfectly valid way of viewing things based on the Jesus of the Bible, rather than on how the churches had come to understand and teach that Jesus. But those in charge of the ordination process in the Episcopal Church had concerns about my theology, and put me on hold indefinitely from moving into the ordination track. I continued my seminary studies anyway, while also making plans to begin training as a social worker. While at the Episcopal Divinity School, I was in a spiritual growth group that consisted of students from a variety of traditions. One of them, a Unitarian, told me about the works of Emanuel Swedenborg. I began reading, and loved what found. I thought of Swedenborg as a great mystic and writer, but had no idea that a church had grown up around his writings. (Obviously, my course in Church History was incomplete!) I learned about that from my friend Ann. She and I had been in the same curriculum conference (a study and support group for first year seminarians), and we had had many conversations. She was very interested in holistic health and spirituality. She decided as one of her field experiences that she would work with a physician on developing a holistic counseling center. She needed to have special supervision for this, so found her way to a pastoral counselor who understood about holistic health: the Rev. Cal Turley from the Swedenborg School of Religion. I had only a vague awareness that Ann had found a supervisor she thought was marvelous. She said I absolutely had to meet him. I added it to my list of hundreds of other things I hoped to do sometime! I remember the day Ann came to class very distressed, saying that Cal Turley had died suddenly of a heart attack, and she was deeply grieved. The next spring, as Ann and I prepared for graduation, we spent a weekend at my house in New Hampshire talking about our futures. I shared that I didn't feel at home in the Episcopal Church, and Ann said she didn't understand why I didn't just join the Swedenborgian Church. I was stunned--and didn't understand what she was talking about. I had read works by Swedenborg, but had no idea there was a church based on his writings. Ann was amazed that I didn't know this, since she had been talking to me about her work with Cal Turley, the Director of Field Education at the Swedenborg School of Religion (SSR). I was astounded! There was a church based on the writings of my favorite mystic! In the next few days, I made an appointment to visit SSR and started attending the Swedenborg Chapel, located just a few blocks from my seminary. As I began my social work studies and Doctorate of Ministry work the next fall, I also took courses at SSR. The next summer, I attended the convention held in Massachusetts. I was so pleased to find that I enjoyed the Swedenborgians as much as I loved the writings of Swedenborg! It didn't take me long to join the church and apply for the ordination track. I felt I had arrived in heaven when I realized that there was a group of people whose spirituality was formed in the context of Swedenborg's writings. I had found a spirituality that made sense for me, and found it affirmed in the writings of Swedenborg. When I learned that others had found comfort in those writings, I was so excited! I was amazed that some people actually grew up in this church and with these writings! I remember taking a tutorial at SSR with the Rev. Dr. Bob Kirven on Swedenborg's book _Divine Love and Wisdom,_ and coming in to our session exclaiming, "Do those people who were raised on these writings really understand what they say? Do they realize how radical they are? How profound? How they answer so many of today's complex questions? Do they realize how lucky they are to have had these writings always a part of their lives, and not have had to search to find them?" Bob laughed, and said that some did realize this, although the experience of finding Swedenborg as an adult was very different from being raised with the writings. I've often envied those who grew up with the writings and the company of other Swedenborgians. Yet I also value having had a religious life in other denominations. I've been Baptist, Presbyterian, Unitarian, and Episcopalian in my lifetime! I see the great value in each of these churches; yet I also understand that I chose to be Swedenborgian because I felt a deep kinship with the writings and the people. Because I chose to join this church, I know I could leave it and join another one. I know there are other churches filled with good people, uplifting worship services, and a spirituality based in the Bible. Yet I also know that my way of approaching life is deeply grounded in my Swedenborgianism. When I found Swedenborg, I found a spirituality that integrated the inner and the outer for me. As I read earlier from _True Christian Religion,_ Swedenborg writes of how crucial it is that we develop our external spirituality as well as our internal. That is important to me when I'm tempted to focus only on meditation, leaving out the uses of the world that are so important to me. It is also important during the kind of week I've been having. I know that when everything around me seems to be falling apart, this external chaos is not the final reality. I know that there is a deeper reality within, where the Lord's influx fills me with love and wisdom. I can turn within to feel nurtured and sustained no matter _how_ bad things are around me. I know that angels are with me, helping me cope with the hardships of earthly life. I know that the natural world will some day be replaced for me, and for all of us, by the spiritual world--and that in that world water pumps don't break down. And the spiritual body doesn't need water anyway! Swedenborg helps me remember that the chaos and misfortunes of the natural world are temporary; while the deeper love and wisdom of the Lord are eternal. And I can remember and even experience that inner spirituality whenever I need it. So I see Swedenborg's writings as very practical and important to me in the daily living of my life. Of course, some days I feel angry and frustrated by how hard life can be. I did have a moment of satisfaction in thinking that if I tore up my green thirty [volumes of Swedenborg's religious writings], I would have great insulation for my well, and save myself the five dollar cost of a bale of hay! But then, the wisdom in those writings would survive the destruction of my green thirty, and even the loss of _all_ of our green thirties. For there is something eternal, true, and right in Swedenborg's writings that keeps me here. And it's not that no other religion or denomination contains truth and pathways to God, because I believe they do. But Swedenborg explains truth to me in a way that I can understand and accept; that resonates within my soul. When I talk to others about my faith, I probably have the fervor of a convert rather than the quiet acceptance of a lifelong church member. We need both kinds of us, I think, to make a healthy church. I love hearing from Swedenborgian lifers about how the teachings became integrated into the core of their beings from childhood. And I love to share with them how alone I felt before discovering the writings and the church--and reminding other Swedenborgians of how important it is that we make ourselves better known so that others can learn from what we have. So I am a Swedenborgian. I am a Swedenborgian on the days when the sun shines and the birds sing, and also on the days when the well freezes over. And on those frozen days, I wouldn't dare use my green thirty to insulate my well. I need them to insulate my soul! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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://people.ne.mediaone.net/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 Jan 31 19:23:03 2000 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 31 Jan 2000 14:23:03 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: A Child of Laughter Message-ID: <200001311307_MC2-9716-36D7@compuserve.com> A Child of Laughter By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell January 30, 2000 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" (Genesis 17:17) God told Abraham that he and his beloved wife were to have a child. They had longed for this child for decades, probably at times being filled with anxiety, sometimes with frustration and anger, sometimes with sadness and despair. They knew human physiology well enough to recognize that since Sarai had reached menopause that it was impossible. And now God was saying that they would have a son. All the hopes, dreams, disappointments, and human expectations that had gone before perhaps rushed through Abraham's mind and he laughed when he reflected on how little he knew or understood. He would have been sure that he and Sarah were too old, absolutely sure, and yet now he could see that God's perspective of what was possible far exceeded his. This brought laughter to his lips. If you consider just the literal story, you might wonder why a loving God would have apparently put Abraham and Sarah through all these years of disappointment, contributing finally to Sarah's decision that her and her husband's heir would have to be born of her handmaid, Hagar. Was the long delay some kind of test? Was it some kind of joke? Certainly not. In all that the Lord does He holds our eternal happiness and welfare immediately before His eyes. He loves us more than we could possibly imagine and yet the way that this love is shown isn't what we would expect or think would be best from our own perspective. As the prophet Isaiah records: "My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9) For example, some people thinking from their own understanding cannot believe that hell could exist as a place of relative misery and deprivation if God is all loving. They believe that an all powerful God could and should make everyone capable of being welcomed into heaven. No matter what kind of life a person has led, the Lord should be able to miraculously wash all the evil away leaving a pure and heavenly creature behind. Such a perspective doesn't understand how heaven works. Still other people just assume that heaven is a place and that anyone who wants can and should be admitted there. There is a somewhat humorous story of a person in the life after death who held a similar view. He describes what happened to him when he tried to enter heaven before he was ready. "From earliest childhood to the end of my life in the world my idea of heaven had been that it was a place of all blessings, felicities, delights, gratifications, and pleasures. And I thought that if I should be allowed in, I would be surrounded with an atmosphere of enjoyments of this sort and would drink them in with full breast, like a bridegroom when he celebrates his wedding and enters the marriage chamber with his bride. "With this idea I ascended into heaven, and I passed the first sentries and also the second, but when I came to the third, the captain of the guard spoke to me and said, ^?Who are you, friend?' "So I replied, ^?Is this heaven? I have longed and prayed for it and therefore I have come up here. Please let me in.' And he let me in. "And I saw angels in white garments. And surrounding me and looking me over, and they began to murmur, ^?Look, a new visitor not dressed in a garment of heaven.' "Hearing this, I thought to myself, ^?It appears I am in a similar situation as the one who the Lord says went to a wedding without a wedding garment.' So I said, ^?Give me such garments.' "But they laughed. And then one of them came running from the court with the order, ^?Strip him naked, throw him out, and throw his clothes out after him.' (See Matthew 22:13) And so I was thrown out." (Conjugial Love 10) The angels laughed when the man asked for a garment of heaven. We might imagine that this was derisive laughter, but it would be better to picture it as the laughter of someone who like Abraham recognizes that human perspectives on how things work can be remarkably at variance from what is real. In contrast it seems that when Sarah heard of this news that her laughter was somewhat derisive and scoffing and this is why she was questioned about why she laughed. This story of the promise of child to Abraham and Sarah is part of the saga of their life as recorded in the book of Genesis. This saga from Abraham's initial call onward can be seen on a deeper level as a reflecting a spiritual journey we must go on if we are to follow the Lord and be spiritually reborn. Earlier steps refer to our beginning recognition that something should be different and a growing motivation to accomplish this change. They reflect our need to learn, to make basic decisions from this knowledge about what we will and won't do. They show the value of rules for life and their limitations. The birth of Ishmael, a son whose father was Abraham and his mother was Sarah's handmaid, Hagar, represents the use of the adult rational capability to understand more deeply than simple superficial rules or interpretations of what the Lord has taught. Then the Lord instituted a special sign for the covenant that He was establishing with Abraham and his descendants: the rite of circumcision. This ritual act represents our conscious use of our best understanding in the work of self-examination and repentance. The Lord calls us to examine or reflect on the patterns of our motivations, thoughts, and actions, recognizing the patterns that are hurtful to us and others, the ones that the Lord commands against. Once we have recognized what these patterns are, we are acknowledge them before the Lord, ask His help to fight against them, and then day by day consciously try to live differently. Repentance as it should be practiced cannot take place before a person has reached an adult understanding. This is represented in the story of Abraham by all the events that came before the birth of Ishmael. But Ishmael wasn't to be the heir of the covenant the Lord promised to Abraham. The first adult understanding that a person attains does not grow into true wisdom by adding more knowledge and experience. True wisdom comes only to a person who has shunned evils as sins against the Lord. The promise of child born to Abraham and Sarah is the promise of this true wisdom. It is a promise of a huge change that can take place in our lives, one that takes us from a natural understanding with its tremendous limits and mis-perceptions, to a spiritual understanding which is far more insightful, focused and wise. These two levels of understanding or these two rational faculties come to a person in quite different ways. This is spoken of in the following passage from the Arcana Caelestia: With each human being . . . his first rational too is conceived and born through the influx of his internal person into the life of his external person's affection for knowledge, but his second rational results from the influx of good and truth from the Lord by way of his internal person. This second rational he receives from the Lord when he is being regenerated, for at that time he senses within his rational what the good and truth of faith are. The internal person with anyone is above his rational, and is the Lord's. (Arcana Caelestia 2093:4) Our first rational comes from worldly learning and the motivations that we have hereditarily from our parents as well as some of the gifts of innocent and loving states that the Lord gives us from earliest childhood. The second rational comes from an in-flowing life from the Lord that we can receive for the first time as our own when some of these hereditary inclinations to evil have been removed through self-examination and repentance. Abraham and Sarah's son was named Isaac which in the Hebrew language means laughter. The first rational, represented by Ishmael, more easily laughs with a touch of contempt. The second rational, represented by Isaac, laughs with delight in what is good and true sometimes in contrast to what a human perspectives sees. Unfortunately much of laughter doesn't arise from this heavenly delight. Very much is contained within laughter, for the most part something of contempt which, though it does not show itself, is nevertheless lying underneath, and is easily distinguished from cheerfulness of the mind which also produces something that appears like laughter. (Arcana Caelestia 2216) We can know something of heavenly laughter with good natured joy we can take in the observations of young children. A person needed look down on a six year old for his or her mis-perceptions. Consider the story of a young child who was given the simple request to hang up her backpack that she had dumped on the floor upon arriving home from school. She stomped over to get it saying, "Why do I have to do all the work in the house." Her grumpy mis-perception of how the household really works can cause us to laugh without our needing to feel contemptuous. Or can you picture a little child, having learned about heaven, firmly announces to his parents, "If you won't go with me, I'm not going." Again, we can smile at the child's concept of being able to refuse to pass from this world to the next unless accompanied by his parents, but have no contempt in our hearts. True wisdom of life and the kind and useful perspective it brings cannot come apart from learning from the Lord and living according to this knowledge. We read: The first and foremost element of the rational with a person is truth, and therefore it is the affection for truth, which exists with a person to enable him to be reformed and so regenerated, such reformation being effected by means of cognitions and facts, which are matters of truth. These are being constantly implanted in good, that is, in charity, so that in this manner he may receive the life of charity. It is therefore the affection for truth with a person that predominates in his rational. For the situation with the life of charity, which is the life of heaven itself, is that in people who are being reformed and regenerated it is constantly being born and developing and increasing, such growth being achieved by means of truths. Therefore the more truth that is implanted, the more is the life of charity perfected. Thus as is the nature and the amount of truth present with a person, so is the charity present with him. (Arcana Caelestia 2189:2) The last line of this passage is emphasized in the original text. Truth is essential to charity. But this truth doesn't come directly from learning factual knowledge or forming human concepts. It is a gift from the Lord that comes to a person who is actively shunning evils as sins. The very possibility of the kind of change that this state of mind can bring is hard for some human perspectives to believe. When told of this angelic state, a part of the human mind can scoff derisively. "What me! Become an angel? Yeah, sure!" This part of the human mind doesn't believe in the miraculous changes that regeneration can bring to our lives. It laughs just like Sarah laughed. It cannot help it because of its perspective. We cannot help but start with many flaws and mis-perceptions. We cannot help but start with many worldly and self-centered motivations. But this can be changed: Human rational good is such that it has much within it which is derived from worldly delights, for that good is formed not only from truths but also from the delights of the senses and from many other delights that exist in the world. When a person is being reformed and regenerated spiritual good is implanted by the Lord in those delights, and by means of this good that which is worldly is mellowed, and after that accordingly receives its happiness from that spiritual good. (Arcana Caelestia 2204) The Lord does call us to be part of a miraculous change in our lives. He calls us to learn and live according to what we've learned. He calls us to reflect on the patterns of our lives and recognize the evils that can exist there and to seek His help in becoming a new person. The changes that this can bring are wonderful, so wonderful that a wise person might laugh at the miracles they produce. AMEN. Lessons: Genesis 17:15-21, 18:9-15 "And laughed" means the affection for truth. This becomes clear from the origin and essential nature of laughter. In origin it is nothing other than the affection for truth or the affection for false ideas, which produces the mirth and pleasure exhibited in the face by means of laughter. This shows that the essential nature of laughter is nothing else. Actually laughter is something external belonging to the body since it belongs to the face; but in the Word interior things are expressed and are meant by exterior. . .That "laughter" here means the affection for truth becomes clear from the fact that this verse records Abraham's having laughed, as did Sarah both before Isaac was born and after, and also from the fact that he was given the name Isaac from "laughter", for the word "Isaac" means laughter. Arcana Caelestia 2072 [T]he human rational as regards truth is such that it is not able to understand what the Divine is, for the reason that that truth is immersed in appearances, and consequently that which it cannot understand it does not believe, and that which it does not believe does not affect it. The appearances in which the rational is immersed are such that they do affect it, for the appearances themselves bring delight and therefore if deprived of appearances the rational imagines that no delight is left, whereas heavenly affection is not immersed in appearances but in good and truth themselves. But as rational truth is of this nature, it is also excusable and permissible for it to be immersed in appearances and to take delight in them. Such truth immersed in appearances is represented here by "Sarah" when the Lord joined Himself to the Divine. This explains why it is said that she stood at the tent door and that she laughed and said, "After I have grown old shall I have this pleasure?" by which is meant that the affection possessed by rational truth had no inclination to change its state.. Arcana Caelestia 2203 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@mediaone.net Fri Feb 4 23:50:46 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 4 Feb 2000 18:50:46 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Some Thoughts--Why I Am a Swedenborgian," by Gustaf Newcomb Message-ID: <4.1.20000204183156.00c80f00@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Some Thoughts--Why I Am a Swedenborgian By Gustaf Newcomb Bridgewater, Massachusetts, January 30, 2000 Readings Psalm 139:1-18 O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord. You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," Even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. Hebrews 11:1-3 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. Arcana Coelestia #8812 Since heat from the sun in heaven, which is the Lord, is the good of love, and the light from it is the truth of faith, one may see what is meant by "morning," and what by "midday," "evening," and "night" in the next life. They are states of good and truth or love and faith, "morning" being a state of the good of love, "midday" a state of the truth of faith, "evening and night" a deprivation of them, which is ignorance and blindness in insights that belong to faith, and also slowness and coldness in feelings that belong to heavenly love. . . . Angels and spirits who move through a regular cycle of such changes as their life progresses. At one point it is morning, that is, they are filled with the good of love; at another it is midday, that is, they are enlightened with the truth of faith; and at yet another it is evening and night, that is, these gifts become vague and dull with them. Sermon When it was announced that Lee was going to be on sabbatical, it was decided that members of the Society would do services which would be interspersed with those of visiting ministers. The theme selected for these services was the question, "Why Am I A Swedenborgian?" So it was that I began to look for an answer to this seemingly simple question in my own life. The temple of Apollo at Delphi, in ancient Greece, was inscribed with the saying, "Know Thyself." But introspection has never been easy, in any age. I toyed with several approaches to this challenge. The church is a building--a building filled with people, memories, ideas, the things that we love and cherish. The church is a spiritual home. Home is one of the most loved words in any language. Stephen Collins Foster used the home theme in many of his songs, and always vouched deep springs of emotion in his hearers. But, as a first thought, if you asked most people about their home you would get a rather unemotional discourse on their house. While a description of a dwelling is technically accurate and satisfies our requirements on a worldly level, it does nothing for the longing soul. We are spiritual beings with spiritual, emotional and, intellectual needs. We are complex multifaceted beings with many centers of interest. There is the home that we worked for, and maybe built with our own hands. There is the home of our childhood, connected to us by cords of memory which stretch across a lifetime, and there is our spiritual home. Several years ago we had a disastrous fire here at the Bridgewater Church, and we nearly lost the beautiful building that has been our home for more than a century. It is at times like this that we discover what is really important in our lives. Buildings and material things are not important; they are replaceable. _People_ are important, and the love that is within them is the most important thing of all. Immediately after the fire, the people of the church and our friends and neighbors from far and wide came together to comfort and help us. In a set of events which almost seems to be miraculous, the building was rebuilt better than ever, and the Society has become stronger, and I hope humbler. The power of love is incredible. When we invest a great deal of our love into something, it becomes a home. The Lord tells us that the kingdom of heaven is within us. Home, our spiritual home, is where the heart is. It is fun to play the what if game. When we are children, we pretend that we're princes or knights and that we live in a castle and have all sorts of exciting adventures. All of these scenarios that exist only in our imagination would involve our living different lives. When we grow older, our Walter Mitty daydreams give way to more concrete plans, some of which, also, involve changes in our lives. Nobody is wise enough or smart enough to recreate an entire life from imagination. I don't know, if my life was different, whether I would be a Swedenborgian or an Eskimo. Eskimos aside, I am a Swedenborgian and I am proud of it. Emanuel Swedenborg lived during the period of history known as "the Age of reason." The words _"Nunc Licet,"_ which appeared on a spiritual temple, are familiar to every Swedenborgian, and have been touched upon earlier in this series. Taken in context, they tell us that it is possible for mankind to enter into the mysteries of faith or religion, not blindly or in obedience to some higher authority, but with intelligence through reasoning. From my personal point of view this concept is very powerful. Intellectual participation in spiritual affairs enables us, as individuals, to affect our own regeneration and reformation in a unique and profound way. Intellectual involvement in the mysteries of faith gives new meaning to the idea of man being created in God's image. As a Swedenborgian, it means a great deal to me to know that the spirit of openness and intellectual curiosity that sparked the rise of transcendentalism is alive and flourishing in my church. The "Age of Reason" gave way to the "Industrial Age," and this in turn has become the "Computer Age"--and all the while, the mysteries remain. Mankind has come to rely more and more on material solutions to problems, much to the detriment of the overall quality of our lives. Ripley, in his "Believe It Or Not" piece on Swedenborg, gives an awe-inspiring description of Swedenborg's many accomplishments, listing more than three dozen occupations and disciplines in which he excelled. No person who ever lived has been more successful in bridging the gap that divides the worlds of science and religion. The new millennium, with its explosion of knowledge in every conceivable direction, needs to rediscover the wisdom of Emanuel Swedenborg. I look forward, with some hope, to the twenty-first century becoming "the Age of Swedenborg." The amazing Mr. Swedenborg sets a very high standard of scholarship and intellectual freedom. In a letter to one of his contemporaries he writes: Read, if you please, what has been written in my latest work, _True Christian Religion,_ concerning the mysteries disclosed by the Lord through me, his servant, and afterward draw your own conclusion--but from reason--concerning my revelation. (From a reply to Dr. Johann August Ernesti, printed in _Small Theological Works and Letters,_ London: Swedenborg Society, 1975, p. 197) Swedenborg was confident that the truth of his writing would stand the test of time. So am I! From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Mon Feb 7 04:48:25 2000 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 6 Feb 2000 23:48:25 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: How Much of What Has to Change? Message-ID: <200002061334_MC2-9800-53D6@compuserve.com> How Much of What Has to Change? By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell February 6, 2000 And Abraham came near and said, "Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it?" Genesis 18:23-24 There are several stories in the Word in which human beings bargain or plead with God. For example Moses intervenes to protect the Israelites several times, essentially asking God, "Are You sure You want to do what You're planning?" In this story Abraham is following what we understand to be a fairly common near-East practice of haggling to achieve a goal. We are not given much context about why Abraham would be concerned about Sodom. Presumably he knows that his nephew Lot is there and perhaps this is why he hopes that it might not need to be destroyed. Stories such as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah can have a certain horrible fascination for some people's minds. Certainly these stories leave others feeling very uncomfortable. Interestingly, the story that describes the greatest destruction is that of Noah and the flood and it is among the most beloved by many young children. Why aren't they disquieted by it? It seems that they see the story more in terms of the Lord protecting and caring for Noah and his family. Since young children can often see themselves as basically good, they take comfort from the Lord's care. Concerning the perspective of children we read in the Arcana Caelestia: The truths that a person learns and believes in his earliest years when he is a young child but which later on he either endorses, has doubts about, or refuses to accept, are in particular these: There is God, and He is one; He created everything; He rewards those who do what is good and punishes those who do things that are bad; there is life after death, when the bad go to hell and the good go to heaven, and so there is a hell and a heaven. (Arcana Caelestia 5135:3) Certainly one of the things that the Lord wants us to know and believe with absolute certainty is that He loves us beyond anything that we can imagine. Although the stories of the Word speak of God being angry, punishing, and casting into hell, we are assured that is as false as the criminal who states that the reason he is in jail is because a judge was nasty and put him there. The following passage gives some idea of the genuine reality. Those who are opposed to the Lord perceive Divine Truth as falsity, and Divine Good as evil; for the way in which everyone sees that Truth and Good is determined by what he really is in himself. So it is that the Lord's zeal, which in itself is love and compassion, is seen by them as anger; for when the Lord in love and mercy protects His own in heaven those ruled by evil are indignant and angry with the good. They plunge into the sphere where Divine Good and Divine Truth are, endeavoring to destroy those who are there. But then the Divine Truth of Divine Good acts on them and causes them to experience torments like those suffered in hell. As a consequence of this they attribute wrath and anger, and also all evil, to the Divine, when in fact there is no anger whatever in the Divine, nor any evil whatever, only pure forbearance and mercy. (Arcana Caelestia 8875:1) This sermon continues a series on the stories of Abraham's life. The description of Abraham pleading for the inhabitants of Sodom occurs after the Lord commanded the rite of circumcision as a sign of His covenant with Abraham. On a deeper level this command represents the Lord call to us to undertake the work of self-examination and repentance. Perhaps you recall the steps of this process that are given in the True Christian Religion: "examining oneself, recognizing and acknowledging one's sins, praying to the Lord, and starting a new life." (True Christian Religion 530) When a person undertakes this work of self-examination he or she will be capable of seeing many things, some of which are very unpleasant to recognize in oneself. Within many aspects of our behavior, if we are honest with ourselves, we can see lurking various thoughts and motivations that are certainly less than perfect. For some this is more than they can face. As one passage in the Writings states some people compare reflecting on their own spiritual state as being "like casting a net into a lake full from bottom to surface of mud teeming with noxious worms" and others when they even consider the idea of this self-reflection "are struck by fear and terror, as if they saw a monster beside their bed in twilight." (True Christian Religion 562:1) The Lord wants us to feel hopeful that if we do our part we can certainly be saved from the misery and consequences of evil. But as we contemplate the various spiritual qualities of our thoughts and motivations we can be aware that they are a rather mixed lot. We can wonder as we look at some of the flawed, but not terribly evil parts of our mind need to change and which are allowable to leave basically as they are for the time being. We, not unlike Abraham, can end up seeking from the Lord some understanding of just how bad something has to be before we really need to focus on removing it from our lives. Each of the numbers that Abraham pleads for--fifty, forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty, and ten--all represent descending levels of good that a state of mind might have. There can be a state in which we know the truth and care about what is good (fifty). A lesser state is when there is both a knowledge of truth and a concern for good, but we are not yet acting on it (forty-five). A step lower is state in which we are experiencing times of temptation, in which there is a powerful battle between truth and good within our lives. A step below this is the state in which we aren't doing exactly what we're suppose to but there is some determined effort resist our natural inclinations (thirty). Still lower is the state in which we aren't battling our natural inclinations but we feel some sense of true unhappiness at evil and some desire for a better life (twenty). The lowest state refers to a state in which we can still feel something of a genuine desire to follow the Lord and serve our neighbor (ten.) For example, a person may note that he has a temperament and pattern of thinking that makes him likely to be rather easy-going about what is or isn't happening in life. He is unlikely to make strong judgements. At times he sees this as a strength. It allows him to be with a wide variety of people rather comfortably. But he also recognizes that in some situations he really ought to be more active in making judgments to take care of himself and other useful things. Sometimes he realizes that it is almost a spiritual laziness in himself that shows up as "easy-going." So he looks at his patterns of behavior and wonders, "How much of this has to be shunned or what is the good here that can be preserved?" Each time that Abraham asked about a number of good people potentially being in Sodom, the Lord responded that He would not destroy the city if that many good people were there. Anything genuinely good in our life need not be destroyed. Anything that is truly useful need not be destroyed. But a wise person realizes over an over again that the Lord has allowed a quality to exist in his life for a time, and from it good things came, but eventually the person sees that there is a hidden flaw within it that really needs to be battled and overcome. The Lord doesn't expect us to become perfect people in a short period of time. He knows far better than we do how apparently intermingled our thoughts and motivations are. What He asks is that we recognize and acknowledge that there are dangerous evils in our lives that need to be fought. He asks us not to make this as just a broad and easy statement. He asks us to take the time to seek out, recognize and acknowledge to ourselves and to Him that there are evils that we need to shun in our lives. Once recognized and acknowledged, He calls us to do what we can to prevent them from appearing in our words and deeds. He even calls us to beware of harboring and nurturing them in our thoughts. The Lord promises that He will be with us every step of our spiritual journey. He wants us to know that our eternal happiness is a most precious thing to Him. The Lord will work with the tiniest details of our lives to lead us from where we are now to that better and happier life. AMEN. Lessons: Genesis 18:20-33 "To make the righteous die with the wicked" means making good perish with evil; but because this ought never to be done, and also because the very thought of it evokes horror, it is removed in the internal sense, and the following is at the same time presented - that good cannot die, because evil can be separated from it. The implications of this particular matter are known to few, if any. It has to be recognized that all the good whatever that a person has thought and done from earliest childhood through to the very end of his life remains; and the same applies to all the evil, so much so that not even the least trace of it completely perishes. All that good and evil is written in his book of life, that is, in each of his memories [internal and external], and in his true self, that is, in his character and disposition. >From that good and evil he has formed a life for himself and, so to speak, a soul, the essential nature of which remains unchanged after death. But goods are never so mixed up with evils, nor evils with goods, that they cannot be separated; for if they were so mixed a person would perish for ever. The Lord sees to it that they are not. If he has led a life abiding in the goods of love and charity, then when a person enters the next life the Lord separates the evils, and by means of the goods present with him raises him into heaven. But if he has led a life immersed in evils, that is to say, in things contrary to love and charity, the Lord separates the goods from him, and his evils carry him into hell. Such is the experience of everyone after death. But it is a separation and in no way a complete removal. Arcana Caelestia 2256 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@mediaone.net Mon Feb 7 22:24:05 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 7 Feb 2000 17:24:05 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "What Is a Swedenborgian?" by the Rev. Edward B. Hinckley Message-ID: <4.1.20000207154733.00d20990@pop.ne.mediaone.net> What Is a Swedenborgian? By the Rev. Edward B. Hinckley Delivered by Larry Conant Bridgewater, Massachusetts, February 6, 2000 Originally published in _The Messenger,_ June 1953 The purpose of this sermon is to enable us to work out an answer to the question: What is a Swedenborgian? What does he believe? What do you and I believe? Naturally, when confronted with the question of providing a statement of your belief, you will be guided in your answer by the particular interests of the man who asks you the question. Today I'd like to discuss the possibility that an acquaintance has asked you: "Well, what does the Lord mean to you? Who is God? What are his functions? What are his purposes? What are his relations with man--past, present, and future? What do you understand by 'God'?" Of course, I won't try to give a complete answer to all these questions today. In fact, treating of the doctrine of the Lord in a fifteen minute sermon probably requires more courage than judgment. To put the doctrine of the Lord into sermon is somewhat like trying to engrave the Lord's prayer on the head of a pin. When I began to think about this topic, I realized that we did not have far to go for a good beginning to our conception of the doctrine of the Lord. For example, if we look in the _Book of Worship,_ we find a statement of our faith in the glorified Lord which will serve admirably to start us off on our thinking. What does this statement of our faith say? Let me read it to you: 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; whose humanity is divine; who for our salvation did come into the world and take our nature upon him. He endured temptation, even to the passions of the cross. He overcame the hells, and so delivered man. He glorified his Humanity, uniting it with the Divinity of which it was begotten. Without this, no mortal could have been saved; and they are saved who believe in him and keep the commandments of his Word. This is his commandment: that we love one another, as he hath loved us. Amen. Looking at this faith in some detail, we see that it contains all of the essential elements of our belief put into vivid, concrete, understandable English. What are these essentials? The first essential is contained in the first phrase: "We worship the one God." Let's stop there, for the moment. We don't worship hundreds of gods, as do the devotees of some Eastern religions. We don't worship three Gods as do the Trinitarians. We worship _one_ God! That, to me, is very important. We don't worship saints, as do the Roman Catholics. We don't worship the virgin Mary. We don't worship Joseph. We don't worship the Apostles--even the writers of the four Gospels. "We worship the one God!" This matter of one God is of more importance than many people realize. I grew up in the Unitarian Church, which by its very name is dedicated to a belief in one God. And yet the thing that puzzled me as a Unitarian was: Where does Jesus Christ fit into the idea of God? If there is one God, naturally he is the Supreme Being. Jesus Christ, then, is not divine--so my Unitarian thinking ran in those days--and if that is the case, why should we pay so much attention and give so much significance to his life and to his teachings? If he were only a good man, the position to which we have exalted his precepts and examples seems out of proportion to that accorded the precepts and examples of other good men. At the same time, I found it difficult to believe that he was only a good man, for no other good man, to my knowledge, has ever achieved one one-hundredth part of one per cent of the power, glory, majesty, and influence of Christ. So, as I came to man's estate and began to think about spiritual matters more intelligently, I soon came to the realization that Jesus Christ could not be merely a good man--if we were to believe anything of the Gospel stories and teachings. Either we would have to throw out the New Testament complete, as a fantastic bit of fiction, or else we must believe that Christ was divine. The conventional Protestant calls Christ divine, and presents us with a kind of three-headed hierarchy which includes three divinities: God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost. But such a belief, conventional though it may be, seems to me impossible of acceptance. To me, this is the strongest point about the doctrine of the Lord as Swedenborg has described it: that God is one; that Christ is the manifestation of God embodied in human form, so that he could walk among men and talk with them face to face, as God in his divine majesty could never do without destroying man in the doing. Similarly, as Swedenborg points out, God in the manifestation called the Holy Spirit can and does come to us with counsel, healing, strength, and wisdom any hour of the day and night that we are open to him. To me, this is a much more satisfactory belief: a belief in one God who manifests himself in three different forms. Let me take a simple analogy. We all know that water exists in three different forms, as solid, as liquid, and as a vapor. It's water just the same. The solid form we skate on or cool our beverages with. The liquid form we drink; it runs turbines, generates electricity, flows down valleys to the sea, and we sail over it in summer. The vapor form performs work in steam engines, heats our buildings, escapes from chimneys and the exhausts of automobiles, and floats around in the air until it is precipitated as liquid, rain. There is nothing strange about water existing in three forms. Many substances exist as solids, liquids, and gases. Similarly, there is nothing extraordinary about God manifesting himself to us in three forms. In his supreme majesty he rules the heavens, and through the medium of influx through successively coarser and coarser atmospheres, ultimately gives life to the earth and everything within it. As Jesus Christ, he took upon himself a human form that he might walk upon earth, meeting and overcoming, as man can and must do, every temptation that besets our frail, pitiful humanity. Yet, in his own words, when he rose on that great Easter morning, he left with us a promise that there would immediately come to us a Comforter: "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you" (John 14:18). And this Comforter is the Holy Spirit, who eternally seeks admittance into our secret counsels, into our heart of hearts, bringing the glory, the love, the wisdom, the strength, and the power of God to our everyday human needs--the same God, the same power, the same love and wisdom eternally pouring forth, as ceaselessly renewed as the light and heat of the sun. So you can see why I consider it of fundamental importance that we understand what we mean when we say "We worship the one God!" Noting how God is described in our Statement of Faith already quoted, what are the logical ramifications of this declaration of God's power and quality? Most important, it seems to me, is the realization that Jesus Christ is our Savior. This is stated in several different ways. In the first place, I think it is significant that attention is focused upon Christ. Only by believing in him can we profit by his example. Only he could take our nature upon him and unite it with the divinity of which it was begotten. Only he could overcome the hells and so deliver man. Through him and him alone can we reach ultimate conjunction, understanding, appreciation, and love of God. He is the only link by which we can achieve salvation in the world to come, or forgiveness for our sins in the world that lies behind. By his life upon earth, by his death and resurrection, and by that alone, can we enter into the kingdom of our Lord. Not, mark you, that we are saved because he suffered and died for us, thereby making vicarious atonement for our sins; not that at all! On this point Swedenborg is definite and clear. No man can take the sins of another upon himself, not even the God-man, Jesus. To each belong the sins of his own life. How is it that Swedenborg puts it? "A man's life awaits him after death" (_Heaven and Hell_ #470). A man's life isn't ignored. His sins are not blotted out of the records because of Christ's suffering and triumph. Only if the man suffers and triumphs can the black marks on his record be effaced. In the second place, what did Christ do? What was his relation to us? What is our relation to him? Remember: his humanity is divine. That, of course, distinguishes his humanity from ours, which is definitely not divine, nor ever can be. No matter how hard we try, we never can become divine; that is why our humanity, our bodies, remain in the earth where they are buried. It is only our spirits that can ascend to the Father. As I understand this rather complicated subject of his humanity, Jesus in his thirty-three years of life on this earth was going through a process whereby gradually every molecule, cell, nerve, tissue, and fiber of his body was being changed, almost imperceptibly, from something human into something divine--a process which was fully realized and brought to completion only by his agony and triumph on the cross. If we need an analogy, perhaps we can find it in the slow, age-old petrifaction of wood, whereby each molecule of the wood fiber imperceptibly over centuries becomes transmuted into stone. I have on my desk at Babson Institute an example of petrified yellow birch which retains all the grain and beauty of the original wood, and yet is completely and irrevocably stone. In the third place, we are told: "God for our salvation did come into the world and take our nature upon him." It wasn't _his_ nature; it was _our_ nature. He came into the world and took our nature upon him, because it was upon this battlefield, in this arena--the arena and battlefield of the human heart, human actions, human life--that the victory must be won. Only in this way could he show us the way to achieve our own personal, spiritual victory. Only on the plane upon which we ourselves were actually fighting could he engage in this supremely important combat, and by his victory on that plane show us the way to achieve our victories on the same plane forever after. As the Statement of Faith goes on to say: "He endured temptation even to the passion of the cross." And what was the purpose of facing this temptation which he endured--a temptation so complete, so all-comprehensive that it included every evil known to man, or that ever can be known to man? Only by Christ meeting, resisting, and triumphing over every temptation that could possibly face man in the eternity to come could he definitely and completely overcome the hells and so deliver man from the bondage into which he had fallen. For we must remember that at the time of Christ's coming into the world, the world had so far forgotten God's precepts and teachings, the hard-won lessons of the Old Testament, that a knowledge even of the existence of God was rapidly disappearing from men's minds. Nothing less than the incarnation of God upon earth and the complete subjugation of the hells, which were rapidly gaining the ascendancy over man's spirit, could have sufficed to save man from eternal destruction by these hells, which were rapidly closing in upon him and his spirit. How, then, can we be saved? Only by believing in him and keeping the commandments of his Word, the greatest commandment being, of course, that we love one another as he has loved us--to follow again the Statement of Faith. What does this mean? It means that we must look to God for help, counsel, wisdom, strength, love, power, and patience in every problem of daily living. It means that we must consciously turn to him as guide, philosopher, and friend when problems crowd us into a corner. It means that only as we place confidence in him rather than in ourselves can we draw from him the life-giving solutions to our difficulties. It means that only as we look to him for guidance can we find, through the dark and tangled forest of men's selfishness, the path which leads to heaven--that is, to the complete realization of the best that is within us, and the attainment of the ideal which he, and only he, has so nobly set before us through his life on earth. It means that we must give up our self-centered ambitions, our self-centered pride, our self-centered strength, and acknowledge that only through his divine mercy and by his divine grace can we achieve union with him. Finally, it means that his life, his teachings, his word, his guidance, and these alone, can save us. That in our lives no more important task can be set, no richer success can be attained, than the task of following in his footsteps, and the success of knowing that at the end of the journey we can hope for his word: "Well done!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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://people.ne.mediaone.net/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 Mon Feb 21 13:31:15 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 21 Feb 2000 08:31:15 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "My Best Friend," by Larry Conant Message-ID: <4.1.20000220142435.00cd3540@pop.ne.mediaone.net> My Best Friend By Larry Conant Bridgewater, Massachusetts, February 20, 2000 Readings: Psalm 31:1-8 In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness. Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; Be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me. Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me. Free me from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge. Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O Lord, the God of truth. I hate those who cling to worthless idols; I trust in the Lord. I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul. You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place. Luke 12:22-31 Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? "Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well." The Heavenly City #96 These are the different levels of friends. When we love other people, our love goes higher and higher in these levels. But the levels follow one after the other in order. The higher ones in the order should be considered more important than the lower ones. Since the Lord is highest of all, and should be our central focus on all levels, he is the one we should love more than everyone and everything else. From this you can see the connection between loving the Lord and loving other people. Sermon: I know you are all expecting a sermon on why I am a Swedenborgian, and I'll get to that. The only way you're going to understand why I am a Swedenborgian is to understand my best friend. So let me begin with a presentation on best friends we all have had. At different times in our lives, we have many different friends. Somehow, as we grow, friends may go to a different school or move away or get a job in some other location. Maybe we move away. Sometimes we stay in touch over the years, other times we don't. The person who we consider our best friend may change many times during our lives. Sometimes, we may not have a special friend. What I'd like to talk about today is what we look for in a friend and how we can find that friend. Ideally, we'd like to have a friend who is always available to us. Of course that means we'd have to know where to reach him, know that he'd be there and that he would not being doing anything else. I realize that is a pretty selfish request, but we're talking ideal here. Being available isn't enough. He should be ready to help us at a moments notice. Drop everything he's doing and just spend time as we need. That certainly would be pretty special, but let's continue the dream. Not only will this best friend be ready for us, but he will know us so well, that he will anticipate our needs. Looking ahead, he will anticipate that tomorrow or next week or maybe even next year at a certain point, he knows we will need a certain tool. He may give us that tool today, just so we get used to it or maybe get a little practice in using it before we really need it. Maybe, we'll need it next week, or next year. We don't know when we'll need it, but our friend does. As long as we have it when we really need it, that's all that counts. Of course, if we don't know we need it, we may ask "Why are we carrying this tool around?" We may even set it aside. Of course, our best friend already knows when and where we are going to need that tool. He may just carry it someplace else and give it to us a little closer to the time we actually need it. Maybe it isn't a tool we are going to need, maybe it's someone with a special talent. After all, we can't be good at everything. Our best friend with his ability to know our needs will recognize the need for this particular talented individual. Of course the trick is going to be for our friend to convince this talented individual to be where we need them, when we need them, but we are just expressing the ideal here so let's dream. I guess that's a pretty good description of a best friend. Someone who is not only there when we need them, but anticipates our needs and has everything on hand when we need whatever it is we will need. Now I'd like to tell you that I have found a friend just like this! I didn't start out looking for a friend. I didn't even know that I needed one. One day I just looked up and said "Hey look at that! How did that happen?" I didn't even realize at first how often I ran into this friend. One day you run into him at the mall. The next day maybe on the highway. Sometimes even at home. Pretty soon I realized that this guy seems to always be around. How can that be? Not only that, but he frequently provided just what I needed at the time I needed it. It was amazing. One time I was coming back home to West Bridgewater from Maine. My car broke down on the Maine turnpike, twenty miles south of Augusta in the middle of nowhere. It was early evening. Not much traffic. What was I going to do? In ten minutes a co-worker came along and stopped to help. He stayed with me while I arranged for a tow, and then brought me back to Boston where I rented another car. If that co-worker hadn't come along, who knows how long I would have waited. I'm pretty sure my friend sent the co-worker, but I never asked. I realized that my friend had been around even earlier in my life. That things had happened five, even ten years ago, and that if those things hadn't happened, I wouldn't have had what I needed at the current time. It may have been a contact I met or a particular piece of information I received. It may have been something that would eventually lead to a cash payment. Each incident didn't seem noteworthy at the time. I probably couldn't even tell you the year that any of these types of events occurred. Most are pretty subtle. I could probably give hundreds of examples of when these type of things happened, but in order to keep this under three hours, I'll limit those examples. I think the greatest thing this friend has done, is shown me what is really important. I guess we all have things we think we really need. These typically are material things like cars and houses, maybe the latest clothes. Sometimes we get too focused on these material things. This best friend has a way of reminding me about what is important. Sometimes we say we can't live without such and such. Well guess what. Sometimes when you lose that such and such, you find out that you didn't really need it after all. Sometimes you find out that if you don't spend so much time concentrating on the material things, that your eyes get opened to the beauty and love that's around you. Not only that, but with a lot less work than it took to get all those material things, you find you can help a lot of other people, not materially, but spiritually. The greater challenge has been to not question, to not investigate why something has happened. I have learned that my friend is always right and that he always has my best interest at heart. Its all a matter of trust. If I just sit back and use the tools at hand, the tools he provided, everything works out just fine. That doesn't mean that there aren't some rough times. I have learned that the rough times are my failure to grasp the big picture. That eventually, I'll understand. I just had to learn patience and not question what was going on. I'd now like to introduce my best friend. He is really easy to get to know and, you know what, I really don't mind sharing him. You see, I realize that he has more than enough time for me. I don't know how he does it, but he's always there. However, I have also seen him help out other friends. Those times never seem to interfere with when I need his help. You see, my friend is God. He's been around all my life. He's a good friend who is only interested in love and wisdom. He will give me and you as much as we need. As Swedenborgians, we are really lucky. We believe in a God that wishes us no harm. A God that allows us to think freely and be responsible for our actions. We also have Divine Providence, which is the master plan. All we have to do is believe that God has the best intentions for us and this master plan works. That is why I'm a Swedenborgian, because the theology has been successfully demonstrated to me time and time again. I couldn't live without it! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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://people.ne.mediaone.net/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 Thu Feb 24 18:34:45 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 24 Feb 2000 13:34:45 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Willing to Wait," by Kelly Milne Message-ID: <4.1.20000224110905.00d04d50@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Willing to Wait By Kelly Milne Bridgewater, Massachusetts, February 13, 2000 Readings: 1 Corinthians 13, 4-8 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. never fails. Psalm 121 I lift up my eyes to the hills-- where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip-- he who watches over you will not slumber; Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you-- the Lord is your shade at your right hand; The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm-- he will watch over your life; The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and for evermore. Proverbs 3:5, 6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Sermon: Patience is not an easy thing to learn--and once you have learned it, it is still not easy. Even though I went to a Christian college, I didn't get my degree in religion or becoming a minister. So I will not preach by any means. (You'd probably fall asleep anyway--not that Lee puts you to sleep!) But I will share with you some of my experiences, and maybe you can relate or some of them. You may even learn a new way of being patient in a particular situation. First of all, what I need to start with is my idea of patience. So I asked myself, "Self, what is patience?" And self answered, "I believe that patience is waiting for something you really, really would like, but for some reason you can't have it just yet." It's kind of like when I have a plan and God has a plan, and for some reason they don't seem to mesh at the same time. So, many times I'll say, "God? How about letting me in on all this?" Of course, he doesn't answer directly--but eventually I do know why he's waited, or why I was so impatient. There are numerous experiences I've had where I had to learn a little, or sometimes a lot, of patience. Not to tell my life story, but here are a few. First, there was high school. I couldn't wait to graduate and move on. Well, looking back I don't think I should have been in such a hurry. Next came college. That was an experience all on its own. To make a long story short, I ended up attending Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, MA. I originally declared a music major, then elementary education, then psychology, which extended my stay (sounds like prison!) to six years. Six years that I wouldn't trade for anything. The amount of patience I learned in those six years is amazing. I vividly recall walking on the campus one spring day, and everything in my life seemed to be a mess. I wasn't doing well in classes, my personal life was not perfect, and my relationships with my friends were not that great either. I wanted things to be better, but I didn't know how to make them better. I remember walking along, and all of a sudden I had this feeling that everything would work out, and would just have to be patient--with myself, and most importantly, with God. I think that experience had the most impact on me because I can recall it so vividly. So I finally--and I stress finally--graduated with my degree. Once again I said, "Self? Now what?" Well, I went from job to job trying to find where I fit in, and what I felt I was supposed to be doing with my life. I then landed in the job of all jobs that requires buckets-full of patience: child care. I taught preschool and toddlers for about two and a half years total. I loved it--playing all day, coloring, painting, and playing outside. Until the day I thought, "What am I doing? I change a million diapers a day, clean up accidents, toys, food, and do vacuuming" (which I don't even like to do at home--thank God for husbands!). But then there were the special moments when I was sitting with a child, reading or playing, and they were content, happy, secure, and safe. Those were the times that taught me that all the patience I had to muster for the difficult times had a purpose--and I was experiencing it in that very moment. God is funny in how he works, and how he teaches us our lessons. To backtrack a little, I also worked with a number of teenagers with brain injuries in a group home setting. At first I thought, "I can handle this, it can't be that difficult." Once again, God wanted to show me just how much patience I actually had--which wasn't very much. Once incident in particular involved one of the teen boys that I was quite fond of, yet I had to keep my distance from due to his brain injury. He had no impulse control--meaning that if he felt insecure or uncomfortable with someone being too close, he would reach out and scratch or grab at the person. One day I was at the house helping him with his chores. He was to fold the laundry, and when he finished I would take it and put it away. Well, when I went to take the laundry from him I must have been too close for him. He reached out to scratch me, and aimed for my eyes. Thank God for eyeglasses! As I think about this incident, I know that even though this boy had no control over what he did, and always said he was sorry immediately after an incident, I would still get mad and frustrated with him. I know God was teaching me to be patient, not only with that boy, but also with myself--helping me to realize that I was there to help those boys, not for myself. As I was writing this for today, I realized that most of my experiences with having to be patient involved being with children. So why should the last experience I share with you be any different? Only this time I am still in that experience. As many of you know, my husband Mike and I are trying to start a family. Well, we've had some obstacles, and we seem to be having some more. At times I wonder, "Okay, God, now what is your plan?" Once again it is not coinciding with mine. So I need to find all that patience he has taught me in the past, and use it to get through all this. Deep in my heart I know that God has children in our plan. I just wish he would share his plan with us! So for now, I need to remember that we have a loving family who support us and are there when we need them. God sure works in mysterious ways. His ways may not always be our ways, but with a little patience, we are able to wait. I'd like to share a favorite poem of mine that has helped me in so many ways during the trying times: One night I had a dream: I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord, and across the sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belonged to me and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of my life flashed before me, I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that many times along the path of my life, there was only one set of footprints. I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in my life. This really bothered me and I questioned the Lord about it. "Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you would walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why, in the times when I needed you most, you should leave me." The Lord replied, "My precious, precious child. I love you and I would never, never leave you during your times of trial and suffering. "When you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you." (Author Unknown) From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Mon Feb 28 23:35:44 2000 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 28 Feb 2000 18:35:44 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: Faith and Rational Understanding: A Troubled Relationship Message-ID: <200002281212_MC2-9AF9-5CFA@compuserve.com> Faith and Rational Understanding: A Troubled Relationship By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell February 27, 2000 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, "Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife." But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, "Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also?" Genesis 20:3-4 In this story from Genesis 20, Abimelech's reply to God appeals to a sense of justice or one might say, reasonableness. It is as though he were asking, "Does this really make sense for you to punish me?" Being sensible or reasonable is often an important consideration for many of us, but it also has its limitations. For example, not many people would take the observation, "She would be the type to always buy sensible shoes" as a compliment. Likewise many of the people who have received medals for bravery during wartime, did so for doing things that involved taking what would commonly be thought of as unreasonable risks. Much that is spontaneous and playful, even romantic, doesn't normally strike us as "rational" behavior. How do we, as a culture, value rationality? If someone responds to an idea you've suggested by saying, "Now, that is a rational solution" does this statement strike you as a high compliment? If, in contrast, someone says, "That's irrational" does this strike you as a major accusation that needs to be addressed or countered? What makes something sensible or rational in our eyes? Doesn't it involve both an internal coherence and also it fits with how we see things working? If someone suggests, "I'm going to make friends with people by being nasty to everyone I meet" we would say that this is a senseless or irrational idea. Making friends and being nasty to people are inherently incompatible. But when it comes to some areas of life a limiting oneself to what is often called a "rational" approach is destructive. This sermon continues a series that I began in the fall. It is a series that follows the saga of Abram life as it is recorded in the book of Genesis. In Genesis, prior to chapter twenty we read of (a) Abram being called by the Lord to come to the land of Canaan, (b) traveling there, (c) experiencing a famine and going to Egypt, (d) nearly losing his wife Sarai to Pharaoh, (e) returning to Canaan so enriched that he and his nephew Lot can no longer travel together, (f) rescuing Lot when he is captured by Chedorlaomer and the other kings of the north, (g) complaining to the Lord that he doesn't have an heir to inherit the blessings that the Lord keeps promising to Abram, (h) the conception and birth of a child whose father is Abram and whose mother is Sarai's handmaid, Hagar (I) the institution of the circumcision as the sign of the God's covenant with Abram, (j) a promise of a son to Abraham and Sarah, and (k) Abraham pleading for the inhabitants of Sodom. These events can be seen to represent the spiritual development that each of us can go through many times in our pathway toward a heavenly home. They can be seen to represent (a) how we can first sense the need to change some aspect of our lives, (b) a growing commitment to bring this change about, (c) recognizing the need for knowledge to accomplish this change, (d) overcoming the inclination to be captivated by learning as a goal in itself, (e) facing the need to make choices brought about by the knowledge that we have gained, recognizing the benefits of following new rules for some aspect of our life, (f) the dangers of clumsy application of those rules when they don't properly apply in a situation, (g) facing a sense of emptiness that our life doesn't feel very much like it is our own as we follow the rules of life we accepted, (h) the beginning of an adult understanding of truth that feels like it is our own, (I) the Lord's call for us to reflect on the patterns of our lives to see what areas we could and should be doing better--often called self-examination and repentance in the New Church, (j) the promise of a deeper and more powerful understanding or wisdom of life for those who do this work with the Lord's help, and finally (k) our reflection on what qualities in our lives do and do not have to be shunned as a sin against the Lord. To illustrate this progression imagine a woman who (a) begins to recognize that she too often finds herself thinking of everything that is going wrong, focusing on this alone, and getting depressed. She starts to get a sense of how this pattern of reaction and thought is getting in the way of her potential happiness, usefulness, and is driving some of her friends away because they can take only so much of her blue moods. From the day she first has something of this realization glimmer within her conscious mind, (b) a number of different insights or occurrences keep reinforcing the idea that this is something she wants to attend to. Eventually (c) she focuses her mind on what the fundamental issues really are. Perhaps she realizes that this habit is one that she grew up with one of her parents modeling it day after day. She might reflect on how her pattern of thought is incompatible with a wise faith in the Lord care and ability to lead each and all of us to a far better life. She may see that part of her perspective comes from too great a focus on here and now natural stuff and that this isn't where she wants to set her heart. She may realize that (d) while she is getting these ideas ever more clearly defined in her mind, she hasn't significantly changed her pattern of thoughts that lead to feeling so discouraged. The woman can (e) recognize that she cannot continue this pattern of thinking and take better care of her spiritual states. She (f) may establish a rule for herself that says, "If a negative thought comes to mind I will turn my thinking to something else." This may have some very useful results but she can also recognize that sometimes she is trying to ignore or distract herself from issues that really do need attention. Some of the things that she sees going wrong really do need to be have something done about them. She realizes that she needs to be more discerning in applying her self-given rule about turning her attention away from negative thoughts. She will probably experience states (g) in which all of the effort she is making feels so external and put-on. She doesn't feel much of her own life in the efforts she is making to follow better habits. But gradually (h) she can come to recognize that she has an understanding of what lies behind her patterns of negativity and depression. From this (I) she recognizes that the Lord is calling her to identify and actively shun some of the thoughts and motivations that lead to and support her negativity. She comes to believe that (j) the Lord promises to bring a fundamental change in her typical perspective and reaction to life's many events that will result in a deep wisdom, peace, and happiness for her and a tremendously increased ability to be a useful human being for other people's lives. In her reflection on her life (k) she wonders which of her reactions and qualities need to undergo a change. It should be evident that a person who has progressed as far as this woman in the example has, is quite a distance on her spiritual journey toward being a better human being. The story of Abimelech taking Sarah from Abraham symbolizes a part of this further journey. On a deeper level it refers to a potentially major conflict within a person's mind. This conflict is focused on whether what the Lord teaches is believed because it agrees completely with what a person sees to be rational or reasonable or whether its fundamental ideas are accepted even when they seem in conflict with some of the patterns of rationality that we've developed in our adult lives. Many of us who have had difficult disagreements with teenage children have been told that our ideas "don't make any sense." Often this can occur when a parent believes that a situation is unwise or unsafe and the teenager disagrees. Sometimes any explanation that the parent might give strikes the teenager as insufficient to support the restriction proposed by the parent. Sometimes it comes down to a fundamental disagreement between the teenager feeling quite capable of taking good care of him or herself in a potentially difficult situation, and the parent believing that the teens capability may be insufficient to prevent a significant problem. The teenager would tend to see the parent as unreasonable or having irrational fears and the parent would tend to see the teens perspective as being too limited and incomplete and consequently unreasonable. Just because there are reasons behind an idea and it seems to fit together doesn't mean that it is truly rational or wise. Jonathon Swift, famous for Gulliver's Travels also wrote a satirical essay "A Modest Proposal" in which he seems to be suggesting with all due consideration and rational arguement that the best solution for the overpopulation and lack of food that seemed to face Britain at that time was cannibalism. It is amusing to watch teenagers reading this essay for the first time and nodding their heads at the developing arguement until they suddenly see where it is leading and are likely to say, "That's crazy." But sadly such misguided thinking isn't always done as parody. In the early to mid-1970s there was a book published called Open Marriage, which presented with all seriousness and careful argument and reasoning an idea that essentially translates to "Adultery can improve the quality of your marriage." It is interesting to know that the authors of this book themselves wrote a retraction five years later basically saying, "We were wrong. There is something fundamentally incompatible with the ideas we suggested earlier and a healthy marriage." Certainly there are many unwise ideas in print that try to present themselves as sensible. Happily, a thoughtful person can recognize a good number of them. But thoughtful people can also find themselves picking and choosing among the things the Lord has revealed. We, ourselves, can read some of the ideas that the Lord has revealed to us and tend to dismiss them as not really applying to our situation. We can, as it were, argue with the Lord that He is being unreasonable in some of His expectations and commandments. Don't we all recognize that a part of mind thinks that it is irrational to "love our enemies" as the Lord has called us to do? Abimelech taking Sarah from Abraham represents a person who does not believe something is true unless it initially agrees with his previous opinions and ideas. Concerning this we're told: "Abimelech" means the doctrine of faith which has regard to rational things. Doctrine is said to regard rational things when nothing is acknowledged as the truth of doctrine except that which can be grasped by reason, so that when anything that is a matter of doctrine is looked at it is seen from the rational. But the fact that the doctrine of faith does not have a rational but a heavenly origin is, in what follows, the teaching of the internal sense. (Arcana Caelestia 2510) The Arcana Caelestia in explaining this chapter presents a basic difference in perspective that people can bring to their reading of what the Lord has revealed: There are therefore two basic attitudes of mind, the first leading to utter stupidity and insanity, the second to perfect intelligence and wisdom. The first occurs when someone denies everything, that is, says in his heart that he is unable to believe those things until he is convinced by things which he can grasp in his mind and perceive with his senses. This is an attitude which leads to utter stupidity and insanity and must be termed the negative attitude. The second occurs when someone regards affirmatively the things which comprise doctrine drawn from the Word, that is, when he thinks within himself and believes that those things are true because the Lord has spoken them. This is an attitude that leads to perfect intelligence and wisdom, and must be termed the affirmative attitude. The more those who think from the negative attitude consult rational ideas and the more they consult factual knowledge and the more they consult philosophical concepts, the more they pitch themselves headlong into darkness, till at length they deny everything. The reasons for this are that nobody is able from things that are lower to grasp with his mind those that are higher, that is, from those that are lower to grasp those that are spiritual and celestial, still less those that are Divine, since these go above and beyond his entire understanding. And what is more, when this is the case everything is regarded from a basically negative attitude of mind. On the other hand, however, people who think from the affirmative attitude are able to confirm themselves by whatever rational ideas, and by whatever factual knowledge, indeed by any philosophical concepts, which they are able in any way to make use of, for to them all these matters can confirm their belief and enable them to have a fuller idea of the matter. (Arcana Caelestia 2568) Note that rational ideas need not be the enemy of faith, but they don't necessary support it. The fundamental distinction is which is taken by the person as fundamental and is used to guide the other. Do we believe that the Lord has an important thing to teach us in each thing He has revealed and then try to understand it as best we can or do we believe our view of things and accept only what fits this perspective when we read or are taught from the Word? The Lord does want us to understand what He teaches. He doesn't want us to purely blind in our belief. This has guided how He has revealed His Word for us as indicated in the following passage: It has been stated above that although the doctrine of faith is in itself Divine and so stands above all human, even angelic, range of understanding, it has nevertheless been expressed in the Word in a rational manner in accordance with man's range of understanding. It is like a parent who is teaching small boys and girls. When teaching them he explains every single thing in accordance with their own mentality, even though he himself thinks from what is more interior or higher. Otherwise he would be teaching without their learning, or it would be like casting seed on bare rock. The same applies also to the angels who in the next life instruct the simple in heart. Although the angels possess celestial and spiritual wisdom they nevertheless do not go above the heads of those they are teaching but use simple ideas to talk to them, yet advance by degrees to higher ideas as the instruction advances. For if they were to speak from angelic wisdom the simple would not grasp anything at all and so would not be led on to the truths and goods of faith. Much the same would happen if in the Word the Lord had not taught in a rational manner in accordance with man's range of understanding. Nevertheless in its internal sense the Word is raised up to angelic understanding. But even so, that highest level of meaning on which the Word exists with angels is infinitely lower than the Divine. This shows what the Word is like in origin, and so what it is in itself, and thus that at every point it embodies more than the whole of heaven is capable of comprehending, even as to one small part, though in the letter it seems so ordinary and so crude. (Arcana Caelestia 2533:2) Each of us is called to develop an adult understanding and faith in what the Lord would teach us. For those who are willing there is the promise that eventually all things will make sense and appear truly rational. But in the short term there will be things that challenge us or that offend some perspective that we hold to be true from our own experience. If we reject or absolutely discard these ideas they will never make sense to us and we will never receive the benefits of the love and wisdom that lie behind them. Faith in what the Lord teaches is fundamental to a truly happy and useful life, and as this story symbolizes coming to this faith is not always an easy process. AMEN. Lessons: Genesis 20:1-16 "And he said, Lord, will You kill even a righteous nation?" means, Would the good and truth of doctrine be done away with? . . .The fact that these words were uttered from a zeal that went with an affection or love towards the whole human race may be evident to anyone. Such love was directing the Lord's thoughts even when He had not yet put off the human from His mother[, Mary]. And although He perceived from the Divine that the doctrine of faith had a wholly heavenly origin, nevertheless in order that the needs of the human race, which does not receive anything of which it cannot form some idea from its own rational thought, might be met, it is therefore said, "Will You kill even a righteous nation?" meaning, Would the good and truth of doctrine be done away with? The fact that a person does not receive anything of which he cannot form some idea from his rational thought may be seen from the ideas which a person entertains regarding Divine arcana. The latter always have some idea attached to them that is derived from worldly objects or things analogous to worldly objects by which they are retained in the memory and reproduced in thought. For without ideas derived from worldly objects a person is unable to engage in thought. If therefore truths from a Divine origin were presented naked they would never be accepted because they would go far beyond his range of understanding, and so beyond his faith as well, most of all in the case of those whose worship is external. Such being the nature of the human rational, the Word therefore uses expressions that accord with a person's capacity to understand, and also with his inherent disposition. And this explains why the internal sense of the Word is different from its literal sense. This becomes quite clear from the Old Testament Word where most things are stated in ways that accord with the capacity to understand and the inherent disposition of the people who lived in those times. As a consequence little, indeed scarcely anything, is mentioned there about the life after death, about eternal salvation, and about the internal person. Indeed the character of the . . . people with whom the Church existed at that time was such that if these matters had been disclosed to them they would not only have failed to understand them but would also have ridiculed them. Arcana Caelestia 2520 (portions) 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@mediaone.net Tue Feb 29 12:50:14 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 29 Feb 2000 07:50:14 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Why I Am a Swedenborgian," by Mary Mitchell Message-ID: <4.1.20000228201747.00d03a80@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Why I Am a Swedenborgian By Mary Mitchell Bridgewater, Massachusetts, February 27, 2000 Readings: Isaiah 12:1-6 In that day you will say: "I will praise you, O Lord. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation." With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. In that day you will say: "Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you." Matthew 5:13-16 You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. The Divine Love #8, 13, from the pamphlet "Uses," by Wilson Van Dusen That the divine love, which is life itself and is the Lord, is in the form of forms of all uses, which form is man, can be nowhere better seen than in the creation of the universe and then of the earth and of all things in them both. For by creation there is nothing on the earth that is not made for use . . . . In a word, every point in the created universe and in created beings is a use; in fact, it is a successively expanding series of uses from the use in first things to the use in outmosts, thus from one use to another in unbroken succession--clear proof that the Creator and Former, who is the Lord, is the infinite enfolding of all uses, in his essence love, and in his form man, in whom that enfolding is. (The Divine Love #8) How does this operate through a person? The whole spiritual world operates through the love and affections. The love of the life is the inmost tendency of the individual. It is when the deepest tendency and love is expressed in act that the individual comes into his highest use. [Van Dusen] If love does not become deed, it ceases to be love, the deed being the effecting of its purpose, and that in which it has its existence. (The Divine Love #13.2) Sermon: Now it is my turn to say why I'm a Swedenborgian. I'm going to go way back--back before I was born. My ancestry includes all the countries of the British Isles. My maiden name was Owen. My great-grandfather Owen, a Welsh Presbyterian minister, emigrated from Wales in late 1850s to the Toronto area of Canada. My grandmother Owen's family had emigrated to the same area of Canada from Scotland in the 1770s. My mother's maiden name was Wagstaff. My great-grandfather Wagstaff emigrated from England to Massachusetts in the 1850s. He was the landscape architect for Phillips Andover and Phillips Exeter Academies. My grandmother Wagstaff emigrated to Massachusetts from Ireland in the 1880s. She was a Catholic. When my grandfather and grandmother Wagstaff married, they signed a document stating that they would bring up their children in the Catholic faith. My mother, an only child, attended public school and Catholic Sunday School. My brother and I also attended public school and Catholic Sunday School. The public school students in my class were White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. My friend Elaine and I were the token Catholics. In Sunday School, the nuns would ask, "Mary, is your father a Protestant? Tell him to send you to our parochial school." I was an outsider in both places. Fortunately, my mother and grandmother had a lot of common sense, and believed and taught me about a loving God, love of the neighbor, and trying to lead a good life. I grew up, went to high school, graduated from Children's Hospital School of Nursing, married my husband Roy, and will have lived in East Bridgewater for forty-eight years this June. My four children went to public school and to St. John's Sunday School in East Bridgewater. This was the time of Vatican II. The mass was said in English, and some liberal ideas were beginning to be felt in church life. I taught first grade Sunday School. I believed that this was a crucial time in children's spiritual development. No one can see God, so children learn about a loving God first from their parents, and then from their Sunday School teachers. We had a lively Sunday School program. In the summer we had two weeks of Bible Vacation Study ending with our curate the Rev. John Walsh, me, and the students on a hay ride singing "Michael Row the Boat Ashore" and other popular tunes of the day. Toward the end of August one year, we teachers received a letter stating that the Sunday School was disbanded, a new set of teachers would be picked by the pastor, and the old curriculum would return. Father Walsh disappeared from the scene, to no one knew where. I thought that at Mass that Sunday the change would be explained. Perhaps it was felt that the Sunday School was becoming too liberal and moving away from traditional teachings. I waited patiently for some answers, but none were forthcoming. The sermon, which was on angels, went for thirty minutes. And although I like angels, this did not satisfy my questions. Suddenly, a thought came into my head saying, "Mary, you don't belong here." I waited for the Mass to be over and left--and belonged to no church for twenty years. I thought, "I don't need to go to church to be a good Christian. I can love God and my neighbor and lead a good life without belonging to any specific church." During those twenty years, good things and bad things happen to my family. After about twelve years, one of my sons, Stephen, suffered a devastating illness and died. I thought, "I still love God and my neighbor, and I can weather this storm in my life." Seven years later, I suffered was commonly called a "nervous breakdown." I was hospitalized, put on medication, and participated in group therapy with other parents who had lost adult children by a tragic death. When I returned home, I knew that no doctors, no medications, and no group therapy would be sufficient to heal my wounds. I needed the support and love of kindred spirits. By this time my daughter Marie, her husband Ed, their two sons Darrell and Ryan, and my son Jonathan were attending the Elmwood New Church. When I spoke to Marie about my feelings, she said, "Come and join us at the Elmwood New Church." And I did. Rev. Ken Turley and his wife Laurie and all the members of the church made me feel most welcome. I believe that when you join an organization you should actively participate. It wasn't long before I became a "coffee lady" and an active member of the Joppa Guild and the Massachusetts Alliance of New Church Women. I also participated in Rev. Turley's Bible study group. About a year in half later, Ken, Laurie, and their little family set out for Maine, where Ken became the minister of the Portland, Maine church. The Rev. Judy Dennis became our minister, and the Rev. Bill Woofenden has wife Louise joined the church. I immediately became a member of Bill's adult Sunday School class, learning from the Dole Notes. After a few years I was able to say, as Helen Keller said, "This is my religion." I started taking confirmation classes with Rev. Dennis, and one spring Sunday my confirmation day came. After Judy performed the ceremony, she gave me this token to remember the occasion. This medallion with the Swedenborgian symbol was made by Judy's mother. Rev. Dennis then asked if I would like to say something to the congregation. As I turned to face them, a feeling of great joy swept over my whole being--a feeling that had not happened in a long, long time. So now you know my story. Before I conclude today, I would like to share some thoughts I have about the church and about Convention. One of the best things about being a Swedenborgian is going to our yearly church conventions in late June. I have been to nine conventions since 1988. It is wonderful to travel about the USA and Canada and meet with other Swedenborgians. Each host Association is unique and most welcoming. They hope their convention will be the best one yet. My first convention was in Urbana, Ohio. Jonathan and I and two members of the Youth League drove out to Ohio. Lucille Flagg was my roommate. We had been warned that the temperature in Ohio could reach ninety five degrees, and to bring appropriate clothing. It was ninety five degrees on our arrival. The biggest and fiercest thunderstorm I had ever encountered occurred late that evening. The temperature plummeted and stayed cool until the day we left. It seemed as though Lucille knew everybody, and I must have been introduced almost everyone. The cool weather enabled Lucille to wear her new pink sweatshirt with colorful handprints of her Poole grandchildren. One of the highlights for me at this convention was the Alliance of New Church Women's luncheon. I can still see the large tent set up outside--the tables with their white cloths and an abundance of beautiful flowers. Carole Rienstra and her sidekick Millie Laakko were the hostesses for the luncheon. If you knew Carole, you knew that she was a sparkly person. She really sparkled that day, and her warm, loving, and lively personality made me feel welcome, and proud to be a member of this women's organization. At every convention, of course, there are business meetings. At one point it is announced, "There are 2,767 members of the Swedenborgian Church in the United States and Canada, with 270 present." Someone usually jumps up and says, "Convention should be funding more retreat centers, book rooms, and camps where Swedenborg's teachings can reach more people. We should not fund these small churches that are not growing." Cooler heads prevail, and after spending five days in the company of other Swedenborgians, the Energizer Bunny has taken over. Everyone is ready to return home to their churches filled with enthusiasm and good ideas. Here at the Bridgewater New Jerusalem Church we have been blessed with a young, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable minister in the Rev. Lee Woofenden. The programs he has instituted on angels, world religions, and Swedenborg, the women's group, and the regular church activities have helped to make this church a presence in the community. We have a lot to offer this community, and the more welcoming we are and the more we participate in community programs, the more the Swedenborgian message will be heard. We must not be shy. This church can and will grow--maybe not as quickly as we would like, but I know we can pull together and make it happen. God bless. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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://people.ne.mediaone.net/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 Wed Mar 22 00:43:51 2000 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 21 Mar 2000 19:43:51 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: Growing in Wisdom Message-ID: <200003211828_MC2-9E0C-5A87@compuserve.com> Growing in Wisdom By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell March 19, 2000 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. (Genesis 22:13) In one or more recently published books, it has been observed that the Old Testament presents a description of a God who is only gradually learning what He really wants. Considered on its most literal level, the story presented in Genesis 22 isn't so much a matter of God learning or changing His mind. It is a story of God testing Abraham's faith. It seems to describe a God who would ask one of His faithful servants, Abraham, to make the most horrifying, and costly sacrifice that he could possibly be asked to do. Then when God sees that Abraham has passed the test and is willing to do whatever God tells him to do, He intervenes and prevents Isaac's death at his father's own hand. Understood only on its surface this story presents a horrendously terrifying experience for Isaac and I would expect leaves most of us profoundly uncomfortable about both God's and Abraham's role in it. One of our reactions might be that the Lord just wouldn't do this. He always acts from a perfect and complete love and a perfect and complete wisdom. He just doesn't test people as is described in this story. Additional issues include that if He is all knowing, then He would already know if Abraham had sufficient faith to pass this test. Second, if we think of how we would respond if someone presented us with a similar test, many of us wouldn't accept the demanded sacrifice to begin with, and also it is likely that most if not all of us would be deeply untrusting of that person ever after. Imagine a boss asking one of his employees to commit a criminal act supposedly for the welfare of the business they work in, but before the final act of the crime is completed, the boss intervenes and says, "I was just testing your loyalty." Most of us would be profoundly uncomfortable with any relationship that demanded this kind of loyalty. We don't want to be around someone who expects us to do what he or she ask for, simply because that person asked for it. One of the fundamental ideas presented to the New Church is that the Lord wants us to act in freedom according to our own best understanding of what is true. Understood superficially this story presents a picture of a God who might ask us to do things that were terrible and wrong, that even He didn't want, as a test of our faith. It would seem that it presents a picture of a God who wants us to turn off our minds and just obey. But consider the reverse perspective which would be that the Lord expects us to use our own judgment to decide whether what He has said is true and good really is true and good. Doesn't this lead to us deciding at times, "The Lord really didn't understand the particular situation I'm in when He revealed the truth that is supposed to guide our lives." Or, even more blatantly, "The Lord got it wrong when He taught us this or that true idea." This translates to "I know better than the Lord does what should or shouldn't be done in the situation immediately before me." This final idea has been the source of tremendous evil as is clearly presented in the following quote from the Arcana Caelestia: Not believing the Lord or the Word but themselves and their own senses was the evil not only of the Most Ancient Church before the Flood, but also of the Ancient Church after it. It was also the evil of the Jewish Church, and later on of the new or gentile Church established after the Lord's Coming, as well as the evil of the Church of today. Consequently no faith exists, and when no faith exists neither does any love of the neighbor. Everything therefore is false and evil. (Arcana Caelestia 231) Look a little deeper at this story and consider the idea that it presents a reality that is not genuine but rather the reality that will appear to a flawed and short-sighted human being. This reality is that God seems to ask things that are bad and wrong, that will cause destruction and unhappiness, but in fact, the problem isn't with God, but with our understanding of what He is really asking for. In this story, the only sacrifice that was made was that of a ram caught by his horns in a thicket, but Abraham would never have seen this ram, nor would he have been in a position to offer it up, if he had decided right to begin with, "I'm not going to follow what God asks me to do." This sermon is the final in a series of more than a dozen. It has focused on events in the life of Abraham starting when the Lord first called him to leave his home and travel to the land of Canaan up to the story of the near-sacrifice of Isaac. Each step of these events can be seen, when considered as a parable, to describe part of the progression each of us need to make many times over in our lives. It is a progression from ignorance and flawed natural motivations and goals, to wisdom and love. It is a progression that has pitfalls and potential disasters inherent within it, but which these disasters never come to pass because of the Lord's guidance and loving care. The progression begins with a subtle recognition that something needs to be different in our lives. Specifically, that the Lord is calling us to recognize that a pattern of concern, thought, and life from these is harmful to ourselves and the people around us. It is harmful to the useful things we seek to accomplish in our lives. The Lord is calling us on a spiritual journey. This journey involves learning and over time seeing the implications of what we've learned ever more clearly. It involves making choices, some of which are unpleasant and seem counter to the happiness that we want or counter to the goals we seek to accomplish. Sometimes the Lord wants us to see that what we call happiness is really a source of misery. Sometimes the Lord wants us to see that the goals we seek aren't good for us or the people around us. The spiritual journey described within Abraham's saga includes our realization that fundamental choices are required of us--choices between what is and isn't to be done. It describes the development of a person whose early efforts involve following relatively simple and clumsy "rules for life" represented by the battles of the Chedorlaomer and the other kings of the north against the kings of south including those of Sodom and Gomorrah. Then a progression to a much greater level of understanding is represented by the birth of Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Sarah's servant woman, Hagar. Understanding itself isn't the goal. The rite of circumcision that Lord commanded Abraham to begin after Ishmael's birth represents a person using his or her initial adult understanding to consciously recognize and shun evil loves and false ideas as sins against the Lord. This takes effort and attention. It takes giving up some things that we have previously believed to be desirable and justified. When we are willing to follow what the Lord teaches and leads us to do, it will bring about a profound change in our perspectives, beliefs and motivations. The new wisdom and love that the Lord would have guide our lives is represented by the birth of Isaac. After many decades of being childless, Abraham and Sarah finally had a son of their own. This child represents the gift of growing wisdom within our hearts and minds. With it comes tremendously more useful ideas and choices. With it comes a greater confidence in the Lord and peace. Isaac represents the culmination of a huge spiritual progression. What then of this final story? Why does God seem to ask for his sacrifice? In the chapter just previous, the Lord had told Abraham that he should send away Hagar and his first born child, Ishmael because Isaac was to be the future of Abraham's family line. But in this chapter the Lord seems to change His mind and asks Abraham to sacrifice all of this future. What does this mean for our lives? On the surface it would seem that this story indicates that we cannot trust what the Lord asks of us. But on a deeper level it is actually a picture of the direct opposite. We can trust what the Lord wants for us even when part of our mind is inclined to rebel at one aspect of His commandments. The flaw or error is never in the Lord. It is always in our understanding of what He teaches and is leading to. Our finite and limited understanding of what leads to lasting good will always be inclined to leave us with mis-impressions and confusions. Even when we have progressed considerably up the spiritual path toward heavenly life, there will still be times when important ideas and concerns seem to rebel at what the Lord says is good and true. In this spiritually advanced state these parts of our mind rebel not from sheer perversity, but rather because of our growing understanding of what is true and love for what is good. Picture the example of a parent one of whose children has reached full adult age. The parent, in talking with this adult child, gets a sense that he or she is leaning towards making a choice that is incompatible with long-term happiness. The parent may firmly know from what the Lord has taught that this adult child has to make this choice in freedom from his or her best understanding of what is true. The parent can share the best wisdom he or she can give to the adult-aged child, and the child may still be heading towards what seems like a terribly dangerous choice in life. Part of a wise and love parent would desperately want to prevent this choice in any ways possible. The parents love for the long-term welfare of the child would make this a very high priority, a strongly driving concern. But a wise parent would realize that his or her own immediate peace of mind and even the near-term happiness of the adult child aren't the most important priorities. There will comes times in which these need to be sacrificed for the sake of the free choice of others. In reality the voice that says "You can't let your son make this choice" is the problem. It seems what has to be sacrificed is the desire for happiness for the adult child, and the parent's own happiness. But this is a false appearance, just as the Lord never wanted Isaac sacrifice. Sometimes it seems as though we have to make others do the right things for their own happiness, but this isn't the true source of lasting happiness. People need to choose the wise course of action from their own understanding and their own motivation or the choice and the behavior won't really feel like it is their own. This is a very hard lesson that the Lord would lead us to recognize. It goes counter to a fundamental perspective of our own perception of reality. We read: People who are spiritual, meant by "the ram", were entangled in natural knowledge with all their power in relation to what is the truth, and that as a consequence they were deprived of the power to perceive truths. For the more people rely on natural facts and keeps their mind and thought fixed on these in relation to the truths of faith, the more they loses the light of truth. (Arcana Caelestia 2832:1) The Lord would have us realize, if we are willing, that our minds, no matter what our effort is, will inevitably be limited in our ability to know and understand what is really true. But the Lord can help us with this. He calls us to a deep and abiding trust in His guidance. Note that in this story, the moment the angel called to Abraham even as he is just about slay his son, Abraham stopped and listened. He didn't think to himself, "I can't be distracted from doing what I'm supposed to do." We likewise need to continue to pay attention even as we are doing what we've understood to be the Lord's will. The Lord wants more than anything else for us to grow in wisdom and a life guided by this wisdom. At every moment of every day He is working to lead us to see more clearly what we should and shouldn't love, think, say, and do. We can count on the Lord's ability to lead us to an ever better life, providing we seek the wisdom and love only He can bring us. We seek it by returning over and over again to consider the ideas that He has revealed in His Word. We seek it by conscious efforts in the large and small decisions of life to be guided by the principles and motives that He calls us to be led by. We seek it through prayer, both asking for the Lord's help in being guided by this light and paying careful attentions to the thoughts He guides our minds to in response. Each of us is on our own spiritually pathway. We are at different place on this path. We can even be said to be at differently places on the path depending on which aspect of our life we're considering. In some areas we may have traveled far and in others we've yet to begin. In one sense we have little understanding of the path ahead of us or even where we are on the path. But this isn't absolutely necessary. The Lord doesn't ask us to get to heaven by our own strength. He offers His to us. He asks us to cooperate with Him, to be led by Him, to seek His help. The saga of Abraham's life is not a simple one and yet we have good reason to know that the reality of our own spiritual journeys contain details far more complex than could be expressed in the volumes that might fill a library. We need not understand all of this to move forward. We need to seek the Lord and day-by-day He will guide us forward from where we are to a better, more useful, and happier life than we could possibly imagine. AMEN. Lessons: Genesis 22:1-13 People who are spiritual, meant by "the ram", were entangled in natural knowledge with all their power in relation to what is the truth, and that as a consequence they were deprived of the power to perceive truths. For the more people rely on natural facts and keeps their mind and thought fixed on these in relation to the truths of faith, the more they loses the light of truth; and when they lose this light they lose the life of truth as well. All people may recognize this, if they stop to reflect, from their experience of others who say they are unable to believe anything unless they grasp that it from the evidence of their own sense or through "solid" facts. If you probe into what they are really like you will discover that they believe nothing at all, and what is more that to them nothing seems wiser than to ascribe every single thing to natural forces. There are also many who say that they believe even though they do not understand. But secretly within themselves these reason just as much as others from the evidence of their senses and a knowledge of various facts when they consider the truths of faith and whether they really are true. These either possess a kind of persuasive belief infused into them from self-love and love of the world, or else they do not have any belief at all. Their true nature is evident from their life. Both groups of people are indeed within the Lord's spiritual Church, yet they really belong to the Church. They do belong to the Church however when they live a good life and they have faith in what is true. But spiritual people have faith in no other true ideas than those which have been impressed on them from early childhood and which after that they have confirmed for themselves from doctrine or some other source. Such is the state of those who are spiritual, a state which is described here by "a ram caught in the thicket by its horns" Arcana Caelestia 2832:1 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@mediaone.net Mon Apr 10 03:31:59 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 9 Apr 2000 23:31:59 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "A New Vision of the New Church," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20000409141949.00a3b5b0@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Dear Bridgewater Sermon Service subscribers, I apologize for the lack of sermons for the past month. A serious computer crash in early March put me behind on everything. I will be sending out the missing sermons in the "Why I Am a Swedenborgian" series over the next few weeks, as I am able to catch up on them. I am also using an older backup of the sermon distribution list. If you had requested to be removed, or your preferred email address has changed, please let me know. Thank you. Blessings to you! --Rev. Lee Woofenden, Pastor Bridgewater New Jerusalem Church A New Vision of the New Church By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, April 9, 2000 Readings: Isaiah 65:17-25: New heavens and a new earth I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more will the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. No more will there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. They will build houses and inhabit them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They will not build and another inhabit; they will not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree will the days of my people be, and my chosen people will long enjoy the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they will be offspring blessed by the Lord--and their descendants as well. Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, the lion will eat straw like the ox; but the serpent's food will be dust. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord. Mark 12:28-34: The two greatest commandments One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" Jesus replied, "The most important one is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength' (Deuteronomy 6:4, 5). The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself ' (Leviticus 19:18). There is no commandment greater than these." "Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." The Heavenly City #9: A religion based on kindness The perspective on kindness, which is 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 (what we call "faith" today). One of their acts of kindness was to teach each other what was true. But they were not offended if someone did not agree with their opinion. They knew that the more people are involved in doing good things, the more they accept true ideas. Since the people in the ancient religions were like this, they had more depth as human beings than we do now. They were also wiser than we are. When we are doing good things out of love and kindness, our inner self is in heaven, in a community of angels who do the same kind of good things as we do. Our minds are led into deeper things, and we become wise. Wisdom can only come from heaven, which means it comes to us through heaven from the Lord. There is wisdom in heaven because the people there do things that are good. Wisdom is seeing truth in its own light--and the light of truth is the light that exists in heaven. Sermon: I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. (Isaiah 65:17, 18) It is truly a joy and a delight to be back with you today, leading you in worship and speaking to you again from the pulpit in this church that we all love so much. I have missed seeing all of you and being with you for worship. At the same time, I have had a lot of time to think about this church--about where we have come from, where we are now, and what our next steps might be as a congregation. After the Easter season is over, I'll be talking with you more about some of the steps we could or should take together. But not today. Today I want to celebrate what has happened in this church during my sabbatical. And I want to talk to you very personally about the new vision that I see growing not only in this congregation, but in the Swedenborgian Church as a whole. It is a new vision that I believe will carry us very powerfully into the new millennium. For I do believe that the Lord is about to "create a new heaven and a new earth" right here among us, and that we are moving into a new phase of our church in which "the former things will not be remembered or come to mind." In the last sermon I preached here, on January 2, just before I went on sabbatical, I made this prediction: My absence from the pulpit will give you, the members and friends of this church, a wonderful opportunity to share with one another what this church means to you. . . . Contrary to the fears that while I am away the church will lose the ground we have gained together over the past few years, I believe that this congregation will _grow_ in spirit through these three months, and come out stronger in our faith and our vision of what the Bridgewater New Jerusalem Church is--and what it can become. Now I ask you: Am I a prophet or what?!? In fact, I'd like to test my gift of prophecy. If you feel that there is a new and stronger spirit in this church through these three months of sharing with one another what this church means to you, please raise your hand now. If you _really, really_ feel there is a stronger spirit in the church, raise _both_ hands! For me, the new spirit in this church is so strong that it reached me even though I was not physically present with you. Each time I read one of the testimonials about this church that you gave while I was away, it touched my heart, and gave me a greater understanding and appreciation of what each of you has found in this church. Meanwhile, I'd hear about the services from Patty, or from one or another of you by email, or when I would bump into one of you here or there. And I could feel the appreciation and excitement, the sense of new closeness and understanding, that has been building in this congregation. All of this has been a confirmation of my "prophecy." Yet I couldn't have predicted that after only three months, there would be new faces in the congregation waiting to greet me on my return! It is almost as if the growing spirit in the church has been reaching out and drawing people to the church through some kind of inner attraction. This, my friends, is the Spirit of the Lord working in this congregation. Speaking of drawing people to the church, let me tell you about my experience of our church this past Monday. My usual experience of this church during the week is of having this great big building all to myself. Not Monday evening! I had a wedding conference at 7:00 that evening. By the time I arrived to open the place up, the teacher for Northeastern University's Spring Reading program had already arrived, and was setting up for the classes she would teach that evening. I had a nice conversation with her, in which she told me how pleased they are with our Sunday School room--that after looking into several other spaces, ours turned out to be the perfect one for their program. Soon, parents were bringing their children in for the classes. Meanwhile, the women in our crafts group started arriving to set up in the parlor for an evening of fellowship and handcrafting. Let me tell you, as I showed that wedding couple our beautiful sanctuary, and then and sat down with them in my office to plan their wedding, this church was a happening place! After I finished with the wedding couple, I spent some time talking to one of the parents who was waiting for his son's class to finish. Then I drifted over to the crafts group and had more conversation as paintbrushes and sewing needles went about their creative work. Amid all of this activity, I had a new sense of what this church is all about, and what it can be. As I shared in the life experiences of a young couple about to be married; children coming to learn; a father concerned about his son's schoolwork, yet proud of his son's artistic ability; mothers and grandmothers sharing their lives around a table strewn with the materials of creativity--as all of this activity swirled around and within me in this sacred space dedicated to the service of the Lord, I gained a new sense of the _human_ reality of what it is to be a church--of what it is to be a New Church. "I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight." We Swedenborgians have often defined our church by the distinctiveness our beliefs compared to the beliefs of other churches. And there is a basis in our teachings for doing that. We call ourselves the "New Church," or the "New Jerusalem Church," in reference to Swedenborg's interpretation of the heavenly city, New Jerusalem, from the Book of Revelation. Jerusalem is a city. Swedenborg explains the symbolic meaning of the city Jerusalem as (in essence) the "belief structure" of the church. This makes sense. A city is something we build as a community space for living and working. The buildings give our lives form, protect us from the weather, and provide a familiar place in which to dwell. This is similar to the way our beliefs work spiritually. We build our beliefs from the religious and cultural materials available to us: the Bible, Sunday School, church services, sermons, spiritual books, conversations with family members and friends, life experience. All of these we pull together to build a spiritual dwelling place that will protect us from the storms of life and provide a space where we can spiritually live and work in surroundings that feel comfortable. And just as we are a congregation and not a single individual, we know that we do not build our spiritual city of faith on our own, but together with others who share a similar faith and similar spiritual goals. In the past, our focus as a church has tended to be on the beauty of the "city" of teachings and beliefs that we have been blessed with in our church. And it _is_ a very beautiful city. In one way or another, every one of your sermons paid tribute to the beauty, strength, and helpfulness of the faith we share. The teachings of our church are, indeed, a priceless treasure that the Lord has given us as a wonderful gift. Yet can we really imagine that beautiful, shining city, New Jerusalem, without the people thronging its streets, going about their business, living their lives, getting together for work or for pleasure, to share both their work and their play? The city as an organized collection of buildings and streets represents the teachings--the belief structure--of the church. But a city does not exist for its own sake. _It exists to be lived in!_ And the real heart of a city is not its physical structure, but the human community that inhabits it. This is the heart of the church as well. We do have a beautiful structure of doctrine and tradition, just as we have a beautiful building whose very architecture expresses the way our faith reaches upward to the Lord of the universe, while providing a warm and inspiring atmosphere for worship and for learning and growing spiritually. Yet it is not the teachings of the church that truly make the church, any more than it is the building that makes the church. It is the human faith community--the people--associated with our building and our beliefs that truly make us the church that we are. And now the Lord is renewing us as a community of faith. We have shared our faith with one another, and we feel closer to each other as a result. We have welcomed new people, outside groups, and wedding couples into this sacred space, and have touched their lives in positive ways while growing in our own love and service to the community. Dare I say it? We have been moving away from our old concept of this church as a small remnant that is doing well to keep the place alive, to a new sense of our church as a vital and growing congregation in which we are serving one another and our community in new ways. Perhaps the numbers on Sunday mornings aren't showing it yet, but our church is touching many more people these days, in many more ways than it has in its recent history. There is a new sense of forward movement in the church, and a new sense of a growing spirit of hope and faith for the future strength of this congregation. "I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight." The new vision of our church that is growing here in Bridgewater is the same new vision that is growing throughout our denomination. While holding to the power and beauty of our teachings, we are adding more and more of the human element to our church. In Swedenborgian terms, whereas we have always been strong in the area of truth and understanding, we are now balancing more and more that brilliant light of truth with the glowing warmth of love, compassion, kindness, and service toward one another and toward our neighbors outside our church. We are, at last, beginning to follow the direction pointed out by our own beliefs, which assure us that it is only when truth and love are together, equally balanced, that the church becomes real. And it is actually love that forms the heart of the church, while truth is simply a way of expressing love in ways that will give joy and delight to others. Nearly two thousand years ago, our Lord Jesus taught us that love was central. When he was asked which was the most important of all the commandments, out of that great body of literature now known to Christians as the Old Testament, he chose these two: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" (Deuteronomy 6:5), and "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18). And when the questioner affirmed these as the core principles of life, Jesus told him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." The entire Bible, not to mention the thirty volumes of Emanuel Swedenborg's works, is an explanation of how to live by those two simple, yet eternally profound commandments. The new vision of the New Church that is growing both in this congregation and throughout our entire denomination is one in which human love and kindness toward others takes its rightful place at the center of our church, while the teachings serve as a powerful tool that we use entirely in the service of love for God and love for our neighbor. We have experienced that spirit of enlightened love very strongly in this church over the past three months. And I believe that in future years we will look back at this very time as a new turning point in the life of our church. "I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight." Amen. A New Vision of the New Church By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, April 9, 2000 Readings: Isaiah 65:17-25: New heavens and a new earth I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more will the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. No more will there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. They will build houses and inhabit them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They will not build and another inhabit; they will not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree will the days of my people be, and my chosen people will long enjoy the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they will be offspring blessed by the Lord--and their descendants as well. Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, the lion will eat straw like the ox; but the serpent's food will be dust. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord. Mark 12:28-34: The two greatest commandments One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" Jesus replied, "The most important one is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength' (Deuteronomy 6:4, 5). The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself ' (Leviticus 19:18). There is no commandment greater than these." "Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." The Heavenly City #9: A religion based on kindness The perspective on kindness, which is 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 (what we call "faith" today). One of their acts of kindness was to teach each other what was true. But they were not offended if someone did not agree with their opinion. They knew that the more people are involved in doing good things, the more they accept true ideas. Since the people in the ancient religions were like this, they had more depth as human beings than we do now. They were also wiser than we are. When we are doing good things out of love and kindness, our inner self is in heaven, in a community of angels who do the same kind of good things as we do. Our minds are led into deeper things, and we become wise. Wisdom can only come from heaven, which means it comes to us through heaven from the Lord. There is wisdom in heaven because the people there do things that are good. Wisdom is seeing truth in its own light--and the light of truth is the light that exists in heaven. Sermon: I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. (Isaiah 65:17, 18) It is truly a joy and a delight to be back with you today, leading you in worship and speaking to you again from the pulpit in this church that we all love so much. I have missed seeing all of you and being with you for worship. At the same time, I have had a lot of time to think about this church--about where we have come from, where we are now, and what our next steps might be as a congregation. After the Easter season is over, I'll be talking with you more about some of the steps we could or should take together. But not today. Today I want to celebrate what has happened in this church during my sabbatical. And I want to talk to you very personally about the new vision that I see growing not only in this congregation, but in the Swedenborgian Church as a whole. It is a new vision that I believe will carry us very powerfully into the new millennium. For I do believe that the Lord is about to "create a new heaven and a new earth" right here among us, and that we are moving into a new phase of our church in which "the former things will not be remembered or come to mind." In the last sermon I preached here, on January 2, just before I went on sabbatical, I made this prediction: My absence from the pulpit will give you, the members and friends of this church, a wonderful opportunity to share with one another what this church means to you. . . . Contrary to the fears that while I am away the church will lose the ground we have gained together over the past few years, I believe that this congregation will _grow_ in spirit through these three months, and come out stronger in our faith and our vision of what the Bridgewater New Jerusalem Church is--and what it can become. Now I ask you: Am I a prophet or what?!? In fact, I'd like to test my gift of prophecy. If you feel that there is a new and stronger spirit in this church through these three months of sharing with one another what this church means to you, please raise your hand now. If you _really, really_ feel there is a stronger spirit in the church, raise _both_ hands! For me, the new spirit in this church is so strong that it reached me even though I was not physically present with you. Each time I read one of the testimonials about this church that you gave while I was away, it touched my heart, and gave me a greater understanding and appreciation of what each of you has found in this church. Meanwhile, I'd hear about the services from Patty, or from one or another of you by email, or when I would bump into one of you here or there. And I could feel the appreciation and excitement, the sense of new closeness and understanding, that has been building in this congregation. All of this has been a confirmation of my "prophecy." Yet I couldn't have predicted that after only three months, there would be new faces in the congregation waiting to greet me on my return! It is almost as if the growing spirit in the church has been reaching out and drawing people to the church through some kind of inner attraction. This, my friends, is the Spirit of the Lord working in this congregation. Speaking of drawing people to the church, let me tell you about my experience of our church this past Monday. My usual experience of this church during the week is of having this great big building all to myself. Not Monday evening! I had a wedding conference at 7:00 that evening. By the time I arrived to open the place up, the teacher for Northeastern University's Spring Reading program had already arrived, and was setting up for the classes she would teach that evening. I had a nice conversation with her, in which she told me how pleased they are with our Sunday School room--that after looking into several other spaces, ours turned out to be the perfect one for their program. Soon, parents were bringing their children in for the classes. Meanwhile, the women in our crafts group started arriving to set up in the parlor for an evening of fellowship and handcrafting. Let me tell you, as I showed that wedding couple our beautiful sanctuary, and then and sat down with them in my office to plan their wedding, this church was a happening place! After I finished with the wedding couple, I spent some time talking to one of the parents who was waiting for his son's class to finish. Then I drifted over to the crafts group and had more conversation as paintbrushes and sewing needles went about their creative work. Amid all of this activity, I had a new sense of what this church is all about, and what it can be. As I shared in the life experiences of a young couple about to be married; children coming to learn; a father concerned about his son's schoolwork, yet proud of his son's artistic ability; mothers and grandmothers sharing their lives around a table strewn with the materials of creativity--as all of this activity swirled around and within me in this sacred space dedicated to the service of the Lord, I gained a new sense of the _human_ reality of what it is to be a church--of what it is to be a New Church. "I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight." We Swedenborgians have often defined our church by the distinctiveness our beliefs compared to the beliefs of other churches. And there is a basis in our teachings for doing that. We call ourselves the "New Church," or the "New Jerusalem Church," in reference to Swedenborg's interpretation of the heavenly city, New Jerusalem, from the Book of Revelation. Jerusalem is a city. Swedenborg explains the symbolic meaning of the city Jerusalem as (in essence) the "belief structure" of the church. This makes sense. A city is something we build as a community space for living and working. The buildings give our lives form, protect us from the weather, and provide a familiar place in which to dwell. This is similar to the way our beliefs work spiritually. We build our beliefs from the religious and cultural materials available to us: the Bible, Sunday School, church services, sermons, spiritual books, conversations with family members and friends, life experience. All of these we pull together to build a spiritual dwelling place that will protect us from the storms of life and provide a space where we can spiritually live and work in surroundings that feel comfortable. And just as we are a congregation and not a single individual, we know that we do not build our spiritual city of faith on our own, but together with others who share a similar faith and similar spiritual goals. In the past, our focus as a church has tended to be on the beauty of the "city" of teachings and beliefs that we have been blessed with in our church. And it _is_ a very beautiful city. In one way or another, every one of your sermons paid tribute to the beauty, strength, and helpfulness of the faith we share. The teachings of our church are, indeed, a priceless treasure that the Lord has given us as a wonderful gift. Yet can we really imagine that beautiful, shining city, New Jerusalem, without the people thronging its streets, going about their business, living their lives, getting together for work or for pleasure, to share both their work and their play? The city as an organized collection of buildings and streets represents the teachings--the belief structure--of the church. But a city does not exist for its own sake. _It exists to be lived in!_ And the real heart of a city is not its physical structure, but the human community that inhabits it. This is the heart of the church as well. We do have a beautiful structure of doctrine and tradition, just as we have a beautiful building whose very architecture expresses the way our faith reaches upward to the Lord of the universe, while providing a warm and inspiring atmosphere for worship and for learning and growing spiritually. Yet it is not the teachings of the church that truly make the church, any more than it is the building that makes the church. It is the human faith community--the people--associated with our building and our beliefs that truly make us the church that we are. And now the Lord is renewing us as a community of faith. We have shared our faith with one another, and we feel closer to each other as a result. We have welcomed new people, outside groups, and wedding couples into this sacred space, and have touched their lives in positive ways while growing in our own love and service to the community. Dare I say it? We have been moving away from our old concept of this church as a small remnant that is doing well to keep the place alive, to a new sense of our church as a vital and growing congregation in which we are serving one another and our community in new ways. Perhaps the numbers on Sunday mornings aren't showing it yet, but our church is touching many more people these days, in many more ways than it has in its recent history. There is a new sense of forward movement in the church, and a new sense of a growing spirit of hope and faith for the future strength of this congregation. "I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight." The new vision of our church that is growing here in Bridgewater is the same new vision that is growing throughout our denomination. While holding to the power and beauty of our teachings, we are adding more and more of the human element to our church. In Swedenborgian terms, whereas we have always been strong in the area of truth and understanding, we are now balancing more and more that brilliant light of truth with the glowing warmth of love, compassion, kindness, and service toward one another and toward our neighbors outside our church. We are, at last, beginning to follow the direction pointed out by our own beliefs, which assure us that it is only when truth and love are together, equally balanced, that the church becomes real. And it is actually love that forms the heart of the church, while truth is simply a way of expressing love in ways that will give joy and delight to others. Nearly two thousand years ago, our Lord Jesus taught us that love was central. When he was asked which was the most important of all the commandments, out of that great body of literature now known to Christians as the Old Testament, he chose these two: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" (Deuteronomy 6:5), and "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18). And when the questioner affirmed these as the core principles of life, Jesus told him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." The entire Bible, not to mention the thirty volumes of Emanuel Swedenborg's works, is an explanation of how to live by those two simple, yet eternally profound commandments. The new vision of the New Church that is growing both in this congregation and throughout our entire denomination is one in which human love and kindness toward others takes its rightful place at the center of our church, while the teachings serve as a powerful tool that we use entirely in the service of love for God and love for our neighbor. We have experienced that spirit of enlightened love very strongly in this church over the past three months. And I believe that in future years we will look back at this very time as a new turning point in the life of our church. "I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight." Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@ssr.edu Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Mon Apr 10 16:08:41 2000 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 10 Apr 2000 12:08:41 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: I am the Way Message-ID: <200004101040_MC2-A09E-D7C3@compuserve.com> I am the Way By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell April 9, 2000 Thomas said to Jesus, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:5-6 The Lord regularly said things that went beyond the disciples easy comprehension. Some of the things He told them they could not help but be initially baffled by. On the eve of Good Friday, the Lord said many things to prepare His disciples for the deeply troubling events of the next day. He tried to tell them that He was going to be put to death but would rise on the third day. He tried to help them know that life in this world wasn't the only life, nor even the most important life. He told them: In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know. John 14:2-4 This was the statement that evoked the plaintive question by Thomas, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" How could they? The disciples, in spite of all the Lord had taught them were still highly inclined to think very literally about what He said. Perhaps one of the reasons why Jesus often said very challenging things to them was to force them to think more deeply. The Lord told Thomas, "I am the way." There is a single Greek word that is translated "way" in each of these sentences. It is the same Greek word that is used when John the Baptist quotes the Isaiah prophecy, "Make straight the way of the Lord." Literally this word means a road, highway, or a traveler's way or journey. We use the word "way" according to this definition when we ask the question, "Do you know the way to the nearest grocery store?" It seems that is what Thomas was thinking when he said, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" Obviously the Lord's answer, "I am the way" doesn't match Thomas's question on the level he was asking it. Instead the Lord tried to move his and the other disciple's thinking to a deeper level. When He said "I am the way" He was using that word metaphorically. In this sense "a way" can mean a course of conduct or a way of thinking feeling, deciding. On the most direct level the Lord was trying to tell his disciples about heaven and how to get there. He wanted them to know that He was "the way" to heaven. It is common to talk about a person's life being like a spiritual journey. For example the book, Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyon was written in the 17th century and is a long allegory of a person's spiritual path toward heaven. There is a very important sense in which "the way" that any spiritual pilgrim has to follow is the Lord, Jesus Christ. Sometimes we use the word "way" to mean the mode of transportation a person can or should use. Such as if a person asks, "Do you know the best way to get down town?" The answer might be "Take the train." In traditional Christian thinking, Jesus is the "way" or means by which a person gets to heaven. According to this perspective His death on the cross provided the means for believers to overcome sin. A potential danger in this perspective is that "the way" to heaven can be seen as a powerful mode of transportation that requires little of our own effort but to get onboard. As it were, once a person is on "train bound for glory" he or she can rest comfortably assured that nothing can go wrong. Think how easy it would be if each of us could know that our presence in church, or our own personal prayer, guaranteed that we would enter heaven. A good part of this idea could be a strong sense of hope and peace. Another good result could be that a person would feel deeply grateful to the Lord for providing "the way" to heaven. But there is a potential for great harm in having too passive a picture of the way to heaven. A person could be convinced that his or her own thoughts and decisions were unimportant. A person could turn over all concern for what it takes to get to heaven to the Lord and not give it another thought. Consequently a person might give little thought to his habits. He wouldn't consider his tendencies to care about his own needs and wants far more than those of others or his too great an interest in natural and worldly things. He could be far more passive in his own efforts than would allow him to move on the pathway to heaven. A "way" can be thought of as a mode of transportation and it can be thought of as a route that a person needs to consciously follow. Both of these do aptly describe what the Lord offers us by His life in the world. These are two things we need to balance in our minds. We should realize that it will not be our own effort alone that gets us to heaven. We often can take for granted the help others have provided in our accomplishment of some goal. If a man drives from here to the East coast and makes particularly good time, he might not reflect with gratitude on benefits of the highways he used nor on the reliability of the car he drove in. He might just say, "I made really good time driving there" and feel personally responsible for the speed at which he was able to travel. If a person brings a similar perspective to his spiritual growth he might be inclined to think, "My own efforts have really made me a spiritually superior person." Such a person doesn't tend to think with any gratitude of the Lord as being a savior or redeemer. He would tend to take credit for his own work on the spiritually journey to heaven and perhaps only think of the Lord's role as being that of providing a sign post here and there on the way. But this fundamentally misses the reality of the Lord's work. There is a very important level on which the Lord is the means of transportation that gets us from natural life to spiritual life. He is the way we get to heaven. It is His life working within our tiny efforts that brings about any change in our habits. The reason a person has from Divine Omnipotence power against evil loves and false ideas to the extent that he lives in accordance with the Divine order is that no one, except God alone, can resist evils and the false ideas they produce. For all evil loves and their false ideas come from hell, and there they hold together as a unit, exactly as all kinds of good and so truths do in heaven. . .[I]n the sight of God the whole of heaven is like one human being, and in the opposite case hell is like one monstrous giant. Thus acting against one evil and its falsity is like taking on that monstrous giant or all hell. No one can do this except God, because He is omnipotent. It is plain from this that unless a person approaches almighty God, he can do no more against evil and so false ideas than a fish against the ocean, a flea against a whale, or a speck of dust against an avalanche much less than a locust against an elephant, or a fly against a camel. Moreover, a person has so much less power against evil and so falsity because he was born into evil, and evil cannot act against itself. The consequence of this is that unless a person lives in accordance with order, that is, unless he acknowledges God, His omnipotence and the protection this gives him against hell, and unless he on his part also fights with the evil in himself, for both of these are part of order, he must inevitably be plunged into and drowned in hell, and there buffeted by evil loves, one after the other, like a rowing-boat by squalls at sea. (True Christian Religion 68) There is a very important way in which the Lord is the way or the source of energy and power that can get us from earth to heaven. In a very real sense He is the one who carries us from natural life to heavenly life. If the Lord had not been born into the world, fought and conquered the power of countless communities of evil spirits, we would never have a chance of getting to heaven. When we understand and acknowledge this truth, it can bring us a deep sense of gratitude for what He has done and is doing for us each moment of each day. From His love for each of us, He has taken on the power and capability of reaching out to us no matter where we are or have been in our lives. He offers to lead us forward on the way to heaven. The qualifying idea that is fundamental to the New Church is that we need to ask for His help and we need to cooperate with His efforts. He will not transport us somewhere we really don't want to go. He asks us to consider the habits of we live out each day. He wants us to recognize what is good and not good and to ask His help in bringing about a change. There is one other way in which we can rightly see the Lord as "the way" to heavenly life. He by His example has shown us a model of what it means to be truly human. Consider that the Gospels record a multitude of examples of the way He lived His life. It shows the values He acted from, the times He was very gentle and forgiving, the times He was extremely strong and judging. When we combine the stories of the New Testament with the deeper ideas conveyed in the Writings of the New Church, we can recognize the way in which the Lord's life shows us a model of compassion perfectly married to order. It shows mercy combined seamlessly with judgment. Over and over again we can ask ourselves, "How does the model of the Lord's life give me an idea of how I might act in this situation." The multitudes rightly proclaimed the Lord to be king on Palm Sunday. He has all power and rules over the least aspects of what happens in this life and the next. May this acknowledgment be one that we return to over and over again. The events of Good Friday can fill us with a deep sense of gratitude at the Lord's willingness to undergo hardship, misunderstanding, and pain, that we might have life. May the wonder of Easter morning remind us of the Lord's power to triumph over all obstacles. To bring life where there was death. May this inspire us in seeking His help, His way, as we walk the daily path from this life to the life of heaven. AMEN. Lessons: John 14:1-6 It is well known in the Church that the Lord is the Savior and Redeemer of the human race, though few know how to understand this. Those acquainted with the outward things of the Church, believe that the Lord redeemed the world, that is, the human race, by His blood, by which they understand His passion on the Cross. But those acquainted with the inward realities of the Church know that no one is saved by the Lord's blood, only by a life in keeping with the commandments of faith and charity taught by the Lord's Word. Those acquainted with the inmost realities of the Church understand by the Lord's blood Divine Truth emanating from Him. By His passion on the Cross they understand the final temptation the Lord underwent, by which He completely subdued the hells and at the same time glorified His Human, that is, made it Divine, thereby also redeeming and saving all who allow themselves to be regenerated through a life in keeping with the commandments of faith and charity taught by His Word. But in what way the human race was saved and redeemed by the Divine through His subduing of the hells and glorifying of His Human none can know if they do not know that each individual person has angels from heaven and spirits from hell present with him, and that unless these were present with a person unceasingly, the person could not think anything or will anything, so that the person is inwardly subject to the influence either of spirits who come from hell or of angels from heaven. Once all this is known it may be seen that unless the Lord had completely subdued the hells and had restored all things to order both there and in the heavens, no one could have been saved. Nor could any have been saved unless the Lord had made Divine His Human, and by doing this had acquired to Himself Divine power over the hells and over the heavens for evermore. Arcana Caelestia 10152:2-3 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 leewoof@mediaone.net Mon Apr 17 00:46:01 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 16 Apr 2000 20:46:01 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Peace Amid the Storm," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20000416164924.00a60560@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Peace Amid the Storm By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, April 16, 2000 Palm Sunday Readings: Jeremiah 8:4-12: Saying "Peace, peace," when there is no peace Thus says the Lord: "When people fall, don't they get up again? If they go astray, don't they turn back? Why, then, has this people turned away in continual backsliding? They have held fast to deceit; they have refused to return. I have listened carefully, but they do not speak honestly; no one repents of wickedness, saying, 'What have I done!' All of them turn to their own course, like a horse charging into battle. Even the stork in the heavens knows its times; and the turtledove, swallow, and crane observe the time of their coming. But my people do not know the requirements of the Lord. "How can you say, 'We are wise, for we have the law of the Lord,' when in fact, the false pen of the scribes has made it into a lie? The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and taken. Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what wisdom is in them? Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to conquerors, because from the least to the greatest everyone is greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest everyone deals falsely. They have treated the wound of my people as if it were not serious, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace. They acted shamefully; they committed abomination; yet they were not at all ashamed, they did not know how to blush. Therefore they will fall among the fallen; at the time when I punish them, they will be brought down," says the Lord. John 14:23-27: My peace I give to you Jesus said, "Those who love me will obey my teachings, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not obey my teachings--and the words that you hear are not mine, but are from the Father who sent me. I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid." Arcana Coelestia #5662: Heavenly peace Peace is at the very center of heaven, and pervades everything there. For the peace that reigns in heaven is like springtime on earth, or like the dawn. What moves our feelings at the arrival of springtime or dawn is not the changes we notice, but the beauty that pervades everything we see, filling not only our perceptions, but every single thing around us with beauty. These days, hardly anyone knows what the Bible means when it mentions "peace," as in the benediction, "May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace" (Numbers 6:26). Almost everyone thinks peace means being safe from enemies and having tranquility at home and with our friends. However, the Bible does not mean this kind of peace, but a peace that is vastly superior. For the Bible is speaking of heavenly peace. We cannot gain this kind of peace unless we are led by the Lord and live in the Lord--in other words unless we are in heaven where the Lord is the All in all. For heavenly peace enters into us when the desires that come from our selfish and materialistic loves are eliminated. These desires take away our peace, inwardly harassing us, and eventually causing to think that rest is unrest and that we are at peace when we are being harassed--for we find our happiness in evil things. Yet as long as we are caught up in evil desires, we cannot possibly know what peace is. . . . Since true peace at the center of every kind of happiness and joy, and fills everything, the people of ancient times had a common saying: "Peace be with you," meaning "May all be well." Or they would ask, "Do you have peace?" meaning "Is all well with you?" Sermon: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. (John 14:27) What a nice, comforting statement. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you." If we let our minds drift, we might imagine that Jesus said these words on some peaceful hillside. Or high up on a mountain with a beautiful vista spread out before him. Or perhaps by the seaside as the waves lapped peacefully up against the shore. In our reverie, we might imagine appreciative crowds drinking in these words of life, and having their lives transformed by them. Oh, how nice our lives would be if the pleasant pictures we dream up became reality! In fact, Jesus spoke these words in a seemingly peaceful interlude that was surrounded by the most tumultuous and violent events of his life--events that culminated in the brutal end of his ministry and his life on earth. The conflict had been building throughout the three years of Jesus' ministry. At first the religious leaders weren't too concerned. They'd seen plenty of "prophets" and "messiahs" come and go, and they had good reason to believe this Jesus would fade like the others. But he did not fade. The crowds that followed him kept getting bigger and bigger. And now he'd really gone over the top! He had made a grand entry into Jerusalem--the political and spiritual center of the Jewish people--in the manner of an arriving king. Great crowds had greeted him with palm branches, shouting "Hosanna, Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!" (John 12:13). It was at the sight of this great public acclamation that the Pharisees remarked to one another in frustration and disgust, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!" (John 12:19). Something had to be done. And Jesus knew what they intended to do. He knew that he was about to be arrested, tried, and crucified. He knew. And as he and his disciples prepared to eat the Passover meal--the meal that only Jesus knew would be their last supper together--he told them that was about to be executed. But they did not believe it. They _would_ not believe it. They argued among themselves, and kept asking him questions, trying to figure out what in the world he was talking about. The disciples were confused. Judas Iscariot was hatching a plot to betray him. The crowds were in an uproar. The chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees were disturbed, fearful, hatching their own plots to rid themselves of this menace to their power and position. Even the Romans could feel the atmosphere of tension in the city. The only one at peace, it seems, was the one at the focal point of all the disturbance and unrest. Like the eye of a hurricane, Jesus rode at the center of a storm of confusion, conflict, and commotion swirling all around him, while he himself was an island of serenity. The outward events of his life were anything but serene. He had plenty of reasons to be anxious, frightened, angry. He knew that the crowds were fickle, that the people who held the reins of earthly power were closing in around him, that he was about to be abandoned by his closest followers and suffer an agonizing death. Yet in the midst of all this, he said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you." His accusers knew nothing of this peace. They sensed the hour of their triumph approaching. They may have thought that if they could just eliminate this latest threat to their position, they would enjoy peace once again. But their plans and plots could never bring them peace, because they were based on greed and grasping for power. Any peace they gained would be the peace that the world gives. It would be the false and temporary peace that comes from pursuing, and temporarily satisfying, our small-minded and self-centered desires for power and wealth. Jeremiah's words could have been spoken of them: How can you say, "We are wise, for we have the law of the Lord," when in fact, the false pen of the scribes has made it into a lie? The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and taken. Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what wisdom is in them? Yes, they had rejected the Lord their God by misleading the people for their own comfort and gain. And now they rejected the Lord when he came in the flesh. They thought they had the answers to the problems of their people. If they could only eliminate rabble-rousers such as this Jesus, their job would be much easier. If they could only keep the Romans happy and keep the people under control, there would be peace. As Jeremiah said: They have treated the wound of my people as if it were not serious, saying, "Peace, peace," when there is no peace. Don't we do the same thing? Oh, I don't think any of us has crucified anyone lately. But don't we often think that if we could just get our financial situation under control, _then_ we could relax and enjoy some peace? Or if we could just resolve our conflicts with the other people in our household, or at our workplace, or with our friends, _then_ we could have some peace? Or if we could just forget our idealistic notions and accommodate our thinking to the aspects of the world around us that we don't like so much, _then_ we could enjoy some peace? This is the world's perspective on peace. Peace is when we have enough to eat, drink, and be merry. Peace is when we're getting along well with the people around us. Peace is when we've managed fit our lives into the ways of the world around us. By this measure, Jesus should have been the least peaceful person in Jerusalem that day. He had nothing but the clothes on his back. The most powerful people in the city wanted him dead. And the reason they wanted him dead is that he refused to go along to get along. He refused to accommodate himself to the evils of his society. Instead, he continued to point out and condemn corruption, laziness, fraud, hypocrisy, and oppression everywhere he saw it. His life brought him into a collision course with all the worldly powers of his day. If any one of us were in that situation, we would likely consider it a disaster. But not Jesus. He was the eye of the hurricane. He was the peace amid the storm. He said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. _I do not give to you as the world gives_." The peace that Jesus offered to his disciples--the peace that Jesus offers us _today_--is a peace that the world does not give, nor can it ever give. The peace that Jesus offers is vastly superior to the outward, temporary peace that the world offers. The peace that Jesus offers is _heavenly_ peace. It is the peace that the angels feel. We can feel the same peace. No matter what our material circumstances are; no matter how we are getting along with the people around us; no matter what our feelings are about the society that we live in, we can feel that peace. The world has no power whatsoever over this peace--either to give it or to take it away. When we have this peace, all the storms and pain and confusion and sorrow of the world can be swirling around us and even _within_ us, and yet we will be at peace at the deepest level of our being. Because this is not a peace that comes from the outside world. It is a peace that comes from within and above. It is the peace we feel when we have the Lord's presence within us, in our hearts and minds. It is the peace we feel when we put aside our attachments to worldly considerations, and put the Lord first in our lives. It is the peace of knowing in our heart that the Lord loves us and has us in the palm of his hand. It is the peace of knowing and feeling that the Lord has put us here on earth for a reason. It is the peace of finding our joy by following the path that the Lord is showing us each day, step by step, moment by moment. That kind of deep, inner peace does not come easily. To attain that peace, the Lord d spent his life fighting both worldly and spiritual powers of evil. He had been tempted by the devil (the combined forces of evil) not just on that one well-known occasion after his forty day fast in the wilderness, but throughout his life. And at the very time he spoke those words of peace, he was about to face the greatest struggle and agony of them all. The peace that the Lord felt at his core was not one that came by accommodating himself to worldly and selfish desires. Rather, it came through _confronting_ those desires and rising above them every step of the way. It is our small-minded focus on our own wants and needs that causes us to slave away, continually trying to satisfy desires for material things and for the approval of others--desires that we will never satisfy. And as Jesus taught us, it is only by laying down our own lives that we can rise again to that vastly greater _inner_ life of the spirit. When we lay down _our_ idea of what our life should be, and instead look for the _Lord's_ plan for our life, we can find the true and deeper peace of the Lord's warm, living, loving, enlightening presence within us. Are we ready for that kind of peace? Are we ready to set aside our anxieties an our cares, and put our lives the Lord's hands? Is our faith strong enough that we can let go and give control of our life to the Lord? When we do let go of our own lives, that is when we make space for the Lord to enter in. When we know that despite the storm around and within us, the Lord's love and truth and power are at the center of our lives, then we know the peace that the world cannot give. Peace be with you. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@ssr.edu Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Mon Apr 24 16:44:46 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 24 Apr 2000 12:44:46 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Tears Transformed to Joy," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20000423212534.00a2beb0@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Tears Transformed to Joy By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, April 23, 2000 Easter Sunday Readings: Isaiah 25:6-9: The Lord will swallow up death forever On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. John 20:1-20: The resurrection of the Lord Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been taken away from the entrance. She went running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and told them, "They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!" Then Peter and the other disciple went to the tomb. The two of them were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and saw the linen cloths, but he did not go in. Behind him came Simon Peter, and he went straight into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the cloth which had been around Jesus' head. It was not lying with the linen cloths but was rolled up by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, went in also; he saw and believed. (They still did not understand the scripture which said that he must rise from death.) Then the disciples went back home. But Mary stood crying outside the tomb. While she was still crying, she bent over and looked in the tomb and saw two angels there dressed in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. "Woman, why are you crying?" they asked her. She answered, "They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him!" Then she turned around and saw Jesus standing there; but she did not know that it was Jesus. "Woman, why are you crying?" Jesus asked her. "Who is it that you are looking for?" She thought he was the gardener, so she said to him, "If you took him away, sir, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned toward him and said in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (This means "Teacher.") "Do not hold onto me," Jesus told her, "because I have not yet gone back up to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am returning to him who is my Father and their Father, my God and their God." So Mary Magdalene went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and related to them what he had told her. It was late that Sunday evening, and the disciples were gathered together behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities. Then Jesus came and stood among them. "Peace be with you," he said. After saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord. Apocalypse Explained #660: Joy and gladness come from love All joy and gladness relates to love, since we rejoice and are glad when things go in harmony with our love, and when we go after and get what we love. In short, all of our joy comes from our love, and all of our soul's sadness and grief comes from things that attack our love. Sermon: The Lord of hosts will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces. . . . It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. (Isaiah 25:7-9) This prophecy achieved its greatest fulfillment on that first Easter Sunday, in the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But it certainly didn't seem that way at first. In hindsight, it's easy for us Christians to say, "Of course Jesus rose from the dead! That's the way the story goes!" But Mary Magdalene did not have that story to read. She was going to the tomb in order to tend to Jesus' dead body, as her final way of showing her love and paying her respects to the one who had become her Lord and Master. He _had_ been her Lord and Master. But now he was dead. And when she came to the tomb and saw that the stone over its entrance had been rolled away, and realized that the tomb was empty, she knew what it meant. Grave robbers. She ran back to tell Peter and John, two of the Lord's closest disciples and friends. "They have taken the Lord from the tomb," she exclaimed, "And we don't know where they have put him!" She still thought of the Lord as the dead body in the tomb. It is a human way to think of death. Peter and John (who refers to himself a "the disciple Jesus loved) ran to the tomb and saw for themselves that Jesus was not there. Oddly enough, though, his grave cloths had been left behind by whomever had taken the body. And it says that they still did not understand the scripture which said that he must rise from death. I suspect that as they went back home they were scratching their heads, wondering what was going on. But Mary stayed behind, crying outside the tomb. And perhaps because of her great love and persistence, when she looked back into the tomb she saw two angels dressed in white. This apparently did not make a big impression on her. Perhaps since she was still thinking materially--that death was the final end of her beloved Lord--she was not able to see the bright radiance that often surrounds angels. The angels asked her why she was crying. We don't know what their tone was in asking her this question. Being angels, I like to think that there was a tone of concern for her, a sense of the grief she was feeling, and a desire to comfort her. And yet, from a human perspective, it seems like a rather thoughtless question to ask someone who has just lost the dearest person she had ever known. Of course she was crying! On the other hand, angels have a very different perspective on death than we do here on earth. For us, death and the grave mean loss--the absence of someone we love. Death means loneliness and sorrow. Angels, however, see death from the other side. Every time we see death, they see a new birth into the spiritual world. Emanuel Swedenborg mentions this difference of perspective at one point, when he has just rather paradoxically interpreted "the grave" (in the Bible) to mean "restoration to life." He writes: It does indeed seem strange that "the grave" means a restoration to life; but that strangeness is due to human ideas about the grave. We make no distinction between the grave and death, nor even between the grave and the dead body lying in it. But angels in heaven simply cannot think about the grave in this way. They have an entirely different view of it than we do: namely, the idea of resurrection and restoration to life. For when our body is committed to the grave, we ourselves are raised into the next life. So when angels think about the grave, they have no idea of death, but only of life, and therefore of a restoration to life. (Arcana Coelestia #5551.2) So when the angel asked Mary Magdalene, "why are you crying," perhaps he really was a bit perplexed. From his perspective, something wonderful had just happened! However, Mary did not have that perspective yet. Even when she turned around and saw a man standing there, she remained so firmly embedded in her sense of death as final loss that she did not, could not recognize that it was her beloved Jesus. Instead, she thought it was the gardener. The man continued the angel's question: "Woman, why are you crying?" he asked, "Who is it that you are looking for?" How gently he broke the news to her! He knew it was he himself that she was looking for. Yet he was patient, giving her a chance to absorb what was happening, to adjust her thinking to this new reality. It would be a real shock to have our worldview changed in an instant. Like a car speeding down the highway (to use a modern metaphor), our mind needs time to slow down and prepare to make that U-turn. If we slam on the brakes and crank the wheel while still going sixty-five miles an hour, instead of turning we will crash. Mary was still decelerating. She was not quite ready to see who it was, and to have her mind turned one hundred eighty degrees. So instead of seeing him as Jesus, she saw him as the gardener. "If you took him away, sir," she said, "Tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him." Even in death, she was completely devoted to him. And this devotion was what finally enabled her to see the wonderful truth. Jesus said to her, "Mary." Have you ever had the experience of meeting by chance someone you had known years ago, and they recognized you but you didn't recognize them? It happened to me once several years ago when I was standing at the train station in my old hometown. There was a small crowd waiting for the train. And then I saw someone walking quickly toward me. I had no idea who she was. "Lee Woofenden!" she cried out with delight. And then it all came flooding back to me. She had been a high school friend of mine--one whom I had not seen since graduation some fifteen or twenty years before. And she brought those memories back simply by speaking my name. I suspect that was how Mary experienced it when this man standing in front of her spoke her name. It all came flooding back to her. Everything Jesus had done for her; all the time she had spent with him, tending to his needs, listening to his words of life, watching as he healed others just as he had healed her; seeing this man transforming the lives of so many; realizing that this was no mere man, but was, in fact, her Lord and Savior. Yes, I believe that the single word, "Mary," her name, brought all of this back to her mind. She turned to him and said, "Rabboni," "Teacher." Now she knew who she was. After a brief conversation, she once again went to the disciples, this time to bring them the joyful news that she had seen the Lord! That evening, the disciples saw him for themselves. They had gathered together behind locked doors, still fearful of the Jewish authorities who had sent Jesus to his death. Their lives had not yet been transformed by the resurrection, as Mary's had. It took their minds a little longer to make that U-turn. Jesus sent Mary to them to break the news second-hand, so that they might be prepared for it when he appeared in person. And when he did appear to them, very much alive, he brought them a comforting, transforming message. "Peace be with you," he said. Right then and there, their fear was transformed into a far deeper peace of the soul--and they were filled with joy! These were the people who had been closest to the Lord; who had absorbed his teachings directly from him for three years. And their minds were actually able to turn around quite quickly to grasp a reality beyond anything they had ever conceived of as possible according to their worldly upbringing. To think that death could be overcome! It had never happened before! Today the Lord gives us as much time as we need to turn our minds around--a whole lifetime, in fact. Though most of us did have some religious teaching in our childhood and youth, we were still brought up in a society that tends to view death as the final tragedy, and any kind of physical or material loss as a somewhat lesser tragedy. We still tend to fix our minds on the things of the world. And while we rightly enjoy the pleasures this world can give, we also get our share of pain, sorrow, and loss. And we grieve those losses. We shed tears when something or someone close to our heart is taken away from us. It's only natural. We are creatures of this earth, and the Lord knows that we need time to grieve our losses. Yet we are also creatures of spirit. We are also creatures of the Lord. Though it may take a little longer for us to turn our minds around and see things from the angels' perspective, the promise of Easter is that our minds _can_ be turned around. That the Lord can rise from death in _our_ minds as well. That the Lord Jesus--who sometimes seems so distant, so dead when we are experiencing the pain of loss--that the joy he offers will yet triumph over the pain and sorrow that tinges even the pleasures of this earth. From the angels' point of view, every death and loss we experience here is the beginning of new life. And this is not only true of the literal loss of a loved one to death. It is true of all our other losses in life. Every time we experience the pain and the tears of loss, there is an opportunity for a new resurrection of love, compassion, peace, and joy in us. When we are in the middle of a loss, it may not feel that way. It does take time to turn our minds and hearts around. It takes time to see things from the angels' perspective. It also takes something more than time. Mary Magdalene's mind was not turned around simply through the passage of time. It was turned around because she had a love for the Lord that would not rest until she found him. She had a devotion to the Lord that brought her back to him even when she thought he was dead. And through that devotion, her tears were transformed into joy. The Easter message is a very powerful and beautiful one, telling us that the Lord has power even over death--that from God's perspective, death simply means the continuation of life on a higher level. But that message does not come to us automatically. We can hear the story of the Lord's resurrection every year, and still feel more of life's pain than of life's joy. As long as we remain stuck in our worldly view of events, we will continue to experience our losses here on earth as something that must simply be endured, with nothing but time to dull the sting of our pain. If the pain is too much, we may turn to various therapies, or to various addictions, in order to ease the pain. But for the deepest losses in life, none of those external things will work in the end--whatever temporary solace they may bring. The Easter story gives us the only deep and lasting antidote to the pains and losses of this earthly life. The Easter story gives us the only true road out of our tears. And the centerpiece of that story is the Lord himself. It is the Lord himself who overcame death. And by doing so, he transformed the tears of his followers into the joy of new life. He offers this same new life to each one of us. The only way our tears can finally be transformed to joy is when we ourselves are transformed by the love and power of the Lord, from the inside out. When we discover a new presence of the Lord awakening within us, out of the ashes of our old life, then we know that death and pain will not win in the end. Then we experience the Lord Jesus coming to us in the locked room of our heart, where we hide ourselves away from the fear and pain of life. Then we hear those wonderfully healing words of the Lord, "Peace be with you." When we hear these words of our Lord within ourselves, we know that we no longer need to keep ourselves locked up inside. Like the disciples of two thousand years ago, we are freed to go out and transform both ourselves and the world around us. For now we know the message of Easter. Now we know that life is stronger than death; that joy is stronger than grief; that love is stronger than fear; and that God is reigning above all. Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@ssr.edu Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Tue Apr 25 17:25:05 2000 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: 25 Apr 2000 13:25:05 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: And their eyes were opened Message-ID: <200004251233_MC2-A284-2315@compuserve.com> And Their Eyes Were Opened By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell April 23, 2000 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. Luke 24:30-31 Many times through out our lives we can ask in prayer, "Lord, let my eyes be opened." There are so many things that the Lord can show us that are different from our natural impressions. Two people can look at exactly the same situation and see very different things. Consider the following perhaps familiar passage: [P]eople with whom faith is separated from charity. . . see nothing else but errors and perversities residing with a person. But those who have faith that inheres in charity are different. They notice the goods, and if they do see evils and falsities they excuse them, and if possible endeavor with that person to correct them. . . . (Arcana Caelestia 1079:1) We also know that being told about something and understanding it are two very different things. The Lord had tried to prepare His disciples for the events of Good Friday and the first Easter. He had spoken of His death and resurrection several times. But the disciples still were not prepared for its actuality. Even the first news of the Lord's resurrection was not seen by largely blinded states of mind. It is an amazing and wonderful image to think of the two disciples traveling to Emmaus saying to the Lord, "Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?" (Luke 24:18) They thought they knew what had happened and He didn't. But they were wrong. Their eyes were so closed that they didn't even recognize who it was that was walking and talking with them. It wasn't until the Lord said a prayer at supper, broke bread and gave it to them that they finally recognized who they had been traveling with. The act by the Lord of breaking bread and giving to these two men has a long and deep background. Concerning it we read the following: [I]n the Ancient Church bread was broken when it was given to another, by which action was meant the sharing of what was one's own and the passing of good from oneself to another to be his own. Thus it meant making love mutual. For when someone breaks bread and gives it to another he is sharing with him what is his own. Or when a loaf is broken and shared among many, the single loaf becomes one shared mutually by all, and all are consequently joined together through charity. From this it is evident that the breaking of bread was a sign that meant mutual love. (Arcana Caelestia 5404:1-2) One of the fundamental messages that the Lord would lead us to recognize is that this passing of good from oneself to another, that is, expressions of goodwill and wise charity are a prerequisite for us to really understand the Lord and the things He would teach us. Prior to a person's living at a life with true charity at it core, there are many things that he or she can learn but will inevitably not understand. It is like the disciples walking and talking with the Lord and not even knowing with whom they were speaking. The Lord came into the world that we might have life and have it more abundantly. He came to teach us all in a way that could not have been accomplished by the mouth of prophets or some human writer. He came also to give us an example of the kind of wisely loving life that He wants us to follow. One of the great and powerful ideas of the New Church is that He also was born into the world to make sure that each of us has the freedom to choose the life we want to lead. He is our Savior and Redeemer because through His life, death, and resurrection He has ensured that there is a powerful force drawing each of us upwards toward heaven. He ensured that He can bring to our minds the kind of ideas that we need to make better and wiser choices. His life allows us to feel the joy of wisely caring for the people around us. The revelation of truth that the good news of Easter 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. We during our lives in this world will have many times when we do not understand why things have happened as they have. We will have times when we many wonder about the Lord's care for us or someone near and dear to us. Our state of mind can be like the two disciples that the Lord joined as they walked to Emmaus. He looked at them and asked, ""What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?" (Luke 24:17) We like the disciples might be inclined to say, "Don't you know what has happened?" The Lord invites us to speak to Him in prayer of our doubts and concerns and He invites us to listen as He responds bringing to mind ideas that perhaps we first heard in childhood. But above all He calls us to do what we can to live a life of mutual love. We might be inclined to say to Him, "But you don't know how hard it is to love this or that person." But even as we think such as thought perhaps our minds can be reminded of the people He faced during His life in this world. How even as He was being crucified He said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." (Luke 23:34) May the joy of Easter come to us many times over in our lives. May our eyes be opened to see the Lord and the life He calls us to lead. Day by day we can seek to live the life of wise kindness to others. In ways large and small we can seek to foster the welfare of others directly and indirectly. Through this effort the Lord will over and over again open our eyes to see more clearly. He will lead us to understand ourselves more accurately and with wise compassion. We will understand the people around us more accurately and with wise compassion. We will have that foundation trust that all things that happen can lead to a better life for us and those we love. May we give the Lord thanks for His loving care. May we wonder at His patience and strength. May the joy of Easter be ours. AMEN. Lessons: Luke 24:13-35 It happened, when Jesus was at table with them, that He took the bread and said a blessing, and broke it and gave to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him. Luke 24:30, 31. The meaning of this event was that the Lord comes into sight through a concern for what is good, but not through truth devoid of that concern for what is good; for "bread" means the good affections that come from love. >From these and many other places it is clear that "seeing" in the internal sense means faith received from the Lord, for no other faith exists which is truly faith except faith which comes from the Lord. This is also the faith that enables a person to see, that is, to believe. But faith originating in self or from what is a person's own life is not truly faith, for it causes him to see false ideas as true ones and true ideas as false ones; or if he does see truths as truths he does not truly see them because he does not believe them. For in them he sees himself and not the Lord. That "seeing" means possessing faith in the Lord is quite evident from what has been stated often about the light of heaven, namely that because it flows from the Lord the light of heaven holds intelligence and wisdom within it, and so holds faith in Him since faith in the Lord is inwardly present in intelligence and wisdom. Consequently seeing by that light, as angels do, can mean nothing else than faith in the Lord. The Lord Himself too is within that light because it proceeds from Him. That light is also the light which shines within the conscience of those who possess faith in Him, though no one is directly conscious of its doing so as long as he lives in the body, for during that time the light of the world is obscuring that light. Arcana Caelestia 3863:14-15 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@mediaone.net Sun Apr 30 23:50:08 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 30 Apr 2000 19:50:08 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Revelation Revealed," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20000430181306.00a7b400@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Revelation Revealed By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, April 30, 2000 Readings: Daniel 7:13, 14: Daniel's vision of a son of man In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory, and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and people of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. Revelation 1:9-20: John's vision of the Son of man I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, "Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea." Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in its full power. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Apocalypse Revealed, Preface: The Book of Revelation explained Many people have sweated over the explanation of the Book of Revelation. But since the spiritual meaning of the Bible has been unknown up to now, they could not see the secrets that lie hidden within it. For only the spiritual sense reveals these. Because of this, expositors have made various conjectures, most of which have applied the things in the Book of Revelation to the stages of various empires, mixing in various ecclesiastical affairs. But in its spiritual sense, the Book of Revelation, like the whole Bible, does not say the slightest thing about worldly affairs. Instead, it speaks of heavenly things. So it does not speak about empires and kingdoms, but about heaven and the church. Let it be known that after the Last Judgment, which took place in the spiritual world in the year 1757, . . . a new heaven was formed from Christians--but it was formed only from those who could receive the Lord as the God of heaven and earth (according to his words in Matthew 28:18), and who had also repented of their evil actions while they lived in the world. From this heaven a new church on earth, which is the New Jerusalem, is descending and will descend. . . . Everyone can see that the Book of Revelation cannot possibly be explained unless it is done by the Lord. For every word in it contains secrets that we could never know without special enlightenment--which means revelation. Therefore it has pleased the Lord to open my spiritual sight and teach me. Do not believe, then, that I have taken anything in it from myself or from any angel, because it is from the Lord alone. The Lord also said to John through the angel: Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book. (Revelation 22:10) This means that these things will be explained. Sermon: I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, "Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches." (Revelation 1:9-11) Today's sermon is an unabashed advertisement for our new Wednesday evening adult Bible study and discussion group, which begins this Wednesday from 7:30 to 9:00. In this class, we will study the Book of Revelation in much greater detail and depth than we have time for this morning, and we will discuss how this powerfully enigmatic book relates to our times and to our own individual lives. For now, I would like to begin opening up the Book of Revelation with the help of Emanuel Swedenborg's unveiling of its deeper, spiritual meaning, as shown to him by the Lord. Along the way, we'll find that this book which looks so strange on the surface carries not only cosmic insights, but personal meaning for our own spiritual lives. First, it will help to know the origin of the Book of Revelation, with its twenty-two image-rich chapters. As our text tells us, this book was written by the Apostle John--the same one who wrote the Gospel of John. John's Gospel is the one that focuses especially on the Lord's great love for us, and on the deeper, spiritual wisdom he offers to us. John wrote his Gospel in order to share the good news of Jesus Christ, and to invite people to become followers of the Lord. The Book of Revelation, however, was written to people who were already Christians. And we know from John's introduction that it was written at a time when Christians were being persecuted. John himself, we are told, had been exiled (by the Roman government) to a small island called Patmos, located off the coast of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) because of his testimony to Jesus. Before his exile, John had been the leader of the fledgling Christian church in Ephesus, one of the seven churches in Asia Minor to which letters are directed in the second and third chapters of Revelation. John outlived all of the rest of the original twelve Apostles. At the time he wrote Revelation, around 95 AD, John was about ninety years old, and the only one of the original Apostles still living. The Romans had destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, dispersing both Jews and Christians to other lands. So it was that the early Christian Church was developing in Asia Minor rather than in the Holy Land. At this time, just as John himself was suffering persecution, the seven Christian churches in Asia Minor were suffering persecution as well. The Book of Revelation--the last book in the New Testament to be written--was intended to give hope and encouragement to Christians everywhere who were being persecuted because of their faith in Jesus Christ. Its overall message is that although the worldly events of nations and empires may seem vast and overpowering, above it all the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ--the same one John had known while he was here on earth--was firmly in control, and would bring about justice upon all oppressors, while giving salvation to those who remained faithful. Even at this rather literal level, the Book of Revelation can still give us encouragement today. Which one of us has never looked around at the world today, at the great flow of national and international events, and felt that all these happenings that affect our livelihoods, our families, and our communities are entirely out of our control? Which one of us has not felt, at times, that in comparison to these great events, we are like little ants that will be crushed under the vast forces of our times? When we are having these kinds of thoughts, the Book of Revelation is a good antidote. In it, all the great powers, nations, and empires of the world are seen to be no match for the infinitely greater power of the Lord. Yet there is so much more in the Book of Revelation. So much more that speaks, not merely of worldly powers and of the affairs of governments and other human organizations, but of the great _spiritual_ stages of humankind and of our own individual lives. And it all starts, as it should, with a vision of the risen and glorified Lord Jesus Christ. In the Gospel accounts, which described the Lord's life on earth, there was still room for question and doubt as to who this Jesus was. This is due partly to the fact that people weren't ready to accept him not merely as a great man and a prophet, but as God himself come to earth. It is also partly due to the fact that while Jesus was living on earth, he himself went through various spiritual stages--through ups and downs of the spirit that went far beyond anything that any one of us will ever experience. There were times when his spirit was cast down to the depths, and he felt distant from God. In these times, he referred to God as a separate being--as his Father in heaven. And there were times when he felt very close to God, as to a being who was not separate from him, but was his own inner soul. At these times he stated that he and his Father were one. When he appears in the first chapter of the Book of Revelation, all of the questions and doubts about his true nature have been removed. With the resurrection, which we celebrated last week on Easter Sunday, Jesus the Son had become fully united with God the Father, forming a single Divine Humanity who is the one God of heaven and earth. This is why the "Son of man" whom John encountered at the beginning of his vision could say to him, "I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever" (Revelation 1:17, 18). There can be only one being who is the first and the last. That being is the God of the universe, who is at once Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If we listen to John's words and take them to heart, this glorious vision of the Son of man can remove all doubt from our minds that the one God whom we worship, and who holds both our lives and the fate of the world in his hands, is none other than our personal Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who lived among us on earth, was crucified, and rose again. This is the God of the universe, who has made himself known to us both personally and through the written Word of God. Everything else in the Book of Revelation--and in the entire Bible--follows from this. The same is true of our own lives as Christians. Wherever we may have come from, wherever we may be now, and wherever we may be going, the only true and reliable beginning and focus that we can have for our lives is the Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. Everything in the universe comes from him. Everything in our lives does, too. And when we recognize this source of all being, and put our faith and hope in him, then he can give us the wisdom and strength to face all the trials of our lives--just as he gave wisdom and strength to those early Christians to face persecutions greater than any of us are likely to suffer. Yet we still face inner persecutions--persecutions of the soul--that can be every bit as great as the more literal and physical persecutions suffered by the early Christians. We struggle within ourselves against the spiritual enemies that seek to drag us down and destroy our lives. The Book of Revelation, in its spiritual meaning, is all about these inner struggles--these great wars of the spirit--that every one of us faces if we are spiritually alive and growing. It is all about how we can prevail over those deeper enemies with the Lord's help. We do not have time this morning to go into the details of who and what these enemies are, how the Lord fights against them for us, and how we will prevail over them through his power if we remain steady in our faith and devotion to him to the end of our lives. If you want to go more deeply into these fascinating and life-changing issues, I invite you to join us this Wednesday evening for the first of our Bible studies. Meanwhile, we can get an overall sense of the great spiritual issues involved in the Book of Revelation. Though there is a confusing welter of figures that come and go throughout this strange and wonderful book, two figures stand out as the major opponents of Christ: the great red dragon, identified as the Devil and Satan (in chapter 12), and the woman sitting on a scarlet beast, who is identified with Babylon (in chapter 17). Swedenborg explains these two figures as images of the two major ways that we human beings can go wrong: we can go wrong in the head, and we can go wrong in the heart. When we go wrong in the head, we think that because of what we _know_, we are better than other people. In terms of church doctrine, this comes out as the fallacy that faith alone saves, as represented in traditional Protestant and Evangelical doctrine. It is the idea that if we just know the right things, believe the right things, we will be saved--regardless of whether we actually _live_ by them. Because of our church's wonderfully deep and satisfying teachings, I believe we are especially prone to this error. It is easy to think that simply because we have been given greater understanding of the mysteries of faith, we are somehow the special, chosen ones of the Lord. However, nothing that we merely _know_, without putting it into practice, will make any difference in the end. For as Paul said, "It is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God's sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified" (Romans 2:13). Our personal battle with the great red dragon is against our intellectual pride and our complacent notion that since (as we imagine) we are more enlightened than others, we can rest on our laurels and avoid the real work of _living out_ our beliefs. Our teachings are clear: it is only what we put into practice that becomes a real, eternal part of our lives and our souls. Going wrong in the head is bad; but it is not as bad as going wrong in the heart. The greatest destructiveness of which we humans are capable comes not so much from intellectual pride as from the self-centered notion that everyone and everything around us should bow down to our wishes and serve us. This is the woman on the scarlet beast. In the history of the Christian Church, Swedenborg identifies this figure with the corrupted Roman Catholic Church during the centuries when it focused more on establishing its worldly power over nations and individuals, and on building up its wealth, than on providing spiritual sustenance and enlightenment to people in spiritual need. In our lives, the woman on the scarlet beast that we must struggle against is our inborn tendency to put ourselves before everyone else, and to judge everyone around us by how well they serve our own needs. When we are in the grip of this Babylon of the soul, we love only those who love us, and feel coldness, disrespect, anger, and even hatred toward those who oppose us or get in our way. Though we do not like to admit that we have these feelings within us, our struggles against the selfish feeling that we ourselves should rule over everything and everyone around us are the deepest battles we face in our journey toward spiritual life. As with our struggles against pride and complacency, we can prevail against our ego and selfishness only if our strength comes from a living relationship with the Lord. By ourselves, we have no strength or power at all. On our own, we would be crushed by these huge spiritual enemies. The comforting message of the Book of Revelation is that if we will put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and remain constant in our efforts to _live_ by that faith, then whatever struggles and difficulties we may face here on earth, in the end the Lord will prevail in our lives. In the end, all of the terrifying and disheartening foes we face within our own souls will be crushed before the infinitely greater power of the Lord's love. They will fade into oblivion as the infinitely greater light of the Lord's truth shines into our souls, banishing all of our darkness. Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@ssr.edu Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Mon May 8 01:30:43 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 7 May 2000 21:30:43 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Crown Him Lord of All," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20000507124741.00a80300@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Crown Him Lord of All By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, May 7, 2000 Readings: Exodus 33:18-23: Moses and the glory of the Lord Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory." And the Lord said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." Then the Lord said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen." Revelation 4: The throne in heaven After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow resembling an emerald encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the sevenfold Spirit of God. Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, as clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes in front and behind. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives forever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say, "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." True Christian Religion #2, 4: Our faith in the Lord This is the faith of the new heaven and the new church in universal form: The Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, came into the world to subdue the hells and to glorify his humanity. Without this no mortal could have been saved, and they are saved who believe in him. . . . There is a divine trinity, and it is in the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ just as the soul, the body, and the activity coming from them form a trinity in a human being. Sermon: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." (Revelation 4:11) Every once in a while it is good to get back to basics. For three of the next five Sundays, my sermons will cover the three core teachings of our church. Today's sermon will deal with our beliefs about the Lord, next week's with our beliefs about the Bible, and three weeks later, in our final regular service, we will focus on what it means to be reborn and live a spiritual life. If you would like a more in-depth presentation of these ideas and several other basic teachings of our church, I just happen to have brought with me today two more audio tape sets of the Swedenborg Newcomer's class that we offered here last spring, and you'd be welcome to purchase a set after the service. Who is God? This question has tantalized, frustrated, and challenged humankind at least as far back as human literature and civilization goes. For Moses, thirteen hundred years before Christ, and deep in the early pages of the Old Testament, God was a being with whom he sometimes seemed to talk face to face, as he did earlier in the very same chapter of Exodus. Yet God remained a being of mystery, whose nature could not be fathomed, whose face could not be seen. When Moses asked to see God's glory, God allowed him to see only his back, and not his face--for to see God's full glory in the face would have destroyed Moses, frail and limited human being that he was. And so God remained largely an invisible God--a being who communicated with humans on earth in mysterious and sometimes cryptic ways, and whose true nature was a matter of speculation and wonderment. This was so not only in ancient Judaism, but in all the religions of the world. The nature of God remained the ultimate mystery. In some ways, this is still true today. No matter how well we may think we understand the nature of God, our finite minds are entirely incapable of grasping the infinity that is God. No matter how much we may learn, understand, and experience of the nature of God, there will always be infinitely more to God than we have yet comprehended. In fact, if it were up to us, the nature of God would always remain an utter mystery. On our own, we would not be capable of discovering the slightest bit of information and insight about a being who inhabits a level of reality that is beyond the stuff our minds are made of. But it is not up to us. God is a being who wants to have a relationship with us. And God reaches out to reveal to us what he is like. The history of religion is the history of God reaching down into the world of humans and disclosing ever more of the divine nature, as we were ready to comprehend it--and as we _needed_ to comprehend it to avoid spiritual destruction. It is the history of God bending the heavens to come down to us. In Old Testament times, God did this by filling lawgivers, prophets, and angels with the divine presence and sending them to convey a message to the people. The Old Testament is the written result of those efforts by God to reach out to us and give us a deeper understanding of divine and spiritual reality. But it was not enough. We still persisted in turning away. We ignored and persecuted the prophets that God sent. They were crackpots, wackos, rabble-rousers, troublemakers. They disturbed our comfortable lives by telling us that we must change, must give up our favorite vices, must devote our lives entirely to the Lord and leave behind anything we love that is not in harmony with divine laws. We don't like to change. And we wouldn't listen. Finally, just as we were about to entirely cut off our hearts, minds and lives from God by focusing entirely on material things and our own power and prestige, God reached out to us in the ultimate way. Lawgivers, priests, and prophets had been temporary, stopgap measures. Now, to prevent us from spiritually suffocating ourselves in our worldly delusions, God himself came and lived among us. God took on a human nature, a human body, a human mind, and grew up among us, facing all the triumphs and tragedies, the joys and struggles of human existence. God personally faced all the powers of materialism, greed, selfishness, and lust for power--in a word, all the powers of evil. And at every point where we had failed and given in, he triumphed and overcame. This was the life and mission of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was not on some errand to satisfy the supposed wrath or appease the arbitrary "justice" of an angry and impatient Father God. Rather, Jesus Christ was God himself come out of pure love to reach out to us, engage in personal battle against our spiritual enemies, conquer all the powers of evil, and take to himself the eternal power to overcome in each one of us the destructive forces and evil tendencies that would otherwise inevitably tear us down and destroy us. Of course, we still have to do our part in cooperation with the Lord--but that is the subject for the third sermon in this series! For now, it is enough to know that whatever personal trials we may face, the Lord Jesus Christ has already faced the very same trials at a far deeper level than we ever will, and has already overcome. It is enough to know that the more we turn to the Lord, the more the Lord can come into our lives with the love, goodness, wisdom, and power to give us the victory in our personal struggles. Through the same process by which the Lord fought these battles for us and emerged victorious, he also fully united his human side and his divine side. You see, Jesus was born not only as the Son of God, but as the son of Mary. He had a divine father, but a human mother. This meant that from conception and birth, he was a mixture of the merely human and the infinitely divine. His limited, human heredity formed a stage on which the evil powers of hell could approach the God of creation without being burnt to a cinder, as Moses would have been if he had looked directly upon the face of the Lord. Yet the infinite divine power from above continually pressed into and through the limited, finite parts that he had received from his mother. Every time he was victorious in one of his struggles with "the devil" (which is one of the Bible's ways of personifying evil), a little bit of the limited, finite part of himself was put off, and replaced with a little more of the infinite. And when he faced and overcame his greatest battle, which took place at the crucifixion, he finally put off everything that was human in a limited and finite way, and made his entire human side fully divine. In the Gospels, we see Jesus going back and forth between his limited, human side, when he felt a separation from God the Father and addressed the Father as if he were a separate being, and his infinite, divine side, when he experienced the Father as his own inner soul, so that he could say, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). The times where the Gospels report Jesus' times of apparent separation from God the Father have caused a lot of confusion in the Christian Church. Is Jesus the same person as God, or a separate person? And what about the Holy Spirit? From this confusion has come the contradictory and unbiblical notion in traditional Christianity that there is one God in three Persons. Fortunately, we have the Book of Revelation to show us Jesus Christ as he is after the crucifixion and resurrection, when he has become fully one with God the Father. The first chapter of Revelation presents a glorious vision of the Lord God Jesus Christ as the Alpha and the Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. There is no separation here, but one eternal divine being who is at once Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, just as we human beings have soul, body, and actions, but are one person. In the Revelation chapter four, we find Jesus Christ as the eternal God, seated on the metaphorical throne of heaven, receiving the praise of the four symbolic creatures and the twenty four elders, who lay their crowns before him, saying, "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." And later, in chapter eleven, the twenty-four elders praise him in these words: "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign" (Revelation 11:17). This is the God whom we worship. This is the God whom we crown as Lord of all. This is the Lord God Jesus Christ, who is at the same time our eternal creator and our personal friend and Savior. This is the God whom we can never fully comprehend because his infinity goes far beyond our finite ability to grasp. And yet he is the same God who has come personally to be with us and share our joys and sorrows, our struggles and our triumphs. There is no need for confusion about whether God is three beings or one being, for God is just as one as we are, and yet with as many different aspects to his being and character as we have in ours--no, infinitely _more_ aspects and characteristics than we have. And because Jesus Christ is also our Creator, we can know that our God shares with us every least thought and feeling that we may have, because every detail of the person we are comes from God--even though we have turned some parts of ourselves away from God. As our traditional statement of faith says, "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; whose humanity is divine; who for our salvation did come into the world and take our nature upon him." This is the God whom we crown as Lord of all. Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@ssr.edu Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Sun May 14 21:22:31 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 14 May 2000 17:22:31 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "The Word of God," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20000514142412.00a76c10@pop.ne.mediaone.net> The Word of God By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, May 14, 2000 Readings: Psalm 119:97-112: Oh, how I love your law! Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all day long. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is always with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your decrees are my meditation. I understand more than the elders, for I keep your precepts. I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. I do not turn away from your ordinances, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to observe your righteous ordinances. I am severely afflicted; give me life, O Lord, according to your word. Accept my offerings of praise, O Lord, and teach me your ordinances. I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law. The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts. Your decrees are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart. I incline my heart to do your statutes forever, to the end. Matthew 5:17-20: The fulfillment of the Law Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. The Heavenly City #252-254: The Bible: literal and spiritual Since the Bible is a divine revelation, every single part of it is divine. Anything that comes from the divine could be no other way. Everything that comes from the divine goes down through the heavens all the way to people on earth. In heaven it is adapted to the wisdom of the angels there, and on earth it is adapted to the understanding of the people there. So the Bible has an inner, spiritual meaning for angels and an outer, material-level meaning for people on earth. That is why our connection to heaven happens through the Bible. The Bible's real meaning can be understood only by people who are enlightened. And only people who love and believe in the Lord are enlightened, since their deeper parts are lifted up into heaven's light by the Lord. We can understand the Bible's literal meaning only if we have a religious philosophy that an enlightened person has obtained from the Bible. The literal meaning is adapted to people's understanding--even the understanding of simple-minded people. So we need a religious philosophy from the Bible to give us light. Sermon: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished." (Matthew 5:17, 18) Before I go off in an entirely different direction, I would like to wish all the mothers here a very happy Mother's Day! Now, I believe that everything is connected to everything else, so I _could_ make a connection between Mother's Day and our topic for today, which is "The Word of God." Let's see. . . . The Church is our spiritual mother, and the Bible is where we learn about the Church. Voila! A connection between Mother's Day and the Word of God! But really, the reason I am preaching about the Word of God today is that this is the second in a series of three sermons on the basic teachings of our church, as we wrap up our regular church year. Last week we focused on our church's teachings about the Lord, and for our final regular service, on June 4, we will focus on what it means to live a spiritual life and be "saved," from a Swedenborgian perspective. Meanwhile, for the next two Sunday's you'll get something completely different! The Word of God. What does that phrase conjure up in your mind? To some Christians, it is a book dictated word-for word by God, and meant to be obeyed in a very literal way in order to avoid a very literal hellfire and damnation. To other Christians, it is the record of God's interaction with a particular human culture over many centuries, and even more than that, the place where we are taught about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, and therefore the sourcebook of the Christian religion. For many non-Christians, the Bible is simply a book of cultural history, poetry, and human religious belief. And for far too many ex-Christians, it is a book associated with heavy-handed and guilt-inducing teachings coming from a judgmental and arbitrary God whom they can no longer accept. In the midst of all this welter of opinion about the Bible, one thing is certain: the Bible has been a central influence in the development of Western culture, and the primary source for its dominant religion: Christianity. No matter what our opinion may be about the Bible, we cannot deny the tremendous impact it has had on our society. However, from a Swedenborgian point of view, the Bible is the Word of God for a far greater reason than its unchallenged position as the fountainhead of the Christian religion and as the greatest historical influence in the formation of Western society. Before we get to that, though, it might be helpful to say a few words about the formation of the Bible itself. The Bible is a book that took over one thousand five hundred years to write. Its first five books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy were originally written down over fourteen centuries before the birth of Christ. Its final book, Revelation, was written nearly a century after the Lord's birth. Its many books were written by at least forty different authors. Their styles include myth, history, law, poetry, story, sermon, prophecy, theology, and mystic vision. The Bible is anything but a simple book. Whole colleges of scholars can and do spend their entire careers studying its complexities and intricacies; and when one question is answered, ten more questions spring up in its place. Some Christians reduce all this complexity down to a simple slogan: "God said it, I believe it, and that's that." Many of them believe that if we scrutinize the origins of the Bible too closely, we will only raise doubts about its divine origins. And if it helps them in their faith journey to take that simple view of the Bible, I say, "more power to them." However, for the rest of us, who are willing to consider the idea that the infinite God may bring about his purposes in far more complex ways than our simple minds can possibly imagine, it is helpful to have a deeper view of how the Bible could be written by so many authors from so many different perspectives over so many centuries, yet still be woven into a single, coherent book that is the inspired Word of God. I believe that, far from casting doubt on its divine origin, the fact that the Bible was written and formed over so many centuries through so many human minds was part of God's plan in molding it into a book that would provide a true link between the Creator and the people whom he created. In fact, if the Bible were written at a single time by a single author, I would have to question how a book that had such a narrow source could possibly express the vast nature of God to the highly varied human individuals and cultures that populate our earth. In writing the Bible through so many human authors over so many centuries, God ensured that it could speak to _all_ human beings in _all_ centuries. No matter where we may happen to be in our lives and on our spiritual journey, we will find something in the Bible that corresponds to what we are going through today, at this very moment. This thought begins to open up for us what makes the Bible the Word of God from a Swedenborgian perspective. The Bible is not simply a book full of commandments that God proclaims and we must obey. Yes, we do need to obey God's commandments as found in the Bible. But at a much broader and deeper level, the Bible is a two-way means of communication between God and human beings on earth. Two-way? Certainly God can speak to us through the Bible. But how can we speak with God through the Bible? Let's look first at how God speaks to us through the Bible. Obviously, in the literal story of the Bible God gives us many teachings and commandments that we are meant to take to heart and follow in our lives. The Ten Commandments. The Sermon on the Mount. But what about all that ancient Jewish history and all those awful wars? What about those laws for sacrifice and other religious rituals that we no longer follow? What about the Creation story in Genesis, which contradicts so much of what we know from science about the origins of the earth, and the plant and animal life on it? Are these merely ancient human texts, or can we somehow hear God's voice speaking through them with a message intended for us personally, about the issues and struggles we are facing in our lives right now? Some Christians believe that much of the Old Testament has been superseded by the life and teachings of Jesus in the New Testament. Yet Jesus himself said, in our text: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. (Matthew 5:17, 18) The Law and the Prophets were the two most sacred of the three divisions of Hebrew Scripture. When Jesus mentioned them, he was referring to the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (which are "the Law"), and Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, and the four "Major Prophets" and twelve "Minor Prophets" (which are "the Prophets") as found in the Old Testament. Elsewhere (in Luke 24:44) he added the Psalms to the books that "must be fulfilled." And if Jesus tells us in the New Testament that these Old Testament books are still sacred and must be fulfilled, then our task is to discover just _how_ they are sacred, and how the Lord fulfills his mission and message to us through them. This is where we turn to the theological works of Emanuel Swedenborg for help and enlightenment. Although the presence of deeper layers of meaning in Scripture is hinted at in the Bible itself--especially in Jesus' use of parables and his explanations of their deeper meanings to his disciples--what remained unknown throughout many centuries of Christianity was that the _entire Bible_ is a parable with deeper meanings that relate entirely to the nature of God and to our own spiritual life. Since we could not find the key to this deeper, spiritual meaning for ourselves, it was necessary for God, in the fullness of time, to open the spiritual eyes of a chosen servant and through that person, guide us into the knowledge of the deeper meanings of Scripture. This, we believe, is what the Lord accomplished through Emanuel Swedenborg over two centuries ago. And the light that Swedenborg's writings have thrown on those books that formerly seemed so old and outdated cannot be compared to any other Bible commentaries. Of course, if you haven't read any of Swedenborg's writings, you'll just have to take my word for it. However, a couple of brief examples may help to illustrate what I mean. First of all, what about those wars? In the literal meaning, they are very brutal--not pleasant reading at all. And yet, don't we each experience brutal struggles within ourselves at various times during our lives? Don't we struggle at times with our own anger, or depression, or discouragement, or addictive tendencies? When we start reading those Old Testament battles as metaphors for the battles that go on in our own souls over whether we will be ruled by God and the better side of our nature, or by the evil and destructive forces that would tear us down and ruin us, those old battles suddenly come alive with new and personal meaning! Or what about the Creation story? If, instead of remaining stuck in the idea that the first chapter of the Bible is about the literal creation of the physical universe, we think of it as the story of the creation and formation of our own souls, then once again, the story comes alive with very personal meaning for each one of us today. When we first set out on our spiritual journey, we are spiritually formless and void, waiting and hoping for the Lord to shape us into new people. And each one of us, as we move forward on our spiritual journey, finds that the Lord is continually creating new stages and new chapters in our story. All of these stages lead toward the day when God will fully re-create us as new human beings in his divine image--meaning that we live, not from self-absorbed and materialistic motives, but for the joy of following God's wisdom and expressing God's love. When we reach this stage, we are at the seventh day of rest--rest in the experience of God's presence within us. If we begin to look at the Bible in this way, with the help of Swedenborg's writings we will discover the Bible as one great parable that tells our spiritual story from beginning to end. All the stages of our life are represented there, from Genesis through Revelation. And on every step we take along the way, we can find help and insight in the spiritual story that unfolds through the histories and prophecies, the poetry and stories of the Word of God. This brief explanation only scratches the surface of the many and varied ways that God speaks to each one of us personally through the pages of the Bible. But we must move on to the question of how can _we_ speak to _God_ through the Bible. This we do, not so much in the literal printed pages of the Bible as through the way we write the message of the Bible on the pages of our hearts and lives. When we allow ourselves to be opened up and enlightened by God's personal message to us in the Bible, it is a life-changing experience. That experience causes us to become new people. We look on everyone around us with more understanding, kindness, and compassion. We begin treating them with more respect and more love. And we devote our lives more and more to serving our fellow human beings out of the pure joy of providing for their happiness. And as Jesus tells us in the Gospels, whatever we do for the least of our brothers and sisters, we do for him (Matthew 25:40). This is how we speak to God through reading God's Word. We speak through the living language of our lives. We enter into a beautiful conversation with God as we learn to show God's love to one another, and in this way return God's love back to the Creator from which it comes. As the Psalmist said, "Your decrees are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart. I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end." Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@ssr.edu Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Sun May 21 20:47:24 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 21 May 2000 16:47:24 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "God's Children," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20000521133937.00ae43f0@pop.ne.mediaone.net> God's Children By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, May 21, 2000 Children's Sunday Readings: Psalm 8: How majestic is your name! O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. >From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise Because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, The moon and the stars, which you have set in place, What are human beings, that you are mindful of them, Mortals, that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; You have put everything under their feet: All flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, All that swim the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Matthew 18:1-5: Becoming like children The disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Jesus called a little child, and had the child stand in front of them. He said, "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name, welcomes me." Sermon: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3) Now, this is ought to cause some consternation for those of us who are parents. We spend all this time and energy trying to get our children to grow up and become mature adults, and then Jesus turns around and tells us that _we_ are the ones who need to change--and become like little children! I have to admit that as a parent, I have mixed feelings about this. It will come as no surprise to the parents in the congregation that however well my kids may behave here, they squabble a lot at home! After Patty and I have gone through a particularly bad day, in which one argument followed another as jealousy over matchbox cars, stuffed animals, and trading cards erupted into name-calling, shoving, hitting, and kicking, the last thing we want to hear is Jesus telling us that we have to change and become like little children! Of course, when I think about all the squabbling we adults do, I picture the Lord as the exasperated parent pleading with us, "Now children, be nice! Stop your squabbling and behave yourselves!" We like to think that the things we adults fight about are so much more important than the toys and treasured objects that children fight about. But are they really? A thousand years from now, when we have long since left this earth for our eternal home, how much will it matter whether we won or lost that argument--or that war? How much will it matter whether we got those few extra dollars--or a few billion more dollars? How much will it matter whether some jerk crumpled our fender--or blew up a building? If we are honest with ourselves, we will realize that in many ways, we have never _stopped_ acting like little children. We still get upset about things that, from God's perspective, are nothing more than children's playthings. We still forget that other people's feelings are much more important than the neato "toys" they have--and we wish we had. We still forget that what's important is not what people think of us and how they treat us, but rather what _we_ think of _them_, and how we treat them. We still forget that in the end, the only thing that really matters is how well we have followed the Lord's commandment to love one another as he has loved us. As far as the Lord is concerned, we are all little children. In the short span of years that we have here on earth, we barely have time even to begin growing up spiritually. We barely have time to quit squabbling and learn to be nice. In fact, to all eternity, we small, limited human beings will never be more than children in the eyes of a God who is infinite love and infinite wisdom. Even the highest angels have just barely taken their very first baby steps toward their divine Parent, the Lord. The beauty of those highest, heavenly angels is that they _realize_ they are mere infants in the eyes of God. We sometimes have a chuckle at the way our children, from teenagers right down to toddlers, will act so grown-up--as if they're already way ahead of us. They've got it all figured out! Or at least, they think they do. We know better. We know some of the realities that lie ahead--realities that haven't even enter into their consciousness yet. Don't you think the Lord feels the same way about us? We walk around thinking of ourselves as mature adults--or at least, trying to _pretend_ we're mature adults. We figure we've got some experience under our belts; and whether or not we truly feel confident inside, we try to project an air of confidence so that others will think we've got it all figured out. We _don't_ have it all figured out. What we know compared to what we don't know is like a drop of water compared to the ocean. And the sooner we realize that, admit it, and live as if it were true, the better off we'll be. Because as long as we think we've got it all figured out, we're exactly like those little kids who think they're ready to run the show. As soon as we realize that _God_ is the one who has it all figured out, and we are like children in God's eyes, then we can begin the process of growing up. Then we can become God's children, willing to be led by the Lord every day and every moment, just as our children are willing to be led by us in their better moments. And though we don't always do a perfect job of leading our children, if we look to God as our divine Parent, and do what God tells us, we can have complete faith that God will lead us into the kingdom of heaven. Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@ssr.edu Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Sun Jun 4 23:27:20 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 4 Jun 2000 19:27:20 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Living the Good Life," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20000604155407.00b24cd0@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Living the Good Life By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, June 4, 2000 Readings: Micah 6:6-8 What does the Lord require of you? With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow down before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Mark 10:17-22 What must I do to inherit eternal life? As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'" "Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy." Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me." At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. Heaven and Hell #528 Living for heaven is not as hard as we think Leading a heaven-bound life is not as hard as people think. Some people think it is hard to lead a heaven-bound life (which is called a spiritual life) because they have heard that we must renounce the world, give up the desires of the body and the flesh, and live like spiritual beings. The only way they can grasp this is that it means we must reject what is worldly (especially wealth and status), walk around in constant pious meditation on God, salvation, and eternal life, and pass our lives praying and reading the Bible and devotional literature. They think that this is renouncing the world and living from the spirit instead of from the flesh. But a great deal of experience and discussion with angels has shown me that this is not the case at all. In fact, people who renounce the world and "live from the spirit" in this way build up a sad life for themselves--one that is not receptive of heavenly joy; for we each continue in our own way of life. On the contrary, if we are to accept heavenly life, we absolutely must live in the world, involved in its business dealings and tasks. Then, through a moral and civil life, we receive a spiritual life. This is the only way a spiritual life can be formed in us, and our spirit be prepared for heaven. For living an inward life and not an outward life at the same time is like living in a house with no foundation, which gradually either sinks down, or develops cracks and holes, or sags until it collapses. Sermon: What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8) Today, as we end our regular church year, I am concluding a series of three sermons on the basic teachings of our church. On the first two Sundays in May, we looked at our beliefs about the Lord and the Bible. Today we will talk about what it means to live a spiritual life and be "saved," to use a popular Christian term. I imagine that some people who pass by our church and read today's sermon topic, "Living the Good Life," on the wayside pulpit, may get a chuckle as the imagine a sermon touting the joys of a Caribbean cruise, or the pleasures of a new Jacuzzi, or even the wonders of a particular brand of beer. In fact, I was chuckling a bit as I put the topic up! Yet this raises a real question--in fact, to the very question we are addressing this morning: What is "the good life"? From a materialistic perspective, having the money to take a cruise or buy a new Jacuzzi or even share a beer with some buddies would be real contenders in a contest to determine what it means to live the good life. The winner of such a contest would be as individual as the people doing the judging. Some might think that having a big house, a nice car, and a high-powered job would do the trick. Others may think more of physical pleasures--getting a good "catch" in a mate, and maybe doing a little fooling around on the side here and there when some other good-looking person catches their eye. Others may think in terms of recreation: having plenty of time to go boating or skiing or hunting. Still others may figure they'll have it made when they have reached a position of power, influence, and respect in their chosen occupation. In a sense, there is nothing wrong with any of these--except the adultery part, of course, and any other immoral, unethical, and unlawful ways of pursuing our goals and pleasures. Swedenborg insists that outwardly, the life of a spiritual person is often virtually indistinguishable from the life of a selfish and materialistic person. Both of them live, love, work, and play more or less according to the rules and expectations of our society. Yes, a selfish and materialistic person may be more likely to break the rules and get into trouble. But the very threat of getting into trouble is enough to keep most people in line even if they see nothing inherently wrong with the things that society has made rules against--such as lying, stealing, killing, and committing adultery. The fact is, most of the time, most of the people live outwardly decent lives whether or not they have any devotion to God or to a spiritual life. And very few people--whether they are religious or not--live extraordinary lives of spiritual heroism. Most people live lives which, from the outside, look fairly ordinary. They grow up, get jobs, have families, have fun, worry about money, grow older, and eventually their lives on earth come to an end. This has led some Biblical literalists to conclude that we have fallen far from the teachings of Christ. They might point to our reading from the Gospel of Mark as an example of Christ's teaching that most of us simply do not and likely _would_ not follow. When the young man approached Jesus and asked him what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus first tells him, in effect, to follow the Ten Commandments. That was not enough to satisfy the young man, who pressed Jesus further. This was when Jesus told him that he must sell everything he had and give it to the poor, and then come and follow him. And the young man went away sad, because he was very wealthy. I imagine that most of us would react in about the same way if the Lord were to come to us and tell us we must sell everything we have and give it to the poor. How many of us would actually do what the Lord told us, after all of our lifelong struggles to secure for ourselves and our families the basic necessities of life--food, clothing, housing--and enough of those extra material pleasures to give us some relaxation and enjoyment in life? How many of us would simply give all of that away and begin a life of voluntary poverty? This passage and some others like it have been quoted to support an ideal of voluntary poverty and monastic self-denial as the highest form of Christian life. Yet I suspect this teaching of Jesus was individualized to the particular people he was talking to rather than being a general principle that _everyone_ must sell all they have, renounce the world, and live a life of religious devotion. We know that some of his followers were wealthy, and remained so even after they became his followers. For example, Joseph of Arimathea, who took the body of Jesus after the crucifixion and laid it in the tomb, is described as "a rich man . . . who was also a disciple of Jesus" (Matthew 27:57). Apparently Jesus had not told _him_ to sell all he had and give it to the poor! Jesus himself helps us out of this apparent dilemma when he says, in the verses following our reading from Mark, "How hard it is for those who _trust_ in riches to enter the kingdom of God" (Mark 10:24--emphasis mine). This, together with the knowledge that not all of Jesus' followers were told to sell all they had, puts a little different perspective on the commandment to the rich young man to sell all he had and give it to the poor. After the young man assured Jesus that he had kept the Ten Commandments from his youth, it says that Jesus looked at the young man and _loved him_. Jesus loved this young man because of his commitment and devotion to doing what was right. And yet Jesus realized something the young man himself seems to have felt: there was still something lacking in his spiritual life. Even after following the letter of the law, he did not feel "saved." He still wanted to know how he could inherit eternal life. Something was holding him back. As Jesus looked into this man's eyes and his heart, he saw the blockage. What was holding this young man back was his trust in his wealth, which was stronger than his trust in the Lord. Instead of following the Lord, he went away sad. For the time being at least, the wealth won. If Jesus were to look into _our_ eyes and _our_ heart right now, what would he see as the blockage that is preventing _us_ from living a fully devoted spiritual life? Would it be too great a focus on material possessions as it was for this young man? Would it be our inability--or unwillingness--to forgive some person or group of people for the damage we believe they have done to us? Would it be an overdeveloped sense of guilt for the ways in which we fall short of our ideals in our daily lives? Would it be some particular destructive habit that we have long since resigned ourselves to? Would it be a sense of our own inadequacy to live a truly spiritual life? Jesus _is_ looking into our eyes and our heart right now, and Jesus _does_ know what is holding us back from living a full and joyous spiritual life. And though we do not have the same penetrating, divine insight into our own inner character that the Lord does, each one of us has heard enough of the Lord's message, and knows enough about ourselves, to have some idea of where we need to go from here. Each one of us knows at least some of the rough areas in our attitudes, our feelings, our actions to know what part of ourselves we must "sell off" in order to follow Jesus more fully. This is exactly what our church teaches that we must do in order to be "saved" and find our way to heaven. It is not necessary to give up all our material possessions and every earthly pleasure. It is not necessary for us to "renounce the world" and go to a convent or a monastery to spend our life in prayer and religious contemplation. Rather, it is necessary that in every situation we face, we do our best to avoid and put out of our mind the things that we are commanded not to do in the Bible, and instead live in the way the Lord teaches us to live. As Swedenborg expresses it later in the same chapter in _Heaven and Hell:_ We can now see that it is not as hard to lead a heaven-bound life as people think, because it is simply a matter, when something comes our way that we know is dishonest and unfair-- something our mind pushes us toward--of thinking that we should not do it because it is against the divine teachings. If we get used to doing this, so that it becomes almost habitual, then little by little we are united with heaven. As this happens, the higher levels of our mind are opened; and as they are opened, we see things that are dishonest and unfair; and as we see them, they can be broken apart. For no evil can be broken apart until we see it. (_Heaven and Hell_ #533) Didn't I say earlier that selfish and materialistic people also usually avoid doing things that are immoral and unlawful? Yes, but there is a difference that is absolutely crucial. Selfish and materialistic people avoid doing what is wrong so that they wont get into trouble. If they thought there would be no bad consequences, they would go ahead and break the law. People who are on a spiritual path avoid doing what is wrong, not just because they'll get into trouble (though that does sometimes help!) but _because the Lord says it is wrong._ In other words, spiritual people avoid what is wrong simply because it is wrong, and do what is right simply because it is right, according to the teachings of the Lord in the Bible. Our intention to follow the Lord and to love our fellow human beings is what makes a life that outwardly seems common and ordinary into a life that is spiritual--and that leads us to heavenly joy. As the prophet Micah said so beautifully, "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@ssr.edu Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Sun Aug 13 17:58:14 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 13 Aug 2000 13:58:14 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: The Blood of the Covenant, by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20000813083320.00c57460@pop.ne.mediaone.net> The Blood of the Covenant By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Fryeburg New Church Assembly Thursday, August 10, 2000--First Lecture Here's fair warning: My reasons for choosing "The Blood of the Covenant" had nothing to do with feeling that I was especially well-versed in this topic, or that I had a lot to say to you about it. In fact, I was attracted to this topic mainly because I've spent a lot of time debating fundamentalist Christians this past year--both online and in person. These folks have an entirely different way of viewing the Bible than what I grew up with. And to be quite honest, some of the passages they brought forward about being saved through Christ's blood had me scratching my head. So part of my reason for taking this particular topic was to give myself an excuse to do some reading and thinking about "the blood of the covenant" mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments. I know that from a Swedenborgian perspective, those passages can be explained through reference to the spiritual sense. And we will get into that during this hour. However, almost by definition a fundamentalist _is_ a fundamentalist because he or she takes the Bible _literally_. This means that traditional Swedenborgian interpretations based on the spiritual sense of the Bible, which we take for granted, simply won't fly with fundamentalists. Does this make it impossible to find any common ground with fundamentalist Christians? Let's face it: some of our beliefs directly contradict statements made in the literal sense of the Bible. For example, the Bible says, "God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath every day" (Psalm 7:11). We say God is never angry with anyone, and that when the Bible mentions the wrath of God it is an "appearance of truth." In other words, the way it is written in the Bible is how it often appears _to us_ in our less-than-perfect grasp of spiritual reality; but looked at deeper, the real truth is different. Yes, we do have some problems talking to fundamentalist Christians based on the literal sense of the Bible. (Though some of their core beliefs are contradicted in the literal sense of the Bible as well!) However, I believe it is too easy an out to simply throw up our hands and say, "It's no use to talk to people who take the Bible literally; there's no common basis for a discussion." Swedenborg also wrote: In the sense of the letter all things that teach the way to salvation, and so to life and faith, stand out clearly. And every doctrine of the church is to be drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word and confirmed by it, and not by the pure spiritual sense. Union with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord, is not given by the spiritual sense alone, but by the sense of the letter. And the Divine inflow of the Lord through the Word is from firsts through lasts. (_The Word of the Lord from Experience_ #15. See also _True Christian Religion_ #229) And even more plainly: It might be thought that the doctrine of genuine truth could be acquired by means of the spiritual sense of the Word, of which we are granted knowledge by correspondences. However, doctrine is not acquired through this, but is merely illustrated and confirmed. For a person who knows a few correspondences can falsify the Word by combining and applying them to prove whatever the principles he has adopted and established in his mind. What is more, the spiritual sense is not granted to anyone except by the Lord; and he guards it just as the heaven of the angels is guarded, for this heaven possesses this sense. (_True Christian Religion_ #230) This suggests to me that we _do_ have a basis for discussing religion even with fundamentalist Christians. They draw their doctrine from the literal sense of the Bible; according to Swedenborg, so should we. If we find ourselves speechless in the face of a Bible-quoting fundamentalist--and especially if we find ourselves thought-less--perhaps we simply do not have a thorough enough knowledge of the Bible in its plain, ordinary, literal meaning. Incidentally, when speaking with traditional Christians, "the Bible" means the entire _Protestant_ Bible, including the books we Swedenborgians do not consider to be a part of the Word of God because they do not have a spiritual meaning. In particular, you cannot discuss doctrine effectively with fundamentalist Christians without a working knowledge of the Epistles (the letters of the Apostles), since that is where most of their doctrine is drawn from. If you haven't read the Epistles, please do! There is no need to yield these books to the fundamentalists. Swedenborg calls the writings of the Apostles "good books of the church, insisting on the doctrine of charity and its faith as strongly as the Lord himself has done in the Gospels and the Book of Revelation, as may be seen and found evident by all who, while reading them, focus their attention on these points" (From Swedenborg's third letter to Dr. Beyer, In R.L. Tafel's _Documents Concerning Swedenborg_ #224). My reading of the Bible since beginning to engage fundamentalist Christians in conversation has convinced me that the Bible--including the Epistles--really does not support their position very well, even in its literal sense. Yes, there are some individual passages that can be tough to deal with. And it does not serve us well to approach fundamentalist Christians with too cocksure an attitude on _our_ part. But taken as a whole, the Bible simply doesn't teach that faith alone saves, nor does it teach a trinity of persons, nor does it teach the Vicarious Atonement. As Swedenborg said, these traditional Protestant doctrines are based on only a few passages in the Bible, which are misunderstood and taken out of context. However, if we do choose to engage fundamentalist Christians in conversation, I would suggest that we not do it with the idea that we are going to change their minds by proving to them that the Bible does not support their beliefs. Swedenborg is also careful to say that "the genuine truth in the literal sense of the Word, on which doctrine is based, is not visible to any but those who are enlightened by the Lord" (True Christian Religion #231). In other words, if people's eyes have not been opened to see deeper truths in the Bible, _they simply will not see it_, even if the words are right in front of their eyes. I have repeatedly quoted for fundamentalist Christians the one and only use of the phrase "faith alone" in the Bible. It occurs in James 2:24, and it _specifically rejects_ faith alone as saving. It reads, "You see that a person is justified by works, and not by faith alone." Yet instead of accepting that plain teaching of the literal sense of the Bible, they will either ignore it, or quote passages from Paul in an attempt to show that faith alone _does_ save us, or resort to convoluted arguments as to why James did not mean what he said. They simply do not see that their teaching is not supported by the Bible; and everything they read, they interpret according to _their_ doctrine. They have every right to do this. We do the same. So in talking to fundamentalist Christians, aside from the pure exchange of views, I have adopted the goal of attempting to soften some of their hardest positions on such things as the idea that all people outside of their particular belief system will go to hell, and to plant some seeds that may, when they are spiritually ready for it, grow into a deeper view of the Bible. The benefit for _us_ in engaging fundamentalist Christians in conversation is that it causes us to go back to the Bible and sharpen our understanding of our own beliefs, and the ways in which they are supported (or not!) in the Bible. I believe that one of the reasons for the success of fundamentalist churches, under the Lord's providence, is that they are leading many people back to a study of the Bible. If engaging fundamentalists in doctrinal conversation leads a few _Swedenborgians_ back to a study of the Bible in its literal sense, and to think more deeply on how our own beliefs may be found there, that would be a good thing! This is exactly what my conversations with fundamentalists has done for me with regard to the meaning of the Biblical phrase "the blood of the covenant." I do not want to dwell too long on fundamentalist views of the blood of the covenant and the blood of Christ. But it may serve to put our views in sharper relief if I say a few words about what could be viewed as the primary opposition to our view of atonement and salvation. Perhaps the crudest of version of Vicarious Atonement theology, based very much on the "wrath of God" is expressed in an old hymn by Isaac Watts: Come, let us lift our joyful eyes Up to the courts above, And smile to see our Father there Upon a throne of love. Once 'twas a seat of dreadful wrath, And shot devouring flame Our God appeared "consuming fire," And Vengeance was his name. Rich were the drops of Jesus' blood That calmed his frowning face, That sprinkled o'er the burning throne, And turned the wrath to grace. Now we may bow before his feet, And venture near the Lord; No fiery cherub guards his seat, Nor double-flaming sword. The peaceful gates of heav'nly bliss Are opened by the Son; High let us raise our notes of praise, And reach th' almighty throne. To thee ten thousand thanks we bring, Great Advocate on high; And glory to th' eternal King, That lays his fury by. In this version, the blood of the new covenant--Christ's blood--bought our salvation by turning away the God's wrath toward the whole human race because of our sinful nature. The death of Jesus on the cross was the perfect sacrifice, and when God sees the very literal blood of his son Jesus as he dies on the cross, this appeases his wrath, and turns it to mercy toward all those who believe that Jesus died instead of them. A somewhat less bloodthirsty version of the Vicarious Atonement focuses less on wrath and more on God's justice. In this version, the perfect justice of God the Father must be satisfied. And yet, since we are all sinful by nature, we can never reach the perfection demanded by God's justice; on our own we would all fall under eternal condemnation. Therefore, to save us, Christ lived a perfect life and became a perfect sacrifice, giving his life for us. This formed a new covenant between God and human beings with Christ as the mediator, taking away the penalty of our sins by shedding his own sinless blood on the cross and suffering the penalty of death instead of us, thus satisfying the perfect justice of God the Father. We are saved "vicariously" by believing that Christ died instead of us. Now, I recognize that for some people whose minds do not reach very far above physical conceptions of reality, these beliefs can be very meaningful. Swedenborg takes a step in their direction when he writes: For those who may be so simple-minded as to be unable to think with their understanding about anything other than what they see with their eyes, I advise them, when they take the bread and wine, and then hear the Lord's flesh and blood mentioned, to think to themselves that Holy Supper is the holiest act of worship, and to remember Christ's passion and his love for man's salvation. For he says, "Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19); and, "The Son of Man came to give his soul as a ransom for many" (Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45); and, "I lay down my life for the sheep" (John 10: 15, 17; 15:13). (_True Christian Religion_ #709) Still, what strikes me about the Vicarious Atonement is that there is a misdirected emphasis on changing _God_, when _we_ are the ones who need changing! In both the wrath-based version and the justice-based version of the Vicarious Atonement, Christ came to change God's mind about us. God the Father was angry with us because of our sin, or felt obliged to condemn us for our sin. Christ's act of perfect sacrifice on the cross turned God's wrath into love, or satisfied God's justice so that he could express love instead of condemnation toward us. Either way, Christ's blood on the cross accomplishes this change in God. Granted, the Bible in its literal sense does talk about God changing his mind. However, the Bible is not simply God's Word, but God's word _to us_. In order to put the infinite truth of God into a form that our limited, finite minds can grasp, it must be put into an outward form that addresses the human perspective. This means that it sometimes talks in terms of the way things look to us, instead of the way they look to God. The Bible itself tells us, "I, the Lord, do not change" (Malachi 3:6), and in another place, "God is not a mortal, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill it?" (Numbers 23:19). The problem with the Vicarious Atonement is that it aims to reconcile God to human beings, when it is we who need to be reconciled to God. Paul expresses it this way: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled _us to himself_ through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling _the world to himself_ in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: _be reconciled to God_. (2 Corinthians 5:17-20, emphasis mine) This begs us to take a different view of the blood of the covenant than that of traditional Protestant doctrine. The blood of the covenant is meant to reconcile _us_ to _God_. Paul gives us a big hint about how this takes place in the first verse just quoted: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" The blood of the new covenant--the blood of Christ--is meant to banish our old self and make us into a new creation. According to Swedenborg, this is precisely what the covenant is all about: "A covenant" means nothing but spiritual rebirth and the things that relate to rebirth. This becomes clear from many places in the Bible where the Lord himself is called "the Covenant." For it is he alone who brings about our rebirth, to whom a reborn person looks, and who is the All in all of love and faith. . . . From this it is now clear what . . . "the blood of the covenant" is, namely, it is the Lord himself (Exodus 24:6, 8), who alone brings about our rebirth. So "a covenant" is rebirth itself. (_Arcana Coelestia_ #666) Paul and Swedenborg agree, then, that the new covenant offered to us by Jesus Christ as he appears in the New Testament is one that involves a complete change in us, reconciling us to God by causing us to be reborn as a new creation in God's image. What role does the blood of the covenant play in this change that must take place in us in order for us to be reconciled to God? I would suggest that even based on the _literal_ sense of the Bible, the blood of the new covenant is meant to be taken almost entirely non-literally--that is, spiritually. I say _almost_ entirely because there is a very literal sense in which God showed the depth of his love for us by his willingness to come to us in human form and suffer everything we fallen, evil humans could throw at him--up to and including a painful and bloody death. As Jesus himself says, "No one has greater love than this: that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). Christ did literally shed his blood for us, showing us right down to the physical level that his love for us is so great that he will hold back _nothing_ in order to save us. This is not a mere sidelight of salvation, but a part of its essential nature. We Swedenborgians sometimes spiritualize Scripture so much that we miss direct and powerful meanings that are right there in the literal sense. When Jesus was telling his disciples about his impending death on the cross, he said, "when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to me" (John 12:32). If we put this together with his statement about the love shown by laying down our life for our friends, we have a literal picture of how the blood of Christ shed on the cross can bring about change in us. We are _drawn_ to Christ when we feel the infinite, divine love which would give _everything_ for us, even when, on our own, we are selfish, greedy, fallen creatures with little to recommend us to _anyone's_ love. This also gives us a clear path to seeing the deeper meaning of the blood of the covenant, which even the literal sense of the Bible draws us toward. To be blunt, if we attempt to take the blood of the covenant too literally, the result is disgusting. Consider this passage from John, which was so difficult that when Jesus originally said it, we are told that "from this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him" (John 6:66): Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. All who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink." (John 6:53-55) Who volunteers to take this literally? The disciples didn't. And Jesus never offered them his literal flesh to eat nor his literal blood to drink. In fact, he very pointedly substituted a _symbolic_ blood--wine--for his literal blood at the last supper. We read: This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 26:28. See also Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20) Even as various disciples were deserting him after he spoke about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, he was saying to them, "Does this offend you? . . . The spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life" (John 6:61, 63). The Bible does not get much more explicit in saying that a particular statement is meant to be interpreted spiritually rather than physically. Many other passages could be quoted from the Bible to show that the primary meaning and intent of the blood of the covenant was spiritual rather than literal even when the Old and New Testaments were originally written. Swedenborg collects many of these passages in various places, including _Arcana Coelestia_ #1001, 4735, 6804, and 9392-9401; _Apocalypse Revealed_ #379; and _True Christian Religion_ #706. It would take much too long to bring all those passages forward, so I would simply recommend that if you are interested, you read these sections from Swedenborg yourself. For now, let's take a brief look at what the blood of the covenant may mean to us spiritually and personally. Jesus said, "No one has greater love than this: that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). Christ's blood on the cross, then, as he laid down his life for us, was a demonstration of _infinite divine love_. And though later in his works Swedenborg interprets blood--and the wine that represents it in the Holy Supper--as divine _truth_, his first explanation of the blood of the covenant in the earlier numbers of the _Arcana_ is that it represents the Lord's divine _love_ (_Arcana Coelestia_ #1001). It would be a fascinating sidebar to see what the context was that caused this shift of the meaning of blood from love to truth. What is important for us now is to realize that if we take the flesh and blood of the Lord together, they represent the "substance" of who he is. What _is_ the substance of God? The Apostle John answers this question very clearly: "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love" (1 John 4:8). And he continues a little later, "We know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him" (1 John 4:16). Truth is also a part of the essential nature of God. The Gospel of John opens by saying, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). Later, the same Gospel says, in words that we use in our traditional Communion service, "Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth" (John 17:17). What emerges is a picture of the flesh and blood of Christ being, not literal flesh and blood, which "counts for nothing" and would involve death, but instead the true, divine flesh and blood: the substance and nature of God, which is his divine love and divine truth. If you have difficulty reading Bible passages that speak of sprinkling the blood of the covenant on the people, or washing us clean in the blood of the Lamb, or eating Christ's flesh and drinking his blood, try the simple experiment of substituting "love" for "flesh" and "truth" for "blood." If you do this, you will find that these passages explode with meaning! It is the meaning of the Lord's love and the Lord's truth continually available to us, and their power to transform us into entirely new beings when we open ourselves up to God's presence on all levels of our being--head, heart, and hands. I can think of no better way to conclude than to give you an example, using the passage quoted earlier from John 6:53-55. As you listen, picture yourself eating and drinking with your spirit--absorbing the Lord's presence into your loves, your feelings, your attitudes, your thoughts--and you will see how this blood of the new _spiritual_ covenant can, indeed, transform each one of us into an entirely new creation: Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the _love_ of the Son of Man, and drink his _truth_, you have no life in you. All who eat my _love_ and drink my _truth_ have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my _love_ is real food, and my _truth_ is real drink." From leewoof@mediaone.net Wed Aug 23 18:21:24 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 23 Aug 2000 14:21:24 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Signing on the Dotted Line," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20000823120126.00c683d0@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Signing on the Dotted Line By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Fryeburg New Church Assembly Friday, August 11, 2000, Second Lecture All this week we are talking about covenants. As our lecturers have explained already, a covenant is sort of the religious version of a contract. As you know, in order for a contract to take effect, the parties to the contract must sign on the dotted line. That's what I'm going to talk about this morning. Tomorrow morning, after the ink has already dried on the paper and your fate is sealed, George Dole's lecture on "Reading the Fine Print" will give you a better idea of what you just got yourself into! Isn't that the way it happens in real life? It's only _after_ we do something like get married or have a baby or take a new job or buy a used car that we find out about the "fine print" on what we just did. The Lord seems to purposely arrange it that way. If we knew beforehand what we were getting ourselves into, we'd probably never sign on the dotted line in the first place! Usually, we learn about as much as we need to know in order to make it through the next few steps. Life is definitely a learn as you go process. We "sign on the dotted line" when we make a _commitment_ to whatever it is that we're "signing up" for. In a business contract, we commit ourselves or our company to provide the goods or services specified in the contract, or to pay for those goods and services. In a wedding service, we commit ourselves to love, honor, and be faithful to the person we are marrying. What do we commit ourselves to when we "sign on the dotted line" of the living, growing covenant we've been talking about this week? In the words of the Psalmist, we "commit our way to the Lord" (Psalm 37:5). That's a very broad commitment! Yet the Lord is never satisfied with halfway measures. The Lord wants our entire lives. Let's read a little more of this Psalm. It gives an outline of the covenant, and may provide what we need to know for now about our part of the covenant, and God's part. Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret--it leads only to evil. For evil people will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace. . . . Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever. For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones (Psalm 37:3-11, 27, 28) Let's take a look at this covenant. First, we are told to "trust in the Lord and do good." Trust in the Lord. That's not always easy. We tend to want to trust in ourselves. As the old saying goes, "if you want it done right, do it yourself." We tend to think that no one else could be as competent as we are to take on the task in front of us. We aren't always so sure that even the Lord is going to do a good job of it. What about this marriage thing? We know all about our partner's problems, and is God really going to keep them on track if we don't make it our business to do it? Can we really let go of the situation, put it in God's hands, and trust that God will bring the best possible result? Another thing we tend to trust in more than God is money. If we can just make enough money, we'll be able to take care of ourselves, and we won't need any outside help--including God's help. From a material standpoint, being self-supporting is not a bad idea. I recommend it over expecting everyone else to support us without shouldering our share of the burden. But we can take this individualism thing too far. And we do take it too far when our level of competence at supporting ourselves materially "goes to our head" spiritually so that we think we don't have to trust in the Lord to get us through the difficult times in life--and give us direction in the better times, too. Speaking of direction, the full line of the Psalm is "trust in the Lord and do good." You may think that "doing good" is too broad a direction. Of course, we'll need to refine this in our own lives. But doing good rather than doing evil is where we all need to start. Most things in life are not black and white. But when we look at the biggest picture, we will find that even though we do live on the borderline where black and white mix into gray, there is black, and there is white. And from the gray area in which we live, we can move either toward the darkness or toward the light. When life is boiled down to the basics, that choice of black or white, falsity or truth, good or evil is the most fundamental and the most significant choice we have in front of us here on earth. Which particular form of good or evil we get involved in is less significant than whether we point ourselves toward the evil or toward the good. After all, whatever direction we point ourselves in here on earth, that's the direction we'll be going in to eternity. And eternity is an awfully long time! "Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture." Though it is not labeled as such, the second line is the part of Lord's side of the covenant. _If_ we trust it the Lord and do good, _then_ the Lord will ensure that we dwell in the spiritual land of the Lord's kingdom, and enjoy the safe pasture of having all the activities of our daily lives fed with the nourishing pasturage of a living, growing understanding of the ways of the Lord. When we trust in the Lord and do good, we find that the Lord does feed us each day with exactly the kind of spiritual food required to satisfy our present need. Next, we are told, "delight yourself in the Lord." When we _delight_ ourselves in the Lord, we take a step beyond trust. We trust when we're not sure ourselves, but we're willing to place our lives in God's hands, with the expectation that something good will come. When we delight ourselves in the Lord, we are already experiencing that goodness! Spiritual life is not meant to be a dreary affair of doing good just because we know we ought to. Rather, when we not only trust in the Lord and do good, but take delight in the goodness of loving and serving others, we find true joy and happiness. That is what Psalm 37 promises: "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." What are the desires of our heart? If we trust in ourselves and in money, the desires of our heart have something to do with getting better positions for ourselves, more status, a better-paying job, and more of the comforts and luxuries of life on this earth. And our teachings tell us that we _are_ allowed to go after these things from our own prudence, and even to acquire them for ourselves. But this would not be trusting in the Lord; and there is no promise that we will gain the desires of our heart this way. We may fail, and end out struggling along like the bulk of humanity. Or we might gain it all, and then lose it even faster than we gained it. Or we may gain it, and maintain it, and find that we are still not satisfied. If the desires of our heart have to do with material things and our own fortunes, then our satisfaction in life will rise and fall as our outward fortunes rise and fall. And oftentimes we will be at the mercy of economic and social forces over which we have no control. When we make a covenant with the Lord, it is different. If, instead of delighting in material things and in our own position and influence, we delight ourselves in the Lord, then the Lord _will_ give us the desires of our heart. Because then the desire of our heart will be to love and serve the Lord through loving and serving our fellow human beings. And there is no shortage of ways to love and serve other people. When we take our delight in this, then the desires of our heart are fulfilled each day. Every day, we can do something day that will bring some comfort and happiness to those around us. Our enjoyment of life does not have to wait for a big promotion, or a raise so that we can afford the new car we've been eyeing, or even a breakthrough in our closest relationships. As nice as these things may be, when we take our delight in doing good, we will be continually gaining the desires of our heart whatever our outward circumstances may be. From trusting in the Lord and delighting in the Lord, we move to _committing_ our way to the Lord. As I mentioned earlier, this is where we truly sign on the dotted line of our personal covenant with the Lord. We have begun to trust in the Lord. We have begun to take delight in the ways of the Lord. And the Lord has kept his side of the covenant by feeding our spirit daily and satisfying more and more of the desires of our heart. At this point, we may feel that we've read enough of the fine print that we can go ahead and commit our way to the Lord. We can make the decision that whatever may come our way, we are going to follow the path that the Lord is laying out in front of us. This is where we need to be to continue on our spiritual journey. Like a marriage, our relationship with the Lord can only go as deep as the commitment we are willing to make to stick with it through thick and thin. And like marriage, there are going to be some thin spots. But before we get there, we are given a beautiful promise: "Commit your way to the Lord, and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun." I love the progression. It is an image of sunrise, and the brightness building until it reaches its peak: the noonday sun. Our righteousness will shine like the dawn, and the justice of our course like the noonday sun. Isn't this what we want when we have committed our way to the Lord? To have our lives shine more and more with the beauty and brightness of the Lord's presence within us? When we love the Lord above all, and our neighbor as ourselves, we want our lives to be transformed into a living vessel that carries God's love and truth to those around us. When we commit our way to the Lord, the Lord's promise is that we _will_ be able to accomplish this. We _will_ become messengers of God's love and light to the people we encounter each day. However, this will not come easily. God gives us a lifetime to accomplish this transformation because for most of us, it _takes_ a lifetime. The Psalm is true to the way we experience life. When we sign a business contract, that's when the work of fulfilling it begins. When we take our vows at the altar, that's when a relationship shifts from the fun of falling in love to the oftentimes hard work of _being_ in love. And when we make our commitment to the Lord, that's when the hard work begins of facing and overcoming everything within us that would stand in the way of our fulfilling that commitment. It can take a lot of work, and a lot of patience. The Psalm continues, "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes." I suspect that when the Psalmist wrote this, he was thinking about evil in other people who could be identified as "the wicked." And the Psalm works at that level. It does us no good to fret and fume and let our own commitment to goodness be turned aside when we see or hear about someone accomplishing some dishonest or criminal act and getting away with it. Yes, it's wrong; and yes, if we're in a position to do something constructive about it, we should. What we _shouldn't_ do is decide that if others can get away with it, perhaps it's not so bad after all--and then head in that direction ourselves. That's fairly obvious. What may not always be so obvious is that at a deeper level, everything in the Bible applies to our own individual lives, and the "wicked schemes" that are being carried out are _within us_. We will get more out of the Bible if we apply everything in it to our own lives, rather than using it to point fingers at those "other people" who do not have the faith or the understanding or the moral fiber that we do. If we consider that the wicked schemes are really in ourselves--in our own minds and hearts--we can gain deeper wisdom from the Psalm. Our _intention_ to live according to the Lord's way does not always translate into _actually_ living according to the Lord's way. We all make mistakes and do things we shouldn't have. Sometimes, we "fall off the wagon" and take a big detour in our journey toward a better and more spiritual life. Sometimes, we never get on the wagon in the first place. To put it simply, sometimes we really make a mess of things. In its spiritual meaning, the Psalm is philosophical about this, too. "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret--it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land." When we get off the track, and start saying and doing things that we know are wrong--or simply descending into a negative attitude about our life, our work, the people around us--our tendency is to want to beat ourselves up for being so stupid and evil. "I'm just no good, I was crazy to think that I could really change and become anything different than that what I've always been." We fret; we get angry at ourselves; we scold ourselves and tell ourselves how worthless we are and how hopeless our situation is. Perhaps some good can come of this if through it, we realize that when we go our own way and trust in ourselves, we _are_ worthless and we will never break free of our old ways. But the Psalm suggests a different way of dealing with the situation. Instead of getting all worked up about it, don't fret; be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; refrain from anger and turn from wrath--because fretting leads only to evil. When we tell ourselves that we'll never get any better, our mind proceeds to make sure that this prophecy of ours comes true. But when we can quiet our own pronouncements and prescriptions, and simply wait for the Lord--for what the Lord will do for us--then we can have a new trust that, in the words of the Psalm, "evil people will be cut off." To apply this to the life within us, when we trust that the Lord is leading us, and wait patiently for the Lord's will to be done in us, while recommitting ourselves to our covenant with the Lord, then we can trust and know that the evil in us will be cut off. There will be a time when we will no longer feel driven toward the particular vices that we are now prone to. As we pick ourselves up and renew our commitment to the Lord, the Lord will make further inroads into our hearts, and will continue the work of removing even the _desire_ to indulge in our old ways. It is true that we have no power at all to change what is in our hearts. But the Lord does. In _Divine Providence_ #100, Swedenborg spells out what is our part of the covenant, and what is God's. He writes: It is a law of divine providence that we should remove evils as sins in our outer self by ourselves, and only then can the Lord remove the evils in our inner self, and at the same time in our outer self. Our "outer self" means our outward actions and the more outward, action-oriented parts of our minds. It is our job to get these straightened out. Of course, we must recognize that it is the Lord who gives us the power to do that. But beyond that recognition, it is up to us. If we don't make a real effort of our own, the Lord is not going to come in and do the work for us. Our part is to remove evils as sins in our outer self. The Psalm expresses this as not fretting (not having bad attitudes) and doing good--which involves not doing evil. When we keep our part of the covenant, the Lord will keep his. As we persist in not allowing the evil in our hearts to find expression in our lives, the Lord will cause that evil to wither from our hearts as well. To return to the Psalm, "A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you will look for them, they will not be found." Have you ever woken up one morning and realized that you no longer even _want_ to act the way you used to? That your old ways don't appeal to you at all anymore? It's a great feeling! After all that time spent struggling, refraining, correcting, and redirecting ourselves--keeping our part of the covenant--we suddenly realize that the Lord has kept his part! It is no longer a struggle. As the Lord promised us in the beginning, he has set us free from that particular evil in our character. The Psalm says, "The meek will inherit the land, and enjoy great peace." The meek, not in the sense of having no spine, but in the sense of being willing to lay aside our own will and submit ourselves to the Lord. The meek in the sense of not feeling that we must always stand up for our own pride, but can let insults and injuries roll off our back, while continuing to act with integrity and with love ourselves. This meekness of innocence toward the people around us through the innocence of allowing ourselves to be led by the Lord is what will "inherit the land" of our souls. This is the peace that will take over in our lives if we follow the way of the Lord. The Psalm sums it up this way: Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever. for the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@ssr.edu Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Wed Aug 23 18:21:31 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 23 Aug 2000 14:21:31 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Proprium," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20000823122525.00c883d0@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Proprium: You Can't Live With It, You Can't Live Without It By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Fryeburg New Church Assembly Monday, August 14, 2000, First Lecture Heredity is an amazing thing. I recall reading about a study of identical twins separated at birth, which found that as adults, these twins had many habits and mannerisms in common even though they had been brought up in entirely different families--crucial things such as whether they snap their pants first and then zip, or zip first and then snap! What I didn't realize was that lecture titles can also be passed on hereditarily. Both my father and I independently chose the saying, "you can't live with it, you can't live without it" as our subtitles. In this case, though, the first became last, and the last became first: I was given the first lecture for the week, and he was given the second. So I get to use the cute saying! Besides, my main title is shorter: "Proprium." And it needs more help. All joking aside, although I don't know just what my father will be saying in his two-part lecture this week, I have a sneaking suspicion that he will offer you a solid doctrinal basis for the concept of proprium. So I am going to attempt not to steal his thunder by looking, in this first lecture, at some of the ways we _experience_ proprium at various stages of our lives. However, since this is the first lecture of the week, I'd like to briefly define this word "proprium." Using the word "proprium" is a holdover from the hallowed practice among Swedenborg translators of leaving Swedenborg's words in Latin when we're not sure how to translate them into English. Some possible _real_ translations of this are: ego, selfhood, self-image. After connecting this Latin word with English, I intend to speak in English for the rest of the lecture. First, though, let's hear one of Swedenborg's own definitions of "proprium," using the traditional non-translation of the word. He writes: What is the proprium? The human proprium consists of everything evil and false that gushes out of self-love and love of the world. It involves our believing, not in the Lord or in the Bible, but in ourselves, and our imagining that what we do not grasp through sensory evidence or through facts does not exist at all. As a consequence, we become nothing but evil and falsity, and so we have a warped view of everything. We see things that are evil as good, and those that are good we see as evil; we see things that are false as true, and those that are true we see as false. We imagine realities to be nothing, and things that are nothing we imagine to be everything. We call hatred love, darkness light, death life, and vice versa. In the Bible, people like this are called "crippled and blind." This, then, is the human proprium, which in itself is hellish and is condemned. _Arcana Coelestia_ #210 Not a pretty picture. In these days of self-empowerment and taking pride in ourselves, Swedenborg's description of the human "proprium," or self-image, may seem old-fashioned and out of place. These days, the effort is to get away from that old concept of the human being as evil, sinful, and guilty from birth. Yet in doing away with the excesses of traditional Christianity relating to our supposed "hereditary sin," I believe that modern pop psychology has also done away with a critical concept: the concept of evil. We simply cannot face the realities of the human situation constructively without accepting the reality of evil both in our societal situation and in the human heart. My plan for this hour is to trace some of the origins of evil, first as a race, and then in our individual lives, and then follow out some of the ways this works itself out in our own experience as we build our sense of self. For those of you who are staying through to Sunday, my sermon on "Building a Heavenly Self" will look more specifically at how we can put away the old, evil self and put on a new, good and heavenly self from the Lord. Where does evil come from? This will be a bit of review for the Flames (teens) that were in my class last week. From the first chapter of the Bible, we learn that everything God creates is "very good" (Genesis 1:31) However, evil soon makes its way onto the scene. And it is highly significant that evil appears _after_ humankind (Adam) is created. In the second creation story in Genesis 2, there is a subtlety that is missed in some of the new translations. For example, in the New International Version, Genesis 2:9 reads: And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That's not what the Hebrew says. The New Revised Standard Version mirrors the King James Version almost exactly in its translation: Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is much closer to the Hebrew. Did you notice the difference? In the first translation, both the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil are placed "in the midst," or in the center, of the garden. But the Hebrew places the tree of _life_ in the midst of the garden, and does not specify where the tree of knowledge of good and evil was planted. The tree of knowledge of good and evil _does_ find its way to the center of the garden. However, it is not God, but Eve who places it there. In chapter 3, when that crafty old serpent begins to tempt Eve by asking her "Did God say, 'You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?" Eve replies: We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, "You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die." (Genesis 3:2, 3) Which tree is in the middle of the garden? God placed the tree of life there. But Eve placed the tree of knowledge of good and evil there. This helps us to understand the origin of evil. What do these trees represent? We know that all life comes from God. So it stands to reason that the tree of life represents living from God: trusting in God's guidance, opening ourselves up to God's love and wisdom, living in the flow of the divine presence in our lives. How about the tree of knowledge of good and evil. In understanding the meaning of this tree, it is helpful to know that the Hebrew word for "knowledge" here implies much more than intellectual knowledge as we understand it. Rather, it has the sense of knowledge through _experience_. Another way of translating the name of this tree would be "the tree of experiencing both good and evil." When we eat from the tree of life--that is, live from the Lord--we experience good, but we do not experience evil, since there is no evil in the Lord, and the Lord will continually lead us in paths of righteousness. But when we stop listening to the Lord, and think we can figure things out for ourselves, then we spiritually "eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," and we begin to experience both good and evil. The critical issue in the Bible story is not so much the tree itself, as the disobedience to God that eating from the tree represents. It is when we are disobedient to God, meaning we stop listening to God and start deciding for ourselves what is good and what is evil, that we first begin to experience evil as well as good. Eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, then, is turning to ourselves to decide what is good and evil rather than turning to the Lord. Turning to the Lord means looking within and above ourselves, to divine and spiritual reality, in order to understand and decide what is good and evil. The alternative to this is to look to ourselves and things _outside_ of ourselves to determine what is good and evil. So eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil is deciding what is good and evil according to outward, physical appearances and our own self-derived understandings of those outward appearances. This, says Swedenborg, is the source of all evil: turning away from the Lord and toward self and material things. Turning away from the Lord in this way plunges us into all sorts of fallacies and falsities based on our own faulty perceptions of a physical reality that is, in itself, more appearance than reality. Once we humans did this as a race, we began a long downward plunge from our early state of spiritual innocence toward the fallen humanity. The salvation of this fallen humanity is the subject of the entire Bible starting with these early chapters in Genesis. Although we as individuals do not inherit _sin_ from our parents, grandparents, and ancestors before them, we are, as Swedenborg says, born into all kinds of _evil_. This we get both by nature and by nurture--both by faulty spiritual genetics and by being raised in an atmosphere that is a mix of goodness and evil, with evil often seeming much more attractive to us than goodness. As troubling as the concept of being "born into evil" is to the modern mind, an understanding of it is crucial to understanding the human situation from birth onwards. First, let's be clear that we are _not_ talking about so-called "original sin"--a doctrine that our church rejects. The balancing concept that we must understand is that although we are born into evil, we are also born in complete innocence. Sin, in Swedenborg's definition, is _intentionally_ doing evil. An infant cannot possibly do this, since infants do not even know what good and evil are, let alone how to distinguish them from one another and make a choice based on that distinction. If we are entirely innocent as babies, how can we be born into evil? There are at least two answers to this question. One of them I have already mentioned: we are born of imperfect parents into an imperfect society--"imperfect" being a euphemism for "at least partly evil." We inherit tendencies toward the evils that are in our parents and in our society, and we have a continual tendency to fall into these evils. This, plus hell itself, is the source all the evil we struggle against throughout our lives. However, there is another, somewhat more subtle way in which we are born into evil. As I mentioned before, when the tree of life is in the middle of the spiritual "garden" of our minds, this means that the Lord is at the center of our lives. However, when we are born, we do not even know that the Lord exists; therefore we cannot possibly put the Lord at the center of our lives. Instead, what is at the center of our lives when we are born is our own comfort, pleasure, and happiness. Although babies love to be around loving, caring people--and shine in their presence, giving smiles, reaching out to them, and later giving them hugs and love--what they care about most is their own comfort, physical and emotional. This becomes clear when they are uncomfortable. A baby that is hungry or tired or wet or hurt will express its discomfort in increasingly obstreperous ways no matter how the baby's mother or father or other caregiver is feeling at that point. When push comes to shove, babies don't really care about how their parents feel; they want to be taken care of, and they want to be taken care of NOW! This is the beginning of the rule of self in our lives. When we are babies, it is entirely innocent. Babies mean no harm to their parents when they cry all night. There is no sin involved. They are simply responding to what is most important to them: their own comfort. This is where we start, and it is from this focus on self as the central reality that we must grow into beings who put the Lord and the neighbor at the center. However, there is a very literal sense in which, as babies, we can't live without this assertive, dominant selfhood. It would be nice to think that all parents would always be so attentive to their babies and so perceptive of their babies' needs that they would continually take care of their needs without prompting throughout their babies' period of helplessness and dependence. But we live in an imperfect world full of imperfect people who make imperfect parents--parents who are dealing also with the incessant demands that an imperfect society makes upon them. If babies did not continually cry when there was something wrong, many parents would badly neglect their babies, sometimes leading to literal death. Even for parents who are doing their best, their baby's crying may be the only way they become aware that their baby needs to be taken care of. So at the start of our life, a focus on self ("proprium," in the old Latin terminology) is vital to our survival. We can't live without it. Yet as time goes on, it becomes harder and harder to live _with_ that infantile focus on self. We put up with it in babies because they are so cute and innocent. As they grow into toddlers and beyond, both their cuteness and their innocence begins to wane. When a baby cries and flails around because it is hungry, it tends to draw out our sympathy. When a three year old or a five year old does the same thing, it is more likely to elicit annoyance and exasperation! And whereas an infant's flailing around is usually harmless, a three to five year old can do real damage with those flying feet and fists! When this same infantile self-centeredness lasts into the teenage and adult years, we have a selfish, mean, and often violent person who draws little sympathy from anyone, but is universally condemned. What was once cute in a little child has now become "childishness." No one likes a "big baby." If we were to peel away the layers of socialization that most of us learn to put on as we grow up, I suspect we would find that infant ego still kicking and screaming away inside of us. However, it is also tempered by something more than socialization. As we leave infancy behind, we begin to develop new images of ourselves. Even toddlers consider it an insult to be called a baby. Toddlers are beginning to develop a sense of themselves as people who are competent and can make choices for themselves. What is the most popular word in the vocabulary of toddlers who are just learning to talk? "NO!" That popularity can last for a long time. When Chris (5) or Caleb (3 1/2) is in a grumpy mood, you can almost count on getting "no" as the answer to any question you care to ask. Even if you ask a question and ask its exact opposite, you'll get "no" in answer to both. (Occasionally we can break the spell by asking, "Do you want to say 'no'?") This "no" phase is a way for little people to assert themselves; to assert their ability to control what they will or will not think, feel, say, and do. As frustrating as it can be to parents, it is a necessary phase in the building of individual character and a sense of self in a growing person. Toddlers also love to say, "I can do it myself." Even if the parent could do it in one tenth the time, woe betide the parent who tries to cut in and expedite things! The usual result in my family is an incensed and crying child, with the only cure being to undo what I just did "for them" and let them do it all over by themselves! This, too, is part of the building of the new sense of self that takes over from the instinctual self-centeredness of infancy. As hard as it can be for parents to live with this new assertion of self, we cannot live as human beings without it. The Lord created each one of us as a unique individual so that we could contribute in our own particular way to the human community. Much of our life is spent in discovering the unique "self" that the Lord created us to be. All the stages of self-discovery in childhood and youth are a part of this process of discovery--a process that continues throughout our lives. In toddlers and young children, as long as the environment in which they are raised is reasonably stable and loving, the process of self-discovery and self-assertion is almost automatic. In fact, it's regular enough for child psychologists to name various phases according to their favorite human personality scheme, and attach those labels to fairly specific ages. The farther along we go in life, the less regular it becomes. Yes, there are events later in life that do bring about specific changes. Puberty. Arrival at adulthood. Marriage and child-raising. The empty nest. The physical changes of middle age. The physical decline of old age. The approach of death. However, although these life changes do force us to redefine our sense of self in relation to the material world, they do not necessarily or automatically bring about changes in our _spiritual_ sense of self. We can remain emotionally and spiritually infantile, or childish, or adolescent all the way through our lives if we do not make conscious choices to move forward in our sense of self. It is when we reach adolescence that rational choice first begins to be a major factor in the progress--or lack thereof--in our sense of self. As teenagers, we are not yet entirely responsible for ourselves, since we are usually still dependent on our parents for many of the necessities of life, and for our primary emotional support. But we have entered into the "trial run" phase leading to full adulthood. We can generally take care of ourselves quite well if we have a mind to. As we move from the early teen years to the later ones, we become capable of most, if not all, of the things that our parents can do. Yes, we still have more to learn. But unlike pre-adolescents, we could provide for ourselves if we had to. This is the period in which our sense of self is maturing into its adult form. Once again, there are literal ways in which we can't live without this sense of ourselves as capable individuals who can take care of ourselves. Our parents are not going to support us forever. As we reach adulthood, that responsibility is moved from their shoulders onto our own. If our sense of self is too weak or too distorted by the physical or emotional circumstances of our childhood and youth, we will have great difficulty making it physically and financially in the world. Instead of pulling our own weight, we will fall back on our parents or on other individuals and institutions who will take us under their wing like substitute parents. Or, in the worst cases, we may drift out into the streets, perhaps meeting our physical death through addiction, criminal activity, or other destructive circumstances. As we enter adulthood, then, a strong sense of self, or "proprium," is necessary for our physical and financial survival. It is also necessary for our _spiritual_ survival. As I said earlier, the Lord created each one of us as a unique individual in order to add our specific gifts and abilities to the greater whole of the human community. Our discovery of our unique loves, talents, and gifts--our "self"--is a necessary part of becoming the person and the angel that the Lord created us to be. Without that sense of self in us, there can be no connection with the Lord or with one another--a connection Swedenborg likens to a marriage. He writes: In the heavenly marriage, heaven, and so the church, is united to the Lord by means of the self (_proprium_), so much so that it exists within our very self; for _if there is no self, the union does not exist_. And when the Lord from his mercy instills into this self innocence, peace, and good, it still looks like the self, but it is now something heavenly and richly blessed. But the nature of the heavenly and angelic self gained from the Lord on the one hand, and the nature of the hellish and devilish self deriving from self on the other, is beyond description. The difference is like that between heaven and hell. (_Arcana Coelestia_ #252, emphasis mine) I'm sure other speakers will be dealing with the "heavenly self" as the week goes on, and as I mentioned, that is the topic of my Sunday sermon. For now I want to highlight Swedenborg's statement that "if there is no self, the union does not exist." If we do not have a clear sense of ourselves, we have no basis on which to make a connection with the Lord or with other people. We know the truth of this on the interpersonal level. If we do not know what we love and what our interests are, how can we form a strong and healthy relationship with a friend or marital partner who shares our loves and interests? The Lord does not want a relationship with undefined fluff balls, but with distinctly individual human beings who can love and understand in specific ways. That is why the Lord allows us to have a sense of self, a sense of having qualities that are "our own," even though in reality everything we have is the Lord's in us. This is the "necessary illusion of self-guidance" that my father will be talking about in the next lecture. As adults, we get into trouble--into the kind of self-image that we can't live with--when we take that illusion of self-guidance for the reality. When we truly believe that we are self-sufficient and able to guide and control our own lives without any outside help, including the Lord's help, then we have a hellish selfhood rather than a heavenly one. When we are in this state of mind, we do plunge ourselves into all kinds of illusions, and put ourselves onto a selfish and materialistic track that leads only downward. We can't live with this kind of selfhood. We may be able to live with it _physically_ for a while--though the changes and "accidents" of life tend to destroy that unrealistic sense of total self-reliance. In any case, we certainly won't live _spiritually_ unless we gradually chip away at that hell-derived sense of exclusive self-sufficiency and replace it with a sense of self based on a living relationship with the Lord. If we have built up a "healthy" sense of self through our childhood and youth, then as we arrive at adulthood we believe that we can take care of ourselves. We can't live without that sense of self. Yet it is the difficult and painful task of the remainder of our lives to tear down that very belief in our own self-sufficiency, and replace this dead and illusory sense of self that based on our own ability with the true, living sense of self that God gives us when we are willing to let our own self die so that we can be reborn from the divinely human self of the Lord. I expect we will return to this theme over and over as the week progresses. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@ssr.edu Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Wed Aug 23 18:22:35 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 23 Aug 2000 14:22:35 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Building a Heavenly Self," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20000823130146.00c88220@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Building a Heavenly Self By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Fryeburg, ME, August 20, 2000 Readings Deuteronomy 30:11-20 The offer of life or death Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so that we may obey it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so that we may obey it?" No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so that you may obey it. See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob Luke 9:18-27 Peter's confession of Christ Once when Jesus, was praying alone, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say that I am?" They answered, "John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered, "The Messiah of God." He strictly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone, saying, "The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." Then he said to them all, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God." Arcana Coelestia #5660 A heavenly self Our heavenly self comes from a new motivation that the Lord gives us. It is different from our own selfhood. When we receive a heavenly self, we no longer see only ourselves in everything we do and in everything that we learn and tell others about. Instead, we see our neighbor, the general public, the church, the Lord's kingdom, and the Lord himself. Sermon Jesus said, "Those who want to become my followers must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. For those who want to save their own life will lose it, but those who lose their life for my sake will save it. (Luke 9:23, 24) "Those who want to save their own life will lose it, but those who lose their life for my sake will save it." This is the paradox in which we live. The more we focus on our own wants and needs, the less alive and the more frustrated we feel; but the more we forget ourselves and simply _live_ from the best we know--which, in the end, is living from the Lord--the more alive and fulfilled we feel. This week at Fryeburg New Church Assembly we have been focusing on the human "proprium," a Latin word that means our ego, our sense of self, our self-image. This is what we identify as "I," whereas everything else we identify as "not I." To use my father's phrase, it is our "necessary illusion of self-guidance." Our self-ownership or selfhood _is_ an illusion. We know from our church's teachings and from common spiritual sense that everything good and true _comes_ from the Lord and _belongs_ to the Lord. So nothing good and true in us is really ours. We also know that evil and falsity are simply perversions of goodness and truth, with no real life of their own--so claiming them as ours is claiming an illusion on top of an illusion. Swedenborg is fond of saying that by ourselves, we are nothing but evil. But we could also say that by ourselves, we are _nothing at all_, since everything we have and everything we are flows into us either from the Lord or from hell. Nothing is really our own. Yet our _sense_ of self-ownership and selfhood is also entirely necessary. Without it we would never be able to exist as human beings. We could never do anything from free choice according to our own values and beliefs. This means we could have no real relationships with one another or with the Lord. So the Lord, who wants to be in relationship with us, gives us as a gift this sense of self-ownership. And the Lord allows us to do whatever we want with that sense of self possession--and thus with our lives. So here we are, living in this paradox. By ourselves we are nothing, and if we try to claim anything as our own, we automatically plunge ourselves into fallacies and illusions. Yet we are given the gift of _feeling_ that we own ourselves so that we can become truly human, and be in loving relationship with one another and with God. But most of the time we are not bending our brain around paradoxes, fallacies, and spiritual concepts. Most of the time, we are simply trying to get along in our lives and do what is in front of us--perhaps with some goal in mind as to where we want to be in an hour or a week or a month or a year or a decade from now. And even if we do have long-range goals, most of the time we are too busy with the tasks of our lives to be consciously thinking about those goals more than a fraction of the time. Yet as long as we _are_ driven by our own sense of self, having long-range goals is essential to moving forward in our lives. Without goals, we are leaves driven by the wind, blowing this way and that according to the various currents that swirl around us. So rather than starting with a rather depressing recitation of how we humans are born into evil, I would like to offer you one of the beautiful statements from Swedenborg about what we can hope for when we have run our course, fought our battles, and emerged as a new creation in the Lord. In _Arcana Coelestia_ #5660, a little later in the same number that I read from earlier, Swedenborg writes: When we are given a heavenly self, we enjoy a state of serenity and peace; for we trust in the Lord and believe that no evil at all can come to touch us. We also know that no strong evil desires can molest us. Further, when we have received a heavenly self we enjoy true freedom; for being led by the Lord is freedom, since we are then led within an atmosphere of goodness, from goodness, and toward goodness. So it is clear that we then enjoy bliss and happiness. There is nothing that can disturb us--no selfish love at all, and therefore no anger, hatred, or desire for revenge. Nor do we have any materialistic love. Because of this, we have no desire to deceive anyone, no fear, and no uneasiness at all. Now, if you already have no fear and no uneasiness at all in your life, feel free to take a blissful nap for the rest of this sermon! But for all the rest of us, let's take a look at this business of building a heavenly self. To be true to Swedenborg's statement here, I should say _being given_ a heavenly self. We are told both in the Bible and in Swedenborg that we can do nothing by ourselves, but everything good comes from the Lord as a free gift, given out of pure divine love and compassion. How, then, can we speak of building a heavenly self? The paradox that we live in is that even though we know in our better moments that everything we have and everything we are is really a gift from the Lord, we must act as if it were all up to us. If we sit around doing nothing, waiting for the Lord to flow into us with all that wonderful love, peace, joy, and bliss, we will never do anything at all--nor will the Lord be able to flow into us with anything but a continuation of the status quo. Even though we are merely vessels that can receive love and understanding from the Lord, we still must do the work--as if it were up to us--of making the vessel that is us receptive to the Lord's presence. This means giving up everything in our character and self-image that stands in the way of the Lord's living, growing presence of our lives. And this is what Jesus means when he tells us that if we try to hold onto our own life, we will lose it. Let's face it: when we start out on this journey of life, we are generally operating from a lot of faulty feelings and attitudes, which tend to be focused on our own happiness and comfort. And our _experience_ of holding onto our own lives is that if we don't stick up for our own needs, and go after our own happiness and comfort, nobody else is going to do it for us. From a material perspective, and in our current society, this is true. Yes, our parents will take care of our basic needs while we are growing up. But once we reach adulthood and are out on our own, it is up to us to provide for ourselves the necessities of life. In fact, one of the goals of our upbringing and education is that when we reach adulthood, we will have the knowledge and ability we need in order to support ourselves in this society. And it _is_ a healthy part of our spiritual journey to get to a point where we are pulling our own weight by contributing usefully to our community and the human economy generally. If most of us did not do this, our society would fall apart. The irony is that once we have spent all those years learning how to be self-sufficient, we have to spend just as many, if not more years learning to _give up_ our sense of self-sufficiency, and to trust in one another and in the Lord's leadership. Yes, most of us can support ourselves materially and get along reasonably well through our own work and initiative. But after we've proven to ourselves that we can do it, the challenge is gone and it simply becomes work. At that point, we may continue to go for more and better positions for ourselves, and more material possessions and accomplishments. But if we are at all open to the deeper dimensions of life, sooner or later we will become dissatisfied with what this world has to offer. Sooner or later we will want a deeper life. This deeper life is something we cannot acquire for ourselves. Yes, we can study the Bible and other spiritual books, go to church, look for spirit in nature, meditate, and so on. But true spiritual life comes only from a living relationship with the Lord. And a deeper, heavenly self can come only when we open ourselves up to the Lord's presence in our lives. This means that we must lay down all that carefully built up sense of being self-sufficient and in control of our own destiny. We must let our old self-image die so that a new self-image--one of being sustained each moment by the Lord--can take its place. It would be too much for us to do this all at once. We simply can't undo in one fell swoop the self-image we have built up for ourselves over so many years. Fortunately, we have the remainder of our lifetimes to work on it. And we can work on it little by little, letting one particular part of our old self-image die and replacing that with the new, heavenly self offered by the Lord before moving on and replacing some other part. In this way, we can keep our overall sense of being alive, while continual deaths of the old and rebirths of the new are taking place in our lives. We can picture it as the renovation of a house. If we move into a house that needs renovation, it is difficult, if not impossible, to do it all at once. For one thing, we have to _live_ in some of the rooms while we're renovating the others. So instead of doing it all at once, we do first one room, then another, then another. That way we always have a place to live while we're doing the renovations. When we first move in, of course, we are living in the old, unrenovated house. And we have to stay in the unrenovated parts at first, while we do the initial renovations on the most important rooms, or on the ones that need it most. While we're doing the renovations, the house can be quite a mess! We have to cram all our stuff into the rooms that aren't being worked on. Meanwhile, we have to keep carting away old plaster and rotten boards, while tracking sawdust all over the house and generally living in the midst of a construction zone. It is only as we finish each room that we can begin moving in and enjoying the fruits of our labors. Gradually we can move out of the still unrenovated parts so that we can take care of them in turn. This is how it is when we begin the task of building a heavenly self. For most of us, by the time we realize that our life is lacking in terms of love and understanding, compassion and mutual respect, we are already inhabiting a rather dilapidated spiritual house. We get so used to the peeling paint and rotten boards of our own thoughtless actions and self-centered attitudes that once we do open our spiritual eyes, we may be shocked by how much we have deteriorated spiritually. Yet this is exactly where the process of spiritual renovation begins. This is when we can begin to dismantle the old and faulty self we have built up, and replace it with the new, more loving and compassionate self that the Lord offers us. This is when we can begin to build a heavenly self. Yes, it's a nuisance to have to tear apart everything we've been building up all these years. It also requires a lot of humility to admit that we've made a mess of things, and a lot of faith and courage to turn our lives over to the Lord. But once we've had a vision of the "I" that we can become, the nuisance and the personal pain of renovating ourselves from the Lord becomes worth it. And once we start moving into those newly renovated "rooms" of our character as it is being rebuilt in the Lord's image, we can begin to enjoy the fruits of our spiritual labors. We should also realize that our previous labor is not lost. The house itself is still there, and much of its structure is preserved. The elements of character that we have built up over the years are not so much swept away as they are renewed and redirected toward higher motivations and higher goals. We will still be able to enjoy many of the familiar activities and relationships that we have developed over the years. But instead of our lives being tainted with too much concern for our own wants and needs--too much self-consciousness--we can go about our daily activities with the bright newness of living from an inner sense of love and understanding for one another, and a new peace in feeling God's presence within and around us. When we allow the Lord to build a new, heavenly self in us, our old doubts and fears, our old need to hide our "real" self from others, will be gone. In their place will be an inner peacefulness and trust, a sense of abiding mission and usefulness in life. We will know that whatever may come our way, God is with us, and our lives can continue to unfold to a rich and satisfying sense of communion with one another and with God. Our reading from Deuteronomy expresses this with a different image--the image of a journey to a rich, new land of spiritual promise: See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees, and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@ssr.edu Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Sun Sep 10 23:18:49 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 10 Sep 2000 19:18:49 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Building a City of God," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20000910160953.00cb9b30@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Building a City of God By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, September 10, 2000 Readings Daniel 12:1-4: The end times At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people--everyone whose name is found written in the book--will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Revelation 21:1-4, 22-27: The New Jerusalem And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away." . . . And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine on it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day; for there shall be no night there. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defiles, neither that works abomination, or makes a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. Apocalypse Revealed #194: The meaning of the New Jerusalem "And the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem" (Revelation 3:12) means that the teachings of the New Church will be written in their hearts. "The New Jerusalem" means the New Church. And when it is called "a city," it means the New Church as to its teachings. So "writing upon him the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem," means that the teachings of the New Church will be written on their hearts. Sermon And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:2) Good morning! It is so good to be back in the pulpit at the beginning of another church year. It hardly seems possible that we could already be starting our fifth year together, but as they say, time flies when you're having fun! I am beginning this year with a sense of excitement and optimism about our church. All summer I've been half-jokingly telling people that all that was needed to revitalize our church was for the minister to leave for three months! Then, of course, I go on to tell them about how the sharing that this congregation did with one another during my sabbatical brought everyone closer together, and gave everyone here a new sense of what this church means to the people we are sharing the pews with each week. It was a surprise and a delight to come back to the church in March and find new faces in the pews--a trend that continued throughout the spring. And when we had over a dozen people for our summer Planning Committee meeting following our service on July 23, _everyone_ sensed that things were moving forward for this church--that there is a new spirit growing in our congregation. This new spirit has been growing here for a long time. This past year simply brought it up to the surface where we all saw it clearly. The extra effort we've been putting out over the past several years has begun to bear fruit. The new people and new energy has already led to new activities, including the ongoing monthly women's reading and discussion group, the biweekly crafts night, and the new weekly Wednesday evening Bible study. It is exciting to be involved in the church at a time when this new life and new promise is sweeping through the congregation! This new life is not limited to our congregation. It is being felt throughout our denomination, the Swedenborgian Church. The theme of this year's Swedenborgian Church convention was "Building a City of God." A sense of revival, renewal, and growth--both in spirit and in numbers--was evident in the various presentations, workshops, business sessions, and services held at the convention. Now, as we begin a new church year together, I suggest that "building a city of God" is exactly what this church has been engaged in throughout its 176 years of existence. What does it mean to build a city of God? Of course, this refers to the holy city that we read about in the Book of Revelation: the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. This is the city that our church is named after. And the words that come out of heaven as the Holy City descends are written in golden letters over our chancel: "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them." What does it all mean? The exciting and challenging belief of this church is that the New Jerusalem is descending out of heaven from God right now! That we are living in the time prophesied by John! And that we can be participants in building that heavenly city here on earth! The New Jerusalem, according to Swedenborg, is not a literal city that will come down from the sky. Rather, it is a new church--meaning a whole new spiritual era--which is now dawning upon this earth. We are privileged to be born and live in a time when the Lord is bringing about a complete renewal of the spiritual life of humankind. And though we are only one small church, I believe that if we are ready and willing to be active participants in this new spiritual development, we have some vital building materials to offer for its construction. It is significant that the symbol of this new spiritual era is a _city_, rather than a return to the Garden of Eden. Swedenborg tells us that when the New Jerusalem is referred to as a city, it involves a special focus on the teachings, or "doctrine," of the church that is represented by the New Jerusalem. One of the greatest building materials our church has to offer is the wonderful "foundation" of our beliefs. The faith of our church is not a simple, garden-like affair, but a highly developed system of belief and life that brings together the wonders of nature, the highest human achievements, and the infinite love and wisdom of God. It is a faith that has the power to open up people's minds, hearts, and hands on all levels, without requiring us to close our eyes to any aspect of nature, humanity, or God. Everything comes together into a harmonious whole, blessing those who believe in it and live by it with a sense of understanding, inner peace, and purpose in life that few people find on this earth. Of course, our church is not the only place people can get these spiritual gifts. God works through many different religions and many different channels. However, I believe that our church has an especially deep well of understanding to draw from. Or to return to our metaphor, we have an especially clear view of the Holy City. Those of us who have spent most or all of our lives in this church can sometimes take that deep well and that clear vision for granted. We don't always appreciate these precious gems of our faith: * A belief in a God of pure, infinite love and wisdom, with no anger, no condemnation, no thunderbolts at the ready--a God who loves us with such deep and tender compassion as to come to us personally as our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. How many people still labor under a belief in an angry, condemnatory God? Or a distant, uncaring God? * An understanding of the Bible that carries us beyond an often harsh and confusing literalism to the knowledge and experience of God speaking to us personally on a deep spiritual level through the entire Bible story, and through every detail of it. How many people still struggle to reconcile the Bible with science, or with the advances human culture has made since the less developed stage of humanity that existed in Bible times? * The knowledge that heaven is open to all people, of whatever faith, if they are sincere in their belief in a higher power, and do their best to live according to that belief. How many people still believe that most of the world's people will be condemned or destroyed simply because they do not believe in Jesus? Or in Allah? Or in Jehovah? * A detailed and very comforting description of the afterlife, complete with the knowledge that each of us can find the heaven--or hell--that we want most, and that we can share our heaven with the one we love most, and with the people that we are closest to? How many still think of the afterlife as the great unknown, or as a frightening time of terrible judgments by a heavenly hierarchy? These are just some of the most basic of building materials that our church has to offer in building the city of God that is the New Jerusalem now descending onto this earth. This is the essential structure of the faith that will form the girders of this new spiritual era, of which the recent spiritual awakening in our culture is an exciting part! Those of us who have lived with these ideas for a long time may sometimes take them for granted. However, one of the great blessings of having new people coming into our church is that through sharing in their discovery of our church, we rediscover for ourselves the wonders of our own faith. As we talk with newcomers, hear their stories, and find out what a difference our faith is making in their lives, we gain a new appreciation of what a beautiful city it is that we are dwelling in spiritually. We can also gain a new sense of the transformation that would take place in our entire community and in our entire society if these precious truths that mean so much to us were to become more widely known, believed, and practiced. And though we are still a very small group, we can come to appreciate what vital work in building God's city this little church has as its mission and its reason for existence. Back in 1824, when our church was first established, there was a great sense of excitement and optimism among New Church people. At that time, the teachings of the New Church were very new to this earth. There were still people alive who could have known Emanuel Swedenborg personally; only a little over fifty years had passed since his death. The entire future of the New Church was spread out in front of these early believers--and that future looked very bright. It was just a matter of time, many of them believed, before these great truths would penetrate throughout the Christian world and beyond. It looked very much like the New Jerusalem was just around the corner. Today, two and a quarter centuries after Swedenborg's death, we have lost some of that early excitement and optimism. Our church went through the same disastrous decline that the mainline churches went through in this century. In the process, those bright visions of an ever-growing, even mushrooming future for our church were dashed to the ground. Yet even at the lowest times for our church, there were always a faithful few who carried on its good work. Though the bright vision of our early years was brought low, it was never entirely snuffed out. The flame of faith was always kept burning, even if it was a flickering candle rather than a blazing torch. And the conviction that over the long term, our faith would grow to encompass humanity remained alive--even if our projections for when that would happen were stretched much farther into the future. This church here in Bridgewater kept the faith for all those years, sometimes hanging on with only a few families who still held to the beliefs and traditions of the New Church. We owe our thanks to all the dedicated individuals who have labored long and hard over the years to make sure that the flame of this church would continue to burn for their children and their children's children. There were many people who spent years devoting their life energy to keeping this church going, to preserving it from the fate of many of our sister churches that closed their doors long ago. All the good things that are now happening in our church would not be happening if those people hadn't listened to God's call and continued building and repairing this church, both physically and spiritually, timber by timber, slate by slate, service by service, class by class. The renewed church that we are now becoming is built on the foundation they laid so lovingly and so well. Call me a hopeless optimist, but I believe this church has begun a new phase in its life--and not just our church, but the entire Swedenborgian Church. In 1824, most people in our society simply were not ready for what this church had to offer. The old beliefs, the old ways, were still far too ingrained in our culture. One hundred and seventy five years of progress in our understanding of the world we live in, and in our understanding of human nature, has brought us to a new phase of our societal life. The new spiritual awakening that is happening all around us is an indication that the world is now much more ready for what we have to offer than it was two centuries ago. And the new spirit in our church is happening at exactly the right time. This church is now ready, I believe, to move on to much greater things than it has ever done before. This church is ready to become a major force in building the city of God in this area. I believe that future members of this church will look back on this decade as a major turning point in the life of this church. And we have the privilege and the responsibility of building the superstructure of an active, vital, growing, and outreaching congregation on the solid foundation provided by so many who have labored up to this point. Let's build a city of God together! Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@ssr.edu Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Fri Sep 22 21:23:23 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 22 Sep 2000 21:23:23 -0000 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Why I Am a Swedenborgian," by Sheri Rienstra Message-ID: <4.1.20000922164812.00c39530@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Dear email sermon service friends, Here is a delayed posting (my delay, not Sheri's!) of a sermon by Sheri Rienstra. It is from the Bridgewater Church's "Why I Am a Swedenborgian" series. Enjoy! --Rev. Lee Woofenden Why I Am a Swedenborgian By Sheri Rienstra Bridgewater, Massachusetts, April 2, 2000 I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. (Psalm 27:13) The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise him. Psalm (28:7) I would like to begin my sermon on "Why I Am a Swedenborgian" with a story. I guess it was about four years ago (Aprilish) that I was walking in a favorite park of mine in Rhode Island. One can walk on the many paths that run along the ocean and enjoy the water crashing up against the rocks. It is a beautiful place, especially in the springtime with all of the flowers starting to bloom. I was walking down a path when I happened upon a field full of flowers, where there was an amazing sight. A woman was surrounded by a number of young children, and she appeared to be reading a book to them. I stood and watched this scene for a while. I was amazed at how attentive these children were. They seemed like perfect little angels! I would like you to try and imagine this scene, try to smell the flowers, listen to the ocean, hear the seagulls, and picture the woman with the children. I enjoy an abundance of peace each and every time I think of this scene. In essence, this scene represents one reason why I am a Swedenborgian. But I will get back to that in a bit. My association with the Swedenborgian Church goes back about twenty-eight years now. I was four years old, and we were living in Michigan, when my dad decided that his calling in life was to become a minister in the church. Can you believe it? A General Motors tool and die maker turns to the ministry. All I can say is that God really must have called him. He sold his home and most of his belongings, packed up his family, and moved to Newton, Massachusetts. I believe I somewhat remember arriving at the Swedenborg School of Religion. We were moving into a mansion . . . . Way to go, dad!!! At least, that feeling of royalty lasted until we were shown to our very small apartment The years at the school were not easy. My dad was always gone, and our material wealth was nonexistent. We had to cut a lot of corners, but that was okay. We ate chicken pot pie more than I would have liked, but we had a strong family unit that included many people. My family was growing--not only with the addition of my sister, who I got to share my room with, but my family was also growing into a church family. I could tell you many Swedenborg School of Religion stories about times spent with the Baxters, the Orthweins, the McCurdys, the Capons, the Turleys, Eric Allison, and Gladys Wheaton, to name just a few. The love and support that I have received from many people in the church over the years is one reason that I am a Swedenborgian: the familial tie that binds. This familial church bond has, of course, grown over the years to include many others through my association with the Fryeburg New Church, the Fryeburg Assembly, Blairhaven, Almont, the St. Louis Church, Convention, and now the Bridgewater Church. I had to go to Sunday School and church every week of my life while growing up. And I can honestly say that I don't know how my life would have turned out without the church and God in my life. Most of my friends do not believe in God and do not go to church. I can understand not going to church, as I have had times in my life when I did not attend--and there are still times even now. (Though I am not recommending not going to church!) But the _God_ part! How can they get through life without believing in God? I'm sure that I have turned to God for help, guidance, direction, and understanding at least 7,040 times in my life, if I were to take a guess. (I did do a calculation on this--but will spare you the math.) I was driving up to Green Bay, Wisconsin this week for a presentation of some things that I had been working on for months. I was a little nervous because in essence, I was going before a group of all men that were the financial decision-makers for a bank there. I asked myself, "How did it come to be that a girl who never liked math or did well in it at school could now be doing this?" And as I looked out over the farm country, all I could do was smile. I was no longer nervous, because I had prepared for this meeting. I was just happy. Somehow I knew that there were angels all around me, and that things would be just fine. So to recap a bit: I gained a church family, I have strong beliefs in God, and I feel that I have numerous guardian angels. Now I begin to ask myself, "Why is this different from any other Church? Why do these things make me a Swedenborgian?" I would like to read a passage from _Arcana Coelestia_ #2758. It says: Nothing occurs in all nature that does not somehow portray the Lord's kingdom in a general way. The natural world has its whole source in the spiritual kingdom. Anything lacking a prior source is nothing; nothing occurs that is not connected to a cause and, therefore, to a purpose. Anything unconnected would collapse instantly and become nothing. Imagine now, if you will, what it is like to hear passages such as this one for the better part of your life. For me, it started out as words that meant nothing--at least, when I was four, anyway; when I turned five, I understood every word! All right, I guess to this day I don't understand every passage. But if you think about it, isn't that the whole point? As I am ready to understand, I begin to understand. This particular passage somewhat connects for me on Why I am a Swedenborgian. Is everyone still thinking of the woman in the park? I hope so: warm breeze, ocean air, peace, innocence. I remember this day quite clearly, even though it was four years ago. It was such an amazing sight, as well as the key to a puzzle that I was trying to figure out. I was trying to figure out what I was going to do without my mother around anymore--as she had just passed away. And I was also trying to figure out why I wasn't too upset. Of course I missed her. But somehow I knew that she was in a happy place. I decided to get a closer look at this woman reading to the children. I somehow wanted to know who she was. As I approached the woman, a strange sense of reality became quite clear to me. I saw my mother reading to the children. Now, I did not really see this sight at the park that day--not in a physical sense. But did this not portray the Lord's kingdom? Is this not what I have been taught all of my life? Did Swedenborg's teachings somehow prepare me for my mother's death? Is my life so much better now because I believe in God? Do I feel comforted every day because I know that I have guardian angels? All of these things have made my life better. My life is good because of what I believe. It is good because I have God to turn to. It is good because I know that my mom and everyone else that was near and dear to me are in a great place. Swedenborg's teachings helped me to understand this a bit more clearly--and for that I am ever grateful for making my life so much easier. Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@ssr.edu Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Fri Sep 22 22:05:32 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 22 Sep 2000 22:05:32 -0000 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Creation: Rebirth of the Spirit," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20000922180612.00c334c0@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Creation: Rebirth of the Spirit By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, September 17, 2000 (Transcribed and edited from tape) Readings: Genesis 1; 2:1-3: Creation 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. And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning--the second day. And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the third day. 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. And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." And there was evening, and there was morning--the fifth day. And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own 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 increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground--everything that has the breath of life in it--I give every green plant for food." And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Mark 4:26-29: The parable of the growing seed Jesus said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the earth produces grain--first the stalk, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But as soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come." Arcana Coelestia #5: Our new creation, or rebirth >From the literal meaning of the first chapters of Genesis, no one realizes that it refers to anything besides the creation of the world, the Garden of Eden which is called "Paradise," and Adam, the first human to be created. Who thinks anything else? However, these things contain mysteries that have never been revealed until now. . . . In this inner meaning, the first chapter of Genesis is about new creation of a human being--in other words, it is about our rebirth. Sermon And God said, "Let there be light." And there was light. (Genesis 1:3) For those of you who are used to following along in the printed sermon, there isn't one today because the Youth Worker's Conference that I just attended took up that time and I didn't have a chance to write it out. So what I would like to present to you this morning is some thoughts from Swedenborg, and some of my own thoughts, about what this Creation story means for us in our spiritual life. It is a wonderful story to start out with in the Bible. You know how there is often a preface in a book, and the preface will tell you what the book is going to tell you. They always told us that in school: when you write a paper, first you tell them what you're going to tell them, then you tell them, then you tell them what you told them. The Creation story is God telling us what he's going to tell us in the whole Bible. He is summarizing the entire Bible, which is really, Swedenborg tells us, about our own spiritual growth. It's about our process from when we first start to awaken spiritually to the time when we become angels in heaven. The Creation story is a wonderful summary, in just a little over one chapter, of the whole Bible story. So if you don't have time to read the whole Bible, at least read the Creation story! I'm hoping to give you a little enlightenment this morning about what this story means in terms of our own growth toward becoming angels--as we talked about with the little children. I'd like to go through each day, and tell you a little bit about what Swedenborg said was the spiritual meaning of these verses. First of all, to look at the whole creation story, Swedenborg tells us that the first three days talk especially about the growth of our _mind:_ about our thinking, our understanding, and our faith; and that the fourth through the sixth days speak especially about the growth of our _heart:_ about the love that we have for God and for one another. So this is a wonderful summary, and it is very well organized to show us how we grow. We start first by _understanding._ That's why God said, "Let there be light." Because before there is light, there is darkness and void. Swedenborg tells us that the first state, which is the state that comes before our spiritual growth, is a state that starts from our earliest childhood and continues on through until the time just before we begin to consciously decide to grow spiritually--just before we consciously invite the Lord into our life, and decide that we want to not just be material beings, but to be spiritual beings. That first state can last well into adulthood. There are people who don't decide to have spirituality in their lives until they reach thirty, forty, fifty, sixty years old. So this period of darkness can last a long time. We may be very intelligent, but we are dark spiritually in that we don't see that God is working in our spirit; we don't see that there is a higher purpose to life. When God says "Let there be light," that, in us, is our first realization that there is something higher than all this material realm that we have been dealing with. There is light: there is deeper understanding. Light is a universal symbol of truth. When we say, "I see," we mean, "I understand." So the very first beginning of our spiritual growth is when the light dawns in our mind that there is a higher purpose to life; that there is something more than this material existence; that there is something more that we need to look to, to go for, in our lives. "Let there be light." This is the beginning of our spiritual growth. "And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day." It is very significant that every day starts from evening, and goes to morning. Because this is how our spiritual growth happens. We start from not understanding so well, from a state of darkness and obscurity, and we progress toward daytime: toward understanding and knowing what our life is for, and what God wants for our life. We progress from evening to morning each stage of our spiritual growth. So "there was evening, and there was morning, the first day." On the second day, everything begins to get cleared up. We were kind of confused about this "spiritual" thing before. But now the Bible tells us that God created an expanse, or a "firmament" in the heavens, to divide the waters from the waters. There would be the waters above the firmament, which are the clouds, and the waters below the firmament, which are all the waters on the earth. Here we begin to realize that there is a spiritual truth that is higher than all this material knowledge that I have. Maybe I'm good at building things; maybe I'm good at figures; maybe I'm good at preparing meals; maybe I'm good at raising children. There are all different things we can be good at on this material plane. The second day of creation is when we realize that there are higher things. There is a higher truth, and it has everything to do with how we care for one another; how we understand each other; how we respect each other; how we love God; and how we show God's love to each other. These are the higher truths that we need to distinguish from just being able to get along in this world. We do need to be able to get along in this world; that's very important. But as we begin to follow a spiritual path, we realize there are also higher truths that we need to follow--truths that relate to God and to heaven and to our relationships with each other. This is the second day: distinguishing the waters above the expanse--the spiritual truths--from the waters below the expanse--all the material, worldly truths that we need to get along in this world. "And there was evening, and there was morning, the second day." After we realize that there are higher, spiritual truths, this is when our mind begins to grow and blossom spiritually. On the third day, God separates the waters (the ones below the expanse) from the land and lets the dry land appear. This is when the plants can first begin to grow. These are the growing spiritual awareness in our mind: first the tender herb, the grass--at first we have a very sketchy idea of what this spiritual life is all about. But soon there are the shrubs, and then there are the trees. The trees are fixed principles of living; those principles that we live by, such as that we should love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Trees are the idea that we should always guide our life by a principle like that: that we should love our neighbor just as we love ourselves. That whatever we would have our neighbor--other people--do to us, we should do to them. These are fixed principles of spiritual living that grow up as strong trees, which we can then be sheltered by and be guided by as we live our life. So now we are beginning to develop a real understanding of what it means to live in a spiritual way, and not just in a material way. "And there was evening, and there was morning, the third day." All of this, as I said, is more or less the development of our mind. We're realizing that there is a higher life. We're distinguishing between the spiritual truths and the material truths. We're beginning to develop those principles of spiritual living--and we are applying them. On the third day, there are fruits that come from the trees, and the fruits are the good deeds that we do for others. But Swedenborg says that up to this point, it's still a struggle--and it continues to be a struggle--because up to this point, we still think that we're doing these things by ourselves: that _we're_ the ones that understand, that _we're_ the ones that love, that _we're_ the ones who are producing those fruits. And so, Swedenborg says, those fruits are not really alive yet. And the reason they're not alive yet is that all goodness and all truth really comes from the Lord. And as long as we think that it's coming from us, it's relatively dead because we don't have that living relationship with the Lord so that we can feel that everything good in us, all the love we have, is God's; all the truth; that everything we know is God's. This is what begins to happen on the fourth day. It's a little bit strange, isn't it, that God says "let there be light" on the first day, but it's not until the fourth day that we get the creation of the sun and the moon and the stars. I like to think of this, in a physical image, in this way: up to this point, those waters above the firmament were pretty thick. In other words, there was a pretty thick cloud cover, and the light was actually coming from God, but we didn't realize it. Now the clouds are clearing, and we can see that everything good we have is actually coming from God, and we begin to feel that in our heart. This is the fourth day, when God creates the sun, which is our love for the Lord and our recognition that God loves us in a living way. And the moon, which shines at night. In our dark periods, our times of difficulty, we have our faith, our knowledge that God is there. Even if we can't feel God right now, we know that God is there for us. That is the moon, shining in the dark periods of our lives. And it says he also created the stars: those fixed spiritual principles that we guide our lives by through the difficult times. For example, if we are involved in some business dealing, and before we had been content to cut corners a little bit and figure that nobody is going to notice the difference. But at this particular point in our life we've decided we want to follow God, and yet God feels distant right now; we're not really feeling God close to us--it's a nighttime period. At that point, we may say, "Well, it wouldn't be so bad if I went back to my old ways, and did my business the way business the way I was doing it before." But then we think about something that we read in the Bible that said we shouldn't cheat our neighbor, that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. And we realize, "Even though I'd like to do this, my principles tell me that I shouldn't." And so the stars guide us through the night just the way the stars guide sailors through the night when otherwise they might go the wrong direction. Those principles that we have learned and we have put in our "heavens"--in our higher mind--guide us through the times when otherwise we might weaken and do what we know we shouldn't do. So God gives us the sun: in our better times we feel the love of God in us, and that gives us life. And God also gives us the moon and stars to guide us through our darker times. "And there was evening, and there was morning, the fourth day." And now we're beginning a living relationship with the Lord: really _feeling_ God in our life. That is the point at which living animals start to come. On the fifth day, we have the ones that populate the sky and the land: the birds flying in the air, and the fish swimming in the sea. These are the first living, feeling thoughts of doing goodness that are coming, not just from believing that we ought to, but from feeling in our heart that this is what we want to do from other people. We care about people, and therefore we really want to do good for them from love. These are the living creatures. The living creatures represent our feelings, our loves; and these develop later on. After we've gotten our mind more or less straightened out, then we develop our heart. Then we begin to act from love. And this is the first time that we really can be said to be alive spiritually: when we begin to act from love. The birds are the living _spiritual_ thoughts that we have, and the fish are the living _material_ thoughts that we have. And one of the nice things about this is that we don't believe our spiritual life is separate from our outward, everyday life. We believe that our spiritual life comes down into our material life, and all of the knowledge that we had before about how to get along in the world now comes alive from spiritual motivations. Everything we learned before about how to run your business, how to take care of our home, how to raise our kids; all of those things that we learned now come alive spiritually. We do our work, not just because it's what we have to do, but because we want to love and serve one another. And all the knowledge that we gained before helps us to do that, and makes us effective as a person of God's kingdom working in this world. So we have both our spiritual and our material knowledge working together to make us good and useful people here on earth. As we get those in line, then, finally, on the sixth day we have the warm-blooded animals. We have all the land animals, and finally human beings. These are when we really begin to do things from faith and love together. Not just because we believe we ought to but because we really love to. We begin to take joy in serving other people. We begin to like it when we can do something for another person. We don't do it because of a sense of obligation. You know: "God says I have to do it, so I'd better do it." That was before. Now it is: "I really enjoy doing what's good and right. This gives me happiness inside, and I have pleasure and happiness from serving others." These are the land animals, and finally the human beings. This is when we become truly human. When we're acting, yes, from faith, but especially from love in our hearts. When we're acting because we care about other people and because we love God, and when we get joy from serving one another. This is when we become truly human. At that point, we finally reach the seventh day. There is evening, and there is morning, and then there is the seventh day. What is like when we are acting and serving and loving one another because we love? There's no conflict in us anymore. We don't have to say, "I'd really like to do _that,_ but I'm going to do _this_ anyway because that's what God says." Now everything flows from within. We do what we do because we love one another, we love our work, we love God, and we're completely at peace inside of ourselves. When it says "rest" in the Bible, it doesn't mean we're not _doing_ anything; it means we have no _conflict_ within us about the things that we're doing. That we do everything because we love to and we know how to. We can be very busy outwardly, doing all sorts of things, and yet be at perfect peace inside of ourselves, because this is the life that we love. And that is what the Lord holds out to us as true human life. When all of our conflict on this earth is done; when we've gone through our struggles, when we've--with the Lord's help--reformed ourselves and grown ourselves into people who do good because we love to, then we have the peace and the rest of the seventh day. This, of course, is the state that the angels live in. They do good for one another. They live useful, busy, happy lives because they all love one another, and they don't have to fight about it anymore. They can simply do what they love to do. This is the promise that God gives to each one of us if we are willing to go through the struggles of the other days. And it's a promise that we can feel little bits of here on earth, at the times when our life is just flowing along. We all get these foretastes of heaven at the times when things are working out for us and we're enjoying what we're doing. This is the state that angels are in all the time. And this is the promise that God gives us: if we go through all of these seven days of creation, we will be people who love one another, who enjoy living in a good way, who understand what we need to know in order to serve other people and serve God in the way that we love best, and that fits our talents the most. This is the promise that God gives us. And it's the promise of these seven days of creation. Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@ssr.edu Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Sun Sep 24 20:03:11 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 24 Sep 2000 16:03:11 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Alone with God," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20000924151004.00bf3e80@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Alone with God By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, September 24, 2000 Readings: Genesis 12:18-25: The creation of Eve The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man." For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. Mark 9:2-8: The Transfiguration After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" Suddenly, when they looked round, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. Arcana Coelestia #139: Dwelling alone In ancient times those who were guided as heavenly people by the Lord were said to "dwell alone," since evil forces, or evil spirits, were no longer harassing them. . . . These descendants [symbolized by Adam] of the very earliest religion did not want to dwell alone; they did not want to be heavenly people--that is, to be guided as heavenly people by the Lord. Rather, they wanted to be among the nations, just as the [early] Jewish Church did. And since that was what they desired, it says, "It is not good that the man should be alone." In fact, when this is what we desire, we are already under the influence of evil, and our wish is granted. Sermon: After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. (Mark 9:2) The Christian path can be a lonely one. Jesus said, "Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (Matthew 7:13, 14). That is the way it often feels to us as we make our way in this world, trying to live according to our spiritual beliefs and ideals; trying to follow the Lord. The world has a set of values that revolve around money, power, physical beauty, material possessions, and the kinds of pleasure these can give us. And the world is not shy about pressing its case. We are inundated with advertising that entices us to go for the pleasures this material life has to offer. And when we look around at our society, it does seem that all this advertising strikes a responsive chord. It does seem that the people in our society are driven largely by material needs and wants. Where do we fit in if we have decided that we do _not_ want our lives to be driven by material possessions, personal power, and physical pleasure? How do we fit into this world if we have decided that we want to devote our lives to the Lord, and to live by a higher, spiritual standard? How can we fit into a world that values material things over spiritual ones, and personal control over God's power? Yes, the Christian life can be a lonely one. It is easy to feel that if we didn't have so many moral scruples, we could have gotten a lot farther in this life. Our church does not believe there is anything wrong with enjoying material and physical pleasures. But all too often we find ourselves in situations where we can _either_ do what is good and right _or_ we can gain money, power, and advancement. All too often, we face a difficult choice between following the path of what is spiritual, loving, and right on the one hand, or following the world's way of doing things in order to advance our own position, or our family's finances. All too often we are put to the test: which will we serve? God or money? (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13). When we choose to follow God rather than money, we may find ourselves in a very isolated position. We may find ourselves all alone as the world passes us by, shaking its collective head at us and wondering why we gave up all those opportunities for advancement because of some vague ideals. And sometimes, as we search our souls, our ideals _do_ begin to look rather vague. We start thinking that maybe we _have_ let the world pass us by; that maybe being spiritual is simply impractical. We start think that perhaps it would be better if we just "went along with the crowd." The grass often looks so much greener on the other side. . . . Perhaps this was how it felt for the (figurative) Adam as he stood there alone in the garden, without anyone to share his life with. Yes, there were all those animals God made for him--and he even got to name them! But he couldn't talk to them. They didn't speak his language. They were on a whole different level--a thoroughly material level that mostly involved eating, sleeping, reproducing, and basking in the sun. The animals did not feel alone; they were too busy simply existing. They didn't have to make choices between the fruits of the different trees. They simply ate what appealed to them. Their existence and purpose was clear, and there were no moral choices for them. Does this sound familiar? Not to cast any aspersions . . . okay, I admit it, this _does_ cast aspersions! . . . but people who live entirely for physical and material pleasures are not all that different from the lower animals. Yes, they are more intelligent. And yes, they do have the capacity to make moral choices. But let's face it: when our lives revolve around material and physical pursuits, there is not much that distinguishes us from the lower animals. We spend our time working, eating, sleeping, reproducing, and basking in the sun. When we devote our lives to these things, we also do not face the inner struggles that those who are on a spiritual path face. Yes, we may face material losses: we may lose our job; we may lose a lot of money in the stock market; we may lose someone close to us; we may lose our physical health. All of these do give us a sort of material grief and pain even when we have no spiritual values. The grass on the other side is not always as green as it looks. Yet these material griefs and pains pale in comparison to the spiritual struggles we face when we turn our lives away from purely material existence and follow a spiritual path. For example, parents who have mainly material aspirations for their children--hoping they will become wealthy, powerful, and famous--do feel a certain pain if their children don't measure up to their expectations. They do feel a certain angst at seeing them struggle financially along with everyone else, firmly anchored in lower-middle-class existence. But can this compare to the true anguish of parents who work hard to raise children who will live by deeper, spiritual values, only to see them turned aside by the lures of the world, rejecting everything they tried so hard to inculcate in them as they grew up? Or can it compare to the anguish of spiritual parents who must watch their children struggling with moral, ethical, and spiritual dilemmas, tugged by the persuasive call of this world's values? A Christian must face many inner struggles that the world knows nothing about. Those who follow the ways of the world do not enter into the arena of combat between our higher, spiritual nature and our lower, materialistic nature. Everyone here in this church today has probably faced this struggle in different ways, at different times in our lives. We all know something of the inner anguish of spiritual struggle. When we feel that anguish of inner struggle, we often feel especially alone. As the old hymn goes, "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen." We see the people around us apparently enjoying their lives, and we feel alone in our misery. Perhaps the early people represented by Adam in the Garden of Eden felt this way. Perhaps they just wanted to be like the materialistic, animalistic world all around them. Perhaps they no longer wanted to struggle with the deeper issues of spiritual growth. Perhaps as a culture they were exhausted by the six days of labor that it took to create that first race of spiritual beings, and now they simply wanted to turn back to where they came from--back to the dust of the earth. We do know that they were no longer satisfied to be alone with God. They had never truly been alone, because they always had God's companionship. They could talk with God person to person, as easily as strolling together in the garden. But their minds and hearts were turning away from God, toward material things. They wanted to make their own way in the world, free from strictures such as: "You must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, because on the day that you eat of it, you will surely die" (Genesis 2:17). Their desire to follow a path that God had told them would result in death left them truly alone. Now they were no longer together with God. God knew they couldn't be prevented from following their desires. And God does allow us to follow whatever path we choose--even if he knows it will cause the death of our higher values, loves, and aspirations. On the very day that we eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil by deciding we can run our own lives without God's help, we suffer a spiritual death that leads to inner aloneness. It is the aloneness of being separated from our Creator--from the one who loves and understands us most of all. Adam and Eve also suffered a death as soon as they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They suffered the death of their innocence, and the death of their person-to-person relationship with God. That death led to a life of hardship and struggle: a life of tilling the earth with painful toil, of eating their bread in the sweat of their brows, of suffering with painful childbirth, and struggling with the domination of one person over another. Does this sound a little too familiar? The human decision to go it alone instead of remaining alone with God has led to all the struggle, toil, and pain that we face in this life. Our desire to follow our own ways instead of God's ways causes the true loneliness of being cut off emotionally and spiritually both from God and from one another. Our decision to live for power and possessions rather than for the love of God and our neighbor is the cause of all the oppression, famine, poverty, and war on the world scale, and of all the crime, fraud, hostility, and broken relationships on the individual level. Even many things we call "natural disasters" can be traced to our own foolishness. For example, if we choose to live right on a fault line, and to construct our buildings cheaply rather than well, we almost guarantee that sooner or later we will suffer a terrible catastrophe as an earthquake levels our homes and businesses, with us inside. Or to use a Biblical image, if we build on the sand, sooner or later the ocean is going to come crashing in on our house and destroy it. It is our choice whether we foolishly build on the sand, or wisely build on the stable rock (Matthew 7:24-27). Yes, the lure of the world is strong. But when we raise our minds up to a spiritual level, and look at the broader scope of human existence, we can see very clearly that going it alone by following our own ways rather than God's ways will inevitably lead to pain, destruction, and death--both material and spiritual. This perspective can help us as we consider what kind of aloneness we want to experience in our lives. We can choose to be alone _from_ God by "following a crowd to do wrong" (Exodus 23:2). Or we can choose to endure what the _world_ sees as loneliness and isolation in order to be "alone with God" in the best sense of that phrase. This is the path that the Lord's three closest disciples, Peter, James, and John, chose. At one point, Peter said to Jesus, "We have left everything to follow you. What, then, will there be for us?" (Matthew 19:27). Jesus answered his question at the time, telling Peter that all who give up homes or family or property in order to follow him will receive far greater blessings, both in this life and in the next (Mark 10:29-30). And yet, he had already answered Peter's question in a much more profound way--not simply in words, but by his own living presence. Peter, James, and John were the Lord's closest disciples because they had left behind their old, materialistic lives and followed Jesus in a more thoroughgoing way than anyone else. And it was these three--and no others--who were able to have that wonderful mountaintop experience of seeing the Lord transfigured as a glorious being of light and love. What Peter, James, and John saw was just about as close as human eyes can come to beholding the true nature of God. In the course of a Christian life, we will probably have many times when we feel alone--when we feel that we must give up everything we hold dear in order to follow the path that the Lord calls us to. But we receive a far greater blessing in return: the blessing of having the Lord's infinite love and wisdom shining within us. When we are alone with God, we never need to feel lonely. Even during the times when we feel all alone in this world, we will always have a far deeper companionship. We will always have the Lord Jesus to turn to as our Savior from everything this world throws at us, and as our Friend through all the joys and sorrows, all the struggles and triumphs of our lives. Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@ssr.edu Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Mon Sep 25 14:58:58 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 25 Sep 2000 10:58:58 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "I Can't Leave Home Without It!" by the Rev. Ron Brugler Message-ID: <4.1.20000925104205.00c89b90@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Dear Bridgewater Sermon Service friends, Here is another delayed posting of one of the sermons in the Bridgewater Church's "Why I Am a Swedenborgian" series. Ron Brugler is President of the Swedenborgian Church of North America. Enjoy! --Rev. Lee Woofenden I Can't Leave Home Without It! By the Rev. Ron Brugler Bridgewater, Massachusetts, March 26, 2000 Readings Psalm 139 Matthew 4:18-25 Sermon Good Morning Everyone! I want to begin this by sharing how good it is to be here with you. In my twenty-two years of ministry in this denomination, this is the first opportunity I have been given to preach from this pulpit, and believe me, I was glad when Larry Conant asked me to be here today. I also want you to know that I bring you greetings from your sister church in Kitchener, Ontario, as well as greetings from all of our other churches in North America. Today, as you know, I have been asked to speak on the theme, "Why I am a Swedenborgian." I know that you have been having a series of sermons on this topic. Each week Lee has sent them out on the Internet, and I have intentionally saved all of them in a file, unread, except for one. I read Larry's sermon, on God being a Friend. I left the other sermons unread because knowing that I was going to speak here today, I did not want other people's words to influence what I would say. I now feel that this might have been a mistake, because I might repeat a lot of things you have already heard. Regardless, that is a risk I am willing to take. Even so, as my sermons oftentimes do, today I want to begin by telling you a true story. You see, when I was a student at SSR, I also attended Boston College, where I received my master's degree in Religious Education. I'm glad to share with you that even today, as I look back on those two years, I smile. I do so because I have no regrets whatsoever about having had that experience as part of my life. Yes, from working with Sunday Schools, and leading youth retreats, and conducting outreach programs for adults, the knowledge and skills that I gleaned from my time at BC have served me well in my ministry with this church. But one experience from that period will always stand out in my mind. It took place in one of my classes when the professor walked in and gave a rousing introduction on the variety and beauty of various world religions. She talked about the Buddhists, Hindus, and Christianity, with its many branches. And stressing that all world religions were a wonderful thing, (which made me believe she was really a closet Swedenborgian) she then looked each of us in the eye while asking a single question. "If you could be a member of any religion or church, which would you choose?" Perhaps it was because I sat in a classroom filled with twenty or so Catholics and one Swedenborgian, but the responses amazed me then, and still do. One person mentioned that he would like to be a Buddhist, because of their focus on personal enlightenment. Another wanted to be a Taoist because of their deep appreciation for the inner connectedness of all things, another said that he would choose to be a Quaker because of their appreciation of silence and peace. And then, the instructor pointed to me, and asked for my response. I looked at her and said, "I would choose to be a Swedenborgian." "Stand up!" she commanded. And turning red in the face due to my uncertainty about what was to follow, I obeyed her order. "Now, say that again so that everyone can hear." "I'd be a Swedenborgian," I bellowed. And smiling as if I had given her the keys to the kingdom, she then chastised my classmates as a professor rarely does. "Thanks a lot!" she exclaimed. "Every person in this room, except for Ron, is a Catholic. You're being trained to work with our youth, teaching catechism, preparing them for careers, teaching them about God and our faith. And yet each of you have just stated that when it comes to our faith, you have settled for second best." I can't tell you what happened after that because I was, well, too embarrassed to pay much attention. As odd as it might seem, I felt guilty, and almost ashamed. I mean, there are millions of Catholics in this world, and what, some 1,500 Swedenborgians! And I had just publicly proclaimed my allegiance to this miniscule denomination, and my statement had been used to put other people down. But today, as I have already said, I look back on that day and smile. I smile for one reason. And that is because if I were to be asked that same question here, some twenty five years later, my response would be the same. For when it comes to my faith and religious life, I am a Swedenborgian. There are few other statements that I could make that would be truer than that. And that truth fills me with a sense of joy and fulfillment. But why am I a Swedenborgian? That, after all, is the question I have been asked to address here today. As I have thought about this, I've come to approach it from three different perspectives. First: Why did I become a Swedenborgian? Then: Why Am I still a Swedenborgian? And lastly: Why do I intend to remain a Swedenborgian. Why did I become a Swedenborgian? The answer to this takes me back to my childhood and teen years. You need to understand that my family, more appropriately, my mother, was and still is a devout Methodist. So devout was she, that when my six brothers and sisters were growing up, each Sunday morning we were dressed and rustled into our red Comet station wagon for the ten mile drive into Zanesfield, Ohio where we attended Sunday School and church. As a result, I am the proud owner of an eighteen year attendance pin, which meant that for eighteen years I never missed more than three Sundays a year. And I wouldn't trade those years for anything, because the memories I still carry with me are nothing but good. The friendships formed were meaningful. The faith was real. And from the Methodist Youth Fellowship (where I was an officer in the Ohio Conference), to the summers spent at Camp Wesley, to the hundreds of church dinners, retreats, and other activities that I participated in, I gained a solid foundation upon which my adult life has been built. But along came my teen years, when I, as teens so often do, began to question many things. Primarily, I questioned why God allowed so many evils to exist in the world. After all, from Vietnam, to racial unrest, to poverty and world hunger, it seemed to me that we were, as Barry McGuire sang, on the "Eve of Destruction." And all of this led me to question the very existence of God. About this time, however, by a strange twist of events, I enrolled at Urbana College. I was also in the midst of applying for Conscientious Objector status with my local draft board. To make a long story short, my Methodist minister refused to sign my application. It was then that I was introduced to Dorothea Harvey, who after several consultations agreed to sign that document. But more importantly, in those sessions I learned that this new theology Dorothea believed in answered so many questions that swirled around in my mind--questions relating to freedom, to the reason why evil exists, to providence and the nature of the Bible and of God himself. And most importantly, I learned that Swedenborgians did not believe in the God that I had come to question either--but they offered an alternative that made nothing but sense. That God was alive, loving, caring, and wept over what we were doing to the world. And from those conversations with Dorothea, I realized that I could be a Swedenborgian. But that's not true. More accurately, I realized that I already was a Swedenborgian. I just hadn't known it! What's more is that I became a Swedenborgian headed into the ministry. Why? Because Dorothea calmly and directly told me one day that I was going to seminary. Her words were not a command, nor were they a request. It was simply the way things were supposed to be. And like those fishermen we heard about in our New Testament lesson, I did not argue or debate with Dorothea. I simply "got up at once and followed." I've never looked back. But why am I still a Swedenborgian? I laughed when I typed that question because it sounds so very odd. I mean, how could I be anything else? It's like asking why I am a man, or why I breathe, or why I see with my eyes. But the real answer to this goes back to my introduction. I am a Swedenborgian because we're the best! Knowing that Swedenborg likened all of the world religions to gems in the Lord's crown, I know that we are a diamond that shines brighter than all others. That is true for me. And I can state this emphatically, even in spite of our foibles and shortcomings. That's all I need to know. Oh, to be sure, I could stand here today and break this down into segments, like our teachings concerning the nature of God, or of life after death, or the reality of heaven and hell, or the beauty of correspondences and the internal sense of the Word. Such an analysis would also need to include the sense of belonging and family and personal worth that a church of this size promulgates. And it would also of necessity touch upon the fulfillment of "Use" that being a minister brings into my life. (No other career would be as rewarding in my book of life.) But when one gets right down to it, all of these reflect truths that have become part of my very being, so to speak. Its kind of like something my daughter Jessie said recently. A friend of hers asked what church we go to. Jessie told her that we don't go to our church--we live it! I suppose on one hand, that is just a normal "preacher's kid" speaking. But on another hand, those are words of a true Swedenborgian. Our faith does become our life. Sounds good to me!!! And I suppose that this also answers the third question about my desire to remain a part of this church. I cannot imagine not being a Swedenborgian. I tried to, I really did. But a knot in my stomach assured me that this part of my being will always be so. Without it, my life would not be complete. This is why I selected the 139th Psalm for this morning. I know that I cannot escape this part of my life, nor do I want to. To hitchhike on those infamous words uttered by Carl Malden, I cannot leave home without it. Nor, do I ever want to. I realize that my words today have not been that intellectually stimulating nor theologically challenging, but I hope you have found them worthwhile just the same. And thank you for allowing me to share, in my own way, why this church, and our faith, is so important to me. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@ssr.edu Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Mon Sep 25 18:55:24 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 25 Sep 2000 14:55:24 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Why I Am A Swedenborgian," by the Rev. Dr. Donna Keane Message-ID: <4.1.20000925144500.00c8d300@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Dear Bridgewater Sermon Service recipients, Here is yet another in the Bridgewater New Jerusalem Church's series of sermons on "Why I Am a Swedenborgian." There are two more yet to come, one by the Rev. Dr. Dorothea Harvey, and one by Anne Mitchell. You can see the whole series (those that are posted so far) at: http://people.ne.mediaone.net/leewoof/sermons/2000/lswsermons2000.html Enjoy! --Rev. Lee Woofenden Why I Am A Swedenborgian By the Rev. Dr. Donna Keane Bridgewater, Massachusetts, March 5, 2000 Readings: Deuteronomy 6:5 Luke 12:22-34 Sermon: The Swedenborgian Church was begun by several English people who, having read Swedenborg and felt affinity for his writings, were unable to continue to worship in the Church of England or the Methodist Church, and who decided they needed to begin a church of their own. This was some years after Swedenborg's death. And Swedenborg very seldom went to a Sunday organized religious service, as far as I know. I do not believe he anticipated that his writings would create a new and separate denomination. I do not remember that he was that interested in organization. Rather, I seem to recall that his emphasis was on personal spiritual experience, on study of the inner sense of the Word, and on living a life of purpose and usefulness according to our loves. I believe I was attracted to the Swedenborgian Church because I, too, am concerned not so much with the organizational structure of religious belief or churches, but with the inner dynamic of faith, hope, love, and spiritual growth. I found in this church the ability to interact with other people on the same kind of journey and that was attractive to me. Of course, I am committed to the organizational denomination. The workings of the church have changed mightily in some ways since I first approached it almost twenty years ago. In other ways, it has remained comfortably consistent and never wavered from its purpose and mission. Paul Tillich, in his book "Dynamics of Faith," describes the character of genuine faith as the "demand of total surrender to the object of ultimate concern." What Tillich is describing is the ultimate concern of every pious person, to "love your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might." Tillich continues to say, "The life of faith is life in the community of faith, not only in its communal activities and institutions, but also in the inner life its members." Both of these ideas presented by Tillich, that genuine faith is the total surrender to God, and that a life of faith is both communal and individual, resonate with me as describing pretty well how Swedenborg encountered his own journey and responded to the revelations made to him. Certainly, Swedenborg committed himself completely to the call he heard when Christ told him he was now permitted to take his massive intelligence and enter into the mysteries of heaven and hell, to bring them back to this world with him, and to write them down for all others who were interested. I am impressed by his journey, his spiritual diary, his search for the connection between the soul and body, his massive intellectual research, and the fact that, in the end, it was an emotional, spiritual experience that allowed him to surrender and to devote the rest of his life to elucidating God's will and understanding. This coincides nicely with the journey I have been on, and I am sure many of you have been on. The early years of Bible stories, Sunday School, youth groups and Sunday services that I experienced in the Methodist Church gave me much intellectual awareness and some small understanding of the immensity of the story of Christ. However, it was not until I read Swedenborg and discovered the philosophical and spiritual dimensions of the teachings, that I was _moved_ emotionally and found revelatory experiences happening for me. The standard issue of literalness and concrete belief in the literal words and stories never made any sense to me until Swedenborg opened my eyes and heart to the inner meaning--the spiritual and celestial levels of the Word. So many facets of my life came together and finally made sense. All of the questions and searching I had done with so few satisfactory answers ever coming forth were finally consummated in the brilliance of the total concept of the Word and the nature of God and the relationship between God and God's creation. Here were the ideas I had always had, but had never had the words to express them. Here were the struggles and successes of a seeker of truth and light that made sense to me. For all of us come to Swedenborg's writings with all of the baggage of our previous learning, understanding, needs, and prejudices. Some people may not resonate with his writings, some people may not be open to the inner sense of the Word, and only be comfortable with the literal meaning. But for me, the reading of J. Howard Spalding's synopsis of Swedenborg's teachings, _An Introduction to Swedenborg's Religious Thought_, was the very first indication I experienced that here was the doorway into heaven that fit me to a T. One of the first passages I read in the New Testament with different eyes is the one I selected for this morning's reading. The reassurance that it is the Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom has meant everything to me. It became the cornerstone on which the rest of my journey has rested. For the belief that we are meant to be with God in heaven, that it gives God "good pleasure" to give us good things had escaped me in my previous journey. For some reason, Swedenborg created the same sense of reassurance and relief from worry and angst when I read about his descriptions of heaven and hell and how much we are needed by God to complete the nature of love: to love others than self. For God's very nature demands that we exist, that we are objects of God's love, and that we are left in freedom to love God back or not. And if we decide to "surrender" to this image of God, if we decide to love God back from the wellspring of love that God showers on us in the very spirit of our existence, then we have closed the circle, made the connection, and can feel the love and wisdom of God in us, through us, and connecting us with the same love and wisdom in God's other beings. Often in my counseling practice I may be tired or distracted or just plain bored. But one day, I was sitting with a client who was greatly agitated and in much emotional and spiritual pain. We had been over and over the situation and I had used every tool in my toolbag to help this person come to some sort of breakthrough. It didn't happen. I was discouraged and feeling so unhelpful when I discovered that I had started to pray. It was a simple prayer. I don't remember the exact words but it went something like "O God, I've exhausted my skills and tools. I don't know any more to do. Please be with this person in their pain, confusion, and searching for answers. I don't have for them. Give them your peace and your love." I said nothing to the client about my prayer and the session ended without much change happening. But a few weeks later, the client told me animatedly, "Dr. Keane, I want to thank you so much for your wonderful advice and help a few weeks ago. That was the best session we've ever had and I have been much clearer and more able to understand my situation since then. Something really changed for me that day." Now, I know that I wasn't the author of any of that significant change. The best session we ever had was best because I got out of the way, prayed for God to do the work, and let it happen. It is this understanding of the will of God working through people that I have learned from Swedenborg. It is this awareness of the spiritual connection and the sense of correspondence between worlds that has allowed me to believe in prayer, God's working in all of our lives, and the connectedness of every human being on a level far more powerful than the natural. God works from the celestial, through the spiritual, into the natural. And the source of all of our power is God. But Swedenborg also said that the power to change, the power to heal, the power to effect movement lies in the natural world. So the connection of me sitting in my office with the client, being a living human being in relation with the client and allowing the spirit of God to work through me is my proof positive that I am a Swedenborgian because I believe in what Swedenborg teaches. I believe in his revelatory experiences, his psychic abilities, his connectedness to the spiritual world and the natural world at the same time. And I believe in his counsel that each of us has the potential to experience our own journey to faith and belief just as he did. Ours will not be his, for we are not independently wealthy noblemen living when he lived. But the journey is the same whether we are sitting in front of a computer, or on top of a mountain, or in some form of physical exertion in the wilderness. I am a Swedenborgian because, having read Swedenborg's writings, I cannot be otherwise. I cannot go back to shade my eyes from the truths I have found in my journey, nor would I want to. Sometimes it is hard to try to explain all of this to others when they ask me why I am in this church. But the most important thing is that I know why I am here, and here I will stay. May your journeys be lit with light from the Word, be sustained by faith in the ultimate God, and be nurtured by the love and nurturing God gives to us all. "Fear not, little flock, for it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@ssr.edu Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Mon Sep 25 23:31:27 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 25 Sep 2000 19:31:27 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Swedenborg in Lent," by the Rev. Dr. Dorothea Harvey Message-ID: <4.1.20000925192122.00c48a20@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Swedenborg in Lent By the Rev. Dr. Dorothea Harvey Bridgewater, Massachusetts, March 19, 2000 (Transcribed and edited from tape) Reading: John 8:3-11: The woman caught in adultery Sermon: Thank you for inviting me to come. This is a nice group and I like to come, so thank you. When I talked with Larry, he was very definite with me. And he said, "No, the topic is "Why are you a Swedenborgian." So I'll begin with that. I am a Swedenborgian because my parents were, and their parents were--my grandparents. This is simply part of my background; part of who I am. And I've accepted that right from the beginning: that that's where it is. Why do I continue to be a Swedenborgian? I like the teachings of Swedenborg. I think that they work. I find them positive, realistic, practical. I find the focus on life, and not on abstract theory about something or other. This is the second Sunday in Lent, and I'm thinking about what our teachings have to do with Lent; with this period of the year. I remember as a child hearing people talk about Lent, and I never knew what to do about it. I didn't know; there was no way to go with it. And I heard people saying, "What are you giving up for Lent?" And that seems to me absolutely crazy. That doesn't make any sense to me. And what I think is that the question we need to ask is not what are we giving up, but what new life are we being opened to in this season of the year? This season of new life coming: crocus, things growing, green things all sprouting up out of the earth. We can just feel that new life coming. And that's what I think our teachings are talking about: a positive turning to new life. To what the Lord is doing. A focus on living in the way of God's love. The Bible typically speaks about this in terms of walking. Walking in the way of love and truth. Not just thinking about it, but really getting out there and walking in it. And so I've been thinking about that image of walking. And I began with the prophet Hosea; with his statement of God's love for Israel: When Israel was a child, I loved him. And out of Egypt I called my son. . . . It was I who taught Ephraim how to walk, taking him up in my arms. (Hosea 11:1, 3) I've been thinking about that image of walking. We sang the hymn, "O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee." And I've been feeling out that sense of what it means to really walk in the way of the life of God that is coming. And some weeks ago, at one of our meetings where I live, there was a little boy not yet two, who had obviously just recently learned to walk. And there was a wonderful excitement in him as he was charging out in the room, not quite sure, and unsteady, but then Yes. And the joy and excitement that was in him was a wonderful new life! I believe that's where all human beings are. Just barely learning to walk. And what I'm sensing is that in Lent, what we need, what I need, is to come again to some of that sense of the excitement, the joy, the wonder of really being able to walk in the way of the Lord. To be close to that. To feel it. To let it actually happen to us. Swedenborg and Judaism are right together on this same image: that to walk is to live. When the rabbis in Jesus' time were looking at the traditions of the Word of God; for what it means for how to live--the Law--the word they used for that was the _Halakah_. Not the _Haggadah_, which is the stories, but the _Halakah_. And that simply means "walking." _Halak_ is the word "to walk" in Hebrew. And all it means is, "how to walk." To walk with God. To walk with our Lord. And walking is living it out. Not believing that it is true, but actually living it out. Letting in happen. This happens in the Psalms very often. In Psalm 128:1: Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord Who walks in his ways. What does it mean to fear God; to walk in the ways of God. Not to say to God, "O dear, I'm awful." To feel God is to walk in his ways. To let that actually happen. And I don't know if you remember, but Swedenborg has a wonderful, wonderful example of us when we _don't_ do that. When we try to do it in the abstract, just thinking about it. He says to visualize a bird flying across the ocean. And visualize that this is a land bird flying across the ocean. And flying, and flying, and flying, and flying, with no place to come down. And that bird would wear out. And that's what it is if we try to follow the Lord's guidance without doing it; without walking it; without letting it actually happen. It's where it _happens_ that we come down to earth and live it. Otherwise, we are like that lost, desperate bird, flying forever with no place to come down. In Psalm 27:11 there is the phrase, "Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path, because of my enemies." When I was living in Jordan I realized what that "level path" actually means. It does _not_ mean a path with no ups and downs. The country there has lots of hills: little hills, big hills, hills all around. But a path typically is a very narrow path that goes around the edge of a hill, on and on, following it. A level path is a path that, thank the Lord, doesn't slope enough so that we slide off it while we're walking. It has levelness so that we can stay on it, and then do the ups and do the downs. There is no path that doesn't have both ups and downs. The wonder is a path that the Lord gives us to walk where we can stay on it, and not slide off it, and not lose the path and go down to the bottom. In _Divine Providence_, Swedenborg talks about knowing of the way from walking in it. We understand the way of the Lord from--as a result of--our walking in it. And at the same time, our walking in it comes because we have some knowledge of it. And those two things go back and forth: what we know if we walk it then leads to walking it, and then learning what it means more and more. That back and forth; that study of what the Word means for us, and actually living it out; those two things go right together. So the knowing comes from the walking, and the walking comes from the knowing. And this is the pattern if we are actually concerned with letting that happen in our lives. Swedenborg talks about walking and journeying as the progression of life; the progression of thought from the intention of the will. And that's one thing I've been concerned about specifically just recently. That new life, that new intention of the will that comes from the walking, that comes from the living, that comes from the doing. And I want to tell you one thing that I learned in the last two months. I learned it from my dog. My dog cut her foot. That was a Saturday morning, and I had to rush off and do a funeral service that afternoon. And I got her home, and I was thinking that if I bind it up, she'll just chew it off anyway, and it won't really work. And I was thinking about the blood on the rug and all this stupid stuff. And I didn't go to her and see how deep it was. And the next day it had stopped bleeding and I took her for a walk, and it started again. And so finally on Tuesday I took her to the vet. Her foot had gotten all swollen up and was hurting, and so she got antibiotics, and also a Homeopathic remedy from the same vet at the same time. And I felt so guilty about that. Absolutely so guilty. I'd been thinking about my convenience, and not about what had really happened to her. And it was just awful. That was Tuesday and I go into Newton on Wednesday, so I had to leave her. And when I got back, thank the Lord, it was better; the swelling was down. And I simply felt through my guilt about that. I didn't try to avoid it with excuses. I didn't try to punish myself. And I didn't try to do something about it. I took her to the vet. But I simply, really felt it. I knew that it was wrong. That the _action_ was wrong. What came out of that for me was an absolutely amazing sense that all human beings make mistakes and do things that are wrong; and I do too. And what came out of that for me was a whole new sense of compassion for all people who make mistakes--and for the first time seriously, for me. That forgiveness of my own self has been such a hard thing for me to come by. And it happened. It happened, I think, because I wasn't doing anything about this. I was simply letting myself feel it, and knowing that the Lord was with me in that. And there came a new sense of intention, a wonder, a compassion for all human beings--including me. And so I read this morning from the Gospel of John. That wonderful story of the woman caught in adultery. And Jesus on the spot there. They'd come to test him. What will he say about this? Will he condemn the woman? And he didn't say anything. Just bent down, wrote with his finger on the ground, and said, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." And he bent down again, and didn't say anything. And they went away, one by one. And when Jesus was left alone with the woman, he said to her, "Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and do not sin again." I think that's one of the amazing statements in our Bible. It's acknowledging that the action was wrong, and making it absolutely clear that the _person_ is not condemned. It's the _action_ and not the person. I did crazy things about my dog. But I came to a compassion on me, on myself. We have that absolutely wonderful statement of Swedenborg in _True Christian Religion_ #650 that the Lord imputes good to human beings, and not any evil. It is hell that imputes evil to the human being, not the Lord. The Lord sees us for our good. The love of God is a love that enjoys our joy; that sees us as the good that is in us. That love out of which the Lord has created each one of us: that's our real being; that's our real nature. And that's what the Lord sees in each one of us. And when we get that voice that comes to us, "I am guilty," Swedenborg says that's hell talking. Because God does not punish, _ever_. God sees us _always_ as the good that is in us: that potential for life, for living, for being more and more open to what is the spirit of God here, in our creation, which is God's creation. And Swedenborg comments on how the Bible speaks as if God punishes. And he says: no, that is never the way it is. And he says he's seen people in the other world simply change and turn. He's observed this happen, as people turn from "I need to punish me" to "I need to turn and move to that life, which is God's life coming in me, for me, with me." Swedenborg says the same thing I learned from my dog about that change of intention, of attitude. Yes, that was a bad thing to have done. But as I sense that, and know it, and don't make excuses for it, and let myself really feel it through seriously, I know the compassion of God in me, with me, for me. And I come to a new sense of God's own love actually working here in this world. That compassion. That forgiveness. That seeing us as creations of the Love itself. And that's what I see as where the teachings of our church are going in this season of Lent: toward life. Toward receiving that goodness. Toward learning to walk in a new way with the new excitement of knowing that love and that goodness in us, as well as in the crocus, and the warmth, and the sun, and the whole creation of the world. Let's pray. O Lord, help us to know you with us, teaching us how to walk. Help us to trust your love, your joy in us. Help us to live, to walk, in your way. Thank you, Lord, that it's your love in us, for us, with us. Thank you, Lord, that it's you who teach us to walk in your way. Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@ssr.edu Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Wed Sep 27 20:25:41 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 27 Sep 2000 16:25:41 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Why Am I Here With You Now?" by Anne Mitchell Message-ID: <4.1.20000927155247.00cd2c60@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Dear Sermon Service friends, Here is the last delayed posting of the sermons from the Bridgewater Church's "Why I Am a Swedenborgian" series. The whole series is now online at: http://people.ne.mediaone.net/leewoof/sermons/2000/lswsermons2000.html Eight or nine of the sermons from this series will appear in two special issues of Our Daily Bread magazine, January and February 2001. If you are not already a subscriber and would like a free three month trial subscription, please send your postal mailing address to: Our Daily Bread Or go to: http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/trialsub.html and fill out the online trial subscription request form. Blessings! --Rev. Lee Woofenden Here's the sermon: Why Am I Here With You Now? By Anne Mitchell Bridgewater, Massachusetts, March 12, 2000 I can't really entitle this "Why Am I A Swedenborgian," since I have been with you for such a short time--two years or less, I think. In fact, you probably wonder why I even agreed to do this service! For one thing, I think that these services help us to know each other better, as we get up here and bare our souls. And I do want you to know me, too. Also, last spring, after Tammie Wilson got the ball rolling on this topic, I found my mind ruminating on the subject of where have I been all these years from a religious standpoint, and why am I here with you now. I was born and raised in East Bridgewater, the third of three children. My parents were committed to their family and especially to each other. I am eternally grateful for their care, love, and support. They were also committed church people. They both were active in the Methodist Church there in town. You might say they were pillars of the church. They took turns being superintendent of the Sunday School, among other responsibilities. Sundays, if you could stand up, you went to church. Period. It was there that I learned to find my way around the Bible and heard the familiar Bible stories. It was a traditional Christian focus, of course, and as best I can recall, it took place on an intellectual level for me, meaning that I have no recollection of being moved in a spiritual way. I was a skeptic. I do recall wondering about the reality of the miracles. I could not think how the Bible was the Word of God. The spirit of Christianity did not reach me. However, I guess I just went along with whatever was expected of me. I had no choice. Some of the time I was bored. When I graduated from high school, I went to college in Boston. I lived in the dormitories and did not go home a whole lot, as I liked the independence. I went to church from time to time and no particular denomination. But I did not go to the Methodist Church. As I moved on in life, I graduated from college and was married. I became the mother of four children. Church became a concern again as it was important to me that the children would learn about their religious heritage. So after some negotiation, my husband and I decided that we would go to the Unitarian Church. We were regular attenders, and our children were brought up in that denomination. I think that it was a good church home for me at the time. I found that I liked to be able to make sense out of religion, to think in a rational way, to have my own ideas, to view God in my own way. The doctrine centered on the brotherhood of man and was very easy to accept. Jesus was a man and the Bible was a history book. There were no demands on me to believe anything. The Methodist teachings of my childhood could be modified and lined up with liberal religion. So religion was no longer a burden and a bore. And, importantly, I found good wisdom there. I feel I was able to grow as a human being while attending the Unitarian Church. Another important benefit I enjoyed at this time was that Unitarians are wide open and quite willing to explore all sorts of ideas with no fear of damnation. I visited the Spiritualist Church with my Unitarian friends and we discussed what happened there. I also had a friend who was a member of the Spiritualist Church, and I chatted with her about it. I was intrigued with their picture of the spirit world "on the other side." And, there were other ventures. I went to a Yoga class. I learned to meditate. I became certified in beginning Reiki. I read books about out of body experiences and other paranormal events. I tried Tai Chi. Then I took a workshop to learn Therapeutic Touch. It was in the Therapeutic Touch class that I found I really could feel the energy field of a person with my hands at about one to two inches beyond the skin. I could feel variations in the texture of it. It was proof to me that we are not just biological beings. The natural world had its influence on me as well. I paddled my canoe in the rivers, watched birds, found pussy willows, blueberries, and grapes, and I watched the leaves turn color, all according to the season. I tramped in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I went backpacking with my brother in the majestic Rocky Mountains of Idaho. I went cross-country skiing in the woods. And that's the short list of ways I found to be immersed in nature. I craved being there and still do. It is a spiritual experience. I find God there. During those Unitarian years, I was also working as a nurse and teacher of nursing. My profession brought me into contact with death and dying; it forced me to look at it and consider the question: What happens to us when we die? And especially: What is going on when people die? Nurses have lovely stories about that. I became convinced that there is a spiritual world beyond this life. But the real clincher came to me while I was in the middle of a family crisis. My husband had left me, and I was terribly bogged down. Then one morning I was just coming awake and I clearly heard a male voice. It was firm but not frightening. He said to me, "Leave the old behind and get on with the new." He repeated this statement several times with increasing emphasis. I suddenly came awake. I was electrified! This was no dream. My soul was moved; I could feel that internally. I absolutely knew what I had to do, and I did get on with my new life, with confidence. It was clear to me that I was never alone. Not ever. And I began to pay better attention to the times when assistance seemed to arrive for me from nowhere. This testimony would not be complete without telling you why I put a Sioux Indian prayer into this service. My daughter is in a committed and loving relationship with a Sioux Native American man who is also a medicine man and a chief. He leads religious ceremonies for his people. When I visit them out there in South Dakota, I participate in ceremonies along with all of them. I have been to a Sun Dance, healing ceremonies, and many sweat lodges. Sweat lodge is really their church. You sit in a closed tent, and there are hot rocks in the center. They pour water on the rocks and the tent quickly fills with steam--and it is hot. In the steamy darkness, participants sing Indian songs and there are prayers. So, add this up, its hot, steamy, dark, and people are singing and praying in a language that I cannot understand. I find that I have to go up and over my body and go into the experience. It is powerful. God is definitely there. You have probably figured out by now that I have been a dropout from the Unitarian Church for years. It eventually could not satisfy me. It seemed too intellectual. As you can see, I was on a search for spiritual food, and could find it on my own better than in church. I thought I didn't need church. Then along came Lee Woofenden. So why am I here with you now? I am here with you now because the Swedenborgian Church, while very intellectual in approach, is well-vested in matters of the spirit. We have it all here, intellectual and spiritual, very nicely pulled together. In fact, it seems to me that there is a continuity of the material world with the spiritual world somewhat as the Native Americans see it. I like the concept of "correspondences" for the part it plays in the material/spiritual continuity. And correspondences also mean that the Bible can now be alive for me and not a dead history book. Also, the concept of God here in this church is that of a loving, caring, supportive God who will not send me to hell. I would have to send myself to hell. Heaven is definitely available for me. Another factor that I appreciate is the clear mandate that human growth is necessary; that we must examine ourselves and aim to remove personality traits that are not good for ourselves and those we touch. We are also expected to be productive in this life, to make a contribution from the heart. I am thinking about "uses." There is good, sensible guidance here in matters of how should I live rather than how should I believe. In fact, no one here wants to tell me what I have to believe. I was told right up front, in the beginning, that if I could not accept an idea presented, then it is not mine and I can either let it go or I can work with it. But I am not condemned. This means that I can line up my spiritual, intellectual, emotional self in complete harmony. There is no need to feel guilty or hypocritical about what ideas I do or do not accept. My religious beliefs can be individualized and personalized. There is honesty in this. As I ponder these matters, I am drawn back to my childhood. I am thinking of the days when my sister used to torment me until I was screaming, frustrated, and angry. I would shriek that I hated her. My father would always tell me emphatically, "You do not hate your sister; you love her." And he also insisted that I love everybody else as well. It was a Biblical stance for sure. Well, rest assured that I do not hate my sister today, but I like this example because it makes the point so well. There is a clear conflict between my angry little self and this command to love everyone. It was frustrating beyond belief. I knew that I wanted to push my sister's face in! But, my father was right, the Bible is crystal clear in the statement that we must love one another. Yes, I have long since settled the problem with my sister. But we all know that loving other people is not a task only of childhood. As adults, are there not people in our lives from time to time who annoy us, irk us, and perhaps wound us somehow? Is it true that on occasion you may find someone who is simply not easy to love? I have been looking at how Swedenborgians think about this. One among you, in a sermon lately, made the statement that it takes a lifetime to learn to love. Another Swedenborgian told me that even the angels are still learning to love. Believe me, it was blessed relief to hear that. I also presented this matter, one night, to a friend who is a longstanding Swedenborgian. I asked her what she does when someone really annoys her or offends her. She told me that she was in just that position on an occasion that she could recall. She carefully avoided specifics, but the point was made that there was someone with whom she had to work, and it was a big problem for her. She recalls sitting in her chair considering that she would very soon have to be working with this person, and it was difficult even to be in her presence. My friend told me that she had to do something and do it fast. So she prayed. She said, "Lord, give me your love for this woman, please, because I cannot do it myself." She said that she immediately felt a warmth flow through her body, and from that moment on she was able to be with this woman without discomfort. The Lord, she told me, is the source of all love. There are lots of reasons, then, why I am here with you now. But the big reason is this: what is going on in my heart and what is going on in my head can come together in peace. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@ssr.edu Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Sun Oct 1 23:20:52 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 1 Oct 2000 19:20:52 -0400 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Extending an Olive Leaf," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20001001175743.00ce5ef0@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Extending an Olive Leaf By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, October 1, 2000 Worldwide Communion Sunday Readings: Genesis 8:1-17: The raven and the dove But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the domestic animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided; the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, and the waters gradually receded from the earth. At the end of one hundred fifty days the waters had abated; and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. The waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared. At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent out the raven; and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent out the dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground; but the dove found no place to set its foot, and it returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took it and brought it into the ark with him. He waited another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark; and the dove came back to him in the evening, and there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days, and sent out the dove; and it did not return to him any more. In the six hundred first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and saw that the face of the ground was drying. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. Then God said to Noah, "Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons, and your sons' wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh--birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth--so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." Matthew 5:21-24: Be reconciled to your brother "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother without cause will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of hell fire. "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift." Sermon: He waited another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark; and the dove came back to him in the evening, and there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. (Genesis 8:10, 11) Today, on Worldwide Communion Sunday, we share the Lord's table with millions of Christians around the world. This is very appropriate, since the word "communion" means "joining together." Just as the people we usually share our meals with are the people in our family, and our closest friends, when we share the Lord's table we are sharing a meal with our _spiritual_ family--with the people who share our faith. This joins us together with one another and with God in our hearts and minds. The "food" of communion represents the two parts of ourselves that we especially share with one another: our thoughts and our feelings. The wine of communion represents truth, which is the "stuff" of our thinking--if we are thinking well! The bread of communion represents love and goodness, which is the "stuff" of our feelings--if we are _feeling_ in good ways! And of course, since this is the _Lord's_ table, it is the Lord's truth and love that we are sharing as we sit down to share communion with one another. This morning I would like to focus on a different set of images, but talk about the same theme: how we can come together in love and mutual understanding. In our story from Genesis, we are reaching the end of a period when things had gotten about as bad as they could for human beings. The (symbolic) flood had destroyed all of humanity except for Noah and his family, who were all shut off in a big boat--which would really have been tiny compared to the worldwide ocean it was floating on. Talk about being cut off from human companionship! Sometimes we find ourselves in that position, too. As we discussed last week, there are times when we feel cut off from the people around us, and even from God. There are times when we feel all alone, shut off in our own little world with only our own thoughts and feelings--represented by Noah's family, and by all the animals in the ark with them--to keep us company. Sometimes we feel cut off and alone even from the people we share our house and our lives with. Like the flood surrounding Noah, there is a huge flood of misunderstanding that seems to have killed off all the relationships that used to feel so alive for us. The story of the raven and the dove is the story of how we come out of the isolation and loneliness of misunderstanding to a renewed and living relationship with the people around us, and with God. And through the images of the raven and the dove, I would like to briefly explore with you how we take the steps to reconnect with our family members, our friends, and the people we work with. First of all, it helps to understand the reasons our relationships get broken in the first place. Of course, there are many complex, individual reasons that particular relationships get into trouble. It can take months or even years with a therapist to sleuth them out--and we don't have time for that this morning! However, if we were to boil it all down to its simplest form, and state it in the most _positive_ form, it would be that as human beings there are still many areas where we need to learn how to love and understand others better and more deeply. We are all in process, and there is always room for growth. And the areas where we haven't grown yet are the very areas where our relationships get "flooded out." This suggests another positive way of looking at the stresses and strains in our relationships. Rather than seeing them as failures, we can look at them as opportunities for new growth. And under the Lord's Providence, our particular interpersonal struggles tend to focus on the very areas where we most need to grow right now. What can the raven and the dove in our story teach us about how to start a new phase in our lives and relationships? The first thing we learn is that not everything we try is going to work. In fact, since it's still the old "us" trying to reach out to become the new "us," it is very likely we'll make the same mistake Noah did: we'll send out the raven first, rather than the dove. Now, in some Bible stories and in some cultures, the raven has a positive meaning. But here, it represents our old, faulty way of thinking. After a huge storm in our marriage, or our friendship with someone, or our work situation has finally started to die down, instead of jumping right in and starting out with a new way of relating to the other person or people, we tend to try the old, familiar ways first. Perhaps our "raven" involves asking ourselves questions such as, "How can I come out looking best in this situation? What's the easiest way to get through this? How can I take advantage of what's happened between us?" Basically, we may start out trying to get the most for ourselves for the least amount of effort. This sort of thinking is probably what got us into this mess in the first place, though. And like the raven in the story, it doesn't get us anywhere. The raven just flies back and forth uselessly until the floodwaters dry up. In the same way, when we are trying to patch up a relationship, but we're still basically thinking about ourselves, we don't get anywhere with the other person or people involved in the relationship. When all else fails, it's time to follow the directions! After we've tried our own way, it's time to try the Lord's way. The "dove" represents thinking, not of ourselves first, but of the other person first, and of how the Lord would have us treat others. In particular, it represents our growing understanding of what it means to do good for other people simply because we care about them and we want to do what is good and right. And here we find our second lesson: this doesn't always work, either! At least, it doesn't always work the first time. One of the problems is that when we first decide to "do the right thing," we're often rather smug about it. "Aren't I good! My only thought is make the other person happy!" Like little Jack Horner, we say, "Oh, what a good boy (or girl) am I!" And it is fascinating to notice that the first time Noah sends out the dove, it says (if we read a translation that preserves the wording of the original Hebrew) that he sends the dove out "from him" (or "from himself"), and when it comes back, that he puts out his hand and brings it back in "with him" (verses 8 & 9). Even though we're starting to think more about the other person's feelings, and not just about our own, we still think that we ourselves are pretty good--and very virtuous for taking those first steps toward reconciliation. When we drop all our pretenses of being better or wiser than the other person, and drop all the chips on our shoulder about being the underdog or the one who got the short end of the stick, _then_ we start to make progress. When Noah sends out the dove the second time, there is no commentary about it being sent "from him" or that he "put his arm out" to take it back in "with him." He simply sends it out to see what it will find. When we are ready to reach out to the other person with no thought of what we can get out of it, and with no thought of our own virtue in doing so, then we can truly begin to make contact. When we have dropped our personal agendas, and simply want to do what is good and loving and thoughtful for the other person, we finally find that the "floodwaters" of misunderstanding have dried up enough that the "dove" of thoughtfulness we send out comes back with an olive leaf in its beak! It is no accident that the dove with the olive leaf in its mouth has become a symbol of peace. Olives were the source of the oil in the lamps that lit the people's houses, and also in the lamps that gave light in the temple of God. Olives represent God's love and kindness working in peoples actions. And it is when we act from simple kindness that our relationships are truly warmed with love, and enlightened with mutual understanding. When we see our partner or friend or co-worker first begin to respond to our new and sincere efforts at thoughtfulness and kindness, we are seeing the "olive leaf" in the dove's beak. We're not quite to the stage of harvesting the olives and making olive oil, but that beautiful little olive leaf tells us that we are on the way to the new and better relationship, in which the oil of love can once again give its light and warmth. My challenge for you today, as we share together the love and wisdom that the Lord offers us at the communion table, is that each one of us pick a relationship in our lives that is strained and fraying, and begin to consciously leave behind the raven of thinking how we can come out best, and send out instead the dove of simple thoughtfulness and kindness toward the other person. Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@mediaone.net Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Mon Oct 16 00:12:45 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: 16 Oct 2000 00:12:45 -0000 Subject: [Sermons] SERMON: "Giving Up Everything for God," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20001015195023.00d664c0@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Giving Up Everything for God By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, October 15, 2000 Readings: Genesis 22:1-18: The sacrifice of Isaac Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided." The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, "I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." Luke 14:25-33: The cost of being a disciple Large crowds were travelling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even life itself, cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple." "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything you have cannot be my disciple." Arcana Coelestia #10227.18: Giving up all our possessions If we do not know that in the inner meaning, "possessions" are spiritual riches and wealth, which are intuitions and knowledge that come from the Bible, we can only believe that if we want to be saved, we will have to get rid of everything we own. But that is not what these words mean. In this passage, "possessions" means everything that comes from our own intelligence. None of us can be wise from ourselves, but only from the Lord. So "giving up all our possessions" means claiming no intelligence or wisdom for ourselves. If we do not do this, we cannot be taught by the Lord, which is what it means to be his disciple. Sermon: Any of you who does not give up everything you have cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:33) Life can be hard sometimes. It throws us many challenges: sickness, financial misfortune, broken marriages and friendships, the death of a loved one. These things can be very painful, testing us to the depths of our soul. They may even cause us to question our faith in God. We ask, "Why would a God of love allow such terrible things to happen?" We question deeply what God is really like, and whether it is really true that God is pure love--or whether God doesn't really care about us, and has left us to our own devices. Our Old Testament story involves a situation in which Abraham was tested to the depths of his soul. It helps to understand this story if we realize that in the cultural and religious atmosphere in which Abraham grew up, people believed that it was pleasing to God to kill and sacrifice animals and even human beings. Human sacrifice was a common practice in the religions of the ancient Near East. As Abraham grew up, he naturally adopted this belief along with many others that we now consider to be mistaken and contrary to God's will. This leads us to our first lesson from this reading. God cannot change all at once the mistaken beliefs that we grow up with. If God instantly took away the beliefs that have been ingrained in us as sacred from our earliest childhood, we would have nothing left to keep our faith alive. So God works with our current beliefs, leading us forward until we have grown in spirit enough that God can show us a deeper and higher belief. This is what God did with Abraham. And this is a matter of deeper wisdom about the Bible that is not always apparent on the surface. On the surface, the story says "God tested Abraham," by commanding him to sacrifice his son Isaac. The matter of deeper wisdom that we must understand in reading this and many other passages in the Bible that attribute such things to God is that though the Bible is God's Word for us, it is written from a human perspective in order to reach us where we are. It often says things in its literal meaning that are the way _we_ perceive them--or the way in which the culture through which it was written perceives them--rather than the way God perceives them. It is hard for many people to accept the idea that God would allow anything into the Bible story that is not literally true. But if God did not allow this, most of what was written in the Bible would be beyond our comprehension--and it would lose its power to reach us where we actually are in life. As we read in Isaiah: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9) The story of Abraham's "sacrifice of Isaac" (as it is traditionally called, even though he did not literally sacrifice his son), is the story of how God allowed the faulty beliefs held by Abraham to test him to his utmost, until he was ready to move to the next level of spiritual understanding, awareness, and commitment. The story is told with great understatement. It does not dwell on the deep anguish Abraham must have felt as he traveled for three days, believing he was about to give up what he cherished most: his beloved son and heir. It does not dwell on the terrible pain Isaac must have felt when he realized what his father was about to do. It does not dramatize the flood of relief they both must have felt when they realized that their worst fears would not be realized. Outside of the movies, this is how life happens for most of us. Even when we are in the midst of deep anguish and struggle, we do not go around dramatizing our inner pain for all the world to see. We do our best to hold our lives together even when we feel that we are breaking apart inside. At these times, we move along on our life journey full of fear, anguish, and deep pain that may outwardly be expressed only in a few words or a gesture that could only be understood by someone who knows us best of all--and perhaps only by God. This should not lull us into thinking that no one else feels the deep pain or experiences the deep struggles that we do. Nor should it cause us to think that these inner feelings are not important--that only our outward lives matter. In fact, the struggles of our souls are an essential part of our lives. When we are facing our deepest fears and our greatest challenges, that is when we are expanding the growing edges of our lives. That is when we are traveling beyond where we have ever been spiritually, to a new stage of life in which we can gain a deeper understanding of our own souls, of one another, and of God. Abraham gained a new understanding of God that day on Mount Moriah. Just as he was about to carry through the ultimate sacrifice that he thought God was asking of him, God called to him: "Abraham, Abraham! . . . Do not lay a hand on the boy." From a literal standpoint, we can see this story as a turning point, in which it was established for Abraham and all his descendents that God does not require human sacrifice as Abraham and many others of his day believed. Human sacrifice played no part in the ancient Jewish religion, even though it was still practiced by many of the peoples among which they lived. But there was a deeper lesson for Abraham as well. The lesson was that if he _offered_ everything he had to God--even what was most dear to him, even in the pain and anguish of his soul--then from that complete faith and devotion, God could bring about something better than he, in his old and faulty ways of thinking, could ever have imagined. It was after God stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son Isaac that God made to Abraham the beautiful promise that he would be blessed and would have many descendants, and that through his offspring all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Though Abraham's concept of how to express his complete faith and devotion to God may have been faulty, the fact that he was willing to _act_ on that faith made it possible for God to bring him to a new level. For Abraham and for us, the new level to which God is seeking to bring us has very little to do with our outward circumstances. Though it may seem, as in our reading from Luke, that God is asking us to give up our family, our friends, and all our possessions in order to live by our faith, _we_ are the ones who interpret the "sacrifices" of the Lord in that way when our hearts are focused more on outward things than on God. Our reading from Luke phrases it in the starkest of ways: "Whoever comes to me and does not _hate_ father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even life itself, cannot be my disciple." (emphasis mine) We simply cannot take this literally. If we did, then Jesus would be contradicting his own clear teachings that we are to love everyone--even our enemies. There must be a deeper meaning that the Lord is leading us to in these "sacrifices" that are commanded in the Bible. The deeper meaning is stated in the Bible itself, in this beautiful passage from Micah: With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you, but to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:6-8) And in Psalm 51:16, 17, the Bible tells us very clearly that it is not outer sacrifice, but inner change that God requires of us. Speaking to the Lord, the Psalmist writes: You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. These words have the power to change our perspective on those painful struggles and losses that we face in this life. Our natural tendency is to think, like Abraham, that God is testing us, asking us to give up the people and abilities and things we hold most dear. But as hard as it sometimes is to understand, God never asks us to give up anything good in life. Rather, God is continually asking us to give up everything that stands in the way of our becoming the best, deepest, most spiritually wise and loving person that we can possibly be. When we approach our times of deep testing, what God is really asking us is that we leave behind all of our old and faulty feelings and attitudes. These are the _spiritual_ "father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even life itself" that we must give up in order to follow the Lord. We must give up our false self-reliance: the idea that we can make it through life without any help from others or from God. In place of that faulty self-reliance, we must recognize deeply and fully our complete dependence on God for everything we have and everything we are We must give up our focus on material possessions and pleasures. In place of that material focus, we must learn--sometimes only through the painful loss of someone we love--that the most important thing is not what we possess, but how much we grow in true love, compassion, understanding, and kindness for one another. Sometimes, like Abraham, we feel that we are being asked by God to sacrifice what we love most. And when we follow through on that inner dictate, then God does bless us for being willing to give up everything in order to live out our faith. And though we sometimes do lose father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even our life itself, the true sacrifices of God are giving up our pride and self-reliance in favor of the "broken spirit" of complete reliance on God to provide for us, both outwardly and inwardly, every moment of our lives. If it takes painful experiences of loss and anguish in order for us to arrive at this "sacrifice of everything" to God, and this new faith and trust in God at a deeper level, then God will allow those painful things to happen to us. Please understand, though, that God takes no pleasure in our pain, and would much prefer that we could learn in an easier way. But our old attitudes die hard. Sometimes only the loss of the people or possessions we love most is enough to shake us out of our fixed ways of thinking and feeling, and open us up to God's presence in a new and deeper way. Always, always, it is not the _outer_ sacrifice that the Lord desires or requires, but the _inner_ sacrifice of our whole being--of everything we love, believe, and do--to the will of God. What God truly desires is that we turn over our whole life to our Creator, leaving behind every self-centered and materialistic desire in favor of the true, deep, burning love and wisdom that can transform us into angels of light even while we are here on earth. Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you, but to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@mediaone.net Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Fri Nov 17 03:44:08 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 22:44:08 -0500 Subject: SERMON: "Farewell and Welcome," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <200011170346.eAH3kol27770@mail.newearth.org> Farewell and Welcome By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, October 29, 2000 A Confirmation Sermon Readings: 1 Kings 8:56-61: Committed to the Lord Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake us. May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep the commandments, decrees, and ordinances he gave our ancestors. And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day's need, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other. But your hearts must be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commandments, just as they are at this time. John 6:35-40: Eternal life Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. Anyone who comes to me will never go hungry, and anyone who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me: that I shall lose none of the ones that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that all who look to the Son and believe in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day." True Christian Religion #694.7: Everlasting rest Everlasting rest does not mean idleness, since that reduces the mind, and therefore the whole body, to a state of feebleness, lethargy, stupidity, and drowsiness. This is not life, but death--much less is it the everlasting life that the angels in heaven have. Everlasting rest is a rest that banishes that condition and makes people alive. This must be something that uplifts the mind. So it is some interest or task that excites, enlivens, and delights the mind. This depends upon the purpose for which, in which, and towards which it aims. This is why the whole of heaven is seen by the Lord as a coherent purpose. And it is the purpose which angels serve that make them angels. The pleasure of service carries them along, just as a favorable current does a ship, and gives them everlasting peace, and the rest that peace brings with it. This is what everlasting rest from labors means. And angels are just as alive as is their minds' commitment to service. Sermon: Your hearts must be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commandments. (1 Kings 8:61) Last week one of you commented that things seem to happen all at once. That certainly is true of our church's life this month! Three weeks ago today, we celebrated the confirmation of Lorena Costello into our church. A week ago today, our dear friend Irva Miller, a long time active member of this church family, left us for her heavenly home. And though we rejoice that she is in a happier place, we also miss her, and continue to grieve her passing. Now, just one week later, we again celebrate the confirmation of two people into our church: Sheri Rienstra and Anne Mitchell. It's hard to grieve and celebrate at the same time! It is hard to say welcome to new friends at the same time we are saying farewell to the old. It stretches our minds and hearts in uncomfortable, even painful ways to try to encompass both the sorrow of parting and the joy of new life together. And yet, as I have contemplated this week both the loss to our church in Irva's death and the gain to our church of welcoming three new members, I have come to think of it as providential that we should be stretching our minds and hearts to accommodate both of these events together. We are saying farewell to our old and dear friend; at the same time, as we are welcoming new members into our church, the angels are welcoming Irva into the new and fuller life for which she has been preparing throughout eighty-six years here on earth. Meanwhile, contemplating the heavenly home to which Irva is now finding her way helps us to think more deeply about just what it means to make a commitment to our church--to our faith--as Sheri and Anne are doing today, as Lorena did three weeks ago, and as so many of us here in this church have done, whether it was a few years ago or many decades ago. Make no mistake about it: joining the church represents a _commitment_ on our part. Solomon expressed this commitment powerfully and beautifully in his speech to the people at the dedication of the temple. He said, "Your hearts must be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commandments." Your _hearts_ must be _fully committed_ to the Lord our God, to _live_ by his decrees and _obey_ his commandments. This is a total life commitment, from our inner heart right through to our outward actions. The Lord is calling each one of us to dedicate our entire life to the higher work of building God's kingdom both in our own heart and in the world around us. Sometimes this may seem like a burden. Sometimes it may seem like too much for God to ask of us when we have enough trouble keeping up with our _worldly_ commitments. Sometimes, it may simply seem too _otherworldly,_ too distant from the concerns of family, friends, work, and home life that are right in front of us. And then, just as we begin to get comfortable with the routine of our lives, the death of someone close to us confronts us once again with those big, ultimate questions: Why are we are here? Where we are going? What are we doing in this life? It reminds us that no matter what we may accomplish on this earth, we are all going to the same place. And we are faced once again with the challenging statement of Jesus that the kingdom of heaven is not out _here_ or over _there,_ but is forming both _within_ us and _among_ us. We realize once again that the important thing is not the treasure that we build up for ourselves on earth, but the treasure that we build in heaven even while we are living on earth. The great power of Jesus was that he continually pursued this higher goal, even as we fallible humans continually forget it. He said, in our reading from John: I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me: that I shall lose none of the ones he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that all who look to the Son and believe in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. (John 6:38, 39) Our Lord Jesus was continually aspiring to lift up not only his own soul, but the souls of all the people he encountered each day--and even of all the people in the entire world. He was continually seeking to elevate people's hearts, minds, and souls up to heaven. As our minds follow our departed friend up to heaven, we are reminded that the commitment these two people are making today, and the commitment so many of us have made in the past--and that others of us may make in the future--is a commitment to raise not just our _minds_ to heaven, but our _hearts_ and our _whole lives._ We are reminded once again that whatever we may accomplish here, our only true and lasting accomplishments are the ones we make within our own souls. Our only true and lasting accomplishments are in the ways we can grow in love and understanding for one another, in following the way of the Lord, in expressing both our faith and our love through an active life of service to our fellow human beings. These are the elements of genuine human life. These are the things we remember with love and thankfulness in those who have passed on before us. These are the things we commit ourselves to when we come before the altar and express our faith--and our intention to _live_ by our faith--before God and before the congregation of our church family. Remembering where we are going at this time of commitment helps us to keep our priorities straight. Paul expressed this beautifully in his letter to the Colossians: If you have been lifted up with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4) Now this is fascinating. Paul is speaking to people who are very much alive, and who have committed their lives to Christ. And yet he says, "You have died"! Is there a death in committing our lives to the Lord? Yes, there is--and Paul goes on to explain it: Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. (Colossians 3:5) Jesus also expressed it this way: I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. (John 12:24) The more deeply we consider the farewells and the welcomes that we are saying in our church right now, the more we realize that the two are inextricably bound together: that every time we say farewell, there is also a welcome taking place. As we say farewell to Irva, the angels--especially the angels of her family members and friends who have gone before her--are welcoming her with open arms. At the same time, whenever we say welcome, there is also a farewell taking place. When we come to this church and make a commitment to its faith and life, we are saying goodbye to some of our old connections and associations. We may be leaving behind another church or another faith and belief--saying farewell to the faith and the spiritual family that used to sustain us, or that we used to struggle with. Both of these can be difficult. And even if we have grown up in the Swedenborgian Church, we are saying farewell to an uncommitted spiritual life. We are saying farewell to the old freedom of having a wide open field of choices about the primary faith and the primary spiritual family in which we will pursue our spiritual life and growth. This, too, can be a difficult step to take. It can be scary. It can feel constricting. We may feel that we are closing paths to ourselves--paths that we have looked at with curiosity and longing. Whenever we say welcome to the new, we are always saying farewell to what is old and dear to us. And yet, if we are following the path that the Lord has laid out for us, the new welcome is always leading us on to something greater than what we are saying farewell to. The heavenly life that Irva is now entering is so much greater, more beautiful, more joyful than the increasingly constricted life she is leaving behind! And though it is hard for those of us who love her to realize it now, her departure into the spiritual world also lifts our own souls a little closer to the spiritual world, and to the Lord who reigns there. As our hearts and minds follow her with longing, we are inwardly raised to a new level of understanding, compassion, and commitment on our own spiritual path. Making our commitment to the Swedenborgian Church--to its faith and to the Lord whom we worship--is also a welcome that leads us on to something greater than what we are saying farewell to. We may be saying farewell to former church associations; yet we are saying welcome to a new, deeper, and more satisfying faith--to a faith which I continue to believe will one day bless the entire earth with its inspiring and comforting message. And while we may be saying farewell to some of our former ways of thinking, feeling, and relating to others, we are saying welcome to new and deeper ways of being and of living. We are opening up whole new fields of deeper understanding of God and of the world in which we live. We are opening up new fields of understanding and compassion for the people around us. We are opening up new parts of ourselves to the light and warmth of the Lord's radiant presence. We are making a commitment to let the light and warmth that God is pouring down upon us also flow out to those around us, warming them with our love and compassion, enlightening them with our insights and understanding, serving their needs willingly, with an inner joy and peace that is the true rest of our souls. Yes, farewell and welcome are inextricably bound together. We cannot say farewell without saying welcome, and we cannot say welcome without saying farewell. The beautiful thing is that God has arranged our lives so that each farewell will bring us to a new and deeper welcome; so that every time we leave behind the old, there is a new path laid out in front of us that will lead us to new heights and new depths of spiritual life. With the pain and sorrow of every farewell, there is the joy and new life of welcoming the Lord's renewed presence into our hearts, minds, and lives. What is this new life and new presence in our lives? Paul sums it up for us a few verses later in his message to the Colossians: As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which, indeed, you were called as members of one body. (Colossians 3:12-15) Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@mediaone.net Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Fri Nov 17 03:45:04 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 22:45:04 -0500 Subject: SERMON: "A Bittersweet Path," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <200011170346.eAH3ktp27792@mail.newearth.org> A Bittersweet Path By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, November 12, 2000 Readings Exodus 15:22-27: Marah and Elim Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?" Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you." Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water. Revelation 10: The angel and the little scroll Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down." Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, "There will be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets." Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: "Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land." So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey." I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings." Arcana Coelestia #8349: Bitter water "They could not drink its water because it was bitter" means that true ideas seemed unpleasant to them, since they had no love for goodness. "Drinking the water" means receiving true ideas and using them as goodness directs, . . . and "bitter" means unpleasant. Sermon Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (Exodus 15:22, 23) Last Sunday, as we considered the story of Moses and the burning bush, we looked at some of the strange and even painful events that shake us out of our material complacency and get us going on our spiritual path. Through his encounter with God at the burning bush, Moses ended out leaving his relatively stable and secure life tending the flocks of his father-in-law to go on a dangerous and difficult mission to lead his enslaved people to freedom. By the time of our Old Testament story for today, Moses has already accomplished that part of his new mission. He has defied the Pharaoh of Egypt and his armies, and brought the children of Israel safely out of their Egyptian slavery. You would think the people would be celebrating and dancing for joy! Their long enslavement was over! They were free at last! Now everything would be wonderful; they could all live happy and joyful lives! That's the theory, anyway. In reality, things seldom work that way. When we leave behind our old way of life and start on a new path, we may think that everything is going to be great now. But it is much more likely that we will be in for a bittersweet experience. In today's story, the children of Israel had just crossed the Red Sea on dry ground, and witnessed the great destruction of the Egyptian armies as the waters rolled back into their place, engulfing the Egyptian charioteers. The enemies that had been coming hard on their heels to carry them back to slavery were destroyed! None of them had ever witnessed so great a miracle of salvation. And they knew that it was God who had saved them. Their songs of celebration were short-lived. On the other side of the Red Sea there was not the fertile land that God had promised them in Canaan, but a great expanse of desert that they must cross in order to get there. Through that desert they trudged for one day, then two, then three, without finding any water. Finally, after this weary introduction to freedom, they found water! But just as quickly as their hopes were raised, they were dashed to the ground. The water was bitter. It was undrinkable. And their songs of celebration turned into the grumbling of discontent. "What are we to drink?" they demanded. I suspect we've all had experiences like this in our lives. We started out on a new phase of our life with excitement and high hopes, only to have things turn out a lot tougher than we expected. For many of us, our first real experience of this was when we left home for college or to find our own way independently in the world. As I look back on my own experience of leaving home for college, I remember the great plans and high ideals that I started out with. And then I remember two years of struggling through life in a strange and unfamiliar atmosphere, without the comfort and security of my home and family around me. After two years, I'd had enough. And the plans I had drawn up so definitely beforehand seemed to have gotten lost somewhere along the way. Yes, I had my freedom from home and family, and public school--which, at the time, had sometimes seemed a wearying and restrictive to me. But in many ways, I was in the exact same situation as Moses and the Israelites were after they left Egypt: adrift in an emotional desert, with no clear path ahead of me, longing for something to satisfy my inner thirst. Of course, not everyone has that kind of experience on leaving home and going off to college. Some thrive in the college atmosphere, and look back upon it as one of the best times in their lives. For some, the letdown comes when they leave college and for the first time have to support themselves doing work that may not have anything to do with their plans while they were still in school. Others do go into their chosen profession, only to find that it is a lot harder and a lot less immediately satisfying than they had imagined. Sooner or later, we all hit a life transition that just doesn't work out the way we hoped or planned. Sooner or later, we all find ourselves wandering in that desert for days or weeks or months or years, searching for water, grumbling about how dry and empty our lives have become. At that point, we might turn to God demanding to know why this is happening to us. And if the struggles we are facing are the result of a choice we made to move forward in our spiritual, emotional, or interpersonal life, we may begin to think that it would be better just to go back to the way things were before. When we commit our lives to God in a new and deeper way, aren't things supposed to get better? But so often, they seem to get worse. This was the experience of the Israelites as they set out through the desert to claim their freedom and follow God's promise that they would become a great nation in a beautiful and fertile land. As they went through their struggles in the desert, that bright vision began to grow dim, and they began to wonder if it would have been better to have remained enslaved in Egypt, where at least their life was predictable and seemingly secure. The waters of Marah and Elim are a perfect image for these difficult and disappointing first experiences whenever we go through a major change in our lives--and especially when we make a new commitment to move forward in our _spiritual_ lives. To help us understand the symbolism of the bitter water turned sweet, I would like to quote more fully the passage from Swedenborg's _Arcana Coelestia_ that I read from earlier. Swedenborg writes: "They could not drink its water because it was bitter" means that the truth seemed unpleasant to them because they had no love for goodness. "Drinking the water" means accepting the truth and using it as goodness directs; "water" means truth; and "bitter" means unpleasant. So it is clear that the passage, "They could not drink its water because it was bitter" means that the truth seemed unpleasant to them. This is how the truth seems to us when we have no love for goodness. Any delight that we feel in knowing the truth comes from goodness. Our love for truth comes from goodness because goodness loves truth, and truth loves goodness; the two go together as though joined in marriage. It is well known that we all want to learn more about the things we love and have as our goals. If we love goodness--that is, if we desire in our heart to worship God and do good things for our neighbor, we love to learn more ways we can do this--and so we love to learn the truth. So it is clear that all our love for truth arises out of goodness. (_Arcana Coelestia_ #8349) Perhaps Swedenborg has left a few of you behind here, so let's unpack what he's saying. As usual, Swedenborg is attempting to stretch our minds to look beyond the surface of the Bible story--and beyond the surface of our own experience--to the deeper causes and currents that are behind them. When we begin a new phase of our lives, we have to learn a whole new way of thinking, feeling, and living. What worked for us when we were still at home attending high school no longer works when we go to college. What worked for us when we were in college no longer works once we are out in the working world. What worked for us as single people no longer works once we get married. What worked for us as newlyweds no longer works once we have children. What worked for us as parents no longer works for us when the children have left the nest. And what worked for us when we were engaged in our occupation no longer works once we have moved beyond our regular working years into our retirement. At every one of these life transitions--and many others I haven't mentioned--we can no longer coast along on our old habits and our old knowledge. We have to learn a whole new set of "rules." We have to figure out how things work in this new environment and new phase of our lives. To put it in Swedenborg's terms, we have to learn new "truth." In the symbolism of the Bible, we have to find new "water" to keep the organic, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual processes of our lives going. We have to gain new knowledge and new insight--things that we had previously not been aware of at all. The problem is, a lot of times we don't really want to do that. We don't want to put out all the effort to stretch our minds and hearts to accommodate that new knowledge. We don't _want_ to change our perspective on life; the old one seemed to work just fine. And because when we first start out, we have no particular desire or love for the new understanding and insight that our new path requires of us, it seems bitter and unpleasant to us. The water of spiritual truth is an acquired taste because our spiritual taste buds have become accustomed to the flavor of our old ways of thinking and our usual ways of looking at the world and the people around us. This new water tastes bitter! What is the solution? Do we turn around and go back to being enslaved by our old habits and our old ways of thinking? No! God calls us to move _forward,_ not backward! Thankfully, the new and deeper understanding of life that we begin to encounter as we move forward on our life's journey does not have to remain bitter and unpleasant. There is a way to turn the truth that at first seems so bitter and unpleasant into a sweet, pleasant, and even exciting new way of looking at our own lives, at and our situation in this world, at the people around us, and at our relationship with God. As Swedenborg tells us, it is a _love for goodness_ that would make this new truth seem sweet to us. And that is precisely the correspondence of the piece of wood that the Lord told Moses to throw into the water. Too often when we start out on a new phase in our lives, we are thinking primarily of our own comfort and our own happiness--just as the Israelites were grumbling about what they would drink. It takes us a little longer to realize that this new path we are now following is not just about how we ourselves can be happier, but about how we can make those around us happier. When we begin to seek out new insights so that we can use them in giving comfort, pleasure, and happiness to our family members, our friends, the people we work for, the people we serve in our day-to-day job or tasks, then the truth begins to taste much sweeter to us. An example might help. Let's imagine that we are studying accounting. For some people, accounting is not the most exciting activity in the world. And if our primary motivation is simply to get a job, learning accounting might be an uninspiring activity! As we go out into the working world, we may float through various accounting jobs that don't mean much to us. We're just trying to make a buck. The work is boring, but it pays the bills. Perhaps one day, though, we decide we want to put our skills to work in a job where we will be serving our fellow human beings. We search out a job keeping the books for a charitable organization or for a company whose services or products, we believe, provide a real benefit to its customers. Suddenly, the knowledge of accounting begins to taste much sweeter! Suddenly, we eagerly desire to learn more and gain a better grasp of the intricacies of accounting so that we serve people better. Suddenly the "water" of new knowledge and understanding has become sweet! Why? Because now we are seeking out that new understanding and truth so that we can use it in serving our fellow human beings. Now the goodness of love and caring for others gives a sweetness both to our regular tasks and to the learning that we do to become better at our job. Now we are not driven reluctantly by the need for money or even by a sense of obligation, but because we feel the joy of adding to others' happiness. The goodness of loving and serving other people is precisely what can overcome the bitterness of every new step we take in our lives. Thinking less about our own comfort and happiness and more about how we can make others happy is exactly what can take a flat, uninspiring, and even unpleasant time in our lives, and transform it into a time of new joy and inspiration that we had never experienced before. Yes, it takes time for us to arrive at this new and changed attitude. We may have to trudge through the weary desert of being engrossed in our own disappointment, depression, and misery first. We may have to spend some time taking care of our own issues and our own feelings as we confront a major change in our lives--and that can also feel like wandering through the desert with no water to drink. But as soon as we are ready to lift up our heads, look to the Lord, and rededicate ourselves to the happiness of those around us, the Lord throws a new goodness into our lives that has the power to change our despondency and depression into a new sense of purpose and joy in life. Whether we are just leaving home and starting out on our new life or moving into the final phase of our life here on earth, there will always be times when things will seem bitter and unpleasant to us. But our bitterness can be transformed into God's sweetness when we open ourselves up to new ways of understanding, loving, and serving one another. Amen. From leewoof@mediaone.net Fri Nov 17 03:44:39 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 22:44:39 -0500 Subject: SERMON: "On Holy Ground," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <200011170346.eAH3kwM27846@mail.newearth.org> On Holy Ground By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, November 5, 2000 Readings: Exodus 3:1-5: On holy ground Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight--why the bush does not burn up." When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am." "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." Revelation 22:7-17: Let those who are holy continue to be holy I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me; but he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!" And he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. "Let those who do wrong continue to do wrong, and those who are filthy continue to be filthy, and those who do right continue to do right, and those who are holy continue to be holy." "Behold, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay all people according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. "Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the fornicators and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star." The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." And let everyone who hears say, "Come." And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. Arcana Coelestia #6845: Holy ground is God's presence in us "Holy ground" means the holiness that flows out from the Lord. So it means being in the holy influence of the Lord's Divine Humanity. . . . Unless we are drawn away from our physical senses, which form the outward levels of our material self--that is, unless we are raised from our physical senses to our deeper levels--the Divine cannot flow into us. The things that flow in from the Divine do reach right through to our outermost parts, meaning the physical senses, which form the outward levels of our material self. But if these levels of us are completely occupied with bodily and worldly interests, the Divine influences coming in are reduced to nothing, since they are incompatible with what is there. So when we are about to receive the Divine--that is, things relating to faith and love--we are raised from our physical senses. Then the Divine no longer flows into the outward level of our senses, but into the deeper level to which we have been raised. Sermon: "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." (Exodus 3:5) Sometimes God has strange ways of getting our attention. We're just moving along in life, minding our own business, everything is going normally . . . and then something happens that just doesn't fit into our plans. Something happens that doesn't make sense. Something happens that we simply can't figure out. And then, if we are listening, God has our attention. That's how it happened for Moses. By this time in his life, Moses probably figured that he could safely look forward to a quiet retirement. Yes, he'd seen the trouble of his people, who were still enslaved in Egypt. In his younger years, when he was still in Egypt himself, he had even risked his own life by killing an Egyptian to defend one of his own people. But he'd been found out, and had to flee for his life. Now he was settled down with a wife and children and probably grandchildren, too. Because Moses was about eighty years old when God caught his attention in a strange way, and changed the course of his life. That day Moses was doing what he always did: tending the flocks of his father-in-law, whose family he had become a part of. Perhaps he'd been having trouble finding good grazing, so that he had ventured around to the other side of the desert to find fodder for the flocks. All in a month's work, really--finding the best food for the flocks so that they would grow healthy and strong, and yield a good living for their keepers. What Moses did not realize was that while looking for the best place to graze his flocks, he had unwittingly come into the very shadow of Horeb, the mountain of God. Later on, this same mountain was called Mount Sinai. Does that sound familiar? Yes, this was the very same mountain where God gave the Ten Commandments, and all the other laws that transformed the clan of Israel into the nation of Israel. But none of that had happened yet. In fact, this is the first place in the Bible where the mountain is mentioned. As far as Moses was concerned, it was probably just another mountain in a whole range of mountains. Even today, we are not quite sure where Mount Horeb (or Mount Sinai) is. That day, Moses was just minding his own business, when all of a sudden he saw something that made no sense at all. A bush was burning. That could happen. Perhaps it was struck by heat lightning. But what was really strange was that the fire did not seem to be consuming the bush, as any self-respecting fire would do. So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight--why the bush does not burn up." Then God had his attention. "Moses! Moses!" God called from the burning bush. And now that Moses' usual ways of thinking about things (you know: fire burns up bushes) had been on their head, now that he had been drawn aside from his usual paths of thinking, Moses was ready to listen. "Here I am," he said. And then God could tell him what had been true all along, but what he had not realized: "Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." The place where you are standing! Not some far-off place, but right here, right now. _This_ is holy ground. That is how this experience, and those words, must have struck Moses. Like Jacob when he saw the stairway reaching to heaven, Moses suddenly realized that the place where he was _right now_ was holy--holy because the special presence of the Lord was there. Holy because this was a place where he could hear the voice of the Lord. Perhaps I'm making a bit too much of the holy ground being right here, right now. After all, Mount Horeb was actually a bit removed from Moses' home turf. He had gone over to the other side of the desert to get there. This was not a large desert, mind you, but it could well have taken several days or weeks of journeying to get there. However, most herdsmen of those days were nomadic or semi-nomadic, so traveling around like this was a regular part of the job. And Moses was still simply doing his job that day. Isn't this how God reaches out to us, too? It would be nice for me to think that each of you hears the voice of God mainly here in the church! But God speaks to us everywhere, not just in church. And sometimes God can reach us most powerfully when we are simply going about our day-to-day tasks; when we are simply doing our job. Because in church, we _expect_ there to be a lot of talk about God and spirit and heaven and hell and all that stuff. And we tend to think that the rest of our lives out there in the workaday world are somehow more distant from God's presence. So it is right in our everyday lives that the sudden, unexpected presence of God is most likely to catch our attention and get us to turn aside from the sometimes rutted path of our usual ways of thinking and feeling. It is when we are simply minding our own business, going about our tasks, that the unexpected burning bush of the living presence of Divine love and wisdom catches our attention, and causes us to look at our lives differently. There are many messages that can be drawn from the story of Moses and the burning bush. The one that strikes me most forcefully right now is that we are _always_ on holy ground, even when we are just going about our routine lives. We are _always_ approaching the mountain of God, even when we think we are just making our living and taking care of our responsibilities here on earth. God's living presence is not limited to any particular time or place. Yes, we build churches to help create an atmosphere in which we hope to be especially receptive to God's voice speaking to us, and God's love flowing into us. But God is there for us all the time, whether we're at church or not. And not only that, but God wants us to _realize_ that the Divine presence is there for us all week, and every moment, even when we are not consciously thinking about spiritual things. God wants us to be continually opening up the ears of our minds and hearts to hear that voice from within, calling our name, giving us the message that the very ground we are standing on _right now_ is holy ground. Of course, there is a risk in listening to that voice! Moses had made a quiet life for himself, and he was quite satisfied with it. And now, just because he turned aside to see this strange sight, God was calling him to leave all the comforts and satisfactions of the life he had been living for decades, and take on a difficult and dangerous task. If we read on in the story, we find God's message for Moses was that he must return to Egypt--that land where his people were being oppressed--and lead them out of slavery to freedom. Moses did not want the job. In fact, he tried very hard to get out of it. He made excuse after excuse, until finally God, much like a parent frustrated at a child's stubbornness, had to raise his voice to Moses, overcome his excuses, and send Moses to do the task that was required of him. We may make excuses, too, when we have a plan in mind for our life, and God is telling us we must do something else. We may have had it all figured out what we were going to do with our life; and then, so it seems, God throws in a monkey wrench in, and all our visions and dreams for the rest of our life are shattered. When we're in the middle of having them shattered, it can look like the end of life as we know it. I know that's how it has felt for me at several points in my life when I suddenly realized that the plans I had made simply _were not_ going to happen! One of those times was when I had just graduated from seminary and had it all figured out that I would serve our churches in Bridgewater and Yarmouthport as a yoked pastorate. When the Yarmouthport side fell through, it felt like everything was falling apart around me. I didn't even have a place for my family to live, since we had planned live in the parsonage at Yarmouthport. And yet, after the initial shock and disappointment wore off, and I was forced to accept the fact that things were not going to go as I'd planned, new doors began to open up that I hadn't seriously considered before. In particular, the position as editor of _Our Daily Bread,_ which I had turned down before, was offered to me again. This time I said yes. And what a wonderful ministry _Our Daily Bread_ continues to be! Yes, there is a risk in lifting our minds and hearts above our usual material concerns and listening to the voice of God calling us from within. There is a risk that things will not go the way we planned or expected. There is a risk that we will have to do difficult things--things that may be financially, socially, or emotionally dangerous. There is a risk that we will have to stretch ourselves in ways we have never stretched before, and go in directions that we had never seriously considered. But isn't that what life is all about? I mean real, growing, _human_ life? We were not created just to plod along on this earth, tending to the material flocks and herds of our physical bodies and our material fortunes. Were are not merely biological and social beings; we are _spiritual_ beings, with potentials far beyond what this physical plane has to offer. When that unexpected event hits; when things just don't go the way they were supposed to; when something happens that is just plain _strange,_ try taking off the sandals of your usual, everyday ways of thinking. Then listen for God's voice calling your name. Because even when we don't realize it, we are standing on holy ground. Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@mediaone.net Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Sun Nov 19 19:17:43 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 14:17:43 -0500 Subject: SERMON: "God's Open Invitation," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <200011191957.eAJJvT832029@mail.newearth.org> God's Open Invitation By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, November 19, 2000 Thanksgiving Sunday * Invite A Friend Readings: Isaiah 25:6 -9 The Lord's Feast On this mountain the Lord of hosts will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of wine on the lees--the richest of foods and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken. In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we have waited for him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we have waited for him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation." Luke 14:12-24 The Parable of the Great Feast [At dinner] Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God." Jesus replied: "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.' "But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, 'I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.' "Another said, 'I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.' "Still another said, 'I have just gotten married, so I can't come.' "The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.' "'Sir,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.' "Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those people who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.'" Sermon: A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, "Come, for everything is now ready. (Luke 14:16, 17) Once again, our traditional time of feasting has arrived. In a few days, most, if not all of us will be sitting around the Thanksgiving table with family and friends, enjoying the richness of the harvest season, and the richness of our relationships with one another. By now, I suppose that those of you who are hosting Thanksgiving dinners have already invited your guests, who, in turn, have already responded as to whether they'll be there or not. Now imagine that Thanksgiving day has come, the dinner is prepared and ready, and none of the people who told you they would be there show up. Instead of the doorbell ringing, the phone starts ringing with one person after another giving some lame excuse for not being there. Naturally, after putting all that work into preparing a real feast, you'd be rather annoyed, if not downright angry! Perhaps the members of your household would sit down and eat as much as you could, and make the best of it. Then you'd set about the task of putting all that leftover food into the refrigerator, knowing you'd have food for the next week! Of course, in the times of Jesus there was no such thing as a refrigerator. Yes, there were methods of storing food. But once a meal had been cooked, for the most part anything that didn't get eaten right away had to be thrown away. Perhaps this was one of the reasons that it was the custom in those days, after all the invited guests had had their fill, to invite anyone who happened to be in the neighborhood to come in and eat what was left. Naturally, any poor folk or beggars who caught wind that a feast was happening would be waiting in the wings! Once a food was put on the table, it was not taken off, and all who wanted could come and eat until all the food was gone. Notice that in the story from the Gospel of Luke, when the owner of the house told the servant to bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame, his servant replied that this had already been done--just as custom would have demanded. In effect, everyone who wanted to come was eventually invited to the feast. The honor was to be among the first guests invited. To the wealthy, well-educated people at the Pharisee's house where Jesus was having dinner that day, the idea that the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame would be invited to partake in the feast was nothing unusual. The barb in the story was that the specially invited guests, who were presumably of the better classes, had no part in the feast, while the people of the despised lower classes were given the honor of being seated first, and tasting the rich food and fine wine fresh out of the kitchen. And the kicker was that it was the invited guests' own fault that they missed the pleasure and the honor. They were invited to come, but they all made rather flimsy excuses for not being there. Of course, the Scribes and Pharisees who were at dinner that day knew that Jesus was talking about them. They knew that they themselves were the "rich neighbors" whom Jesus was inviting to the spiritual feast, but who did not want to come. And they knew that the despised tax collectors and sinners that Jesus spent much of his time with were the "poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame" who were partaking in that feast instead of them. But they did not feel any regret about missing out on the feast. Rather, they felt anger that this rough, unschooled Galilean presumed to lecture them about religion. So they made various flimsy excuses as to why they could not and would not listen to him. You would think that anyone would want to come to a great feast and enjoy the food, rather than going out and looking at a field, or working with some oxen. Of course, being a newlywed might be enough to keep some people away. But why not bring the new bride along?! Still, people make excuses. In our house, sometimes when the call goes out, "Supper's ready!" the response is not always immediate. I must confess that if I'm in the middle of some project up in my study, it sometimes takes me a while to make it down to supper. Sometimes the kids don't feel like coming to the table. Usually they'll say, "I'm busy building a tower!" or something like that. But another effective excuse is, "I'm not hungry!" Sometimes that's true, because they've been snacking all afternoon. Other times, though, "I'm not hungry" means the same as "I'm busy," namely, they're more interested in whatever they're doing at the moment than they are in eating. Of course, Jesus wasn't really talking about food and feasting at all. He was talking about the rich feast of spiritual food and drink to which the Lord is continually inviting us. In the same way that our body needs food and drink to survive, our minds, our emotions, our souls need spiritual nourishment in order to live and thrive. We need the good food of love and kindness shared with one another, and the fine wine of spiritual insight and understanding flowing into our minds. Without these things, our inner being begins to starve. Our life becomes a dry and empty affair, focused only on making our living and getting a bit of pleasure here and there, with nothing deeper to inspire us or call us forward to greater and deeper things. The three excuses that the invited guests gave can be translated into the same excuses that we tend to make as to why we can't answer the Lord's invitation to pursue a more loving and spiritual way of living. The first one said he had just bought a field, and had to go see it. There is not such a big jump from this to the fields of human knowledge and learning. If we're too busy with our own theories about life and with the practical and scientific knowledge of our culture, we'll never sit down at the feast of deeper, spiritual knowledge. The second one said he had just bought five yoke of oxen, and wanted to go try them out. Presumably this man was a farmer, and he'd be using the oxen to plow his fields. Just so, we may allow our day-to-day work and occupation to so consume our lives that we tell ourselves there just isn't time to do the church thing. "I'll do it later, when I have more time." If we think of these excuses as coming one after another in our own minds, the third excuse is a warning against taking this path. First, we say we have no mental energy left for learning the spiritual knowledge offered by the Lord and the church. Then we say we have no physical energy, because we're too busy with all the tasks of our everyday lives. Finally, we say, "I have just gotten married, so I can't come." By the time we get that far, we're already "married" to our own unspiritual way of life, and we have no intention of breaking out of our habits to answer God's call. The barb that Jesus hid in this story may apply to us, too. And it's not just about whether or not we attend church. It's about whether we accept God's call to broaden and deepen our thinking beyond the usual, well-worn attitudes and platitudes offered to us by our culture. It's about whether we accept God's invitation to rise above our own feelings, wants, needs, and emotional hungers in order to learn what it means to truly love the people around us, and to love God. On the practical level, it's about whether we are willing to put our devotion to the truth and to doing what is right first--ahead of our reputation, our job security, and even the support of our family and friends if that should conflict with doing the right thing. It's about whether we're willing to risk everything we have and everything we are in order to live a life devoted to both truth and compassion. God's invitation is open to all. But we risk a lot if we accept the invitation--especially if we think we already have it made. Notice that it was those who could afford to buy a field, or buy five pairs of oxen, or have a fancy wedding that excused themselves. We are the "rich neighbors" when we think that our lives are already good enough. If we think that we don't need to learn anything more or live in any better way than we do now, then like my boys when they're too busy playing with their toys, we're just not hungry for the spiritual feast that God is inviting us to. If we're already full of our own intelligence and of this world's cares and pleasures, there is no more room in our stomachs for God's food and drink. Notice that it was the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame who did respond to the invitation, and came immediately to sit down and enjoy the feast. In another place, Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled." (Matthew 5:3-6). When we realize that we are spiritually poor, crippled, blind, and lame, then we are truly hungry for God's feast. When we realize that something is missing from our life; that we are hurting; that we just don't understand; that we can't go on this way any longer, then we are ready to accept God's open invitation. The spiritual feast is prepared and ready. God has sent an invitation to you, to me, to every person in this community, to every person in the world. It is a sumptuous feast, offering the richest of foods and the finest of drinks. God is offering us the rich food of real love and compassion. God is offering us the fine wine of deep spiritual insight that can satisfy even our most difficult of our questions. It is all spread out before us, ready and waiting. Now it is up to each one of us to accept the invitation, come to the feast, and join our extended spiritual family in the ongoing spiritual Thanksgiving dinner. Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@mediaone.net Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From regenerate@hotmail.com Sun Nov 26 04:08:03 2000 From: regenerate@hotmail.com (mc) Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2000 20:08:03 -0800 Subject: [Sermons] please continue my subscription.. Message-ID: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From leewoof@mediaone.net Mon Nov 27 19:44:35 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 14:44:35 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] "A Vision for our Future," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20001127144320.00ca9ae0@pop.ne.mediaone.net> A Vision for our Future By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, November 26, 2000 Readings: Numbers 13:1-3, 21, 23-29: Exploring Canaan The Lord said to Moses, "Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each tribe send one of its leaders." So at the Lord's command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites. . . . They went up and explored the land. . . . And when they reached the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. That place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land. They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly, and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan." Luke 14:25-33: The cost of being a disciple Large crowds were travelling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will you not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, 'This person began to build and was not able to finish.' "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off, and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything you have cannot be my disciple." Arcana Coelestia: #1909 Exploring our goals We can see what kind of life we have simply by finding out what kind of goals we are looking toward. We do not have to find out what of all our goals are like, since they are countless--as many as our motives and almost as many as the judgements and conclusions we arrive at through our thoughts. But these are merely secondary goals derived from our primary goal, or tending towards it. All we have to find out is the goal that we prefer above all others, and in comparison with which all others seem like nothing. If we have ourselves and the world as our goal, we can know that our life is a life of hell; but if we have the good of our neighbor, the common good, the Lord's kingdom, and above all the Lord himself as our goal, we can know that our life is a life of heaven. Sermon: "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! . . . But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large." (Num. 13:27, 28) It is good to have a vision for our future. That's what the Lord had in mind when he told Moses to send twelve men, a leader from each tribe, to explore the land of Canaan and bring back a report. The Israelites were camped at Kadesh Barnea, only about forty miles from the southernmost towns of the Holy Land. By this time, they had completed the building of the Tabernacle according to the instructions given to them by God at the same time they received the Ten Commandments from Mt. Sinai. With a Law given by God, a Tabernacle in which to worship God, and a leader appointed by God, the clan of Israel had all the elements needed to become the nation of Israel--except a homeland. Now they were sending out an advanced guard to see what that homeland would be like. They were sending out explorers to give them a better vision of their future life. Just as we like to have a vision for our future, the Israelites wanted a vision for their future. They wanted to see if this place they were struggling for and suffering for was as wonderful as God had promised them. And indeed, the report came back that the land did flow with milk and honey (a Hebrew idiom for being rich and fertile), just the Lord had promised. But it also flowed with something else that they didn't like so much: big, strong, hostile warriors and large, strong, walled cities! The land was already occupied, and it was well-fortified and well-defended by those occupants. This wasn't going to be easy! Somehow, it seemed, God had neglected to mention that they were going to have to work for this wonderful homeland that God had promised them. They were going to have to fight for it. And if we read on in the story, we find that they lost heart, listening to ten of the twelve explorers who said the inhabitants of the land were too strong for them, instead of to the two who said that with the Lord's help, they could go in immediately and conquer the land. It is one thing to have a vision for our future. It is another thing to be willing to put out the effort to make that vision a reality. It is one thing to have great plans for what we are going to do with ourselves; it is another thing to make the sacrifices and face the struggles that go along with any vision and plan for the future that is worth pursuing. In this church, we tend to focus on our individual spiritual growth--and I'll be returning to that a little later on. But sometimes it is good to broaden our view and consider the wider picture. So this morning I'd like to talk to you about forming a vision for the Swedenborgian Church in Massachusetts. Some of you are aware (and the rest of you will be in a few seconds!) that the Massachusetts Association of our church is in the middle of a visioning and planning process for the future of the Swedenborgian Church in this state. This process began with a Visioning and Planning Retreat at Blairhaven on March 25th, which drew thirty people representing all of the churches in the Massachusetts Association. The retreat led to the appointment of a Planning Committee whose members are Paula Higgins and Alix Williams from the Boston Church, Herb Ziegler and Polly Erickson from the Cambridge Church, the Rev. Andy Stinson from the Elmwood Church, and yours truly from the Bridgewater Church. This committee has been meeting monthly since September, with the task of putting together a plan for the future of our church in Massachusetts. The plan will be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association next spring. It will then be up to the membership of the Association to decide whether to go forward with it. So far, the Planning Committee is right on track in its timetable for getting its work completed. After discussing the thoughts and ideas of the various members of the committee, and of some other people who communicated their ideas to us, we put together a long list of items that might be included in our plan. Then, at our last meeting, we prioritized those items and came up with seven that were the most important to us. Though everything on the list was good, we recognized that it is important to focus on a limited number of goals so as not to dissipate our energy trying to do more things than we can realistically accomplish. We are now at a stage where we are ready to start asking for reactions and ideas from the members and friends of our churches here in Massachusetts. To provide you with something to focus on in giving us your thoughts, I would like to read you the top seven goals that the Planning Committee came up with at its meeting on November 14. I have also put copies of the whole list on the back table, and I encourage you to take one home with you. And please do give me your own ideas for the future of our church in Massachusetts in person, by phone, by email, or by letter. Here are the Planning Committee's Top Seven: Top Three Goals 1. Six active, growing, year round churches in Eastern Massachusetts 2. Develop wedding, baptism, and bereavement ministries at our churches 3. Coordinate all the properties of the Union for best use financially and spiritually; convert 79 Newbury St. to income-producing property, moving the bookroom upstairs Next Four Goals (equal in priority) * Improve communication and cooperation among Association, Union, and congregations * Develop the Association and Union into a focal point for supporting and coordinating their member churches, especially in their growth and outreach efforts * Support and develop Sunday Schools and Youth Leagues in our congregations * Use a spiritual growth center model where appropriate As you can see, even these seven would give us plenty to do for the coming years. What is most exciting to me about this list is not so much the ideas themselves--after all, everything on the list has been talked about before. Rather, it is the idea that we could come together as a larger body of Swedenborgians and combine our energy to accomplish some of these things! Of course, that's also where the going tends to get rough. It's easy to dream dreams, to conceive visions, to make plans. It is much harder to carry those plans out in the real world. Dreaming dreams and making plans requires primarily mental effort. While that is not always easy, it is far easier than the combined effort of head, heart, and hands that is required to put those plans into practice. Let's tie this back into our Bible story. Think of the Planning Committee as your hand-picked explorers (six of them instead of twelve!) sent to search out the land of possibilities for the future of our church in Massachusetts. It is the Committee's job to peer into the future of the Association and its member churches, and get a sense of the lay of the land that we could now be entering. Does the Association have a future flowing with milk and honey? Can we envision ourselves as a vital and growing church, reaching out to many new people with our inspiring and healing message? It is also the Planning Committee's job to assess the obstacles that we might run into along the way. What could derail us from achieving our vision for the future of the church here in Massachusetts? What are the stumbling blocks, both internal and external, that we might be facing? What is the opposition that we will have to struggle against? After all, as Jesus said in the Gospel of Luke, before we take on any challenge we do have to sit down and count the cost, and decide whether we are up to the challenge. The Israelites who sent out those twelve explorers were not ready for the challenge. Yes, they were happy to hear what a wonderful land it was that the Lord had promised them. But they lacked the faith and the courage to face and overcome the inevitable resistance that goes with any new and exciting venture. They did not believe they could overcome the enemies in the land. And the main reason they lacked courage and confidence was that despite all the miracles the Lord had wrought for them from the time he delivered them out of their Egyptian slavery through giving them water from the rock and bread from heaven to satisfy their thirst and their hunger, they still did not believe in the Lord's overwhelming power to bring about the good purposes of the Divine will. So instead of going up and immediately conquering and occupying the land, they spent forty years wandering in the desert, until all the adults who had lacked the faith and courage to follow the Lord's leadership had died off. It was up to the children of those doubters to go in and claim the land that the Lord had promised them. Perhaps it is wishful thinking, but I like to think that we as a church have already been through our forty years of wandering in the wilderness. For whatever reason, after the early decades of the 1900s, the history of our church in the twentieth century was one of a continual rear-guard battle--and not a very successful one--to hold onto what we had. During that time period, we lost thousands of members, and dozens of churches throughout North America. Now, as the twenty-first century begins, there is reason for optimism that our long decline has at last reversed, and we are poised for new growth. It is too early to tell whether it is a trend, but the membership numbers of our denomination seem to have hit bottom, and have been increasing modestly in the past few years. The same thing is taking place here at our church in Bridgewater. The social climate is certainly ripe for a new resurgence of Swedenborgian beliefs. Never in our memory has there been such interest in angels, the afterlife, and spiritual growth. The fields are riper than they have ever been. Will we be able to send the laborers into that harvest, and reap the benefits of an exciting, vital, and growing church? The answer to that question does not lie only in our ability to work together on such things as the planning process now underway in our Association. Yes, it is vital for us to work together in clarifying and pursuing our common goals as a community of faith. And yet, our success in doing that will eventually come full circle back to the individual willingness of each one of us to follow our own God-given spiritual vision, and to overcome the enemies within our own souls that stand in the way of our moving forward into the promised land of peace, harmony, and common effort with one another. Because it is our own inner enemies that prevent us from working with others who share our beliefs in order to overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of our moving forward as a larger church. So as we journey forward together in our visioning and planning process for the Massachusetts Association, I would encourage each one of you to send out your own explorers to search out the land of possibilities for the next steps of your own spiritual journey. And then I would encourage you to sit down and count the cost. Having seen the bright possibilities for our future, are we willing to put out the effort needed to make those possibilities real? And as you do that, consider how this church--your chosen faith community--could move forward on its spiritual journey in ways that would best support, inspire, enlighten, comfort, and motivate you on your spiritual journey. What aspects of this church are helpful to you just the way they are? And how could the church become even better at supporting you--and those you think may be a part of this church in the future--on the spiritual journey toward our own Promised Land? Yes, there will be obstacles and enemies along the path. We will have to think, feel, and act in ways we have never done before. But if our vision is clear, and our faith in the Lord is strong, we can accomplish God's grand purposes for us and for our church. Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@mediaone.net Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Mon Dec 4 01:08:57 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: Sun, 03 Dec 2000 20:08:57 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] "Called to New Life," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20001203200744.00d3bc20@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Called to New Life By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, December 3, 2000 First Sunday of Advent Readings Joshua 1:1-9: The call of Joshua After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' assistant: "Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them--to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates-- all the Hittite country--to the Great Sea on the west. No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Luke 1:5-17: The birth of John the Baptist foretold In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well on in years. Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshippers were praying outside. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." The Heavenly City #159-61: Living a new life If we want to be set free, we have to recognize our faults and regret them. We recognize our faults when we learn what sorts of things are wrong, see them in ourselves, admit them, take responsibility for them, and criticize ourselves for them. When we do this in front of God, we are recognizing our faults. We regret our faults when, once we have admitted them and asked with a humble heart for help in giving them up, we stop acting on them and start living a new life in harmony with the rules of kindness and faith. Sermon Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9) It may seem a little strange to be reading the story of Joshua as the Advent season begins. And truth be told, the reason we're reading this story today is that it just happens to be where we are in the Sunday School lessons as we follow the Dole _Bible Study Notes_, Series 2. But the more I thought about it, the more appropriate this story seemed for the beginning of Advent. And just so you don't think I'm cooking this all up out of my hopeful imagination, I have a little piece of Bible trivia for you: If the New Testament had been written in Hebrew instead of Greek, instead of celebrating the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ at this season, we would be celebrating the birth of the Lord Joshua Messiah. That's right! "Jesus" is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua! When the angel appeared in a dream to Joseph, Mary's fiance, to reassure him about the baby that Mary had conceived without Joseph's help, the angel told him, "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). The name Joshua, and the name Jesus which comes from it, both mean "the Lord is my salvation." So you see, there is a very clear connection between Joshua and Jesus--and that connection has to do with the Lord's saving power in our lives. As we arrive at today's story about the Lord's call of Joshua, the Children of Israel have already been saved by the Lord from their slavery in Egypt. Over the past month we have followed their progress after they crossed the Red Sea. They traveled through the desert, grumbling and complaining the whole way! Last week we discovered the consequences of their unwillingness to trust in the Lord and have the courage to face the enemies that stood in their way: instead of going right in and conquering the land, they were consigned to wander in the desert for forty years, until all those timid doubters had died off. Even Moses, who had led them out of their slavery in Egypt and brought God's laws to them from Sinai, had to die before the people could enter the Holy Land. Joshua, who had been their military commander throughout all their battles in the desert, now took over from Moses as their leader. And today we heard the Lord's charge to him as he prepared to lead the Israelites in the many battles they would face in conquering the land of Canaan, their Promised Land: "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." If we read farther in the story, we would find that this time, the people were ready to follow him into battle. Unlike their parents, they _were_ strong and courageous. They trusted in the Lord, and were ready and willing to follow where God led them, even if it meant facing fearsome enemies in Canaan. They had learned this trust growing up in the desert, where the Lord provided for their every need, and was with them as they overcame every enemy in their path. What does all of this have to do with the birth of the Lord Jesus? Our reading from the Gospel of Luke helps to make the connection. As we move through the Advent season toward Christmas, we tend to focus on the stories of Joseph and Mary, the birth of Jesus in the stable, the shepherds, the wise men. And sometimes we forget that before any of these stories took place, there was the story of the birth of John the Baptist, who would prepare the way for Jesus. When the angel Gabriel foretold his birth to Zechariah, he predicted of this baby to be born that "he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." To make ready a people prepared for the Lord. John the Baptist was to fulfill the prophecy with which the Old Testament ends: "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse" (Malachi 4:5, 6). If we are not prepared for the Lord's coming, this time of year can become a curse to us, also. For many adults in this society, the Christmas season has become a hectic blur of excess activity and overspending. For these people, the celebration of our Lord's birth--the greatest spiritual event in all history--has been reduced to a material and commercial event whose main feature is how much stuff you can give, how many parties you can go to, and how much food you can eat. This kind of Christmas quickly becomes a curse as we pay the price in the burden of debt after the splurge of spending, the physical sickness that comes for so many after the Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts are over, and the growing sense of Christmas as a treadmill that just keeps coming around every year whether we like it or not. These are some of the results of making Christmas a material event rather than a spiritual one. At a deeper level, if we are not prepared for the Lord's coming within ourselves, in our souls, his continuing presence behind all the outward show of Christmas will become for us a curse instead of a blessing. If we are not open to a new and deeper presence of the Lord in our hearts, minds, and lives, then even the message of the Lord's birth right out of the Bible will ring hollow for us. We will see others moved by the beauty and power of Jesus' birth, but we ourselves will feel a sense of skepticism and even cynicism. We will be unable to open ourselves to that new birth. Therefore we will begin to think of it as a fantasy--a child's story that we "mature" adults have outgrown. We may even wish that we could feel the power of the Advent story, and become sad because we cannot. For us, the deeper magic will be gone from Christmas. Jesus will not be born in us this time. How do we prepare ourselves for the Lord's birth, lest the inner land of our souls be struck with a curse? How do we "make straight in the desert a highway for our God"? (Isaiah 40:3). Both John the Baptist and Joshua remind us that this is not an easy task. The coming of the Lord is a "great and terrible day" for the parts of ourselves that we must leave behind in order to make ourselves ready for the Lord to be born in us. We are called to do nothing less than begin a whole new life, leaving our old life behind. As I said earlier, it was prophesied of John the Baptist that he would "go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." The way he carried out this prophecy was not calculated to endear him to people who were satisfied with things just the way they were. Here is a sample of his preaching from later on in the Gospel of Luke: He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God's salvation.'" John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." (Luke 3:3-9) John the Baptist was an austere man, and he used strong language in order to shake the people out of their complacency and motivate them to leave behind their old rough and crooked ways, to straighten out their lives and smooth down the jagged edges of their faulty attitudes and actions. He knew that unless the people's hard hearts were softened, and they were ready to come with humility, admitting their wrongs--their sins--they would never accept the greater and deeper teachings of the Lord into their hearts. He knew that unless they repented from their current ways; unless they recognized that they were thinking, feeling, and acting badly; unless began the hard work of changing their ways, they would perceive the Lord's message as a threat instead of as a blessing. And indeed, those who did not listen to John's message did not listen to the Lord's message either. Instead of welcoming Jesus' teachings with open arms, as the common people did, they considered him a heretic and a blasphemer, and eventually had him killed in order to avoid the power of his words and deeds. In doing so, they brought down upon themselves all the curses found in their own scriptures--including the destruction of Jerusalem, their sacred city, and the scattering of their nation throughout the then-known world. These are the spiritual consequences for us, too, if we are not willing to look within ourselves and take a moral inventory of our attitudes and actions as we prepare for the Lord's coming. Yes, the coming of the Lord is good news of great joy to all the people. But if we remain stuck in our old and faulty ways, our ears will be closed to that good news. Turning back to the story of Joshua, we find that when the Lord calls us to new ways of living, there is a huge task in front of us. It is a task that will involve many painful struggles, and will cause the death of some of our cherished beliefs and habits. The Lord's call to Joshua came just as God was about to lead the children of Israel into battle. Yes, the Holy Land had been promised to them. But they had to conquer their enemies in the land in order to receive the fulfillment of that promise. These days, we no longer think of literal war as an acceptable and valid way of enlarging our territory at the expense of those already occupying it. But there remains one vast territory where we must fight many battles in order to gain control. It is the territory of our own hearts and minds--of our own spirits. When we first hear God's call to leave behind our old ways and begin a new, more spiritual way of life, we may imagine that it will be an easy matter to learn what the Lord teaches in the Bible, and put it into practice in our lives. But it is not long before we realize that our hearts and minds are already occupied by forces hostile to the Lord's new presence in us: self-centeredness, laziness, fear, depression, self-righteousness, blaming of others, greediness, apathy, unfaithfulness, jealousy, faint-heartedness. The list goes on and on of terrifying spiritual enemies that we must face and overcome before we can occupy the promised land in our own souls. There is no other way to enjoy the spiritual peace and prosperity that comes to us only when God is the unchallenged ruler of our entire life, from our deepest feelings to our most trivial everyday tasks. It turns out to be very appropriate to hear the story of Joshua's call as our thoughts move toward the new birth of the Lord into our lives. We have a lot to do between now and Christmas. Yes, there's all that shopping and cleaning and holiday preparation. But that's not what I'm talking about. The greater work ahead of us is the work of cleaning out the low and unworthy attitudes within us; of battling against the ways we are hurting one another and shutting the Lord out of our lives. We have an inner land to conquer in order to prepare ourselves for the new life that the Lord calls us to. But do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Be strong and very courageous in your spiritual battles at this season, and the Lord will give you the victory. Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@mediaone.net Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From dvegmond@xs4all.nl Wed Dec 6 00:20:02 2000 From: dvegmond@xs4all.nl (D van Egmond) Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 01:20:02 +0100 Subject: [Sermons] please continue my subscription.. References: Message-ID: <001c01c05f1a$4bf7e6e0$a7be6dc2@daantje> ----- Original Message ----- From: mc To: sermons@lists.newearth.org Sent: Sunday, November 26, 2000 5:08 AM Subject: [Sermons] please continue my subscription.. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From leewoof@mediaone.net Mon Dec 11 02:59:03 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2000 21:59:03 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] "The Battles of the Heart," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20001210215816.00c8d100@pop.ne.mediaone.net> The Battles of the Heart By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, December 10, 2000 Second Sunday of Advent Readings: Joshua 8:1-8: The battle of Ai Then the Lord said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city." So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night with these orders: "Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don't go very far from it. All of you be on the alert. I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them. They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, 'They are running away from us as they did before.' So when we flee from them, you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The Lord your God will give it into your hand. When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the Lord has commanded. See to it; you have my orders." Luke 1:67-80: Zechariah's song John's father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us--to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." Arcana Coelestia #8391: Practicing daily repentance If we are living a life of faith, we practice repentance daily. We pay attention to the evils in ourselves, acknowledge them, are on our guard against them, and pray to the Lord for help. For by ourselves we are constantly falling down; but the Lord is constantly putting us on our feet again. By ourselves we fall down whenever our mind desires something evil; and the Lord puts us on our feet again whenever we resist that evil, and therefore do not carry it out. Sermon: The Lord said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. (Joshua 8:1) In the sermon last week, based on the story of the Lord's call to Joshua, we looked at how we are called to a new life at this time of the Lord's Advent, and how it is not as easy to answer that call as we may first imagine. In fact, it will involve struggle and sacrifice to claim the wonderful new land of spiritual life that the Lord has promised us--and to make ourselves ready for the Lord's new birth into our life. Of course, it is much more traditional to focus on "positive" topics during the Advent season. And I promise, we'll get to that next week! But there is also a danger in continually focusing on the "good" aspects of the Lord's birth, and ignoring the tough and difficult aspects of it. In fact, the prophet Amos warned: Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light. It will be as though someone fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light--pitch dark, without a ray of brightness? (Amos 5:18-20) I hope it won't be quite _that_ bad! Amos was speaking of those who refuse to prepare for the Lord's coming. He was speaking of those who trusted in the Lord to save them from all their enemies when they were not willing to battle their _inner_ enemies of greed and selfishness. And as I mentioned last week, if we are not willing to leave behind our old ways and old habits, the Lord's coming is, indeed, a day of trouble and darkness, and not of light. We would prefer to think of Christmas--the time of the Lord's coming--as a time of pure light, laughter, and joy. But then, why do we celebrate Christmas at the darkest and coldest time of year? If the significance of Christmas were all lightness and joy, why would it not be located in the spring, when there is the joy of new life in nature all around us? Or in the summer, when all is warm and green? Or even in the fall, when we have the bounty of the harvest? Why is Christmas so close to the winter solstice, when everything is cold and dormant, the days are at their shortest, and the dark nights at their longest? Emotionally, too, Christmas is a time of darkness and struggle for many people. The very expectation that we should be happy and joyful comes as a burden for those who are weighed down under the crushing load of life, or who have lost loved ones with whom they used to celebrate the holidays. It is hard to put on a happy face when inwardly we are feeling something entirely different. The Grinch is not the only one who has trouble with Christmas. And it is not only human grinches who find this season difficult. So before we join the crowd to celebrate the joy of Christmas, let's take a realistic look at the darkness surrounding Christmas--including the darkness within ourselves--that must be overcome if Christmas is to be a blessing rather than a curse to us. In our Bible story, we have come to a place where Joshua is faced with a task that is quite literally an uphill battle. He has already led the Israelites to victory over Jericho--though it was really the Lord who did the hard work of that battle by causing the walls of Jericho to fall down. Jericho was located on the edge of the plain that ran alongside the Jordan River in the area where the Israelites crossed over. Right above Jericho were the bluffs that led up into the hill country of central Palestine. Ai was located well up one of the steep valleys that gave access to the hill country. Just two more miles of climbing up that valley brought a traveler to the top of the rise and to the city of Bethel, whose name means "The House of God." So in order to take Ai, the Israelites had to climb up into the hills to approach the city. The first time they tried to capture Ai, with only a small, selected fighting force, they were driven back down the slopes by the warriors of the city. They had not only grown overconfident in their easy conquest of Jericho, but one of their soldiers, a man named Achan, had broken the Lord's commandment by taking some of the spoils of that city. Achan had to be dealt with in the brutal ways of the time period before the Israelites could once again go up against Ai--this time with their entire fighting force. However, Joshua knew that he was fighting an uphill battle against this city, both literally due to its commanding position far up the steep valley, and psychologically due to the defeat his men had suffered in their first encounter with the defenders of Ai. So instead of leading his army on a full frontal assault of Ai, he took only a slightly larger force than he had taken the first time to face the city, and had all the rest hide themselves in ambush behind the city--so that they would be coming from farther up the valley in the direction of Bethel. This strategy is described in our reading from Joshua, and the chapter goes on to relate that it worked exactly as planned. Soon, Ai was in the Israelites' hands, and their corridor to the heart of the Holy Land was secure. Now to ask the same question we asked last week: What does all of this stuff about war and battle have to do with the approaching birth of the Lord Jesus? If we look at the prophecies of the Messiah found in the Hebrew Scriptures, we will notice that many of them describe a warlike king in the line of David who would free the downtrodden Israelites from all of their enemies by heroic acts of war. Our Responsive Reading from Isaiah 63:1-9 is an excellent example of these bellicose, blood-stained prophecies. Other prophecies, such as the one found in our opening invocation from Zechariah 9:9-10, foretell a time when the great King will cause wars to cease from the earth, and bring a reign of never-ending peace. Jesus himself reflected both prophecies. At one point, 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" (Matthew 10:34). Yet when one of his followers used a sword to defend him from the mob sent by the chief priests to apprehend him in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus reprimanded him, saying, "Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword" (Matthew 26:52). And when he was preparing his disciples for his death, he said those comforting words, "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 14:27). If we take those prophecies and these statements of Jesus literally, we end out with a confusing and contradictory picture. Did the Lord come to bring us war or peace? It is only when we look deeper, to the Bible's spiritual meaning, that it all begins to make sense. When we read in the Bible about Joshua capturing Ai and destroying the city and all its inhabitants, or about prophecies of the Messiah coming as a victorious hero of war, or about Jesus saying he came not to bring peace, but a sword, it does not refer primarily to literal battles with weapons, bloodshed, and death. Instead, it refers to the battles of the heart. It refers to those inner battles that we must face and fight in order to make ourselves receptive to the birth of the baby Jesus within us, and to the reign of the Lord as our spiritual king. In these battles, we do not use swords made of bronze or steel, but swords fashioned from the penetrating truth that we find in the Bible. And there is no physical bloodshed or death, but rather a spiritual ebbing away of the lifeblood of our old faulty attitudes and ideas, and the death of everything within us that prevents us from wholeheartedly accepting the Lord's presence and rule in our lives. What do these battles involve? Swedenborg gives a thumbnail view in _Arcana Coelestia:_ If we are living a life of faith, we practice repentance daily. We pay attention to the evils in ourselves, acknowledge them, are on our guard against them, and pray to the Lord for help. For by ourselves we are constantly falling down; but the Lord is constantly putting us on our feet again. By ourselves we fall down whenever our mind desires something evil; and the Lord puts us on our feet again whenever we resist that evil, and therefore do not carry it out. These are the inner battles that we must face in order to make ourselves receptive to the Lord. These are the battles we must face as we travel on our journey toward heaven. When we notice something evil in ourselves--some bad habit or faulty attitude that causes us to treat others and ourselves with something less than love and respect--we face a battle in order to root that spiritual enemy out of our lives. Sometimes the enemy we face is not so much a specific thing evil that we desire to do, but rather an overall sense of discouragement or depression that stands in the way of our accepting the inner peace and joy that the Lord offers us. That, too, is a spiritual enemy that we must face and conquer in our lives. The weapons we use are the spiritual truths that we learn from reading the Bible, listening to sermons, reading spiritual literature such as Emanuel Swedenborg's writings, and discussing spiritual subjects with others who are on a journey toward angelhood. We can never have too many of these weapons, because our inner enemies are constantly changing and becoming more sophisticated at blocking our path, so that we continually need new and stronger weapons and strategies to face them. Just as we start with an easy victory in Jericho, down on the plain, and then must struggle our way up the steep mountain valley to capture Ai, our spiritual battles begin with our lower-level and more obvious faults and bad habits, and progress toward deeper and more insidious inner enemies as we gain the strength to face those deeper obstacles to our spiritual growth. Sometimes our enemies are strong and fearsome. Sometimes, as with the Israelites' first attack on Ai, we underestimate the task, or we try to take improper shortcuts, and we are routed by our enemies in a painful and humiliating defeat. Sometimes, in fact, it is necessary for us to suffer a defeat in order to get us back on the track of following the Lord's way instead of our own way, and trusting in the Lord instead of in ourselves. But the story of Ai also provides us with some wonderful strategy in overcoming our inner enemies. The city of Bethel was just two miles farther up the valley from Ai, situated at the top of the rise. Bethel, the "house of God," symbolizes the deeper, spiritual knowledge and insight that we gain from our relationship with the Lord through the Bible. And this is where we ambush our spiritual enemies. In her _Bible Study Notes,_ Anita Dole writes: The company placed in ambush toward Bethel pictures the hidden reserves of strength which come from spiritual knowledge. We by our own reasoning cannot meet the attack of worldly arguments; but reinforced by spiritual knowledge, whose power the worldly-minded do not suspect, we can easily conquer. If, in our times of inner struggle, we turn to those extra reserves of spiritual knowledge and insight that we have gained along our life's path, we will find that the Lord has provided us with just the spiritual weapons and warriors we need in order to ambush and overcome those inner enemies that face us in our battles of the heart. Then Zechariah's prophecy at the time of John the Baptist's birth will be fulfilled in our own lives: Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. . . . [He has come] to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. . . . The rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace. Amen. ____________________ These sermons are a ministry of the New Jerusalem Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. If you enjoy these sermons and would like to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contributions to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Thank you! Pastor's email address: leewoof@mediaone.net Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org From leewoof@mediaone.net Sun Dec 17 20:18:19 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 15:18:19 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] "Light in My Darkness," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20001217151706.00d09830@pop.ne.mediaone.net> Light in My Darkness By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, December 17, 2000 Third Sunday of Advent Readings: Isaiah 9:1-7 Light in the darkness Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan. 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 people 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, will be fuel for the fire. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, 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 of hosts will accomplish this. John 1:1-14 The light shines in the darkness In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing 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, but the darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all people might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and lived among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth. Apocalypse Explained #151.4 The Lord is the light of the world In this passage from John, "The Word" means the human side of the Lord, since it says, "the Word became flesh, and lived among us, and we saw his glory." It is also clear that the Lord made his human side divine, since it says, "the Word was with God and the Word was God, . . . and it became flesh," that is, it became a person. And since all divine truth comes from the Lord's divine humanity, and this is his divinity in the heavens, "the Word" also means divine truth. That is why he is called "the Light that gives light to everyone coming into the world." "Light" is divine truth; and because people changed from being internal to being so external and materialistic that they no longer accepted divine truth or the Lord, it says that "the darkness did not comprehend the light," and that "the world did not recognize him." Sermon: 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. (Isaiah 9:2) Let's face it: so far we've been doing a lot of struggling in our Advent sermons. And in truth, a lot of us in this congregation have been struggling lately. Yet in all our struggles, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. The dark night of the soul does not go on forever. And the Advent season is all about the light that comes into our darkness. When we put up our Christmas lights so that they will shine in the winter darkness, those lights are outward expressions of a far brighter and more beautiful _inner_ light that shines into the darkness of our souls if we are open to receive it. It is the inner light of the Lord's brilliant truth shining into the darkness of our confusion and uncertainty. Helen Keller knew all about the kind of light I am referring to. As she describes very movingly in her book _Light in My Darkness_ (originally published as _My Religion_), her darkness was both literal and metaphorical--both physical and spiritual. Physically, she had been blind and deaf from a very early age. She lived in a world of darkness and silence. During her younger years, she lived in a dark and silent world emotionally and spiritually, too. The darkness and silence that cut her off from seeing and hearing the world around her also cut her off from the human world of conversation, sharing, learning, and growing in mind and spirit. Her opening words in _Light in My Darkness_ read: For nearly six years I had no concepts whatever of nature or mind or death or God. I literally thought with my body. Without a single exception, my memories of that time are tactile. I know I was impelled like an animal to seek food and warmth. I remember crying, but not the grief that caused the tears; I kicked, and because I recall it physically, I know I was angry . . . . But there is not one spark of emotion or rational thought in these distinct yet corporeal memories. I was like an unconscious clod of earth. There was nothing in me except the instinct to eat and drink and sleep. My days were a blank without past, present, or future, without hope or anticipation, without interest or joy. Her first awakening came when her teacher, Anne Sullivan, broke through her darkness and silence to communicate with her through words spelled into her hand. This opened up the world of human knowledge to her, and her mind became an insatiable sponge, soaking up all the information and learning that she could get access to. But this awakening to human, material knowledge was not enough for her. She longed for another awakening to the world that is unseen even to those with their physical eyes intact. She longed to know about God and spirit, to _experience_ them in her own soul. She read the Bible, talked to Christian pastors, and learned many things about the Christian religion. But so many things in the Bible continued to baffle her, and the more her thinking matured, the less satisfied she was with the picture of God she was getting. The light came into her spiritual darkness when John Hitz, a dear friend of hers, introduced her to the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Here, at last, she found a theology and a God that satisfied all of her longings and questionings. Here, at last, was the great light that she had been looking for to dispel a darkness of the soul that had come to trouble her far more than the darkness of her physical eyes. If you want to read more of Helen Keller's journey from darkness to light, please do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of _Light in My Darkness_. You will not find a more moving and inspiring book anywhere. Most of us do not have to contend with physical blindness and deafness as Helen Keller did. However, even those with working eyes and ears can experience the _spiritual_ darkness and silence that troubled her so much, until she found a religion and a spiritual path that satisfied her longings. And even those of us who have found a faith that satisfies us still have our times of darkness, uncertainty, and spiritual struggle--as we've discussed for the last two weeks. We all have our times of darkness when we long for new light and love. Helen Keller's experience of finding light in her darkness is a perfect reflection of the very story--the very event--that we are celebrating at this time of year. As our Christmas lights attest, the Advent season is a time of the light shining into the darkness. And the great light that shines into the darkness especially strongly at this time of year is none other than God with us. It is the God of the universe, the source of all light and life, being born to us as a human being: as the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). This is the light that the Isaiah prophesied when he wrote: 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. And John connects this light with the Lord Jesus in words that at first seem obscure and metaphorical, but grow more and more luminous as we gain a deeper understanding of what truly happened in Bethlehem two thousand years ago: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing 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, but the darkness did not comprehend it. . . . The Word became flesh and lived among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth. Let's unpack this wonderfully condensed passage with Swedenborg's help. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning." In _Apocalypse Explained_, Swedenborg gives us two meanings for "the Word" in this passage. To take his second meaning first, "the Word" is the divine truth. This is the light that shone in Helen Keller's darkness. Her greatest darkness was not her physical darkness, but her spiritual darkness--her groping for understanding and answers when the world seemed like a dark and violent place, and God seemed arbitrary and cruel for creating it so. And the light that shone in her darkness was the great light of spiritual truth. In reading Swedenborg's writings, she found that God is, indeed, a God of pure love and pure wisdom, with nothing evil or false in him; and yet that God allows evil in the world in order to preserve human freedom, so that we can choose for ourselves whether we will follow God or not, and whether we will have a relationship with the Lord or not. It was the light of divine truth shining through Swedenborg's writings and illuminating all the difficult passages of the Bible and all the difficult passages of life that gave Helen Keller the light that most longed for. And isn't this the light that we also long for? When we are hurt and struggling; when we are lonely and depressed; when we don't understand why life has dealt us the blows we have experienced, don't we crave _understanding_ more than any material possessions or physical capabilities? As we search for answers and gain the understanding we long for, we experience the beautiful light of divine truth shining into the darkness of our souls, and illuminating our world. But there is another and more personal side to the "Word" that John speaks of. He writes, "The Word was with God, and the word was God," and "The Word became flesh, and lived among us." This, Swedenborg explains, refers to the human presence of the Lord. We are not dealing with some abstract, disembodied truth. No, the Word was not only _with_ God, but the word _was_ God. Divine truth is just as much a part of God as our thoughts are a part of us. Divine truth is the thinking, understanding, and wisdom of God. And far from being a "second Person" of the Godhead, as in traditional Christian theology, God's mind and Person are one, with thoughts, feelings, and actions completely unified to accomplish the divine purposes. This Word--which is the divine truth, the divine mind--became flesh and lived among us. And once again, we can see the parallel in Helen Keller's life. The truths that lit up her world did not come to her in abstract and disembodied form. Rather, they were carried to her by the human presence of people who loved and cared for her. First her teacher, Anne Sullivan, opened up her mind to the world around her, and to the affairs of humankind. Then her dear friend John Hitz opened up her spiritual mind to the greater glories of heaven and hell, the higher meanings in the Bible and in nature, and the presence of the Lord as pure love, pure wisdom, and pure compassionate presence with all of his creatures. It was the human presence of these and other teachers and friends that opened Helen Keller's mind and heart to the human presence of God. That human presence of God is what we celebrate at Christmas. "The Word became flesh and lived among us." God was not content to remain an abstract, invisible presence, directing human affairs from behind the scenes. God saw the darkness in which we humans here on earth were walking. God saw our sorrow and pain, our groping for answers when everything seemed dark and inexplicable. And God loved us with a pure, compassionate love beyond anything we can ever comprehend. When we see someone we love hurt and suffering, what do we do? We go to that person to give comfort, a hug, a shoulder to cry on, some encouraging words. Skeptics look at the Christmas story and consider it a fairy tale of wishful thinking. But it is only wishful thinking if we don't believe in a God of love. Because if, as the Bible tells us, God is love, then it would be just as impossible for God _not_ to come to us personally as it would be for us to stand by and do nothing while our close friends and family members, our own children, suffer and struggle in pain. God loves us. And God will not stand by and allow us to suffer hurt, pain, and the darkness of the soul without reaching out to us personally to give us comfort, understanding, and the answers we seek. On that first Christmas two thousand years ago, God reached out to us in the ultimate way: by being born among us as a flesh and blood human being. God "parted the heavens and came down" (Psalm 18:9), to use the memorable phrase from the Psalm. He did not leave us comfortless but came to us, showing us personally his love and his truth, so that we would never need to be without the presence of our Creator and our greatest Friend. This is the great wonder of Christmas. This is the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness has neither comprehended it nor overcome it. This is the light of which all our Christmas lights are merely a pale shadow. "The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world." And "to all who receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gives the right to become children of God." For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, 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 of hosts will accomplish this. The zeal of the Lord of hosts is the Creator God's great love for us. That love shines through in the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is the true light; and we may gain that light in our darkness by coming and worshipping the child of Bethlehem. Amen. ____________________ Pastor's email address: leewoof@mediaone.net Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org These sermons are a ministry of the Bridgewater New Jerusalem Church. If you wish to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 New! We also accept credit card donations via PayPal: https://secure.paypal.com/affil/pal=LarryC%40TMLP.com New PayPal users must complete a simple sign-up. Make your donation to LarryC@TMLP.com (Treasurer), Bridgewater Society of the New Jerusalem. Thank you! From leewoof@mediaone.net Mon Dec 25 03:18:25 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2000 22:18:25 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] "The Son of God," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20001224221750.01fb5420@pop.ne.mediaone.net> The Son of God By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, December 24, 2000 Christmas Eve Readings: Isaiah 59:9-20: The Redeemer will come to Zion Justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We wait for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows. Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like those who have no eyes. We stumble at noon as if it were twilight. Among the strong, we are like the dead. We all growl like bears; like doves we moan mournfully. We wait for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us. For our transgressions are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses indeed are with us, and we know our iniquities: transgressing, and denying the Lord, and turning away from following our God; talking oppression and revolt, conceiving lying words and uttering them from the heart. So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth stumbles in the public square, and honesty cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and whoever turns from evil becomes a victim. The Lord looked, and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, and was appalled that there was no one to intervene. So his own arm brought him victory, and his own righteousness upheld him. He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as in a mantle. According to their deeds, so will he repay: wrath to his adversaries and retribution to his enemies, and he will repay the islands their due. So those in the west will fear the name of the Lord, and those in the east will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up stream that the spirit of the Lord drives on. The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from their transgressions, declares the Lord. Luke 1:26-35: The Son of God In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God." True Christian Religion #92: The Son of God The human nature through which Jehovah God brought himself into the world is the Son of God. The Lord often said that the Father sent him, and that he was sent by the Father. He said this because "being sent into the world" means coming down to be among people. He did this by means of a human nature that he took upon himself through the virgin Mary. This human nature really is the Son of God, because it was conceived of Jehovah God as the Father. . . . What was divine in him was from his Father Jehovah, and his human side was from his mother; the union of these two is the Son of God. . . . The Divine Trinity--God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--is in the Lord. The Father in him is the divine from which he came, the Son is the divine humanity, and the Holy Spirit is the divine flowing out from him. Sermon: The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35) Throughout this Advent season we have been confronting issues of light and darkness, of struggle and pain, and the comfort and joy that the birth of the Lord Jesus offers to us in the midst of all the difficult passages we go through in life. It is precisely when we have experienced the pain of loss, the anguish of broken human relationships, and the depression of facing the darkness within our own souls that we become open to the Lord's presence in a way that we are not when we feel strong, confident, and self-sufficient. This evening, as we draw near to our celebration of the sacred event that took place two thousand years ago, I would like to focus on that event: the birth of Jesus Christ, whom the angel said would be called "the Son of God." The secular world prefers, for commercial reasons, to soft peddle the birth of Jesus as the origin of our Christmas festival, and to entirely ignore the powerful issues of darkness and light, good and evil that swirl around that birth. But the Scriptures have no commercial interests to pursue. They testify to the truth. They clearly delineate the life and death issues that have their focal point in the birth of the one who was to be called the Son of God. Our reading from the prophet Isaiah is not the type of cheery, "comfort and joy" reading that we would expect hear on Christmas Eve. "Justice is far from us," we read, "and righteousness does not reach us. We wait for the light, but all is darkness. . . . For our transgressions are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us." This is the darkness into which Jesus was born. Though we celebrate Christmas at the coldest, darkest time of year, it was the darkness and coldness of human ignorance, folly, selfishness, and greed that confronted the Lord when he looked to this earth. In the words from Isaiah made famous by Handel's Messiah, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6). That's where it gets personal. If we are honest with ourselves, then as we look over our lives we will recognize that often we have not even lived up to our own ideals, let alone traveled the higher, spiritual path that God calls us to follow. And looking around us at the world, and at the circumstances surrounding our own lives as we grew up, we know that there is a great deal of spiritual, ethical, and moral darkness that confronts us, and that has shaped our lives in ways that can cause us great pain. Again we read, "The Lord looked, and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, and was appalled that there was no one to intervene. So his own arm brought him victory, and his own righteousness upheld him." God had sent priests and prophets, sages and Scriptures to try to reach us, but still we turned away. You've heard the saying, "If you want it done right, do it yourself." This saying was fulfilled in the ultimate way by the Creator God in the birth we are celebrating this evening. The angel said to Mary, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God." Who is this Son of God? According to the Gospel story, he was born without a human father; God was his Father. He did, however, have a human mother: Mary. So in Jesus, the divine and the human met and mingled. In Jesus, God became human. In Jesus, God came to us in person to show us the path back to God by traveling the same journey of life that we do, facing all the struggles and sorrows, all the trials and temptations that we face. And unlike us, he never gave up and gave in; he never lost his way or took the lower path; he always chose to follow the higher path toward God. As it is expressed in the Letter to the Hebrews, "He was tempted in every way just as we are, yet he never sinned" (Hebrews 4:15). This is why we can now turn to the Lord Jesus whenever our own efforts are not enough to pull us through. This is why we can turn to the Lord Jesus whenever every human means we have tried has not been enough. Counseling, therapy, personal study, exercise, good nutrition, confiding in close friends and family members, the power of positive thinking. All of these are good--as are many other ways we seek to better our lives. But all of these are also limited. They may help us to deal with many of our issues and problems. But the very deepest roots of our struggles in life are always spiritual, because we ourselves are spiritual beings inhabiting material bodies in this physical world. We have all come from God, our Creator; and only by turning back toward God can we find the answers to our deepest questions, and the comfort we need in our times of deepest pain and struggle. This is what God was offering to us when he came to us as Jesus Christ. The angel said to Mary, "He will be called the Son of God." And this is what he was called while he was here on earth. That has caused much confusion among Christians for, oh, about two thousand years now. Each one of us is a son or daughter of our parents. And while we each take many of our personality traits from our parents, we differentiate ourselves from them, and become our own unique, individual person. Because of this analogy, Christians have thought that Jesus, the Son, was a separate person from God, the Father. But Jesus was unique in all history. Yes, he had God as his Father. That's unique. And yes, he did become differentiated from his Father by being born with a human heredity from his mother Mary. But in the course of his life, while continually distinguishing himself from Mary--whom he never referred to as his mother--he was continually drawing closer and closer to his Father, who was the divine Soul within. Instead of becoming differentiated from his Father as we do from our parents, he continually joined together with the Father by always following the leading of that divine Soul within. As a result, not long before the end of his life he could say, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). Through the many trials and struggles of his life, Jesus, the Son of God, grew to be more and more at one with the Father that was the soul within him. By the time of his resurrection, he had completely re-united with that divine soul. So there is no further need for confusion. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all one. And we know that One God as our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who continues to be God's personal presence with us. Why did God come to us as Jesus Christ? The Gospel of John gives us the reason: "God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life." This is the wonder of the Christmas story. God loved us so much that he came to us personally to show us the way of love. If we believe in God's way of love as shown to us by Jesus Christ, and if we show one another the same love that he showed to us, then we, too, will find eternal life and eternal joy. Amen. ____________________ Pastor's email address: leewoof@mediaone.net Church web site: http://www.ForMinistry.com/02324NJC Denominational web site: http://www.swedenborg.org These sermons are a ministry of the Bridgewater New Jerusalem Church. If you wish to support the church that sponsors them, please send your contribution to: New Jerusalem Church 88 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 New! We also accept credit card donations via PayPal: https://secure.paypal.com/affil/pal=LarryC%40TMLP.com New PayPal users must complete a simple sign-up. Make your donation to LarryC@TMLP.com (Treasurer), Bridgewater Society of the New Jerusalem. Thank you! From rev169@netzero.net Tue Dec 26 23:35:08 2000 From: rev169@netzero.net (rev169) Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2000 18:35:08 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] (no subject) Message-ID: <002601c06f94$823db920$fa80b9cd@xpoxkjlf> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com Wed Dec 27 17:33:59 2000 From: EHCARSWELL@compuserve.com (Eric Carswell) Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 12:33:59 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] Looking for a Star Message-ID: <200012271234_MC2-BFDD-32E1@compuserve.com> Looking for a Star By the Rev. Eric H. Carswell December 25, 2000 "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him." Matthew 2:2 What does it mean that the wise men were looking for a star? Generations after generations of people had kept alive the prophecies from ancient times that connected a wondrous star with the birth of the greatest of kings. Balaam spoke of this ancient knowledge when he said: "I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near. A star will arise out of Jacob and a scepter will rise up out of Israel." Numbers 24:17. Perhaps generations of learned and dedicated men had scanned the night sky waiting, watching, and hoping. For some the lack of fulfillment would have been enough to cause them to give up. They perhaps would have questioned the source of the prophecy. Maybe they had misunderstood it. Maybe it was just wrong. But some kept their faith in this prophecy and so were rewarded by the sight of that promised star. They had the opportunity to travel to the newborn king and greet Him with gifts. What stars are we looking for in our lives? What are we waiting and watching for that is as of yet unfulfilled? We all tend to be confident in our understanding of the key reality around ourselves. Some certainly have more confidence than some. But we all have areas of life that we don't remotely believe we truly understand. But for many of us we sense that we know how to properly wrap a Christmas present. We know how to clean a room. We are reasonably good at taking care of ourselves, of doing our jobs, of functioning in this world. This understanding has been drawn from what we've been taught or from our own observations and conclusions. Each of us has a part of our mind that is inclined to see the important realities as being ones of the world nearest to us. Realities that we can directly sense and measure with our senses. The stars of the sky can be just one more bit of sense experience. We can be taught the constellations and can learn to identify some of the planets. The Lord has given us our senses to allow us to learn and to take care of ourselves and others. The five senses and the information that comes most directly from them are sometimes the source of terrible troubles. In the early story of Genesis of the man and woman eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the serpent that convinced the woman to disobey the Lord's clear commands represents the human senses and the ideas they bring to our consciousness. So it was that the serpent was cursed by God and the first prophecy of the Lord's birth was given. So the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." (Genesis 3:14-15) Our senses and the conclusions we draw from them can be a source of great harm. We can mis-perceive the sources of true happiness, sometimes choosing bigger as better or pursuing immediate tangible pleasure over something higher and not immediately before us. We can draw incorrect conclusions from our senses. For example, we can see some small expression flash over a person's face and conclude that he or she is angry with us, become defensive and maybe even attack the person for the ideas we're convinced are in his or her mind only to discover that we were deluded by what we thought we saw. Or it is like the little child on Christmas morning who sees a tear in her mother's eye as the mother opens a particularly touching present. The little girl can ask her mother, "Why are you sad, Mommy? Don't you like the present?" In spite of the dangers of the senses and the misinterpretations that can come from them, we desperately need them to take care of ourselves. When the Lord sent out His disciples to teach and preach He told them: "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves." (Matthew 10:16) Our senses allow us to see dangers and avoid them. Think how hard it would be to take care of yourself if you couldn't see or hear. While all of us have probably gotten painful burns when we've touched something way too hot, we were blessed by the feeling of pain that caused us to move our hand before even more serious harm could be done. Beyond these immediate practicalities think of the joys that our senses have brought us in this Christmas season. The smells of Christmas baking or a fresh cut Christmas tree. The sounds of our favorite songs and music have touched our hearts and the shared laughter and conversation are a part of the joy of this season. The sight of Christmas decorations or a lighted tree can easily connect us back to the wonder of childhood delight. Many of us have special Christmas foods that we taste but one time during the year. Even the touch of a long-owned Christmas ornament can bring us the thrill of happy memories of many past joys. The Lord has given us our senses as a blessing but He also warns us of not relying too much on them. The most important things of life, the most important sources of happiness and fulfillment will not be things that we will ever come to recognize all on our own. The Lord, with His perfect love, wisdom, and power is working to guide each person to higher and deeper insights. He has given us His Word to teach us of the joys of giving and the happiness of love that delights in the joy of another. He wants us to be able to come to understand concepts of wisely caring for those around us that are not simple. Sometimes a loving and wise person doesn't give someone what he or she asks for. Sometimes a loving and wise person will choose to act in a way that leaves others very sad, hurt, or angry. These concepts of life for the person who wishes to be loving and wise cannot be learned just by hearing them or reading them. They will not come to a person from deep thought and reflection alone. The most important ideas that the Lord wants us to learn will only come from trying our best to live according to what the Lord has taught us. While He calls us to live with strength and confidence in what we presently understand, He also calls us to a humility that recognizes that we will certainly understand what is truth about wise love, about ourselves and others, about the Lord's qualities far better in the future than we do now. The Lord wants us to be ever vigilant seeking a better understanding even as we live in the hurly-burly of daily life. He wants us to certainly attend to the issues that most need our attention in this world, but He also wants us to have an eye open to see new and deeper truths. Each one is like a star that announces the Lord's coming. The first step is learning as is reflected in the following passage: [C]oncepts concerning charity toward the neighbor and concerning love to the Lord . . . must first be learned before a person can be regenerated, and must also be acknowledged and believed. And insofar as those truths are acknowledged and believed, and are endowed with life, that person is also regenerated and those truths are implanted in his natural life . . . They are first implanted there through the instruction received from parents and teachers, then from the Word of the Lord, and after that from personal reflection on them. But all of this does no more than to deposit those truths in the person's natural memory and so to place them among the concepts there. They are still not acknowledged, believed, and received unless life is led in accordance with them, in which case the person enters into an affection for them. . . . (Arcana Caelestia 3762) As we seek to live what we've learned we will see what is true in ever clearer ways. The concept of what it means to be truly loving will change in our thoughts. Sometimes this change will be very gradual and sometimes a particular event can crystallize a new insight in our mind like the flash of a newly ascending star. If our eyes have been dimmed by the conviction we already know everything we are unlikely to have such an insight or if we do it will pass as quickly as a falling star, hardly noticed and soon forgotten. If our eyes are focused too closely on where our next footstep needs to go or what is immediately in our hands, we will not be looking up and more broadly. But if within our hearts and minds there is an ever renewed prayer, "Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation," (Psalm 25:5) we will be like the wise men of the Christmas story. And we will over and over again see the wonderful new sight of what is true and good shining in our minds like a radiant star. These shining new ideas announce the Lord's advent or coming ever more fully into our lives. The ideas can help us to know that He has been born anew within our mind. These are ideas of what is true and good that we will want to follow. They are the stars that will lead us to worship the Lord. We, like the wise men, will follow them till we bring grateful gifts of love, wisdom, and useful action to present to the Lord, our God and King. May the star of Christmas rise with shining splendor many times for you in the coming weeks and months and may you have eyes to behold it and rejoice. AMEN. Lessons: Matthew 2:1-11 "And went to the land of the sons of the east" means a raising up towards true ideas that relate to love. . .The expression "true ideas that relate to love" . . . are concepts concerning charity towards the neighbour and concerning love to the Lord. . . These truths must first be learned before a person can be regenerated, and must also be acknowledged and believed. And insofar as those truths are acknowledged and believed, and are endowed with life, that person is also regenerated and those truths are implanted in his natural life, where they exist as in their own soil. They are first implanted there through the instruction received from parents and teachers, then from the Word of the Lord, and after that from personal reflection on them. But all of this does no more than to deposit those truths in the person's natural memory and so to place them among the concepts there. They are still not acknowledged, believed, and received unless life is led in accordance with them, in which case the person enters into an affection for them; and insofar as the person enters into an affection for them because his life accords with them, those truths are implanted in his natural life as their own soil. Things that are not so implanted do indeed remain with that person, but only in his memory as some item of knowledge or historical fact which does no more than enable him to talk about such things, to further his reputation by means of them, and in so doing to grow in wealth and reputation. When this is the case truths have not been implanted within him. "The land of the sons of the east" mean truths relating to love, and so as concepts of truth leading the way to good. "The east" means love. . .For "the sons of the east" are those who possess concepts concerning truth and good and therefore the truths that relate to love. The wise men from the east who came to Jesus when He was born belonged to those people called the sons of the east. This becomes clear from the fact of their awareness that the Lord was to be born, and that they knew of His Coming from the star which appeared to them in the east. These matters are described in Matthew as follows, When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, behold wise men from the east came into Jerusalem, saying, Where is He born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him. Matthew 2:1, 2. The fact that such a prophecy existed from of old among the sons of the east, who were from Syria, is clear from Balaam's prophecy concerning the Lord's Coming, in Moses, I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near. A star will arise out of Jacob and a sceptre will rise up out of Israel. Numbers 24:17. Arcana Caelestia 3762 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@mediaone.net Sun Dec 31 18:37:13 2000 From: leewoof@mediaone.net (Lee Woofenden) Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 13:37:13 -0500 Subject: [Sermons] "The Real Millennium," by the Rev. Lee Woofenden Message-ID: <4.1.20001231133650.00c924b0@pop.ne.mediaone.net> The Real Millennium By the Rev. Lee Woofenden Bridgewater, Massachusetts, December 31, 2000 Readings: Psalm 46: God is our refuge and strength God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns. The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Come, behold the works of the Lord; see what desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. "Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth." The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. John 16:12-15, 25-27: I have much more to say to you "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when 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. . . . "Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God." True Christian Religion #774: The Lord's Coming The Lord is continually present with every person, both the evil and the good, for no one could live without his presence. But his coming happens only for those who receive him--which are those who believe in him and keep his commandments. It is the Lord's continual presence that gives us the faculty of reason and the ability to become spiritual. This is brought about by the light that comes from the Lord as the sun of the spiritual world, which we can receive in our understanding. That light is the truth that gives us the power of reasoning. However, the Lord's coming takes place in us when we combine warmth with that light--that is, when we combine love with truth. For the warmth radiated by that same sun is love for God and love towards the neighbor. The Lord's presence by itself, and the enlightenment it brings to the understanding, is like the presence of sunlight in the world; unless it is combined with warmth, everything on earth is barren. But the Lord's coming is like the coming of warmth, which happens in springtime. Since warmth is then combined with light, the earth is softened up, and the seeds sprout and bear fruit. This is the parallel between the spiritual environment of our spirit and the material environment of our body. Sermon: "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. . . . Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father." (John 16:12, 25) We are now living in the time that Jesus was speaking of. You and I are privileged and blessed to be receivers of that plain language about the divine Father--of the Holy Spirit guiding us into all truth. I do not say this to set us apart as a special people, because God loves all people equally. Instead, I say it to emphasize the great treasure that we have in our church. I am speaking, of course, of the spiritual writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. A year ago, during my sabbatical, this church enjoyed a series of sermons given by lay people and visiting ministers on "Why I Am a Swedenborgian." In that series, we shared with one another what this church, and the writings of Swedenborg which inspired it, have done for us. In her sermon on this topic, which has just been printed in the January 2001 issue of _Our Daily Bread,_ the Rev. Dr. Wilma Wake tells of her excitement on finding the Swedenborgian Church and delving into Swedenborg's writings as a newcomer. She writes: I felt I had arrived in heaven when I realized that there was a group of people whose spirituality was formed in the context of Swedenborg's writings. I had found a spirituality that made sense for me, and found it affirmed in the writings of Swedenborg. When I learned that others had found comfort in those writings, I was so excited! I was amazed that some people actually grew up in this church and with these writings! I remember taking a tutorial at the Swedenborg School of Religion with the Rev. Dr. Bob Kirven on Swedenborg's book _Divine Love and Wisdom,_ and coming in to our session exclaiming, "Do those people who were raised on these writings really understand what they say? Do they realize how radical they are? How profound? How they answer so many of today's complex questions? Do they realize how lucky they are to have had these writings always a part of their lives, and not to have had to search to find them?" I am one of those "lucky" ones who was raised with Swedenborg's writings. Some of you in this congregation are, too. Others have had the "luck" of finding them later in life. I put "luck" in quotation marks both times because I do not believe it was luck. Rather, I believe it was God's providence working to bring us the great enlightenment to be found in the writings of Swedenborg at the time in our lives when we most needed it. This is the very same providence that brought the world that enlightenment at the very time it was needed. You see, the people of this world have been through several great spiritual eras. Swedenborg describes four of them. The first, represented at its height by the Garden of Eden in the Bible, is called the very earliest religious era, or "the most ancient church," to use traditional Swedenborgian language. This was the Golden Age of mythology--a time when people led with their hearts, and had open communication with angels and spirits in the spiritual world. It came to its final end with the great flood in Genesis chapters six through eight. Next came the ancient religious era, or church, represented by Noah and his descendants. This was the Silver Age of mythology, when people led with their heads, their intellects, and developed the early civilizations--complete with highly cultured and symbol-rich written languages--which still amaze us today. It is usually reckoned to end with the call of Abram in Genesis chapter twelve, but there are some indications that its true end may have been with the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, along with the other laws that formed the core and organizing principle of the ancient Jewish Church. The Jewish, or Israelitish Church was the spiritual mother through which the written Word of God was given to humankind. It remained the standard-bearer of monotheism and the primary source of a relatively enlightened spiritual path in the then-known world right up to the time when Jesus Christ came into the world. As such, it represented the third great spiritual era of humankind. From its roots in ancient Judaism, Christianity took over as the spiritual front-runner and primary source of enlightenment to a dark and troubled world, thus forming the fourth great spiritual era. However, every living, growing thing on this earth has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Everything is born, lives out its life, and then dies. Each of these spiritual eras went through that cycle of birth, life, and death. They began with great enlightenment and devotion to the ways of God, and ended when that early enlightenment and devotion lapsed into falsity, error, and ignorance born of self-centeredness, pride, and greed. Swedenborg writes: A church reaches its end when there is no divine truth left in it, but only falsified or rejected truth. . . . Truth comes to an end, and goodness along with it, primarily due to the two worldly loves that are diametrically opposed to the two spiritual loves. These are called selfish love and materialistic love. When selfish love is dominant, it is opposite to the love of God; and when materialistic love is dominant, it is opposite to love towards the neighbor. Selfish love is wishing well to no one but ourselves, except for selfish reasons, and materialistic love is similar. Once these loves have taken hold, they spread like gangrene throughout the body, and destroy every part of it step by step. (_True Christian Religion_ #753, 754) This is what had happened to the ancient Jewish Church by the time of the Lord's First Coming two thousand years ago. And this is also what happened to the Christian Church over the centuries. When Christianity first began, it drew much of its character from Jesus' teachings about loving friends and enemies alike, turning the other cheek, being reborn in the spirit, and worshipping the Lord alone. But as it grew in numbers and influence, its leaders began to be turned aside by the lure of worldly wealth and personal power. Because of these corrupting influences--materialism and selfishness--they soon began to corrupt the simple, loving, and life-centered teachings of Christ into convoluted, fractured, and spiritually dead dogmas that had more to do with establishing the exclusive power of the church and its leaders than with leading people toward living in an honest, loving, and spiritual way. It was not many centuries before the church that had been founded on teachings of loving our enemies, blessing those who curse us, and doing good for those who hate us had broken into warring factions that felt they were doing God's will by slaughtering anyone who did not hold to their particular beliefs. The history of the Christian Church, especially from the time of the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, is a dismal affair, full of power struggles, dark dealings and a continual corruption of the teachings of Christ until there was very little left that could truly be called Christian. The Protestant Reformation did little to reverse this trend, and led to even more wars of so-called "Christians" against "Christians." And so the first Christian church ran its course. It was born, lived out its life, and died when all of Christ's teachings had been falsified through the greed and selfishness of the people who called themselves Christians. Only the shell of the institutional church was left; the spirit had long since left the body of Christianity. That was when the real millennium took place. In human years, I'll admit my bias. I've read the arguments that the millennium happens at the beginning of 2001 because there was no year zero. I still think it happened last year, when 1999 gave way to 2000. However, I haven't engaged in those debates about the "real" millennium because it is only numbers on a calendar devised by human beings. God does not go by our calendar. And God saw that the time was ripe over two hundred years ago for a new spiritual era to begin. The first Christian Church had run its course from its birth in love and innocence to its death in greed, doctrinal error, and murderous hatred of all who disagreed with their own particular sect's doctrinal error. It was time for a new Christian Church. And the Lord provided for that new Christian Church quietly, in an unexpected way, just as his first coming to earth had turned many of the ancient prophecies of the Messiah on their head. This was not to be a great and flashy coming to conquer worldly, political enemies and establish an earthly kingdom. As Jesus said to Pilate two thousand years ago, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). And now, two thousand years later, his kingdom is still a spiritual kingdom and not a worldly one. And his Second Coming is a spiritual one, not a physical one. These are the bold claims made by Emanuel Swedenborg, who said that the Lord had chosen and especially prepared him to carry to the world the teachings for the people who would be a part of the new spiritual era represented by the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven (Revelation 21:2). And unlike the previous four spiritual eras which all came to their end, this one, the prophecies say, will never end. It will continue to grow in power and glory forever because the shadows of the old had been dispelled, and now people can walk clear-sighted in the brilliant new light given to the world. This is the same light that you and I walk in today--as much as we learn of the teachings given us by God through the mind of his chosen servant Emanuel Swedenborg. This light opens up to us the deeper meaning of God's Word, re-establishing the Bible as the supremely sacred text that tells from beginning to end both our own spiritual story and the still deeper story of the Lord's inner, divine life here on earth. This light dispels the centuries-old confusion surrounding the Biblical teachings about the trinity, showing in a powerfully rational yet fully Bible-based way how the risen and glorified Jesus Christ encompasses all aspects of God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--in one Divinely Human person. This light assures us that God's love and mercy extends to people of all religions and all beliefs, opening the way to heaven for all people of faith who sincerely practice their beliefs in their daily lives. This brilliant new light that dawned on our earth two and a half centuries ago is the real millennium on God's calendar. The question remaining is how far that new millennium will penetrate into the minds, hearts, and lives of each one of us. We have been blessed with a great light, and each one of us here in this church, as well as those sharing with us in spirit through the mail and through the Internet, is thankful in our own way for the new light that shines into our darkness. Yet as Swedenborg tells us in our reading from _True Christian Religion,_ the mere presence of light in our minds does not mean that the Lord has come into our lives. Yes, the Lord is always present with each one of us, giving us the ability to understand and appreciate the divine truth offered to us. But like the light of winter, our understanding of spiritual truth can be cold, producing no life and growth in us. It is when we open up not only our minds, but our hearts to the Lord's presence that the brilliant light of truth is combined with the enlivening warmth of love. Then the Lord can come into our lives, transforming us from the inside out. And for each of us personally, this is the real millennium! When we have passed through our time of darkness, error, materialism, and self-absorption; when we have come to the point where we are willing to let that old phase of our lives die, and welcome God into our hearts and minds as the center and source of our own new spiritual era, then we have begun to build within and around ourselves the new kingdom of God that will never end. The sign and seal that we have not only let our minds be enlightened, but have also let our hearts be warmed by the Second Coming of the Lord is when we express God's truth lovingly by devoting our lives day in and day out, week by week, year after year, to serving our fellow human beings with kindness, love, and ever-growing joy. Amen.