From the Pastors – Past Messages - The Bryn Athyn New Church

From Stephen D. Cole

2009 Feature - from August 8, 2010

Lucifer, Son of the Dawn

"How art thou fallen from the heavens, O Lucifer, son of the dawn!" Isaiah 14:12

This passage is the only place in Scripture where Lucifer is mentioned. Many have supposed that this verse alludes to some kind of cosmic combat that took place even before the creation of the first human being, wherein Lucifer and his followers tried to revolt against God, but were defeated and cast down. But nowhere in the Old or New Testaments is there reference to an order of spiritual beings who preceded the human race, let alone that they engaged in some sort of primordial conflict.

But this is not to say that the Word does not speak of battles in the other world. We read in Revelation: "There was war in heaven." But this confrontation was not before the creation of the world, nor yet was it even at the time of the Lord’s first advent into the world. In Revelation John is reporting a vision of the war against the dragon at the Lord's second coming.

This is the last and, in many ways, the greatest spiritual battle. But there have been cycles of spiritual combat throughout human history, especially at times of judgment.

The idea of spiritual war is not some mere metaphor. Spiritual war really is war, with all the tragedy and horror involved in natural wars. It is the wars in this world that are the mere reflection of the real more terrible wars in the other world.

None of us can avoid spiritual combat. Sometimes for some of us this means standing up for what is right when this is threatened in our society. But all us will find ourselves in some form of the struggle reflected in the words of the text.

Lucifer clearly represents some enemy that must be cast down. The chapter from which the text is taken makes it clear that the enemy represented by Lucifer is Babylon, the love of ruling over others from the love of self. But why is this enemy called "Lucifer," the bearer of light, the shining one, the son of the dawn?

The love of ruling over others does not usually manifest itself in us as some ugly lust for making everyone else our slaves. Most often it presents itself as the shining idea that we really do know better than others how the church, our places of work, or our families should be run. Even when this is true, it does not give us license to manipulate or force others to our own way of doing things. This is the love of dominion presenting itself in luminous guise.

There really is spiritual warfare. It continues that this day and it is intense as the New Church struggles to gain its foothold in the world. People are hurt by it and lasting damage is done. Each of us is called to fight the good fight, to combat evil in some arena. There are false ideas and wicked practices in the world that need to be challenged. Individually, we may or may not find ourselves active in this conflict.

But each of us must strive at least on the battlefield of his or her own spirit, resisting the allure of Lucifer, son of the dawn, the confidence that our own ideas and plans are superior to those of others, to the point that we try, by whatever means to implement them. The contest is won within ourselves as we allow the spirit of humility and service to overcome the enthusiasm for bending others to our own way of doing things. AMEN.

(SDC)

Lessons: Mat. 20:23-27; AC 8678; Is. 14:4-15; AE 1029:11.

From Glenn "Mac" Frazier

2009 Feature - from August 6, 2009

How to Forgive

The Lord, who is Mercy itself, forgives everyone. Furthermore, He commands us to always forgive others. But forgiveness is hard.

There are really three separate activities involved in forgiveness. First, there is the actual forgiving: the letting go or releasing of the feeling that one is owed. Second, there is the act of repentance: honest self-examination, admission of guilt, and desire to change. Third is the actual transformation: the reformation and regeneration of a person's mind. When someone wrongs you, you can only do the first part. You cannot make someone else repent, and only the Lord can transform a person's soul, so all that is left to you is to forgive--to let go.

In the eighteenth chapter of Matthew the Lord lays out a series of steps to take when someone wrongs you. First you are to go to that person alone. If that doesn't work, you are to go to them with "two or three witnesses." If that still doesn't work, then go to them with the matter before the assembly, or the church. And if they still won't listen, they are to be as "heathens and tax collectors" to you.

Now, the law of "two or three witnesses" is an Old Testament law that said a person could not be convicted of murder based on the testimony of only one person. Spiritually, this is a warning to us not to focus on a single truth to the exclusion of all other truths; a single truth by itself cannot produce anything good, any more than a single note makes up a melody.

So, seeing this series of steps on a deeper level as having to do with how we relate to truth, here's a way of applying it to our lives. When someone wrongs you, first be certain you are correct: is it true that they did what you think they did? If not, then you need to let go. If it is true, though, then look at it in the context of what else is also true--two or three witnesses. If you still are not able to let go and forgive, then look at it in the broadest context possible, and in light of the most general teachings found throughout the entire Word. Still can't forgive? Well then let the person be to you like "a heathen or a tax collector."

Now, when Jesus referred to heathens (gentiles) and tax collectors, the casual listener of the time would have thought "bad people, of little or no value". But His disciples would have realized that's not what he meant, given the way He treated these two groups. In fact, one of the disciples was himself a tax collector!

So if you cannot find it within yourself to forgive another person after checking and verifying all the facts and truths of the matter, then you STILL must forgive them, based on the idea that they either acted ignorantly (as "heathens"), or, if they were not ignorant, at least they were flawed (like the "tax collectors" that served the "heathens").

Practice this process of forgiveness. You will not only improve your own life in this way, but if we as individuals, families and a community work hard over the coming years to embody the Lord's Divine Mercy in this way, we will strengthen the church and change the world around us. Every church--including our own--comes under assault by the falsity of faith separate from charity. When we cling to a single truth apart from any good--as we do when we fail to forgive someone who has wronged us--we are damaging the church. So when we shun that evil and instead work to become a community known for forgiveness, we are helping to build the Lord's kingdom on earth.

(GMF)

Lessons: Mat. 18:15-22; AC 2335:2-3; 4197:7, 6148:6.

From Dr. Andrew M.T. Dibb

From July 25, 2010

Eating the Fruit

And the snake said to the woman "you are not going to surely die, because God knows that on the day when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3: 4, 5).

We all have a “snake” in us. It convinced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. Eve gave the fruit to Adam, and he ate as well. This snake-side of us is the part of us closest to our senses. Our senses are important to our life in this world. Our senses serve us but they can also mislead us.

Eve is an image of our will. The senses show us the world around us, and the will listens to the senses. Together they dominate the mind. The understanding is represented by Adam. Thus the whole mind ignored the Lord’s teaching. The Lord is also active in our lives. He shows us a pathway back.

The story of Adam and Eve describes what happens when we sin. As soon as they ate the fruit they realized they were naked. This represents a loss of innocence. To hide their shame, they made loincloths of fig leaves. We make up excuses for turning away from the Lord. People are adept at making excuses.

They heard the voice of Jehovah, were afraid and hid. The Lord's voice is our conscience. They hid "from Jehovah’s face." The face of the Lord is “mercy, peace and everything good.” The Lord works ceaselessly for reconciliation. No matter how many excuses we make, we are eventually faced with the truth. Adam and Eve blamed each other, and the snake.

As there is a process when people sin, so there is one to lead us out of sin, that brings us back into innocence:, repentance. And the steps of repentance mirror the story of Adam and Eve.

First we examine ourselves to see the quality of our sins. The second step ties in closely with Adam and Eve—we need to make ourselves guilty. Unless we take responsibility we cannot move forward. The third step is to appeal to the Lord. Finally, the last step is to begin a new life. As we sin, one process begins to unfold, as we repent, another unfolds. Governing this process is the Lord. It is comforting to know that the Lord is never angry, never punishes, never abandons us in these processes.

Since His face is mercy, peace and everything good. AMEN

(AMTD)

Lessons: Genesis 3, AC 222-224.

From Rev. Erik J. Buss

From July 18, 2010

Letting the Lord Be in Charge

"The land is Mine" (Lev 25:23).

Leviticus 25 gives a series of laws that, when seen at a deeper level, challenge us to look at how much we are letting the Lord into our lives. The laws include:

Every seven years was a Sabbath year in which nothing was to be planted, and people were to live off the grain and grapes from the year before and whatever the land produced on its own.
After seven Sabbath years (i.e., after 49 years) there was a year of Jubilee. In that year all slaves were to go free, all debts were canceled, and all land reverted to its hereditary owner.

The Children of Israel were being asked to make radical commitment of trust to the Lord. In that era there were no grocery stores or shipments of food from distant parts of the world to sustain them. In modern terms it would be as if we went without income one year out of every seven.

The Lord’s message was simple: "The land is Mine," He said. The Israelites were simply stewards of all they owned. They had trust that the Lord would give them what they needed, and they had to be willing to give land back to the people to whom the Lord had given it.

We do the same thing. We work hard, putting in effort to do a good job, to be kind to people when it is an effort, to address our spiritual weaknesses. This is like the six years of sowing and reaping. But then we need Sabbath years, times when we stop and allow the Lord to be in charge.

Sometimes it is harder to stop than it is to keep going. We get so busy that stopping to rest and let the Lord be in charge doesn’t happen. We know, for instance, that reading the Word and praying is important, so why does it get pushed out? The business of life seems so urgent that the two minutes it takes to stop and say a prayer is too hard. We need to stop and rest in the Lord.

Here are a few of the ways that we can apply this series of laws:

Gather enough only to feed yourself. Stop focusing on making money and start living. Do you believe that the Lord will bless you with what is important? Are you able to take time to stop and let Him into your life? "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you."
All debts were canceled. In the Lord ’s Prayer we ask for our debts to be forgiven. What if you were able to cancel the spiritual debts you are holding on to? What if you could give up the hatred and resentment and contempt in your heart? This does not mean you pretend it never happened, but it does mean you let go of the hellish resentments you are harboring.
Land reverted to its hereditary owner. All the land in Israel was divided up into hereditary tracts. This is a picture of how the Lord has arranged our lives in a perfect order. He knows what should be where – He is the Divine architect of our lives. Our job is to acknowledge that His plan is the correct one. Can we let go and apply His rules assuming they will lead to what is good?
All Israelite slaves were freed. This is about rearranging priorities. At times of crisis in work, the family is put too low on our priority list. When we struggle with an issue in our lives we let other important issues slide. But we need to set free those things that have been subordinated, bringing our lives back into balance.

What if we made this week a Year of Jubilee? What if we let the Lord be in charge in our lives more fully? "Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me."

(EJB)

From Dr. Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom

From July 11, 2010

The State of the Church from the Word

"For three transgressions of Israel and for four, I will not turn away its punishment" (Amos 2:6). "Behold, the days are coming says the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper … And the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow. (Amos 9:13)"

The state of the Church depends on the Word of the Lord, and how the Word is regarded. Many false ideas about our understanding of the Word must be removed meant by the harangue of Amos, “for three transgressions and for four,” namely not loving the Sacred Scripture, meant by Damascus, using Scripture for heresies meant by Gaza, injuring the external sense of the Word meant by Tyre, and so losing the contents of doctrine, meant by Edom. The very truth and good found in the Word are thus perverted, meant by the transgressions of Ammon and Moab. Finally, the celestial and spiritual senses themselves are destroyed, meant by Judah and Israel. With these transgressions overcome, by repentance, however, the full spiritual state of the church is earned, meant by the plowman overtaking the reaper, the hills flowing.

The Lord in Gethsemane also depicts the same structure of the Word, with Moses and Elijah standing for the Old Testament, the light around the three disciples being the Doctrine from the internal sense, and the voice "This is my Beloved Son” being the Lord revealing Divine truth from the Divine to the Human,. (cf. Sacred Scripture 48). The Lord's Divine Human now seen in the Writings is meant by "they saw Jesus only." (Matthew 17:8).

Accepting the Writings of the New Church, written under Divine inspiration and now translated into over 30 languages, as the Word of Heavenly Doctrine, obviates all these transgressions: for they draw out the spiritual and celestial senses from the Scriptures, and show the doctrine of genuine truth in the literal sense of the Word. And all that the angels speak in their ineffable language can be put into "rational terminology, into natural language." "There is nothing spiritual, celestial and Divine that may not be put into natural language." (De Verbo 6). The Writings have done this, and state point blank all the inexpressible doctrines that angels talk about and know. Therefore accepting the Heavenly Doctrines as the Word of the Lord, because they so say, is the plowman overtaking the reaper, which means "the doctrine of truth and the understanding of it, will be in that Church, which will be in the place of the former church." (Prophets and Psalms Amos 9:13) Then the members of the New Church will commit an abundance of truths meant by the "hills flowing," to life, and also receive Conjugial Love which depends on the "state of the Church" (Conjugial Love 130), from the Lord alone, who has made His Human Divine, meant by "I will plant them in their land, and they shall no longer be pulled up from the land I have given them, says Jehovah your God." Amen

(EES)

From Rev. James "Jay" Barry

From July 4, 2010

A Harmony of Many

Today in the United States we celebrate our Independence Day.

I would like to suggest that as a nation, we are stronger spiritually in this day than we might realize. This affirmation stands in contrast to many troubling aspects of American life. However, to illustrate my point, I would like for you to think of how this nation has grown in 225 years, but not in terms of an earthly measure, but rather, by a heavenly one. Let’s look at this growth in terms of societies.

Societies, is a special word in the Heavenly Doctrines. The word is used for an "association with a group of people," "a group of people living in a community," also, "a group of spirits or angels in the other world."

The Heavenly Doctrines inform us that societies are the basic frame of reference in the spiritual world. We are affiliated with a society in the other world according to the things we love and are affectionate about in this life.

What is the glue that binds societies together? The answer is Use.

Let’s turn our eyes to this world now. Think of the many different layers of society in this country which are gathered around the idea of 'use.' There are countless benevolent societies, friendship organizations and charities. There are others also, which you might not think of as societies.

A hospital is a little society, devoted to the heath of the community. Think of all the uses under that one roof. Your local firehouse is a little society with its own culture, connected to and serving a larger society. A janitor in a water treatment plant is one member of a society participating in an essential use for the larger community.

Those who love their work have learned to love the highest mission of the organization, no matter how imperfectly it is managed at the top, no matter how low on the ladder they might be. They see the shining promise to help others in the use of their occupation.

In the case of a school, the faculty is energized according to their connection with the stated purpose, mission or use of the school. The energy in this connection, for those who feel it, is love, love of use; this is the link between heaven and earth in every good school, and in every organization that is dedicated to serving the well being of the community.

Human society is necessary for heaven, for heaven rests upon it. From the work Last Judgment we read: "The angelic heaven without the human race would be like a house without a foundation, for heaven closes into it, and rests upon it." (Last Judgment 9) From the same work, we read: "when there is no spiritual, no society can be formed" (LJ 10.2). This means that the spark for the formation of community is a spiritual seed planted by the Lord the hearts of those who want to serve others, which is then given form by the organizing principles and stated values of the organization. When organizations are structured around the principle of serving God and loving the neighbor, something beautiful happens: there is a connection with heaven in the hearts of those who love the work.

You and I are a Divine work, individually, and collectively. Think of our regeneration as the Lord's job; He is striving to help us and needs our cooperation. Heaven depends on us also. Our strength as a nation, and as a church, rests upon us, and in each of the groups that we form, each association and organization, each committee or small group within our church. When we carry on useful work for society as a whole, with love of God and neighbor as our goal, we strengthen ourselves, our companies, our neighbors, our church, and all of heaven itself. Amen.

(JHB)

Lessons: Deut. 4:5-9; AC 686-687

From Rev. James "Jay" Barry

From June 20, 2010

Holiness Before Our Eyes

In True Christian Religion we read: "It has pleased the Lord to reveal the spiritual sense of the Word, to enable this church, (the New Church) to enter into the real use and benefit of the sacraments of [baptism and holy supper] and this is done with people, with the eyes of the spirit, that is with the understanding, to see the holiness that is concealed within them, and apply it to themselves by the means which the Lord has taught in His Word"(TCR 700).

To see the holiness that is concealed within them... In one short phrase, we can see an important contrast between the Christian church before the Last Judgment, and the quality of the New Church.

Holiness is subtle, but very real. In the former church, its presence was described as "sand in a river where scarcely visible grains of gold [are present] in great abundance" (TCR 710.3). But in the New Church, where the holiness of the internal sense of the Word has been revealed, "it is like gold collected from the sand and melted in a great mass, and made into beautiful forms" (ibid).

What kind of forms would the Lord make for us with all of this gold? When you consider that holiness is predicated of charity, and not faith alone, then we can see that the forms are all of the forms of love and service to the Lord and the neighbor. This begs a personal question: What kind of forms would I like the Lord to form in my life? How can I do better in serving the Lord and my fellow man?

Holiness was concealed at the end of the former Christian church, barely detectable. The spiritual riches in the Word were buried as a treasure in a field, overlaid with falsity and misinterpretation (True Christian Religion 701; 701.4). When the doctrine of faith alone rules, good works are held to no account. Therefore, it pleased the Lord to reveal the spiritual sense of the Word, by means of which, we can learn again about the Lord, and then, love and follow Him.

The Lord’s presence in the Word, His care and guidance in Divine providence, and the beauty and fairness of the teachings of the Heavenly Doctrines are all evidence that the Lord has brought a new light to shine upon the understanding of the world, and within that light, His presence can be found by all who seek Him. "To the end that the Lord may be continuously present, with me, He has unfolded the spiritual sense of His Word, wherein there is Divine truth in its own light...and it is in this light that He is continually present..." (True Christian Religion 780).

The sacrament of the Holy Supper is placed in the very center of this teaching, where the Lord invites us to share His Divine love, signified by the bread, and Divine truth of His Word, signified by the wine. More than a ritual observance, we can now see for ourselves with our understanding, the true meaning of the bread of life, and the cup of salvation.

In Isaiah, we read: "O Zion, put on the garments of thy beauty, O Jerusalem, the city of holiness" (Is. 52:1-2). The garments of beauty signify holiness, which we can now see in the internal sense of the Word. Garments of beauty, where before none was seen.

If it were not for the revelation of the internal sense of the Word, we would not know the Lord, or be able to love Him, and all the externals of worship would eventually perish, for the true church is both internal and external, like a soul in the body. But with this new understanding, we can see His holiness before our eyes. We now have hope, and so does the world, for the possibility of becoming the people the Lord created us to become. Amen.

(JHB)

Lessons: Lessons: Ezekiel 11:19-20; Luke 22:7-20; TCR 416.2

From Rev. Dr. Thane Glenn

From June 6, 2010

And Noah Knew the Floodwaters had Receded from the Earth

Consider the utter desolation expressed in the description of the flood that left Noah adrift in his ark: “And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth…. And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing… and every man. …. Only Noah and those who were with him… remained” (Genesis 7:19-23).

When we’re spiritually lost, we know something of Noah’s experience—trapped with all the wild fears and clamor of our animal emotions—alone—not knowing if we will ever find land again.

Think of the young woman who has lost her friend in a totally needless car accident and can’t find any way to make sense of it, and can’t find any way to connect to a God who would allow this to happen.

Or think of the man who has fallen into the daily pattern of actively entertaining the real possibility of pursuing an affair with his coworker. Every day he anguishes over the wrong in what he’s doing, and every day he finds himself pulled back into the emails, flirtations, coffee dates.

Arcana Caelestia talks about the kind of temptation or trial embodied by Noah’s flood: “Before anything is restored to order, it is very common for everything to be reduced first of all to a state of confusion resembling chaos” (§842).

When we’re lost in this confusion and chaos, what kinds of feelers, what kinds of thoughts, what hopes, do we send out in trying to get our bearings?

Noah sends out two birds—a raven and a dove. The raven—the first attempt to find land—just flies back and forth across the waters, completely futile.

Arcana Caelestia suggests that birds always picture our thoughts (§866). Often it seems that our first response in looking for answers when we’re trapped or in trouble is to get fixed—like Noah—on false thoughts that just fly endlessly back and forth (§864-867). Denial, rationalization, blame, hopelessness.

But then Noah sends out a dove. We make a conscious effort to change our thinking, to hold onto a simple truth of faith (Arcana Caelestia §869). And here we come to the hardest part of the story. The dove returns with nothing, the flood of spiritual confusion still covers everything.

Perhaps the man caught in the temptation to adultery commits his mind to the commandments, he resolves to recommit to his marriage, he brings his wife her favorite flowers. And he gets no response. The dark shadow of the raven is still out there swooping across the waters: she doesn’t care, she’s not putting in the effort, why should I? How do we keep faith in the face of the disappointment when our resolve to hold to the truth returns empty?

Noah—patient—waits and lets go of the dove one more time. There is a simple but profound truth here about letting go of the outcome. We learn, through back-against-the-wall struggle, not to force our expectation of the good of a situation, but to say “Not my will but Yours be done.” And maybe something stirs in us; we find new hope that there is purpose in the midst of our struggles (Arcana Caelestia §879-891).

The dove returns to Noah with a freshly plucked olive leaf. After months of hopeless drifting, he knows that land is near.

Perhaps for the man, it’s the simple touch of his wife’s hand on his shoulder one evening as he does the dishes. Perhaps for the young woman who lost her friend, it’s a picture a child draws for her of her friend as an angel in heaven. Something shifts in us, and we know that “with God, all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). Amen

(TPG)

Lessons: Genesis 8:6-11, Arcana Caelestia §864, 866, 867, Matthew 19:23-26

From Rev. Stephen D. Cole

From May 23, 2010

The Torn

"The torn I brought not unto thee. I bore the loss of it" (Genesis 31:39).

In the internal sense, the text treats of people’s responsibility for things which are no fault of their own. It teaches of evils we may have in us which we receive into ourselves at first through no fault of our own, but for which we are still responsible in the sense that that we have to deal with the consequences.

As we learn from the lesson from the Arcana Coelestia, there are two general origins of evil with us. The first is the inclinations toward evils that we inherit from parent and ancestors. For these we are not responsible unless we act from them, that is, unless we carry them into this life.

The second general origin of evils with man, the Heavenly Doctrine tells us, is from evils which have been acted on.

This second origin is also divided into two: the evils of life which the man receives willingly, and those which he receives through no fault of his own. It is evils of this latter category that are called the torn in our text. The evils which one receives willingly into his life and which can then carry him into hell, which thus bring about his spiritual death, relate to references in the Word to “carcasses,” bodies of animals that have died from something arising within them.

The evils which a man has received and carried into life through no fault of his own, which also work towards his spiritual destruction, relate to the torn, animals killed by something outside of themselves, animals that perish through no fault of their own.

The text is a warning. It warns us to try to protect those around us, especially our children, from persuasions that can rend them. Who does not see that young people, particularly those just becoming rational, are in great danger of faith persuasions that can tear their lives? And to a lesser extent this is true of everyone. We are therefore warned to protect also ourselves. And what protection can we seek for ourselves or for those around us?

Later in the life of Jacob a great tragedy befell him. His sons brought him the bloodied coat of his favorite son Joseph. Just as we may cry out at the injuries done by falsities to our children through no fault of their own, so Jacob wept and cried out that his son had been torn by a wild beast. The other sons and daughters could not comfort him. In the internal sense this means that the literal sense of the Word is not enough to protect against being torn. What is required for comfort and for protection from evils no fault of one’s own is the spirit of the Word, the doctrines of the New Church – these are the rod and staff of the Lord that can prevent us or the lambs under our charge from going astray into false persuasions. And even if there has been straying we can take comfort from the teaching that evils not one’s own fault have no effect on the final outcome of our salvation. We can find that our children, our friends, we ourselves have been preserved just as was the son that Jacob thought he had lost – for Joseph did not in fact die. Jacob ultimately got word that Joseph lived on as a powerful man in Egypt – "and the spirit of Jacob, their father, was revived" (Gen. 45:27).

(SDC)

Lessons: Gen. 31:36-42; AC 4171.

From Rev. Eric Carswell

From April 25, 2010

Living in an Imperfect World

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: (Jeremiah 29: 4)

What does the Lord want us to do when we recognize that there are significant flaws in ourselves and other aspects of our lives? The people of Judea who found themselves as exiles in Babylon were daily confronted with the reality of a huge failure. They and their ancestors had broken the covenant they had with the Lord. As they faced life in Babylon they could easily have responded with anger, sadness or bitter regret.

The Writings of the New Church teach that the seventy years when the people of Judea were held captive in Babylon represents a state of temptation. (Arcana Caelestia 755:3) A state of temptation isn't one during which a person is comfortably doing evil and denying it. It isn't one of spiritual sleepiness or sloth. During temptation people know that there are profoundly evil and false qualities within their motivations and ideas.

Jeremiah sent word to the people of Judea in Babylon that clearly counseled them that they should not withdraw from life. They were not to sink into abject discouragement and inactivity. Life was to go on. He told them: Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. (Jeremiah 29:5) Each day the Lord brings us opportunities to make the values of heaven the ones we will live by. He brings us opportunities to live according to what He teaches. Even when our best efforts seem flawed, the Lord calls us to do what we can, where we are now in our spiritual development.

Jeremiah told the people in Babylon: "[S]eek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace." (Jeremiah 29:7) A city represents the quality of the church with a person. Our lives are imperfect and our understandings are imperfect. But the Lord calls us to seek to bring a heavenly quality to our lives with His help.

Through Jeremiah, the Lord told the people: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11) It is the Lord’s very strong desire that we should experience the happiness of heaven.

Even as we recognize that we are not living in a perfect world and that we ourselves are flawed, may we search for the Lord, His order, His compassion, with all our hearts. May we be sure that we cannot sincerely search in vain. We will find the Lord. He will lead us from where we are, in the spiritual captivity of imperfect loves and flawed ideas, to the heavenly life He envisions for us. May we truly trust that His plans for us are plans of peace and of hope. AMEN.

(EHC)

Lessons: Jeremiah 29:4-14, Apocalypse Explained 1135: 3-4

From Rt. Rev. Thomas L. Kline

From April 4, 2010

Mary at the Tomb

Would the disciples be able to see the Lord in His resurrection? By the end of those three short years the Lord called His disciples to follow Him, would they really see and believe? Could they elevate their eyes above the natural appearances of the Lord's finite body He took on in the world, and see Him as the Father of Eternity and the Prince of Peace? Jesus would say to them, "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves." The time would come when He would put off the human He took on from Mary and show them openly the Father that dwelt within.

It is significant that the Lord appeared first, not to any of the disciples but to a woman, a woman with the name Mary. The name pictures an inmost love to the Lord, a love implanted within the hearts of all people. It is a love that can respond to the Lord’s calling.

In the work, the Canons of the New Church we read, "At this day nothing else than the self-evidencing reason of love will reestablish the church..." (Canon 1) Let us remember our love to the Lord as our savior and redeemer in our celebration of Easter this year.

(TLK)

Lessons: John 20, Lord 3

From Rev. Jeremy F. Simons

From March 28, 2010

Palms of Joy

"The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him." John 12:12

At the time of the Passover feast Jerusalem's population of 80,000 more than doubled. The city was overrun with visitors, and crowds gathered at the entrance gates, welcoming and watching notable people as they came in. The Lord at this point was well known, and they were expecting Him with anticipation. The stage was set for His entrance into Jerusalem to be noticed on a large scale. Palms are a fitting symbol for this event because they stand for this high level of interest and the joyful reception of the Lord. Acceptance and belief are key, because this is how the Lord came to save the world, by revealing Divine Truth. Palm Sunday portrays the intense, joyful interest in the Lord’s truth when it catches you in a receptive state.

Along with the palms, the cutting down of other branches from trees, and the laying of their clothes in the way, the people also cried out to the Lord. This crying out not only depicts a joyful acknowledgment similar to what is meant by the palms, but also gives a clue as to the kind of state in a person that facilitates that joyful reception. They cried "Hosanna!" which is an urgent cry of "Save us!" What makes you most likely to receive the Lord with joy? Palm Sunday is about the recognition of our state of need. Without Him we can do nothing. Very often it is not the normal events of a happy life that bring about this realization, but frustrations, losses and failures.

People often wonder how the crowds who welcomed the Lord on Sunday could have been so fickle as to cry out against Him on Friday. There are many explanations, but one is to see the similarity with the book eaten by John on the Isle of Patmos. John said that the book "was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter" (Revelation 10:10). We read in Apocalypse Revealed that this means:

Acknowledging that the Lord is the Savior and Redeemer is pleasing and agreeable, but acknowledging that He alone is God of heaven and earth, and that His humanity is Divine, is displeasing and vexatious, owing to their falsifications." (Apocalypse Revealed 481)

That is, it is one thing to look to the Lord for help and to see Him as your Savior. But it is something else to actually regard His words as authoritative in your life, to do as He says, and not to do as we please.

This is the basis of the contest that then goes on during the Lord’s final week in this world. Once you have joyfully accepted the Lord as your King, once you have let Him in the door with delight, this is when the contest within you becomes most intense. The question is whether you will do as He says, or whether you will ultimately reject Him and follow your own way.

None of this would happen, though, without the interest and enthusiasm for what the Word teaches that is meant by the palms in the people’s hands and their cries of Hosanna as the Lord rode a donkey in a royal procession into Jerusalem.

(JFS)

Lessons: Psalm 24:7-10; John 12:9-18; Apocalypse Revealed 367; Apocalypse Explained 458.5

From Rev. Scott I. Frazier

From March 21, 2010

Daniel in the Lion's Den

Priests of the Old Testament had three major uses: they sacrificed animals; they read the Book of the Law; and they diagnosed skin disease. Sacrificing animals, according to Moses, was the chief act of worship. In the internal sense, animals represent all the various affections we have. All the things of worship are represented by animal sacrifice. The act of formal worship – which we are here today to do– is for dedicating our lives and our desires to the Lord.

In public worship, with many people gathered together to approach the Lord, it is useful to have a priest present. Just as an Israelitish priest supervises the public sacrifice of animals, priests today supervise the things of public worship. The priest, both then and now, provides a symbol of the Lord.

The second major use of the priest in the Old Testament was to read the Book of the Law. Aside from prophets, this was the chief way the people learned what the Lord wanted. This hasn’t changed. In the internal sense, the priest reading the book of the Law is the presence of the Lord’s truth in our lives.

And this does not take away from the power and usefulness of having the truth taught publicly. Priests teach. This is one of their most important functions.

The priests of the Old Testament also had a third major function – they diagnosed skin conditions. The priest was only responsible for diagnosing the most external of conditions. Furthermore, the priest was not passing judgment on a crime or failing of the person.

On the internal level leprous sores and skin conditions represent the outermost expressions of evils. Self examination is looking for outward expressions of evil and disorder. Sometimes, they are relatively innocuous, other times they are malignant. As our priest and God, we go to the Lord and ask him, "Is this something I should worry about?" Our answers are found in His Word.

And this is also a major use of the priesthood today. Insofar as the priesthood has a ‘counseling’ function, it is found in the diagnosis of leprosy. The questions you might bring to a priest are the same questions the ancient Israelites would bring. He might exercise this use in a board meeting, a casual conversation after church, or by appointment with a concerned congregant.

Are these the uses that priests are performing? Are these the things we are asking of priests? Priests are there to perform uses for people as symbols of the Lord. Priests are there to administer worship, pronounce clean and unclean, and read aloud the book of the Law.

Readings: Lev 1,13 (portions), AR 678

From Rev. Andrew M.T. Dibb

From March 14, 2010

Daniel in the Lion's Den

Babylon represents human selfishness. We all have a selfish side: as we put ourselves above others, think we are more important, that others should bend to our will. Selfishness is the source of the nasty things we say or do to others. It is our most serious spiritual enemy, but the Lord gives us the way to combat and overcome it: He gives us Daniel. Daniel is a symbol of our conscience, the collection of truths the Lord uses to guide us through our lives.

This morning’s story is a stand off between Darius the Mede and Daniel, between states of selfishness, and our conscience. It begins when Darius’ other leaders were jealous of Daniel, but they could not bring him down. They convinced Darius to forbid anyone to worship any god other than himself. The punishment was death by being fed to the lions. Darius was flattered, and passed the law. Left to itself selfishness exalts a person over the Lord Himself. Lions in the service of Babylon represent the willingness to fight against goodness and truth.

But we should never overlook the resistance the Lord gives us. Daniel went home and bowed down before the Lord three times a day. If our conscience is real, we will feel it as it takes a stand against selfishness. At first resistance seems gentle, but we should not confuse gentleness for weakness. A true conscience is never weak.

Daniel in the lions’ den is about temptation. Falsity often seems stronger than truth. Yet nothing is further from the truth. Truth comes from the Lord and draws its power from Him. In temptation selfishness and falsity are stopped up, like the lions in the den. Their mouths were sealed by an angel, and Daniel was protected all night long.

Victory brings a remarkable change in us. Selfishness never goes away completely, but it can be tamed and brought under control. We always need some level of self concern, but this is a far cry from selfishness running our lives. Through temptation selfishness is brought under control. It is replaced by a healthy self-concern making it possible for us to serve the neighbor and the Lord.

From Rev. Glenn "Mac" Frazier

From February 14, 2010

How to Love

Love is vitally important. It is what makes life possible. And the Lord is Love itself. So it is important that we study and understand love.

There are three parts to love. First, love requires some other person as its object. This is why the Lord created us, and it is why loving oneself is not truly loving. Beyond that, loving what we see of ourselves in another is not as meaningful as loving the "other" in someone. Among other things, we are commanded to love our spiritual enemies.

Second, love desires to draw close to, connect with, and even become one with its object. We love the Lord by drawing closer to Him through the reading and living of His Word. We connect with another person by being curious about them, listening selflessly to them, and spending time with them.

Third, love desires to make its object blessed. The Lord's purpose in creating the universe was so that there could be a human race that He could make eternally happy. Just as the Lord's love looks to our long-term happiness, so should we look to the long-term--not just the short-term--happiness of those we love.

The true happiness of a relationship--especially a marriage, but also a friendship--is dependent on the good brought to the relationship by each person. You have no control over the good another person brings, only what you yourself bring. So to strengthen a relationship—all your relationships--work on your own spiritual growth: repent of an evil, and invite the Lord to spiritually regenerate you.

When you work to become better at loving another person, you make yourself a greater vessel for the Lord to flow into and through. By being better at loving other people, you are increasing the degree to which the Lord can be present in the world. Study love, and practice love, and work hard at love, and you will become a blessing to those around you.

Lessons: DLW 47-48; John 15:1-17; TCR 43

(GMF)

From Rev. Erik J. Buss

From March 6, 2003

Perception

As you work to become a good person, many thoughts come to you. Is it God speaking to you or a fanciful thought? We've all had insights that turned out to be wrong and others that were right on the money. How do we evaluate? The topic is our inner perceptions of truth.

Perception has these three qualities: 1) It is the speech of angels with us that filters down to our conscious minds. 2) It tells us whether something is true or not. 3) It is an answer by the inner parts of our mind to a question asked by the external. (AC 5228, 6250-51). It does not tell us what to think. It gives a yes or no answer to a question we consciously ask.

Most Ancient people had perception (AC 125). Because humanity fell, the Lord's inner leading has been drowned out by earthly concerns. Instead we have conscience, which is very different. Perception touches our will first, while conscience is based on the truth we have learned, specifically truth from the Word (AC 2144:2-3). Conscience is subject to verification & cross-check against the truth.

Conscience has important limits. It is not instant like perception; you often need to reflect, to read the Word and pray. It is not spontaneous; your feelings about a situation are not necessarily correct. Most importantly, it is limited by the truth you know; if don't know a truth you can't have any conscience about it.

Conscience is the way the Lord speaks to us today. The more we use it, the more power it has in our lives to make change, and to be the source of peace and joy in our lives.

Two forms of perception still exist with us. The first is called common perception (DLW 361). It is the ability to see and recognize truth when you hear it. It is not the capacity to come up with new formulations of truth, but to hear the ring of truth in what someone else says or reads. This allows us to learn new truth. Common perception is about broad ideas, common sense ideas. It will not answer specific questions.

The other kind of perception is the wisdom of wives. Women who think cleanly about marriage are given perception about their husbands' affections and thus an ability to modify and nudge them in the correct direction. They cannot articulate this perception easily, if at all, and they do not like to talk about it. It is an inner knowing about when things are right or wrong in their marriages, and sometimes a sense of what to do. If your wife says, "Something is wrong in our marriage," but can't give specifics, assume that she is right and try to find out what it is.

These three, conscience, common perception, and the wisdom of wives, are three ways that the Lord uses to show us truth.

(EJB)

From Rev. Barry C. Halterman

From December 20, 2009

Immanuel God with Us

So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us." (Matthew 1:22-23)

Throughout history, the human race has come up with wildly divergent descriptions of God. Many people have even denied His existence altogether. Even within the Christian tradition, the religious tradition named after Jesus Christ Himself, there has long been argument and debate about how to understand God and where Jesus fits in. Is it really as complicated as we sometimes make it?

Isaiah 7:14 says that the Child to be born will be called "Immanuel" which means "God with us." In fact, the prophecies are clear that it is the "Mighty God," the "Everlasting Father," the Lord God Jehovah Himself who was to be born on earth to lead us and save us (see Isaiah 9:6). So if, as all Christians believe, Jesus is the Messiah and Savior promised by the prophets of old then Jesus is plainly and simply Jehovah God Himself.

Think back to your earliest experiences of Christmas. We set up our Nativity sets and placed the baby Lord in the manger, and we knew that the Lord was God. We heard the story of the shepherds seeing the heavenly host of angels and coming to visit the baby Lord in the manger, and we knew the Lord was God. We heard about the wise men coming from far away with the three precious gifts to give to the baby Lord, and we knew the Lord was God. We didn't think about trinities or wonder how Jesus was connected to some separate Father God up in heaven. We knew that Jesus was God Himself born on earth. He was born as a little baby like us. He grew up like us. We loved Him just like He loved us.

According to True Christian Religion #370, "Jehovah came down and became human so that He could come close to us and we could come close to Him, and a partnership could be forged, through which we could have salvation and eternal life. When God became human and then a human became God, He became able to draw near us in this adapted form and, as a human God and a divine Human, forge a partnership with us." So the Lord came to earth to forge a relationship with us, human to human. He came in Person to establish a personal relationship with each one of us. The more we see Him and come closer to Him as the Divine Human God, as "Immanuel," as "God with us," the better our relationship will be.

Lessons: Isaiah 7:14-15, Isaiah 40:3-5, 9-11; Matthew 1:18-25; True Christianity 370

(BCH)

From Rev. Eric H. Carswell

From December 6, 2009

The Annunciation

The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35).

What amazing words these must have been to the young woman, Mary, when she first heard them. Suddenly with the appearance of the angel Gabriel, her visions of the future contained a new and dramatically different element. We are called to believe that miracles do occur. Some people are troubled by this idea based on such a strong view of natural law that the Lord's active presence within creation vanishes. The Writings for the New Church have also taught us that we are not to expect to see the miracles today in the same way they were performed in Biblical times (True Christian Religion 501). Based on these ideas, a person can come to doubt the Lord's ability to affect things for good, but this is too limited a view. So limited that we block out a sight of the miracles that can occur within our own lives without taking away our spiritual freedom.

The Lord comes to each of us many times each day. If we receive Him, our lives will not follow some pre-established route, set by our inborn nature and directed by compelling experience of the natural world. Just as the angel Gabriel told Mary of a new future, so also the Lord can come to us announcing the conception of a life that is far different from the one our natural mind would envision.

There are two distinct reasons for the importance of a belief in the virgin birth. One reason has to do with the essential need for Jesus to be born with a natural mother but without a natural father if He was going to become our Savior and Redeemer. It was crucial for the work of Jesus that He not derive from His birth any of the internal evils that are passed on through the soul provided by the natural father. His soul and life came directly from the infinite God. The second reason for believing in the virgin birth exists because the term "virgin" represents someone who willing to have his or her life affected by truth. It is a state of mind that is open to new possibilities.

Our preparation for Christmas can remind us of the gifts of love and friendship we want for others, perhaps especially the eternal gifts that bring loving warmth or the light of greater understanding to another person's life. The Lord comes to each of us bringing the promise of a new life, born within our own, but not taking its source from us. He comes with a miraculous intervention in the natural course of events. The words of the angel Gabriel are also a promise to us of a new life that will profoundly affect what we care about, think and do each day throughout the year. AMEN

Lessons: Isaiah 7:1-15, Luke 1:26-38, Arcana Caelestia 1573

(EHC)

From Rev. Dr. Philip B. Schnarr

From November 22, 2009

Nothing Hidden

For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known (Luke 12:1).

Nothing covered. All will be revealed. What the Lord is talking about here is what is in store for each one of us when we move on into the next life. We might call it complete transparency. In spiritual terms it means to have our will, our thoughts, our words and even our tone of voice all working together and in complete agreement.

In this new mode of operation, people in the other world say what they mean and care about without anything getting in the way.

The work Arcana Coelestia (passage 8250) puts it in very bold terms:

In the next life; no one is allowed there to speak in one way and think in another. That lack of agreement is also clearly perceived there in every word, and in every tone of the voice. And when it is perceived the spirit in whom such lack of agreement exists is forcibly removed from association with others ....

So that’s the destiny that awaits all of us - to have a mind that is fully transparent, an open book if you will, and not divided by any desire to misrepresent ourselves to others.

If people (while they were living in the natural world) have not acted covertly but have wanted everything they were thinking to be out in the open to the extent that civil law allows, then since they have thought nothing but what was honest and fair because of the Divine, in heaven their faces are radiant. Because of that radiance, the details of their thoughts and affections are visible in their faces... and in both speech and action they are virtual images of their feelings. They are more beloved than others (HH 489:6, emphasis added).

Can you imagine what this would be like - having your words and deeds form a complete and perfect match with your best, most upright thoughts and feelings? If this sounds like heaven, it should, because that's what heaven is like. But this also describes a world worth striving for. Picture how our relationships would strengthen and grow if we could have perfect confidence that all of us were completely trustworthy in representing ourselves to others.

Like it or not, these are the conditions that await us in the next life. No duplicity. No hypocrisy. No deception. No games with the truth. And for those who have overcome these pitfalls there is an amazing promise, in both speech and action they are virtual images of their feelings (HH 489:6, emphasis added).

Lessons: Isaiah 55:7-9; Deuteronomy 29:29; Matthew 6: 3-5; True Christian Religion 592

(PBS)

From Rev. Andrew M.T. Dibb

From November 14, 2009

Elijah's Mantle

Heaven and Hell, says: "it is not so difficult to live the life that leads to heaven as is believed" (HH 528). The Lord wants us to celebrate our lives, to remember that He made us so that He could be with us and make us happy (TCR 43).

But, we need to be realistic: we incline towards evil of every kind. We often wonder if we’ll break them. They make the life that leads to heaven seem impossibly hard. But is it? Life is a journey.

Elijah is a beautiful example of the transition from selfishness to heaven. He challenges Ahab and Jezebel with a message of drought. Consequently he flees from their wrath into the wilderness. Elijah symbolizes the Word in our lives.

The Word makes the life leading to heaven possible. It shows our qualities, both good and evil and brings challenge and comfort. In the wilderness, Elijah was fed by ravens, the food was carrion, but it kept him alive. It is not so hard to live the life leading to heaven—the Lord does not expect us to be perfect to begin with.

We cannot wallow in our imperfections. Elijah went to Zarephath. There a widow had just enough to make bread for herself and her son, but she gave the bread to Elijah. After that her oil and flour never ran out. The Lord sustains us, and inspires us. He shows us more and more clearly how to live.

At times, we have to let go of certain attitudes, thoughts, and actions. The widow’s son gets sick and dies. Elijah restored the boy’s life. The death symbolizes the passing away of old states. When we do the Lord gives us new insights into His Word.

We need to see the life the Lord gives us: it does not roar like wind, nor shake like an earthquake, or burn like fire. It speaks in a small quiet voice.

Elijah had completed his work, and had one last journey to make. This time Elijah is accompanied by Elisha. The Lord had commanded him to anoint Elisha, he threw his mantle over him as a sign that the Lord had called him.

They traveled from Gilgal to Bethel, to Jericho across the Jordan into the desert. Elijah is the Word. Elisha is also the Word but with a difference: he had a double portion of the Lord’s presence than Elijah, for now the teachings not only show us how to change, but also fill us with the desire to change.

"It is not so difficult to live the life that leads to heaven as is believed." Amen

Lessons: II Kings 2:1-14; AC 5321:3-5

(AMTD)

From Rev. Jeremy F. Simons

From October 10, 2009

Serving God First

Elijah said to the widow, "Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first." I Kings 17.13

Both of the first two stories about Elijah focus on his survival during the famine that began when he confronted Ahab. Last week we heard that Elijah was fed by ravens by a brook, this week he is fed by a widow. Both are about how you survive and progress when you begin to be aware of the spiritual famine that characterizes your unregenerate life.

This week the brook dries up, the ravens seem to be no longer there, and Elijah needs to find a new solution. That is, as you encounter ideas that expose your misimpressions, and undergo experiences that expose your mixed motives (last week's sustaining ravens) you become dissatisfied with your spiritual situation and look for change.

This widow in Zarephath represents a quality that will sustain you during the famine, and improve your situation. She stands for a deep longing for what is right. Elijah comes to her at probably the most despairing moment of her life, as she gathers sticks to make her last meal after which she expects to starve. Rather than comfort her he makes a demand that only seems to add to her troubles. Yet he tells her that doing what he asks will solve her problem.

Elijah's message to her is quoted in our text. The message is that if you are despairing of finding satisfaction in life, stop trying to satisfy yourself. While it may seem that putting yourself first would be the logical thing to do, the truth is that putting the Lord first is what satisfies your hunger.

Miracles operate according to spiritual principles, and these are different than physical ones. When miracles happen we are told that “such things as actually exist in the spiritual world are actually introduced into such things in the natural world as correspond” (True Christian Religion addition 1.2). That is, what happened in the miracle was that physical food behaved like spiritual food. The flour and oil multiplied instead of being used up, just as love multiplies when it is given away, and they were sustained by it.

On this Charter Day weekend we celebrate the founding of this church movement that accepts the Heavenly Doctrines as the Word of God, and accepts their message that the Christian Church has come to an end and has been replaced by a new one. This is a courageous message, and it is reasonable for there to be doubt about whether it will be successfully spread around the world and change life on this planet. It takes courage.

Today we have added a second step towards the goal of living courageously, and it applies to the spread of the New Church. When you serve the Lord first your spiritual food doesn’t run out, it increases. Our task this week is, then, to serve the Lord first, and you serve Him when you serve others. This week secretly practice doing something good for others. Know that this good is not yours but from the Lord, do not take credit, and thank Him for it.

Lessons: I Kings 17:8-16; John 6:27, 28, 30-35; Arcana Coelestia 4844.12.

(JFS)

From Rev. Eric H. Carswell

From September 26, 2009

Gathered in His Name

"For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:20)

What is it that gathers us together for Sunday worship week by week? Many of us believe there is something powerfully good and useful about the ideas that the Lord has to teach us and the life that He wants us to live. When faith and charity come together in a person’s life in wise and loving actions it is an example of "two or three gathering in the Lord’s name. We have dedicated ourselves to gathering in the Lord’s "name."

We gather because we believe in the Lord. We believe that He is the one who has created this world and each of us. We believe that there is a life to come after each one of us ends our natural life here in this world. We believe that the Lord has important things to teach us about what we should and shouldn’t do. We believe that gathering as we do in the Lord’s name makes a huge difference for each of us.

We gather in the Lord's name by being like little children who acknowledge that without the Lord’s help we can be neither useful nor happy. Without the Lord’s help we cannot know what is truly right or wrong.

He understands our natural state and wants to help us. Lord wants us to know and believe that every step we take toward becoming a better human being and everything we can do to help others in this process brings great joy in heaven. Aren't these goals what motivates this congregation? We gather in the Lord’s name each Sunday, we have adult education classes and small group programs like the one starting next week. We as a congregation and a broader church organization operate schools so that young people can come to , and make our best efforts to invite new people to "come and see" the ideas and life of the New Church. What we are dedicated to doing as a congregation helps people change their lives for the better and supports them in knowing and believing that they are loved.

We gather in the Lord’s name when we try to live according to His love and wisdom. This congregation has been blessed with many people who have faithfully tried to learn from the Lord and live according to what He teaches. They have gathered together for worship, instruction, and all the different interactions that build the health and unity of this church. May our dedication to gathering in the Lord’s name be ever renewed. May each of us seek to acknowledge His power, His commandments, and to truly believe and live according to them. AMEN.

Lessons: Matthew 18:10-20, Arcana Caelestia 6674:1-2, Apocalypse Explained 102:2.

(EHC)

From Rt. Rev. Thomas L. Kline

From August 29nd, 2009

The Faith of the New Church

"The Esse of the Faith of the New Church is confidence in the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ. and a trust that he who lives well and believes aright is saved by Him." (TCR 344)

This morning, we want to begin with the question, "How strong is your faith?" Our message this morning is that faith is far more than just an understanding of truth. As we read in our lesson, the "esse" or core of the faith of the New Church is a confidence and trust in the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ. This confidence and trust comes from taking the truths that we have learned from the Lord and living those truths as we walk with the Lord every step in our lives.

There are many ways of building this soul of our faith; this morning we want to list just three.

First is to tie your life to the Lord’s life on earth. This is a trust and confidence that the Lord came on earth, walking each step of our lives, from birth to death, opening the path to heaven for each one of us. Imagine a person who is trapped in a deep pit with no way out of that pit. That is a picture of our lives without the Lord. Picture someone lowering a ladder down into that pit giving us a way out step by step. The Lord built that ladder during His life on earth, carefully forming each step on the way to heaven for us. Do we trust that ladder of regeneration enough to stay in a hurting marriage when it seems there is no hope? Do we trust that ladder during times of temptation when the path seems closed before us? Do we trust that ladder of regeneration that the Lord has built when the Lord asks us to lay down part of our lives for another?

A second way of building trust and confidence is to reach out to the Lord in times of trouble and need. At the peak of the temptation, we reach a moment when we are finally willing to let go of self and reach out to the Lord. In that moment of reaching out to the Lord, we feel His hand gently taking hold and bringing us upward. That moment is a miracle moment of building trust in Him as our savior and redeemer. Like a child learning to walk, knowing that his parent is there ready to catch him if he stumbles, so we, through those moments of being held up by the hand of God, we experience trust and confidence of faith.

A third way we build a living faith is through prayer. This means to be conscious of the fact that He is always with us. Invite Him into your life through a life of prayer, so that you may know that He is there walking each step with you - you and He, walking the path of life together. Let us continue to build that confidence and trust in the Lord as we serve in His name.

Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you" (Matthew 17:20).

Lessons: Exodus 20; Matthew 17: 14 21; TCR 334, 337.

(TLK)

From Rev. Grant R. Schnarr

From August 22nd, 2009

Lifeline

Zedekiah and the Kingdom of Judah had refused to listen to the prophet Jeremiah, who predicted their doom because of their defiant behavior. The princes of Judah were so tire of Jeremiah's harsh words that they talked King Zedekiah into throwing him into the dungeon, a deep and miry cistern under the castle. There Jeremiah wasted away until a servant of the King, Ebed Melech, an African, urged the king to set Jeremiah free, and with the kings permission, lowered down cords made from old clothes and rags for Jeremiah to put under his arms and be lifted to safety. Ebed Melech saved Jeremiah from suffering a slow and torturous death.

Sometimes we can feel like Jeremiah, stuck in the mire, cut off from others, wasting away in the darkness. We even have a saying that one has fallen into the pit of despair. This story illustrates how we can do this to ourselves, and how the Lord can rescue us from our own pits that we create. Jeremiah represents the Lord's prophetic Word, as it comes to us in our own conscience. When we refuse to follow the Lord we may know the truth, and even hear its call to turn back, to repent. But like Zedekiah and his princes, the truth just makes us feel bad. We don't want to hear it, so we cast it away from us into the darkness through denial, and rejection of what we know deep inside is right.

Each person in this story is a part of us. We are Zedekiah rejecting the truth, and we are Jeremiah, feeling the consequences of that rejection. When the truth within us has been neglected and left to die we suffer the consequences of our own evil, feeling as we have been rejected, lowered into the pit of despair, languishing.

Ebed Melech saves Jeremiah. He represents “good in the natural” or that very humble love and willingness to do what is right. He too is part of our conscience, urging Zedekiah to let him rescue Jeremiah. The cords he makes from old clothes represent the well worn truths in our life, that bound together in a bundle, can lift us out of the hell we have created for ourselves. If we listen to that quiet voice of reason and love it, it will rescue us. Grasping onto those basic truths we know and love will pull us out of the pit, and give us a second chance. Jeremiah does secure himself in those ropes and is saved, lifted up and eventually freed from captivity altogether. So we can be free when we overcome our selfish ways and listen to the gentle voice of the Lord.

Lessons: Jeremiah 38: 1-13; Luke 6:46-49; TCR 349.

(GRS)

From Rev. Glenn "Mac" Frazier

From August 2nd, 2009

How to Forgive

The Lord, who is Mercy itself, forgives everyone. Furthermore, He commands us to always forgive others. But forgiveness is hard.

Now, when Jesus referred to heathens (gentiles) and tax collectors, the casual listener of the time would have thought "bad people, of little or no value." But His disciples would have realized that's not what he meant, given the way He treated these two groups. In fact, one of the disciples was himself a tax collector!

Readings: Mat. 18:15-22; AC 2335:2-3; 4197:7, 6148:6.

(GMF)

From Rev. Thane P. Glenn

From July 26th, 2009

Freedom: When I Fall, I Will Arise

"Consider the despair expressed in Micah’s words to the people of Israel and Judah: “The faithful person has perished from the earth, and there is not one upright [person] among men” (Micah 7:2).

We know feelings like this. Nothing is working out in a relationship. We always fall short in our spiritual lives. Everything is off track.

But let's remember the hope that comes a few sentences later: “Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I will arise” (Micah 7:8).

Arcana Caelestia suggests that this passage from Micah is a description of the temptations that rise up against us. Look at Micah’s words: “Guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom. …son dishonors father, daughter rises against her mother…. A person’s enemies are the people of his own house” (Micah 7:5-6).

The Lord tells us in His teachings for a New Church that these words are not literal, but they are talking about things that we cling to as closely as we might cling to our children or spouse (Arcana Caelestia §4843).

In another passage on temptation, Arcana Caelestia calls these things “false assumptions” and the “living delight in [evil]” which springs from them (§5037). Let’s take two examples of false assumptions that entrap us in a pit of evil delight.

When we’re in temptation, the hell in us drags up before us the shameful thoughts we’ve entertained and the harmful things we’ve said or done (Arcana Caelestia §5036, 5246). And perhaps thoughts like these pass through our heads: This is all my fault. I’ll never change. What use am I to anybody?

Listen to the lie in those statements—the way they stop us from making an honest, balanced appraisal of the situation. They are false assumptions. But don’t we sometimes get a perverse miserable delight in the certainty of such statements? False assumptions lead to living delight (however miserable) in evil.

Or think of the man in mid-career who slips into the belief that he doesn’t need to tell his wife about the secret friendship he’s pursuing with a female coworker. It’s a false assumption, and it’s one that could easily drag him into the mire of that helplessly compulsive delight called adultery.

Every one of us undergoes temptations like these. We read in Arcana Caelestia that “no one can be regenerated unless he undergoes temptations” (§5036). But the final word of Micah’s message, in the midst of all the despair he speaks, is that our Lord will not leave us in that pit.

Consider the following passage from The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine: “A person of himself continually lapses, but he is continually raised by the Lord, and led to good” (§163).

The only way we can see through those false assumptions that entrap us in a living delight in evil is by going to the Lord in prayer and reflection. In the words of the prophet Micah: “Therefore I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I will arise!” (Micah 7:7-8).

Lessons: Micah 7:2-8, Matthew 12:9-13, Arcana Caelestia §4843

(TPG)

From Rev. Jay Barry

From July 5th, 2009

Freedom: Stepping Stone to Spiritual Life

"The servant does not abide in the house forever: the son abides forever; if the Son has made you free, you shall be truly free" (John 8:34-36).

The blessings of freedom surround us in this country wherever we look. Like a golden thread embroidered continuously throughout the large tapestry of the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, it is an essential theme in the exposition of the internal sense of the Word. "One law of order in the government of the universe by the Lord is, that everyone is left in liberty; for without liberty there is no life, nor any worship, and without liberty there is no reformation." (SE 2365) Without freedom there is no life, no worship and no reformation. We can be profoundly grateful on this Independence Day weekend, for our freedom, which is denied to so many others around the world.

The Writings discriminate between three different kinds of freedom.

The first is natural freedom, the freedom to choose for ourselves what is right for us. As essential as this is, the center of gravity of this freedom is the love of self in preference to the love of the neighbor. We are taught: "from natural freedom a person loves nothing but the self and the world" (DP 73). Therefore, if there is no higher affection to temper it, natural freedom does not lead to heaven, but is a road that leads to a dead end in the love of self.

The second kind of freedom is rational freedom. This develops in adult age as we perfect our minds in accordance our jobs, our careers and professions, and as we develop our place in society and our usefulness to others. The center of gravity of rational freedom is the love of reputation. From the work Divine Providence we are taught the delight of this freedom is to appear moral for the sake of ones reputation only, and we act from rational freedom so as not to tarnish this reputation (see DP 73.5).

Only spiritual freedom is freedom in the true sense (see DP 73.6). The Lord made the case for spiritual freedom so plainly: if we follow the teachings of the Word, we will be freed from the power of hell.

"Spiritual freedom is from the love of eternal life. Into this love and its delight no one comes but the man [or woman] who thinks that evils are sins, and consequently does not will them, and at the same time looks to the Lord." DP 73.6,7

Now it is possible to see how natural and rational freedom are permitted so that we can become acquainted with our own personal evil and character defects. Only by this means can we be reformed and be regenerated. Now we can see a complete picture of why freedom is given to us: it is our stepping-stone to change and spiritual growth.

During this Independence Day weekend we can be grateful to the Lord for the freedoms which we have in our country, the freedoms which have been fought for in this generation and in generations past, which our sons and daughters, our fathers and forefathers have died for. But we also can see more clearly that true freedom is of the Lord, and the natural and rational freedoms we are born into are just stepping-stones leading to the spiritual life of reformation and regeneration, the means by which the Lord perfects us to eternity.

Lessons: Psalm 119:33-46; John 8:26-36; New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine 141, 142.

(JB)

From Rev. Phillip B. Schnarr

From June 21st, 2009

The Open Door

Our subject is the 6th of the 7 churches mentioned in Revelation chapter 3 - the church called Philadelphia. We might call this "the church of the open door" since the Lord said to this church, "I set before you an open door and no one can shut it" (Rev. 3: 8).

Of all seven churches, this church is given the most encouraging message by far. It has some power, it has persisted in God's ways, and it has not denied His name. It is even said "I will write on him... the name of the city New Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven from My God (Rev. 3: 12)."

Yes, the Philadelphians, it seems, are those who, by the end of the Book of Revelation, would move to an even better place, the famous Holy City, the New Jerusalem. And all of us share that goal - to find a path through life that ultimately leads to that open door, one of the gates of pearl which open into the Holy City.

"How do we find our way to that open door?"

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write "means those of the church who are in the faith of charity" (AE 202). And the "faith of charity is truth of doctrine adjoined to good of life" (AC 2853 emphasis added).

Those in the spiritual church called Philadelphia who are in the "faith of charity" have come to truly love their brothers, their neighbor in a larger sense. It is a spiritual, neighborly love, which comes from taking the Lord's teachings into their minds and then applying them reflectively and deliberately in everyday decisions and choices.

The Philadelphians have come to love the truth, to love sincerity, to love justice, and most of all to love to act upon the Divine principles contained within the Ten Commandments (see AE 204:2). They do this in every conscious way but also in ways far above or within their natural consciousness. The true, spiritual, Philadelphia kind of love does not focus on our neighbor's external appearance, position or material means. It is not even a function of their natural intelligence, wit, or personality. It is a love for their qualities of truthfulness, sincerity, and justice that is the Lord with them (ibid). The church of Philadelphia epitomizes these kinds of people. In the words of Revelation "they have kept My Word" and "kept my command to persevere" (Rev. 3: 10).

Readings: Revelation 3: 7-13, 20; Apocalypse Explained 208:3; True Christian Religion 401: 7, 8.

(PBS)

From Rev. Jeremy F. Simons

From June 7th, 2009

Seven Bowls of Judgement

"Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed." (Revelation 15.7)

This story of the seven bowls of judgment, or seven last plagues, is one of many challenging stories in the book of Revelation. Those who take the book literally see it as part of the destruction that an angry God has in mind for this wicked world.

The teachings of the New Church, however, give a more reassuring interpretation. The Lord is not angry, nor does He bring any kind of destruction. The dramatic imagery merely reflects the power and significance of the spiritual changes that happen as one age ends and a new one begins.

The bowls of judgment take place near the end of the book of Revelation, describing a state when evils are being clearly recognized for what they are, in preparation for their rejection.

This is not an easy time. It is not easy to recognize your own faults and weaknesses. When you become aware of them, and of the extent to which they oppose real happiness in your life, you feel pain – not because the Lord is distant but because these evils cannot bear His presence in the truth of that awareness (Arcana Coelestia 4299).

This is what the plagues of the seven bowls of judgment are about. The Lord is drawing near, and the influx of His love is felt by the evil as terrible plagues. As this takes place they are seen for what they are, their mask of goodness and truth is taken from them, and they are rejected.

The "seven angels" are really the Lord Himself, and the contents of the bowls is an influx of His love and truth into the church, or into the person, that possesses the Word but has not lived by it (Apocalypse Revealed 670, 676). As they are poured out the effects of these truths on different evils is felt and revealed.

The first five bowls describe the real nature of your spiritual life when you don’t live by what the Word teaches. Corruption is present in both your inner and outer life, you don’t understand the Word, both love and truth are unbearable to you.

The sixth and seventh bowls, however, offer hope. The sixth bowl is poured out on the Euphrates, the river of Babylon, causing it to dry up. This means that because you now see these things the power of reasoning to justify evil is taken away. This opens the way for "the kings from the east" or the New Church to come into your life (AR 700).

The bowls of judgment are a step towards peace. Every day things are happening that can serve to clarify what is right and wrong, so that they can be sorted out. Every conflict and setback is part of the process of making distinctions between right and wrong, and therefore holds a blessing within it.

Lessons: Revelation 15 & 16; Apocalypse Revealed 676; Coronis LII.

(JFS)

From Rev. Andrew M. Dibb

From May 31, 2009

I am willing to be clean

What do we do when we run into people whose understanding of truth is different from our own? Mark chapter one provides an answer.

A leper approached the Lord, prostrated himself and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Lepers correspond to people who mix truth and falsity. In spite of this, however, the leper wanted to "be cleansed," that is, have their understanding purified.

The Lord had several possible responses. He could have turned aside. That's often a first, very human, reaction. But He didn't do that. Instead, He felt compassion. "Compassion" is more complex than feeling sorry; what the Lord felt for this Leper was empathy. He understood the things the leper was going through.

One of the first principles for reaching out to people is empathy: what do they actually think, what misunderstandings do they have, what reasoning has gone into it? Empathy, or compassion, comes from talking to people to understand their points of view. The Leper was not planning to stay as he was, he wanted healing. To help people understand the Lord and the truth, we have to know where they stand so they can be healed.

The Lord's compassion led Him to reach out His hand and touch him. If we have empathy for someone, then we can reach out and "touch" the person. Our hands contain our power, the power of our understanding of the Word. We can share our understanding with those looking for clarity.

There is one further challenge: strictly speaking He should not have touched the Leper. The Lord did not come to break the Law, as but to fulfill it. So what was He thinking when He touched the Leper? Surely it was one of the laws He gives in the New Testament: "Love another as I have loved you." Or perhaps, since leprosy was often contagious, "greater love has no one than this, but to lay down his life for his friend."

The Lord weighed up the laws in order to do the right thing. He wasn't rejecting the Mosaic laws about leprosy, which were given to preserve health, instead He fulfilled them by giving health. This lesson is important for us. As we empathetically interact with people, we assist in healing the person's understanding, and become part of the Lord's process of giving health to those who struggle to sort out the mix of truth and falsity. We help to cure them of spiritual leprosy.

(AMTB)

From Rev. Andrew M. Dibb

From May 24, 2009

The Salvation of Souls

The Lord is good to all. And His tender mercies are over all His works.

The Lord is good to all; He made each one of us to go to heaven. He also gave us genuine spiritual freedom. We can choose to embrace the Lord or not. At times we turn from Him, and feel temporary happiness, and often misery and hurt over the long run. If the Lord wanted to, He could force us to love and follow Him. Instead He gives us another way back: the Word. The Word is our link back to the Lord.

Often there is not time, ability, or the inclination for each of us to search deeply His Word although that would benefit each of us. So, He has provided a church, people who willingly and voluntarily turn to the Lord. The Church is where the Lord is known and the commandments are obeyed. Even in the church people struggle, and so the Lord calls out men as teachers and leaders whose specific job is to search out the truths, to help others along their paths to the Lord.

There is nothing intrinsically special about a priest. The Lord promises him aid as he goes about His work. The main job of a priest is to teach the truth and lead people to the good of life. His task is not to replace an individual�s search for truth, or stand between the Lord and people. The priest is a facilitator. His job is to teach the Word, to encourage people to continue seeking connection with the Lord, and to offer understanding, insights and applications that people may not think of themselves.

The priest is merely a means, the Lord does the work, and the fact that the truth comes from the Lord via the priest, does not detract from the fact that once that truth is implanted in a person�s mind, and the Lord can use it as readily and as easily as if that person had learned it himself. For truth is truth. AMEN.

(AMTB)

From Rev. John L. Odhner

From May 10, 2009

The Wisdom of Women

Some small issue leads to criticism, then arguing. It escalates to shouting, and even blows. Soon you're calling the police, saying, "This...person cannot live in my house any more." "That teenager is on his own." "This marriage is over." "Get out!"

Why is it that some families seem to navigate life pretty well, and others seem to hit the rocks and sink? The number one predictor of family conflict and divorce is contempt. Feelings of superiority lead to criticism, defensiveness and withdrawal, and eventually to a complete breakdown in the relationship. "If their minds were then opened up and inspected by spiritual sight, it would look as if they were fighting with daggers" (Married Love 248).

After not helping get dinner ready, I asked, "Where's my plate?"

"You have no idea," my wife later said, "how much it hurts the family when you come in with a sense of entitlement and expect to be waited on."

I didn't have any idea. But contempt makes us feel more deserving than others even as we sow seeds of unhappiness. Contempt put Hagar in conflict with Sarai, and contempt caused Ishmael's and Hagar's expulsion.

So what do we do about contempt? The Lord said to Abraham, Listen to Sarah. We don�t have to be like Abraham, who sent his son away and was a polygamist. Yet this story contains heavenly wisdom now revealed to us about marriage. In men, love is veiled with wisdom, while in women wisdom is veiled with love. Women have an inner wisdom that surpasses men's. Angel wives say, "Our wisdom is superior to yours because it enters into your inclinations and affections and sees, perceives and feels them." Those wives influence their husband's feelings, "moderating them discreetly... redirecting when possible, but never compelling." Just as contempt is the strongest predictor of divorce, the strongest predictor of happiness in marriage is the husband's willingness to be influenced by his wife. When a man regularly accepts his wife's gentle nudges to be more humble or more positive it almost always means that they are headed for long-term happiness.

Each of us has a new self (Sarah) that is called to make our home in a heavenly land and old self (Hagar) that longs only for the security and comfort of worldly success and pleasures. Hagar's voice was critical and contemptuous, but Sarah's was the still, small voice of inner perception or conscience. It is not other people but the attitude of contempt that we need to cast out because it leads to conflict.

The son of Sarah was named Isaac--"Laughter"--because the wisdom of women, when we respect it and listen to it, certainly gives birth to joy in our lives. "God has made me laugh, so that all who hear will laugh with me."

(JLO)

From Rev. George D. McCurdy

From April 26, 2009

May Our Hearts Burn Within Us

Before we consider the spiritual sense of Luke 24 we need to establish two spiritual principles. The first comes from SD 733: there are more Arcana (heavenly secrets) in the doctrine of reflection than in any other (doctrine) whatsoever. Secondly the natural rational �sensual- mind reaches outwards or downwards. The spiritual rational reaches outwards and lifts us upward. If the natural rational operates independently of the spiritual the effect is harmful. The spiritual ceases. Dullness and lack of perception sets in. Spiritual blindness prevents any recognition of the Lord and His good and truth.

The two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus embody these teachings. As they walked the seven miles to Emmaus they were deeply engrossed in the dismal "D's". They were trying to cope with the death of the Lord. They felt defeated, disillusioned, disappointed, doomed and duped. Their natural rational minds looked downward. There was no upward vision. So much so that they didn't recognize the Lord walking along with them. To get them back on track the Lord asked them two questions. The Writings teach us that the Lord does this to facilitate reflection. The first question asked them what kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and (why) are you sad? Cleopas was somewhat annoyed with this question. "Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things that happened there?" In our own words the natural rational (sensual) was accusing Him of not being with it. Then the Lord asked the second question: "What news?"

The two disciples were good at summarizing the issues. They even talked about the "rumor" of the Lord's resurrection. But still the morbid natural rational prevailed. So the Lord gently chided them for their lack of faith and remembrance of all of the teachings of the Word regarding the prophecy of His death and resurrection.

For seven miles, about 3 or four hours, the Lord opened up to them the teachings from Genesis to Malachi. What a masterful summary that must have been. How beautifully He tied things together. We don't have 4 hours to review them but perhaps He mentioned Genesis 3; Psalm 22; Isaiah 41 and 53; Obadiah, Nahum, Joel, Micah, and Numbers. He pointed them to the mountains of self love the sensual mind built up. He mentioned how they would be leveled and in their place the mountains of faith would take place. "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him who brings good news, who proclaims peace "glad tidings... who proclaims salvation?." (Isaiah 52:7 and Nahum 1:5).

In Joel He talked about the devastation of the locust. They were so thick they blocked out the sun and the noise of their wings was deafening. Three kinds of locust did their destruction. There were the gnawers; the swarmers and the lickers. In the midst of the gloom and doom of this message Joel 3:10 announces that the Lord would restore the devastated church and be with us and His presence would help the "weak to say 'I am strong"". When they arrived at their place of residence in Emmaus they convinced the Lord to stay with them. At first He feigned as if He had to press onward (tacit acceptance). But they insisted. They really wanted Him to tarry with them so that they could "sup" with Him and to learn more. When He took bread and blessed it their eyes were opened. (Read AE 386 [26] and AE 617 [21] about the meaning of breaking bread). Their spiritual rational was opened. Their eyes were lifted up to a higher plane. Then He was gone. The two disciples said to one another "did not our heart burn within us" while He was on the road with us and He opened the scriptures? Then they immediately gathered themselves together and retraced their steps to Jerusalem. This time the "D's" were different. They were deliberate; they were determined; they were dedicated; they were delivered from their gloom and doom and they were anxious to spread the good news.

As they told their story to the eleven and others the Lord appeared to them and said "Peace to you."

There is not a one of us that has not faced our own series of the terrible "D's." We need to remember and apply our reflection about His infinite care for us. Read in full Isaiah 41: 9-13; AC 3854 [3]. Our challenge is to not let this lesson fall by the wayside. Through this week let�s keep our reflection and the spiritual rational flourishing. For in doing this we will see more heavenly secrets than we ever imagined possible. The Lord will take us by our right hand and whisper His words of comfort. "For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand" and I will say to you "Fear not, I will help you." In our midst He will say "Let the weak say I am strong." (Joel 3:10). If we all let the Lord to lift our sight and if we let our hearts burn within us He will be in our midst. With new reflections and lifted eyes He will be in our midst saying "Peace to You." Amen.

(GDMcD)

From Rev. Dr. Ray J. Silverman

From April 5, 2009

The Triumphal Entry

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" (Psalm 118:26).

Two thousand years ago Jesus entered Jerusalem to demonstrate how the truth we know (Jerusalem) must be filled with the Lord’s love (Jesus). This was, and is, the triumphal entry.

In our own lives, we can experience the triumphal entry every time we enter a situation with the Lord's love in our hearts. It�s not just about knowing what to do, it's about doing it from love. Remember, in everything that the Lord did, He always acted from the Divine love within Him (AE 405:24).

The Lord's "name" are His Divine qualities (TCR 301). It includes every quality that makes us human, especially understanding and love. When we act from these qualities, we are living in the name of the Lord. Here are some examples:

A business owner gets a call that a client is dissatisfied with a job. The business owner knows that the job was done well. But instead of rushing into the conversation with defensiveness and upset, He remembers the triumphal entry. He knows the truth, and he fills it with love. He resolves the situation from a calm center. He enters in the name of the Lord.
A hard-working person loses her job. She feels discouraged about her future. Things look bleak. On her way home she has thoughts about isolating herself. Instead, she remembers the triumphal entry and uses it as an opportunity to reach out to others. She decides that she will come from love. She will enter this next phase of her life in the name of the Lord.
A child is fussy and disobedient. His parents feel upset and frustrated. But instead of coming from anger or frustration, they come from patience, understanding and love. This is the triumphal entry. There may still be a consequence for misbehavior. But as long as love is present they are coming in the name of the Lord.

To the extent that we strive to fill the truth we know (Jerusalem) with love (Jesus) our lives will be blessed. The Lord, in whose name we live and move and have our being, will bless every new beginning, every place we enter, and every word we say.

This is what it means to live triumphantly. This is the triumphal entry in our lives. And this is the practical application of those beautiful words, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."

From Rev. Jeremy F. Simons

From March 22, 2009

A New Heavenly Order

"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind." (Isaiah 65:17) This is the second in a series of three sermons about the redemption that the Lord accomplished by His coming into the world. To "redeem" is to "buy back," to "take back," or to "liberate." The Lord came into the world with a strong hand and took back the human race from the hand of the devil. The process of redemption can be said to consist of three parts: "Gaining control of the hells, restructuring the heavens, and by so doing preparing for a new spiritual church." (True Christianity 115)

Our topic today centers around the fact that heaven has more influence on your life than you would ever expect. The Word teaches that every person is surrounded by spirits and angels, and that every thought and desire that you have is invisibly influenced by those spiritual associations. By means of these connections the love that goes out from the Lord is received by and communicated among all people, both in heaven and on earth.

But what if something happened to the connection? What if the Lord's love was somehow blocked from flowing down to the human race? This is exactly what happened in the millennia leading up to the Lord's coming. People increasingly turned away from the Lord, and as successively worse generations entered the next life hell became stronger and stronger, and heaven grew weaker and weaker.

This meant that at the time that the Lord came into the world people were barely free to do as they wished. Their inner world was so clouded and influenced by evil that they were in danger of losing their freedom completely.

The first part of this redemption was the Lord's conquest of hell. The second part was to keep it from happening again. How did the Lord do this? The answer is that the Lord restructured or re-ordered the heavens. Its purpose was to strengthen the order of heaven so that the hells cannot build up as they did before and block out heaven's influence. So how did the Lord do that?

It's actually very simple. It can be described in a number of different ways, but the simplest way to explain it is that the Lord re-ordered heaven by teaching the truth. We were laboring in spiritual darkness and He showed us the light.

The heavens are structured according to the way that good and truth, or faith and love, are joined in each individual angel. When the Lord came into the world He taught not only people on earth but also the inhabitants of heaven.

The freedom of thought that you enjoy is due to the Lord's redemption as He reordered the heavens. This is the new heaven that the Lord promised in Isaiah and in Revelation. As it grows in the spiritual world, it affects what happens in this world:

"In proportion as this new heaven, which makes up the internal of the church in the case of a person, grows, so the New Jerusalem comes down out of that heaven, and this is the New Church" ( True Christianity 784).

Lessons: Isaiah 65:17-25; True Christianity 115; 579

From Rev. Eric H. Carswell

From March 15, 2009

So That All Others Might Become Something and Be Saved

The Lord... in all His conflicts brought about by temptations, never fought out of self-love, that is, for Himself... He fought solely so that all others might become something and be saved. (Arcana Caelestia 1812:2)

The Lord is our Savior and Redeemer. We can know this as an idea and we can feel it as something personal and important to us. We can have feelings of awe and gratitude for what this meant and means today.

Traditional Christian doctrine has tended to make the key part of the Lord's work His crucifixion. This focuses on a single event as the means of salvation. The New Church emphasizes process - a life-long process that the Lord experienced in this world that allowed Him to accomplish our salvation and redemption.

In order for the Lord to become our Savior and Redeemer He needed to experience the powerful spiritual battles of temptation from His earliest childhood up through His last breath on the cross. What were the Lord's spiritual battles like? The internal sense of Genesis 22 describing the near-sacrifice of Isaac presents the Lord's severest and inmost temptations (Arcana Caelestia 2764). Our salvation and happiness is what the Lord loved above all else like Abraham loved his son Isaac. The Lord and the Lord alone truly understood that happiness is impossible without spiritual freedom to choose between heaven and hell. In the worst of His states of temptation Jesus felt totally alone with all the forces in the universe against Him, arguing, pleading, taunting Him to take away human spiritual freedom and telling Him that if He did not all human beings then and forever were doomed. In His final temptation, the limits of His not-yet-perfect mind allowed the Lord to feel like He was sacrificing any possibility of human happiness by leaving us free, but this fear was a delusion.

The Gospel of John describes the Lord's final words on the cross as "It is finished." Perhaps we can picture these words being ones of triumph but coming from the lips of a person who had spent His last ounce of strength battling and now as His natural body was dying He knew He had won.

If we face our own temptations asking that the Lord be at our side He will be. The hells will come to recognize the presence of the power and wisdom that defeated them long ago and this presence and power will ensure our victory.

It is this victory and the wisdom and happiness it can bring that the Lord sought. He fought solely so that you and I might become something and be saved. May we sense a profound awe and gratitude for this magnificent gift of love. AMEN.

Lessons: Genesis 22:1-14; Mark 11:27-33, 12:13-17; Arcana Caelestia 1789, 1812:1-2

From Rt. Rev. Louis B. King

From March 8, 2009

Conjunction with the Lord

"I am in my Father and ye in me, and I in you" (John 14:20).

Creation exists for one purpose, that man may be conjoined with the Lord. For only in conjunction with the Lord is there eternal life and lasting happiness.

To understand how conjunction with the Lord takes place, we must realize that there are three planes of life in man, and conjunction with the Lord is to be effected on every plane. Firstly there is the life or activity of the soul, which is above consciousness - unpervertable by the proprium. Secondly there is the conscious life of the mind, the truly human character which is the man himself. Thirdly there is the life of the body which is an ultimate expression of the activity or life of the mind.

Now let us consider how man is conjoined with the Lord on these three planes of human life - on the plane of the soul, on the plane of the mind, and on the plane of the body.

By means of the soul, the Lord conjoins Himself with all men good and evil. For the finite substance of the soul is divinely ordered so that the Lord's infinite life may be adjoined to it. Man feels this adjunction or presence of the infinite in his soul, as if it were his own life. Thus infinite life from the Lord is present in man's soul; and it is with this infinite life in man's soul that the Lord conjoins Himself.

Inasmuch as the infinite is present in man's soul, the human soul cannot be perverted, nor can its conjunction with the Lord be destroyed. Consequently all men are destined to live to eternity, as if from their own power and intelligence.

But if man would enjoy eternal happiness as well as eternal life, he must strive for conjunction with the Lord on a lower plane, on the plane of his mind or conscious life. This is achieved when evils are shunned as sins, when divine good inflows and produces in the mind regenerate loves, and when divine truths inflow and produce states of genuine faith. Here again it is the divine of the Lord which comes to man, which he receives and feels as his own, and to which the Lord can be conjoined. Here also the Lord dwells in His own with man. (AE 25, 460; AC 9503)

And when there is conjunction with the Lord in man's mind, there will follow a conjunction with the Lord in the third and ultimate plane of life - in the words and deeds of bodily life. Goods of love and truths of faith are the means by which man conjoins his mind to the Lord, and by means of which there is a final and lasting conjunction of the Lord with man. Amen.

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From Glenn "Mac" Frazier

From Dr. Andrew M.T. Dibb

From Rev. Erik J. Buss

From Dr. Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom

From Rev. James "Jay" Barry

From Rev. James "Jay" Barry

From Rev. Dr. Thane Glenn

From Rev. Stephen D. Cole

From Rev. Eric Carswell

From Rt. Rev. Thomas L. Kline

From Rev. Jeremy F. Simons

From Rev. Scott I. Frazier

From Rev. Andrew M.T. Dibb

From Rev. Glenn "Mac" Frazier

From Rev. Erik J. Buss

From Rev. Barry C. Halterman

From Rev. Eric H. Carswell

From Rev. Dr. Philip B. Schnarr

From Rev. Andrew M.T. Dibb

From Rev. Jeremy F. Simons

From Rev. Eric H. Carswell

From Rt. Rev. Thomas L. Kline

From Rev. Grant R. Schnarr

From Rev. Glenn "Mac" Frazier

From Rev. Thane P. Glenn

From Rev. Jay Barry

From Rev. Phillip B. Schnarr

From Rev. Jeremy F. Simons

From Rev. Andrew M. Dibb

From Rev. Andrew M. Dibb

From Rev. John L. Odhner

From Rev. George D. McCurdy

From Rev. Dr. Ray J. Silverman

From Rev. Jeremy F. Simons

From Rev. Eric H. Carswell

From Rt. Rev. Louis B. King

From the Pastors –
Past Messages