Church of the Holy City

Loving–a Command, or a Blessing?
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
April 28, 2013

Deuteronomy 7:6-9, 12-13 John 15:1-12 Psalm 22

In our Old Testament reading and in our New Testament reading we are commanded to love. In Deuteronomy, we read,
Know therefore that the Lord you God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands (Deuteronomy 7:9).
And in John, Jesus says, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12). This is a strange command, I think. Can we be commanded to love? Can we love on command?
Perhaps the Old Testament is helpful in this regard. In Deuteronomy 7:9, it says that God keeps His “covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.” So in this verse, we see that loving God means keeping His commandments. And in the Old Testament, we find many behavioral prescriptions that we can do. The Ten Commandments come to mind.
And it is true that Jesus gives us a number of behavioral prescriptions that we can do–if we can. He tells us to be peacemakers, to be meek, to be merciful, to be generous, and many other things we can do. These prescriptions from the Old Testament and from Jesus are behavioral. And since they are behaviors, they can be commanded.
But what about loving? Can we love because we are told to? This question is deep, indeed.
This question drove the philosopher Immanuel Kant to develop a whole system of ethics based on this question. He began with the realization that love is a feeling, and that no one can be commanded to feel. So he developed a way to make laws that we could do. But we do these laws not from love but from a sense of duty or obligation. So the only way that Kant could come to terms with the command to love was to come up with a system of ethics based on duty.
That doesn’t get us very far in our question about loving. But it does show how difficult a problem this command is. Let’s return to the idea that love is a feeling. Love is a good feeling. In fact, all the regulations spelled out in the Old Testament and all Jesus’ teachings come down to the two great commands: love for God and love for our neighbor. We are exhorted by Jesus to love, to fill ourselves with this good feeling.
How do we cultivate a good feeling? And I do believe that we can cultivate feelings. Swedenborg gives us a system by which we can cultivate that good feeling of love. The same system also gives us a definition of good and evil.
Swedenborg tells us that the first thing of love to the neighbor, or charity, is to put away evils. Evils all stem from self-interest as a dominant driving force in our lives. But we can put this another way that I like. We can say that evil is anything that gets in the way of loving. Evil is what keeps us from loving. So Swedenborg writes,
The first of charity is to put away evils, and the second is to do goods, which are of use to the neighbor. In the doctrine of charity this holds the primary place, that the first thing of charity is not to do evil to the neighbor; and to do good to him or her in the second place. This doctrine is as a door to the doctrine of charity (TCR 435).
Refraining from evil is something practical we can actually do. Most of us are law abiding citizens. And civil laws restrain us from harming our neighbor. We grow up learning the laws of our city, province, and country. This is like the first step of a ladder. When we make these civil laws personal, we are a moral person. And morality is the second step of the ladder.
What is the difference between a moral person and a civil person? A civil person may be called a law-abiding citizen. Such a person obeys the laws of his or her society. But what about situations where the civil laws don’t operate? I think of a time in college when I was editor of the school newspaper. I walked up and down main street in Urbana, Ohio visiting business owners and soliciting advertizing space in the school newspaper. I also collected the advertizing monies for the ads. Towards the end of the school year, due to a conflict of interest, the student government decided not to publish a final newspaper. I was still in possession of the monies I had collected from the advertisers. There was some nervousness among the student government that I would simply pocket the cash. There would have been no law to prevent this. We had put out papers with the ads placed for the monies I had collected. But what I did was a moral decision on my part. I used the ad money to pay for a final edition of the school paper that year. I did this from a sense of morality. It seemed a fair and right use of the money–money that didn’t belong to me.
Being a civil and a moral person is like the first and second steps toward heaven. The third step is to continue being civil and moral, but doing these things from a spiritual motive. Laws and morals tell us how to act. These are behaviors. A spiritual motive makes our behavior heavenly. Civil law is only a worldly motivation to act well with our neighbor. Spiritual motivation makes our civil behavior heavenly and Godly. It fills our deeds with spiritual life. Swedenborg explains this process,
one who is civil and moral can also become spiritual, for the civil and moral is the receptacle of the spiritual. One is called a civil person who knows the laws of the kingdom wherein he or she is a citizen, and lives according to them; and one is called a moral person who makes these laws his morals and virtues, and from reason lives them. I will now tell how a civil and moral life is the receptacle of spiritual life: Live these laws, not only as civil and moral laws, but also as Divine Laws, and you will be a spiritual person (DP 322).
This is where religious doctrine comes in. Religious doctrine has a two-pronged service. It tells the problems and evils that block mutual love, and it points the way to goodness and heaven. We can follow civil laws, but inwardly be full of spiritual maladies. We need to guard our thoughts, watch our speech, and moderate our emotions. It is so easy for me to fall into negative thoughts about my neighbor. I can dwell on perceived wrongs done to me, and nurture them, and water them like a poison plant. I can do this when I’m driving, or watching TV, for instance. This is called a resentment. And the word “resentment” literally means to re-feel an event. Re-sentiment. So I can remove this kind of unfruitful thinking in my mind, which leaves room for God’s inflowing love to fill my mind with good and loving thoughts. Another kind of unfruitful use of the mind is to think myself superior to others. Swedenborg calls this “contempt for others compared with self.” Actually, I suspect thinking this way is more a matter of insecurity than it is of ego. When we think of ourselves as a part of, rather than better than or less than, then mutual love follows.
These are just a couple ways that we can remove thoughts that would block God’s inflowing love. God is continually flowing into our minds and hearts with His love. And when we remove the blocks, then we are filled with God’s love, a love that is always striving to make a home in our hearts.
I have been talking about removing blocks that interfere with love. I can also talk about filling our mind with positive regard for our neighbor. We can think good and kind things about our neighbor, which will lead to good and kind feelings. The Dalai Lama gives us truths that I find very helpful in rendering my mind other-oriented. He writes,
True compassion does not stem from the pleasure of feeling close to one person or another, bur from the conviction that other people are just like me and want not to suffer but to be happy, and from a commitment to help them overcome what causes them to suffer.
According to my experience, the highest level of inner calm comes from the development of love and compassion. The more concerned with the happiness of others, the more we increase our own well-being. Friendliness and warmth toward others relax mental tensions . . . (My Spiritual Journey 20, 26).
The actual process a person uses to replace injurious thinking with healthy thinking about the neighbor is something for each individual to explore. I like the idea of thinking of people as being just like me, and wanting happiness and not to suffer. When I told someone about trying to resist negative thoughts, he told me the following joke: “If I tell you, ‘Whatever you do, don’t think of a pink elephant!’ what is going to fill your mind?” Maybe the best way to encourage loving feelings is to think as does the Dalai Lama–thoughts of positive regard for our neighbor.
We are free to choose the method that works best for us. Jesus and Moses give us the beacon light to steer toward. This is my command: Love one another.

PRAYER

Dear Lord, we thank you for your gift of love. We thank you for sharing with us your infinite love for the whole human race. We ask that you give us the insight to see where and how we might block your love from entering our hearts. And as we become aware of the ways we block your love, give us the power to remove those evils. Let us discard harmful thoughts regarding our neighbor, and fill our minds with positive regard for others. Help us, Lord, to see ourselves as a fellow with our neighbors, and as your children.

To Take it Up Again
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
April 21, 2013

2 Samuel 5:1-5 John 10:11-18 Psalm 23

In our John reading, we have the comforting image of Jesus as our shepherd. Jesus is in an intimate relationship with all of us. Jesus says, “I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” When we look to Jesus, we “will come in and go out and find pasture.”
Some use this John passage to argue for Christianity’s sole power to save. However, I see this passage differently. Some emphasize Jesus’ words, “I am the gate for the sheep.” They take this to mean that only Jesus saves. They support this belief with another line from this passage, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved” (John 10:7, 9). They take these lines to mean that if you do not come to God through Jesus you will not be saved. But reasoning this way is committing a logical fallacy called denying the antecedent. In logic you can say, “If you come to Jesus you will be saved. I was not saved, therefore I did not come to Jesus.” But you cannot say, “If you come to Jesus you will be saved. I did not come to Jesus, therefore I was not saved.” And this is exactly what they are doing who use this passage to say that Christianity and only Christianity saves. These two lines of reasoning sound similar, but they are very different. We are saved if we come to Jesus. But this does not mean that if we do not come to Jesus we will not be saved. That way of arguing is called denying the antecedent, and it is a logical fallacy. So those who use these verses to say that everyone is damned who is not Christian are making a logical fallacy.
But make no mistake, I am a Christian, and I follow Christ’s way in regard to my own salvation. However, I think that Jesus’ life and Jesus’ words show an inclusiveness for everyone. In His life, Jesus befriended the despised tax collectors, He allowed a sinful woman to anoint Him with perfume, He spoke with a Samaritan woman and offered her living water, and, let’s not forget, Jesus ate dinner with a Pharisee. Jesus’ love extended to all. He did not discriminate according to race, or a person’s place in life, nor by the way society looked at the individual. In this morning’s passage from John, I emphasize the words, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. But they too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.”
Who are these sheep who are not of this fold? Maybe they are not Jews. Maybe they are not favored by society. Maybe they are the marginalized and despised of the world. Maybe they are the Gentiles. But Jesus reaches out to those sheep who are not of this fold. He envisions a time when there is one flock and one shepherd.
I take these verses to mean that God reaches out to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and all believers of every faith. From a Christian perspective, maybe these are the sheep who are not of this fold. But God reaches out to them, too. Swedenborg tells us that God wishes to save everyone, to give everyone everything that God has, and to make everyone happy to eternity.
Jehovah, or the Lord’s internal, was the very Celestial of Love, that is, Love itself, to which no other attributes are fitting than those of pure Love, thus of pure Mercy toward the whole human race; which is such that it wishes to save all and make them happy for ever, and to bestow on them all that it has; thus out of pure mercy to draw all who are willing to follow, to heaven, that is, to itself, by the strong force of love (AC 1735)
We affirm this idea in our faith, which we say every Sunday,
As the God-Man who lives with us He is present to save all people, everywhere, whose lives affirm the best they know.
This brings up another point from our John reading. And that is the issue of the God-Man who lives with us. This is a reference to the resurrected Jesus Christ. And Jesus’ resurrection is what is meant by John 10:17-18:
The reason the Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.
For this church, this passage tells us about the complete union between the Father and Jesus. When Jesus lay down His life and took it up again, He rose body and soul and was completely one with God. That is why we call Jesus the God-Man. God’s soul was in Jesus, when He was begotten of the Virgin Mary. And that Divine Soul became completely one with the Human Jesus when Jesus rose from the grave. That union of God and Jesus is what gives God power to come to all of us, wherever we are spiritually, through the risen Humanity of God. That is how we understand Jesus giving His life for the sheep. He lay down His life so that He could rise in full union with God the Father. This gives Jesus the power to reach everyone, the sheep in the fold and those outside the fold. He is the God-Man who is present to save all people, everywhere.
Others interpret this passage differently. Others interpret this passage according to Paul’s atonement doctrine. The atonement doctrine teaches that Jesus took all the sins of the world on Himself when He was crucified. His crucifixion is seen as a sacrifice of atonement like the Jewish animal sacrifices were. So Paul writes,
But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came through Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood (Romans 3:22-25).
Paul sees Jesus’ crucifixion as a sacrifice like the Jewish sacrifices of atonement we read about in Leviticus. The sacrifice of atonement is described in Leviticus 4:27-31:
If a member of the community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, he is guilty. When he is made aware of the sin he committed, he must bring as his offering for the sin he committed a female goat without defect. He is to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering . . . and the priest shall burn it on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. In this way the priest will make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.
It is according to this ancient ritual that some interpret Jesus’ words, “I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:15).
Nearly every Christian church has a doctrine of atonement. And recently, the Catholic Church published a statement saying that their doctrine of atonement is in accord with the Lutheran doctrine of atonement. This is a great step toward Christian unity.
But this church teaches that one person’s sins cannot be transferred to someone else. That means that the sins of the human race cannot be transferred to a goat or to Jesus. We are responsible for our own sins. Jesus lay down His life for us in the sense that He would take it up and unite Himself with His Father. This is for us, in that through His Divine Humanity Jesus has a form we can see, relate to and a form that God can come to us in.
One thing that we can all agree on, is that in Jesus’ life, we have a story of complete self-sacrifice. In this sense, Jesus certainly gave Himself for the sake of humanity. Jesus came to save the whole human race, and He dedicated His entire ministry to humanity. He healed, He taught, He fed, He gave Himself to the human race that He loves unconditionally. Paul teaches that in Christ,
There is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and is in all (Colossians 3:11).
I like this teaching in Paul. And it seems to agree with Jesus’ saying that there are sheep who are not of the flock who also hear His voice. Paul’s vision is remarkable in its inclusiveness. He includes Jews, barbarians, Greeks—in short, the whole world. And this teaching agrees with our understanding of the God-Man who is present to save all people, everywhere, whose lives affirm the best they know.

PRAYER

Lord, we give you thanks for your unfailing love for the whole human race. While you were here, you showed us by example how we are to act with our neighbors. You embraced all humans, and you showed no partiality. You embraced Samaritans, tax collectors, those who were thought sinful, and Pharisees, too. May we follow your example, and embrace our neighbors whether different from us, or like us. May we, too, show love for all members of society, the rich and prosperous as well as the marginalized and downcast. Your heaven is composed of infinite varieties of peoples, and our world is composed of great varieties of peoples. May we find room in our hearts for all of your creation.

A Real, Substantial Savior and God
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
April 14, 2013

Isaiah 42:1-7 Luke 24:36-53 Psalm 4

When Jesus appeared to His disciples after His death, they were frightened, overjoyed, and amazed. They were frightened because they thought they were seeing a ghost. This is understandable. If you or I saw someone appear to us whom we knew had died, we, too, might think that we were seeing a ghost. But Jesus seeks to calm their fears. He says that He is not a ghost, and invites them to touch Him and see His hands and side. This wasn’t enough. They didn’t believe their eyes for amazement and joy. So Jesus eats a broiled fish.
Jesus is trying to convince the disciples that He is a real, living, substantial being. He is not a spirit, or a ghost. He has physical powers and also spiritual powers. He can walk through locked doors, and He can eat a broiled fish. His risen body is real, substantial and present always, everywhere to aid us in our spiritual journey.
Two story elements come to my mind when I read this Easter account. First, there is Jesus’ greeting to His disciples. He says, “Peace be with you.” It was, and still is, a standard Jewish greeting to say, “Shalom.” This means, “Peace be with you.” But I think that with Jesus more than this standard greeting is meant. I say this because Jesus is the very bringer of peace. He is Peace Itself. So we call Him the Prince of Peace. And those who are in right relation with Jesus are in peace, themselves. We are in peace to the extent that we are in God and God is in us.
And in this story Jesus tells us the way to peace. This is the second story element that comes to my mind when I read this Easter appearance. Jesus says that, “Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations.” In this verse we hear about forgiveness in the name of Jesus. And many jump too quickly to the forgiveness that they think comes in the name of Jesus. But the full verse is repentance and forgiveness of sins. For it is only through repentance that sins are forgiven. Repentance means that we actually see sin in ourselves and we stop doing it. This is a lifelong process and a process that gradually fills a person with spiritual life and love for God and for his or her neighbor. We don’t need to expect instant perfection in this process. In our society we want instant gratification. But sometimes this isn’t possible, as is the case with spiritual growth. Swedenborg is quite gentle when he talks about the process of repentance. He talks about taking on one or two sins at a recurring season. Perhaps he has in mind seasons like Lent. He talks about preparing to receive Holy Communion. From his Lutheran background and the experience of the Anglican Church he found while living in England, Swedenborg talks about repentance and the promise to begin life anew as part of the whole process of receiving Holy Communion. And in describing how this repentance process works, Swedenborg is concerned about us beginning the process more than he is in our completing the process.
Actual repentance, if performed at recurring seasons, as often, for instance, as a person prepares for the communion of the Holy Supper, if he or she afterwards abstains from one sin or another that one discovers in himself, it is sufficient to initiate him into its reality; and when he is in this, he is on the way to heaven, for from being natural he then begins to become spiritual and to be born anew from the Lord (TCR 530).
The process of repentance is one of letting love and faith into our hearts and minds. And as these come in, they push evil and sin to the periphery of our souls. Sin breaks apart and becomes quiet and troubles us no more. This is what forgiveness of sins is. It is actually the removal of sin.
The interior things of worship are those which are of love and faith, and hence the forgiving of sins, that is removals from them, because sins are removed through faith and love from the Lord. For so far as the good of love and of faith enters, so far sins are removed (AC9938).
It is God who instills this good of love and of faith. So we very much need that real, substantial Savior and God for spiritual life. It is God who lifts us up and out of self-interest and all the evils that stem from it. Swedenborg tells us that we “are withheld from evil and held in good by the Lord, so that it appears to [us] as if [we] were in good of [ourselves]” (HH 342). Whatever we feel of heavenly happiness and joy is from the real, substantial Savior and God, not from our own power. Angels and humans are in heaven,
not from any merit of their own, but from the Lord; and thus they may not boast before others of the good which is with them–for this is contrary to the good of mutual love . . . . (HH 342).
So we need Jesus and Jesus is here for us. In His risen, real and substantial body, Jesus is just as present to us as He was to those disciples that day long ago.
Most of the world religions I know of have a system of ethics, or what Swedenborg would call repentance and doing good. This system of ethics is what repentance in the name of Jesus means. Last Sunday I said much about the meaning of Jesus’ name. By His name, we mean all the qualities that Jesus stands for. We do not mean the word, “Jesus.” So wherever we find a system of ethics and repentance, we find life in the name of Jesus.
In both Isaiah and Luke we find an element of future looking. They look forward to a time when God’s faithful servant will,
bring forth justice;
he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth (Isaiah 42:3-4).
And Jesus says that, “Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations” (Luke 24:47). Isaiah and Luke have a vision of the whole earth finding forgiveness through repentance and justice flowing like a river. Forgiveness through repentance and justice are the things that bring peace to a person’s soul. And we look forward to a time when justice and forgiveness will fill the political world also.
If nations only knew forgiveness, how much conflict would be averted! If nations practiced repentance so that they knew when their ambitions were threatening the welfare of other nations, wouldn’t peace reign on the earth! If rulers established justice in their nations, atrocities like genocide, civil war, and rebellion would cease. We have the recipe. We have the program for peace. But it remains only an ideal, foreseen by prophets and foretold by Jesus in the words of Scripture. These are healing words. But who hears them? So the Psalmist sings, “How long will you love vain words, and seek after lies?” Yes, there is much vanity in the lust for self glory we see too often in the rulers of nations.
It is no wonder that Voltaire concludes his novel Candide with the words of resignation, “Yes, but we must cultivate our garden.” We can advocate for world peace; we can contribute to causes that seek to end world hunger; we can welcome refugees from cruel governments–we can do all these things to advocate for the world justice and peace the Bible speaks of. But finally, it is our own garden that we must cultivate. It is in our own heart and soul that the warring factions of darkness and light contend. And when through repentance, God’s love and faith fill our souls, then we will know the words of the Psalmist. Many see ruin and distress, but the Psalmist finds joy and the peace that Jesus gives to all. A real, substantial peace, from a real, substantial God,
There are many who say, “O that we might see some good!
Lift up the light of thy countenance upon us, O LORD!”
Thou hast put more joy in my heart
than they have when their grain and wine abound.
In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for thou alone, O LORD, makest me dwell in safety.

PRAYER

Lord, we know of your compassion, your mercy, and your forgiveness. And knowing your love and compassion for us, we present ourselves before you. We ask you to shine your light on our souls, as we fearlessly examine ourselves. Let us see where we need to make changes in our attitudes, our feelings, and our behaviors. We ask you into our hearts, our Lord and God. Open up the chambers of our hearts and fill them with love and faith. And, Lord, as you fill us with your Holy Spirit, drive out all our shortcomings and sins. We know that our growth in the spirit is gradual, and we do not ask for an instant cure for the spiritual maladies we inherit with this mortal flesh. But step by step, inch by inch, may we measure our ascent up the mountain to the summit with you.

And Lord, we pray that you bring peace to this troubled world. May those who harbor ill will for their neighbors learn to understand and see the fellow humanity that they share. May those who strive against each other see that they are like in their wishes and in what they want for their land and nation. And may warring factions find their way to peace.

Lord, we ask for you to heal those who are sick. As you worked miracles of healing when you were on earth, how much more can you work healing miracles now that you have risen and have all authority in heaven and on earth. Grant all who are in need your healing love and power.

Those Who Have Not Seen
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
April 7, 2013

Isaiah 61:8-22 John 20:19-31 Psalm 133

In our New Testament reading this morning, Jesus appears to his disciples and shows them his hands and side. The disciples are overjoyed when they see Jesus. But Thomas is not with them. When the disciples tell Thomas that they have seen the risen Jesus, Thomas does not believe them. He declares, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” In the course of the story, Jesus appears to Thomas, too. He invites Thomas to do just what Thomas wanted to do to prove Jesus had risen and is alive. Jesus tells Thomas, “Stop doubting and believe.” Humbled, Thomas can only say, “My Lord and my God!”
The disciples and Thomas are fortunate. They have actually seen and touched the risen Jesus. Jesus tells them, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” This is where we are. We believe, but we have not seen. At least this is the case for most of us. There are those who have had near death experiences and tell of a dazzling white being who appears to them. But for most of us, all we have is the gospel testimony to Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. And John tells us that he has recorded the life of Jesus, “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
There are two issues that come to my mind in this line that I would like to discuss this morning. The first issue is that of belief from the testimony of the gospels. The second issue is just what is meant by having life in the name of Jesus. For John tells us that we “may have life in his name.”
Let’s begin by talking about belief. Most of us haven’t seen Jesus. And I would say further that most of us probably don’t know anyone who has seen Jesus and come running up to us exclaiming, “I have seen that Lord!” as did Mary of Magdala. We are those of whom Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” We are those for whom John has written his gospel. It is through the Gospels that we know about Jesus. And it is through the Gospels that we come to Jesus.
When I read the gospel stories, I have a feeling inside that this is true. My heart grows warm and I actually feel God’s presence in my heart. The may be called the emotional content of the gospels. This may be called an inner conviction that these stories are true. Not everyone has this feeling. There are those who read these stories and nothing happens. There are those who read these stories and doubt. There are those who read these stories and outright disbelieve. You could say that my feelings of conviction are entirely subjective. That is, my conviction depends on a feeling that I have inside me. This feeling of conviction is one that I can’t give to someone else. I can tell others that when I read the gospels I have a feeling of conviction. But I can’t give that feeling to another. And I must admit that that is the limit of my faith. My faith is an inward feeling that I can’t give to someone else. My proof for God’s existence is subjective, locked within my own feelings and thoughts, and I am unable to present others with anything more than my own feelings of conviction.
But there’s another aspect to the gospel stories. I have talked about the feelings that arise in me when I read the gospels. There is also a cognitive aspect to my experience of the gospels. There are all those beautiful teachings of Jesus. Reading the gospels also educate me in the way of love. The gospels show me how to walk in a Godly way. They teach me to be meek, humble, innocent, peace loving, and to be filled with love for God and my neighbor. So the gospels enkindle my heart and illuminate my mind.
Those qualities I just mentioned as the gospel lessons are included in the name of Jesus. So John says that “we may have life in his name.” By His name, much, much more is meant than just the word “Jesus.” All the qualities that Jesus embodied are meant by His name. Swedenborg writes that, “a name in the Word signifies the quality” (AC 2009). So the name Jesus means all the qualities that He stands for, taught, and demonstrated by His life. It is not just the word Jesus. When we say in the Lord’s prayer, “Hallowed be thy name,” it is not just the word God that we are talking about. It is all the holy qualities of God that are hallowed. So Swedenborg writes,
here also by name is not meant the name, but all the things of love and faith; for they are God’s or the Lord’s and are from Him. Because these are holy, the Lord’s kingdom comes and His will is done on earth as it is in the heavens when they are held as holy (AC 2009).
So by God’s name, or Jesus’ name, more is meant than just a word. All the holy things of love and truth that constitute God’s being are meant by God’s name.
This is what is meant by that controversial verse, John 3:18. The verse reads, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” Some Christians take this to mean that a person must believe in the name “Jesus” in order to be saved. They take this to mean that all the people in the world who have another name for God will not be saved. So the Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Jews, and all the other billions of people who are not Christian will not be saved. Common sense alone dictates that this cannot be true. And in our faith we say that God “is present to save all people, everywhere, whose lives affirm the best they know.” For it is not the word “Jesus” that saves. It is all the qualities that Jesus stands for that save.
It is the qualities that Jesus embodied and stood for that save. It is the love, the forgiveness, the meekness, the wisdom, the Godliness that were demonstrated by Jesus and that He stands for–these are the things that save regardless of what faith they are found in. These are the qualities that give life. When we ourselves embody these qualities, then we can be said to have life in His name. These are the qualities we heard in our Isaiah reading, “For I, the Lord, love justice . . . so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.” It is righteousness and justice that are encompassed in the name of the Lord in this passage.
So wherever we find these Godly qualities, we find spiritual life whether the word “Jesus” is used or not. William Blake points to spiritual qualities when he talks of the divine image. God is not just a word, it is all the holy things of love and all the truths that teach the way of love. For Blake, some of these words are mercy, pity, peace, and love. And he writes in his poem, The Divine Image,

To Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love,
All pray in their distress:
And to these virtues of delight
Return their thankfulness.

For Mercy Pity Peace and Love,
Is God our father dear:
And Mercy Pity Peace and Love,
Is Man his child and care.

For Mercy has a human heart
Pity a human face:
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.

Then every man of every clime,
That prays in his distress,
Prays to the human form divine
Love Mercy Pity Peace

And all must love the human form,
In heathen, turk, or jew.
Where Mercy, Love & Pity dwell,
There God is dwelling too.

Blake says it so well. Wherever we see qualities like this, we are seeing God. Maybe we are more like the disciples than I thought at first, who believe and who see.

PRAYER

Lord, we call ourselves by your name. And we follow your ways in our own lives. But it is not your name alone that we worship. We honor all that you stood for. We emulate in our own lives what we see you doing in the gospels. We learn your teachings and we apply them in our own lives. For when we call upon your name, we call upon all the divine qualities you embraced on earth. We call upon all the divine qualities you embody now in your risen and glorified Humanity. We ask you to inspire our will, our intentions, and our hearts with those same qualities. That by living a life in keeping with your ordinances, we may truly be called by your name.

And Lord, we pray that you bring peace to this troubled world. May those who harbor ill will for their neighbors learn to understand and see the fellow humanity that they share. May those who strive against each other see that they are like in their wishes and in what they want for their land and nation. And may warring factions find their way to peace.

Lord, we ask for you to heal those who are sick. As you worked miracles of healing when you were on earth, how much more can you work healing miracles now that you have risen and have all authority in heaven and on earth. Grant all who are in need your healing love and power.

Confused and Amazed
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
March 31, 2013
Easter Sunday

Luke 24:1-35 Psalm 136

The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ brought wonder, joy, and bewilderment to His followers. While He lived, His teachings astonished His listeners because they had never heard such wisdom spoken with such authority. They were astonished by the miracles He performed. But the end of His life and His resurrection confused and amazed His followers.
Consider what Luke tells us about the apostles on the road to Emmaus. We first learn that as they walk they are discussing everything that had happened. They are trying to make sense of it all. How could this powerful God-Man have been sentenced to death, and been killed by the Romans? What are we left to do, now that our Master and teacher is gone? We are then told that the apostles’ faces are downcast. Of course they would be. Jesus Christ, whom they hoped would deliver Israel from Roman rule, instead was a victim of the Roman judicial system.
But there was also an element of amazement and confusion in what they were discussing. For they say that some of the women they know went to the tomb and found it empty. And as was the case with Jesus’ birth, these women had a vision of angels bringing them good tidings of great joy. That is, they told the women that Jesus is alive.
So these apostles had much to discuss indeed. Their understanding of scripture did not tell them how to interpret these happenings. Their Messiah was here, but He didn’t deliver Israel from the Romans. The Messiah had been executed, which was just wrong. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Then Mary Magdala had actually seen Jesus alive and had told the other disciples about this. Again, no Old Testament literature that they knew of talked about the death and resurrection of the Messiah. So there was much to discuss. There was much to try to figure out. The disciples were sad, amazed, and confused.
This is their state of mind when Jesus appears to them, and walks with them on the road to Emmaus. Jesus teaches them on the way. Luke tells us that, “Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 27). What Jesus was doing was opening to them the internal sense of scripture. When Luke says that Jesus began with Moses and all the Prophets, he means the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, and all the Prophets. This means that the story of the people of Israel and the poetry in Isaiah, Ezekiel, Micah, and the visions of Daniel and the others are all about Jesus.
Having heard this long Bible exegesis, the apostles now have scripture explaining the events they have witnessed. They now understand Jesus’ birth, His miracles, His death, and His resurrection. And when Jesus breaks bread with them, as He did at the last supper, they finally recognize that this wise man on the road is none other than their beloved Jesus Christ. They now recall that as Jesus walked with them and opened the Scriptures to them, their hearts were “burning within us.”
Why did they not notice the burning of their hearts when they were walking? Why were they kept from recognizing Jesus? Why didn’t they notice that this man walking next to them knew an amazing amount about the Bible and about Jesus’ life and mission? Why did they not recognize that this stranger was the only one who seemed to know the answers to all the questions they were discussing?
Maybe they were simply too amazed, confused, and sad to lift their eyes to Jesus and to believe what Mary Magdala had said. There they were, trying to figure things out, and all the while, the man they were trying to figure out was right there, walking beside them. Jesus calls them “foolish and slow of heart.” They are foolish by their lack of understanding of the Bible, and slow of heart because they are not paying attention to the burning hearts they have inside them as Jesus walks next to them.
We can be similarly foolish and slow of heart at times, I think. The miracle of the resurrection is that Jesus and God are one as the soul and the body are one. The infinite Creator God is united fully with the Divine-Human Jesus Christ. Jesus is Very God and Very Man, the creeds say. This means that the risen Jesus can walk next to us just as he did with the apostles on the road to Emmaus.
This means that we have the potential to feel Jesus’ presence in us as the burning heart that the apostles speak of. Our hearts can burn within us as we feel the resurrected Jesus near us. This may happen as we are reading the Bible. Or perhaps, when we are in prayer. Or when we are talking with another person and we are lifted above the worries and anxieties of this world.
The truth is that Jesus is always present. Deep within the recesses of our souls, God is present. But we are not always aware of this presence. We block this God-spark with selfish anxieties and worldly concerns. These distractions drag our consciousness away from our essential nearness to God. When this happens, we do not feel that nearness to God. We do not feel that burning of our hearts within us.
The miracle of the resurrection is that God and Man are fully united. This union of God and Man in Jesus Christ happened gradually over the life of Jesus. We see union when Jesus is transfigured on the mountain top in Mark 9:2-13. In fact, the great Renaissance painter Rafael painted the transfiguration with Jesus up in the clouds–arms uplifted. At first I thought that this was a painting of Jesus’ ascension up into heaven. Another place in which Jesus’ union with God is spoken of is John 10:30, where Jesus says, “I and the Father are one.” And we see Jesus’ full humanity when He prays on the Mount of Olives, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” This very human Jesus is said to be strengthened by an angel. And this very human Jesus prays even more desperately, “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 42-44). And with the resurrection, full union with God occurs. So Jesus can say, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:17).
The miracle of Christ’s union with God, so that God is Man and Man is God, has special meaning for each one of us. For Just as Jesus grew closer and closer to God and God to Him over the course of His life on earth, so we follow a similar pattern in our life on earth. We will find periods of closeness to God and periods of obscurity from God. And as we are refined as in an alchemist’s crucible, we grow more and more intimately united with Jesus. Our hearts grow more fiery with God’s Holy Spirit and our minds understand truth more accurately with God’s illuminating light. The worldly distractions that dim our feeling of God’s presence break apart and we are filled with the sunlight of the soul.
God united fully with the Divine Humanity of Jesus Christ. We unite with Jesus. Even as God is in Jesus, so Jesus is in us. Jesus says, “I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you” (John 14:20). This one line sums up the glorification of Jesus and our regeneration. The glorification of Jesus is the process by which He is filled with the Father. And our regeneration is the process by which we are filled with Jesus. The Greek Orthodox Church calls this process theosis, or divinization. It is an ancient tradition that speaks about our ascent to God and God’s descent into our souls. Regeneration, theosis, or divinization, the result is the same, summed up in that one line from John, “I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”
As we drop the anxieties and worries of life in the world, and trust in God’s love and care for each one of us, we will feel our hearts burn within us as the apostles did on the road to Emmaus. They did not realize that they felt the heat of Christ’s love as they walked because they were too confused, bewildered, sad, and anxious. But when they calmed down and broke bread with Jesus, they saw the risen Christ for the first time. Having listened to Jesus open the Scriptures to them, they then understood. Their confusion was dispersed. They were left in amazement and joy. So may we be, when our hearts burn within us as we open our hearts to Jesus.

PRAYER

Lord, we are overflowing with joy this Sunday morning when we contemplate your glorious resurrection. You lived a fully human life. You knew birth, you grew into manhood, and you died, as every human will. And yet unlike any human, you rose from the dead body and soul. And in your risen divinity, you can come to each one of us as a human and as our God. You came to the earth when the earth had forgotten about you. You suffered at the hands of evil and sin. And you forgave. Come to each of us, as we pray to you this morning and every day. Walk with us as you walked with the apostles in ancient days. And lead us in the pathway that will bring us home, to your eternal and heavenly home.

And Lord, we pray that you bring peace to this troubled world. May those who harbor ill will for their neighbors learn to understand and see the fellow humanity that they share. May those who strive against each other see that they are like in their wishes and in what they want for their land and nation. And may warring factions find their way to peace.

Lord, we ask for you to heal those who are sick. As you worked miracles of healing when you were on earth, how much more can you work healing miracles now that you have risen and have all authority in heaven and on earth.

Father, Forgive
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
March 31, 2013
Good Friday
Luke 23:1-49 Psalm 22

Falsely accused, hanging on the cross and suffering excruciating pain, enduring mockery from Jews and from Romans alike, some of Jesus final words were, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Jesus’ final thoughts were on the human race which his whole life was dedicated to save, heal, and bring back to God. Jesus came to rescue the lost sheep, to show us how to love, and to bring God’s love and power down to an earth that had forgotten Him. Swedenborg captures the nature of God’s love nicely,
Jehovah, or the Lord’s internal, was the very Celestial of Love, that is, Love itself, to which no other attributes are fitting than those of pure Love, thus of pure Mercy toward the whole human race; which is such that it wishes to save all and make them happy for ever, and to bestow on them all that it has; thus out of pure mercy to draw all who are willing to follow, to heaven, that is, to itself, by the strong force of love (AC 1735).
Jesus did not judge humanity. He did not reward us according to what we deserved. If we were rewarded according to what we deserved, none would be saved. No, Jesus says, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17). Jesus did not judge the people who brought false charges against Him. He did not judge those who mocked Him as He was dying on the cross. He did not judge the whole human race who allowed these terrible events to fall upon the innocent head of God in the flesh.
The story of the crucifixion is the epitome of love. It is the kind of love we see in parents. Parents may scold their children, but they never take their love from their children. And soon they are reconciled and will do anything they can to make their children’s life better.
It is also the kind of love we see in close friendships. I think of an event that went on in my own lifetime during my college years. In my senior year in university, I had been elected class president by majority vote of the student body. However, as can be the case in such offices, political rivalry developed between me and a student named Melanie. Melanie seemed bent on taking my position away from me and putting herself there. And this, despite the fact that I had the mandate of the student body. Well, things came to a head. Melanie had created a divisive faction among the officers of the student government. The officers of the student body called a vote to decide on my continued presence as class president. There were many students present at this meeting, as it was our tradition to hold open meetings. They spoke up on my behalf, stating that it was their will that I remain their president, as they had elected me. The officers then expelled the students from the government meeting, which caused one officer to break down in tears over the drama of the event and caused the exiting students to jeer and complain that this meeting was a farce. On the student government were two friends of mine, Kent and Chuck. When the vote came, I lost. The student government wanted me to stay on, but not as president. But I left the government altogether, and Church walked out with me as did his wife and other members of the student government. But Kent stayed on. After the meeting was over, Kent came back to Chuck’s room where we were all sitting around talking Melanie down and consoling me. We found out easily enough that Kent had voted against me–my own friend. I was mad at the time, but Kent was a good friend of mine. I had to decide whether this betrayal meant more than the years we had been friends. Ultimately, I decided not to hold Kent’s political decision against him, and we had many more years of friendship following. Kent said that had I stayed on as president, the rivalry between Melanie and me would have persisted and the student government would never have accomplished anything. So he voted me out to keep the peace. I saw that he had his reasons, and that they said something about his character. But we were able to enjoy happy years as friends. And when I ultimately left Ohio for Boston, Kent put together a surprise party for me and invited friends of mine that I didn’t even know Kent knew about.
It would have been easy for me to write Kent off and say to myself that his betrayal was unforgivable. And, indeed, there are certain betrayals that I would not forgive. But consider all the betrayals and disappointments that fallen humanity can present us with. And measure them against that ultimate betrayal, in which God Himself was cruelly and innocently murdered. And think about God’s way of responding to humanity at its worst. Jesus responded with understanding and compassion in his dying words. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
This is the message I would like to leave you with this evening: The message of divine forgiveness. The message of divine love. The message of divine understanding. In the throes of a terrible death, Jesus’ only thought was one of love and forgiveness for the human race. This is one of the purest examples of Godliness that I can think of. And in the way Jesus died, we can see His ultimate grasp of the divinity in His soul. So that His final words would be words of full union with His Heavenly Father, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
This is the gentle God we worship. This is the way God will always look at us. And in this glorious death, we still have a lesson of God-human relations. The criminal crucified on one side of Jesus prays to Him, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” May we also pray daily, “Jesus, remember me.” And God will always answer our prayers as Jesus did on the cross, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” For when we are with Jesus, in this world or the next, we are in paradise.

Leaving Our Comfort Zone
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
March 10, 2013

Numbers 21:4-9 John 3:14-21 Psalm 107

Today’s Bible passages are all about leaving your comfort zone and living a higher life. God is infinite goodness, infinite love, and infinite wisdom. We are always finite in our goodness, love and wisdom. And the ratio of any finite number to infinity is infinity. That means that there is no end to our growth potential. We can grow better in goodness, deeper in love, and more profound in our wisdom forever. Our spiritual life is one of moving constantly from evening to morning. That is, from a state less holy to one more holy. From less love and wisdom into greater love and wisdom. And this to eternity.
Anyone who has undergone some spiritual growth or change in their life knows that change is not easy. Moving from a state of less goodness into one of more goodness means leaving our comfort zone. It means letting go of behaviors and emotions that we were accustomed to, and taking on new, unfamiliar, and maybe uncomfortable ways of life. The temptation is always there to revert back to old, accustomed ways. The temptation is there to backslide from the new life we have been led into, and to return to our old ways.
This is what we find in both our Old Testament story and our New Testament passage. In our story from Numbers, the Israelites grumble against God. They are sick of eating the same food. They look back with longing on the food in Egypt, which was richer and of greater variety.
If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost–also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna! (Numbers 11:4-6)
The Israelites seem to have forgotten that in Egypt they were slaves. And the food they now ate was manna that came down from heaven itself! All this rebellion and wistful recollection of Egypt was brought on by food. Just food!
The Bible tells us that God sent the Israelites venomous snakes to punish them. Here we are dealing with what Swedenborg calls an “appearance of truth.” Appearances are not wholly true. They are how a person interprets things. They are how a person imagines things to be. Actual truth, truth that is really true, is beyond any person’s mind. We cannot know absolute truth. We can only know what is true for us. But we believe that there is an Absolute Truth. And we believe further that we can approach this Absolute Truth closer and closer. That is, our appearances become truer and truer.
When the Bible says that God sent snakes to punish the Israelites, this is not Absolute Truth. This is how the Israelites interpreted the sudden appearance of venomous snakes. The idea that God punishes is an appearance of truth. And the Bible in its literal sense has many appearances in it. The literal reading of the Bible is called by Swedenborg “the sense of the letter.” The real truth is, God does not punish. God can only do what is good, and inflicting harm on anyone is contrary to God’s nature.
that in the Word it is frequently said that God is angry, takes vengeance, hates, damns, punishes, casts into hell, and tempts, all of which pertain to evil, and therefore are evils. But . . . the sense of the letter of the Word is composed of such things as are called appearances and correspondences . . . when such things are read these very appearances of truth, while they are passing from a person to heaven, are changed into genuine truths, which are, that the Lord is never angry, never takes vengeance, never hates, damns, punishes, casts into hell, or tempts, consequently does evil to a person (TCR 650).
Swedenborg even waxes zealous in a tirade against persons who preach a damning, punishing God,
as He wills only what is good he can do nothing but what is good. . . . From these few statements it can be seen how deluded those are who think, and still more those who believe, and still more those who teach, that God can damn any one, curse any one, send any one to hell, predestine any soul to eternal death, avenge wrongs, be angry, or punish. He cannot even turn Himself away from humanity, nor look upon anyone with a stern countenance (TCR 56).
The case is similar with a line in the Lord’s Prayer. In it, we are dealing with an appearance of truth. When we recite it, we say, “Lead us not into temptation.” This line would seem to be saying that God leads us into temptation. But God never brings on temptations. It is we who bring them on ourselves. Why? This is for the same reason that we find the Israelites longing to return to Egypt.
The sad truth is, we are accustomed to doing things the way we were brought up. We begin our adult life by learning how to succeed in the world. In itself, this is not wrong or bad. In fact, it is necessary. But what kind of mindset do we need to succeed in the world? I have heard it said that a person can’t become rich without stepping on someone’s toes. Does this mean stepping on someone’s head? Does this mean beating down all opposition? Does this mean thinking only about what benefits us? Maybe for some. But for all of us, we have to begin life thinking about worldly ambition. I suggest that we, in fact, love worldly activities and ambitions. We orient our lives to these aims. Perhaps we must orient our lives to these aims in order to succeed.
We learn from spirituality that we need to consider other people. We learn to act in harmony with others. We learn to care for others. We learn to love others as much as we love ourselves and our worldly ambitions.
This requires a change in our perspective. We change from a “me first” attitude to an “I-Thou” attitude. And all the things we started out loving from a me-first attitude need to be shrugged off like a snake’s old skin. But those loves were a part of our life. Those loves formed who we were. And they continue to reside in our memory. Thus there is always the temptation to fall back into those old loves; into those old ways of doing things.
New spiritual life is almost contrary to worldly life. It may feel very uncomfortable at first. Living gently instead of aggressively may be hard for a business man driven to succeed and profit. Living contentedly may be difficult in a society that plasters images of wealth and sensuality everywhere we look–television, billboards, radio, social media. It is as if the world is continually telling us that we don’t have enough. It is as if the world is telling us to forget the lilies of the field and birds of the air.
So the temptation is always there to slip back from new spiritual life into our old, ego-driven and world-oriented pleasures and ambitions. This is like the Israelites wanting to return to Egyptian slavery even after tasting the freedom of their wilderness life. This is what John means in the passage we heard this morning from chapter 3, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” (3:19).
In our spiritual development, there is always the lower self threatening to drag us down and back into old ways of living. But once we have tasted the nectar from the gods, once we have lived on manna that came down from heaven, we will find that living our old lives feels uncomfortable. We will feel pain in the distractions of ego and the world. And when we are hurting too much, we will turn to God. We will turn from the world toward heaven. When the serpents bite us, we will see where we have fallen short, where we have fallen, and we will turn, we will return.
Then John’s statement will resound in our hearts, “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God” (3:21). “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” God will deliver us from evil when we call upon Him to do so. When the people of Israel lifted up their eyes to God, they saw the bronze serpent Moses had made, and they were healed.
Such is our journey in this world. We are ever moving from evening into morning. We are ever moving from less light into more light. We are ever moving from the world to heaven.
Blake says this well in his poem The Little Black Boy:
And we are put on earth a little space,
That we may learn to bear the beams of love
May the Lord bless our going out and our coming in from this time forth, and even for ever more.

PRAYER

Lord, we give you thanks for lifting us up out of the mire of worldly concern. Everywhere we turn in this world, we see images of wealth, power, and sensuality. And yet you have shown us that all these glimmering images are but vanity, and empty. Help us to turn from these vane seductions. Help us to see where true life resides. Help us to find contentment in the disposition of your divine providence. Help us to seek for riches the last into eternity. May we find your pearl of great price, and trade all the vane offerings of this world for that one great gift. May we find you, and may we find peace in your heavenly world of everlasting joys.

Lord, we ask for your peace to descend upon this troubled world. Where there is conflict and war, let there be understanding and peace. Where there is famine and thirst, may good hearted aid come and satisfy the needs of those who want. Where there are natural disasters, may help come from good neighbors and from compassionate governments. Where there is hardship and unemployment, lend your patience and hope.

Lord, send your healing love to all those suffering in body and soul. We ask you to give the gift of health to all in need.

Grace and Human Effort
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
February 24, 2013

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 Mark 9:2-9 Psalm 22

In our Bible readings we have examples of God appearing to humanity. In our Genesis reading, El Shaddai appears before Abram. And in our New Testament reading, Jesus manifests His divine origins. His clothes become dazzling white, and Elijah and Moses appear and talk with Jesus. These two Old Testament characters represent the law and the prophets–Elijah as one of the greatest prophets and Moses as the giver of the law. As if this weren’t enough, a cloud envelops them and a voice thunders from the cloud, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” Whatever doubts Peter and James may have had about Jesus’ divinity, after this, I imagine that they were convinced that He is God incarnate.
If we take the Old Testament story literally, we come away with some worldly ideas about God’s relationship with humanity. One thing that we might take from this passage, is that God chose the children of Israel to be some special race. This would mean that modern day Jews are somehow special to God, more special than other races on the earth. And you will find that some evangelistic churches, who take the Bible literally, pay attention to the state of Israel. They do indeed think that what happens to the Jews is a measure of how close the end times are. If this be the case, it is hard to see any relevance to our own spiritual lives in the story of Abraham.
However, if we see the Bible as holy and as a story of God’s relationship to all of humanity, we would look at the story of Abraham differently. We would see it as a symbol of God’s relationship with all of humanity. We would see the dynamics of God and Abraham as dynamics that apply to all of us. We would see the relationship of God and Abraham as archetypical of humanity’s relationship with God. This is how I will be approaching the story this morning.
In this morning’s story, God appears to Abraham out of nowhere. All we are told is that, “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him.” God then tells Abram that his descendants will be numerous and great; indeed that kings will come from his lineage. All this is unmerited. That is, Abram has done nothing to deserve all this. It is simply God’s will to bestow on Abram all these benefits. And to have children and descendants after one was the greatest benefit that could be bestowed on a person in Old testament society.
To be given great progeny is symbolic of the way God gives spiritual life to humanity. God takes us where we are, removes our evil tendencies and replaces them with loving and good enjoyments and delights. And God does this regardless of how bad off we may think we are, or how bad off we actually are. This is a story of God’s great mercy for all of humanity. This story symbolizes how God comes to everyone and gives all of humanity the gift of spiritual life. For God’s mercy is infinite. And God’s love is infinite.
Jehovah, or the Lord’s internal, was the very Celestial of Love, that is, Love itself, to which no other attributes are fitting than those of pure Love, thus of pure Mercy toward the whole human race; which is such that it wishes to save all and make them happy for ever, and to bestow on them all that it has; thus out of pure mercy to draw all who are willing to follow, to heaven, that is, to itself, by the strong force of love (AC 1735).
This is a lovely description of God’s nature. It talks about God’s great mercy for the whole of humanity.
Do we need God’s gift of spiritual life? When we look at ourselves, what do we see? Some people are hard on themselves and see themselves as all selfishness and ego. I have a friend who thinks that we need to be honest about who we are and be aware of our fallen nature. He cited that Psalm, “I am a worm and not a man,” to capture just how far from Godliness we are and how much we need God’s mercy and redemption. He used the Swedenborgian term proprium to say that he was utterly consumed with selfhood and in desperate need for God’s salvation. Then, on the opposite side of the issue, are those who are self-satisfied and completely comfortable in who they are. They do not need God, do not need spirituality, and are just fine, thank you. One of my professors in divinity school told us that a minister’s job is, “To comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.”
The truth is, we all do need God. We don’t need God because we are too weak. We don’t need God because we are unable to face hard facts of existence and need a crutch. We need God because God is the source of all spiritual life. Without God we are just animals. But with God, we are living beings whose soul and mind is in heaven–whether in this world or in our final home in the next. We need God in order to be filled with the heavenly loves and good enjoyments and delights that God alone can give us. The heavenly joys that Abraham’s children and descendents signify.
God is heaven–heaven is God. To the extent that God is in us, we can say that heaven is in us. This is where Swedenborg’s unique teaching about heaven comes in. Swedenborg claims that heaven is not a place. It is not a realm that has a wall around it. It is not a place one enters through a gate where Peter stands guard. For Swedenborg, heaven is a state of mind and heart. Heaven is a disposition. Heaven is a condition of psyche in which a person feels love and thinks truly.
One can only feel spiritual love and think spiritual truth from God. These divine qualities are offered to everyone. And whoever accepts these qualities, is in heaven. So Swedenborg writes,
it is the Divine proceeding from the Lord, which flows in with angels and is received by them, that makes heaven in general and in particular. The Divine proceeding from the Lord is the good of love and the truth of faith. In the degree, therefore, in which they receive good and truth from the Lord, they are angels and are in heaven (HH 7).
This passage makes clear how much we need God. We need God’s love in us and we need God’s truth in us for us to be “in” heaven. We need God in us in order for our spiritual descendents to multiply.
Now we confront a paradox in Swedenborg. We need God’s love and wisdom in us to be whole spiritual beings. We have seen above that God wants to give everybody all that God has, and God wants to make everybody as happy as we can be. Then comes the tricky line. It is from the passage I quoted a little bit back. We saw that “out of pure mercy” God wishes “to draw all who are willing to follow, to heaven, that is, to itself.” God draws everybody to Himself, regardless of where the individual is or thinks that he or she is. But we have to be willing to follow.
In the Abraham story, God tells Abraham all the things that He is going to do for Abraham. Abraham gets all these things as a free gift. Passages like this make some churches think that humans can play no part in our own salvation. They are suspicious of all human effort in our own salvation. They support this belief with Isaiah 64:6, “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” And also by quotes from Paul, such as Ephesians 2:8-9,
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is a gift of God–not by works , so that no one can boast.
This teaching is a cornerstone of many Protestant churches.
But with Swedenborg, as in so many other issues, it’s not a matter of either-or. It is so often a matter of both-and. So it is with the issue of salvation. Indeed it is all God’s work. But consider that one line, “all who are willing to follow.” God draws everyone to Himself and into joy, love, and peace. But we have to do the things we need to do to be filled with God’s Holy Spirit. We have to ask God into our lives. And we have to remove the obstacles to God’s inflowing Spirit. The way it is put in Revelation is that God knocks at the door; we have to open the door. Then God will come in and eat supper with us.
Gregory of Nyssa, the great Catholic Father, compared this to climbing Mount Sinai. At the top is the glory of the Lord. We see this, and we know where to head. But we are doing the climbing. Perhaps this story is too works oriented. Perhaps this story looks like we are doing too much work to get to God. Maybe we should use an image from a trip Carol and I took to Jasper. There are mountains in Jasper, too. We went up to the top of one. But we didn’t climb. We entered a cable car and were lifted up to the mountain top effortlessly. But we did have to enter the cable car!

PRAYER

Lord, you call to us every moment of every day. You call us home to you and to your kingdom. You lift us upward into heaven’s joys and delights sometimes without our even knowing it. Help us to hear your voice calling. Help us to listen for your voice. Help us to follow in the way you wish for us to walk. We pray for the power to turn toward you and away from selfish gain and dominance. Grant us the willingness to do your will, and not the will of our own ego-driven tendencies. Lead us, Lord, in the paths of righteousness. And bring us home finally to live with you for eternity.

An Everlasting Covenant
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
February 17, 2013

Genesis 9:8-17 Mark 1:9-15 Psalm 25

We have talked about repentance and the process of regeneration over the past few weeks. This morning’s Bible readings are about the fruits of repentance, which is conjunction with the Lord. Conjunction with the Lord is what regeneration is all about, and it is also called the Heavenly Marriage. This is symbolized by the covenant God makes with Noah.
That this symbolizes the presence of the Lord in charity, may be evident from the significance of a covenant, as shown above, where it was shown that a covenant signifies regeneration, and indeed the conjunction of the Lord with the regenerate person by love; and that the heavenly marriage is that covenant itself, and this the heavenly marriage with every regenerate person (AC 1023).
There is a process Swedenborg describes that leads to this final stage. Although we speak about a final stage, we do not mean that there is no further development. As God is infinite, and we are finite, there will never be an endpoint where we have reached complete union with God. We will approach God near and nearer, we will grow wiser and wiser, we will grow deeper and deeper in love for God and the neighbor, but there will never be an end to our spiritual progress.
But there is a final point we can come to in the process of repentance and rebirth. When we talk of repentance, we are at the threshold of spiritual progress. We are beginning to see evil in ourselves and we are beginning to long for a better, healthier life. Then comes the formation of conscience. We are not born with any innate knowledge as babies. Everything has to be learned. This includes spiritual truths. We form a conscience through learning truth in church, in readings, through conversations, through intuition, through experience, through trial and error, and through a host of other means. So the early stages of our spiritual development is the formation of conscience–a learning of right and wrong.
Since this all happens in our mind, we say that this stage of our reformation happens in the understanding. This understanding is above our natural, behaviors that we were born into. it is a higher mind. It leads us from the world into heaven.
The second stage is when our emotions become aligned with our conscience. This stage begins when we want to live according to the way we have learned. It is entirely possible for us to know what is right and still live contrary to it. But as we progress spiritually, we want to live according to the right and good way we have learned. This desire to live according to conscience is a new will–it is a new emotional complex. It is a heavenly love for with is right and good.
This is when conflict arises between the way we have been living and the way we now know to be spiritually beneficial. Paul describes this conflict beautifully,
I do not understand what I do. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate to do. . . . For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this is what I keep on doing (Romans 7:12, 15, 18-19).
This struggle can be dire. These can be a desperate times. Our evils, or unhealthy ways of living, can so cloud over our spirituality that we can even doubt God’s power or even God’s very existence,
So long as temptation continues, a person supposes the Lord to be absent . . . and to such a degree as sometimes to be reduced to such despair that one can scarce believe there is any God. Yet the Lord is then more intimately present than one can ever believe. When, however, temptation ceases, then one receives consolation, and then first believes the Lord to be present (AC 840).
What is happening in these times is a separation of our outer person from our inner person. When we are immersed in our evils, we see them and struggle against them. It is our inner person, it is our conscience, that sees the nature of our evils. Having seen them, and having resisted them, they are separated from us and cast to the outside of our consciousness. Our inner person more and more rules in our consciousness. And our behavior, or our external person, follows the right way of living that our conscience has learned.
When humanity’s will became wholly corrupt the Lord separated the proprium of his understanding from the corrupt proprium of his will, and in the proprium of his understanding formed a new will, which is conscience, and implanted charity in the conscience, and innocence in the charity, and thus conjoined Himself with humanity, or, what is the same, made a covenant with him. So far as the proprium of the will of a person can be separated from this proprium of the understanding, the Lord can be present with him, or conjoin Himself, or enter into a covenant with him. Temptations and such like means of regeneration cause the proprium of the will of a person to be quiescent, to become as nothing, and as it were to die (AC 1023).
When we delight in acting as we have learned from conscience, we are said to be reborn. This is the heavenly marriage that I began this talk with. Before this state of mind, we acted from the understanding. We acted from truth and from spiritual knowledge. We used self-discipline to render ourselves compliant with what we know to be right and good.
Now a great change takes place in our condition. Now we act according to what we love. Now we act no longer from truth–we act from desire. Our desires have been rendered compliant with teachings about righteousness. We no longer need to be prompted by our understanding. We now love what is good and we act from that love. Our emotions are now heavenly in nature; we are filled with God’s love, and we can act freely according to what we want to do. This is because all we want to do is heavenly.
This is called a final stage because we stay in this condition. We learn and grow, but we do so from our loves. When we hear a truth, we test it by what we love. And since we are in heavenly loves and affections, our emotions tell us if what we hear is true or not.
This is where Ralph Waldo Emerson took exception to Swedenborg. Emerson, a philosopher, didn’t understand Swedenborg’s own attack on intellect. Emerson held up Swedenborg as the Representative Man of mysticism, but still criticized his subordination of intellect to emotion. Emerson called it, “the profanation of thinking to what is good” (p. 16). Emerson’s criticism is strong. He says that Swedenborg, “falls into jealousy of his intellect . . . makes war on his mind, takes the part of conscience against it, and on all occasions, traduces and blasphemes it” (p. 16).
And yet Jesus reminds us that it is from the mouths of babes and sucklings that true praise comes–not from philosophers. And, further, it is not the intelligent but the pure in heart that will see God. We can all look forward to that day when our heart will lead our footsteps. We can look forward to the day when inner conflict will cease. We can look forward to the day when the rainbow is the symbol and sign that the spiritual marriage of God with us is a living reality.

PRAYER

Lord, we give you thanks this morning. For although we may stray from your ways, you never cease to call us back; your mercy is eternal, and you never cease to lead us back toward you and your kingdom. You have established your covenant with the human race, and our relationship is as a marriage. You are our head and husband and all of humanity is bound to you in love as a bride. We look forward to the day when we will follow our hearts freely and act spontaneously in all good and loving ways. We look forward to the day when struggle will cease, and our affections will be firmly fixed in the ways of heaven. We look forward to the day when we will dwell in your kingdom forever.

The Little Toil of Love
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
February 10, 2013

2 Kings 5:1-14 Mark 1:40-45 Psalm 30

My sermon title this morning is taken from a poem by Emily Dickenson. It is a poem about humility and love. It is a short and a simple poem, but rich and deep in what it says,
I had no time to hate, because
The grave would hinder me,
And life was not so ample I
Could finish enmity.

Nor had I time to love, but since
Some industry must be,
The little toil of love, I thought,
Was large enough for me.
Emily Dickenson is telling us that if we hate, there will be no end of it–”life was not so ample I/Could finish enmity.” There wasn’t enough time to love, either. But a person has to do something, so she finds that, “The little toil of love, I thought,/Was large enough for me.” And it is that little toil of love that I wish to speak about this morning.
There was as time when I wanted the great things in life. I wanted them for myself. I wanted to be like Beethoven or Bach and do some great work that the world would take notice of. I had a friend a while back, who wanted to dedicate his life to the Peace Corps, and go to Africa to help build wells and feed the starving. I know of those who revere Sister Theresa and her dedication to the suffering. But God doesn’t seem to have called me to any of these deeds of greatness. While we all have our ideas of what we would like to do or be, ultimately God will decide what is best for us–and for the world.
I came to these reflections by pondering the amusing story of Naaman in our Old Testament reading this morning. This is a story of great expectations, too. Namaan is a mighty commander of an army, but has leprosy. He goes to Israel to be cured by the prophet Elisha. Namaan makes a grand display of his appearance at Elisha’s house. He comes with his horses and chariots and stops at Elisha’s door. Elisha doesn’t even meet Naaman face to face; he sends his messenger to Namaan, telling him to bathe in the Jordan seven times and his leprosy will be cured. At this Naaman is enraged. He leaves saying,
I thought surely he would come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.
Naman wanted a General’s honor and thought that he had been slighted by Elisha. Then he looks upon the Jordan River with contempt compared with the rivers in his own Damascus,
Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?
He leaves the home of Elisha in a rage. His pride has been wounded. He expected a grander reception and a grander display of God’s power.
But Naaman’s servants ask him to reconsider, and they make a persuasive argument. They say,
If the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, “Wash and be cleansed!”
Naaman does so and his leprosy is cured. This is a conversion experience for Naaman. He tells Elisha that he now knows there is no other God in the world besides Yahweh and he will worship Him for the rest of his life.
God may be asking us only to do Emily Dickenson’s “little toil of love.” He may not be calling us to some great thing, but only to some small way of showing someone else care and love. Naaman wanted some grand spectacle to show God’s reality. Instead, he was given a small task that demonstrated God’s great care for him when he was healed. God may ask only a similar small task from us. And there may be powerful results in our life from it. I confided to one of our ministers my desire to be another Beethoven, and he told me,
Those are great men. Their lives have transformed the world. For most of us, we do our part by the lives we come in contact with. The little ways we affect the people in our lives. That is how we do our part.
It was Rev. Paul Zacharias who told me that, and I didn’t like it then. I understand those words now. I think he was saying that “the little toil of love . . . was large enough for me.”
I think about a visit I made to the lake home of Andrew Glover last summer. Every now and then I ask him to give me a lesson on jazz theory. That day we were at the piano for a good two hours. Then Andrew said, “Do you want to take a break and go on a bike ride?” He had a spare bike for me and we were off. We pedaled through the forest to the lake and talked to some fishermen. Then we pedaled into town. Now all the while, Andrew was stopping every time he saw an empty bottle or can and collected them in a bag he had on his bike. He even dove into some dumpsters looking for bottles. On one occasion he looked at me and laughed, and said, “I’m not crazy, these bottles really add up.” We got back to the house and did some more music. Then Andrew invited me to stay and have some shake-and-bake chicken. I did and it was delicious.
Now I tell this story to illustrate a point. I found the bike ride and eating shake-and-bake chicken just as meaningful as I did the jazz theory lesson. And I feel that Andrew, himself, did also. This was an exchange of friendship in the middle of an essentially professional relationship. We didn’t have to go on that bike ride, or eat together. But it made for a most pleasant visit. Was that not just what Emily Dickenson was talking about? Was that not a “little toil of love?”
It’s times like this that are just as important for our lives as the great deeds of culture’s giants. We may not be destined for immortality, but we are no less valuable for it. I know of people who have survived near death experiences. Some have even seen the bright light and come back. Some of them ask me what they have been brought back for. I feel that they are thinking of some great thing they have been saved for. Of course I do not know. But it may be that they have more growth to do. And it may be that there are countless lives they are meant to touch with their own special way of showing love.
This, then, calls our attention to the other people in our lives. It calls our attention to the gifts we are graced with each day by a generous God. In our New Testament story we have another healing from leprosy. Jesus tells the man to go to a priest and offer the sacrifice according to the law of Moses. This is to be not only a thank-offering, but a testimony to the priests. It is a formal way of giving thanks to God and a way of telling the priests about Jesus. Jesus does not want the man to tell the populous about his healing, but the man does so anyway. So great is his gratitude that he cannot keep quiet about it. This story reminds me to be thankful for all the grace God has put in my life. How easy it is to want those great things for ourselves and forget what is right in front of us.
In closing, I would like to suggest a kind of prayer. I would suggest that at the end of every day, we look back on the day and count the blessings that have come our way. The good people we see daily. The kind word. A phone call from a friend or family member. The opportunities we have been given to share God’s love with others. For it was Rabbi David Kunin who taught me to thank God for opportunities to do good. Some of you may already be doing something like this. What I’m suggesting is to look for “the little toil of love,” in our lives.