Church of the Holy City

The Universal Reign of the Son of Man
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
November 25, 2012

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14 Revelation 1:4-18 Psalm 93

In today’s Bible readings we have two visions of the Son of Man. However, there are some significant differences in the image of the Son of Man from each story. In our reading from Daniel, the Son of man is given authority, glory, and sovereign power by the Ancient of Days. The Ancient of Days possesses grand imagery such as a flaming throne, a river of fire flowing forth from him and brilliant white clothing and hair as white as wool. In our reading from Revelation, the Son of Man Himself possesses these awesome characteristics. The Son of Man Himself has hair white as wool, eyes blazing like fire, feet glowing like bronze in a furnace and a voice like rushing water. In our reading from Daniel, the Ancient of Days passes on His power to the Son of Man. In Revelation, the Son of man is already in full possession of His Divinity.
Our reading from Daniel is a typical enthronement ritual from the Ancient Near East. The enthronement rituals were a sacred way of passing authority from a king to his son. I say it was a sacred way of passing down power, because more than earthly rule was involved in the powers of the king. In the Ancient Near East, the king was the intermediary between the gods and humans. The power of fertility for the crops flowed through the king out to the land he ruled over. There were rituals that the king had to perform to ensure this flow of power from the gods down to the land. Some of these rituals were performing the correct sacrifices in a correct manner, and there were also sacred drama whereby the crops were renewed after winter. The fertility of the land depended on the power of the king. If the king was healthy and strong, the kingdom would be fertile and there would be victory over the kingdom’s enemies, bringing peace.
When the king became weak from age, the power needed to be passed down to his son. This had to be done in an orderly way lest confusion and rival claims for power disrupt the sacred balance between the gods and the king. So priests would oversee the ritual whereby the king would pass down his power to his son, giving his son all his former power.
We have a document preserved from ancient Mesopotamia that shows the mythic enthronement ritual of the god Marduk. Just as in the passage in Daniel, a throne is put before Marduk and all power and authority is given to him:
They erected for him a princely throne.
Facing his fathers, he sat down, presiding. . . .
From this day unchangeable shall be thy pronouncement. . . .
Thy utterance shall be true, thy command shall be unimpeachable. . . .
O Marduk, thou art indeed our avenger.
We have granted thee kingship over the entire universe. . . .
They conferred on him scepter, throne, and vestment; . . . (Enuma elis)
Note the similarity to the words in Daniel:
I looked and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory, and sovereign power; all peoples, nations, and men of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed (Daniel 7:13-14).
Our reading from Daniel is an enthronement ritual in which the power of the Ancient of Days is given to the Son of Man. This ritual is typical of the enthronement rituals of the Ancient Near East.
However, in our reading from Revelation, the characteristics of both the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man are all absorbed into the vision of the risen Christ. In Daniel, it was the Ancient of Days who had hair white as wool . In Revelation, it is the risen Christ who has hair white as wool. In Daniel, the throne of the Ancient of Days was flaming with fire. In Revelation, the risen Christ has eyes that are like blazing fire. So In Revelation, the risen Christ has the qualities that were assigned to the Ancient of Days in Daniel. But the risen Christ also has the qualities of the Son of Man. It is the risen Christ who is the universal God. He tells John,
I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! (Revelation 1:17-18).
So what we take from the book of Revelation is that the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man are united in the risen Christ. Or, in other words, Father and Son are one in the risen Lord Jesus.
The world view of these two passages are different, too. In the passage from Daniel, we think about the aging process, and passing control of the world over to the next generation. Adults retire and the governance of the world is given to their children. As we age, we notice that persons in power get younger and younger. I heard someone say that you know you’re aging when your doctor is younger than you are. I recall, too, one evening when Carol and I were at Blues on Whyte, listening to a live band. A rather drunk young man came up to us and said, “You two look like a happy old couple and I want to be like you when I get old.” Passing the reins over to the young is captured poetically by Wallace Stevens in SUNDAY MORNING. Speaking somberly about death, Stevens writes, “She causes boys to pile new plums and pears/On disregarded plate.”
These days, though, it doesn’t seem to be a matter of handing over the reins of power to the next generation. It feels more as if they are seizing the reins and taking power out from under the older generation. I am referring to all the new technology that young people master even as they are growing up, while we older folks sometimes have great difficulty learning how to work this new technology. My mother, who could be called two generations removed from today’s young adults, doesn’t even own a computer. And I have a friend my own age that doesn’t have a cell phone. This new technology is developing so fast that we older folks are becoming alienated from the world, rather than passing on our wisdom and power to the next generation. Always trying to keep pace with the trends of society, I would note that the latest James Bond movie deals with some of these themes.
Yet I still think that the aged have something to offer the young. Our elders have lived long lives and seen much and experienced much. There is a wisdom about life that can only come from having lived and experienced life over the years. There is a perspective on life that only the elders have. And that wisdom is of great value to the young who will listen, and, indeed, ask.
While the reading from Daniel suggests something about the generations, we have a different perspective from our reading from Revelation. In Revelation we have Jesus saying to John that He is the All in All. We all stand in relation to Him. In Revelation there is no handing power down from Father to Son. The power dynamic is only the risen Lord Jesus and the whole human race. This dynamic is brought out in another passage further along in Revelation. Here, the whole of humanity worships the lamb–yet another image for the risen Lord,
Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” (Revelation 5:11-13)
This reading puts us all on a level playing field–so to speak. It says we are all children of God. It says we are all one in our worship of the Lord. Paul says it well in Galatians,
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26-28).
Further, these readings lift us up into a timeless world. There is no generational divide. There is the timeless Christ and the human race. This vision is one of life after life in the eternal realm.
I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever.
If only this troubled world could see things this way, no matter what name they use for God. We are all one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord.

PRAYER

Dear Lord, we give you thanks for your care and love for the whole human race. You never cease to lift us upward toward you and your kingdom. You have come to us in a way we can understand–not as a ruling king, not as a powerful despot, but as a simple, humble ordinary human being. And yet you do rule all the created universe. All the circling stars and galaxies and all the sub-atomic particles obey your divine will. Though all of creation is yours, so are each one of us, your created children. You care for us as a mother hen cares for her chicks, and you guard us under your protective wing. We give you great thanks for caring for us with your divine and infinite love.

A Day of Wrath or Blessing?
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
November 18, 2012

Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18 Matthew 25:31-45 Psalm 90

Our Bible readings this Sunday are both written in a style called “apocalyptic.” Apocalyptic writing talks about a great day when the whole earth will be renewed. Apocalyptic writing talks about the final days of the earth, or the end of times. This style of writing is scattered through the Old Testament and the New Testament. Some even interpret Jesus’ central message and coming as an apocalyptic event. Apocalypticism is also present to a great degree in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
In the prophet Zephaniah, we have one of the scarier versions of the Great Day of Yahweh. (The Day of Yahweh is an apocalyptic event.) It is a day of wrath filled with horrible events.
The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter,
the mighty man cries aloud there.
A day of wrath is that day,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness . . .
In the fire of his jealous wrath,
all the earth will be consumed (Zephaniah 1:14-16, 18).
This is a day of judgement on two types of people: those who think God is entirely absent and those who try to follow God’s commands of righteousness. In a phrase that sounds like so many today, Zephaniah speaks of those who say, “The Lord will not do good, nor will he do ill” (1:12). What this means is that these people at least think God is absent from human affairs, most likely that there is no God. “The Lord will not do good, nor will he do ill.” Then there are those people who are humble, “who do his commands.” They are admonished to “seek righteousness, seek humility.” These, perhaps, “may be hidden on the day of the wrath of the Lord” (2:3).
We find a similar twofold breakdown of humanity in our reading from Matthew. There we heard the famous passage about the sheep and the goats. This, too, is an apocalyptic passage. It describes a time when the whole world, called all the nations, will be judged. It is a time when,
The Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at his left (Matthew 25:31-23).
In this final judgement, people are judged by their deeds on earth. They are judged according to how they treated their fellow humans.
This brings up a challenging remark that I heard from a Rabbi who is a friend of mine. We were talking about the two great commands, love God and love the neighbor. We both agreed that they were central to our religions–to my Christianity and to her Judaism. But then my friend said something challenging. She said that love to the neighbor ranked first in importance, and love to the Lord ranked second. She did go on to qualify her comment, and to say that other rabbis might not see things this way. She said further, that love to God meant doing the Jewish rituals such as keeping kosher.
I found her interpretation surprising because it seemed to me that God mattered most. But to her, how we relate to each other is what the law all comes down to. How does her position relate to our New Testament reading this morning? Well, it would appear to me as if Jesus’ parable is right in keeping with what she said. Jesus tells the sheep, who will go to eternal blessedness, that they gave God food when He was hungry, drink when He was thirsty, they welcomed Him when He was a stranger, they clothed Him when He was naked, they visited Him when He was sick, and when He was in prison they came to Him (25:35-36). So Jesus is saying that all these deeds of good-will were done to Him. The righteous ask Jesus when it was that they did all these things. Jesus replies, “whatsoever you did to the least of these my brethren, you did to me” (25:40). So Jesus is saying that what we do to our neighbor we are doing to God.
So my friend’s remark seems to be supported by this parable of Jesus. This parable has radical implications. It suggests that there is no real distinction between love to God and love to the neighbor. In fact, Jesus says that love to the neighbor is “like” love to God (Matthew 22:39). This parable suggests that doing good to the neighbor is love to God; it is doing good to God. It suggests a radical answer to the question, “How do I love God?” The answer appears to be, “Do good to the neighbor.” It also suggests that the measure of our love to God is how we treat our neighbor.
My friend reminded me of another truth about the neighbor. She reminded me that humanity is created in the image and likeness of God. This means that dwelling in every person is God’s image. While we would never worship humans, it can be said that we ought to treat our fellows with a holy respect. We are called to honor the image of God that is in every human being. Only if the image and likeness of God dwell in humans can it be true that doing good to people is doing good to God. And that is what Jesus seems to be saying.
This accords with Swedenborg’s theology. Swedenborg teaches that God is The Divine Human, from whom everyone receives their humanity. It is Swedenborg’s claim that the angels think of God in a Human form:
Because the angels perceive, not an invisible Divine, which they call a Divine without form, but a visible Divine in human form, it is common for them to say that the Lord alone is The Person, that they are persons from Him, and that everyone is, so far as a person receives Him (HH 80).
Furthermore, Swedenborg says that the entire heavens are in the form of a Great Human, which form it has from the Divine Human of the Lord. This means that there is a descent, to use a spatial metaphor, from the Divine Human of the Lord, through the Great Human of heaven, into each of our souls, making us human.
And yet, there is something of a paradox here. The Humanity of the Lord is infinite, our humanity is and will always be finite. For this reason we cannot say that God is our deepest soul. We can say that the Divine proceeding from God is in the deepest part of our soul. We can say that it is God’s life, love, and wisdom that give us life, love and wisdom. But we can not say that we are ultimately somehow one with God. We can say that we are one with God like the way that a husband is one with his wife, while remaining two beings. We are indeed in a love relationship with God analogous to that of husband and wife. So in Jeremiah, God says, “I was their husband” (31:32). And so in Hosea God says, “In that day you will call me, ‘my husband,’” and again,
I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know the Lord (2:16, 19-20).
And even if all the goodness we have in us is from God, it is not God. Even if we merge our consciousness with God so that we feel only God in us, we will not know the infinity which God is. There will always be a difference between God, who is infinite and we who are finite.
And yet I come back to the words of Matthew, “whatever you did to the least of these, my brethren, you did to me.” These words are extremely difficult to translate. And I will leave you with a question, of sorts, today. I think the writer was trying to emphatically say how important, indeed how godly, it is to be good to our neighbor. And at the same time, the writer wants to retain a distinction between God’s Humanity and our humanity. The passage turns on two Greek words, “eph oson.” My guide to the New Testament translates these two words as, “in so far as.” This translation would read, “In so far as you have done it to the least of these my brethren you have done it to me.” I would read this to mean to the extent you have done it to my brothers you have done it to me. Translators wrestle with how to render this passage. The NIV wants to avoid language that says you are doing anything to Jesus. They say you are doing good for Jesus. But they render the Greek strongly, “whatever you do for one of the least of these brothers of mine you did for me.” The RSV hedges by translating the Greek words weakly, “as you did it to the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.” So doing good to the brethren is not doing good to God, it is as one were doing good to God. Then there is the KJV, which reads, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” I’m not sure how to take the “inasmuch as.” So, then, are we doing good to God, or for God, or as to God? However we take the relationship between God and man, it still comes down to the fact that treating our brothers and sisters well, as if we were doing good to God, is what Jesus is telling us to do. This will make the last days a blessing.

PRAYER

Lord, we await the day of your coming. We await it with a feeling of awe, perhaps with some trepidation, and with joyful anticipation. We await that time when you will wipe away every tear from every eye, and when you will come to us surrounded with your holy angels. We know that you come to each of us individually. And we know that our eternal well-being will be measured by our actions, feelings, and thoughts on earth. You have said that when we do good to the least of your brothers and sisters, we do it to you. For your image dwells in each human being that is created in your image and likeness. Help us to remember that our neighbor is an image of you, and that when we do good to our neighbor we do it for and to you.

Lord, we ask for your peace to descend upon this troubled world. Where there is conflict and war, let there be understanding and peace. Inspire our leaders, and the leaders of other nations to govern their people with compassion, with wisdom, and with your Holy Love. 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.

Remembering Conflict and Reflecting on Peace
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
November 11, 2012
Remembrance Day

Joshua 1:1-9 Revelation 21:3-4, 22-27; 22:1-5 Psalm 44

This Sunday is Remembrance Day. It is a day when we reflect on the courage of those who served in the military, and who sacrificed their lives for us. It is also a day to reflect on war and the meaning of armed conflict. And finally, it is a day to reflect on our hopes for world peace, in a world filled with conflict, mistrust, and hostility.
I have selected two Bible passages that reflect two ways of seeing conflict. The first reading was from Joshua. In this passage, God tells Joshua to have courage. God also tells Joshua that He will give him the land promised to the forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to Moses. This land will be from the wilderness in the southwest to the great river Euphrates, in modern day Iraq. Joshua is told to have courage and to conquer. Deuteronomy tells us that the Israelites will take over, “large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant” (Deuteronomy 6:10-11). What God is telling Moses in this Deuteronomy passage is that the Israelites will conquer the Promised Land and take possession of cities, houses, vineyards, and olive groves built by the inhabitants of Palestine. These spoils will be the result of armed conflict.
Then, at the very end of the Christian Bible we find that beautiful passage about peace from the book of Revelation. John foresees a time when,
God Himself will wipe away every tear . . . and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more” (21:3-4).
And in the Holy City New Jerusalem, we find the tree of life the leaves of which are for “the healing of the nations” (22:2).
The passage from Joshua and the passage from Revelation bring out two sides of this morning’s issue. That is, armed conflict and peace. There seems to be Biblical support for both of these issues.
On Remembrance Day we think about the tragedy of war. We think about those who gave their lives for the free world. Specifically, we think of World War I and John McCrae’s poem IN FLANDERS FIELDS and the Battle of Ypres. From our place in history, WWI is seen as a just war. We feel that the ambitions of Germany needed to be stopped. We see those who gave their lives in the War as heroes, and we honor them on Remembrance Day. We may even be inclined to think that God sided with the Allies, and crushed the imperialist ambitions of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
I am no expert on world history, but I have learned something about World War I in school, and by study on my own. One of the terms that comes up often as a precursor to WWI is the term “The Great Powder Keg.” What this term refers to is the huge and perhaps excessive armament that the nations of Europe were amassing. It is called The Great Powder Keg because it was as if this armament were just waiting for a spark to ignite it into war. When one considers the vastness of WWI, versus the apparent cause by an insignificant Yugoslavian assassin, one realizes that WWI may have been inevitable. In this case, I think that all the great nations of the world played a part in it.
I think that World War II is a more clear case of just war. The atrocities of Hitler were unimaginable then and remain so now. This monster needed to be stopped.
But we are still left with the grim fact that death and destruction are the results of even just wars. The men and women of our armed services have paid the ultimate sacrifice for the survival of freedom and what I hope are humane values.
Today, we see conflict in another form than that of the great world wars. We see conflict in the form of terror and suicide bombings. The victims of terrorist bombing are not armed combatants, but unarmed civilians. On Remembrance Day, we need to remember those innocent civilians who have died not in war, but as the result of terrorist attacks.
Unfortunately, in the case of modern day terror, religion has been added into the mix. The terror we see seems to come from fanatic Muslims. And Westerners who know little of the Muslim faith are inclined to think that these extremists represent the whole religion. These extremists think that they are doing the will of Allah. But there are many, many Muslims of good will who are quick to point out that these fanatics do not speak for the religion in general. I suggest that this church body take a little time to study the Muslim faith, go to City Hall, where a presentation about the Muslim religion is on display, talk with your Muslim neighbors, and learn about this wonderful world religion. We need to keep a level head when it comes to terrorism and whom or what we blame as causes for it. And as Swedenborgians, we need remain respectful of all those who faithfully practice the religion they know, even as we ask for respect and the privilege to practice our faith.
But it seems that we are left with both of the issues of today’s talk. There are the Hitlers in the world, or they can arise. When one power seeks to assert itself and annex or conquer its neighbors, I can see no other recourse but armed conflict. But before armed conflict erupts, I think that every possible diplomatic avenue must be exhausted. Armed conflict is a last resort. This is when we honor the memory and the calling of our armed service men and women. Even as they are called to prevent unjust hostilities today, in years past servicemen and women have given their lives to promote the ultimate goal of world harmony.
The first step in world harmony is understanding. Through understanding can come the healing that John speaks of. I think of that beautiful image of the tree of life, whose leaves are for “the healing of the nations.” If the nations of the world are to find healing, it must come through understanding. It must come from respect. It must come from the realization that other countries want to exist the same way that we want to exist. Other countries want to rule themselves just as we want to rule ourselves. Other nations want their culture preserved even as we want our culture preserved.
I hold up Canada as an example of what the world could look like. And I hold up Edmonton in particular as an example of what the world could look like. In city hall we have rotating displays from different faith traditions that are called “Celebrating our Faiths.” Right there in the centre of the life of Edmonton we find a celebration of diversity and religion. Look around you as you go about the city. We see all different faiths represented, we find peoples of all different countries represented, we see the gifts of differing cultures throughout the city, such as China Town, or Little Italy, and the different restaurants offering ethnic food. Edmonton is richer for its diversity.
It can be done. Through acceptance and understanding the prophesy in John can become a lived reality. “God Himself will wipe away every tear . . . and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more” (21:3-4). The tree of life whose leaves are for the healing of the nations will become a global reality when it grows first from the soil of our own hearts.

He Bore the Sin of Many
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
October 28, 2012

Isaiah 53:3-12 Mark 10:35-45 Psalm 91

The Bible readings we heard this morning are sources for a doctrine called the atonement. The doctrine of the atonement states that Jesus bore our sins like a sacrificial lamb when He was crucified. This doctrine teaches that Jesus’ crucifixion was like the sacrifice of lambs that the ancient Israelites used to do to take away their sins. And those who have faith in Jesus will have their sins removed. This doctrine of atonement is held by many Christian churches, particularly the mainline Protestant churches. The atonement doctrine seems to be very clearly taught in the Bible readings we heard this morning. Our church does keep some of the Biblical language of the atonement, but we interpret this language differently than do many mainline Protestant churches. Although I respect my fellow Christians and support them in their different beliefs about the meaning of Jesus’ crucifixion, I must confess that I find the strong statement of the atonement distasteful. Furthermore, it gives a picture of God that I can’t affirm.
But the language of the Bible certainly supports those who believe in the doctrine of the atonement. In the Isaiah 53 passage we heard, this doctrine comes through loud and clear, repeatedly:
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows . . .
But he was wounded for our transgressions
and was bruised for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that made us whole . . .
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. . . .
he bore the sin of many,
and made intersession for the transgressors.
And the idea that Jesus took away our sins through His death on the cross seems to be stated in Mark: “For the Son of Man also came . . . to give his life as a ransom for many” (10:45). Then there are John the Baptist’s words in the gospel of John, when Jesus came to be baptized. John the Baptist exclaimed upon seeing Jesus, “Look, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (1:29). This idea becomes a strong voice in the letters of Paul. Paul’s letters are often contradictory, but some Protestants read his statements on the atonement as central to his teaching and central to Christianity. In Romans 3, Paul states that Jesus was the sacrificial lamb that takes away the sins of all who believe in Him,
But now righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known . . . . This righteousness from God 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 are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood (Romans 3:21-25).
To some extent our church agrees with this basic idea. That is, we believe that it is the Lord alone who has the power to take away our sins. It is the Lord alone who raises us up out of our selfish cravings and worldly ambitions into loving generosity and heavenly delights.
Swedenborg uses language of struggle to talk about our relationship with sin. He says that the Lord fights against the evils and falsities that can erupt in our lower nature. We have no power to resist evil or to discern truth. The Lord alone has the power to deliver us from evil and to enlighten our minds with truth. In this sense, Jesus is our savior; He saves us from sin by removing it from us. Since it is the Lord who fights against hell, evil and sin, it is said that the Lord bears our sins. So Swedenborg writes,
He, therefore, Who alone fights for a person against . . . evils and falsities . . . is said to bear sins, for He alone bears that burden (AC 9937).
In this idea we are not too far from traditional Protestant beliefs. But there is a further step in this process of the removal of evil. That further step is our cooperation. The Lord can only remove evil when we desist from it as if by our own power.
the hells are continually with a person . . . so far as the Lord does not remove them; and He removes them just so far as a person desists from evils (AC 9937).
So we do believe that the Lord saves us from our sins. In this we are like traditional Protestants. But by bearing our sins, we do not mean that the crucifixion wiped out our sins, but rather that the Lord raises us up out of sin, evil, and falsity by His own power. This is how we understand the idea that the Lord bore our sins.
by bearing iniquities something else is meant; but what is meant may be evident from the bearing itself of iniquities or sins by the Lord. For the Lord bears them when He fights for a person against the hells, since a person of himself cannot fight against them, but the Lord alone does this, and indeed continually for every person (AC9937).
Our apparent effort in this process would distance us from some mainline Protestants, who hold that faith, and not works saves us. Emphasizing our own apparent work in the process of salvation, and Swedenborg’s description of spiritual purification locates us closer to Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Roman Catholicism.
The Biblical language mentions distress and sorrow that the Lord bore on our account. Isaiah says that He bore our griefs, carried our sorrows, that He was wounded and bruised, that He was chastised, and other deep distresses of soul and body. In Swedenborg’s theology, these distresses refer to the Lord’s struggles against the hells while He was on the earth. Struggling against the powers of darkness is what Swedenborg means by temptations. And it was by means of the humanity that the Lord acquired from Mary that the hells could approach the Lord. For God is infinitely good. And nothing evil can approach what is infinitely good. But with a humanity the same as the humanity that we have, hell had access, if you will, to God while He was on earth. So it was our very human nature that allowed hell to approach God. We say this every Sunday when we recite our Faith:
To save us from evil, He became as human as we are. He endured temptations, even the passion of the cross, yet never succumbed. He defeated the demonic power, destroying its hold on the world, releasing us from bondage.
Through the human He inherited from Mary, Jesus faced the totality of human sin. Through temptation struggles, Jesus overcame the source of sin, the hells, and restored order in the world and spiritual world. This is how we understand the language of Christ bearing our sins,
it is said that He bore our sickness, and carried our sorrows, that He was pierced for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities; that Jehovah made to fall on Him the iniquity of us all . . . and that by His wisdom shall justify many, because he hath borne their iniquities, and hath carried the sin of many. . . . That by being pierced and bruised by them, is signified a state of temptations is plain, for in such a state there are sorrows of mind, distresses, and despairs, which cause anguish (AC 9937).
Jesus’ very being was and still is love for the whole human race. God wills nothing else but to be conjoined with each and every one of us forever.
The Lord’s love was the love of saving the human race, and this love was the being of His life, for this love was the Divine in Him (AC 9937).
The despair that Jesus felt in the depths of His temptations was for our welfare and salvation. It was our welfare that occupied Jesus’ final thoughts on the cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
Jesus overcame the forces of darkness and in His risen and Glorified Humanity now continually fights against the evils that can assail us from the hells. Sometimes, we also may know the sorrows of mind, the distresses and despairs and anguish that the Lord knew on earth. If we are growing and developing spiritually, these feelings are likely. Change is never easy, spiritual or psychological. But there is One who has all power. That One is God. God has overcome darkness, and in doing so is continually working to deliver each and every one of us from our own worst tendencies. We need but ask God into our lives, and the process of heavenly ascent is a promise. The Lord alone has power to lift us into His world, and He can and will if we but ask Him to.

PRAYER

Lord, we praise you and we give you thanks. For you care for us always, and you never cease to lift us upward and inward into your kingdom. We are grateful for all your mighty acts of redemption. You have all power, and we have none. We implore your help as we wrestle with temptation, for we must cooperate with you in desisting from evil. Through the power of your Divine Human, you come to us in whatever state we are, be it in lofty, holy rapture, or in the depths of sorrow and distress. For you have wrought redemption for the whole human race, and you remain our personal savior, each and every one of us, your children.

Seek the Lord and Live
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
October 14, 2012

Amos 5:6-7, 10-15 Mark 10:17-31 Psalm 22

Our readings this morning concern the issue of faith and charity, or good works and belief. This morning’s readings make it very clear that doing good matters for our eternal life. Amos says, “Seek good, and not evil, that you may live” (5:14). And in our reading from Mark, the rich man asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus points him to the ten commandments,
You know the commandments: “Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.”
And when the rich man tells Jesus that he has kept the ten commandments since his youth, Jesus looks on him and loves him. This tells us that Jesus loves those who keep the ten commandments. (Of course Jesus loves everyone. But when we keep the commandments we enter into a reciprocal relationship with Jesus and the love He has for us is returned.) And Amos tells us that we will live if we seek good. Doing good matters for our eternal welfare.
Paul agrees with this teaching. He is often contradictory, but there are clear passages where Paul teaches that doing good matters in our eternal life. In Romans 2, Paul says that doing good alone will justify a person whether he is a Jew or a Greek, God will see the good, not the ethnicity of the practitioner,
He will render to every man according to his works; to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality (Romans 2:6-11).
So we have seen that Paul, Jesus, and Amos all teach that doing good matters for our spiritual welfare.
But that is not the whole story. Jesus tells the rich man something astonishing.
You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow me (Mark 10: 21).
This saddens the rich man because he had great possessions. I don’t think that the idea here is giving away possessions to the poor. Indeed, Jesus would appear to be contradictory on this if that is the idea. When the sinful woman anoints Jesus with expensive perfume, the apostles are indignant with her. They think she should have sold the perfume and given the money to the poor. It may very well have looked like that was what Jesus would have wanted. But he, in turn, in indignant with the disciples,
Why do you trouble this woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me (Matthew 26:10-11).
So in one instance we have Jesus telling a rich man to sell his possessions and give to the poor and in another instance, we have Jesus telling the disciples that the woman should not sell the perfume and give the money to the poor. This looks like a contradiction. But there is one thing that both stories have in common as a controlling idea. That idea is putting Jesus first. For the rich man, it isn’t giving his riches to the poor that matters, but following Jesus. And the reason why the sinful woman is praised is because she anoints Jesus with the expensive oil, again putting Jesus first. So the main idea in these readings is that Jesus is to assume the first place in our life.
This brings us to the issue of faith. We have already looked at charity. Charity for Swedenborg is doing good in every aspect of our lives–not just those special cases such as giving to the poor, to food banks and soup kitchens, donating to non-profit groups, visiting prisoners and the sick, and other special cases of charity. Charity for Swedenborg is love finding expression in every aspect of our lives. It is hating evil and loving good, as Amos puts it. But charity is not enough. To be whole spiritual persons, we need truth, or faith. In Swedenborg’s symbolic interpretation of the book of Revelation, the church in Pergamos symbolizes “those who place all of the church in good works, and nothing in truths of doctrine” (AR 107). We need truths of doctrine because truth teaches us who we are to believe in, what we are to believe, and it also teaches us about our place in Creation. A solid belief structure gives us a firm footing for our lives. Truth teaches where and how to do good. It also prevents us from straying innocently into harmful situations from misguided affection or ideas of who the neighbor is. Finally, truths teach us about God. Spiritual life is not only doing good, it is also believing in God. Believing in God and doing good both make us whole spiritual beings.
Here, Paul seems to overboard a little in talking about faith. He makes it sound like faith is all we need for salvation–or at least that is how some Protestant churches take Paul,
No human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe (Romans 3:20-22).
This is where Paul’s contradictory teachings are most manifest. Just above we found Paul saying that works matter,
He will render to every man according to his works; to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life . . . There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good.
Now it looks like only faith matters, “the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” I think that the solution to this apparent contradiction is to say that we need both, belief in Jesus Christ and good works.
This brings us to the problem of the rich man. I think the problem with the rich man was that he valued his worldly riches more than he did God. Jesus tells him to sell his riches and give to the poor and follow Him in order to lift the rich man above worldly treasures. Typical of so much in Swedenborg, we find that the letter of Scripture is misleading. It is reason and the spiritual sense of Scripture that points us toward sensible spirituality. Swedenborg says, contrary to the a literal reading of Scripture, that rich people can come into heaven as easily as do poor people.
They therefore who take the Word only according to the literal sense, and not according to any spiritual sense, err in many things, especially in regard to the rich and the poor; as that it is as difficult for the rich to enter heaven as for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle . . . . But those who know anything of the spiritual sense of the Word think otherwise; they know that heaven is for all who live the life of faith and love, whether they be rich or poor. . . . it has been given me to know that the rich come as easily into heaven as the poor, and that a person is not excluded from heaven because he lives in abundance, nor is received into heaven because he is in poverty (HH 357).
Swedenborg teaches that we can enjoy the good things of this world, including amassing wealth, provided only that we believe in God and love the neighbor, and do not become lovers of wealth and become selfish,
Since a person can live outwardly as others, can grow rich, keep a plentiful table, dwell in an elegant house, wear fine clothing, according to his condition and function, can enjoy delights and gratifications, and engage in worldly affairs for the sake of offices and business, and for the life both of the mind and body, provided he inwardly acknowledges the Divine and wishes well to the neighbor, it is evident that it is not so difficult as many believe to enter the way of heaven. The only difficulty is to be able to resist the love of self and the world, and to prevent their becoming predominant (HH 359).
I think the problem with the rich man was that his wealth became a ruling love. And if he loved his wealth above all, even keeping the ten commandments was not good enough.
The issue for us is not just wealth. Anything worldly that we put above God and the neighbor becomes a snare to our spiritual development. I think Swedenborg puts is well, “The only difficulty is to be able to resist the love of self and the world, and to prevent their becoming predominant.” We can grow rich, drive a Mercedes, wear designer clothes, seek high professional positions. The only issue is whether we still believe and honor God and we live in harmony with our neighbor. So the Psalms say, “If riches increase, do not set your heart on them” (Psalm 62:10). It is up to each individual to decide how hard this is. Driving a Mercedes may mean setting one’s heart on achieving this status symbol, and craving the wealth and position that will make this possible. Or we may strive to be excellent and be rewarded for it with the wealth and position that makes the Mercedes possible. And so on with other things of this world.
The basic issue is faith and charity, not money. The issue is belief and good works. Believing in God and learning truths about Him and His Kingdom constitute faith. And doing good and hating evil constitute charity. It is both of these virtues that make us whole spiritual beings. Jesus, Amos, Paul, and Swedenborg are all in accord. Doing good and believing truly make us fit for eternal life.

PRAYER

Dear Lord, we humble ask you this morning to raise our minds to you. Lift us up out of the worries of daily life and our concerns for our needs in this world. We wish to follow you, and to put you and your kingdom first in our hearts and minds. We know that we don’t need to withdraw from our life in the world in order to follow you. But we need a constant reminder that we are only pilgrims in this world, and that your kingdom is our final and eternal home. Give us an open mind to learn truths about your kingdom and a willing heart to follow the teachings we learn. Strengthen our faith and inspire our hearts so that we may become whole spiritual beings in this world and in the world to come.

Food, Fruit, and Joy
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
October 7, 2012

Deuteronomy 16:13-17 John 15:1-11 Psalm 126

This is the Thanksgiving Season, and when I think about Thanksgiving several thoughts come to mind. I think of three things: food, fruit, and joy. First of all, of course food is the first thing I think of. We get together with family and friends and all eat more than it seems our bellies can hold. Another way to think of food, is the harvest season. In the Jewish calendar, this is this season marks the festival Sukkoth. The English translation for this festival, or feast, is the Feast of Booths, or tabernacles. The Feast of booths is one of three great harvest festivals in the ancient Israelite calendar. The earliest harvest festival is the Passover Feast. Mid-way through the growing season is the Feast of Weeks. And in this Thanksgiving season, or Sukkoth, the ancient Israelites celebrated the final gathering and storing of crops for the upcoming winter. The Feast of Booths is also a reminder of the time when the Israelites wandered in the wilderness immediately after their deliverance from Egypt. Devout Jews build small huts on their property during this season, and Rabbi Kunin told us that in the West End we might see some of these huts built on the lawns of houses there. These huts symbolize the makeshift structures that the Israelites built as they wandered through the wilderness before reaching the Holy Land.
My second thought is fruit. We can think of the harvest as gathering in the fruit of the land. But there is a spiritual sense to bearing fruit. In our reading from John, Jesus says that He is the vine and we are the branches. With Christ’s Spirit in us, we bear fruit, “He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit” (John 15:5). To bear fruit is to produce good and loving acts in our daily lives. At this time of the year we think of the many things we have to be thankful for. I was very impressed with a part of the Jewish worship services that Rabbi Kunin spoke of. In many of the chants that are recited in Jewish services, the worshippers give thanks that they are able to do good. This struck me profoundly. We think about being loving, we think about bearing much fruit, but it never occurred to me to give thanks that God gives us the capacity to do good. Doing good is at the heart of Christian life. Doing good is when God is in us and we are in God. When we love doing good for good’s sake, then we are the branches and Jesus is the vine. Then we are in heaven, whether on the material earth or in the next world. So among the many things we think of to give thanks for this season, we can thank God for His gift of love, and the loving acts that flow forth from it like fruit from a vine or tree.
The third thing that comes to mind at Thanksgiving time is joy. We find this theme in all our Bible readings this morning. In Deuteronomy we read, “The Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful” (16:15). Here we find that God will bless us in what we get and what we give out. God’s blessing on all our produce is what we get, and the work of our hands is what we give out. This tells me that we have enough and that we have the power to do good. When we accept that we have enough, we are joyful. If we continually want more and more, bigger and better, we will always be dissatisfied and unhappy. But when we accept what we have as just what we need, then what we have is plenty and we are joyful. Reflections like this remind me of a couple striking lines from Walt Whitman:
It seems to me that everything in the light and air ought to be happy;
Whoever in not in his coffin and the dark grave, let him know he has enough.
Then there is the power of doing good. This, too, is a source of joy to us–perhaps the greatest source of joy. When we do good, we are joyful. Doing good without the thought of reward is when God and we are working together. When we do good we are filled with unselfish love. This is particularly evident in the passage from John we heard this morning:
By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full (John 15:8-11).
When we have a conscious contact with God, then we know overflowing joy. And this conscious contact happens particularly in the doing of good.
Uniting our consciousness with God may involve spiritual struggles and temptation. Yet the final result will be that joy known only by those whose soul rests in God. Psalm 126 tells us:
Those who sow in tears
will reap with songs of joy
He who goes out weeping
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
bringing his sheaves with him.
As we till our plot of soil, as we cultivate spiritual life, we are planting seeds that will bear much fruit. When we are in our lower selves and slaves to unhealthy thoughts and passions, we are in that place of tears that the Psalmist speaks about. But as we progress, and we are lifted into God’s holy love, then His joy will be in us and our joy will be full. We will reap with songs of joy, bringing in the sheaves.
All three of these themes come together in our Thanksgiving gatherings. We enjoy food and stuff ourselves to the point we feel we will burst. We do good when we give food to others, as we do with our church’s food bank. We bring our own contribution to the Thanksgiving Day dinner. We think of all the things we have to feel grateful for. And perhaps chief among the things we have to feel grateful for is the capacity to do good and in that be united with God. There are other things, too, that are good to remember. I like to think of all the small things I have in life. I have a warm apartment to come home to. I have reliable transportation. I have enough food to sustain me. I have clothes to wear. I have friends, loved ones and family in my life. What more do I need? Then there is the joy of our Thanksgiving dinner. All of our friends and family getting together to enjoy each other’s company and to socialize. This is the joy of love and community. This is the kind of love that the whole world could enjoy if people would put God first, and the command of love Jesus taught. We can look forward to a brighter day for humanity. But we need also realize that we are the agents of that brighter day. Let us always see ways that our Christian love can make the world around us closer to heaven. The reading from Deuteronomy says that we are not to present ourselves before the Lord empty-handed. Rather we are to “give as he is able.” We are to give of ourselves, of our bounty, and of the love God has instilled in our hearts. We may be a way off from the heavenly city New Jerusalem that our church is named after. But little by little, each in our own way, we can work to bring our little world closer to it. As we are thankful for what we have, let us also give as we are able from what we have to transform the world. For these two messages are both the Thanksgiving Day spirit.

PRAYER

Dear Lord, We give you thanks for all the blessings of life that you give us. For we freely acknowledge that all we have is a gift from you. It feels like we are responsible for the achievements that we have been successful in, but we realize that our very talents and skills are from you. We give you thanks that we can act in partnership with you to do good. It is just another of your great blessings that we can do good in the world and to those around us, our neighbors. Lord, this fallen world is in need of redemption. Yet we know that we are the agents of that redemption. Give us to see where and how we can bring your kingdom to this material world.

And Follow Me
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
September 30, 2012

Exodus 13:17-22 Matthew 10:34-42 Psalm 119

Last Sunday I talked about innocence. I made the claim that true innocence is a property of maturity, because the innocence that touches us in children is only a passing gift. The innocence of childhood sadly passes. But adult innocence is chosen, and has been integrated into the self. This innocence lasts and so it is true innocence.
We saw also that innocence is the acknowledgement that all good things are a gift of God. Innocence is also the willingness to be led by God, not by self. Our Bible readings for this morning treat this theme. In Exodus we read that the children of Israel followed God in their journey toward the promised land. God appeared to them as a pillar of cloud in the day and a pillar of fire at night. And in our reading from Matthew, Jesus says to take up our cross and follow Him. He makes some other extraordinary statements. He says,
Do not think I have come to bring peace on the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me (10:34-37).
Taken literally, these words would mean that Jesus means to break up the family unit. Notice that the sword that Jesus will bring to the earth severs only family ties–son and father, daughter and mother, daughter-in-law and mother-in-law, father, mother, son and daughter. What a terrible vision this is if we take these words literally. But they all refer to letting God lead us, not self. The family relations that Jesus wants to break up are symbols for the ego, for destructive self-love, or attachment to what Swedenborg calls proprium. And when we let go of our attachment to proprium, or destructive self love, then we let God lead us. Thus after stating all those words about breaking up family attachments, Jesus says, “He who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:38). After we break up our proprium, our ego, our destructive attachments from unhealthy self-love, then we follow God, or let Him lead us.
But this idea of God leading us can be misleading. In order for us to have any spiritual life of our own, we need to make our own choices, make our own decisions, and live the life that we create for ourselves. In other words, we need to act as if for all intents and purposes we are leading ourselves.
Swedenborg cautions us against waiting for God to tell us what to do. He rather lampoons those who await directions from on high:
It is clear that he who waits for influx is like a statue; for he must stand or sit motionless, with hands hanging down and eyes either shut or open without winking, neither thinking nor breathing. What life then has he? (DP 321)
So for Swedenborg, being led by God is not as passive as it sounds. It is not sitting with hands hanging down waiting for God’s power to enter us.
Like a car whose starter is broken, we need to push-start our lives and pop in the clutch. Then, once we are moving, God will direct our course. What I mean is that we need to make our own decisions, and we need to lead and direct our own lives. But here we enter the world of paradox. While it looks like we are doing this all on our own, actually it is God who is leading us by means of our own mind.
It is a law of divine providence that a person should be led and taught by the Lord from heaven, through the word, and doctrine and preaching from it, and this in all appearance as by himself. According to the appearance, a person is led and taught by himself; but according to the truth, he is led and taught by the Lord alone (DP 154).
This idea is like the Buddhist teaching that there is, in fact, no actual self. We talk about self as a convenient way to speak, but when we look at our true nature, there is no self. So all the learning we imbibe from experience, from study, from listening to preaching like what I do here each Sunday, and by learning principles to live by called doctrines–all this effort to acquire wisdom is actually not us but God teaching us. Swedenborg tells us that if we believe this and acknowledge that we are taught and led by God, then in time we will actually sense God’s leading and instruction:
They who confirm themselves in the appearance and at the same time in the truth, become worshippers of the Lord; for the Lord raises them from their proprium, which is in the appearance, and He enables them to perceive interiorly that they are not led and taught by themselves but by the Lord (DP 154).
There is a reason why God wants all this to appear as if we are doing it. Only by the appearance that we are the ones who are making our own choices can we acquire a personality of our own. Only if we are a self can we receive and possess any of the good things of heavenly love. Only if we have a self can we be loving beings. And finally, only if we are a self can we enter into a reciprocal relationship with God. Without the sense of self, there would be no relationship between God and us.
Everyone recognises that a person thinks, wills, speaks, and acts to all appearances as from himself; and everyone may see that without this appearance a person would have no will and understanding, thus no affection and thought, and also no reception of any good and truth from the Lord. . . . From which it is manifest that this appearance is given to a person by the Lord . . . chiefly that a person may have the power to receive and to reciprocate, by which the Lord may be conjoined with him and he with the Lord, and that by this conjunction a person may live forever (DP 174).
So as we make our life’s choices, and as we direct our steps in the ways that seem most wise to us, God is leading us all the while. God leads us by means of what we enjoy, what we love, and by means of our feelings. God takes us where we are, and without our feeling it, bends our delights and affections ever more toward heaven and toward the kinds of things that are truly lasting and that truly matter.
Thus the Lord leads man according to his enjoyments, and also according to fallacies and received principles, but by degrees He leads him out thence; and this appears to man as from himself (AC 6472).
How gentle is God’s leading. God doesn’t force us. God doesn’t impose His will on us. He gently takes us where we are and turns us ever toward Him and His kingdom. We follow our own delights and by means of these we are brought to heaven. This means that we are led in freedom. For everything that we do from love feels free to us. When we can act on our delights freely we feel happy and unconstrained.
The Lord leads everyone by means of his affections, and thus bends him by a tacit providence, for He leads him through freedom. When one who has been regenerated (that is, who loves his neighbor, and still more who loves the Lord) reflects upon his past life, he will find that he has been led by many things of his thought and by many of his affection (AC 4364).
Notice those key words in this passage, “tacit providence.” That means, quiet or unseen providence. Notice too that it is only when we look back on our lives that we see the operation of providence. And those of faith will see that their lives have unfolded in a wonderful series of events that led to where we are now.
I can’t help seeing my relationship with Carol in this light. I got ordained and wanted to minister to a church. Edmonton wanted a minister and called me, so I moved up here. My first Sunday here Randy had a jam and I played at it. At the jam I met a musician who plays at the Eric Cormac Centre. Through him, I met a woman named Cathy. Cathy happened to know Carol at the Eric Cormac Centre. One Sunday Cathy came to Randy’s jam (Cathy knew Randy from work as Randy plays there, too) and brought Carol with her from work. Carol and I were both single then and Cathy–knowing both of us–introduced us. Cathy also went out with us the first time we went out. These events all fell like dominoes knocking one after another down to bring Carol and I together. That’s how I view my relationship with Carol, and I think she sees it similarly. God never told me in a booming voice, “Go to Edmonton, David, and meet Carol.” But through my delights, my talents, and my calling Carol and I were brought together. I should also add that I am happy up here with this congregation in and of itself. This has been a good move for me personally and professionally.
I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t want to know what the future holds. This I know, there is a God watching over me, and He is guiding my every footstep. My life has been full of wonderful moments, and I have every belief that more are coming. This is only one way I have seen God working in my life. And of this I am sure, no harm can come to me. I believe that the same is true for you, for all of us.

PRAYER

Lead us, Lord, in the paths of righteousness for your name’s sake. Enlighten our minds so that we can make wise choices. Inspire us with your Holy Spirit as we seek to learn your ways. And when we make decisions in life, help us to make decisions that are based on heavenly precepts and on your Divine Law. As we make our choices and decisions, we are forming a personality, and we would have that personality be angelic and heavenly. May the life we acquire be the life you would have us lead. For through all our learning, all our experiences, and all our decisions and choices, you are teaching and leading us ever upward toward you and your kingdom.

Like a Little Child
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
September 23, 2012

Jeremiah 11:18-20 Mark 9:30-34 Psalm 54

In our reading from Mark, The disciples are arguing about who would be the greatest. Jesus says that the greatest must be like a little child. And a little further in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus says that we need to be childlike in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. What is it about children that is such a heavenly quality?
I think the most endearing quality about children is their innocence. It’s really hard to try to define just what innocence is. I see it in their eyes. The eyes of a child are so open and big. Then there is their sincerity. Children say exactly what they feel. There is no subterfuge, no cunning, no pretense in a child. Along with their sincerity, children are so emotionally open we always know their emotions. They are quick to laugh, they cry openly, they get mad, and they haven’t yet learned to disguise their emotions. And children give unconditional love. They love their parents, their playmates, they love everyone. When a child loves you, you know it. You feel it. And they draw out these qualities out in adults. We respond in like kind when we deal with children. Finally, I would say that a child’s love extends to everyone. Children don’t have prejudice or discrimination. They don’t know race; they don’t judge others by wealth; they reach out to strangers the same way they do to family members. And it is to a parent’s alarm that children will talk to strangers in, say, a shopping mall. Children need to be taught not to talk to strangers. And children also are taught about racism. I think of that song from South Pacific, “They Have to Be Carefully Taught.” It is for these reasons that Jesus blesses children and states that we all must become like children to enter the Kingdom.
Jesus is innocence itself. And we become innocent as we let Jesus into our heart, and as we learn to follow Jesus’ leading. As innocence itself, Jesus is often compared to a lamb. We heard this in our Jeremiah reading this morning. There we read a prophesy about Jesus,
But I was like a gentle lamb
Led to the slaughter.
I did not know it was against me
they devised schemes
William Blake captured that illusive quality of innocence in a poem about a lamb. In this wonderful
poem, Blake compares the lamb with childhood and with Jesus. Hear Blake’s simple lines about
the simplicity of innocence:
Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee
Gave thee life & bid thee feed
By the stream & o’er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing woolly bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice!
Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee

Little Lamb I’ll tell thee,
Little Lamb I’ll tell thee!
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb:
He is meek & he is mild,
He became a little child:
I a child & thou a lamb,
We are called by his name.
Little Lamb God bless thee.
Little Lamb God bless thee (THE LAMB).
But this innocence of children doesn’t stay. As children grow up, their innocence begins to fade. They become teens and then adults, and the beauty of their early childhood has yielded to the self-governance of adulthood. This transition is symbolized by Adam and Eve leaving the innocence of the Garden of Eden. So from early infancy, we develop our own rationality and begin to govern our own lives. Here proprium begins. This transition from the innocence of childhood into adulthood reminds me of a beautiful Robert Frost poem. It’s called “NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY.” Frost talks about the early golden buds that become flowers and then leaves. The early beauty of the flower and bud fades almost as quickly as it is born. And Frost bitterly comments that nothing gold can stay.

Nature’s first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold
Her early leaf’s a flower
But only for an hour
Then leaf subsides to leaf
So Eden sank to grief
So Dawn goes down to day
Nothing gold can stay.

But this isn’t the end of the story. Innocence does not leave us altogether. It remains in our hearts and at certain times comes out again. The early love and trust of childhood remain with us and so Swedenborg calls these states remains. These remains stay with us—sometimes deeply buried under our adult personalities, sometimes shining transparently through our adult personalities. I will go further. In fact, innocence—real innocence—is a property of maturity. It is a quality of advanced maturity more than it is of childhood. The innocence of childhood is a passing gift. The innocence of adulthood is lasting and chosen. Swedenborg calls childhood innocence the innocence of ignorance and adult innocence the innocence of wisdom.
It’s hard to talk about just what innocence is. But for Swedenborg, it is a specialized term and he does define it. We can think of childhood when we listen to his definition because some of the qualities he describes fit with childhood. For Swedenborg, innocence primarily means to be led by God, not by self. Furthermore, innocence means acknowledging that all goodness comes from God, not from self.
Those who are in a state of innocence attribute nothing of good to themselves, but regard all things as received and ascribe them to the Lord; they wish to be led by Him and not by themselves; they love every thing that is good and find delight in everything that is true, because they know and feel that loving what is good, that is, willing and doing it, is loving the Lord, and loving truth is loving the neighbor . . . (HH 278).
Acknowledging that everything good is a gift from God, lifts us up out of ego. The cravings of our egos and the lust for wealth are what keep God out of our consciousness and hearts. When we acknowledge that there is a God, and that we aren’t it, we are beginning to enter the innocence of wisdom. We no longer take credit for our accomplishments. We no longer think of ourselves as superior to others. We feel as one with our neighbors. We put God in the center of our lives and ask for His guidance. This lifts us out of proprium, or the attitude that we are self-made individuals. Getting ego out of the way allows God to flow into us with His Divine Love.
As they love nothing so much as to be led by the Lord, attributing all things to Him, they are kept apart from their own (proprium); and to the extent that they are kept from what is their own the Lord flows into them (HH 278).
Heaven can be called being in God. The very heat and light there is God’s own Spirit. To the extent that we let God into our lives, we are in heaven’s light and heat. To the extent that we let God into our hearts we are in heavenly peace and joy.
Because innocence with the angels of heaven is the very being of good, it is evident that the Divine good that goes forth from the Lord is innocence itself, for it is that good that flows into angels, and affects their inmosts, and arranges and fits them for receiving all the good of heaven (HH 282).
Another poem by Blake seems to talk about God’s influx as the essence of heaven. It talks about God giving off heat and light and about our need to learn to bear those qualities. The poem is called “THE LITTLE BLACK BOY:”
“Look on the rising sun: there God does live,
And gives His light, and gives His heat away,
And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive
Comfort in morning, joy in the noonday.

“And we are put on earth a little space,
That we may learn to bear the beams of love
And these black bodies and this sunburnt face
Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove.

“For when our souls have learn’d the heat to bear,
The cloud will vanish, we shall hear His voice,
Saying, ‘Come out from the grove, my love and care
And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice’,”
So innocence for Swedenborg is the acknowledgement that everything good is from God. When we acknowledge this, God can enter our consciousness and our hearts. To the extent that God is in us, and we are in God, we are in heaven—because heaven is nothing else than God’s Spirit flowing into every angel’s soul. It is this state of spiritual attainment that the prophet Zephaniah speaks of when he says, “Then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the LORD . . . I will leave within you the meek and humble, who trust in the name of the LORD” (3:9, 12). Calling on the name of the LORD, and trusting in the name of the LORD means committing all our lives to Him, and letting Him rule in our hearts and minds.
When we choose to let God into our hearts, then we become innocent angels in the heavens. Just as little children follow their parents’ guidance, we will trust in God’s guidance. Just as little children don’t calculate wealth, we will be content with what we have. Then all the qualities that endear us to children will be our qualities. We will be like the children that Jesus says will inherit the kingdom of God. Or as Blake puts it, God will call to us, saying,
‘Come out from the grove, my love and care
And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice’,”

PRAYER

Dear Lord, We ask for your guidance as we seek to do your will. Lead us into heavenly peace; guide our steps in the ways of righteousness; and enlighten our minds to understand your will. As we let go of our attachments to the perishing things of this world, open our hearts to receive the eternal goods of your kingdom. For we seek a home that is everlasting as we pilgrimage here on this transitory earth. We know you are ever with us, but we can stray from your care and love. Bring us back to an awareness of you when we are tempted to turn away. In you we place all our hopes, dreams, and joys. Be our God for ever and ever! Amen.

Who Is My Adversary?
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
September 16, 2012

Isaiah 50:4-9 Mark 8:27-38 Psalm 116

If we trust in God, who can harm us? If we trust in God, what can harm us? The Psalmist describes a dire and deep distress of the soul:
The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came upon me;
I was overcome by trouble and sorrow.
Then I called on the name of the LORD:
“O LORD, save me!”
And the Psalmist tells us that God, ever faithful, heard his cry for help:
I love the LORD, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
All: Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.
And Isaiah gives us the same assurance:
Because the Sovereign Lord helps me,
I will not be disgraced (50:7).
Using language borrowed from law-courts, Isaiah continues to praise God for guarding us from all harm.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me (50:8).
Is there, then, any adversary to fear? Jesus tells us that we have only ourselves to fear. In Matthew 10:36, Jesus says, “A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” And shortly after that He says, “Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” This line parallels the line from Mark we heard this morning,
Whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospel’s will save it (Mark 8:35).
These lines taken together tell us that our enemies, that is, the members of our own household, are our very selves. The only thing we have to fear is ourselves.
What can this possibly mean? I think that this brings us back to our readings from St. Bernard that we heard last Sunday. Bernard described 4 stages of spiritual development. These stages began in nurturing and caring for ourselves and they ended in losing ourselves in God. Furthermore, in the final stage we love ourselves in God, so self isn’t entirely abandoned. Bernard writes,
When shall this flesh and blood, this earthen vessel which is my soul’s tabernacle, attain thereto? When shall my soul, rapt with divine love and altogether self-forgetting, yea, become like a broken vessel, yearn wholly for God, and, joined unto the Lord, be one spirit with Him? I would count him blessed and holy to whom such rapture has been vouchsafed in this mortal life, for even an instant to lose thyself, as if thou wert emptied and lost and swallowed up in God, is no human love; it is celestial.
Bernard is considered a mystic, as he talks about a person having a direct experience of God. Swedenborg, too, is a mystic, and Swedenborg’s description of loving God is very much like that of Bernard. Swedenborg, too, talks about losing self in God. He says,
angels, as well as men, have what is their own (proprium), which is loving self; and all that are in heaven are withheld from what is their own, and so far as they are withheld from it by the Lord are in love and wisdom (HH 158).
for it is heaven to them to be withheld from self (HH 161).
This brings us back to the problem of self that I have been looking at over the past several weeks. The way I am seeing it now, I see Bernard’s early stage of spiritual growth as agreeing with Jesus’ statement about losing one’s life for His and the Gospel’s sake. While self-love and self-care are good and necessary for our early development, they are but a foundation for further development. Soon, we care equally about our neighbor, and extend to our neighbor the same healthy love that we show ourselves. More and more, our focus becomes other-oriented until we find that last stage in which we lose ourselves, as Bernard says, “emptied and lost and swallowed up in God.”
But as Bernard and Swedenborg both say, we do not stay here. This is where I find a profound and wonderful comment on life from Swedenborg. He tells us that angels as well as people will find themselves in times of deep union with God and times of distance from God. And like the seasons, which are now beginning to change, to alternate between these feelings of intense love and less intense love.
Angels are not constantly in the same state in respect to love, and in consequence in the same state in respect to wisdom; for all their wisdom is from their love and in accordance with their love. Sometimes they are in a state of intense love, sometimes in a state of love not so intense. The state decreases by degrees from its greatest degree to its least. When in their greatest degree of love they are in the light and warmth of their life, or in a clear and delightful state; but in their least degree they are in shade and cold, or in an obscure and undelightful state. From this last state they return again to the first, and so on, these alternations following one after another with variety (HH 155).
Like so much in Swedenborg, this description of the life of angels is not just limited to angels. I think a little introspection will show us that we, too, go through similar alternations of more intense love and nearness to God and less intense love and more distance from God.
Always the rationalist, Swedenborg gives us a reason for these spiritual seasons. It is our proprium, or our sense of self-love, that draws us away from the rapture of being filled with God. And as our proprium relents its hold on our soul, we open up again to being filled with God’s love and wisdom. But it is to be said that these cycles are all cycles of love. We are drawn to self because we love what is ours. And we leave self because we love, too, what is of God.
Angels, as well as men, have what is their own (proprium), which is loving self; and all that are in heaven are withheld from what is their own, and so far as they are withheld from it by the Lord are in love and wisdom; but so far as they are not withheld they are in the love of self; and because every one loves what is his own and is drawn by it they have changes of state or successive alternations (HH 158).
“A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” “Whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospel’s will find it.”
And furthermore, there is a benefit to these spiritual changes. Through these alternations of state, we come to recognize and feel what goodness, love, and innocence are like. We sense heavenly feelings better. And we more readily open ourselves to receive God’s inflowing life, love, peace, and wisdom.
They are in this way perfected, for they thus become accustomed to being held in love to the Lord and withheld from love of self; also that by alternations between delight and lack of delight the perception and sense of good becomes more exquisite (HH 158).
There’s no right or wrong, good or bad about these cycles. We are moved by love to involve ourselves in self-love and then to return to God-love. In both ways it is love that moves us and there are enjoyments to be found in both. However, I should add that when we are filled with God, the loves we feel are much more intense, peaceful, and even delightful. As Swedenborg says, through these alternations we become accustomed to being held by God in heavenly states. As we grow accustomed to being held in heaven, or in God–the two mean the same thing–then the words of Isaiah become increasingly meaningful.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me (50:8).
The only threat to us is our selves, and our own loves. It is only the worldly self, the lower self, the proprium that draws us away from God and heaven. But even in doing this, proprium teaches us to be held in God. From delight to delight our pathway is ever upward to God and ever upward to heaven. For as Bernard says,
I would count him blessed and holy to whom such rapture has been vouchsafed in this mortal life, for even an instant to lose thyself, as if thou wert emptied and lost and swallowed up in God, is no human love; it is celestial.

PRAYER

Lord, we give you thanks for your continual love and care for the whole human race. Although we seek you with our whole heart, we know that there are times when we fall away from you and engross ourselves in selfish and worldly desires. Yet we know that you remain constant, constantly loving us, constantly drawing us toward you like the unseen currents in the ocean. Give us patience when we fall away, and give us hope that we will soon respond to your unceasing love and return to your presence and your heavenly joys. For in you alone will our soul find rest, peace, innocence and tranquility.

Taking Care of Ourselves
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
September 9, 2012

Isaiah 35:4-10 Mark 7:24-37 Psalm 125

This morning’s Bible readings are about healing. In our reading from Isaiah, we heard about healing people:
The eyes of the blind shall be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then will the lame leap like a dear,
and the tongue of the dumb shout for joy (35:5-6).
And we heard about healing the earth:
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.
The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground bubbling springs (vs. 7).
And in our reading from Mark, Jesus healed a little girl possessed by an unclean spirit, and he healed a man of deafness and gave him speech.
Caring for our health is both a spiritual and a natural concern. We need to care for ourselves in order to be of service to others and ultimately to be of service to God. For Jesus tells us that, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all” (Mark 9:35). Caring for ourselves is a healthy form of self love, I think. And this includes caring for our bodies, and living a healthy natural life in the world.
We need to care for our bodies because our bodies serve our mind and spirit. We are essentially what we think and love. And our body acts to serve our thinking and desires to bring them into act. Swedenborg tells us,
It is known that every one’s quality is determined by the quality of his understanding and will; and it can also be known that his earthly body is formed to serve the understanding and the will in the world, and to skillfully accomplish their uses in the outmost sphere of nature. For this reason the body by itself can do nothing, but is moved always in entire subservience to the bidding of the understanding and will, even to the extent that whatever a man thinks he speaks with his tongue and lips, and whatever he wills he does kith his body and limbs, and thus the understanding and the bill are what act, while the body by itself does nothing. Evidently, then, the things of the understanding and will are what make man; and as these act into the minutest particulars of the body (HH 60).
So we will want a healthy body in order for it to serve our soul’s wishes. We need a healthy body to serve a healthy mind. So we can take pleasure in good and healthy food, in order to nourish our bodies, which in turn serve our souls.
One who is in merely external pleasures, makes much of himself, indulges his stomach, loves to live sumptuously, and makes the height of pleasure to consist in eatables and drinkables. One who is in internal things also finds pleasure in these things, but his ruling affection is to nourish his body with food pleasurably for the sake of its health, to the end that he may have a sound mind in a sound body, thus chiefly for the sake of the health of the mind, to which the health of the body serves as a means (AC 4459).
In Swedenborg’s system of Biblical symbolism, the vision of renewing the desert that we heard about in Isaiah refers to renewing the outer level of our personality. It means bringing healthy modes of life into our day-to-day relationships. For the land signifies our behaviors and the emotions of our lives. Renewing the land signifies letting God’s Spirit into our minds and hearts and bringing spiritual life to the desert of our lower nature, or natural level. This also is what Jesus’ healings mean. Jesus’ healings showed His love for the human race. It is God’s nature to relieve human suffering. But the healings also depict healing the human soul of the infirmities that would block God’s inflowing love and life.
To all appearances, we are the agents of this renewal. Although it is God alone who heals, renews, and regenerates, we need to act with God in this process. Even as God comes to us, and regenerates us, so we need to turn to God and make room for His Holy Spirit. We need to act in accordance with God’s promptings in order to care for our soul’s health. So I’ll call this process showing love for ourselves for the sake of God.
Taking care of ourselves in a spiritual sense makes our souls a home for God. We love God when we live in a Godly fashion. God is loving, gentle, and kind. And so when we follow God, we treat ourselves lovingly, gently, and kindly. So we can love ourselves, and treat ourselves well as temples in which God’s Spark dwells.
St. Bernard wrote a treatise on Loving God that revolves around self-love. He describes a four-stage process by which we come into relationship with God. In the first stage, we love ourselves. Like Swedenborg, Bernard says that we begin our spiritual life by caring about ourselves only. But this is not seen as wicked or evil, but rather as a first stage in a four-step journey. So Bernard tells us,
But nature is so frail and weak that necessity compels her to love herself first; and this is
carnal love, wherewith man loves himself first and selfishly, as it is written, ‘That was not first which is spiritual but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual’ (1 Corinthians 15:46).
But very quickly, this love expands to include our neighbor.
‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself’. And this is right: for he who shares our nature should share our love, itself the fruit of nature.
And Bernard allows us to enjoy and celebrate who we are, provided we extend the same privileges to our neighbor,
He may cherish himself as tenderly as he chooses, if only he remembers to show the same indulgence to his neighbor.
This seems to me a good interpretation of the injunction to love our neighbor “as ourselves.” As we cherish ourselves, so we cherish our neighbor. This is all included in the first stage of love.
In the second stage we begin to love God because we need God’s help. We are hit with afflictions and calamities in life, and we turn to God for help.
So when man’s strength fails and God comes to his aid, it is meet and right that man, rescued by God’s hand, should glorify Him, as it is written, ‘Call upon Me in the time of trouble; so will I hear thee, and thou shalt praise Me’ (Psalm 50:15). In such wise man, animal and carnal by nature, and loving only himself, begins to love God by reason of that very self-love; since he learns that in God he can accomplish all things that are good, and that without God he can do nothing.
So our self-love causes us to turn to God. And God is faithful and gracious to us, giving us what our soul needs.
In the third stage we begin to love God because of who God is. We come to know God’s graciousness through the many prayers we pray in times of distress. Our experience of God teaches us about God’s nature. And we come to love God for who God is.
But when tribulations, recurring again and again, constrain him to turn to God for unfailing help, would not even a heart as hard as iron, as cold as marble, be softened by the goodness of such a Savior, so that he would love God not altogether selfishly, but because He is God? Let frequent troubles drive us to frequent supplications; and surely, tasting, we must see how gracious the Lord is (Psalm 34:8). Thereupon His goodness once realized draws us to love Him unselfishly, yet more than our own needs impel us to love Him selfishly.
In this third stage, we love God not out of necessity anymore. Bernard says, “No longer do we love God because of our necessity, but because we have tasted and seen how gracious the Lord is.”
But the fourth stage is most remarkable. And this brings us back to our topic this Sunday. In the fourth stage, we love ourselves for the sake of God. In a sense, we lose ourselves in God. But this causes us to view ourselves in an entirely different way. We love ourselves in God. Bernard talks about both losing ourselves in God and also loving ourselves in God. In the fourth stage of love, a person “does not even love self save for God’s sake.”
Swedenborg seems to agree with this final stage of spiritual attainment. We are all here for the sake of serving our neighbor and for serving God. And self-care means bringing ourselves into a condition whereby we can serve others and serve God. Our self-care is for God’s sake and for our neighbor’s sake. And for their sake we love ourselves, our health, and our souls.
One who is a spiritual man . . . regards the health of the mind or soul as a means for the acquisition of intelligence and wisdom–not for the sake of reputation, honors, and gain, but for the sake of the life after death. One who is spiritual in a more interior degree regards intelligence and wisdom as a mediate end having for its object that he may serve as a useful member in the Lord’s kingdom; and one who is a celestial man, that he may serve the Lord (AC 4459).
Although it is only God who gives us our natural and spiritual life and health, we need to join God in co-creating our spirit. In this sense, we are the custodians of our well-being. In this sense, we are the ones who need care for our spiritual well-being and our natural health. We need to love ourselves in order to keep ourselves a holy temple in which God can dwell. Then we will be truly happy in God and with ourselves.

PRAYER

Dear Lord, help us to be good stewards of the gifts you have given us. May we take care of ourselves as well as we do others. And may we care for our neighbors with the same concern and solicitude with which we care for ourselves. You have told us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. May we be given to love ourselves so that we may care for your divine spark that dwells in the depths of our being. And may we be given to care for our neighbor as well, for whatever we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to you.