Church of the Holy City

In the Beginning Was the Word
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
September 26, 2010

Jeremiah 1:4-10 John 1:1-18 Psalm 119

In our New Testament reading this morning we heard the words, “In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This Word is the first proceeding of God, or God’s Divine Truth. And it is this Divine Truth, this Word that was in the beginning with God and was God, this Word is our Bible. Swedenborg tells us,
There are two things which proceed from the Lord, Divine Love and Divine Wisdom; or, what is the same, Divine Good and Divine Truth; for Divine Good is of His Divine Love, and Divine Truth is of His Divine Wisdom. The Word in its essence is both of these (Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture 3).
The Bible is entirely holy and of God. It is spiritual in all its parts and as a whole. Swedenborg states that,
The style of the Word is the Divine style itself, with which no other can be compared, however sublime and excellent it may seem. The style of the Word is such that the holiness is in every sentence and in every word, even in some places in the very letters (TCR 191).
This may be evident in parts like the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament, or the two great commandments of the New Testament.
But then there are many parts of the Bible that don’t appear so holy. Swedenborg comments on this.
The Word treats now of Egypt, now of Assyria, now of Edom, of Moab, of the sons of Ammon, of the Philistines, of Tyre and Sidon, and of Gog. He who does not know that by their names are signified things of heaven and the church may be led into the error that the Word treats much of peoples and nations, and but little of heaven and the church (TCR 200).
And there are countless other passages that don’t seem particularly holy. There are the descriptions of the historical wanderings of Abraham and his children; there are the wars of conquest in which the children of Israel come into Canaan; there are those tedious descriptions of the construction of the tabernacle and temple; there are descriptions of geography such as hills, mountains, seas; there are nature descriptions of vines, cedar trees, forests, groves, and gardens; there are descriptions of animals like sheep, goats, oxen, calves, lions, bears and other things. “Where is the holiness in all this?” a person may wonder. “How does this relate to my spiritual life and my relationship with God?”
Swedenborg’s answer is that these apparently worldly things are symbols of spiritual things. He calls them “correspondences.” These are natural objects that contain spiritual realities the way our body contains our soul.
The Word of the Lord is like a body in which is a living soul. The things belonging to the soul do not appear while the mind is so fixed on bodily things that it scarcely believes that there is a soul . . . .So it is with the Word of the Lord: its bodily things are those which are of the sense of the letter, and when the mind is kept in them, the internal things are not seen at all . . . . So likewise the histories of the Word and the particular expressions in the Word are common, natural, and indeed material vessels, in which are things spiritual and heavenly; and these in no way come into view except by the internal sense (AC 1408).
So the story elements in the Bible that appear to be taken from this world are like the Bible’s body that holds spiritual and heavenly realities. The spiritual and heavenly realities are what Swedenborg calls the Bible’s internal sense.
Swedenborg isn’t alone in thinking that the Bible has an internal sense. The Jew Philo of Alexander interpreted the Old testament symbolically. And the Christians Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas also thought that the Bible has an internal sense. And these theologians pointed to the same things I have alluded to. There are too many things in the Bible that don’t appear spiritual, and at the same time, we know that the Bible is God’s Word.
So it is clear that the Bible treats of spiritual matters by means of natural objects. Some of these correspondences are described by Swedenborg,
by Egypt is signified knowledges, by Assyria rationality, by Edom the natural, by Moab adulteration of good, by the sons of Ammon the adulteration of truth, by the Philistines faith without charity, by Tyre and Sidon knowledges of good and truth, and by Gog external worship without internal (TCR 200).
By the tabernacle built by Moses in the wilderness was represented heaven and the church . . . wherefore the form of it was shown by Jehovah on Mount Sinai; consequently all the things which were in the tabernacle–the candlestick, the golden altar for incense, and the table upon which was the bread of presence–represented and signified the holy things of heaven and the church (TCR 220).
But I don’t think that we need to decode the Bible in such a literal way when we read it. The spiritual and heavenly realities that form the internal sense of the Bible come to us as we are reading it. They come to us intuitively. Not as a correlation of this-with-that, but rather as a warming of our heart and an illumination of our mind. If we approach the Bible in a holy manner when we read it, the angels will come near us and still our minds, warm our hearts, and illuminate our minds.
the Word vivifies the affections of the will of a person who reads it in a holy state, and from the light of that life enlightens the thoughts of his understanding (AR 200).
The Bible came from God, through heaven to the prophets on earth. And since that is its origin and descent, all those higher realms open to us when we read the Bible. We are moved by the heavenly presences that come to us when the Bible is read devoutly.
. . . a person who reads the Word in a holy manner, is by such correspondence conjoined closely with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord, . . . The holy itself which is then with a person, is from an influx of celestial and spiritual thoughts and affections such as angels have (AC 3735).
In fact, since the Bible is the Word and was in the beginning with God, and is God, God Himself is present in the devout reading of the Bible.
By means of the Word the Lord is present with a person and is conjoined with him, since the Lord is the Word, and as it were speaks with the person in it; also because the Lord is the Divine Truth itself, and the Word is too. It is manifest from this that the Lord is present with a person, and at the same time is conjoined with him, according to his understanding of the Word; for according to this understanding the person has truth and hence faith, and also love and thence life (Doctrine of the Sacred Scriptures 78).
I am often affected when I read the Bible at home. I notice my breathing slow and become regular. My mind stills and grows peaceful. I feel greater love in my heart. And this happens whatever I seem to be reading. But this doesn’t happen when I read the Bible for the purposes of historical study. This happens to me when I read it as God’s Word and with reverence. I don’t often find answers to my life’s worries and concerns when I read the Bible. Rather, I feel as if I am lifted out of that whole state of mind into a more elevated consciousness. The worries and concerns I came to the Bible with, dissolve and I am at peace with life.
I invite you all to hear the Bible in this manner when I read it during the worship services on Sunday mornings. Many of you have commented to me how much you like my sermons. And I am truly thankful whenever I get positive feedback–I put a lot of work, research, and thought into my sermons. But I think that it is the Bible reading that is the most important part of the worship service. The Bible reading is God’s Word, not human words.
And I commend to you regular reading of the Bible on your own at home. I think we all would benefit for a few moments taken aside from the cares of this life to read a short Bible passage and to breathe with heaven’s respiration as we read. You may find that your life evens out, becomes more orderly and peaceful. You may not know where Moab is, or Edom. But there are passages that you will be able to follow with some clarity. And while you are reading, your spirit will open up to the angels around you, and ultimately bring you into God’s presence. That would be a fine place to begin or end your day.

Trust and God’s Providence
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
September 19, 2010

Numbers 13:17-33 John 4:43-53 Psalm 115

Today’s Bible readings concern trust and doubt. The Israelites questioned whether God could bring them into the Promised Land. It is called the Promised Land because God promised Abraham that He would bring his descendents into the land of Canaan. Moses repeats this promise, and sends out spies to explore the land of Canaan and see if it is a good land or not. Also, Moses asks them to see if it would be possible to take the land. The spies return and say that it is indeed a land flowing with milk and honey. As evidence of the goodness of the land, they bring back a cluster of grapes, some pomegranates and figs. But they doubt whether they can take the land or not. They say that the cities are fortified and the people are powerful. They mention the descendents of Anak, who are described as giants in the Bible. The Israelites say that they seemed as grasshoppers compared to the Anakites. They don’t trust God’s promise, and say that they cannot overcome the residents of Canaan. Only Caleb alone says that they can succeed. Only Caleb trusts in God’s promise.
In our New testament reading, things are different. A certain royal official has a son who was close to death. He begs Jesus to come to his home and heal his son. Jesus tells him right on the spot that he can go home, and that his son will live. Upon returning home, the official finds his son well. He asks when his son got better and finds that it was the exact moment when Jesus said he would live. Then the man, and all his household believe. There seems to be some question about the trust of this official. He asks Jesus to heal his son, which implies faith. But Jesus seems to think that until they see a wonder, they won’t believe. Jesus says, “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders you will never believe” (John 4:48). And the story says that it is only after the healing that the people believe. But they do believe in the end.
These stories reflect our own experiences in life. We all go through challenges and difficult times that may make our trust in God waver. The Gospel Word is to trust God throughout life’s challenges. Jesus tells us to rest in His power. When we are weary and burdened, Jesus tells us to lay our burdens on Him and rest in His care.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matt. 11:28-29).
He tells us to trust that He will take care of us. He knows us intimately, and will look out for us.
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows (Matt 10:29-31).
Swedenborg affirms this Gospel message. He tells us that God’s Divine Providence is guiding us in even the smallest areas of our lives.
It is to be known that the Divine Providence is universal, that is, in things the most minute; and that they who are in the stream of this providence are borne continually toward happiness, whatever may be the appearance of the means (AC 8478).
These messages are the voice of religion in our lives. This is the faith that Christians are called to trust in. Through all the events in our lives, we are called to believe that God is working to bring us into his kingdom and thus into greater and greater heavenly joy and happiness.
But in Swedenborg’s own language there is that small but alarming phrase. “They who are in the stream of this providence are borne continually toward happiness, whatever may be the appearance of the means.” And it is that means that becomes the question for many of us. The means by which we are borne toward happiness may not always be an easy road.
This is what the story about the spies sent into Canaan refers to. Many readers of the Old Testament are put off by all the fighting in the Old Testament. And the conquest of Canaan involved fighting with the residents there. It was a conquest. It was a conquest in which the children of Israel prevailed over the Canaanites and basically took over their land. When we read the story literally, this doesn’t seem right. It doesn’t seem right for a foreign race to take over another people, and deprive them of their land. But in Swedenborg’s Bible interpretation, we are asked to look deeper into the story. We are asked to see the story as a symbol of our own spiritual life. This means that the Amalekites, the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites are all inside us. They refer to aspects of our personality that we need to reckon with and to overcome. The various nations in Canaan are challenges to our spiritual life that we must contend with. These are the events in our lives that cause us struggle, doubt, and fear. They are the limitations, the shortcomings, the sins that block the sunlight of the soul.
These personality elements cause us doubt and despair. They make us wonder if God can truly deliver us from our hardships. Sometimes, it looks as if we are bereft from God, and left alone in a hostile world. They make it hard to live in God’s promise. They make it difficult to trust that even the hairs of our heads are numbered. It takes a great leap of faith to hold on to the Gospel promise, and believe that God is leading us into greater and greater happiness regardless of the appearance of how this is happening. We have many anxieties in this life. And it is hard to look beyond these anxieties, sometimes. Swedenborg writes,
As regards the happiness of eternal life, the person who is in affection for good and truth cannot feel it when he is living in the world, but a certain enjoyment instead. The reason is, that in the body he is in worldly cares and in anxieties thence which prevent the happiness of eternal life, which is inwardly in him, from being manifested in any other way at that time. For when this happiness flows in from the interior into the cares and anxieties that are with the person outwardly, it sinks down among the cares and anxieties there, and becomes a kind of obscure enjoyment; but still it is an enjoyment in which there is a blessedness and in this a happiness (AC 3938).
When we are in anxiety about the things of this world, it may be very hard for us to feel that heavenly happiness that is flowing in from the inside. This is when we must above all have that trust in God, that even the hairs of our heads are numbered. We need to look up from the world, and know that there is a higher order of things than what this world has to offer. When we can see things from the point of view of eternity, things we experience in our day-to-day life are put in perspective. Then we are able to bear life’s difficulties better. Swedenborg paints a pretty idealistic picture of how the person of faith bears the difficulties of this world. He says that people who trust in the Divine do not have care about what tomorrow brings:
These, notwithstanding they have care for the morrow, still have none; for they do not think of the morrow with solicitude, still less with anxiety. They bear it with an even temperament, whether they get the things they desire or not; neither do they lament over the loss of them; they are content with their lot. If they become rich, they do not set their heart upon riches; if they are raised to honors, they do not regard themselves as more worthy than others; if they become poor, they are not made sad; if their condition be low, they are not dejected. They know that all things advance toward a happy state in eternity for those who put their trust in the Divine, and that whatever befalls them in time conduces thereto (AC 8478).
If we can only see things that way, we will live a more peaceful life. If we trust in God’s Providence, we will know that God is always with us. We will know that when we come to God, and lay our burden on Him, we will find rest for our souls. We will know that God is always bringing us into greater heavenly happiness. Is this too idealistic? Swedenborg gets even more idealistic. He says that, “so far as any one is in the stream of the Divine Providence, so far he or she is in a state of peace” (AC 8478). If we can only trust in God, if we can only believe that God is looking out for our eternal welfare, if we can only have the faith of Caleb, then we can bear whatever comes our way. This may be a hard lesson. There’s a song lyric from a band I knew in Florida that speaks to this issue. In a song written by Heather Brooks, we hear the following line, “Without those desperate hours, would we ever turn to you, and recognize our weakness?” Sometimes we need to be thoroughly shaken up to turn to God and rest in His care. To the Israelite spies it was too hard a lesson. But if we keep an open eye, we may see miracles working in our lives. We may find ourselves healed of the shortcomings that inhibit our birthright of joy. We may believe that God can bring us into a happiness we could never have imagined earlier in life. This is God’s promise to us. “And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).

God’s Call to Communion
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
September 12, 2010

Exodus 3:1-12 Mark 1:14-22 Psalm 65

As we begin our regular church season this Sunday, I thought I would reflect on what a church is. So I selected Bible readings about God calling people into community with Himself. For a church truly lives when it is a people called together by God for God and in God’s name.
In our Old Testament reading, we heard about the call to Moses. Moses was tending the flocks of his Father in law, Jethro on the Mountain of God called Horeb. Here, Moses sees the burning bush, and God calls to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses.” Moses responds positively to this call, “Here am I.” It is only later, when God commissions Moses to lead Israel out of bondage that Moses begins to hedge in his response to God’s call.
In our New testament passage, Jesus calls Simon, Andrew, James and John. Jesus calls these Apostles immediately upon beginning His ministry. They are fishermen, and when Jesus calls them, they immediately leave their nets to follow Him. In this story, we don’t see the reluctance that Moses exhibits. But then, again, they are not called to be the sole deliverer of an entire people.
What I wish to focus on is the call of God, and the response of those called. The call of God in both our stories is the beginning of religions. When Moses is called, it is the beginning of Judaism. And when the Apostles are called, it is the beginning of Christianity. And when God calls to us, and when we respond, it is the beginning of religion in our own hearts.
What I find significant in these stories of God’s call, is that they happen in the everyday life of the people called. There is no special preparation that the person goes through. Moses is tending his father in law’s flocks and the Apostles are fishing. They are both at work, in their day-to-day lives. God’s call to us can come wherever we are. It can come to us at the workplace. It can come to us in our family life. It can come to us as we are driving in our cars. It can come to us anywhere.
What is the essence of God’s call? First, it is one of understanding. As God tells Moses, He has, “heard their cry,” “I know their suffering,” and, “I have come to deliver them . . . and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” When God calls to us, He knows intimately our lives, our worries, our concerns, and our joys. God calls to us with full knowledge of our needs. And God comes to us to deliver us from our problems and to bring us into a good place. This happens when we follow God’s call, as the Apostles did. They immediately left their worldly concerns behind and followed Jesus. So God calls us from complete understanding of where we are in life, and asks us to follow Him. And when we follow Him, He will bring us to a good place.
God’s call to us is continuous throughout our lives. It begins with the very simple, “I am here.” And our response begins with the very simple acknowledgement that there is a God. This may not be a dramatic burning bush. It may be a still, small voice in our hearts. It may be a feeling of presence. It may be a feeling of peace and tranquility. But it is an inner acknowledgement from our hearts that there is a God, and that spirituality matters in our lives.
This acknowledgement of God is the beginning of the church with us. When Swedenborg uses the word “church,” he means the heart and mind of a person. When we have God in our hearts, then we have the church with us. We carry the church around with us wherever we go. We have the church in us in our work and family life when we have God in us. This is what we bring to the church building on Sundays.
The church building is a place where our spiritual life can come out and manifest. The congregation is spiritually alive when everyone brings to it their own feelings and thinking about God. The minister leads the worship service, but it is the spirituality that people bring with them as they go through the liturgy that makes the church spiritually alive. It is God that calls us into communion with Himself, and when we are in communion with God, it is the minister who calls forth people’s living connection with God through the liturgy. When we join together in worship, God fills the sanctuary with His presence. And when worship works, we leave touched again by the living Spirit of God. Hopefully, the minister leaves the congregation with inspiration and something to apply to their lives in the sermon. But I think that it is the whole worship experience, from the first hymn to the final benediction, that elicits from everyone their experiences with God. I know when I come to church, almost always I leave feeling better than when I arrive. The service uplifts me, quiets my mind, and opens my heart to feel love for God and for my fellows. In this sense, the worship service is like a holiday. It refreshes the spirit and relaxes the mind, giving one energy to return to the world ready for the upcoming work week. It recharges our spiritual batteries.
For God calls to us in our work, too. Being busy in the affairs of the world is not a distraction from God. In the affairs of the world we have a place to do good to our neighbor. Ultimately, what is good, whatever it is, is the neighbor. Doing good in any way we do it is loving the neighbor. It doesn’t have to be only person to person. So Swedenborg writes,
Charity itself is to act justly and faithfully in the office, business, and work in which one is, because all things which a man so does are of use to society; and use is good; and good, in a sense apart from persons, is the neighbor (TCR 422).
People who act faithfully in their work life become more and more a form of charity, or goodness. Whenever we are honest, faithful, sincere, and just, we are practicing charity, or good will. And God calls us into such a life during the week when we are not in church. God may help us to make a business decision we need to make. God may help us to choose between two options we are confronted with in work. God may help us to apportion our time so that it is well-spent. These actions are our response to God’s call and form the church inside us. The kind of character that such a life forms is described by Swedenborg,
Charity may be defined as doing good to the neighbor, daily and continually; and not only to the neigbor individually, but also collectively; and this can be done only by means of what is good and just in the office, business, and work in which one is, and in his relations with whom he has dealings; for this he does daily; and when he is not doing it, it still continually has place in his mind, and he has it in thought and intention. The person who practices charity, becomes charity in form more and more; for justice and faithfulness for his or her mind, and their exercise forms his or her body; and little by little, from his or her form one wills and thinks only what is of charity. Such become at length like those of whom it is said in the Word, that they have the law written on their hearts (TCR 423).
Although Swedenborg here emphasizes the workplace, he also includes in this definition of charity one’s relations with others. Do we give others the benefit of the doubt? Do we refrain from judging–or at least do we judge with understanding? Are we honest and sincere? These ways of acting are what make us into an image of charity. And in acting in this way, we are responding to God’s call daily and moment by moment. For ultimately, God is our best friend. And our dealing with others is a reflection of how we deal with God.
When a person is living in this manner, then they are a church in its smallest form. Then a person has the church inside them. And then, when such a person comes to the church building and participates in the liturgy, they bring God to the whole. When a church building is filled with people who are all bringing God to the whole, then the church is a vital, living institution. The church isn’t only us calling to God. The church is also God calling to us, and us responding.

Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
August 22, 2010

Exodus 15:11-18 John 15:9-17 Psalm 33

This morning I thought I’d reflect on God’s infinite love. When we say “infinite love” it may be hard to grasp just what it means. Our minds cannot understand infinity. Therefore, I thought I’d say a few things about how God’s love interacts with us, and how tirelessly and lovingly God strives to bring us into a mutual relationship with Himself. And since all joy comes from what we love, when God brings us into His infinite love, He is bringing us into as much joy and happiness as we can bear.
Before we can understand how God unceasingly loves us, we need to do away with some false ideas about God. One false idea about God comes from too literal a reading of parts of the Old Testament. From some places, one can get the idea that God is a punishing God. That God takes revenge–even down to the 7th generation of those who offend Him. One can get the idea that God damns people to hell. Or that God sits on high making a list of all the offences that we mortals commit. But God is none of these things. When the Bible was written, long, long ago, people thought that way, so they saw God that way. Even so, there are other passages that talk about God’s unfailing love, as in the Psalm we read this morning. There, we find the words, “May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you” (Psalm 33:22). As our hopes rest in God, we will find His unfailing love. So God is not the damning, punishing God we can sometimes read about in the Old Testament. Swedenborg writes,
as [God] wills only what is good He can do nothing but what is good. . . . From these few statements it can be seen how deluded those are who think, still more, those who believe, and still more those who teach, that God can damn anyone, curse anyone, send anyone to hell, predestine any soul to eternal death, avenge wrongs, be angry or punish. he cannot even turn Himself away from a person, nor look upon him with a stern countenance (TCR 56).
On the contrary, God is nothing but love and mercy. God wants to give to the whole human race all that He has. He wants to give everyone happiness and peace. We can think about the love that parents have for their children when we think about God. Parents never cease to care for their children. Parents want always to help their children. Parents want to give to their children all they can to make their lives happy. This is an image of heavenly love, which angels extend to everyone, and which God extends to everyone.
Heavenly love is not to wish to be one’s own, but to belong to all; so that one wishes to give all the things which are one’s own to others; in this the essence of heavenly love consists. The Lord, because He is love itself, or the essence and life of the love of all in the heavens, wishes to give to the human race all things that are His (AC 1419).
And in order to make us happy, God gently lifts us out of our harmful behaviors and the evils that limit true joy. This is the nature of love, and God is love itself.
To love itself, no other attributes are competent than those which are of pure love; thus of pure mercy towards the universal human race; which is, that it wills to save all and make them happy to eternity, and to transfer into them all things of its own; thus from pure mercy to draw all who are willing to follow to heaven; that is, to itself, by the strong power of love (AC 1735).
It’s passages like this that cause me to reflect on my own life. A while back I was in a very unhappy place. In fact, I was miserable. But as is so often the case, I was in love with my misery. Not happy as I am now, but happy to be a miserable cuss. Several factors made me that way. First, there was the University system itself. In higher education, there is the idea that life is meaningless and bleak. I remember a friend of mine coming into the classroom, dropping her books on the table and exclaiming, “Do I really have to believe that everything is meaningless in order to maintain my academic credibility?” I mentioned this to a professor of mine later, and he said, “yes.” If I wrote a paper on how happy my life was and that I believed in a loving, caring God, it would have been rejected. So, in order to survive, I came to accept some of that outlook. But there was more. I had suffered what I thought were some personal betrayals and setbacks. My own dreams seemed crushed. This made me bitter, cynical, and angry at life. And I had no concern for the world around me. I said what I wanted, and made my own pain everyone else’s pain. I said uncaring things, and made everyone who came around me as miserable as I was. I was living most of my waking life in bars, when I wasn’t in the classroom. And a couple bar owners, who had come to like me, actually gave me a heart-to-heart. They told me that they knew that I had gone through some hard times, but could I please be nicer to their wait-staff, who had complained about how mean and harsh I was treating them. I didn’t care and I didn’t change. It was as if I was trying to be evil. I ended up being kicked out of my favorite bars. It came to the point where I was drinking alone and drowning my poor, wounded self in alcohol. (One bar remembered me two years later and still wouldn’t let me in.) But through all this, I still believed in God. It was just that my personal contact with God seemed very distant. I don’t know if I’m alone in this. And this isn’t the whole story. I did have some friends, and there were some moments of happiness. It’s just that these evils stand out from this period in my life. Perhaps others can see a point in their lives where the light of God’s love seemed distant.
But God didn’t leave me there. I look back on that miserable time, and I wonder. In fact, when I look back on that time in my life, I’m scared for how I could have ended up. I am now living such a more full, happy, and loving life, it’s almost hard for me to imagine my life back then. I am free of resentments and anger. I am no longer cynical or bitter. I see the good things God has given me, and I am grateful for the life I have. I try to be good to all the people I come in contact with, instead of spreading misery. This change was all God’s doing. As Swedenborg says, “the Divine love is to will the salvation of all and the happiness of all from inmosts and in fullness” (HH 397). And what I am talking about is genuine salvation. As I look back on it, I envision God smiling on me saying, “My dear David, trying so hard to be bad.” I can’t point to any one great saving event that changed me. Of course the program of AA was a big help. But beside that, I can point only to God’s ceaseless love washing over me, lifting me out of the hell I had made for myself. He surrounded me with good, loving, and I must add tolerant people. I think of a line from Saint Augustine, “O Lord, Thou pluckest me out.” God lifts him out of what he called the fleshpots of his life, even as God had lifted me out of the misery I had built up for myself.
This story shows the nature of God, as God really is. God was thinking how I was depriving myself of the joy and happiness that heaven consists in. And God wanted to bring me into a loving relationship with Himself and with my neighbors. And He wanted this, because He knows that all true joy and happiness come from love and from giving. So rather than judge the bad things in me, and condemn me to hell, God instead lifted me up to a place where I could begin to receive heaven into my heart. He lifted me up to a place where God’s very essence of love, joy, and happiness could fill my heart and fill me with the happiness I now know. We all have that capacity to receive God’s continually inflowing love and wisdom. Swedenboirg tells us,
By accepting love and wisdom from the Lord, we are then raised up and furnished with all the means for the acceptance of love and wisdom. Moreover, we are so created that we can accept them if we are only willing to (DLW 171).
I might dispute Swedenborg, here, because I don’t know exactly how willing I really was to receive God’s love and wisdom. But somehow God got through.
That’s the way God is. That is the God that I worship and adore. That’s the way God’s love for the whole human race operates. Swedenborg describes God as the source of everything joyous in heaven–which we can to some degree know now on earth.
Heavenly love is not to wish to be one’s own, but to belong to all; so that one wishes to give all the things which are one’s own to others; in this the essence of heavenly love consists. The Lord, because He is love itself, or the essence and life of the love of all in the heavens, wishes to give to the human race all things that are His (AC 1419).
I’m still a work in progress, as we all are. God’s love acts upon us throughout our lives and through eternity, drawing everyone upward into a deeper relationship with Himself and into greater happiness. We need only remain open to God, and it is His pleasure to give us the kingdom.

The Many Colors of Charity
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
August 8, 2010

Exodus 12:30-38 John 4:3-15, 20-26 Psalm 22

Religion can be summed up in Jesus’ two great commandments: love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and love the neighbor as yourself. Thus we find religion as a force uniting everyone as neighbors in God’s care and love. But too often, we find religion separating people, and differing beliefs become a source of division between neighbors. And we also find other external things that cause division between people such as race, nationality, and socio-economic standing. But love for the neighbor means that we must put aside the things that divide. To be true Christians, we must look beyond the external things that cause us to look askance at our brothers and sisters. Our Bible readings this morning talk about inclusiveness between people, and argue against division. They treat of union between people of differing backgrounds, races, and nationalities.
Israel first takes on an identity as a people with the Exodus. We heard about the Exodus this morning. And as Israel becomes a nation united under Yahweh, they are an inclusive group. The Bible tells us that, “A mixed multitude went up with them” (Ex. 12:38). This means that all the many peoples in Egypt who were escaping oppression from the Egyptian power structure joined with the Israelites in their flight. The presence of foreigners in the Israelite population continues throughout the history of Israel. There are laws that recur repeatedly against oppressing foreigners with the reminder that the Israelites were foreigners in Egypt. It is only later in Israelite history that ethnic purity is called for, and even then there are voices that oppose it.
Jesus also shows openness toward those of differing ethnicity than the Jews. We heard about this in the story of the woman at the well. She is a Samaritan, and she is surprised that Jesus is talking with her. She says, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” The editor then adds, “For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.” The Jews looked down on the Samaritans in Jesus’ day. The Samaritans were originally brought to Israel from Assyria, so their bloodline was not Jewish. Their religious practice and texts differed from that of Judaism, so the Jews saw them as not orthodox, in fact, heretics. We see something of this in the woman’s words. She says, “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem” (John 4:20). This is a reference to Mount Gerizim, where the Samaritans had their own temple. There was outright hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans at various times in their history. And yet we find Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman and offering her the gift of eternal life. The feud between Samaria and Judea is also alluded to in the famous parable about the good Samaritan. This parable is so well known that we can forget the ethnicity of the Samaritan man who shows compassion. Jesus uses the despised Samaritan man as an example of love to the neighbor, while the ritually pure Levite and priest are the ones who do not show love. Jesus was also open to other marginalized and despised people–tax collectors, prostitutes, thieves, and even Pharisees.
We find the theme of inclusiveness in the Psalm we read this morning. There we find, “All the ends of the earth will remember the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow before Him.” The Nations refers to those countries outside Israel, and we see that they and the whole earth will worship the Lord.
These scriptures need to be taken to heart. Christ’s openness to all peoples calls us into a like openness. Our Christian charity needs to extend to the whole world. We need to open our arms to all peoples and races–black, Native, Chinese, Middle-Eastern, East Indian, and people of all callings and socio-economic standing. If we see differences instead of likeness, we throw up a barrier between us and them. Our society is making great strides toward inclusiveness, and I consider these strides a part of God’s New Church coming down to earth. I can remember the day when there were no African-American actors on TV. Now in Hollywood Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, Samuel L. Jackson, Lawrence Fishburn, Denzel Washington, and others are starring in role after role. And the remarkable thing is that they are not seen as African-American actors–they are seen as actors. I can remember Jessica Savitch, who was the first female anchor woman on a new program. Now women broadcast on every channel. In the US there are woman chief justices on the Supreme Court and in Congress. England had a female Prime Minister. I am still learning about Canadian politics, but I assume the trend is the same here. I just got back from Almont, one of our church camps, and I was delight to see the children playing together without regard to race. We had Chinese, African-Americans and whites at this camp and the children didn’t see any difference, but all played together. That is, when they weren’t fighting and hitting each other, as children also do.
And we need to open our arms to people of all faiths–Hindu, Moslem, Buddhist, Taoist, and the various denominations of Christianity. Our church has no monopoly on God. Our openness also needs to extend to those who profess no faith. We do not know what lies in their hearts. Swedenborg has a beautiful passage about this:
In the Christian world the doctrinals are what distinguish the churches; and from them people call themselves Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists, or the Reformed and the Evangelical, and by other names also. It is from what is doctrinal alone that they are so called; which would not be at all, if they would only make love to the Lord and charity to the neighbor the principal things of faith. The doctrinals would then be only varieties of opinion respecting the mysteries of faith, which truly Christian people would leave to everyone according to his or her conscience, and would say in their heart that one is truly a Christian when he or she lives as a Christian, or as the Lord teaches. Thus from all the differing churches there would be one Church; and all the dissensions which exist from doctrine alone would vanish; yes, the hatreds against one another would be dissipated in a moment, and the Lord’s kingdom would come upon the earth (AC 1799).
This is one beautiful teaching of our church. In the faith which we say every morning, we find this teaching. We say, “As the God-Man who lives with us, He is present to save all people, everywhere, whose lives affirm the best they know.” We can affirm this while practicing Christianity as we know it. And this, too, is in our faith. In it, we find the words, “For us, this best is to love the Lord, and to love one another as He has loved us.” Being accepting of other faiths does not mean that we need to relinquish what we find beautiful in our own faith.
The beliefs and delights of the human race are as various as are our faces and dispositions. Swedenborg writes, “When I only thought of two being just alike, or equal, angels expressed horror, saying that every one thing is formed from the harmonious concurrence of many things” (HH 405). Society and the church are perfected by a harmonious blend of various personalities, beliefs, and delights. Paul alludes to this in 1 Corinthians 12:
12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
Swedenborg sees the source of all beauty in a harmony of varieties.
Heaven also is a one from various parts disposed into a most perfect form; for the heavenly form is the most perfect of all forms. That such is the source of all perfection is manifest from all the beauty, charm, and delight that affect both the senses and the mind; for they exist and flow from no other source than from the consent and harmony of many concordant and agreeing particulars . . . Hence it is said that there is delight in variety, and it is known that the delight is according to the variety (HH 56).
Love for the neighbor means being “color blind” as some say. Multiculturalism is a religious issue. Christ reached out to everyone in His day–tax collectors, prostitutes, and Samaritans. And as Christians, we are called to be like Christ in His own acceptance of variety. Early Israel was open to the foreigners who were seeking liberating and a God of liberation. And like the early Israelites, we are called to be open to people who may look foreign to us. This will ultimately benefit us. There is perfection in variety. And our joy will multiply as we include the whole human race as our brothers and sisters.

Contentment with God’s Gifts
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
July 4, 2010

Deuteronomy 28:1-14 Matthew 20:1-16 Psalm 37

This morning I would like to consider God’s providence in our lives in this world. Specifically, I want to reflect on differing views of prosperity. In our reading from Deuteronomy, God promises all kinds of good things for those who follow His laws. I didn’t read the part about the curses that would descend upon the individual who does not follow God’s laws. But we have a conflicting voice from Psalm 37. There we find that evil people flourish and come into wealth. We read about “the wealth of many wicked” and a “wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a green tree”. Our New Testament passage brings up a related idea, but different in some respects. It talks about laborers who begin work at the beginning of the day, the middle of the day, and as the day ends. They are all paid the same. Those who started work at the beginning of the day complained that they got the same pay as those who had worked only an hour. What I take from these passages is that problems can arise when we look at the life of other people in relation to ourselves.
We can wonder about God’s providence when we see people succeed by deceit. Or we can question why some people have advanced beyond us when we have apparently put in the same amount of work, or appear to have the same credentials. This would be like the laborers who began at the beginning of the day who got paid the same as others who worked only an hour. These issues arise only when we see life from the world’s point of view. Swedenborg calls this a materialistic point of view.
Since materialists call the pleasures of self-love good . . . and convince themselves that they are good, they call rank and money divine blessings. However, when materialists see that just as many evil as good people are raised to high rank and advanced in wealth, and even more when they see good people living in disgrace and poverty and evil people living in splendor and wealth, they think to themselves, “What is going on here? This cannot be the work of divine providence, because if it were managing everything, it would supply the good with high rank and money and humble the evil with poverty and disgrace” (DP 216).
This way of looking at things is like our reading from Deuteronomy. It is a rather simplistic theology that says God rewards the good with material things. It is also a materialistic way of looking at things as it only looks at success from a worldly point of view. Those who view things this way, as Swedenborg puts it, “call rank and money divine blessings.”
But there are other blessings. Money, rank, power, and prestige last only as long as life in this world lasts. God cares about the things that last forever. Swedenborg teaches that, “Divine blessing is to be happy to eternity, and that the Lord regards such things as are of brief duration, as are the things of this world relatively, no otherwise than as means to eternal things” (AC 8717). God regards our wealth and status only as it relates to our eternal welfare. He gives wealth and status to those it will not harm.
Wherefore also the Lord provides for the good, who receive His mercy in time, such things as conduce to the happiness of their eternal life, riches and honors to whom they are not hurtful, and no riches and honors to whom they would be hurtful. Nevertheless, to these latter He gives in time, in the place of honors and riches, to be joyful with a few things, and to be more content than the rich and honored (AC 8717).
It is not bad to have wealth and status. I gave someone the impression a while ago that riches were bad. But wealth can be used for good as well as for evil. And good can come from wealth even in the hands of bad people. What matters is why and how a person uses wealth.
The reason both evil and good people are elevated to high rank and advanced in wealth is that both evil and good people do worthwhile things, Though the evil are doing them for the sake of their personal worth and for the benefit of their image, while the good are doing them for the sake of the worth and benefit of the actions themselves (DP 217).
When Swedenborg talks about the good doing worthwhile things for the benefit of the actions themselves, I think he is talking about people who want to make a difference in the world. When we look at politicians, it is easy to get cynical. It seems that getting into office is the only thing that so many politicians strive for. But I think that there are some politicians who truly want to use their power to make the world better. I have my own ideas of who some of these politicians might be, but I don’t want to include political commentary in this talk. I think we can all think of leaders and also persons of great wealth who are making the world better–or at least trying to. Bill Gates amassed great wealth by being in the right place at the right time. He had a love for computers when society was moving toward everyone owning a personal computer. Had he been born 50 years earlier, or 50 years later, he wouldn’t have amassed such a great fortune. But it was a wonderful gift to the world when he retired and set up his foundation. I can’t comment on whether Bill Gates is spiritually good or bad. But we can see that God allowed him his great wealth because God knew that Bill Gates would do good with it.
It’s too bad that society didn’t decide to move toward a hunger for Swedenborg about the time I was ordained. Then I would have been able to ride the crest and come into great wealth. But society didn’t move in that direction. I have made my life’s choice and I am very happy with it. Trouble only comes when we look at others around us. Even in the realm of religions, we look around us and see mega-churches that preach fundamentalist doctrines flourishing. It is not our place to compare ourselves with them. We have made our choice to this belief system, and we need to be contented with our choice and with this church.
The secret to eternal happiness is contentment with what we have. God knows our needs and God provides. While I watched my friends finding university positions while I didn’t, I was downcast. But God led me here to Edmonton ministering in a beautiful faith with a beautiful congregation. I’m happier now than I ever have been in my life, personally and professionally. I don’t think I would have been this happy in a university. I know this, because last fall I attended an academic conference in Montreal. I listened to a lot of academic speeches from brilliant scholars, but left feeling empty. Religion is my calling, and the love I feel for my work today doesn’t compare with the intellectual world of academia. The secret is contentment with the choices we have made and trust that God is leading us to what is best for ourselves. In heaven, the angels,
live content with what they have, whether it be little or much, because they know that they receive as much as is useful–little if little is good for them and much if much is good for them. . . . So they have no anxiety about the future, but refer to anxiety about the future as “care for the morrow,” which they say is pain at losing or not getting things that are not needed for their life’s useful activities (HH 278).
How much do you need to be happy? What things do you need to be happy? These are questions we all think about from time to time. But our real questions should be, “What do I need for eternal blessedness? How can I come near to the God who loves me? What do I need for eternal life?” These are the things that God cares about. The things of this world are short lived. We will leave them all behind when we transition into the eternal world. Love and wisdom, care for our neighbors, a heartfelt connection with God, a clean conscience–these are what live forever. These are the gifts God will provide for all who ask. And if we have these things, we will find the peace and contentment of the angels.

A New Heaven and a New earth
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
June 20, 2010

Isaiah 65:17-25 John 3:1-8 Psalm 18

Our Bible passages this morning all relate to spiritual rebirth, or in Swedenborg’s language, regeneration. This is clear in our New testament passage, where Jesus discusses rebirth with Nicodemus. In both this morning’s Psalm and in the reading from Isaiah, regeneration is treated according to correspondences. In Psalm 18, we read about God lifting the Psalmist out of deep waters; about God rescuing him from a powerful enemy because God delights in him. These passages refer to God’s deliverance from evils, or God lifting us upward into heavenly joy. The Psalm also talks about the earth being shaken up. We read about the earth trembling, the foundations of the mountains shaking, the valleys of the seas exposed, and the foundations of the earth laid bare. These passages all refer to the reformation of the external person, or our natural degree. The earth corresponds to the outward person, or external person, or natural degree. In regeneration, this part of our personality is shaken up, sometimes dramatically. Likewise in our reading from Isaiah, we heard about all the blessings of a reconstituted heaven and earth. God will create a new heaven and a new earth. Here, a new heaven is a new internal person and a new earth is a new external person. The inhabitants of this new heaven and earth will be, “a people blessed by the LORD.” There will be no more crying or weeping. When they call to the Lord, He will answer. The wolf and lion will become peaceful animals. All these things refer to a person who has been regenerated. His or her outward character and his or her inward character will be holy and blessed by God. The savage passions of the natural degree will become peaceful and gentle.
The process of regeneration takes place over a long period of time. The reshifting of values and the replacement of worldly passions for heavenly loves can happen only gradually.
Sins are removed so far as a person is regenerated, because regeneration is restraining the flesh that it may not rule . . . Who that yet has sound understanding, cannot conclude from this that such things cannot be done in a moment, but successively, as a person is conceived, carried in the womb, born, and educated . . . (TCR 611).
Swedenborg uses the analogy of a person’s birth to symbolize rebirth. The spiritual change that a regenerating person undergoes is like being conceived, carried in the womb, born, and educated. This fits quite well with the Bible, since Jesus says we need to be born again.
The actual process of rebirth, or regeneration, is treated in different ways by Swedenborg. One way is the three “R’s” of Swedenborg–Repentance, Reformation, and Regeneration. This process is described in True Christian Religion. He also talks about opening up the three higher degrees of our minds in Divine Love and Wisdom. Then there is the interaction between the internal person and the external person. That is the process I will talk about this morning.
We begin our lives with an external person. This is also called the natural degree. It is called the natural degree because it is a form of nature, or the world. This aspect of our personality has been formed in the image of the world. It is an image of the world, because the natural degree is formed in reaction to the world. It is how we make our way in the world. It is how we respond to the world. The famous psychologist B. F. Skinner says that our whole personality is formed by stimuli from the outside world. He says we are programmed by the conditions we grow up under. I think that there is a good deal of truth to this claim. Our natural degree is formed by how the world comes at us and how we react to it. Our survival instincts create a personality that allow us to live under the conditions we are born under. Another way to describe this is to say we create a natural degree according to the conditions we are born with–according to the world we experience and know. But psychologists also talk about heredity. So does Swedenborg. Our natural degree is not just a response to stimuli from the outside world. It is also formed by the inclinations we receive innately from our parents’ heredity. We will favor certain things above other things. We will be drawn to certain things and ignore other things. We have abilities and aptitudes in certain areas, and we don’t have aptitudes in other areas. The hereditary inclinations we are born with also determine how our natural degree is formed.
The process of regeneration is one in which our internal person is opened up, and it then acts on our natural degree to bring it into agreement with itself. The first process, then, in spiritual rebirth, is the formation of an internal person. The internal person is that part of us that knows good from evil. This knowledge is learned. Some of the things that we enjoy doing early in life are contrary to divine order. Our survival instincts begin with the drive to protect the self. We need to learn that others matter, too. We need to learn to love others as much as we love ourselves. This, our natural degree usually doesn’t have at birth.
One of the fascinating things to me about regeneration is that Swedenborg talks about changing what we enjoy. The things our natural person enjoys can be contrary to spiritual loves and enjoyments. So regeneration is very much a process of changing what we enjoy. Swedenborg tends to think that many of our early enjoyments are evil. I would agree with him to no small degree. Just think about how we react when people oppose us, and we will have an idea of how strong the self is imbedded in our personality. Plus, when I was younger, I remember enjoying partying till all hours of the night. I was after self indulgence and cared little about how my own quest for pleasure affected others.
The process of regeneration begins when we learn other ways of living. We reflect on our lives, and begin to question behaviors and delights we have come to enjoy. This aspect of our personality that can reflect on our lives is the internal degree. It is formed by spiritual teachings. As our internal is formed, we begin to feel heavenly loves. We begin to sense what it feels like to be a loving person. We begin to find our former enjoyments distasteful. As we feel heavenly delights more and more, we begin to see our self-indulgent enjoyments as evil and finally undelightful.
All affections have their enjoyments; but such as the affection are, such are the enjoyments. Affections for evil and falsity also have their enjoyments; and before a person begins to be regenerated, and receives from the Lord affections for truth and good, those affections appear to be the only ones; so much so, that people believe that no other enjoyments exist, and consequently that if they were deprived of these, they would utterly perish. But they who receive from the Lord the enjoyments of affections for truth and good, see and feel by degrees the nature of the enjoyments of their former life, which they believed to be the only enjoyments–that they are vile in comparison, and indeed filthy. And the farther he advances into the enjoyments of affections for truth and good, the more does the person begin to regard the enjoyments of evil and falsity as vile, and at length to be averse to them (AC 3938).
As time went on, I came to care about others, and to care about how I could make them happy. I replaced bar-room partying with healthy interpersonal relations with sober friends.
Swedenborg describes this process in theological language. He makes reference to evils and falsities. These are words our current society doesn’t like to hear about. I think that there is a reality to them, though, and I’m not quite sure there are other words that can be substituted for them. Maybe neurosis, or perversion, or sickness, or ego, or selfishness, or hurtful behaviors, or abusive behaviors could be exchanged. I remember in University talking about how our society wants to change evil into sickness. So things like child abuse is a sickness, rather than an evil. I do agree that evils can be “cured” by regeneration. Or in theological language, that a person can be lifted out of their evils. But I would want to keep the religious connotations of good and evil in the process. I want religious connotations because if a person refrains from evil for any other reason than because it is against God, no real spiritual reformation happens.
As our internal person is formed, we come to see in clearer light that things we had found enjoyment in are evil and hurtful. Since our natural degree is formed by the world in order to survive in the world, we need spiritual knowledge to tell us that we may be indulging in unhealthy, or evil passions.
Unless they are excited, a person scarcely knows that evils and falsities exist; but they then appear, and the longer the combats of temptation last, the more they appear, until at last they are held in horror as evils and falsities. And as evils and falsities are dissipated, so do goods and truths succeed in their place; and the more horror there is contracted for evils and falsities, the more of love for goods and truths is insinuated by the Lord (AC 1740).
As the internal degree is formed, or opened, we actually sense and feel the enjoyments of good, and we are delighted by the truth. As these feelings become rooted in us, we shy away from evil. It no longer feels good. We are acquiring a new self, a new identity. A new heaven and a new earth is formed. God draws us out of deep waters and brings us into a spacious place. We grow in our love for our neighbors and for God. Over time, and into eternity, we are reborn.

Never to Hunger and Thirst Again
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
June 13, 2010

Exodus 24:3-11 John 6:35-40 Psalm 22

This is a Communion Sunday, and I thought I would reflect on just what the Sacrament of Holy Communion means. It is a Biblical sacrament. In the Old testament, we hear of the blood of the covenant being sprinkled on an altar and on the people of Israel. This is after the Israelites agree to follow the Law that they have heard from Moses. Then in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says that Holy Communion is the blood of the New Covenant (26:28). In Matthew we also hear the following,
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, “take and eat; this is my body.” Then He took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the New Covenant” (26:26-28).
We don’t hear this same language in John, but we hear words quite like it. There, Jesus says, “I am the bread of life. He that comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never thirst” (6:35). Jesus is clearly speaking symbolically here, as we do hunger and thirst after partaking of communion. You have heard me say that the Bible is written in a symbolic language in which the literal stories mean something spiritual on a deeper level. Here, we can clearly see that this is the case. The bread and the wine are clearly not Jesus’ body and blood. Although the Catholics have a doctrine called transubstantiation in which the priest actually turns the bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood. We don’t subscribe to that doctrine. The breads and wine do signify Jesus’ body and blood, but even those symbols mean something deeper. The symbolism here is partaking of God’s love and wisdom, which are eternal spiritual qualities. When we are filled with them, we never lack spiritually.
Holy Communion is the most sacred ritual of the church. Swedenborg says that “the holy supper contains all things of heaven and the church, both in general and in particular” (TCR 711). The reason why the whole of heaven and the church are contained in the Holy Supper, is because the Holy Supper contains everything that heaven and the church depend on. The church is made out of truth and good, or wisdom and love. And these qualities are given to us by God, so they are actually God in us. So by symbolizing love and wisdom, the Holy Supper also symbolizes the Lord, too. So the Holy Supper contains the love, wisdom, and presence of God that constitute the whole of heaven and the church.
that the Lord Himself is in the holy supper, and that flesh and blood are the Lord in respect to the Divine good of love, and blood and wine are the Lord in respect to the Divine truth of wisdom. Therefore the holy supper involves three things, namely, the Lord, His Divine good, and His Divine truth. Since, therefore, the holy supper includes and contains these three, it follows that it also includes and contains the universals of heaven and the church (TCR 711).
There are quite a few Bible passages in which Jesus tells us to celebrate Holy Communion in memory of Him. But there is more involved than merely remembering Jesus in the Holy Supper. And we have more reason for partaking of it than merely because the Bible tells us to. The Holy Supper actually brings us into communion with God. “It is evident from the Lord’s very words that He is wholly present in the holy supper, in respect both to His glorified Human and the Divine from which the Human proceeded” (TCR 716). The actual presence of God occurs in the Holy Communion. But this only happens to those who approach the Holy Communion in the right frame of mind.
Holy Communion is a ritual, and it derives its power from the things rituals depend on. Eating bread and drinking wine are physical acts, and looked at in themselves, do nothing for spiritual life. It is what a person brings to the Holy Supper that makes it a holy sacrament.
When a person brings good and truth to the holy supper, then the symbols take on spiritual meaning. When a person has love in their heart, and truth in their mind; and when a person’s thought is on God, then the symbols of Holy Communion have power to bring God to the ceremony. “They approach the Holy Supper worthily, who have faith in the Lord and are in charity toward the neighbor, thus who are regenerate” (TCR 722). The symbols of the Holy Supper actually bring conjunction with God.
They who approach the Holy Supper worthily, are in the Lord and the Lord is in them; hence conjunction with the Lord is made by the Holy Supper. . . . the truths of faith establish the Lord’s presence, and the goods of charity together with faith establish conjunction . . . Whence it follows that they who approach the Holy Supper worthily, are conjoined with the Lord; and they who are conjoined with Him are in Him and He in them (TCR 725).
The Holy Supper is a ritual that brings spiritual life to those who partake in it worthily. As Swedenborg says, “The Lord is present and opens heaven to those who approach the Holy Supper worthily” (TCR 719). The actual power of the Holy Supper depends on the condition of those who are partaking in it. It depends on whether they have charity in their hearts and truth in their minds. The Holy Supper isn’t magic. Only those who already have the principal components of heaven in their souls have heaven opened to them in the Holy Supper. That is, only those who already have charity and faith in their souls find heaven opened to them when they partake in the Holy Supper. This can happen because their souls are already open to heaven in the love and wisdom they possess from God.
But how do the symbols of communion actually bring about this conjunction? Swedenborg isn’t clear on this. To answer this question I looked at the nature of correspondences in general. The physical acts we do are a grounding for the spiritual realities that transpire in our souls. That means that our soul is grounded in the physical things we do. What would an agreement be without a handshake to confirm it? Or what is happening more and more today, what would an agreement be without a contract that ratifies it. The things that we see in nature and the things that our bodies do correspond, or communicate with the world of spirit. So Swedenborg writes,
. . . all goods and truths descend from the Lord, and ascend to Him; that is, that He is the first and the last; for man has been so created that the Divine things of the Lord may descend through him down to the ultimates of nature, and from the ultimates of nature may ascend to Him; so that man might be a medium that unites the Divine with the world of nature, and the world of nature with the Divine; and that thus the very ultimate of nature might live from the Divine through man as the uniting medium (AC 3702).
The bread and wine are those “ultimates” that Swedenborg refers to. They are the elements of nature that God descends to and ascends upward from. When we are focused on the physical elements of Communion, the angels that are present with us fill our hearts with love and wisdom. In this way the physical elements of Communion communicate with the spiritual realities of heaven. A connection is formed with spirit and matter through the human mind.
Eating the bread signifies accepting God’s love into our hearts. And the physical act fills us with the love we have embodied throughout our life. It surrounds us with love from angels and even from God himself. Drinking the wine signifies accepting God’s wisdom into our minds, and we are filled with the presence of angels who enlighten our thoughts. Ultimately, God Himself enters our consciousness. So when we have these spiritual realities in our souls, we have the symbolism of Holy Communion in us. When we have love in our hearts, we will not hunger spiritually. When we have wisdom in our minds, we will not thirst spiritually. We can see clearly now, how the Biblical symbols relate to the sacrament of Holy Supper. We see, now, how those who have God in their hearts will never hunger nor thirst.

Tongues of Fire
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
May 23, 2010

Genesis 11:1-9 Acts 2:1-21 Psalm 51

In our stories from Genesis and Acts, we find a circle of alienation from God and reconciliation back to God. In our Genesis story, God separates humanity, and gives different people different languages. In our reading from Acts, humanity is reconciled in God’s Holy Spirit and people from all different nationalities hear in their own language what the Apostles are saying.
The Genesis story we heard this morning is not a statement of historical fact. Anthropology has a different picture about how different cultures formed along with their languages. Furthermore, Genesis says that it is God who confounds humanity’s languages and separates people from people. This is said because it was important to the Biblical writers to understand everything as in God’s power and providence.
But there are elements in the Genesis story that contribute to a deeper meaning. There is more to this story than an explanation of why there are different countries and different languages. This story, in a deeper level, is about how people separated themselves from God. The confounding cause in this story is human pride and ego. And when human ego runs wild, we are separated from God.
There are several story elements in Genesis that illustrate human self run riot. First, the people in our story migrate east to Babylon. This is where the plain of Shinar is, which is mentioned in Genesis. Babylon has a generally negative connotation throughout the Old Testament. It is seen as a city of idolatry and superstition. It was a powerful city and thought itself invincible. So it is fitting that this story of human ego would be set in Babylon.
The first move away from God by humanity is in the formation of bricks. The people say, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar” (Genesis 11:3). The bitumen that Genesis mentions is a kind of slimy mud that floats down the Euphrates River. I see the line “bricks for stone” as one of the key story elements here. What is happening is that people are relying on man-made technology. They aren’t using natural stone. They are relying on man-made bricks to build with. This is a symbol for relying on self instead of relying on God. They are depending on their own materials and not relying on what God provides for them.
We see this happening more and more in society today. People are becoming increasingly consumed with materialism. High priced cars with all kinds of gadgets in them. The internet and computers, which includes gaming and texting. Television is programming longer and longer commercials to lay before viewers all the material things they can spend their money on and fill their minds with a craving for. Ipads, ipods, Blackberries, twitter, facebook, DVD’s, podcasts, broadcast streaming. People are working longer and longer hours in order to acquire the material things they crave. The bonds between parent and child are becoming thinner and thinner. The natural bonds of love and community are being severed by the technology that is proliferating in culture. Some of us are losing touch with the world of nature and our inner harmony with God.
Other story elements in Genesis is the line about building a city, a tower to heaven, and making a name for themselves. “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves’” (11:4). Building a city reinforces the trend toward materialism. The contrast here is between the nomadic and agricultural life the Israelites knew versus the apparent sophistication of the great city of Babylon. Building a city is another way of moving away from nature into man-made structures. It also symbolizes moving away from God into self. Making a name for themselves is clearly an ego-driven inclination. They want to make their name known among the nations around them. When we think of a person today wanting to make a name for him or herself, we see this as self-importance. It is a desire to feel important. To be famous or powerful. It is a striving for self-aggrandizement. The height of self-aggrandizement is seen in the tower. The tower was to reach to heaven. Here we see an attempt to climb to heaven by human power. The people in the story wanted to climb up to heaven by the force of their own efforts. This symbolizes the proprium, or selfhood. It symbolizes the drive to rule over holy things from selfhood. Selfhood wants to exalt itself above everyone, be the one in charge, and have one’s own will followed. Selfishness, or ego, if left unrestrained would seek to rule over God Himself.
Self will run wild ends up separating the self from others. When a person desires their own way above all, community is broken up. Community is formed when people come together on an equal basis and will what is good for each other. Selfhood wills only what is good for the self, and seeks to elevate oneself above others. So the natural consequences of self will run riot are the dispersal and confusion of language that the Bible speaks of. It is not God who disperses such people from community, but the individual him or herself by breaking the bonds of mutual love.
But in Christ all of humanity is reconciled. When we are filled with Christ’s Holy Spirit we are in union with God, each other, and with the natural order of things. While in Genesis we heard about a confusion of languages and the dispersion of peoples, in Acts we hear of a common language and spiritual community. The Holy Spirit descends upon the Apostles and tongues of fire appear above their heads. The they all begin to prophesy telling “the mighty acts of God.” When the Apostles are prophesying, everyone hears their words in each one’s native language. All kinds of different people hear the words of the prophets. We are told that there are Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, and even Asia, Phrygia, Egypt, and Rome, Cretans and Arabs (Acts 2:8-10). What this must have sounded like I can’t imagine. But some observers think that they’re drunk and babbling. Peter explains that they are not drunk–after all, he says, it’s only 9AM! It is the fulfillment of what the prophet Joel said about the last days. Then, the Spirit of God shall be poured on all flesh.
When we are filled with God’s love, we are given to perceive truth more and more clearly. It was Christ’s Holy Spirit that gave the various nationalities the capacity to understand what the Apostles were saying. And as we progress spiritually, as we are filled ever more deeply and fully with the Holy Spirit, our notions of truth get refined and purified into more accurate truth.
While selfhood separates a person from God, the Holy Spirit brings us into communion with God. The people of Babble tried to build a tower to heaven by their own might. But the only way to heaven is by letting go of self and allowing God’s Spirit into us. Swedenborg writes,
Generally speaking, the divine action and powerful effects meant by the Holy Spirit are the acts of reforming and regenerating us. Depending on the outcome of this reformation and regeneration, the divine actions and powerful effects also include the acts of renewing us, bringing us to life, sanctifying us, and making us just; and depending on the outcome of these in turn, the divine actions and powerful effects also include purifying us from evils, forgiving our sins, and ultimately saving us. These are the powerful effects, one after the other, that the Lord has on people who believe in Him and adapt and modify themselves in order to welcome Him and invite Him to stay (TCR 142).
It is through God’s actions in us that these things are accomplished and we are brought into heavenly bliss. And as everyone heard the Apostles’ prophesies, so God is calling each and every one of us into communion with Himself and into heavenly joy.
It is important to know that the Lord is carrying out these salvation processes in every single one of us all the time. They are the steps to heaven. The Lord wants to save everyone; His purpose is to save all people (TCR 142).
While selfhood alienates and separates, the Holy Spirit unifies and forms loving community. All of heaven is being in God’s Holy Spirit. All the delight in heaven and on earth flows from mutual love and God’s Spirit in our hearts and minds. All frustration and rage flow from selfhood, as no one can ever get their own way all the time. We are taught in the lesson about Babble what are the alienating consequences of selfhood, egotism, and materialism. And in the Pentecost story we are taught about God’s reconciling love in His Holy Spirit. The choice is ours.

Whoever Is Thirsty, Let Him Come
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
May 16, 2010

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21 John 17:13-26 Psalm 97

In the book of Revelation, we find a beautiful invitation to God’s kingdom. Jesus says, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ . . . whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17). Jesus holds out his love to everyone who wants it. It is not restricted to those of a certain sect, or a certain race, or a certain belief system. He says that “whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”
This passage refers to accepting Jesus into a person’s life. Earlier in the Gospel of John, Jesus promised to give the water of eternal life to a Samaritan woman. In that passage, Jesus says, “The water I give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). This water of eternal life is given to all who want it. Jesus will come to all who ask Him to. This is what we heard in our reading this morning from John 17. It refers to Jesus entering a person’s life. Jesus says about His Father, “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (John 17:26).
When we have Jesus in our hearts and lives, only then do we truly live. There are several ways in which this statement can be understood. Spiritually, it means that only when we have Jesus’ love and wisdom in our souls do we have spiritual life, or eternal life. Everyone has life as a free gift from God. But what matters most, is the spiritual life that we accept from God. It is spiritual life that is eternal, and eternally blessed. And we have spiritual life when we have Christ in our lives.
In our reading from John, Jesus talks about the world. He says that his followers are not of the world. Verse 18 reads, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” It is receiving God’s love that lifts us out of the world and makes us children of the kingdom. Last Sunday there were questions about living in the world. The question arose about how to interact with the world as we let God into our hearts, and into our very behavior. There are two ways to consider this question. First there is the question of how to deal with the world in our own souls. Then there is the question of how to deal with the world outside of our own souls.
In our reading from Revelation, there is a clear teaching about spiritual purification. We read, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14). In order to enter the Holy City New Jerusalem, we need to wash our robes. We need to detach from the things of this world and to embrace the things of heaven. Truth is what leads us away from the things of this world and points the way to heaven.
When we first come to adulthood, we are filled with ideas about the world and ideas taken from observations about the world. We look around us to the things at hand and seek fulfillment in them. We look at jobs and professions; we look at fashions and clothing; we seek status and power; we seek pleasures that our senses give us; we seek to make a name for ourselves. This is a necessary stage in human development when it is taken in moderation. There are some things that pertain to the world that are essential. These things are a livelihood, a roof over our head, food, clothing, and the like. Fulfilling these needs is a part of everyone’s spiritual development. But there are other things that pertain to the world that we do not need, in fact, that inhibit our spiritual development. These things would be the craving for status and power; exaggerated self-importance; overindulgence in bodily pleasures and sensual gratification; and then there are neurotic patterns of behavior that inhibit healthy social relations and Christian love. When these things dominate our consciousness, we are then in the world and we are of the world. It takes spiritual truth to show us what really matters in life, and it takes spiritual truth to point the way out of these worldly cravings. Swedenborg clearly teaches us how powerful truth, or knowledge, can be for our spiritual liberation:
Worldly things cannot be dispersed before truth and good are implanted in the heavenly things, through knowledges; for a person cannot distinguish between heavenly and worldly things, before he or she knows and recognizes what the heavenly is, and what the worldly. Knowledges make a general and obscure idea distinct; and the more distinct the idea is made by knowledges, the more can the worldly things be separated (AC 1557).
I can remember how I was in my early 20′s. I was a salesman and a musician. I drove a shiny Catalina, wore a three-piece suit, and carried around a brief case. I was going to the top. I was quite full of myself. And being immersed in these things and with that attitude, I saw no problem with the direction my life was heading. I still went to church, but the truths I heard didn’t affect my character. I think to one degree or another, we all go through something like this stage in life. My own spiritual aspirations ended up in something like spiritual pride for my good behavior. I was honest–at least to others; I didn’t steal; I believed in God; and I thought I was a pretty holy person. When I was so full of pride and worldliness, I was unable to see any other life. So Swedenborg writes, perhaps reflecting on his own life,
It is similar with all in the world who are in the love of self and the world, and therefore in no goodwill. They know the enjoyment of those loves, but not the enjoyment of goodwill. Thus they are altogether ignorant of what goodwill is, and still more that there is any enjoyment in goodwill; when yet the enjoyment of goodwill is what fills the universal heaven, and makes the blessedness and happiness there (AC 3938).
But through some harsh knocks to my complacency, and through continued spiritual learning, I evolved. This was a very slow process. So slow, that I can’t even point to how or when changes happened. As I grew and progressed in my own spiritual development, I could look back and see how empty, and even harmful, those former ideals actually were. As we progress spiritually, we are able to look back on our former desires and enjoyments and see them as comparatively repugnant. So Swedenborg writes,
They who receive from the Lord the enjoyments of affections for truth and good, see and perceive by degrees the nature of the enjoyments of their former life, which they believed to be the only enjoyments–that they are vile in comparison (AC 3938).
So the worldliness that Jesus speaks of can be something that is inside each and every one of us. But by allowing God’s love into us, by accepting Jesus into our life, we become filled with that goodwill and love that the Gospel of John talks about. This brings up the problem of living in the world as a spiritual being. Jesus says, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” (17:15). This is a prayer that we all know too well. We want to be shielded from hardships and from hurtful company. We want to be shielded from the evil one. Our Christian response to hardships that come our way, seemingly unprovoked, is patience, toleration, and forgiveness. When we have Christ in our hearts, we will be able to bear hardships better. When we are deprived of money or something material, we will accept God’s dispensation and rest content with what we have. When we are slighted, we will not retaliate because our ego is no longer vulnerable to wounding. How often are we offended because our ego is involved! In AA they teach us to see where we played a part in an argument or when we feel resentful. When we are filled with God and not self, where is the hurt?
Jesus calls us all into community through His Holy Spirit. He says,
I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me (John 17:22, 23).
We are called by Christ into unity with our brothers and sisters. We are especially called into unity with our fellow Christians, and with spiritual seekers of all faiths. We are called into unity in smaller units such as this denomination, and this church. We are called into unity with our families and friends.
This unity in Christ is also cosmic. When we are in unity with Christ, we are in unity with the very creative power of the universe. And since the universe is created in God’s image, we are also in unity with the whole created universe when we are in unity with Christ. Swedenborg writes,
Everything in the universe was created by the divine love and wisdom of the Divine Human. The universe, from beginning to end and from first to last, is so full of divine love and wisdom that you could call it divine love and wisdom in an image (DLW 52).
The pattern of love and wisdom that our soul is made in is the same patter in which the universe is made. When we are in Christ, we are in love and wisdom. And that love and wisdom is God’s very form, the form of the whole angelic heaven, and the whole created universe. The union of love and wisdom that we embody puts us in unity with the universe, with heaven, and with God.
Let us remember that Christ’s invitation to unity is extended to everyone, as must be our love and community. “Whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17). Jesus spoke with a Samaritan woman, who was an outcast to orthodox Jews. He let a sinful woman anoint him. He dined with thieves and tax collectors. We can see him saying to all of them, “Whoever is thirsty, let him come.” So our Christian love is not limited to those in our own church building, our own faith, or our own race. We can imitate Christ in His complete openness to the whole human race. Christ calls us into unity in His name. And our unity is to let the world know that there is another way than materialism, power, and status. As the song goes, “We are one in the Spirit; we are one in the Lord.”