Church of the Holy City

A Shocking Story, a Radical Truth
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
March 23, 2014

Exodus 17:1-7 John 4:5-42 Psalm 95

The story we heard from John is as shocking as it is radical. There are three elements in this story that make it so. First, Jesus is talking with a woman. And not only is Jesus talking with this woman, but He reveals a radical and profound teaching to her. What is shocking about all this is that women held no status in the world of the New Testament. Yet Jesus talks with this woman and it is to her that He reveals His profound teaching about worship. Second is the shocking truth about how true worshipers will worship in the spirit, not in a specific place–or even, perhaps, according to the traditions of a specific religion. Third, this woman is a Samaritan. What is shocking about this is that the Samaritans were held in contempt by orthodox Jews in Jesus’ day. Yet this woman, this Samaritan woman receives the profound truth about worshipping in the spirit. Let’s look at these points one by one.
There are very few women in the Gospels. In all four Gospels, there are about four or five women who figure in stories. I can think of only five women whose names are given: Mary, Jesus’ mother, Mary Magdalene, the sisters Mary and Martha, and John mentions a certain Mary, the wife of Clopas who was present at the crucifixion but has no other role in the Gospels. So to have Jesus talk at length with a woman at all is remarkable. Maybe even shocking. John tells us that Jesus’ disciples, “marveled that he was talking with a woman” (John 4:27). It is remarkable that John records this story in his Gospel and that it occupies such great length. Then the story proceeds in a remarkable way. This woman carries the story of her encounter with Jesus to her fellow Samaritans. John tells us that, “Many Samaritans believed because of the woman’s testimony” (John 4:39). So I think we can say that this woman was one of the very first Christian evangelists, or preachers.
Then there is the fact that Jesus is not only talking with this woman, but He reveals to her profound teachings. These are teachings that Jesus hasn’t yet told His own male disciples. He tells the woman about living water. Jesus says, “Whoever drinks of the water I give him will never thirst; the water that I give him will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). Here Jesus is talking about truth that gives eternal life, to which water corresponds. But there is another teaching that Jesus entrusts to this remarkable woman. I mean the teaching about true worshipers. Being a Samaritan, the woman worships on Mount Gerizim where the Samaritans had their temple. Mount Gerizim was north of Jerusalem. The temple for Jews, as we know, was in Jerusalem. Jesus tells the woman a radical teaching about worship. He tells her that true worshippers will not go to Mount Gerizim nor to Jerusalem, but will worship in spirit,
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. . . . The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:21, 23-24).
This radical truth says that sacrifices in the temple do not matter as much as our spiritual disposition toward God. Jesus, here, is liberating the Jews and the Samaritans both from temple sacrifices. God is not in a place, but as a Spirit is present everywhere. But I think that there is a further and even more radical teaching in these words. Isn’t Jesus here saying that distinctions like Samaritan and Jew no longer matter? Isn’t this implied by saying that on neither Mount Gerizim nor in Jerusalem is God to be worshiped, but in spirit. The distinction of orthodoxy that the Jews claimed against the heresy they thought the Samaritans represented dissolves. This is certainly what Paul has in mind when he says,
for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26-28).
And to underscore the idea that in Jesus all are one, John tells us that the Samaritans, too, believe in Jesus–making them equal to the believing Jews.
Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony . . . So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world” (John 4:39, 40-42).
Finally, to emphasize the dissolution of lines between orthodoxy and heresy, this story takes place in Samaria. And the woman whom the Jewish Jesus talks to is a Samaritan. Orthodox Jews held the Samaritans in contempt as foreigners and as heretics. This was a time when Jews were extremely strict about their bloodlines. They prided themselves on being descendents from Abraham and from the tribes that returned from the Babylonian exile. So when Paul wants to brag (satirically) about being a Jew, he says he is, “Of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew or Hebrews” (Philippians 3:5). The book of Nehemiah tells us to what great extent foreigners were actually forbidden in Israel’s pure society. Reflecting on Israel’s past sins, the prophet emphasizes the sin of marrying foreign women,
In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab; and half their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but the language of each people. I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. . . . Shall we listen to you and do all this great evil and act treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women?” Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign (Nehemiah 13:23-24, 25, 27, 30).
So we can see how precious to the ancient Jews purity of bloodline was. The Samaritans were foreigners, transplanted from Assyria and other places, who colonized northern Israel after the ten northern tribes were wiped out. They had a different Bible than the Jews used. And they worshiped on Mount Gerizim. In fact, to attack and denounce Jesus, the Pharisees accuse Him of having a devil and being a Samaritan, “The Jews answered him, ‘Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?’” (John 8:48). And yet, despite all these prejudices, John praises the Samaritans for believing in Jesus. And Jesus gives the teachings about universal worship in spirit to a Samaritan woman.
What does this say to us? Jesus dissolved the distinction between Jew and Samaritan. Paul also preached equality between foreigners and Jews, and even between different religions–”There is neither Jew nor Greek.” Jesus speaks of a universal worship in spirit and in truth. I take this to mean that the distinctions we make between differing forms of Christianity are false. Paul said that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, which is a radical teaching and inflamed James and the Jerusalem Christians against him. Today, shall we say, “In Christ there is no Anglican nor Catholic, but we are all one.” Shall we also say, “In Christ there is neither Swedenborgian nor United, but we are all one in Christ?” I would go further. In this passage, Jesus uses the most inclusive and general language, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). The language used here is not Jesus’ name, not the Father, but the broadest word, God. It is God who must be worshipped in spirit and truth. To me, this opens the door for all the world’s religions. In God there is neither Christian nor Hindu. There is no Jew nor Muslim. We are all one in God. This idea follows well the passage from Revelation 5 that I cited last Sunday. The brother and sisterhood of all believers are one under God’s loving wing. Let the words of Revelation conclude this talk,
I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth . . . the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song: . . .
“with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth.”
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 5:6, 8, 9, 11-13)

PRAYER

Lord, this city is made up of many different races and religions. And this world is made up of many different races and religions. We are taught that your heavenly kingdom is made of countless different societies and people. We pray for understanding, so that we may see the fellow humanity we share with others of different races and different religions. Sometimes in our own lives we draw a circle around our friends and around the people we consider proper and good. But may we see with increasing wisdom how others can fit into our circle. May we draw our circles with increasingly wider circumferences to include more and more of your people, be they similar to us or appear different. May we see with your eyes, who included Samaritan, Roman, and Jew among your children while you were here on earth.

With Healing in Its Wings
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
March 16, 2014

Malachi 4:1-6 Matthew 17:1-13 Psalm 121

The passages we heard this morning concern the power of God to heal and regenerate us. In our reading from Malachi we heard the following lines,
For you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from their stall (4:2)
Then in Matthew, we see an image of the power of the risen and glorified Jesus Christ. Jesus takes Peter, James and John up onto a high mountain. On the mountaintop Jesus is transfigured. His face becomes bright as the sun and His clothes become white as the light. It is no accident that they are on a mountain when this happens. Mountains symbolize the presence of God and the angels. In the Old Testament there are many mountains where God’s presence is particularly found. And in Swedenborg’s system of symbolism, mountains correspond to God and heavenly love. Then Moses and Elijah appear to be talking with Jesus. There is powerful symbolism here too. Moses symbolizes the Law, and Elijah symbolizes the prophets. So we have all the Law and prophets associated with Jesus. The symbolism here means that Jesus is the Law and Prophets in the flesh, or the Word made flesh as John 1:14 states.
So on the mountaintop we have an image of our Savior, Jesus Christ in all the power of the Word made flesh. And the transfiguration of Jesus is a foreshadowing of His resurrection. Jesus even predicts His glorification and resurrection by saying to the apostles, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead” (Matthew 17:9).
Then there is the issue of the “great and dreadful Day of the Lord.” This is a prediction of the end of days when the final judgement is to come to the earth. It is a day in which the whole created world–that is, the earth and all the people in it–the whole created world will be purified and things will be set into order. Malachi prophesies,
“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the LORD Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them” (Malachi 4:1).
John the Baptist implies that this great and dreadful day is at hand. He says,
His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering the wheat into his barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire (Matthew 3:12).
And Luke has John the Baptist saying more about the great and dreadful day of the LORD,
The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire (Luke 3:9).
Luke reinforces the immediacy of the great and dreadful day of the LORD with a passage from Isaiah about the restoration of the whole world,
A voice of one calling in the desert,
“Prepare a way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
Every valley shall be filled in,
Every mountain shall be made low,
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
And all mankind will see God’s salvation (Luke 3:4-6).
Before that great and dreadful day, God will send the prophet Elijah. So Malachi says, “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.” Jesus affirms that Elijah will precede the great and dreadful day of the LORD. He tells the apostles, “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things.” With all this in mind, the priests come to John the Baptist, and their first question is, “Are you Elijah?” (John 1:21).
However, there is a mystery about all this. Jesus affirms that the great and dreadful day of the LORD is at hand. He says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15). He also affirms that Elijah has already come, “But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him” (Matthew 17:12). So Jesus states that Elijah will come and restore all things, and that Elijah has already come. But things hadn’t been restored. How are we to understand this prophesy about the coming day of the LORD?
It seems to me that Jesus gives us the means for understanding this mystery. In John, Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of this world. . . But now my kingdom is from another place” (John 18:36). And earlier in His ministry, Jesus says, “Behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). That is, we will not see the kingdom of God come physically on the earth. All these things that are prophesied–the imagery of the furnace, the burning of the arrogant and evil, the threshing floor and the burning of the chaff, the restoration of all things such as the levelling of mountains and the raising up of valleys–all these things will happen within, not visibly on the earth. So Jesus says, “The kingdom of God does not come visibly, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is’” (Luke 17:20-21).
The power of Jesus that was manifested on the mountaintop is at hand to transform our hearts and minds. That is the heavenly kingdom that Jesus rules. There hasn’t been yet, and won’t be a tumultuous upheaval in the world when the last days come. The last days already have come. It happened when God came to earth in the flesh. And it happened when heaven was reordered for the New Age. On a personal level, the last days happen every moment of every day. Every time we make a choice for good over evil, the prophesies are transpiring. The fire is burning the chaff when we turn from unhealthy passions. We leap like calves released from their stalls every time we are released from the bondage of sin. This is what is meant by the sun of righteousness rising with healing on its wings. The healing referred to is the healing of our soul. And our soul is healed by the risen and glorified Jesus Christ.
We now, in this New Age, have the power of the risen and glorified Jesus Christ to come to us and deliver us from the bondage of hell. No one is truly free when hell has power over him or her. Only when we choose freely do we have freedom. And only when we are living in accord with God’s love do we have the freedom to choose. It is the power of the risen Jesus Christ that gives us that choice. A beautiful image of Jesus’ power is given us in the book of Revelation. And this vision of the risen and glorified Jesus’ power extends to all peoples of every tribe and language and race and nation.
See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. . . . the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song: . . .
“with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth.”
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 5:5, 8, 9, 11-13)
This is an image of Jesus’ power to heal our souls and lift us into heaven with the elders, the living creatures and the myriads of angels. This glorious vision is available to everyone on earth who practices their religion as best they know how. I would like to think that the world will eventually come to see the wisdom of peace and the glory of God. But whether this will happen or not, I will not speculate. I will affirm the words of Jesus: “My kingdom is not of this world. The kingdom of God is within.” And for me, it is enough that my soul find healing from the risen Jesus Christ so that I may be an agent of peace in this broken world.

PRAYER

Dear Lord, we are grateful that you do not judge us according to justice, but by love. And your love for us is so great that you came to us, and walked in the way we walk. You brought your divine love to us here on earth. And you yielded to the complete human condition. Your love for us was so great that you even allowed men to persecute you and take your life. Yet your love for us did not end in death. You rose from the dead and are still present to heal men and women through your risen and glorified Divine Human. With your power, we can overcome spiritual death. With your power we can be reborn in your image. And with your power, we may be united with You forever in heaven.

And Was Tempted
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
March 9, 2014

Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7 Matthew 4:1-11 Psalm 32

This Sunday is the first Sunday in Lent. It follows Ash Wednesday and leads up to Good Friday and Easter. Lent is 46 days long. It is actually based on the number 40, which is a number for temptation. Noah’s Ark was tossed on the waters for 40 days and 40 nights. The Israelites wandered for 40 years in the desert. Jesus was tempted by the devil for 40 days. But Lent is 46 days because there are 6 Sundays in Lent. In Lent, you fast during the week, but on Sundays you feast. So in order to get 40 days of fasting, you need a total of 46 days.
In the Season of Lent, one is to be conscious of sin. So the Common Lectionary, or the book that tells Christians which Bible readings to use for Sunday Service, the Lectionary chooses passages about sin for this first week of Lent.. In Genesis we heard about original sin, when Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil and were expelled from the Garden of Eden. And interestingly, in our reading from Matthew, we heard about Jesus Himself undergoing temptation. The idea of sin and temptation really imply spiritual transformation. The idea of spiritual transformation follows last Sunday’s talk about the proprium very well. Last Sunday we talked about the problem of the proprium. This Sunday we will talk about breaking up the proprium and changing our souls into an image and likeness of God. Another way to phrase this is to say we will look at sin and its destruction. This happens through temptations.
Jesus says, “Whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 17:35). This short statement contains the whole process of regeneration., or of destroying proprium and receiving a new self from God. Jesus first says, “Whoever would save his life will lose it.” To save your life means to save the proprium. or all those selfish and worldly drives that vex the soul and come between us and God’s inflowing love. In this sense, to save yourself means to hold on to the things we are accustomed to in this world. It means to hold onto self-interest and to worldly ambition. This is why we lose our lives when we try to save it. We lose our lives, or die spiritually, when we try to save the things of this world we are accustomed to. But notice the second part of this profound statement. Jesus talks about losing our lives. But He says, “Whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” This means to dedicate our lives to the teachings of Jesus, which are the same as the gospels. If we dedicate our lives to Jesus, and if we lose our life of self-interest and proprium, we will save our lives spiritually. This is another way to talk about spiritual rebirth, or regeneration.
For Swedenborg, being reborn is a process. Some churches teach that being reborn comes in an instant when a person accepts Jesus into their heart. Though they say this, if pressed a little bit, they will inevitably say that a person still needs to be aware of the reality of sin. They will admit that combating sin is still part of the spiritual life, even though they are saved. Methodists and Lutherans do indeed talk about purification from sin. Even though Lutherans will insist that faith in Jesus’ atoning sacrifice saves a person, they still speak of the process of purification from sin. They and the Methodists call this “Sanctifying Grace.” They are careful to call it an act of grace, because they want the process to be all God’s doing. Calvinists have a similar notion. For them, the process is called “Sanctification.” I heard a Presbyterian minister say it is like God shining a flashlight on our soul. For Swedenborg, it is called regeneration. The process of regeneration involves the spiritual conflict of temptation.
Temptations are mortal struggles. They are conflicts between the life we used to live and the things we used to love–the life that must die–and the new life we are progressively growing into. The process is like this. Temptations begin with knowledge. We learn the ways of God and heaven. We then examine our lives and see if it matches up with what we know of spiritual life. We look at what we love. We look at our priorities. We look at our relationship to the world. We see if the life we live fits with the life of heaven. As we are doing this, God flows into our souls and minds, filling us with His love. Then, when God’s love meets our worldly loves, a conflict takes place. We want to tenaciously hold onto the way of life we know. We want to hold onto our comfortable life in the world. We want to hold onto our self-interest and all the drives and desires that come with it. We are torn between our old ways and the new life flowing into us from God. It is our old loves and life that must die in order to let in the new life from God. This is why Jesus says, “whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” Swedenborg’s description of this process is almost a paraphrase of Jesus’ words,
a man when he is in temptations is in vastation as to all things that are of his proprium, and of the body–for the things that are his proprium and of the body must die, and [this] through combats and temptations, before he is born again a new man, or is made spiritual and heavenly (AC 730).
Swedenborg grew up a Lutheran. His father was a Lutheran bishop. And there is much of Lutheranism in Swedenborg, such as Luther’s dependence on Paul in his sermons and theology. I think that Swedenborg had Paul in mind when he wrote passages like the one I just cited. Paul, too, talks about dying to the flesh and living by the Spirit. In Galatians, Paul writes,
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5: 16-25).
There is a question about temptations, though. It is a question I’ve been pondering over the years. The question I’m thinking about is how tumultuous and difficult they have to be. The question I have in mind, is how much old life needs to die. There is no doubt that we need spiritual rebirth. Last Sunday, I referenced Jesus’ words to Nicodemus. Jesus told Nicodemus,
Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, “You must be born again” (John 3:3, 5-6).
We all need to be born again of water and the Spirit. We all need to remove blockage that shuts out the sunlight of the soul. But how tumultuous a process this is, is an open question. It all hinges on the question of how attached to the world and to our own selfish gain we have become. If we are dearly attached to self and world, our transformation into a person oriented to God and the neighbor will be difficult. Those are the things that need to change. We need to become God-and-neighbor oriented from starting out self-and-world oriented. Swedenborg describes just how mortal a conflict this can be.
By continual sensuous pleasures and by loves of the self and the world . . . a person has acquired a life for himself of such sort that his life is nothing but a life of such things. This life cannot accord at all with heavenly life. For no one can love worldly and at the same time heavenly things. To love worldly things is to look downward; to love heavenly things is to look upward. Much less can a person love himself and at the same time the neighbor, and still less the Lord. He who loves himself hates all that do not render him service; so that the man who loves himself is very far from heavenly love and charity, which is to love the neighbor more than one’s self, and the Lord above all things. From this it is evident how far removed the life of a person is from heavenly life. And for that reason he is regenerated by the Lord by means of temptations, and so turned as to bring him into agreement. This is why such temptation is severe, for it touches a person’s very life, assailing, destroying, and transforming it (AC 759).
Temptations, then, touch our very life. Temptations assail our complacency and break up our old ways of living. Our very life must change. And this won’t be easy.
The open question I have been pondering over the years, though, is this. Does it have to be that hard? In the quote just above, Swedenborg says, “By continual sensuous pleasures and by loves of the self and the world . . . a person has acquired a life for himself of such sort that his life is nothing but a life of such things.” But what if a person hasn’t indulged in “continual sensuous pleasures” and “loves of the self and the world?” What if a person has been essentially good, gone to Sunday school and learned about God and tried to live according to what they learned? Is it possible that such a person would just naturally grow oriented to God, the neighbor, and heaven? It’s a point worth considering, and I don’t have an answer just yet. Swedenborg even says that it is not so difficult to live the life that leads to heaven. I’ll close with his words on this from Heaven and Hell,
It is not so difficult to live the life that leads to heaven as is believed. Some believe that to live the life that leads to heaven, which is called spiritual life, is difficult, because they have been told that a person must renounce the world, divest himself of lusts called lusts of the body and the flesh, and live spiritually. And by this they understand that they must reject worldly things, which consist chiefly in riches and honors; that they must walk continually in pious meditation about God, about salvation, and about eternal life; and that they must pass their life in prayers, and in reading the Word and pious books. . . . That it is not so difficult as is believed to live the life which leads to heaven may be seen from what now follows. Who cannot live a civil and moral life, since everyone from childhood is initiated in it, and from life in the world is acquainted with it? . . . Almost all practice sincerity and justice outwardly, so as to appear as if they were sincere and just in heart . . . The spiritual person should live in like manner–which he or she can do as easily as the natural person–but with this difference only, that he or she believes in the Divine, and acts sincerely and justly not merely because it is according to civil and moral laws, but also because it is according to Divine laws. For the spiritual person, because he or she thinks about Divine things when he or she acts, communicates with the angels of heaven, and so far as he or she does this, is conjoined with them . . . (HH 528, 530).
This passage suggests that it is possible to start out life good, and stay there.

PRAYER

Lord, you have told us that your yoke is easy and your burden is light. You have told us that your law is not far off, so that we need to ascend to heaven to learn it. You have told us that your law and your ways are written on our hearts. Help us to find your laws as we turn within or learn your ways from without. For you come to us in our souls and you come to us in the words of the people around us, the writings we encounter and through teachers of all kinds. In this Lenten season, we pray for forgiveness through repentance. During this Lenten season, we are aware of the ways in which we fall short of your kingdom and your glory. And yet, despite our mortal failings you continue to remain with us, sanctifying, uplifting, and bringing us ever into deeper union with yourself.

Born of Water and the Spirit
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
March 2, 2014

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

Our Bible readings this morning touch on a topic that I’d like to revisit, which I haven’t talked about for some time. It involves a strange Swedenborgian word that is unique to his theology. That word is the proprium. The meaning of this word is “what is a person’s own.” You may notice its relationship to our English word, “proper.” In this case, it means “what is proper to a person.” So it means the self. In general, the proprium has negative connotations. It is often used to mean the self in its lowest sense. This would be self-interest, selfishness, and inflated self-aggrandizement. But it does have positive connotations, too. Remember, its primary meaning is the self, or what is a person’s own. And after spiritual rebirth a person’s self is transformed into a lovely image and likeness of God. Then, we have a heavenly proprium. Our self is really not our own anymore. It is God in us. But we still have a sense of self. We all have our own ways of receiving God. And even when we are filled with God’s love and wisdom, we have a self that receives these qualities in our own unique way. This is proprium in a good sense. This is our heavenly proprium. You could say that the whole process of regeneration is a process of lifting us out of proprium in a bad sense and gifting us with a proprium in a heavenly sense. Another way to put this is to change from a self that is only inflated self-interested to a self that is humble and God and neighbor-interested.
There seems to be no way out of the idea that we need to grow up spiritually. There seems to be no way out of the idea that we need spiritual transformation to find heavenly joy. This is clear from our reading from Mark. Jesus travels to Galilee to proclaim the good news. I think that the good news is a mixed blessing. Jesus says, “The time has come. The kingdom of God is near.” This sounds pretty good. But then He adds, “Repent and believe.” So the coming of God’s kingdom also carries with it a charge to repent. And John the Baptist’s message was the same. Mark tells us that, “John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” We see here that the forgiveness of sins is dependent on repentance. Finally, Jesus tells Nicodemus a message that applies to us all: we all need to be spiritually transformed, or reborn:
Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, “You must be born again” (John 3:3, 5-6).
Swedenborg talks about spiritual rebirth in the context of the proprium. It is the proprium that is self-interested, egotistical, and world interested only. When we are acting from our proprium, our attitude is only, “What’s in it for me?” Or, “I am the centre of the world.” We are only interested in what benefits us. And what doesn’t favor us we care nothing about. Furthermore, when we are self-interested, anyone that comes in our way is an enemy. Anyone who threatens our self-interest is our foe. So Swedenborg defines the proprium as follows:
To make known what proprium is:–proprium is all the evil and falsity springing from the love of self and of the world; and from not believing in the Lord or in the Word, but in self (AC 210).
And Swedenborg also talks about the consequences of this view on life.
The love of self is nothing else than the proprium; . . . From self-love, that is, the love of self, or from the proprium, all evils flow, such as hatreds, revenges, cruelties, adulteries, frauds, hypocrisies, impiety (AC 1326).
The Buddhists have a similar idea about the self. They claim, too, that from the idea of the self arise all human evils. The Buddhists, like Swedenborg, believe that the self is an illusion. Someone once challenged the Buddha about whether there is a self. The Buddha’s answer was very practical. He said that wherever you have the self, you have greed, violence, lust, and hatred. “Show me an idea of the self in which there are none of these things,” he said, “and I will agree that there is a self.”
One of the problems of self-interest is that it is based on falsity. When proprium dominates a person’s life, a person thinks that he or she is self-made. A person thinks that they are independent and self-sustaining. In short, a person thinks that they live by their own power. they think that the life they live and the deeds they do are all done by themselves. But this is an illusion. The life we have is given us by God. God alone is life itself. We are mere vessels of life. And furthermore, our very thoughts and emotions are all influenced by influx from heaven’s grand human form. Angels and demons inspire thoughts and feelings in us. There is very little of us that is actually our own. The real idea of self is only what we choose to let into our minds and hearts. So our true self is only the choices we make. Thus the idea that we are living by our own power is an illusion. The Hindus call this illusion Maya. Maya is the illusion that we are independent poles of life and not connected to the One Source of everything, or God, or Brahman. This illusion of self-independance is Swedenborg’s proprium. And Swedenborg says that when proprium rules, we are in a deep sleep.
Man’s state when he is in his proprium or when he thinks that he lives of himself, is compared to a deep sleep . . . The man who thinks he lives of himself is therefore in a false persuasion (AC 150).
The illusion of self and all the evils that stem from it is a powerful illusion. To be spiritually reborn we need to have that illusion broken up. Our proprium, and all the evils that come with selfishness and worldliness, need to be destroyed. Then we become open to God’s inflowing love and wisdom. Breaking up the illusion of self, and subduing the evils that come with it, is called temptation. Temptations are “the heartache thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to,” to use Shakespeare’s words. Temptations are all those calamities, and frustrations that break up our self-interest and make us realize that we aren’t in control and that we need God. And finally, temptations make us want God and they soften us so that we see our neighbors as friends, not means to self-interest.
Through the process of temptation, self is broken up and love and truth flow into our consciousness. These glowing qualities make our self shine with heavenly rays. Through temptations we are gifted with heavenly virtues that radically change our proprium. It is as if we are lifted up out of proprium. Or it is as if we are given a new proprium from God. Swedenborg says,
Man’s proprium is all evil and falsity. So long as this continues the person is dead; but when he comes into temptations it is broken up, that is loosened and tempered by truths and goods from the Lord, and thus is vivified and appears as if it were not present (AC 731).
We are actually born again. We become different people. We are given a heavenly proprium. We are given a sense of self that regards God and the nrighbor in everything we do, not only what’s in it for me. Swedenborg describes this radical transformation.
As regards the heavenly proprium, it exists from the new will which is given by the Lord, and differs from man’s proprium in this, that they who have it no longer regard themselves in each and every thing they do . . . but they then have regard to the neighbor, the public, the church, the Lord’s kingdom, and so to the Lord Himself. It is the aims of life that are changed. The aims that are fixed on lower things, that is, on self and the world, are removed, and aims that look to higher things are substituted in their place. . . . He to whom the heavenly proprium is given is also serene and full of peace; for he trusts in the Lord, believing that no evil will befall him, and knowing that lusts will not infest him. . . . From this it may be evident that they are in blessedness and happiness, inasmuch as there is nothing to disturb them, nothing of self-love, and consequently nothing of enmity, hatred, and revenge; nor is there any love for the world, consequently no insincerity, fear, or anxiety (AC 5660).
This, finally, brings in our Old Testament reading–believe it or not. The rainbow that God put in the clouds symbolizes a regenerated person. And Swedenborg says that such regenerated people actually are surrounded by rainbows. I think that this is a description of what some people see as auras around people. Swedenborg tells us,
Spiritual angels who have all been regenerated men of the spiritual church, when presented to sight as such in the other life, appear with as it were a rainbow about the head. . . . These angels are those who those who are said to be born again, of water and the spirit . . . There is in the regenerate spiritual man an intellectual proprium in which the Lord instills innocence, charity, and mercy. According to the reception of these gifts by man is the appearance of his rainbow when presented to view–the more beautiful as the proprium of the man’s will is removed, subdued, and reduced to obedience (AC 1042).
Well, I know that this is a difficult subject. Perhaps one of Swedenborg’s most elusive concepts. But I think I can sum it up in a short sentence that I heard from an AA speaker. “There is a God, and you’re not it.”

PRAYER

Lord, We thank you for all the gifts you have given us today, and in our lives. We thank you for your unceasing efforts to lift us out of our self and raise us up into heaven. Your have told us that we need to be born of water and the spirit in order to come into your kingdom. And you have made plain the way for us to go. You have told us about repentance for the forgiveness of sins. You shine a light on our souls, Lord. And in that light we see where we fall short of glory. And, Lord, you give us the power to refrain from harmful thoughts, feelings, and actions. By all these means, and by the power of your unfailing love, you bring us to you and into eternal happiness. We give you thanks, Lord, for shaping this clay into a vessel of your love.

The Nature of Spiritual Love
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
February 23, 2014

Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18 Mark 12:28-34 Psalm 119

Our readings from the Old and New Testaments are all about loving our neighbor. Our Old Testament reading speaks about love from a “case law” perspective. By that I mean love is treated on a case by case basis and rulings are given to cover several examples of how love should be shown. In our New Testament reading, Jesus teaches about love as a wise rabbi. He is asked about how to interpret the law, which was and is the job for rabbis.
Let’s see how the Bible teaches us to love, beginning with the story of Jesus. In our reading from Mark, we have a fairly friendly discussion about love. A scribe, or someone well versed in the scriptures, hears Jesus discussing. This scribe sees that Jesus, “answered well.” And because Jesus answered well, the scribe asks Jesus a very hard and provocative question. He asks Jesus, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Now in the Jewish tradition, there are 613 commandments in the Old Testament. This provocative scribe is asking Jesus to effectively rank all 613 commandments and pick the highest one–the first of all the commandments. Jesus, the Word made flesh, knows the answer. And Jesus responds as a rabbi. Jesus actually quotes from the law–that is, from the first five books of the Bible. (The first five books of the Bible, called the Pentateuch, are also called The Law.) Jesus says that the first of all the commandments is Deuteronomy 6:4,
Hear O Israel, The LORD our God is one LORD; and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.
Jesus adds a second commandment, which He takes from Leviticus 19:18, which we heard this morning, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The scribe agrees with Jesus and says,
You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that he is one, and there is no other but he; and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more that all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
The scribe is making a powerful statement. He is saying that personal morality matters more than the formal sacrificial rituals that were common in that time. This conversation occurred in a time when the priests were governing Israel, under Roman rule. This meant that performing temple sacrifices was the primary way religion was understood. People were taught that they were supposed to bring sacrifices to the temple for religious holidays and for all manner of reasons like atonement for sin. But this rabbi, and his master Jesus, said that personal morality mattered more than sacrifices at the temple. Being a loving person is more important than all the sacrifices. Jesus is pleased with the scribe’s answer and tells him, “You are not far from the kingdom.” So in Mark, we have a friendly encounter about a central teaching of Jesus, the law of love.
The Gospel of Matthew puts a different spin on this story. In Matthew, the question about the law happens as Jesus just finishes an argument, and it is an argument, with a group called Sadducees. The Sadducees were aristocrats in the time of Jesus, and they maintained the temple. When Jesus silences the Sadducees in an argument about life after death, the Pharisees gang up against Jesus. They ask him the same question we heard in Mark. But Matthew tells us that they did it to test Jesus,
When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” (Matthew 22:34-35)
Jesus gives the same answer about the two great commands that he does in Mark. in Matthew, this silences the Pharisees. And in both Gospels, we find the conclusion, “And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did any one dare to ask him any more questions.” I presume this means that no one tried to challenge Jesus any more with trick questions.
Leviticus gives us some practical ways to implement this teaching of love for the neighbor. I think one of the primary case laws that we find in this reading from Leviticus is one about impartiality. Leviticus tells us, “In righteousness shall you judge your neighbor” (19:15). This impartiality is explained in terms of wealth and poverty, “You shall do no injustice in judgement; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great” (19:15). This case law extends to all our dealings with our neighbor. God asks us to deal justly with all we come in contact with–friend, acquaintance, or even enemy. Swedenborg tells us that loving spiritually is loving the good that is in a person, not just the person. So wherever we see good, we are to love that in whomever we find it. Loving and doing good only to our friends is not spiritual. Swedenborg writes,
To do good to a friend, of whatever quality he may be, if only he is a friend, is natural and not spiritual; but to do good to a friend for the sake of the good in him, and still more to hold good itself as the friend to which one does good, is spiritual natural . . . (AC 4992).
I see three levels in this discussion of friendship and love. The first, and lowest level is to love our friends whatever they do, just because they are our friends. This kind of love is not spiritual. The second level of love is to love our friends for the good that is in them. At this point, we are verging on spiritual love. Finally, the third level of love is to love good itself. And wherever we see good, in whomever we see it, we befriend that person and the good in him or her. This is loving spiritually. But our love extends to everyone in the whole human race. Swedenborg says, “To love the neighbor is not merely to will and do good to the relative, friend, and good person, but also to the stranger, enemy, and bad man” (TCR 407). Though we love everyone, we show our love differently according to the quality of the person we love. We do good directly to good people, but we show our love to wicked people by attempts to modify their behavior. We don’t want to enable destructive behaviors,
But charity is exercised . . . toward a relative and friend by direct benefits; toward an enemy and wicked person by indirect benefits conferred by exhortation, discipline, punishment, and so by correction” (TCR 407).
I don’t think the idea here is the methods we use to modify destructive behaviors, as much as it is the idea that destructive behaviors are not to be enabled.
We are not asked to have no friends. Rather, this teaching tells us to scrutinize our friends, and become attached to what is good in them, not to their person regardless of their personality. This sounds judgemental. And being judgemental has negative connotations today. But I do think that we need to be aware of the personality of the friends we make and love. And I think, equally, we need to be aware of the people with whom we form friendships. As for me, I begin all my acquaintances with positive regard and I give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I try to remain open to friendships with everyone I meet. It is only when my trust and positive regard meets with ethical challenges that I pull away and begin to distance myself from others. If another person shows me that they cannot be trusted, then and only then do I revise my decision to befriend them.
The list of case laws in Leviticus goes on to name several instances and means of being a good neighbor. But then it concludes with a general statement that includes all the forgoing cases,
You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason with your neighbor, lest you bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love the neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD (Leviticus 19:17-18).
This law tells us to look within. Just as the sum of the Ten Commandments talks about the inner feeling of covetousness, this list of laws is summed up with an inward turn not to hate and to love. This commandment tells us that if we hold hatred in our hearts, we sin, not our neighbor. Neither are we to hold grudges or take vengeance. Rather, as Jesus tells the scribe, and tells each one of us, loving God and loving our neighbor are the sum of all 613 commandments in the Old Testament.

PRAYER

Lord, you have given us two commandments that are not hard to understand. You have asked us to love you above all and with all our mind and all our might. And you have asked us to love our neighbor as our selves. You have taught us that everyone in the whole human race is our neighbor. We are called upon to love distant strangers and those in our own household. We are called upon to love enemies and friends alike. We pray that you soften our hearts, so that we may remain open to our neighbor wherever we encounter him or her. We pray to be filled with your all-encompassing love, so that we may embrace our fellows when we meet them. And we pray, Lord, for your wisdom. We pray for wisdom to guide us into effective love. We would know how to best encourage what is good in our neighbors, and to amend what needs to change. For even as we support our neighbors, we do not wish to enable destructive character traits. We pray in Your Most Holy Name, amen.

You Can Do It
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
February 16, 2014

Deuteronomy 30:11-20 Matthew 5: 38-48 Psalm 119

God encourages us in the book of Deuteronomy. The reading we heard this morning tells us that it is not too hard for us to do what God commands. God tells us plainly, “For this commandment which I command you this day is not too hard for you” (Deuteronomy 30:11). God elaborates His gentle command by saying that it is not far off and difficult to obtain,
It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?” Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?” (Deuteronomy 30:12-13)
God tells us to look into our hearts, and that we will find His commandment there. And God reaffirms that we can do it, “But the word is very ear you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it” (30:14). So God tells us that His commands are obtainable, we know them, and they are not too hard for us.
But in our reading from Matthew, we heard some hard teachings from Jesus. Jesus reinterprets the Ten Commandments. He emphasizes love, which is at the heart of the Ten Commandments. But in doing so, He asks some very demanding things of us. At the conclusion of His treatment of the Ten Commandments, Jesus says, “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). It simply isn’t possible for us to be perfect. And as if that weren’t hard enough, Jesus asks us to be like God, “be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Is this the same voice we heard in Deuteronomy? Is this the voice that says, “This commandment which I give you this day is not too hard for you?” Logic gives us two possible interpretations of these two sayings. First, it is indeed possible for us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. Or second, the two sayings are in conflict.
There might be a third interpretation. That is, Jesus was using hyperbole. That is, He was exaggerating what He expects of us. Maybe Jesus is saying, “Strive for perfection.” Let’s look at some of the other passages we heard from Matthew this morning.
Jesus gives us a strong statement of non-violence in Matthew 5. He tells us, “Do not resist one who is evil.” Jesus then elaborates with a few examples. He says,
If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if anyone would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles (Matthew 5:39-40).
These statements remind me of those who have made the greatest contributions to social transformation. I think of Mahatma Gandhi. He overcame the English Empire without waging war against it. His was peaceful protest. And the power of peaceful protest threw off the imperialism of England. And I think of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King not only made living conditions equal in the segregated parts of America, but he also made great strides toward equality of heart and mind for African Americans and the dominant Caucasian majority. And Dr. King did this not by mobilizing African-Americans to fight, but rather by peaceful resistance. Dr. King learned from the tactics of Gandhi, and he and his followers bore violent attacks without fighting back. They did cover up against fists, clubs, and batons, but they did not exchange blow for blow. They did not return eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. And both these peaceful reformers overcame incredible odds and great power. They overcame without war and fighting. So there is power in the words of Jesus.
Jesus, Himself, of course, set the example in His crucifixion. Jesus, as we know, did not resist the evil powers of Rome and the mob of Jerusalem. Even when He was arrested, Jesus did not fight. One of Jesus’ followers drew his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s slave. Jesus would not let this man fight, either. He told him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matthew 26:52).
That truth stands up to human experience. “All who take the sword will perish by the sword.” Or as folk wisdom has rephrased it, “All who live by the sword, die by the sword.” Responding to violence with violence will only perpetuate the dynamic. Anyone who has had any experience with this can confirm it. I recall when I was in school a former roommate that I had conflict with. I can’t remember all the details, but I got into an escalating circle of antagonism with him. I don’t think it ever came to a physical altercation. But one morning I woke up to find the headlights on my car smashed. I didn’t have any proof, but I knew it was him. I thought of retaliation. But then I had the presence of mind to see the inevitable results. I break something of his, he breaks something of mine, and so on and so on until the windshield of my car gets smashed. I looked at the broken headlights of my car and let it end there.
This doesn’t go only for physical violence. We can be aggressive verbally, too. We can be argumentative and try to beat up someone else verbally. In fact, the law recognizes verbal abuse as a crime as well as physical abuse. Any time we throw our weight around in any way, we are acting violently. And acting violently starts the cycle of violence that only ends when someone has had enough and turns the cheek or calls in the law.
In fact the law about an eye for an eye has an interesting history. This law was given to soften retaliation. In the history of Israel, sometimes vengeance would be carried out to the seventh generation of the victim. That means that the children seven generations down would suffer for the offences of their great, great, great, great grandfather. But Exodus says that vengeance, or punishment, must equal the offence. So the law says,
you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe (Exodus 21:23-24).
So the law about equal retaliation was meant as a progressive step forward in justice. And for its time, it was. But Jesus makes an even further step forward in the nature of justice. He teaches,
You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil (Matthew 5:38-39).
Well do we have the presence to resist one who is evil? Are we more likely to draw our sword and fight? Will we initiate the cycle of violence that can only result in our ruin? I think that there is a final teaching in this section of Matthew that we may be able to do, or strive to do. Again, revising the laws of the Old Testament that call down curses on those who hate a person, Jesus says,
You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and unjust (Matthew 5:43-45).
As Christians, we are called to love our friends and our distant relations. We are to love the members of this church, and the Muslims in Egypt. I think of the extraordinary encounter of the past Pope, John Paul II. Do you remember when Pope John Paul II visited in jail the man who attempted to assassinate him? I recall the photo of the Pope in jail visiting his would-be murderer posted in Time magazine and all over the media. This is the message of Christian forgiveness that runs all through the Gospels. And I think that it is the only way to peace–in our lives, and perhaps on a global scale.
Where are we, now, with respect to the Deuteronomy passage we opened with. God tells us in Deuteronomy that, “This commandment which I command you this day is not too hard for you” (Deuteronomy 30:11). God tells us that it is not far off so that we need to send someone up into the sky or across the ocean to get it. Rather, this commandment is in our hearts. I think that it is possible for us to love our fellows. We can pray for those who persecute us. And we can abstain from the cycle of violence. Jesus showed us the way of love and the way of peace. It but remains for us to read the stories about Him and to follow in His footsteps.

PRAYER

Lord, we pray that you lead us in the path of peace. We are tempted at times to want to retaliate when we are wronged. But you have told us clearly to turn the other cheek. You have taught us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. Give us the inner peace to follow your example and not to respond and eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. May we not lash out in anger, but seek to moderate conflict and resolve differences peacefully.

And, Lord, we pray that the world may learn from your lessons of peace. We pray especially for the people of Syria. May the rulers of that country realize that war and conflict are not the means for preserving society. We pray that all the civil unrest and war we see may understand that all are like in wanting love and the good things of this world.

We ask for your healing love to fill those who are ailing in body and soul. Lord, send your healing love to all who are in need.

What Is Essential in Worship
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
February 9, 2014

Isaiah 58:1-9 Matthew 5:13-20 Psalm 112

Our readings from Isaiah and from Matthew this morning teach what is essential in worship. They both point to the simple truth that doing good is what God asks of us. For doing good to the neighbor out of love for the neighbor is what the heart and soul of worship is. Swedenborg makes a simple statement about this, a statement that should be obvious,
All religion is of life, and a religious life is doing good. Every person with any religion knows and acknowledges that one who lives a good life is saved . . .” (Doctrine of Life 1).
Yet, at the same time, when we do good, we cannot take credit for it. For when a person does good spiritually, it is actually God doing the good in the person. So Jesus says that our good works will point to God, not to our self, “Let your light shine before men, that they will see your good works and give glory to your Father” (Matthew 5:16). Here, even as Jesus urges us to do good works, He also says that glory goes to the Father. Paul says something similar in Philippians. He tells us that it is God who works in us to do good acts,
Therefore, my dear friends, . . . continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose (Philippians 2:12-13).
This is why Swedenborg’s theology is considered mystical. The mystical aspect to Swedenborg’s theology is that he talks about merging our souls with God. The wisdom in our minds is God’s Divine Wisdom in us. And the love in our hearts is God’s Divine Love in us. So we are finite vessels that hold our individual expressions of the infinite God. Swedenborg is not alone in this mystical view of our relationship to God. The Eastern Orthodox Church, for instance, talks about a process called “theosis.” Like Swedenborg, theosis means that we merge with God and God animates our actions, filling our hearts with God’s love and enlightening our minds with God’s light. And notably in Hinduism, throughout the Upanishads, ways to merge with the ultimate Brahman is taught. In fact the root of the word, “yoga” means “to yoke” or to join–with God.
God’s love and wisdom in us flow forth into good deeds and love for our neighbors. This is what true worship is. true worship is loving and caring for our neighbors. So Swedenborg teaches that, “internal worship, which is of love and caring, is real worship” (AC 1175). This is what the prophet Isaiah was getting at in the reading we heard this morning. He criticizes the Israelites for doing only rituals while forgetting the essence of living worship. Isaiah criticizes them for fasting, for wearing sack cloth and ashes, for saying prayers, all the while ignoring their brothers and sisters who are in need. In fact, they are not only ignoring their brothers and sisters, they are actually breaking out into evils of all kinds: quarrelling, fighting, and oppressing their workers. Yet they continue to fast, wear sackcloth and ashes, and pray. What they are doing is ritual only, or what Swedenborg would call “external worship.” So Isaiah says,
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure
and oppress all your workers.
Behold, your fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to hit with wicked fist. . . .
Is such the fast that I chose,
a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a rush,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
and a day acceptable to the Lord? (Isaiah 58:3-5)
The Israelites that Isaiah is declaiming are fasting while they quarrel, fight, and oppress their workers. Their worship is external, with no soul to it.
Isaiah then tells the Israelites the kind of fast that God wishes. The true fast is the way a person treats his or her neighbor. Religious ritual has meaning only when it comes from a loving heart. Isaiah spells this out clearly:
Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
your righteousness shall go before you,
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard (Isaiah 58:6-8).
When we care for our neighbors, then the worship rituals we do have a soul. But if we do rituals without caring for our neighbors, then our worship is external and dead. The essential thing about worship is love for God and the neighbor. When we have these in our hearts, then when we go through worship rituals, God is in our hearts and in everything we do. Swedenborg explains this quite clearly,
Let it be supposed, for example, that people place the very essential of worship in frequenting churches, going to the sacraments, hearing sermons, praying, observing feasts, and many other things which are external and ceremonial, and persuade themselves that these, with talking about faith, are sufficient–all which are formal things of worship. They indeed who make worship from love and caring essential, do these things likewise, that is, they frequent churches, go to the sacraments, hear sermons, pray, observe feasts, and the like, and this very earnestly and diligently; but they do not place the essential of worship in these things. In the external worship of such people there is something holy and living, because there is internal worship in it; but in the external worship of the former there is nothing holy and nothing living (AC 1175).
So the symbols of worship have power to bring God’s presence only when the heart of the worshipper has love in it. The Israelites Isaiah criticizes are like those who think that the essential of worship is the rituals and not the heart of the worshipper. Isaiah tells them, and us, too, that what matters is how we treat those around us.
Notice, too, that for Swedenborg it isn’t a matter of internal versus external. It is both-and. He states that even for those who have love in their hearts, the external things of worship are important. He says, “They indeed who make worship from love and caring essential, do these things likewise . . . and this very earnestly and diligently.” Thus we need church, the community, the support, and the symbols that awaken in us a feeling of holiness and of God’s presence. This, even though we meet God everywhere.
The symbols and rituals of religion are meaningful for a person who is united inwardly with God. For such a person, church does bring God’s presence. This is what Isaiah means when he says, “Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;/you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am.

PRAYER

Lord, we call upon your name Sunday by Sunday when we come here to worship you. And, Lord, we call upon your name when we leave this building. For each time we do a good turn to our neighbors we are calling upon your name. We pray that you fill our souls with your Divine Love and Wisdom. We pray that your holy presence drive away dark clouds of evil and selfishness. For when you are in our hearts, we know and feel what is good and loving. May we come to know heavenly joys as we grow nearer and nearer to you day by day.

Lord, we thank you for this church, where we come to worship and share Christian love together. We ask for you to watch over this congregation.

Lord, we pray for peace in this troubled world. Where there is hatred and discord, we pray for love and harmony. We pray for those nations torn by civil unrest. May they find your peace and love. May warring factions see that they are like in their wishes for love and for the good things of this world.

And Lord, we pray that you heal those who are suffering with illness. Lord, send your healing love to all who are in need.

What Is the New Church?
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
February 2, 2014

Isaiah 65:17-25 Revelation 21:1-16, 22-27 Psalm 135

Last Wednesday, January 29 was the birthday of Emanuel Swedenborg. I believe that it was the 326th birthday of this great man who was born in 1688. Swedenborg mastered nearly every discipline of learning in his day. He published massive books about philosophy, chemistry and metallurgy, human anatomy, psychology, and he even wrote poetry. In his fifties, Swedenborg began to experience spiritual visions and he saw into the spiritual world. The remarkable thing about Swedenborg’s visions is that he didn’t enter into a trance to see his visions. Rather, as he emphatically stated, he spoke with angels, demons, and spirits in a state of full wakefulness.
But Swedenborg wasn’t just a spiritual voyeur. He did more than merely see spirits and angels. He experienced a mode of enlightenment in which he learned about God and the nature of salvation that was very different from his inherited Lutheranism. He was raised in a thoroughly Lutheran home. His father was a Lutheran bishop who was a minister to the royal court of Sweden. For the majority of Swedenborg’s life, Swedenborg believed the tenets of the typical Lutheran Church of his day. But his visions, his dialogues with angels and spirits, and his enlightenment from God taught Swedenborg a new way of understanding spirituality.
Swedenborg published his new understanding of spirituality in a series of volumes. In the Standard Edition of Swedenborg’s theology, there are 30 volumes. There are interpretations of the Bible, there are volumes treating theological topics such as Divine Providence, or God’s Love and Wisdom, or Marriage, and his most popular book about Heaven and Hell.
Swedenborg makes a bold claim in his theological books. He claims that a new era in human history is dawning, which he called The New Church. This New Church was foretold in Revelation 21, which we heard this morning. Just what this New Church is, is a great question.
Way back at this church’s very beginning, a man named Robert Hindmarsh thought that the New Church was a new denomination. Accordingly, he applied for a dissenter’s license and with a small group, broke off from the national Church of England. The group then founded a new denomination, The Church of the New Jerusalem, in England in 1787. There were voices of opposition to this new denomination among readers of Swedenborg. One was an Anglican minister named Jeffrey Clowes. Rev. Clowes preached Swedenborgian ideas from the pulpit of his own church. He thought that the New Church foretold in Revelation and proclaimed by Swedenborg would happen as Swedenborg’s writings became absorbed into the greater world. He did not think that another denomination was what Swedenborg had intended. Another prominent voice was that of Henry James, Sr.—the father of William and Henry James. Henry James, Sr. thought that the New Church was a new world order, and not another denomination alongside other denominations.
In the anniversary of the birth of Emanuel Swedenborg, it makes sense to speculate about just what the New Church is. What did Swedenborg mean by the New Church foretold in Revelation?
One thing that Swedenborg said about the New Church is that the whole spiritual world was changed and reordered. He said that the Old Christian Church had reached its final days, when no truth remained in it. One example of this claim that no truth remained in the Old Christian Church is the idea of the trinity. Traditional Christianity asserts that God is a trinity of persons who have one essence. There are strong and weak formulations of this doctrine. Stated strongly, the trinity means that there are three persons. This idea, if it is believed without much thought or reflection, leads to the notion that there are three gods. I have heard Christian ministers tell me that many ordinary Christians do, in fact, believe in three gods. And I have heard a rabbi question whether Christianity could be considered one of the great monotheistic religions like Islam and Judaism. The New Church holds that God is only one Person. God the Father is as the soul in Jesus Christ, who is as the body. The Holy Spirit is the influence of God on humans and in the created world. There is essentially no trinity for the New Church.
Another example of traditional Christianity being bereft of truth is the idea of salvation by faith alone. This doctrine holds that if we believe that Jesus died for our sins, we are saved. It is our belief that saves us. Swedenborg states that the New Church teaches that good works and faith are both important. True belief about God, coupled with good actions flowing from love are what make a person angelic.
One final note about the New Church. The New Jerusalem as described in Revelation is said to be of equal height and breadth. Swedenborg interprets this to mean that love and truth will be of equal import in individuals of the New Church. And in the Arcana Coelestia n.1799, Swedenborg makes a plaintive plea for church unity. He says that if only belief in God and love for the neighbor are the primary things of religion, then all the churches of the world would be one.
In the Christian world the doctrines 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 ay all, if they would make love to the Lord and love toward the neighbour the principal things of faith. The doctrines would then be only varieties of opinion respecting the mysteries of faith, which truly Christian persons would leave to everyone according to his or her conscience . . . Thus from all the differing churches there would become one Church; and all the dissensions which exist from doctrine alone would vanish; yea, the hatreds against one another would be dissipated in a moment, and the Lord’s kingdom would come upon the earth” (Arcana Coelestia n. 1799).
The irony in this statement is that much in Swedenborg is argument about doctrinal issues—the very thing that separates churches. I say this because there are some very positive movements today that seem to be bringing all the different religions together.
One such movement is the National Council of Churches of Christ, of which I am our denomination’s representative to the Faith and Order Convening Table. All the major Christian churches belong to the National Council of Churches of Christ. And there is such an air of acceptance and mutual love that we feel like one body.
Another movement is the Edmonton Interfaith Centre for Education and Action. In this organization we have not only Christians, but members of all the major world religions: Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and several different denominations of Christianity. We all feel connected in a loving relationship. Despite our different religions and different nationalities, we are one in a spirit of love, or what Swedenborg would call charity.
This kind of harmony would have been unthinkable only 100 years ago. True, the first Parliament of the World’s Religions was in 1893. But this was the very first time that religions of the world all gathered to celebrate their unique identity in a feeling of fellowship. It may well be that movements as I am describing are evidence that the New Church envisioned by Emanuel Swedenborg is happening in this world. Belief in God and love for each other are becoming controlling doctrines in many of the world’s religions.
But there are alarming things, too. Even as religions of the world are beginning to see each other as brothers and sisters, their numbers are dwindling. The National Council of Churches of Christ has just undergone a serious restructuring because they could no longer afford to continue as in the past. The reason for their inability to continue business as usual is because donations from their member churches have dwindled. And the reason for the fall in donations is because church membership has diminished severely. We are not the only denomination whose numbers have fallen since the sixties.
What does this mean? Is Christianity fading? Is society becoming less religious? Where is the New Church in all this? These are questions for us all to ponder in the years ahead and in our Annual General Meeting today. I have faith that the New Church foretold in Revelation is going to come, and is coming even now. But I am not sure that the New Church means the survival of the Christian religion as practiced now. There are many people I know who consider themselves spiritual but not religious. And there are many spiritual programs out there like AA, or Al-Anon that may suffice for religion.
One other thing Swedenborg said about the New Church. He said that the old false doctrines like the trinity or the doctrine of salvation by faith alone need to die out before the New Church can take hold and blossom. Perhaps that is what we are seeing today. Perhaps in the dwindling numbers of traditional Christianity we are seeing the old, bad doctrines fade away. Remember that this church was modelled after traditional Christianity, being one denomination among other denominations. Despite our progressive doctrines, maybe this organization is going the way of all major Christian denominations.
Perhaps the New Church is a new form of spirituality that we can’t see yet, or even imagine yet.

PRAYER

Lord, this morning we rejoice in your promise of a new church to descend on the earth. Your prophets have foretold such an event, and Swedenborg testifies to the same. Yet these are difficult times for your church on earth. We pray that you watch over us and our fellow Christians, and our brothers and sisters of every faith. Give us to find assurance that your new church will come to the earth. Give us eyes to see it in its new manifestations and in the power of the old ways made new. Console our hearts, Lord, when we look at the world and we see violence and sorrow in so many places. The unrest in our world can lead us to question the reality of your new church on earth. Give us hearts filled with hope and confidence in the words of your prophets and in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. May we celebrate and see the new church coming on the earth.

And Lord, we pray that you heal those who are suffering with illness. Lord, send your healing love to all who are in need.

Jesus Doesn’t Call Us on a Coffee Break
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
January 26, 2014

Isaiah 9:1-9 Matthew 4:12-23 Psalm 27

Jesus calls us ever upward into heaven’s light and warmth. And this call can come at any time. It can come when we are working; it can come when we are socializing; it can come when we are in difficult times; it can come when we are in the depths of despair. Jesus doesn’t wait until a convenient time to call us upward into heaven.
In our reading from Isaiah, the light of God’s presence comes when Israel is in darkness. This makes me think of the Christmas story, when Jesus is born in the darkest time of the year, in the darkest point of human history. But this imagery can also depict one aspect of our spiritual journey, and the circumstances when we hear Jesus call. In our spiritual journey, there can be times of dire distress. There can be times of darkness and despair. These are times when our complacency is shaken. These are times when our world is broken. These are times when the world isn’t acting the way we thought it should. These are times when we hit bottom.
It is often during these difficult times that we make the most spiritual progress. These soul-shattering times break up our ego and our worldly cravings. In Swedenborg, these experiences are called temptations.
When the truths of faith which a man believes in his heart, and according to which he loves to live, are assaulted, it is called spiritual temptation . . . Those assaults take place in various ways–by an influx into the thoughts and the will of scandals against good and truth . . . and at the same time by an apparent closing of the interiors of the mind, and consequently of communication with heaven, by which he is cut off from thinking from his own faith, and willing from his own love. . . . These temptations are very grievous when they are joined with pains induced upon the body; and still more so when those pains are of long continuance and of increasing severity, and when the Divine mercy is implored, and there is still no deliverance; hence results despair, which is the end (NJHD 196).
St. John of the Cross called this the “dark night of the soul.” And it finds voice in T.S. Eliot’s poem FOUR QUARTETS:
I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you
Which shall be the darkness of God. As, in a theatre,
The lights are extinguished, for the scene to be changed
With a hollow rumble of wings, with a movement of darkness on darkness,
And we know that the hills and the trees, the distant panorama
And the bold imposing facade are all being rolled away- . . .
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing. (East Coker, III)
Eliot’s image of the scene change in a theatre is appropriate for this idea. For there is a good that comes out of these times of darkness. Our self-will is broken, and we are more firmly grounded in our truths and love of good. So the panorama of our world does indeed change. Old, self and world oriented values are replaced with more internal, spiritual values.
They[temptations] conduce to the opening of the internal person . . . and also to the breaking up of the loves of self and the world, and to subduing the lusts which are from them. When these things have been accomplished there come to the person enlightenment and perception of what are truth and good, and what are falsity and evil. From this there come to him or her intelligence and wisdom, which afterward increase from day to day (NJHD 194).
Temptations rock our world. This reminds me of some song lyrics. One is by Lester Quitzau which goes like this:
There comes a time
When the clouds roll in
Let that pourin’ rain
Just wash my soul within (Let It Shine).
Then there is Heather Brooks,
Sometimes the tears are going to fall;
Sometimes the devil’s going to call . . .
Without those desperate hours
Would I ever turn to you
And realize my weakness
Fall into the well . . . (Sometimes).
Temptations change us and make us see things differently. And temptations actually change who we are. They make us more meek and mild, along with making us more wise and intelligent in spiritual matters.
Temptations remove what is of self-love and of contempt for others in comparison with self, consequently what is of self-glory, and also of hatred and revenge arising therefrom. When therefore the person is somewhat tempered and subdued by temptations, then [he or she] begins to become yielding to, and compliant with the life of the Lord’s love . . . He [or she] is afterward gifted with another personality, being made mild, humble, simple, and contrite in heart (AC 3318).
So Jesus calls us at times when we are in the depths of despair, in the dark night of the soul, when we have hit bottom.
But there are other times when Jesus calls us–not only when we are in the depths of despair. Consider the story from our New Testament reading. Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John were all busy at their trade when Jesus called to them. Jesus can call to us when we are immersed in the things of this world. For instance, when we are at work, when we are in company with others, when we are at leisure–any time.
We have opportunities to do good at all times in our lives. That is what the call of Jesus means. It means being honest when we are with others. It means being caring when others are in need. It means being helpful in any capacity open to us. I, myself, had an opportunity to hear Jesus’ voice when I was working just a few days ago. I was in the office, working on this very sermon. As I was working, I noticed that outside there were car wheels spinning for quite some time. I knew that someone was stuck in the thawing ice on the roads. He had been spinning his wheels for a long time, so I realized that he wasn’t getting anywhere. I stopped what I was doing and went out to push him. As I was pushing, two other men came to help. And between the three of us, we still couldn’t get the man unstuck. So one of the men went to get his truck and he pulled the man out. I didn’t save the man single-handedly, but I did what I could and became a catalyst for the truck driver who actually saved the day.
We are called to good deeds in every aspect of our lives. Jesus doesn’t wait until we are on break. Jesus will call us into good deeds at any time. We don’t need to give up on life in the world to be holy. We don’t need to become monks. We don’t need to become evangelists. For every time we do good out of love for our neighbor, we are spreading the gospel message. They will know we are Christians by our love.

PRAYER

Lord, we know that you call to us in the midst of our busy lives. You call us upward into heaven’s glory at all times of our lives. May we be open to your call. May we be listening for your still, small voice. May we be open to your words for us. And may we do the things you call us to do. For we seek only for knowledge of your will for us and the power to carry that out. We know that you call to us in every aspect of our lives. Your voice is there in the midst of hard times and even despair. Your voice is there in our happy times and times of joy. You are with us always. Let us listen for your voice, and remain open to your presence.

And Lord, we pray for peace in this troubled world. May conflict be absorbed in your loving kindness. May warring factions see that they are like in their desires for love and the good things of this world.

And Lord, we pray that you heal those who are suffering with illness. Lord, send your healing love to all who are in need.

It’s What’s Inside that Counts
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
January 19, 2014

1 Kings 21:1-16 Matthew 3:25-28 Psalm 31

The ninth and tenth commandment are all the Ten Commandments in summary form. The ninth and tenth commandments prohibit coveting. The commandments are divided this way. The ninth commandment says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.” By your neighbor’s house is meant everything in your neighbor’s house. That means his house itself, his wife or her husband, their possessions, all their material and spiritual goods, their car, their family and all that the house implies. That is why the commandment first mentions your neighbor’s house. Then the tenth commandment lists those very things within the house: “Your neighbor’s wife, his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox or his ass.” Then we see the final wording of the final commandment, “Or anything that is your neighbors.” So we see that the ninth and tenth commandment includes everything that belongs to your neighbor.
But the ninth and tenth commandment make a powerful and new move from the other commandments. They speak of what is inside a person. All the other commandments are behaviors. They are actions. So they speak of using God’s name in vain, of false testimony, of murder, of adultery, and so on. All these commandments can be legislated. That is, you can make laws about them and compel people to refrain from doing these things under a legal penalty. But the ninth and tenth commandment are different. They speak of where a person’s heart is. They speak of what is going on in our minds and hearts. As such, we can’t make a law against coveting. We can’t prohibit a person from thinking or wanting something that isn’t his or hers. That is, we can’t make a civil law against wanting what is someone else’s. We can only make spiritual laws against such things. For spiritual laws deal with what is in a person’s heart. And unless restrained by civil or moral law, it is likely that the things a person covets will show themselves behaviorally. What we crave with an unholy desire is likely to manifest in action.
We see this in the case of Ahab and Naboth from our Old Testament reading. King Ahab covets the land on which a simple Israelite has a vineyard. The Israelite’s name is Naboth. Now there’s something important about this land of Naboth’s. It isn’t just property that Naboth purchased and that he can sell at will. This is land is owned by God, and you could say that it is loaned to the Israelites to hold for ever. All the Israelites had land given to them by God. Each tribe had a certain portion of the Holy Land, and they divided it up among the households. The Hebrew word for this portion of land that Yahweh Himself owned, is called nahala. Now Ahab wants this very nahala that God owns and that is in the possession of Naboth. We see very clearly in this story that coveting is a sin against God Himself, as are all the commandments. Ahab is coveting land that belongs to God, not only Naboth, when he covets the land of the simple Israelite.
And in this story we see the result of coveting that is unchecked by civil law. Ahab was king, and as such could do pretty much what he wanted to do–or so he thought. The Israelite kings were bound by God’s laws just as much as were the simple Israelites. But when a king got carried away with his own power, he could think himself immune to God’s laws. So Ahab’s unbridled lust for land resulted not only in theft of Naboth’s land, it ended in murder. In order to steal Naboth’s nahala, Ahab ends up murdering the poor man. It is the unbridled coveting of Ahab that ends in theft, murder, and ultimately sacrilege as Ahab violates God’s laws regarding the nahala. In this story we see that all the commandments are connected. We see, too, that violating the commandments are a violation of God’s will, not just civil law.
Spiritually, the ninth and tenth commandment talk about the very goal of regeneration. There are many ways to talk about regeneration. But one way is to talk about the internal person and the external person. The goal of regeneration is to make our external person conform to our internal person. That way, who we are on the inside is who we are on the outside. I spoke of this last Sunday. I talked about living authentically. About projecting to the world the person we truly are and not hiding behind a persona that isn’t really us.
But the process goes deeper than just being self-confident. It means that inside, we have been purged of worldly cravings. What I am calling worldly cravings are called “lusts” in Swedenborg and other theologians. Lusts are desires that can never be satisfied. When we lust we want more and more and more and we are never filled and at rest. The process of regeneration gets rid of these worldly lusts, these insatiable cravings. They are replaced by healthy, constructive feelings. These healthy feelings are called affections in Swedenborg. Affections are stable, peaceful, and mild. When we are living according to healthy affections, we find ourselves contented with life. Our minds know serenity. We are at peace, even when we are active in our lives.
So when we have peace in our hearts, our internal has been reformed. But is our outer person also at peace? Now we return to the other eight commandments. The other eight commandments are almost all phrased negatively. That is, they begin, “You shall not.” These commands, too, reflect the process of regeneration. For we begin the process of regeneration when we desist from harmful actions. When we refrain from backbiting and gossip, for instance, we are keeping the commandment against murder. As I said when I discussed that commandment, murder is also killing a person’s reputation. It is character assassination. When we gossip and backbite what is going on internally? Isn’t it a form of hatred or anger or revenge we are nurturing before we say harmful words? We can stop those harmful feelings by not practicing the act of gossiping. And so on in other ways with other spiritual issues. When we desist from harmful behaviors, then the feelings that prompted them go away. As I have heard it said before, “Bring the body and the mind will follow.” I take that to mean that when we stop harmful behaviors, we then grow into healthier mental states.
But we need to refrain from harmful behaviors from a spiritual motive. We need to want to be good. We need to have in view a healthy state of heart and mind. This is where our New Testament reading comes in. Jesus denounces the teachers of the law and the Pharisees for doing good outwardly only. He actually calls them hypocrites,
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean (Matthew 23:25-26).
Jesus develops this idea further. He drops the metaphor of the cup and dish and takes up another metaphor that is even more hideous. He compares the Pharisees and teachers of the law to white-washed tombs.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like white-washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness (23:27-28).
So we can’t just refrain from evil actions only. We need to refrain from evils from a spiritual purpose. We can’t want to look good only for show, or to keep us out of jail, or to make others like and respect us. For these acts to have spiritual value, we need to do so from a spirit of love for God and for our neighbor. As I said earlier, laws can force us to be good outwardly. But no law can reform our minds and hearts. That, only God can do. But we have a part to play in this. We can restrain ourselves from behaviors that are spiritually and socially unacceptable. And when we do so with the desire to be good, then our internal is reformed along with our external. When we don’t dwell on harmful thoughts, and when we keep our minds clean so that they are as clear mirrors, we will find that our hearts grow more peaceful. When we don’t fill our souls with covetous desires, we will find love and affections filling our spirits more and more.
When we desist from coveting, we will more and more be inwardly as we are outwardly. And in the world of our own psyche, heaven will be on earth. And everything we touch in this world will be transformed by the wisdom and good will we have become. And they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

PRAYER

Lord, we give you thanks for the good things that we have. For we know that all we have is a gift from you. Help us to remain content with what we have–be it much or little. For we know that you give us what we need–be it much or little. And Lord, we ask that you fill our hearts with love for our neighbors. Give us to rejoice in the good things our neighbors possess. May we not seek to envy what our neighbors have. But rather, let us rejoice in the good things of our neighbors, as we do with the good things you have given us. Lord, we are grateful for everything we have. May we always remain thankful, and not covetous. For we know that you have given us what we need to become angels in your kingdom forever.

And Lord, we pray for this internet church, where we come to worship you and to learn the ways of your kingdom. Join with us this morning as we come together in your name. Guide and protect us in the world, carrying today’s message which you have given to us.

And Lord, we pray for peace in this troubled world. May conflict be absorbed in your loving kindness. May warring factions see that they are like in their desires for love and the good things of this world.

And Lord, we pray that you heal those who are suffering with illness. Lord, send your healing love to all who are in need.

7-Week Online Old Testament Course
Taught by Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
March 3-April 20
Course Tuition: $75

In the upcoming months I will be offering a series of courses in the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the Letters of Paul. This series begins with a survey of the Old Testament.
This course is a historical survey, which means that we will be studying the essential events of the Old Testament. In future reading, students will know how to locate the passages being read within the history of the Israelite people. As we will see, the theology in the Old Testament usually relates to the historical events in each book. I hope to provide new perspectives for those well acquainted with the Old Testament and also give a manageable introduction for those just coming to it. To indicate your interest in taking the course, please email Rev. Fekete at: revdrfekete@gmail.com.