Church of the Holy City

Lessons in Affliction
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
October 27, 2013

Jeremiah 31:7-14 Mark 10:46-52 Psalm 34

In our passage from Jeremiah, a time is foreseen when the Israelites would return home after the Babylonian captivity. During Jeremiah’s time, Babylon conquered Judah and took the Israelites captive to a land far away to the north. It was a terrible time for Israel. The Promised Land–the land promised to Abraham way back in Israel’s beginnings–was now in the hands of foreigners. The Promised Land had been taken away, no longer the home for God’s people. Despite the horror of the present, Jeremiah prophesies that the captivity in Babylon will not last forever. He counsels the Israelites to submit to Babylon for a time, because in the long run they will be released. The passage we heard this morning looks forward to that time of joy, when the Israelites will return to their homeland.
In this message are words of hope. This reading also says something very important regarding spiritual life. That is, religious people will go through periods of suffering. The Babylonian captivity is a symbol of the trials and sorrows that are part of every life, including spiritual life. But this message is also one of hope. On the verge of being captive in Babylon, Jeremiah sings a song of joy, dancing, and gladness. He sings of a renewed land full of grain, new wine, oil, flocks, and herds–symbols of abundance for an agricultural society. And we learn that in every time of sorrow and trial, new life emerges and deeper joy is felt.
The Psalmist sings of a similar theme. He tells us that we will find trouble and distress in this life, even if we are religious people. But the Psalmist tells us also that God is near us in our times of sorrow:
Many are the afflictions of the righteous;
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted,
and saves the crushed in spirit.
But even as the Psalmist tells us that we will experience afflictions, he also promises that God will ultimately deliver us from them:
Many are the afflictions of the righteous
but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears,
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
I call attention to these issues because some people believe that if a person is Godly, they will be saved from troubles. Some even think that they will not get sick. There are indeed passages in the Bible that support that belief. In Deuteronomy 28 there is a long list of blessings that will come to you if you obey God. Among the blessings that are promised are good crops, many children, many livestock, defeat of your enemies, and wealth. After these blessings, Deuteronomy tells us that curses follow upon disobedience. Some of the curses are confusion and rebuke in everything you set your hand to, sudden ruin, plague and disease, scorching heat and drought, blight and mildew, defeat before your enemies, blindness, madness, oppression and robbery of your goods. I think that the list of curses is longer than the list of blessings. Passages like this one make a person think that if they are good, blessings will fill their life and if they are bad then curses will plague them. This makes a person wonder what went wrong when bad things happen to good people, and also people wonder what they did wrong when bad things happen to them.
This belief system works throughout the book of Job. All manner of calamity befalls Job, although Job is the most righteous person on earth. All of his friends come by and ask Job what he has done wrong to bring these calamities upon himself. They also tell him to repent of his wrongdoing and his condition will improve. All through the book, Job protests to his friends that he has done nothing wrong. Job is the clearest example that bad things happen to good people.
This church teaches that good can come even from hard times. In fact, we are told that sometimes hard times can motivate us to change and find a better way. I think that often we don’t change our lives until pain forces us to. It is easy for us to get complacent and satisfied and to forget that we have growing edges. It is often trials and distress that breaks up our complacency and ego and lifts our consciousness to spiritual matters. In fact, Swedenborg talks about trials as a step in our spiritual growth. He speaks of our memory of spiritual treasures called remains. These are childhood feelings about God, and lessons that we may have learned from Sunday School. They are moments when we feel a particularly close relationship with God. These remains can be buried deep within our minds as affairs of this life cover them over. They become manifest when misfortune and struggles break down our worldly interests and we turn our thinking to heavenly matters.
The second state is when a distinction is made between the things that are the Lord’s and those that are a person’s own. Those that are the Lord’s are called in the Word remains; and here are especially knowledges of faith, which have been learned from infancy. These are stored up, and not manifested until he comes into this state; which is a state rarely attained at this day without temptation, misfortune, and sorrow, that cause the things of the body and the world . . . to become quiescent, and as it were dead (AC 8).
In a later stage of spiritual development, trials and temptations are motivators for a person. Distress motivates a person to do spiritual good and to speak spiritual truth.
The fourth state is when a person is affected with love, and enlightened by faith. He talked indeed piously before, and brought forth things that were good, but from a state of temptation and distress, not from faith and charity (AC 10).
Struggles and distress can cause us to break old habits and ways of acting and thinking that need to be amended. Struggle and distress can cause us to see things spiritually and from a world-view that is God-centered. Struggle and distress can bring out the best in us.
There are a couple ideas that need to be addressed in all this. In our Bible reading from Jeremiah, there is a line that goes, “He who scattered Israel will gather them” (Jeremiah 31:10). This line give one the impression that God caused the suffering to come on Israel. It reminds me of the line we say in the Lord’s Prayer, “Lead us not into temptation”–as if God leads us into temptation. But God never leads us into temptation and God never punishes, condemns, or causes hardships to befall anyone. God only blesses and does good to us.
In many cases, it is we ourselves who lead ourselves into temptation. It is when we follow the promptings of our lower nature that we find ourselves unhappy and distant from God. When we allow our baser instincts to drive us, we are frustrated, pent up, and unsatisfied. For our lower nature wants and wants and wants. There is no end to the cravings of our egos and our lusts for wealth. We will never have enough control over others and enough money if these are our driving motivations. These drives are what lead us into temptation. These are the drives that make us troubled and unhappy.
God always seeks to lift us out of the drives and cravings of our lower nature. We bring ourselves distress, but God brings us relief. When we follow God’s voice and try to retrace Jesus’ footsteps, we are peaceful and untroubled. But most of us live a conflicted life in which our lower nature and God’s peace strive in our souls. So the reading from Jeremiah has powerful symbolic value to us. Our lower nature may lead us into the captivity of lusts and unsatisfying cravings. But God will always be there with hope and the promise of deliverance. Although we may lead ourselves into temptation, we have the vision of joy, dancing, and fulfillment after our conflict is over.
There is a final note I need to make in all this. What I said about us leading ourselves into distress does not apply to medical sickness. Some people think that there is a correlation between sickness and a person’s spiritual condition. That is not true. People do not get sick because they have lapsed somehow in their spiritual program. People get sick because there are bacteria and viruses and germs all around us. Not everything that happens in this world has a direct spiritual cause. Some things happen from strictly natural, or biological causes.
When our trials, however, are of a spiritual origin, usually we come away from our trials with a better idea of how to live wisely. We come away from our trials with our hearts closer to God. These things will come to pass if we learn from adversity. As the great Swedenborgian poet Edwin Markham writes:
Only the soul that knows the mighty grief
Can know the mighty rapture. Sorrows come
To stretch out spaces in the heart for joy

PRAYER

Lord, you have taught us that many are the afflictions of the righteous. Yet you have also taught us that you deliver us from our afflictions if we but call to you. We know that life can present us with troubles and difficulties. Even the life of the most noble believer has distress and toil. We are not exempt from suffering just because we are followers of Christ. Yet in all our troubles, we can find a way to grow and learn. Our sorrows open our hearts for greater love and compassion. Though times are sometimes hard, they are not without lessons to be learned. And ever bad situation can be turned to spiritual good. Thank you, Lord, for leading us out of trouble and temptation and leading us always upward to life with you.

And lord, we ask that you watch over those who are struggling and enduring hardship, be it sickness, poverty, or national unrest. Send your peaceful spirit to turmoil. Send the power of your healing love to those who are sick. We know on faith that in every trying situation, good can come. May we find the good in trouble, and healing where there is sickness.

Thank you, Lord, for your gift of life. Thank you for another day. May we treasure this day and this moment as the heavenly gift that it is. May we look only for your will for us, and may we find the power to carry out that will.

All We Like Sheep
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
October 20, 2013

Isaiah 53:4-12 Mark 10:35-45 Psalm 91

The passage from Isaiah that we heard this morning is one place where churches find the doctrine called the atonement. This church does not hold the doctrine of the atonement. In fact, Swedenborg in many places makes a point of refuting this doctrine–a doctrine he was brought up with. Our reading from Mark puts a different emphasis on the doctrine of the atonement, although it, too, appears to reinforce the doctrine.
The great composer Handel set Isaiah 53 to music in his Messiah. Handel took the words, “All we like sheep have gone astray.” These words are in accord with the Swedenborgian teaching about why Jesus came to earth. It is the teaching of this church that humanity had strayed far, far from the ways of God. We had gone astray. In fact, things were so bad that heaven could no longer flow into people’s hearts because of all the evil blocking heaven’s influence. All we like sheep had gone astray. What was needed was that God Himself come down to earth and establish the channel of influx through His own Person.
Can you imagine the spiritual heat we would feel standing right next to God on earth? In fact, there is a tradition in the Coptic Orthodox Church that Mary was protected from the burning embers inside her that constituted the fetal God in her womb. And after the resurrection, on the road to Emmaus, the disciples walking next to Jesus later reflect on how their hearts were burning inside them when the resurrected Jesus talked with them.
In order to bring this spiritual heat to the world while He was on the earth, and in order to reopen heaven so it could flow into the world again, was why Jesus came to earth. This is why Jesus says in Mark, “The Son of Man also came not to be served but to serve.” Accepting the human condition, walking upon the dust of this earth, and bringing God to man is the service Jesus underwent on behalf of the human race. Jesus’ whole life was one of service: teaching us, healing the sick, and allowing humans to touch, embrace, and anoint His holy Person. Jesus’ sole purpose was to bring us back to God, as we like sheep had gone astray.
As we know, Jesus’ life had suffering and anguish in it. He was beaten and whipped by the agents of Pilate. And he suffered the horrors of crucifixion by an angry mob. But this church does not emphasize the suffering Jesus. We acknowledge that Jesus’ life was one of nearly continual temptations by the hells. And we acknowledge that Jesus constantly overcame the hells and reordered heaven and hell. But it is the glorification that we emphasize. The final result of Jesus’ temptations and His life on earth was complete union with God. So human was completely Divine and the Divine was completely Human.
Other churches emphasize Jesus suffering. They see Jesus’ suffering and death as a sacrifice like the animals that the Jews sacrificed. In Leviticus the mechanism of the sin offering is explained. It reads,
If a member of the community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, he is guilty. When he is made aware of the sin he committed, he must bring as his offering for the sin he committed a female goat without defect. He is to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the sin offering. . . . and the priest shall burn it on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. In this way the priest will make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven (Leviticus 4:27-31).
So if a person in ancient Israel sins, his sins can be erased by sacrificing a goat. Leviticus also says that a lamb can be used also as a sin offering. So by bringing a goat or a lamb to the temple to be slaughtered, one’s sins can be taken away. Many Christian churches see Jesus’ suffering and death as a sacrifice. Jesus, to them, is the sacrificial lamb that takes away the sins of the whole human race.
It is true that in several places scattered through the New Testament, Jesus is called the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. One such instance is when Jesus comes to be baptized by John the Baptist. Upon seeing Jesus, John exclaims, “Behold the Lamb of God!” (John 1:36). There are other places, particularly in Revelation where Jesus is seen as a sacrificial lamb. In Revelation 5, Jesus is seen as a lamb that is slain, and we also find the words of sacrifice in this vision, “for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God” (5:9). In Revelation 21 and 22, God and “the Lamb” are used interchangeably.
The sacrificial lamb that atones for humanity’s sins is how the early Christians made sense out of the crucifixion. To make sense of it, they drew on Hebrew scriptures from Leviticus, as we saw above, and from the prophets such as the Isaiah 53 passage we heard today. This passage emphasizes the suffering of Jesus. So there are lines like,
He was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities . . .
He was oppressed, and while he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter . . . (Isaiah 53:5, 7).
And in this same passage are numerous lines that speak of the suffering servant taking upon himself the sins of the people.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that made us whole,
and with his stripes we are healed
The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all . . .
Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him;
he has been put to grief;
when he makes himself an offering for sin . . .
Yet he bore the sins of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors (53:5, 6, 10, 12).
So by means of sacrificial language, borrowed from the priestly laws of atonement, early Christians made sense of Jesus’ suffering and crucifixion.
But this passage in Isaiah is just one of 66 chapters. And the language of the sacrificial lamb is only scattered through the New Testament. I think that an enterprise that takes one passage from all the prophets and turns that into a central interpretative doctrine is suspect.
As nice as it might sound; as appealing as it might be for those smitten with pangs of conscience; it is not possible for my sins to be put on someone else. Each person is responsible for their own sins. So it is not possible for Jesus to take my sins onto Himself. All through the Gospels, Jesus teaches that each person is responsible for their own good and evil. It is a real strain of the text to try to force the whole Gospel message into one idea that can’t stand on its own logic–namely, that my sins can be borne by someone else. We are taught by Jesus to learn to do good, and to flee from evils.
Jesus’ life on earth and His resurrection make it possible for us to do good, to allow heaven’s influx to flow into us, and to find God. That is how Jesus is the servant of all. Jesus gave His life to save us–that is true, if truly understood. He gave His life to the teaching, healing, and salvation of humans. But He did not take away our sins on the cross, like a sacrificial lamb. That idea strains the integrity of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jesus did suffer because of human sin. But it is the love that Jesus teaches and brings to us that really matters. By taking on the human form, and by living a human life, Jesus shows us how much God loves us and Jesus shows us how to love each other and God. The life of Jesus is a testament to love and service, not to cruelty, suffering, and passion. So Jesus teaches His apostles and us as well, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant” (Mark 10:43).

PRAYER

Lord, all we like sheep have gone astray. And yet no matter how far we stray from you and your precepts, you come to us, and bring us back. We turn to our own ways, and yet you always lead us back to your ways. You never turn from us; you always love us; you continually raise us upward into heaven’s joy and into communion with yourself. Ages ago, you came to us in a material form, and took on our human nature. You suffered at the hands of humans. And yet you still did not turn from us, but you forgave, you forgive, and you come to us even still. We thank you for your unfailing love for the whole human race.

And lord, we ask that you watch over those who are struggling and enduring hardship, be it sickness, poverty, or national unrest. Send your peaceful spirit to turmoil. Send the power of your healing love to those who are sick. We know on faith that in every trying situation, good can come. May we find the good in trouble, and healing where there is sickness.

Thank you, Lord, for your gift of life. Thank you for another day. May we treasure this day and this moment as the heavenly gift that it is. We are taught that in heaven there is no time. May we learn to see this life as the one continuous moment that it is, now and forever. May we look only for your will for us, and may we find the power to carry out that will.

All These Things Will Be Given
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
October 13, 2013
Thanksgiving Day

Joel 2:21-27 Matthew 6:25-33 Psalm 126

Using agricultural imagery, the prophet Joel tells us that God gives us enough. He says, “He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains” (2:23). It is my belief that God does send us abundant showers; God gives us good things abundantly. The trick is, we have to know where to look. We need to realize that we have enough, despite our appetites for more and more and more.
When we break down our gifts to the basic things we have, we will see that God gives us good things abundantly. Consider this line from Walt Whitman,
It seems to me that everything in the light and air ought to be happy;
Whoever is not in his coffin and in the dark grave, let him know he has enough (The Sleepers, ll.79-80)
How often are we thankful for life itself? How often are our prayers of thanksgiving prayers that thank God for another day, for this day, for the fact that God gives us our daily bread?
I once attended an AA meeting in a rather rough part of town. There were homeless people there, people struggling direly with substance abuse, people who didn’t know where their next meal would come from. We were asked to think of what we had to be grateful for. At first I thought of my usual things: I am grateful I have food to eat, I am grateful I have a job, I am grateful that I have a roof over my head, I am grateful that I have reliable transportation, I have a lot, indeed. But then I remembered where I was. Many of the people in this room had none of these things, and I certainly didn’t want to make them feel bad. I had to get more basic. And I saw that I am even more blessed. I am thankful that I can see, and look at all the beautiful fall colors–the golden leaves, the russet bushes, the bright red leaves, the somber evergreens–what a beautiful and vivid painting God creates for us in the fall and I can see this display of Divine artwork. I think about the beautiful music I can hear. I can hear the wind rushing through the trees. I can hear the strains of a Bach mass from my iPod. I can hear the voices of those I love around me. I feel the brisk fall air against my skin and it refreshes me. When I was in Florida, I used to like to feel the warm, moist gulf wind coming off the ocean waft against my skin. Here in Edmonton, it is that crisp cool dry air that invigorates me. How often are we thankful for these basic gifts of life?
This brings to my mind a way of being thankful that I am suspicious of. Some have told me that when they consider the plight those less fortunate, they are thankful for what they have. In fact, there is a song that I like very much that has this idea in it. The lines in question go like this:
If you’re feeling down
Just take a good look around
Everywhere you look
Look through the clouds and see what’s true
There’s always somebody else so much worse off than you
I’m not sure that we should feel better about ourselves by seeing others that are worse off. Aren’t we called instead to a feeling of compassion, and the desire to give aid to those worse off than we? In fact, the whole notion of comparing ourselves to others is suspect to me. For we will always see others who are better off than we are and we will always see others who are worse off than we are. If we compare ourselves to others, we will feel that we have it bad when we look at those who are better off; and we will feel superior when we see those who are worse off.
Jesus tells us not to worry about our clothes or about what we will eat. He points to the birds who have all the food they need. And he points to the splendor of the grass and how beautifully it is clothed in lilies. Jesus concludes his little sermon by saying, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you” (Matthew 6:33). I used to be suspicious of this passage, too. I knew that God doesn’t give us material things except as they relate to eternal things. God only gives us the things of this world if they conduce to our eternal welfare. There is a passage in Divine Providence that says just that.
Divine Providence focuses on eternal matters, and focuses on temporal matters only as they coincide with eternal ones. . . . Temporal matters involve position and wealth, and therefore rank and money, in this world. Eternal matters involve spiritual rank and wealth, which have to do with love and wisdom, in heaven (DP 214-215).
To me, this passage says that God only cares about the good things on earth if they make us spiritually better. This leads me to look with suspicion on those who pray for money and material things. There are today, or were much more common about five years ago, movements that talked about visualizing wealth. They thought that if you focused your thinking on, say, a new yacht, that somehow the powers of the universe would conspire to magically drop one in your lap one day. I say magically, because trying to manipulate the physical world by means of religiosity is what sympathetic magic is. So I didn’t really understand Jesus’ saying about not worrying about clothes and food. It seemed to me that I needed to put a lot of worry and thought into getting my food, clothing, and shelter.
I have a way of understanding this passage, now. It all has to do with contentment. If we are content with what we have, we have all that we need. First of all, if our hearts are set on the things of God, God will give us them. God will show us the way into His heaven of happiness and delights, and love. These are the eternal things that the passage above refers to. And then, if we are content with our place in life, then we have all that we need. Trust in God is what gives us contentment with what we have. In the Arcana Coelestia, Swedenborg writes,
The ”blessing of Jehovah“ in the genuine sense signifies love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor; for they who are gifted with these are called the ”blessed of Jehovah,“ being then gifted with heaven and eternal salvation. Hence the ”blessing of Jehovah,“ in the external sense or in the sense which relates to the state of man in the world, is to be content in God, and thence to be content with the state of honor and wealth in which one is, whether it be among the honored and rich, or among the less honored and poor (AC 4981).
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness”–that refers to love to the Lord and good will to the neighbor. Then trust in God. This trust that God gives us what we need is what gives us contentment with what we have. Not only contentment, but heartfelt thanks and gratitude.
I have good things in life–good things abundantly. I have food, and I have the ability sometimes to go out to eat. It is only when my appetite for more and more gets out of hand–only then do I think that I do not have enough. I have debts. But they are not too much for me to pay down over time. And back to basics–I have the beautiful fall colors, the music of the wind and human voices, the touch of the ground under my feet and the feel of the crisp air against my face, and the taste of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with milk at night. I am among God’s blessed, if I only pause to see and reflect on it.

PRAYER

Lord, we are so grateful for the countless blessings you shower our lives with. We thank you for the natural blessings you give us: the splendor of the night sky, the beauty of sunrise and sunset, the change of the seasons and the lovely fall leaves. We thank you for the gift of friends, loved ones, and family. We thank you for the food we eat, be it spare or lavish. We thank you for the air that we breathe. Lord, in countless ways you give us your gifts of love. Help us always to be aware of them, and let these gifts remind us that we are cared for by You. May we seek to return your love, and to care for one another as You care for us.

And lord, we ask that you watch over those who are struggling and enduring hardship, be it sickness, poverty, or national unrest. Send your peaceful spirit to turmoil. Send the power of your healing love to those who are sick. Watch over Linda, and Irma, and Andy. We know on faith that in every trying situation, good can come. May we find the good in trouble, and healing where there is sickness.

Thank you, Lord, for your gift of life. Thank you for another day. May we treasure this day and this moment as the heavenly gift that it is. We are taught that in heaven there is no time. May we learn to see this life as the one continuous moment that it is, now and forever. May we look only for your will for us, and may we find the power to carry out that will.

Marriage in a Spiritual Sense
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
October 6, 2013

Genesis 2:18-24 Mark 10:2-16 Psalm 8

There’s more to marriage than two people falling in love and going through a ritual that sanctifies their relationship. There are spiritual issues that go straight up to God when we consider the topic of marriage. Marriage is built into the very fabric of the universe. It is about God Himself, about God’s relationship to humanity, and, yes, about a couple who marries.
Our reading from Mark this morning is not necessarily a prescription for modern marriage relations. In Mark, divorce is prohibited unconditionally. This teaching is so severe that Matthew adds one escape clause. In Matthew 5:32, divorce is permitted on the grounds of marital unfaithfulness. Today we recognize that there are issues that break people apart and divorce seems the only option. It is never easy and always involves pain. I have heard people say that their divorce was the hardest thing they have ever gone through. But I think that there are times when divorce is allowable. Let’s turn from the unhappy issue of divorce, though, and look at the happy issue of marriage.
I want to jump right up into the spiritual aspects of marriage before considering human marriage. Let’s start at the very highest way to think about marriage. The highest marriage is in God Himself. In God there is a union of love and wisdom. We can say that God is love expressing itself wisely. Swedenborg writes,
In the Lord God the Creator are Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, and these are Himself; that is, He is Love itself and Wisdom itself (CL 84).
I might say, since this is communion Sunday, that our communion service reflects this union of love and wisdom. We see the communion elements as symbols of love and wisdom. The bread symbolizes God’s Divine Love, and the wine symbolizes God’s Divine Wisdom. By partaking of the bread and wine, we are symbolically letting God’s Love and Wisdom into our hearts and minds.
OK, but where is marriage in all this? This union of love and wisdom is called the heavenly marriage. From love we do what is good, and from wisdom we think what is true. When we do good from a love for doing good, and when we think what is true from a love for wisdom, then we are in the heavenly marriage.
In the created universe and in every detail of it there is a marriage between what is good and what is true. This is because what is good is a matter of love and what is true is a matter of wisdom (DLW 402).
Some traditions call this marriage of love and wisdom the alchemical marriage of the feminine and the masculine elements. But as I do not know about alchemy, I will not go any further on this than to mention that alchemy uses these terms, too.
This spiritual marriage of what is good and what is true is directly related to our spiritual growth. This church sees salvation as a gradual process. We learn right from wrong. But do we always practice what we know to be good or right? Sometimes we fall short. But we little by little put off our sinful nature and little by little put on a godly nature. Paul calls this dying with Christ and being resurrected with Christ. Little by little, our loves are purified from lust into healthy affections and heavenly loves. The alchemists call this process refining base metals into gold. We lift our emotional life up into heaven’s good feelings and good deeds.
We begin the purification process by means of truth, or by means of our mind. Our minds can rise way up above our lives and look down at the way we live. From this lofty vantage point, we can see where we need to make improvements in our lives. When we lift up our emotions and behaviors to conform with what we know to be good, then we are living what we know. Our knowledge of right is one with the way we live. Our thoughts are one with our feelings. Then the heavenly marriage takes place inside of us. Good and truth are one; love and wisdom are one.
Our understanding can be raised into heaven’s light and gather wisdom from it. I have also frequently noted that our love or volition can be raised up as well if it loves the things that are found in heaven’s light, things that involve wisdom. . . . Love4 or volition, though, is raised into heaven’s warmth, while the understanding is raised into heaven’s light. If they are both raised up, a marriage takes place there that we call “the heavenly marriage” because it is a marriage of wisdom and heavenly love (DLW 414).
I can think of an example of this from my own life. When I was younger, I wanted to reform the world. I did this by protesting what I thought needed to be changed. The thing was, I didn’t make any allowances for other people. It was as if I wanted to be the director of a movie. I wanted everyone to stand where I told them, I wanted them to act the way I thought they should act, and move where I wanted them to move–the way a director would direct a cast. However, the world is quite capable of acting on its own. All that my attempts to reform the world just made me frustrated and mad, because people had their own ideas about what they wanted to do. Well I read a book that talked about this very thing. It taught me that I had to accept the world not on my terms, but on the world’s terms. I had to accept the world, not make it into an image of me. At first, this was a bitter pill to swallow. But I trusted this book, and began to let the world turn without my guidance. This is an example of me learning wisdom. The wisdom was the teaching about accepting the world on the world’s terms. The next step was to raise my love up to conform with the wisdom I learned from that book. So as time passed, I let go more and more. I accepted what I couldn’t change. I tended my own garden, and let others tend their gardens. Now I can say that I am a much more serene person. I am calm a lot of the time, instead of being frustrated and angry. Sure, I get upset by drivers who don’t show the courtesy I think they should. And I still get upset at pedestrians who walk out in front of my car without looking because they’re looking down at their smart phone. But by and large, I’ve resigned from the debating society and I’m letting the world go the way that an All-Knowing God allows it to go. I say all this to illustrate the idea of a heavenly marriage of love and wisdom. Wisdom told me to accept, and my serenity from accepting is the love.
There is a final aspect to spiritual marriage I need to bring forth. God’s relationship with us is compared to a marriage. Even if we are not monks or nuns, we are spiritually married to God. Paul talks about this,
Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:28-32).
In this passage, Paul, like Mark, quotes the Genesis passage about the creation of Eve and the general statement about marriage that “They twain shall be one flesh.” But Paul says that it is a profound mystery, and that it refers to the marriage of Christ and the church. In many passages in the Bible, God compares Himself to the Husband and the church, or the people of Israel, to the bride. I’ll just cite just a few:
Isaiah 54:5-6:
For your Maker is your husband,
the LORD of hosts is his name;
and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
the God of the whole earth he is called.
For the LORD has called you
like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,
like a wife of youth when she is cast off,
Jeremiah 31:31, 32
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, . . . not like the covenant which I made with their fathers . . . my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband,” says the LORD.
Hosea 2:16, 19-20:
“And in that day, says the LORD, you will call me, ‘My husband,’ . . . And I will betroth you to me for ever; I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know the LORD.
In many places in the New Testament there are parables about the bridegroom, and marriages that symbolize our relationship with Christ. And there are some striking passages in the book of Revelation, such as Revelation 19:7-9:
“Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
I’ll conclude with a statement about human marriage. If a person is living out that marriage of love and wisdom in their lives, their marriage will be more blessed and tranquil. For both parties will be striving to be good and to love wisely. And if a person is spiritually married to God, that is, if a person has God in his or her life, then their marriage will be blessed and tranquil. For God is the Source of all love and God expresses His love wisely. So, too, will a married couple express their love for each other wisely when they are married to God. The spiritual marriage of love and wisdom, the mystical marriage of Christ and the church, and the love between two humans all make for happiness in this world and in the next.

PRAYER

Lord, we pray to you this morning to lead us into the heavenly marriage of good and truth. Teach us your ways, so that our minds may be filled with truth. And then, Lord, we pray, give us to love your ways and to do what we know you would have us do. Teach us, Lord, what your will is for us and give us the power to carry that out. For only when we know what is good and love to do what is good is the perfect heavenly marriage alive in our souls.

And Lord, we pray that you bring peace to this troubled world. May those who harbor ill will for their neighbors learn to understand and see the fellow humanity that they share. May those who strive against each other see that they are like in their wishes and in what they want for their land and nation. Lord, we especially ask that you be with the people of Egypt and of Syria. May the way of peace and diplomacy prevail over force. May all warring factions find their way to peace.

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

Planting Fruit Trees
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
September 30, 2013

Jeremiah 17:7-13 Matthew 13:24-32 Psalm 144

There are 11 references to apples in the whole Bible but no references to planting apple trees. So in honor of Johnny Appleseed Day, I have selected Bible readings about planting. We honor Johnny Appleseed because he planted trees, not because of what it was he planted.
Johnny Appleseed didn’t only plant trees. He also planted heavenly seeds of wisdom. In his travels throughout the American west (which we now call the mid-west) he distributed chapters of Swedenborg’s works to the houses on the frontier that he came across. He would drop off a new chapter and pick up the old chapter he had left on his trip before. He did this for the houses he passed by as he went across the west planting apple trees. So Johnny Appleseed planted seeds of wisdom through the works of Swedenborg that he distributed in the American frontier.
Swedenborg talks about our spiritual growth, or our regeneration, as a kind of planting. Good things and truths are planted in us. What does it mean to have good things planted in us? These are the instructions we learn when we are young, such as at retreats like this. These are instructions in manners, in the house rules where you live, in the laws in the country where you live, and, yes, teachings about heaven and God. But these truths are only imbedded in our memory at first. Only when we love these rules and teachings and gladly do them, then they come alive. So the next step is that we want to do the things we are taught–we want to be good and we want to do good. When we come to this point, then we can say that the goods and truths have been planted in us. When we do good deeds naturally and when we love doing good things, then more and more good can flow in from God. For all good comes from God.
So the process goes like this. Good ideas are planted in us by instructions when we are young and as we grow. When we only know these ideas and they are only facts in our memory, they are in our outer person. We have an inner and an outer aspect to who we are. Our memory and our behavior are outer aspects to who we are. But there is an inner aspect to who we are. What we think and what we are feeling are inner qualities that form our inner person.
When we start to love the things we have learned, they become a part of our emotional life. Then they become internalized–part of our inner person. Our heart and our desire is to do good. It is through our inner person that we communicate with God and with heaven. Heaven is in contact with our feelings and our thoughts. When we have good feelings and true thoughts, then God and heaven are influencing our inner person.
All are perfected by the planting of faith and charity in the external or natural person; for unless these are there implanted, good and truth cannot flow in from the internal or spiritual person, that is, from the Lord through that person, for there is no reception; and if there is no reception, the influx stops and perishes, yea, the internal person is even closed. From this it is plain that the natural person must be brought into a state of accommodation in order that it may be a receptacle (AC 8452).
But I don’t think that coming to love and do what is good is natural for us. Religion sometimes works against our basic instincts for self-interest and the lust for wealth. Everything we need for survival in the world is in our outer person. Everything we need to fit us for God’s kingdom is in our internal person. Here, we run into conflict. There is a struggle between what we know is good and right, and what we want to do to serve selfish desires. This struggle is called temptation. Temptation makes our outer person willing to listen to the teachings we learned when we were young, or teachings we hear in church. This is like tilling the soil. It is like breaking up the hard ground so that seeds can be planted in it. Spiritually, this means that our outer person becomes willing to do good. The outer person listens to the inner person.
faith cannot in any wise be implanted in those who are of the spiritual church except by temptations, and thus neither can charity–for in temptations a person is in combat against falsity and evil, which flow into the external person from the hells, while good and truth flow in through the internal from the Lord–thus by combat of the internal person with the external person, which is called temptation. And so far then as the external person is reduced to obedience under the internal, so far faith and charity are planted; for the external or natural person is the receptacle of truth and good from the internal person (AC 8351).
This week end, the Edmonton Church hosted a teen retreat. In between recreation and quality “face time,” we explored some seeds of truth in educational sessions. We asked, “What are some extreme and strange things we have heard religion tell us to do or not to do?” I don’t feel that rehashing some of these distasteful teachings serves a useful purpose in a worship service. We then asked, “What kinds of things does religion ask us to do or not to do that makes sense?” These ideas, though, do bear repeating. The teens came up with the following list:
Holidays for family time
Baptism
Community
Sunday School
Prayer
Love
Believe and respect God
This church teaches that heaven consists in doing something a person loves that benefits others. So we asked, “What kinds of things do you like to do that benefits others?” The teens came up with the following list:
Being friendly
Listening
Mentoring
Volunteering
Complimenting
Sharing
One of the most important functions that a church does is to instill values. This means that churches help sort out what really matters in life. So we asked just that, “What is important in life?” The teens came up with the following list:
God
The company you keep
Happiness
Love
Respect, given and received
Your home/House
Laughter
Being the best you can be
Hope
Faith
Family
Friends
Life
What impresses me most about this list of important things is how few of the things they came up with depended on money. They identified truly spiritual qualities. We all know that money matters to survive in life. But the things that matter for ever, money can’t buy.
These are some of the seeds that were planted during our retreat this week end. It was a joint gardening project between teens and staff. We all came away with a richer garden for our time together.

What Is Innocence?
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
September 22, 2013

Jeremiah 11:18-20 Mark 9:33-37 Psalm 54

In our Mark reading, it looks like there are several unconnected thoughts that are mashed together. But they actually connect very well when one looks at them from an internal point of view. Our reading begins with the disciples arguing about which of them would be the greatest. Jesus says the curious line, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all” (Mark 9:35). Then he takes a little child in His arms and says, “Whoever welcome one of these little children in my name, welcomes me” (9:37). Then Jesus says that, “Whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.” The greatest, the first and last, children, and then God–not a very clearly connected group of ideas. But they all do connect when we consider one idea. That idea is innocence.
Again and again, Swedenborg states that there is no love and charity without innocence. He says that innocence is the essence of the highest angels. And he says that God is innocence itself.
But the quality of innocence is a very elusive quality. I think we can recognize it when we see it, but just what it is, is hard to describe. Jesus used an apt image when he took a child and pointed to him, saying that we need to welcome the child in Jesus’ name. I take this passage to mean that we need to be childlike in order to be godly. And the child was used by Jesus as an image of innocence.
We see children as innocent due to several characteristics. One characteristic is described by Swedenborg quite accurately. Swedenborg writes that, “The affections are conspicuously presented in the face with those who are in innocence” (AC 5102). This means that innocent children show what they are feeling in their faces. Young children let you know what they think, feel, and want without any pretence. When a young child is happy, we all know it–in fact, their innocence is so touching that we become happy with them. And when a child is unhappy and sad, we all know it, too. Children cry openly, they laugh spontaneously, and they squeal with delight unabashedly. Children are spontaneous, and they are transparent with their feelings.
We adults learn social propriety, which often means stifling our emotions. We learn to smile instead of squealing with delight. We learn to frown when we are sad, instead of breaking down in tears. Sometimes, we learn to conceal our feelings altogether because we do not want others to know what we are truly feeling or thinking. I have moved around quite a bit in my life. And what I find is that it often takes years to learn how to read what a person feels in different cultures. The way people show their emotions depends on the culture they live in. And how to express oneself is a learned behavior that depends on the society around them. But children act quite the same in whatever culture we find them. That is because they haven’t learned how to mask or filter their emotional responses according to their culture.
I know only a few people who have enough self-confidence to show their true feelings and who are open with them. There is a childlike simplicity about these people that is delightful and precious. I don’t think that our society rewards this kind of character. We prize shrewd, cunning individuals who know how to work the system and get ahead. We prize successful and rich people who demonstrate social graces. We prize intelligence which often carries with it sarcasm or worse still, cutting wit.
So we return to the precious innocence of children. That childlike openness is requires a level of self-confidence that is rare in this world. But here I need to add a qualifier. There is a history of Christian literature that interprets this idea in a problematic way. They think that being childlike means to be foolish. Stulti-Christo is the Latin term for this belief, and it means to be a fool for Christ. This idea is found in 1 Corinthians 4:10, “So we are fools because of Christ.” Some Christians did unconventional things like walking around half naked, living homeless, speaking in riddles, or flouting social conventions to the point of appearing rude or even immoral. But I don’t think we need to do such behaviors to follow Christ or to be childlike.
Swedenborg describes innocence in a way that allows the individual still to function in ordinary society. In fact, for Swedenborg, the more innocent a person is, the wiser the person is. What shall we say that the essence of wisdom is? Let’s think about a person thought to be the wisest person to walk the world. I mean Socrates. He became a real pest to his society because he annoyed people with his persistent questioning. To anyone with presumed authority, Socrates submitted a rigorous drill of philosophical questions. The individual usually felt embarrassed because Socrates had poked holes in his thought and made the person look ridiculous. But Socrates defended himself by saying that he, himself, knew nothing. He asked those questions to learn, as he fully acknowledged that he didn’t know anything. Swedenborg’s idea of innocence is similar.
For Swedenborg, true innocence is the acknowledgement that all good is from the Lord, and that a person wants to be led by God. Maybe Swedenborg goes too far in saying how depraved humanity is when left to their own devices. But his basic teaching is that of ourselves, we are not capable of true good. It is only when we turn to God that we do good. This is what it means for the first to be the last. Self, which we often put in the first place, must become last. And God must be put first. Then we are like children who depend on their parents for love, support, and the things they need in this life.
In all good, that it may be good, there must be innocence. . . . For this reason innocence is the very essential of love and charity, and accordingly of good. The proprium of innocence consists in knowing, acknowledging, and believing, not with the mouth but with the heart, that nothing but evil is from one’s self, and that all good is from the Lord. . . . When a person is in this confession and belief from the heart, the Lord flows in with good and truth, and insinuates into him a heavenly proprium [self]. . . (AC 3994).
Letting God into our hearts does not mean we give up the idea of self altogether. Swedenborg tells us that we get a new self. We get a heavenly self. So we still think and decide on things as we always had. The only difference is that we think what is true and we decide on things for the good and out of heavenly love. This is what putting the first last means. It means annihilating selfishness and letting heavenly selflessness fill our lives. This is true humility. This is being innocent. This is being like a child.
No one can ever be in true humility, unless he or she is in this acknowledgement and belief from the heart; for he or she is then in annihilation of himself . . . and thus absence from himself; and in this manner he is then in a state for receiving the Divine of the Lord. It is by this means that the Lord flows in with good into a humble and contrite heart (AC 3994).
This is why Swedenborg is called a mystic. Mysticism means that a person has a personal relationship with God. And in Swedenborg’s theology, we let God fill our souls with Divine Love and Wisdom. We let God into us so that our self is God-in-us. God-in-us is a new personality that we are gifted with.
True good must be innocent. What that means is that we do not take credit for the good that we do. Some religions are very afraid of humans taking credit for the good that we do. They are so afraid that they say we are incapable of doing good. They are so afraid that they say that good deeds are not important for salvation–but rather faith alone is what is important for salvation. But it is plain to common sense that we need to do good and not to do bad. The only way to do good in a manner that saves is to do good without taking credit for it. And the only way to do good without taking credit for it is by admitting that God alone does good. Then, we do not get puffed with pride when we look at all the good we do. Then, we do not think we are better than others. Then, we see that without God, we are helpless. But when we admit from our heart that God alone is good; that God alone does good–then we can do good in a way that saves.
This is the innocence that children stand for in the Bible. This is the essence of innocence–the admission that God alone is good; that God alone does good. This is putting the first last and the last first. This is the humility that God can and does flow into with blessings of happiness, joy, and peace.

PRAYER

Lord, we thank you this morning for the opportunities you give us to serve our fellows. For you have taught us that the first shall be last and the last first. Even you, when you came to earth, did not come as an imperial ruler, but as a servant to all. Give us to see opportunities to serve every day. And fill us with your love for fulfilling uses. May we not take credit for the good we do, for it is given by you, and the capacity to do good is also from you. Strengthen our faith by the works we do by you, and in your name. May our faith and our good will always work together to bring heaven to earth.

And Lord, we pray that you bring peace to this troubled world. May those who harbor ill will for their neighbors learn to understand and see the fellow humanity that they share. May those who strive against each other see that they are like in their wishes and in what they want for their land and nation. Lord, we especially ask that you be with the people of Egypt and of Syria. May the way of peace and diplomacy prevail over force. May all warring factions find their way to peace.

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

So Human a God
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
September 15, 2013

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

Once again, we see how Jesus fulfills prophesies found in Old Testament writings. Once again, we see that Jesus is God, that Jesus is the God that the Old Testament wrote of. The reading from Isaiah 50 is almost bone-chilling in the way it prophesies what will happen to Jesus. In this reading, we see the persecution that Jesus underwent in the final hours of His ministry on earth. Isaiah reads,
I gave my back to the smiters,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I hid not my face from shame and spitting (50:6).
In Isaiah, we see that the Messiah will be smitten on the back and that his face will be shamed and spat upon. This is what happens to Jesus. In Mark, we read,
And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to strike him . . . And the guards received him with blows (Mark 14:65).
And just a little later in Mark, we are told that Pilate scourges Jesus with a whip, that is, smites Him on the back, as predicted in Isaiah. Jesus told His disciples that all this was going to happen. In Mark 8:31, Jesus says, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” So in this combination of readings, we see that Jesus fulfilled what the prophet Isaiah said the Messiah would suffer when He came to earth. We see in this combination of readings, again, that Jesus is the Messiah foretold in the prophets.
Last Sunday, we saw Jesus as the Divine Human. We saw the power and divinity of Jesus in the great and wondrous miracles He wrought. This Sunday we see a much different Jesus. We see Jesus as the Suffering Servant that the Psalms and parts of Isaiah talk about. In this picture of Jesus, we see Jesus not as a wondrous miracle worker. Instead, we see Jesus as the very human person. This is Jesus the Human–so Human that He can suffer, be stricken, spit upon, and finally killed. This is the Jesus who conforms to the complete human condition, even the condition of death.
This is an extraordinary image of God. God is all-powerful. God created the whole universe and everything in it. God knows our every thought and deed. God is above everything mortal. At least some images of God make Him like that.
But in Jesus we have a God who walks with dust on His feet. We have a God who weeps. We have a God whose feet are anointed by a sinful woman. We have a God who is spat upon, struck, and finally killed. Say it isn’t so!
Peter, and Jesus’ followers couldn’t understand how these things could happen to Jesus the wonder-worker. Jesus predicted that these things would befall Him. Mark tells us that, “He said this plainly” (Mark 8:32). But Peter couldn’t understand how these events could happen to the Messiah. Peter had just confessed that Jesus was the Messiah. He confesses this in a dramatic series of questions asked by Jesus.
Jesus went on with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”
So Peter recognizes that Jesus in no mere mortal. Jesus is not just a wise rabbi, nor is He just a great prophet. Peter see that Jesus is the Messiah spoken of by the prophets, God in the flesh. For the high priest himself knew that the Messiah was supposed to be God in the flesh. During Jesus’ trial, he asks Jesus, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed?” This combination of terms–Messiah, Son of the Blessed–indicates that the Messiah is God in the flesh. All this is contained in Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Messiah.
But what’s this about rejection by the Jewish leaders, about suffering many things, and finally being killed?! That’s not what anyone knew about the Messiah! So Peter, confused by Jesus’ plain statements about His coming rejection and suffering, takes Jesus aside and rebukes Him. We can almost hear Peter saying, “No, not you, Jesus.”
As is so often the case in the Gospels, Jesus has to explain Himself over and over again to disciples that appear not to be the sharpest tool in the shed. This time, he corrects Peter rather sharply, “Get behind me Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men.” Just a little later, Jesus would tell the crowds,
Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels (Mark 8:28).
What was Peter’s mistake that elicited such a strong response from Jesus? I think that Peter wanted Jesus to be a king on the worldly plane. Peter wanted a Messiah that would take charge of the Jewish religion, would drive out the hated Romans, and issue in a period of world peace. The Messiah that Peter wanted would make Israel the centre of world power. The Messiah would make Israel a light to the other nations. These are some of the worldly hopes that Peter probably cherished for Jesus. These are the things of men that Jesus accused Peter of cherishing.
But Jesus was a much, much different Messiah than the one that the Jews hoped for. Jesus was a king of the spiritual world. And in the suffering, death, and resurrection, Jesus showed the world a new kind of dignity and power.
Let’s return to the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah speaks of a kind of dignity that comes from God. He speaks of a kind of honor that comes from being at one with the Most High. If one is in right relations with God, who can attack one, demean one, or accuse one with guilt of any kind? Isaiah says,
For the Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been confounded;
therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
let him come near to me.
Behold, the Lord God helps me;
who will declare me guilty? (Isaiah 50:7-9)
Jesus lived out these words. He was accused of many things, falsely. And yet he said not a word. This amazed Pilate. He said, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” And Jesus’ profound silence, Mark tells us, caused Pilate to wonder. And finally, the way Jesus bore his suffering and death moved a pagan soldier to acknowledge Jesus’ divinity. Mark tells us, “When the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God’” (Mark 15:39).
This so Human God gives us a picture of God that is remarkable in world religions. Yes, this God is powerful and wonderful. This God heals, drives out demons, and calms stormy seas. But this powerful wonder-worker also allows sinful women to cleanse His feet. He allows envious elitists to spit on Him, flog Him, and finally to kill Him. This God is very Human. This powerful wonder-worker lives like an ordinary Human being. From His birth, as a helpless baby in need of a mother’s love and protection, to His death by shameful men, as a man of honor and dignity, this God is fully Human. The Athanasian Creed tells us that Jesus is “Fully God and Fully Man.” This is a God that can be touched, embraced, and loved. This is so Human a God.

PRAYER

Dear Lord, we give you thanks this morning. We thank you for all the things we take for granted. We thank you for this church and our spiritual friends. This church is as a family,, and in it we find nurture for our souls and a place of refuge when we are hurting. Lord, we give you thanks for the good things we have enjoyed over the years. We give you thanks for the accomplishments you have gifted us with, and the uses we have been able to perform in this world. And, when we think of you and your life on earth, we have so many things to thank you for. We especially thank you for coming to us not as a conquering Emperor, but as a human being, as a helpless baby. Lord, we thank you that you came in a way that we could touch. We thank you that you were so human that you did not turn your cheek from the pain inflicted by humanity at its worst. You call forth from us a love and devotion from your humanity. You invite us to dine with you. And Lord, give us to respond and live with you forever.

And Lord, we pray that you bring peace to this troubled world. May those who harbor ill will for their neighbors learn to understand and see the fellow humanity that they share. May those who strive against each other see that they are like in their wishes and in what they want for their land and nation. Lord, we especially ask that you be with the people of Egypt and of Syria. May the way of peace and diplomacy prevail instead of force. May all warring factions find their way to peace.

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

He Will Come to Save You
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
September 8, 2013

Isaiah 35:4-7 Mark 7:24-37 Psalm 146

This morning’s combination of Bible readings is another example of how the early Christians used Old Testament passages to help them understand who Jesus was. Two Sundays ago, I talked about the Old Testament term “The Holy One.” In many passages from the prophets this term means Yahweh God Himself. Luke and John make use of this term to indicate that Jesus was that God in the flesh. That is, they assert that Jesus is the God that the Old Testament speaks of. Jesus is The Holy One. Our Bible readings this morning do a similar thing to make the same point. In Isaiah 35, we hear about the coming of God. When God comes, Isaiah tells us,
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the dumb shout for joy (35:5-6).
Jesus does just those things that God will do when He comes. That is, Jesus opens the eyes of the blind, He unstops the ears of the deaf, He makes the lame walk, and the tongue of the dumb speaks. In Mark, the people are amazed at these things. They say, “He even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak” (Mark 7:37). John the Baptist wondered about who Jesus was. He sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” Jesus doesn’t give John a simple “yes” or “no.” But Jesus does point to that Isaiah passage. Jesus says,
Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor (Matthew 11:4-5).
This should have been sufficient to tell John the Baptist who Jesus was. The passage from Isaiah said that all these things would happen when God came. This was the fulfillment of the age and Jesus was and is God in the flesh. Jesus is the Holy One of the prophets and Jesus is God who will come in the fulfillment of time.
There are two ways I view the miracles of Jesus. One way is as evidence of Jesus’ identity. That is, the miracles tell us who Jesus was and is: God in the flesh. The second way I view the miracles is how Jesus cares for the whole human race. In this case I do not think about healing the body as much as I think about the symbolism of spiritual healing. The miracles of healing are symbolic of how Jesus heals our souls and drives out demons from us.
A friend of mine recently asked me if I believed that Jesus did the miracles that the Bible says He did. In thinking about this question several thoughts went through my head. The first one was how little I paid attention to Jesus’ miracles. I think that the Gospel of Mark relies heavily on the miracles to make the case that Jesus was a Divine Man. The wonders that Jesus performed made Him greater than ordinary mortals. But my faith that Jesus is God is so intrinsic to my whole belief system that I don’t need Jesus’ miracles as evidence for His Divinity. My answer to my friend’s question would have been, put bluntly, “Yes I believe that Jesus performed the miracles–so what?” Of course I didn’t say that. I said that I believe that Jesus is God and so I believe that He did perform those miracles. For me, it’s almost backwards. Because Jesus is God, he could do the miracles. Not, Jesus did the miracles therefore He is God.
What matters to me most is the example that Jesus set for us to follow as to how to live. Jesus’ life of love and compassion and wisdom are the Divine qualities that the Gentle God show us. And I suppose that the miracles do get my attention. They tell me that Jesus was more than just a wise teacher; that Jesus is more than an extremely enlightened rabbi. They show me that Jesus is in a class other than ordinary humanity. That makes me more committed to the life Jesus led. It pushes me over the edge of belief and tells me, “This is God on earth, showing you how to live.”
Which brings me to the second point about the miracles. The miracles show us how much God loves the human race. Jesus’ whole life was one of service. He eased the hardships of the people He encountered. He healed, took away suffering, and drove out demons. To me, these healings symbolize the way Jesus drives out the evils from humanity and leads us into spiritual health. When Isaiah talks about the coming of God he says that, “He will come to save you” (35:4). This salvation is not just bodily health. To me, salvation means spiritual health. And Jesus’ healings symbolize the health that God leads us all into. Swedenborg describes this as a process:
The Lord remits to everyone his or her sins, since God is mercy itself. Nevertheless they are not thereby remitted, unless a person performs serious repentance, and desists from evils, and afterward lives a life of faith and charity, and this even to the end of his life. When this is done, then a person receives from the Lord spiritual life, which is called new life. When from this new life he views the evils of his former life and turns away from them and regards them with horror, then first are the evils remitted, for then the person is held in truths and goods by the Lord and is withheld from evils (AC 9014).
To me, this passage from Swedenborg is filled with metaphors of healing and life. The process here is one of cleansing from evil and of being gifted with life. Just as Jesus drove out unclean spirits, so He now drives out the evils in us by means of our cooperation. Then just as Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead, so Jesus lifts us up and out of our deadly sins into new life of charity and faith. That is how this church understands salvation. And that is what Jesus does for every human being who asks Jesus for healing.
All this is done by Jesus. Though it looks sometimes like we are personally struggling to the depths of despair, it is God working in us who does this. Paul put it beautifully and so succinctly in Philippians 2:12-13,
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 in order to fulfill his good purpose.
This is and always was the message of religion. It was the message of Moses; it was the message of the prophets; and it is the message of Jesus. It is a message that had been forgotten, which Jesus came to remind the world of.
Jesus lived out a Godly life, and showed us the way to worship that had been forgotten. And Jesus brought God to an earth that had lost touch with God. Jesus reminded us of the teachings of Moses and of the prophets. There is no New Covenant, no New Testament, no New Law that differs from the Old Testament. Rather, there is continuity. That is why Isaiah could say that God would come to save, and the writers of the Gospels could say that the same God Isaiah wrote of was Jesus Christ.
As we struggle to live the life Jesus showed us, we have the power of the Divine Human to work with us. As the miracles show, Jesus was and is the Divine Human. And as the healings show, Jesus can and will cleanse us of our evils, heal our souls, and give us life. Jesus will raise us from the dead into heaven’s glory and joy. This is God’s promise in Isaiah and Jesus’ promise through the healing miracles.

PRAYER

Lord, we know that you are the long awaited God that the prophets said would come to earth. We know that you are The Holy One. We know that you are the one who would open the eyes of the blind, unstop the ears of the deaf, and lift up the lame so they could walk. You did all these things on earth. You drove out unclean spirits, and we know that you still cleanse us from our sins. You raise us up from deadly sin and lift us into spiritual life. We give you thanks for your saving grace. We give you thanks for your care for the whole human race. Thanks be to you for all that you do to bring the human race into eternal happiness in your home, with you.

And Lord, we pray that you bring peace to this troubled world. May those who harbor ill will for their neighbors learn to understand and see the fellow humanity that they share. May those who strive against each other see that they are like in their wishes and in what they want for their land and nation. Lord, we especially ask that you be with the people of Egypt and of Syria. Comfort those who have been harmed, and pacify the hard hearts of those who use violence to obtain their own will. Lend your wisdom to the United States and the world community to make a compassionate and wise decision in regard to Syria. May all warring factions find their way to peace.

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

A God so Near
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
September 1, 2013

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9 Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Psalm 15

In our reading from Deuteronomy, Moses says a touching line to the Israelites. He says, “What great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him” (Deuteronomy 4:7). God is intimately present when we call upon God’s name. This idea can lead us into a theological tangle that we should sort out before going any further with this doctrine. The complication I’m thinking of is God’s omnipresence. The word “omnipresence” means that God is present everywhere. This means that God is always present to us, whether we are calling on God or not.
But the notion that God is always present can be understood as presence from God’s point of view. From God’s point of view, God is always present. But there is also our point of view. For our relationship with God is two-way. There is God’s relationship with us, and there is our relationship with God. In the depths of our souls, and wherever we are, God is present. That is the matter from God’s point of view. But where are we in relation to how we see God? Is our mind centered on God? Are we approaching God? In order for there to be a genuine relationship, there is movement from both parties. There is movement of God to us and there is movement of us to God.
While God is ever present with us, we may be distant in our own minds and hearts. There are things that come between us and God. When we are obsessed with control and the pursuit of wealth we may not have a love for our neighbor in our hearts. We may thus not have a feeling of love for God, either. If we are not filled with love for God, how can we say we are near God? God is always coming to us, but it is we who can turn away. Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). Jesus is knocking at the door, but He doesn’t come and eat with us unless we hear His voice and open the door. Likewise in John, Jesus says, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love” (15:10); and also “You are my friends if you do what I command you” (15:14). To be in God’s love, we need to do the things God asks. That constitutes our movement to God.
When we call upon God, and God comes near, it is not so much God coming near us, as it is us coming near to God. When we read the Bible especially, God comes near us. But this too, is a matter of us bringing our hearts and minds to and toward God. So Moses is right when he says that God is near to us when we call on Him. On God’s part, God is always near. But on our part, we need to come to God in prayer and by doing the things God asks.
There are some historical considerations that make this passage from Deuteronomy especially interesting. All around Israel at this time were religions of the Ancient Near East. They shared some similar components of worship. First of all, the gods for them were actually distant. The gods lived in the sky, and did not care much about the race of humans. In fact, in the Babylonian flood story, the gods flood the earth because humans are making too much noise and we are disturbing the peace of the high, sky gods. Second, people did not have direct access to the gods. The king was the intermediary between the gods and humans. In fact, the king was semi-divine. It was up to the king to perform certain rituals and sacrifices in order to ensure peace in the land and prosperity in the field. So the people followed the laws of the king and the king followed the laws of the gods. The gods were very distant to the average person in the Ancient Near East.
Consider how different things were for the ancient Israelites. Consider the tabernacle that the Israelites carried with them as they wandered in the desert. This was a simple tent–not a magnificent temple. Actually, it was a pretty elaborate tent–but a tent nevertheless. God actually lived in the tent, and so travelled in the very heart of the Israelite community wherever they went. And God was with every Israelite personally, even those low on the social scale. For instance, God hears the cry of poor people. In Exodus 22, we read,
If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor, and you shall not exact interest from him. If you ever take your neighbor’s garment in pledge, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down; for that is his only covering, it is his mantle for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate (25-27).
Not only does God hear each individual when we call to God, but God even hears the poor when they call out to God. This is not a God of kings and nobles only. Yahweh is a God of even the poor, of widows, and of foreigners.
The idea that God hears everyone, and that God is compassionate is at the heart of the Old Testament. It is this picture of God that Jesus seeks to revive. I say that Jesus seeks to revive this image of God because I think that this image of God had been lost in Roman times. The many rules and rituals of the Pharisees and rabbis of the first century AD buried the teachings about God’s love and compassion. In Deuteronomy, Moses tells the Israelites, “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it” (Deuteronomy 4:2). Yet it appears that the Pharisees of Jesus’ time had done just that. Our story begins with a challenge to Jesus. The Pharisees ask him why his disciples do not wash their hands according to the ceremonial purity rituals of the ancient Jews. There is a very important line here. The Pharisees call this “the tradition of the elders.” That is, the ceremonial washing was a tradition, not God’s law. Jesus accuses them on this very issue. He accuses them by saying, “You leave the commandment of God and hold fast to the tradition of men” (Mark 7:8). He also, among many other issues, declares all food to be ritually clean. In doing this, Jesus lifts the rules about keeping kosher.
Jesus declares all food clean by pointing to personal morality. He says that what comes out from a person’s heart is what renders a person unclean, not what goes into a person’s stomach. Since the issue is eating with ritually impure hands, Jesus counters with what makes a person morally impure. That occasions the list of personal evils,
What comes out of a man is what defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these things come from within, and they defile a man (Mark 7:20-23).
I don’t think that even the worst of people could be all these things. But think of being caught up in a few of them. Does it make sense to say that God is near to one who se heart is obsessed with, say, theft, murder, envy and pride? Yes, we can say that God is always near a person. But is such a person near God in his or her heart and mind? A love relationship is always two-way. And I would suggest that such a person is turning away from God, who is approaching this fictional person. In Deuteronomy, we read that God is near to those who call upon Him. I doubt that our fictional wicked person is calling upon God.
On the flip side, let’s consider a person who is chaste, generous, loving, honest, affirming of others, humble, and wise. I would venture to say that such a person approaches God and the relationship is mutual. God comes to such a person and the person comes to God. This is the relationship we hear of in Deuteronomy. This is a relationship in which God is near to those who call upon God. This person is calling on God, and God hears and the two mutually approach each other.
One final note. God is always approaching everyone. God is always acting to turn individuals toward God and away from selfish and worldly obsessions. This is to say that God is drawing everyone to heaven and to eternal happiness. Even in the case of our fictional wicked person, God would continually try to lead this individual from their evils toward good feelings and acts.
God is always present in the depths of our souls. The real issue for us, is where we are in relation to God where our mind and heart is in the present moment. God is a God who hears and is near to those who call on Him. Let us be those who call upon God and who complete the circle of love.

PRAYER

Lord, we know that you are always with us. You are with us when we are happy. And you are with us when we are sad. You are with us when we wander away from your holy ways. And you always seek to bring us back to you, and you are with us when we return. Lord, you have said that you stand at the door and knock. May our ears be open to hear you, and may we open the door to let you in and eat with us. Lord, you are truly a God who is near to us. May we direct our steps so that we may come near to you.

And Lord, we pray that you bring peace to this troubled world. May those who harbor ill will for their neighbors learn to understand and see the fellow humanity that they share. May those who strive against each other see that they are like in their wishes and in what they want for their land and nation. Lord, we especially ask that you be with the people of Egypt and of Syria. Comfort those who have been harmed, and pacify the hard hearts of those who use violence to obtain their own will. M may all warring factions find their way to peace.

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

10-Week On-Line Course in Paul taught by Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
September 30-December 8: Tuition only $55!
The Apostle Paul isn’t all that bad! In fact, he’s fantastic! Some of the things he says you wouldn’t believe. I think Swedenborgians are prejudiced against Paul. I was. But with an open mind, we will find Paul’s letters inspiring, beautiful, and in places quite in accord with Swedenborg. This 10-week course is a topical survey of Paul’s letters in the light of Swedenborg’s theology, as Protestant Christianity sees him, and as we find him in the letters themselves. For more information, or to enroll, please email Rev. Dr. Fekete at: revdrfekete@gmail.com. Deadline for enrollment is September 25. The course is limited to 15 students.

As for Me and My House
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
August 25, 2013

Joshua 24:1-2, 14-18, 25-28 John 6:56-69 Psalm 34

The passage from John this morning is touching to me. We see people leaving Jesus. Then we have those poignant words Jesus asks His very disciples, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” But speaking for all the twelve, Peter says powerful words in response,
Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe that you are the Holy One of God (John6:68).
I take two themes from this statement. First there is the issue of Jesus words. Jesus says, “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life” (John6:63). Peter affirms this when he says, “You have the words of eternal life.” This means that Jesus’ words are powerful and give eternal life. These statements point to Jesus’ teachings as the power for eternal life. Then there is the second message from the words of Peter. This is a really difficult idea for some. Peter calls Jesus, “The Holy One of God.” The term “Holy One” is a very specific term from the Old Testament. In many, many passages, the Old Testament speaks of The Holy One. And in those passages, The Holy One is Yahweh Himself. I will cite 22 of those passages here:
Daniel 4:10, 13; Habakkuk 3:3; Isaiah 1:4; 5:19; 10:20; 12:6; 17:7; 29:19; 30: 11, 12; 41:16; 43:3, 11, 14, 15; (here the Holy One is also called “your Savior,” vs. 3, 11; and “your Redeemer,” vs. 14 ); 47:4 (where Holy One is called “your Redeemer”); 48:41; 49:7; 54:5 (“your Redeemer”) Psalm 78:41; Jeremiah 51:5; and in other places.
Luke also uses this term for Jesus when His birth is prophesied. In that Gospel, we find Gabriel telling Mary, “The Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). So Jesus, as “the Holy One” is none other than Jehovah God in human form.
This idea of Jesus as God in the flesh is difficult for many people. This is the reason why many Jews deserted Jesus. In our story for this morning, Jesus claims that He is the bread that came down from heaven. This means that Jesus is Divine. And Jesus said these things in a synagogue. This means that by saying these words, Jesus is no longer just another rabbi. It means that Jesus is God in the flesh. This is what caused many of the Jews to fall away. John tells us that,
At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven?’” (John 6:41-42)
The words of Jesus, then, have two points for our consideration. First, that His teachings give eternal life. Second, that Jesus is God in the flesh.
It’s interesting how people react to these two points. Many of the people I talk to, believers or non-believers like the words that Jesus speaks. That is, they agree that Jesus’ teachings are beautiful and that a person would do well to follow them. I would agree that it is Jesus’ teachings that matter most. What makes a Christian is not so much what he or she thinks about Jesus, but rather the way a person lives. Robert Frost said it so well,
If you would learn the way a man feels about God, don’t ask him to put a name on himself. All that is said with names is soon not enough.
If you would have out the way a man feels about God, watch his life, hear his words (Edward Connery Lathem 1967. Interviews with Robert Frost. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. p. 149).
I concur completely with Frost. Don’t ask people to put a name on themselves. I know Sikhs who are as Christian as I could hope to be. And I have known Christian who don’t impress me with the way they go about their business. It is how a person lives that matters. It is how a person responds to Jesus’ words that matter. And if one finds Jesus’ words spoken by some other prophet or sage, it matters not. What does matter is how a person relates to those words and how a person lives them in their daily life.
Now we come to a very curious phenomenon. That is how we view Jesus the Person. Many westerners have a hard time with the idea of Jesus as a Divine Human. Likewise there are leading Bible scholars who doubt that Jesus actually rose from the grave. But what I find curious is that Buddhists and Muslims have no problem with Jesus’ resurrection. It is a prominent doctrine in Muslim writings that Jesus was both born of a virgin and that He rose from the grave. And I was just reading a book of interviews with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama said that a Buddhist would have no problem believing that Jesus rose from the grave. Furthermore, there are Buddhists who see Jesus as one of their celestial demi-gods called bodhisattvas. So even to a Buddhist, Jesus is a special kind of being.
So I think about the words of Joshua. Joshua is talking to the Israelites about which God to serve. I think of Joshua because Jesus is also talking about which God to serve. Joshua takes seriously the idea that there are other gods in the region of Palestine and Mesopotamia. Joshua lays it before the Israelites,
Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshipped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LOR. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living (Joshua 24:14-15).
So Joshua lays out a choice before the Israelites–whom will they serve. Then Joshua says a line that I love, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (24:15). Joshua is basically saying that it is up to every individual to serve whichever God fits them best. But Joshua makes a stand and declares that his God is Yahweh.
That is how I view my Christianity. As for me and my house, we will follow Jesus. This church is open to every person’s free decision which God to follow and how to conceive of God. But we also have our ideas about God. We see God as the Divine Human Jesus Christ. As for me and my house, that is how we see God. But we accept and welcome varieties and diversities in the way a person conceives of God. Due probably to my upbringing and my education, I find that this church’s doctrines about God make the most sense to me. I have shopped around and come back home to the church I was raised in. Thinking of God as the Divine Human Jesus Christ simplifies all the complexities surrounding the trinity. The history of Christianity can well be considered a history of trying to figure out the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I think John says it all. In John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me” (John 6:57). Jesus has life from the Father living in Him and we have life from Jesus dwelling in us.
So we live when we feed on Jesus’ wisdom. We live because of the words Jesus spoke. Taking them to heart gives us spiritual life. Believing that Jesus is God will not by itself save a person. As Jesus says, “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” As for me and my house, we believe that Jesus is the Holy One of God, spoken of by the prophets. And we believe that His words, coming as they do from heaven, give eternal life.

PRAYER

Lord, we praise you this morning for your wonderful words of eternal life. You have taught us the ways that lead to heaven, and to company with you and the angels forever. Your words are Spirit and they are life. If we feed on the teachings you gave us, we will come into your kingdom, whether here on earth or in the life to come. Lord, we know that you are God. We know that you came to earth to save the whole human race. And we are forever grateful that you do save all who call upon your name.

And Lord, we pray that you bring peace to this troubled world. May those who harbor ill will for their neighbors learn to understand and see the fellow humanity that they share. May those who strive against each other see that they are like in their wishes and in what they want for their land and nation. Lord, we especially ask that you be with the people of Egypt and of Syria. Comfort those who have been harmed, and pacify the hard hearts of those who use violence to obtain their own will. M may all warring factions find their way to peace.

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

10-Week On-Line Course in Paul taught by Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
September 30-December 8: Tuition only $55!

The Apostle Paul isn’t all that bad! In fact, he’s fantastic! Some of the things he says you wouldn’t believe. I think Swedenborgians are prejudiced against Paul. I was. But with an open mind, we will find Paul’s letters inspiring, beautiful, and in places quite in accord with Swedenborg. This 10-week course is a topical survey of Paul’s letters in the light of Swedenborg’s theology, as Protestant Christianity sees him, and as we find him in the letters themselves. For more information, or to enroll, please email Rev. Dr. Fekete at: revdrfekete@gmail.com. Deadline for enrollment is September 25. The course is limited to 15 students.