Being Loving with Wisdom - sermon Jan 25

This sermon was delivered on the Sunday on which we chose to honor Swedenborg's birthday.  It teaches about a key Swedenborgian concept—the union of Love and Wisdom.  The Holy City being "foursquare" symbolizes that there will be a complete balance of the two energies in all those who reach advanced state of spiritual being.

"Being Loving with Wisdom - Let's do this!"

Rev. Alison Longstaff, Jan 25, 2015

Bath Church of the New Jerusalem

Genesis 1:26-31; Revelation 21:10-17; Divine Love and Wisdom 30 

So God created humans in the Divine’s own image; in the image of the Divine was each one created; male and female God created them. 

One thing about growing up Swedenborgian is this, that one learns to think of everything as created into two essential halves of one, like the right brain and left brain, the right foot and left foot, the male and female, light and heat, the wine and the bread, the creative and the protective, the soft and the firm—it goes on and on.  By now it is so deeply ingrained in how I look at the world, I am repeatedly surprised when I realize not everyone looks at life this way. 

We are taught that these two manifestations of life come from the nature of God, like the light and heat of the sun.  We can intellectually separate them as concepts in our minds and think about them separately: “the light of the sun,” “the heat of the sun.”  But one couldn't actually exist without the other.  They are a package deal.  Each exists because of the other.  They are inseparable.  Light and heat from one sun; left and right in one human; Love and Wisdom in one God.

So in a Swedenborgian elementary school (in which one has regular religion lessons) I learned that the answer to most questions, if it wasn't “the Lord,” was probably “Love and Wisdom” or “good and truth.” It was a kind of joke, the way the answer to most mainstream Christian Sunday School questions might be “Jesus.” When in doubt, answer “Love and Wisdom” or “good and truth,” and odds are that you will get it right. 

The goal of creation was all about the union of two complementary and inseparable “halves": Love AND Wisdom; the “big picture” (Father) AND the “right here and now” (Son); the vertical axis of the cross (Divine) and the horizontal axis (human). That crux or union or intersection is what life is all about.  That coming together of Love and Wisdom within us is the holy grail of our journey on earth—to unite our heads and hearts—to become authentic, compassionate, respectful, and deeply wise. 

Now, I am also a pragmatist, so all this Swedenborgian theory doesn't make much difference to me unless it “has legs”—unless thinking about life as Love and Wisdom has a transformative effect on our lives.  And that is why I like the theory so much.  One cannot pay attention to politics or advertising or rhetoric about success and not hear buzz words like “authentic” or “integrity” or “accountability,” words like “genuine,” “trustworthy,” and “transparent.” 

All of these words point to something for which we all long—that we might find in each other trustworthiness, truthfulness, and fairness—that we could expect from life justice, equality, and a fighting chance.  We want it from others, and we struggle to live it ourselves.

We all long for these things because they are missing in this life.  They are missing because humankind is flawed and scared and unwilling to look at this or take responsibility for it.  We have all been hurt and lied to and betrayed, and it sometimes seems as if liars and cheaters and thieves outnumber by far the trustworthy ones.

Love and wisdom united—the qualities of fairness and accountability and authenticity only show up in people and organizations who have an intentionality about being one in purpose, word, and deed.  Lots of people and organizations like to claim qualities such as fairness and accountability and authenticity, then they try to paste them on the outside of their presence in the world, hoping nobody will see through the façade.  But true integrity can only come for doing the real work and living the real truth. We have all encountered such inauthentic individuals and businesses.

“Corporation” once simply meant “body.” But “corporation” now is also synonymous with a large business with no “soul.”  There are indeed big businesses with lots of soul, but unfortunately the ones doing harm give all the rest of them a bad name. By “no soul” we mean having no genuine sense of connection with or commitment to the public good.  Instead we find only a “heartless” commitment to self-service and constant “growth,” and this is called “good business.”  But if we were looking at a human body, we would call a cluster of cells whose one purpose was self-service and constant expansion regardless of cost, cancer. “Cancerous” corporations show us the ultimate example of “intelligence divorced from goodness.” 

Humans are flawed.  We are born into a world that trains us to hide, pretend, and not feel what we feel.  We can be bombarded with messages that tell us we are not good enough, and that invite us to feel contempt and scorn for those who are different.   But that is not God’s plan nor God’s intention for our lives.  God calls us constantly toward greater integrity.  Our brokenness and blindness and fear and disconnection from each other does not have to triumph.  The path to integrity can feel lonely and be very hard work sometimes, but it is absolutely worth it. 

And that is why Jesus’ story has resonated for so many people through the eons (whether or not you believe in the Divine nature of those texts).  And that is why stories like “Harry Potter” and “The Lord of the Rings” and even “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” find such long-lasting fan-followings today.  Each story taps our desire to believe in heroes, and calls forth our longing to find trustworthiness, safety, and authenticity in community. 

The best stories have a hero that is flawed—in fact, a hero that is somehow touched by the darkness within his or her own nature.  This inner darkness is the source of the hero’s pain, vulnerability, and conflict … and yet it also holds the key to how the hero subdues and transcends the darkness. 

           

We are all called to this hero’s journey, and yet we don’t necessarily answer that call.  This is because journeying toward that inner union invites an encounter with God, and this can feel as scary as crucifixion.  While the spiritual journey journey is the only way to our “resurrection,” it takes us right by the valley of the shadow of death.  We often need to be quite convinced that doing our spiritual work provides a much better quality of life for us than remaining in our comfort zones will.  We need to realize that remaining spiritually clogged and stuck will result in us continuing to have unenlightened thoughts and desires which end up hurting the ones we love most.  We will be blind to our own failings and will continue to think we are not as much a part of the problem as we truly are so long as we hide from and resist our own spiritual work. 

And so we must all work towards a union of our thinking and feeling sides, and this produces in us that “genuineness” or “authenticity” that is so craved in the world.  This work produces increasing self-awareness and compassion—we realize ever deeper ways we are lying to ourselves and hiding from ourselves, (often due to shame or fear of rejection) and the compassion gives us the strength and determination to change.  This self-awareness—this inner integration can be cultivated through therapy, meditation, and studying books about spiritual growth; we can encourage it by joining support groups, or journaling, or any other of a number of spiritual practices that God has provided for us to become better stewards our personal inner landscapes. 

It begins with intention, continues with prayer and spiritual practice, and God takes care of the rest.  May we each work to become the change we desire to see in the world.  Amen

***

Before the interlude I want to add a few words about Swedenborg.  

Emanuel Swedenborg was born on January 29^th, 1688—long before you and I were born—at a time well before electricity or cars or telephones, before telegraphs or steamships, and when the whaling industry had barely started.  He grew up a Lutheran in Sweden, became a highly educated man and civil servant, and only later in life began the deep study of the Bible that led to his spiritual awakening and theological writing.  His intent was to reform the existing Christian church, never to start a new denomination with his name on it.  He lived his full and remarkable life, and died in 1772, before the colonies declared independence.

Swedenborgians today are few in number and vary widely in how we understand and value Swedenborg’s writings.   We are small because we have been shy, a bit exclusive, and more intellectual than service-oriented.  But I will always be grateful for the way Swedenborgian thought has shaped my thinking and feeling.  I find deep peace in the perspectives; I find hope and comfort in the way he describes God’s plan; and the ideas help me find light in even the darkest times and joy in the bleakest moments.  

I am a Swedenborgian minister because I love this systematic theology so very much.  I hope that the great wisdom and insanely astute insights that this lifelong bachelor penned will bring light to your paths the way it has to mine.  And I love above all the inclusiveness within his theology, which makes room for all of us to walk together in respect and love.

Swedenborg wouldn't want us to make a fuss over his birthday.  His work pointed always to the God of love and wisdom.  I think we do celebrate the way God can fill each of us with love and wisdom, and have them transform our lives by celebrating the way He did this with Swedenborg.  Happy birthday “Manny.”  Thank you for letting your light shine!

Readings:

Genesis 1: 26-31

Then God said, “Let Us make humans in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  So God created humans in the Divine’s own image; in the image of the Divine was each one created; male and female God created them.  Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and manage it; have responsibility for the fish of the sea, for the birds of the air, and for every living thing that moves on the earth.”

And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.  Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so.  Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Revelation 21:10-17

 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper.  It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.  There were three gates on the east and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the west.  And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.  The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, and its gates and its wall.  The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal.  And he measured its wall, seventy-two yards, according to human measurements, which are also angelic measurements. 

DLW 30

Since the Divine is essentially Love and Wisdom united, we humans have two sides of our beings. The one side shows up as our thinking or our discernment, and the other side shows up as our desire or longing. Wisdom from God flows into our thinking side, while love from God flows into our desire. Even though we often fail to think wisely or to desire the best things for ourselves and humankind, this does not negate the very real inflowing of love and wisdom into our souls from God.  Our lack only illustrates that the channels for them have become blocked or restricted; and as long as they are blocked or restricted, we are not capable of being very loving nor wise.  Nevertheless, this inflowing continues to provide whatever good thinking and enlightened desire that we will allow, for if the flow stopped altogether, we would cease to be human.

See also a creative and playful song explaining this on YouTube: http://youtu.be/WFRRsxtWNUM

Shed A Little Light - sermon January 18

Shed a Little Light

Rev. Alison Longstaff, Jan 18, 2015

Bath Church of the New Jerusalem

2 Kings 4:1-7; Matthew 14:13-21; New Jerusalem’s Heavenly Doctrine 151-2  

Elisha said, “I wonder how I can be of help. Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

“Nothing,” she said. “Well, I do have a little oil.”

On this Martin Luther King Sunday, I wanted to talk about what it takes to be a hero, and it might not be what you think. 

I first saw Joe Black in the line at Café Crème down here on Front Street.  My immediate impression of his mustache and tattoos and piercings was, “Scary.  Give that one lots of room!”

 

I happened to be in line with Carolyn Lockwood.  What she said to me next dragged my needle right off that record.  She said with a big smile, “Have you met Joe Black?  He is such a great guy.  Everyone loves him!”  I then learned about his daily Facebook “Message of Awesomeness,” and of the many other ways he brightens the lives of many in this community just by showing up in life with optimism and words of support and encouragement.  Jaded cynics beware.  Joe’s light shines on through the darkest days.  He is a local hero.  

Here I sat down with Joe and asked him the following questions. He answered with his heart.  I have included some summations of his answers. His words encouraged us all to make what difference we can with what we have.  He revealed how we never know when kind words from us might save someone's life.  His words of kindness and way of being loving has inspired at least one person and probably more not to commit suicide.

Tell us a bit about your background, where you grew up and went to school.  How would you describe your childhood and teenage years?   Joe grew up in Bath, attending the local schools.

You got an award from Maine Street Bath, what was it for?  It is for being a good citizen---for his Messages of Awesomeness and Hugs and contributing in many ways, such as the reading program and youth program.

You post daily messages of awesomeness on Facebook and have a commitment to being positive and loving.  What else do you do, and why do you do these things?  He helped see that a skate park was built and he promotes literacy in the schools.

So, do you feel positive and loving all the time? Not at all.  Sometimes he is writing his positive messages to remind himself to stay positive. 

Tell me about a few favorite memories or moments that have happened because of your commitment to being positive and loving and real. A woman told him she was still alive because of his words of encouragement.  Just seeing him stopped her from killing herself.

It sounds very rewarding. What does it cost you to put yourself out there the way you do?  He said it costs him nothing.  He just tries to be himself every day.

We applauded Joe.  He sat down, and then I tied the interview and Scripture together with the theme.

Our Scripture readings pointed us to the way God can take the few resources that we have and make them more than enough for us to accomplish good in the world.  God works through what we love, which is represented by the oil in the widow’s house.  All she had was a little oil, and she thought it was nothing.  But oil represents love.  Oil represents the best in us, it is the spark of joy that can make us serve for hours without fatigue because we are so full of love.  That spark is different for each of us.  It is a spiritual love that shows up in physical ways.

When we tap our inner love, we discover that it is something that never runs out.

That is the message in today’s Scriptures.  That there is always enough when we focus on what matters spiritually. Who among us has not experienced that timelessness and inexhaustible focus that can come over us, when we are engaged in something that truly calls to us?

Our deep spiritual love is bigger and harder to define than the ways it shows up in what we do on earth, but we can get glimpses into what it is by what we love to do.

Some understandings of Swedenborg say that we have a “good” love and an “evil” love, and that we have to “shun” the evil love and try to let God put the good love in us more.  But there is another way to look at it that is simpler and easier to work with.  Let’s picture us as different parts of one body, and I might be, say, part of the liver, and you might be part of a muscle on the right arm, or a red blood cell, or maybe a brain cell. There is so much possibility, and every single cell is needed.  I can be a healthy liver cell, or an infected one.  I might be disease-free or covered in cancer.  But I remain a liver-cell.  I am neither evil nor good, I am a potential useful contributor, but my usefulness is impaired or not by the darkness or disease that is attacking me.   I am what I am.  The problem is the disease or imbalance that affects me. My job is to become aware of and work to remove the diseases or imbalances, not shun my very nature. This model takes a lot of shame and blame and self-loathing out of the picture. It recruits us in being strong against the blocks, or “cancers and diseases” that stop us from living our love.  Do you see the difference in the model?

It is like the difference between a healthy rabbit and a rabbit with rabies.  The rabbit isn't “evil”.  But the rabies will cause the rabbit to do harm until the rabies is removed from it. That is how good loves can be hijacked for harm.  We are made to be expressions of good love.  We can learn about the things that twist our good love and do harm through us by learning about the “hijackers” and protecting against them.

In any case, our good deep spiritual love can show up in all sorts of diverse natural expressions.  For one person, it might show up as rescuing cats; for another, volunteering many hours for a hospital.  For you it might be helping one person at a time with a kind word or an errand; for me it might be making people smile and chuckle in the grocery checkout line.  The speaker at Rotary two weeks ago went to Cambodia to work on a clean drinking water project!  But for someone with massive health challenges it might be all they can do to be patient and kind with their caregivers.  But each one, no matter what the scale, is making a difference in the world towards greater ease, greater peace, and a better life for each other. 

It isn't size or scope that matters.  It is what we do with what we have at hand no matter how small that matters, and God promises that whatever that is, it is enough. 

And it isn't a competition.  It is good that we give awards to thank the ones who make a difference. I loved witnessing the standing ovation offered to Joe when he won his Main Street Bath Award.  But most of us will go unrecognized, and that is okay, because when we are truly living our love, we don’t really care about being recognized anyway, we are having too much fun living our love.

In our Hebrew Bible lesson the widow was also advised to “sell” her oil.  This means that she was commanded to value it and to allow others to value it.  This is not a lesson in capitalism but in self-respect.  It is we who can fail to recognize the value of what we have to offer and can have a hard time accepting love and respect and praise from others for what we bring to life. One woman in this congregation whose initials might be A.S. regularly dismisses her kindness and gentleness and sweetness as being not worth much, and yet there isn't a soul in this congregation who doesn't see her as a treasure beyond words.  (And by the way, before I was married, my initials were A.S. and I still struggle to see that what I bring to the world is valuable, so I am preaching what I need to keep learning.  Why is it is so much easier to see the lovability and worth of someone else, while I struggle to give it to myself?)

So, no matter what your initials are, if you are a self-dismisser I encourage you to rethink and realize the worth you bring, yes, just by being you.  It is no big and great and hard task.  It is like brushing the dirt and stones off a beautifully planted garden, and letting God’s love do the rest.  You are the garden.  You are the seeds.   You are the beautiful plant just needing the right conditions to blossom.

Swedenborg teaches that our very nature is love, and he calls us to “repent.”  “Repent” is an old fashioned word that means “use God’s help to remove the things that block you from being more loving.”  Our job is “repentance”.  God’s job is to do all the rest.  God stands ready to help us battle the weeds and insects and (switching metaphors) spiritual cancer cells that may attack along the way.  Those things are not our fault.  They just are, from years of human darkness on this planet.

Yes, there will be weeds!  There will be nasty creatures that try to stunt our growth, block our path, and eat our happiness.  But God is bigger and stronger than any weed or insect or spiritual cancer cell.  And God made us to grow and bloom and spread joy.

The hero’s journey is not an easy one, but it is the only one worth travelling.  The path to love, the path to you becoming your best self is the path to more joy than you can imagine.  Even death is no enemy when your deepest love is the goal.  Just ask Jesus.  So even though you may feel sometimes like you are walking through the shadow of death, fear no evil.  The God that made you—the God of Love—is with you, and the angels, and all these people around you too.  And all are whispering, “Grow!”

Amen.

Musical interlude "Shed a Little Light" by James Taylor

Shed a Little Light by James Taylor

Let us turn our thoughts today to Martin Luther King,
and recognize that there are ties between us—all men and women

living on the earth—ties of hope and love, of sister and brotherhood.

That we are bound together in our desire to see the world become

a place in which our children can grow free and strong.
We are bound together by the task that stands before us and the road that lies ahead.
We are bound and we are bound.

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist
There is a hunger in the center of the chest
There is a passage through the darkness and the mist
And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest

Shed a little light, oh Lord! So that we can see—just a little light, oh Lord.
’Want to stand it on up, stand it on up, oh Lord.
’Want to walk it on down.  Shed a little light, oh Lord.

Can't get no light from the dollar bill. Don’t give me no light from a TV screen.
When I open my eyes I want to drink my fill from the Well on the Hill.
Do you know what I mean?

Shed a little light, oh Lord! ….

Oh, let us turn our thoughts today to Martin Luther King,
And recognize that there are ties between us—all men and women

living on the earth—ties of hope and love, of sister and brotherhood.

Readings:

2 Kings 4:1-7

One day the wife of a man from the guild of prophets called out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead. You well know what a good man he was, devoted to God. And now the man to whom he was in debt is on his way to collect by taking my two children as slaves.”

Elisha said, “I wonder how I can be of help. Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

“Nothing,” she said. “Well, I do have a little oil.”

“Here’s what you do,” said Elisha. “Go up and down the street and borrow jugs and bowls from all your neighbors. And not just a few—all you can get. Then come home and lock the door behind you, you and your sons. Pour oil into each container; when each is full, set it aside.”

She did what he said. She locked the door behind her and her sons; as they brought the containers to her, she filled them. When all the jugs and bowls were full, she said to one of her sons, “Another jug, please.”

He said, “That’s it. There are no more jugs.”

Then the oil stopped.

She went and told the story to the man of God. He said, “Go sell the oil and make good on your debts. Then both you and your sons may live on the rest.”

Matthew 14:13-21

When Jesus heard that John had been killed, he went away from there by boat for a deserted place. But when the people heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities around the lake. When Jesus went ashore He saw the huge crowd. And He was moved with compassion toward them, and He healed their sick.

When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a lonely place and the day is now over. Send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy themselves food.”

But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to depart. You give them something to eat.”

They said to Him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”

He said, “Bring them here to Me.”  Then He commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to His disciples; and the disciples gave them to the crowds.  They all ate and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained.  Those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine 151, 152 portions

151. To do good to the neighbor which is actually good, it must be done from a good love—that is, for the sake of helping or serving others. Those who truly love serving others are not eager to hear of reward, for they simply love to help others, and they get satisfaction from making a difference.  In fact, they are sad if they consider that what they do might be for selfish reasons.

152. Those who do good because they want something for themselves out of it do not do good in service to the Lord, but in service to themselves.  For their first motivation is self-serving—they are looking out only for themselves. Meanwhile they view the good of the neighbor, which is the good of fellow-citizens, of their community, of their country, and of all humanity as nothing but a means to an end.  This means that a short-sighted attachment to self-service and gain at others’ expense can lie hidden inside good deeds, and so far as self-service and selfish gain lie hidden within a good deed, it is not actually good at all.