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 29th,
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.
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