First Love

Sunday June 3, 2012, at 11.00.
Swedenborgs Minneskyrka, Tegnérlunden 7, Stockholm.
All are welcome, including first time visitors.

Sermon talk by Stephen Muires. Language: Swedish.

Theme:
Re-finding our first love.

The “first love” means following the heart, gently guided by truth. It means responding to what feels right, what feels proper and good. The first love can be expressed in the words “I love you,” said to another person, to God, to self. And also “I love you” said to the earth, to animals, to the stars, to a tree. It is a heart connection to all life, to all people.

Sermon text is Revelations 2:1-7, a letter to Ephesus.
The name Ephesus means, “desirable.” That is: something which is loved.

På svenska:

Tema: att hitta tillbaka vår första kärlek.

Den “första kärleken” innebär att följa hjärtat, försiktigt styrt av sanning. Det innebär att reagere på det som känns OK, det som känns rätt och bra. Den första kärleken kan uttryckas i orden “Jag älskar dig,” sagt till en annan person, till Gud, till sig själv. Och även “Jag älskar dig,” sagt till jorden, till djur, till stjärnorna, till ett träd. Det är ett hjärtats förbindelse till allt liv, till alla människor.

Texten är Upp. 2:1-7, brevet till Efesus.
Namnet Efesus betyder “önskvärt.” Dvs. något som är älskad.

Goals

“Goals have to be unrealistic to be effective” (Timothy Ferris)

What a great quote. I get it. If I plan something it sometimes happens, sometimes doesn’t, I don’t feel in charge and it is not rewarding.

Let’s set a goal then.

My goal is to become the church plant pastor for the New Church in Los Angeles. This will start in the summer of 2013, when I will be moving there with my family. Within three years New Church activities in LA will twice over pay for all expenses including my wages, and no further funding from outside will be needed. In fact, we will be able from then on to sponsor similar plants in other places on earth.

The New Church in LA will be a very exciting, fluid and open-hearted association of like-spirited people. We will be setting an example of successful cooperation between churches and individuals, religions and spiritual practices.

The New Church is a Christian association of people, whose beliefs and practices are based on the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.

Unifying argument

We argue for or against things. In the area of politics, social welfare, or religion. At work, in the family, and with friends. Sometimes the arguments heat up, because they touch something that we really feel strongly about.

Here are some words from a wise woman:

I don’t think that a doctrinal argument from sections
in Swedenborg’s Writings will change minds.
The shift that is required is more of a head to a heart kind of thing.
Arguments for or against anything are based in the realm of truth
which judges, excludes, and separates.
The solution, I believe, is found in the realm of good
which upholds mercy, includes, and joins. (Mary Alden, 2012, edited)

Dutch tobacco

I have visited Holland the last three days. (I was born in Holland, but not lived there since 1985).

On Sunday morning I was at the train station in Heemstede, waiting for a train that would take me to Voorburg, where my parents live. I had to wait half an hour, but that was fine. The weather was unbelievably sunny and summery, the green fields were radiating everywhere, and it was quiet, peaceful, harmonious.

I sat on a bench on the southbound platform. Some older teenagers arrived and went to the bench right next to mine. One of them started lighting up a cigarette. ‘Oh great,’ I thought, ‘now I will have to move.’ I get an immediate nauseous reaction on the slightest whiff of tobacco. I was sitting downwind and before I could act on my thoughts, I noticed a very sweet and intriguing smell coming through the air. Nothing like the pungent stink of a cigarette.

I realized that I wouldn’t have to move away after all. They were not smoking a cigarette.

Good to be back in Holland for a few days :)

The spear of Odin

I painted my shaman drum today:

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The rune is called Gungnir or Gar. It is Odin’s spear.

Women as ministers

My standpoint is:

People refer to the Writings of the New Church in an attempt to research the question of women in the ministry. At best this leads to the conclusion: “Yes, probably it is OK for women to be ministers.”

But women were created in the image and likeness of God. Just like men. Therefore, even that positive conclusion, is an insult and outrage to women.

UK New Church workshop July 2012

The New Church in Europe: Outreach Challenges
Plan and outline for workshop, by Stephen Muires

UK Assembly July 14, 2012.

1. This workshop is about looking at the present and at the future. Not the past. If we could look at our past successes and ride that wave, we would not have this workshop here today.

2. What is the core attitude of outreach work?  (Get responses, put them on a board)  Core belief, core strategy, core thought, core purpose.

Here is the attitude that I am championing:

“If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time.
But if you have come because your liberation is bound with mine,
then let us work together.” (anonymous aboriginal woman)

Note the difference with a “we have the truth”-attitude.

3. “We will teach you the truth”: this is only useful if we want to encourage more people to become athletes, because this attitude will cause them to run, at full speed, in the opposite direction, away from the New Church.

4. So what does the statement by the aboriginal woman mean?
Sit down and ask people: what do you need, what do you want? OK, but this is only 50%…

The other 50% may be harder to accept or see: It also means asking: what is it that you are doing, that you know, that you have experienced on your spiritual path? What can I learn from you?

Working together means give-and-take. It means sharing and blending and accepting of all other paths and religions. It means being open to change. Hmm, that is actually what Swedenborg wrote (see quotes below).

What if the percentage is more like 20% – 80%…?

5. Practical suggestions, plans, activities. Brainstorm practical actions, according to local context in different countries.

Examples:

• combined worship with other local churches of other denominations
• invite speakers, preachers, teachers from other spiritual paths to the church
• camps, retreats, courses that are topic-oriented, not church oriented
• find bridging areas of study or practice and work together with other practitioners (meditation, yoga, Buddhism, shamanism, music, art, etc etc)

Quotes from Swedenborg:

AE 455

All those are saved who are in the good of life according to the tenets of their religion, which they have believe to be truths. (Even if) they are not truths, since falsity is not imputed to any one who lives well according to his religion.

DP 330

All people are given the means of salvation. The nature of heaven is to provide a place for all who lead good lives, no matter what their religion may be.

It is an insane heresy to believe that only those born in the church are saved. People born outside the church are just as human as people born within it. They come from the same heavenly source. They are equally living and immortal souls.

DP 326

We know that there are within us not only organs, blood vessels and nerve fibers. There are also skin, membranes, tendons, cartilage, bones, nails, and teeth. If there are to be all these elements in that heavenly person who is heaven, it cannot be made up of the people of one religion only. It needs people from many religions.