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. [...]
Posts Tagged ‘church’
Women as ministers
Posted in Flashes, tagged church, ministers, Swedenborg, women on May 23, 2012 | 2 Comments »
On the job: part two
Posted in Flashes, tagged church, love, openness on April 9, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Read part one here. These are the questions to anyone who comes here: – How are you doing? – What do you want? – What do you have to offer or contribute? People come to church. They are looking for a personal exchange, a personal dealing with each other, with the minister, with God. Everything [...]
On the job: part one
Posted in Flashes, tagged church, job, people, welcome on April 9, 2012 | 1 Comment »
I am sitting in a coffee shop in Gamla Stan in Stockholm. This area is Tourist Central. You can’t call yourself a tourist in Sweden unless you trudge through these narrow streets for a few hours. Behind the counter of the coffee shop a young man is hard at work serving people coffees and cakes. [...]
The church spiritual?
Posted in Flashes, tagged Abraham Hicks, church, New Church on December 1, 2011 | 2 Comments »
I went to an Abraham group meeting. The idea of an Abraham group is to work as a group applying the alignment processes from the Abraham Hicks teachings. There were just three people, me included. At the start of the evening we introduced ourselves. One woman asked me, “So what do you do?” I said, [...]
Modular worship meetings
Posted in Workshops, plans, themes, tagged angels, blessing, church, meetings, modules, prayer, re-use, ritual, sacraments, sermon writing, talks, worship on October 19, 2011 | 8 Comments »
I am exploring a new way of conducting worship meetings (formerly called church services). This involves a flexible way of thinking about them, of planning them, of communicating with others. The central idea is one of MODULES. A module is like a section with a specific nature or purpose. A meeting will be a chain [...]
Exploring a model for ‘church’ – part one
Posted in Flashes, tagged charity, church, faith, Jesus, Lord, New Church, spiritual, Swedenborg, Word on April 30, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The ‘church’ is inside, not outside. I am repeating this to myself, a hundred times. The church is inside. The church is inside. The church is inside. The church is inside. The church is inside. OK… it’s inside. Using the word in conversation, or on blogs, always morphs it to something outside. Outside means: a [...]
Inward focus
Posted in Flashes, tagged church, focus, God, label, love on November 8, 2010 | 2 Comments »
“The reason that most churches in the United States are plateaued or dying is that they have an inward focus.” (Greg Atkinson, 2010) OK, what is inward focus? What are we talking about? Since the kingdom of heaven is inside too, clearly that’s not what is meant here. Seems to me that inward focus, in [...]
Continuity
Posted in Flashes, tagged church, creation, cycles, improvement, John Knowles, life, nature, sermons on October 18, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
“Continuity was the keynote. The same hymns were played, the same sermon given, the same announcements made.” (from A Separate Peace – John Knowles) I had a quick, cheap laugh at the General Church in 2010 A.D., when reading this quote. Then I stopped up short. Hey, a point is made here about continuity, a [...]
Called by God
Posted in Flashes, tagged belief, calling, church, God, heaven, life on October 1, 2010 | 2 Comments »
How do you know that something is God calling you? It never leaves you alone. How do you know, sitting in church, that God called you there? It is the house of God. How do you know you’ve been called by God? You feel moved to stay away from bad shit, and to do something [...]
Do we do spirituality? (part two)
Posted in Flashes, tagged church, God, Lord, regeneration, spiritual growth, Swedenborg on September 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Back to part one. So… do we do spirituality in the New Church? Can I answer YES to all of the statements from the definition? Do I refer to the reality of the spiritual world, including heaven and hell? Am I on a path of regeneration, in order to become fully human? Do I live [...]
Do we do spirituality? (part one)
Posted in Flashes, tagged church, heaven, Lord, religion, spirit, spiritual growth, Swedenborg on September 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Is the New Church spiritual? Or is it a religion, or even (just) a church? How do I know if I am in the New Church? Is a New Church person religious, or a church member, or spiritual? Or all of these? Does the modern understanding of spirituality match at all with a New Church [...]
The wake
Posted in Flashes, tagged church, God, growth, Jesus Christ, Lord, spiritual growth on September 18, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
A wake. Not when somebody’s dead. No, when a boat sails across the water. Look at this ultra-interesting definition of a wake: “A wake is the region of recirculating flow immediately behind a moving solid body, caused by the flow of surrounding fluid around the body.” (From Wikipedia, of course) This reads to me like [...]
Reality check
Posted in Flashes, tagged church, reformation, tasks, wisdom, work on September 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I have noticed in myself the urge to want to do everything, to want to do more, to want to do things differently (which always involves doing more things). The wisdom, though, is to do nothing. Or no-thing. More is less. By not doing a task I find that it wasn’t actually that necessary. Or [...]
Levels of comfort
Posted in Flashes, tagged church, comfortability, learning, regeneration, religion on September 6, 2010 | 5 Comments »
“When we diminish the brain rhythm from beta to alpha, we put ourselves in the ideal condition to learn.” (source) I want to look at levels of comfort.Should learning be comfortable? It is science today that learning best happens if our state of consciousness is slightly different from the usual, habitual one in which we [...]
What are people looking for?
Posted in Flashes, tagged church, faith, healing, Lord, spirit, spiritual growth on September 3, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
From a New Church outreach document describing goals in evangelization: “We believe that people are looking for us – they just don’t know us by name.” That is an incredible and powerful statement. What’s more, I personally do believe it is true. However, the question of what people are looking for is a little hard [...]
Preacher or spiritual teacher: part two
Posted in Flashes, tagged church, Lord, preaching, regeneration on September 2, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Part two: the firebrand. I came to the New Church through my understanding, no doubt about it. Actually it is more true to say that I came to Swedenborg and from there to religion through my understanding. From there my feelings came into play somehow and I have been moved to another place, spiritually and [...]
Language is flexible
Posted in Flashes, tagged Bible, church, Lord, preaching, religion on September 2, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
“If a language doesn’t have a word for “behind,” this doesn’t necessarily mean that its speakers wouldn’t be able to understand this concept.” (source) We already instinctively know this. It’s the power of poetry, as an example. A few well-chosen words that vaguely circumscribe a situation can evoke a powerful image of the experience. Doesn’t [...]
Preacher or spiritual teacher: part one
Posted in Flashes, tagged church, Jesus Christ, preaching, presence, regeneration, Swedenborg, teaching on September 1, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Part one: the blind alley. In the New Church the job of the priest is described as: teach the truth and lead to the good of life. Swedenborg simply does not say it in more detail. Now, these words can be understood in many different ways. And by repeating them again and again they really [...]
New Church web sites
Posted in Flashes, tagged church, religion, spiritual growth on August 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I have been looking at New Church web sites. They are mostly very nice. Lots of information. A smooth, almost corporate look. But what is the impression they leave on a person that comes across them? One of these two… How am I going to climb this wall? OK, looks rough but let’s give it [...]
The four emotions
Posted in Flashes, tagged anger, church, fear, healing, joy, love, reality, religion, sadness, spiritual growth on August 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
We are alive and feel things. If we didn’t feel things, we wouldn’t be alive. Even if the feelings are unconscious. These are the four basic emotions that each person feels: 1. Fear 2. Anger 3. Sadness 4. Joy This means that I feel one of these, at least, every moment of the day. When [...]
