Read Our Written Sermons
grounded in a mystical, interfaith-Christianity inspired by Emanuel Swedenborg
Our Divine Mothers
God being described as Mother or Father is quite apt, as God is the source of all life, the Great Parent known by many names. And on a day like Mothers’ Day, we have the added opportunity to look to those mothers and motherly figures in our lives with a renewed sense of appreciation for the Divine Light that shines from their every wondrous detail. Our moms are our first and often best example of what and who God is: what the essence of Life is. Often overlooked because their prowess and support are as expansive as the earth, our mothers channel a grand power that makes that of warmongers pale in comparison, the power of the very connecting force of the cosmos, love itself, support, care, kindness, wisdom, and the eternity of life. Our moms express the greatest uses of the universe and the point of all life: to live in caring community, to learn, to grow together, to find peace, and to thrive in the light of love.
Be Content?
The great scientist turned mystic, Emanuel Swedenborg, had in his rules of life, “To be content under the dispensation of God’s Providence,” but how do we do that with the state the world is in today? Indeed, many sages, from Krishna to Christ, have offered similar wisdom. And yet, today we face mounting crises, and coming out of Canada’s National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People (Red Dress Day), we can’t help but see some of the stark, horrendous things that people put others through. This day marks a much-needed reminder and reflection on missing and killed Indigenous women and people, and it serves as a stark highlight of how much our society needs change and healing. How do we become content under these dispensations of God’s, or perhaps the Universe’s, Providence in the light of these dreadful things that impact all of us in one way or another?
The Earth is Dying, Long Live the Earth
There was once a sage with the heart of God, who spoke to people across boundaries of religion and culture – his name was Christ. Jesus said that “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” and also that, “I am able to do nothing of myself.” How do we reconcile these statements from Christ? Those that in one way equate him to God, in unity with Divinity known by many names, and others that denote his subservience to the Father and how “of himself” he can achieve nothing at all? We hear this seeming contradiction in his sayings about us as well, equating us to the light of God and children of God but also saying that we must give up ourselves to find unity with God. Perhaps we can equate this a little with our relationship with the earth as well. How in one way the earth is made for life and beauty but given the selfish and destructive practices we employ today, in order for us to discover the fullness of this we have to clear away our tendency for over production and waste, for non-agricultural practices and harm, for brutality of the earth’s animals and our fellow people.