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February 2008

Sunday Message from February 3, 2008

Guest Minister, Rev. Dr. George F. Dole of Bath, Maine


FOUNDATIONS FOR WHAT?

 

Selected biblical citations from The Doctrine of Life 2

 

Many will say to me in that day, "Lord, have we not prophesied by your name and in your name done many great things?" And then will I profess to them, "I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity."

                                                                        Matthew 7:22-23

 

This is one of the passages that Swedenborg cites in support of the basic premise that "people who live good lives are saved and people who live evil lives are damned" (Doctrine of Life 1), and on casual reading it seems to serve that purpose well. It does end by a condemnation of those who "work iniquity." If we look a little more closely, though, things are not quite that simple. These are people who are claiming that they have done good things, that they have prophesied and done many great things in his name, which sounds a lot like living good lives.

 

T. S. Eliot put the matter in memorable terms in Murder in the Cathedral: "The last temptation is the greatest treason: to do the right deed for the wrong reason." This, in correspondential terms, is the fruit that is attractive on the outside but rotten at the core, or the person who looks healthy but is being slowly destroyed by a hidden cancer.

 

Lately it seems as though we have had a rash of those hidden cancers coming to light, as politicians who have been outspoken advocates of high moral standards turn out to have hidden lives that run directly counter to their public proclamations. It is, after all, much easier to condemn immorality than it is to resist one's own immoral tendencies; and it may well be that the harder it is for individuals to resist those tendencies the more urgency they will feel for strict enforcement of the rules. Our theology tells us in no uncertain terms that we need the external restraints of fear of punishment to the extent that we do not have the internal restraints of a genuine distaste for evil.

 

At this point, I should like to digress briefly and raise a question about the word "immorality." It seems to me as though when we think of immoral behavior, the first and almost the only kind of behavior that comes to mind is sexual. By any considered definition of the word "moral," though, any wrongful behavior is immoral. Avarice is immoral. So are deceit, callousness, hypocrisy, irresponsibility, and theft. We seem somehow to have made a distinction between "unethical" behavior and "immoral" behavior and to react more emotionally to the immoral than to the unethical. There may be valid reasons for this, but we will not know the answer unless we ask the question.

 

Whatever the answer, we still need to give serious thought to the relationship between a moral life and a spiritual life. One of the most accessible images of this relationship is that of a moral life as the foundation of a spiritual life. They belong together. It says in New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Teachings (§98),

 

First we need to lay a foundation, but the purpose of the foundation is the house and the purpose of the house is living in it. If we think being neighbor to ourselves really comes first, it is like regarding the foundation as the object rather than the house  and living in it when in fact living in it is the actual first and final goal and the house and foundation are only means to this end.

 

Our character is the house we are going to live in to eternity. That house needs a solid foundation, and the solid foundation of character is personal behavioral integrity. It is faithfully doing what we honestly believe we are supposed to do and refusing to do what we honestly believe we should not do. It is treating others as children of God, as being of value in their own right and not just as they happen to serve our own purposes.

 

There are forms of so-called spirituality that are little more than romanticized forms of escapism. There are quests for "spiritual experiences," for altered states of consciousness, simply for their own sake, with no serious thought that this should help us become more sensitive to the spiritual reality of others and therefore more responsive and responsible toward them. Often as not, if you ask someone for examples of "spirituality," you will hear about retreats, prayer, and meditation, about an inner quest. But when it say in Divine Providence that the purpose of creation is a heaven from the human race, it is saying that we are intended to live in community. True spirituality cares.

 

Swedenborgian spirituality is grounded and down-to-earth spirituality. It is love in action. A little later in New Jerusalem we find the statement that " Charity . . . is acting prudently and with the intent of having a good result" (§100), and shortly after that there are some examples:

 

A judge who does what is fair for the sake of fairness is practicing charity. Judges who punish the guilty and acquit the innocent are practicing charity because in doing so they are taking care of their fellow citizens and taking care their country.

            Priests who teach the truth and lead to the good for the sake of what is true and good are practicing charity.If they do these things for the sake of themselves or for worldly purposes, though, they are not practicing charity because they are loving themselves rather than the neighbor. (§101)

 

Then a few sections later we come to a passage that has long fascinated me. It comes at the beginning of the chapter on faith and involves a kind of play on words—the sort of thing that would be easier to explain if we had a blackboard, but worth a try even so, I hope. Disregarding the play on words, it could be translated like this:

 

There is no way we can know what faith is unless we know what charity is, since where there is no charity there is no faith because charity makes one with faith the way what is good makes one with what is true. What is good in our estimation is whatever we love or hold dear, and what is true in our estimation is whatever we believe.

 

The word translated "dear," though, is spelled charus instead of the usual spelling carus, and the clear intent is to link it with charitas, which would set up a kind of ratio. Liber, for example, means "free," and libertas means "freedom." So if charus means "dear," charitas must mean "dearness." It works very well indeed. What is dear to me is what I love. I practice "dearness" toward you when you are "dear" to me.

 

As a matter of fact, the word "caring," a descendant of carus, is a possible translation for charitas. What do we really care about? What do we value? If I care about keeping up appearances, I may lead an exemplary life in public, but that life is a façade. I do not want anyone to see what lies behind it, and the obvious reason is that what lies behind it is radically different from the façade. This is a classic case of doing the right things for the wrong reason. It is leading a moral life in order to avoid being understood. It is like laying a foundation but not building a house on it. It is like living in the cellar.

 

So at this point we have two extremes. We have caricatures of spirituality that are like houses with no foundations, and we have caricatures of morality that are like foundations with no houses. At one point, Swedenborg sounds almost wistful. It isn't all that hard to lead the kind of life that brings us to heaven. Most of the time we have to behave reasonably well just in order to get along. Professional criminals may be constantly thinking about crime, but much of the time they will be behaving pretty much like everyone else. If we have to behave reasonably well most of the time, then why waste all that effort? All we have to do is behave well because this is following divine laws as well as civil and moral ones (See Heaven and Hell 530)—do the right deeds for the right reasons rather than for the wrong ones.

 

This gets to the heart of the problem with any kind of behavioral balance sheet when it comes to the matter of our salvation. No amount of right deeds done for the wrong reasons will earn us a place in heaven because when we do the right deed for the wrong reason we do not love the right deed. We are simply using it as a kind of tool that suits our purposes, and if a wrong deed served our purpose better, that is what we would do.

 

So as our theology assures us, we do share with the vast majority of Christians the belief that "people who live good lives are saved and people who live evil lives are damned," but we insist that these "good lives" must be authentically good, not just superficially so. In fact, most Christians would probably take this for granted. After all, the Lord had scathing things to say about people who cleansed the outside of the cup and the platter but inwardly were full of greed and self-indulgence. "So you on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness" (Matthew 24:25-28). We may be enchanted by the glamorous people who make the headlines, but when it comes to our own lives we look for people we can trust, people who care more about their integrity than about their image.

 

It almost goes without saying that we look for people who do "good works." When we moved here to Bath we asked about local contractors, for example. We did not ask which ones were the best-looking or which ones would make us feel better about ourselves. We want our friends to be people we can trust, people who will keep their promises. Good intentions are all very well, but they have no real substance unless they are brought down to earth.

 

This, surely, is the message of Scripture. There is of course the statement of Paul that we are saved by faith alone apart from the works of the law, but "the law" Paul is talking about is not general moral or ethical law but the Torah. Even if that were not the case, if we were to put that single statement in one pan of the scales and in the other pan put all the passages cited in this morning's Scripture readings, there is no doubt whatever which way the needle would swing. There are no two ways about it. "If you know these things, blessed are you—if you do them" (John 13:17).

                                                                                                Amen.

 

 

Doctrine of Life 4

 

Still, there are many people in Christian churches who teach that faith alone saves, not living a good life or doing good works. They even add that living an evil life or doing evil things does not damn people who are justified solely by their faith because they are in God and are in a state of grace. The surprising fact is, though, that even though they teach things like this they still recognize, because of a general sense given from heaven, that people who live good lives are saved and people who live evil lives are damned.

We can see that they do recognize this from the prayer that is read to people in churches in England, Germany, Sweden, and Denmark when they observe the Holy Supper. It is common knowledge that there are people in these realms who teach this doctrine of faith alone. The Prayer that is read to them in England is the following:

 

The way and means to be received as worthy partakers of that Holy Table is, first, to examine your lives and conversations by the rule of the Lord's commandments; and whereinsoever ye shall perceive yourselves to have offended, either by will, word, or deed, there to bewail your own sinfulness, and to confess yourselves to Almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life; and if ye shall perceive your offenses to be such as are not only against God, but also against our neighbors, then ye shall reconcile yourselves unto them, being ready to make restitution and satisfaction, according to the uttermost of your powers, for al injuries and wrongs done by you to any other, and being likewise ready to forgive others that have offended you, as ye would have forgiveness of your offenses at God's hand; for otherwise the receiving of the Holy Communion doth nothing else but increase your damnation. Therefore if any of you be a blasphemer of God, a hinderer of slanderer of His Word, an adultyerer, or be in malice or envy, or I any other grievous crime, repent you of your sins, or else come not to that Holy Table; lest after the taking of that Holy Sacrament the devil enter into you as he entered into Judas, and fill you full of all iniquities, and bring you to destruction both of body and soul.





Sunday Message, February 10, 2008
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THE WILDERNESS WITHIN
Rev. Wilma Wake                                                                                                                                                                     February 10, 2008
I’m deeply honored to be the new minister for our on-line Swedenborgian Community. I look forward to all of us getting to know each other, so that sermons become on-going conversations amongst us.
Today is the first Sunday of Lent, and I will be sharing a story with you that helps me understand Lent from a Swedenborgian perspective.
OPENING SONG: 
Shall We Gather At the River? [below]
FROM THE BIBLE:
Matthew 4:1-11 N.I.V.
The Temptation of Jesus
1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.
 4Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'[a]"
 5Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:
   " 'He will command his angels concerning you,
      and they will lift you up in their hands,
   so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'[b]"
 7Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'[c]"
 8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9"All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
 10Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'[d]"
 11Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
FROM SWEDENBORG:
And the higher or spiritual region of the human mind is a heaven in miniature, while the lower or natural region is a world in miniature, and for this reason man was called by the ancients a microcosm [a little world], and he may also be called a microuranos [a little heaven]. TCR 604
 
730. That by "forty days and nights" is signified the duration of temptation, is plainly evident from the Word of the Lord. … And because a man when in temptation is in vastation as to all things that are of his Own, and of the body (for the things that are of his Own and of the body must die, and this through combats and temptations, before he is born again a new man, or is made spiritual and heavenly), for this reason also "forty days and nights" signify the duration of vastation; …   AC, Potts
 
As we worship together, we realize that we are not in the same physical space, and we are not here at the same time. Swedenborg wrote: 
…when we know how to raise our minds above images of thought derived from space and time, we pass from darkness into light and taste things spiritual and divine.   DLW #64 [2003]
The very fact of our worship beyond time and beyond space brings us closer to the Divine. Let us pray:
PRAYER
On this first Sunday of Lent, we ask your blessings on all of us gathered beyond space and beyond time. Guide us into the light that exists as we let go of our limited, earthly understanding.
SONG:
Peace is Flowing Like a River [below]
                               
REFLECTION
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus goes into the wilderness. We think of it as a time of temptation, when Jesus said “no” to Satan. Some traditions see Lent as a time to say “no” to something we enjoy as a way of coming closer to God. Yet, what really happened to Jesus in that wilderness? He discovered who he was and what he deeply valued.   Perhaps the central point of the story is not that Jesus said “no” to Satan, but that he said “yes” to who he really was.  
Swedenborg helps us see the wilderness experience as coming to embrace the deepest essence of our being; and in doing so we are born anew in God.
This past Thursday, in our on-line chat and discussion forum, Tory shared the story of a Buddhist nun, Pema Chodron. I found in this story an example of going into the wilderness to find ourselves. Pema was born in 1936, in New York City. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and taught elementary school. When she was 34 years old, her 2nd marriage broke up. She says that it pulled the rug out from under her, and she experienced a severe depression. She was in a profound wilderness, and she could see no way out. Then she found herself being pulled to an even deeper level within.
In an interview with Oprah, she said of that time:
 
But I had some kind of fundamental sanity that kept saying to myself, there's something in this that's trying—that will teach you something. Something very profound that will bring you to a much deeper level. And so I started looking.  … And then I came across an article by the man that became my teacher, a Tibetan Buddhist meditation master named Chogyam Trumpa. And I knew nothing about Buddhism or about him. But the article was called "Working with Negativity." And its first line was, there's nothing wrong basically with what you feel, like the negativity in this case; the problem is that you don't stay with the underlying emotion.  …

—this just said, stay with your experience, very direct. And that's how … it started.

Oprah: And that's what you advise we do when things fall apart?

Pema: Get in touch with the basic feeling.

Oprah: Right.

Pema: Yeah, I mean the problem is, I think for people is that we have so little tolerance for uncomfortable feelings. I'm not even talking about unpleasant outer circumstances but for that feeling in your stomach that—or heart—that I don't want this to be happening.

Oprah: Right.

Pema: And if somehow you could touch the rawness of the experience, touch the heart of the rawness of the experience—

Oprah: Meaning don't run from it. Don't run from it.

Pema: Don't run from it, yeah.

How often have you found yourself facing something very frightening in your life or in yourself?   We’ve all had times like that, and usually our first impulse is to run away from the feelings and the pain. Yet this deeply spiritual Buddhist woman says to us: Don’t run. Get in touch with the feelings.  In her own way, she invites us into the depths of the wilderness, where we can find ourselves and God.
Pema expands on this concept in one of the articles on her website:
To Know Yourself is to Forget Yourself
Shambhala Sun Magazine | June 1998

The journey of awakening happens just at the place where we can't get comfortable. Opening to discomfort is the basis of transmuting our so-called negative feelings.
I think she is saying that the place we meet God is where we are uncomfortable with something; when we have feelings that we call “negative.” By staying with them, we come to God.

By trying to get rid of negativity, by trying to eradicate it … we are throwing away our wisdom as well, because everything in us is creative energy-particularly our strong emotions. They are filled with life-force.

Paradoxically, the more deeply we know ourselves, the more we forget ourselves in the Divine:

So to know yourself is to forget yourself. This is to say that when we make friends with ourselves we no longer have to be so self-involved. It's a curious twist: making friends with ourselves is a way of not being so self-involved anymore. Then Dogen Zen-ji goes on to say, To forget yourself is to become enlightened by all things.
http://pemachodron.org/
We get a similar message from Swedenborgian psychologist and mystic Wilson Van Dusen:
The ancient idea of the human as a little universe made in the design of the whole is a profound insight in both Eastern and Western religions. … the small shift in outlook to oneself as the microcosm is one of the shifts that make the experience of God likely. [Return to the Source, P. 66-67].
This Lent,  remember that as you follow Jesus into the wilderness, you are going within yourself. You need to go there, and to see when you become uncomfortable with who you are. There, you must stop. You may be tempted to run away, but you need to say “no” to the fear. You need to just be there – at that place within where the discomfort begins. There you need to spend time, until you truly love who you are. For then, you will realize that you are loving God, and all that God has created.   To run from who you are is to run from God. To love who you are is to find God.
 MEDITATION
If you wish, take a couple of minutes to sit quietly.
:  
  CLOSING SONG:  
 There is a Balm in Gilead [below]
   
 
 
Benediction
May the Lord’s light guide you into the inner journey of Lent.
 Questions for journaling or discussion:
 
1.       Would you like to use Lent as an opportunity to explore your own inner wilderness?
2.       Where are the places that you encounter fear or resistance, and want to run away?
3.       If you stay with uncomfortable feelings, what do you think you’ll learn about yourself and your relationship with God?
 
Additional resources on today’s topic:
Ani Pemi Chodron’s website:   http://pemachodron.org/
:
 

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Music

 

Shall we gather at the river
03 Shall We Gather at the River.wma (1.78 MB)
Stream | Download | Direct Link to File
This song comes for Song's For the Journey by Rev. Ken and Laurie Turley.  The CD was produced in partnership with the Committee on Worship and presented at Convention 2001.  You can purchase this CD by visiting J Appleseed & Co.

 

 

Peace is Flowing Like a River
Peace is Flowing Like a River.wma (1.21 MB)
Stream | Download | Direct Link to File
This song comes for Song's For the Journey by Rev. Ken and Laurie Turley.  The CD was produced in partnership with the Committee on Worship and presents at Convention 2001.  You can purchase this CD by visiting J Appleseed & Co.

 

 

There is a Balm in Gilead
08 There is a Balm in Gilead.wma (2.98 MB)
Stream | Download | Direct Link to File
This song comes for Song's For the Journey Vol. 1 by Rev. Ken and Laurie Turley. The CD was produced in partnership with the Committee on Worship and presents at Convention 2001. You can purchase this CD by visiting J Appleseed & Co.

 

 

THE BARRIERS OF BELIEF
Rev. Wilma Wake                                                                                                                                                                         February 17, 2008
I’m so glad to be here with you in cyberspace as we worship in our world without time or space!   Today is the second Sunday of Lent, and I want to share with you a Swedenborgian perspective that fills me with warmth this time of year.
OPENING SONG: 
How Can I Keep From Singing [below]
FROM THE BIBLE:
John 3:1-5; 16-17 (New International Version)
Jesus Teaches Nicodemus
 1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
 3In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again"
 4"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
 5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. …
 16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Bible on line
FROM SWEDENBORG
As Nicodemus did not understand the spiritual sense of the Lord's words "that a man must be begotten anew,"the Lord explained that "to be begotten" means "to be begotten of water and of the spirit," thus to be regenerated, that is, by means of truths from the Word and a life according to them, for "water" signifies truths, and "spirit" a life according to them.[AE 721]
To be born by water and the spirit means by the truths of faith and by living by them. For water meaning truths, see APOCALYPSE REVEALED 50, 614, 615, 685, 932. Spirit means living by Divine truths, as is plain from the Lord's words   [TCR 572]
 
PRAYER 
On this second Sunday of Lent, we ask your blessings on all of us gathered beyond space and beyond time. Please help us to connect with our own inner peace, and to share it with the world. We especially ask for your strength and healing for the families of all of those who were killed and wounded in the tragedy in Dekalb ,Illinois, at Northern Illinois University.
SONG:
Let Every Moment Be a Time for Prayer [below]
                               
REFLECTION
                When I was a little girl, I loved my Sunday School in a conservative Christian church in the Midwest. I often got awards for perfect attendance!  I was a whiz at memorizing  Bible verses. I had a file of little cards with different verses on them, and I committed dozens to memory. I’ve since forgotten most of them, but one is still vivid in my mind:
            16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. “
It was part of the story of Jesus telling Nicodemus that he had to be born again to see the Kingdom of God. Of course, Nicodemus didn’t see how he could go into his mother’s womb again. That’s when Jesus says that the rebirth is to be of water and spirit. 
                My Sunday school teachers told me that Jesus was saying that the only way to be saved – to spend eternity in heaven rather than hell -- was to believe that Jesus had died to save us from the sins that would otherwise cast us into hell. By accepting that belief, I would be saved. Anyone who did not have that belief was going to hell.
            I was very troubled by that perspective. I couldn’t understand how God could be loving and at that same time send most of the world’s people to hell simply because they had been born into a different tradition of religious belief.   Those beliefs that my church taught me had become barriers to my spirituality. As I got into my teen years, I became an agnostic and ignored God.
            Years later, I found the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg and came to an understanding of Christianity that embraced all of the world’s religions. I learned to see a different and deeper meaning in John 3:16. Swedenborg said that the inner, spiritual meaning of that chapter was this:
the Lord explained that "to be begotten" means "to be begotten of water and of the spirit," thus to be regenerated …
To be born by water and the spirit means by the truths of faith and by living by them [AE 721]
 
I breathed a sigh of relief when I understood how Swedenborg saw spiritual growth [which he called “regeneration.”] This spiritual growth was not based on beliefs. It was about living our lives.
            I am delighted with the new translations of Swedenborg’s works coming to us through the New Century Edition from the Swedenborg Foundation. A new translation has just been released of the first volume of Secrets of Heaven [formerly Arcana Celestia.] 
            Here are two key points of spiritual development:
In the fifth stage, we speak with conviction and, in the process, strengthen ourselves in truth and goodness. …
In the sixth stage, we act with conviction and therefore with love in speaking truth and doing good. …Because we begin to act as much from love as from conviction, we become a spiritual people who are called [God’s] image.
                In regard to our spiritual lives, we now find pleasure and nourishment in religious knowledge and acts of kindness; and these are called our food.
Secrets of Heaven, 11-12, tr. By Lisa Hyatt Cooper
 
 Swedenborgian taught us that our spirituality is not based on what we are thinking, or what beliefs we might have in our heads. It’s all about striving to be present in every moment, bringing our full self into the world to share the love that we have inside. As we mature spiritually, then we really enjoy learning about spiritual matters and performing acts of kindness. In fact, they become our food. When our body dies, the soul lives on, and makes its own choices about how to live in the next realm – with heavenly love or hellish selfishness.
            When I think about this aspect of my Swedenborgian theology, I feel warm and secure knowing that there is no God judging me.   I feel the freedom of no longer being bound by beliefs I was raised with. Yes, I can and have given up my old beliefs about a judgmental God. What I find hard to give up, however, are judgmental beliefs of myself! These can also be barriers to our spirituality.
            For example, we may cling to beliefs about our inadequacy: Pema Chodron says:
The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.
If we cling to old beliefs about who we are, it can be difficult to live in the world with our heart open to receiving Divine love.
Sometimes, the more we follow a spiritual path, the more we expect of ourselves. Pema says:
When we start out on a spiritual path we often have ideals we think we're supposed to live up to.
We feel we're supposed to be better than we are in some way. But with this practice you take yourself completely as you are. Then ironically, taking in pain - breathing it in for yourself and all others in the same boat as you are - heightens your awareness of exactly where you're stuck.
Marshall Rosenberg’s Non-Violent Communication  says that we cannot live compassionately towards others until we can be compassionate to ourselves. In a workshop he asked participants to think about the last time they did something they considered to be a “mistake” or an “error,”  and to remember what they told themselves afterwards. Most participants said they told themselves things like: “That was dumb!” “How could you do such a stupid thing?” “What’s wrong with you?” “You’re always messing up.” … “It is tragic that so many of us get enmeshed in self-hatred rather than benefit from mistakes which show us our limitations and guide us toward growth.”[Rosenberg, Non-Violent Communication, p. 130]
Do you, too, find that you got rid of an old belief in a judgmental God, but are now living with a judgmental self? Have you given up barriers of belief towards the Divine, but hold on to them in yourself?
Last Sunday I spoke about making the journey into the wilderness of yourself to learn about and love who you are. On that journey, perhaps you will find parts of yourself that judge and condemn who you are. Let the wilderness journey of this Lent be a time to move through any condemning beliefs about yourself; to a place of simple presence and peace.
            There is much wisdom in many traditions about how to make this journey. Let me share an approach to meditation from Pema Chodron
 
What is True Mindfulness?
Meditation isn't really about getting rid of thoughts, it's about changing the pattern of grasping on to things, which in our everyday experience is our thoughts.

The thoughts are fine if they are seen as transparent, but we get so caught up judging thoughts as right or wrong, for and against, yes and no, needing it to be this way and not that way. And even that might be okay except that is accompanied by strong, strong emotions. So we just start ballooning out more and more. With this grasping onto thoughts we just get more caught, more and more hooked. All of us. Every single one of us.
I’d like to leave you with a meditation that can support the journey to move beyond inner judging:
When Trungpa Rinpoche came to the West and was teaching in the early days in Vermont at what used to be called Tail of the Tiger (now Karme Choling), he used to tell the students: "Just sit and let your mind open and rest— let yourself be completely open with an open mind, and whenever you get distracted and find yourself thinking— in other words when you are no longer fully in the present and are carried away— simply just come back again to resting your mind in an open state."  [Pema Chodron  http://pemachodron.org/
CLOSING SONG: Let there be Peace on Earth  [Below]
 
Benediction
May the Lord’s light guide you into the inner journey of compassionate acceptance of yourself.
 
 
Questions for journaling or discussion:
 
1.        Is there a part of you that believes that you are inadequate?  Does that belief become a barrier to your spirituality?
2.       Do have favorite quotes, poems, stories, etc. from the Swedenborgian tradition – or any other faith tradition – that helps to sustain you when you get self-critical and judgmental of your?
3.       If so, please consider posting and/or coming to chat.
[You need to be authorized to enter these areas. However, it is easy! I’ll be near my computer all day Sunday and can quickly approve anyone who wants to post or chat!


 
Additional resources on today’s topic:
Ani Pemi Chodron’s website:   http://pemachodron.org/
Non-Violent Communication: http://www.cnvc.org/



 

THE SECRET IN THE WELL

Rev. Wilma Wake                                                                                                                                                                 February 24, 2008

 
I’m so glad to be here with you in cyberspace as we worship in our world without time or space!   Today is the third Sunday of Lent, and I want to share one of my favorite songs with you.
OPENING SONG:   Jesus Met the Woman at the Well  [the words are immediately below, and the audio is at the end of the reflection.  You need to give the audio a minute to start.]                                                                                 
Jesus Met the Woman at the Well JESUS MET THE WOMAN
Adapted & arranged: Yarrow/Travers/Okun- 
Silver Dawn Music -ASCAP
Jesus met the woman at the well
Jesus met the woman at the well
Jesus met the woman at the well
And He told her everything she'd ever done
He said, "Woman, woman, where is your husband?"
He said, "Woman, woman, where is your husband?"
He said, "Woman, woman, where is your husband?"
"I know everything you've ever done"
She said, "Jesus, Jesus, I ain't got no husband"
She said, "Jesus, Jesus, I ain't got no husband"
She said, "Jesus, Jesus, ain't got no husband"
"And You don't know everything I've ever done"
He said, "Woman, woman, you've got five husbands"
He said, "Woman, woman, you've got five husbands"
He said, "Woman, woman, you've got five husbands"
"And the one you have now, he's not your own"
She said, "This man, this man, He must be a prophet"
She said, "This man, this man, He must be a prophet"
She said, "This man, this man, He must be a prophet"
"He done told me everything I've ever done"
Jesus met the woman at the well
Jesus met the woman at the well
Jesus met the woman at the well
And He told her everything she'd ever done
 
READINGS
FROM THE WORD:
John 4:7-26 (The Message)
7-8A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, "Would you give me a drink of water?" (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.)
 9The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, "How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" (Jews in those days wouldn't be caught dead talking to Samaritans.)
 10Jesus answered, "If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water."
 11-12The woman said, "Sir, you don't even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this 'living water'? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?"
 13-14Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life."
 15The woman said, "Sir, give me this water so I won't ever get thirsty, won't ever have to come back to this well again!"
 16He said, "Go call your husband and then come back."
 17-18"I have no husband," she said.
   "That's nicely put: 'I have no husband.' You've had five husbands, and the man you're living with now isn't even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough."
 19-20"Oh, so you're a prophet! Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?"
 21-23"Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God's way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you're called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.
 23-24"It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."
 25The woman said, "I don't know about that. I do know that the Messiah is coming. When he arrives, we'll get the whole story."
 26"I am he," said Jesus. "You don't have to wait any longer or look any further."

FROM SWEDENBORG
 
Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but he who drinks from the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water leaping up into eternal life. John 4:7-14. 'Drinking' clearly stands for being given instruction in goods and truths, and the acceptance of the truth.       AC 3069
 
Here it is evident that the water which the Lord gives, does not mean water, but Divine Truth, for it is said from the water which the woman of Samaria came to draw, that a man thirsts again, but not so from the water which the Lord gives. That there is life in that truth, is meant by that water becoming in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life. That there is life in truths when the Lord gives them, may be seen in this article above. The reason why the Lord said these things to the woman of Samaria, when He sat at the well of Jacob, was, that by the Samaritans the Lord meant the Gentiles, who would receive Divine truths from Him; and by the woman of Samaria, the church from them; and by Jacob's well He meant Divine Truth from Himself, or the Word. AE 483

Swedenborg's Writings
 
PRAYER 
On this third Sunday of Lent, we ask your blessings on all of us gathered beyond space and beyond time. Please help us to find simple honesty about ourselves, that leads us to love ourselves, each other, and the Divine.                            
REFLECTION
                   During my late teens and early twenties, I stopped going to church or reading the Bible. They no longer sustained me.  However, I was spiritually uplifted in many ways, such as by music. I especially loved Peter, Paul, and Mary. One song that had a spiritual meaning for me was their rendition of  the Bible story of the woman at the well. [above]
            In the song, I could picture the scene of a gentle Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman.
I knew that she had gone to the well at noon, much later than the rest of the women; probably avoiding others because of the secrecy and shame in her life.   The well perhaps was a place she felt alone and safe; able to draw water without the accusing eyes of her neighbors. Jewish men didn’t speak with Samaritans. Actually, they never spoke to any woman in public.
Yet this gentle Jesus showed  up at the well and spoke to the woman.   The 2nd verse of the song ends with Jesus asking where her husband is, and asserting that he knows everything the woman has done. How would you feel about some stranger coming up to you and making a statement like that?
            Of course, she tests his assertion by lying to him: “I have no husband,” and then brings her point home with “You don’t know everything I’ve ever done!”
            But Jesus responds with telling her she has had 5 husbands, and the one she has now is not her own. I love the way it is worded in the above translation from The Message:
  "That's nicely put: 'I have no husband.' You've had five husbands, and the man you're living with now isn't even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough."
            What most amazes me in both the song and the Biblical account, is that the woman is not upset or frightened by this strange man knowing and naming her deepest secrets.
            Instead, in the song, she starts singing that Jesus must be a prophet because he knows everything she has ever done. Peter, Paul, and Mary sing it with joy. 
She said, "This man, this man, He must be a prophet"
"He done told me everything I've ever done"
            In the New Life Version of the Bible, the woman says: "Sir, I think You are a person Who speaks for God.
The woman seems to feel great relief and excitement that she is completely known by someone; someone by whom she feels totally loved. She concludes that only a prophet could be all of these things: willing to speak with her despite the social sanctions; knowing her completely;  and loving her totally.
            Have you ever felt completely known by someone? So often in life we figure out which parts of ourselves to present in various situations. Which aspects of who we are do we share at work? Which ones with casual friends? Close friends? Family?  Many times we fear that if someone knows about every secret, every shame we hold inside, that we will not be loved. Like the Samaritan woman, we sneak to the well when no one else is around, and hope that our secrets are safe in the deep water.
Yet, like the Samaritan woman, at some point we realize that the deepest well cannot hide the truth of who we are.   At first that awareness can be frightening. But at some point we accept that the more we know ourselves, the closer we feel to God.
Buddhist nun Pemi Chodron says it this way:
We might think that knowing ourselves is a very ego-centered thing, but by beginning to look clearly and honestly at ourselves, we begin to dissolve the walls that separate us from others. …

According to the teachings of vajrayana, or tantric, Buddhism, our wisdom and our confusion are so interwoven that it doesn't work to just throw things out. By trying to get rid of negativity, by trying to eradicate it, by putting it into a column labeled bad, we are throwing away our wisdom as well, because everything in us is creative energy-particularly our strong emotions. They are filled with life-force.
             Have you ever had an experience of being totally known and totally loved at the same time? I once saw a woman in spiritual guidance.  I’ll call her Joyce. Joyce sought spiritual guidance because of a life-transforming experience she had recently had. One night, she had to be rushed to the emergency room, having difficulty breathing. While she was lying on a table waiting to be treated, she felt herself floating above her body. When Joyce tried to describe the experience to me, she wept. She said: “In that moment, I met a Presence who totally knew me and totally loved me. I was astounded.” Joyce added, “Never before or after have I felt so loved and accepted for all that I am. “ Her recollection of this experience was that she was told that she had a choice to continue more deeply with this Presence, or to return to lifetime on earth. 
            Joyce had no hesitation about wanting to return. In fact, she was eager to return because she now understood the true nature of Divine Love.
            Joyce’s experience might be called a Near Death Experience. It is also a modern-day account of meeting Jesus at the well.
            An important part of the Biblical story, not in the song, is about Jesus asking for water. . Swedenborg gives us the meaning of this:
'Drinking' clearly stands for being given instruction in goods and truths, and the acceptance of the truth.      
And he also says that water from the Lord is Divine Truth.
                These are important concepts in our spiritual growth [regeneration.]
            In the fifth stage, we speak with conviction and, in the process, strengthen ourselves in truth and goodness. …
In the sixth stage, we act with conviction and therefore with love in speaking truth and doing good. …Because we begin to act as much from love as from conviction, we become a spiritual people who are called [God’s] image.
 
 
                        Swedenborg puts Divine Love and Divine Truth together. The more we are open to love, the more we see truth. As we open ourselves to deeper truth, we find love.  For Jesus at the well, knowing and loving the woman were one. As we grow spiritually, we speak truth and live both good and truth.    Truth and Love are intertwined, just as human and Divine are part of a whole.
I like the way Rumi says it:
We are as the flute, and the music in us is from thee;
we are as the mountain and the echo in us is from thee.
            So, if I am the flute and God is the music – what does it mean to worship God? The Samaritan woman asked Jesus that question after realizing that he spoke from God. This is the answer Jesus gives [ in the translation, The Message].
 21-23" ….. But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you're called will not matter and where you worship will not matter .
 23-24"It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."
We worship God by simply being honest, and loving all that we find deep within our own wells.
Do you sometimes wonder if your life is pleasing to God? Do you think about how you ought to change to be acceptable to God? Do you worry that your hidden secrets and shames make you unworthy before God?
Then, let yourself fully absorb the message that Jesus gave the woman at the well. He showed her Divine Love and Divine Truth together. He offered her the living water – good and truth – that would forever sustain her.
I am reminded of that  when I play Peter, Paul, and Mary’s, The Woman at the Well. I remember a time when music was my primary pathway to God, and I could sing and dance in joy with the Samaritan woman who finds that to be known is to be loved.

CLOSING SONG: Dona Nobis Pacem [Below]
 
Benediction
May your heart be opened to love yourself as the Divine loves you.
 
 
Questions for journaling or discussion:
 
      1.       What is it like to consider God knowing you completely?             
      2.       Were there any quotes in the sermon that especially appealed to you?  
3.    What is your reaction to Joyce's story?

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Additional resources on today’s topic: