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 OPENING SONG
"On Eagle's Wings"






READINGS

 

From the Bible:
Psalm 91  NCE
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. [a]

2 I will say [b] of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."

3 Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare
and from the deadly pestilence.

4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,

6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.

8 You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.

9 If you make the Most High your dwelling—
even the LORD, who is my refuge-

10 then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;

12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.

16 With long life will I satisfy him
and show him my salvation."

Footnotes:

Psalm 91:1 Hebrew Shaddai
Psalm 91:2 Or He says

From Swedenborg:

Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8764
 'And [how] I bore you on eagles' wings' means and that as a result they were raised by means of truths to heavenly light. This is clear from the meaning of 'bearing someone on eagles' wings' as being raised on high, even to heavenly light; for 'bearing' means being raised, 'wings' spiritual truths, and 'an eagle' the rational in respect of truth (regarding this meaning of 'eagle', see 3901); for eagles fly on high. By the visible heaven or sky the ancients understood the angelic heaven. The simple also believed that angels had their home up there, and in addition that since places on high were nearer the sun and stars, heavenly light itself shone there. So it is that 'being borne on eagles' wings' means being taken on high into that light. The reason why one is raised into it by means of the truths of faith is that the truth of faith is what raises a person right up to heaven, where the good of faith is. The rational in respect of truth is meant by 'an eagle' because the rational level of a person is his heaven or sky, and in relation to it the natural level is so to speak the earth. For the rational constitutes the internal man and the natural the external.

[2] The reason why 'wings' are spiritual truths is that birds in general mean intellectual concepts and thoughts, 40, 745, 776, 3219, 5149, 7441, and therefore 'wings' are spiritual truths since all real understanding is formed from them. An understanding formed from falsities, no matter how clear and sharp-sighted it may seem to be, is no real understanding. Real understanding sees in the light of heaven, and the light of heaven is spiritual truth, that is, the truth of faith. Consequently where the truth of faith does not exist there is no light, only thick darkness; and an understanding set in thick darkness is no understanding at all. 'Wings' are also power, which spiritual truth possesses, derived from its good; for the wings on birds are like the hands and arms on a human being, and 'arms' and 'hands' mean power, 878, 3387, 4931-4937, 5327, 5328, 5544, 6292, 6947, 7538, 7673, 8050, 8153, 8281, 8305. Regarding the power which spiritual truth possesses, derived from good, see 3563, 4931, 5623, 6344, 6423.


 

 

 

WHAT’S A SWEDENBURGER?
DO YOU HAVE A GOOD RECIPE?
 

I remember one hectic day during my years of teaching at the Swedenborg School of Religion. It was close to graduation, and so many details had yet to be done. At least the diplomas to be awarded to the students at the ceremony finally arrived. We opened the carton to see that each diploma was granted from the “Swedenburg School of Religion.”

After a moment of stunned silence, someone said “that must be a school that teaches you how to make Swedenburgers.” One of students preparing for ordination said, “oh, that’s what my real ministry calling is. I want to open a restaurant and serve “Swedenburgers.”

The jokes continued for days, even after we sent the diplomas back for correction.

Swedenburgers really do exist. I have noticed in the newsletter of the Puget Sound Swedenborgian Church some occasional reference to a group called Swedenburgers.

For example, in the Feb. 20th  issue of Heaven on Earth is a photo of a group of people sitting around a table at a restaurant, with the caption: Swedenburgers met for more burger research and stimulating conversation at Canyons. Salads and service were good but the burgers received a low rating.

I guess, though, that most of the time when someone asks: “What’s a Swedenburger?” they are actually trying to ask:
“What’s a Swedenborgian?”

That, of course, is a much harder question.

The word is often used in connection with someone who is active in or a member of the Swedenborgian Church. Most assume that it is a church with Swedish roots. Actually, the name of the church comes from the man whose writings inspired the church: Emanuel Swedenborg. To really complicate things; Swedenborg was, in fact, Swedish. However, the church did not start in Sweden, but in England.

Rev. David Fekete, in his excellent article in this month’s Messenger, “What Does It Mean to be a Swedenborgian?” suggests the categories of:

Church members
Supporters of Swedenborg’s writings, and
One who holds the universal truths of the writings

It is a thought-provoking sermon, and one that helps us to consider the diversity among those who claim some association with the term “Swedenborgian.” I’d like to take the topic further -- with a bit of tongue –in-cheek -- since part of being a Swedenborgian is the freedom [right? Obligation?] of a church member to offer critiques of her own tradition.



A Swedenborgian is a member or active participant in a Swedenborgian Church
On the surface, this seems to be a clear definition. Yet it is fraught with pitfalls. The first, of course, is that one must indicate what “branch” of Swedenborgian Churches. There are a number of branches all over the world, without a formal connection amongst them.
What does it mean to be a member of my branch, General Convention? I am often asked by visitors, “What do Swedenborgians believe?” Although we do have a lot of pamphlets on the question, I prefer to answer: “We don’t believe in beliefs.” That is to say, Swedenborg cautions us not to just adopt some existing belief system. Rather, we open ourselves to Divine Love and let our beliefs grow from our experience with the Divine.

Our Constitution focuses more on what we DO than on what we BELIEVE:
The General Convention exists to help people be open to the Lord’s presence and leading especially by fostering personal and ordained ministries which facilitate the spiritual well-being of people, and which have in common a working for the Lord in bringing in the New Age – the descent of the Holy City, New Jerusalem. … we see the central purpose of the church as the promotion of the process of regeneration.

Social activist Dorothea Day said: “If I pray by making soup and serving soup, I feel I’m praying by doing. If I pray by saying words, I can sometimes feel frustrated.” That attitude is much like Swedenborg’s – we worship and pray by living in the world and serving its needs.
Who we are can also be expressed by leaders of the past:

Johnny Appleseed: for him the apple seed was a dramatic expression of the “Divine,” and he freely gave them away with chapters from Swedenborg’s writings.
Helen Keller: read Swedenborg in Braille as a teen-ager, and was thrilled to find this “light in my darkness.”
Lois Burnham: had been raised Swedenborgian, and brought her faith to her husband, Bill Wilson. They were married in the Swedenborgian Church and attended together for awhile. Some think that the 12 steps reflect a practical expression of ES’s “regeneration.” However, Lois insisted that they came from no one tradition.

A SWEDENBORGIAN IS ONE WHO VALUES THE WRITINGS; NOT THE ORGANIZATION
William Blake’s art and poetry were deeply impacted by his reading works of Emanuel Swedenborg. Blake attended the first organizational meeting in London in the Great East Cheap on April 13, 1789, with his wife Catherine. He never returned, writing that “The whole of the New Church is in the Active Life and not in Ceremonies at all.”
There have been countless people impacted by the writings who did not feel that an organization could embody them.



A SWEDENBORGIAN IS ONE WHO FINDS UNIVERSAL CONCEPTS IN MANY PLACES
Rev. Fekete mentions the Kabala, Eastern traditions and some New Age thought. He mentions some newer books like A Course in Miracles and Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth as books that have some universal truths. We could list some of the people or traditions that were touched by ES’s universal truths in some way: Homeopathy, New Thought, Emerson, Martin Luther King, Jr, Elizabeth Barret Browning, William Butler Yates, Robert Frost, various activists against slavery and for suffrage, The Husdson River school of painting, Chicago architect Daniel Burnham.

Rev. Fekete says: “We have a lot to offer the world. But I think we need to do it in a language that the world will hear.”
I think we are living out Swedenborg’s concept of “distinguishably one.” We all are one; yet we each also have some uniqueness that we bring to the whole.

Swedenborg’s writings, our churches, and the people impacted by the writings each have a stamp of uniqueness in the universal web of oneness.

It’s not about who has the most truth. It’s about having a world filled with pathways to the Divine, so that we can all find one that is right for us.

Perhaps Columbus Day week-end is an apt time to ponder our tradition. Columbus discovered a world that was new to European and Asian cultures. However, it was an already-existing civilization rich in its own traditions.

In the same way, Swedenborg did not “discover” a new spiritual truth. He sailed into lands rich with spiritual depth and diversity. He brought his own stamp of uniqueness to them, but not with an intention of obliterating what was there, but rather by increasing our awareness of diverse cultures and pathways. It’s not about discovering new truths. It’s about finding out how our own unique energy contributes to the whole. Each culture expresses the universal in its special way. Each generation reshapes that universal truth for its time, and each individual finds his/her own truth within it.
 

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CLOSING SONG
Our God Is An Awesome God