Readings

Exodus 14:13-14

Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

Moses’ Birth Children’s Lesson

Emanuel Swedenborg’s Heaven & Hell #286

First, we need to say where peace comes from. Divine peace is within the Lord, arising from the oneness of his divine nature and the divine human nature within him. The divine quality of peace in heaven comes from the Lord, arising from his union with heaven’s angels, and specifically from the union of the good and the true within each angel. These are the sources of peace. We may therefore conclude that peace in the heavens is the divine nature intimately affecting everything good there with blessedness. So it is the source of all the joy of heaven. In its essence, it is the divine joy of the Lord’s divine love, arising from his union with heaven and with every individual there. This joy, perceived by the Lord in the angels and by the angels from the Lord, is peace.

Be Still Within as Justice Advents Through You

by Rev. Cory Bradford-Watts

Read the message below

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There’s an empowering, interreligious message at the centre of our Moses tale today, and also one that is repeatedly uplifted by Jesus Christ in the gospels: “be still,” “accept peace,” “quiet your mind and know God.” Any practicing Buddhist or Christian Monk will tell you that this is at the heart of how Divine Awareness deeply advents into our minds, and yet, when we read scripture, we often miss this deep, central vein. Further, the concept of being still and tapping into our deeper, silent awareness, can often be misconstrued as being inactive (perhaps due to the seeming remoteness of monks!) where the opposite is the case; this inner stillness allows us to respond to the world with clarity, uplifting within and around us the Divine activities of compassion and social justice that are at the root of all life.

To begin let’s reflect on the story of Moses for a minute, noticing the deep connections it has to Christ’s story – “the reason for the season.” Moses was also God’s “chosen one” and central to the Jewish faith, sent to free the captive and empower the brokenhearted. Of course, in the Swedenborgian interpretation of who Jesus is, most of us view him as Jehovah incarnate (although we don’t think that other faiths must believe this to know God or enter heaven!). Similarly, Moses was a representative for God to both the Egyptians and the Israelites, sharing Jehovah’s miracles and the heaven-sent message of redemption and the need to change and give up horrendously selfish and oppressive practices.

Like with Christ, Moses had to undergo trials and a process of learning to be still and follow God’s directives. Although Christ’s story paints this more clearly as an inner process of listening than Moses’, it is Moses that tells the Israelites, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:14)

Indeed, when we pair these two stories of ancient leaders, we can see that it is this growing inner stillness and our compassion to help empower others that allow God to direct us from the root of our consciousness. Buddhism repeats this idea often, “In order to reach the View, open yourself to Bodhicitta (compassion for all beings and a desire to enlighten them) and silence your mind by letting go of inner attachments, aversions, and habitual thinking.” Indeed, Christ also emphasizes that we must let go of our attachments to follow him, Divinity itself.

Further, the parallels between these two tales persist! Both Moses and Christ’s early lives had exceptional circumstances where the king at the time tried to have them killed. In our own lives our deluded, arrogant side strives to smother the deep inner wellspring of innocence and peace, drowning ourselves in addictive diversions and distracting habits. Our more pharaoh-like dominating natures take a while to be overthrown (if they ever do in this lifetime), and until we allow God to work this process of miracles in our lives the more Divine aspects of our spirits are oppressed and enslaved, just as the Israelites and Christ were oppressed by dominating forces (Egypt, the Romans and Pharisees, and their own misguided behaviors).

Like Moses after killing an Egyptian guard, Christ, and eventually the Israelites upon escaping Pharaoh, we need to spend time in our own metaphorical wilderness, finding our true selves through peace and inner stillness which helps us to let go of hurtful habits and tap into God, the Root and Fruit of Our Awareness. What many Buddhist texts call the one, shared Buddha spirit.

Of course, it is Divinity that empowers this entire process, and as we use our God-given freedom to intentionally return to this Source we find that we become free from our selfish enslavements and start to return to the promised land. Interestingly, just as both Christ and Moses’ Israelites are called God’s “firstborn son” (see Exodus 4:22-23), through the act of becoming silent and knowing God, we also come to feel called to free and safeguard all of God’s interconnected and diverse children, just as we have been.

Like many traditions, the Israelites are told, “You need only to be still.” In our inner stillness we find the compassion, serenity, and light that enables us to fight for the social justice that Christ always emphasized. Indeed, the Divine Spirit of God emphasized practices that uplifted this fruitful peace not only as Christ, but in almost every major arc of the Bible and the world’s scriptures through the installation of Sabbath days, prayers, chanting, communal liturgies and praise, freeing the oppressed, emphasizing virtuous and equitable behavior, and on.

All of this is part of the reason why I think we tend to celebrate stillness, peace, in the Christmas Advent season. No matter our tradition, the Lord grows in our hearts as the Prince of Peace. This peace is the light of humanity and brings the clarity and wisdom of love. When we centre in it we start to become free and seek to free others from the yoke of oppression.

And especially during these trying times, why not lean into practices that we know help our minds shed anxiety, worry, judgment, and pain? Study after study has shown that meditative practices empower mental health, which allows us to be more fully “us” in the world, letting go of hurt and stress. Further, these help us to learn better and to react to trying situations with more level-headed wisdom and compassion. These qualities are in need today, not only for our own sakes, but our earth’s.

I think this is partly why we like to picture Christ as a baby around the Christmas season, as a baby reminds us of all the good things Divine Peace brings. The baby Christ reminds us that we are connected to the Prince of Peace from the get-go, that God’s at the root of all life and he is innocence made manifest. This, and the holidays in general, remind us that in community, in the compassion and connectivity of life and family, we find rest, peace, and all the things that are allowed to spring through peace: joy, love, graciousness, abundance, generosity, spiritual warmth, safety, comfort, community, support, and more.

Peace and care to you,

Rev. Cory