The Earth is Dying, Long Live the Earth
by Rev. Cory Coberforward
John 5:25-30
Truly, truly, I say to you that an hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those having heard will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so also He gave to the Son to have life in Himself. And He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming in which all those in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth—those having done good to the resurrection of life, and those having done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
I am able to do nothing of Myself. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My will, but the will of the One having sent Me.
Zechariah 13:9 (responsive reading)
This third I will put into the fire;
I will refine them like silver
and test them like gold.
They will call on my name
and I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are my people,’
and they will say,
‘The Lord is our God.’”
Read the written message below with music videos
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.
In Rev. Paul Zacharias’ “The Top Ten Beliefs of the Swedenborgian Church,” he points out how the Christians who call themselves “Swedenborgian” (me included!) have a clear idea of life after death. You see, Swedenborg wrote about how people of all beliefs and backgrounds can enter heaven in the next life, that is if their highest love is somehow centered on Divine Love or Divine Truth itself, which can also be known as a love for goodness, kindness, God, and the neighbour. And Rev. Paul makes the point that the afterlife is “yet another transition we experience in the course of our eternal lives.”
One interesting aspect about the afterlife as presented in Swedenborg’s accounts of his visions of it, is that the world in the afterlife changes immediately as those in the spiritual realm change. When people or aliens (yes, there are aliens there), who are now angels in a certain part of heaven grow in wisdom and love, their local environment becomes more robust, more beautiful, and more suitable to their ever-growing expression of life. Even their homes, which are all gifted from God, and their clothes transform as they transform as a reflection of their inner life. And although perhaps some continue to work on their homes themselves, much of the work is done within their ever-growing and transcending being.
We know something of this in our own lives, although our environmental changes have a more material-seeming cause and effect. But even the material equation of life is most profoundly influenced by how people are living and what their motivations are. Even the structure of our cities and surrounding farmland are greatly impacted by the intentions of our politicians and others. On this Earth Day weekend, it is good to remember the vast impact our own actions and motivations have on the planet and people around us, and how many of our economic systems have given forth to our earth being placed on the verge of a number of environmental crises, directly correlated with a “profit”-centric model of capitalism.
In Swedenborg’s visions of the afterlife, there’s a clear reason everyone is gifted a home in my opinion. It’s because heaven as a whole, despite its wide variety of communities, is centered on increasing the love, joy, and wisdom of its inhabitants and increasing its numbers to infinity. Basic necessities are taken care of. If this is the Lord’s plan for God’s kingdom, how could we think we could do better? Arguments aside, it’s quite the vision of paradise, and not subject to the more boring “we’ll worship all the time” concepts of heaven that we sometimes hear, although for some of us that may have its place! Indeed, the angels are worshipping, each in their own way and through the flow of the Spirit as it presents itself in their actions, loves, being, and wisdom.
On the other hand, here on earth we are called to remember that there is influence from hell and the midway “world of spirits” on our own actions, motivations, feelings, and thoughts. This is the process of overcoming temptation that it says that even Jesus went through, and it is part and parcel with our journeys of “regeneration” into the angels that I believe we will all eventually become. Swedenborg believed that the material universe was the manifestation of the influences of heaven, hell, and the world of spirits. As angels in training (which I believe is a term I heard from Rev. Dr. Jim Lawrence), we are called to notice primarily the influence of hellish spirits in our own inner lives, but also to allow our angelic natures to have a larger impact on our environment: geopolitical, environmental, and otherwise. The trick is forgiving ourselves for our more selfish motivations coming naturally through as well, and allowing our lessons learned to help us grow.
This is also what we as a species have to do on the world’s stage. Condemning and persecuting past actions of corporate execs can’t be the crux of our approach to environmental transformation, and neither can sweeping atrocities under the rug. We must take a compassionate, learned, merciful approach to radical change, otherwise we will all feel as though we stand condemned, as the scriptures say. Like heaven, I think we should have an eye on increasing our numbers - the number of people living healthy, fulfilling lives - and on the positive continued spiritual transformation of each of us. Otherwise, we invert the order of things for our own selfish motives, which is the primary quality of hell according to Swedenborg – a destitute spiritual space whose inhabitants believe they love to dwell in.
What’s interesting is that scriptures throughout many traditions say that our natural state is one of the peace of heaven, the Garden of Eden, the life and light of God. This is true for our earth as well; its natural state is wholeness and diversity, with no need to work for better agricultural processes. And yet, here we are. For ourselves and for our earth, may we turn to the light and wisdom of the Divine One known by many names, known also as just Love and Life. May we take the steps necessary for ourselves to return to the peace of God, through the trials of temptation and the tendencies of our minds, noticing that the space that we are is beyond mind as we know it. Even the hardest of moments and situations arise in the peace of being, the light of God, now we just have to notice that and let that light shine.
In today’s reading, which we’re partly revisiting as we jump back into John, Jesus says that by himself he can do nothing and that he only does the will of God. This is the faculty that gives the angels their power as well, according to Swedenborg, they know that all that they do comes from God even though they still do everything seemingly in their “own way.” It’s the knowledge that God works through all things in every moment that starts to transform our sense of what is possible and starts to turnover our inverted thinking when it comes to life (we tend to think everything is “of ourselves” and not part of God working through the smallest details, as Swedenborg described). This gets hard when it comes to our idea of hell and evil. But Swedenborg makes the point that evil has its usefulness in our process of growth and regeneration, something that we can explore more fully elsewhere, and the Bible talks of God’s chosen being refined like fine silver. Further, if some of Swedenborg’s visions are true and if the reincarnationists are right, then we all get as many chances as it takes to find our natural joy and life in a heavenly state, even if it takes our wrestling with the forces of destruction in our lives for a time. As Psalm 23 states,
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
May the light of God’s mercy, love, and peace come into focus for you,
Cory