View Screen-Reader Accessible Site

Feelin' Good

WELCOME TO TODAY'S WORSHIP SERVICE


April 19, 2009



Open your Bible
 

 



Light a candle



OPENING SONG  
For the Beauty of the Earth




 READINGS
 
26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

30And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.


From Swedenborg:

Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, God created heaven and earth.
The word beginning is being used for the very earliest times. The
prophets frequently call them “the days of old.”26
“The beginning” includes the first period of regeneration too, as that
is when people are being born anew and receiving life. Because of this,
regeneration itself is called our new creation [2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians
6:15]. Almost everywhere in the prophetic books, the words creating,
forming, and making stand for regenerating, though with differences.27
 Secrets of Heaven, 16
 


In every final form there are distinct levels in simultaneous arrangement.
This is the arrangement of the motor fibers in every muscle, the
fibers in every nerve, the fibers and tiny vessels in all our viscera and organs.
At the heart of each are the simplest and most perfect substances,
while the outside is formed from their compounds.
The same arrangement of these levels is found in every seed, every
fruit, even in every metal and rock. This is the nature of the parts that
constitute their totality. Their central, intermediate, and outermost parts
are on these levels, and they themselves are successive compounds, aggregates,
or masses of these simple components that are their primary substances
and materials.
DLW,  NCE  207






MESSAGE

He is risen.

Alleluia!

 
We celebrate the journey made by Jesus in his earthly body to become fully one with God. We celebrate the union of human and Divine.   Jesus has shown us the path beyond separation; beyond division; beyond dualism.

We celebrate being part of the Divine Human; the God-man.


 As Swedenborg wrote:
 
We can be quite certain, on the basis of all this and of many other
things consistent with it (which it would take too long to include) that
God is a person and that the created universe is an image of him. The
overall totality offers a reflection of him, just as specific aspects offer reflections
of us.  DLW  65

Divinity is the same in the largest and smallest of things.”
Swedenborg, Divine Love and Wisdom, #77

The inner person is a miniature heaven and the outer person a miniature world – a microcosm.
Swedenborg, Heavenly Secrets, #6057


Rev. Dr. George Dole has pointed out that when the whole is in each part, then we have a hologram, and that has profound implications for how we live upon the earth. Rev. Dole wrote, “If I am a microcosm of the whole, this has consequences for my entire concept of the self-other relationship. The only ‘you’ I know is the ‘you’ within my consciousness. I do indeed love my neighbor as I love myself, and vice versa, because my neighbor participates in my being.”

This is an astounding statement of existence:
The same arrangement of these levels is found in every seed, every
fruit, even in every metal and rock. This is the nature of the parts that
constitute their totality.
    
The late Rev. Dr. Bob Kirven was a scholar in the history of ideas.  I cherish his book A Concise Overview of Swedenborg's Theology. In the section on Creation, he writes:

By gradual, stepless stages on a continuum, the outer is differentiated from - but at the same time connected to -- the inner.  Even the lowest, most particular reality [each sparrow, each individual hair on your head], may be radically and distinctly less real than its spiritual correspondent or its primary source in God.  However, its external appearance is only relatively less real because it exists on an unbroken continuum with that same spiritual correspondent and even the Divine itself.

Stop a minute.  Read [or reread] Divine Love and Wisdom #179-212 ... that may be the most sophisticated and comprehensive idea in the history of ideas.  It provides one encompassing structure of reality that differentiates all reality into its distinct parts and levels, and at the same time interrelates all reality into the single whole that stems from the oneness of its creator. [p. 187]

This is both extremely complex and amazingly simple at the same time. It is the same Love and Wisdom that flows into everything that exists.  The farther one gets from the Source,  the less intense the energy is.  Yet, this energy is in EVERYTHING.

HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW
 

We can become so comfortable with Swedenborg's approach to reality, that we can forget how intensely radical it is.

The same arrangement of these levels is found in every seed, every
fruit, even in every metal and rock. This is the nature of the parts that
constitute their totality.  [DLW, # 207]


I live in Maine, where the seasons show us this reality.  Trees and grass and flowers have appeared dead for months, covered under layers of snow.  Now they bloom and sun shines.

In the harsh Northeast, we live for months in a world where much of nature appears dead.  Then in the spring -- around the time of Easter - all is in bloom and aglow with the rays of the sun.


HERE COMES THE SUN

 






 

Swedenborg often uses the sun as an illustration of how the Divine shines upon and flows into everything upon the earth.  Stand in the sun, and feel its warmth.  Then look around at the other people in your area; they all receive the same rays.  Notice the plants around you; they all receive the same warmth and light.

Go touch a rock that is in the sun.  Why is it warm?  The sun's light shines on it, too.

Of course, we get away from the intensity of the sun by sitting in the shade or going into a building.  That lowers the intensity of the sun's rays.  But you can't stop the sun from shining.  Even in the winter, in the rain, in the floods -- the sun exists and send down its rays.

In the same way, we cannot escape God's love flowing into us.  We can see it flow into everything that exists.  It can be stronger in some places; weaker in other places.

But, always, it exists.

God always exists.

Inflow always flows.

Easter reminds us every year that humanity and divinity are united into oneness.  We are all part of a universal web of existence that is united by the inflow of God's love into everything at  every moment.

Take some time this week for a walk.  Look at everything your eyes can see: people, animals, plants, minerals.  Nothing can exist without receiving some energy from the sun.  All of creation is united as part of God's everflowing love.  You and God are forever united as a Divine human.  Feel your connections with the animals, with the grass, with the rocks and the ocean.

Alleluia.

He is risen.

FEELIN' GOOD

 




Now extinguish your candle                         



And close the Bible.            
 

 
Go forth; knowing that you are one with the Divine.  Remember these words of William Blake:

.To see the world in a grain of Sand
The universe in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the Palm of your Hand
And Eternity in an Hour.

















 

Downloads

Title Date
Feelin' Good
04/19/2009
 Play View