Home  »  About Us  »  Current Worship Material  »  Archived Messages: 2006-11  »  Archives for 2008  »  April, 2008  »  April 6, 2008

Cyber Service                                                         
Rev. Wilma Wake

TODAY'S READINGS

From the Bible
Luke 24:13-49 NIV
 

On the Road to Emmaus
13Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16but they were kept from recognizing him.
17He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?"

They stood still, their faces downcast. 18One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?"

19"What things?" he asked.

"About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see."

25He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" 27And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

28As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. 29But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them.

30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

33They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." 35Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

 

 by Peter, Paul, and Mary
 

 ARTWORK                                    "Longing to be Seen"

egg tempera on rag board 28"W X 21.5"H
(c) Mona Diane Conner 2008 

I'm going to read that last line from Swedenborg again.

Some, therefore, have imagined the spiritual to be like a bird flying
Above the air in an ether to which the sight of the eye does not reach;
When yet it is like a bird of paradise, which flies near the eye, touching
The pupil with its beautiful wings and longing to be seen.

This painting is by our very gifted community member, Mona Diane Conner, and is based on that translation of that passage by Swedenborg. I don't know how many times I've "read" that passage, but haven't really "seen" the message. It was only through Mona's painting that I could open my "spiritual eyes" to grasp that passage and its importance.

Swedenborgian mystic and psychologist Wilson Van Dusen is also drawn to that quotation. He used it at the opening of a chapter in Returning to the Source; [chapter 7, "The Nature of the Spiritual.”] He says:

I chose this quote because many people have such a vague idea of the spiritual that it seems detached from everything else or even seems non existent. In this chapter I will anchor the spiritual in human experience, so that it becomes quite recognizable, even commonplace. Here is the first little anchor. How is it like a bird of paradise which flies so near the eye it even touches your pupil with its wings? If you take all of your deepest concerns, particularly those that have been with you for a lifetime, these concerns are the very flutter of the bird's wings. When they touch your eye [your feelingful/ seeing /understanding] these concerns can bring a tear to your eye. These feelingful concerns are your spiritual life. t

Let's take Swedenborg's quotation and Van Dusen's understanding of it into the painting itself. Take a moment to let your eyes take in this breath-taking work.

I'm moved by the feathers actually caressing the face of the woman. Swedenborg says they are brushing her eye-lids and that the bird of paradise is longing to be seen. Yet the woman is staring straight ahead, as though she doesn't see the bird of paradise, or even feel it touching her face.

In your life, you probably have had times when you are busy with the affairs of the world; looking straight ahead like the woman in the painting. At such times, you may wonder, "Where is God? I wish I could experience God in my life." The next time you think that, picture this painting. Most of us, says Swedenborg, think of God as a bird high in the sky that we can't even see. But God is like the bird of paradise which is actually touching our pupils with its feathers. This God is not waiting patiently in some distant heaven for us to reach out. God is doing the reaching out -- longing to be seen by you.

The woman's eyes presumably are fine physically. But she can't see spiritually what is in front of her. Our gospel reading has the same theme, as the risen Jesus walks the road to Emmaus with some of his disciples.

When they looked through “natural eyes", they did not recognize Jesus. Only when they later allowed their spiritual eyes to open did they recognize their beloved teacher.

And how about the Peter, Paul, and Mary song about the unicorn? I played this song over and over again when I was a young adult, seeking affirmation of the reality of my inner world. I still have days when I pull out this song, to be reminded in music of all that Swedenborg has taught us. I love the child in this song; playing happy with the unicorn and growing up certain that "seeing is believing in the things you see." The teen-ager leaves behind the unicorn, and finds friendship in the Northern Star. Then the grown-up confidently asserts "my best friend lives inside of me. "Others call her "crazy", but she knows she has the key and "I've always known their seeing must be hazy.
Our grown up enjoys life singing and dancing with the inner friend.

Those who don't know that they have a best friend inside are seeing with what Swedenborg calls "the natural eyes," that only see the physical world. It is the spiritual eyes that see the deeper truths of the spiritual world.

This was the theme of Helen Keller's life. Do you know what a profound impact Swedenborg had on her spirituality? It's an incredible story, and we have links that can take you to it. The short version is that as a teen-ager, she wondered what God was all about. A mentor of hers, a Swedenborgian, gave her a copy of Heaven and Hell in Braille. Helen, as a child, had had an awakening of the mind when she recognized the relationship between the word "water" and the substance flowing in her hand. As she read Swedenborg's Heaven and Hell as a teen-ager, she had an awakening of the spirit. She wrote:

I never again doubted that there is a spiritual body within my own imperfect one. And within a few dark years the eyes within my eyes will open to something infinitely more wonderful, complete, and satisfying than this. I let myself go and try to puzzle out long words and weighty thoughts of the Swedish seer.

She realized that although her body was disabled, her soul was whole and healthy. I cannot see the stars scattered in the heavens; but other stars just as bright shine in my soul. Soul is very real and important to me. ... It is a land of promise. She called Swedenborg's works, the light in my darkness and the voice in my silence.

Swedenborg validates this perception, saying that "the blind' means the "absence of faith," and 'seeing' is understanding and being in possession of faith. [AC 6990]

Perhaps our mysterious woman in the painting longs for God, but is only seeing with natural eyes. In a spiritual sense, she is blind. She cannot see what is in front of her -- even touching her. Helen could not see through natural eyes. But she could see the God in her soul. She knew the bird of paradise was brushing her pupils with his feathers. Who has the disability -- Helen Keller, or the woman in Ms. Conner's painting?

So how do we learn to open our spiritual eyes and keep them open?

Van Dusen says opening spiritual eyes is a willingness to see everything; not to limit our focus to any one thing. This is also the message in contemplative spirituality:

In contemplation, awareness is open, not focused on one thing to the exclusion of others. Most of us have been taught to concentrate (focus attention) on one thing at a time. The contemplative experience however, shows that we function more lovingly-and can be more in touch with our desire for God's guidance-when we're more widely open to what is going on. Thus many contemplatively oriented practices involve an "unlearning" of one's habits of focusing attention. In their place, one hopes to nurture a simple willingness to be open to God's movements, leadings, and invitations--a contemplative attitude. [Shalem Institute.]

That is a radical concept that flies in the face of what most of us were taught. We learn how to focus on one thing at a time. That might be good to accomplish a particular task, but it does not allow the spiritual eyes to open and embrace whatever is there.

Swedenborg and Van Dusen are saying we need to become aware of our own concerns and feelings, and honor them as our pathway to the Divine. We need to let go of seeking "certainties" give by dogma, or seeing only a narrow part of the physical world with our eyes. Are you ready to open your eyes widely, and follow your bird of paradise wherever it leads you?

 

 

Mobile Site Powered by FaithConnector Church Websites