Home 
Shout Down the Walls
Welcome to today's worship service by the on-line Swedenborgian community.
July 6, 2008
Light a candle
Light a candle
Open the Word 
OPENING SONG
Morning Has Broken
by Cat Stevens
by Cat Stevens
READINGS
FROM THE BIBLE [Joshua 6]
2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in."
2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in."
FROM SWEDENBORG
The lamp of the body is the eye; if the eye be single, the whole body is full of light; but if the eye be evil, the whole body is full of darkness. If therefore the light be darkness, how great is the darkness (Matt. 6:22-23);
by the "eye" is signified the intellectual which belongs to the soul (n. 2701). [6] But the case is worse still with those whose interiors are darkness, and whose exteriors appear as full of light. These are such as outwardly counterfeit angels of light, but are devils inwardly, and they are called "Babel;" and when with such persons the things that are "round about" are destroyed, they are carried headlong into hell. These things were represented by the city Jericho, in that its walls fell and the city was given to the curse when the priests had gone about it seven times, and had sounded the trumpets (Joshua 6:1-17). They are meant also in Jeremiah:
Set yourselves in array against Babel round about, all ye that bend the bow; sound the trumpet against her round about; she hath given her hand; her foundations are fallen; her walls are thrown down (Jer. 50:14-15). It is now plain what "round about" means. Moreover in the Word mention is sometimes made of that which is "round about" (as Jer. 21:14; 32:44; 46:14; 49:5; Ezek. 36:3-4, 7; Amos 3:11; and elsewhere), and by the things "round about" are signified those which are exterior; concerning which, of the Lord's Divine mercy more elsewhere
The lamp of the body is the eye; if the eye be single, the whole body is full of light; but if the eye be evil, the whole body is full of darkness. If therefore the light be darkness, how great is the darkness (Matt. 6:22-23);
by the "eye" is signified the intellectual which belongs to the soul (n. 2701). [6] But the case is worse still with those whose interiors are darkness, and whose exteriors appear as full of light. These are such as outwardly counterfeit angels of light, but are devils inwardly, and they are called "Babel;" and when with such persons the things that are "round about" are destroyed, they are carried headlong into hell. These things were represented by the city Jericho, in that its walls fell and the city was given to the curse when the priests had gone about it seven times, and had sounded the trumpets (Joshua 6:1-17). They are meant also in Jeremiah:
Set yourselves in array against Babel round about, all ye that bend the bow; sound the trumpet against her round about; she hath given her hand; her foundations are fallen; her walls are thrown down (Jer. 50:14-15). It is now plain what "round about" means. Moreover in the Word mention is sometimes made of that which is "round about" (as Jer. 21:14; 32:44; 46:14; 49:5; Ezek. 36:3-4, 7; Amos 3:11; and elsewhere), and by the things "round about" are signified those which are exterior; concerning which, of the Lord's Divine mercy more elsewhere
MESSAGE
It is a few minutes after midnight at our dorm, in the wee hours of July 6th. All of the card keys to our rooms suddenly stopped working – a day before we leave. People gather in the halls, waiting for the resident director to come with a pass key to let us in. It’s one of those things that can ruin a whole day in the real world. Here, in our Swedenborgian annual gathering, it becomes yet another memory of the year, a moment of bonding.
For twenty years, I‘ve attended all but one of our annual denominational conventions.
At the end of the week, when we scatter, is always when I‘m most aware of the community we became. After a week of living together in college dorms, eating our meals together, worshipping together, sharing the special moments of community – like being locked out of our rooms together --I suddenly feel alone in an airport or car.
Then, I remember -- community extends beyond physical presence together. Our love connects us from any distance.
The same is true of our cyber community. We are a community whether or not we are physically present together. We are spiritually presence with each other and with the Divine all the time.
All of you, in this cyber-community, are also connected with the larger Swedenborgian community. This past week, the bonds between our cyber community and our denomination deepened significantly.
Some of us who are active participants in our Cyber Community, reflected on the ways we encountered the Divine through each other this week.
Here are some of our reflections.
==================================================================================================================
The first in by Sage Aram Nash. We met in person for the 1st time on Sunday, when Sage came to our church service to be baptsed. It was a momentous event; there first person from our cyber community to be baptized.
---------------------------------------
MY BAPTISM
BY Sage Aram Nash
Rev. Donna Keane -- I am ever so grateful for your Swedenborg bumper sticker -- and for answering my questions for the past 3 years.
Rev. Wilma Wake -- Thank you for that late night podcast where at 2 am through my iPod I learned about the on-line community
Although God blesses all paths, never once did I want to commit myself to just one until now.
I am blessed to be taken into the fold through your hearts not different from that of God whom I am committed to follow.
Now I have come home.
Where in any other church can I say I talk to angels and not be pink papered.
=================================================================================================================-
Sue Ditmire was one of our Founding Mothers, and is on our steering committee.
---------------------------------------------------
For me church is like family, which makes Covention like a family reunion. All the relatives are here from the newborn to the oldsters. This year for the first time in many years, we have a big bunch in the under 3 year old set. It has been so great to hear their little noises throughout convention. The parents worry that it will disturb us, but we are just so happy to have some children and know that life continues. The noise seems delightful.
There are the distant cousin types that we only see when convention comes to their region of the country and the regular cousins that will come almost every year. Then our brothers and sisters that are a regular part of our communities or groups that we participate with.
But we have the older generations that include our aunts and uncle types and even parent and grandparent stand ins. They are full of wisdom and sometimes just grumpy and irritable. Just like in any family.
Some of my favorite family members are the kids and friends of my kids, now many of them have grown up and are the ones having kids of their own.
Oh it is a "Merry-Go- Round of Life"
The other thing I experienced this week was the day for the Women’s Alliance Luncheon. I was torn between joining my friends in attending the meeting or maintain my radical feminist youth attitude of objection to women being separate and not equal in the church. It certainly was not true anymore; we have a woman President of Convention. Do we need a meeting to keep the little ladies busy while the men attend to business? Then again the President of Convention was going to the luncheon. It appeared there was going to b a bit of election controversy at the luncheon, so I used it as my excuse to skip the luncheon and use it as my chance to have lunch with the men, (lol)...
=================================================================================================================
Susan Wood-Ashton is the char or our Cyber community steering committee, as well as secretary of the denomination. She was also a Founding Mother.
---------------------------------------------------------
PRAISE THE LORD!!
This is what folks are yelling at our 184th annual convention of Swedenborgian Churches here in Bridgewater, Mass. The theme “Shout with all Your Might” is being taken literally by one and all.
I’m actually trying to write this while on the bus which is headed to the Cambridge Church where we will be having the ordination of two new ministers. The bus has only recently been declared both the “rowdy bus” and the “party bus”. However, in reality we are happy friends traveling together who have gotten used to shouting and laughing.
As I’m sitting here writing and listening to the joy that surrounds me, I think back to the opening of convention on Wednesday evening when those churches who brought banners from their churches marched in with them. All of our brick & mortar churches brought real banners – you could see them and touch them. Our Swedenborgian Community has no physical building so having an actual banner seemed somewhat inappropriate. Therefore when it was our turn to announce the name of our church and hold up our banner, some folks in the audience were unsure of what was going on, but those of us in our virtual church immediately recognized our virtual banner. Right after the New Church of Southwest Florida, I stepped in front of the podium and, as would soon be the tradition, shouted, “WWW.SWEDENBORGIANCOMMUNITY.ORG............VIRTUAL BANNER!!!!!!!!”, and then held it ceremoniously over my head. Saying the crowd went wild would be an understatement, and I had just experienced my first beautiful moment of Convention 2008.
The opening ceremonies continued and we were all together again….a great feeling. Afterwards, I had almost forgotten about the banner parade when several members came up to me and their comments really started me thinking:
“I love the flowers on your banner; they are so beautiful”
“Where did you ever find that font?”
“The banner was nice and I especially liked the rhinestones”.
“Patte LeVan noticed that you had misspelled “Swedenborgian” at the top”
Swedenborgians are such wonderfully creative people and I was really loving this, bantering back and forth about all the time and effort it had taken to put it together and Id be sure to tell the members of The Swedenborgian Community that they had done such a good job. Magical moments of fun and levity.
It only then occurred to me that our banner was the best – by far. When each person “saw” it, they thought of what would be special to them. We had the perfect banner and everyone saw it differently. In looking around me on the buss and everyone is different and in God’s eyes we are perfect…just the way He wanted us to be. A lovely thought as we head to ordination.
Well, we’re almost there so I need to close and Harvey Tafel, creative devil that he is, has suggested the perfect closing to my personal thoughts on convention…………..AMEN.
Hope to see you all next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!
========================================================================================================
Let's all shout together, and watch walls come tumbling down.
For twenty years, I‘ve attended all but one of our annual denominational conventions.
At the end of the week, when we scatter, is always when I‘m most aware of the community we became. After a week of living together in college dorms, eating our meals together, worshipping together, sharing the special moments of community – like being locked out of our rooms together --I suddenly feel alone in an airport or car.
Then, I remember -- community extends beyond physical presence together. Our love connects us from any distance.
The same is true of our cyber community. We are a community whether or not we are physically present together. We are spiritually presence with each other and with the Divine all the time.
All of you, in this cyber-community, are also connected with the larger Swedenborgian community. This past week, the bonds between our cyber community and our denomination deepened significantly.
Some of us who are active participants in our Cyber Community, reflected on the ways we encountered the Divine through each other this week.
Here are some of our reflections.
==================================================================================================================
The first in by Sage Aram Nash. We met in person for the 1st time on Sunday, when Sage came to our church service to be baptsed. It was a momentous event; there first person from our cyber community to be baptized.
---------------------------------------
MY BAPTISM
BY Sage Aram Nash
Rev. Donna Keane -- I am ever so grateful for your Swedenborg bumper sticker -- and for answering my questions for the past 3 years.
Rev. Wilma Wake -- Thank you for that late night podcast where at 2 am through my iPod I learned about the on-line community
Although God blesses all paths, never once did I want to commit myself to just one until now.
I am blessed to be taken into the fold through your hearts not different from that of God whom I am committed to follow.
Now I have come home.
Where in any other church can I say I talk to angels and not be pink papered.
=================================================================================================================-
Sue Ditmire was one of our Founding Mothers, and is on our steering committee.
---------------------------------------------------
For me church is like family, which makes Covention like a family reunion. All the relatives are here from the newborn to the oldsters. This year for the first time in many years, we have a big bunch in the under 3 year old set. It has been so great to hear their little noises throughout convention. The parents worry that it will disturb us, but we are just so happy to have some children and know that life continues. The noise seems delightful.
There are the distant cousin types that we only see when convention comes to their region of the country and the regular cousins that will come almost every year. Then our brothers and sisters that are a regular part of our communities or groups that we participate with.
But we have the older generations that include our aunts and uncle types and even parent and grandparent stand ins. They are full of wisdom and sometimes just grumpy and irritable. Just like in any family.
Some of my favorite family members are the kids and friends of my kids, now many of them have grown up and are the ones having kids of their own.
Oh it is a "Merry-Go- Round of Life"
The other thing I experienced this week was the day for the Women’s Alliance Luncheon. I was torn between joining my friends in attending the meeting or maintain my radical feminist youth attitude of objection to women being separate and not equal in the church. It certainly was not true anymore; we have a woman President of Convention. Do we need a meeting to keep the little ladies busy while the men attend to business? Then again the President of Convention was going to the luncheon. It appeared there was going to b a bit of election controversy at the luncheon, so I used it as my excuse to skip the luncheon and use it as my chance to have lunch with the men, (lol)...
=================================================================================================================
Susan Wood-Ashton is the char or our Cyber community steering committee, as well as secretary of the denomination. She was also a Founding Mother.
---------------------------------------------------------
PRAISE THE LORD!!
This is what folks are yelling at our 184th annual convention of Swedenborgian Churches here in Bridgewater, Mass. The theme “Shout with all Your Might” is being taken literally by one and all.
I’m actually trying to write this while on the bus which is headed to the Cambridge Church where we will be having the ordination of two new ministers. The bus has only recently been declared both the “rowdy bus” and the “party bus”. However, in reality we are happy friends traveling together who have gotten used to shouting and laughing.
As I’m sitting here writing and listening to the joy that surrounds me, I think back to the opening of convention on Wednesday evening when those churches who brought banners from their churches marched in with them. All of our brick & mortar churches brought real banners – you could see them and touch them. Our Swedenborgian Community has no physical building so having an actual banner seemed somewhat inappropriate. Therefore when it was our turn to announce the name of our church and hold up our banner, some folks in the audience were unsure of what was going on, but those of us in our virtual church immediately recognized our virtual banner. Right after the New Church of Southwest Florida, I stepped in front of the podium and, as would soon be the tradition, shouted, “WWW.SWEDENBORGIANCOMMUNITY.ORG............VIRTUAL BANNER!!!!!!!!”, and then held it ceremoniously over my head. Saying the crowd went wild would be an understatement, and I had just experienced my first beautiful moment of Convention 2008.
The opening ceremonies continued and we were all together again….a great feeling. Afterwards, I had almost forgotten about the banner parade when several members came up to me and their comments really started me thinking:
“I love the flowers on your banner; they are so beautiful”
“Where did you ever find that font?”
“The banner was nice and I especially liked the rhinestones”.
“Patte LeVan noticed that you had misspelled “Swedenborgian” at the top”
Swedenborgians are such wonderfully creative people and I was really loving this, bantering back and forth about all the time and effort it had taken to put it together and Id be sure to tell the members of The Swedenborgian Community that they had done such a good job. Magical moments of fun and levity.
It only then occurred to me that our banner was the best – by far. When each person “saw” it, they thought of what would be special to them. We had the perfect banner and everyone saw it differently. In looking around me on the buss and everyone is different and in God’s eyes we are perfect…just the way He wanted us to be. A lovely thought as we head to ordination.
Well, we’re almost there so I need to close and Harvey Tafel, creative devil that he is, has suggested the perfect closing to my personal thoughts on convention…………..AMEN.
Hope to see you all next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!
========================================================================================================
Let's all shout together, and watch walls come tumbling down.
SONG
Joshua fit the walls of Jericho
Mahilia Jackson
Mahilia Jackson
