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God's Playful Healing: Laughter and Creativity
July 27, 2008
Welcome to today's worship service by the on-line Swedenborgian community.
Light a candle
Open the Word 
OPENING SONG
Sing, Sing, Sing .. Chris Tomlin
READINGS
From the Bible
Psalm 98
A psalm.
1 Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done marvelous things;
his right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
2 The LORD has made his salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
3 He has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to the house of Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
4 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;
5 make music to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,
6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn—
shout for joy before the LORD, the King.
7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy; 9 let them sing before the LORD,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples with equity.
From Swedenborg
[3] Those that have applied the doctrinals of the church which are from the Word immediately to life, are in the inmost heaven, and surpass all others in their delights of wisdom. In every object they see what is Divine; the objects they see indeed with their eyes; but the corresponding Divine things flow in immediately into their minds and fill them with a blessedness that affects all their sensations. Thus before their eyes all things seem to laugh, to play, and to live (see above, n. 270). [Heaven and Hell, 489, 3]
Psalm 98
A psalm.
1 Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done marvelous things;
his right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
2 The LORD has made his salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
3 He has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to the house of Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
4 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;
5 make music to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,
6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn—
shout for joy before the LORD, the King.
7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy; 9 let them sing before the LORD,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples with equity.
From Swedenborg
[3] Those that have applied the doctrinals of the church which are from the Word immediately to life, are in the inmost heaven, and surpass all others in their delights of wisdom. In every object they see what is Divine; the objects they see indeed with their eyes; but the corresponding Divine things flow in immediately into their minds and fill them with a blessedness that affects all their sensations. Thus before their eyes all things seem to laugh, to play, and to live (see above, n. 270). [Heaven and Hell, 489, 3]
MESSAGE
God's Playful Healing: Laughter and Creativity
God's Playful Healing: Laughter and Creativity
Humor and Healing
Every once in a while, in the wee hours of Sunday morning, I’m trying to proof-read the bulletin for the morning worship service at the Portland church. After printing a batch of bulletins, I see a glaring MISTAKE! I realize that spell checkers don’t catch words that are real words, but not the ones I wanted to use. In my frustration, there is one thing that always calms me down and puts me in a good mood. I like reading the bloopers that have appeared in other church bulletins.
Here are some of my favorites:
The preacher will preach his farewell message, after which the choir will sing, "Break Forth with Joy".
Don't let worry kill you off - let the church help.
Remember in prayer the many that are sick of our church.
During the absence of our Pastor, we enjoyed the rare privilege of hearing a good sermon when J.F. Stubbs supplied our pulpit.
Whether these are from actual bulletins or not, they make me laugh. I stop feeling stressed, and see the humor in my own situation that had been so frustrating. Laughing releases my stress. Medical research tells us that there is a reason for this:
Medical studies indicate that laughter boosts levels of endorphins, the body's natural painkillers, and suppresses levels of epinephrine, the stress hormone. Norman Cousins, whose book Anatomy of an Illness tells how watching comedic movies helped him recover from an illness that was predicted to be fatal, is generally credited with starting the scientific study of the effect of humor on physical wellness some 20 years ago.
Swedenborg and Healing
Swedenborgian psychologist and mystic, Wilson Van Dusen, wrote these verses of poetry to try and express how God works in our lives -
The entrance into the Divine
Is always through this present moment
It cannot be in any other time.
He explains it this way:
People have often wondered what you do after enlightenment. The brilliant answer in Zen is that after enlightenment, you chop wood and carry water; you do whatever needs to be done. The master who gave this answer was in a place where wood was actually chopped and water carried. But beyond that we can also go to the drama, sit comfortably, and enjoy show. This is the spirit of nonattachment so prized in the Bhagavad Gita and in Buddhism. It promises to be a good show. [205]
However, he clarifies that the work does get done. What is meant is that once you reach this level, and it is a show, to pass the time, then you can really comfortably enjoy it.
Often we are so busy doing the business of our lives that we forget to enjoy living. Sometimes it takes a personal tragedy for us to remember to slow down and enjoy being alive. Swedenborg's description of the inmost heaven is especially dramatic;
Thus before their eyes
All things seem to laugh,
To play,
And to live. [Heaven and Hell, 489-3]
Here are some examples of people who found the 'inmost heaven' in a healing journey from stroke.
EXAMPES OF STROKE SURVIVORS FINDING INMOST HEAVEN
Jill Bolte Taylor
Last week’s sermon focused on the survival story of this brain scientists who had a stroke. She describes the initial experience of stroke as exhilarating;
Making the decision to recover was a complicated and cognitive choice for me. On the one hand, I loved the bliss of drifting in the current of the eternal flow. Who wouldn’t? It was beautiful there. My spirit beamed free, enormous, and peaceful. In the rapture of an engulfing bliss, I had to question what recovery really meant… If I had to choose one word to describe the feeling I feel at the core of my right mind, I would have to say joy. My right mind is thrilled to be alive! I experience a feeling of awe when I consider that I am simultaneously capable of being on one with the universe, while having an individual identity whereby I move into the world and manifest positive change. P. 171
Jean-Dominic Bauby
The movie of the month is based on the book about Bauby’s survival with ‘locked-in syndrome' after a stroke.
He wrote, after seeing himself in a mirror -
Whereupon a strange euphoria came over me. Not only was I exiled, paralyzed, mute, half deaf, deprived of all pleasures, and reduced to the existence of a jellyfish, but I was also horrible to behold. There comes a time when the heaping up of calamities brings on uncontrollable nervous laughter – when, after a final blow from fate, we decide to treat it all as a joke. [p. 25]
His imagination helped to heal his soul. “The lighthouse and I remain in constant touch, and I often call on it by having myself wheeled to Cinceitta, a region essential to my imaginary geography of the hospital. Cincecitta is the perpetually deserted terrace of Sorrel ward. Facing … a handful of buildings at the foot of the sand dunes gives the illusion of a Western ghost town. As for the sea, it foams such an incandescent white that it might be the product of the special-effects department… I could spend whole days at Cinecitta. There, I am the greatest director of all time.” P. 29
After his stroke, he had come to feel a heavy pressure on his very existence, like a diving bell that keeps divers at the bottom of the sea. Yet, as his imagination soared, he came to identify himself with a butterfly, free to roam the world.
Far from such din, when blessed silence returns, I can listen to the butterflies that flutter inside my head. To hear them, one must be calm and pay close attention, for their wing beats are barely audible. Loud breathing is enough to drown them out. This is astonishing; my hearing does not improve, yet I hear them better and better. I must have butterfly hearing. P. 97`
Rev. Eric Allison
One of our denominational ministers, Eric Allison, suffered a massive stroke on July lst. His wife Lisa keeps a blog of his healing journey. Here are a few entries about Eric's amazing healing journey.
July 13
Other funny things today. Bev and I were in his room and I was chattering away. Apparently too much chatter. Eric picked up my hand and covered my mouth with it as if to say 'STOP talking! Too much chatter!' He smiled, we all laughed! Really though this shows an ability on his part of knowing his preference (more silence) know what he wants (Lisa quit talking) and has the motor ability to make it happen since he can't form the words yet. Very encouraging.
July 21
Music continues to enrich Eric's healing. Tonight Steve Mason and Ray Moreau played foot stomping joyful and soulful music as we all sang along. Eric smiled the entire hour they visited. And as always, he sang along. What a blessing you all are for him.
CONCLUSION
Any of us can suffer a personal tragedy in our lives. Swedenborg tells us that it is not the Divine who causes misfortune to anyone, but it is the Divine who can guide back to wholeness; often a more complete wholeness than we had before.
Swedenborg clearly describes to us what the inmost heaven is like:
All things seem to laugh,
To play,
And to live.
We are living in our inmost heaven when we can face life with laughter, fun, creativity, imagination and a zest for life. We've looked at the lives of 3 stroke survivors who have been able to go to their inmost heaven to find deep healing and wholeness.
We don't have to have a life trauma to find our 'inmost heaven.' As Wilson Van Dusen says, after enlightenment, the work of the world still must be done. The difference is that we learn to cherish and enjoy it.
In what ways do you need healing in your life? Are you able to access your 'inmost heaven' to find joy and creative zest? It is there for all of us, and we can learn to hang out there while living on the earth.
SONG
On Eagles Wings
On Eagles Wings
HEALING MEDITATION
Om Namah Shivaya
Now extinguish your candle [s] 
And close the Bible. 
Blessings on your every moment of life; may each be lived in you inmost heaven of inner joy.
Blessings on your every moment of life; may each be lived in you inmost heaven of inner joy.
Downloads
| Title | Date | |
|---|---|---|
| God's Healing Laughter |
07/27/2008
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