Thoughts & reflections of a New Church (Swedenborgian) minister
I don’t know a whole lot about classical music, but I do know that the Benedictus from Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis is one of the most beautiful pieces I’ve ever heard. I was just listening to my iTunes on shuffle, and when the Benedictus came on I stopped what I was doing and just listened. It consistently brings tears to my eyes. Anyway, if you haven’t heard it, do yourself a favour and listen to it, and then listen to it in the context of the entire Mass, where it’s even better.
(E. Kent Rogers, 12 Miracles of Spiritual Growth: A Path of Healing from the Gospels, Swedenborg Foundation Press, 2012, 210 pages.)
First off, an apology. I was asked to participate in the Book Club Roundtable discussion of Kent Rogers’s new book, “12 Miracles of Spiritual Growth,” which was a featured selection of the Patheos Book Club from May 1-15. Unfortunately, due to my remote location in the wilds of northwestern Canada my review copy of the book did not arrive until the 15th, and I wasn’t able to read and review the entirety of the book in one afternoon.
On the upside, now that I’m working without a deadline, I’ll be able to read the book a little more in the way the author intended, slowly and reflectively, giving each chapter some time. I’ll still probably blog through it faster than it’s intended to be read – Rogers suggests spending a week with each chapter – but at least I’ll be able to spread my thoughts out over several posts. Also, the book is geared more toward a small group setting than an individual reading (although it works for an individual as well), so again, I won’t be getting (or conveying) the full experience.
So, what is this book? Its subtitle is “A Path of Healing from the Gospels,” and the book is an exploration of the healing miracles of Christ and their significance for spiritual healing today. Each of the twelve chapters deals with one of the Lord’s healing miracles and applies it to healing some specific part of a person’s life; e.g., the first three chapters are “Healing from Feelings of Unworthiness,” based on Jesus’s healing of a gentile woman in Matthew 15; “Healing from Lack of Forgiveness,” based on Jesus’s healing of the paralytic whose friends lowered him through the roof to reach the Lord (Mark 2); and “Healing from Spiritual Slavery,” based on Jesus casting out the legion of demons from a possessed man into a herd of swine (Mark 5). Each chapter ends with a meditation, “leaves” (key thoughts from the chapter), “fruit” (actions to take based on the chapter), and questions for group discussion.
I’ve read the introduction and the first few chapters, and I have a few thoughts already, but I think the way I’d like to approach the book is to give each chapter its own blog post. Chapter 1 should be up tomorrow.
This book review is a sponsored post that is part of the Roundtable at the Patheos Book Club. Visit the Book Club website for more free resources related to this book.
This past Sunday I preached on Matthew 14:22-33, the story of the Lord walking on water and Peter walking out to Him. The thing that really jumped out at me this time reading it was that moment when Peter notices the wind and starts to sink. I thought about times when, sometimes for no apparent reason, I’ve been suddenly filled with a cold, hopeless “realization” that my faith is just in my head, that I’ve been lying to myself. And it really does feel like sinking – like the solid thing I was standing on has suddenly dissolved. In times like that, as far as I can tell there are pretty much two options: you can give in to that sinking feeling and decide that that’s all that’s real; or you can keep looking to the Lord, praying that He help your unbelief, and asking Him to save you, like Peter does. I love the description of the Lord immediately reaching out His hand to hold Peter up. It sure doesn’t always feel like He’s immediately there, but when I’ve eventually felt His return, had a sight and sense of His love and His realness again, it comes along with a realization that I never could’ve gotten back there unless He’d been holding me up the whole time.
Sermon audio is here.
“If man only believed, as is really true, that all good is from the Lord and all evil from hell, he would neither make the good in him a matter of merit nor would evil be imputed to him; for he would then look to the Lord in all the good he thinks and does, and all the evil that flows in would be cast down to hell from which it comes.” (Heaven and Hell 302)
“It is an eternal truth that the Lord rules heaven and earth, and also that no one besides the Lord lives of himself, consequently that everything of life flows into [a person]. The good of life flows in from the Lord, and the evil of life from hell. This is the faith of the heavens. When a person is in this faith (and he can be in it when he is in good), then evil cannot be fastened and appropriated to him, because he knows that it is not from himself, but from hell. When a person is in this state, he can then be gifted with peace, for then he will trust solely in the Lord. Neither can peace be given to any others than those who are in this faith from charity; for others continually cast themselves into anxieties and evil desires, whence come intranquilities. Spirits who desire to direct themselves, suppose that this would be to lose their own will, thus their freedom, consequently all delight, thus all life and its sweetness. They say and suppose this because they do not know how the case really is; for the person who is led by the Lord is in freedom itself, and thus in delight and bliss itself; goods and truths are appropriated to him; he is given an affection and desire for doing what is good, and then nothing is more delightful to him than to perform uses. He is given a perception of good, and also a sensation of it; and he is given intelligence and wisdom; and all these as if his own; for he is then a recipient of the Lord’s life.” (Arcana Coelestia 6325)
In the Lord’s third appearance after the resurrection (as recorded in the gospel of John), He told His disciples, who’d been fishing unsuccessfully all night, to cast their nets on the right side of their boat. When they did, they came up with a net full of fish – 153, to be exact. What is the significance of fishing on the right side of the ship? I think a key to understanding this story is to look at the way “the right side” shows up throughout the Word. God is described as saving His people with His “right arm.” And Jesus described the separation between the good and the evil in terms of sheep on the right and goats on the left. The right side seems to be an image a.) of God’s power and b.) of charity, a reading affirmed in the theological works of Emanuel Swedenborg. This morning, I preached on this story from John, with this interpretation of “the right side” in mind. The audio is available for listening or download here. (Sorry, I still haven’t figured out how to embed audio on the blog).
Readings: Psalm 22; Luke 23:26-56; Arcana Coelestia 1812
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
Imagine. The Lord was being nailed to a cross, His flesh pierced by nails. He had done nothing wrong. He had never acted out of anything other than a desire to save people, to offer them the gift of eternal life. In return, He had been spat on and beaten and mocked. But on being crucified, He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He had the power to call down fire from heaven to consume them; He could have easily come down from the cross; He could have condemned them eternally to hell. But He did not. He only said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
What was the Lord going through at that point? The account we read in Luke does not give us all the answers, but from other gospels we see signs that on the cross, the Lord was in great torment. In Matthew and Mark, it is recorded that He cried out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” Those words echo Psalm 22, which we read this evening. It is a psalm of desolation – “My power is dried up as a potsherd; and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and You have set me on the dust of death.” (Psalm 22:15) On the cross, the Lord was experiencing intense temptation, pain, and almost complete despair, far beyond anything you or I have ever experienced. It was worse than the worst physical pain you’ve ever felt, worse than the worst emotional pain. And in that pain, the Lord said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
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