Brisbane New Church (QLD)

August and September 2009

Editorial

Holding on to hope about ourselves

Over the years of my ministry I have rarely met any one connected with our Church who has spoken assuredly of their salvation, as if it was all cut and dried. There have been one or two, but most have been unsure, even at times despairing; a despair that has come of a yearning for change of which they see little or no sign. Maybe it is the same with you. You have long committed to regeneration and yet thoughts come into your mind, feelings are awakened in your heart, perhaps animosities or contempt is unexpectedly aroused; such as makes you wonder if you have made any progress towards a more spiritually-orientated life whatsoever. “I don’t feel I will ever be good enough” I heard one person once say. And this is what a lot of people seem to think about themselves. They are not good enough and will never be.

Thinking about it, there is a lot that is positive about this. Humility, born of an awareness of shortcomings and failure to live up to the Lord’s teachings and ideals, can only be a good thing. But there is at the same time the danger of it going too far. Amongst those I have referred to have been those who see themselves in a quite hopeless light and speak of themselves surely destined for hell. We may cringe in the face of what comes across as being self-certainty, but there are very good reasons for being concerned at what comes across as hopelessness and despair.

A considerable percentage of that despair arises from the recollection of things done (or not done) and said in the past. Shadows fall across us at the memories of hurtful things and foolishness, of rampant self love and self-centredness. And in this regard hopefully it is helpful to remember two things.
First, the awakening of such memories is a purposeful strategy of the hells to grind us down. They use these things “to incriminate and condemn us”. (See Arcana Caelestia 8159). And we have to resist engaging with their activity and by so doing giving them power over us.
Secondly, and importantly, the Lord Himself has no interest – no interest, whatsoever – in our past; only in the present and to where He can lead us from where we are right at this moment. It is one of my favourite texts from Scripture, “Who is blind but my servant, or deaf, as my messenger whom I send?” (Isaiah 42:19). “The reason He is called blind and deaf”, we read, “is because the Lord is as if He does not see and perceive the sins of men, for He leads men gently, bending and not breaking them, thus withdrawing them from evils and leading them to good; wherefore neither does He chastise or punish, as if He saw and perceived.” (Apocalypse Explained 409:2).

Another point to be borne in mind here is that, and mostly unconscious of it happening as we are, as regeneration progresses we cannot but become more sensitive to what is negative and smothering of the Lord’s life of love and wisdom flowing into our lives. Hand in hand with the progress of regeneration comes a more developed conscience. We come to feel so much worse about things that only mildly troubled us, if they troubled us not all, in times gone past. And so the anguish we now feel, causing us to question any progress in regeneration, may in fact highlight the opposite – that is, the extent to which regeneration has progressed.

Our Church’s Teachings, in the Writings, have it that there are indicators of where we are at, spiritually; signs against which we can check ourselves; all to do with the things that delight us. Does connecting with the Lord delight us? Does reading the Word delight us? Does the happiness of others delight us? Does being useful delight us? Or, are these things undelightful and a burden to us? (See, for instance, Arcana Caelestia 3796:3, etc). Even so, useful as it can be to run such a check on ourselves, it can only be a window – or insight into – where we are, spiritually, presently. It is not necessarily the permanent picture. So, we live with an element of uncertainty, as the Lord – for understandable reasons – wishes it to be. Certainty could lead to spiritual smugness, on the one hand, or total abandonment of effort on the other.

Speaking of the Lord, what is wonderful, and insisted on, is that He doesn’t ask big things of us. He is not seeking our being perfect people or an advanced state of regeneration, in this world. So long as heaven has a foothold with us, however tenuous, it’s all that is necessary. So long as conscience is still active with us, in however narrow a field that may be, it is a sign that the angels are in connection and they can build on that connection when we pass into the spiritual world.
It is all there in the parable of the mustard seed! “If anyone” we read “by fighting against evils because they are sins, acquires for himself in the world something of spiritual life, even though very little, he is saved and his uses afterwards increase, like a mustard seed growing into a tree, according to the Lord’s words in Matthew 13:22, Mark 4:30-32 and Luke 13: 18-19.” (Divine Love and Divine Wisdom) XVII)

As long as it is something, though it is very little. I find this very encouraging and hope you do too.


The Lord bless and keep you always,

Ian

“The Lord comes to a person constantly, bringing good to him, and also truth within that good; but the person either accepts this or does not accept it. If he accepts it all is well with him; but if he does not accept it, all is ill. If, while not accepting it, he feels worried, described here as ‘anguish of soul’, the hope exists that he can be reformed; but if he has not such feeling, the hope disappears…
If therefore a person when he inclines to evils…feels at all disturbed when he reflects on an evil deed he has committed, this is a sign that he will nevertheless accept what flows into him from heaven through the angels. It is also a sign that subsequently he will allow himself to be reformed. But if he does not feel in any way disturbed when he reflects on an evil deed he has committed, this is a sign that he no longer wishes to accept what flows into him from heaven through the angels; and it is a sign too that subsequently he will not allow himself to be reformed…
With people who feel disturbed an internal recognition of evil is present; and when the Lord calls that recognition to mind it becomes confession and finally penitence.” Arcana Caelestia 5470

Ian now the Honorary Pastor

As of June 30^th Ian became the Honorary Pastor of The Brisbane Society and for the New Church in south-east Queensland.
This is an interim arrangement for the hope is that the way will open up in the not too distant future to appoint a successor to Ian to serve the Church here.
This is Ian’s 7^th year as our Minster and as Honorary Pastor he will continue to lead Family and special Services, to co-lead the 2^nd Sunday of the month Spiritual Healing and Meditation Services and our Services on the Gold Coast.
Incorporated into this arrangement is Brisbane Society’s support for his work in the Philippines and in South Africa.

Gaye Heldon, Secretary

A note about the August Family Service

We will be welcoming family and friends of Greg and Jenny Lee to this Service during which their daughter Isabella is to be baptised.
The Service itself will be much like our Family Services are and the children present will leave for classes and activities after the baptism. Visiting children, of whom there will be some, will be invited to join them.

Holy Supper will not, however, be incorporated into the Service. Instead, and after a light lunch and celebration of the baptism, those who wish to are invited to quietly gather in the church around 12.30 to 12. 45 p. m for a brief Holy Supper Service before leaving for home.
Contributions to a special light lunch will as usual be welcome.

When a Sunday Church Service is not being held

Just at present and for a variety of reasons we are not holding Services on the 4^th Sundays of the month. It might be thought that this is not ideal and yet practicalities and people’s availability to support Services every Sunday come into it.
Rather than being a negative it can, however, be a positive and an opportunity.
For some, I know, it is an opportunity to watch “Songs of Praise” on ABC TV at 11.30 a.m. and that’s great.
Apart from that (or additional to it!) there are now locally produced DVD’s of New Church Services available which I am more than happy to loan out. And there are copies of printed sermons (many of them) which you can have to read and reflect on.
You can also go on the web and enjoy videoed Services and sermons. See how you go on
http:///www.newchurchaudio.org/index_html

What is more, you can choose your own time on that 4^th Sunday morning, via a DVD, a printed sermon, or the web, for what can be a very meaningful worship experience.

Ian

Notice of the Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting of the Society will be held in the Church Hall on Sunday, October 18^th at approximately 11.15 a.m. and after a short devotional Service that day in the Church, commencing at the usual time of 10.30 a.m.
The aim will be to distribute Reports beforehand.

Please make a note of this date in your diary now.

Gaye Heldon, Secretary

Marriages in heaven

It’s a lovely thing, really, that when an elderly remaining parent passes on family left will often speak of Mum and Dad “Reunited again” or “Together again”. Possibly, and like ourselves, you have seen such a statement inscribed on gravestones and it will be there from time to time in a Death announcement. It’s more than just a wish or a hope. It comes from deep within people, that this is how it will be. “Together again”. It’s almost as if we know it will be so.
That there is marriage in heaven is very much what we believe in the New Church. Gender is first and foremost a matter of spirit which manifests in our physicality. We are and will always remain male or female finding completeness in the one to one relationship of marriage.
How, though, does it stack up with the well-known and often quoted words of Jesus that “those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage.” (Luke 20:35)?
For one thing, and as is always the case, context is very important. At the time the Sadducees were baiting Jesus, trying to corner Him and ridicule Him. They were people who did not believe in resurrection and had an earthy, ‘ownership’ attitude to marriage. Of course marriage such as that wouldn’t exist in heaven, one sided, a dominant and controlling husband, etc.
But there is more to it still.
In a recent issue of the magazine, “Things Heard and Seen”, the magazine of The Swedenborg Society, London, there was a reference to the Translators Introduction to the 1996 new translation of the book. “Conjugial Love”. The translator, (the late) Dr. John Chadwick, a renowned and widely respected Cambridge scholar and linguist, made reference there to these words of Jesus and wrote:
“The wording of this passage is important. Both the original Greek and the Latin translation used by Swedenborg show that the reference is to weddings, the process of getting married, not to the continuing state of matrimony. The two verbs refer respectively to the bridegroom and the bride.”
What a difference this makes to the meaning here of what Jesus taught

The Sadducees had been trying to set Jesus up by recounting to him the story of a woman who had married, in turn, seven brothers, all of whom in succession had died. Wedding after wedding.
Jesus is saying that in heaven it is not like that, wedding after wedding. To the contrary, (and being something opened up for us in the Writings) heaven is about an ever-deepening marriage relationship, continuity and harmony. And the wedding, as such, is already in place as an angel pair emerges into heaven and to their place and use there.


Continuing on this subject of marriages in heaven, I hope you will be interested in the following:

Hello Ian,

At your request, I’m writing about the wording for the last of the “CORE TEACHINGS” listed on page 11 of the June and July “Breaking Bread”, which reads,
Marriage can last forever for God blessed people with a special love in marriage that goes on after death, even to eternity.

I’m on a bit of a mission born of years of work with women made miserable by false ideas about the true teachings in the book, “Conjugial Love”. The true teachings are so needed and blurry understanding can be so damaging.
I wonder if a study of the book to find more careful wording to express the core value of marriage could be helpful and even vitally important at some moments to some people. Making the proper distinctions between our natural experience and the truth about heavenly marriage in such a statement is challenging – but confusing levels of teachings about marriage causes too much suffering to ignore it. Here is my response to your challenge to give it a try”
The holiness of marriage on earth comes from the marriage of good and truth in God. Living in orderly marriage on earth opens the way to blessings for Society as a whole, and, as part of an effort to live a new life from the Lord’s will, living in orderly marriage on earth prepares us for the blessing of an eternal, harmonious marriage in heaven.

With respect and warm affection for your work toward a world transformed by the New Heaven-

Gray Glenn.

Upcoming events more widely afield

David Millar, Director of Spiritual Studies at The Australian New Church College, has advised dates for a 2^nd intensive Seminar for 2009.
It is to be held in Canberra from the 23^rd to the 26^th October.
Just read the Report of the May Seminar held in Brisbane, in the current Winter issue of “The New Age” to see how much enjoyed and appreciated it was.
Should you be interested you can contact David direct via email on
d.w.millar@newchurch.org.au
Or, phone
08 8277 1891

And, a reminder about the Summer Camp to be held at Eleanora Heights, just inland from Sydney’s northern beaches, from, January 4^th to 10^th. Applications forms have been received and are available.

Highlights of the past two months

We celebrated “New Church Day” with a special Service and lovely hot lunch afterwards, in the Hall, on Sunday, June 21^st. “New Church Day” is all about the birthday of the New Church; “Church” in the sense of a new spiritual Age breaking in over the world foretold in the description of the holy city, New Jerusalem, descending from God out of heaven (Revelation Chapters 21 and 22).
Tables were placed in a rectangle so that everyone was facing each other and making possible excellent, lively and uplifting conversation. It provided opportunity, too, for the reading of greetings from around Australia and New Zealand.

The following weekend The Swedenborg Centre in Sydney had a stall at the Festival of mind, Body & Spirit held at the Brisbane Showgrounds. Neville and Alexis Jarvis had driven up from Sydney for it and were on deck throughout, 9 a m to 6 p m, with short breaks now and again and they appreciated local assistance several of us were able to give. Interest and sale of books and CD’s was moderate, even disappointing. The aisles at times were crowded and when they were people seemed intent on shuffling along through them and avoid blocking others behind them. For all that there were some interesting contacts made and there have been 2 follow up phone calls from people wanting to take their interest further.

oOo

Invariably visitors notice and comment on the slightly different wording of the version of the Lord’s Prayer we use in the New Church. In fact the version we use is Scriptural and from Matthew’s Gospel.
With regard to “debts” and “debtors”, instead of “trespass” and “those who trespass against us”, you might find what follows is helpful.

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Matthew 6:12

To forgive is to forget or remit. Here we ask our Farther to forgive us, but only as we in turn forgive one another. But what are debts? Something we owe. What do we owe our Father? We owe Him the love of heart, soul, mind and strength, as his first commandment teaches.
In so far as this love is lacking we are in debt. And we owe love to our neighbour, equal to the love we have for ourselves: where this is wanting, we are in debt to one another. As we forgive our neighbour’s debt, we can ask our Father to forgive us our debts.

Prayer: You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon You.

From “Daily Readings from the Word by Reg Lang

Church contact details

The Church itself is at 21 Agars Street, Rosalie, just up from Baroona Road. Services on Sunday at 10.30 a.m. See Calendar, page 12
For activities on the Gold Coast contact Mrs Gaye Heldon on 5577 8772, and for details of Mt. Tamborine meetings, contact Mr. Kevin Attwater on 5545 2401.
Minister: Rev Ian Arnold, contactable on 3841 2552 (home). Email – im.arnold@bigpond.com
Home address: 12 Norell Place, Wishart Outlook, Eight Mile Plains, 4113.
Secretary: Mrs Gaye Heldon, contactable on 5577 8772
Address: P. O. Box 359, Sanctuary Cove, Qld. 4212