How did I get here? A week ago, I disembarked from a very long airplane flight onto Australian ground. Almost from that moment, I've felt welcomed in this country on the other side of the world from home. Three intrepid souls (Murray, Margaret, and Angela) were there to greet me at 6 in the morning, having woken up even earlier to get to the airport. I've been invited to dinner, shown around Sydney, and welcomed by everyone I've come into contact with. I've been blessed by the friendliness and generosity of the Hurstville Society.

How I got here, though, goes back before the long plane flight from Los Angeles to Sydney, before the flight from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. Several months ago, Andy Dibb, Dean of the Academy of the New Church Theological School (where I have just finished my second year of a three-year program), asked me if I wanted to spend the summer in Australia, helping out with the Hurstville Society. My answer, of course, was yes - I've always dreamed of going to Australia, and here was my dream come true. Besides that, I would be able to put the things I'd been learning in theological school to use - to serve people. After some brief negotiations about the time-frame (mostly based on weddings I couldn't miss), it was settled: I would go to Hurstville, arriving there on the 17th of June departing 5th of August.

And so, here I am.

During my time in Hurstville, I hope to contribute to the society in any way I can. I will be leading worship services on Sundays and giving doctrinal classes. I will also be spending a fair amount of time working on my dissertation for Theological School, which is on the subject of Remnants (ask me about it!). From 16 July to 23 July I'll be visiting the Perth society; other than that week, I'll usually be in the office during the day on Tuesday through Friday. Feel free to stop by any time!

The story of how I got here, of course, goes back long before my meeting with Andy Dibb. Arcana Coelestia n. 1755 says, "But the Lord foresees and sees all things in both general and particular, and provides and disposes for them." The Lord is guiding all things. He led me here to Hurstville so that He can touch the lives both of myself and the Hurstville society in ways that we cannot possibly imagine. It's an exciting journey, and I'm thrilled to share it with you.

Coleman

In True Christian Religion, Swedenborg wrote that the second coming was taking place in the internal sense of the Word "by means of a man, who can not only receive intellectually the doctrines of this church, but also publish them in print." The Lord made His second coming as the internal sense within the letter of the Word; and He did this by means of the books of the Writings. Every one of those books has a different, unique message; and together they constitute the Heavenly Doctrine. The following is a brief summary of all the works published by Swedenborg, as well as several that were published after his death:

Published works:

Arcana Coelestia (1749-1756)
This 12-volume work reveals the internal sense of Genesis and Exodus. It particularly focuses on the processes of regeneration and the Lord's glorification.

Heaven and Hell (1758)
This book describes the way that the Lord Jesus Christ governs heaven, hell, and the intermediate World of Spirits.

The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine (1758)
This book provides the doctrines for the New Church in short summary form.

The Last Judgment (1758)
This book shows how the Last Judgment was a spiritual event, rather than a natural one, which took place in 1757.

The White Horse (1758)
This short book explains the internal sense of the rider on the White Horse from chapter 19 of Revelation, followed by a list of references to Arcana Coelestia about the internal sense of the word.

Earths in the Universe (1758)
This describes the lives of spirits on other planets, both in our solar system and in "the starry heavens." It shows that the Lord governs the whole universe, which was created for the sake of human beings everywhere.

Doctrine of the Lord (1763)
Often published together with Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture and Doctrine of Life, and Doctrine of Faith as Four Doctrines. This book describes Who the Lord is, and shows that He is God Himself. All of the "Four Doctrines" show how the doctrine is based on the letter of the Word.

Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture (1763)
This book shows what it means that the Word is the Lord, and it explains the power of the literal sense, which contains a spiritual sense within it.

Doctrine of the Life (1763)
This book shows that "all religion has relation to life, and the life of religion is to do good."

Doctrine of Faith (1763)
This book shows that true faith is "an internal acknowledgment of truth," and that only people who are in charity can have true faith. 

Continuation Concerning the Last Judgment (1763)
This book is a continuation of The Last Judgment published in 1758, covering the state of the world after the judgment as well as the details of the judgment on the Protestant Church.

Divine Love and Wisdom (1763)
This book is a philosophical, analytical examination of God, creation, and humanity. It's primary message is that the Lord is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, and that everything in the universe exists as a result of the marriage of Love and Wisdom.

Divine Providence (1764)
This book is about the how the Lord governs creation. It answers questions such as, "Why does God permit evil?" and "How can people be free if God governs everything?"

Apocalypse Revealed (1766)
This book is an explanation of the internal sense of the book of Revelation. It describes the judgment on the Christian Church and the creation of a New Church.

Conjugial Love (1768)
Also called Married Love. This book is about love in marriage. The purpose of the book is to show that marriage love comes from a heavenly source, that it exists to the extent that a couple approaches the Lord and lives by the truth, and that adultery is completely opposed to this love.

Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem (1769)
This is a brief summary of the doctrines of the New Church. Specifically, it details the differences between the existing Christian doctrine and the New Church doctrine.

Interaction of the Soul and Body (1769)
This is a very short, philosophical booklet that describes the way that life flows into the world and into a person from the Lord through heaven, rather than being something innate in the natural world.

True Christian Religion (1771)
This is a thorough presentation of the basic doctrines of the New Church, supported with quotes from the Bible, rational arguments, and stories from Swedenborg's experience in the other world.

Selected works published after Swedenborg's death:

Spiritual Diary
Also published as Spiritual Experiences. This is Swedenborg's own personal diary of his spiritual experiences, which he kept from 1747 to 1765.

Apocalypse Explained
This describes the internal sense of Revelation in much more detail that Apocalypse Revealed. It covers all of Revelation up until halfway through chapter 19 (out of 22 chapters).

Doctrine of Charity
Swedenborg only wrote a rough draft of this book. It describes true charity, and examines the various different kinds of charity. A shorter version of the same material is included in True Christian Religion in the chapter on "Charity."

Prophets and Psalms
This book, apparently never intended for publication, includes brief summaries of the internal sense of every Psalm and every book of all the Prophets.

All of these different books have different focuses, different approaches, and different subjects. But all of them have the same message. Apocalypse Revealed n. 903 sums it up: "All things of the doctrine of the New Jerusalem are related to love directed to the Lord and to love towards the neighbour. Love directed to the Lord is to have faith in the Lord and do His precepts, and to do His precepts is love towards the neighbour, since to do His precepts is to do uses to the neighbour."

(Note: a more detailed version of the descriptions of the books of the Writings is available in the Hurstville New Church book centre, or by email to coleman.glenn@gmail.com)

The Rt. Rev. Thomas L. Kline has appointed the Rev. Grant D. Schnarr pastor of the new Online Church. David Childs is the lay Director of this important new outreach initiative. An experienced minister also is needed to be the pastor of this online extension of the Church.

Grant Schnarr formed a New Church group when he was Pastor in Chicago, then headed the Office of Outreach for many years before being called as Assistant Pastor in Bryn Athyn. He has written several books to help spread the Church, the most recent being, "You Can Believe."

 Our driving purpose is to reach new people, to share the Second Coming by leveraging technology and the internet. We are studying growth churches and the various processes leaders in this field use.

The most successful growth churches use technology to share a high-quality message with a live audience. That message is broadcast to many locations, each with its own music, leader, community and service teams, making each location feel connected to the church as a whole. The messages are fully engaging and use everyday language that is simple, direct and challenging. They use technology to share a living church. (See www.lifechurch.tv and look for the countdown.)

Leaders are amazingly consistent in their goals. They deliver a Word-based message that is relevant, engaging and helpful. They have developed a highly efficient process for sharing quality messages and for bringing newcomers into community, creating deep, lasting relationships. They also share a strong commitment to serving others in need.

Sunday is a major production. Every age group has a place to be comfortable. Multiple venues allow for music and staging to match a variety of tastes. One leading church (www.northpoint.org) uses a foyer, living room, kitchen approach for every age group - especially newcomers - feel comfortable, engaged and connected. The goal is to make the environment so attractive, it alone will bring you back. Small groups form for every new series, to bring people together in a mission to serve and to match people's needs. People are given multiple ways to answer the call to service and truly BE the church. The goal of becoming a great growth church that reaches newcomers with the Second Coming takes a broad team of talented people dedicated to the cause.

Our next step is to visit some of the most effective and attractive churches to learn more, then share best practices and create a common vision for sharing the Second Coming. Using teamwork and technology, we will leverage the vast array of talent in our Church to share the Second Coming.

Watch out world!

 Rev Julian Duckworth has recently sent a DVD containing a church service he recorded in conjunction with Roseville member Michael Chester.

Julian writes "I'm emailing about a DVD recording I've done of a service. It wasn't done 'live' but separately. The picture and sound quality are excellent. Each section is tracked. There are 7 tracks. There is no music or hymns so that if those were wanted, the DVD could be paused and restarted.

The service runs for 45 minutes as is. There is an explanation (1), Introduction to theme (2) Prayer and Lord's Prayer (3), Bible reading (4), Swedenborg reading (5), Address (6) and Closing Prayer and Blessing (7). It is a standard service as such.

It is best watched on the large screen using multimedia projector, but could be viewed closer on a TV screen. I am making a dozen copies and would very much like societies (or individual people) to do a trial and provide honest feedback. It could be done as a service during service time (best I guess) or just watched individually by a few people.

If, after improvement, it's seen to be of value, it really is an easy thing to record and copy and send. Michael Chester who did the recording, says that with high speed recording, 5 such services could be contained on one DVD.

I guess I should add that my reason for doing it is that as we move into new approaches, providing this can cover those people who do like a devotional service. So it becomes both/and rather than an either/or. In having fewer active ministers something like this seems as if it might be helpful."

Our plan at Hursville at this stage is to show the DVD in place of a doctrinal class in say September and then have a discussion about what people think: how it could be used in Hurstville, in small groups, what improvements people suggest, do you like it or not like it etc etc.

Bishop Brian Keith wrote recently to say that Bishop Alfred Acton will be unable to visit Australia next January/February due to personal reasons and is unlikely to be able to come at any other time. Bishop Keith is attempting to find ministers who might consider coming to Australia and has asked us whether we might consider shorter visits than the preferred 3 months.

Our preference for 3 months is because in bringing couples to Australia the 3 month time period spreads the cost of the airfares out. Another reason is that 3 months seems to work better for getting some form of relationship with the people of the congregation as well as more opportunity to visit New Church people in other parts of Australia.

Nevertheless what do you think? If the alternative is to go six months of more without a minister should we consider a shorter visit?

 Booking forms for next January's Summer Camp from Saturday 10th to Thursday 15th have arrived. Full details are included and forms are available from the Hurstville New Church or from Rev Chris Skinner. The deadline for bookings will be 1st October . For more information see last month's newsletter or www.cyc.org.au

 At the last society meeting a suggestion was made that we consider not holding church one Sunday per month and response so far appears to be in favour. Whilst we did not anticipate doing this till later in the year a situation has arisen on Sunday 20th July which seems to make sense to not hold church on that day. Coleman Glenn will be visiting the Perth group and the Owen Heldon family (including our two musicians) will be out of town. In place of a service in Hurstville people are encouraged to attend the Roseville New Church.

Coleman Glenn will be giving a series of doctrinal classes on the topic "The Five Laws of Divine Providence." The book Divine Providence says, "The laws of the Divine Providence are interior truths, hitherto concealed within the wisdom of the angels; but they are now to be revealed in order that what belongs to the Lord may be ascribed to Him, and what does not belong to man may not be ascribed to any man" (n. 70). In our classes we will discuss how the laws of the Divine Providence affect our daily lives. We'll cover the first law on 4th July, the second and third laws on Monday 14th July, and the fourth and fifth laws on 1st August. Hope to see you there!

Baringa Renovations: Those attending the New Church Day service and luncheon were able to enjoy the renovations of Baringa finished just a few days earlier. The building has been painted inside throughout and new carpet laid in the office, hallway and bedrooms. The only remaining renovation item to be done is the installation of new vinyl in the kitchen due to take place on 30th June (though the big job of sorting through books etc is still ongoing). Special thanks go to the team of people who combined to move furniture, books and other items to enable the renovations to take place. Many people helped but special mention should go to Ralph Horner (hope your bad back is improving Ralph) and to Margaret Heldon who spent days helping in so many ways. A very big but worthwhile project.

New Church Day Celebrations: Sunday 22nd June was a special day in more ways than one. Coleman Glenn delivered his first sermon in Hurstville on the topic "The Woman Clothed with the Sun" showing that this story has a very personal message to us today quite apart from its relevance to the birth of the New Church. The service was followed by a most enjoyable luncheon (special thanks to Lori Heldon). During the meal Coleman spoke about how he came into the ministry as well as giving us a summary in a nutshell of each of the books of the Writings.

It was also great to see several people at the luncheon who have not been able to make it for some time. Welcome back to Shirley Taylor and Gail and George Marcou.

Unfortunately unable to make it on New Church Day were two of our regulars, Jan Lindsay and Margaret Ward both of whom have undergone successful heart operations. They are both home now and recovering though it will be six weeks before they are able to drive. They both send their regards to everyone. We are thinking of you, Jan and Margaret.

Many of you will remember one of our interns, a charming young lady named Angela Allen. Angela sent a very happy email complete with pictures of THE RING following her engagement to Josh Cooper. Also in news from overseas Kerstin (nee Sandstrom) and Tomoya have a second child, this time a little girl called Mikaela Sanai. Maybe that is Japanese for beautiful???

In other Sandstrom news Ryan Sandstrom has now completed his first year as a theological student He is featured in the recent "Around the Church" publication about his outreach work in Missouri.

Coleman Glenn will be spending 3 days in Canberra visiting New Church people from 8th to 10th July.

Happy Birthday to Lachlan Hinds (9th), James Kermond (10th), Babbette Horner (14th)

Note: All events are located at the church at 22 Dudley St, Penshurst 2222 (off Hillcrest Ave) unless otherwise stated. Contact the Hurstville New Church on (02) 9580 1589 for more information or email us at newchurch@optusnet.com.au All are welcome and refreshments are served after church each Sunday.
Friday	4th July	7.00 p.m. Tea and Class
Sunday	6th July	10 00 a.m. Worship
Tue to Thurs	8th to 10th July	Coleman Glenn in Canberra
Friday	11th July	6 00 p.m. Young People (at Hurstville)
Sunday	13th July	10.00 a.m. Worship
Monday	14th July	7 30 p.m. Doctrinal Class
Wed to Wed	16th to 23rd July	Coleman Glenn in Perth
Sunday	20th July	NO CHURCH AT HURSTVILLE
Sunday	27th July	10. 00 a.m. Worship (Holy Supper)
Friday	1st August	7. 00 p.m. Tea and Class