"We cannot hallow this ground," said Lincoln, "the brave men living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract."

Many of us could recite the words when we were in grade school. We could hardly grasp the import of this Gettysburg address. I gained a new grasp upon reading a remarkable new book. It is all about death and the civil war. The title is "This Republic of Suffering" Knopf, New York 2008.

The author, Drew Gilpin Faust, President of Harvard University, spent years putting the volume together. It contains numerous photographs and sketches of graves, of soldiers, of fields of battle, of women dressed in mourning.

Faust speaks of an impact on this country "that history has not adequately understood or recognized." She lets us see our country as a nation "transformed by its encounter with death."

There are touching poems one of which speaks of:
Many a grave that lies so lone,
Without a name and without a stone.

And when there were gravestones, they sometimes bore only one word, "Unknown." There seemed to be funerals everywhere. "There is not a household exempt from the universal lamentation which ascends from a grief stricken people" (page 171).

"This was more than an abstract intellectual issue for the hundreds of thousands of Americans bereaved by the war. Loss demanded an explanation that satisfied hearts as well as minds." (page 174)

"The very questions of life and death took on new salience" (page 251).

People of different religions felt closer together in "an unprecedented level of religious interactions and cooperation" (page 7). Among those who provided satisfying words was a young woman named Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. I was surprised to learn that her book, "The Gates Ajar," was the second best-selling book of the 19th century. It was reprinted 55 times.

Phelps was one of the writers who brought to public attention striking things about heaven as reported by Emanuel Swedenborg. This brings me to a part of Faust's book that really caught my attention. On page 178 she emphasises the historic significance of the book "Heaven and Hell". It helped bring about "a softening view of heaven." "Swedenborg and thinkers influenced by his views created the foundation for what now came to seem a necessary component of an adequately consoling portrait of paradise" (page 179).

So, one outcome at that point in history was a benefit for many from "Swedenborg's comforting ideas about heaven" (page 182).

This focus on the Swedenborg ingredient is only one facet of this historic piece of writing. It is a book of broad perspectives. The author brings to us grand panoramas and she zooms in on intimate particulars. A soldier cherishes a letter from his wife who writes of her greatest comfort, the belief that if he should fall in battle, "you will rest in heaven". If it were not for that belief and hope, she wrote, "I never could bear up under the present distress."

One man went unscathed through the battles until the last month of the war. He died only days before it was over. He left a letter to his wife telling her not to grieve for him because he would see her again in "bright mansions above" (page 176).

We think of such individuals, and we think of those vast numbers as we return to Lincoln's address:

From these honoured dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God, shall have a new birth of freedom."

One thing is certain about human life: every reasonable person wants to be free from trouble and fear all the days of our life. There is nothing more debilitating and humiliating than trouble and fear. What a profound blessing it is to know that the Lord is with us all the days of our life. As we learn from The Book of Joshua, "for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9).

When we accept this beautiful truth and live it all the days of our life, we have complete trust in the Lord's presence and we are always full of hope that what we do will be useful to the neighbour. This new state is a state of becoming more and more free from the love of self. When we are dominated by the love of self, our lives are extremely narrow so that our predominant thoughts and intentions are about our own welfare and happiness and not about the welfare and happiness of the neighbour.

What a delight it is to step away from being dominated by the love of self and instead to work for the Lord and for the neighbour. Our lives take on a more significant meaning from the inflow of life from the Lord. It is like going from a country that is unclean and without legitimate laws and going to a country where truth and justice reign. In this new state, everything we experience and do is full of joy and hope.

It is true of course that we shall still have our daily chores to do, including our obligations to the neighbour. Even so, as we do these things our minds are filled with the Lord's leading so that what may have been a burden before is now a part of our delight in living a useful and happy life. Truly, it is like stepping forth from a state of prison into a state of freedom.

In this new enlightened state, we are able to examine our situation and come to see that the Lord is always providing opportunities for us to follow His ways and to obey His commandments. What we have to do is to look to the Lord and His Word for guidance in every part of our lives. Then every step we take is a step forward to joyfulness and cheerfulness and thus away from trouble and fear.

Let us seize this day as the day the Lord has given us to liberate us forever free from trouble and fear.

"Nothing is permitted unless some good may come of it." Arcana Coelestia 6574

Bill Hall. Thursday, August 21, 2008

The famous Russian writer has died at the age of 89. When he was a young soldier he dared to write a criticism of Joseph Stalin, and for this was sent to a harsh prison camp. Despite suffering terribly he continued to write secretly at night, novels and articles expositing the crimes and inhumanity of the leaders of the Communist Soviet Union.

Somehow these found their way to influential newspapers and magazines and Solzenitsyn is credited with playing a big part in the eventual collapse of Communist totalitarianism.

So far I have not read any of his works, but a saying of his when he was exiled from Russia sticks in the memory. He said, "A nation's worst troubles begin when it forgets God." Much of the trouble in the world today can be attributed to people forgetting the loving God.

Philip Adams, well-known Australian journalist says that Solzenitsyn cured him of his liking for Communism. Perhaps Swedenborg could cure him of his atheism too.

Norman Heldon

Norman Heldon has extracted a story from the Wall Street Journal in which the two United States presidential rivals were asked a range of questions including one on faith. This is what they said about faith.

Senator Obama "I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins and that I am redeemed through him."

Senator McCain asked what faith meant to him said "It means I'm saved and forgiven."

In her book The Simple Path Mother Teresa mentions that the following inspirational poem was written on the wall of a children's home in Calcutta.

Take Time to THINK . . .
It is the source of power.

Take Time to PLAY . . .
It is the secret of perpetual youth.

Take Time to READ . . .
It is the fountain of wisdom.

Take Time to PRAY . . .
It is the greatest power on earth.

Take Time to LOVE and
BE LOVED.

It is a God given privilege.

 

Take Time to BE FRIENDLY . . .
It is the road to happiness.

Take Time to LAUGH . . .
It is the music of the soul.

Take Time to GIVE . . .
It is too short a day to be selfish.

Take Time to WORK . . .
It is the price of success.

Take Time to DO CHARITY . .
It is the key to heaven.

A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald reported that technology may hold the key to the future for many small rural churches. The article specifically reported on the tiny town of Beeac in South West Victoria which recently used a direct internet link with a large city church to share a morning worship service.

The Glen Waverley Uniting Church in Melbourne was able to stream its 11 am Sunday morning worship service directly onto a large screen in Beeac. The 1862 bluestone building where the Uniting Church congregation of about 20 meets is the town's oldest building and last remaining church.

Although the core church group is aged 50 up, there are a couple of young families and the church is optimistic for the future. The article reported that the two score at Beeac watching the service projected on to their front wall knew all the music and sang with gusto, and members of the parish were included in the prayers. "It was perfect," one of the parishioners said. "We'll do it again in three weeks."

The transmission is only one-way now because of bandwidth capability, but there is hope it will soon be two-way. Meanwhile, Beeac parishioners will talk to the city worship team before the service so local concerns are included.

(Many of you will remember Angela Allen who was an intern at Hurstville and did a lot of work helping us prepare for our 100th Anniversary celebrations in 2005.)

I just wanted to write to all of you because I have been thinking of my time down there quite a bit lately. I feel like it has been such a long time since I reached out to any of you and got an update about how life is going for all my Australian friends.

As you all know I recently became engaged. Life is quite exciting making all the plans for our big day. Our date is set for November 22nd (yes, of this year!). I never realized just how much there is to plan, but we are having fun with it. I hope that you will get to meet Josh sometime. I think you will all like him very much. We are also starting to look at houses which is very exciting and incredibly scary at the same time.

I have also started a new job working for a new project with the General Church. We are working on creating programming that is available online to support our community of people around the world. We are still in the developmental stages of constructing this program, but I am already loving it. My role in this project is to help people around the world learn how to use these resources. A lot of this programming is also going to support growth and outreach to new people as a part of the strategic plan (of reaching one million people) for the General Church.

There will be a variety of ways that people and societies can get involved. We will be broadcasting our sermons live through two main avenues. One will be through a satellite connection, and the second will be live online. This will be helpful for societies like yours without a pastor because you can still create your own Sunday program, however you would be able to tune in for the message each week. This will also help to grow new areas where people are finding out about the new church, but aren't near a society. They will be able to listen to the messages and feel connected.

We will also be providing a lot of community outreach to help people feel connected. One of the main projects that I am working on is creating small group material so that people can get together, listen to the sermons (or excerpts of them) and then have some discussion questions and tasks to work on throughout the week. This will be very similar to the Journey program if any of you are familiar with that, however it will run throughout the year. We have seen with other small groups that it really makes the messages come alive and provides a connection with other people in our community in a very vibrant way.

Anyway, as I said this is all in a very developmental stage, but as I am forming my role in this project my mind keeps drifting back to my time visiting Hurstville. I know this was a very difficult time for your society and that you have been without a pastor since then (with the exception of visiting pastors from time to time). I would love to hear from any of you (or anyone else that I haven't included in this email) about how things are going and what are some of the things you would like to have in place to support your society.

I would also just love to hear how everyone is doing. What is going on and if anything exciting is happening. I can't tell you how much I still think of my time down there and how much fun I had getting to know all of you. I am hoping in the next year or so to plan another trip down to visit again. This time with Josh so he can meet all of you.

I truly hope that things are well down there. I know I have seen a few of you up here in BA and it is always a treat.

Lots of Love,

Angela

Rev Julian Duckworth is planning to offer a series of 20 sets of notes on the Joseph stories. The idea is to encourage regular Bible reading by choosing one of the most interesting and inspirational series of stories in the Bible. Julian says "The Bible basically gives us a direct connection with the Lord.

I worry a bit that we are moving away from that connection and only dealing with how life seems to be to us. I very much hope that you will take part in this project, enjoy it and benefit from doing so, and discover in good ways how rich reading the Bible can be."

These notes will be sent to each society in Australia and New Zealand and are also available directly to those who subscribe to new-church@googlegroups.com. The notes can be used individually, in family groups or more formally as a study aid for church societies. The first set of notes has just been made available and further editions will follow at two week intervals.

Although there is no church service on the first Sunday of September (which also happens to be Father's Day) it IS planned to hold a tea and class on the first Friday. Therefore there will be an event at the church each week of September.

The intention is to screen excerpts from two DVDs that Rev Julian Duckworth has recorded in conjunction with Roseville member Michael Chester. One of the DVDs is pretty much a standard service (without music - but this can be inserted if the DVD is paused). The second DVD just completed is in a rather different format and will provide a contrasting style for consideration.

Having watched the DVD there will be time for discussion about the value of such an initiative; in particular if there are suggestions as to how to it could be improved to make it more useful. Other considerations are what venue(s) it could be used at - isolated groups? - in place of a regular service in a church?

With the likelihood of having an extended period without a minister it seems like an appropriate time to be looking at alternative ways of delivering services.

Bookings - or definite commitments are needed by 1st October. This is very important for the organizers of the camp, the Melbourne New Church. Phillip Island is an excellent location with great facilities. Full details and forms are available from the Hurstville New Church or Rev Chris Skinner.

Murray Heldon had 4 week's long service leave in August, and during this time Murray, Lori and Kaye Macfarlane and a group of other friends went to Darwin & Kakadu, returning via The Ghan and Adelaide.

Naomi Heldon and Nick Smith have spent 2 weeks holidaying in Tahiti, Bryn Athyn and New York. Stuart Heldon has moved back to Sydney after 6 months, successfully setting up another water tank factory in Melbourne.

Congratulations to Carolyn Heldon who successfully completed the Sutherland to Surf run and two weeks later the City to Surf. On this latter run she actually got to Bondi Beach before her Dad who left the city at the same time and used public transport!

Sadly, Alex Benjko's plans to study at the Theological School in Bryn Athyn came unstuck at the last minute due to health issues. Alex, who lives in Perth will not now be going.

David and Cath Horner now have an addition to their family. Their first child Danita Judith Ann Horner was born on 15th July and is now making friends with all the animals on their property at Childers in Queensland.

On Sunday 17th August the extended Taylor family put Tom Taylor's ashes to rest on the church property. This was most appropriate for Tom who grew up in No 28 (now occupied by the Lockharts), went to the church school in the 1930's and attended the Hurstville New Church all his life. The gardens behind the church and No 28 are a lovely resting place for him. In a thoughtful touch Mike and Kerry Lockhart invited everyone into their home after church for morning tea. It was great to catch up with Shirley, her three sons, a grandson and Gai and Merv Kennedy.

On 3rd August the Society farewelled Coleman Glenn and it is a tribute to Coleman that 35 people turned up at church for his final service and the luncheon afterwards. Coleman was presented with a carved kangaroo and a book on Australian trees. He will soon begin an assignment in Glenview.

Happy Birthday to Owen Heldon (6th), Carolyn Heldon (8th), Klaire Horner (9th), Sylvia Hicks (13th), Karen Lockhart (13th), Jeffrey Heldon (15th), Phillipa Horner (15th), Emily Hicks (26th) and Philip Walsh (29th)

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	5th September	7.00 p.m. Tea and Class
Sunday	7th September	NO CHURCH AT HURSTVILLE
Friday	12th September	6 00 p.m. Young People (at Roseville)
Sunday	14th September	10. 00 a.m. Worship
Sunday	21st September	10. 00 a.m. Worship followed by Property Trust AGM
Sunday	28th September	10. 00 a.m. Worship