CALIFORNIA DIGEST2015
A Newsletter for New Church residents and friends of California May
1
How We Look To Angels
A Sermon by Rev. Donald L. Rose
(Taken from
In the book of Revelation it is written, "Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame" (Rev. 16:15). In a red-letter Bible this verse stands out because it is the only one in the chapter that is in red.
In our lesson we read the words, "Do not provoke him" (Exodus 23:20). This is said about the angel sent before the Children of Israel. They guarded their behavior because of the presence of an angel, and they knew that if they obeyed, the angel would keep them and bring them safely to their destination. The angel, then, knew the way in which they walked, and in some manner saw them.
There is a teaching in Heaven and Hell about how we look to angels. It is number 131. It says that when we are in good we are regarded by angels as beautiful, and when evil we appear ugly. The chapter is the chapter on light in heaven. We are told that when that light shines on you, you appear as you really are.
Do you know what you look like? You may have a mirror in the bathroom and one in the hall and one in the living room. We are accustomed to seeing our face in a mirror. But do we feel we know what we look like? We might look with real curiosity at a photograph in which we appear. It is sometimes surprising to see a film or a videotape in which we participate. "Do I look like that?" We might ask someone else to tell us. "Do I move and act like that?"
It is particularly interesting to see something we are familiar with from an entirely different angle. If there is an aerial photograph of our neighborhood, we might search in it for our house or office, and perhaps look with fascination at the route we regularly walk. That reference to the path we walk is of interest, because when we are viewed in the light of heaven, it is as if we are taking certain paths or ways (see HH 534). Sometimes, although we are not moving physically, we walk in the valley of the shadow, and sometimes although there may be confusion and turmoil around us, we walk beside the still waters.
Take some familiar thing and look at it through a microscope. It is surprising. The Writings invite us to look at an object such as a leaf or a flower or a bee and to examine it with some wisdom. Look at it first naturally, afterwards rationally, and at length spiritually. Use a microscope and you will see "wonderful things, while the interiors that you do not see are still more wonderful" (DP 3).
There is a statement in the Arcana Coelestia which reads as follows: "If a person should see the quality of a single thing as it appears before the angels, he would be amazed, and would confess that he would never have believed it, and that in comparison he had known scarcely anything" (AC 4930). The passage says that the quality contains many, many things "which cannot be seen in the light of the world, but only in the light of heaven, thus before angels." Look at the world or contemplate the universe and everything in it. What is it? Is it not a theater representing the Lord's kingdom? (see AC 3000, 3483)
But the Writings emphasize something else much more than material objects. They emphasize the mental world of affections and ideas. We think the affections we experience and the ideas in our minds are simple. But they are wonderfully complex. Once in the spiritual world some doubted the wonders within a single idea, and the idea was then opened up for them so far that they seemed to see "a universe leading to the Lord" (AC 4946).
Each idea an individual has is in a way a picture of that individual. We read, "The quality of a spirit can be known in the other life from one single idea of his thought. Indeed angels have from the Lord the power of knowing at once when they but look upon anyone, what his character is ... It is therefore evident that every single idea and every single affection of a person ... is an image of him and a likeness of him" (AC 803).
What a different feeling we get about our own thoughts and about reading the Word when we have some awareness of how wondrous are the contents of our minds. We are told that angels are in particular delight when children read the Word. Indeed the Word, not on a book shelf but in a human mind, is a resting place for angelic wisdom.
In the sight of the angels, how are we dressed? If someone is going to look at us, we want to be becomingly dressed, and when our minds are engaged with truths from the Word we are so dressed. This brings us to the verse in Revelation 16. It is said that someone is blessed who is awake and keeps his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame. Who sees his shame? It is the angels. We will mention this verse again. Let it be noted that the garments mean truths, and that to live without truths is to walk naked. As it is said in Apocalypse Revealed: "A person may indeed live like a Christian without truths, but this before men, but not before angels" (AR 706).
Is there such a thing as a beautiful deed? Yes, there is, and the real beauty is in the intention and love behind the deed. There is a saying in the Doctrine of Charity that everything a person does is an image of that person. "Before the angels he himself appears in his image ... which I have seen a thousand times" (Charity 6).
As we make our choices from day to day, how much difference it can make to realize how unpleasant in the sight of heaven are some of the things in which we might be inclined to indulge. What a difference when we realize how beautiful to behold is life in which we do not harm others but wish them well.
Paint a picture, if you can, of some of the feelings that can motivate us, such as revenge or pride. What do they look like? Listen to this from the Arcana Coelestia: "In order to obtain a clear idea of the nature of the life of the love of self and of the world (or what is the same, of a life of pride, avarice, envy, hatred, revenge, unmercifulness, adultery), let any person of talent make for himself an impersonation of it ... and he will then see, in proportion to the energy of his description or picture, how horrible these evils are, and that they are devilish forms, in which there is nothing human. Forms such as these all those become after death who perceive the delight of their life in such evils ... On the other hand, let the same person delineate for himself an impersonation of love and charity, or let him express it before his eyes under some form, and then in proportion to his power of description or portrayal he will see that the form is angelic, full of bliss and beauty, and pervaded within with what is heavenly and Divine" (AC 2363).
People who make it part of their lives to shun evils as sins against God "appear in heaven before the angels as beautiful human beings, and partners and companions of the angels" (DP 121).
The angels see things so differently. They see in the clearest light. Take all the doubts that can trouble you. Take all the arguments against the beautiful truth about the Lord's loving Providence. Write a whole book about them and put that book in the hand of any angel, " ... and I know," says the seer, "that the angel will write underneath these few words, They are all appearances and fallacies" (DP 213).
We sometimes find ourselves filled with worries, and perhaps we feel that we could fill a book with them. But if an angel looked upon that book, he would see that those worries are based on the appearances of self-life and the fallacies that cloud our trust in the Lord's Providence?
Happy is he that is awake and keeps his garments. The Writings seem to say that this is a wake-up call to people who are associated with the New Church. "Happy is he that is awake and keeps his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame." Here is what the Writings say on this: "These things are said for those who will be of the Lord's New Church, that they may learn truths and remain in them, for without truths their connate evils, which are infernal loves, cannot be removed. A man may indeed live like a Christian without truths, but this only before people, not before angels" (AR 706).
Do you know something about the New Church? Then this is a message to you. Learn truths. Remain in them. Yes, remain in them. Do not lose those beautiful garments. What a shame that would be. Stay awake. Think of things the way they really are. Think of your life in this world and in the world to come as it really is. You can call this a warning, but remember that it is a happy warning. Happy is he that is awake and keeps his garments. Amen
General Church Annual Meeting
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Notice is hereby given that the Annual Meeting of the Members of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held on Saturday, June 27, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. in the Benade Hall Chapel, 2815 Benade Circle, Bryn Athyn, PA.
The purposes of the meeting are to:
-Approve the Minutes of the 2014 Annual Meeting;
-Receive the reports of the officers;
-Receive the report of the Committee on Nomination of Directors;
-Receive such other reports and transact such other business as may properly be brought before the meeting.
North America: Toll-free dial-in number: 1-888-619-1583
International toll dial-in: 1-719-457-1414
United Kingdom: Toll free 0800 368 0952
Sweden: Toll free 0200 883 444
South Africa: Toll free 0800 999 287
Participant code: 364 871 2871
Kelly Treacy
Executive Assistant
General Church of the New Jerusalem
267-502-4901
A New Church Camp for Teens
If you will have completed at least one year of high school please join us Thursday, June 25– Wednesday, July 1, 2015 for Maple heldat the
Ecology Retreat Centre, Mono, Ontario
Living in Harmony
“Behold, how good and pleasant it is for people to dwell together in harmony.”Psalm 133:1
For a Registration form or more information please contactStephanie Kuhl, Camp Director
Email: or call (519) 895-1891
Camp Fees
Regular Camper Fee $285
Junior Staff (completed grade 12 and has attended at least one year) $200
Philippines News
Bishops Ian Arnold and Trevor Moffat came from Australia on their annual spring visit to meet with pastors and church members. One trip was to the home of a church member whose son had suddenly passed into the other world.
Rev Enriquez & Bishops make condolence visit
The Bishops held seminars, conducted sermons, officiated at Holy Supper and attended the 13th graduation of the New Christian Church School. This was the first year of classes in our new building.
The celebration featured handing out, not only promotion certificates, but also awards for excellence in subjects including reading, recitation, writing, science, math and language. There was also recognition for those with exemplary conduct. Parents were justifiably proud of their children's accomplishments, as we are proud of our teachers for their dedication to their students' development.
Top 3 students in Kinder & Prep with mothers and Bishops
Students led attendees in the Lord's Prayer and the National Anthem and some were selected to give speeches in English. The classes performed the usual dance numbers and songs, which were a highlight of the evening. All participants were excellent.
One business matter the Bishops dealt with was the Sunday School/Fellowship Hall, that was already in need of repair before being further damaged by the typhoon in 2014, and putting a new roof on the church. The roof had been repaired several times, so it was decided to completely remove the old roof and put on a new one immediately, before the rainy season.
Church roof removed for replacement
There had been no rain in Lalawigan since Christmas, but just after the old roof was removed there was one sudden nighttime downpour which completely drenched the exposed ceiling, with water dripping down into the whole building. This unexpected rain only swept across our town, and not those on either side. In typical Philippine acceptance and humor, one parishioner said we had received "the Lord's blessing."
-Franklin Rogers
Palo Alto News
On May 2nd, the California NewChurch Board has its semi-annual meeting in San Diego, forwhich Cassandra and Jonathan are flying south, and Rev. David Roth is flying out from Boulder. David will fly up to give us our service on May 3rd, en route back to Denver. I'm sure we'll enjoy his service this time as much as we did in February.
Then we will welcome Mark back on May 17th. The next service for the Central California Group is scheduled for May 31st with Rev Jean Atta.
On June 7th, we will have the pleasure of a visit from Rev Jean Atta and on June 21st, Rev Mark Perry will fly up from San Diego for our New Church Day service.
-Hannah & Jonathan
Los Angeles New
April was a full month! Our pastor maintained a very busy schedule of travel to the north and services in LA, prayer calls for individuals, preparation for meetings, changes in the manse, and the super Festival of Books event that dominated the energies here for the month.
The Swedenborg Bookroom exhibition
The Festival on the campus at USC was very well populated, with 80,000 attendees on a beautiful spring weekend. This was our 11th year as exhibitors and we saw many returning customers – some to chat about the books they had bought in previous years, some to offer good wishes and buy something new. One return visit was from a young woman who stated that we were the organization she had determined she would like to tithe to. Our effort this year was ‘minimalist’ – we had no bells and whistles, no video playing in the booth, no colorful curtains to catch the wind. Despite our simplicity we had one of our best years ever (though the booth was manned by only the same 4 weary volunteers all weekend long).
Rev Jean Atta
One of those volunteers was our new pastor, Jean Atta! This man was indefatigable, enjoying hours of lively conversation with interested newcomers, offering his card and listening to tales and suggestions which he will put to good use. (When he said to ‘call him anytime’ he meant it – responding to a call at nearly midnight!). It was such a pleasure to finally be able to offer services of a resident pastor to the interested attendees!
L-R: Gabrielle Reynolds and Carla Washburn manning the booth
This year we featured much reduced prices and also offered some books as gifts to those who were genuinely interested, and this gesture seemed very much appreciated. We sold out of all Helen Keller and Suzuki’s “Swedenborg: Buddha of the North” as well as other titles. Nearly all of those who left with books had been happy to give their contact information, and with our pastor to spearhead the effort, this will be well used to offer programs and services in the coming year.
As is our tradition, the conclusion of the Festival was at the manse with a delicious dinner for the participants – provided by Pam Tomashek – and an informal vespers service conducted by Jean.
Busy booth
All in all it was a wonderful experience and we look forward to harvesting the fruits of these labors in the coming months. -Gabrielle Reynolds
San Diego News
Here is our next schedule. Please contact me with any questions.
God Bless,
Mary Jane Junge
949-838-4683
CHURCH REFRESHMENTS
May-August 2015
May
3 Jess and Demi Lagman 858-748-1701
10 Mike and Lyn Perry 760-889-7016
17 Hilton and Chandra Perry 858-472-1511
24 Errol and Robin Ovid760-464-3739
31 Joe and Aya Seckelman 858-883-4100
June
7 Ron and Irma Fabular 619-807-9410
14 June 19th picnic
21 Orly and Lesly Novicio 858-943-1347
28 Ray and Anna Lagman. 851-361-2173
July
5 Ed and Elwie DelaCruz 858-484-2620
12 Nellie and Jesper Jensen 646-519-1024
19 Jess and Demi Lagman 858-748-1701
26 Mike and Lyn Perry760-889-7016
August
2 Hilton and Chandra Perry 858-472-1511
9 Errol and Robin Ovid 760-464-3739
16 Joe and Aya Seckelman 858-883-4100
23 Ron and Irma Fabular 619-807-9410
30 Orly and Lesly Novicio 858-943-1347
Earthquake in Nepal
Loving Arms Mission (which thankfully made it through the earthquake relatively unscathed) is collecting money for earthquake relief for Nepal.
We will wire the funds to Kent Rogers, who will make sure they are used to help people in need in Nepal - especially those who have been overlooked or forgotten by the government. No danger of these funds going into official's pockets.
If you wish to contribute, please send a check to: Loving Arms Mission,PO Box 213, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009. be sure to mark the check "earthquake relief fund".
d in Nepal - especially those who have been overlooked or forgotten by the government. No danger of these funds going into official's pockets. If you wish to contribute, please send a check to: Loving Arms Mission,PO Box 213, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009. be sure to mark the check "earthquake relief fund".d in Nepal - especially those who have been overlooked or forgotten by the government. No danger of these funds going into official's pockets. If you wish to contribute, please send a check to: Loving Arms Mission,PO Box 213, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009. be sure to mark the check "earthquake relief fund".