"The Gratitude of Living Life In the Lord"
LaPorte New Church Swedenborgian
Rev. Kit B. Billings
November 22, 2015
Scripture Readings
Psalm 25:1-2,4-10
John 16:25-33
Insight for Worship
Secrets of Heaven n. 8455 by Emanuel Swedenborg
Peace holds within itself trust in the Lord, the trust that He governs all things and
provides all things, and that He leads towards an end that is good. When we believe these
things about the Lord we are at peace, since we fear nothing and no anxiety about things
to come disturbs us. How far we attain this state depends on how far we attain love to
the Lord.
Erma Bombeck once shared in Redbook back in the early 1990's these words
about being a cancer survivor. She said, "An estimated 1.5 million people are living today
after bouts with breast cancer. Every time I forget to feel grateful to be among them, I
hear the voice of an eight-year-old girl named Christina, who had cancer of the nervous
system. When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she thought long and hard and
finally said, 'I don't know. I have two sticker books and a Cabbage Patch doll. I have
everything!' And you know, that kid is right."
In a very real sense I believe that little girl is right---in all the ways that truly
matter, we have everything we need, because we have the Lord, we belong to His
Church, and His Providence is always leading life toward "an end that is good." And every
day we are blessed to have the choice to be thankful because the Lord gives us all we
need to live in Him. That is, to open our hearts and minds to the living TRUTH we hear
echoed in Divine Providence 37, which reads: "Heaven is union with the Lord. Our nature
from creation enables us to be more and more closely united with the Lord. The more
closely we are united to the Lord, the wiser we become. The more closely we are united
with the Lord, the happier we become. Times of happiness, bliss, and sheer delight
intensify as the higher levels of our minds are opened within us.... Once our life on earth
is over, these levels keep rising forever."
The essence of what joins us more and more with God is truly to love Him! To
love the Lord personally, ardently, and by deeply engaging with His Word of Divine truth
and life! As we do this, God transforms us, and Heaven's peace and love grow inside!
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Thanksgiving is coming this Thursday, and so as Americans our thoughts turn
toward the roots of this holiday. Going back to ancient times revealed in both the Old
and New Testaments, and on into the days of the Pilgrims who were the first European
settlers to come to America, and on through the days of Abraham Lincoln who instituted
the fourth Thursday in November to be our national holiday, we see that people love to
give thanks to our Creator for a good harvest. I too, while driving past many farm fields
and livestock of plenty have often looked toward the Lord and said, "Thank You, Father,
for all You give us!"
But truly, there is so much more for us to be thankful for than a good natural
harvest alone. For example, we are blessed every moment of our lives by being
sustained, protected and led by a God who has Redeemed us by His victory over all evil,
falsity and sin during His incarnation. And so we read these glorious words from John this
morning, "The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one
to his home, and you will leave me alone. I have said this to you, so that in Me you may
have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the
world!"
"I HAVE CONQUERED THE WORLD!" Thus, we do not have to fear being overrun
by the extreme forces of Hell (whether they are the forces of selfishness that attack both
day and night, or more external forces of evil, like local drug dealers or from terrorist
groups like ISIS). The Lord conquered their capacity to enslave our hearts in anger, hatred
and fear, granting us the freedom to forgive while pursuing justice and peace. In Christ
we find the power to look toward Him, and to reflect upon the Lord's Word through
prayer with a desire to love God, others and ourselves more and more each day----so that
we shall feel free inside to do the "good that love does."
This year I was inspired by our excellent Journey Program "Living Gratefully,"
which took us through five of the awesome gifts and ways the Lord helps us, blesses us,
protects us and subtly guides us. They are:
1. gift of FREEDOM: the ability to choose our own actions according to whatever
seems reasonable to us;
2. gift of CHANGE: when we change our outer actions and attitudes to be in line with
God's Word and commandments, the Lord takes care of our deeper issues, slowly
regenerating us inside;
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3. gift of LOVE: we cannot be forced to love or believe anything that we don't want to
love or believe. We can only compel ourselves, and not others;
4. gift of ENLIGHTENMENT: the Lord Himself deeply and gently leads us by means of
His Holy Word and from teachings from the Word, by touching our hearts, our
affections and by blessing us with enlightenment! That is, new insights and
perceptions about heavenly truth.
5. gift of TRUST: it is orderly that we cannot witness or observe the Lord's Divine
Providence in action in "the NOW," but instead in retrospect. And in so doing, by
giving us the gift of uncertainty and shadows and clouds in life, we are inspired to
develop TRUST, FAITH and HOPE in things not seen by the naked eye, but things our
hearts, souls and inner depth of mind we know are real and true.
And so, these five gifts are all spiritual powers and strengths within us that
ultimately inspire greater love and faith in the Lord. It is the fruits or results of our
awesome spiritual growth and transformation (our REGENERATION) effected by God
Himself as we partner with Him in life. Such spiritual harvesting is what I believe inspired
the psalmist to write down and then sing with utmost joy these words before us this
morning:
Psalm 25
1 To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, in you I trust;
4 Make
me to know your ways, O LORD;
teach me your paths.
5 Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all day long.
As we choose to put the love and faith we receive from God into life, which are
constantly flowing down inside of us from the Lord from Heaven, we experience and
receive the spiritual meaning of HARVEST CELEBRATIONS, that is, the sweet, pleasing
fruits of spiritual growth and development! In Heavenly Secrets 10671 we read: "....the
feast of ingathering at the revolving of the year...signifies worship from a grateful mind on
account of the consequent implantation of good from the Lord, thus on account of
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regeneration and complete liberation from evil; this is evident from what has been shown
concerning this feast."
And so, as you look back over the past 5 years...over the past 10 years...or over
the past 20 years of your life, where do you see evidence of the Lord's Love-Wisdom-&Power regenerating and changing you?
Maybe you struggled years ago with an addiction (to food, drugs, cigarettes,
sugar, promiscuity, materialism, selfishness, judgmentalism, hardness of heart, or
thinking in very "black and white" ways), but now after years of spiritual growth, by
praying passionately for help and salvation, and by choosing at times to suffer your way
through your spiritual battles (as God fought hard for you to be able to win--just like how
David had to fight and battle the giant Philistine Goliath, and dropped him stone dead
with the force of five smooth stones, which correspond to the FULL POWER OF DIVINE
TRUTH from God's Word COMING TO BEAR UPON THE EVILS AND FALSITIES THAT TRY
TO ENSLAVE US, and how these truths from God enable us to win!
Sometimes, though, the courage God gives us is applied to more than our own
inner demons of selfishness---sometimes it must be applied to dealing with more external
forces of evil and darkness.
For us as parents, grandparents and anyone concerned about the spiritual wellbeing of our children, there is a very meaningful connection here with the Pilgrims who
migrated here by landing at Plymouth Rock. For years most of us were taught that their
major motivation was from their need for freedom from religious persecution. Professor
Robert Tracy McKenzie, Chair of the History Department at Wheaton College, writes in an
article titled, Why the Pilgrims Really Came to America, "the Pilgrims had two major
complaints about their experience in Holland [the place from which they sailed]: (1) They
found it a hard place to raise their children and (2) an even harder place to make a living."
Dutch culture was too permissive, they believed. Pilgrim William Bradford commented
on “the great licentiousness of youth” in Holland and lamented the “evil examples” and
“manifold temptations of the place.” Multiplying these challenges was what Bradford
called “the hardness of the place.” Most Pilgrim families lived in houses with no more
than a couple hundred square feet of floor space. The majority labored as textile
workers, carding, spinning, or weaving in their own homes from dawn to dusk, six days a
week, merely to keep body and soul together.
And so, as we consider the Pilgrims’ struggle with thorns choking out the love and
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wisdom in God's Word, their lives speak to us where we live. Their adversities in Holland
were so . . . run of the mill...common. They worried about their children’s well-being.
"They feared the effects of a corrupt and permissive culture. They had a hard time
making ends meet. They wondered how they would provide for themselves in old age."
Can you relate to any of their worries? I can.
But it is largely from the many gifts of learning, worshipping and coming together
like this morning as a caring and faith-driven New Christian Church community that we
have hope, vision and all the truth we need to allow the Lord to bring us into greater
protection and lasting happiness. And as we personally and collectively experience the
happiness and peace of Heaven coming alive in us, as we live life in the Lord, gratitude
and thankfulness flow forth from within! Historically, even though they faced many
hardships, the Pilgrims found a better place for life here in America. Their journey,
though difficult, was worthwhile. And I believe our journeys, though trying, are
worthwhile too.
Perhaps you have never considered this, that when you live your life in a way that
allows for the Lord to regenerate and transform your will and life into the ways of charity,
the angels who are with you smell sweet fragrances and aromas that correspond to the
good quality of your life!
In the spiritual realm, gratefulness and thankfulness toward God flowing out of
real regeneration creates pleasing auras and aromas. In this same work from
Swedenborg we read in n. 925, "worship inspired by charity and by the faith that comes
of charity, as symbolized by the burnt offering—was pleasing to the Lord." And also, "A
good smell symbolizes something pleasing...as a result of which the Jewish religion also
used it to represent something pleasing and attributed the smelling of it to Jehovah, or
the Lord. This is because the good embraced by charity and the truth espoused by a faith
that stems from charity correspond to pleasant, agreeable smells."
This is why we find incense, frankincense and myrrh and other precious oils and
spices mentioned in the biblical narrative. Because they symbolize the pleasing spiritual
aromas that rise up toward Heaven out of a grateful heart!
And so, in addition to being thankful this year for a bountiful natural harvest all
over America, I am also thankful for the many ways that God providentially leads us,
teaches and enlightens us, how He heals our hearts and fills us with joy, gratitude and
peace. How He blesses us with a very good church family, and a theology and pathway
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that is both very real and thrilling, as we journey forward into greater depths of peace
and gratitude, living life freely in the Lord.
I am thankful that the Lord gives us the choice every day to LOVE HIM! This is the
most important gift I am given, because it inspires me to want to follow God's ways, and
allow all kinds of sweet, pleasing spiritual aromas to rise up and out of my heart toward
Heaven and into the joyful heart of God!
Happy Thanksgiving this week to you all, as you open your own hearts in gratitude
for all that the Lord and His New Church on earth do for us and with us. Amen!
Psalm 25
1 To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, in you I trust;
do not let me be put to shame;
do not let my enemies exult over me.
4 Make
me to know your ways, O LORD;
teach me your paths.
5 Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all day long.
6 Be
mindful of your mercy, O LORD, and of your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
7 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
for your goodness’ sake, O LORD!
8 Good
and upright is the LORD;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
9 He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.
10 All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
John 16:25-33
Peace for the Disciples
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25 “I
have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I
will no longer speak to you in figures, but will tell you plainly of the Father. 26 On that day
you will ask in my name. I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; 27 for
the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came
from God. 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the
world and am going to the Father.”
29 His
disciples said, “Yes, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure of
speech!
we know that you know all things, and do not need to have anyone
question you; by this we believe that you came from God.” 31 Jesus answered them, “Do
you now believe? 32 The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered,
each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father
is with me. 33 I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you
face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!"
30 Now
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