Looking at the Lord’s Prayer, recorded in both the gospels of Matthew and Luke, we took the phrase, “As in heaven, so upon the earth” and drew an important principle: What rules us is what rules within us This service took place at the Bucknall Family Church, in Rodborough, Victoria, on the occasion of the […]
I came across an interesting topic in Hinduism recently that helped me better understand Swedenborg’s account of spiritual influxes that govern our lives. The topic is the observance of the ‘Gunas’ i.e. the predominant qualities that dominates one’s mind at any given time. As we go about our daily lives; be it listening to music, hanging out with our friends, watching […]
The first in our new series, Christians Behaving Badly: How we get religion wrong, and what we need to do about it. What constitutes “true worship”? When is it OK to break religious and ceremonial law? Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas (1 Sam 2, 3:11-14, 4:11) But this is NOT AN ISOLATED INCIDENT! Samuel’s sons […]
Today we enjoyed a talk by Rev Ros Taylor in the US about her work with Deborah’s Tree, promoting the work of women in leadership, scholarship and the arts in Swedenborgian religious settings. Go to https://www.deborahstree.org for further information, and search Deborah’s Tree on social media.
Is it true that, “… a perfect and omnipotent God could, should, and would see to it that such problems did not exist in a book which s/he had inspired.” (https://infidels.org/library/modern/donald_morgan/contradictions.html)? And what is the contradiction inherent in adhering to the theory of evolution? We explore five ways to understand and reconcile Biblical Contradictions: […]
I referred to Michael Syed’s book, Bounce: the myth of talent and the power of practice. It’s well worth a read. I also mentioned a video from Richard Rohr – Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps. Find it at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8o6_IqKdy8 Today’s reading: 2 Kings chapter 6 And from Emanuel Swedenborg: “Thinking from the […]
Why would you get involved in a group such as a church? There are many reasons: the theology, the style of worship, they’re nice people, to meet like-minded others, social connection, for what you can get out of it, for personal or spiritual support, or perhaps it becomes a means to contribute to a broader […]
Can you experience and understand paradox? Paradox is defined as, ‘A statement or proposition seemingly self-contradictory or absurd, and yet explicable as expressing a truth.’ (Webster’s Dictionary) Examples include: “Less is more” “The most corrected copies are commonly the least correct” (Francis Bacon) In the book, Paradoxes of Group Life, Smith & Berg write: “Circles. […]
Is religion, like sports psychology, an irrational optimism which seeks to banish the skepticism that is so useful to science? “This chapter is about the psychology of performance. We will dig down into the minds of top sportsmen and explore the relationship between mind and body under pressure. And we will arrive at the paradoxical […]
SwedenborgCommunityVictoria · The Greatest Must Serve The principle that those who wish to be greatest must serve is found in each of the four gospels, but each time it is expressed in different ways and in different contexts. What can we learn from military leadership, and the young teacher? Recorded on Sunday 19th July 2020. […]
