new church life:
j u ly / au g u s t 2 0 1 5
individual contribution we all make to our body as a whole. And also that we,
as a church, must work together, not only for ourselves and our own salvation,
but for everyone else around us and within our influence.
To close I would like to revisit one of our lessons from Heaven and Hell,
and instead of hearing this as if it were only about heaven, or the human body,
let us think about it from the perspective of a church. How do the different
people and uses in this church fit together into the “inclusive body”?
The reason why so many varied elements act as one in an individual is that there is
nothing whatever there that does not contribute something to the common good
and do something useful. The inclusive body serves its parts and the parts serve the
inclusive body, because the inclusive body is made up of parts and the parts make
up the inclusive body. So they provide for each other respectively, they focus on
each other mutually, and they are united in the kind of form that gives every single
component a relationship to the inclusive entity and its well-being. This is what
enables them to act as a single unit. (Heaven and Hell 64)
Amen.
O U R N E W C H U RC H V O C A B U L A R Y
Part of a continuing series developed by the Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, 1961-1966.
DESIRES
Here we have another term that is used to make a distinction. The derivations of infernal
love are affections of evil and falsity, and these are properly called “concupiscences.” To set
them apart from these, the derivations of heavenly love, which are affections of good and
truth, are called “desires.” In ordinary speech, desire often has an evil connotation, but in
theological discussion at least the term should be used as it is in the Writings. (See Divine
Providence 106.)
396