new church life: september/october 2014
and protection.
When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars,
which Thou hast ordained; what is man that Thou art mindful of him? And the son
of man, that Thou visitest him? O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all
the earth. (Psalm 8: 3-6,9)
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harmony in variety
What is truly amazing about the billions of people inhabiting the earth, the
universe, heaven and hell, is that no two ever has been or ever will be the same.
Each of us is unique and each of us contributes to the perfect harmony of the
Lord’s creation.
The Rev. Eric Carswell recently preached a sermon in the Bryn Athyn
Cathedral on “The Blessings of Variety,” which included two reassuring
numbers from the Writings which we can take into our own lives.
The first describes the wonderful order that exists among people who are
led by the Lord through their love of serving others:
If [charity was the essential thing among all people] all would be governed by the
Lord as though they were one person; for they would be like the members and
organs of one body which, though dissimilar in form and function, still related
to one heart on which every single thing, everywhere varied in form, depended.
Everyone would then say of another, no matter what form his doctrine and external
worship take, this is my brother; I observe that he worships the Lord and is a good
man. (Arcana Coelestia 2385:5)
The other speaks to the differences that exist among churches, and how
they might all be brought together:
In the Christian world it is their doctrines that cause churches to be distinct and
separate, and because of these they call themselves Roman Catholics, Lutherans,
Calvinists or the Reformed and Evangelicals, among other names. It is solely by
reason of their doctrines that they are called by these names. This situation would
never exist if they were to make love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor
the chief thing of faith. In this case their doctrinal differences would be no more
than shades of opinion concerning the mysteries of faith which truly Christian
people would leave to individual conscience, and in their hearts would say that
a person who is truly Christian when he lives as a Christian, that is, as the Lord
teaches. If this were so all the different churches would become one, and all the
disagreements which stem from doctrine alone would disappear. Indeed the hatred
one person holds against another would be dispelled in an instant, and the Lord’s
kingdom on earth would come. (Arcana Coelestia 1799:4)
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