18 of 52 Trip Around The
Sun – First United
Have traveled about 202,000,000 miles. (About a third of the way around
the Sun.)
(Last
week's mileage the same - error.)
Thoughts
during the week:
I'm not
a number or calendar-worshipper, that's why I call a birthday merely a
"Trip Around the Sun," but there are many
who appreciate numbers and attach significance to them. The following was at
least interesting, since our own people consider the date meaningful.
April 6th
is an important date in the history of Swedenborg and
the
It would appear that
Jesus likes His birthday. He did say, did He not, that we ought to "Be as
little children." Children (and women) love their
own birthdays. I wish I had appreciated that sooner in life. My own has not
meant much to me, as I regarded it as just a coincidence of the man-made
calendar - a trip around the Sun - not 365 days - not any exact number of days,
but 365.25???? days. It's only an estimated unit of
time.
What's interesting to
me is that in all the writings of this group pertaining to the Mormons, there
appears to be a pride in the similarities. They are not in the least writing
anti-Mormon literature, but expressing pride in what they have in common with
us. They don’t say, "Joseph claims to have received a revelation as to the
birth date of the Savior." Instead, they say that Joseph did
receive that revelation. This is a fine, and I think, rare attitude of one
church about another. Swedenborg did not
receive or claim to receive a revelation that the Lord was born on April 6th,
but the Swedenborgian's believe that Joseph Smith did
receive that revelation, and it makes sense to them. They believe each church
is a "jewel on the Lord's crown." If all religions believed this way,
the atrocities probably would never have occurred. That doesn't in itself make
the belief correct, but it does make the belief good. (Belief in Santa Claus is
like that - not correct, but still good.)
Would we say that Swedenborg did not receive his claimed revelations
77 years before Joseph Smith's First Vision, but that he accidentally wrote
some truth without it's coming from God? That would be a bad attitude, but it
is most common among religions. "We are the only ones God will talk to
officially. Others will be inspired - but only our prophet can receive for the
world." Even if this were actually true, we ought to hope that it were
not. It should be no source of pride. Exclusivity is for fraternities - not for
us.
The Visit:
First United
Different from the
"
Fifteenth
Sunday after Pentecost.
Earth's crammed with heaven
And every common bush
afire with God;
But only he who sees
takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round and
pick blackberries.
Elizabeth
Barrett Browning
The program began with
a young boy on a soprano saxophone. About 9 or 10 years old -
and pretty good. He played three numbers. "What a Wonderful
World." "Esther," and "Amazing
Grace." I often play "Esther" on the clarinet, and it was fun to
hear him do that one. He was a little black boy - who obviously loved that
little straight saxophone. I would be interested to hear him again a few years
from now. I was struck with the thought that if he'd been a little Mormon boy,
he'd have to play at home - he had spent his time learning the wrong instrument
- not sacred enough for our meetings. He should play the violin, and then he
would be fully acceptable in holy places.
Hymns were sung by the
choir and the congregation. The music, for most of the hymns, is written melody
only - no parts. When in the program, it's words only with no music - familiar
tunes.
There was quite a lot
of reading back and forth, which appears to be quite common in many churches.
The minister was a
woman, married with children. She was dynamic and obviously enjoyed her
calling. Her topic was, using Moses as an example, the fire that burns inside
us - or not - as we choose. She made a very good case for keeping alert and
looking for ways to serve. That Browning poem up there - if I interpret it
correctly, she's saying that the fire Moses saw was available to all of us -
that it's already in us if we choose to see it. "Every
common bush afire with God." If we don’t see it, we use the bush
for a lesser purpose - that it may provide for us,
blackberries.
"If you're here
this morning, you're still alive - Let God light the
fire in you again. Some callings do indeed change the world. Others simply
change us."
"Moses was married
- very happy - needed nothing. He certainly wasn't looking for God. God,
however, was looking for Moses. When God found him, Moses paid attention."
(Took off his shoes, according to Browning, because he saw
the fire.)
The message was focused
- single subject - well developed and handled.
I have noticed that
some churches put great effort into having the
Then the emphasis for
the meeting was on the Sacrament of Holy Communion. This took up fully half an
hour - with lots of music - both choir and congregation.
I asked an usher,
"Do members of other churches partake?" His eyes opened wider, as if
surprised, and he said, "Oh yes - yes." I was touched by a little
emotion in his response.
When the time came for
the actual taking of the emblems, the minister said, "God has prepared this
table; there is not one who cannot come."
Evidently, here, the
Sacrament is not for the fit, but for all, even unbelievers who are willing to
try it. This was not a surprise for me. I've known for a long time that
Methodists do not subscribe to the notion that they are the only ones. I
believe Joseph Smith rather favored this church himself, having attended other
denominations also. Wasn't it a Methodist minister who read the scripture in
James?
Several people at the
front held large pieces of flat bread. Row by row, nearly everyone present went
to the front and broke off his own piece of bread. There was only one cup of
wine (grape juice). Each person dipped the bread into the cup and continued
back to sit down. An elderly man just in front of me took a rather large piece
of the bread and dipped generously in the grape juice. His dress indicated to
me that he might be struggling.
The choir sang during
this time. Then at a point about midway in the Sacrament service, the choir was
finished, and recorded music took its place. (The recorded music was a little
jazzy.) Then two people went up into the choir to serve them also.
They use
"you," not "thee," etc., even in The Lord's Prayer. When
Jesus used "thee" and "thou," he was using the informal of that
day. Now that "You" is the informal, we probably should use that.
Instead, we try to be formal, which "thee" and "thou" have
become. This was not his intent at all - just the opposite. Frankly, I think
Jesus would call Joseph "Dad," and Mary, "Mom," if he lived
in today's world. "Dad, one leg on this table is a little weak - should I
put another brace here?" "Mom - you know what my life is about - you
could have figured out what I was doing at the temple. Please don’t worry about
me. Don't you know teenagers are indestructible?" (Especially
this one.)
There were more songs
by the congregation at the end of the Sacrament service, and then the meeting
closed.
After the meeting,
which had begun at
It occurred to me that
any of these churches would have a very hard time getting their people to
attend for three hours, so that the main meeting could be attended by all - and
then Sunday school also attended by all - and then still another meeting of
Priesthood and Relief Society, and for the entire time, all ages doing
something. How did we do that? Does anyone else do anything similar to
this? I don’t know a single one. When it comes to "family," the
Mormons are the winners. Sometimes this results in a kind of loneliness among
Mormons who don’t fit the definition completely. We could do better in this
regard.
I've
told Leona before that if I were not a Mormon, I might be a Methodist. I do
think they tend to have a good attitude. Still - I don’t think you could get
them to go to church for three hours every Sunday. Who knows? Maybe that is
part of their good attitude.
18 of 52 Trip Around The
Sun – First United