Audio Recordings

Audio recordings of my sermons and talks can be found here: New Church Audio

Finding Our Lost Sheep

A shepherd had a hundred sheep, but one of them was lost.  The Lord is our Shepherd, and He gives us His undivided attention when we are feeling lost.  But we are like shepherds too.  What are the "sheep" that we sometimes lose?  The parable of the lost sheep occurs twice in the gospels (Luke 15:1-7; Matt 18:10-14), in two different contexts.  It describes aspects of our repentance and regeneration.   What do all the characters in this parable represent?  What are the parts of us and other people that can become lost?  How should we treat those parts?

Here is the video for the Cathedral Family Talk

Here is the video for the Cathedral Adult Sermon

Here's the audio for the Cathedral Adult Sermon

"Love Your Enemies"

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to travel to Boulder Colorado and preach in the New Church of Boulder Valley.  I preached on the story of David, Nabal and Abigail in 1st Samuel chapter 25.  The sermon is called "Love Your Enemies."  It could also be called "Listening to Abigail."   It's about those times when we may feel like treating other people the way they treated us, rather than following the Golden Rule and treating other people the way we would like to be treated.   It's about not being cruel to others or to ourselves as we attempt to stand for both the truth and love.   You can watch the video here

.

The "Perfect" Date Night

My wife and I have found that date nights are really important for the health of our marriage.  If you are married, I highly recommend fitting regular date nights into your schedule and budget.   We have found that it is more than worth the time and money. 

Sometimes we might have expectations about how a date night will go or should go.  I occasionally wonder what the elements are that make up a good date night.  The following is a little reflection on a story from the beginning of Emanuel Swedenborg’s book called Conjugial Love, and how it could apply to achieving the “perfect” date night.  

Sometimes we think that a date night will only be good if we can just get out of the house. Sometimes we think that a date night will only be good if we can just get to a certain favorite location.  Sometimes we think that a date night will only be good if we have an amazing conversation.  Sometimes we think that a date night will only be good if we have a fancy dinner and go to a movie or concert.   Sometimes we think that a date night will only be good if we get out for a walk in nature, or watch a beautiful sunset.  Sometimes we think that a date night will only be good if we spend a lot of money, somewhere expensive where we are waited on hand and foot, and everything goes exactly as we want it to go.   Sometimes I think that a date night will only be good if it goes exactly how I want it to go.   Sometimes we think that a date night will only be good if we include some sort of spiritual practice like reading the Word or praying.   

And yes, all of those things can certainly be factors in a good date night.  But I think a good date night doesn’t actually depend on any one of those external things. . . I think it depends more on whether as a couple we are expressing love and being useful to each other in some way.   When we mutually show each other that we genuinely care about each other, then it doesn't matter what we're actually doing, it turns out to be a great date night.  

(See Swedenborg’s work Conjugial Love paragraphs 2-10) 

"Spring" Break?

Ice.  Snow.  Spring?  Last week the church school where I work took its “Spring” Break.  Spring Break actually came early, due to two snow days at the end of the week before.  Spring technically begins on March 20th, at the end of this week.  When I was growing up we would  sometimes refer to Spring Break as “Dreary-Weather Break,” because it never seemed to quite line up with what we think of as the bright, warm feeling of Spring.   And even once Spring has technically begun, the warmth often seems to take its time about coming.   One year when I was in college, we were all "fooled" into thinking Spring had arrived, when we woke up on April 1st to one of the largest snowfalls of the winter.   

I was recently reminded of something said in the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, and that is that the rational (higher) part of our mind is regenerated before the natural (lower) part of our mind (see Secrets of Heaven 3493).  Spring comes to our rational mind before it comes to our natural mind, just like Spring technically arrives before it often feels like Spring.    In other words, we might sometimes feel frustrated that even though we’ve learned something about how to live our life better, and rationally committed ourselves to being a more useful, loving person. . . we can still feel stuck in our natural bad habits, like being stuck in the snow and ice during Spring Break.     It doesn’t feel fair or right.  And yet stepping back and looking at the big seasonal picture reminds us that we have made enormous progress since the middle of Winter.  Spring is coming in our minds, even with snow and ice on the ground of our lives.  

This is one of the reasons why practicing mindfulness can bring us into a state of peace.  Mindfulness gives us the bigger picture, and allows us to experience hope in the present as we trust in the Lord’s guidance amidst the confusing seasonal changes of our minds.   Spring is coming. 

A Day for Feasting

Here is the link to the audio of a Thanksgiving service I gave in Bryn Athyn in 2012.
Thanksgiving Service Audio.

A Wooden Church of Living Trees

Emanuel Swedenborg described

a church he once saw made out of living trees:

“They are built not of felled trees, but of ones growing in their native soil. . . .  From their earliest stages they arrange these trees in rows to form porticoes and walkways, shaping the branches while still supple, and cutting and pruning them, so that as they grow they will interlace and join to make the floor and pavement of the temple. They make the branches at the sides grow up to form walls, and overhead bend them into arches to make a roof. From these materials they construct with admirable skill a temple raised high above the ground. They make a way up composed of branches stretched out horizontally with no space between and firmly bound together. In addition they decorate such a temple both inside and out with various kinds of topiary work; and so they build up whole parks. . . . Sunlight is admitted through openings between the branches, and is everywhere passed through crystals, which turn the light around the walls into colors like the rainbow.”  (from Earths in the Universe paragraph 151).  

I’m always impressed by this description, and it gets my imagination going.  I think about how much patience must be involved in building a church out of living wood.  How many years would it have taken to achieve the finished state?  What must it be like to build with a living branch, knowing that it would be months and years before it arrived in its desired location?  What must it be like to know that most of the growth of this church was accomplished by the Builder rather than the builders? The builders would only occasionally make subtle adjustments—little turnings, little prunings—while the trees themselves kept on with their relentless and powerful reaching towards the sun.   And even once the church was “finished,” it would probably keep changing as the trees grow and change.   I think about how the finished product would be strong enough to withstand the strongest winds and storms, by retaining the quality of flexibility.  

What a wonderful image for how the life of religion (or the “church”) can grow inside each one of us, and in our community. We all grow and change on our paths towards the Lord’s love and wisdom.  Just like the building of their wooden churches, the growth of the state of the church in us takes a lot of patience.  Living wood is a symbol for the Lord’s goodness slowly growing inside of us (Secrets of Heaven 3969.10; see also Heaven and Hell 223), and this can take a long time.  The Lord is the One that makes it grow, not us.  We can do our small part; turning a little this way in our life, pruning a little of this out of our life.  And even though we are working towards the state of regeneration or spiritual rebirth, we are never really finished growing.  And if we truly have that goodness as a part of our life, we can feel safe in the strong flexibility that that provides (see Secrets of Heaven 7068).  

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”  (John 15:5)