My name is Solomon Keal. I am a minister for the General Church of the New Jerusalem, which is a Swedenborgian Christian denomination. These are some of my thoughts about the Lord, the symbolic meanings in the Bible, life after death, faith, charity, usefulness, loving the Lord and one's neighbor, the 2nd Coming, Swedenborg's Writings, and other theological stuff.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Love's Prayer



Our Love, which comes from Heaven,
May Love’s name be hallowed.
May the kingdom of Love come.
May the will of Love be done,
On earth as it is in Heaven.
Love gives us this day our daily bread.
And Love forgives our debts (trespasses), as we also forgive our debtors (trespassers).
And Love doesn’t lead us into temptation,
But Love delivers us from evil.
For to Love belongs the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Swedenborg and Vatican II. Check out Part 1 and Part II of my essay entitled "Swedenborg and Vatican II" on New Church Perspective.

Monday, July 2, 2012

My Dissertation

Here is my theological school dissertation. It's called "Comparing the Divine, Heavenly, and Natural Marriages." It's a study of the marriage of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, the marriage of the Lord and the Church, the marriage of the Divine and Human within the Lord, the marriage of goodness and truth in creation, the marriage of the will and intellect in our minds, the marriage of our intellectual faith with our practical good works, the marriage of masculinity and femininity, and the marriages of husbands and wives. The study analyzes the differences and similarities between these different marriage. How far can we take these "analogies" in different situations? The study also analyzes the difference between the "masculine" and "feminine" elements of each of these marriages. The study is based on the Christian theological works of Emanuel Swedenborg. I hope you enjoy it, and find it useful.  You can read it here: Solomon Keal's Dissertation.  Watch the video of the presentation here.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Is the Lord Asking Us to be Perfect?


Here is a link to a sermon I gave in the Bryn Athyn Cathedral, on New Year's Day, 2012. "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." (Matt 5:48). Is the Lord really asking us to be perfect?

Is the Lord Asking Us to be Perfect?  (Audio)


The Recipe for Spiritual Growth


Here are some links to a sermon I gave on the Parable of the Leaven (Luke 13:20,21). Why does the Lord compare the Kingdom of God to a woman adding leaven to bread-dough? Isn't leaven usually symbolic of something bad in the Word? And what does this have to do with us? What does this parable teach us about the recipe for our own spiritual growth?

Ivyland Adult Sermon (Video)

Ivyland Question and Answer (Video)

Ivyland Children's Talk about the Lord being the "Bread of Life." (Video)

Bryn Athyn Church Informal (Contemporary) Service (Audio)

Bryn Athyn Cathedral Sermon (Audio)

Moving from Haran to Canaan


Here is the link to a family talk I gave in the Bryn Athyn Cathedral. The subject is about Jacob leaving the land of Haran and returning to his homeland of Canaan. Spiritually the story is about changing what motivates us. Moving from the land of "doing good things for selfish reasons," to the land of "doing good things for unselfish reasons."

"Moving from Haran to Canaan" (Audio)