#WeekendPlans #Cincinnati #ChurchAt11

Lay-led Service this Sunday, August 5, 2018, by Pete Toot.

10:30 Hospitality, 11:00 Worship, 12:15 Practical Spirituality Discussion Group.

845 Congress Ave, Glendale, OH 45246

#MindfulMonday Festival of Gratitude

“IT IS TIME FOR THE FEAST”
Sermon by Rev. Dr. Sherrie Connelly
New Church of Montgomery
Sunday, July 29, 2018

In the reading from 2 Kings [4:42-44] we are told that the Lord gave the people food to eat, and there will be some left over.

In the reading from Psalm 145 [10-18] thanks and blessings are offered to our Lord. The people will receive food in every season. The desires of every living thing will be satisfied. And the Lord is kind in all things. The Lord is kind in all things.

Ephesians 3 [14-21] exhorts that our inner being will be strengthened through the power of the Lord’s Spirit, rooted and grounded in love. Christ in us enables vastly more than we alone are able to do.

The Gospel of John 6 [1-21] tells how, nearing Passover, Jesus took 5 loaves and two fish to feed the 5000, gathered at the Sea of Tiberius. Then, miraculously, He was seen walking on water.

From Emanuel Swedenborg, in Arcana Coelestia, n. 9294, we worship the Lord with thanksgiving, since truth has been planted in good. This is what sharing in the harvest feast is all about, planting good in the fields of our lives.

And so we come together on Sunday mornings, as a community, to worship the Lord, and to celebrate the riches of abundance we have been given. And at first to recognize this.

It is very good indeed, a blessing and a miracle.

The Feast, in scripture, multiplied abundantly so that a mere 5 loaves and two fish could feed 5000 people. A miracle indeed.

What are we to learn from this?

(1) We are always given more than enough, even though we may not recognize it at first.

(2) When we give generously to others, it grows to even more, through a multiplier effect, miracle upon miracle.

(3) Giving more than we think we can afford stretches us and gives us more back in doing so.

(4) Generosity multiplies the generosity of others.

(5) Feasting reminds us of the words festive, festival, and festivity.

All in all, there is plenty to celebrate. So let us rejoice.

(6) Our lives have feasts in communities, in congregations, in groups, in families, and as individuals. A set of nested celebrations.

May we reach out and touch each other.

(7) It is time for the Feast.

May each day bring love and joy into our hearts and into our lives.

May we recognize these Holy gifts and feel gratitude in abundance.

AMEN.

Today’s Service: Church and Community

READINGS:

Genesis 28:3 (NIV):
May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples.

John 15:4-5 (NIV):
⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. ⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Heaven and Hell by Emanuel Swedenborg (translated by George Dole) n. 68
Each Community in the Heavens Reflects a Single Individual
Several times I have been allowed to see that each community of heaven reflects a single individual and is in the likeness of a human being as well. There was one community that was infiltrated by a number of spirits who knew how to assume the guise of angels of light. They were hypocrites. As they were being set apart by some angels, I observed that the whole community first looked like something cloudy, then gradually took on a human form, though still a cloudy one, and finally appeared in the light as a person. The individuals who were in that person and made it up were the ones who participated in the benevolence of that community. The others, who were not in the person and did not make it up, were the hypocrites. These latter were cast out, while the former ones were retained. This is how the separation was accomplished.

TALK (written and delivered by Worship Leader Sue Marie):

What is church?

I do not think “church” is a building or a specific denomination. Rather, church is community. Church is relationships. It is small groups meeting for a common purpose. It is our chance to let God be among us as “someone with skin on” through us.

Church is the story of the Good Samaritan. It is the poor young lady from Nepal who was in my community college ESL class who makes sure she gives food to the homeless man at her bus stop each day even though she has barely enough money to feed herself and her family. She is Hindu, and she is the closest I have come to the personification of church in this world.

But the Church is not just one place, group, or gathering. The Church is the tapestry created by the weaving of seemingly separate threads into one. These threads are our daily acts of kindness to our neighbors. They are our thoughts and prayers, our sacrifices for others, and our forgiveness of one another.

The Church is all the cells that comprise what Emmanuel Swedenborg calls “the Universal Human” (or “Grand Man” in some older translations)—the Church on earth as well as in the heavens with God as the head. All the people who choose good and who reflect God’s image in their acts of love to the neighbor are the Church.

“It is worthy of note that just as heaven as a whole presents itself as one entire human being, which is therefore called the Grand Man, .. so each community in a similar way presents an image of a human being. For the image of heaven as a whole imprints itself on communities and makes them similar to itself, and not only on communities but also on the individual persons within a community. This is where the individuals get their human form from, for each person in an angelic community is heaven in the smallest form it takes. Variations in their human form are determined by the kind of good and truth with them, which explains why each spirit and angel is seen in a form exactly matching his thoughts and affections that he communicates to communities round about. This being so, the more that spirits and angels are governed by goodness and truth, the more beautiful is their human form. “~~Emmanuel Swedenborg, Arcana Coelestia, n. 6605 (Elliott, trans.)

What is the Church’s role in the universal Community?

If we are the Church, then the Church’s ministry is our love of God and love of our neighbor as enacted by each of us living our useful purpose on this earth as God calls us and doing good for our neighbor. This is true Christian love—the Golden Rule, which is found in all religions.

The Church, then, is an amalgamation of living, acting communities of humans loving God and other humans where we support and learn from one another regardless of geographical or religious boundaries. It is the interconnected web.

Our society can be so dysfunctional. On one hand, people march in the streets for the rights of the historically disenfranchised, and, on the other hand, they dismiss people they consider “different” as unacceptable and not part of their communities, as not mattering, even as not belonging to society. It is just not right. None of it is: not the violation of rights of the disenfranchised and not the dismissal of humanity from those who have suffered great mental and emotional wounds from others.

But, it is the society in which we live, and it is the very same society that presents to the Church its most important issue of the decade: to be church among society so that society experiences community at its deepest, most effective level where real healing and universal community can occur.

MEDITATION HYMN: They’ll Know We are Christians By Our Love

DISCUSSION:

• What does “church” mean for you?
• What are your expectations of church as community?
• What do you think the Church’s role is in the universal Community?

Church and Community

The Church is all the cells that comprise what Emmanuel Swedenborg calls “the Universal Human” (or “Grand Man” in some older translations)—the Church on earth as well as in the heavens with God as the head. All the people who choose good and who reflect God’s image in their acts of love to the neighbor are the Church.

“It is worthy of note that just as heaven as a whole presents itself as one entire human being, which is therefore called the Grand Man, .. so each community in a similar way presents an image of a human being. For the image of heaven as a whole imprints itself on communities and makes them similar to itself, and not only on communities but also on the individual persons within a community. This is where the individuals get their human form from, for each person in an angelic community is heaven in the smallest form it takes. Variations in their human form are determined by the kind of good and truth with them, which explains why each spirit and angel is seen in a form exactly matching his thoughts and affections that he communicates to communities round about. This being so, the more that spirits and angels are governed by goodness and truth, the more beautiful is their human form. “~~Emmanuel Swedenborg, Arcana Coelestia, n. 6605 (Elliott, trans.)

#WeekendPlans: Church as Community

What does “church” mean for you? What are your expectations of church as community? What is the Church’s role in the universal Community?

This is a lay-led service, facilitated by Sue Marie Kern.

Hospitality begins at 10:30 am; Worship at 11:00 am.

Glendale New Church, 845 Congress Ave, Glendale, OH 45246.

We hope you can be a part of our community, Sunday.”

Almost Planting Time! Grow our Children’s Garden!

Planting time is just around the corner (this Friday and Saturday!) for our Children’s Community Garden in Glendale, OH. Email us at newchurchofmontgomery@gmail.com or call (513) 630-8777 to reserve your seedling! We will be planting peppers, tomatoes and basil.  We hope to involve many neighborhood and neighboring areas’ families!

Children’s Community Garden beginnings

Today we laid down the pavers for the perimeter of our new garden bed. We filled it in with a nice layer of garden soil and will be looking to start planting as the soil temperature warms up! Many hands made for light work!

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Happy Earth Day! #SpiritualCincy

Enjoy this beautiful song; perfect for today’s reflection on being conscious participants of our duty to person and planet!

Join us tomorrow at 9:30 am for Swedenborgian Study, 10:30 am for Hospitality and 11:00 am for Worship.  We will celebrate Earth Day weekend with a message shared from Rev. Alison Lane-Olsen’s about Earth Day. And afterwards construct and fill our raised bed Children’s Community garden!! Bring your work clothes and helping hands.