Does the Word have some sort of expiration date I didn’t know about? A ‘best used by’ but maybe could still be okay for a little bit after just not as good? Like food, does it become unhealthy to consume after a certain point?

Why would the Lord write something that would go out of date?

After the Lord’s first coming the Old Testament did not expire:

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Matthew 5:17

Even after the Lord’s second coming, the Old and New Testaments are not to be thrown out or disregarded. The Lord’s Word is never going to be unhealthy. If we are having an adverse reaction to it that is not because there is something wrong with the Word that needs to be changed. We can’t substitute gluten free doctrine just so we don’t react poorly to it. Of course we have sensitivities to the Word! It is not going to sit right with us, because we are not right! Continue reading The Affirmative Principle →

Have you ever had those moments when everything seems too much and you wish you could take a time out like they do in sport?

What would you do in those time out moments?

I have felt overwhelmed with life a lot recently. So I started to work out what was going on for me.

I find that I get too caught up in stuff that I have no control over. I give it too much weight and that weight overburdens me.

Where do I turn at those moments? I would like to say that I always turn to the Lord. But I don’t always think of that first. Sometimes I bury myself in a book. Sometimes, I have a beer. Sometimes I find myself getting angry at everyone around me. Eventually, in desperation I reach out to the Lord, and take time out to focus inwardly as to why I’m overwhelmed and try to find peace. I read a great quote from Buddha which said:

“Peace comes from within, do not seek it without.”

Continue reading Stop World, I Want To Get Off! →

Anne Glenn is a wife, parent, and graduate student working on an MA in Religious Studies with a focus on children’s spirituality at Bryn Athyn College in the US. This article was a paper she wrote for one of her psychology courses highlighting the importance of children’s spiritual development from a psychological perspective, with particular focus on Swedenborg’s high regard for children’s spiritual development in his writings.

Abstract
The field of Children’s Spirituality is a relatively young one, both from psychological and theological approaches, with the vast majority of research being done in the last 20 years. Children have historically been neglected or minimized by both psychologists and theologians, but slowly over the last century both religious and secular scholars have turned their attention to children and childhood. In recent years the research has begun to shift from studying children and their spiritual capacity only in terms of their potential future as adults to seeing children as complete spiritual beings as they are, and focusing on nurturing their spiritual development for their own sake.

This paper is an investigation into the significance of the field of children’s spirituality, including summary of the history of the field, the interactions between theology and psychology in this field and the implications of research into children’s spirituality on religious communities, particularly in the New Church.
Continue reading An Overview of the Field of Children’s Spirituality →


“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Rev 3:20)”



“ Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.’ (Matthew 7:7,8)

I was reading these two quotes about doors and was struck by how, in one, The Lord is the One knocking, and calling with His voice, and we need to hear; while in the other, we are instructed to ask with our voices, seek, and knock to be admitted, even if we cannot at times even tell where the door is! The mind-picture below, came to me as I read.

Door.

My forehead rests against a surface.


(‘Behold I stand,’ says a Voice)

It is hard to remember how I came here.

(‘At the door’ )

My eyes stretch, wide in the darkness, I fear to move.
My blind hands quest across the expanse.

(‘’And knock…’ His voice is quiet).

I press my ear to catch the still, small sounds:
(‘As a hen gathereth’
‘Under my wings…’
‘Shelter’)

I can hear the words more strongly now;

(‘I have laid the foundation of the earth, and My hand spans the heavens.’
‘All power is Mine, in Heaven.
In Earth.
I open the eyes of the blind.


I hear…I deliver.’
His Voice, the thundering quiet of thawing spring.)

‘But how?’ My seeking hands find edges, still too feeble against a solid…door. ‘It is locked!’ I cry.

Like the graying of Dawn, His Word is whispered:

(‘Knock’).