The SF Swedenborgian Church
E-NEWSLETTER
Happy Father’ Day
& New Church Day
Dear members and friends of SF Swedenborgian Church,
The 3rd Sunday of June is Father’s Day, but at the same time it is also New Church Day. This year, I am planning to focus on New Church Day. Father’s Day is obviously a very important day to honor and celebrate; especially being a father I do acknowledge the value and meaning of the day. Yet, Father’s Day is well known to us, while New Church Day is unfamiliar to many of us. New Church Day is the day that has meaning only to those who appreciate and/or believe in God and the divine providence by means of the inspirational works of Emmanuel Swedenborg.
The 1700's were not an inspirational time to live especially if you were a devout Christian. The news of wars was all over the world, and the heat of inquisitions and fierce battles fought in the name of God was still filling the atmosphere of all Europe. Emmanuel Swedenborg lived this very age and saw and experienced how religious organizations and religion itself could be used to the exact opposite of its essential purpose: to educate and enlighten people to learn and cultivate ways to live together peacefully and harmoniously.
Swedenborg’s amazing and incredible journey into mysticism and spiritual reality started when he was 56 years old, which was a few years after his father's death. He wrote an enormous number of theological books explaining myriad theological things. His very last publication is entitled True Christianity or True Christian Religion. Toward the end of True Christian Religion, there is a chapter regarding New Heaven and New Church. And, at the end of this chapter, Swedenborg writes as a note:
After this work was finished, the Lord called together the twelve disciples who followed him in the world. The next day he sent all of them out to the entire spiritual world to preach the gospel that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigns and that his kingdom will last for ages of ages, as foretold by Daniel (Daniel 7:13, 14) and by the Book of Revelation (Revelation 11:15); also that "people who come to the wedding feast of the Lamb are blessed" (Revelation 19:9). This occurred on June 19, 1770. This is what the Lord was referring to when he said, "He will send out his angels, and they will gather his chosen people from one end of the heavens to the other" (Matthew 24:31). –True Christian Religion #791
To make it clear, Swedenborg did not seem to believe that the New Church was established on June 19th in 1770. But, what Swedenborg desires to share is his vision that he saw the Lord calling and sending the twelve disciples to the entire spiritual world to preach the gospel! Swedenborgians set June 19 as a special day, and began to celebrate this date as New Church Day. The day is to remember and honor the vision of the New Church with the hope and anticipation that one day the good Lord will guide us all to the world where there is no conflict or fight in the name of God and/or religion.
With blessings,
Rev. Junchol Lee
The Lead Minister of San Francisco Swedenborgian Church
ANNOUNCEMENTS
June 17
Reverend Junchol lee
Faith of New Church
Faith can be defined in a variety of ways. What faith could mean almost depends on who is defining it. Even among religious people what it means to have faith can be different from one religion to another. However, there can be two general categories by means of which defining faith may be narrowed: as a personal conviction of the Divine Being or a system of beliefs and living. If there is such a thing as the faith of the New Church, what would this be?
June 24
Roxanne Beth Johnson
July 1
Reverend Junchol lee
July 8
Reverend Junchol lee
July 17
Reverend Junchol lee
July 22
Dr. Ellie Schamber
July 29
Reverend Junchol lee
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1) The Church is Searching for a Source of Gravel for Stucco Repair
For pictures and a full explanation of what the church is looking for, please go to our Facebook page (you do not need to be a member to access this link):
Help! Where can we find pebbles like this?
If you have any ideas, please contact Doug Stinson at douglas-stinson@comcast.net.
2) Thursday Night Music & Meditative Prayer Hour
Will Be on Hiatus for July & August
Please Stay Tuned for When We Will Resume in the Fall
Any questions, please contact Tom McEntee
at: motjoue@gmail.com or 650-515-6073
3) 2121 Lyon Street Update
The loan for 2121 Lyon St. has been closed, and we have engaged a contractor. Work commenced on May 29. Scaffolding will go up next week and will remain in place for approximately 8 months.
Turnout was good at the May 20th Open House to inform our neighbors about who we are and what our plans are regarding 2121 Lyon Street.
Robert Carr, Doug Stinson and Rev Junchol Lee were on hand to extend a warm welcome and answer questions, as we continue the process of building good relations between the church and our neighboring community.
4) Link to Coffee Hour Online Sign-Up
We would like to thank Laurie Carlson for the wonderful coffee hour last Sunday, June 3.
This coming Sunday, June 10, John Gwynn will be providing coffee hour.
In the past, 4 or 5 members of the congregation have covered all our monthly coffee hours.
Going forward, there will be a sign-up (both online and in the parish house) for any and all individuals (or groups), friends,
and/or members, to sign up and prepare our coffee hour.
Your coffee hour can be as elaborate or as simple as you wish.
There are no requirements, except that you make coffee and provide milk/cream.
Other than that, it’s up to you, the church member or friend.
There will be some basic instructions available, and the more experienced coffee hour members will be more than happy to help you and even join you on your first time(s).
Link to Coffee Hour Online Sign-Up
5) Our Treasurer’s Update - Pledges & Weekly Giving
Though our church is blessed with the income of a wonderful Rites & Sacraments Ministry, it is essential for the health of our church, both material and spiritual, that we are a congregationally supported church. So please take a moment to check and see that your annual pledge is up to date, take a moment to check and see if you can’t maybe even give a little extra!
Congregational Giving YTD through April 2012
Actual Congregational Giving = $ 37,763*
Budgeted Congregational Giving = $46,668
Over / (Under) Budget = ($8,905)
* Note: Actual Congregational Giving does not include memorial or baptismal donations, scholarships, restricted contributions, donations-in-kind or bequests.
RECURRING ACTIVITIES & GROUPS
6) A Gathering of Men: Next Meeting – Tuesday, June 12 @ 7 p.m.
An Ongoing Gathering Held on Alternate Tuesdays
Each month, one man will share a story of one's hero and/or a significant man in one's life followed by an open discussion regarding what it means to live as a man in 21st century.
If you have any questions, please contact Rev. Junchol Lee at revjclee@sfswedenborgian.org
7) Thursday Night Music & Meditative Prayer Hour
Will Be on Hiatus for July & August
Please Stay Tuned for When We Will Resume in the Fall
Any questions, please contact Tom McEntee
at: motjoue@gmail.com or 650-515-6073
8) Our Online Prayer Group –Nancy Foegelle, Facilitator
If you would like prayers from members of our community for either a specific need or a vague, amorphous request for yourself or a loved one, please send your request providing as much or as little detail as you like. The prayer request will then be sent to about 30 members of our online prayer community. The voice of our hearts will rise up together as our loving intentions make connection cyberly and celestially!
For prayers and/or to be added to our email community, contact: Nancy Foegelle at honeebear@sbcglobal.net
READINGS for Sunday, June 17
First Reading: Isaiah 65:17-25
For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice for ever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—and their descendants as well. Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent—its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.
Second Reading: Revelation 21:1-8
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.’ And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death.’
From the Theological Writings of Emmanuel Swedenborg: True Christian Religion #347
As to the formation of faith: it is affected by us going to the Lord, learning truths from the Word, and living according to them. First: Faith is formed by us going to the Lord, because faith that is faith, or that is a saving faith, is from the Lord and in the Lord. That it is from the Lord is evident from His words to His disciples: Abide in Me, and I in you for apart from Me, ye can do nothing (John 15:4, 5). That it is faith in the Lord, is evident from the passages presented in abundance (n. 337, 338), to the effect that we ought to believe in the Son. Since then faith is from the Lord and in the Lord, it may be said that the Lord is faith itself, for its life and essence are in Him, and thus from Him. [2] Secondly: Faith is formed by us learning truths from the Word, because faith in its essence is truth; for all things that enter into faith are truths; consequently faith is nothing but a complex of truths shining in our mind; for truths teach not only that we ought to believe, but also in whom we ought to believe, and what we ought to believe. [3] Thirdly: Faith is formed by us living according to truths, because spiritual life is life according to truths, and truths do not actually live until they are in deeds.
FELLOWSHIP
Coffee Hour food and coffee... Coffee hour food is supplied by YOU – so bring something for coffee hour on Sunday. Our coffee is purchased from an intentionally interfaith collective of Christians, Muslims, and Jews working together.
Recycling bins (green for compost and blue for recyclables) are in the Parish House for our use. If you've got any questions on what goes where just ask Margrit Hall, John Gwynn, or Chris Hammer.
Check out our church’s website at: http://www.sfswedenborgian.org/
Join in our church’s Twitter experience at http://twitter.com/sfswedenborgian .
Join our Facebook community at a new address:
http://www.facebook.com/sfswedenborgian .
Most sermons are recorded or transcribed and posted on the church website:
http://www.sfswedenborgian.org/.
Giving on-line: See the first navigation link ("Locate Us & Donate Online") to the left on our website home page www.sfswedenborgian.org. Donate buttons also appear on the “Directions to Church” page and on the “Historical Landmark”, as well as in all page footers. Please email info@sfswedenborgian.org if you have questions.
Our monthly calendar is now on our website:
http://sfswedenborgian.org/Events-Classes/EventsClasses.asp
Join the denomination’s On-Line Worshipping Community at
http://www.swedenborgiancommunity.org
And check out The Swedenborgian Church of North America’s newest site:
http://www.swedenborg.org/.
