There will be no service held this Sunday at the church building. We are holding our annual Rocky Mountain Retreat up near Allenspark. We will see you the following Sunday, August 9th.
This week we will talk about an odd little story about Joshua and the Children of Israel making a covenant with a tribe within the land of Canaan that they were supposed to wipe out–the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites dressed up in old clothes, worn out shoes and carried moldy bread with them and told Joshua that they were not from within Canaan but had travelled from a far away land. They looked at their bread and believed their story and made a pact with them, rather than asking the Lord if this was a good idea or not.
When they found out the truth they didn’t kill them, because of their agreement, but kept them alive and made them their servants – drawing water and chopping wood for them.
Come and see what this story has to do with our happiness and spiritual awareness.
Sunday 10:30 a.m.
“When you desire your neighbor’s good without thought of reward you have heaven within yourself. This brings happiness as great as that enjoyed by the angels, which is
indescribable.” Secrets of Heaven 8037, Emanuel Swedenborg
If we want to be really happy, indescribably happy, then we ought to work on wanting what is good and doing what is good for others without thinking of what we will get from it. Nice idea, but how are we going to arrive in that noble place? Well, it is a process. That process is described in a parable in the New Testament about the people that were hired at different times throughout the day to work in a vineyard, yet given the same wages regardless of how long they worked. This Sunday we will talk about the spiritual or inner meaning of this parable. Maybe it will nudge us all a little more in that direction of giving with no thought of reward.
See you Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
We all want freedom for ourselves. Freedom is actually essential to our spiritual lives. Nothing can become truly part of our spiritual life unless it is chosen freely. And so God protects our freedom with great power.
Here is the challenge: do we value other people’s freedom in the same way recognizing how important it is to everyone else too?
See you Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
Happy Independence Day!