Dear San Francisco Swedenborgian Church Community,

Rev. Jeff returned from serving on the teaching staff at an interim ministry training event at Lake Tahoe. Many thanks to the Rev. Kathy Speas for preaching last Sunday, as well as the liturgists who lead worship, and our guest organist. Our preacher Sunday, July 25, was the Rev. Doug Moss, with Rev. Jeff as lead liturgist.

Through all of the changes of this adventure-filled life, we know that we are held securely within the caring hands of our Lord, whose people we are. We are invited into deeper levels of trust in the One who not only bears our weight, but who empowers our growth in faith, hope, and love.

All the best to you and yours,

Rev. Jeff

Scripture Readings

First Reading: Psalm 1
Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Second Reading: Revelation 1:1-19
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place; he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it; for the time is near. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining with full force. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this.

From Emanuel Swedenborg:
No one can be introduced into the church and formed for heaven, except by knowledges from the Word. Without these we do not know the way to heaven, and without these the Lord cannot dwell with us. It can be seen that without the knowledges of truth and good from the Word no one can know anything of the Lord, of the angelic heaven, or of charity and faith; and that which we do not know we cannot think, thus cannot will, and accordingly cannot believe and love. It is evident, therefore, that by means of knowledges we learn the way to heaven. It can also be seen that without the knowledges of truth and good from the Word the Lord cannot be present with us and lead us, for when we know nothing of the Lord, of heaven, of charity and faith, our spiritual mind, which is the higher mind - and is intended to see by the light of heaven - is empty, and has nothing from the Divine in it. But the Lord cannot be with us except in His own with us, that is, in the things that are from Him. For this reason it was said that unless we are in the knowledges of truth and good from the Word and in the life thereof, the Lord cannot dwell with us. From this, taken together, it follows that our natural self can by no means become spiritual without the knowledges of good and truth from the Word. -- Apocalypse Explained 112

Sunday Worship Service

Our Sunday worship service starts at 11 a.m. The worship service is a traditional Christian Service and usually lasts about one hour. The spiritual message is delivered each Sunday by our Interim Pastor, Rev. Jeffrey Cheifetz, or by a Minister Intern, or by a guest. Join us for our coffee and fellowship hour in the Parish House following service. Directions to church.

Additional Worship Services

The purpose of these services is to help us grow in our relationship with the Divine— to help us enter into a place of inner stillness and sacredness where the deeper meaning of our lives is revealed. These spiritual practices are especially important for those of us who have the most to do, for it is in the doing that we often lose touch with our deepest self. Reconnecting with our greater spiritual purpose enables us to more fully and freely live a life of greater happiness and peace.

On-Line Worshipping Community
The Rev. Wilma Wake is the minister of our denomination's first on-line spiritual community. If you live far from a local Swedenborgian church, or find yourself otherwise homebound, you may enjoy visiting www.SwedenborgianCommunity.org.

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