“And the Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!' And let him who hears say, 'Come!' And let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.” - Revelation 22:17
Kempton New Church

Week 2
Day 1

    Listen:

Sunday Worship
What Spiritual States do our Rituals Represent?

And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven golden lampstand One like the Son of Man. Revelation 1:12–13 This signifies the Lord as to the Word… He represented Himself as the Word because the New Church is a church from the Word, and according to the understanding of it. Apocalypse Revealed 44

Why do we keep the Sabbath?

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days thou shalt labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah thy God.

TCR 301. This is the third commandment, as may be seen from Exod. 20:8–10, and Deut. 5:12–14. In the natural sense, which is the sense of the letter, it means that six days are for man and his labors, and the seventh is for the Lord, and for man’s rest, given by Him. In the original tongue Sabbath signifies rest.

With the children of Israel, the Sabbath, because it represented the Lord, was the holy of holies, the six days representing His labors and conflicts with the hells, and the seventh His victory over them, and consequent rest….

But when the Lord came into the world, and in consequence representations of Him ceased, that day became a day of instruction in Divine things, and thus also a day of rest from labors and of meditation on such things as relate to salvation and eternal life, as well as a day of love towards the neighbor.

That it became a day of instruction in Divine things is evident from this, that on that day the Lord taught in the temple and in synagogues…. And that He said to the man who was healed, “Take up thy bed and walk,” and to the Pharisees that it was lawful for His disciples on the Sabbath day to pluck the ears of grain and eat…. Each of these particulars in the spiritual sense signify instruction in doctrinal [teachings].

That that day was made also a day of love towards the neighbor is evident from what the Lord did and taught on that day… [healing people] ….

Worship consists in humbling ourselves, receiving instruction, and consequently glorifying the Lord.

TCR 104. It is acknowledged in the church that when the Lord was in the world He was in two states, called the state of exinanition [emptying Himself], and the state of glorification. The prior state… was His state of humbling Himself before the Father; for in it He prayed to the Father; and He says that He does the Father’s will, and ascribes to the Father all that He did and said…. But the state of glorification is also the state of union.

TCR 105. The Lord had to undergo these two states of exinanition and of glorification because there is no other possible way of attaining to union, since this is in accordance with Divine order, which is immutable. The Divine order is that man should set himself in order for the reception of God, and prepare himself to be a receptacle and abode into which God may enter and in which, as in His temple, God may dwell. Man must do this from himself, and yet must acknowledge that it is from God….

TCR 106. …In every man the first state is represented by his state of infancy and childhood until the time of puberty, youth, and early manhood, and this is a state of humiliation [humbling himself] before his parents, obedience, and also instruction by teachers and tutors; while the second state is represented in the state of the same person when he becomes his own master and chooser, or freely exercises his own will and understanding, and has control in his own home.

AC 1153:2. …All true worship consists in adoration of the Lord; adoration of the Lord consists in humiliation, and humiliation in one’s acknowledgment that in himself there is nothing living and nothing good, but that all within him is dead, even cadaverous; and in the acknowledgment that everything living and everything good is from the Lord. The more a man acknowledges these things, not with the mouth but with the heart, the more he is in humiliation; and consequently the more he is in adoration, that is, in true worship, and the more he is in love and charity, and the more in happiness. The one is in the other, so conjoined as to be inseparable.

Points to Consider
  1. Does TCR 301 say that we should remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, or that it is no longer necessary to do so?
  2. The Lord, when He came into the world, changed the uses of the Sabbath day. What are four uses of the Sabbath day for us today? In what ways do you or could you fulfill these uses?
  3. Our worship services are intended to have three main elements: humbling ourselves before the Lord, receiving instruction from Him, and then glorifying Him, that is, expressing thanks to Him, acknowledging that everything good and true is from Him. We especially worship and glorify the Lord by living a good life.
  4. The Lord went through states of emptying Himself, in order to be filled with and united to the Divine. What do we need to empty out of ourselves in order to worship the Lord? How do we do this?
  5. One of the main purposes of a worship service is to receive instruction from the Lord, or be educated in His Word, so that we know how to follow Him. Does it make sense that this is the middle part of our service, following humbling ourselves in prayer, and leading to glorifying the Lord?
  6. What is a key to happiness given in AC 1153? Does this make sense?
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