new church life: september/october 2017
into contact, and therefore into conflict, will help to resolve those conflicts.
My belief is that antagonisms that have their origin in cultural dissimilarity,
and the resulting mutual misunderstanding, will inevitably fade with time,
contact, familiarity and education.
With every year that goes by nations become more and more like each
other, adapting to each other’s technologies, language, fashions, economic
and governmental standards, and social customs. While this does not happen
quickly, it does happen – with contact, communication and especially with
integration. As people come to know individuals from all corners of the world,
they come to see that all people are essentially the same, and to appreciate the
subtle differences that make every people and every person special.
The hidden spiritual factor, though, is that while this is going on the Word
is continually being spread. Year after year it is earth’s runaway best seller in over
a thousand different languages. If the predictions in the Heavenly Doctrines are
accurate, the same will one day be true of them as well – as the New Church
“grows from a few people to many more, till it reaches its appointed state.”
(Apocalypse Revealed 562)
A new Church is being established by the Lord in which will be the worship of the
Lord alone, as it is in heaven. Thus, everything in the Lord’s Prayer from beginning
to end will be fulfilled. (Apocalypse Revealed 839)
This new Church, truly Christian, will endure to eternity. It is to become the crown
of the previous Churches, because there will be true faith and true charity. In this
new Church there will be spiritual peace and internal blessedness of life. (Coronis
lii-liv)
I think that this describes a world that will one day be mature and connected,
a world without racism or bigotry, a world that will be “subsequently led on
further and further into intelligence and wisdom.” (Apocalypse Explained 641)
This is what is meant by the New Church.
The Rev. Jeremy F. Simons is semi-retired and serves as the
Chaplain of the Bryn Athyn Cathedral. Most recently he served
as pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church, and has also served in
Glenview, Illinois, and Kempton, Pennsylvania. He and his
wife, Allyn (Edmonds), live in Bryn Athyn. Contract: Jeremy.
[email protected].
378