Worthiness Before God (03/04/23)
Growing up, I was fortunate to be surrounded by a number of people who cared deeply for me and
let me know it regularly. They truly (in the words of Fred Rogers) loved me into being.
As did the Lord! So I was
taught, so I believe. But how that is caught and taught in religious settings can, at times, feel beset by "conditions." One example is a concept from the Word that we are to approach the Holy Supper "worthily."
What does that mean? What impact does that most holy act of worship have if you fall short?! (These questions have at times prevented people who regarded the sacrament with an appropriate degree of sacredness from taking it - who may have otherwise received tremendous spiritual benefit...).
As I thought about these things, I was delighted to find the following from a 1975 article in New Church Life. Why bring it up now, in this special season leading to Easter? One reason is quite practical: as is our
tradition, we will be hosting a Good Friday holy supper service (which I have always found profoundly moving). I have at times wished more people could experience the power and presence of the Lord as I do in that sphere.
Perhaps these reflections could encourage you to join!
Love and Peace,
Ethan
Someone may be in a holy state, therefore, before they are regenerate (or spiritually reborn). If they come humbly, with knowledge and remorse for their sin [places they have missed the mark in their spiritual life]. If, though such still plagues them, they intend to reject it, then their mind is turning towards the Lord.
They are remembering His mercy, with hope of its bending towards them as they repent. They are remembering His will, that we should love Him as He has loved us, and love others the same way. They are aware of how far
their life is from the Lord's, but [with the Lord] hold the hope that it will not be so in time to come because the bread of life, and the cup that "makes glad the heart" will sustain us on the way.
"Not unlike [the thoughts of the angels] are the thoughts of the person who is in a holy state when receiving the bread of the Holy Supper; for they then think not of bread, but of the Lord and His mercy, and of what is of love to Him and of charity toward the neighbor, because they think of repentance and amendment of life. (Swedenborg, Secrets of Heave 4217)
