Message of the Wise Men (01/07/24)
"Reason alone cannot uncover all there is to know. Theology that proceeds from abstract principles or objective formulae [which is] devoid of concrete experience or subjective life, and that deductively arrives at conclusions that
are equally unrelated to human life, has no significance for it." (Rev. Roger Haight)
We know from the Teachings for the New Church that "all religion is of
the life and the life of religion is to do good" (Swedenborg, Doctrine of Life 1).
[We] seek to live a new Christian life, and that is where the Lord's
leading…becomes real and actual. This is how the "life of religion" does good. Who is doing the good? We are! Just as the Wise men were led to bring gifts, so too are we to bring the gift of the grace of God, and love of charity in particular, to the world around us. Is this easy? Not always. Evil is real.
There is great suffering all around us. Evil and suffering are always the biggest issue for religion because they manifest themselves in the face of the goodness of God and make us all ask: How does one know that God is good, given the suffering I experience or see? "The question corresponds to real existential problems that often
exist within a core of faith. The problem is real…because of the concrete and actual experience of evil in the world. Evil, suffering, sin and death are realities; they are the causes of doubt to faith and the reasons of atheism...” (Rev. Roger Haight)
Remember, even after Jesus' birth, evil arrived to take His life and the family fled to Egypt. Just the same, we are the receiving vessel for the Lord's love. …"Without this reception and reciprocity, [a person] would be like chaff in the wind, and would stand as if lifeless, with mouth open, and hands hanging down, awaiting influx, devoid of thought and action in regard to the things that
concern [his/her] salvation. It is indeed true that [he/she] is by no means the agent in regard to these things, yet [he/she] is a reagent as of [him/herself]" (Life 107).
We [seek] to reflect His light, for "He is the vine and we are the branches.” What has come from your experiences and your faith? Put another way [the question of Epiphany is] how do we reflect the Lord's light and love to keep our world warm and bright to combat the things that make it cold and dark? (NCL 2008, Rev. M Johnson, edited)
