Love For Our (Heavenly) Country (08/13/22)

Published: Sat, 08/13/22

Love For Our (Heavenly) Country (08/13/22)

Friends,

Today I had the honor of presiding over a memorial for someone who dedicated their life to serving their country, attended by full military honors. The teachings for the New Church have some remarkable things to say about what it means to love one's country as a higher degree of the neighbor, and I wanted to share just one example - in the hopes that it would be as uplifting for you to ponder as I believe it was for his family.

Love and Peace,

Ethan

Our country is our neighbor more than our community is, because our country consists of many communities. Love for our country is therefore broader and higher. Loving our country is also loving the well-being of the general public.

Our country is our neighbor because it is like a parent. We were born in it. It has nourished us and continues to nourish us. It has kept us safe from harm and continues to do so.

We are to do good to our country with love according to what it needs. Some of its needs are earthly and some are spiritual. Its earthly needs center on its civic life and order. Its spiritual needs center on its spiritual life and order.

We are to love our country not merely as much as we love ourselves; we are to love it more. There is a law written on the human heart that gives rise to the statement all just people say when they are in imminent danger of dying because of an enemy or some other cause. They say that it is a noble thing to [give their life] for their country. They say this because that is how much one ought to love one's country.

It is important to know that if people love their country and benefit it because they wish it well, they love the Lord's kingdom after death. The Lord's kingdom is their country at that point. And those who love the Lord's kingdom love the Lord, since the Lord is everything to all his kingdom. (Swedenborg, True Christianity #414)

ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR THIS SUNDAY (08/14/22)

Blood Drive:

WE WANT TO (HAVE YOU DONATE) YOUR BLOOD! As of this writing, we only have a few of the 18 we were targeting to sign up for Sunrise Chapel's first in house blood drive for the Red Cross, happening next weekend (08/21) in Friendship Hall, starting at 12pm. To learn more or sign up, please email Kris Bernardy: [email protected], for visit redcrossblood.org, and enter Sunrise Chapel in the box to pull up our page. Join us!

Hygiene Kits (for flood victims):

Thank you to everyone who helped layout, organize, and pack hygiene kits after Arizona Mountain Camp lunch last weekend in order to benefit recent flood victims. In all, we pack (and shipped off on Monday) 50 kits for those who had been displaced or were in other states of need. We are grateful to our partner Church World Service for distributing the completed kits, and all those who donated of their resources or physical effort and time to make it happen!

November Patio Sale:

Looking around our church storage, we realize that we have pretty effectively moved through the items everyone donated to support our last indoor Patio Sale in June. We are planning on running another sale sometime in November, and are looking for any gently used items you could contribute. Please email Linda Waddell if you are able to donate something: [email protected].

Path of Faith Sponsorship Project:

Rachael Casto (and her family) are spearheading an effort to have individual donors choose different plaques along the (newly redone) Path of Faith to sponsor. For more information, or to donate in support of the project, please email Rachael: [email protected].

Screwtape Letters Small Group Study Opportunity:

Coming this fall, a new small group campaign connecting C.S. Lewis' seminal work "Screwtape Letters" with principles from the Teachings for the New Church. To learn more, or to indicate your interest email Art Watson: [email protected].

SRC Board Meeting:

We have our next SRC Board meeting after worship this Sunday. If there is anything you wish to bring to the Board, please email Christine Morey: [email protected].

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEKEND!

Your church home for partnering with the Lord and each other in the practice of cultivating spiritual growth and choosing heavenly joy

www.sunrisechapel.org

Office 520-298-1245

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8421 E. Wrightstown Road
Tucson AZ 85715
USA

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