Speaking the Same Language – Bryn Athyn Church

by Rev. Steven P. Gunther

During community worship yesterday, Malcolm showed a picture of people of many different races and cultures. He made the point that many of those people may speak different languages here on earth, but in heaven they are all able to communicate effortlessly. That example brought to mind one of my favorite teachings in the New Church.

The teaching comes from the explanation of the story of the Tower of Babel. In the literal story, humans believing they could build a tower to heaven led to them having their languages mixed up. Before building the tower, they were said to have one language. In the Heavenly Doctrines we are told that this story is about the Ancient Church, and how the people of that church shared one common goal despite the variety among them. Here is what is said in Arcana Coelestia 1285:

“A doctrinal view is united when everyone loves each other or displays charity. Mutual love and charity bring such people together into one despite the variety among them, because it draws unity out of variety. When everyone practices charity, or loves each other, then no matter how many people there are — even if they number in the hundreds of millions — they share a single goal: the common good, the Lord's kingdom, and the Lord himself. Variety in doctrine and worship are, again, like the variety of senses and organs in the human body, which contribute to the perfection of the whole.”

In other words, in the Ancient Church, even though there was a lot of variety in terms of people’s understandings and styles of worship they were all united because they all looked to the common good and to serving the Lord. This passage shows the power of charity and mutual love.

These days it often feels like we are more polarized than ever. We so quickly notice where we differ from others, and often we find ourselves judging or condemning people who are different from us – whether it be someone of a different culture, religion, political affiliation, sports fandom, etc. It’s easy to see those things as dividing us, but this passage is saying that, actually, variety helps our society be more perfect. When we have variety and diversity in our community, as long as we are guided by charity and love to the neighbor, then those differences actually help to create a more full, beautiful image of the Lord’s kingdom on earth. So, this week, I would invite us all to reflect on variety and ask ourselves how we can prioritize charity and unity rather than separation and division

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