Celebrating Swedenborg’s birthday

A little early but just in time, today, January 27, we are celebrating  Emanuel Swedenborg’s  birthday. Countless number of books have been written about Swedenborg, a scientist, philosopher, public servant to the King, inventor, astronomer engineer and most of all a mystic, who explored higher levels of consciousness. The most remarkable thing about Swedenborg is that he invites us into that world. Jonathan Rose and co-editors Stuart Shortwell and Mary Lou Bertucci called him the, Scribe of Heaven in a recently published work. Today our community will reflect on Swedenborg and his influence on the great minds of Western civilization and most importantly, for us, how his writings inspired us.  I could not fit all the books on the table. Here I show a small sampling of his books and a few written about him  and a small sampling of books written by people who profess to have experienced an awakening  as a result of exploring Swedenborg’s writings. It is worth noting renowned authors and artists such as Emerson, Balzac, Blake  were  influenced by Swedenborg.

Sampling of books by and about Swedenborg

Circle Community a sharing, praying studying community come together to support each other along life’s journey. Swedenborg’s journey into the spiritual world has profound implication for the way we live our life right now. We’ll show a show portion of movie Splendors of the Spirit  to get us in the mood for deeper reflections about own experience of living our religion.

My father found Heaven and Hell translated into Hungarian, a miracle in itself, during the aftermath of a bombing raid in Budapest in WW2. Our family did not know about a church based on his theology.  His writings became for me a guide to discover internal states of heaven and hell. Church affiliation and formal study of theology came decades later. The passion for exploring hidden treasures in his writings sharing those insights in non-theological wrappings is my life’s work. Vaishali in her 09/16/11  Huffington’s post writes of Swedenborg as “the quintessential one-stop shopping for “afterlife” wisdom.” See more of her article here, You Haven’t Lived Until You’ve Died: Emanuel Swedenborg and “the Afterlife”. Much more can be found in researchers’ findings and Near Death of Experiencers discoveries of the parallels  to their experiences in Swedenborg writings.

Today, we celebrate with gratitude not just Swedenborg the mastodon of science and mysticism but the mystery of our own life.

Come and join us this afternoon at 4:30 if you are in town. The location of our get-together is posted in Meetup.

Written by

Gabriella was born in Budapest Hungary. Some of her family still resides in Hungary. After escaping the Communist regime in the aftermath of the 1956 Revolution, Gabriella's family settled in Cleveland OH. She graduated from Cleveland Heights High School and attended college but did not earn a degree. She met her husband in Devon PA, and soon they were married and began family life in PA. Only a few years married, John and Gabriella moved to FL to be with Gabriella's aging parents. Two o their three children were born Florida. After the children began school, Gabriella volunteered in schools and libraries. Her love for swimming drew her into the world of aquatics. Part time coaching jobs evolved into career aquatic management. Her children out of the home, Gabriella worked full time as an aquatic manger, coach and swim instructor. In 2001, John and Gabriella's plans to ease into retirement in Tucson changed drastically when John suffered a heart attack in 2002. John’s amazing recovery after bypass surgery allowed Gabriella to seek a new career. It was a life changing experience for both of them. Gabriella returned to school at the University of AZ and John took over household responsibilities. A shift occurred in their lives. Gabriella felt called to become a spiritual care provider. Preparing for seminary, she chose interdisciplinary program, combining Psychology, Family and Religious Studies. She graduated with honors in 2006. Gabriella and John moved to Berkeley for her to begin seminary at the Pacific School of Religion. Gabriella was accepted on the ordination track in the Swedenborgian Church of North America. Her goal was to becoming a chaplain. John's health crisis necessitated a move from Berkeley back to Tucson in 2008. Gabriella transferred to Earlham School of Religion to complete the Master’s program. In her senior year, working in required Supervised Ministry, Gabriella created a dual ministry; Circle Community, a sharing, praying and studying support group and worked as a crisis advocate in Tucson area hospitals. Most of her family was present in Cincinnati OH when Gabriella was ordained in July 2012. In July of 2011 she was ordained in the Swedeborgian Church and accepted a call to be the pastor of the New Church of Southwest FL. Soon after her ordination Gabriella accepted a call to become the pastor to the New Church of Southwest FL in 2011. John, a VA patient needed comprehensive medical care unavailable in Fort Myers. For Gabriella ministry begins at home. Once again new a health crisis changed their life. They moved back to Tucson AZ. Back in Tucson, Gabriella found ministry opportunities with Circle Community, did workshops and conducted weekly Prayer Meditations at Rincon U.C.C. She completed a course in Spiritual Direction at the Hesychia School for Spiritual Direction. In mid October 2012, Gabriella began to work as a Chaplain for Harmony Hospice. The job all she had expected. She found great satisfaction working with patients and their families. Gabriella left the per diem position with Harmony for a full time job with Valor HospiceCare. Here too, she worked with grieving families, conducted grief support groups and lead Community Memorial services during the same time that her husband's health was spiraling downwards. Gabriella resigned her job to care for John in the last months of his life. John died in April 2014. Life became chaotic. An intense search a chaplain position in Tucson and other parts of the country was unsuccessful. Peers suggested Gabriella look into open churches with the Swedenborgian Church. She candidated in Kansas with two churches. She was called to pastor the Pretty Prairie and Pawnee Rock churches in July 2014. A new life began with the move to rural Kansas. In August 2014, Gabriella began to serve as the Pastor of the two churches.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *