I read some Swendenborg at my Mother in Laws Memorial Service yesterday

[Shadowfax]

Disclaimer - This is not meant to be a Religious Post, only about the different service we had.

Yesterday was the Memorial Service for my wife's mother. She ended up living in a Masonic Village in Burlington NJ. She was always Catholic but attended all the different denomination services there at the chapel.

I grew up with the family whose grandfather was the first US Swedenborg Preacher and church in Philadelphia PA. Later, the Pitcairns built the true Gothic Cathedral 4 miles down the road from where I live now in Bryn Athyn PA.

After MIL started to be more open minded and going to those other services, I quoted her something from Swedenborg. He said "All religions are just different pathways to the same God" My MIL liked that so much, she wrote it down and kept it with her prayer books. She would pull it out from time to time and read it to someone. The day before she died, she read her last Daily Word that we also read at the service, she also read the quote to the Hospice people who came to see her.

The service had both a Chaplain and a Deacon. The family sat in pews that were up on the same level as the pulpit facing sideways. When I got done my reading and sat back down, I got one Evil Eye from the Deacon...he wasn't prepared.

Anyway, I know many people left the service thinking differently. People commented as to how different it was and that they are changing thoughts on their own. Others tried to quote me back the line from Swednborg.

When I found this passage, it was just perfect for my MIL

This was my part in the service-

When my Mother in Law moved into the Masonic Village, although she was Catholic, she started to attend many of the other denomination services held here in this Chapel. She came to enjoy all the different ways and about that time, I quoted her something from Emanuel Swedenborg. He said "All religions are just different pathways to the same God" Mom liked that quote so much, she wrote it down and kept it in a little pouch with her prayer books. Since then, my mother in law told me that she has pulled that quote out numerous times to recite it to others. So in honor of Gloria's open mindedness, I would like to read a passage from Swedenborg's Heaven & Hell

The people of heaven are continually advancing towards the spring-time of life; and the more thousands of years they live, the more delightful and happy is the spring to which they attain. Women who have died old and worn out with age, and have lived in faith in the Lord and in charity to the neighbor, come, with the succession of years, more and more into the flower of youth and early womanhood, and into a beauty exceeding every idea of beauty ever formed through the sight. In a word, to grow old in heaven is to grow young.

—Heaven and Hell, n. 414

[joeinid]

That must have been a wonderful service.

It’s too bad that sometimes we all can’t accept each other for who we are and appreciate our differences and similarities.

Thank you for sharing.

[Shadowfax]

I agree Joe. And in my wife's Eulogy, she spoke about how when she brought me home to meet the parents, I was not Catholic or Italian, but how they figured out I didn't have to be. For the record, I would call myself Spiritual, not Religious as I am not really affiliated with any church. My wife is a struggling Catholic. I just try to walk the walk and treat everyone as best I can. If I was pressured to pick sides, because of many things including a dark time of death of a son of the same family I spoke of above, I can identify with the beliefs and writings of Swedenborg more than any other option.