New Church Foundation

How do we honor His presence? We do so through prayer, through living a spiritual life, and through honoring what is sacred in other people. He said: "By this shall all know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another" (John 13:35). We also honor Him in worship – in our private prayers and in public worship services.

Readings

Heaven’s sun is the Lord; light there is the divine truth and warmth the divine good that radiate from the Lord as the sun. Everything that comes into being and manifests itself in the heavens is from this source. ... The reason the Lord in heaven appears as the sun is that He is the divine love from which all spiritual things come into being and, through the agency of our world’s sun, all natural things as well. That love is what shines like a sun. (Heaven and Hell 117)

However, when the Lord appears in heaven (which happens quite often) He does not appear clothed with the sun but in an angelic form, distinguishable from the angels by the divine quality that shines from His face. He is not actually there in person since the Lord "in person" is always clothed with the sun but is present in appearance. It is commonplace in heaven for things to be seen as though they were present in the place where their appearance is focused or delineated, even though this is very far from the place where they themselves actually are. ... Then too I have seen the Lord outside the sun in an angelic form overhead, a little below the sun, and also nearby in a similar form – once even among some angels, looking like a fiery ray of light. (Heaven and Hell 121)

This kind of turning toward the Lord is one of heaven’s wonders, for many individuals can be together in one place, turning faces and bodies toward each other, and yet all of them will have the Lord in front of them. (Heaven and Hell 144)

We can see from this what the Lord’s presence is like in the heavens: it is everywhere, with every individual in the good and true qualities that emanate from the Lord. So He is in angels in what is actually His own ... Their sense of the Lord’s presence is in their deeper reaches. It is from these that their eyes see, so He seems to be outside them because there is a continuum. This enables us to see how we should understand the Lord’s being in them and their being in the Lord. (Heaven and Hell 147)

Reflection

How do you honor God’s presence in your life? How to do dishonor it?

Frequently Asked Question

Q. Is God really angry or jealous?
A. When we read the Old Testament we are sometimes given a view of God being angry or jealous. Let it be clearly said: God is never angry. God is pure love and wisdom and completely incapable of having anything but love towards us. The appearance of an angry God in the Old Testament was necessary for that was the only image of God the people were able to respond to at that time. They projected this image of the Lord because fear was in their hearts. The Lord loves you and never wishes any harm on you. There is a beautiful passage in the Writings that says the Lord can’t even turn His face from us or frown on us.

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