Dear Friends,
Thank you to our Spiritual Entrepreneur Fellow, Kelly Crouch, for the lovely conclusion to their three-part sermon series on the Prodigal Son. Telling the story through the father’s eyes, Kelly walked us through every perspective: the younger son’s shame, the elder son’s resentment, and the father’s unstoppable love that always welcomes us home.
A good sermon inspires good conversation, and I was moved by the deeply personal questions and reflections that followed. If you missed it, you can watch it HERE.
Blessing of the Animals: This Sunday
One of the questions members ask me most often is what role our pets play in our spiritual lives. This Sunday, on the feast day of St. Francis, we will dedicate our service to the animals who share our lives, and I will offer a blessing for your pets, whether they join us in person or on screen.
Please contact the church in advance with your animal’s name so we can include them in our prayers and prepare for those bringing pets in person.
My message, What Our Animals Teach Us, will explore the spiritual gifts our animals bring us and what we offer one another.
With gratitude and blessings,
Rev. Rich Tafel
Readings for the Coming Sunday
Genesis 2:18–20 (King James Version)
And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
Swedenborg’s Insights
Heaven and Hell §108 (abridged)
Many are aware what knowledge there is engrafted as it were in every animal. All creatures in general that fly in the air know the proper food for their nourishment, not only what it is but where to find it; they know how to build nests for themselves… how to hatch their young and feed them, and to turn them out of their home when they are able to shift for themselves. The beasts of the earth and the birds of the air are born into all this knowledge, while man… is not; for the reason that animals are in the order of their life. Man… needs be born into mere ignorance and afterwards be led back by Divine means into the order of heaven.
Upcoming Events at Swedenborg House DC
Navigating Grief in Our Time of Political Upheaval: An Evening Salon with Music and Conversation
Thursday, October 15th | 7:00 PM ET
Many of us are holding grief these days: for our city strained by politics, for a country that feels divided, and for a sense of common ground we once took for granted. Join us for an evening to name that grief together and to discover what music, faith, and honest conversation can offer.
Makiko Hirata, known to many as Dr. Piano, will open the evening with a performance. A pianist who teaches entrepreneurship at Stanford University, she blessed our first Easter service with her music and brings a gift for helping people move from heaviness toward hope. Annabel Park, a filmmaker, organizer, and longtime friend of our church, will co-host the evening.
Come as you are, whatever your politics. Bring your questions and your heart, and leave with a little more peace and a few new companions for the road. Light refreshments will be served. All are welcome. Please contact the church for RSVP information.
Spiritual Entrepreneur Fall Intensive
Saturday, October 24 | 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM ET
How do you create meaningful work while paying the bills, charge for spiritual and creative work without selling out, and stay true to your values within capitalism? This intensive helps creatives and entrepreneurs develop a clearer mission, workable business model, and concrete next steps while connecting with like-minded builders through honest feedback, networking, and an optional peer coaching circle. Click HERE for the full description and tickets.
Other Events of Interest
Ecclesiastes, Part 3 with Dell Rose
Thursday, October 1 | 7 PM ET | Swedenborg Library of Chicago | Zoom Link
Church News in Photos
We are feeling full (in more than one sense) after our inaugural Johnny Appleseed Festival this past Sunday at Swedenborg House DC. (His birthday was September 26th!) We honored the American folk hero and beloved Swedenborgian missionary with a presentation on his fascinating life, along with apples, cider, apple cider donuts, apple cake, apple pies, and apple-themed bingo with apple-themed prizes. We capped off the evening with a screening of a Johnny Appleseed film. Thanks to all who helped pull this event off and to all of our friends who joined us and made the evening so special.
Community Connection Form
We would love to celebrate birthdays and special moments with you! Please fill out THIS form which helps us stay connected, recognize important dates, and support one another as a community.
Having trouble with the form or prefer another way to respond? Please contact the church office through the CHC website.
Notes from the Pastor’s Desk
This week’s New York Times carried an eye-opening article on artificial intelligence and spirituality. I preached on this topic three years ago, and this may be the moment to return to it.
“Religious Scholars Met With Anthropic. What They Heard Stunned Them.”
The New York Times, September 29, 2026, by Elizabeth Dias
Can a machine be taught to be good? And could it one day have something like an inner life?
Over the past year, the artificial intelligence company Anthropic quietly invited dozens of religious thinkers, including Catholic, Jewish, Sikh, evangelical, and African Ubuntu scholars, to help shape the moral character of its AI system, Claude. The company wrote a founding moral document for Claude, which staff nicknamed the “Soul Doc,” and asked faith traditions how virtue is formed: through community, confession, and character over time. Along the way, company leaders raised a startling question: if AI ever develops something resembling a soul, what moral responsibilities would humans have toward it?
The scholars came away divided. Some left ready to take the question seriously. Others, including a Catholic ethicist who first wondered, now firmly say no. Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnificent Humanity, holds that AI does not feel joy or pain and that humanity must never be replaced.
For readers of Swedenborg, who taught that all life flows in from the Divine, this article raises rich questions about what makes us human and what we owe to what we create.
Read the article HERE.
P.S. In the spirit of the article, I used Claude to help summarize it.
Thought of the Week
