Newsletter: May 28, 2021

Should Christians Support the Military?

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Should Christians Support the Military?

Sunday, May 30, 2021

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Dear Friends:

Thanks to all for discussing how each of you manages those voices in your head. I'll remember Jimmy's "gangster" voice and David's strategy to "swat them away. It was fun trying a hybrid service where Jimmy, Maria, and Annabel arrived in person for the first time in a year. This Sunday I'll be broadcasting from away, so not in the church.

You can see past sermons here:

https://holycitydc.org/category/sermon/

Should Christians Support the Military?

Happy Memorial Day Weekend, when we commemorate those who died in service to our country. This Sunday my sermon will explore whether Christians should support the military. Jesus teaches us that he who lives by the sword will die by it. He also says we should turn the other cheek. But Jesus doesn't give us concrete strategies to manage foreign policy in our complicated world with evil forces bent on destruction.

Many Christians feel their path is a conscientious objector and defunding the military. Other Christians feel that serving in the military is living out Jesus teaching that there is no greater love than being willing to lay down your life for another. Sunday, I'll explore these viewpoints to see what we can come up with in our own life.

Helen Sioris Funeral Friday, June 4th at 11 AM EST

A funeral for Helen will be held on Friday, June 4th at Murphy's Funeral Home in Arlington, VA at 11 AM EST. This will be followed by a Mediterranean luncheon which will be followed by a graveside service. Rev. Tafel will be presiding.

Murphy's Funeral Home

4510 Wilson Boulevard

Arlington, VA 22203

Memorial Service, Sunday, June 20th at 4 PM EST

Church of the Holy City will hold a memorial service for Helen on Sunday, June 20th at 4 PM EST. This will be broadcast to our members. Following the Memorial Service, we will have our last Sunday Service before summer vacation at 5 PM. A reception is planned for anyone who is able to join us in Washington DC. The final weekend in June is our national convention.

If you'd like to do a reading or share a story for either or both services, just contact Rev. Tafel (revtafel@holycitydc.org.). Please check out Maria and Annabel's lovely tributes to Helen that they posted on Facebook below.

Membership

If you are interested in becoming a member, please reach out to me.

Swedenborgian Convention 2021 June 25-27.

The annual convention of Swedenborgian churches will take place online again this year and all are welcome to attend. Details below. Please pick a class or two to attend. Also, if you're a member we still have two voting options available. We need you at Convention!

https://convention2021.swedenborg.org/

Reading Group July and August 2021

A number of members have expressed interest in holding a reading group during July and August when the church takes our summer vacation. Let me know if you are interested and I'll do a group email introduction for those interested.

Look forward to seeing you Sunday.

Thanks for your help!

Rev. Rich Tafel

Please give generously to our ministry

Tribute to Helen Sioris

by Annabel Park

A beautiful soul transitioned last Saturday morning. Her name is Helen Sioris, and she was seventy-nine years old. As the second child of Greek immigrants, she lived a life of feisty independence despite the discouragement from those around her. She had a long career at the World Bank and relished the fact that she was able to have a successful career as a single woman.

She was a seeker of moral and spiritual truths and strove to be kind and thoughtful to everyone around her. She was a member of the Church of The Holy City - National Swedenborgian Church for thirty-five years and was president for the last year and a half of her life. In a remarkable partnership with Minister Tafel, she oversaw our church transform into a sacred place of radical inclusiveness for all those seeking refuge from intolerance and hate.

Beto and I were able to visit her two days before she passed away. She and her brother were greatly comforted by Beto's gentle and loving presence.

I audio-recorded a conversation with her that moved me deeply. She wants all of us to know that civil dialogue is the most important tool for creating meaningful and lasting social change. She was alert, communicative, and at peace with her "imminent death," as she called it. I will share the recording during her memorial service.

It was a great privilege to witness Rich Tafel and church member and Helen's neighbor Malcolm Peck care for her with love and tenderness in the last weeks of her life as bone cancer ravaged her body.

I think I will look back on my conversation with her as an existential turning point. I understand so much better what it means to die with dignity and peace. I want this for myself and everyone I know.

I will see you on the other side, Helen. Rest In Peace.

A Tribute to Helen Sioris

by Maria de Los Angeles

Dear Helen,

I’ll be honest. Sometimes I wonder if in my eldercare and end-of-life work, I overcompensate for everything I wanted to do and never did for my parents. You see, history repeated itself this weekend. God wanted to remind me about intention and surrender -- the seed and evolving of love.

About five years ago, my father died while I was on the phone arranging for members of my Miami church choir to sing at his bedside for his upcoming birthday -- all just hours before my visit.

This past weekend, you died just two days shy of my visit, while I was making arrangements for the D.C. chapter of Threshold Choir to sing at your bedside, while I was making plans of what little joys I could bring to your pain and passing.

Making plans in this year of waiting. Waiting. Waiting for the pandemic to end. Waiting for the vaccine. Waiting to see you again.

Before this year marked by patience, there were Sundays.

At the sanctuary, I could hear your cane tapping the floor. Tap tap. Acoustic hello. “Helen is here,” I thought. Though I was facing the altar on the first pew, perhaps those sitting behind me could see me smile as my shoulder blades stretched. A happy sigh. “Helen is here.”

I would rush to you when you cried offering testimony. I would hold your hand when we sang together. No, correction. I would hold your hand and then quiet myself as I couldn’t harmonize with your angelic soprano soaring out of a tiny body into the nave. I would listen to your long yarns at social hour, not only because you were my friend and I loved you, but also because you reminded me of my mom. I could see her in your eyes, a sea of kindness.

It takes a village to help someone die. And our little Swedenborgian village -- “we’re small but with big hearts,” as I like to say about the capital’s Church of the Holy City, was there for you during the pandemic working on behalf of one singular intention -- to ease your suffering. Our pastor and others helped you along the way, and I’m so grateful.

My sweet friend, before there was anything, God said let there be light and that was the first intention. And because we’re part of a mystical tradition, let me play with words. God also said let there be love. But with that love came infinite surrender into unbounded vastness. What was once created out of nothing can never be destroyed into nothing.

The seed and evolving. Intention and surrender. The primordial sound. The beauty of the fading note.

I like to think you and my father chose a bigger choir. Maybe I didn't quite make it to the nursing home. I’m still singing for you in my heart. I ask you what song you’d like to hum. And then I just listen. Shh. Shh. Just listen. The still small voice of love.

I love you.

Maria

New Member Shalonda Ingram

Our building director, Shalonda Ingram, has requested members into the Church of the Holy City community. After meeting with the pastor and gaining that recommendation, the board of directors voted in their last meeting to approve her for members. Per our bylaws, this desire to become a member is being formally announced here. If there are no objections, Shalonda becomes our newest member.

"How to

Heal Our Divides"

The Future of Church

written by Rev. Tafel

The book "How to Heal Our Divides: A Practical Guide" has been published with a short chapter by Rev. Tafel offering a strategy for the future of the church. This chapter focuses on our church's effort to teach spiritual entrepreneurship.

We are planning a book party this fall to celebrate.

You can purchase the book on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/How-Heal-Our-Divides-Practical/dp/B0948LPPFS

Rev. Tafel to Present at Rumi Forum

The Rumi Forum is hosting an event called Scriptural Reasoning where a Muslim, Christian, and Jewish leader each shares their perspective on a text. This month Rev. Tafel will represent the Christian perspective on the topic of Covenant.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/scriptural-reasoning-covenant-tickets-155990518841

Sunday Service Order

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Light a Candle

Open the Word

Greetings and Check-In

Take a Deep Breath

Invocation

Bless us as we gather today.

Weave us into a community showing forth your power and tenderness.

Bless us and our differences and undergird our courage to stand together.

We call on you today to gather us in your love.

Lead us to better know you and glorify you on each step of the journey of our lives.

Amen.

Confession

Psalm 51

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness:

according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

²Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

³For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

Scripture Readings

Matthew 26:52

Then Jesus told him, “Put your sword back in its place because all who take up the sword will perish by the sword.

Matthew 5:38

38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.

Matthew 10:34

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Exodus 15:

3 The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.

4 Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea.

5 The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.

6 Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.”

Swedenborg Insights:

It is not because of divine providence that wars happen, because wars are inseparable from murder, plunder, violence, cruelty, and other appalling evils that are diametrically opposed to Christian caring. (Divine Providence #251)

It is appropriate for all people to protect their country and their fellow citizens against invading enemies. . . . But it is not appropriate to make enemies for no cause. When the cause is one’s own glory, that is essentially diabolical, since it comes from self-love. (Divine Providence #252)

SERMON

Offering

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Community Prayer with Lord's Prayer

(congregation responds, "Lord hear our prayer.")

Benediction

Now may the peace that passes all understanding be with you all this day and forevermore.

AMEN

Discussion Time Follows the Benediction

This time is for those who would like to remain after the service to ask questions and hear the questions of others.