Seminars are regular gatherings organised by the Australian New Church College and have been taking place for many years now. Their purpose is to bring people physically together for a few days to study and share the Heavenly Doctrines, the Word, and personal beliefs, with the help of leaders.
The recent Adelaide Seminar was held in the church hall from March 14th to 16th and there were twenty people taking part from around Australia and one from overseas. It was led by David Millar, Todd Beiswenger and Julian Duckworth, with an excellent session given by Ros Taylor.
Chapters from Genesis and Exodus as explained in the Arcana Caelestia, Swedenborg’s major work, are a perennial and stimulating daily part of Seminars. At this one, we looked at and worked with Genesis chapters 7, 8 and 9 which are about the Flood and Noah. David took chapter 7 which deals with the animals brought into the ark, along with Noah and his family, and the rise of the flood and the destruction of everything but the floating ark.
Todd took us through chapter 8, the ending of the rain, the resting of the ark and the sending out of the raven and the dove. Julian worked with chapter 9 where God gives the rainbow sign, promising not to destroy again, and the curious story of Noah’s drunkenness and his 3 sons.
Other sessions included: Becoming obedient to truth; Understanding our sense of self; Mastering the Basics; An introduction to Wholeness Theology (Ros Taylor) and a discussion on Making meaningful contact with people who are seeking.
Those who came were asked to contribute for The New Age what they got from the seminar which can be found in the comments below…
“This time I came to the ANCC seminar in Adelaide holding some questions about discernment. How do I discern the Divine One guiding me? How can I distinguish between the voice of my “ego agenda” and the Divine voice directing me to a better path? How does the process of co-creating my life and spiritual paths with the Divine One actually work in me?
Cracks of light opened up a few answers for me me during Arcana study, presentations on varied theological topics and wonderful conversations during the weekend. I was encouraged to follow guidance through my emotions, especially joy. I learned that the Divine One is giving me a heavenly proprium/self process as I co-operate with the work of regeneration. So I can learn to trust the promptings of my developing heavenly proprium by prayerfully following joy. I can be checking for self-bound proprial interference, but I don’t need to obsess over whether my agenda is interfering with Divine guidance. Finally, I saw that discernment will unfold as I trust the process that has been established by the Divine One.” (Ros Taylor)
“I find that the seminars provide an excellent way to enrich my spiritual understanding and through it my approach to bringing it into practice in every day life. The topics vary, but are drawn together by the infilling of its life by the Word and as such no seminar has disappointed in stimulating in me some profound wisdom. The formal sessions during the day form the basis, but the informal get-togethers, dinners and discussions often bring out the teachings through lively discussions. I quite enjoy those, because they force you to formulate your thoughts and justify our held positions in light of the teachings and our life experience. Lately the commencement of each day with a meditative focus on the Word is a great start of the day and highlights the need for a personal daily focus on the Word itself, who alone is all that is good and true. If you are contemplating your own participation, whatever your starting point, you will NOT be disappointed.” (Cor Visser-Marchant)
“I was looking for action items to take away for guidance in being of use and found some!
. Know how to express what the church has done for me, not only for my own understanding and gratitude but also to be able to explain this to others when the situation arises. This will make concrete your passion and it is from individual passion that the church will grow.
. Making an effort is central to developing a heavenly state of mind, because such a mind is formed from the effort of compelling yourself to do what is good and speak what is true
. Give God credit.” (Helmut Lopaczuk)
“I really enjoyed the people I met up with, some for the first time and also the facilities at the Adelaide New Church premises. We had a nice night out at a local Hotel for dinner and drinks and I very much benefited from the seminar material presented, especially that covering Noah’s Ark and the Flood. It was also great to spend several nights together at the Manse discussing various topics with the Ministers and also Patrick.” (Kim Bentley)
“Lasting memories of the March Seminar in Adelaide, are very happy ones with very lovely company. A really good 3 day weekend; of taking time out of this busy world to immerse oneself in deep and thought provoking theological matters. Quite intriguing, trying to discern the shape, size, and measurements of Noah’s Ark, not to mention the actual purpose as well. Yes it was fun. Loved the session on “The Mind” too, considering we all have one, its just as well we should look into it more. New perceptions come out of deep discussions.
A very clear continuing theme throughout the Bible is that of the processes and challenges of regeneration, depicted in the stories. This gives us all such hope, that whenever we fall down along the way, we can make our way back up again through wisdom, truths, love and use.” (June Johnson)
“I was only able to attend one day at the recent Adelaide seminar but the whole thing was very rewarding and gave me a lovely spiritual boost, costs were kept down by some local initiatives, this must be good.” (Randall Rabone)
“My focus has changed. Observing each of the group and the presenters expressing their own particular approach to connect to the writings in today’s time was encouraging and useful. Somehow in the past I have tended to think I must remember the exact correspondence for the word and if my mind took me elsewhere it was I and not Thy. This day with you all has opened things.. I now have got back to the joyous stage of sitting on a cliff and watching the erosion of the land, the sand, sea weed, sea waders reminding me of those aspects in my life and being. The day after our meeting the thought came the Ides of March. Googling it I discovered it was that very day, and reading about the understanding and traditions at that time reminded me that God has been with all mankind forever and connects to us wherever and whenever we are. I have taken to reading the Dole book again after conversations at morning tea and am ENJOYING starting again and found tucked away my feelings on it written in 1990 so will get that out when I have finished the Genesis section.. Lastly I do have a challenge of getting annoyed of a particular trait and resisting my usual reaction last night for the first time I realised I have been approaching that reoccurring feeling with my natural self and not my spiritual self.. Step by step it is a good journey.” (Yvonne Bell)