Virginia Street Swedenborgian Church
Baptisms
We offer the Sacrament of Baptism to people of all ages as a dedication and introduction of a child to the larger community of souls and as an opportunity for parents to publicly express their commitment to be the best parents they can be. We offer the Sacrament to older individuals as a way to affirm their dedication to a new and deeper spiritual life.
We believe that God loves all people, regardless of their religion. Therefore, in this sacrament we do not baptize into the one denomination. We baptize into the Lord’s church, the universal Church. The water we use is a symbol of the cleansing power of God's continuous inspiration.
Your Baptism may be celebrated as part of our regular Sunday Worship Service or as a separate event. Baptisms are arranged in an individual basis with the Minister. Please contact the church at (651) 224-4553 for more information.
Funeral and Memorial Services Ministry
"We are so created by the Lord that as to our inner being, our character and everything that makes us a person, we can never die. Whatever is alive in us is spirit, our body only serving us as an instrument that is responsive to that living, moving force. Since, then, everything that lives in the body, and, from life, acts and feels, belongs exclusively to the spirit, and nothing of it to the body, it follows that the Spirit is the real person; or, what is the same thing, that considered in ourselves we are spiritual beings!
Therefore, when our body is no longer able to perform its functions in the natural world but is separated from our spirit, which is called dying, we still continue to be ourselves and to live. We ourselves live, because we live not from the body but from the spirit, because it is the spirit which thinks and loves in us, and thought together with affection makes us what we are.
Thus, it is clear that when we die we only pass from the consciousness of one world to that of another."
-excerpt from the Rite of Burial, "Book of Worship", 1950
Given that we believe each person is a uniquely gifted expression of God's creation, we feel it is a privilege to participate in your loved one's Memorial Celebration. Please contact the church at (651) 224-4553 or email the minister at vssc4553@msn.com for further information.