goodwill, the conversations would entail goodwill and its forms of joy and
happiness. The spiritual atmosphere that prevailed during these feasts was
an atmosphere of love for the Lord and for their neighbor. This atmos-
phere would lift their individual minds, soften their tones of voice, and
allow a celebratory feeling from deep in their hearts to fill their senses.
We all have a spiritual atmosphere that emanates from the feelings
derived from our love, and from the thinking prompted by those feel-
ings. This atmosphere deeply affects other people, especially during
feasts. It emanates from people’s faces and their breathing.
The fact that lunches and dinners, or feasts, stood for such meetings
of the mind is the reason they are named so many times in the Word. In
the spiritual meaning this is exactly what these meals stood for. In the
supreme sense this is what the Passover dinner among the children of
Israel stood for; the same is true of the banquets during other Jewish festi-
vals, as well as the meals from the sacrifices next to the tabernacle. In
those instances, the bond between people was represented by breaking
bread and sharing it, and by drinking from the same cup, which people
passed around among them.
As for parties,there were some that were held in the early church by 434
people who referred to themselves as a “family in Christ.” These were par-
ties that related to goodwill, because the people felt a spiritual kinship.
These parties were also a source of comfort during times of adversity in
the church; they were celebrations of the church’s growth; and they served
as a rest for the soul from study and work, and a chance to have conversa-
tions on different topics. Because these parties flowed from spiritual love
as their source, they were rational and moral with a spiritual origin.
Today friends have parties. The goal these events focus on is to have
fun talking and to enjoy stimulating conversation. This leads to an
expansion of mind, a liberation from limited thinking, a rejuvenation of
the bodily senses, and a restoration to wholeness.
Parties related to goodwill do not yet exist, however, for the Lord says
that at the close of the age, meaning the end of the church,
Injustice will increase and goodwill will grow cold. (Matthew 24 : 12 )The reason is that the church has not yet acknowledged the Lord God the
Savior as the God of heaven and earth, and has not yet gone to him directly
as the only source from which genuine goodwill emanates and flows.
Parties, however, where there is no friendship emulating goodwill to
bring minds together are nothing but a pretense of friendship, a false
§434 goodwill & good actions 521