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Gratitiude and Responsibility
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - October 26, 2025
These two concepts aren't often paired, but they are actually intrinsically linked. Everything good that we have is a free gift from the Lord, regardless of how much we have worked for it. When we realize just how much we have been blessed we are filled with a feeling of gratitude. But it also brings a sense responsibility: if we have been so freely blessed, then there is an obligation to freely bless others. As the Lord says, "Freely you have received, freely give." | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (38m 08s)
The Heavenly Marriage
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - October 19, 2025
Everything in creation relates back to a kind of marriage: that between love and wisdom, or between goodness and truth. This spiritual union also defines our relationship with the Lord. When we accept truths into our mind and allow the Lord to fill them with goodness, we are conjoined with the Lord. This is why the Word over and over again uses the image of a marriage to describe the relationship between the Lord and the Church. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (41m 56s)
Who is My Neighbour?
Worship Service: Children & Adult - October 12, 2025
Loving your neighbour is easy if it means loving the people you like. But if the neighbour includes people we aren't so fond of it becomes much harder. One of the ways we can get better at it is by remembering that we can love the Lord in other people, even if we don't like other parts of the person. There is always something worth loving in everyone you ever meet. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (39m 56s)
Snakes in the Desert
Worship Service: Children & Adult - October 05, 2025
Our topic will be a somewhat obscure story from the time the Children of Israel wandered in the desert. They grew tired of the food the Lord provided and complained. This brought a plague of venomous snakes. When the begged the Lord for help, He had Moses set up a bronze statue of a snake, and everyone who looked at it was healed. What can this story teach us about the times we crave pleasure and are desperate for things that pull us away from the Lord? | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
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Facing the Floods of Life
Worship Service: Children & Adult - September 28, 2025
There are big, life-altering, spiritual challenges that we all face from time to time. Most of us would rather not have that be the case. But they are inevitable, and the truth is they are also necessary. We need to have opportunities to face our flaws, take on our selfishness, and allow the Lord to build us back up into better people. This Sunday we will look at how we can become more accepting of the fact that spiritual life requires times of turmoil as well as times of peace and contentment. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (00m 00s)
Choosing Your Heritage
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 21, 2025
You can’t pick your ancestors. The ones you’ve got are the ones your stuck with. The same is true of your heritage in general. For good or ill, your heredity is set. This is also true spiritually: you have inherited from birth an inclination towards certain evils. But that does not mean that we are stuck with them: we can, and indeed must, be truly born again from the Lord. While that will not change where we have come from, it will change our future. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (38m 00s)
Getting into Heaven is Easy
Worship Service: Sermon only - September 14, 2025
Jesus said: “Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). This teaching has led many to believe that it is difficult to get to heaven, but others wonder why God would make it difficult to get there. So, ask yourself this question: “Is it easy or difficult to get to heaven?” This is the question we will attempt to answer on Sunday! | By Rt. Rev. Bradley D. Heinrichs | Westville, RSA
See Event (17m 29s)
Results Don't Matter
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 10, 2025
Of course results matter! But they don’t matter in the way we might think. We tend to think that if some choice we make has a good or pleasant result, then we made the right choice; and if it has a bad or painful result then we must have made the wrong choice. The Lord, however, encourages us to do the right thing regardless of the (apparent) outcome. The immediate results won’t tell us much about whether we have done right or wrong. It’s more important for us to do what is right according to the Lord’s guidance rather than relying on our limited view of the results. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (34m 03s)
Maintenance
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 03, 2025
Things seem to fall apart and get broken rather easily—from our aging bodies, to the buildings we live in, to the equipment we rely on each day, to our lives in general and the world at large. Just think of your current to-do list of things that you need to fix, replace, clean, or sort out. What are we meant to do in the midst of this reality? Give up on fixing anything? Let’s talk on Sunday about the importance of maintenance and how to find the humility, courage, and trust to do the work to maintain what matters. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (33m 55s)
Back to Basics: How Does God Work
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 27, 2025
Back in February I gave a sermon called Back to Basics: Who is God? In that sermon we covered why beliefs about God matter so much, and how God is simultaneously infinite and omnipotent and loving and personal. We only briefly touched on the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. How can God be all three of these and still be one? We will explore how these aspects of God all work together in the one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (39m 47s)
The Power of Truth
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 20, 2025
One of the most well-known stories in the Bible is that of David felling the giant Goliath with a simple sling. What gives us this power in our own lives? The answer from the Teachings of the New Church is... Truth! That might not sound exciting, if you think of truth as mere ideas. But when we use the Lord's truths properly, they are some of the most powerful tools in the universe. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (21m 13s)
How Long, O Lord
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 13, 2025
How Long, O Lord? These words, "How long, O Lord?" were spoken by a group of people huddled under the altar, desperate to know how much longer it would be before their oppression would cease. Likewise, they are words that we might find ourselves saying when we seem unable to break free of our own sin. But although we might despair of ever being free, the Lord, in secret and hidden ways, is working for our growth and rebirth, if only we put in the little effort that we are able to. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (33m 50s)
Is it Useful
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 06, 2025
This week we ask "How do we measure usefulness?" At the heart of this question is putting truth and kindness into action. Truth and kindness without use are simply airy ideas. By asking "Is it useful?" we bring our focus to the actual impact that our words will have on the people around us. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (00m 00s)
Is it Useful
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 06, 2025
This week we ask "How do we measure usefulness?" At the heart of this question is putting truth and kindness into action. Truth and kindness without use are simply airy ideas. By asking "Is it useful?" we bring our focus to the actual impact that our words will have on the people around us. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (26m 41s)
Building Relationships Looking Ourward
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - June 29, 2025
This week we will focus on all the outward looking relationships: those with each other, with a husband or wife, with children, and with the broader community. Although there is almost infinite variety in these relationships, we will be able to see the common purpose that makes them all essential for a church community to function. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (15m 28s)
The Golden City
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - June 22, 2025
The New Church is sometimes called "The Church of the New Jerusalem." This is based on a description of a golden city, the New Jerusalem, descending from heaven to earth, as described in the book of Revelation. Each detail of this city symbolizes some aspect of the New Church. Our focus this Sunday will be on the Golden Light that filled the city. Gold stands for Love, light for Wisdom. In the New Church, the heart must always be love, from the Lord, guided by His wisdom. This is a description of the New Church as it ought to be. Our job, here and now, is to make sure that we embody that love, and let the Lord's wisdom guide us, as a church and as individuals. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (16m 31s)
Accept the Gift
Worship Service: Sermon only - June 15, 2025
The difference between payment and a gift is that we are entitled to payment for the work we have done, while a gift is freely given. So if the Lord freely forgives and saves us, why does it seem like we have to work so hard for it? What do we get credit for and what do we have to acknowledge is the Lord's? If we can clearly see how the Lord freely gives us what we need to work with, we'll be able to accept that gift in every situation through the choices we make. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (21m 15s)
Warriors for the Lord
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - June 01, 2025
What does it mean to engage in spiritual warfare? What does it take to become like one of the angels of Michael and fight for our Lord? These questions are important for us to explore because spiritual life is not always easy or peaceful. There are times when we struggle to follow the Lord and when it takes real effort to treat people the way He commands us to treat them. If we want the New Church to descend into the world then we must prepare the way by engaging in this conflict: before the Holy City can descend, the dragon must be confronted and defeated, and we must each do that as individuals if we want that Holy City to be present in our lives. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (22m 41s)
Unintended Consequences
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 25, 2025
Intentions matter more than actions. In other words, someone who is good hearted but makes mistakes is better off than someone who is malicious even while doing the right thing. Yet even the most well-intentioned person can cause harm. Their good intentions do not negate the damage they can cause in ignorance. Rather than justifying ourselves or others by saying, “they meant well,” we must find ways of addressing the harm and correcting it, even as we support and acknowledge the good intentions lying behind it. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (31m 16s)
Strong in the Lord
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 18, 2025
The Lord lends strength to those who rely on Him, the strength to resist temptation, to overcome hardship, and to do what is right and good. But when we claim credit for that strength, and take pride in ourselves over the Lord, the strength is lost and we falter. Even so, through hard work, we can turn back to the Lord and again find strength in Him. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (29m 49s)
Changing Our Spiritual Landscape
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 11, 2025
You can tell a lot about someone by the things and people they surround themselves with. On the one hand, this is because where we choose to put time and effort is a reflection of what we value. On the other hand, it is also because we are shaped by our environments: we become like what we are surrounded by. This statement is true spiritually. If we surround ourselves with heavenly influences, we will become heavenly. If we surround ourselves with hellish influences, we will become hellish. Where and how we spend our time is not just a matter of personal preference. It is a matter of choosing who we will become. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (20m 44s)
Making Faith Our Own
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 04, 2025
When you were born you knew nothing about the world and how it worked; nor did you know anything about the Lord or spiritual life. These were things that had to be taught to you, from a young age, both through education and through the examples set by the people around you. As you matured your faith became your own. No longer did you have to rely on others: you could enter into an adult relationship with the Lord and an adult understanding of spiritual life. Yet as simple as that sounds, we can all stand to reflect on how much of our faith is really our own, and how much work still needs to be done to move past what we were taught and live our faith for ourselves. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (20m 14s)
Finding the Risen Lord
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 20, 2025
Easter is of course about the Lord's Resurrection after His Crucifixion. But just because the Lord rose and lived again does not mean that we ourselves feel His living presence within ourselves. There is a process of being led to Him; it is a process that involves both the head and the heart, a process that involves grief and joy, faith and doubt. This Easter Sunday we will explore what the Gospel of John has to tell us about finding the Risen Lord in our own lives. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (30m 57s)
The View From the Cross
Worship Service: Children & Adult - April 16, 2025
We mostly think of the view that we have of the Lord. When we think of the crucifixion, perhaps we picture the Lord on the cross. But what was (and is) the Lord’s point of view? In His moment of suffering and death what did He observe, and in observing, what was His response? For an ordinary person they may have felt despair or anger; yet the Lord, even then, continued to look out with mercy and love, even on His enemies. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (30m 41s)
The Coming Kingdom
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 13, 2025
When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey the onlookers took it to be an ancient symbol of kingship. And indeed, it was. Yet their expectations of that coming kingdom were far removed from the kingdom that Jesus sought to establish. Jesus knew that the people expected an immediate overthrow of oppression and the onset of an earthly kingdom with Jesus as their benevolent ruler. The kingdom Jesus actually established was one of hard work and repentance, in other words, a spiritual kingdom. This Sunday we will look at how our own expectations are contrary to what the Lord actually intends for us. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (30m 40s)