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Bringing Evil to Light
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 22, 2024
What’s the point of reflecting on your inner life? The things that go through your heart and mind? The problem is that evil that remains hidden will ultimately actually change who we are as individuals. The Lord wants us to work on our inner selves, our motivations and intentions, so that we can become truly heavenly people, in other words, people who do not just act heavenly, but who are heavenly at heart and in mind. In order for this to happen, the evils that exist within us must be examined, brought to light, and dealt with openly. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (24m 25s)
Abide in Me
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 15, 2024
There are many ways we can think about what the Lord wants for us. One of the ways the Lord frames it is that He wants us to abide in Him so that He can abide in us. During the service we will be exploring how we can live our lives in a way that allows for the Lord to most fully abide in us, where we can feel His presence and experience His joy | By Rt. Rev. Bradley D. Heinrichs | Westville, RSA
See Event (43m 04s)
How the 5 Senses Mislead Us
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 08, 2024
Many religions have taught that there is virtue in denying yourself pleasure. The idea is that pleasure distracts us from what truly matters and entices us to live selfishly. And that is very true. But there is also a kind of pleasure, even worldly pleasure, that can fit perfectly well into a wholesome, spiritual life. The point is not to deny ourselves for the sake of denial, but rather to deny pleasures that take us away from the Lord and embrace the ones that allow us to delight in the Lord. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (26m 27s)
Digital Well-Being
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 01, 2024
One of the most ubiquitous modern “idols” is the screen. It sucks us in with its promise of satisfaction, pleasure, and escape, only to rob us of time, energy, and connection. Ironically, even as we devote so much to a lifeless mass of wires and plastic, we disconnect more and more from the life-filled, flesh-and-blood people around us. We must relearn how to prioritize people, and above all the Lord, and have technology once again become a servant in pursuit of that priority. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (37m 44s)
The Lord is My Shepherd
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 25, 2024
The 23rd Psalm is one of the most well-known portions of the Bible. In it, the Lord is compared to a shepherd, providing for all our needs and guiding us through dark places. This Sunday will be spent contemplating the deeper meaning we can find contained within these powerful words of Scripture. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (34m 27s)
Meeting God in Nature
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 18, 2024
There’s something beautiful about being in nature, surrounded by trees and flowers, hearing the birds singing, watching as the sun lights up the clouds. It can feel like a truly spiritual experience. And in fact, it is: every last thing in nature is a reflection of the spiritual world, and ultimately, of the Lord. Nor is this just a symbolic connection: the life we see all around us is actually created and sustained by spiritual life from the Lord. Our relationship with nature is an opportunity to reflect and connect more deeply with the Lord. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (24m 27s)
God's Healing Forgiveness
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 11, 2024
We all have times when we become paralyzed by evil and falsity. We want desperately to be good but for some reason we cannot seem to let go of harmful thoughts and feelings. The Lord’s forgiveness offers us a way out of this spiritual paralysis: when we raise our thoughts to Him, He heals us through His forgiveness, and in that healing we find freedom for our minds. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (35m 12s)
Remove Those Earrings
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 04, 2024
To love the Lord means to love to do what He commands (John 14:21-24). That is because He is what He commands, for His commandments originate from Him, so that He is present in them, and is thus present in the person on whose life they are engraved, and they are engraved on a person by his willing and doing them. (AR 551) | By Rev. J. Bheki Dube | Westville, RSA
See Event (46m 08s)
Childhood Spirituality, Part 2 - Heavenly Innocence
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 28, 2024
We can all agree that childhood is a time of great innocence. We see it in the faces of infants and in the behaviour of little children. The Teachings of the New Church say that this innocence comes directly from the Lord, and at heart is a simple willingness to be led by the Lord. This same innocence is not restricted to childhood; in fact, the more we as adults lean into a willingness to simply be led by the Lord, the more we return to the innocence of childhood; with the difference that because it is something we consciously choose, it can be deeper and stronger even than the innocence that we had as children. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (28m 45s)
Childhood Spirituality, Part 1: A Foundation for Life
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 21, 2024
“Grow up!” “Don’t be such a child!” “Act like an adult!” These are all familiar messages that we start to hear as we get older. We are encouraged to leave behind the things of childhood and enter “the real world.” And there is a truth in this way of thinking. But the Lord also says almost the opposite: “unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). Although we do leave childhood behind, there is some spiritual element of childhood that it is essential for us to hold onto. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
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The Decree of Shame: The Story of Daniel in the Den of Lions Retold
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 14, 2024
A Decree of Shame condemns and sends an innocent, God-fearing man to a Den of Lions with the hope he dies there. But then, there is our Lord, our God. His presence changes the narrative and brings an unexpected twist that brings nothing less than legendary and continuous happiness. | By Rev. J. Bheki Dube | Westville, RSA
See Event (18m 24s)
Heaven Is Not For Sale
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 07, 2024
You can’t buy your way into heaven, no matter how much wealth you amass. That won’t come as a surprise to most of you. Yet somehow, subconsciously, we end up trying. Every time we feel entitled to reward because of our good deeds, we have diminished good deeds to a mere currency with which we can buy a slice of heaven. Every time we feel slighted for the ill fortune that befalls us in spite of our goodness, we have reduced God’s living Providence into a mere balance sheet of good countered by evil. It is only when we realize that goodness is its own reward that we can be free from the allure of heaven as a reward. Heaven is not a reward; heaven is the natural result of a life of goodness. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (35m 52s)
The Second Coming - In With the New
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - June 16, 2024
Last week we explored how the Last Judgment is not a future event that will sweep away all the evil of the world and bring an end to all our issues, but rather a spiritual event that took place hundreds of years ago, paving the way for us to freely deal with our issues. That was not the only thing that happened though: at the same time the Lord made His Second Coming, His long-awaited return to Earth. He made His advent not by appearing in person however, but through a series of books that we know today as the Heavenly Doctrines, or the Teachings of the New Church. This Sunday we’ll talk about how the Lord comes to each one of us through these new ideas. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (35m 32s)
The Last Judgement Out With the Old
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - June 09, 2024
One of the most astonishing teaching of the New Church is that the Last Judgment and the Second Coming of the Lord have already taken place... and hardly anyone noticed! This is because they are spiritual events rather than physical ones. This Sunday we'll talk about how a Last Judgment, which took place in the spiritual world hundreds of years ago, paved the way for a new spiritual era and impacts all of us even today. Then the following Sunday we'll explore how the Lord can come again into our lives, as His Second Coming continues with every individual. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (22m 06s)
Put Your Trust in the Lord
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - June 02, 2024
With the recent elections many of us are reflecting on the future of this country. There is a decent amount of fear and worry, along with some hope perhaps. But how are we to think of these things spiritually? Sometimes we separate the political from the spiritual as if they are totally distinct parts of life. But the realm of laws and governance is supposed to be a support for a moral and spiritual society. If that support is shaky, morality and spirituality suffer. But regardless of the despair or hope we may feel, the Lord calls us to remember to put our trust in Him, and believe that He is still in charge, regardless of the apparent outcomes. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
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A New Way to See the World
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 26, 2024
The Lord asks us to see in a new way. Maybe that is why healing from blindness was a such a common miracle. But it was not physical blindness the Lord healed but spiritual blindness as well. | By Rev. Charles E. Blair | Westville, RSA
See Event (21m 03s)
Anxiety
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 19, 2024
Anxiety is all around us in today’s world. It is in ourselves, our friends, our communities. Does this abundant anxiety exemplify a lack of faith in the Lord? Not necessarily. It is true that faith in the Lord can help overcome anxiety; and as we grow in faith we may find that anxiety lessens. But as long as we love what is good, we will feel fear when that good thing is put at risk. The real question is what will we do with the anxiety that we feel, and can we be motivated by it to make a more loving, safe, world? | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (26m 45s)
Hannah: A Woman Who Gave All
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 12, 2024
And she made a vow, saying, “LORD Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.” (1Samuel 1:11) | By Rev. J. Bheki Dube | Westville, RSA
See Event (34m 42s)
The Battles We Never Fight
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 05, 2024
Have you ever seen a person who struggles with some particular evil and thought to yourself, “I’m so glad that I’ve never had to deal with that”? It helps to put our own struggles into perspective when we can see how much harder other people have it. We could put much of this up to chance: we happened to be born into a certain family, at a certain time in history, in a particular location. But on closer inspection, none of this is random chance: all of us, like it or not, incline towards the same struggles and challenges as anyone else. It is only through the Lord’s almighty power that we can be held back from falling headlong into unimaginable evils. Today we will explore the ways that the Lord fights battles on our behalf that we will never be aware of, and how much we have to be grateful for. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (35m 05s)
Giving and Receiving, Part 2, How to Be Helped
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 28, 2024
Everyone needs help; none of us can get through life on our own. And yet when help is available there are many times when we don’t take advantage of it. Why is that? Why especially do we not take advantage of the help that the Lord offers? We’ll explore what gets in the way and how to have a better attitude towards the help that we are given by other people. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (16m 38s)
Giving and Receiving - Part 1 - How to Give Help
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 21, 2024
When someone you care about is in need, you give them help. That is a good thing, obviously! But what if they don’t want our help? Or if they need a different kind of help? Or if they reject our help? Our immediate response can be hurt; after all, we are trying to help them! But if we are going to truly help people, we need to learn to make it less about us and how we are received, and more about what the person actually needs. Giving help is about the receiver, it is not about the giver. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (19m 52s)
The Two Great Prophets
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 14, 2024
Elijah and Elisha were two prophets who followed in quick succession. Elijah, who came first, was poorly received and lived a troubled existence. Elisha, who succeeded him, was better received and accepted by the leaders of his day. These two prophets represent two stages in our relationship with the Lord. At first we must struggle and fight to apply His truths. But as we grow and progress it becomes easier and easier, until we live His truth with hardly a second thought. | By Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss, Sr. | Westville, RSA
See Event (21m 21s)
Embracing Weakness
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 07, 2024
If someone called you weak, you would take it as an insult. But what about when the Lord calls you weak? Because He most certainly does: compared to Him, we are utterly powerless. And yet far from being insulted, if we embrace our own weakness, we can let down the burdens of perfection and self-reliance, and receive from the Lord a greater power than we could ever muster on our own. We may be utterly helpless, but the greatest force in the universe is on our side. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (32m 00s)
The Power of Goodness
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 31, 2024
The word “omnipotent” can be attributed only to the Lord; He alone is all-powerful. The Easter story is a manifestation of that power, in that He restored to order everything in His kingdom and took on the power to be our Savior. As He said to His disciples, “All power has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). On Sunday we will talk about how to receive some of that power into our own lives. There is power in goodness, in doing the things the Lord asks, in sharing what is ours with others, in extending ourselves of the benefit of others, in praying to the Lord for help. | By Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss, Jr. | Westville, RSA
See Event (41m 05s)
The Blood of the Lamb
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 27, 2024
Around Easter there are many images, some gruesome, of the Lord dying on the Cross, shedding His blood. The New Church, with good reason, does not emphasize these images. But why then did the Lord talk in terms of giving His flesh and blood? This imagery was not made up from nothing, but from the Lord’s own words. We need to listen to what the Lord taught about spilling His own blood for us; but we have to understand these word spiritually. When we do, our minds can rise above the gruesome imagery, and see the beautiful reality of the Lord giving of His own life, through the truths of Word, to regenerate us and recreate us as new and heavenly people. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (35m 29s)