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Ideals - Sorting Out What Matters and What Does Not
Worship Service: Sermon only - August 12, 2018
We can't live up to all ideals. We have to choose between them and then prioritise which of our ideals or values matter more or less in different situations. And what if we get it wrong? What if we reject a true ideal? What if we buy into a false ideal? What if we give something too much weight or too little? These are the questions we're going to wrestle with this Sunday. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSANoah and the Dove
Worship Service: Informal Family - August 05, 2018
Freedom from the Flood. During the Flood, Noah released first a raven and then a dove to see if there was any hope of dry land (Genesis 8). At first the dove came back with nothing. Next the dove came back with an olive leaf. Finally the dove didn’t come back at all. What does this symbolize about the gradual escape from spiritual “floods” in our own lives? | By Rev. Solomon J. Keal | Bryn Athyn Heilman HallSingleness and Marriage
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 05, 2018
Last week Malcolm talked about how we can hold ideals, especially around marriage. Next week he'll carry on with that theme. But this week, we are going to take a break from talking about marriage and put the focus on the other side: on singleness. Some of you are single yourselves; some of you are recently married; and some of you probably can barely remember what it was like to be single. In any case we will look at what the Lord has to say about this state of life and what even the long-time couples can learn from it. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSAIdeals
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 29, 2018
Ideals are great when we feel like we’re living up to them. But what about when we don’t? What about when we fall short? What about when it’s impossible for us to live up to certain ideals, through no fault of our own? Do we abandon our ideals? Do we change our ideals to fit our circumstances? How does the Lord want us to hold our ideals? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA2018-07-23 7 Tuesday Morning Adult Lecture BDB
Jacob's Creek - Tuesday Morning Lecture - Rev. Brett D. Buick - Title - Letting the Light of the New Church Shine, Even on the Hard Subjects Suggested Readings: True Christian Religion 776, 779; Last Judgement 45-46 Conjugial Love 181, 457, 523 | By Rev. Brett D. Buick | Jacob's CreekGood Humour
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 22, 2018
Humour is all around us - we tease people, they tease us, we make jokes, we laugh at jokes that other people make, we watch funny shows, we read funny things. Humour is great and life would be rather bleak without laughter. But humour can also be really painful and destructive. What does the Lord say in His Word about humour and what guidelines can we get from him about what sorts of jokes and humour to engage in and what stuff to steer clear of? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSADo You Want to Be Made Well?
Worship Service: Informal Family - July 15, 2018
A man had been sick for 38 years, and the Lord asked him a strange question: “Do you want to be made well?” Of course, he wanted to be made well! But maybe it's not such a strange question after all. Aren't there areas of our lives where part of us doesn’t WANT the Lord's healing? How can we allow the Lord to transform those parts within us? | By Rev. Coleman S. Glenn | Bryn Athyn Heilman HallSpirit of the Law
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 15, 2018
We all break rules from time to time. We speed. We tell a little lie. We browse Instagram at work when no one is around. We always tell ourselves that it is justified. But then someone else does the same, and our righteous indignation bristles: well if they speed, I can cut them off! They lied, so I can bad mouth them to others! They slack off at work, so I can too! What we fail to see is that we are using the technicality of breaking a rule to justify us harming someone else. The Lord calls us to something greater: to look beyond just the letter of the law and focus on the spirit, and from there to have compassion on those who perhaps don't stay within bounds as much as we might hope. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSAEternal Waters
Worship Service: Sermon only - July 08, 2018
We all have times when we thirst. We thirst for understanding, for insight, for justice, for knowing how to get through. We thirst for a better life or a better job or a better family. The kind of thirst we're going to look at this Sunday is the thirst for truth. Now you might not feel like you have a strong thirst for truth. But we all have a thirst for the truth that teaches us how to navigate the challenges of life and that leaves us feeling satisfied; the kind of truth that when it hits you suddenly know everything is going to be OK. If we are willing, this is the truth that the Lord will feed us with and satisfy our longing. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSAThe Blessedness of Forgetting
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 01, 2018
This Sunday evening will be a lay service, led by Warwick Schuurman. the sermon that I've picked for him to read is really good. It's a sermon by the Rev. Frank Rose about how the Lord carefully looks after our memories and sometimes helps us forget. We tend to think of forgetting things as a bad thing but really it's such a blessing that the Lord lets us forget things. A better understanding of how the Lord works with our memories gives us another window into seeing just how much and how well He cares for us. | By Rev. Frank S. Rose | Westville, RSAThe Woman Clothed with the Sun
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - June 24, 2018
This week's message focuses on a series of images presented to us in the 12th chapter of Revelation. We think about how the woman clothed with the sun is a symbol of the New Church, or New Christian era, coming into the world from heaven. | By Rev. Garry B. Walsh | Phoenix, AZBuilding Up to New Church Day: Part 3 - The Eternal Life of Usefulness
In this third and final part of our 3-Part series, we think about how a truly Christian life is the produce of the Lord's goodness in a person's heart and His true ideas in that person's mind, being combined into a life a true usefulness. | By Rev. Garry B. Walsh | Phoenix, AZUnveiling Our Hearts
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - June 17, 2018
When we are proud of ourselves there is nothing that we want more than for other people to know it. When we are ashamed we hide and hope no one notices. But when we hide our evils even from ourselves and the Lord there is no way to be healed of them. The Book of Revelation invites us to go through the painful process of exposing our own faults, so that with the Lord we can overcome them. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSABuilding Up to New Church Day: Part 2 - Truth Strengthening Love
In this part of our 3-Part series, we think about how the love for being a good and useful person that we want to be in our hearts, needs to be coupled with the true ideas that the Lord teaches us in His Word about what a loving life looks like. | By Rev. Garry B. Walsh | Phoenix, AZThe Woman, the Dragon, and the Wings in Revelation 12
Worship Service: Informal Family - June 10, 2018
“Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun...And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads….But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle” (Revelation 12:1-14) We explore the meaning of the “dragon” and the “woman clothed with the sun” inside all of us. Thanks to the Odhner family Marionettes for depicting this story. | By Rev. Solomon J. Keal | Bryn Athyn Heilman HallHow Long, O Lord?
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - June 10, 2018
There are times when the state of things in this world can seem pretty bleak - when things at a national, international and even local and personal level seem pretty bad. Too often it seems like evil and selfishness are winning, despite genuinely good people doing all that they can to try to do what's right. This Sunday we will reflect on a vision from the book of Revelation that captures this feeling - the vision of souls under the altar crying out to the Lord, "How long, O Lord?" - and we will see what the Lord has to tell us about what to do when it seems like things are really bad and will never get better. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSAWhere Did We Go Wrong?!
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - June 03, 2018
Have you ever found yourself in a bad place and wondered how on earth you got into this mess? Things were once so great! Life was sailing along smoothly and you were proud of how much growth you'd seen in yourself. Yet here you are, back to your crabby, unhappy, selfish self. What went wrong? This pattern is common not just in individuals but in communities and even across history. Luckily, it does not happen by chance. This Sunday we'll look what Revelation can tell us about this cycle and how we can avoid it. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSAThe Potter
Worship Service: Informal Family - May 27, 2018
Jeremiah went to the potter’s house to watch him make something at his wheel. The vessel the potter made had a flaw in it. Rather than throwing the clay away, he continued to work on the vessel until it was good in his sight. We explore how the Lord, as an artist, is forming you into an angel. We have one of our local ceramic artists showing how a pot is made on a potter's wheel as part of the service. | By Rt. Rev. Thomas L. Kline | Bryn Athyn Heilman HallThe Lord's Prayer: Part 5 - Battling Temptations
Here in Part 5 of our 6-Part series considering the Lord's Prayer, we reflect on the nature of temptation and why we ultimately need some of it in order to grow spiritually. While we need to fight temptation, we need to know that only the Lord can be victorious. | By Rev. Garry B. Walsh | Phoenix, AZFinding Jesus in the Life of Joshua - Part 3 - The Conquest
Worship Service: Sermon only - May 20, 2018
In this series so far we have looked at what the early years of the life of Joshua can show us about the early years of Jesus' life and we have looked at what the turning point in Joshua's life when he took over command of the Children of Israel can show us about a similar turning point in Jesus' life. This Sunday, in the final part of the series, we will look at what Joshua's conquest of the land of Canaan can show us about what Jesus was fighting against and fighting for during His three years of active ministry. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSAJoshua
Doctrinal Class - May 16, 2018
Our Regeneration as portrayed in the book of Joshua. A five class series. | By Rev. Dr Andrew M. Dibb | Bryn Athyn Cairnwood VillageThe Lord's Prayer: Part 4 - Debt and Forgiveness
Here in Part 4 of our series reflecting on the Lord's Prayer, we think about the things that we have done wrong and the things that others have done to hurt us. In order for the Lord. our Heavenly Father to forgive us, we must be willing to forgive others. | By Rev. Garry B. Walsh | Phoenix, AZFinding Jesus in the Life of Joshua - Part 2 - The Turning Point
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 13, 2018
Joshua was the military commander of the people of Israel, who led them across the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, where he violently claimed the land in the name of Jehovah his God. Jesus was a spiritual leader, who came to the Jordan River to be baptised and begin His ministry of love and repentance. Yet these two stories, so different on the surface, are the same story. This Sunday we will explore what Joshua crossing the Jordan can tell us about Jesus and His ministry. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSAMotherhood and Nurturing
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 13, 2018
Mary was the mother of Jesus, the man who became God. The relationship between Many and Jesus can teach us about motherhood. The role is to feed with goodness and the goal is to launch a successful human being. | By Rev. Derrick Lumsden | Sarver, PA