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Think Like an Angel
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 19, 2023
Community Service. We tend to think of life in heaven as a future event even though the Lord says we can experience it right now (Luke 17:21). The Lord makes this phenomenon possible by using our intellect, the rational part of our mind, to grow angelic loves in us. It’s a struggle, for sure, because we’re competing against 6,000 thoughts a day (what scientists estimate the daily average to be), many of which aren’t helpful and some of which sabotage our efforts to improve and grow. The Lord wants us to think like an angel because this makes navigating life’s ups and downs much more manageable compared to our clumsy efforts. Let’s explore together how this angelic way of thinking works. | By Rev. Derek P. Elphick | Bryn Athyn CathedralInvited to the Wedding
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 19, 2023
When you are invited to a wedding and reception, do you accept? What if the one who is hosting the wedding is wealthy, even a king, and the only cost to attend is your time, the only requirement that you dress appropriately? Would you not most likely readily accept if possible, and even rearrange your schedule to make it work? There would be no reason not to. And to go further, what if the one throwing the Wedding were the Lord, and to enter the wedding was to enter heaven? How much more likely we would be to accept! And yet, for some reason, the Lord tells us a parable in which the obvious does not occur, in which the invitation is refused. We too live out this parable. From it, we can learn to recognize the Lord’s invitations, and so choose to accept them. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSAMemorial Service for Gale W. Smith
Memorial Service - March 18, 2023
| By Rev. Jeremy F. Simons | Bryn Athyn CathedralLosing Our Life to Save It
Worship Service: Family (may include music) - March 12, 2023
When the Lord told the disciples about what was going to happen on Easter, He also told them that everyone needs to be willing to lose their lives in order to find it. What did He mean by that? | By Rev. Jeremy F. Simons | Bryn Athyn CathedralThe Value of Ordinary Work
Worship Service: Sermon only - March 12, 2023
There is something miraculous going on whenever we are engaged in the normal work that we do every day. Understanding what this is may help us to appreciate the miracle of Easter. | By Rev. Jeremy F. Simons | Bryn Athyn CathedralLuck and Coincidence
Worship Service: Informal Family - March 12, 2023
We know from our Teachings that these phenomena are tools of the Lord’s Providence. When we read the stories of the Word, we can see that the Lord is intricately leading all of the events forward, ultimately leading to his birth into this world. This Sunday, join us as we take a bird’s eye view of the Bible narrative from beginning to end to see how the Lord is delicately and intentionally working in our lives at this very moment. | By Rev. Jeffrey Smith | Bryn Athyn Heilman HallFear of the Law
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 12, 2023
The Lord has many rules that we are to follow. One of the fundamental principles of the church is that we are to live our lives according to His laws. But with so many rules to follow it can begin to feel impossible; and if it is impossible to keep the Lord’s law, than we may start to feel we are doomed to failure. This is not the case. Although it is a challenge, the Lord is able to give us the power to keep His rules, and to even find joy in doing so. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSAReturning Stray Animals
Worship Service: Family (may include music) - March 12, 2023
1st Lesson: Exodus 23:4-9 2nd Lesson: Arcana Coelestia 9255 Talk: “Returning Stray Animals” (Text: Exodus 23:4-9) | By Rev. Calvin Heinrichs | Kempton, PAAlthough a Fool
Worship Service: Family (may include music) - March 05, 2023
We are all foolish in different ways. Can we learn to recognize the ways in which we might be foolish and let the Lord lead us forward, despite our foolishness? (Isaiah 35:8) Note: This recording has audio quality issues | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Bryn Athyn CathedralFoolishness
Worship Service: Sermon only - March 05, 2023
The Lord’s Word has a lot to say about foolishness. We will be looking at a number of different stories and passages about foolishness and trying to learn what is foolish, from the Lord’s perspective. We will also be trying to understand how the Lord can still lead us forward, despite our foolishness. (Isaiah 35:8) | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Bryn Athyn CathedralFrom Strength to Strength
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 05, 2023
I love the concept of the Lord leading us from one spiritual capability to the next. We will consider the ways the Lord inspires the strength of love and being genuinely considerate of others, the strength of truth and obeying it, and the strength or power of actually doing the Lord’s will. Given the 100th anniversary of Kainon School we will draw particular attention to the spiritual strengths we wish to foster in children—as parents and educators. For the children’s talk, the focus will be on the character strength exhibited by David when he faced Goliath (1 Samuel 17—parts). We will discover that David’s victory came as a result of an inner kind of strength—because he trusted in the Lord. | By Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss, Jr. | Westville, RSAThe Lord's Last Words
Worship Service: Informal Family - March 05, 2023
In “The Lord’s Last Words” on the cross we see infinite divine love offering forgiveness, compassion and hope as the culmination of everything that the Lord said and did, and as an inspiration for how we can care for each other. (Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, John 19) | By Rev. John L. Odhner | Bryn Athyn Heilman HallThe Near Sacrifice of Isaac
Worship Service: Family (may include music) - March 05, 2023
1st Lesson: Gen. 22:1-19 Talk: “Abraham Obeys God” 2nd Lesson: AC 2767 3rd Lesson: AC 2816, 2823 Sermon: “The Near Sacrifice of Isaac” | By Rev. Brett D. Buick | Kempton, PABaptism and the One Among You
Worship Service: Family (may include music) - February 26, 2023
“Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” (Psalm 51:7) “Baptism was instituted to be a sign that a person belongs to the church, and a reminder that they ought to be regenerated.” (New Jerusalem 202) | By Rev. Christopher A Barber | Bryn Athyn CathedralWhen the Righteous Cry Out
Worship Service: Sermon only - February 26, 2023
“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears.” (Psalm 34:17) “When people live according to the Ten Commandments, they acquire for themselves righteousness-not the righteousness of the Lord's redemption, but the Lord Himself as righteousness.” (True Christian Religion 96) | By Rev. Christopher A Barber | Bryn Athyn CathedralPriests and Their Duties
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - February 26, 2023
Do you know what a Priest’s job is? This Sunday is the first part in a series on the relationship of Priests and Laity. By learning about what a priest’s job is, we can better understand what we should expect of them and what is expected of us. | By Rev. Calvin Heinrichs | Westville, RSAMemorial Service for Nicholas D. Holm
Memorial Service - February 26, 2023
| By Rev. Kurt Hyland Asplundh | Bryn Athyn CathedralWhat is it?
Worship Service: Informal Family - February 26, 2023
The whole of Exodus Chapter 16 contains a detailed description of how the Israelites were to handle the Manna - when to collect it, how much, not save it overnight, etc. The leading idea is that each person “gathered according to each one’s need” (v. 18). We will consider needs versus wants as they relate to trusting the Lord and His Providence. | By Rev. Derek P. Elphick | Bryn Athyn Heilman HallGood Measure
Worship Service: Family (may include music) - February 26, 2023
1st Lesson: Luke 6:27-49 2nd Lesson: HH 349 Talk: “Vessels Receiving of The Lord” (Text: Luke 6:38) | By Rev. Derrick Lumsden | Kempton, PAAnticipating Easter
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - February 19, 2023
(Community Service) Certain traditions are already part of the cycle of our year — we remember to be grateful around Thanksgiving in November, we have a variety of different things we do leading up to Christmas, we have a pageant and picnic for New Church Day in June. But what about February and March? Easter arrives sometime in March or April (depending on the year) but we don’t tend to anticipate and prepare for it in nearly the same way. Let’s talk about how the time leading up to Easter could become an equally powerful and significant part of the cycle of our year. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Bryn Athyn CathedralGod With Us
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - February 19, 2023
With all the distractions of life, the many mundane activities to attend to, the daily grind that never seems to end, God can get lost in the shuffle. Some have tried to transcend all worldly concerns in order to focus entirely on God, but for many of us that is not an option. The world is too present in our lives. Thankfully the Lord does not only exist on high; He is present in the worldly stuff of life, and through repentance everyone is able to meet Him even among the day-to-day concerns. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSAMemorial Service for Gwynne Bevan
Memorial Service - February 17, 2023
| By Rev. Solomon J. Keal | Bryn Athyn CathedralMicah and the Danites
Worship Service: Family (may include music) - February 12, 2023
In Judges 17 and 18 there is a story about a man named Micah who had an idol, and who was not treated well by the Danites. What does this story symbolize about our own spiritual lives? | By Rev. Solomon J. Keal | Bryn Athyn CathedralMicah and the Danites
Worship Service: Sermon only - February 12, 2023
In Judges 17 and 18 there is a story about a man named Micah who had an idol, and who was not treated well by the Danites. What does this story symbolize about our own spiritual lives? | By Rev. Solomon J. Keal | Bryn Athyn CathedralLeaving Shame Behind
Worship Service: Sermon only - February 12, 2023
Have you ever done something to a person that you’re ashamed of, or had a person know something shameful about you? And every time you’re around them all you can think of is how desperately you just want to get away, to escape from their presence so you can stop feeling the shame? I think a lot of people feel that way about God. So they push God away and want nothing to do with him, because His presence brings their shame to life. But there are three pieces to this situation, not just you and God. It’s you, God, and your shame. And instead of pushing away God from ourselves when we feel shame, God calls us to push the shame away when He is present. That is the result of repentance: to push away that shameful behavior and so be present with God. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA