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Don't Look Back
Worship Service: Family (may include music) - August 18, 2024
A number of stories in the Word warn us not to “look back” or “turn back” once we’ve made the decision to go forward. This speaks to the fact that there are certain times in our lives when we need to “move on” and put “hand to plough” (Luke 9:62). But what about those times in our lives when we “look back” with nostalgia, with fondness, on what has come before? Is this not appropriate? What’s the difference between these two kinds of “looking back,” and how do they help us move forward? | By Rev. Derek P. Elphick | Bryn Athyn CathedralDon't Look Back
Worship Service: Sermon only - August 18, 2024
A number of stories in the Word warn us not to “look back” or “turn back” once we’ve made the decision to go forward. This speaks to the fact that there are certain times in our lives when we need to “move on” and put “hand to plough” (Luke 9:62). But what about those times in our lives when we “look back” with nostalgia, with fondness, on what has come before? Is this not appropriate? What’s the difference between these two kinds of “looking back,” and how do they help us move forward? | By Rev. Derek P. Elphick | Bryn Athyn CathedralYou Are Holy
Worship Service: Informal Family - August 18, 2024
It's a simple statement, and might seem strange for some, but obvious for others. Throughout the Word, we see the Lord connecting with people about holiness, telling them they are on holy ground, or in the presence of holiness, or will receive the Holy Spirit. So what is holiness, and how are you holy? | By Rev. Pearse M. Frazier | Bryn Athyn Cathedral UndercroftGod'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, RSADealing With Devils - Temptation
Worship Service: Family (may include music) - August 11, 2024
1st Lesson: Matthew 4:1-11 2nd Lesson: New Jerusalem and Her Heavenly Doctrines 187-191 Talk: “Temptation” | By Rev. Derrick Lumsden | Kempton, PAThe Lord’s Power to Create
Worship Service: Family (may include music) - August 11, 2024
The beginning of the Gospel of John (1:3) describes the Lord creating everything. Not only did He create everything, but He is constantly creating everything – every moment of every day, to eternity. We are invited to use that power of His creation to guide our lives. | By Rt. Rev. David H. Lindrooth | Bryn Athyn CathedralThe Power of the Lord’s Providence Drawing Us to Heaven
Worship Service: Sermon only - August 11, 2024
Ezekiel describes a great and mighty river with a strong current representing the Lord drawing us toward the healing of Heaven (Ezekiel 47). Where will it take us? How do we wade in? | By Rt. Rev. David H. Lindrooth | Bryn Athyn CathedralBishops' Q&A: GC Assembly 2024
Panel Discussion - August 06, 2024
| By Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss, Jr.; Rt. Rev. David H. Lindrooth; Rt. Rev. Bradley D. Heinrichs | Bryn Athyn Heilman HallRemove 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, RSAThe Broken Set of the Ten Commandments
Worship Service: Family (may include music) - August 04, 2024
Many of the stories in the Old Testament describe an unhappy relationship between the Lord and the Children of Israel. The Children of Israel are disobeying the Lord’s commandments, sometimes in terrible ways. What can we learn from these stories that helps all of us better understand the Lord? | By Rev. Eric H. Carswell | Bryn Athyn CathedralWhy Does the Lord Sometimes Seem Angry?
Worship Service: Sermon only - August 04, 2024
A person who reads a few chapters each day from the Old and New Testaments can read all of the stories that contain a continuous internal sense in one year. Reading through the Old Testament there are many stories that don’t seem to portray a loving God. Sometimes God seems to command genocide. Often, He expresses condemnation and severe consequences. How does the Heavenly Doctrine help us to see something very different within these stories? | By Rev. Eric H. Carswell | Bryn Athyn CathedralNeither Add Nor Take Away
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 04, 2024
1st Lesson: Deut. 4:1-4; Rev. 22:16-20 Talk: “Neither Add Nor Take Away” 2nd Lesson: Apocalypse Revealed 959 3rd Lesson: Doctrine of Sacred Scripture 13.4 4th Lesson: Arcana Coelestia 9349.2 Sermon: “Neither Add Nor Take Away” | By Rev. Brett D. Buick | Kempton, PAKevin Anthony Henriques
1st Lesson: Psalm 103:1-5 2nd Lesson: Matthew 20:1-16 3rd Lesson: Apocalypse Explained 194.2 4th Lesson: Heaven and Hell 533 Address: “In Memory of Kevin Anthony Henriques” | By Rev. Brett D. Buick | Kempton, PAChildhood 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, RSALove Your Neighbor as Yourself
Worship Service: Informal Family - July 28, 2024
Through the parable of the Good Samaritan, the Lord teaches us to love others who are different from us. But how are we supposed to love them, and how are we supposed to love ourselves? | By Rev. Jeffrey Smith | Bryn Athyn Cathedral UndercroftThe Birds of Heaven
Worship Service: Family (may include music) - July 28, 2024
1st Lesson: Matthew 6:24-34 2nd Lesson: True Christian Religion 42 Talk: “Consider the Birds” | By Rev. Derrick Lumsden | Kempton, PAA Garment of Praise
Worship Service: Family (may include music) - July 28, 2024
The Lord promises “A Garment of Praise” (Isaiah 61:3) for those who have a spirit of heaviness. One of the Lord’s purposes in coming into the world is to comfort and console those who mourn. How can we find and give that kind of comfort? | By Rev. John L. Odhner | Bryn Athyn CathedralShem’s Garment
Worship Service: Sermon only - July 28, 2024
“Shem’s Garment” (Genesis 9:18-27, Secrets of Heaven 1079) will explore how we can help people when we see that they have fallen into “errors and perversions.” A key is to focus on comfort rather than criticism. | By Rev. John L. Odhner | Bryn Athyn CathedralChildhood 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, RSAI Will Not Take Anything That is Thine
Worship Service: Sermon only - July 21, 2024
1st Lesson: Genesis 14:14-23 2nd Lesson: Matthew 6:24 3rd Lesson: Arcana Coelestia 1749 Sermon: “I Will Not Take Anything That Is Thine” | By Rev. Brett D. Buick | Kempton, PAThe Prodigal Son's Brother
Worship Service: Family (may include music) - July 21, 2024
Why was the brother so upset at the return and celebration of his prodigal brother? What is it that makes us resentful and envious of other people’s happiness? And how can we do better? | By Rev. Jeffrey Smith | Bryn Athyn CathedralThe Prodigal Son's Brother
Worship Service: Sermon only - July 21, 2024
The Lord’s parable of the prodigal son included a brother who did not approve of his father’s celebration. Self-righteous thinking can get in the way of appreciating and loving the good that can be found in others. How can we overcome that selfish thinking and join the celebration? | By Rev. Jeffrey Smith | Bryn Athyn CathedralBitter Realizations, Sweet Resolutions
Worship Service: Informal Family - July 21, 2024
Our lives can build up quite quickly with “shoulds” – “I should be more patient with ______.” “I should apologize for ______.” “I should reach out to _____.” These “shoulds” stack up whenever we give our old self, our ego, free reign. We have our reasons – we’ve had a long day, we tried before, we’re super busy, etc. – but what we often don’t realize is that the truth we know we should act on will remain bitter and unpleasant until we follow the Lord’s advice and, like Moses, throw “wood” into the situation. | By Rev. Derek P. Elphick | Bryn Athyn Cathedral UndercroftMemorial for Peggy Bailey Pitcairn
Memorial Service - July 20, 2024
| By Rev. Robin W. Childs | Bryn Athyn CathedralThe 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