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Unified in the Lord
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 24, 2023
What makes someone your neighbour? In a literal sense it refers to people who live close by. But when the Lord said to “love your neighbour as yourself” He was most certainly not saying to love people next door. Spiritually speaking our neighbours are the ones who are close to us spiritually; and regardless of our individual backgrounds and cultures, all of us are brought together into this spiritual closeness when we look to the Lord. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (19m 11s)
Water to Wine
Worship Service: Informal Family - September 10, 2023
One of the first miracles that Jesus did was turning water to wine at a wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11). What can this miracle teach us about spiritual transformations in our own lives? The piano interlude is included with permission of author Solomon Keal. | By Rev. Solomon J. Keal | Bryn Athyn Heilman Hall
See Event (35m 18s)
Feed What Grows
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 03, 2023
We often prioritize things that aren't working. Sometimes this is a good thing: after all, if it isn't working it needs to be fixed. But often we also pour energy into areas that are not bearing fruit. The Lord invites us to put aside the things that aren't working, and instead focus on the things that will bear fruit: things like love to the Lord, charity to the neighbour, and the joy of service. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (22m 08s)
Leaving the Past Behind
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 27, 2023
We sometimes think that to leave our mistakes behind we can just forget about them; but we also know that really doesn’t work. The alternative seems to be to somehow make up for them, and there is truth in this. But what does it take to make up for a mistake? Especially a mistake that rises to the level of being evil? It can feel like we have to undo our mistake, and yet there is no way to change the past. The reality is that repentance (the Lord’s way of making up for mistakes) is not so much about the past, but the present: repentance does not undo the things we have done; instead it allows us to become a different person in the present moment. It’s all about who we are, not who we used to be. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (17m 50s)
Old and New Wineskins
Worship Service: Informal Family - August 13, 2023
In the Gospels, Jesus told His disciples that you can’t put new wine into old wineskins (Matthew 9, Mark 2, Luke 5). In what ways do we sometimes try to put “new wine” into “old wineskins” in our spiritual lives? And how can we choose “new wineskins” instead? | By Rev. Solomon J. Keal | Bryn Athyn Heilman Hall
See Event (32m 53s)
Slow and Steady
Worship Service: Informal Family - August 06, 2023
The Israelites really wanted to get into the Promised Land to establish their new home, but they needed some time in the wilderness to figure things out. Similarly, we may like the idea of sudden life change that fixes our problems, but that’s not generally the way life works. In what ways is time in the wilderness a necessary part of our journey toward spiritual life? (Apologies for the hum in the audio) | By Rev. Jeffrey Smith | Bryn Athyn Heilman Hall
See Event (26m 30s)
Good vs Right
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 09, 2023
Which matters more: being good or being right? As a church we know that both matter, and at the same time that goodness is the more important of the two. Yet often we can switch things around and put way too much emphasis on being right to the detriment of being good, This Sunday we will look at the letter to the Church in Ephesus, which urges those who put great weight in being right to focus more on doing good. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (14m 01s)
The Gift of Responsibility
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 02, 2023
| By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (21m 18s)
Uncertainty
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - June 25, 2023
“Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.” (Matthew 6:34) This simple phrase holds immense power. It’s easy to become caught up in what the future holds: worry, anxiety, fear. Our instinct is to reach for certainty and take control to make sure everything works out. This pattern becomes exhausting and is futile. Yet when we listen to the Lord we can let go of the need for certainty and instead hope, with the sure trust that the Lord will lead us through all hardships. This week, when you worry about the future, change that worry into a hope. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (15m 53s)
Thirsty for Truth
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 28, 2023
It turns out that we don’t have all the answers and that we don’t have life more figured out than anyone else. When life gets hard we can quickly go from self-satisfied to despairing over ever knowing how to overcome our troubles. While we might seek to avoid this trap of thinking we have everything figured out only to have it all crash down around us, it is inevitable. Thankfully the Lord uses this experience to lead us to a place of true peace and contentment. This process is laid out for us in the story of Hagar and Ishmael. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (17m 25s)
As in Heaven so Upon the Earth
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 07, 2023
The Teachings of the New Church describe heaven as a place of beauty and peace. Some of the passages go into intricate detail as to what we can expect there. But although heaven is a place that can be described as our future dwelling-place, it is much more than that too. The more we know about what really makes heave heaven, the more able we will be to create heaven on earth. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (17m 52s)
Cast the Net on the Right Side
Worship Service: Informal Family - May 07, 2023
After the Lord’s resurrection, His disciples went fishing. All night they caught nothing; but in the morning, when Jesus appeared on the shore and told them to cast the net on the right side of the boat, they did so – and they caught a huge number of fish (John 21). What does this story teach us about changing how we approach things that aren’t working in our lives? | By Rev. Coleman S. Glenn | Bryn Athyn Heilman Hall
See Event (28m 42s)
A Shift in Perspective
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 23, 2023
By default we see the world from our own point of view. This is an inescapable fact of life; but our own desires, wants, and wishes shape how we see other people and the world around us. The Lord calls us to lift our minds above our default perspective so that we can look from the Lord’s heavenly one. When seen from His point of view we will find that the world is a much better place with more opportunities than we could otherwise imagine. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (19m 07s)
Joy from Heavenly Treasures
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 16, 2023
This sermon is adapted from one written by Rev. Gerald Waters in 2010. In it we will explore where true joy comes from, and how through a life of service we can build up a never-ending supply of happiness. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (15m 36s)
The Humanness of God
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 26, 2023
Easter celebrates the Lord’s victory over hell, at a time in history when hell was at its strongest. Yet Easter was not just a moment in time: in His moment of victory the Lord conquered hell to eternity. His conquest carries on in us today, and it is able to carry on specifically because of the humanness that God took on, and that still defines Him today. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (16m 33s)
Invited 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, RSA
See Event (18m 18s)
Fear 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, RSA
See Event (19m 47s)
From 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, RSA
See Event (23m 36s)
What 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 Hall
See Event (46m 28s)
Leaving 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
See Event (18m 42s)
Repent
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - February 05, 2023
As our lives are challenged at this time, confusions, chaos and more uncertain burdens are coming our way, it is now the best time to find our way back to the LORD. John the Baptist is like a mirror before us today, to look at ourselves and “fish out” those bad tendencies in us that are detrimental to our spiritual prosperity. | By Rev. J. Bheki Dube | Westville, RSA
See Event (21m 56s)
We Need God
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - January 29, 2023
The New Church emphasizes how much charity matters. Charity is the primary purpose of our lives, and without it no amount of faith will save us. What then of faith in God? If charity is all that matters, can we dispose of a notion of an all-powerful divine being who watches over us? How significant is that belief anyway? According to the New Church: essential. Without some acknowledgment of God, we actually cannot practice true charity. We’ll look deeper into why a belief in God is so crucial to how we live. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (19m 30s)
The Lilies of the Field
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - January 22, 2023
We live in a world filled with signs of Divine love and wisdom, and the Divine Providence which is governing our lives every moment – protecting, nurturing, and leading us. The world of nature presents an image of our spiritual lives, and can instruct us in how to grow spiritually. Yet these insights do not come just from studying nature, nor even from just studying spiritual things, but from living what the Word teaches, so that we can see from our hearts the messages from the Lord in the world around us. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (21m 08s)
Healing Spiritual Leprosy
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - November 20, 2022
The Lord came into this world to heal the sick. He did not come to those who were already healthy. Likewise, the Lord did not come to the righteous, or those who thought they were righteous, but to sinners, to heal them of their sin. The Lord pointed to this truth every time He healed someone who was physically ill. The physical healing was only an outward sign of the inward miracle: the healing of spiritual sin. Each and every one of our sins could be portrayed as an outward ailment. This week we turn to leprosy, through which we will learn what happens when we become isolated from God and from each other through sin, and how the Lord reconciles with us and restores us to our communities. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (18m 53s)
Starting Fresh
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - October 23, 2022
Holy Supper will be offered this Sunday. Every time we take Holy Supper it is a new opportunity to find rejuvenation in our spiritual lives; so how do we let go of the past and really start anew? We’ll look at how the process of repentance washes away some of our baggage and gives us a great chance to start again on our spiritual journey. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (17m 31s)