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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)
Order Within the Chaos
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - October 16, 2022
Life is often messy. Many people struggle to stay on top of all their obligations, much less all the other bits and pieces of life. With this experience it can start to appear that there is no real order or purpose to life, no strand tying it all together. Yet even in the chaos the Lord’s order is present. In His eyes, every piece is accounted for, every event foreseen, and every possibility planned for. Even within the chaos, there is order; the Lord’s Divine Order. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (20m 32s)
Old Age
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - October 09, 2022
Old age can be a time of great reflection: looking back on what has been, looking forward with wonder to what is to come after death. It can also be a time of trial and tribulation: as the body and mind fail, doubt and despair can creep in. Moses, at the end of his life, was able to reflect on the past and from that gracefully hand over his wisdom to the next generation. As we look at this concluding stage of life in this world, we will look at how we too can gracefully age and handover to the next generation. Thank you to Lance Mansfield for once again stepping up to be our Lay Preacher. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (14m 34s)
A Heavenly Heritage
Worship Service: Sermon only - September 25, 2022
A person’s heritage is the practices and customs that have been handed down from the past and that in many ways define the group they are part of. To celebrate heritage is to celebrate where a person or group has come from and to appreciate the variety among other cultures. Within all these cultures though there is a uniting thread that holds us all together, that of a heavenly heritage, a heavenly way of life, passed down to us from the Lord. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (14m 42s)
To Be Part of a Whole
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 11, 2022
We talk of organizations as if they have a life of their own: "The company made some good decisions last years;" "The rugby team is making good progress." But of course, no organization does anything apart from the individual choices of its members. The church is no different. We may talk of the church as a separate entity that does things; the reality is that the church only exists insofar as the individual members are living and being the church. Each of us is a part of the greater whole, and the quality of the church will be determined by the quality of our lives. Rev. J. Bheki Dube also reads a lesson. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (18m 53s)
Walking in the Lord's Commandments
Worship Service: Informal Family - September 04, 2022
This is Bryn Athyn Church School's theme this year, taken from Jeremiah 7:23. The Lord often told His disciples to "follow Me" as He walked around Israel. Why is "walking" a good way of describing the life of religion? | By Rev. Solomon J. Keal | Bryn Athyn Heilman Hall
See Event (37m 08s)
The Spirit of the Law
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 04, 2022
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, RSA
See Event (21m 44s)
Coming Home
Worship Service: Sermon only - August 21, 2022
We all want a nice home in which we can feel safe and loved. This doesn’t just come with a nice house: we are home among the people who care for us and love us. We are also home when we rest in the Lord and His Divine care for us. We all have a spiritual home. This Sunday we’ll look at ways to find this home for ourselves. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (16m 51s)
Daily Prayer
Worship Service: Informal Family - August 21, 2022
How often do you talk to the Lord? Is it often enough? Communication is a crucial aspect of any relationship and our relationship with the Lord is no different. Let’s talk about what prayer on a day-to-day basis looks like and how we can make progress in our regular communication with the Lord. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Bryn Athyn Heilman Hall
See Event (38m 05s)
Building Our House on the Rock
Worship Service: Informal Family - August 14, 2022
The Lord told a parable comparing someone who built their house on sand, which then fell during a storm, versus someone who built their house on the rock, which then withstood the storm. What does it mean for us to spiritually build our houses on the rock? | By Rev. Solomon J. Keal | Bryn Athyn Heilman Hall
See Event (29m 14s)
Belonging to the Lord
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 10, 2022
What is the Lord’s? In a broad sense all things are the Lord’s: He created and sustains everything in the universe. Yet we also feel as if we are our own masters. There is an innate sense that what goes on in our minds and hearts is ours and ours alone. Yet even here all that is good and true belongs to the Lord. Miraculously, when we acknowledge that truth and live it, we can actually feel more, not less, ourselves. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (16m 31s)
Judgement and Charity: The Speck and the Plank
Worship Service: Informal Family - June 26, 2022
The Lord tells us that when we judge other people it is like trying to get a tiny speck out of their eye, while we have a plank in our own. The Word also tells we have to make judgements sometimes. Are we supposed to judge others or not? What kinds of judgements fit with living a charitable life, and which don't? | By Rev. Richard M. Glenn | Bryn Athyn Heilman Hall
See Event (37m 40s)
The Lord Bless You and Keep You
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - June 12, 2022
“The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.” We use this blessing at special times—baptisms, weddings, Holy Supper. This Sunday we will go through it phrase by phrase and reflect on how we can be most receptive of the Lord’s blessings and how we can be a part of sharing His blessings with others. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (20m 28s)
Spiritual Fatigue
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 01, 2022
Whenever something goes wrong in the world, there seems to be an outpouring of compassion. We almost get excited at the chance to leap into action and help. But as time passes the energy wanes. We can become fatigued; not just fatigued physically, but fatigued emotionally. It is impossible to keep up that initial level of care and energy. Above even the emotional there is the spiritual fatigue: we face exhaustion with ourselves and our own spiritual growth, and can push ourselves to the breaking point. We need to be able to truly address the issues, but to do so in a way that is sustainable. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (18m 52s)
The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 24, 2022
In the Gospel of John there are a number of intriguing stories about what Jesus and the disciples did after the Lord’s resurrection. When I preached about this four years ago I focused on the role and significance of Peter (read or listen to that here); this year I want to focus on John. John is called “the disciple whom Jesus loved” and he played a crucial role in the development of the Christian Church. In us he represents a crucial part of our spiritual development as Christians. What does he represent? Come and see. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (22m 48s)
Faith: A Source of Death and Life
Worship Service: Informal Family - March 27, 2022
The internal sense of the story of Cain and Abel reflects the reality that religious knowledge can be both a source of death and a source of life. Why was Abel’s offering favored by the Lord and not Cain’s? Why was Cain protected even after committing a terrible act? | By Rev. Eric H. Carswell | Bryn Athyn Heilman Hall
See Event (22m 26s)