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Revisiting the Lord's Prayer - Part 3 - Lead Us Not Into Temptation
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 02, 2020
This Sunday we will finish revisiting of the Lord’s Prayer by reflecting on the last two sentences of it. We will be focusing particularly on how the Lord teaches us to pray in times of temptation, crisis, and evil. Sometimes it takes things getting pretty bad to make us resort to giving prayer a try. But, especially if we’re out of practice with praying, and our desperate prayer seems to go unanswered, that can be pretty hard to take. Let’s revisit how to pray about hard things and when things get hard. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (48m 06s)
Revisiting the Lord's Prayer - Part 1 - Our Father
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 19, 2020
We say the Lord’s Prayer regularly but because of that familiarity we can sometimes forget the meaning and significance of the words that we’re saying. Over the next three weeks we will be revisiting the prayer that the Lord taught us so that it can become all the more meaningful for us when we say those familiar words. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (42m 00s)
You Have Enemies and You Need to Love Them
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 05, 2020
If I asked you, "Do you have any enemies?" you would probably answer, "No." I think most people don't think that they have any enemies. So does the Lord's revolutionary command to love our enemies not really apply to most of us? Well, we all have people that we treat as enemies and we need to recognise that fact. And then we need to learn what it means to love them and then do it. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (39m 14s)
Living in a Post-Apocalyptic World, Part 3: The Future of the New Church
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - June 21, 2020
What's going to happen in the future of the New Church? What are things going to look like in the next 50 years or the next 1000 years? Will there be a need for another new church? This Sunday, as we celebrate the founding of the New Church 250 years ago, we will try to get a picture of the future of the New Church and an understand of what our role is right now. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (37m 45s)
Living in a Post-Apocalyptic World - Part 1 - The Larger Narrative
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - June 07, 2020
Things in the world these days can seem rather apocalyptic. Intriguingly the teachings of the New Church say that the apocalypse has already happened, over 250 years ago in fact. What does that mean for us today? How can that larger narrative help us to understand what's going on in the world at the moment? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (39m 27s)
Misconceptions of Providence - 3 - It's all God or it's all me
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 24, 2020
In this sermon series we’ve talked about how the Lord is working in every little detail of what happens in our lives. That can be a profoundly comforting thought but, in other moods, it can make us feel like it doesn’t matter what we do. If it’s all in God’s control, then our decisions mean nothing, really. In other moods, it can feel like God is just some distant force (if He’s there at all) and it’s entirely up to us to figure out what we need to do with our lives and what God is doing or not doing is largely irrelevant to our daily lives. The teachings of the New Church provide another option for how to understand this. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (38m 51s)
Misconceptions of Providence - If it happened, it was meant to be
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 10, 2020
We’re starting a sermon series on misconceptions about Divine Providence. Often when something difficult happens we want to know why—why did this happen? Sometimes the answer that people come to is that “it was meant to be”. But is that true? What does that even mean? How should we think about all the different things that happen in our lives? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (30m 11s)
The Tabernacle, Part 2 - A Model for Life in a Complex World
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 26, 2020
This Sunday we’re talking some more about the Tabernacle—the mobile worship centre that God told the Children of Israel to build. If you read about the Tabernacle you can quickly become overwhelmed by the complexity and detail. Why is it so complicated? Well, life is also pretty complicated and in this complicated explanation of the structure of the Tabernacle we can find a model of how the Lord can help us to deal with the complexity of life. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (38m 37s)
Why the Lord Appeared First to Mary Magdalene
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 12, 2020
This Easter Sunday we are going to be focussing on the women at the tomb. Mary Magdalene, Mary (who had given birth to Jesus), and some other women were the first people at the tomb on Easter morning. And Mary Magdalene was the first person to see the Lord in His resurrection. Why was this and what can we learn from this about what in us will be most able to see and believe in the risen Lord? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (51m 07s)
Finding Jesus in the Life of Elisha: Under Siege
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 29, 2020
We're in the midst of a sermon series on the life of Elisha and the story we were scheduled to talk about this Sunday, in the midst of a national lockdown, is the story of the Children of Israel being besieged by an enemy in the city of Samaria. As we experience our version of being besieged in our houses by an enemy, we will talk about what help the Lord can offer us in times when we feel trapped. During the lockdown we will be streaming the worship services from our homes instead of from the church, to abide by the mandate to stay home. Find more details about how to watch the service at http://newchurchwestville.co.za/online/ We will also send out a WhatsApp with a direct link to the service on Sunday. Let us know if you'd like to receive that WhatsApp. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (40m 45s)
Finding Jesus in the Life of Elisha: The Word Made Flesh
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 15, 2020
The New Church teaches that, at their deepest level, the stories in the Word are all about the Lord and what He went through while He was in this world. We are going to be looking for connections to the life of Jesus in the dramatic and sometimes quite confusing stories of the prophet Elisha. In this first part we will be looking at the relationship between Elijah and Elisha and exploring how the Lord in the Word made flesh can help us with our real problems and challenges. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (33m 24s)
From Dust to Living Souls
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 01, 2020
We are all going to die someday. That’s not exactly a pleasant thought but it can be useful. It can be useful to spend some time reflecting on our mortality—the reality that our lives in this world will not last forever and in fact they could end at any moment. And so, on Sunday evening, we’re going to take some time to think about this and the value of knowing that we are dust and to the dust we shall return. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (29m 28s)
Observing Lent
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - February 16, 2020
Have you heard of Lent? Have you ever given something up for Lent? People often think of Lent as a Catholic or Anglican thing because those are some of the churches that observe Lent. We’ve never observed it at New Church Westville before, as far as I’m aware. But could there be a value in giving something up for the period leading up to Easter? Come on Sunday and we’ll talk about it. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (30m 53s)
Cycles and Seasons of Time
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - February 02, 2020
This Sunday evening I want to give the adults a chance to hear about the "Circle of the Church Year" that we use in Godly Play. It's an opportunity to think about the different religious celebrations we have in the year the value of those times and the times of preparation that lead up to them. And it will also be an opportunity to reflect more broadly on the value and purpose of the time, state, or season that we find ourselves in. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (30m 00s)
Make Covenant with the Lord
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - January 19, 2020
Would you be willing to sign a legal agreement with the Lord, committing to do what He tells you to do? The Children of Israel made covenants with the Lord and, if we want to make progress in our relationship with Him, then we need to as well. Part of us does not want to do that. Let's talk about the value of a covenant with the Lord and how we can get through our resistance to the idea and make that commitment in a meaningful way. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (27m 15s)
"Teach Us to Number Our Days..."
Worship Service: Informal Family - January 05, 2020
It's a new decade (or not, depending on how you think about it) and it's a time when a lot of people are thinking about time and all that's happened in the past decade or two. People are also looking to the future and wondering what will happen in the 2020's. With these thoughts on our minds it seemed like it be useful, this Sunday evening, to reflect on Psalm 90 where it says, "teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (22m 59s)
Grief and Gratitude
Worship Service: Informal Family - December 29, 2019
A different baby was born in Bethlehem, hundreds of years before Jesus was born there. The mother of that baby died in childbirth and soo named her son "son of my sorrow" before she died. Later the father renamed that baby, "son of the right hand" or "son of strength". This story offers an opportunity to reflect on our sorrows and the strength that the Lord has given us through our sorrows and also gives us another way of understanding why the Lord was born in Bethlehem. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (11m 22s)
Why Was Jesus Born in Bethlehem?
Worship Service: Informal Family - December 25, 2019
Jesus was birn in Bethlehem, a town that did not seem particularly interesting or exciting. And if we want to find our Savious we need to be willing to look in places that also don't seem particularly interesting or exciting. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (18m 30s)
We Might Not Want the Lord to Come, But We Need Him To
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - December 01, 2019
As we approach Christmas we often talk about the Lord coming into the world and Him coming into our lives in a new way. At this Sunday’s evening service we will be talking about prophecies from Malachi about the Lord’s coming and why we might not actually want the Lord to come into our lives. That might sound strange but some of the prophecies about the Lord’s coming do not sound very pleasant. But we actually do need to go through those unpleasant things to really be ready for the Lord to come into our lives in a new way. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (25m 39s)
Invitation
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - November 17, 2019
As a church we are focusing on invitation for the next couple of months. As we work on invitation I want our thinking and our actions to be informed by what the Lord teaches about it. And when you look for it, you can find teachings and stories about invitation and even direct invitations from the Lord throughout the His Word. Let’s learn from the Lord about how to invite. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (25m 38s)
"Unless the Lord Builds the House...."
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - October 20, 2019
It's very easy to buy into the idea that if we just work hard enough we can make sure that things work out the way we want them to. But then sometimes the things that we put hours and hours of effort and energy into building still fall to pieces. And then it feels like it's not worth working on anything. But the Lord can help us to find a healthier motivation to keep on working hard, while also leaving the outcomes to Him. This sermon is based on a chapel talk by Thane Glenn. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
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Life is Hard, Part 2, What Do We Do?
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 29, 2019
A few weeks ago we talked about how to cope with how hard life in this world is. This Sunday we're going to focus on the question of what to do about it. What actions should we take in response to hard and terrible things that happen? It's easy to feel quite powerless in the face of tragedies or huge problems. Can we make a difference? What do we do if our best efforts seem to accomplish nothing? Life is hard; what do we do? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (22m 25s)
Life is Hard, Part 1, How Do We Cope
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 08, 2019
There are a lot of hard aspects of life in this natural world—in our personal lives and also in the world around us. What do we do with it all? How do we cope? Is it better to try to ignore the hard stuff? If we don’t ignore the hard stuff, how do we keep from being flattened by it? This Sunday we’re going to try to learn from He who has “borne our griefs and carried our sorrows,” about how we can cope with life in this hard world. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (18m 52s)
A New Name
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 25, 2019
We get to witness two baptisms as part of the service this Sunday. When someone gets baptised we talk about them being baptised in the Lord’s name. There’s a lot that’s contained in that simple idea. This Sunday we’ll talk about what it means to take on the name of being a Christian and how we can find a new sense of identity in the Lord. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (23m 25s)
Memorial Service for Edward Palmer
Memorial Service - August 25, 2019
On the 18 August 2019, Edward Palmer peacefully passed away at the age of 86. It's always a hard adjustment when someone passes away, even when they've been sick for a long time like Ted had been. While we grieve his passing, we also are glad for him that he is no longer encumbered with a sick body but instead can enjoy the full use of his spiritual body and can again walk, run, talk easily with people, explore, and eat whatever he wants. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (34m 40s)