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Are You a Pessimist or an Optimist
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - October 17, 2021
Are optimists better than pessimists? Are pessimists just realistic while optimists are naive? What about the Lord? Is He optimistic about our potential, or does He bemoan the woeful nature of humanity? We have those two broad categories of people that conflict with each other. And at times they may be useful. But this Sunday we will look a little beyond these two categories to try to find a more spiritual view of society, humanity, and our future. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (31m 29s)
The 5 Senses - 2 - Sight and Hearing
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - October 03, 2021
We are in the middle of a series on the five senses. Each one of these physical ways of experiencing the physical world around us corresponds to the spiritual ways that we engage with spiritual reality. Last week Malcolm talked about how our senses of smell and taste reflect our ability to detect what is good or evil and choose to take in that which is good. This week we turn to sight and hearing, and we will explore what they teach us about learning and obeying what is true. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (31m 05s)
The 5 Senses, Part 1, Taste and Smell
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 26, 2021
Have you ever thought about why the Lord gave you a sense of smell or why He gave you a sense of taste? This Sunday we’re beginning a sermon series on the five senses and we will be focusing on taste and smell. We will look at some stories from the Lord’s Word that involve taste and smell and reflect on the spiritual significance of these senses in our lives. How can we become more sensitive to the things that the Lord wants us to notice? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (35m 03s)
Strands Through Scripture - 3 - Covenants
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 19, 2021
We are continuing to follow threads of meaning through the many stories of the Word. This Sunday we will follow the idea of the Covenant, the special agreement between God and mankind. On the surface it appears that this agreement changes drastically from the very contractual, blind-faith based one of the Old Testament to the loving, caring relationship presented in the New Testament. In reality, these covenants are one and the same, seen from different points of view. We’ll look at how we can change how we see our own agreements with the Lord so that we can form a relationship that inspires and transforms our lives. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (29m 42s)
So He Gives His Beloved Sleep
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 05, 2021
The Word is written in such a way that every word and concept has a deeper spiritual meaning. These meanings are threaded through the entirety of the Word, tying together disparate and varied stories into one story with one message. This Sunday we will follow one of these threads by exploring sleep and wakefulness. In this theme we learn about the need to be vigilant and awake spiritually, as well as the need to rest and sleep in the Lord. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
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What Kind of God do You Believe In?
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 29, 2021
There are many ideas of God in the world. Over the history of the human race and in all the different religions around the world there is a huge variety of ideas about what God is like. So what God do you believe in? This Sunday we are going to look at a number of the different ways God is depicted and described in the Bible as an opportunity for you to reflect on your relationship with God. We’re also going to look at some common ways in which people’s beliefs about God can be hurting them. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (30m 48s)
Renewed Life
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 22, 2021
Sometimes we think fondly back on the simplicity of childhood. Our biggest concerns seem small in comparison to what we face as adults. It’s a pity we cannot go back to that simple mind-set of trust and innocence. Or at least, that’s what a cynical world tells us. But the Lord offers hope in the face of pessimism. Even though we may have exchanged childish idealism for adult realism, that does not mean we can never go back. In fact the Lord promises that we can regain our innocence and find abundant hope even in a troubled world. It’s not too late. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (29m 18s)
Genuine Goodness - 3 - Is it Wrong to Want Some Credit
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 15, 2021
We’ve been talking for a couple of weeks about genuine goodness and this week we’re going to venture into some of the thorny issues around motivation. Does it matter what our motivations are if the actions we do are good? Is it wrong to want some credit for the good things we do or does that somehow spoil them? Why does the Lord care about our motivations? Spoiler alert: the Lord cares about our motivations because He cares about us and He knows what will make us genuinely happy. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (31m 11s)
Genuine Goodness - 2 - Picking and Choosing
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 08, 2021
We all want to be good: but how do we decide which good things to do? No matter how much we do, there is always more to be done. When faced with just how many needs there are in the world we can become overwhelmed. We cannot possibly do it all. In order to be good we have to constantly make a judgment call about what good things we will do, and just as importantly, what good things we will not do. We’ll talk about how to make those choices this Sunday. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (46m 21s)
Genuine Goodness - 1 - Doing Good When You Don't Feel Like It
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 01, 2021
There’s something in each of us that wants to be good—that wants to make the world a better place. But how do we do that? There’s a lot to talk about here. For this Sunday we’re going to start with the rather mundane topic of the good things that we do that we don’t feel like doing. We all have things that we are asked to do, required to do, nagged into doing, or have to do because nobody else is going to do it. Often we don’t feel like doing those things. Should we do them anyway? Should we not? Let’s talk about it on Sunday. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (40m 27s)
Strengthen Your Heart
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 18, 2021
It has been a hard week. This Sunday we will have a special service with Joel, Malcolm, and the Rev. Bheki Dube each playing a part. In the Psalms we read, “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!” (27:14). Join us online as we ask the Lord to strengthen our hearts. | By Rev. J. Bheki Dube | Westville, RSA
See Event (56m 12s)
Our Relationship with What the Lord Teaches - 2 - Individual Experience
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 11, 2021
Last week we talked about some general principles as to what makes for a healthy or unhealthy relationship with what the Lord teaches. This week we’re going to talk about what it’s like to be an individual navigating the ups and downs of our individual relationship with what the Lord teaches. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (49m 54s)
Our Relationship with What the Lord Teaches - 1 - General Principles
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 04, 2021
Here’s one expression of our relationship with what the Lord teaches: “God said it. I believe it. That settles it!” It’s not quite that simple, is it? What should our relationship with statements in the Lord’s Word be? What if we don’t understand them or don’t believe them? Do we reject them? Do we tell ourselves to believe them anyway? There are big ramifications to how we hold our relationship with what the Lord teaches so let’s talk about it this Sunday. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (21m 46s)
Overcoming Avoidance
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - June 27, 2021
Avoiding is something we all do. We do it with small things, like when we ignore our body’s signals that it’s time for bed or when we procrastinate on the dishes. We do it with bigger things, like when we put off that important but difficult conversation we need to have or when we put future decisions out of mind. And we do it even with the most important things in our spiritual lives, when we know we have an issue but it is to challenging to face. But if we are to grow spiritually we cannot put off or ignore our flaws. We need to address them head on. This Sunday we will look at some of the reasons we avoid spiritual challenges and what we can do to overcome that tendency. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (17m 52s)
Confirmation of Baptism
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 23, 2021
Last week we witnessed a baptism. Malcolm talked about the importance of baptism as a mark of committing to a certain way of life. But he also mentioned how rarely many of us reflect on our own baptisms. In the New Church we practice infant baptism, meaning many of us were not even conscious of what was going on when it took place, and have no memory of it. How do we confirm and affirm that we as adults accept the promises made when we were infants? Or if baptised as adults, how do we confirm and affirm the promises made years ago when younger? This Sunday we will look at various ways of confirming the promises of baptism and making sure the commitment of baptised remains with us. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (40m 52s)
When Having the Ark of God Doesn't Help
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 02, 2021
We’re going to look at a story this Sunday where the Children of Israel are facing a powerful enemy and they decide to bring the ark of the covenant into battle with them. But then they get absolutely slaughtered by their enemy. There are other stories in the Bible where the presence of the ark of the covenant with the people brings about a miraculous victory for the Children of Israel. There are also times in our lives where we’re facing something difficult and we feel like we’re making an effort to follow the Lord but He doesn’t seem to be helping at all. What’s going on? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (18m 57s)
Education, Part 3 - Learning the Lord's Way
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 25, 2021
So far we have seen why education is a necessary part of life and how education is really an opening up of a path to the Lord. This Sunday we will look at some of the ways that we do the actual practice of learning and teaching. For learning to be useful we have to make sure we are taking account of all that the Lord says about our minds and how they grow. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (16m 27s)
Education, Part 2 - An Opening of the Path
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 18, 2021
Last week Joel talked about the necessity of education. This week we will be talking about a model of what education does for a person and how a New Church worldview can inform what we educate people in and how we educate them. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (30m 16s)
Education, Part 1 - The Necessity of Education
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 11, 2021
We are beginning a series on education, specifically New Church education. Education is more than just what you learn in school: it is a process of growing from ignorance into wisdom, from selfishness into selflessness, from hell into heaven. This Sunday we will look at the reasons that we all have to learn, and why we need to keep on learning into eternity. Education is something that we can never be done with, especially if we want to follow the Lord and be part of His Kingdom. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (18m 55s)
Defense in the Spiritual World
Worship Service: Informal Family - March 21, 2021
Evil defends itself differently from good. Learning to recognize those differences can help us when we are dealing with conflict in our lives. Choosing heavenly defense mechanisms will always promote health and life in us and in others. | By Rt. Rev. David H. Lindrooth | Bryn Athyn Heilman Hall
See Event (40m 33s)
Finding Jesus in the Lives of the Prophets - Jeremiah
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 14, 2021
This week we continue to look at how the Old Testament prophets reflect the life of Jesus. This Sunday we turn to Jeremiah. Jeremiah lived in a time when impending invasion and doom hung over the people of Israel, and yet the prophets promised peace and prosperity. Jeremiah's role was to proclaim the reality that things would get worse before they got better unless they changed their ways. This seemingly pessimistic message echoed the spiritual message that Jesus brought hundreds of years later: this time a spiritual doom threatened, and Jesus urgently pushed people to repentance lest they be overcome by sin. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (26m 32s)
Finding Jesus in the Lives of the Prophets - Isaiah
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 07, 2021
The teachings of the New Church say that the whole of the Word relates to the Lord Jesus Christ and what He went through while on Earth. And so we’ve done sermon series in the past on finding Jesus in the life of Abraham, Joshua, and Elisha. This time we’re going to focus on three of the major prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. This will be a chance to learn a bit about these prophets, about what the Lord went through on Earth, and about the role of a prophet in difficult times. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (00m 00s)
Challenging Kindness
Worship Service: Informal Family - February 28, 2021
For week four of the “Practicing Kindness” series, we’ll talk about times when showing kindness can feel like a challenge. Ham pointed out Noah’s faults, but Shem and Japheth paid little attention to his faults and graciously helped their father. | By Rev. Kurt Hyland Asplundh | Bryn Athyn Heilman Hall
See Event (24m 32s)
False Virtues
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - January 31, 2021
We put great pride in certain virtues, both as individuals and as a society. When we embody these virtues it is a sign that we are spiritually growing. But virtues are not as easy to identify as we like to believe. Certain qualities that we view as virtuous are in fact unrelated to meaningful virtue. To take a simple example, many people take busy-ness to be a virtue, as if always being busy reflects on their character. In actual fact, being overladen with work says nothing about one’s character: it may be a sign of love for others, but it could just as easily be nothing of the sort. We need to evaluate where we put our worth, and if it is in false virtues then we need to look to the Lord to find the virtues that truly reflect a good spiritual life. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (29m 26s)
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - January 17, 2021
It’s bad enough to not be in a great place, either outwardly or spiritually. But it’s much worse to not just be in a bad place, but to actually be going backwards, undoing any progress that has been made. When things are going the wrong direction it can lead to hopelessness about the future. It would be nice if the Lord said going backwards was fine, but He doesn’t: in fact, He makes it clear that it is dangerous and damaging thing to experience. Rather than accepting backsliding as just another part of life, the Lord can give us hope that our prior progress has not been lost and that a better future is possible. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (20m 00s)