Search results clear search
Digital Well-Being
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 01, 2024
One of the most ubiquitous modern “idols” is the screen. It sucks us in with its promise of satisfaction, pleasure, and escape, only to rob us of time, energy, and connection. Ironically, even as we devote so much to a lifeless mass of wires and plastic, we disconnect more and more from the life-filled, flesh-and-blood people around us. We must relearn how to prioritize people, and above all the Lord, and have technology once again become a servant in pursuit of that priority. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSAThe Lord Always Blesses Us
Worship Service: Informal Family - September 01, 2024
When we learn the Lord invites us to do good work which will bring a blessing, like the laborers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16), we learn gratitude is a gift from the Lord. "In a spiritual religion the main focus is charity, in which the Lord is present, by means of which he binds himself to humanity, and through which he alone accomplishes everything good." (SH 1069) | By Rev. J. Clark Jr. Echols | Bryn Athyn Cathedral UndercroftA Grain of Wheat Falling to the Ground
Worship Service: Family (may include music) - August 25, 2024
1st Lesson: Ps 107:4-21; John 12:23-33 2nd Lesson: AR 639, DLife 99 Family Talk Text: Ps 30:5 “In the evening weeping may pass the night, but in the morning there is singing aloud” | By Rev. Andrew J. Heilman | Kempton, PAThe Lord is My Shepherd
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 25, 2024
The 23rd Psalm is one of the most well-known portions of the Bible. In it, the Lord is compared to a shepherd, providing for all our needs and guiding us through dark places. This Sunday will be spent contemplating the deeper meaning we can find contained within these powerful words of Scripture. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSAKnow Your Spiritual Enemies: The Babylonians
Worship Service: Family (may include music) - August 25, 2024
This Sunday we will be talking about the last of our spiritual enemies, the Babylonians. This is the enemy that took Judah into captivity towards the end of the Old Testament story; this is one of the final enemies that had to be overthrown before the Holy City New Jerusalem could descend towards the end of the New Testament. What do the Babylonians represent in our lives and what do we need to do so that the Lord can save us from them? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Bryn Athyn CathedralKnow Your Spiritual Enemies: The Babylonians”
Worship Service: Sermon only - August 25, 2024
This Sunday we will be talking about the last of our spiritual enemies, the Babylonians. This is the enemy that took Judah into captivity towards the end of the Old Testament story; this is one of the final enemies that had to be overthrown before the Holy City New Jerusalem could descend towards the end of the New Testament. What do the Babylonians represent in our lives and what do we need to do so that the Lord can save us from them? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Bryn Athyn CathedralEncouragement
Worship Service: Informal Family - August 25, 2024
One of the values of gathering for worship is to invite the Lord’s encouragement in a group setting. In spiritual community, we can be encouraged by the Lord and encourage each other. During this coming week, in preparation for the service, practice being an encourager. Notice any successes and challenges. | By Rev. Nathan D. Gladish | Bryn Athyn Cathedral UndercroftGetting to Heaven is Easy
Worship Service: Sermon only - August 18, 2024
1st Lesson: Exodus 19:16-25, 20:1-18 (parts) 2nd Lesson: Mark 10:17-27 3rd Lesson: Heaven and Hell 530, 533 (parts) Sermon: “Getting to Heaven is Easy” (Text: Mark 10:23) | By Rt. Rev. Bradley D. Heinrichs | Kempton, PAMeeting God in Nature
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 18, 2024
There’s something beautiful about being in nature, surrounded by trees and flowers, hearing the birds singing, watching as the sun lights up the clouds. It can feel like a truly spiritual experience. And in fact, it is: every last thing in nature is a reflection of the spiritual world, and ultimately, of the Lord. Nor is this just a symbolic connection: the life we see all around us is actually created and sustained by spiritual life from the Lord. Our relationship with nature is an opportunity to reflect and connect more deeply with the Lord. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSADon'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 Undercroft