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Responding to Evil
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 25, 2021
Perhaps the clearest command that the Lord gives us in regards to evil-doers is that we ought to forgive them. This command is one of the hardest commands to follow and it is crucial for our spiritual well-being. Yet if forgiveness is our only response to evil then we miss the bigger picture. So in addition to forgiveness, what else does the Lord teach us about responding to evil? This Sunday we will explore how to broaden our view of that response. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (30m 43s)
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)
What is the New Church - Part 3 - Picturing the New Church
Worship Service: Informal Family - June 20, 2021
Every June, as New Church day approaches, we turn our attention to the book of Revelation. Revelation presents fantastic imagery of plagues and warfare, of dragons and angel armies, of a colossal city and a lake of fire. What it does not appear to do is lay out nicely and clearly what the New Church will be. Why did the Lord choose imagery over rational explanation to paint a picture for us of the New Church? This Sunday’s talk for the whole family will dive into what we can learn of the New Church through understanding John’s visions. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
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What is the New Church? Part 1
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - June 06, 2021
Every year on 19 June we celebrate “New Church Day.” We treat this day as the birthday of our church. But what is it that we actually are celebrating? What is the New Church? How does the New Church fit into the broader world of religions and faith? How widely does it extend? How does it differ from any other faith? This June we will spend time looking at exactly what the New Church is, and especially how it fits into the world around us. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
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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)
Honouring Mothers
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 09, 2021
The 4th Commandment directs us to “honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which Jehovah your God is giving you.” I hope you have a chance today to do some of that honouring. But of course, this commandment goes far beyond just one day of the year and beyond just one earthly mother. More broadly we can reflect on how we honour motherhood in general, and how those qualities of motherhood come into our spiritual practices. Whether your mother is still here or has passed on, whether your relationship with your mother is deep, conflicted, or non-existent, it is possible to honour spiritual motherhood. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
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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 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
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The Coming Kingdom
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 28, 2021
When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey the onlookers took it to be an ancient symbol of kingship. And indeed, it was. Yet their expectations of that coming kingdom were far removed from the kingdom that Jesus sought to establish. Jesus knew that the people expected an immediate overthrow of oppression and the onset of an earthly kingdom with Jesus as their benevolent ruler. The kingdom Jesus actually established was one of hard work and repentance, in other words, a spiritual kingdom. This Sunday we will look at how our own expectations are contrary to what the Lord actually intends for us. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
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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
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Stories from Heaven and Hell
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - February 28, 2021
In the New Church we talk a lot about the afterlife. A few weeks ago we talked some about the structure and process of the afterlife. But raw information never shows the full picture. Stories of daily interactions and interesting anecdotes flesh things out. That is why we are looking to the stories from the Teachings of the New Church that lay out just a glimpse of what we can expect in the afterlife. This week we will hear stories that take place in heaven and in hell. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
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Preparing for Easter - the Road to Jerusalem
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - February 14, 2021
Easter is still pretty far away (7 weeks, more or less). But the time from Ash Wednesday (17 February this year) until Easter Sunday is generally seen as a time of preparation for the holiday. You may remember that last year we suggested giving up a bad habit or picking up a new spiritual practice in this time period. This year we'll suggest similar ways to prepare. Specifically, this Sunday we'll look at how Jesus' steady ascent from the backwater of Galilee along the road up to the metropolis of Jerusalem and His own death can help us prepare for our own celebration of His resurrection at Easter. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (24m 44s)
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
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Keeping to a Spiritual Timeline
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - January 03, 2021
Transitions are a useful reminder to reflect on where we have been and where we are going. We see this most prominently with the New Year: it is a time of appreciating all that has happened in the previous year and looking forward to what the next year has to bring. Or in the case of 2020, trying to forget most of the previous year and hoping things improve in the new. But deep down, we all know that the changing of the calender does not actually change anything. Covid is still with is, the problems of yesterday are mostly the problems we still face today. Although these natural-world cycles are useful reminders, the reality is that spiritually, any moment can be a new day, a new year, a new opportunity for change. Instead of being chained to the steady march of time, we can make our own beginning at any point, when we look to the Lord and His spiritual goals for us. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (25m 21s)
Shepherds and Angels
Worship Service: Informal Family - December 25, 2020
When Jesus was born the Gospel of Luke mentions two groups in particular that were present: shepherds who protected their flocks by night, and angelic armies sent from God on high. Both groups, in their own way, are powerful images of truth. Truth is not ideas. Truth, Divine Truth, is the Divine power that protects all goodness. Just as shepherds protect their sheep and angelic armies protect the heavens, truth, when lived, protects against all the forces of hell. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
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Zacharias: An Answered Prayer
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - December 06, 2020
The Christmas story begins with Zacharias receiving the astonishing news that his elderly, barren wife would give birth to a special child. Yet in the moment of his prayers being answered, Zacharias doubted; and so was made mute until the time of the child’s birth. How often do we do the same, doubting just when our prayers might be answered? It’s as if it’s too good to be true, and to protect ourselves from disappointment we refuse to let ourselves give in to false hope. But the Lord does not give false hope: His promises are sure and He brings to pass something greater even than our wildest dreams. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (28m 27s)
Building Relationships - 2 - Looking Outward
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - November 29, 2020
Last week and this we are doing a two part series on the relationships that we have, or strive to have, as a church community. Last week, Malcolm talked about the most personal and inward relationship: the one that each of us has with the Lord. This week we will focus on all the outward looking relationships: those with each other, with a husband or wife, with children, and with the broader community. Although there is almost infinite variety in these relationships, we will be able to see the common purpose that makes them all essential for a church community to function. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (31m 49s)
Nature - Part 4 - Humanity and Usefulness
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - November 15, 2020
So far in our series on nature we have seen how the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms all reflect the Lord and His relationship with us. In our concluding sermon we turn to humanity itself. Everything that the Lord created, He did so for the sake of humanity. We are to subdue the Earth and have dominion over the animals. Yet that does not mean we can take creation for granted and abuse it. Our dominion is solely for the purpose of what is useful and good. We are stewards, rather than the owners, of the world that God has lent to us. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (32m 14s)
Nature - Part 2 - Vegetation and Growth
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - November 01, 2020
We continue our examination of the natural world in light of its spiritual source. Last week we saw the order inherent in minerals and all physical things, reflecting the presence of God even at the atomic level. This week we move beyond inert rocks and turn towards living, growing vegetation. Within every seed the Lord has placed the potential for infinitely expanding life, reproducing, if given a chance, eternally and infinitely. In this we see the inherent quality of life from the Lord: it never ceases to grow, and would, if given the chance, fill the entire universe with Divine Love. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
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Stages of Life - Part 4 - Old Age
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - October 18, 2020
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. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (41m 10s)
Stages of Life - Part 2 - Teenage Years
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - October 04, 2020
This week we continue our exploration of the stages of life as seen in the story of Moses. As a young man Moses faced the challenges of putting his ideals into practice. On the one hand he could see with clarity the injustice his people faced. On the other hand, he struggled to reconcile how his own people treated each other, and in the end was forced to flee to a foreign land. These experiences illustrate well the dichotomy of the teenage years: a growing sense of right and wrong, tempered by growing awareness of the complexity of life. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
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Technology - Useful Tool or Useless Distraction
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 20, 2020
We live in a world of technology, all the more so since the advent of COVID-19. This pandemic has highlighted the blessing of technology, as it allows us to carry on work safely, to connect with loved ones around the world, even to attend church while not being able to attend in person. But it has also highlighted the downsides of technology, as we yearn to get back to in-person connection and struggle with the frustrating limits of technology. As with any tool, technology will be useful or useless depending on how much it is used in the service of what is spiritual. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (43m 44s)
Relationships, Part 3: Distinctly One
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 06, 2020
The ultimate expression of love is to feel the joy of another person as if it were your own joy. This is expressed in the great commandment that we are to love others as we love ourselves, such that we rejoice in their happiness and feel pain at their hurt. At the same time there are limits and boundaries to how much we feel another as ourselves. Even as we empathize, we also need to maintain our independence, lest we get sucked in and lose ourselves. The Word gives us guidance on how to both reach out and remain separate in a healthy way. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
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Relationships - Part 2 - What God Has Joined Together
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 23, 2020
Relationships, including marriage, fulfil many human needs, from basic economics to deep companionship and beyond. But the deepest component of marriage is spiritual. It is not just about the relationship of a husband and wife with each other, but also the relationship of each with the Lord. Working on this part of the relationship, and working towards it even as a single person, deepens and enriches all the other pieces that go with marriage. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (34m 02s)