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The Waters of Baptism
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - January 18, 2026
The central element of the baptism service is water. Water in general represents truth, and that is what it represents in baptism: just as water quenches thirst, the truth that is learned from the Lord and His Word quenches our desire for guidance; just as water washes away dirt, truth is the tool by which we wash away sin and evil. Conversely water represents falsity: just as a person needs to be lifted up and saved from drowning, the Lord leads us away from what is false and guides us to live based on His truth. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (42m 01s)
Fools for Christ
Worship Service: Sermon only - January 11, 2026
The wisdom of God seems like foolishness to the world, and so following God's wisdom inevitably leads to us feeling foolish. The pressure to give in and embrace the "wisdom" of the world can be strong. Resisting takes sacrifice, from passing on a promotion, to ending a relationship, to letting go of ego, and beyond. But until we are willing to be seen as fools by the world, we are not able to fully follow the Lord. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (28m 53s)
Missed Opportunities
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - January 04, 2026
| By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (28m 41s)
In the Beginning
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - December 28, 2025
| By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (25m 06s)
The Two Christmas Stories, Part 2, Luke
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - December 25, 2025
There is not just one “Christmas Story:” Matthew recounts Joseph’s dilemma, the arrival of the wise men, and the threat of Herod, while Luke recounts the annunciation to Mary, the infant Jesus being placed in a manger, and the shepherds coming to see Him. Keeping these stories separate in our minds helps us understand the spiritual significance of each one: Matthew has a lot to say about how we receive the Lord in our minds through truth, faith, and understanding. Luke on the other hand tells us more about how we receive the Lord in our hearts, in goodness, charity, and our will. On Christmas Day we will explore how Luke can help us be more accepting, trusting, and loving in how we receive the Lord. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (25m 42s)
The Two Christmas Stories
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - December 21, 2025
We often talk about "The Christmas Story" as if it were one contained story. But really there are two: one in the Gospel of Matthew, the other in the Gospel of Luke. In the first, the danger of Herod looms large, Joseph has to work hard to keep the family safe, and wise men from the East bring gifts. In the second, Mary is central, there is no room for them in the inn, and shepherds come to adore the little infant. These two different versions tell us a lot about the two distinct ways we receive the Lord into our own lives. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (28m 39s)
An Answered Prayer
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - December 14, 2025
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, Zechariah 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 then our wildest dreams. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (27m 21s)
Praising God in the Highest
Worship Service: Family (may include music) - December 07, 2025
Christmas is a time of joy and happiness, or at least we try to make it so. Singing Christmas songs can be one of those fun ways to celebrate. But what makes the season truly joyful is when we look to the Lord and live His teaching. When we do those two things then the fun of all the other aspects can be deepened and enriched spiritually. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (11m 20s)
The Pursuit of Truth
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - November 30, 2025
Part of living a good spiritual life is looking for the Truth that will guide you. The problem is that “truth” is a lot harder to come by then we might imagine. Every true thing we know, or think we know, has endless layers that remain obscure to us and countless nuances that are beyond our current comprehension. We never find the Truth itself in all its complexity. In spite of this, and in fact, because of this, the never-ending pursuit of truth is a crucial part of our spiritual growth. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (32m 46s)
Getting Spiritual Support
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - November 23, 2025
We know that the Lord has created us to love others; but what about ourselves? Can that love also be from the Lord? All of us have needs that must be met but it can be hard to ask for help. We worry about putting a burden on others or opening ourselves up to criticism. Yet the Lord is clear that we are to love ourselves. If we cannot love ourselves enough to get the help that we need, we lose the ability to help others. When we ask for help we are not being selfish, but rather are taking the first steps towards helping others. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (30m 50s)
Spiritual Fatigue
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - November 16, 2025
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 (31m 48s)
What is Sin?
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - November 09, 2025
Religious life is all about resisting sins. But what actually counts as a sin? We have to be able to know what we are looking for if we are going to be able to resist it. Thankfully the Lord gives us guidance in identifying sins, especially through the Ten Commandments. Although there are only Ten, if we look deeper we can find that they guide us to see whatever vice or sin we might be struggling with. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (29m 28s)
Holy Fear
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - November 02, 2025
Fear is really not our favourite thing to feel. We would usually ask the Lord to remove our fears, and He tells us not to be afraid. And yet there are other parts of the Word that talk about "the fear of the Lord" as a good thing! It turns out that there is something like fear, that even feels like fear, and yet that is also a good thing that comes from love. Even as the Lord removes our fears, He inspires us with holy fear, a fear that relates not to danger but to love. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (43m 11s)
Gratitiude and Responsibility
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - October 26, 2025
These two concepts aren't often paired, but they are actually intrinsically linked. Everything good that we have is a free gift from the Lord, regardless of how much we have worked for it. When we realize just how much we have been blessed we are filled with a feeling of gratitude. But it also brings a sense responsibility: if we have been so freely blessed, then there is an obligation to freely bless others. As the Lord says, "Freely you have received, freely give." | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (38m 08s)
The Heavenly Marriage
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - October 19, 2025
Everything in creation relates back to a kind of marriage: that between love and wisdom, or between goodness and truth. This spiritual union also defines our relationship with the Lord. When we accept truths into our mind and allow the Lord to fill them with goodness, we are conjoined with the Lord. This is why the Word over and over again uses the image of a marriage to describe the relationship between the Lord and the Church. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (41m 56s)
Who is My Neighbour?
Worship Service: Children & Adult - October 12, 2025
Loving your neighbour is easy if it means loving the people you like. But if the neighbour includes people we aren't so fond of it becomes much harder. One of the ways we can get better at it is by remembering that we can love the Lord in other people, even if we don't like other parts of the person. There is always something worth loving in everyone you ever meet. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (39m 56s)
Snakes in the Desert
Worship Service: Children & Adult - October 05, 2025
Our topic will be a somewhat obscure story from the time the Children of Israel wandered in the desert. They grew tired of the food the Lord provided and complained. This brought a plague of venomous snakes. When the begged the Lord for help, He had Moses set up a bronze statue of a snake, and everyone who looked at it was healed. What can this story teach us about the times we crave pleasure and are desperate for things that pull us away from the Lord? | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (00m 00s)
Facing the Floods of Life
Worship Service: Children & Adult - September 28, 2025
There are big, life-altering, spiritual challenges that we all face from time to time. Most of us would rather not have that be the case. But they are inevitable, and the truth is they are also necessary. We need to have opportunities to face our flaws, take on our selfishness, and allow the Lord to build us back up into better people. This Sunday we will look at how we can become more accepting of the fact that spiritual life requires times of turmoil as well as times of peace and contentment. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (00m 00s)
Choosing Your Heritage
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 21, 2025
You can’t pick your ancestors. The ones you’ve got are the ones your stuck with. The same is true of your heritage in general. For good or ill, your heredity is set. This is also true spiritually: you have inherited from birth an inclination towards certain evils. But that does not mean that we are stuck with them: we can, and indeed must, be truly born again from the Lord. While that will not change where we have come from, it will change our future. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (38m 00s)
Results Don't Matter
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 10, 2025
Of course results matter! But they don’t matter in the way we might think. We tend to think that if some choice we make has a good or pleasant result, then we made the right choice; and if it has a bad or painful result then we must have made the wrong choice. The Lord, however, encourages us to do the right thing regardless of the (apparent) outcome. The immediate results won’t tell us much about whether we have done right or wrong. It’s more important for us to do what is right according to the Lord’s guidance rather than relying on our limited view of the results. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (34m 03s)
Back to Basics: How Does God Work
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 27, 2025
Back in February I gave a sermon called Back to Basics: Who is God? In that sermon we covered why beliefs about God matter so much, and how God is simultaneously infinite and omnipotent and loving and personal. We only briefly touched on the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. How can God be all three of these and still be one? We will explore how these aspects of God all work together in the one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (39m 47s)
The Power of Truth
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 20, 2025
One of the most well-known stories in the Bible is that of David felling the giant Goliath with a simple sling. What gives us this power in our own lives? The answer from the Teachings of the New Church is... Truth! That might not sound exciting, if you think of truth as mere ideas. But when we use the Lord's truths properly, they are some of the most powerful tools in the universe. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (21m 13s)
How Long, O Lord
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 13, 2025
How Long, O Lord? These words, "How long, O Lord?" were spoken by a group of people huddled under the altar, desperate to know how much longer it would be before their oppression would cease. Likewise, they are words that we might find ourselves saying when we seem unable to break free of our own sin. But although we might despair of ever being free, the Lord, in secret and hidden ways, is working for our growth and rebirth, if only we put in the little effort that we are able to. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (33m 50s)
Is it Useful
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 06, 2025
This week we ask "How do we measure usefulness?" At the heart of this question is putting truth and kindness into action. Truth and kindness without use are simply airy ideas. By asking "Is it useful?" we bring our focus to the actual impact that our words will have on the people around us. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (00m 00s)
Is it Useful
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 06, 2025
This week we ask "How do we measure usefulness?" At the heart of this question is putting truth and kindness into action. Truth and kindness without use are simply airy ideas. By asking "Is it useful?" we bring our focus to the actual impact that our words will have on the people around us. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (26m 41s)