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Our Spiritual Journeys
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 19 Aug, 2018
We all have a story. It is a story of our life, the ups and downs, the highs and the lows, the winding ways that we have come from where we were to where we are now. These stories are not just a dry account of our past. The story of our life is the story of the Lord's power and guidance, if we are willing to see it that way, and through retelling our stories we share that power with others. This Sunday we will look at the command given to the Children of Israel to constantly retell the story of how the Lord had saved them from slavery, so that generations to come would know the Lord's power and love. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Ideals - Sorting Out What Matters and What Does Not
Worship Service: Sermon only - 12 Aug, 2018
We can't live up to all ideals. We have to choose between them and then prioritise which of our ideals or values matter more or less in different situations. And what if we get it wrong? What if we reject a true ideal? What if we buy into a false ideal? What if we give something too much weight or too little? These are the questions we're going to wrestle with this Sunday. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Singleness and Marriage
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 5 Aug, 2018
Last week Malcolm talked about how we can hold ideals, especially around marriage. Next week he'll carry on with that theme. But this week, we are going to take a break from talking about marriage and put the focus on the other side: on singleness. Some of you are single yourselves; some of you are recently married; and some of you probably can barely remember what it was like to be single. In any case we will look at what the Lord has to say about this state of life and what even the long-time couples can learn from it. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Ideals
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 29 Jul, 2018
Ideals are great when we feel like we’re living up to them. But what about when we don’t? What about when we fall short? What about when it’s impossible for us to live up to certain ideals, through no fault of our own? Do we abandon our ideals? Do we change our ideals to fit our circumstances? How does the Lord want us to hold our ideals? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Good Humour
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 22 Jul, 2018
Humour is all around us - we tease people, they tease us, we make jokes, we laugh at jokes that other people make, we watch funny shows, we read funny things. Humour is great and life would be rather bleak without laughter. But humour can also be really painful and destructive. What does the Lord say in His Word about humour and what guidelines can we get from him about what sorts of jokes and humour to engage in and what stuff to steer clear of? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Spirit of the Law
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 15 Jul, 2018
We all break rules from time to time. We speed. We tell a little lie. We browse Instagram at work when no one is around. We always tell ourselves that it is justified. But then someone else does the same, and our righteous indignation bristles: well if they speed, I can cut them off! They lied, so I can bad mouth them to others! They slack off at work, so I can too! What we fail to see is that we are using the technicality of breaking a rule to justify us harming someone else. The Lord calls us to something greater: to look beyond just the letter of the law and focus on the spirit, and from there to have compassion on those who perhaps don't stay within bounds as much as we might hope. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Eternal Waters
Worship Service: Sermon only - 8 Jul, 2018
We all have times when we thirst. We thirst for understanding, for insight, for justice, for knowing how to get through. We thirst for a better life or a better job or a better family. The kind of thirst we're going to look at this Sunday is the thirst for truth. Now you might not feel like you have a strong thirst for truth. But we all have a thirst for the truth that teaches us how to navigate the challenges of life and that leaves us feeling satisfied; the kind of truth that when it hits you suddenly know everything is going to be OK. If we are willing, this is the truth that the Lord will feed us with and satisfy our longing. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
The Blessedness of Forgetting
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 1 Jul, 2018
This Sunday evening will be a lay service, led by Warwick Schuurman. the sermon that I've picked for him to read is really good. It's a sermon by the Rev. Frank Rose about how the Lord carefully looks after our memories and sometimes helps us forget. We tend to think of forgetting things as a bad thing but really it's such a blessing that the Lord lets us forget things. A better understanding of how the Lord works with our memories gives us another window into seeing just how much and how well He cares for us. | By Rev. Frank S. Rose , Westville, RSA
Face to Face with God
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 24 Jun, 2018
If we were to fully comprehend the love of God in a moment, it would be like standing in the sun itself. Its immensity and power would blow us away and consume us. Yet just as the light and warmth of the sun finds its way to our little earth and gives us life, the Lord finds a way to bring His immense love down into our lives. He did, and continues to do this, by showing us His humanity. When we look to God and think of Him as a person, we have an opportunity to connect with that endless, boundless love that is His heart. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Unveiling Our Hearts
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 17 Jun, 2018
When we are proud of ourselves there is nothing that we want more than for other people to know it. When we are ashamed we hide and hope no one notices. But when we hide our evils even from ourselves and the Lord there is no way to be healed of them. The Book of Revelation invites us to go through the painful process of exposing our own faults, so that with the Lord we can overcome them. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
How Long, O Lord?
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 10 Jun, 2018
There are times when the state of things in this world can seem pretty bleak - when things at a national, international and even local and personal level seem pretty bad. Too often it seems like evil and selfishness are winning, despite genuinely good people doing all that they can to try to do what's right. This Sunday we will reflect on a vision from the book of Revelation that captures this feeling - the vision of souls under the altar crying out to the Lord, "How long, O Lord?" - and we will see what the Lord has to tell us about what to do when it seems like things are really bad and will never get better. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Where Did We Go Wrong?!
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 3 Jun, 2018
Have you ever found yourself in a bad place and wondered how on earth you got into this mess? Things were once so great! Life was sailing along smoothly and you were proud of how much growth you'd seen in yourself. Yet here you are, back to your crabby, unhappy, selfish self. What went wrong? This pattern is common not just in individuals but in communities and even across history. Luckily, it does not happen by chance. This Sunday we'll look what Revelation can tell us about this cycle and how we can avoid it. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
A Friend in Need
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 27 May, 2018
How do you love someone who is committing evil? What about when that person is your best friend? Is it our place to correct him? Do we distance ourselves from him? Jesus, through His teaching and His example, calls us to remain close with those who do evil (which is frankly all of us), and also to have the courage to stand up for them by opposing what they are doing. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Finding Jesus in the Life of Joshua - Part 3 - The Conquest
Worship Service: Sermon only - 20 May, 2018
In this series so far we have looked at what the early years of the life of Joshua can show us about the early years of Jesus' life and we have looked at what the turning point in Joshua's life when he took over command of the Children of Israel can show us about a similar turning point in Jesus' life. This Sunday, in the final part of the series, we will look at what Joshua's conquest of the land of Canaan can show us about what Jesus was fighting against and fighting for during His three years of active ministry. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Finding Jesus in the Life of Joshua - Part 2 - The Turning Point
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 13 May, 2018
Joshua was the military commander of the people of Israel, who led them across the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, where he violently claimed the land in the name of Jehovah his God. Jesus was a spiritual leader, who came to the Jordan River to be baptised and begin His ministry of love and repentance. Yet these two stories, so different on the surface, are the same story. This Sunday we will explore what Joshua crossing the Jordan can tell us about Jesus and His ministry. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Finding Jesus in the Life of Joshua - Part 1 - The Early Years
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 6 May, 2018
People have been drawing parallels between the stories of Joshua and Jesus for a long time (which makes sense considering that Jesus is the Greek version of the name Joshua). But the teachings of the New Church indicate that the connections between the stories go much deeper than a shared name and some intriguing similarities. Every detail of the story can be read as a way for us to get a deeper understanding of the Lord's experience while He was on earth. This Sunday we will explore the early stories of Joshua, before he became the leader of the Children of Israel, and what those stories can show us about the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Correspondence - The Relationship Between Physical and Spiritual Things
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 29 Apr, 2018
How do physical things relate to spiritual things? What is the connection between our body and our spirit? How do we make sense of the confusing imagery in the Bible, a book that is supposed to be about spiritual things? New Church teachings explain these things using a fascinating concept called correspondence. This Sunday we will explore this concept and how it can change how we look at everything in the Bible and the world around us. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Freedom from Anxiety
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 22 Apr, 2018
Fear and anxiety are inevitable in life. Nor is that a bad thing. Fear of failure motivates us to succeed, anxiety brings our attention to problems that we need to overcome. But when we are crippled by these things, and our choices are limited by our fears, we cannot grow the way we would want. The Lord tells us what we can do then: seek first the kingdom of God. If we manage to get our priorities right, then our anxieties, although still present, will be longer control us. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
What Dreams May Come
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 15 Apr, 2018
Dreams play an important role in many stories of the Word. Joseph, Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, and others had dreams sent by the Lord that revealed His will to them. Today we rarely put much importance on dreams. And yet they remain a universal experience. Is there a way that dreams still connect us to the Lord and the spiritual world? This Sunday we will explore what dreams can mean for us today and how they can reflect a spiritual influence on our lives. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Failure, Frustration and Transformation
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 8 Apr, 2018
In the Gospel of John, after the Lord rises from the dead, He interacts with Peter a few more times and gives him some important final directions. This Sunday we will reflect on what this story can show us about the failure, frustration and transformation that we're likely to go through as we try to follow the Lord. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
An End and a Beginning
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 1 Apr, 2018
Jesus mission in life was both incomprehensible massive and truly simple: to save all people, for all time, from the threat of hell. Throughout His life He accomplished this mission by fighting against and overcoming every last evil impulse that hell could throw at Him. By the end of His life, on the cross, He had so completely overcome hell that nothing of it remained in Him. On Easter Sunday we celebrate this victory because of what it means for us today: just as Jesus overcome hell in His own life, He can overcome every bit of hell that shows up in ours. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Practicing Forgiveness - Transformation
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 25 Mar, 2018
This Sunday is Palm Sunday and the last Sunday of our Practicing Forgiveness programme. Throughout these past few weeks we've talked about the difference that forgiveness can make - in an individual's life and in society in general. We understand the before picture and we like the after picture but how do we get from one to the other? This Sunday we'll try to understand more of what comes in between in the process of being transformed by forgiveness. The sermon was written by John L. Odhner, read by Malcolm Smith. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Practicing Forgiveness - Forgiveness within Ourselves
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 18 Mar, 2018
We have talked about how we are called to forgive those who have hurt us, and to seek forgiveness from other people and from the Lord for the things we have done. This Sunday we will consider another important aspect of forgiveness: forgiveness within ourselves. There are times when other people may have forgiven us and the Lord certainly has but we still beat up on ourselves and we can't seem to let it go. The Lord can help us to understand why this happens and help us to get free. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Practicing Forgiveness - Being Forgiven
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 11 Mar, 2018
We have all needed to be forgiven at one time or another. It's tempting at these times to think a simple "I'm sorry" will suffice. But when it comes to forgiveness "sorry" just doesn't cut it. Although when we say sorry it may be heartfelt it does nothing to change us or our situation. It is when we recognise our fault and make an effort to change that we can receive real forgiveness. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Practicing Forgiveness - Why Forgive?
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 25 Feb, 2018
This Sunday we begin the Practicing Forgiveness programme with a question: "Why Forgive?" Why should we forgive people who have hurt us? What is it about forgiveness that is so essential to spiritual life that all the major world religions teach about how important it is? And - most importantly - how do we do it? How do we grant and seek forgiveness in a genuine way? Come on Sunday as we begin to try to find answers to these important questions. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA