Search Results
Individual Events Matching Your Search Query
Confirmation of Baptism
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 23 May, 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
Honouring Mothers
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 9 May, 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
Education, Part 3 - Learning the Lord's Way
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 25 Apr, 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
Education, Part 1 - The Necessity of Education
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 11 Apr, 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
The Coming Kingdom
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 28 Mar, 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
Finding Jesus in the Lives of the Prophets - Jeremiah
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 14 Mar, 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
Stories from Heaven and Hell
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 28 Feb, 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
Preparing for Easter - the Road to Jerusalem
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 14 Feb, 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
False Virtues
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 31 Jan, 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
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 17 Jan, 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
Keeping to a Spiritual Timeline
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 3 Jan, 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
Shepherds and Angels
Worship Service: Informal Family - 25 Dec, 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
Zacharias: An Answered Prayer
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 6 Dec, 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
Building Relationships - 2 - Looking Outward
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 29 Nov, 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
Nature - Part 4 - Humanity and Usefulness
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 15 Nov, 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
Nature - Part 2 - Vegetation and Growth
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 1 Nov, 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
Stages of Life - Part 4 - Old Age
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 18 Oct, 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
Stages of Life - Part 2 - Teenage Years
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 4 Oct, 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
Technology - Useful Tool or Useless Distraction
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 20 Sep, 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
Relationships, Part 3: Distinctly One
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 6 Sep, 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
Relationships - Part 2 - What God Has Joined Together
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 23 Aug, 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
Beyond the Prayer
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 9 Aug, 2020
Over the last three weeks we have looked at the Lord’s Prayer. In our services, we often follow the Lord’s Prayer with the familiar phrase, “Lord, forgive us our trespasses; as we forgive those who trespass against us.” This is based on the teaching that Jesus gave immediately after giving His disciples His Prayer. Having prayed, it is a useful reminder that we must also live the words that we have spoken; that we must actively work on repentance from sin so we can forgive and be forgiven. So this week we leave the Prayer behind as a spoken conversation with the Lord and turn to how we live it in our daily lives. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Revisiting the Lord's Prayer - Part 2 - Freely Gotten, Freely Given Away
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 26 Jul, 2020
As we continue our way through the Lord's Prayer the focus pivots away from the God who we pray to and comes to rest on us: we ask that He give us our daily bread and that He forgive our debts. In these two phrases we see the immensity of what we receive from the Lord, and our inability to repay it. Thankfully, He does not ask that we repay. Simply that as we have received, we in turn give. In giving away what we have to others and forgiving our debtors, we also receive from the Lord. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Fools for Christ
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 12 Jul, 2020
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
Comings and Goings
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 28 Jun, 2020
Psalm 121 speaks of the Lord protecting your going out and your coming in. This speaks to times of transition, times in which it is especially crucial that we remain in the Lord’s care. A prominent example is the Children of Israel coming out of slavery in Egypt and going in to possess the Promised Land. But this story also illustrates the struggle of times of transition: between coming out of Egypt and going into the Land there was forty years of wandering the wilderness. As much as we would like to directly leave hardship and enter good times, more often than not there is an intermediate stage of trial and growth that the Lord must lead us through. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA