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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
Putting Others First
Worship Service: Informal Family - 18 Feb, 2018
The world tells us that to be great we must be better than others. We must be stronger, richer, more skilled and so on. If someone is ahead of us we are not, obviously, the best. The Lord redefines greatness. Greatness is not to excel others. Greatness is putting others first. Not only does putting others first make us great; it removes the competition. When we put others first we do not need to feel superior to anyone. We can be content that we have done our part to make the world a better place. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Collected, One by One
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 11 Feb, 2018
There's a verse somewhere in the middle of Isaiah that says, ...."you shall be collected, one by one...." Someone recently showed me this verse and pointed out that it has important implications for how we approach our relationships with other people and the Lord. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Your Life is Not Your Own
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 4 Feb, 2018
Who does your life belong to? We know that at least some of it belongs to the Lord so we make man effort to give Him His due share. But what if all of your life, every last bit of it, belongs to the Lord? At first this might seem like a constraining idea. But in fact it can be freeing. We do not have to balance out whit is mine and what is His; when we give it all to Him we free ourselves to live our best lives possible. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Rebuilding the House of the Lord - Part 3 - Taking it to Heart
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 28 Jan, 2018
When we have made the Lord a priority and started to work on living better we often expect things to change dramatically. Sadly, that is not the case. Changes in our external lives are an important beginning but we will not see real change until the change happens in our hearts. When the children of Israel built a house for the Lord not just as a place of worship but also as a state of mind, then the Lord could begin to bless them again. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Rebuilding the House of the Lord - Part 2 - How to Keep Working
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 21 Jan, 2018
When the people obey the Lord and rebuild the house of the Lord it doesn't meet their expectations of what it should be. The Lord's response to them, through the prophet Haggai, can be very useful for us when the results of our spiritual efforts aren't quite what we think they should be. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Rebuilding the House of the Lord - Part i - Is it Time?
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 14 Jan, 2018
At this time of year we're often taking stock of who we are and where we are in our lives and thinking about what we might need to do to improve our lives. This Sunday and next we will be exploring the somewhat obscure but very relevant story in the book of Haggai of the Children of Israel being called to rebuild the house of the Lord and what it can teach us about the process of trying to do better about prioritising the Lord in our lives. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Forgiveness as Opportunity
Worship Service: Informal Family - 7 Jan, 2018
No matter what you have done or will do in your life, the Lord has already forgiven you. So what's the point of thinking about the Lord's forgiveness? He has already given it to us. That does not mean we have it yet though. The Lord's forgiveness comes in the form of never-ending opportunities to repent. It is up to us to take advantage of those opportunities and make changes. That is how we take in the Lord's forgiveness. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Simeon
Worship Service: Informal Family - 31 Dec, 2017
When Jesus was only a few weeks old His parents brought Him to the temple, as was the custom. There they were met a man, Simeon, who held Jesus in his arms, blessed Him, and gave thanks. The image of the old man Simeon holding the new-born Jesus is a useful one to start the year off with. On the one hand we have someone reaching the end of his life. On the other a life just beginning. When we reach these important transitions it is important that we, like Simeon, can recognise the hope for the future and trust the Lord is creating something good even if we will not live to see it. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
And His Name Will Be Called
Worship Service: Family (may include music) - 25 Dec, 2017
This Christmas Day, as we celebrate the Lord being born into this world, we will be reflecting on the significance of some of the many different names that that little baby was called. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
How to Receive the Lord's Light in Our Lives
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 17 Dec, 2017
This Sunday we'll be talking more about the Christmas story according to the Gospel of John, with a focus on theme of darkness and light. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Witness to the Light
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 10 Dec, 2017
Before Jesus could begin His ministry He needed John to prepare the way first. The world at the time was in such a bad state that people could not have taken in Jesus teachings if John had not first prepared them and filled them with hope for Jesus' coming. John did this by bearing witness to Jesus' Light, so that when that light did come people could recognise it and embrace it. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
To God be the Glory
Worship Service: Informal Family - 3 Dec, 2017
Singing is one of the most powerful ways to express joy, and this is no more true than at Christmas. The teachings of the New Church tell us that going back thousands of years, the people in ancient times delighted in singing songs about the Lord's future coming and the salvation He would bring. Today we do the same as we not only look back to the Lord's birth but also forward to His birth into our own lives. After a short talk on the joy of singing to the Lord we will join together to celebrate the joy of the Lord's Coming and the Christmas season in general. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
How Wealthy is Too Wealthy
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 26 Nov, 2017
As Christians is it our duty to shun wealth? Jesus says that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. So should the wealthy among us be ashamed of their wealth? Should the poorer of us take pride in their poorness? Not exactly. The problem with money is the use to which we apply it. Money is heavenly when we see it as an opportunity to serve others and hellish when we see it as a way to love ourselves. All of us, rich and poor, need to take stock of the gifts we have been given in abundance and ask how we can use that abundance to make the world a better place. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Facing Floods, Part 4 - Rebuild
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 19 Nov, 2017
What do we do after a crisis? How do you go back to normal? This Sunday we're going to talk about what happens after Noah and his family can finally leave the ark after the flood and what we can learn from the story about how to rebuild our lives once a crisis has passed. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Facing Floods, Part 3 - Ride it Out
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 12 Nov, 2017
Two weeks ago we talked about seeing the floods, or challenges, coming and understanding that there is a better life on the other side. Last week we talked about preparing for the floods, or challenges, by making sure hat we are walking hand in hand with God and following Him wherever He leads us. This week we are going to talk about being in the middle of the flood itself, coping with the challenges as we experience them. In the midst of struggle we suffer from doubt but the Lord's promise is that He has prepared you and that He will bring you through alive, to find a new beginning. There is no challenge that you cannot overcome. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA