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Old Age
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 9 Oct, 2022
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. Thank you to Lance Mansfield for once again stepping up to be our Lay Preacher. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
A Heavenly Heritage
Worship Service: Sermon only - 25 Sep, 2022
A person’s heritage is the practices and customs that have been handed down from the past and that in many ways define the group they are part of. To celebrate heritage is to celebrate where a person or group has come from and to appreciate the variety among other cultures. Within all these cultures though there is a uniting thread that holds us all together, that of a heavenly heritage, a heavenly way of life, passed down to us from the Lord. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
To Be Part of a Whole
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 11 Sep, 2022
We talk of organizations as if they have a life of their own: "The company made some good decisions last years;" "The rugby team is making good progress." But of course, no organization does anything apart from the individual choices of its members. The church is no different. We may talk of the church as a separate entity that does things; the reality is that the church only exists insofar as the individual members are living and being the church. Each of us is a part of the greater whole, and the quality of the church will be determined by the quality of our lives. Rev. J. Bheki Dube also reads a lesson. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Walking in the Lord's Commandments
Worship Service: Informal Family - 4 Sep, 2022
This is Bryn Athyn Church School's theme this year, taken from Jeremiah 7:23. The Lord often told His disciples to "follow Me" as He walked around Israel. Why is "walking" a good way of describing the life of religion? | By Rev. Solomon J. Keal , Bryn Athyn Heilman Hall
The Spirit of the Law
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 4 Sep, 2022
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
Coming Home
Worship Service: Sermon only - 21 Aug, 2022
We all want a nice home in which we can feel safe and loved. This doesn’t just come with a nice house: we are home among the people who care for us and love us. We are also home when we rest in the Lord and His Divine care for us. We all have a spiritual home. This Sunday we’ll look at ways to find this home for ourselves. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Daily Prayer
Worship Service: Informal Family - 21 Aug, 2022
How often do you talk to the Lord? Is it often enough? Communication is a crucial aspect of any relationship and our relationship with the Lord is no different. Let’s talk about what prayer on a day-to-day basis looks like and how we can make progress in our regular communication with the Lord. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Bryn Athyn Heilman Hall
Building Our House on the Rock
Worship Service: Informal Family - 14 Aug, 2022
The Lord told a parable comparing someone who built their house on sand, which then fell during a storm, versus someone who built their house on the rock, which then withstood the storm. What does it mean for us to spiritually build our houses on the rock? | By Rev. Solomon J. Keal , Bryn Athyn Heilman Hall
Belonging to the Lord
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 10 Jul, 2022
What is the Lord’s? In a broad sense all things are the Lord’s: He created and sustains everything in the universe. Yet we also feel as if we are our own masters. There is an innate sense that what goes on in our minds and hearts is ours and ours alone. Yet even here all that is good and true belongs to the Lord. Miraculously, when we acknowledge that truth and live it, we can actually feel more, not less, ourselves. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Judgement and Charity: The Speck and the Plank
Worship Service: Informal Family - 26 Jun, 2022
The Lord tells us that when we judge other people it is like trying to get a tiny speck out of their eye, while we have a plank in our own. The Word also tells we have to make judgements sometimes. Are we supposed to judge others or not? What kinds of judgements fit with living a charitable life, and which don't? | By Rev. Richard M. Glenn , Bryn Athyn Heilman Hall
The Lord Bless You and Keep You
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 12 Jun, 2022
“The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.” We use this blessing at special times—baptisms, weddings, Holy Supper. This Sunday we will go through it phrase by phrase and reflect on how we can be most receptive of the Lord’s blessings and how we can be a part of sharing His blessings with others. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Spiritual Fatigue
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 1 May, 2022
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
The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 24 Apr, 2022
In the Gospel of John there are a number of intriguing stories about what Jesus and the disciples did after the Lord’s resurrection. When I preached about this four years ago I focused on the role and significance of Peter (read or listen to that here); this year I want to focus on John. John is called “the disciple whom Jesus loved” and he played a crucial role in the development of the Christian Church. In us he represents a crucial part of our spiritual development as Christians. What does he represent? Come and see. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Faith: A Source of Death and Life
Worship Service: Informal Family - 27 Mar, 2022
The internal sense of the story of Cain and Abel reflects the reality that religious knowledge can be both a source of death and a source of life. Why was Abel’s offering favored by the Lord and not Cain’s? Why was Cain protected even after committing a terrible act? | By Rev. Eric H. Carswell , Bryn Athyn Heilman Hall
Even the Wind and Sea Obey Him
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 27 Mar, 2022
The disciples once found themselves in the midst of a terrible storm, out on the water in a little boat. The boat was sinking and they thought they were going to die until Jesus stood up and rebuked the wind and the sea and suddenly there was calm. This Sunday we will reflect on this story and what it can teach us about how the Lord can help us to find peace in the midst of the storms that we encounter in our lives. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
The Softening of Spring
Worship Service: Informal Family - 20 Mar, 2022
In order for plants to grow in the spring, the ground needs to soften and the ice needs to melt into water. A similar process needs to happen in our spiritual lives. In 1 Samuel 26, the story of the hardened and resentful King Saul softening because of David’s mercy can symbolize a springtime state for us as well. | By Rev. Solomon J. Keal , Bryn Athyn Heilman Hall
Picking and Choosing
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 20 Mar, 2022
Why don’t you care about people? That’s a harsh accusation, and hopefully it’s not true. But in one sense it could be: with over 7 billion people on this planet, we simply cannot actively care about everyone. Thankfully, the Lord does not ask us to throw ourselves wholeheartedly into every cause that crosses our paths. He gives us ways to care for mankind even us we pick and choose which causes we will invest in. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Speckled and Spotted
Worship Service: Informal Family - 13 Mar, 2022
Jacob took all the speckled, spotted and black among the lambs, sheep and goats (Genesis 30:25-43). The Lord gathers all of us imperfect people into His flock. No one has pure goodness. Some evil can’t be mixed with good, and some can (Secrets of Heaven 3993:5-9). Wheat gets mixed with tares (Matthew 13:24-30). | By Rev. John L. Odhner , Bryn Athyn Heilman Hall
War and Providence
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 13 Mar, 2022
With the conflict in Ukraine on so many people’s minds at the moment it feels like it could be useful for us to reflect on teachings from the Lord’s Word about war and providence. There are big picture questions to consider like, why does our loving God allow something as terrible as war? And there are also more day-to-day questions to consider like, how much time should we spend thinking about conflicts in other parts of the world and what, if anything, can we do to try to make things better? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Washing Our Feet
Worship Service: Sermon only - 6 Mar, 2022
The Gospel of John tells of how after the Last Supper Jesus washed His Disciples’ feet. In this act of humility Jesus showed us the nature of His love: that it extends to all, without exception, and that it lives to serve. This Sunday we will explore how we can better invite this love into our lives, as well as how we can pass it on to others. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Breaking Bread
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 20 Feb, 2022
This Sunday, as preparation for taking the Lord’s Holy Supper, we will be talking about the significance of breaking bread and sharing it. Particularly in Western culture there can be a lot of emphasis on individuality and working on our individual lives but the Lord’s goal for us is to be part of a larger whole in which we give and receive freely. How can we work towards that goal? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Self-Sacrifice
Worship Service: Informal Family - 30 Jan, 2022
In Genesis 22, it appears that God wants Abraham to give up his son Isaac. Fortunately this is not actually the case. What does this symbolize in our own lives? | By Rev. Solomon J. Keal , Bryn Athyn Heilman Hall
Daily Repentance
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 23 Jan, 2022
The last couple of sermons have dealt with how we address our own evils. In essence this is repentance: admit you did something wrong, stop doing it, and live a better life. Repentance happens on a grand scale when we have done something egregious or when we are battling a lifelong tendency. But repentance can also be something that we are working on in little ways every single day. That might sound daunting: repent every day?! But when we understand what it means we can embrace it as both a possibility and a blessing. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Coming Through the Fire
Worship Service: Informal Family - 23 Jan, 2022
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego followed the Lord even when doing so meant they would be thrown into a fiery furnace. How can we find that kind of courage and confidence? | By Rev. Coleman S. Glenn , Bryn Athyn Heilman Hall
OK and Not OK
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 16 Jan, 2022
Last week Joel preached about admitting you were wrong and it got me thinking about how important the time after we’ve done something is. How we think about what we’ve done—whether it was good or bad—really matters. When we’ve done something wrong, do we acknowledge it or try to justify it? When we’ve done something good, what do we think about the action or ourselves afterward? Each day we’re going to do a whole bunch of different things and likely some of those things will be somewhat good and some will be somewhat selfish. We need the Lord’s help to sort out what in all of that is OK and what is not OK. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA