News

What makes someone your neighbour? In a literal sense it refers to people who live close by. But when the Lord said to “love your neighbour as yourself” He was most certainly not saying to love people next door. Spiritually speaking our neighbours are the ones who are close to us spiritually; and regardless of our individual backgrounds and cultures, all of us are brought together into this spiritual closeness when we look to the Lord.

The service will be broadcast live at https://www.facebook.com/newchurchwestville/live. You can also watch the service later at that same link.

• Sermon
  The written version of the sermon and readings can be found  here.
• Readings
  Readings from the Old and New Testaments and the Teachings of the New Church can be found here on Sunday.

All temptation is an attack against the love present in a person, the degree of temptation depending on the degree of that love. If love is not attacked there is no temptation. (AC 1690:3)

The service will be broadcast live at https://www.facebook.com/newchurchwestville/live. You can also watch the service later at that same link.

• Sermon
  The written version of the sermon and readings can be found here on Sunday.
• Readings
  Readings from the Old and New Testaments and the Teachings of the New Church can be found here on Sunday.

The Word is, at heart, a story. It’s true that at times the nature of the story is opaque, but the central message is straightforward: God created people in order to love; when they turned away, and nearly destroyed themselves, He continued to love them; and in time, come down as Jesus Christ to save us; and this work of saving us carries on even today. This Sunday we will explore how the story that the Word tells can be life-changing.

The service will be broadcast live at https://www.facebook.com/newchurchwestville/live. You can also watch the service later at that same link.

• Sermon
  The written version of the sermon and readings can be found here.
• Readings
  Readings from the Old and New Testaments and the Teachings of the New Church can be found here.

We often prioritize things that aren’t working. Sometimes this is a good thing: after all, if it isn’t working it needs to be fixed. But often we also pour energy into areas that are not bearing fruit. The Lord invites us to put aside the things that aren’t working, and instead focus on the things that will bear fruit: things like love to the Lord, charity to the neighbour, and the joy of service.

We sometimes think that to leave our mistakes behind we can just forget about them; but we also know that really doesn’t work. The alternative seems to be to somehow make up for them, and there is truth in this. But what does it take to make up for a mistake? Especially a mistake that rises to the level of being evil? It can feel like we have to undo our mistake, and yet there is no way to change the past. The reality is that repentance (the Lord’s way of making up for mistakes) is not so much about the past, but the present: repentance does not undo the things we have done; instead it allows us to become a different person in the present moment. It’s all about who we are, not who we used to be.

We don’t really believe in magic anymore: no one thinks I could make a rabbit pop out of a hat by any means other than mere trickery. But we still do fall into a kind of “magical thinking” when it comes to faith. That is, we believe that if we say the right words or go through the right motions it will magically make us into new people. But the only way to actually change is to do the hard work of changing yourself.

This week, we are focusing on family. Who is family? How do we define family? Does the Word have any teachings concerning the subject? In the event of conflicts and disagreements arising within families, how do we mend the “cracks” so that we be the family of happy memories .

Our final sermon on prayer will focus on prayers for other people. It’s hard to know exactly what these prayers do; they might not be as obvious as prayers for our own spiritual growth or that have to do with our personal relationship with the Lord. But when we pray for other people we are joined together in a heavenly community, one that turns to the Lord and looks to Him as the One who brings us all together.

Last week we looked at how to prayer. But this week we examine the question, what does prayer do? There are many answers to this question, and as many answer as to what prayer does NOT do that we wish it did. But at heart, prayer connects us to the Lord, so that we can receive His power to be reborn and regenerated.

We are starting a two-part series on prayer. This week the focus is on the practice of prayer, practice both in the sense of applying an idea to real life and an activity done with the intention of improving. Because I would guess that most of us (not all, but most) could use some improvement in our prayer lives. The New Church has something of a history of being stiff and uncomfortable with prayer. This series will be an opportunity to become more active with our prayers and appreciate the power that prayer has.