If someone called you weak, you would take it as an insult. But what about when the Lord calls you weak? Because He most certainly does: compared to Him, we are utterly powerless. And yet far from being insulted, if we embrace our own weakness, we can let down the burdens of perfection and self-reliance, and receive from the Lord a greater power than we could ever muster on our own. We may be utterly helpless, but the greatest force in the universe is on our side.
A few weeks ago we talked about how to cope with how hard life in this world is. This Sunday we’re going to focus on the question of what to do about it. What actions should we take in response to hard and terrible things that happen? It’s easy to feel quite powerless in the face of tragedies or huge problems. Can we make a difference? What do we do if our best efforts seem to accomplish nothing? Life is hard; what do we do?
It can be hard to figure out how to talk to our children about sex and so we tend to avoid it. But it’s really important that we can talk to our children about something as important as sex and that they can talk to us. Read more…
[We’re offering this presentation again in a morning time slot, by popular demand.]
Imagine that you are in this beautiful world, but there is a canvas sheet a few feet above your head. You can go on living, but a lot is lost. This describes a condition with good people who are trying to go to heaven. But there is a danger. The story of the golden calf the people made when Moses was up on the mountain for too long tells of a danger of earthly life and how we combat it.
There is a certain magic in holding a little baby. Their innocence brings a sense of contented peace. But what does it mean to be innocent really? It doesn’t mean being naive. It doesn’t mean being ignorant. But it doesn’t mean being perfect either. Can we keep our innocence as we grow? Should we? This Sunday we’ll explore what Jesus Christ tells us about innocence and what we need to do to live a life led by the Lord.
There are a lot of hard aspects of life in this natural world—in our personal lives and also in the world around us. What do we do with it all? How do we cope? Is it better to try to ignore the hard stuff? If we don’t ignore the hard stuff, how do we keep from being flattened by it? This Sunday we’re going to try to learn from He who has “borne our griefs and carried our sorrows,” about how we can cope with life in this hard world.
This week we continue to explore the Teachings of the New Church and what they can mean for us. One of the more unusual aspects of these works is the descriptions of conversations with spirits and angels and the surroundings in which they took place. Swedenborg did not just share ideas, but also the things that the Lord allowed him to see, hear, and feel. Although unusual, what can these experiences teach us about heavenly life that mere ideas could not?
Join us at Kainon School Hall for a presentation by Chaplain Joel Glenn designed to bring you up to speed on the facts about kids and screens, help you find core principles to work from, and arm you with tools and resources. Learn more… [We’re offering this presentation again in a morning slot, by popular demand.]
We get to witness two baptisms as part of the service this Sunday. When someone gets baptised we talk about them being baptised in the Lord’s name. There’s a lot that’s contained in that simple idea. This Sunday we’ll talk about what it means to take on the name of being a Christian and how we can find a new sense of identity in the Lord.
People are often intimidated to try reading Emanuel Swedenborg’s books. He wrote a lot of books and they get into some pretty deep and complex topics. And yet in his own words, these books are “the coming of the Lord.” So how do we approach these books in a way that moves beyond philosophy and enters into a real, living relationship with the Lord?
