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This Sunday we’re talking some more about the Tabernacle—the mobile worship centre that God told the Children of Israel to build. If you read about the Tabernacle you can quickly become overwhelmed by the complexity and detail. Why is it so complicated? Well, life is also pretty complicated and in this complicated explanation of the structure of the Tabernacle we can find a model of how the Lord can help us to deal with the complexity of life.

The service will be broadcast live at https://www.facebook.com/newchurchwestville/live. You can also watch the service later at that same link. Find more information about the service here: Worship and Connect Online.

This Easter Sunday we are going to be focussing on the women at the tomb. Mary Magdalene, Mary (who had given birth to Jesus), and some other women were the first people at the tomb on Easter morning. And Mary Magdalen was the first person to see the Lord in His resurrection. Why was this and what can we learn from this about what in us will be most able to see and believe in the risen 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. Find more information about the service here: Worship and Connect Online.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday the crowds greeted Him with joy. Yet at that point, nothing had changed: after merely looking around, Jesus left the city again to spend the night on the Mount of Olives. The joy and hope of the crowds was only realized after the events of Jesus’ capture, trial, torture, death, and resurrection. Even so, the joy of Palm Sunday is an important part of the Easter Story. Many of us, I am sure, are feeling that we have little to rejoice in at the moment: we have a long struggle ahead of us. But even if we cannot rejoice in the conclusion of this process yet, perhaps we can rejoice in the hope that the Lord will lead us to victory.

We’re in the midst of a sermon series on the life of Elisha and the story we were scheduled to talk about this Sunday, in the midst of a national lockdown, is the story of the Children of Israel being besieged by an enemy in the city of Samaria. As we experience our version of being besieged in our houses by an enemy, we will talk about what help the Lord can offer us in times when we feel trapped.

During the lockdown we will be streaming the worship services from the pastor’s home instead of from the church, to abide by the mandate to stay home. Find more details about how to watch the service here: Worship and Connect Online. We will also send out a WhatsApp with a direct link to the service on Sunday. Let us know if you’d like to receive that WhatsApp.

This Sunday we will have our church service only online. See this page for more information: Worship and Connect Online.
In the challenges that we face, and that many of us are facing right now, it is important that we continually go back to the Lord. Spiritual life does not just happen: it takes intentional and persistent work, work that goes on even when life is at its hardest. Remember that this service will be streamed live online at 9:30am this Sunday. There will be a children’s talk before the adult sermon. We encourage you to not just watch the video, but to actually experience worship: open your own copy of the Word, light candles, kneel for the prayers, sing some worship songs before or after the service, and so on.

The teachings of the New Church point out how important it is to distinguish between things that are spiritual and things that are natural. This might sound like a bit of abstract philosophy, but you’ve probably run afoul of doing it wrong: have you ever felt like a bad person for cheating on a diet or wearing the wrong thing to a wedding? That guilt comes, in part, from lending spiritual weight (being a bad person) to a natural rule (diet or dress code). If we can do better at distinguishing spiritual from natural, it will lift an unnecessary weight from our lives.

We are all going to die someday. That’s not exactly a pleasant thought but it can be useful. It can be useful to spend some time reflecting on our mortality—the reality that our lives in this world will not last forever and in fact they could end at any moment. And so, on Sunday evening, we’re going to take some time to think about this and the value of knowing that we are dust and to the dust we shall return.