New Church Audio - Rev. Malcolm G. Smith: Recent Episodes
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We read that “the whole of the Lord’s redemption is present in the Holy Supper” (True Christian Religion 717). Let’s talk about what this means, especially in the context of our normal lives.
Partially inspired by the baptism which will be happening today, we will be talking about being given a new name by the Lord. It’s useful to reflect on the ways that we think about ourselves - the names and labels that we take on. What name would the Lord like to give you and how can you work with Him to become the person He created you to be?
This Sunday we will be talking about the last of our spiritual enemies, the Babylonians. This is the enemy that took Judah into captivity towards the end of the Old Testament story; this is one of the final enemies that had to be overthrown before the Holy City New Jerusalem could descend towards the end of the New Testament. What do the Babylonians represent in our lives and what do we need to do so that the Lord can save us from them?
Friday Plenary: Going Up the Mountain - 2024 General Church AssemblyRev. Malcolm Smith leads the plenary with three contributions from New Church members sharing their experience with faith.
The Assyrians were a large and powerful nation—not just another neighboring nation to squabble with, but an international super-power. The Assyrians represent something very powerful within us: our rational mind—our ability to figure things out and think things through. Our rational mind can be a powerful enemy to our religious life that takes us into spiritual captivity or it can be a powerful ally. Let’s learn from the Lord how to have the right kind of relationship with the Assyrians.
At this Community Service will be talking about having the courage to reach out—reaching out to offer help and reaching out to ask for help. Let’s talk about what stops us from reaching out and how the Lord can help us to reach out anyway.
When Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday the people cheered and cried out for Him to save them. They were hoping that a king of the natural world was riding into town to throw off their Roman oppressors. That wasn’t what the Lord was there to do but He was there to save them. If a powerful person could ride into your life and change things drastically, what would you want them to do? Maybe the Lord won’t do that, but what sort of spiritual salvation could He give you? This year we will have two identical services, both in the nave (there will be no Young Children’s or Informal Family Service in the Undercroft). There will be one talk for the whole family. At the end of the service, people will be invited to pick up palm branches on their way out of the building to then form a crowd outside and an actor playing the Lord will come past with a live donkey, while people sing and cheer.
At times the Syrians were a persistent and deadly enemy of the children of Israel but, more than once, the children of Israel were instructed to care for the Syrians instead of destroying them. Why was this and what can we learn from this about how the Lord wants us to live?
At times the Syrians were a persistent and deadly enemy of the children of Israel but, more than once, the children of Israel were instructed to care for the Syrians instead of destroying them. Why was this and what can we learn from this about how the Lord wants us to live?
There are many stories in the Old Testament about the Philistines. They were the main enemy of the children of Israel in the time of heroes like Samson, Saul, and David. They were a powerful and persistent enemy and yet they could be defeated. What do the Philistines represent within us and what can the Lord’s Word teach us about how to fight against them? Find out this Sunday in the next sermon in our series about knowing your spiritual enemies.
There are many stories in the Old Testament about the Philistines. They were the main enemy of the children of Israel in the time of heroes like Samson, Saul, and David. They were a powerful and persistent enemy, and yet they could be defeated. What do the Philistines represent within us and what can the Lord’s Word teach us about how to fight against them? Find out this Sunday in the next sermon in our series about knowing your spiritual enemies.
The story of Jacob’s dream seemed like a good story to focus on for our first Informal Family Service in the Cathedral Undercroft. At that point in the story, Jacob is in a time of transition, in an unfamiliar place, and yet — even there — the Lord was in that place. Can we learn to become aware of the Lord’s presence, even in times of transition and uncertainty?
As we reflect back this year and look ahead to next year, let’s try to look at things from the perspective of two wise old people who trusted in the Lord: Simeon and Anna.
As we reflect back this year and look ahead to next year, let’s try to look at things from the perspective of two wise old people who trusted in the Lord: Simeon and Anna.
This year we’ve been working our way through a series of sermons on ancient enemies in the stories of the Word and their spiritual significance in our lives today. The Amorites will be our focus this Sunday. This enemy shows up in a number of different stories but particularly in the stories of the conquest of the land. We will be exploring the spiritual implications of the idea that our spiritual lives (represented by the Children of Israel) must find their home in areas previously governed by selfishness and worldliness (represented by the Amorites).
This year we’ve been working our way through a series of sermons on ancient enemies in the stories of the Word and their spiritual significance in our lives today. The Amorites will be our focus this Sunday. This enemy shows up in a number of different stories but particularly in the stories of the conquest of the land. We will be exploring the spiritual implications of the idea that our spiritual lives (represented by the Children of Israel) must find their home in areas previously governed by selfishness and worldliness (represented by the Amorites).
Community Service. We will be reminding ourselves of how powerful the Word of God is and how lucky we are to have it in our lives and community.
This Sunday we will be offering Holy Supper (with alternatives) during the Adult Service. The readings and short sermon will be about a phrase that comes up repeatedly in the teachings of the New Church: loving truth for the sake of truth and good for the sake of good. As we think about taking the bread and wine from the Lord, we will try to be ready to gratefully receive what the Lord has to offer.
This Sunday we will be offering Holy Supper (with alternatives) during the Family Service. Read the full description of how the service will go at brynathynchurch.org/holy-supper. The readings and short talk will be about a phrase that comes up repeatedly in the teachings of the New Church: loving truth for the sake of truth and good for the sake of good. As we think about taking the bread and wine from the Lord, we will try to be ready to gratefully receive what the Lord has to offer.
There are a lot of things to think about, care about, and stress about in this world. When someone dies it reminds us of how short life in this world can be and it can shift our perspective on what matters. We are blessed with many teachings about what life after death will be like; what can we learn from those teachings about what matters in our lives right now?
A number of the enemies that the children of Israel encountered on their way to the promised land were their cousins, other descendants from the same family tree. And so, the children of Israel were forbidden to destroy these enemies or to take their land. And yet they were also forbidden to intermarry with them. This Sunday, as we learn more about the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites, we will be trying to learn how to have the right kind of boundaries and relationships in our lives.
A number of the enemies that the children of Israel encountered on their way to the promised land were their cousins, other descendants from the same family tree. And so, the children of Israel were forbidden to destroy these enemies or to take their land. And yet they were also forbidden to intermarry with them. This Sunday, as we learn more about the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites, we will be trying to learn how to have the right kind of boundaries and relationships in our lives.
We’re getting back to our ongoing series on knowing our spiritual enemies by considering the Amalekites. The Amalekites were a nasty enemy—one that would attack the children of Israel when they were at their weakest—and so, multiple times, the children of Israel were commanded to utterly destroy the Amalekites. We will look at a few different battles with the Amalekites to try to understand how to guard ourselves against this enemy and to appreciate just how much the Lord has done and continues to do to protect us.
The teachings of the New Church call baptism and Holy Supper two gateways to eternal life. Last Sunday we got to witness a baptism; this Sunday we get to have Holy Supper. This may be the first time a number of children will be witnessing Holy Supper and so the short family talk for this service will be a basic overview of the use and purpose of Holy Supper.
When considering whether to take Holy Supper, we are often focused on whether we feel worthy to take it. This Sunday the short sermon will focus on what the Lord would like.
At our first Community Worship Service in September of last year we talked about gathering. This Sunday, at our last Community Worship Service of this school/fiscal year, we will again be talking about gathering—this time with a focus on the individual work that we need to do in order to be gathered by the Lord and the role we can play in helping the Lord to gather other people, one by one.
We’re continuing a series on knowing our spiritual enemies. This Sunday we’re going to focus on the Egyptians. The people in the Word have a long history with the Egyptians, starting back with Abram in the book of Genesis. To try to get a good understanding of what the Egyptians might mean in our lives we’re going to look at a number of different stories about the Egyptians from across the Word.
We’re continuing a series on knowing our spiritual enemies. This Sunday we’re going to focus on the Egyptians. The people in the Word have a long history with the Egyptians, starting back with Abram in the book of Genesis. To try to get a good understanding of what the Egyptians might mean in our lives we’re going to look at a number of different stories about the Egyptians from across the Word. (To find all sermons in this series, scroll down to "Know Your Spiritual Enemies" in the GROUP search field.)
The Festival Chorus will sing selections from the oratorio Elijah by Felix Mendelssohn, and Rev. Malcolm Smith will read the Passion portion of the Gospel of Matthew and the teachings for the New Church. Organ preludes begin at 7:10 pm.Follow along with the Good Friday Vespers Booklet: https://brynathynchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/04/2023-Good-Friday-Choral-Vespers-Booklet-Final.pdf.
The Children of Israel were attacked by Philistines, Syrians, Assyrians, Canaanites, Perizites, and many other enemies at different times in their history. The Lord tells us that each of these different enemies has a specific meaning and the Lord can help us to understand them and be ready for their attacks.
The Children of Israel were attacked by many different enemies over the course of their history and those enemies represent different spiritual challenges that we have to deal with in our lives. This Sunday will be the first in a non-sequential series of sermons in which we will seek to better understand these enemies so that, with the Lord’s help, we can be better ready to meet their attacks when they come.
The Lord’s Word has a lot to say about foolishness. We will be looking at a number of different stories and passages about foolishness and trying to learn what is foolish, from the Lord’s perspective. We will also be trying to understand how the Lord can still lead us forward, despite our foolishness. (Isaiah 35:8)
We are all foolish in different ways. Can we learn to recognize the ways in which we might be foolish and let the Lord lead us forward, despite our foolishness? (Isaiah 35:8) Note: This recording has audio quality issues
Certain traditions are already part of the cycle of our year — we remember to be grateful around Thanksgiving in November, we have a variety of different things we do leading up to Christmas, we have a pageant and picnic for New Church Day in June. But what about February and March? Easter arrives sometime in March or April (depending on the year) but we don’t tend to anticipate and prepare for it in nearly the same way. Let’s talk about how the time leading up to Easter could become an equally powerful and significant part of the cycle of our year.
Coming to church is about our relationship with the Lord but it is also a time to think about how our relationships with other people are going. Sometimes we will come to the uncomfortable realization that, to really be ready to worship the Lord, we need to work on being reconciled with other people first.
Maybe you started reading the Lord’s Word again in this new year or maybe you’ve been in the habit for years. It’s great when you feel like you’re understanding the Word and getting something out of it, but what do you do when you don’t understand the Word? Let’s talk this Sunday about how much we should expect to understand the Lord’s Word and how we can still benefit from reading the Word, even when we don’t feel like we’re understanding very much.
In week 2 of our Journey program, “Seeing Providence,” we will be focusing on the early years of our lives. We will reflect on the dangers and the blessings of the early years of Moses’ life and try to see some glimpses of the Lord’s providence in the dangers and blessings of the early years of our own lives.
Inspired by Rev. Derek Elphick's talk last Sunday, I've been thinking about what gathering and community can do for us. One thing that came to mind was comfort and consolation. When tragedy strikes (or just when normal life is too hard), it can make all the difference in the world to have caring people reach out to us and offer us comfort. This Sunday, we will explore the theme of comfort in scripture and how we can get better at comforting one another - M. Smith
When someone we care about is hurting, we hurt too and we want to help them feel better. There are good ways and not so good ways that we might try to offer comfort. Let's learn from the Lord, our Comforter, how to offer comfort to people around us.
It's understandable that the Children of Israel doubted whether they could conquer the land of Canaan, once they'd heard the report from the spies. There were giants and fortified cities in their way. How do we know whether the obstacles in our way are something to be overcome or a sign from the Lord that we're going the wrong direction?
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.
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?
Sharing is hard - for children and also for adults. When we can remember al that the Lord has given us, it can help us to loosen our grip on what we have and feel less threatened by what the Lord has given to other people.
“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.
In the New Church we love the idea that people of any religion can go to heaven. But, if we don’t understand this idea fully, then it can seem like it doesn’t matter at all what you believe. And it can be hard to figure out why it matters if we believe in the Lord. Let’s talk about what it means to believe in the Lord and why our beliefs matter.
It’s Mothers Day this Sunday and so we’re going to be reflecting on a topic that comes into all parent-child relationships—approval. We all want to be approved of. But do your parents approve of you? Do you approve of your parents? The giving or withholding of approval is a strong force in relationships; let’s talk about how the Lord would like us to navigate the interpersonal dynamics around approval.
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.
We see so much abuse of power in the world—countless examples of people using their influence on other people in harmful ways. But what does legitimate authority look like? What sort of claims to authority by other people should we reject and resist and what ones should we comply with? And what kind of authority over other people should we aspire to? Let’s see what we can learn about this from the One who is all-powerful.
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.
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?
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?
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. If, for example, we only communicate with the Lord when we’re desperate and can’t think of anything else to try, that will severely limit our relationship with the Lord. If, on the other hand, we have a relationship with the Lord in which we’re talking to Him several times a day, that can be part of us having a real, active, and meaningful relationship with Him. 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.
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.
As we start a new year, it’s useful to reflect on the questions that the angel of the Lord asks Hagar in the desert: Where are you coming from? Where are you going? And what’s the matter?
There will be a worship service on this day, even though it’s just the day after Christmas. It will be a simple family service, offered in-person and online.
As another year draws to a close and as many people are dealing with the stress of a manic time of year, let’s turn to the Lord’s Word this Sunday for passages about the Lord’s eternal perspective. Let’s zoom out for a few minutes on Sunday and think about what will still matter in a hundred years or a thousand years and then see if we can bring some of that perspective back into all that we’re trying to do before the end of the year.
One of the main things we do as part of our weekly worship services is have a sermon. But why? What is the purpose of a sermon? What makes a sermon good or not so good? How can you get the most out of even a mediocre sermon? Come on Sunday for a sermon about sermons.
We don’t often talk about politics in church and with good reason. It can be done wrong in so many ways. And maybe it is better for there to be a “separation between church and state” in society. However, it’s not good for there to be that separation within an individual—it’s not good for there to be a separation between church and state in you. What can we do to try to better integrate our spiritual beliefs and our political beliefs?
The last sense we’re going to cover in our series on the five senses is touch. Touch is a powerful sense and a big part of that is because of its role in relationships. Touch is one of the most powerful ways that we communicate and experience affection, comfort, and love; touch is also one of the most powerful ways that we communicate and experience anger, pain, and coercion. The Lord healed people through laying His hands on them. This Sunday we will reflect on touch and ask the Lord to bring us healing in this area of our lives too.
Have you ever thought about why the Lord gave you a sense of smell or why He gave you a sense of taste? This Sunday we’re beginning a sermon series on the five senses and we will be focusing on taste and smell. We will look at some stories from the Lord’s Word that involve taste and smell and reflect on the spiritual significance of these senses in our lives. How can we become more sensitive to the things that the Lord wants us to notice?
This Sunday we are going to look at another strand that runs through scripture from beginning to end: the imagery of precipitation. We might think of weather in the Bible as something going on in the background while the real story plays out between the human beings in the story but we can learn a lot about what’s going on in different stories by paying attention to the atmospheric conditions. We’ll look at the symbolism of the whole water cycle and also touch on things like dew, snow, and hail.
There are many ideas of God in the world. Over the history of the human race and in all the different religions around the world there is a huge variety of ideas about what God is like. So what God do you believe in? This Sunday we are going to look at a number of the different ways God is depicted and described in the Bible as an opportunity for you to reflect on your relationship with God. We’re also going to look at some common ways in which people’s beliefs about God can be hurting them.
We’ve been talking for a couple of weeks about genuine goodness and this week we’re going to venture into some of the thorny issues around motivation. Does it matter what our motivations are if the actions we do are good? Is it wrong to want some credit for the good things we do or does that somehow spoil them? Why does the Lord care about our motivations? Spoiler alert: the Lord cares about our motivations because He cares about us and He knows what will make us genuinely happy.
There’s something in each of us that wants to be good—that wants to make the world a better place. But how do we do that? There’s a lot to talk about here. For this Sunday we’re going to start with the rather mundane topic of the good things that we do that we don’t feel like doing. We all have things that we are asked to do, required to do, nagged into doing, or have to do because nobody else is going to do it. Often we don’t feel like doing those things. Should we do them anyway? Should we not? Let’s talk about it on Sunday.
Last week we talked about some general principles as to what makes for a healthy or unhealthy relationship with what the Lord teaches. This week we’re going to talk about what it’s like to be an individual navigating the ups and downs of our individual relationship with what the Lord teaches.
Here’s one expression of our relationship with what the Lord teaches: “God said it. I believe it. That settles it!” It’s not quite that simple, is it? What should our relationship with statements in the Lord’s Word be? What if we don’t understand them or don’t believe them? Do we reject them? Do we tell ourselves to believe them anyway? There are big ramifications to how we hold our relationship with what the Lord teaches so let’s talk about it this Sunday.
In talking about what the New Church is we could focus on how the New Church is different from other churches but this Sunday I’m more interested in talking about how we hold those differences. Are we meant to be trying to be different? Do we feel embarrassed to be different or maybe superior? Let’s work to have the Lord guide our thinking about being different.
Have you been born again? Or, to ask the same question in a different way, have you been significantly changed by trying to follow the Lord? That’s the point, right? To become a less selfish, more loving, more wise and useful person. Who could you become if you really gave yourself over to loving the Lord and loving other people? Sometimes it can feel like we’re not making much progress in that direction. Is that because we’re not trying hard enough or not letting go enough or just because it’s hard and it takes a long time to change? These are the questions that we’re going to wrestle with on Sunday.
This Sunday we get to witness a baptism. The teachings of the New Church tell us that the sacrament of baptism was instituted by the Lord to replace the ritual of circumcision. We might prefer not to think too much about circumcision but, if we spend a bit of time reflecting on the purpose and function of circumcision, it can give us a different and useful angle from which to get a better understanding of the sacrament that replaced it, baptism.
We’re going to look at a story this Sunday where the Children of Israel are facing a powerful enemy and they decide to bring the ark of the covenant into battle with them. But then they get absolutely slaughtered by their enemy. There are other stories in the Bible where the presence of the ark of the covenant with the people brings about a miraculous victory for the Children of Israel. There are also times in our lives where we’re facing something difficult and we feel like we’re making an effort to follow the Lord but He doesn’t seem to be helping at all. What’s going on?
Last week Joel talked about the necessity of education. This week we will be talking about a model of what education does for a person and how a New Church worldview can inform what we educate people in and how we educate them.
Easter is an opportunity to reflect on the Lord’s life, death, and resurrection. But what if you’re not sure what you believe about all of that? Or what if you believe that it happened but it doesn’t feel particularly relevant to your life? In either case, you’re in good company. On Easter morning the disciples did not immediately believe that the Lord had risen from the dead. It took them a while and a number of experiences to get to the point where they believed that it was true. On Sunday we’ll look at some of the stories after the Lord’s resurrection from the Gospel of Luke and what we can learn from them about the process of growing in our belief in the Lord.
The role of the prophets was to communicate God’s messages to the people. They did that by speaking and writing but also by embodying the message they were communicating in one way or another. The prophet Ezekiel was often commanded to do some rather weird things to embody the messages he was communicating. This Sunday we will be trying to understand why he did these things and what that can reveal to us about why Jesus did the things that He did as the Word made flesh who dwelt among us.
The teachings of the New Church say that the whole of the Word relates to the Lord Jesus Christ and what He went through while on Earth. And so we’ve done sermon series in the past on finding Jesus in the life of Abraham, Joshua, and Elisha. This time we’re going to focus on three of the major prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. This will be a chance to learn a bit about these prophets, about what the Lord went through on Earth, and about the role of a prophet in difficult times.
Two weeks ago we talked about what life is like after death. We discussed the structure of the afterlife and the succession of states that we go through. This week and next week we want to flesh these ideas out with stories. The teachings of the New Church contain lots of stories about things that happened in the spiritual world. Why were these stories included and what can we learn from them about how things work after death?