The Blessings of Letting Go |
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What do you need to let go of - for your spiritual health? Just like you, from time to time I have to reevaluate some of my behaviors for the sake of my physical
well-being... like what I'm eating, how much exercise I'm getting, sleep patterns, etc. The same applies to behaviors that relate to spiritual health... like my inspirational diet, what feelings and thoughts I tend to exercise, whether I am spiritually awake in various situations? There is an art to evaluating and implementing this letting go activity. Let's consider it together!
This Sunday one classic story we'll consider is when Jesus was giving the Sermon on the Mount and said "You cannot serve God and mammon." What is mammon, anyway? How does it get to be in charge? And how do we let it go?
Children's Talks on the 23rd Psalm I am having fun doing a Sunday series of talks for the children on the 23rd Psalm, about shepherding and how the Lord uses this beautiful and beloved Psalm to teach us about his leadership as well as how to be "good sheep." I'm taking one simple phrase at a time, and there is so much to learn. So far we
have covered (1) The Lord is my shepherd, (2) I shall not want, (3) He makes me to lie down in green pastures, (4) He leads me beside the still waters. This Sunday we'll look into (5) He restores my soul.
New music in Sunday services Thank you to our
musicians, Pablo, Katrina, and Nenah, who are working hard to learn some new hymns and introduce them in our church services. Last Sunday we introduced a beautiful and inspiring song called "Open the Eyes of My Heart." This week in addition to several familiar songs, we will begin learning a new one at the end of the service. It takes quite a bit of coordination to do this, including the purchase of a license to legally download, print, and distribute new songs. Thank you for your willingness to learn new music and to support the development of our "music ministry". This Sunday
(Sept 3) - Holy Supper Welcome to this very special sacrament! Our custom is to offer the Holy Supper (Communion) every other month on the first Sunday of the month toward the end of the worship service. It is an open invitation. The Lord invites everyone in the communion-community!
NEXT WEEKEND (Sept 9-10) - Welcome David Lindrooth! See below for details of a visit from our Regional Pastor, including a "meet and greet" Saturday night, where he will also present about some things that are currently on his
mind and heart - about church outreach, etc.
Happy Labor Day! The Church office will be closed this Monday in observance of this national holiday. The Monday Tai Chi
Class will take a Labor Day break. The Swedenborg Study Group will also take a break. Both groups will resume the following Monday, September 11.
With
love and respect, Nathan |
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UPCOMING ACTIVITIES AT SUNRISE CHAPEL 11 am Sunday Worship Service 12:00 pm Luncheon - Everyone Welcome!
MONDAY 9/4/2017 HAPPY LABOR DAY No
Tai Chi Class in Friendship Hall today - Labor Day break NO Swedenborg Study Small Group today - Labor Day break
TUESDAY 9/5/2017 6:30 pm Spiritual Growth Group #1 Frank Rose, leading
WEDNESDAY 9/6/2017 9:30 Worship Team meeting in Pastor's
office THURSDAY 9/7/2017
11
am Tai Chi Class in Friendship Hall 7 pm Women's Group. Contact Elise G, Betsy G, or Kelly W
for location
TBD (morning) Board Meeting with David Lindrooth 6:30 pm Meet and Greet and Desserts with David Lindrooth - Friendship Hall 11 am Sunday Worship Service - Nathan Gladish, Preaching 12:00 pm Luncheon - Everyone Welcome!
Small Group Study of Topics from Swedenborg - Mondays at 2 pm |
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I'm really excited about this group!
This is a group to dig into a smorgasbord of Swedenborgian topics. Our resources are video podcasts by two friends, Curtis Childs and Jonathan Rose.
These two (and their amazing support team) are doing great programs to spread really helpful information from a Swedenborgian perspective (1) about how to handle life’s ups and downs and (2) about understanding the Bible. Let me explain...
For general topical information, I highly recommend Curtis’ You Tube Channel
called “offTheLeftEye”. In just a few years he has gained over 53 thousand subscribers and over 9 million views, and he has a vibrant online community of people from all over the world tuning in to his excellent broadcasts. They are fast-paced, information-packed, down-to-earth at the same time as being uplifting and “spiritual.” He has so many thought-provoking shows on different topics and of various lengths of time. We will watch and discuss some of them.
Jonathan Rose’s site, www.spiritandlifebiblestudy.com is a set of videos (and audios) from live classes he has been giving almost weekly for several years. His live broadcast is (almost) weekly on Wednesdays. He delves into the spiritual meaning of the Bible from a Swedenborgian lens. See the About tab for more
information. His classes have often positively impacted my own perspective on the Bible and have also given me a deeper and broader appreciation for both the Bible and Swedenborg. We will watch some of these episodes on Mondays, too.
Join the fun! Mondays at 2 pm at Sunrise Chapel. ~Nathan
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Spiritual Growth Group - a new series starting Sept 5 |
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It is already time to schedule our next series of Spiritual Growth Group meetings. We will start on Tuesday, Sept. 5, and go for a total of 8 weeks, ending on October 24. We will meet in the Children's Chapel of Sunrise Chapel on Tuesday evenings at 6:30 pm. Feel free to invite a friend. Looking forward to more special time together. Rev. Frank Rose |
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A Visit with David Lindrooth - Sept 9 & 10 |
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Rev. David Lindrooth is the Regional Pastor for Sunrise Chapel As regional pastor, part of David's job is to support our efforts as a congregation. He is also my immediate supervisor. I am in touch with him almost weekly, so he has a sense from my perspective of how things are going.
His upcoming visit to Sunrise Chapel is a chance for him to reconnect with as many people as possible over the weekend and to chat - about the local church, the worldwide church, life, etc. You name it. I will arrange for him to meet with the Board and with other groups as appropriate and as time allows.
Feel free to be in touch with him directly at any time. His contact info: cell/text 215-514-0388 email: david.lindrooth@newchurch.org
~Nathan
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Readings/Lessons for this Sunday |
Let No Sin Rule Over Me
Psalm 119:130-135
Your statutes are wonderful;
therefore I obey them.
The unfolding of your words gives light;
it gives understanding to the simple.
I open my mouth and
pant,
longing for your commands.
Turn to me and have mercy on me,
as you always do to those who love your name.
Direct my footsteps according to your word;
let no sin rule over me.
Redeem me from human oppression,
that I may obey your precepts.
Make your face shine on your servant
and teach me your decrees.
You Cannot Serve God and Mammon
Matthew 6:24-26
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
“Therefore I say to you, do
not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"
The Ten Commandments Contain Everything about How to Love God and How to Love Our Neighbor
True Christianity 329
The more we abstain from evils because they are sins, the more we want the goodness that relates to goodwill. In loving God and our neighbor, the first step is not doing evil, and the second step is doing good.
There is a love of intending and doing good, and there is a love of intending and doing evil. These two loves are opposite
to each other. The second is a hellish love and the first is a heavenly one. The entirety of hell loves doing evil and the entirety of heaven loves doing good.
We, the human race, have been born into evils of every kind. From birth onward we have tendencies toward things that come from hell. Unless we are born again or regenerated, we cannot come into heaven. Therefore the evil attributes we have from hell have to be removed first before we are able to want good attributes that come from
heaven. None of us can be adopted by the Lord before we have been separated from the Devil.
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Helping people experience heavenly joy through spiritual growth www.sunrisechapel.org
nathan@sunrisechapel.org Office 520-298-1245
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