Join us this Sunday, 11/20/22, for a short worship service and Harvest Feast to follow at the Glendale New Church. Lay-leader Gloria Toot will present a sermon entitled, “A grateful heart” at 11:00 am. We will share a delightful potluck Harvest Feast after. Come and be grateful.
We are grateful to have been able to share a virtual/in-person hybrid church service on Sunday, the 21st of November, 2021. Our congregants had either received the Covid vaccine, or had had Covid previously. We prayed and sang together, and listened to a sermon by our local minister, Rev. Dr. Sherrie Connelly. We were joined by our friends near and far over zoom. We even had Sunday School where the kids brainstormed ideas of subjects they’d like to study in future weeks. Below are the sermon notes from Rev. Connelly. The readings are referenced.
“Blessed Thanksgiving for All Things,” Sermon notes by Rev. Dr. Sherrie Connelly
Psalm 47:1 to 2, 5 to 9
Oh clap your hands everyone together express your joy adore the Lord on high.
Joel 2:21 to 24 to 26
The threshing floors are filled with autumn green because I had and rejoice in your God.
Matthew 6:25 to 33
Your life is full of abundant blessings. There is nothing to worry about. Worrying gets you nothing. It is merely negative meditation. Let it go…
The flowers of nature grow abundantly and naturally as God has ordered. So too you will grow into the fullness of your being.
ES: AC (Elliott,) n. 10655
We are thankful that the divine human has been raised, thus saving human beings from evil. There is much to be thankful for.<TBTG>
“ Blessed Thanksgiving for All Things“
As our Thanksgiving holiday approaches, we are celebrating a harvest feast together today. Together, in person for the first time in a very long time. Hallelujah we are grateful! Let us look at different sorts of blessed Thanksgiving.
1. during the first year of a child’s life, from loving conception through gestation and burst. A new child is born and comes to us as a miracle. Thanks be to God.
2. During the learning years we develop skills, expand awareness, and have experiences that mature us into full adults. Thanks be to God.
3. As we age, get gray hair, creaky knees, and disabled parking permit, we are grateful for the abilities that do remain. Thanks be to God.
4. As we embrace worlds of many different languages lands and cultures and opportunities to travel across the states and abroad. Thanks be to God
5. As we prepare to share in this delicious and bountiful Thanksgiving harvest feast. We are so grateful for each other’s contributions. Thanks be to God.
6. As we anticipate our first snowfall in the coming of winter, we are grateful for warm clothes, mittens, coats, hats, boots, and people who shovel snow for us. Thanks be to God.
7. As the season of Christmas and baby Jesus’ birth come near, once again we celebrate a newborn child, and the coming new year. He is blessed and born. Thanks be to God.
8. For everyone of our blessings including both gifts and challenges, may we be abundantly grateful. Amen.
Read or listen to the sermon and discussion from last Sunday’s Zoom service:
“Grateful for Our Gifts”
Sermon Notes, by Rev. Dr. Sherrie Connelly
Readings
OT: Judges 4: 1-7
The Israelites were judged as up to no good and committing evil deeds after Ehud died. They were oppressed cruelly for 20 years thanks to 900 enemy chariots.
There was a prophetess named Deborah.
She commanded Borah from Naphtali to bring 10,000 of their tribes in Naphtali and Zebulon. By her efforts, the Israelites were victorious over Sisera who commanded the enemy army.
Emanuel Swedenborg: Apocalypse Explained N. 439
The reading signifies spiritual combat against any evils infesting the church.
Only the tribe of Zebulon and Naphtali fought – signifying the conjunction of good and truth, having a further meaning of reformation and regeneration.
Even further their joining reflects the uniting of Divine and Human in the Lord.
And how the Heavens are arranged.
NT: Matthew 25: 14-39
A man going on a journey entrusted three of his slaves with his properties.
One received 5 talents. One received 2 talents and a third received 1 talent. With working and clever investments 5 became 10, and 2 became 4. But the third single talent was buried in the ground for safe keeping.
The slave who prospered the most was given a good and large responsibility. The second slave likewise. The third however, gaining no profits was scorned and banished for laziness.
Resources We Have Been Given (abundance).
From these scripture readings we can learn many lessons. First on a literal level we each have been given various resources – these include money, houses and apartments (and sometimes small huts for dwellings), animals, fruits and vegetables for food and plenty in our gardens, and our family’s inheritance.
If we are fortunate, we have been given more than enough, an abundance. More than likely we have been given enough. And in some cases, people receive very little, and are poor and hungry.
On a second level of meaning we each have been gifted with skills, abilities, and talents that will help us make our way in the world.
The blessing of cognitive skills and our give senses – sight, hearing, touch, smell and tsate. Some might also add balance and rhythm. Some of these might be natural abilities. Others we go to school to develop. And still others we discover if we are lucky at other times in our lives.
Gifts We give to Others – Generosity
On a third level, perhaps a transcendental level, we discover another blessing, another gift. These are the gifts we give to others, the fruits of generosity, when we are kind and giving to others, especially our neighbors, when they are needy. I know a Christian man named Mic C. who goes out of his way finding people he can help and serve with food, money and handmade rosaries.
Closing Thoughts
We might want to understand these three levels of giftedness according to the three levels of Heaven. There is the natural level of physical resources, property, goods, etc. for life and living. Then there is the heavenly level, where our skills and abilities allow us to benefit others. Then there is the celestial level, where all gifts given multiply and bless our community and the world.
Let us rejoice in all the gifts we have been given and have hearts full of gratitude for all the blessings we have been given. We give thanks for the Lord’s love and love the Holy one in return. Amen.
This Sunday, 11/15/20, join us for church with Rev. Dr. Sherrie Connelly, over zoom. Her message is “Grateful For Our Gifts”
Gather at 10:30 am for conversation, and 11:00 am for the Worship Service. We will have our service and then afterwards, attendees can eat a piece of pie or whatever treat they would like, while we reflect on our “Gifts.”
This would have typically been the weekend of our Harvest Feast. In lieu of sharing a meal together, please send a check to the church for whatever amount you would’ve spent on your contribution to the Harvest meal, and New Church of Montgomery will match that and make a donation to the Freestore Foodbank in Cincinnati.
Thank you for sharing your gifts with others.
NEW CHURCH OF MONTGOMERY INVITES YOU TO OUR ALTERNATIVE HARVEST FEAST
Since we are not able to have our Harvest Feast potluck this year, we are inviting you to choose what you would have brought to our in-person celebration and, instead, send a check to the church for its value. The church will match the donations and the money will be donated to the Cincinnati Freestore Foodbank.
The Food Bank hopes to distribute over 14,000 Holiday Meal Boxes during the holiday seasons this year. They can serve 3 meals for $1.00, so even if you are thinking a can of cranberry sauce, your donation will be useful
Here is our usual sign-up sheet – no need to let us know what you’re “bringing”. Duplicates are fine! We usually have around 25-30 people for our meal.
Send check made out to:
New Church of Montgomery,
P.O. Box 42466, Cincinnati, OH 45242
Count your blessings.
Blessing Cards from our Harvest Feast 2019
Since heaven comes from the human race, then, and since heaven is living with the Lord forever, it follows that this was the Lord’s goal for creation. . . . The Lord did not create the universe for his own sake but for the sake of people he would be with in heaven. By its very nature, spiritual love wants to share what it has with others, and to the extent that it can do so, it is totally present, experiencing its peace and bliss. Spiritual love gets this quality from the Lord’s divine love, which is like this in infinite measure. It then follows that divine love (and therefore divine providence) has the goal of a heaven made up of people who have become angels and are becoming angels, people with whom it can share all the bliss and joy of love and wisdom, giving them these blessings from the Lord’s own presence within them. He cannot help doing this, because his image and likeness is in us from creation. (Divine Providence §27:2)
So great to have everyone here today to share in the bounty so many provided.
Peace and love to share throughout the day.
Come feed your soul and your body at the New Church of Montgomery in Glendale, today. Join us at 11 am, for a wonderful service by Guest Minister, Rev. Alison (Longstaff) Moore on “Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs and Swedenborg’s Doctrine of Regeneration”.
Immediately following the service, we will share a feast together!
845 Congress Avenue, Glendale
All are welcome. 
We are so thankful for the great attendance at Sunday’s Harvest Feast. Guest Minister, Rev. Jenn Tafel delivered the service and we were appreciative of the message. We ate and conversed, and the children were able to enjoy the pleasant weather outside on the playground, and the piano in the church.
If you were a visitor in our church Sunday, please come again! We wish to welcome you to additional services, and get to know you. Now, here are some pictures from this beautiful day.
Please bring yourselves (and a dish to share) for our annual Harvest Feast, being held this Sunday, November 18, 2018, at the Glendale New Church in Glendale, OH at 11 am. You are family to us.
We welcome back to our church, Rev. Jenn Tafel from Lansing, Michigan. We thank her for offering her thoughtful words prior to the feast.
The turkey part of the meal will be provided by the church. Other dishes on and off the usual menu are welcome. If you’re not sure what to bring, give us a call and we will let you know what is still needed. 513-515-4542
The church will be open at 10:00 am to arrange your goodies on the tables, and to mingle.
Please do join us! If you have never been to our church before, you will find a welcoming home. If you care to, please send us an email of your intention to come so that we may expect you!
NewchurchofMontgomery@gmail.com
New Church of Montgomery, in Glendale 