We will be live streaming our worship service this Sunday to our New Church of Boulder Valley Facebook page instead of our webpage. This is an experiment I am trying. If you can’t make it to the service you can catch it there (assuming all goes as planned).https://www.facebook.com/BoulderNewChurch/
See you there at 10:30 a.m.
There are a lot of opinions about what makes love within a relationship last. There are also many misconceptions about what love is. Love is our very life.
Life is from our Creator. So is true, healthy, lasting love. If we want to have more of the kind of love present in our life that is from the source of our life then there are a few things we are told we can do. The main thing is to get spiritual.
Come and discuss this more on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. We would love to see you here.
There may be things in our lives that are keeping us in an unhealthy state of mind or way of being. The reason we are given truth and wisdom is that it can heal us by showing us a different way to live or a different way to think about things. But of course, the healing doesn’t happen if we don’t act on what we know. This Sunday we will talk about the ability truth has to heal us and set us free. As Jesus said, “The truth will set you free.”
Come and see how you can live more freely and so more happily. Worship begins at 10:30 a.m.
There is great power available to you right now. Why not take a moment and access it?
Join us Sunday as we talk about prayer and what it can do in our lives. Worship begins at 10:30 a.m.
Holy Supper (communion) will be offered near the close of the service this week.
This Sunday, July 31st, we begin worship services again (after a two week break). Come and hear some beautiful teachings about how we are led by the Lord.
Sunday 10:30 a.m.
If we want to make the world a better place we are going to have to look within and see where our choices are coming from. Recognize when we are feeding off the influences from hell and turn away, and seek to be led by the Lord. We are all vessels which receive both heavenly and hellish impulses. We decide from which we will speak and act and live. Listen to the “still, small voice” of the Lord. It is there. Make space to hear it.
Worship with us this Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
Why are food and drink mentioned so often in the Word? Why does Jesus make a connection between bread and His flesh and wine and His blood? Why are we encouraged to partake in consuming these elements in a sacred manner?
Bread is a symbol of what is loving or good and wine is a symbol of wisdom or truth. These are our spiritual food–what will truly nourish us forever. As Jesus said in the Gospel of John 6: “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you… I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”
This Sunday the Holy Supper (communion) will be offered in the service.
The creation story from the opening pages of the book of Genesis is a wonderful story–reminding us of the truth that God is the source of all that is good in our lives. We know that the Creation Story is not a historical account of actual incidents, but a parable or metaphor for our own spiritual lives. I take great comfort in this truth. For I am glad that I don’t have to explain how it is possible that God created the earth, stars, sun, plants, animals, humans, etc. all within six days.
It is inevitable that at some point in the life of our children they will look at the Grand Canyon, the Rio Grande Gorge, or the Flatirons in Boulder, and realize that it took wind, water, and movements in the earth’s crust, millions of years to form those beautiful works of nature (of course God is the Architech). If we held a view of the Bible that said that it was only literally true without question, we would have a formidable task of trying to explain that to them, when all evidence points in a different direction.
I believe there is incredible value in believing something because God has said so in His Word. But I think there is so much more power when the Word doesn’t contradict what we see and learn from the natural world we live in.
The book of Genesis describes the creation of the world. So it must have happened that way, right? Well then how come science is in complete disagreement with that theory. We have a choice. We can reject science or we can reject the Bible. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could embrace both? And that’s exactly what I love about the New Church. We can and are encouraged to embrace both.
We are taught that the Bible from beginning to end is about our personal spiritual development. We see within its stories our progression from a lifeless, formless spiritual being to a thriving, living spiritual entity. It is certainly fitting then that the creation story–the first story of the Word–is a metaphor for our own spiritual transformation. A setting the stage for all that is to follow.
On the first day, or in the first stage in our development, we see the earth, previously without form and void, touched with light–separating light from darkness. The promise of the first day is that if we will acknowledge a power outside of ourselves that is greater than we, in our minds the light of truth will begin to dawn.
On the second day there is a separation of the waters below and the waters above. If we remain in this attitude of mind and try to respond to the light of truth which the Lord has shined upon us, He will then grant us the ability to discern which knowledges, truths, and ideas are our own and which are God’s. This enables us to then make good choices–knowingly choosing higher ideals.
On the third day the dry land appears and a distinction is made between the dry land and the seas. The dry land begins to bring forth grass, herbs, and fruit trees that reproduce themselves. This describes what happens when we begin to separate ourselves from false ideas and destructive tendencies. Our mind (the dry land) then becomes fertile, ready to receive new living ideas from the Lord that can begin to grow into life. We progress from actively thinking about heavenly truths to applying them to our lives.
On the fourth day the sun, moon, and stars are created and set in the sky. Light is given to the earth and light is again divided from darkness. In this fourth stage love, represented by the sun, is now present in the internal self, and faith, represented by the moon, is present in the external self or understanding. Love to and faith in the Lord are born within us in the internal self, and with that, knowledges of heaven are also born. These lights or truths shine from the internal self and begin to govern the activities of our minds and lives, and so we really begin to live for the first time guided from within by the Lord.
On the fifth day God created the fish and the sea creatures as well as the birds of the air. This illustrates that when we are committed to following the Lord in life, He allows the ideas in our memory to begin to take form, and to come to life–beginning to truly serve us. When we are in doubt or feeling fear, the memory of an experience or an idea surfaces within us. And our thoughts begin to soar to higher heights, as truths wing their way through our minds, lifting us above thoughts of only ourselves.
On the sixth day God created all the creatures that dwell on the earth–the cattle, the beasts of the field, and every creeping thing. God also created His crowning work–the human being–the male and the female. This is the promise that good affections and loves will be created within us by the Lord. The selfish, angry, resentful, and fearful feelings will be replaced by feelings of hope, joy, delight, happiness, and kindness. These feelings are represented by the warm blooded animals that God created. And the male and the female and their union symbolize the unity within us of our will and our understanding. What we love will be what we think about, and what we think about will be what we love. There will be a marriage in our lives of goodness with true ideas–giving us strength and stability.
Finally on the seventh day, God rests from all of His labors. The work is done. God no longer has to fight so hard for us. We are now operating in a spiritually healthy way from within and from true strength.
This story illustrates a beautiful promise which the Lord has offered. If we will turn to God in our lives, live by the truth of His Word, and ask for His strength, we will find true spirituality and true peace.
May the Lord create within each of us a new heart–a new desire to live by His Word. And create within our minds a new understanding of His truth so we have the clarity of mind to walk through this life and to face and overcome its many challenges.
I hope you can join us for worship this Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
David