Our special services can be divided into two categories: services that celebrate or commemorate a special event, such as a marriage or a memorial service, and sacramental services: Baptism and Holy Supper.
Weddings
Marriages: New Church weddings are wonderful and romantic occasions, filled with love, laughter, and a strong spiritual center. A New Church wedding is usually short by most standards (20 to 40 minutes) - it gets to the heart and soul of the couple, asks the Lord for His presence in the marriage, and leaves a lasting impact with all who attend. There is no requirement to be baptized into our faith to be married by a New Church pastor. Instead our pastors meet with you for pre-marriage visits and counseling (online or in person). These visits help to strengthen a couples spiritual bonds before marriage and build a stronger understanding of the commitment they are making. It is a lovely process that heightens the power of the ceremony and leaves a couple with important tools to use over and over throughout their marriage.
The Glenview New Church has two indoor spaces, one traditional and one contemporary, along with a large and beautiful campus that has many ideal settings for small or large weddings and/or receptions. Please, call our front desk to set up a meeting with one of our pastors and book your ideal wedding at 847-724-0057 or email Judy Recht.
The New Church's teachings on marriage are unique. They reveal the fundamental spiritual differences between men and women, and the ways in which these differences complement each other. "Marriage Love is intending what the other intends, mutually and reciprocally.' In its ideal state, "Marriage Love, is a union of two minds, so effective that they become one from love" and can live together through eternity. (Heaven and Hell 281 - Notes) Our teachings explain what's at the heart of a healthy marriage, and they also show how a couple can work to restore peace and happiness in a struggling marriage by looking to the Lord.
Visit our denominational site to read more about marriage, and love in marriage.
Funerals
Memorial service: New church funerals are usually called "memorial services" to emphasize what the service is for - we gather to remember the person for the lessons their life offered others and to share the good things they stood for. The purpose for these ceremonies are varying - a memorial service can bring closure, comfort, hope, humility, laughter, tears, and so much more. New Church memorial services often bring a special kind of comfort to people due to our stead fast belief in an after-life for all people, directly after we pass from this physical world.
During a service teachings are often read about qualities of heaven and what it is like to live there. There are many passages from our teachings about people entering heaven from all different walks of life and what they get to do now in heaven. Heaven is a place where what you love is real. It is likely that what your loved one loved to do is reflected in our teachings somewhere. If you are looking for a church that believes that your dearly departed is only departed from their physical body - that their soul lives on in an even more real and blessed state, please, contact us. Please, call our front desk to set up a meeting with one of our pastors and arrange for a beautiful memorial service at 847-724-0057 or email Judy Recht.
"As human spirits, we enjoy every outer and inner sense we enjoyed in the world. We see the way we used to, we hear and talk the way we used to; we smell and taste and feel things when we touch them the way we used to; we want, wish, crave, think, ponder, are moved, love, and intend the way we used to... When we move from the one life into the other, or from the one world into the other, it is like moving from one [physical] place to another; and we take with us everything we owned as persons to the point that it would be unfair to say that we have lost anything of our own after death, which is only a death of the earthly body." (Heaven and Hell 461)
Sacraments
In the New Church we celebrate two sacraments: Baptism and the Holy Supper. These are often conducted during regular Sunday morning services, but they may also be conducted in a private home, outside, in a hospital setting, or in a private service at the church at any time.
Baptism: This sacrament "serves as a sign and reminder that we need to be reborn, and that people born in the church can be reborn because the Word is there, the Word that contains the divine truths that make regeneration possible. The church is where the Lord, who is the source of rebirth, is known." (Heaven and Hell 329) People of any age may be baptized at any time. In the New Church, people often baptize their children soon after they are born to help bring special angels to their infant, and their family, and to confirm their commitment to raise their child with New Church beliefs. Baptism brings many spiritual gifts and some institutional ones, also. Baptism signals the church to send special gifts to your young one around church holidays and is a gateway to full adult membership in the church and its boards.
Holy Supper (communion): In this sacrament we eat unleavened bread and drink wine (water is also offered). Participants are invited to come to the front of the church, where they receive the elements from the pastor while kneeling in prayer or meditation. We offer this sacrament six or more times a year. The Holy Supper is open to all adults. "In order for us to become an actual part of heaven... we need to present ourselves to the Lord in an active way. Because the Lord is also actively presenting Himself to us [in the Holy Supper], we actively receive Him - not as He was when He was hanging on the cross but as He is in His Human manifestation after it was glorified, which is present in the Holy Supper. The "body" of His Human manifestation is divine goodness, and the "blood" is divine truth. These qualities are given to us; through them we are regenerated and then we are in the Lord and the Lord is in us." (True christianity 728)
All Services
Arrangements for weddings, memorial services, baptisms, communion, confirmations, betrothals, and home dedications may be made with the pastors at any time. You can call our front desk to inquire further at 847-724-0057 or email Judy Recht.