Shape of a New Humanity

Sunday, January 25, 2026

Scriptures: Ephesians 2

• Sermon Summary

  Summary: In the second sermon of our series If/Then, Scott looks at Ephesians 2. He highlights Paul’s line, “but because of God’s great love for us,” showing how life is completely different because of God’s preemptive grace. He then invites us to think about Christian communities as God’s ongoing work of art—living poems of grace and good work in the world. Scott prompts us to pay attention to, and name the walls we build that divide us. He then reflects on why metaphors matter, suggesting that when we imagine the church as a home—rather than an army or fortress—we rediscover welcome, belonging, and peace, as central to God’s presence among us.

  Conjunctions: Scott argues that the turning point of faith is not human failure but God’s initiating love. In Ephesians, Paul’s use of the conjunction “but because,” reframes humanity’s tendency to slip, miss the mark, as a reassurance that God’s grace precedes our efforts.
  Divine Creativity: Paul contends that Christian communities are God’s ongoing creative work rather than finished products. By naming the church as God’s poiēma—a kind of living poem—Paul invites believers to see their shared life as an expression of divine imagination. This means that our local communities can be meaningful sites of redemption and purpose.

  The Walls We Build: Scott addresses the Jew-Gentiles divisions within the Ephesian church. Using walls and fences in the Jerusalem temple as an example, he shows how the work of building peace is the active removal of exclusionary systems and postures.

  Why Metaphors Matter: Scott showcases Paul’s use of the metaphor of a household to represent the church, rather than an army or fortress. The metaphors that we choose to centre our narratives around matter and can reframe how we thing about our shared citizenship, and mutual dependence. We are called to imagine our church community as a place of shelter and God’s presence among the people.

• Discussion Guide

  Community is shaped by the conversations we share. These questions and reflections are a tool to help you meaningfully engage with the themes of this week's teaching.

  Connect: Scott talked a little bit about how messaging around our slip-ups, failures, etc. frames how we think about our God’s work in our lives. If you feel like sharing, feel free to give a quick answer to the following question.
  
  Q: What kinds of faith messages shaped your early understanding of sin, effort, or worth?

  Share: Share your thoughts on viewing Christian communities as creative endeavours, divine handiwork, that Paul mentions in his letter. Consider Scott’s words,
  
  “I think it’s important to read creative flair into Paul’s inference here.
  In effect, Paul was saying that every gathering of Jesus’ followers is kind of divine poem—a poetic message in and for the world.
  Also, in saying this, he was tapping into the Jewish imagination of God as cosmic, creative force.
  Where once, in the beginning, God made the universe—now, God’s making something new.

  This means that using our 21st century understanding of planets and nebulas and light years we might read Paul as saying that while God keeps making galaxies, divine innovation is happening right here.”

  Q: What thoughts do you have on your faith community being described as God’s “living poem” or ongoing creative work?

  Reflect: Reflect on the imagery that Scott uses—walls and fences in religious settings (accompanied with undertones of violence)—to describe the ways we sometimes alienate and build up emotional resistance to each other.

  Q: How might you begin to identify and dismantle exclusionary walls in your life?
  Q: What’s the difference between a necessary boundary and an exclusionary wall?

  Engage: Engage with the metaphor of the church community being a home. Scott spent some time emphasizing the importance of being aware of the metaphors we use to view the world around us.

  Q: What would it mean for your community to be a place of shelter rather than superiority?

  Take away: What is your takeaway from the message or today’s conversation?

  Benediction based on the sermon
  Loving God,
  whose very nature is captured in the conjunction,
  “but because of your great love,”
  who leads the way in radical inclusion,
  whose creative power is alive in the church,
  who dwells among us and among those that are different from us,
  remind us to pick good metaphors.

  Help us create space for what’s different.
  Help us cultivate curiosity.
  And give us the tools to make exclusionary walls shorter.
  Keep us from building barriers out of fear,
  and keep us, always, from acting in violence.
  Amen.

• Service Songs & Prayers

  CALL TO WORSHIP Psalm 63

  MUSIC Curated by Curt Muller
  Elevation Worship - Praise
  Mission House - Good God
  Cody Carnes - Simple Kingdom
  Brooke Ligertwood - Who You Say I Am
  
  THE LORD’S PRAYER
  
  Our Father, 
  who art in heaven,
  Hallowed be thy Name.
  Thy Kingdom come. 
  Thy will be done
  On earth as it is in heaven.

  Give us this day our daily bread.
  And forgive us our trespasses,
  As we forgive those 
  who trespass against us. 

  And lead us not into temptation, 
  But deliver us from evil.
  For thine is the kingdom,
  The power and the glory,
  For ever and ever.

  Amen.
  
  SERIES BUMPER
  If/Then