Agnostic plus Jesus

Sunday, September 13, 2026

Scriptures: Mark 9:2-24

• Sermon Summary

  Jeremy kicked off our first series of the new season, Learning to Listen, by taking a look at the transfiguration story in the Gospel of Mark. He made a point that in this story, together with the disciples we get a glimpse of the world made right, but we are not meant to stay there, on the top of that mountain.
  This story shows us how transfiguration trains our imagination to hold on to hope and live attentively in the world as we know it. When after the transfiguration, Jesus encounters a father with a child in distress, he wants us to see that sacred moments do not require flawless certainty. Faith is not a finished destination, but an ongoing journey where God meets us in our honest half-prayers. Those imperfect intermediate steps are what takes us forward, not the dreaming about perfection.
  So the encouragement for us is to not let the fear of failure to block us from taking the steps we sense we need to take.

• 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: If this is your first meeting after the summer break, just check-in with  each other. Share some highs and lows of the summer. Or chat about this question, would you say that the fear of not doing something perfectly tends to hold you back from trying things in faith, in life or in a relationship?

  Share: Share about what helps you to overcome the fear of failure.

  In the sermon, Jeremy argued that the fear of failure can be really powerful in our lives. He said, “All of us should be doing something that’s a little bit scary from time to time… Thing is, in real life, I think what actually stops us is not so much the fear of trying something new, it’s often the fear of not doing that something perfectly, a fear that convinces us we’d rather miss out entirely… than fail spectacularly.”

  So what helps you to overcome that kind of fear in life?

  Jeremy uses a phrase “veggie with bacon” to remind himself that it is taking steps towards his goals, starting a journey, is what will eventually take him where he wants to be, and not just dreaming about it.

  Maybe we’re afraid of the wrong thing and failures in the direction of where we want to end up are exactly what we need to get there.

  Reflect: Reflect on the transfiguration story as an in-breaking of the sacred into the ordinary.
  Jeremy made a point that the story of transfiguration is not really about Jesus getting a glow-up, but “it's about the disciples beginning to believe that a world transformed by the way of Jesus is a tangible possibility.”

  What do you think about this quote that Jeremy used from Liz Bucar?

  Christianity teaches people how to look at the world as it is, and simultaneously hold in their minds what it could become.
  Not through fantasy or denial. But through disciplined attention to what reality itself suggests is possible.”

  The disciples were given a glimpse on that hill of how the sacred is constantly breaking into the ordinary teaching us about what the reality could be and we just need to pay attention to it.
  How have you experienced moments like that in your life? Do they happen often? Do you seek them out?
  What have made you aware of some new possibilities for yourself, or in your own story or for the people around you?

  Engage: Engage with the response of the father of the suffering child, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” In Mark 9:24.

  How does it speak to your heart today?
  How does it connect with your own experience of faith?

  You’re welcome to engage with this quote from the sermon:
  “That’s the story: the kingdom doesn't wait for any of us to get it together.
  It shows up in the honest half-prayers of all of us who have almost given up. In the falter half-steps we muster the courage to take toward the people we want to become.
  Liz Bucar called this “the ability to work for something you can't yet prove” and that might be the best definition of faith I've encountered yet.
  Because faith has never been the finished thing  — it was always the veggie with bacon, the agnostic with Jesus, the showing up on Sunday when the word "Christian" still feels a leap too far.
  Because faith is only ever the next step toward the future you’re starting to believe in, taken before you can see how it all comes together.”

  Take away: What is one thing that you're taking with you into your week, either from the sermon or our conversation?

  Prayer from the sermon:
  God of love,
  as we begin this new season together,
  Would you quiet the noise around us
  Perhaps still the noise within us.
  And teach us once again how to listen well—
  How to listen to the wisdom of our hearts,

  And to the voices of our neighbours,
  to the world you have made,
  to the quiet movement of your Spirit near us and around us always,

  And once we have heard
  would you give us courage to take the next faithful step in our story,
  even when it feels unfinished,
  Maybe when it scares us a bit,
  Perhaps even when we can’t see yet exactly where it will land.
  But through it all, would you remind us
  to be gentle with ourselves and one another,
  open to surprises along the way,
  and ready to follow where the season ahead calls.
  In the strong name of the risen Christ we pray, Amen.

• Service Songs & Prayers

  CALL TO WORSHIP Psalm 138

  MUSIC Curated by Kevin B.
  Brooke Ligertwood - Looking
  City Alight - Yet Not I But Christ In Me
  Commons Worship - Face to Face
  Royal Anthems - Turn Your Eyes
  Brooke Ligertwood - King of Kings

  COMMUNITY ROUND TABLE
  Video
  
  NEW SERVICE BUMPER
  Video
  
  SERIES BUMPER
  Learning to Listen