Faith and Belonging

Sunday, October 6, 2024

Scriptures: 1 Peter 1:1-2, 1 Peter 2:9, 1 Peter 4:7-11

• Summary

  Bobbi walked us through parts of 1 Peter to talk about what it means to participate in a faith that is always taking new shape. First, she talked about the particulars of the letter and explored how we hold onto faith by balancing tradition and innovation. “You can’t have faith without holding onto the past - preserving it, understanding it, wrestling with it.  Also, leaders and participants in the Christian tradition are constantly yanking faith forward into the present.”

  Then, Bobbi talked about the idea of "complicated belonging," where early believers—like many of us—felt out of step with the world but found their identity in Christ.
  
  Then Bobbi reflected on the word and concept of koinonia—the deep participation in community that mirrors God's relational nature.
  

  Finally, she shared a personal story about a photo from 2003 that became an icon of participation for her, and she encouraged us to be forming groups that live out connection. Holding onto each other in meaningful community is essential for holding onto faith.

• Discussion

  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: Start your conversation by reflecting on tradition and innovation in faith. Bobbi talked about holding onto tradition while also pushing faith forward.
  “The beauty of the first two verses in 1 Peter is that they give us a strategy for holding onto faith. You can’t have faith without holding onto the past – preserving it, understanding it, wrestling with it. 

  Also, leaders and participants in the Christian tradition are constantly yanking faith forward into the present. Always asking – how does what we hold onto take shape in our lives today? [Btw yanking is a deeply theological term.]

  We can and should break with tradition when the facts change, when we learn something new, when we realize what used to work isn’t working anymore. It’s called intellectual honesty. 

  So to recap: 

  Hold on to the past.

  Innovate in the present. 

  Break up with what is broken. 

  All of that is biblical.”
  

  How do you balance honoring the past of your faith with embracing new understandings or practices?
  Can you share an example where this has been important in your spiritual journey, where you have experienced the “yanking” and the holding on to what was, and both were good for you?
  
  If you want to linger on this theme, chat about how you discern when it’s time to hold on or let go of a particular tradition or practice or belief.

  Share: In her last section - Icons of Participation - Bobbi reflected on the photo of her ministry team from the early 2000s and how that season in life has left a mark on her and how now she sees this photo as an icon of participation through which she can see something of God.

  What is one or two moments in your life that you now see as "icons of participation"?

  Reflect: on the role of participating in community and what it does for one’s faith. (A bit of a continuation from the previous question.)
  What groups or communities have been most significant in your own spiritual journey? In what particular ways have they shaped your understanding of God or yourself?

  And how do you experience participation in your faith community now? What does it look like for you to engage deeply with others at Commons in this season?

  Engage: In the beginning of the message, when talking about who Peter (or the author of 1 Peter) was addressing the letter, Bobbi used the phrase “complicated belonging” while exploring how the early Jesus communities felt out of step with the world.
  As people of faith, Bobbi suggests we always have "a foot planted in one world and a foot planted in another."

  “Here’s the thing about being people of faith: we will always be people with a foot planted in one world and a foot planted in another. 

  The writer is saying, ya ya ya, you’re subjects, slaves, wives at the bottom of privilege. But here’s what’s even more true about you – 

  You’re people of honour.

  You do what is right and you live like you’re free.

  You love beyond your household – you centre the bigger family of God. 

  Some of you have been dealt a very cruel hand. But your dignity is intact.

  You can put a stop to the cycle of violence because you know your soul is safe with God. 

  Those of you who thought you had no power have more power than you will ever know. How about the power of your kindness? 

  How about the power of your rich inner life? 

  You have a foot in the world with its kings and presidents and corruption and wars.
  But you also have a foot in a place of peace with its crucified saviour who refuses to return hate for hate.  It’s a complicated belonging – having your feet in different worlds.”

  How does the idea of belonging to two worlds resonate with you?

  And how does this “complicated belonging” play out in your life?

  Take away: What is one takeaway that you have from today’s conversation or  the sermon?

• Prayer

  Prayer from the sermon:

  Loving God,

  Thank you for communities past and present

  That have been a part of shaping us into who we are.

  I’m so grateful for spaces where we can feel truly alive by giving of ourselves to something bigger in community.

  For our participation in our city, neighbourhoods, and communities

  For our participation in our church, on volunteer teams, in extending welcome to people around us

  For our participation in the formation of faith in this time and this place

  I pray we would see this work as sacred and meet Christ over and over again in new ways.

  Spirit of the living God, present with us now, enter the places where we are broken and where we are longing for something more, and heal us of all that harms us. Amen.

• Liturgy

  CALL TO WORSHIP Psalm 98

  MUSIC Curated by Kevin Borst
  Elevation Worship - Praise
  Mission House - I Don't Have Much
  Brooke Ligertwood - King Of Kings
  The McClures - Reign Above It All

  Prayer for Children in our Lives
  Written by Scott Wall

  Loving God,
  In Christ - you gathered children around you. And then you told us that we are closest to your kingdom when we are child-like.
  
  Curious - free-spirited - and vulnerable. So we let this image guide our prayer today — As we pray for the four children blessed and welcomed here, and their families. And as we pause…and pray for the children in our lives.
  
  For those we’re concerned about,
  For those learning and growing in their own way,
  
  For those who are limited in their bodies, those struggling, those straining to have their needs met –
  God, you see and know each one —We pray for the children in our communities.
  
  Those starting new, fall routines, and learning important lessons.
  Those discovering what they love - each one finding a deeper sense of who you’ve made them to be -
  Young hearts and minds making big choices, shaping their futures every day –
  
  God, you are with them along the way —We pray for the children whose lives we only hear news of.
  
  For children that need protection in places of war and disaster,
  For children that need attachment and support where there is displacement,
  For each child searching for hope and meaning and identity today –
  
  God, you love each one -And so we ask —
  
  Give us eyes to see - give us grace to care - give us courage to work and call for the world they need.
  Amen.
  
  SERIES BUMPER
  How I Hold on to Faith