Sunday, October 4, 2026

Sunday, October 4, 2026

Scriptures: 1 Kings 19:3-13

• Sermon Summary

  In this fourth sermon in our current series, Learning to Listen, Scott focuses on listening to nature. In a world filled with all kinds of societal noise, nature often speaks directly to our deepest fears, exposing all that lies beyond our control. Yet it is precisely in these harsh or surprising landscapes where God finds us, offering divine encounters through unexpected messengers and moments of astonishment.

  Scott invited us to look at the story of the prophet Elijah and his encounter with the divine, where God showed up not in dramatic displays of power, but in a gentle whisper—a stillness that integrates and restores us.
  Scott’s practical invitation for us this week is to pause and listen to the nature around us and to pay attention to stillness and silence. By simply being present in the natural world as a part of it, we might just hear the quiet assurance and perspective we need to take our next faithful steps forward.

• 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: Feel free to chat about the question Scott prepared for his message.
  Think about a time you felt deeply connected to the natural world. What made that experience special?
  Or, name one place in or outside the city that helps you slow down and feel at peace.

  Share: Share about the link between our fears and our experience of nature—its power, scale, unpredictability, and ultimately our profound dependence on it.

  In the story of Elijah, the harshness of the natural landscape that the prophet experiences as he flees for his life reflects how he feels inside. Scott says, “And in a way, this setting — the natural world of this episode — becomes a signifier of all Elijah doesn’t control. In all of its harshness, the landscape become a metaphor for his fear, writ large.”

  When you think about seasons of fear or uncertainty in your life, how has time in nature helped you process those seasons or shift your perspective?
  And in what ways does nature remind you of God or reset your spiritual self?

  Reflect: Reflect on a theological distinction made in 1 Kings when God came to Elijah on the mountain: God is not the natural elements themselves (the wind, earthquake, or fire), nor is God primarily found in dramatic displays of power, but rather in a "gentle whisper" or "the sound of sheer silence".

  Reflecting on your life, do you know God as (or expect God to be) a God of grand interventions, or a God of a gentle whisper?

  Why does finding God in stillness often feel more challenging than looking for God in grand interventions?

  Engage: Elijah came to the mountain demanding answers, but instead received a quiet question from God: "What are you doing here, Elijah?”

  Is there a place in your life right now where God might be asking you this same question? What are you doing here? What are you looking for?

  If you are open to it, name one or two things that you are discerning in your life right now and where you’d like to receive some direction from God.n And what might be an obstacle to your listening?

  Scott said that on the mountain Elijah met God in an unexpected way.
  How does this quote resonate with you?

  "Not a God of power. Not a God of display. But a God found in the integration of being. A God discovered in the awareness I have, from time to time, of the conscious place I hold as part of all things...
  Nature has a way of shaping the next steps we take, if we have ears to hear. It has a way of assuring you that have a role to play... It also has a way of reminding you that you aren't alone."

  Take away: Make a plan of how you will listen to nature this week.
  Feel free to share it with the group. Or just make note for yourself.

  Do not feel an obligation to get outside, just see it as an opportunity to practice openness to meet the divine in the very creation upheld by God’s love.

  Benediction based on the sermon:
  As you head into this week,
  May you make some time to get out and surround yourself with nature.

  And may you be open to hear the whisper of the Spirit in whatever shape and form it might come:

  Whether it is the assurance of God’s love for you and this beautiful world,

  Or the sound of birds flying south,
  sounding a call for you to mark a season’s end as well,

  Or the voice of your tender self, thanking you for making time to meet.

  And as you step outside into the cold, the wind, the stillness, or the sun,
  May you know that you are not alone,
  and that your time spent listening is never wasted.
  Amen.

• Service Songs & Prayers

  CALL TO WORSHIP Psalm 9

  MUSIC Curated by Kevin B.
  Mission House - Good God
  Commons Worship - Restore My Soul
  Brooke Ligertwood - A Thousand Hallelujahs
  Commons Worship - Face to Face
  
  THE LORD’S PRAYER
  Introduction by Scott Wall

  When Jesus was asked by his friends how to pray, he altered their imaginations by teaching them to approach the divine with intimate terms and simple trust.

  And as Christ’s followers, we’re encouraged to adopt these every time we take up the words of the Lord’s Prayer — which I invite you to say with me now.

  The words will be on the screen. Let us pray.

  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
  Learning to Listen