Relationship AND Religion

Sunday, September 29, 2024

Scriptures: John 20:1-8

• Summary

  This week, we talk about worship, emotion and unnecessary anecdotes, and how all of those lived experiences of faith fit into holding on.

  Relationship and Religion: in this third message in the series, Jeremy talks about the dual nature of faith as both a personal relationship with God and a religious practice. He emphasized that both aspects are essential for spiritual growth.

  Vegetarians and Bacon: our faith is also sustained by community, tradition, and action, even when emotions aren't present. Jeremy shared about his conversation with his son, where he explained to his son how Christianity is absolutely a personal decision but also a shared family and communal narrative.

  Jesus and his Nicknames: Looking at John 20:1-8, Jeremy talked about Jesus’ practice of giving nicknames, meaning that our faith is as unique and personal as we ourselves are. The idea behind “the beloved disciple” is the democratization of our experience of Jesus, any one of us can insert ourselves  into the story as a beloved disciple of Jesus.

  Ridiculous Races: the story of the beloved disciple racing Peter to the empty tomb can serve as a metaphor for how faith is often expressed through physical action, i.e. our lived experience rather than just our internal feelings. And we all have personal anecdotes of faith when Jesus was real to us and that help us to hold on to 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: Talk about this quote from the message using the questions below:

  “My formative experiences of faith have largely come from within the evangelical tradition, and there's a lot that I love about that. There are so many elements of things that I have learned through my experiences with various evangelical churches that are part of Commons today.

  But one of the things that I've always had a bit of a love-hate relationship with is this idea, this implication maybe, that faith has to be something you feel in your heart…

  So much of my experience of church has been built around this expectation,

  that all the music that we sing, all the language that we use, has to land — emotionally, for it to count.”

  What tradition of Christianity have been formative for you? What are some of the things that you have a love-hate relationship with that come from that tradition?

  Alternatively talk about the phrase “Christianity is a relationship, not a religion.”
  Have you heard that before?

  How does Jeremy’s observation about faith as both - a relationship and a religion - resonate with you today?

  How do these two aspects show up, or even support each other, in your life?

  Share: What do you think about the idea that the "beloved disciple" in John's Gospel represents all of us, showing how the early church democratized access to Jesus, like Paul, whose spiritual encounter was considered just as valid as the apostles' eyewitness experiences?

  How does this idea shape your understanding of your place in the story of Jesus?

  Reflect: on the link between Christianity and community. Jeremy talked about the importance of being part of a family and tradition even while figuring out personal beliefs. How does your community shape your faith? How does it help you when your personal connection to God feels distant?

  Engage: with the role of emotions in faith. Jeremy suggested that feeling faith in your heart isn't always the defining experience.

  How do you experience faith when emotions are not present?

  What other forms does your faith take?

  Here’s a quote to help you:

  “The felt experience of faith has often been talked about in ways that are too narrow.

  In ways that are not fully reflective of the breath and depth with which the New Testament talks about our relationship to Jesus.

  Because I don’t only feel my faith in my heart.

  I feel it in the my gut,

  And in my intellect,

  And in my conviction for the kind of man I want to become.

  And it’s that combination that makes me feel like I can hold on to this for the long haul.

  Because it’s that breadth of experience that feels robust enough to carry me through the ups and downs…”

  What do you think about faith as conviction, purpose, and courage, rather than just emotional experience?

  How would you describe your own experience of faith?

  Do these terms resonate with you?

  Takeaway: in the last section, Jeremy highlighted that faith is full of personal, "unnecessary anecdotes." Stories of God and stories with God that are just our own and that can’t be compared to others’ stories.

  How true is that for you?

  How do your personal stories keep you connected to your faith?

• Prayer

  Prayer from the sermon:
  God of grace and peace,

  Who has created a world of possibility

  And a universe of potential,

  Might we embrace your invitation to continue learning and exploring,

  To resist old conclusions that close the door —

  and to open ourselves to new ideas when they reveal themselves to us.

  And yet through it all might we trust that you continue to walk with us — guiding us by your spirit — helping us to find your path throughout all of life.

  May goodness and kindness and welcome and peace

  Lead us always to trust in your love,

  And may that become the guiding star that marks out our path in the world.

  For those us just beginning to explore your way,

  Gift us courage and wisdom,
  and light,  to stay in step with you.

  And for those of us long on the journey,

  Perhaps even lulled into a sense off complacency by familiarity,

  Grants us curiosity to push in new directions toward new love,

  Expand our imagination of all the ways you are present around us.

  May your spirit keep us moving forward always,

  In the strong name of the risen Christ, we pray,

  Amen.

• Liturgy

  CALL TO WORSHIP Psalm 25

  MUSIC Curated by Rebecca Santos
  Cody Carnes - Firm Foundation
  Bethel Music - Goodness Of God
  Bethel Music - If The Lord
  Phil Wickham - Creator

  National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Prayer
  Written by Yelena Pakhomova

  In our communal practice of prayer, we can hold feelings that are too big for us to hold on our own. Tomorrow, we will mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
  And this day often comes with a deep emotional response to the history behind it. 

  As a faith community, we gather on the lands of Treaty 7 territory, and as part of our worship today, we want to remember the children who never returned to their families, the survivors of residential schools, and communities that still carry the weight of that trauma. 
  Today, we pray in support of our indigenous neighbours, friends, and siblings.

  So please join me in a remembering prayer. 

  Creator God, who cares for how we live together.

  Today, we remember that our stories are inseparable 

  from the stories of the land we’ve come to call home. 

  We are planted here, in this country we call Canada, 

  we are part of its past, we live in its present, 

  and together, we are shaping its future. 

  So today, we remember not only the hospitality of this land 

  but also the wounds inflicted on it, 

  and especially on the people who called this land home long before us. 

  May we continue to listen to our Indigenous siblings 

  and gently hold the truth of their stories, until we all heal. 

  Jesus who wept, 

  Today, we remember the weeping of families whose children never returned home. 

  We acknowledge the colonial legacy of the residential schools.

  We confess the complicity of the Christian church 

  in the unimaginable harm done to the Indigenous people. 

  And we grieve the extent of the trauma that our Indigenous siblings 

  still carry in their bodies and their communities. 

  May we embrace the truth of those failures as part of our collective story, 

  so that we can heal the damage together. 

  Spirit of peace promised to lead us into all truth, 

  As we remember the little lives cut short and honour the survivors, 

  Would you help us once again to commit to living in the way of Christ:

  To seek justice, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God, 

  knowing that our God walks with those who are hurting.

  May we seek reconciliation as our goal and our way of life,

  until we all heal together. 

  In the name of Jesus, we pray, Amen. 

  
  SERIES BUMPER
  How I Hold on to Faith