November 2, 2025
Practicing The Way | Move Nearer When You Hurt
A number of the Christian practices that Jesus gave us (like solitude, Sabbath, prayer and Scripture reading) turn down the noise of the world so we can turn up the volume of His voice. Other voices surface as well! Buried emotions and wounding memories can also rise to the surface. This is one of God’s ways of telling us it's time to enter those harder bits of our lives with him and learn how to name them, express them and regulate them as followers of Jesus.
Songs for this week: Spotify
Questions:
Matthew 26:36-39
- How were emotions treated/valued in the family in which you grew up? Tell a story if that helps illustrate your experience.
- What are the most common feelings you experience? How does it feel to bring those openly before God?
- Contrast the processing of emotions as experienced by Jesus and Peter from the passage. What pieces of each of their approaches resonated with you?
- If you have had the time to try the Practice of Noticing, Naming, Feeling and Offering your feelings to God, describe what that was like.
- Where did you experience God’s nearness in the practice?
This Week's Practice:
Noticing & Naming Emotions
Last Week's Practice: Sabbath
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Recent Sermons
Galatians 5:16-26 - The Holy Spirit surprised both the convinced and the curious in the early Church—working through powerful deeds and transforming lives from within to become more like Jesus.
Acts 2:1-21 - The long-awaited gift of God’s Spirit given to ordinary women and men finally touched down! A few unlikely believers huddled together in an upstairs room were the first recipients. This story unlocks the plan that the Spirit of Jesus has for us all.
Luke 4:14-21-Jesus announced that the Spirit of the Lord was on him to proclaim the good news. The Holy Spirit empowered Jesus for his mission. And Jesus gives us the same Spirit for the same mission.
Joel 2:28-32 - Begin a seven-week journey exploring the person and work of the Holy Spirit—from Genesis to Revelation. Discover how the Spirit moves through the Old Testament, revealing a presence that is mysterious, powerful, and deeply woven into the story of faith.
Mark 16:1-8 - The resurrection of Jesus Christ brings clarity to the entire Bible, redeeming every story from the Garden of Eden onward. Though surprisingly understated in Gospel of Mark, this moment secures a powerful hope—offering grace today and the promise of a future face-to-face with Jesus.
Mark 11:1-11 -As Mark’s account of Jesus moves toward the Cross, the Triumphal Entry may seem quiet to us—but for those who had waited centuries, it was electric. The question of the true King wasn’t just Israel’s struggle—it’s still ours today.
