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
1 Samuel 17:32-Join as we begin a 4-week series exploring the Vision of St. Paul’s through the life of David. Discover four essential practices Jesus has called His church to for 2,000 years: Gather, Grow, Give, and Go. This week, we begin with Gather—why gathering together matters and what it means to be the church.
Colossians 4:2-9 - Prayer isn’t meant to be an afterthought—it’s an invitation to stay connected to God. Paul’s final words challenge us to pray with purpose, keep our eyes open for what God is doing, and look for opportunities to share Jesus. A great way to wrap up a letter—and launch us into the world God loves.
Colossians 3:18-4:1 -Paul closes his letter by showing how following Jesus transforms our everyday relationships—with spouses, children, parents, employees, and employers—and calls us to care for one another with kindness.
Colossians 3:12-17-Sometimes Christianity gets known for what we don’t do. But Paul points us toward something better: how we live, love, and treat one another. What marks a genuine Christian community? It all starts with who God is and how deeply He loves us.
Colossians 3:5-11-Paul points to two areas that reveal who we are at the deepest level: sex and speech. The path to health and freedom isn’t harsh rules or self-focus, but staying close to Jesus, knowing him and growing in him. Christianity isn’t harsh rules; it’s a vibrant friendship.
Colossians 2:20-3:4 - Religious baggage can pull us in all kinds of directions—from expecting God to fit our preferences to trying to earn His approval. Paul’s message to the Colossians was simple: stop guessing what God wants and get back to the core of Christianity—Jesus.
