Tag: Learn

This is the weekly bulletin insert from Sermons That Work.

Traveling the Way of Love: Learn

“Traveling the Way of Love” Season 2 offers video stories of the ways people across The Episcopal Church participate in the seven Way of Love practices. Produced by the Office of Communication in partnership with Evangelism colleagues, it includes study guides to help congregations or small groups engage the stories and strengthen one another’s discipleship. Each week, we’ll share information about an episode, along with study questions suitable for congregational, small group, or personal reflection. You can find each episode and its discussion guide at iam.ec/TWOL2.

Episode 6: Learn

Those love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and will come to them and make our home with them.

John 14:23

By reading and reflecting on Scripture, especially the life and teachings of Jesus, we draw near to God, and God’s word dwells in us. When we open our minds and hearts to Scripture, we learn to see God’s story and God’s activity in everyday life.

1. In this episode, host Chris Sikkema visits a group of youth in the Convocation of the Episcopal Church in Europe that includes Aija Rios and Bishop Mark Edington. Bishop Edington remarks on the reality that there is no social reward for being a Christian in Europe. Yet, the youth of the Convocation continue to show up for each other, forming community, praying, and studying Scripture together. What does their witness stir in you? How are you inspired or encouraged by their dedication?

2. While chatting with Chris, Aija shares about a weekly gathering at her home parish called “Wednesdays Within the Walls,” which includes Taizé music, a meal, and reading Scripture together, followed by a conversation about the Scripture. From her story, it is clear that people of all ages and walks of life are a part of this weekly community and that all voices are listened to, and that this opportunity to reflect on Scripture within a large group has impacted her life.  How could you–or your community of faith–be more intentional about hosting time for reading and reflecting on Scripture apart from Sunday mornings and across demographics such as age and stage of life? What might that look like?

3. In this episode, Chris Sikkema states that it is very hard to be a Christian alone. Perhaps this is because we are not meant to do it alone. From the beginning, the Christian life has been one rooted in community. In our baptismal covenant, we even promise to “continue in the apostles’ teaching, the fellowship, and the breaking of the bread.” This includes how we approach studying and reflecting on Scripture. Take a moment and think back on when your mind and heart have been opened to Scripture in the midst of a Bible study or community reflection. How did you learn to see God’s story and God’s activity in everyday life from that experience?

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Weekly bulletin inserts

This weekly bulletin insert provides information about the history, music, liturgy, mission, and ministry of The Episcopal Church. For more information, please contact us at stw@episcopalchurch.org.

Sermons That Work

For more than 20 years, Sermons That Work, a ministry of The Episcopal Church’s Office of Communication, has provided free sermons, Bible studies, bulletin inserts, and other resources that speak to congregations across the Church. Our writers and readers come from numerous and varied backgrounds. Small house churches, sprawling cathedrals, and everything between use the resources that Sermons That Work provides.

Church of the Redeemer

Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world around us. We are an Episcopal Church serving north King County and south Snohomish County, Washington. As you travel your road, go with friends walking the way of Jesus at Redeemer.

Church of the Redeemer is at 6220 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore, Washington. The campus is a short distance north of Bothell Way, near the Burke-Gilman Trail. The entrance looks like a gravel driveway. The campus is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. And we managed to hide a large building on the side of a hill that is not easily seen from the street.

The Episcopal Church welcomes you.

This is the weekly bulletin insert from Sermons That Work.

Explore the Way of Love – Learn

As humans, we often think of our lives in terms of stories. So much of the input of our senses, what we hear and what we read – and even what we feel – is processed in terms of story. We are the protagonist, the heroine or hero on a journey, pursuing our goal, facing conflict along the way, and each day is another chapter in our story.

When we look to the example of Jesus, we see a life in which God was incorporated in a very real way as part of that story. As we embark on the Way of Love, the practice that leads us in the footsteps of Jesus and those who have followed him for generations, we can invite God into our own stories.

The Way of Love calls us to the practice of learning. As the Psalmist prays, “Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths.”

By reading the scriptures, taking time to study, listen, and absorb what they say, we are entering into the long, deep, stream of humankind’s experiences with God. By taking time daily to engage with the Scriptures, particularly the stories of the life of Jesus, we move beyond pop culture interpretations and quick one-line verses and immerse ourselves into the character, will, and story of God. And by internalizing what we read—meditating and allowing even the most mysterious words to flow over us and work inside of us—we are allowing God to work in our story, too.

Diving into the Scriptures can be daunting for some. The Bible is not a rulebook or instruction manual to be easily digested and applied on first reading. Instead, it is a library of different experiences with God, written or told by many different people in different places for different reasons over generations of time.

Beginning to understand and know the Scriptures is a lifelong practice, and calls for patience, openness, and a willingness not to know every answer. But as we continually study, and discuss with other people who accompany us on our journey, and reflect upon the ideas on the page, sometimes wrestling with them, and sometimes just letting them flow by like a spring breeze, we will grow in understanding, and we will get to know God better, as God becomes more and more intertwined with our own story.

Are you willing to commit to the practice of learning? Are there those around you who can support and join you as you learn?

Learn more about the Way of Love at episcopalchurch.org/wayoflove. You can find suggestions on getting started and going deeper with Turning at iam.ec/ewol.

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Weekly bulletin inserts

This weekly bulletin insert provides information about the history, music, liturgy, mission, and ministry of The Episcopal Church. For more information, please contact us at stw@episcopalchurch.org.

Sermons That Work

For more than 20 years, Sermons That Work, a ministry of The Episcopal Church’s Office of Communication, has provided free sermons, Bible studies, bulletin inserts, and other resources that speak to congregations across the Church. Our writers and readers come from numerous and varied backgrounds, and the resources we provide are used in small house churches, sprawling cathedrals, and everything between.

Church of the Redeemer

Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world around us. We are an Episcopal Church serving north King County and south Snohomish County, Washington. As you travel your road, go with friends walking the way of Jesus at Redeemer.

Church of the Redeemer is at 6220 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore, Washington. The campus is a short distance north of Bothell Way, near the Burke-Gilman Trail. The entrance looks like a gravel driveway. The campus is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. And we managed to hide a large building on the side of a hill that is not easily seen from the street.

The Episcopal Church welcomes you.

This is the weekly bulletin insert from Sermons That Work.

Explore the Way of Love: Learn

As humans, we often think of our lives in terms of stories. So much of the input of our senses, what we hear and what we read – and even what we feel – is processed in terms of story. We are the protagonist, the heroine or hero on a journey, pursuing our goal, facing conflict along the way, and each day is another chapter in our story.

When we look to the example of Jesus, we see a life in which God was incorporated in a very real way as part of that story. As we embark on the Way of Love, the practice that leads us in the footsteps of Jesus and those who have followed him for generations, we can invite God into our own stories.

The Way of Love calls us to the practice of learning. As the Psalmist prays, “Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths.”

By reading the scriptures, taking time to study, listen, and absorb what they say, we are entering into the long, deep, stream of humankind’s experiences with God. By taking time daily to engage with the Scriptures, particularly the stories of the life of Jesus, we move beyond pop culture interpretations and quick one-line verses and immerse ourselves into the character, will, and story of God. And by internalizing what we read—meditating and allowing even the most mysterious words to flow over us and work inside of us—we are allowing God to work in our story, too.

Diving into the Scriptures can be daunting for some. The Bible is not a rulebook or instruction manual to be easily digested and applied on first reading. Instead, it is a library of different experiences with God, written or told by many different people in different places for different reasons over generations of time.

Beginning to understand and know the Scriptures is a lifelong practice, and calls for patience, openness, and a willingness not to know every answer. But as we continually study, and discuss with other people who accompany us on our journey, and reflect upon the ideas on the page, sometimes wrestling with them, and sometimes just letting them flow by like a spring breeze, we will grow in understanding, and we will get to know God better, as God becomes more and more intertwined with our own story.

Are you willing to commit to the practice of learning? Are there those around you who can support and join you as you learn?

Learn more about the Way of Love

Learn more about the Way of Love at The Way of Love. You can find suggestions on getting started and going deeper with Turning at Explore the Way of Love.

Weekly bulletin inserts

This weekly bulletin insert provides information about the history, music, liturgy, mission, and ministry of The Episcopal Church. For more information, please contact us at stw@episcopalchurch.org.

Sermons That Work

For more than 20 years, Sermons That Work, a ministry of The Episcopal Church’s Office of Communication, has provided free sermons, Bible studies, bulletin inserts, and other resources that speak to congregations across the Church. Our writers and readers come from numerous and varied backgrounds, and the resources we provide are used in small house churches, sprawling cathedrals, and everything between.

Church of the Redeemer

Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world around us. We are an Episcopal Church serving north King County and south Snohomish County, Washington. As you travel your road, go with friends walking the way of Jesus at Redeemer.

Church of the Redeemer is at 6220 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore, Washington. The campus is a short distance north of Bothell Way, near the Burke-Gilman Trail. The entrance looks like a gravel driveway. The campus is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. And we managed to hide a large building on the side of a hill that is not easily seen from the street.

The Episcopal Church welcomes you.