This week, we explore the felt experience of faith and what it means to hold on to faith even when emotions fluctuate. We discuss how faith can be both a deep, personal relationship with God and a set of religious practices that sustain us through life’s ups and downs. From a conversation with my son about bacon to the story of the “beloved disciple” racing to the empty tomb, we dive into how our faith is shaped by unique experiences, rituals, and sometimes even doubts.

As pastors and friends, this is a question that emerges in conversation pretty regularly. We all have doubts about what we believe, questions about whether our beliefs are well-founded, and we struggle sometimes to find the rhythms and habits that support the faith we want to foster. At Commons, we think wrestling with these questions is an essential part of being a faith-full human. In fact, our journey towards understanding who Jesus is and what He teaches often brings us to a point where we must wrestle with our uncertainties, and hopefully do it together.

This week, we explore how faith can evolve through critical ideas, personal growth, and changing life experiences. Centered on the journey of faith, this series tackles topics like theology, doubt, and resilience. Through the story of Nicodemus, we learn about deconstructing and rebuilding faith, embracing uncertainty, and trusting in a love beyond ourselves. This is an invitation to hold on, grow, and continuously be “born again” into new spiritual depths.

This week we wrap up the Picking Up and Letting Go series by looking at another Epiphany text and reflecting on ways that picking up looked like for Jesus and what we can pick up in the new year.

This week we wrap up by talking about our sixth affirmation: “We desire to participate in that renewal by following the way of Jesus, empowered by the Spirit, trusting that this good news is even better than we can imagine.”

We want to begin this year by setting the framework for how we believe together (and how we continue to become together), and that can be found on the very first page on our journal. In this sermon series we will work through those six affirmations that open our journal year year. In this first message, Jeremy addressed the first affirmation: “We are completely fascinated with this complex and beautiful collection of texts we call the Bible - but we worship Jesus.”