The amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you.
— 2 Corinthians 13:14 (The Message)
Our hope is that this series will reinvigorate our imagination for what it means to be the people of God. We hope to rediscover, in a fresh way, that being a church means living more fully in the welcoming presence of God: living our lives with a growing attentiveness to him, together, and recognizing that the relationships in our lives are part of that growing awareness. This is both for our sake and for the sake of the world.
The theologian Craig M. Gay has observed that modern life makes it tempting to live as if God does not exist (The Way of the (Modern) World). We experience day-to-day life as a series of separate worlds, each with its own demands. Our work life is distinct from our social life, which is distinct from our family life. Life feels, as some of us might put it, fragmented.
God can seem so alive in worship, devotion, and prayer. Yet in every other sphere of life, in our conversations with classmates and coworkers, with our children, even with other Christians, it can feel quite different.
This eight-week series aims to reconnect our personal experience of God with our life together. How is God uniquely at work among us, and within us? Dallas Willard observed that in Jesus’ eyes, this is “a God-bathed and God-permeated world.” (The Divine Conspiracy) Let’s journey together in learning to be more attentive to the reality of the living God.
The whole series follows one story: the two disciples walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus on the first Easter (Luke 24:13–49). As they walked and talked, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, though they did not recognize him. Only later, at the table, were their eyes opened, and they asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us?” Each session opens with a piece of that road.
This series is designed as a journey to be taken with others who are open to walking it: people you don’t yet know well, or long-time friends; a church small group, the membership class, or budding friendships.
It is not designed around one leader. Groups walk together and make space to hear each other’s stories, so facilitators can change from week to week. The facilitator’s role is simply to open and close each session and help manage the time, so that everyone has room to share.
The heart of the series is to walk together unhurried. Feel free to repeat a theme over several weeks, or lengthen your meetings to give more space for sharing. Consider weaving in hospitality and shared meals, and see what new rhythms and practices grow as you walk together.
1. Welcome (5 min): gather, catch up on the week, and open in prayer.
2. Introduction (10–15 min): read the Scripture and short introduction together, then the icebreaker.
3. Discussion (60 min): work through the theme together through your own stories.
4. Closing (15 min): read the closing reflection, pray the closing prayer, and pray for one another.
Each session also includes notes and references for anyone who wants to read further. They are not needed for the group time.
• Listen more than you speak. Listening matters more than fixing or analyzing.
• Share only what you are comfortable sharing, and let others do the same.
• Keep what is shared in the group within the group.
• Leave room for silence. God often speaks in the pauses.
1. Godspeed (Luke 24:13–17): the pace of being known. How might we unhurry our expectations of ourselves, God, and others?
2. Pilgrimage (Hebrews 11:8): our lives as journeys. Where are we going, and why do we keep going?
3. Origin and Place (Luke 24:13–14): where. Where are we from, and where is God in those places?
4. Fellow Pilgrims (Luke 24:15–27): who. Who has God placed in our lives to pass on the faith?
5. Encounter (Luke 24:18): when. What moments has God used to shape our faith?
6. Following Jesus (Luke 24:30–31): how. How did we come to follow Christ?
7. On the Road, Again (Luke 24:32): hearing God today. How is God present with us now, day to day?
8. On the Road, With Others (Luke 24:45–49): calling. What does faithfulness look like here and now?
Epilogue: Seeing God (2 Corinthians 3:18). Where is the journey leading?
That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?”
- Luke 24:13–17 (ESV)
“To be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God.” — Timothy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage
How might we unhurry our expectations of ourselves, God, and others?
In this session we get acquainted with the heartbeat of the study: that the way God relates to us is deeply relational, personal, and unhurried. It is also located in a particular place and a particular time.
Together we will watch and reflect on a short documentary, Godspeed: The Pace of Being Known. It tells the story of a young American pastor, Matt Canlis, whose ambition to change the world is halted in a slow-paced Scottish parish. Guided by mentors Eugene Peterson and N. T. Wright, he learns that Jesus moved through life at about three miles an hour, the speed of walking. Jesus changed the world at a walking pace, through knowing people and being known by them.
What do you find most difficult about getting to know others?
How does a person come to sense that they belong in a community?
How long does it take to really know others, and to be known?
Watch the 37-minute film together, then take a five-minute break to let it settle before you talk.
Note for facilitators: before the session, confirm the film’s licence or permission for group screening.
What did you see and hear that stood out to you? What did you agree with, and what did you disagree with?
What are your expectations about the speed and pace of knowing others? What might it mean to truly know someone?
How did the film’s slow, wandering style affect the way you watched and responded?
1. Take some time to agree on a schedule and a pace that works for everyone in the group.
2. Pray for the group and for what was shared tonight. Ask God to stir up new ways of relating to, and listening to, one another.
Matt Canlis is careful to say that the point is not simply to slow down. We all move at different speeds, and Isaiah speaks of a time to soar, to run, and to walk (Isaiah 40:31). The invitation is to think about what it means to move “at the pace of being known”: known by God, by those close to us, and by our neighbours. Godspeed is not a claim to have mastered this, but a shared confession of how we hope to grow in Christ.
The whole series is framed by one question: What does it mean to be a human being, and a Christian, in the modern world? We believe the good news of Jesus Christ is really good news, and that it brings coherence, purpose, and clarity to a divided and technology-driven world.
The philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre argued in After Virtue (1981) that modern moral life has become fragmented because we have lost a shared story of the good life. He famously ended by saying we are waiting for “another—doubtless very different—St. Benedict.” That echoes our own longing: for identity, purpose, and moral coherence to be re-rooted in Jesus Christ, in whom “all things hold together” (Colossians 1:15–17).
The image of God’s walking pace comes from Kosuke Koyama’s Three Mile an Hour God. In Jesus, God chooses to walk alongside us at human speed.
Matt Canlis, Godspeed: The Pace of Being Known (documentary, 2016)
Craig M. Gay, The Way of the (Modern) World: Or, Why It’s Tempting to Live As If God Doesn’t Exist (1998)
Os Guinness, The Last Christian on Earth (2010)
Timothy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage (2011)
Kosuke Koyama, Three Mile an Hour God (1979)
Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue (1981)
Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy (1998)
Jonathan R. Wilson, Living Faithfully in a Fragmented World (1997)
N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope (2008) and After You Believe (2010)
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
- Hebrews 11:8 (ESV)
“Christians believe that there is a Story of stories.” — Mary Ruth Wilkinson
How might we benefit from understanding our Christian life as a pilgrimage?
The Christian life has long been described as a pilgrimage, a journey. Many of us already speak of our lives as journeys. But what do we mean by that?
One of the best-known works in the Christian tradition, John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, follows a man named Christian on his journey from his hometown, the “City of Destruction” (this world), to the “Celestial City” (the world to come). The story still resonates because it captures the ups and downs of the Christian life.
Canadian pastor Mark Buchanan pictures life as a long walk, often hard, taken in the company of “a motley crew.” We will lose our way at times, and it helps to know where we are headed. (God Walk)
Scripture gives us this picture of pilgrimage in Hebrews 11–12, where the long journey of Abraham and Sarah stands at the head of a great line of travellers. The New Testament carries the theme on: Richard Peace notes how Mark and Acts trace the gradual faith journeys of the apostles, the Ethiopian official, Paul, and Peter, whose journey kept going long after he first said yes to Jesus. (Spiritual Autobiography)
A pilgrimage asks two questions of our journeys: Where are you going? and Why do you keep going?
Have you thought of your own life as a pilgrimage? Have you thought of others around you as being on a pilgrimage too? How?
What might be some upsides of this image? What might be some downsides?
What other images come to mind? Hebrews also uses the image of a race (12:1). How do they differ?
Read Hebrews 11:1–18.
1. Does the way Hebrews tells the life of Abraham reflect the way you see your own life? What about the lives of others?
2. Imagine your life were told in Hebrews 11. How might you describe it? “By faith…”
Read Hebrews 12:1–3.
3. How do others sustain you in your journey of faith? What roles do they play, directly and indirectly?
4. How do you see the journeys of others fitting into your own?
Our lives are journeys, and we make sense of them through the stories we tell. Stories weave events and people together into meaning; we are more than a list of facts. Mary Ruth Wilkinson warns that, for all the stories around us, our culture doubts there is any larger story that holds them together. Christians believe there is one: the story of God, glimpsed in creation and told most clearly in Scripture. (A Time to Read)
Our story is woven into God’s story. Whether we realize it or not, history has been changed by Jesus’ coming, and everything is reinterpreted around him. Even when our steps feel unplanned, we walk under the light of heaven, toward heaven’s horizon.
To close: read U. A. Fanthorpe’s short poem BC:AD together, a reflection on how quietly, and how completely, the birth of Jesus changed the course of history. Then pray for the series, as we begin to notice and share our stories, and how they meet God’s story.
The Christian life is not a static destination but a lived pilgrimage, marked by movement, transformation, and the slow shaping of the soul. In a fast-paced, success-driven world, Scripture and the tradition invite us into a different rhythm: walking with God, listening for his voice, and letting our life stories be shaped by his.
Mark Buchanan, God Walk: Moving at the Speed of Your Soul (2020)
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678)
U. A. Fanthorpe, “BC:AD” (poem)
Richard Peace, Spiritual Autobiography and Holy Conversation: Talking with God in Prayer (2006)
Mary Ruth Wilkinson, A Time to Read: Good Books for Growing Readers (2008)
Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.
- Luke 24:13–14
Notice how carefully Luke gives the geography: where they came from, where they were going, and the distance between. At a walking pace, this was a journey of about two hours.
From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
- Acts 17:26
How is our relationship to place part of our calling, and our story?
In this session we consider the particular places where we have lived, hoping to grow more attentive to where God has placed us.
Land and place matter deeply in Scripture. From the Garden of Eden in Genesis to the garden-city of the New Jerusalem in Revelation, the Bible is full of particular places: rivers and roads, trees and wells, mountains and towns, each with its own meaning. In John’s Gospel, the Word became flesh and, as Eugene Peterson puts it, “moved into the neighborhood” (John 1:14, The Message).
Cheryl Bear, a Nadleh Whut’en theologian and singer, notes how much First Nations peoples and ancient Israel share an understanding of place. When North Americans meet, she observes, we usually ask, “What do you do?”, a question that quietly measures rank and status. Indigenous people more often ask, “Where are you from?” People introduce themselves by their Nation and community, because the land connects them to their relatives, and to lose it is to lose part of who they are. (Introduction to First Nations Ministry)
Many of us may feel little connection to any particular place. The Canadian literary critic Northrop Frye described an older Canadian “garrison mentality,” huddling together against a harsh and vast land, which he believed had given way to a “condominium mentality,” which he called “neither social nor creative.” Our communities are often built in ways that make it easy to avoid our neighbours, staying connected online while disconnected in real life. Does this ring true for you?
When you think about the role of place in your life, do you see it as deeply connected to your identity, or more as a background detail? Why?
1. Where has “home” been for you? How has that place changed, or stayed the same? Describe it: its smells, sights, sounds, and significant memories.
2. What are the important places in your life (a park, a neighbourhood, a workplace, a church), and why?
3. How do you think God is, or was, present in the places you’ve named?
Place is not just a backdrop to our lives. It is woven into our identity, our purpose, and our relationship with God. From the Garden of Eden to the New Jerusalem, God is a God of place: he calls, he plants, he uproots, and he dwells among his people. Some of us resonate with the idea that place shapes who we are; others feel the modern struggle of rootlessness. Either way, we are made to live out our God-given identity in the places where he has put us. Just as Christ moved into the neighbourhood, he is present in the world through us, “in ten thousand places.”
Close by reading this poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, a prayer for the kind of attentiveness to God we long for, wherever he has placed us.
As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’s Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells; Selves — goes itself;
myself it speaks and spells, Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I came.
I say móre: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: thát keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is — Chríst — for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men’s faces.
This session asks: What does it mean to be faithful in this place: in our land, culture, and neighbourhood? In a disembodied and rootless world, the Christian tradition calls us to recover a theology of place. God reveals himself not only in temples and cathedrals, but in kitchens, forests, reserves, classrooms, and street corners.
Cheryl Bear-Barnetson, Introduction to First Nations Ministry (2013)
Northrop Frye, speech at the new Canadian Embassy (1989)
Gerard Manley Hopkins, “As Kingfishers Catch Fire”
Eugene H. Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places (2005)
While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them… Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”… Moreover, some women of our company amazed us… And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
— Luke 24:15–27 (ESV)
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life…
— 1 John 1:1 (ESV)
God works primarily through people.None of us comes to faith alone. Whether through a parent’s prayers, a friend’s encouragement, or a mentor’s wisdom, God works through people to draw us closer to himself. Faith is deeply personal, yet it is always passed on: taught, shared, and lived in community.
This has been true throughout history. James Houston traces how men and women across the generations have discovered their identity in Christ, each shaped by the people, cultures, and circumstances of their time. For Peter, turning to Christ meant leaving his trade to fish for people. For Stephen, it meant embracing the cross, even in martyrdom, as he prayed for those killing him. Paul’s former identity as a Pharisee was shattered and replaced by devotion to Christ. Justin Martyr and Tertullian broke with their cultures to pursue a new kingdom. Augustine’s faith led him into a life of confession; Bernard of Clairvaux took up a kind of spiritual knighthood; and Teresa of Ávila met Christ in ways that withstood even the scrutiny of the Inquisition. (Sources of the Christian Self)
Each of them encountered Christ personally, yet none of their faith emerged in isolation. It was shaped, challenged, and nurtured within the community of believers. The historian Robert Wilken stresses that, however personal our knowledge of God is, it always reaches us through other people and through the church. In his words, “There is no way to Christ… without witnesses.” (The Spirit of Early Christian Thought)
Even the most profound encounters with Christ are linked to the faithfulness of those who went before. Our own faith is both a gift received and a witness to be shared.
As a group, choose one of these passages and read it aloud:
Timothy (2 Timothy 1:3–7): Paul reminds Timothy of the faith passed down to him through his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice.
Paul (Acts 9:1–19): Ananias helps Paul understand his calling after his encounter with Christ.
The Ethiopian official (Acts 8:26–40): Philip explains the Scriptures, leading him to faith and baptism.
Who has helped shape your faith? Looking back, who are the significant people in your life (family members, mentors, friends) who have passed on the faith to you in some way? How did they influence your journey
What voices have resonated with you? Are there particular authors, biblical figures, or Christians from history whose faith or teaching has deeply affected you? What about their story speaks to you?
Who is walking alongside you now? If you were to describe a “fellow pilgrim” on your journey, what would they look like? How might they encourage, challenge, or support you today?
Faith is personal, but also shared. It grows through the people God places along our way, and just as we have been shaped by others, we are called to do the same for those around us. C. S. Lewis reminds us that “there are no ordinary people.” (The Weight of Glory) Everyone we meet, friend, stranger, or someone we find difficult, is an eternal person, and the way we treat one another is helping to shape who each of us is becoming. How we speak, listen, and care for each other matters.
The Peace Prayer Traditionally attributed to St. Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
Faith is not merely inherited through doctrine or ritual. It is passed down through people: through embodied lives, relationships, and communities, from one generation to the next. In an age of hyper-individualism and digital distance, this session reminds us that Christian identity is shaped by those who walk with us, pray for us, challenge us, and leave us a living legacy of faith.
Francis of Assisi (c. 1181–1226) was an Italian friar and the founder of the Franciscans, known for his radical simplicity, love for the poor, and kinship with creation. John Calvin (1509–1564), often remembered as a systematizer of doctrine, was also a deeply pastoral theologian of the Holy Spirit, who taught that the Spirit unites believers to Christ, opens the Scriptures, and nourishes faith.
James M. Houston and Jens Zimmermann, eds., Sources of the Christian Self: A Cultural History of Christian Identity (2018)
C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (1949)
Robert Louis Wilken, The Spirit of Early Christian Thought (2003)
One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” “What things?” he asked.
— Luke 24:18–19
And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
— 1 Kings 19:12–13
“There is not one little blade of grass, there is no colour in this world, that is not intended to make men rejoice.”
— attributed to John Calvin
God works through the events of our lives: in hidden moments and in defining turning points.
God speaks to us in many ways: sometimes softly, sometimes loudly, often indirectly. Moses turned aside to see why a bush was not burning up (Exodus 3:3). Elijah heard God not in the wind, earthquake, or fire, but in a gentle whisper. Martha met Jesus with her grief: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). In this session we reflect on the significant moments in which we have experienced the living God.
It can be hard to describe these moments. Gordon Smith suggests that, taken together, they form a pattern that reveals a real encounter, “with Christ himself and not merely the idea of Christ.” This encounter is set in motion and guided by the Holy Spirit, and it is usually a journey, sometimes of many years. (Transforming Conversion)
Dallas Willard describes three “lights” that help us recognize God’s voice and presence: Scripture, the Spirit’s movements within us, and the circumstances around us. He quotes the nineteenth-century pastor F. B. Meyer:
God’s impressions within and His word without are always corroborated by His providence around, and we should quietly wait until those three focus into one point… If you do not know what you ought to do, stand still until you do. And when the time comes for action, circumstances, like glowworms, will sparkle along your path.
- F. B. Meyer, quoted in Dallas Willard, Hearing God
Read Acts 16:6–10 together. Notice the role of the Spirit, of circumstances, and of a vision in Paul’s journey. How might this help us recognize God’s guidance in our own stories?
What significant moments have deeply shaped your faith? Share briefly how you sensed God’s presence, and how Scripture played a part. It might have been:
a specific life event
a spiritual experience you can’t fully explain
a meaningful dream
a moment in worship
an encounter with God in nature
a moment in music or art
2. If you could ask God for one kind of encounter with him, what would it be? What do you want most from God?
God’s presence is woven into every moment, guiding, shaping, and drawing us closer to himself. In clarity or uncertainty, joy or struggle, he is never absent. He speaks through profound experiences, through the quiet nudge of prayer and Scripture, and through the unfolding of our circumstances. Often we recognize his presence only looking back, seeing how he has been at work all along. As we continue, we are learning to attend to the three lights: Scripture, the Spirit, and our circumstances.
Close by praying together from Psalm 139.
A Psalm 139 Prayer (adapted from Psalm 139, NIV)
Lord, you have searched us, and you know us. You know when we sit and when we rise; you perceive our thoughts from afar. You discern our going out and our lying down; you are familiar with all our ways. Before a word is on our tongues, you, Lord, know it completely.
Where can we go from your Spirit? Where can we flee from your presence? If we rise on the wings of the dawn, if we settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide us, your right hand will hold us fast.
You created our inmost being; you knit us together in our mother’s womb. We praise you because we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful; we know that full well.
How precious to us are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! We give you thanks for your constant presence in our lives. Open our hearts to recognize you in all things. Amen.
Christian faith is not only doctrine, heritage, or moral behaviour. It begins with, and is sustained by, a real, living encounter with God. Conversion is not a box to tick but an ongoing, relational transformation, and hearing God is not reserved for mystics; it is an invitation to every believer.
F. B. Meyer, The Secret of Guidance (1896)
Gordon T. Smith, Transforming Conversion: Rethinking the Language and Contours of Christian Initiation (2010)
Dallas Willard, Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God (originally In Search of Guidance, 1984)
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.
- Luke 24:30–31
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
- Philippians 3:8 (ESV)
“Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you!” — Augustine, Confessions, X.27
Our story of following Jesus is unique: a tapestry of God’s work.
This session invites us to take a whole-life look at our journey of faith: the circumstances, people, and invitations that have shaped our response to God’s call to “follow me.” As we tell our stories, we keep practising the vocabulary of attentiveness: learning to recognize, and put into words, how God has been present in our lives, sometimes in ways we only see looking back.
Gordon Smith describes coming to follow Christ as involving two things at once: a personal encounter with Christ, not just belief about him but a transforming experience of the living Christ; and the work of the Spirit, who leads and draws a person to faith over time. (Transforming Conversion)
Read Luke 5:1–11, where Simon Peter’s ordinary workday becomes a life-changing encounter with Jesus. As you listen, think about the moments in your own journey when you chose to follow him.
Spend some time thinking about, and then sharing, your journey to faith in Jesus Christ. How did your journey to “leave everything and follow him” unfold?
Gordon Smith’s six elements of conversion can help:
1. Context: your social, historical, and religious background.
2. The influence of others: the people God used along the way.
3. The role of Scripture: through personal reading or preaching.
4. Life events and turning points: crises or transitions that shaped your faith, remembering that no single event defines the whole journey.
5. The impact of the church: for good or ill, and the place of baptism in your story.
6. Encounters with the divine: moments you can’t fully explain, which later revealed God’s presence.
We have begun to share how we each responded to the living God: through people, Scripture, and the movement of the Spirit in our circumstances. As we close, we point to one more part of the story: baptism, the real and visible sign that brings our story and God’s larger story together. As Tertullian put it, “We, little fishes, after the image of our Ichthys, Jesus Christ, are born in water.” Like fish in water, we are immersed in Christ, following him in a journey of grace, renewal, and faith.
Close with this thanksgiving for the gift of baptism, adapted from Renewal’s baptism liturgy.
Gracious God, we thank you for the gift of water and your Spirit. In the beginning, your Spirit moved over the waters to bring life. You led your people through the sea to freedom. You gave us Jesus, born of water and Spirit, who was baptized in the Jordan and anointed with power.
Water and Spirit still bring life. Through them, you cleanse, renew, and make us new.
Help all of us who have been baptized to remember our baptism with joy, to live each day as your beloved, and to follow Jesus all our days, to the glory of your name, now and forever. Amen.
To follow Jesus is not merely to admire him, but to be united with him: dying and rising with him in baptism, and walking with him daily as Lord. Baptism is not just a ceremony, but a new identity, a new allegiance, and a lifelong journey of transformation. Augustine’s Confessions is one of the earliest examples of a spiritual autobiography: a prayerful account of his search for truth, and of his conversion and baptism. For more on telling your own story, see Learning to Tell Your Story.
Augustine of Hippo, Confessions
Gordon T. Smith, Transforming Conversion (2010)
Tertullian, On Baptism (quoted in Eric E. Peterson, Wade in the Water)
They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
— Luke 24:32
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
— Matthew 28:20
God’s faithful presence continues with us on our pilgrimage. How might we practise attentiveness to the living God in our day-to-day lives?
We have been reflecting on how the living God, in Christ, through the Spirit, and for the glory of the Father, has faithfully been with us. Now we turn our attention again to this same God, who remains ever-present.
Darrell Johnson describes the moment we say “yes” to Jesus as being welcomed into the eternal circle of love between the Father and the Son, a love made known in the Holy Spirit. In other words, we are welcomed home. (Experiencing the Trinity)
The spiritual life is not about performing practices, but about living in an ongoing, conversational relationship with God. Dallas Willard pictures a life lived with Jesus as one that draws on resources from beyond itself, where ordinary days become places where heaven touches earth.
James Houston once admitted that he used to think of prayer like training for a sport: something hard that he just wasn’t good at. Over time he discovered a freeing truth: “Prayer is keeping company with God.” (The Transforming Friendship) Prayer stopped feeling like a performance and began to feel like friendship. Maybe you have felt that prayer is something you’re supposed to get right. Even Jesus’ closest friends felt that need. Watching his deep connection with the Father, they simply asked, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). That same longing, for closeness, not perfection, is at the heart of our journey with God.
Lectio Divina, “sacred reading,” is an ancient way of praying with Scripture. Use Ephesians 3:14–21.
1. Read (lectio), 3 min. Read the passage slowly and aloud. Everyone listens in silence for a word or phrase that stands out.
2. Reflect (meditatio), 5–7 min. Read the passage again. Reflect silently on that word or phrase. What might God be saying through it? What emotions or memories surface?
3. Respond (oratio), 5–7 min. Read the passage a third time. Respond in silent prayer, talking with God about what surfaced. What invitation is he offering?
4. Share (optional), 5–8 min. Invite a few people to share what stood out, or how God met them. Remember: listening matters more than fixing or analyzing.
1. What do I think God has been trying to say to me recently?
2. How has God been present to me in recent weeks?
3. When did God seem absent?
4. Which spiritual practices have been especially meaningful to me lately?
5. Which have been less meaningful than usual?
6. What do I seek from God at this point in my life?
These questions are adapted from common practices of spiritual direction.
We remember the disciples on the Emmaus road, their hearts burning as Jesus walked beside them, even before they understood he was there. The same risen Christ is with us now, faithfully present on our own pilgrimages. His love has opened the way for us to live in communion with the Father, through the Spirit, in every moment of our days. May we go forward rooted in that love, attentive to his presence, and open to his ongoing work within us.
You may also like to read Elizabeth Rooney’s short poem “Opening,” an Easter meditation on how Christ’s rising has torn open the sky and laid us open to God’s love.
Close by praying together the prayer Jesus taught us.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer in the version of the English Language Liturgical Consultation (ELLC, 1988).
The Christian journey is not meant to be walked alone. This session focuses on the relational, communal, and Trinitarian dimensions of the road: walking with others, learning to listen, and being formed in fellowship. Even praying, showing up, and opening our lives to one another is a sacred rhythm on the way. For more on prayer, see Learning to Pray.
James M. Houston, The Transforming Friendship: A Guide to Prayer (1989)
Darrell W. Johnson, Experiencing the Trinity (2002)
Elizabeth Rooney, “Opening” (poem)
Dallas Willard, Hearing God and The Divine Conspiracy
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
— Luke 24:45–49
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
— 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 (ESV)
Vocation is coming “to know the world in all its joy and pain and still love it.”
— Steven Garber
In our final session, we reflect on God’s presence in our pilgrimage with others, for others, and inviting others.
We take a moment to look back over the road we have walked together, marked throughout by God’s faithful presence. We have considered how God meets us, forms us, and walks with us in every part of life. Now we turn to the idea of vocation, or calling: a way of naming the unique and intentional life God invites each of us to live in response to his love.
Gordon Smith reminds us that vocation is never something we create on our own. It begins with the God who calls. We live faithfully when we listen for his voice and respond in the setting of our real, everyday lives: this person, in this place, at this time. Vocation asks us to bring our whole selves before God (our gifts, limits, relationships, and circumstances) and ask, What does faithfulness look like here?
Calling is not only about what we do, but about who we are becoming. Through the ordinary, often hidden work of our lives, God is shaping us. Seen or unseen, affirmed or unnoticed, our faithfulness matters deeply. As we close this series, we listen again for the voice of the One who calls us by name, and open ourselves to live in response: attentive, rooted, and deeply loved.
Use 1 Corinthians 12:12–27, following the same pattern as last session: read, reflect, respond, and (optionally) share.
1. Is there part of your work (paid or volunteer, in the marketplace or in the church) where you are keenly aware that you, specifically you, bring what is needed to this place at this time?
2. What is your situation, your “this time and this place”? In your situation, what simply has to be done?
3. What do you most need in order to be present in the here and now: focus, courage, connection with others, patience? What are you neglecting because you are procrastinating? What requests or expectations do you need to say no to?
4. Where, and in what ways, are you experiencing discouragement, disappointment, or heaviness of heart?
These questions are adapted from Gordon T. Smith, Courage and Calling*.*
We, too, are witnesses of these things: of Christ’s life, love, and resurrection power at work in the world and in us. Like the disciples in Luke 24, our eyes and hearts have been opened along the way. And now we are sent, just as they were: not alone, but clothed with power from on high. God’s call on our lives continues beyond this group, woven into the ordinary and extraordinary of every day, and shaped by the relationships, work, and communities in which we have been placed. You are uniquely gifted for your “here and now,” and your faithful presence matters more than you know.
May we go from here with renewed attentiveness to the living God, who is always near, always calling, always forming us. Whether your next step feels bold or quiet, seen or unseen, the Spirit goes with you. Stay open. Stay rooted. And above all, stay close to the One who has called you by name.
As Mary once responded to God’s call with deep trust and joy, close by joining in her song of praise.
The Magnificat
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.
— Luke 1:46–55 (ESV)
As the series nears its end, we return to the road, this time with our eyes more fully open. The Christian life is not an escape from the world, but a deeper presence within it. Can we truly know the brokenness of the world and still choose to love it? Can we stay faithfully engaged without growing cynical or weary? Vocation is not just about career; it is about remaining attentive, responsible, and hopeful in the places and relationships God has entrusted to us.
Steven Garber, Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good (2014)
Gordon T. Smith, Courage and Calling: Embracing Your God-Given Potential (rev. ed., 2011)
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
— 2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV)
The Christian life is a pilgrimage of being drawn toward a glorious end: to be with God, to delight in him, and to reflect his glory forever. This is not only our destination; it is our deepest joy, even now. The Christian tradition calls it the beatific vision: the fullness of life in the presence of God, seeing him face to face. Our calling, our formation, and our faithfulness are all aimed at this final joy.
The great eighteenth-century theologian Jonathan Edwards described all of creation in this way:
The refulgence shines upon and into the creature, and is reflected back to the luminary. The beams of glory come from God, and are something of God, and are refunded back again to their original. So that the whole is of God, and in God, and to God; and God is the beginning, middle and end in this affair.
— Jonathan Edwards, The End for Which God Created the World (1765)
This journey is one of participation: we learn to see the world and our lives as transparent to God’s presence, as signs drawing us deeper into communion with him. In Christ, our pilgrimage is not only toward heaven, but into the very life of God, even now, the God in whom “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
So, as pilgrims together, we keep walking. We train our hearts to be attentive. We speak to one another of the things of God. We open our lives to the transforming work of the Spirit. And we learn to delight in the One who is both our companion and our destination.
Let us walk on, toward glory, with joy.
Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart
Hast thou not bid me love thee, God and King? All, all thine own, soul, heart, and strength, and mind. I see thy cross; there teach my heart to cling: O let me seek thee, and O let me find.
Teach me to feel that thou art always nigh; teach me the struggles of the soul to bear, to check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh; teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.
Teach me to love thee as thine angels love, one holy passion filling all my frame; the baptism of the heaven-descended Dove, my heart an altar, and thy love the flame.
— George Croly (1854)
Hans Boersma, Seeing God: The Beatific Vision in Christian Tradition (2018)
George Croly, “Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart” (hymn, 1854)
Jonathan Edwards, A Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World (1765)
On "Growing Attentive Together"
Curated by the Eldership. For updates, questions or shared discernment, Contact Pastor Josh through connect@renewalchurch.ca
The material in Learning the Faith has been reviewed by the Eldership of Renewal Church, our pastors. It reflects what we believe and teach together, rooted in Scripture and in the faith of the Church across the centuries.
Questions are always welcome. If something in these guides raises a question, stirs a doubt, or makes you want to go deeper, please reach out to us. You don’t have to work it out alone. It would be our joy to walk with you.