Pilgrim Church

Being Human (in an AI age), Can Chatbots Pray? with Josh LiemMatthew 6:5-13; Romans 8:22-27What makes a prayer a prayer? This Sunday, in our Being Human (in an AI Age) series, we turn to Jesus’ teaching on prayer in Matthew 6 and Paul’s words about the Spirit’s “inexpressible groanings” in Romans 8. We’ll look at why prayer isn’t a way of controlling God, what Jesus shows us in Gethsemane, and why being prayed for by a friend is irreplaceable.

For reflection & discussion:

1. What’s the difference between a chatbot saying they’ll pray, or writing a prayer, or speaking a prayer through text-to-voice, and a human praying?

2. What are your questions about prayer? (consider sending them to the Q&R)  Discuss unaddressed gaps or questions or previous assumptions about prayer that may have been brought up in the sermon.

3. What have been or are some of the hardest (un)answered prayers in your life?

4. What is your current rhythm of prayer?  Or, what keeps you from a rhythm of prayer?  

5. Who is someone you feel called to pray for?  Consider reaching out to them if they’re not in this room.

Further resources:

• Darrell Johnson, Fifty-Seven Words that Change the World: A Journey Through the Lord’s Prayer

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible

• John Mark Comer, Into the Quiet: Following Jesus in a World of Noise

Desperate Faith: Lessons from Jesus on Miracles and Healing with guest Darryn Botha

Mark 5:21-43

In Mark 5, we encounter two desperate people: a father whose daughter is dying, and a woman who has suffered for twelve years. Both come to Jesus with seemingly impossible situations—and both encounter the power and compassion of God.  But what can their stories teach us about faith, healing, and the character of Jesus?  Drawing on my own journey through cancer, unanswered prayers, and the discovery of God’s faithfulness in the midst of uncertainty, we’ll explore what it means to trust Jesus when life doesn’t turn out the way we expected.

For reflection & discussion:

1. What stood out to you most from the sermon, and why?

2. How does this message challenge or affirm your current understanding of God or faith?

3. Was there a specific story, scripture, or phrase that you found especially meaningful or difficult?

4. How can we live this out together in our daily lives or as a group?

5. What is one step you feel invited to take this week in response to the sermon?

Darryn Botha is the Lead Pastor at Midtown Church, where he is passionate about preaching, teaching, and helping people connect biblical truth with everyday life. His ministry is marked by a love for people and a desire to communicate God’s Word in ways that are both understandable and transformative.

Originally from South Africa, Darryn is married to Kim, dad to Kait and Dani, and father-in-law to Noah. He enjoys reading, exercising, coffee, and relaxing in his hot tub. Fun fact: he’s been bitten by a shark!

Made for Rest with Josh Liem

Genesis 1:31-2:3; Deuteronomy 5:12-15

In 1930, the economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that by now technology would have us working fifteen hours a week.  So why are we busier than ever? This Thanksgiving Sunday, as we continue our series Being Human (in an AI Age), we turn to one of the oldest and strangest gifts in Scripture: a day when nothing gets done. From Pharaoh’s storehouses to manna in the wilderness, we’ll ask what Sabbath rest has to say to a world that never logs off.

The Vocation of Reconciliation with Josh Liem

2 Corinthians 5:14-6:2

If a machine can do what you were trained to do, faster and cheaper, what are you here for? This Sunday we turn to 2 Corinthians 5, where Paul answers critics who ranked him as unimpressive, and discover that our first calling is not a career but the ministry of reconciliation. Come wrestle with what makes work meaningful and human.

For reflection & discussion:

1. What was the first job you ever had, and what's one thing it taught you that you still carry?

2. Paul says believers have been reconciled to God, yet pleads with them to "be reconciled to God." How do you make sense of both being true?

3. Where are you most tempted to measure yourself, or others, by an "outward human point of view": productivity, appearance, income, followers, or comparison against AI?

4. Who in this group has a clear sense of their calling, and how did they come to it? Share stories of nudges, catastrophes, or slow realizations that clarified what life was asking of you.

5. Where do you feel energy in your soul to work?  Is it a specific problem, relationship, tension, injustice, creative endeavour, or something else?  Would anyone here affirm these hints of a calling or shape of ministry of reconciliation?  

6. Paul's tentmaking was a deliberate choice that served his ministry. How might your day job, or your daily responsibilities if you aren't employed, become a place where reconciliation actually happens between people, or between people and God?

7. Many people in our city are anxious about AI and the future of work. Is there someone in your workplace or neighbourhood carrying that anxiety whom you could listen to this week? How might this group help people facing job loss or career change?

Growing Through Giving with Guest Dr Ed Ng

Genesis 1:25-27; 2:7, 20-23

In an age of AI companions and increasingly virtual relationships, what constitutes a "real" relationship? Drawing from Genesis and the Christian understanding of the Trinity, this sermon explores what it means to be made in the image of God-is-relationship. Being made in God's image calls us into relationships where we give ourselves, seek the flourishing of others, and discover that, paradoxically, we grow most fully through love.

For reflection & discussion:

1. What stood out to you most from the sermon, and why?

2. How does this message challenge or affirm your current understanding of God or faith?

3. Was there a specific story, scripture, or phrase that you found especially meaningful or difficult?

4. How can we live this out together in our daily lives or as a group?

5. What is one step you feel invited to take this week in response to the sermon?

Dr. Edward Ng is a Registered Psychologist in private practice in Vancouver and is the founder and director of Eastgate Psychological Services. He provides counselling services to individuals and some couples, and provides consultations for leaders looking for relational and cultural insight.

Can AI Cure Loneliness with Josh Liem

Genesis 2; John 17

Before sin, death, and the devil, God declared one thing “not good.”  This Sunday, we’re in Genesis 2, where neither God, nor solitude, nor every other living creature was suitable for the first human.  The earthling needed another like him, yet different.  Come explore the implications of artificial companions in our created need to be known and in community.

For reflection & discussion:

1. If you could have any animal companion for life, what would you choose?  

2. What is the difference between loneliness and solitude?

3. Where do you use AI in your own life?  

4. How would you suggest that we / the church address loneliness practically?  

5. Who do you know is someone who wouldn’t reach out first when they feel lonely?  What could you do for them this week?

For further reflection: are there places you use AI that you would hide or be ashamed of?  Why?  Is there someone you could trust to be open about your usage of AI?

Behold the Human with Josh Liem

Genesis 1:26-28; John 19:5

As artificial intelligence reshapes how we work, connect, and seek answers, what does it mean to be human? We begin our series, Being Human in the AI Age, by exploring humanity’s creation in God’s image and looking to Jesus—the image of the invisible God, standing wounded before Pilate. Together, we’ll consider how his life invites us to use our power, respond to suffering, and grow in love for our neighbours.

For reflection & discussion:

Jesus seems to invite us to enter into the suffering of others as he does.  What suffering do you see?  What would entering into that suffering look like? 

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector with Josh Liem

Luke 18:9-14

We close our series on the provocative parables of Jesus with the one about the Pharisee and the Tax collector.  And Jesus brilliantly baits the trap with two people to compare while teaching disciples to stop comparing themselves to others.  Will you take the bait?

For reflection & discussion:

1. Who are you most tempted to compare yourself to, and why?

2. Who is the “tax collector,” the person or group or demographic of people that you’d find scandalous imagining God welcoming?

3. What is your relationship to the spiritual disciplines mentioned here: prayer, fasting, tithing?  Consider finding or reviewing your rhythm / rule of life with a spiritual friend or mentor.

Further Resources:

Timothy A. Friedrichsen,  “The Temple, a Pharisee, a Tax Collector, and the Kingdom of God: Rereading a Jesus Parable (Luke 18:10-14A),” Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 124, No. 1 (Spring, 2005), pp. 89-119.

A New Approach to Uncertainty with Guest Rev. Dave Mohr

John 15:5-11

Life can throw things at us that are so overwhelming they demand a totally different approach. In John 15, Jesus gives His disciples—and us—a radically different way to face uncertainty, difficulty, and everything the world throws our way. This weekend, we’ll discover what it really means to remain in Him, stay close, and find the kind of life and joy that can only come from Jesus.

For reflection & discussion:

1. Jesus says, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.” What do you think it practically looks like to “stay close” to Jesus in the middle of an ordinary week?

2. The sermon contrasts “trying to become a better version of myself” with allowing Jesus to produce fruit through me. Where are you most tempted to rely on your own strength rather than Jesus’ strength?

3.  “Remaining in Him is not the same as imitating Him.” What do you think is the difference between trying to act like Jesus and actually allowing Jesus to work through you?

4. Think about a current area of uncertainty, difficulty, or frustration in your life. How might that situation look different if your first response were, “Jesus, I can’t—but You can, through me”?

5. Jesus says that He wants His joy to be in us and that our joy may be complete. What connection do you see between staying close to Jesus and experiencing His joy—even when circumstances remain difficult?

For personal reflection: What is one area of your life where Jesus may be inviting you to stop trying harder and simply stay closer?

--

Before becoming the executive minister for the BCBA, Dave served as the pastor of an CMA church in Calgary, Alberta. Having been married since 1991, he and his wife, Kim, have three adult children. Though he has been geographically displaced fan for some time, Dave is a life-long Edmonton Oilers fan.

The 5 Brothers with Josh Liem

Luke 16:19-31

This Sunday, we will explore the disturbing parable about a rich man and Lazarus, and the unbridgeable chasm between Hades and paradise.  Is this a map of the afterlife, or about the people right in front of us?

For reflection & discussion:

1. Who is the “Lazarus” at your gate?

2. Is the fear of hell or some image of the afterlife driving what you do?  

3. What impossibility in heart change do you need God to move in?  Consider praying for that right now.

4. What is your current God-honouring process around eating/feasting?  As a spiritual discipline, try either fasting a meal that you would normally eat alone, or inviting someone outside of your comfort zone to a meal this week.