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sensing faith
rev. dr. rodger nishioka - aug. 7-21, 2022
youth sunday - aug. 28, 2022

​Faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit and by God’s grace, comes to us through a variety of ways. Sometimes faith comes through something we hear: a song, a sermon, a conversation. Sometimes faith comes through something we feel: a gentle touch, a hug, a fresh breeze on a hot day. In this sermon series, Rev. Dr. Rodger Nishioka will explore how faith comes through taste, sight and smell.  
 
Aug. 7       Tasting Faith
Aug. 14     Seeing Faith
Aug. 21     Smelling Faith
Aug. 28    Youth Sunday: Sensing God

youth sunday: sensing god 8.28.22

We engage with God’s creation through our senses, and connecting faith to our experiences often takes reflection. God shows up, mysteriously and surprisingly, when we open our senses in faith. As we finish our series, “Sensing Faith,” our students are sharing with us how they have sensed God over the summer.

smelling faith 8.21.22 - rev. dr. rodger nishioka

Of the five classic senses (tasting, touching, hearing, smelling, seeing), smelling is the strongest trigger for emotion and memory. Dr. Jordan Gaines Lewis, a science communicator and postdoctoral researcher at Penn State University College of Medicine, says this is due to the brain’s anatomy. Incoming smells are first processed by the olfactory bulb, which starts inside the nose and runs along the bottom of the brain. The olfactory bulb has direct connections to two brain areas that are strongly implicated in emotion and memory: the amygdala and hippocampus. The other senses do not pass through these brain areas which is why smell, more than any other sense, is so powerful at triggering emotions and memories. The writer of the letter to the Ephesians calls upon us to be a “fragrant offering” to God and to the world. Today we will explore how we smell faith.

seeing faith 8.14.22 - rev. dr. rodger nishioka

tasting faith 8.7.22 - rev. dr. rodger nishioka

A bitter pill to swallow, sour grapes, savor the moment, whisper sweet nothings... words about taste are infused in much of our language. Based on the information that is transported from the tongue to the brain, there are five basic qualities of taste: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami, a Japanese word that is most closely associated with “savory.” Throughout the Bible, there are many moments when people taste. From the Psalmist who invites us to “taste and see that the Lord is good” to the gifts of manna for the Hebrews wandering in the wilderness to Jesus’ miracle of the loaves and fishes, the only miracle recorded in all four gospels, God invites us to taste faith. Our scripture reading today is Exodus 16:1-14.