Your Faith Journey - Finding God Through Words, Song And Praise

This is a special musical presentation of Keep Your Lamps, performed today by the Chancel Choir with Nick Hirshenberger on Percussion at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Today we are celebrating the resources that God has entrusted to us to use in the community. We have heard from three of those ministries. Our Noisy Offering that was taken today goes to support another important ministry and that is our Micro-Food Pantry. These ministries all are in obedience to the command to love our neighbor as ourselves.    Unless we our visible in the community, it is difficult for people to see Jesus at work. I want to state that we do not do outreach to gain members. This may be a possible outcome, but not the reason we are called to be present in the community.   Throughout the Gospel of Matthew, we have been hearing the Kingdom of Heaven is like…. It is like sharing what God has entrusted to us with those who are in need. While we are waiting, this is what we have been called to do.   In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus talks about waiting. He tells a story about 10 bridesmaids waiting for the bridegroom. Part of this waiting is being prepared. All 10 bridesmaids have lamps. But fiv

This is a special musical presentation of Sing to the Lord, performed today by the Sinful Singers at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan

Today we gather to remember the saints who have lived and served faithfully. This body of Christ meant something to them, and this is what kept them active here. Today we have heard from present saints who have found a home here and are active. On this All Saints Sunday, when we come to the table, remember that we will all be together around Jesus. My mother has always said that when she takes communion she is taking it with those saints who are already at home. We are the communion of saints gathering around Jesus to be strengthened, to be reminded that we have and continue to receive forgiveness, salvation and new life. Everyone is welcome at this table. Today In our second lesson from Revelation we hear about one of John’s visions. Picture this - There was a great multitude of people gathered before the throne. They were from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, robed in white with palm branches in their hands. What a picture of diversity and inclusion! Gathering before the throne can b

This is a special musical presentation of Hear, Oh Israel, performed today by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan

Another incident of gun violence in Maine. Israel has begun stage 2 their ground attack. We have a new Speaker of the House. People have all different ways of viewing these things. Christians have different ways of viewing these things. Thus, what is the churches’ role in all of these things. Some would say stay out of it. Can we do that if we are commanded to love our neighbor when our neighbor includes everyone? Our neighbors are affected by gun violence, whatever decisions the House now makes, and innocent people are being killed and dying in the Israel/Hamas conflict. I would not tell you how to act on these things, but I will suggest through what lens to view them. Feelings are involved in all of these things and as much as they can give energy, they can also skew our lens in which to view them. So, what role does the church play in these things? I do not believe that the church should tell us what to believe about these things, but rather who to believe in, in order to see what our role and view of them

This is a special musical presentation of Total Praise, performed today by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Join Bishop Craig A. Satterlee as he shares the sermon on October 22 at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos. Michigan.

When I can read for fun, I enjoy reading mysteries. I remember reading the Happy Hollisters when I was in late elementary school. It was about a family who figured things out. When I go on vacation I have read a number of books by James Patterson and Tess Gerritson. I like to figure things out. Some of these stories leave you until the very end before everything falls into place. Jesus likes to tell stories that leave us scratching our heads, such as the parable of the wedding banquet which is our Gospel lesson for today. Over the years we have often tried to equate God in some way with one of the characters. That doesn’t work this time.  When we try to compare God to the king, at first it seems to fit as the king was inviting everyone to the wedding banquet. The wedding banquet sometimes has been thought of as the final banquet where we all sit down with Christ. But people don’t seem to be interested in coming. This celebration and how it went reflected on the king. Thus, when people started refusing to

This is a special musical presentation of My Shepherd Will Supply My Need, performed today by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir with Gwynne Kadrofske on flute and Ian Morgan on oboe at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus is telling yet another parable. I wonder if Jesus doesn’t think that his crowd, which included church leaders, chief priests and Pharisees, were not getting his point. Or maybe Jesus knew they understood what he was saying but they were not willing to admit it. Here Jesus was telling another story that was really about his audience, especially the church leaders. I can’t directly recall anyone or myself fully using this approach to get a point across. But what does come to mind is an Old Testament character that listened to a story told by a prophet, and he recognized himself in the story. That character being David. So the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story: “There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle. The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man’s own plate and drank from his cup. He

This is a special musical presentation of Jubilate Deo, performed today by the Faith Lutheran Singing Sinners Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘authority’? Who has authority? How do we get it? Do we want it? Sometimes the older you get the less you want, other than over your own life. The way our world is set up there are levels of authority. The way our church is set up there are levels of authority. The way our lives are set up there is authority. We are surrounded by authority. In some respect we have a choice whether we want to recognize it or not. Often there is a price to pay if we don’t recognize authority. We first learn about authority in our homes growing up. Our parents or guardians are the first authority figures that we meet. Parents set healthy expectations to help children learn how to set healthy boundary lines for their own lives. As we are growing up we desire autonomy over our lives and once we have it we find out that it takes work to maintain it.           Throughout history we have seen healthy uses of authority and unhealthy. We have seen this in the church and in homes. Unhealthy auth

Pentecost 17 – A -09/24/2023 It is so easy to plan out how something should happen. Often we don’t consider all of the variables. There will be different approaches when we work with one or more people other than ourselves. Each one of us processes differently. All of us have different skill sets and experience. Yet as human beings we have our set of expectations that we think are the right way to accomplish something. What have we learned and experienced about our expectations? The more set-in stone our expectations, the more disappointments and frustration that we may experience. So often we want someone to do something differently than they have ever done it before. When it doesn’t happen, the way want it to, we become frustrated and irritated with the person. In reality, we have set ourselves up for failure. It says that we have not paid attention to this person to see how they work, how they process. We have not really listened to them and considered their skill sets and experience. I’m not trying to pla

This is a special musical presentation of Whoever Would Be Great Among You, performed today by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical presentation of Ten Thousand Reasons, performed today by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus continues to teach his disciples and us how to live in his kingdom. Today we hear Jesus talking about forgiveness. It seems that Peter wants to push the ticket and really get Jesus to spell it out. So, Jesus did, in telling a parable. One has to wonder if Peter liked the answer. The king was very generous, and he was hoping that this was a model for his servants. Unfortunately, that was not the case. In the end the generosity was basically revoked.  This was a harsh revoking of generosity by the king. This is where we need to be careful not to totally compare the king to God. Jesus was trying to make a point, but we do not know this to be God’s nature. What we understand Jesus to be saying is how important it is to forgive and from your heart. We know that there are some things that are easier to forgive than others. When forgiveness is needed it means that there is some kind of brokenness. For forgiveness to happen a change needs to occur in one or both parties. Sometime

Healthy communication is the key to all healthy relationships. I believe that you would agree with this. As soon as there is a disagreement, our healthy communication is tested. How can we continue to hear each other and in communicate in a healthy manner? In reality, we know that we will never agree on everything. If this can be used as a premise for a relationship, then it is not so much of a surprise when there is a disagreement. Too often, it is not, and communication breaks down. There are many stories of churches splitting because a person was not invited to a party. In reality, we know it is how it was handled that caused the split. I have done couples counseling. Unfortunately, often by the time that they came to see me, I had to interpret English between the two. I set the chairs up so that they were facing each other. Boundary lines were set. Many times, they could just not hear what the other was trying to communicate. I understood what they were saying but needed to assist them in hearing what eac

This is a special musical presentation of Good and Simple Gifts, performed today by the Singing Sinners Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

When I think of how fast everything fell into place for me to arrive and begin here, it really has been a whirlwind. Yes, I considered my options, but I could have just as easily decided I did not want to start over again and I could have retired or at least stayed in the UP. I tried to weigh out my needs and what or who God was calling me to. If I had thought any longer, I could have allowed fear and uncertainty to lead me. I could have also said yes and then allowed my fears and anxieties to take over. Since I have made other major moves, I felt if this is where God is calling me to, it would work out.  I can’t tell you that there were not times that I thought about stopping the whole process. There are so many details, and one has to stay amiable in order to navigate changes. When I got the flat tire in St. Ignace on my way down to my home inspection, I could have thought that this was a sign to stop the process, but I just decided that I had to breathe and make it work. Fortunately, I come from a family s