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

As we prepare for Easter, this is the special Good Friday presentation of the Cantata, Once Upon a Tree. 

Boxes.  We are always creating these mental boxes or categories in which we are placing people, assigning labels and then feeling very uncomfortable when people do not fit our assigned boxes.  In fact, some tend to get angry when people do not fit into their perceived boxes.  We do this with all kinds of people, and we are so very, very good at doing this with God.  We are forever boxing God in.  We, who consider ourselves good “church people” regularly try to place God in boxes like tradition or even religious patriotism.   And, we are forever trying to remake God in our image.  We are forever trying to place God’s very self into a box based on our perception of God, one that was usually formed during our childhood education but never develops and grows beyond that early understanding.  Furthermore, we want to make sure other people’s understanding of God fits into the God box we create because we are so comfortable with our perceptions and traditions and we don’t want to find ourselves feeling uncomfortable

This is a special musical performance of Do This and Remember Me by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan

I must confess something.  I am totally and completely dependent upon my GPS.  And, I must confess, not only do I get geographically lost as I travel from place to place, I have also been figuratively lost at various points in my life.  There have been times in life when I have truly felt emotionally and spiritually lost.  Today, Jesus speaks to us about getting lost and, of all the parables Jesus told, the story of the Prodigal Son is perhaps the most profound.   Today’s gospel reading tells of a father who had two sons.  The younger son, wanting to get away from home, asks for his future inheritance, a share of his father's estate.  He wants his own life apart. This younger son seems cocky, confident, arrogant and self-reliant as he essentially says: "Give me my part of your stuff, Dad. I'm going to take off and live by myself."  His father willingly gives it to him, and the young man runs off to a distant country, quickly squandering his inheritance.  Soon he finds himself knee deep in pig slop, feeling ve

This is a special musical presentation of Don't My Lord Deliver Daniel by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Today, Tula Ngasala shares with us more news about the water project in Tanzania. Faith Lutheran has been instrumental in the development of this project. Tula will update us on the work that has been done and what still needs to be done. This project represents one of the ways our congregation is participating in giving life to a community as well as working to diligently be good stewards of our earthly environment

This is a special musical performance of Come to the Water by the Faith Lutheran Church's Chancel Choir. 

This is a special musical performance of Children of the Heavenly Father by the Faith Lutheran Church Faith Bells Bell Choir.

This is a special musical performance of Jerusalem by the Faith Lutheran Church Chancel Choir.

Today, Pastor Ellen Shoepf and Rev. Dr. Niklaus C. Schillack talk about Samaritas and the work of our church. The Rev. Dr. Niklaus C. Schillack (Pastor Nik) serves as the Director of Congregational Engagement for Samaritas. He was previously a pastor on the prairies of Minnesota, a pastor developer in an exurban Michigan community, and most recently a pastor and head of staff in a suburban Detroit congregation. A native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, his degrees include a B.B.A. in Accounting from Eastern Michigan University, an M.Div. from Trinity Lutheran Seminary, and a D.Min. in Congregational Mission and Leadership from Luther Seminary. Pastor Nik is married to Whitney and they have two daughters. He enjoys history, economics, gardening, travel, kayaking, and miniature golf.

This is a special musical presentation of a number of songs from the Flutes of Faith at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan. 

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

There is a focus in present culture on what some call mindfulness.  Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are, aware of what we are doing, and not be overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.  I think mindfulness requires an element of intentionality in which one is directly focused toward some object or situation.  As we begin this Lenten season, we are invited to be mindful of where Jesus is leading us and embrace an intentional way of living and being in this world. If given a choice, most of us are not going to be intentional about choosing a path in life that is filled with difficulty.  However, I must say that spiritual depth and growth happen as we mindfully respond to the trials, troubles, temptations, testing and fear that arise in life.  For many of us, it is in those times of challenge that we truly learn dependence on God.  In such times we find that God graciously provides for all our needs in all of life’s seasons. As we begin our forty-

This is a special musical performance of Masterpiece For Handbells by  Faith Lutheran's Bell Choir

This is a special musical performance of Awesome God by the Faith Lutheran Joyful Noise Children's Choir

The transfiguration is frustrating for disciples—past and present—who long for an unmediated experience of God. Jesus’ glory is revealed, and then, just as suddenly, a cloud descends and the vision fades. And even though Paul contrasts the Christian’s experience of God with Moses’s veiled experience of God, he notes that we see the glory of the Lord “as though reflected in a mirror” (2 Cor. 3:18). Even with unveiled faces, we don’t see directly, or even clearly. Even when God is revealed in shining glory, much remains veiled and hidden. As he witnesses Jesus’ transfiguration, Peter’s understanding remains veiled; ours does too. The glimpses we get of God’s glory—through the veil or reflected in the mirror—are expectation-shattering, alarming, overwhelming, and awesome. The love of God shines too brightly to view directly, and yet we do have the privilege of directly experiencing that love in baptism, in communion, in service to God, and in relationship with God’s creation and our neighbors in need. The veils

This is a special musical performance of Days of Elijah by the Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos Michigan's Chance Choir.

This is the sermon based on Luke 6: 27-38 from February 24, 2019.

Last week, our gospel focused on call.  It specifically focused on Jesus’ call to Peter and the disciples.  Today, Jesus addresses the disciples, those who have chosen to follow him, those who have made a real commitment to follow him.  Today, as Jesus comes down from the mountain to the plain to speak, it is clear the writer of Luke’s gospel wants us to know that Jesus’ words today are spoken to the disciples, to the church, to those who follow him.  As Jesus looks out on the followers who stand before him, he sees the poor, the weak, the oppressed, the women, and the slaves, and he begins preaching a radical sermon proclaiming the promise of a new society.  This Great Sermon on the Plain is a call to a radical way of discipleship, a way of living in the world that turns the way of the world upside down, because what he is essentially saying is, “Blessed are all of you who are disregarded by the powerful, for you are God’s beloved community.”  In this sermon, as Jesus lays out his vision of a new community,

This is a special music presentation of Deep Water by the Faith Lutheran Church Chancel Choir with a solo by Tammy Heilman.