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

This is a special musical performance of In Christ Alone, performed by Christopher Lewis at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

The gospels are full of miracle stories, but there is only one miracle story that is told in all four gospels, and two of those gospels actually tell it twice – which means this miracle has real significance.  That miracle is the feeding of the 5000.  It is also interesting to compare this story as told in each of the gospels.  In Matthew, Mark and Luke, when faced with the perplexing problem of feeding so many people and not having nearly enough food to do so, the disciples are the ones to ask Jesus the question, “What will we do?”  But in John’s telling of the story, there is a major twist as we hear Jesus asking Philip, “What will we do?”    Jesus has been continually moving through Galilee doing the work of ministry – teaching, speaking words of hope, and healing people.  The crowds begin to follow him around because of the miraculous healings they have seen.  And, in today’s story, 5,000 men plus women and children follow him up a mountain wanting to see more of his astonishing healing power.  In John’s

This is a special musical performance from the Tenor and Bass Mens choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

In June of 1990, I was fortunate to be in Berlin on a performing tour.  After leaving Denmark, we entered what was then East Germany.  This happened to be just days before borders came down, and we then made our way to Berlin.  While we were in Berlin, the borders that had divided east from west did come down.  And, while we were in Berlin, we were able to chop down our own piece of the wall.  My piece of that memorable, insidious, hostile wall now sits on a bookshelf in my kitchen as a reminder of that trip and that historic event.  It also always reminds me of something else - that walls of hostility, whether concrete or metaphoric, are created because of fear and they ultimately divide families and nations as the Berlin wall did for so many years.    As we look at today’s reading in Ephesians, we hear about dividing walls, the dividing wall of hostility that had existed between “Jew” and “Gentile.”  The heart of this reading is Paul’s reminder that in Jesus Christ these two distinctive peoples have become

Today, we shared the experiences that our youth had in attending the ELCA Youth Gathering in Houston, Texas in June 2018. Below is a message from Katie Love, our Director of Christian Education. Also, to view a copy of the powerpoint that was shared at the end of this message click on the following link to download the file: http://bit.ly/2L2XARJ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good Morning,   Thank you for worshiping with us this morning and allowing the teens to share with you their joy and experience from the National Gathering. All I can say is “WOW”!!! What an absolutely amazing blessing it was to be able to co-lead this group to Houston. I know I can speak for Tara when I say I was blown away by the teenagers who went on this trip. Their compassion, flexibility, kind-heartedness, respect and patience were off the charts. It was awesome to see how God worked through and used each one of them on this trip. I was super excited for this trip because like one of our

This is a special musical presentation of Deep River by Christopher Lewis at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical presentation of Here & Now by Christopher Lewis at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Every day we go through life with preconceived notions and assumptions regarding the way we think of other people and the way in which we think events and situations might occur or ought to occur. These beliefs shape us and have an astounding impact on our perceptions of and reactions to the world around us, often without us even being aware of this influence.  Isaac Asimov, when talking about preconceived notions and assumptions, once said, “Your assumptions are your windows on the world.  Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.”  I think that is great advice and something all of us need to heed.  It is also great advice to keep in mind when looking at today’s gospel reading.  Quite frankly, the power of God is always breaking through and shattering our assumptions.  This is true today and it was true for Jesus when he began his ministry.  The writer of Mark’s gospel tells us Jesus has begun a ministry of healing people, casting out demons and proclaiming this new way of being and u

This is a special musical performance of The Lord's Prayer at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan by soloist, Ryan Thompson.

Today’s gospel story is so rich in meaning there simply is no way we have the time to cover everything it is communicating to us.  As I studied today’s passage while sifting through the fullness of the reading and deciding on a direction or focus for our time together this morning, I found this quote from Episcopal priest and author, Robert Capon, to be very helpful.  When summarizing the gospel message, Capon has said, “Jesus came to raise the dead.  The only qualification for the gift of the gospel is to be dead.  You don’t have to be smart.  You don’t have to be wise.  You don’t have to BE anything…..you just have to be dead.  That’s it.”  So, with this quote in mind as we look at today’s gospel, I guess the question for each of us this morning is, “Are we dead or alive?”  For many of us, our answer might depend on the kind of week we have just experienced.  Some of us possibly came here feeling very alive, and we might ask why we are feeling that way?  Is it because of a person?  Is it because of the love

This is a special musical performance of Twelve Gates into the City by the Treble Chorus at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

When we look at the countries in this world and the way each has defined its geographical territories we see that rivers, mountain ranges, oceans, and deserts can all serve as physical boundaries, separating one country from another. Many times, political boundaries between countries or states form along physical boundaries. For example, the boundary between France and Spain follows the peaks of the Pyrenees mountains, while the Alps separate France from Italy.  In our own country, bodies of water like the Great Lakes separate our country from Canada while the Rio Grande provides a boundary between our country and Mexico. In Biblical times, the Sea of Galilee was a well-defined boundary.  The Jewish people were on one side of the sea, and on the other side you would find those despicable Gentiles in the country of the Gerasenes.  As we begin to move through Mark’s gospel, we find that many of the recorded events beginning in chapter four take place on alternate sides of the Sea of Galilee.  And, the most dire

This is a special musical performance of There Is A Balm In Gilead by Tammy Heilman at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan

Jesus did not speak to them except in parables.  Yes, this was the form of teaching and communication Jesus used.  And, quite often, I think we misunderstand what parables are meant to do as we hear them.  You see, we are people who like to solve problems.  As we look at the parables of Jesus, we don’t have to go far to find interpretations of these stories that seem to suggest parables are often presented as problems to be solved—and that once solved they can offer us “instructions for living.”  However, as Pastor Nadia Bolz Weber suggests, “Parables are not neat little moralisms dressed in narrative. They are meant to be swallowed whole. Parables are living things meant to mess with our assumptions and subvert things we never even thought to question.”  And, as I have mentioned to you before, theologian, Eugene Peterson says, “Jesus’ parables are like explosive, narrative time bombs.  We hear them ticking away and we wonder about their meaning as they continue to go on ticking.  We think maybe we finally ha

This is a special musical performance by Deb Borton of The Journey Is My Own.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have had the privilege of spending some time with our grandson who is now nine months old.  He loves to play peek-a-boo.  He just loves to hide his face behind a blanket or object and then eagerly wait for us to ask, “Where’s William?”  When he hears those words, he is all smiles as he moves the blanket or whatever object it is he thinks he is hiding behind.  The ancient games of Peek-a-Boo and its close cousin Hide & Seek provide hours of glee-filled play for children as they hide behind objects, hide in bushes, under stairs, behind trees and in all kinds of places, just waiting to be found.  And, excitement always mounts as the whimsical pursuer or seeker happily stomps around searching for the hidden while calling out, “Where are you?”  Well, today as we hear this reading from Genesis, we hear the words, “Where are you?”  They are words that echo right down through the centuries and into our very lives.  This Genesis story we hear in our first reading is part of the sec

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”  He also said, “I am the resurrection and the life.”  In Jesus, we do find life, abundant life, life that truly matters.  And it is because of the gift of new life we have already been given in Jesus that we come together to worship on Sunday mornings.  Otherwise, there really is no reason to gather together.  So, as we worship and share the good news of this new life we have been given, music is the accompanying counterpoint to that life-giving message.  Theologian, Karl Barth, has said, “All history is point and counterpoint – two melodies running side by side – God’s and that of humanity.  Alone, one of them is always incomplete, even God’s.  God preferred to die rather than be without us.”  Taken together there is meaning and beauty in the rise and fall of these two melodies.  And, in Jesus, their temporal dissonance, the discord that we often see and experience, is already resolved into final harmony.  It is a done deal, folks.  And, we live our daily l

This is a special musical performance of They Shall Soar Like Eagles by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical performance of The Gift of Love by the Faith Bells of Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan

This is a special musical performance of One Steps He Leads by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.