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

For those of you who either read her book or were able to come and hear Jacqueline Bussie in February, you will remember she talked about the many unspoken “rules” or “laws” Christians so often feel they must obey, rules that are often more harmful than helpful.  Bussie urges us to be Outlaw Christians and break some of those rules.  She describes Outlaw Christianity as a new, life-giving faith for those who ache for a more authentic relationship with God and other people by no longer having to hide their doubt, anger, grief, scars, or questions.  Jacqueline says that one of the unspoken laws people tend to follow is this:  Don’t doubt.  Doubt is faith’s opposite and is therefore sinful.  She suggests most people have grown up believing this very harmful rule.  Bussie then reminds us, as theologian Paul Tillich did, that doubt is a very necessary element in faith.  In fact, a living faith includes doubt and such doubt requires risk and courage.  Bussie, when talking about doubt being a good and necessary elem

This is the special music, Festival Introit for Easter sung by the chancel choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is the special music, Now is Christ Risen by Handel and Hopson sung by the chancel choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

I am sure many of you remember the closing theme song on the PBS show, Lamb Chop’s Play-Along, which was hosted by puppeteer, Shari Lewis.  It was “The Song That Doesn’t End.”  “This is a song that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends….”  At the end of each episode, the puppets and children would sing several continual verses as that song just keeps going on and on, and Shari Lewis would in vain try to stop them.  It was one of those songs that just kept repeating inside your head.  The Song That Never Ends.  Well, today we come to celebrate another song that does not end…the song of joy and of hope, the song of the resurrected Lord.  And, this is a song that keeps repeating in our being for the rest of our lives. The beginning of the end in Mark’s gospel is very much like the other gospels.  It is early on Sunday morning and the women are headed to the tomb while it is still dark.  In their grief, they are carrying spices to embalm Jesus’ body because they had not been able to do this when he was wr

This is a special musical performance of All Glory Laud & Honor by the Faith Bells!

This is a special musical performance of Lenten Love Song by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir.

This is the service from Palm Sunday on March 25, 2018

This is the sermon based on Matthew 5: 10-12 from the service on March 21, 2018

This is special music from the Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos Michigan's childrens' choir Joyful Noise as they sing Wade in the Water.

Many of you know that I am a huge proponent of systems thinking.  I truly believe understanding systems and the way they function is vital if we are going to understand the many processes that take place within any organization, whether it is within the church, within our families and even within our very selves.  Systems thinking is the process of understanding how various actions within systems, influence other components and affect the whole.  Systems thinking can be applied to many facets of life.  Our families are considered systems, government is a system, politics is a system, education is a system, healthcare is a system, we have a financial and economic system that drives the way we live, religion often becomes a system, and faith communities function as a system.  The way we use power and authority can become a system – unfortunately often a system of domination where we leverage power over others in a very unhealthy manner.  The list of types of systems goes on and on….   Each system is often made

This is a special musical performance of Once Upon a Tree by the Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan's  Chancel Choir.

Come and hear the Gospel of John 2: 13-22 this morning as we explore Jesus Clearing the Temple and what that means in our own lives.

This is a special musical performance from the Faith Lutheran Okemos Chancel Choir of Jesus Clear the Temple.

I am sure all of you know what a cliché is.  Clichés are phrases that, upon their inception, were striking and thought-provoking.   However, as they started to catch on, people began overusing them, making them seem trite, and turning them into what we now know as clichés.  Well, as we look at today’s gospel reading, we come across a verse that has truly become a cliché.  It is probably the best-known Bible verse ever.  While many people may know very little of scripture, they know John 3:16.  And, quite honestly, this verse is often misunderstood.  I love what Lutheran Pastor, Nadia Bolz Weber, says regarding most Christians’ insight into this Scripture passage.  Giving a brief, snarky synopsis of people’s early Sunday School understanding of this passage, she writes: Basically, God created us and all that is, but because the first woman ate something she shouldn’t have we are basically screwed for all of time. And since we are all so terrible at following rules God needs to punish us. But here’s where Jesus

This is a sermon from the Lenten service based on the Gospel of Matthew 5:4 

This is a special musical performance by the Faith Bells of Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan of O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.

This is a special musical performance by the chancel choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan of I Will Keep My Eyes On You.

Historian, Douglas Brinkley, writes: “Usually, one day in a century rises above the others as an accepted turning point or historic milestone. It becomes the climactic day, or 'the day,' of that century.”  9/11 was a huge turning point for our country.  And, I suspect there are more to come in this century.  Turning points bring major change and they cause us to move in a different direction.  Turning points can cause global change, change within an entire culture or, if the turning point is in our own life, it can cause us as individuals to change the direction we are going.  I know I have experienced turning points in my life and it is because of those turning points that I am here today. Well, today we come to the place in the gospel where we find the central turning point in Mark.  Just before this reading, Jesus has asked the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” In response, impetuous Peter had gotten all excited and professed that Jesus is indeed the long-promised Messiah.  And now, Jesus immediately

Come and here a Sermon based on the Gospel of Matthew 5: 1-3

On this first Sunday in Lent we intentionally embark on a forty-day journey to the cross.  And every year, on this first Sunday in Lent, we encounter Jesus experiencing forty days in the desert as we begin our forty-day journey.  As Mark tells the story, we find Jesus is driven or pushed into the wilderness.  The gospel writer tells us Jesus has just been baptized by John, an experience in which he saw the sky violently split open and God’s Spirit descend upon him in the form of a gentle dove.  He has just heard God’s voice say to him, “You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love.  You are the pride of my life.”  Then, immediately following this experience the same Spirit that descended upon him as a gentle dove, turns into a dive bomber or mac truck and pushes Jesus out into the wild.  We are not given any hint or clue that Jesus chose to do this of his own volition.  The writer of Mark’s gospel makes it clear that Jesus was forcefully driven or pushed into the wilderness by the Spirit, something outside of