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

This is a special musical performance by the Faith Bell Choir of Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special Musical Performance by the Chancel Choir and Joyful Noise Childrens' Chorus at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, MI

This is a special Musical Performance by the Joyful Noise Childrens' Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, MI

This is a special musical performance of Shout Amen by the Faith Lutheran Joyful Noise Childrens' Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical performance of How Beautiful by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Today, we celebrate the birth of the church. And, as we gather for this celebration, our party is a dangerous one. In fact, this party has been a dangerous event from day one. Our story begins on an ordinary day, roughly 2,000 years ago when a small group of believers isolated themselves all together in one place. These disciples huddled together in isolation because they were afraid. It is quite likely they were afraid of outsiders so they stayed clustered and cloistered together as one group. Had they known what was about to happen, they would likely have separated and spread out. You see, after all they had been through, what was about to happen would have freaked out even the bravest amongst us. As they clustered together in their small group, they were in danger but not from outsiders. The danger they were in as they huddled all together in one place, was from a God who was about to crash the party and bring in everyone they were trying to avoid. Yes, God did crash that party and, with the force of a mig

Today, we hear Jesus pray a prayer for all his followers and for each one of us, and his prayer is all about his desire that we live in a relationship of self-giving love with God and each other.  That is God’s desire for us and for the world.

This is a special music performance of Morning has Broken by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir.

The known God in whom we live and move and have our being opens us to understanding the love of God. God’s salvation is intended to embrace all creation.  For all those who are seeking, we have Good News to share!  The gift that overcomes the world’s exclusions, the gift that enables us to truly define reality, is the loving relationship that is God’s very nature.  And, that God of love abides in us and even crosses our limits.  This known God has infinite love for the world and, like Paul, we are commanded to live this message by sharing God’s love and Good News with others.

This is a special performance from the Faith Lutheran Flutes of Faith of Fleur-Di-Lis by Gillis.

This is a special performance from the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir of I Am For You

God is showering you with the abundant, eternal life only the Good Shepherd can give, life that truly matters.  Listen to his voice telling you that you are accepted, you belong to God and you are deeply loved by a God who will always hold you in that love and never let you go.

This is a special musical performance by the Joyful Noise Childrens' Choir of He Knows My Name by Walker.

This is a special musical performance by the Joyful Noise Childrens' Choir of Tree Song by Ken Medema.

This is a special musical performance of Run, Mary Run by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir.

Yes, there is always an Emmaus.  Christ joins himself to us as we are traveling on the way and we, too, begin to feel our hearts burning within us.  Opening our hearts and our minds to God’s presence, we then can live out in our time what he lived and died to prove.  As we share the broken bread, it nurses our broken faith and nourishes our courage to leave our grave-clothes behind and vacate the vault of our defeated and broken dreams.  Renewed by the resurrected Christ, we respond by moving from where we are to meet the world head on, ready to face the risk and change that God’s presence allows.  As our hearts burn within us, this burning becomes a light that empowers us to reveal God’s love to others, continuing God’s ministry through our acts of compassion and mercy, welcoming and caring for all others, and living into God’s dream of justice for this broken world. 

This is a special musical performance of I am sending you by Mary McDonald performed by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.  

Earth Day Sunday is a day to celebrate God's creation. When God created the world, God blessed it and called it very good.  In today's gospel, Jesus reveals himself to Thomas.  God is continually revealing God's self to us.  As we celebrate the Creation God has given us, we find God is revealed through the beauty, power, abundance, and mystery of the natural world.  Through wind and flame, water and wilderness, creatures and seasons, God is continually present and active in the world.  So, on this Earth Day Sunday, we, a community of people who believe that all of Creation praises the Creator, commit ourselves to become more deeply involved in Creation care as an integral part of our faith and love for God and neighbor. For the human family, our home is the Earth, the environment that God the Creator has given us to inhabit with creativity and responsibility.  

This is a special performance by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir of the Easter Echo Carol with brass quartet members: Sho Dembinski, Shannon Sheldrick on Trumpet and Drew Kilpela and Kyle Tilstra on Trombone.

The Service of Tenebrae has a rich tradition in the church dating back to the eight century. Tenebrae is a word derived from Latin meaning "darkness." Through word and music, this service dramatizes the suffering, death, and burial of Jesus Christ.  As the service moves from light into darkness, the diminishing light symbolizes the fading devotion of the apostles as well as the gradual dying of our Lord.