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

This is a special musical presentation of A Mighty Fortress Is Our God with the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Since I will be on vacation beginning Wednesday, this will be my last sermon before the election. This does not mean that I am going to tell you who to vote for. I will be voting tomorrow. Many of you have voted by mail, others will take advantage of early voting and others will wait until election day. The important thing is to vote. Leading up to this election the political ads have gotten to be very tedious and I mute most of them. I believe it is best not to listen to them as there are so many half-truths in them that it is not good to base your vote on ads. We all desire people to see the same truth that we do, but unfortunately that is not the case. Thus, today on this Reformation Sunday, our texts point us to the truth that has kept the church moving forward since it began. We are pointed today to the person who represents truth and that is Jesus Christ. It is in John that we hear him say that he is the way, the truth, and the life and we can only get to God through him. This is a different kind of tru

This is a special musical presentation of I Know The Lord Laid His Hands on Me with the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

How many of us have said that we really don’t understand some people’s way of thinking? Our culture today has many conflicts and/or paradoxes. It hasn’t changed since the time of our Gospel lesson today. Only today it seems to be more polarized.           History continues to repeat itself and only we can be responsible for ourselves. The last verse of our Gospel lesson last week was “but many who are first will be last, and the last first”. Then in between last week and this week’s Gospel lesson Jesus forewarns of his pending death again.           So, when James and John ask Jesus to do for them what they want, you just want to say , “where did that come from?” Did they hear anything that Jesus had said? Following Jesus was about giving all that you had to help others. It wasn’t that long ago that that we heard Jesus say to follow means that disciples need to deny themselves.           James and John were attempting to put themselves above others, let alone their friends. Jesus challenged them, Are you

This is a special musical presentation of Heart of the Nations with the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Jesus has been and continues to be very pointed in what he is trying to teach. He is trying to prepare his disciples for his pending death and resurrection. Everyone seems to have their own idea of what the kingdom of God is supposed to look like. Jesus says it is very hard to enter the kingdom of God. He told them it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Most of us know what it is like to put a piece of thread through the eye of a needle. The disciples were greatly astounded and said to one another then how do we get in, how can we be saved? Jesus basically said that they can’t that only God can and will do this. For God, all things are possible. The Gospel lesson began with a man running up to Jesus and kneeling before him and asking, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good, but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false

In my study groups this past week, it was a challenge to discuss what some call as the big “D” word, divorce. Jesus chooses to take on the difficult issues that people face. Some of you may have experienced divorce personally or most likely it has been in your family.           My grandfather divorced my grandmother in 1952 after finding work out of town and another woman. My grandmother was left to raise 5 kids on her own and that is not easy, let alone in that day. My mother then went to live with a family for her senior high in high school and be their nanny. She did not speak to her father for a number of years. When she got married, she felt it was time to welcome him back into her life.           All of us make mistakes. I have said that relationships are the most difficult thing in life. We are dealing with ourselves and then how we interact with another human being and some on an intimate level. Since we are broken people, when you put two broken people together, no matter the level of relationship

This is a special musical presentation of Send Down The Rain with the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Today we are celebrating Michael and all Angels Sunday. This is a festival dedicated to the archangel Michael that started in the fifth Sunday in Rome. Michael is not a saint, but in Jewish angelology, he is one of the four arch angels who carry out the will of God. The stories about Michael center around war scenes which are battles between good and evil. The second lesson from Revelation today finds Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon, which relates to the serpent in Genesis. The serpent and dragon are seen as the devil or satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth along with his angels. The book of Revelation was written by John from the island of Patmos to Christians who were being persecuted by the Roman Empire. John received visions from an angel to comfort and challenge Christians. Revelation is an apocalypse or unveiling of what soon must take place. Although this is not a book to predict the future. It’s a message of hope for all Christians, for all ages. W

This is a special musical presentation of Pray For the People with the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

There seems to be a great deal of confusion or disagreements on who we welcome. We have people, including Christians who want to define who to welcome. It is one’s interpretation, but is the interpretation based on love or fear. The God that I read about and experience and see modeled through Jesus is about welcoming all out of love. I do not believe that we are called to be gate keepers to God’s beloved community. Yet there seem to be some Christians who believe they are. There are documents that are written and set to be introduced with a new president that would delete the terms sexual orientation and gender identity (“SOGI”), diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”), gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender-sensitive, and a number of other things, and any other term used to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights out of every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exists. This is the wording from the document.      

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

This is a special musical presentation of Revive Us Again with the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Many of us have been through exit interviews. They are about how learning about how we were received. I wonder if we would ever consider asking the question, “Who do people say that I am? In other words how would people describe me. We would have to be ready for anything depending on what had occurred during our time of employment.  There are a great number of unknowns when we ask the question.           The experiences that people have had in their lives will have an influence on their answer. If we tend to be a person who asks a lot of questions, this can stimulate people’s thinking or make people feel uncomfortable. I am a person who asks a fair amount of questions.           It is important for me to understand where people are coming from and to try and understand to the best of my ability what they mean. Depending upon where people are at in life, it may cause someone to be uncomfortable. Thus, we would need to be ready for any kind of answers. There is the key, to be ready.           How many of us

In my husband’s psychology practice, many had the diagnosis of Mental Retardation, now known as Intellectual Disability. Most of them were high functioning to the point, that one asked my husband, I hear people saying that I am mentally retarded, “What does that mean?” My husband told him that is was a level of functioning, but in reality, he told him that all of have disabilities. I believe that this is true. In a sense our weaknesses are disabilities. This is when we really need to ask for help. We will never be able to do everything well, even though sometimes we think we can. The older we get the more we realize that we can’t do everything also. God did not create us to do everything well. It took a lot of strength for this Gentile woman in our Gospel lesson to come before a Jewish man who was known for speaking out and healing to ask for help. The woman knew her daughter needed help, and she couldn’t take care of her. She did believe that Jesus could heal her daughter. Our text does not state that her da

This is a special musical presentation of This Little Light of Mine with the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical presentation of Down to the River with the Sinful Sinners at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

For Not with Swords Loud Clashing Lead on, O King eternal! The day of march has come; henceforth in fields of conquest your tents will be our home.  Through days of preparation your grace has made us strong; and now, O King eternal, we lift our battle song. Lead on, O King eternal, till sin’s fierce war shall cease, and holiness shall whisper the sweet amen of peace for not with swords loud clashing, nor roll of stirring drums, but deeds of love and mercy, the heavenly kingdom comes. Lead on, O king eternal; we follow not with fears, for gladness breaks like morning wher-e’er your face appears.  Your cross is lifted o’er us; we journey in its light; the crown awaits the conquest; lead on, O God of might!                                                                 Evangelical Lutheran Worship            805 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.  Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be

Last week I shared goals that were developed from the input that was received at our gatherings this past year. I need to let you know that they are still in progress and are being reviewed by the call committee. They will then go back to the council for final approval. You will then be able to see them in the Ministry Site Profile. The Ministry Site Profile was formulated and written by the Transition Team, is now being fine-tuned by the Call Committee and will then be brought back to the council for approval and then shared with you. Mike Nussdorfer is the head of our Call Committee. We will be installing them in September. Next week there will be news in the E-news from the Call Committee. I know the talk  about process gets old, but in reality this is what life is. The transition that we are in is a process and takes many turns, many that we do not expect. We would like to know how it is all going to go, but unfortunately that is not how God works. Everything is in God’s time. During times of transition,

This is a special musical presentation of The Lord's Prayer with Tammy Heilman, Bob Nelson, and Deb Borton-McDonough at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.