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

Have you noticed that some people feel called to put themselves in the middle of conflict? Sometimes those of us are transitional or interim pastors can find ourselves there. I have seen some people run from it and others run to it. I feel that I am some place in between the two. My husband and I were members of a church where I began being the director of the contemporary group. We did worship every Sunday. The pastor retired and he had not dealt with conflict the entire time that he was there. 2 Interim pastors came. One took the regular pastoral responsibilities, and he ran from conflict and the other did the transition work and she ran to it. I did my best to only observe. The transitional pastor actually helped form and put together the training for the intentional interim pastors. One needs to understand that there will be conflict and disagreements. It takes the ability to separate out yourself and set boundary lines. One needs to have the ability to listen to all people. Conflict is normal and you

This is a special musical presentation of Majesty by Addie Thompson and Deb Borton-McDonough playing the handbells at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan

What is sabbath or what is the sabbath day? Different religions have different days, thus we can’t say one day is totally right or wrong? Christians have said throughout history that Sunday is our sabbath. But what about Christian churches who have Saturday night services? At one point in our history, Sundays were strictly observed as “the sabbath”. Stores and even restaurants were closed. Chick-Filet even today is closed on Sundays. Life has evolved and some may say things have progressed. Others might say that we have gotten off track. We now have sports games on Sunday mornings. They seem to take precedent over worship services. Notice I didn’t say sabbath. The original Hebrew root of the word means to cease or desist. The double b creates an intensive force. We have often thought of sabbath as rest and relaxation, but it’s original root only means cease from activity. Of course, with any word or in a sense concept it has a history. To go through the whole history would not be helpful in the midst of a

This is a special musical presentation of Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus by soloist Bob Nelson at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, MIchigan

When I worked on my pastoral counseling degree at the Moravian Seminary in Bethlehem, PA, I learned a new way of approaching scripture. It was to ask questions of the text in order to gain more understanding. In other words, what do I need to know in order to have somewhat of a grasp on the text. This approach works for me as I like to be a detective with a text. I want to know the context. Who are all of the characters? Where are they? Setting – town, desert, on or by a lake, etc. What may be some of the words to examine in the original language? There is a free website called the Blue Letter Bible. It’s commentaries are a bit conservative, but you can do word studies. Greek words often have more than one meaning and it is up to the translator to pick the English word. In Hebrew, there can often be seven English words for one Hebrew word. Depending on what word is used, it can change the meaning of the whole passage. When scholarship progresses, translators may change the English word. In order to under

This is a special musical presentation of Bless His Holy Name by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir and the Faith Bells at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical presentation of True Light! by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir with a solo by Christopher Lewis at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

We are doing many things in our worship service today. Each one is a different celebration. It is important in our community of faith to recognize those things that we can celebrate. Celebrations can also remind us of what we can be thankful for. We give thanks to God for our music staff and all that they do celebrate the gifts of all those who are called to participate in our music program. This is what the community of faith is about, sharing our gifts to the glory of God. Music can bring us closer to God in Jesus Christ. Music also proclaims the good news. Many times, in rehearsal Deb has said to preach what we are singing. Music is an offering to God. We practice and practice and then we offer in worship to the best of our ability, the gifts we have been given. It is not considered a performance. Here is a good place to bring the Holy Spirit in as we rely on the Holy Spirit in our offering, to bring the message clearly home. I believe we also have many singing with us today in the heavenly choir. Espe

This is a special musical presentation of Rain Down! by the Singing Sinners at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Today we are celebrating the Ascension of our Lord. This actually happened on Thursday, 40 days after Easter. It is when Jesus officially, physically, goes back home. Luke feels it is important enough to share it in his Gospel briefly and then in more detail in Acts. For the Gospel writer John, it was also important, as it was always death, resurrection and ascension. Although John only said it was going to happen, but never told the story, we only find the actual account in Luke-Acts. When people leave us, to stay overnight for the first time, to go off to live elsewhere from what has been called home, we don’t really know when or whether we will see them again. It normally gives us pause. We may linger after that good-bye or see you later. It may take us a bit to resume and continue on. Sometimes it gets easier. Then there is that time that we lose a loved one. It could be a friend, parent, sibling or partner/spouse. It hurts as we come to realize that we will not see them again until we go to join them.

This is a special musical presentation of Shout Amen! by the Singing Sinners at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Even after the cutting and pruning we talked about last week, Jesus still comes back to love. The cutting and pruning is about letting Jesus clean up our lives in order that we can be more intimate, have a stronger connection with him. In today’s lesson, Jesus uses the example of the love that he has with God. From the Inclusive Bible we hear “As my Abba has loved me,. So have I loved you. Live on in my love.” What kind of love is this? It is of course the agape or sacrificial love that Jesus demonstrated his entire life on earth. God loves Jesus sacrificially, Jesus loves us sacrificially and now Jesus says continue on in this sacrificial love. So Jesus says continue to do what I have commanded you to do, just as I have kept God’s commands to love another as I have loved you. In reality, I don’t know if I want to love the same people that Jesus loves. Can you relate to this? People and that includes you and me, can put others down, and this is when we are living out all the isms that we can think of. In real

Easter 5 B – 04 28 2024 In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus is trying to prepare his disciples for his departure. This part of the Farewell Discourses. Jesus knows he will be going home, and he wants his disciples to be prepared. This is a pastoral moment, reminding them that they will not be alone, as he says “I am the vine and you are the branches. Vine and branches – connected to each other. They are intertwined to the point that you have to work hard to tell one from the other. Jesus and his disciples are best friends. This sounds so good until Verse 2 comes along. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.  Notice Jesus says that if the disciples are bearing no fruit, the branch is totally removed. It is those who are bearing fruit that will be pruned in order to bear more fruit. The disciples have already been bearing fruit, thus Jesus wants them to continue. This is true, in order for new buds to form there needs to be trimming o

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

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. Luke 24:45-48 But what had to happen in order for the disciples’ minds to be opened? Jesus had first addressed them with ‘Peace be with you’. This peace in Hebrew is shalom. Shalom is more than just no stress or anxiety. It is about a well-being from the inside out. Jesus was sharing his peace with them and inviting them into it. As a community of faith, we experience anxiety especially in times of transition and change. We have been getting to know each other. There was an initial meeting by zoom with the council. My live introduction to you was the weekend of the Green Team Sunday last April. I had met some of the leadership on that Saturday night. I was introduced to the congregation, an

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

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

In a few of the churches that I have served for a period of times during worship, people were given an opportunity to share God moments. God moments were where they had seen God at work in the past week. Another way we can ask the question is to ask, “Where have you seen Jesus this past week?” Often, what we hear and see news today it is often negative, it doesn’t help  through the day. It may make us angry, sad or depressed. We know the news does not always give us the good news. Although, at the end of a broadcast and sometimes only on Fridays, they do share a good news story. As Christians, it is important for us to stay connected to Jesus and one hour a week does not do it. We are bombarded with so many different things even in a day. There are family issues, work issues, school issues, health issues, whatever group we may belong to will have some issues or negativity. In this Easter season, in order to experience and be connected to our risen Savior, I challenge us to ask this question at the end of ever

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

Where are you finding and hearing ‘good news’ today? We are hearing it here today through the Word, music and Sacrament. But what about out in our world today? There are some days that we really need to strain to find it and hear good news. As our country gets heated up between now and November, we need to keep straining to find and hear the good news. We here at Faith Lutheran will continue to provide God’s word, God’s presence here in this beloved community. We will continue to hear God’s Word read and sung and experienced in the sacrament of Holy Communion. Today and through the Easter season we will be remembering our baptism, which reminds us that we are God’s children, loved and saved through grace. Good news is often experienced in the daily things that we do. It provides us with a structure that brings comfort and support. The women in our Gospel lesson today are experiencing grief, confusion and uncertainty. They are trying to move forward by doing what is normally done that is to take care of a body