Episodios

  • Special Music - Down to the River

    Special Music - Down to the River
    Aug 26 2024

    This is a special musical presentation of Down to the River with the Sinful Sinners at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.
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    4 m
  • Sermon - 8/25/24

    Sermon - 8/25/24
    Aug 25 2024
    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 able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Ephesians 6:10-11 Whether you are a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent, or just befuddled by it all, you know there is great tension in our country right now. Many are anxious and worried about the future. On a much smaller scale, many of us at Faith may have at least moments of anxiety and worry about the future of our congregation. It’s easy to go dark, especially in times of transition in pastoral leadership. Rumors can flee and misunderstandings can abound. We may even wonder if we have a future together. I love the inspired and inspiring words in the readings of scripture for today, words in Psalm 34 like these: The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those whose spirits are crushed. Many are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them from every one. I think about what it means to be righteous: through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we are made righteous. Day after day we are forgiven. Day after day we are set free from the bondage to sin, to self-centeredness. We are set to do what is [righteous] right for our sisters and brothers. It is pretty much guaranteed that all of us will have many troubles, many afflictions. A near certainty that our hearts will be broken. But the Lord of steadfast love will never abandon us, will always set us free for deeds of kindness and of love and mercy. Or I think of these words in Joshua: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; for it is the Lord our God who brought us and ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went and among all the peoples through whom we passed.” And for me right now these words from the letter to the Christians in Ephesus: 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 able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. It is so important to remember that our struggle is not against a particular political leader or party, or much closer to home, not against a member of our extended family with whom we may strongly disagree, or against our pastor or any member of the congregation about whom we are troubled. It is not against our own flesh and blood, any members of the human family. Again, I think this is so important. We ought not demonize our sisters and brothers but rather recognize that we are struggling against the wiles of the devil. We are struggling against the “cosmic powers of this present darkness,” or as someone has translated, “the organized forces of malevolent spirit beings.” We are struggling against the deceitful schemes of the devil who is always looking for ways to lure us into believing in a false righteousness. The devil, which scripture also calls “the father of lies”, is always seeking to worm his way into the ears and hearts and minds of every one of us…every one of us, from the lowliest to those with great power and influence. Therefore, we read, take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. I would paraphrase those words like this: Clothed in the powerful, protective...
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    15 m
  • Sermon - 8-18-24

    Sermon - 8-18-24
    Aug 18 2024
    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, anxiety and sometimes frustration, is the best time to work on our relationship with Jesus. This is what our lessons are talking about today. It is when we are not focusing on trying to figure everything out that the way often becomes clearer. The Jewish leaders in our Gospel lesson are trying to make sense out of what Jesus is talking about. It doesn’t make sense that Jesus is saying that they are to eat him. Then Jesus goes on to say that unless they eat of his flesh and drink his blood that they will not have life within them. Those who do eat his flesh and drink his blood will have eternal life .If we think about this literally, our stomachs will probably be turning. In a sense Jesus tries to clarify to a point what he is talking about in saying that it is about abiding in him and he in us. Jesus is talking about our relationship with him. The Greek word for abide is meno which can mean reside in. Think for a moment about how Jesus resides in you. Do we recognize Jesus in us? We can be taken back by that to even consider us seeing Jesus in ourself. The closer that we grow to Jesus, the more others will see Jesus in us. It doesn’t mean that we are perfect. If anything, it means that we realize that we are not perfect, yet try to love all the people the best that we can. In our own lives, those whom we have close relationships have an influence on how we live our lives. When we have someone that we trust, we allow them to point out things that may not be working or things that they see that they point out as something positive and healthy. This is our model for being in relationship with Jesus There are all levels of relationship based on trust. We are all wired differently and that means even levels of intimacy are influenced by that with others and Jesus. When we are in loving intimate relationships with another human being, it is not always something that we understand. It just is and the more we try and understand it, the less sense it makes. We learn to trust and go with it or not. It takes being vulnerable and trusting that another person doesn’t take advantage of us. It is no different with Jesus when it comes to trusting and being vulnerable. I don’t believe that anyone of us has seen Jesus, yet we learn about Jesus and are asked to trust him. I want us to be reminded that Jesus desires us. We often think of this in a sexual manner, but this is much deeper, it is intimacy. It is Jesus residing in us. Jesus desires us to be vulnerable with him. We know that is not easy to do with another human being, let along Jesus. Even though we may admit that Jesus knows everything about us, the question is, are we willing to recognize who we are. Are we willing to stand totally open or as open as we can be before Jesus? Jesus was saying to the Jews and says to us, I want to be a part of every area of your life. I am going to reside in you. I want you to be at home with me. When Jesus says that he wants us to eat him, it really means that he wants us to continue to learn about him and be in relationship with him. This means recognizing his presence in us and others. In the beginning of the Gospel of John we hear that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God and that the Word became flesh and dwelled among us.” From the beginning of this Gospel, we hear that Jesus was God and that God in Jesus wants to be in relationship with us. God in Jesus Christ comes to us through Word and Sacrament. The word for eat in this passage can also mean gnaw or chew on. For me this means to really taste it, to get the fullest possible experience of it. This is what Jesus desires us to do with him through Word and Sacrament. Jesus wants us to get the fullest possible experience with him that we are able to. The Word is not only the Bible, but God in Jesus Christ can come to us through people and experiences. They can come to us through reading other things, watching things, but always listening...
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    21 m
  • Special Music - The Lord's Prayer

    Special Music - The Lord's Prayer
    Aug 18 2024

    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.
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    2 m
  • Sermon - 8-11-24

    Sermon - 8-11-24
    Aug 11 2024
    The crowds are following Jesus, but Jesus is throwing them for a loop again. Jesus is saying he is the bread of life that has come down from heaven. This can’t be as he is the son of Joseph, and they know his father and mother. Now he is claiming to be God? The Judeans say that they know the truth. They seem to be so closed minded. This idea that this Jesus who they knew as a child and knew his family could not be God. This was contrary to scripture. It was blowing their mind. They had been following him to eat physical and spiritual food, but this was too much. Jesus doesn’t argue with them, he tells them that God drew them to him. I would think that really confounded them. When their ancestors ate manna in the wilderness they died. God had sent the manna day by day to meet their needs, and still they complained. Now Jesus is saying that he himself is the bread from heaven and connecting with him will give them eternal life. Jesus says that he will give his life for the world and his flesh is the work he did on the cross. For John feasting on the bread of life is about being in relationship with Jesus. This looks different for everyone. The closer that we get in any relationship means that there will be changes, it means that we will be called to pivot in grace. The only thing that stays the same with Jesus is Jesus’ love for us. Without the willingness to pivot in grace, relationships do not grow and may end. Jesus will not give up on us, but there are times that we may give up on Jesus. To be church today means pivoting in grace. Churches that are not willing to pivot in grace will likely die. I would like us to think about what pivoting in grace means. It means not doing things the way that they have been done before. That can be a hard pill to swallow, but it is the truth. The church as we knew it even a few years ago is not the same because our world is not the same. When we hear ourselves saying, we’ve always done it that way, it is time to examine that way. If the world has changed and people have changed, the approach to many things needs to change. Hiring a new staff person may not grow a program. It takes looking at different approaches and being willing to pivot in grace and look at different options. What things looked like in the past will never look that way again. That is a hard truth. It is much easier to try and recreate what we used to have, but since the world has changed, that does not work. People are at different places, thus the approach must be different. Jesus was pivoting in grace all of the time. His message stayed the same, but people were always presenting him with different ideas, challenging him with their fears and anxieties. As I have said, Jesus did not argue with the crowd, the Judeans. He was challenging them to change their way of thinking, their way of viewing and identifying him. In our individual lives, there are many times that we are called to pivot in grace. Some of them are not easy and some we would rather not have to, but in order to move forward they are necessary. Yesterday, I heard dripping in the basement. Of course I was getting ready to go to our ecumenical pride service. I didn’t fully know what was wrong, but I called Bob and asked him, who do I call. The plumbers were able to get to my place later in the afternoon. Unfortunately, after trying to unplug the pipes, it did not work They are coming back Monday to put in a cleanout in to run the unclogger out to the street and back in the house from outside. No useable plumbing, thus I cannot stay at my house until they fix it. Thus, I had to find a place to stay. I just happened to have enough Wyndam points to stay 2 nights at the Ramada Inn with a free breakfast. I was still able to go to the Pride event. I’m not able to go to Saugatuck as planned after church, but that is okay. It is not always easy, but I believe God works things out for us. Thankfully, we believe as Christians, we are not left alone to do these pivots in grace. We are promised that God will never leave us nor forsake us. God does amazing things, and we are called to trust and believe. This is where feasting on the bread of life, Jesus, comes in. Often, the difficulty in pivoting in grace comes from our unwillingness to do it. It can be scary, and it often brings out fears and anxieties. Jesus, the bread of life, comes to us and says, open yourself up to me and I will give you what you need when you need it. For me this is what it means to not be hungry and thirsty. To look at what and who I have and realize that they are all gifts from God and be thankful This is what helps me to make pivot in grace. If I try and make pivots by myself or not at all, it will be more of a struggle. This is where I am challenged to trust God in Jesus Christ, to have faith that God knows what God is doing. This is not easy as it means letting go of old ways of thinking and of doing things. Those things that brought security, we are often...
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    22 m
  • Special Music – Thee We Adore, O Savior

    Special Music – Thee We Adore, O Savior
    Aug 11 2024

    This is a special musical presentation of Thee We Adore, O Savior with Elaine Harrison, Kay Hillberg, Brenda Kopf and Ann Mayer on handbells at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.
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    3 m
  • Special Music - Fairest Lord Jesus

    Special Music - Fairest Lord Jesus
    Aug 4 2024

    This is a special musical presentation of Fairest Lord Jesus by Megan Nyquist and Addie Thompson on handbells at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.
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    2 m
  • Sermon - 8-4-24

    Sermon - 8-4-24
    Aug 4 2024

    It has been an exciting time here at the Son Games 2024 VBS program. We have had a great group of kids, a wonderful staff, and we not only partnered with St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, but had people from other churches, too. This is what church is about.

    You heard our mottos, Join In, Team Up, Get Strong, Keep On, and Celebrate. This is all in the back drop of the Olympics. When we think of Olympics, they are competitions made up of diversity. This is from every country. All colors, cultures, orientations, almost everyone is represented.

    Paul talks about this in his letter to the Ephesians. He tells us that unity consists of one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God. It is not about everyone looking the same or thinking the same or doing things the same way. I believe unity happens when we can celebrate diversity.

    It is not necessarily how something gets done. Each one of us may do something different. The challenge is to affirm the person regardless of how it gets done. Celebrating diversity is still very difficult for many people. Instead of being able to celebrate it, there are many who fear it. As a result, those who are different from a person often get rejected and told they are not wanted.

    Discrimination is real. We hear many slurs on the news. People often find a way to justify it. It is wrong and it is not the community that God is looking for. In our 2nd lesson today, Paul reminds the Ephesians and each of us that we have been given gifts to support and upbuild people and not tear them down.

    Paul says that we are to grow up and not be blown around by every wind of doctrine. The body of Christ is about everyone working together to build each other up. The challenge is to find the things that we have in common and stick to them.

    Even though we may not hear love in the news and other media outlets, we are still called to love. It may mean muting ads, which I have been doing. To find out true information, one needs to look elsewhere. We are called to speak the truth in love.

    This is very difficult to do at times. In our Gospel lesson today, we hear the crowd asking for it and Jesus offering them as well as us, the bread of life, in order to be strengthened and connected to him. When we are seeking the bread of life it makes us stop and remember that it is not about us, but actually about we. We being God and our neighbors in all of their diversity.

    The crowds were not getting who Jesus was. Who is Jesus to us? Our Gospel lesson end with Jesus making a statement that he is the bread of life. Whoever comes to him will never be hungry whoever believe in him will never be thirsty. This is what we will explore next week in the sermon.

    Today Jesus offers us the bread of life to be strengthened, to give us eyes to see and ears to hear that we may celebrate diversity to create unity. Join In, Team Up, Get Strong, Keep On, and Celebrate God’s beloved community.

    Let us pray: God of unity and diversity, You call us to celebrate diversity. You offer us you, the bread of life, to strengthen us and help us to see each other as gifts. May your Holy Spirit help us to receive you and continue creating unity as we celebrate the diversity that you have created. In Jesus name, Amen.
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    20 m