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

If I were a betting person....I would wager a large amount of money that the sermons considered at the end of this past week, are not the sermons considered at the beginning of this past week.  Nine preachers out of ten, I'd wager, would have preached this week's parable of the Good Samaritan as a morality tale. And, frankly, I think that's just fine. It does, after all, reflect a profound example of how we are to treat each other, regarding a “neighbor” not merely as someone who is close to us or looks like us or believes like us, but rather anyone who is in need. Given the political and cultural tone of society, and human inclination to perceive anyone different as something of a threat, even at the beginning of the week, it would have been a good message to preach and to hear... But this is not the sermon I was working on earlier in the week...because I am called to preach the good news of Jesus Christ...and speak truth to the reality of the world in which we live… which frankly, the best, most generous description I can come up with for the world these days is troubled.  This sermon may be uncomfortable to hear...it's uncomfortable to preach...but Jesus did not die so that we might be comfortable...Jesus died so that we might have abundant life, that we might learn to love the Lord our God and our neighbor, that we might know what it truly means to show mercy to another child of God...that we might be willing to get down and dirty in the ditch, like the Samaritan,  and share that abundant life... The end of the gospel reading is key... 'Go and do likewise'  the good Samaritan sees the person in the ditch, draws near to him and has compassion for that person...  We could all stand to do the same... and a note here....when I say we, I am not meaning only the people right here in this room, but society in general...so please know that I am not trying to single anyone out, and I am also trying to convict myself as much as anyone else.  We need to see our neighbors much more clearly than ever before...and by neighbor, I mean every single person on this planet...We don't get to pick and chose who our neighbors are, because everyone is... and especially the people you, I, we, are leery of or question if they deserve to be noticed, or the ones you know will cause you a headache if you take the time to acknowledge their presence... Too many men and women in the ditch have died... too many people we have ignored have had their lives tragically cut short...too many people have to worry about what will happen to them because of the color of their skin, or the gender of the people they love...too many police officers, and other emergency personnel have to wonder if they are going to make it home because of their job.  As much as I would like to imagine myself as the good Samaritan or a few times I feel like even the person in the ditch, far, far, far too easily I comfortably take on the roll of the priest or the Levite.   I wonder how many times I have looked into that ditch, saw a person lying there, and chose to keep right on going...far too many times to count if I am honest...and I would wager the same for all of you. For you see, that is part of our privilege...we can ignore whatever is lying in the ditch because like the priest and the Levite, if we help, we will not be able to do what we planned...or we will be late for our job, or we don't have the skills to help or we think someone else will be along soon to help...or it's simply not our problem, and we shouldn't get involved. All of that may be true, but it is my supposition that when we ignore that person in the ditch, we are ignoring our brother or sister...when we ignore that person in the ditch, we are saying whatever happened to them is tragic, and perhaps even wrong, but there is nothing we can do about it.  When we ignore that person in the ditch we avoid being vulnerable to being hurt ourselves...because often times that pain and anguish is simply overwhelming...and perhaps that's the key...the priest and the Levite, ignored the man in the ditch because ultimately, they didn't want to deal with the turmoil of emotions and life going on within themselves...  and look where that has gotten us...It seems more and more the news is filled with tragic, horrific events...Ones that make me heartsick...and ones that will all too soon be forgotten by most of us, until the next tragic event.... How many people do we have to see, and ignore, and keep walking by until we are stuck by so much mercy and justice and compassion that we truly fill the role we have imagined ourselves in all this time...  How much longer will we spend trying to point fingers, trying to blame others, until we catch a glimpse in the water in the ditch and see ourselves reflected in the tears and pain of our neighbor, and decide enough is enough.  If this perpetual cycle of violence, racism and hatred is to ever end, we must begin to be the ones who show mercy, who show love, who live in to the title of Christian we all claim...it's time to roll up our sleeves and get in the ditch.  It's time to go and go likewise... I know it's overwhelming....I know it's painful...I know we all think that someone else will do a better job...I know none of us want to put ourselves out there in a way that opens us up to being hurt...but what is happening in this country and this world simply can't continue...  Jesus chose an outcast in society, a Samaritan, to make his point and teach the lawyer...  Surely Jesus can do something good Samaritan like through you and me....  and so if you have made it this far, and are still trying to listen with an open heart, perhaps you are thinking What Now?  How do I make a difference?  Where do even begin?  It can begin with trying to see things a different way...since part of this story is all about race…a Samaritan, a Levite, and a priest, all of whom did not mix for fear of many things…perhaps acknowledging BlackLivesMatter has a point...  Yes, I know, ALL lives matter...and we ALL are children of Gods..., but our black/brown siblings have had and continue to have a much rougher path in a whole host of ways than our white siblings... and racism and privilege are still very much alive and well today, as much as we wish they weren't.  We are not that many generations removed from a whole host of brothers and sisters being considered 3/5 of a person...The Klan is still operating under the guise of being a Christian organization...because of my white skin, my parents never had to have a conversation with me about the extra specifics of how I should act if I am pulled over by police.  These ditches need to be acknowledged, to be talked about, and not ignored.  and on the flip side of the same hand, we need to acknowledge that the vast majority of police officers go to work each day solely to serve and protect the communities in which they are assigned.  They want to help people, bring justice to the oppressed, protect the vulnerable, promote peace, keep us all safe and generally make life more livable.  Police are not out to get us or anyone, and simply want to return to their families safe and sound after their shift.  Beyond seeing things a different way, it's the simple interactions we have with people that make all the difference.  Say thank you to the police, even if they are writing you a ticket for something.  Treat them with respect, notice and acknowledge they are children of god, our brothers and sisters.    When I went on a ride along with the Detroit Police Department while in seminary....an officer had been shot the night before in same area I had the ride along...beyond several high speed chases and one arrest, the most memorable part of that night was the number of people that flagged down the car and inquired about the officer, offering thoughts and prayers and reminding the officers I was with to be safe as well... God often shows up where we least expect God to be. No one would have ever predicted God's glory to be shown in a man on a cross or an outcast walking down a road.  No one imagines the power of God being revealed through vulnerability, and craziness...  But that is exactly what happened... And so God through Jesus is revealed in the actions of a Samaritan in a ditch with a person others saw and walked by.  And so too, God, through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, can be revealed in the actions of ordinary, overwhelmed, tired of the world, you and me...   We simply have to take a step toward that ditch, to show a glimpse of love, kindness and mercy towards our brothers and sisters in the midst of hate, destruction and fear... It is risky, and scary, and a lot of hard work, no doubt, but God is right here with us, practically begging us to not only notice, but not ignore our neighbor... This was the case 2000 years ago with a lawyer and a story about a man in a ditch, a priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan.  Seems to me it is the case today as well...with you and me...God can and will do great things with our inadequate words and actions...with our acknowledgement of broken systems, with our unwillingness to let violence be our legacy and with each and every step, no matter how small, we take toward the ditch of our broken neighbors.  Do this and we will live.  Sin, brokenness, and hatred will not have the final word.  God's love, mercy and justice will prevail. Amen

Today, we had a special musical performance of Seek Ye First with Megan Nyquist and Addie Thompson, on handbells at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Year C – 4th Sunday after Pentecost; Lectionary 14 – July 6, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 Galatians 6:1-16 Grace and peace to you from our Lord, Jesus Christ, who includes us in the mission of bringing forth the kingdom of God. Amen. *** Hospitality is a big deal. My mother took hospitality very seriously and impressed the importance of it upon me from an early age. I can remember going over to other people's homes and being instructed ahead of time to be polite, say please and thank you… and, no matter what, do not complain about what is served for dinner. You eat it… and you say thank you. If we wandered out of line, all it took was a look… you know… the look… I came to understand that both extending and receiving hospitality are how we honor each other. Even if we don't typically use that language for it, it remains an unspoken truth in our culture. Hospitality is still a big deal today, but in ancient times… hospitality was a matter of life and death. There weren't many places we would equate to a modern hotel or restaurant, so travelers had to rely on the hospitality of extended family… or even strangers for food, shelter, and protection. And those travelers who had no money or bag, no extra food, no clothing, or shoes… well, they were especially vulnerable… especially in need. And yet, this is exactly how Jesus sends out his messengers. Vulnerable and in need… Like lambs into the midst of wolves… go, he says,… and take nothing except the good news that the kingdom of God is near. Go into a place, and extend your peace… if it is received, you will know that the soil of their hearts is good soil, ready to receive the good news of Jesus… If you show up with nothing but your need and your hunger, and you are still welcomed… then they are ready to be transformed by the inbreaking of God's kingdom. …and if not… if you are rejected… then just move on. You've lost nothing, so shake off the dust and continue on your journey. God will deal with them later, but you, o messenger of Jesus… you keep going. Jesus sends them out like lambs among wolves… to go into a strange land and show up on a stranger's doorstep with nothing but their thirst and their hunger… with nothing but their need for care. Jesus is tilling the soil for the seed of his message… but it's also a test of hospitality. Will they be received, or will they be turned away? Will these strangers who show up in need be welcomed and offered food, or will they be detained in cages and subjected to threats and abuse? The lectionary skips some verses in today's passage… some pretty harsh verses… skipping them makes it more palatable, especially for the preacher. But I think we need to go there… Verse 12 says… “I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.” The story of Sodom has become twisted around bias and prejudice, so let me remind you of the basics of that story… The story of Sodom is a story of angels who show up at night as strangers in a strange place, planning to spend the night in the town square. Lot meets them at the city gate, and urges them to stay in his home, under his protection. Later, the men of the town surround the house… with a plan for gang violence and the worst kinds of abuse. The inhospitality of Sodom when strangers come into town… layered with cruelty and violence… the utter dehumanization of these strangers… this… this is what brings forth God's wrath. And this… this is the potential danger the disciples might face, and the seriousness of their mission… but the message must go out. The kingdom of God is near! …and the world will never be the same. Jesus sends his disciples out, intentionally vulnerable… intentionally in need… intentionally relying on the hospitality of strangers… He sends them out to find the good soil… to find those who are ready to be transformed by Jesus. But for those who reject them… for those who cannot see past the disciples' need… their hunger… for those who see these strangers as a burden too great for their communities to bear… It will be more tolerable for Sodom than for them. Hospitality is a big deal, and no one takes it more seriously than God. But my friends… despair is not an option. We are to shake off the dust, and continue in the mission of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ… We are to continue in the mission of participating in the inbreaking of God's kingdom, for the kingdom of God IS NEAR! Despair is not an option, because the kingdom of God is near and it is beautiful and full of love… and because I know your hearts are indeed the kind of good soil that welcomes strangers… I know you are helping to bring that beautiful kingdom closer. This community is very clearly the kind of community that welcomes strangers… the poor, the hungry, the immigrant… you welcome them as siblings in Christ… and you honor them by extending hospitality… And in this way, you further Jesus' mission on earth, and share God's love here… as it is in heaven. But there's more to the mission… Jesus urges us to continue in this way… but he also urges us to tell our story of how sharing God's love through radical welcome and hospitality has transformed our lives. The disciples were sent as lambs among wolves… but then and now, we know not everyone is ready to receive God's word. They will reject it… and that rejection may come with threats or even violence. The message of Jesus has the power to change the world… the power to turn everything upside down… and well… most people don't typically like change… especially those in power. We can reasonably expect a swell of resistance against Jesus's message, particularly because following in the way of Christ disrupts power and privilege. But we must keep going… keep sharing the good news… keep following in the way of Christ. Paul writes in the letter to the Galatians, verse 2, we are to “bear one another's burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ.” …and verse 10, “whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all…” not of some… but of all. I rejoice… that this community knows that bearing one another's burdens doesn't mean we reject the stranger, and only bear the burdens of those who look and think like us… And I rejoice… that this community knows that working for the good of all people does not mean working for the good of only the wealthy and powerful, but in fact, means emphasizing those whose needs are greater so that in the end, all will be cared for. Our country seems to be pushing back against this way of Christ… it has become unpopular to care for the poor, the sick, the stranger, and the immigrant… and so, those of us who cling to Jesus' mission must hold fast. Despair is not an option… instead, I invite you to rejoice with me in the good news of Jesus, and let your joy in Christ be an act of defiance against the cruelty of this world. Rejoice that we are invited into the mission of following the will of Christ and bringing close the kingdom of God, here on earth as it is in heaven. Rejoice in the love for our neighbor that is shared when we extend and receive hospitality with strangers. Rejoice in the furthering of Jesus' message when we either hear or tell stories of transformation through Christ. Rejoice when we care for the poor, the sick, the hungry, the prisoner, or anyone in need… and rejoice if we find we were the ones in need and received that same care and provision from others. My friends, the kingdom of God is near… because Jesus Christ is near. And Jesus is both calling us in… and sending us forth… to tell the good news of what God has done for us… to tell our story of how God's love has transformed our lives. We are called to extend love, care, and hospitality to strangers, and to participate in the bringing close of God's kingdom. It might be a bumpy road, but do not despair, for the kingdom of God is near, and in that we can rejoice. Amen.

Third Sunday after Pentecost June 29, 2025 Faith, Okemos I Kings 19:15-16, 19-21. Psalm 16, Galatians 5:1, 13-25[26], Luke 9:52-62   The apostle Paul wrote, I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  Galatians 2:20   …it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me…   [And these words from Paul's letter to the church in Rome: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death. So that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life…So you must also consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Romans 6:3-4, 11]     As I was preparing this week for a small group study of the life and writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I thought a lot about his vocation as a pastor in Germany in the 1930's and 40's, about his participation in the escalating resistance to Hitler's Nazi regime.  Dietrich came to believe that Christ truly lived in him and that Christ Jesus living in him did battle with the forces of darkness within his own soul and within the soul of the nation he deeply loved.   My brothers and sisters, I believe that Jesus living in Dietrich also lives in now each of us.  Know that in our restlessness and fear in this troubling time, Jesus is doing battle in and with us against our leanings toward despair and  anxiety and cynicism, against our leanings toward disgust and hatred of other sisters and brothers perhaps in all three branches of our government with whom we may have come to increasingly distrust and despise.    I think of the huge budget reconciliation bill now before Congress, a bill affecting countless of the poorest, the most vulnerable among us, a bill negatively affecting our efforts to conserve and preserve the Earth.  Members of Congress and we whom they represent could easily give way to what St. Paul includes in what he calls “the works of the flesh”:  heightened strife, anger, quarrels, dissensions, and factions.   But if it is really true that “it is no longer [we] who live, but rather Christ Jesus who lives in [us]”, then our hearts, our words, and our behaviors radically change.  Then these beautiful words increasingly become who we are:  people of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.       But let us make no mistake: as long as we live in a fallen world, we remain vulnerable to speaking and acting badly, even in a congregation so full of love as this one we so cherish.  In uncertain, stressful times we could can be nasty or at least indifferent to each other.  We could hurt one another even if unintentionally, whether we are young or old, whether new or long-time members.    That was certainly true in the little church in Galatia.  Harsh, ill-considered, judgmental words and behaviors toward one another threatened to irreparably break the bonds of love and kindness that held them together, wounds that effectively muted their witness to God's mercy and grace.    The little church in Galatia and our congregation in Okemos, Michigan did have this in common:  the same crucified and risen and healing Jesus Christ who lived in the Galatian congregation 2000 years later also lives in us.  They were then and we are now the very presence of Christ!  Individually and collectively, we are called to be the very presence of Jesus in this time and in this community whenever our love for one another and for our neighbors especially in Meridian Township is clearly expressed.   But when these Galatian sisters and brothers sinned against each other, and if and when we sin against one another, this same indwelling God who spoke plainly and firmly in their hearts through this little letter to them from Paul, now speaks words of judgment plainly and firmly in our hearts.  Christ Jesus dwelling in their hearts, this Jesus, through the Holy Spirit who convicted them of their sins, now truly dwelling in our hearts, will convict us of our sins against each other.  But Jesus, the Son of God, gave them, and now will give us both the courage and the humility to repent, to put to death our pride and stubbornness, and to ask for forgiveness from those we have hurt.   It has been and it will be a wonderful thing to be part of a congregation where members can courageously acknowledge to one another their lack of kindness or patience or gentleness or self-control.  It has been and it will be a wonderful thing when we can say to one another, “Please forgive me” and to hear back, “I forgive you.” It is a wonderful thing when we regularly practice confession and forgiveness with one another!  This practice may be the most primary, most powerful, deepest witness we can give to our own families, to our neighbors, to a country, to a world so divided, so full of hate.      Confession and forgiveness “levels the playing field.”  In it no one of us is either higher or lower than any of our siblings.  Before God we are all sinners.  And in Christ Jesus, we are all saints, truly cleansed and forgiven through Jesus' death on the cross for us.  Until we reach our heavenly home heaven, we will always be both sinners who need to repent and saints who have been forgiven.   There is great freedom is this dual reality.  We are set free from having to prove how good we are, how much better or better behaved we are than others, how surely “we are right” and “they are wrong.”   At the same time, we no longer need to wallow in guilt or remorse for how awful we are, for how badly and stubbornly wrong-headedly we've lived.  Christ in our hearts continually sets us free!  Jesus through the Holy Spirit struggles in us and with us and for us to name and dethrone the false gods that deceitfully promise a better, happier, safer life if we only we isolate ourselves, cut ourselves off from people with whom we disagree or whom we regard as beneath us.    I want to witness to our life in following Jesus, who is our Life, who day after day resides in our hearts, a life that keeps getting richer and richer.  I want to share a little of what that was like in my own life this past week.  Just days ago Janet Boyer was on my mind.  I called her and rejoiced with her in her gratitude to God for still having her voice after major thyroid surgery performed dangerously close to her vocal cords.  Then I think the same day, I was asked to see Jane and her daughter and some close friends. Jane, a member of Immanuel, Grand Ledge, was in hospice care, just hours away from her death.  Together we prayed and hugged and commended Jane into God's eternal embrace.  Then I privileged to be with a developmentally disabled young man in jail who as I was leaving promised to pray for me as I for him.  Then on Thursday evening Phylis and I were with a very crowded church in Grand Rapids, blessed by the presence of Nadia Bolz-Weber, a very down-to-earth, unpretentious ELCA pastor, who testified of the unending grace of God even in and from her mother's womb, the grace of God through years of drug addiction, and to this day sharing the beautiful fruits of the Holy Spirit with countless people who were lost… Nadia sensing even in her darkest hours that Jesus was not far from her.  She could echo the words of St. Paul: “It is no longer I who live but it is Christ who lives in me.”  With her we sang many songs that evening, songs including these two verses of Amazing Grace…   I believe that experiences like those given to in these last few days…expressions of love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, given and received, are meant to be experienced by all of us, all of us in whom Jesus dwells, all of us whom Jesus calls to courageously follow him for the rest of our lives.     Please sing with me “Lord Jesus, You Shall Be My Song” [ELW 808]   Amen.                                                                                          JDS  

Today, we had a special musical performance of Holy Manna by the Summer Singers at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Year C – 2nd Sunday after Pentecost; Lectionary 12 – June 22, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd Luke 8:26-39 Letter from Birmingham Jail, MLK Jr.   Grace and Peace to you from our Lord, Jesus Christ, who is the source of our liberation. Amen. *** This past Thursday was Juneteenth… it is the day we honor June 19, 1865, when the last remaining people who were enslaved in Texas were liberated by the US Army… three years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued. A few of us came together to honor this day by reading and discussing Martin Luther King, Jr's, Letter from Birmingham Jail, from April 16, 1963. Nearly 100 years after the liberation of those people who were enslaved… we were reminded in that letter… that people of color in this country… were still not free. They… were still bound. And 62 years after this convicting letter… 62 years after MLK wrote of his ‘hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice would soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding would be lifted from our fear-drenched communities…' we sat with the pain of knowing that we are still not free from our sin of holding our fellow siblings captive. We… are still bound. So many people in our country are committed to their idea of what is right and acceptable, that instead of growing in their understanding of the beautiful diversity of God's creation, they have added to the categories of people who are bound by our prejudice… People of color still face discrimination from white people… and this now overwhelmingly includes Native Americans, and our immigrant, refugee, and migrant communities. Additionally, our LGBTQIA+ neighbors face prejudice and discrimination as they have started living more openly as their beautiful, authentic selves… And yet, the Supreme Court just issued a ruling last week to uphold a state law allowing for the ban of medical care for transgender youth… disregarding the mountain of evidence that this care literally saves lives… We are bound by our sin… and we cannot free ourselves. We are bound… but we have before us, our God in the flesh… Jesus… the source of our liberation. Jesus… the one who comes to release our chains… release us from our prisons and enslavement of our own making. Jesus… comes to us… to set us free. If we are willing… if we are willing to be freed. Our gospel text tells a story of a man plagued by demons… so many demons… he is so burdened… so bound by these demons… that he identifies as his demons… When Jesus asks him his name… he replies… Legion… for we are many. This man is literally bound… bound by chains, shackles, and by distance… separated from his society… marginalized… and feared. For Jesus and his disciples, this man is the most unclean of all the unclean… he is a foreigner… a gentile… he is possessed by demons… he is naked and living among the dead… in the tombs. For Jesus and his disciples, this man is not just outside of the realm of what they found acceptable… he was in another world. And yet… Jesus shows up here… because there is no place that is beyond Jesus' reach and authority… but it was here, among these tombs and with this poor man… it was here… that he was needed most. This man was bound… and Jesus frees him. Jesus comes to this man because this man needs Jesus… but in going to him, we see, yet again, that Jesus is always challenging the borders and boundaries around the way we think things should be. Jesus is always challenging us to widen our understanding of God's love for all of God's creation… and when we understand that… we loosen our own bonds and draw closer to Christ. And yet… living in such a tied up way is what we know best… After this man is freed from his demons, he immediately wants to be bound to Jesus… but Jesus is not going to trade one form of bondage for another… no. Jesus tells him… that he is free… and to go and share all that God has done for him. He is free. And his neighbors? …they are still bound by their fear… perhaps even more afraid now that this man whom they thought was bound up and controlled is now free and living among them… as if he belonged. They preferred it when this man who was different… was set apart… so they didn't have to think about him… or care for him… The man is now free… but they are still bound to their sin… and unwilling to be freed. Thinking back to Dr. King's letter from Birmingham Jail… King writes ‘that the greatest stumbling block is not the KKK, but the white moderate… who is more devoted to order than to justice… Who prefers a negative peace, which is the absence of tension, to a positive peace, which is the presence of justice…' The people in the country of the Gerasenes… wanted to chain up the one who was different… they wanted a “negative peace” …they wanted him to not remind them that he existed. They wanted him to remain bound. White people, after the abolition of slavery, wanted people of color to remain oppressed… they wanted both whites and blacks to buy into the false notion of white supremacy… …and many today are still bound to this sinful endeavor. And those who are uncomfortable with the LGBTQIA+ community… really of queerness of any kind… they also want those folks to remain bound, hidden away from view. They certainly want people who are transgender, or trans-queer, to not exist, and they think they can legislate them out of existence. They want a negative peace… an absence of tension… rather than a positive peace… which requires shaking off the shackles of sin and working for justice for those we have oppressed. But Jesus… remember where Jesus went? …he didn't go to the townspeople to try and convince them that this man was their brother, and they should care for him and provide for his needs. No. Jesus went to the man who was bound… because that's where he was needed. And we, who seek Jesus… that's where we need to go, too. We need to go to those who are bound… Jesus is the source of our true liberation from oppressive forces, both known and unknown. And when we seek Jesus… we will find him among those we have pushed away… we will find him among those who are bound. When we seek Jesus… we will find him when we engage in the work of breaking those bonds… the work of seeking justice for those who are oppressed. A genuine relationship with Jesus and a commitment to the way of the gospel can only compel us to engage in the pursuit of social justice. For you cannot love your neighbor… if you insist that they remain bound. If we try… and Lord help us, we try all the time… we find that we are also bound… bound by our sin… bound by our fear of the ‘other.' We are bound… and we cannot free ourselves. But Jesus… Jesus is our liberation… and Jesus has shown us the way to freedom… We cannot become free by seeking liberation for ourselves. We can only become free by seeking liberation for our neighbor. When we engage in the work of seeking justice and life for our neighbor who is bound by oppressive forces… we, too, will become free… Seeking liberation for our neighbor… brings us face to face with Jesus… Seeking liberation for our neighbor… is loving our neighbor… just as Jesus commanded… and engaging in this work… frees us both. Amen.

Year C – Trinity Sunday – June 15, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd John 16:12-15 Athanasian Creed   Grace and Peace to you from our Lord, Jesus Christ, who is God and the Holy Spirit… the Three-in-One. Amen. Today is Holy Trinity Sunday… now I have several clergy friends who prefer to gloss over this one, but given how cloudy our understanding of the Trinity is, I thought we should dig in, yes? So today… Trinity Sunday… is a different sort of festival… in that what we are celebrating is actually… our church doctrine… it is the church's explanation of God's nature as three-in-one… one-in-three… or rather, we should say… Today we celebrate our almost understanding of God's nature. I say almost, because… it isn't perfect… no description we can imagine or create will truly capture who God is… and that's also the point. Nothing we can say about God will fully describe God's being because God is massive and ultimately beyond our full understanding. God is mystery… and wonder… and awe… And yet… This massive and mysterious God yearns for a relationship with us… a personal relationship with humanity… God wanted that so much that God came and walked with us in the person of Jesus Christ. Our great and powerful God… in a poor and humble human body. God came and shared our joy and our pain… lived a human life with us… and submitted himself to our most incredibly violent actions… all to show us how much God was invested in this relationship. And after Jesus defeated death, and was resurrected from the tomb… he continued to share life with us before ascending to heaven, but not before drawing our attention to the Holy Spirit… Our advocate… the Holy Spirit of God… the very breath of God that fills our lungs and permeates our lives… God who surrounds us… and lives within us. God, the mighty and powerful creator… Jesus… our humble redeemer and friend… and Spirit… the one who sustains us and saturates our world… Distinct in their divinity but together as one… one God. “One God in trinity, and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being… the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coeternal in majesty.” Makes perfect sense, yes? As humans, in a relationship, we want to set parameters… we want to understand and know the other person… We like to believe that fully knowing another is actually possible. For example… my parents have been married for forty-nine years. I'd say they know each other very well… they can anticipate each other's reactions and moods. But occasionally, they still surprise each other… And my husband and I have been married almost twenty-two years… we respond in unison so often that we suspect we might share a brain. But we are still – all of us – separate people with different perspectives on life. Think about your closest relationship… perhaps with your spouse… or a sibling or cousin… maybe a life-long best friend. You know this person through and through… you can describe and anticipate this person's thoughts and reactions… You have laughed together… cried together… and yet, you are not them… they are not you… Even the person you know the most is distinct from you in such a way that prevents you from ever fully understanding what it is… to be them… And your person… the one you have in mind now… is human… How much more than that is our God? With God… full knowledge and understanding will always be… just beyond our reach. And that's ok. For us to be invested in our relationships with anyone, but particularly with God, we must invest our time in them. We must share our full life with them… laugh and cry together… learn and grow together. With God… Jesus… Spirit… we dwell in our learning and growing through prayer, worship, and spending time in the Scriptures… laughing together… crying together… giving thanks for God's enduring faithfulness. In our scriptures, we read and relive God's interactions with our ancestors so that we can be attuned to God's interactions with us. Because God did not stop acting after Revelation was written! We come together in worship and praise, and we wait for the Lord to come to us… to meet us in our lives… we nurture our relationship with God so that when God shows up, we recognize the one who calls us beloved. Our doctrine of the Trinity… our best attempt at describing God's three-in-oneness… wasn't handed to the disciples as a list of terms and conditions to accompany the Holy Spirit… This doctrine… this way of understanding… developed over a few hundred years of faithful followers of Jesus trying to make sense of what happened… trying to understand how these events fit in with the Hebrew scriptures and laws, and with the writings and teachings they'd gathered since Jesus's death and resurrection… The Trinity is our best attempt at describing God's divine presence in and with and through all things in all places… for all time and even outside of time. Our understanding of the Trinity came from those who dedicated their time and attention to their relationship with God… and allowed that relationship to reveal new discoveries about our Creator… Redeemer… and Sustainer. The Three-in-one… One-in-three. However, what we celebrate today is not the doctrine itself per se, but that this idea gave us a new lens through which to revisit Scripture… a new perspective to help us understand our interactions with the Divine. This new perspective helped us realize that God… Jesus… Spirit… have always been… and were always there… and will be until the end of time… eternally together, yet separate… and eternally one. And so, this doctrine is the lens through which we now hear Jesus's parting words to his disciples… on the night in which he was betrayed. Jesus knows they cannot fully grasp the meaning of all that is about to occur… and that they won't fully understand everything he has taught them up until that point, until after he has defeated death. He knows that they will need to remember his words to understand… but he promises them that they will have help. God's Holy Spirit will surround them and guide them toward truth… will guide them in their continued living as disciples of Jesus. God's Holy Spirit will permeate their lives and continue to glorify God… to make God known for them… just as the Holy Spirit continues to glorify God for us. Jesus says of the Holy Spirit that it will continue to make Jesus known to them… because it will guide them in his teaching… just as Jesus' teaching has made God the Father known. The inspiration and guidance we receive from the Holy Spirit is not independent of God or Jesus… for the Spirit and Jesus and God are one. And yet… exactly how it is that God… Jesus… Spirit so saturates our very being remains a mystery that we know is true. We know it is true because we feel God all around us, we share stories of encountering God, and we do our best with our limited language to describe God's awesomeness… knowing that the full scope of God is just beyond our grasp. Kallistos Ware was an English bishop and theologian of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and he wrote, “We see that it is not the task of Christianity to provide easy answers to every question, but to make us progressively aware of a mystery. God is not so much the object of our knowledge, as the cause of our wonder.” It is our wonder that keeps us invested in this amazing relationship with our Creator… and it is our awe that reminds us who we are and whose we are… We seek the triune God who reveals themselves to us as three… and yet one… the source of our life and our salvation… A divine mystery that we can explore for our whole lives, knowing and accepting that full knowledge is not for us in this life. And that's ok. We can celebrate our almost understanding, using the doctrine of the Trinity as our lens through which we read, and grow in awareness of God's story… Always leaving room for wonder and awe for our Creator… Redeemer… and Sustainer… the three-in-one… and one-in-three. Amen.

Today, we had a special musical performance from Calvin Kadrofske on Marimba, as he played the song Restless written by Rich O'Meara at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Year C – Pentecost – June 8, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd               Acts 2:1-21   Grace and peace to you in the name of our Advocate, God's Holy Spirit, who walks alongside us every day. Amen. *** God doesn't create in half measures… ya know? Think about our planet… and all the intricate details included on every level of life… from whole eco-systems down to tiny microbes. Think about… us…you and me… There is no one else quite like you. You are unique and beloved… God knit you together after God's own image, gave you life with God's own breath… and loves you fully… God doesn't create in half-measures… and all that God creates is precious and loved, including you… And since the beginning of humanity, God has invited us to be in relationship with God… never forcing the relationship, but giving us that choice… because we are loved. A choice to respond to the presence of God in our lives… in our world… in each other… and within our very own bodies. What began as God's breath across the face of the waters, bringing forth life… guiding us as a pillar of smoke… a burning bush… a booming thunder… and a still, small voice… Always speaking… if we are willing to listen… always guiding… if we are willing to follow… always inviting… if we are willing to respond. Becoming human in the person of Jesus… entering our lives in the most humble way… teaching… loving… inviting… suffering… dying… forgiving and still loving… still inviting. The presence of God around us and in us, in countless ways, reminding us that God's Holy Spirit… has been with us from the beginning, and God's Holy Spirit will be with us to the end… Reminding us that God's Spirit was with us, and is with us, and that even though God in Jesus must ascend to the Creator, we have another advocate… the one who has been with us all along. God's Spirit… the pneuma in Greek… the ruach in Hebrew… God's holy breath that fills your lungs and gives you life… is with you always. God does not create in half measures… and God does not abandon God's creation. But as with all things that are constant in our lives… we often overlook this continual holy presence with us… take it for granted… after all… how often have you stopped to consider the air in your lungs? So, this was the scene in Jerusalem that day… Jesus had ascended, and now it was time to share the gospel story… time to witness to all that had occurred… time to light a fire under this message of good news! God's Spirit… our constant companion… needed to get those disciples moving. What better chance than to cause a holy disruption during Shavuot… the Festival of Weeks… the Pentecost festival in Jerusalem, which happens 50 days after Passover, commemorating the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people… A time when Jewish people from all around the known world would have made a pilgrimage to the city to celebrate and honor God's word. A mass of people… diverse and inclusive… together… for God. This is the moment… this is the time… God's Spirit moves through… and causes a scene… Like I said… God doesn't really act in half-measures. The Spirit of God comes upon these people as a great, roaring sound like a violent rushing wind… Filling the room and appearing among them like divided tongues, as of fire, and resting upon each of them… And giving them the ability to proclaim the Gospel in whatever language it needed to be heard… The Holy Spirit is in the house, demanding attention, engaging every one of their senses… for the Gospel must be heard. The Gospel… must be experienced. What a moment! A dramatic onslaught of action and motion… of speaking… and of hearing… confusion… and… of understanding. Hearing the proclamation of the gospel… hearing the good news of salvation… of love and forgiveness. Hearing, each in their native language… the message that Love has come and is making all things new. Death is overcome and new life is born... new breath… new growth. We are gathered by this swirling wind, but also provoked and pushed to give our witness… to tell our story… For the Gospel must be heard… and God doesn't do with half-measures. Pentecost is only the beginning… the fire that was ignited on that day burns within you still… guiding you toward God's love… and empowering you to share your story. God's Holy Spirit… your constant companion… your ever-present connection to Christ within yourself and in others… is guiding you daily toward God's love. And occasionally causing a holy disruption… either as that still, small voice that insists on being heard, or as a roaring wind… a sensory disruption that demands attention and cannot be ignored. God's Spirit doesn't do with half-measures. Shaking us out of our complacency… our routine… giving us the courage to speak up when our words are necessary… and the wisdom to be silent and listen, when our understanding is required. God's Holy Spirit is igniting within us… attuning our senses toward God's will. Whenever we feel that push… or pull… a gentle nudge or maybe a hard shove… toward loving more widely, sharing more generously… welcoming more inclusively… Whenever we feel that call inside our hearts to extend and receive grace and forgiveness more openly… and freely… That is God's Holy Spirit igniting within you… that is a Pentecost moment. What happened to those disciples in Jerusalem on that festival day so long ago was amazing… incredible… It gave birth to the church and lit a fire under the message, spreading the Gospel to the corners of the world… For the Gospel must be heard, and God doesn't do with half-measures. That experience taught them, and us, that God is doing a new thing… that the Good News of Jesus's death and resurrection must be heard, and that this is a message for all people, everywhere… that there are no boundaries around God's love. This experience connected them… connected them to the presence of God within themselves and within each other. It reminded them, and us… that what began as God's holy breath across the face of the waters… still fills our lungs. That our Creator, in whose image we are made, filled us with holy breath… guided us through wind, fire, thunder, and silence… loved us through Jesus and inspires us still as our advocate. The experience of Pentecost is that God doesn't act in half-measures, and that God's message of love must be heard. And so God's Holy Spirit… the pneuma… the ruach… is within you… sometimes whispering to you, and sometimes shouting… that you are loved… You are loved with so much abundance that you cannot help but to share that love with others in the name of the one who is, who was, and who is yet to come… Our God and Creator, our Savior, and our Advocate. You are loved with so much abundance… because God doesn't create in half-measures. And that… is a message that must be heard. Amen.      

Today we had a special musical performance from members of the Faith Bell Choir, Brenda Kopf,  Elaine Harrison, Ann Mayer, and Addie Thompson as they played How Firm A Foundation at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

John 17:20-26; Pride Sunday; 7 Easter; June 1, 2025 Additional texts: Acts 16:16-34; Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21 Rich Weingartner   Grace to you and peace from God our parent, Jesus our Savior, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.   I'm scared.  We live in a scary time. When I went up to the UP to visit my parents and family for Easter, I brought my passport with me.  No real reason, just some fear that I might be in a situation where I'll have to try to prove that I'm a US citizen. I hear of friends traveling to foreign countries, some of them who are part of the LGBTQIA+ community.  I fear that they won't be able to come back into our country. I'm afraid to leave the United States for concern that I'll be stopped at the border and end up being detained and not let back into our country.  It is an unsettling time for LGBTQIA+ or Queer people these days.  We hear constant attacks on people as things are said or laws are introduced or passed that try to declare our Queer siblings as “other” or to make it sound like there is something wrong with them.   I also know others are scared.  The queer community aren't the only ones being attacked and put down.  I know my Black, Indigenous, and People of Color community have been attacked for centuries in various ways. Our siblings of hispanic heritage are facing struggles and threats as well. Asian and Pacific Islanders as well. Immigrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, including the young men in our parish house. There are a lot of people who are apprehensive and concerned now - and for many this is just a continuation of decades or centuries of being treated like “others” and that they don't really belong and aren't valid as a human being.   However, God, through Jesus and the bible, tells us a different story.  A story that declares that we are all children of God and we can be proud of who God made us to be. A story of love that knows no bounds and never ends. Which brings us to our readings for today that show that God is always with us, even in times of trouble.   We start with the reading from Acts where we find Paul and Silas thrown in jail. While they may have been feeling scared and worried - they didn't show it by just sitting around and moping and blaming God for their troubles.  Instead, we find them praying and singing hymns and connecting with the other prisoners. In the midst of it all, they kept faithful to God. Then the earthquake happens. Since, at the time, if a guard lost prisoners, it was custom that he would pay for the loss with his life, the guard had assumed that everyone would have fled and thus was about to kill himself.  However, Paul and Silas kept faith and stayed where they were and saved the guard's life - not only physically but also spiritually through their witness to the power of God.  This serves not only as a reminder that God will never leave us, but also that we can serve as witnesses to the power and love of God just through who we are and doing what is right - doesn't take anything special - just through our actions and love they can know God's love.  Just like yesterday and the pride festival.  We may think we were just there at a booth, talking to people, and handing out items - but we were witnesses to the love of Christ through our actions of acceptance, welcome, and love, to the LGBTQIA+ community and their allies.   Then we move to the concluding verses of Revelation.  From verse 13, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Rev. 22:13) While this passage refers to the extremes of the beginning and the end; and the first and the last - we need to remember that God isn't just there at the extreme ends, but everywhere in between.  Just like all of creation, God isn't just at one point or another - God is everywhere in between.  Not just light and dark, but in all the shades in between - not just day and night but at sunrise and sunset, the dawn and twilight.  In all creatures that live in the waters, on the land, and in the sky - and all of those that live in multiple places. And thus God has created all of us - in our many different varied ways - there is no binary in creation - everything spans a wide range to create the beautiful diversity of God's creation - something to be proud of and celebrate.  God is ever present across all time, all places, and all creation - the entire Cosmos from the very beginning of creation until the very end.   And not only do we have this promise of God being ever present with us always, we are invited. As it says in Revelation 22:17 - all are invited to come to the Lord and His promises.  Everyone who is thirsty and wishes to take the water of life as a GIFT is invited to come. This is a great reminder that God wants us to be in God's presence and love - we are invited to receive the gift.  We do not earn it, we do not have to work for it - it is a gift, a most wondrous gift from God for all.   Then we turn to today's Gospel from John.  When I was preparing and first read the Gospel for today - the very first thing I noticed was how this passage starts. It wasn't the words that I noticed - it was that it started with a quotation mark. Now, you'll notice that in the reading we used in our service, a helpful prompt is added at the beginning in brackets to guide the reader, but in the Bible that prompt isn't there. Since I didn't have that prompt and the passage starts with a quotation mark, I knew we were joining in, right in the middle of something, so I backed up to get the context.  And then I also remembered this is the time of the church year I tend to  get confused.   Just a few weeks ago we experienced the passion story and then the joyful Easter Resurrection.  In fact, we are still in the season of Easter.  However, for our Gospel readings for a few weeks, we have jumped back in time to hear stories from Jesus and his disciples during Jesus' last evening with them at the last supper. So that is where we are with today's Gospel.  Jesus is giving his farewell speech and then praying for his disciples.  That is where today's Gospel is from - part of the prayer Jesus shared with his disciples that evening.   While Jesus is praying with and for his disciples, we find that the prayer isn't just for his disciples, as this part of the prayer starts with “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word”.   The “behalf of these” is referring to the disciples and “behalf of those” is referring to us, today, and past and future.  All of us who believe. You and me and all of God's beloved. Take a moment and let that sink in - Jesus around 2000 years ago was praying for you and me, everyone alive today, and in the past and in the future. I don't know about you, but I find it pretty awesome and also comforting to know that Jesus was praying for all of us - so long ago.  In times when we are often scared and facing uncertainty it certainly is a good reminder to know that Jesus and God are on our side and that we are not alone.   So, yes, it is awesome that Jesus is praying for us - but what did he pray for? He prays that we all may be one. Not only that we are one together with each other, but that also we are one together with Christ. We live in a world that wants to label us and put us in many different categories to separate us. However, that is completely opposite of what God wants, which is for all of us to be one in Christ.  We have been given God's glory so that we can all be together as one.   While we need to celebrate and take pride in being called together as one in Christ Jesus - we are also given some work to do in this prayer - a reason for us all being called together as one.  We are called to act together so that the world, through us, might believe that Jesus was sent from God. Not only to believe that Jesus is God's son, but that God loved the entire cosmos so much that God sent Jesus for us, so that we may experience the grace, love, and forgiveness of God - given to us as a gift.  It is this unconditional grace, love, and forgiveness that we are called to share with the world - just like we did yesterday at the pride festival.   So, during Pride month, and always, today's readings remind us we are never alone - no matter what we are going through or who we are.  We are not alone for two reasons.  First, we, through the examples of so many stories in the Bible, are not alone because we live in community with each other. God clearly sets an example that we are meant to be in community with each other (and with the entire creation) to support and build up each other - to be one together with each other.  Not to divide and label, but to support and uplift each other.   Second, we are not alone because we have been promised and reminded time and time again that God is always with us.  God is the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.  And more importantly God is also everything in between.  God never ends - and is always with us - and loves all of us exactly for who we are - children of God created in God's image. Or in the words of a hymn.   Have good cheer, little flock; have good cheer, little flock, for the Father will keep you in his love forever; have good cheer, little flock!   May we all learn from the example and prayer of Jesus and work to be united as one with each other and with God and Jesus Christ.  Not just to be with each other but also to share God's love with all of creation.  From the waters and sky to the grass, trees, and plants, to all the animals that live in the water, on land, or in the sky. And to all of God's beloved children - every one of the LGBTQIA+ community, all our BIPOC siblings, people with every different ability, immigrants seeking safety and shelter, those who are hungry, everyone, especially those that society often shuns, calls an “other” or “less than”, and pushes to the margins. Through our words and actions, we can help bring this unity to creation, so we all can be one in Christ.   We do this through the help of God who is always coming to us, every day, not just at the end of times. As it says in Revelation 22:20-21 “‘Surely I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints.”  and let the entire church say “AMEN!”.

Year C – Fourth Sunday in Easter – May 25, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd                 John 14:23-29   Grace and peace to you in the name of our risen savior, Jesus Christ, who gives us his peace. Amen. *** If you haven't already heard… we elected a new bishop this past week at our synod assembly. Bishop-elect Julie Schneider-Thomas comes from the outskirts of the Grand Rapids area, where she served two congregations that are in a formal paired relationship. In church lingo… we call that a 2-point, and she has been with them for nearly 30 years. As excited as the assembly was that the Holy Spirit was calling us into something new… there were those for whom Pr Julie's election was a cause for grieving… a cause for troubled hearts. Among them, of course, are our outgoing bishop, Criag Satterlee, and those who serve on his staff, Pr Chrisy Bright and Pr Kjersten Sullivan… also Bp. Satterlee's wife and daughter. The Holy Spirit is now calling all of them forward into something new, but to what… they don't yet know. It's understandably disorienting. And at the end of Bishop-elect Julie's acceptance speech, she left the podium… but then came running back to say one last thing… She said she saw the wide eyes of her people… people from not only one congregation, but from two… who just realized they have lost their pastor… their leader and shepherd… of 30 years. She saw their wide, troubled eyes… and her heart just broke. I felt that ache with her. In just a few short months, I have fallen deeply in love with this congregation… and with joy in my heart, I'm excited to share my life with you for years to come… to deepen our relationship over the gift of time. And so, I can only imagine what they all must have felt in that moment… The thrill of hope for where a new leader might guide our synod… a leader they know and love… up against the terrible ache of loss, knowing that their stability… and the patterns of life in those congregations are suddenly upended. The truth is… life could change for any of us in a moment's notice… disorienting us… and challenging what we thought we knew. Leaving our hearts… troubled, and afraid. And into this disorientation, Jesus arrives with a word of peace. Do not let your hearts be troubled, he says… and do not be afraid. He tells them that yes, he is leaving them… but he is not leaving them alone. So be at peace… Jesus is going back to the Father, but we have the Holy Spirit… our advocate… our God with us. The Holy Spirit is with us always, to guide us… and to remind us of what Jesus taught us… to pour God's love into us so we can share that love with the world. The Holy Spirit is with us… to ease our troubled hearts… and to give us… peace. Jesus tells his disciples this before his death and resurrection… This particular passage takes place after their last supper… after Judas has betrayed Jesus and gone out into the night… and after Jesus predicts Peter's denial of him… He's telling them this now… so that when the moment comes, they will remember his words. He's trying to prepare them as best he can for what is to come… Imploring them to remember… remember that when you feel troubled… when you are afraid… I am still with you. Our advocate… God's Holy Spirit… is still with us… always with us. These words are for us, as well… remember what Jesus promised us… we will never be abandoned. *** Our election for bishop went all the way to the fifth and final ballot… the field narrowing with each round. And before each round of voting… after passing out the ballots, we prayed together as an assembly. We prayed for the Holy Spirit to be present in our choice, and we breathed in that breath of God around us… The intention of this prayer was not to call the Holy Spirit to us… we were not imploring the Holy Spirit to come and be by our side. This prayer was for us… it was for our understanding… it was so that WE would become aware of the presence of God… that was already there. This prayer… was to help us remember Jesus' promise. This prayer was intended to help us open our hearts to God in the Spirit… our Advocate… who is with us always. …our Christ, by our side… giving us peace… not as the world gives, but as Jesus gives… the peace that comes from remembering Jesus's promise that we would never be abandoned by God. It was only after giving thanks for the Spirit of God with us, that we cast each vote. And so, while the results mean there are changes ahead… we know that Christ is with us through them all. *** There was another story I wanted to share with you today… another example of how present the Spirit of God is with us in our troubling, disorienting moments. …those moments when we might be tempted to feel that God has abandoned us. This happened just a couple of days ago… and I want to start by saying that no one was hurt… But my friend and colleague, Pastor Kara of Trinity Lutheran in Hillsdale, lost her home, her camper, and her husband's truck in a fire on Thursday. Like I said, everyone is ok… unharmed… physically, at least, including their dog… no one was home at the time. But their property is a total loss. And just as Rich recently experienced after the storms, they have been showered with offers to help in whatever way they might need. And to everyone, she has the same response… She is beyond thankful that no one was hurt, and they have insurance. She is shocked, for sure… no one expects this… but she is absolutely grounded by Christ's peace and presence. So, her request to everyone who offers is that they refocus their intentions toward the youth and young adults of our synod. You see… at the assembly, after we elected the new bishop, we also had to pass the new budget. The synod council put forward a budget that cut the amounts allocated for nearly all of our ministries, including support for the synod Youth & Young Adult Table, our Campus Ministries, and Living Water Ministries. Pastor Kara had moved for an addendum to the budget to reinstate the financial support for our youth and young adult ministry programs. She argued that we cannot claim the importance of youth and young adults in our church while also cutting our support for them. After much debate, the addendum passed… which reinstated the $14,000 cut from the lines supporting youth and young adult ministries… It was… a leap of faith… Because it came without any recent historical pattern of mission support from congregations to justify that extra spending. She was pretty much on edge after pushing the synod into possible debt. Still, Pastor Kara knew the Holy Spirit was with us in that room, guiding our decisions and moving our hearts toward God's will. She trusted that when we follow God's call, God will provide. She could not have known, however, that in less than a week, her faith in God's provision would be put to the test. But I hear her… I hear the ache in her voice. She pushed for the assembly to do the right thing, even before knowing how we would accomplish it. She knew that her heart was troubled, but that the Spirit of Christ was with us… So, when facing a life-altering event… the kind of event that might leave one feeling abandoned… her faith and her resolve became stronger. They are unharmed, and they will recover… and so she is redirecting all the attention back toward the movement of the Holy Spirit at the assembly. And she is at peace. We'll be talking more about this call to support youth and young adult ministries in the months to come… but as we have these conversations, I want you to remember… Remember Jesus' words to us… his promise… Jesus said to his disciples… as he says to us… Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. Christ is with us always, through good times and challenging times… in happy times and in sorrow. The promise of Jesus is that God's Spirit is with us always, surrounding us with peace, and equipping us for the work ahead. So we will not let our hearts be troubled… and we will not be afraid. Amen.

Today we had a special musical performance from the Faith Bell Choir as they played Let us Talents and Tongues Employ at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical performance of True Light by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir with a solo  by Chris Lewis at Faith Lutheran Church of Okemos, Michigan.

Year C – Fourth Sunday in Easter – May 18, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd                 John 13:31-35; Acts 11:1-18   Grace and peace to you in the name of our risen savior, Jesus Christ, who commands us to love more widely than we can imagine. Amen. *** What an incredible day of celebration! So beautiful and fun! And yet… some of us are still reeling from that storm that crossed our state on Thursday night and into Friday. There's been damage here in our community, but also extensively across the state. Recovery and repair efforts are underway… and in Christ's love, we hold those most affected in the embrace and prayers of our community… helping where we can through our prayers… and our actions. We do this… because it's who we are as disciples of Jesus… we love our neighbors as Christ loves us… and sometimes that love looks like cutting up fallen trees and cleaning up broken glass. Life is better for everyone when we let our love for others guide us… And that, too, is worth celebrating. So, this is, indeed, a Celebration Sunday! And the Holy Spirit has gifted us with some beautiful scripture to accompany our celebration. We hear in our Gospel today, our Lord Jesus, commanding us to love each other as Christ loves us. If you were here on Maundy Thursday, you would have heard this text then as well. It's very important, and so we hear it again. Jesus said to us… Love one another as I have loved you. Let your love for others be a defining characteristic of who you are… be known for it… and let your radically abundant love identify you as one of my disciples. And know that the love you have does not originate with you… it comes from Christ and flows through you… This is how we love. *** And from Acts, we have an important vision… Peter is deep in prayer while he's waiting for lunch… he's hungry… And he sees a large sheet being lowered in front of him, and on it, he sees all manner of animals that, as a Jewish man, he would have been prohibited from eating because it would have rendered him unclean. Along with the vision comes a voice from God telling him to kill and eat… Peter would have been horrified… maybe even repulsed… because he had been taught all his life that these animals were not for eating… they were common… profane. But the voice insisted… and said that what God has made clean, he must not call profane. God is doing a new thing here. And then, the Holy Spirit tells him to go to the home of a Roman centurion – a commander in the Roman army who was also a follower of Jesus – but… this man was a Gentile. The Jewish people kept themselves apart and would have avoided mixing with the Gentiles…   And even those who followed Jesus… well, they thought they had something of a special club, exclusive to those who also follow Jewish law. …they certainly would not have accepted an invitation to a meal in the home of a Roman for many reasons, but foremost, there would have been no way to confirm that it was in accordance with their dietary rules. So… trusting in the Holy Spirit… Peter goes to Cornelius' home, where he learns that he, too, was visited by God and told to invite Peter to come to his home… to hear what Peter could teach him. Peter begins to speak… to share the good news… and he witnesses the Holy Spirit fall upon this Gentile and his household And in that moment, Peter understood that God shows no partiality, and that the gift of this life with Christ… the saving love and grace that is Christ's alone to give… is meant for all people. It certainly seems… that God is doing a new thing. But our passage is actually from Peter's retelling of these incredible events… he is recounting the story for the others because they are upset with him for going. They are criticizing him for going to Cornelius' home and eating with him… he is being called forward to explain why he would do such an unlawful thing. And we can hardly blame them… their rules and way of life, given to them by God, have governed their lives for thousands of years. They are known to others by these rules. And yet… it was clear that God is doing a new thing. God is not saying that the former rules were bad, or wrong… Only that it is time for something new… It's time to eliminate the exclusivity of their religious club and accept people whom they would not have previously accepted. It's time to break down the barriers and welcome all… to allow all their different cultures and backgrounds to become part of the beautiful tapestry of life that belongs to Jesus Christ… To celebrate… that there is no one beyond God's love, and therefore no one should be excluded from our love. *** Do we think this was easy for them to do? Absolutely not!! These folks were human… and they were pretty set in their ways… and just like us today, they had prejudices and aversions… There's a reason we are still talking about Jesus's command to love others as Christ loves them… We still struggle… we still put up barriers around ourselves to keep out those who are different… those who will disrupt our ways. We push back against God's call to open our hearts, our minds, and our communities to those who are different… different habits, different foods, different ages… different ways of worship… anything… Difference is disruptive, and we like things to be the same… set… calm. But God is always making things new… all around us, God is always renewing us … always calling upon us to love more… and to welcome those who are not already in the room… to not just widen our boundaries around who we love but to eliminate the boundaries altogether. …because we are called to love as Christ loves us, and we will never meet another person whom God does not love. We come together as a community of faith, because we seek to know Jesus… to follow Jesus and to conform ourselves to the ways of Jesus… And so we must love like Jesus. We must love others and welcome others in such a radical way that we become known for our love… Love in such a way that we can overcome the discomfort of difference… Love in such an open way that we leave room in our hearts to be surprised by the gift that the Holy Spirit has for us in our newfound relationships. Loving this way will change you… it will renew you… every day *** Peter did not insist that Cornelius and his household convert to Judaism before agreeing to meet with him… before agreeing to include them in the Way of Christ. No… Peter saw that God was including Cornelius and his household exactly as they were… and so very wisely, Peter observed… who am I, that I could hinder God? Who are we… that we could hinder God? When we exclude other people because they aren't like us… we cause harm… We hurt those we have excluded… but we also harm our own hearts by rejecting the gift of relationship that is offered through Christ's command to be loving and inclusive. And so, we love in such a way that leaves room for others to become the fullest, most beautiful version of themselves… And in so doing, we are also made new… drawn closer to the heart of Christ… closer to the love that Christ has for all the world. And we give our thanks and praise… for in our becoming new… in our blooming… our God is glorified. This is truly something we can celebrate today! *** In a short while, Abby, Isaak, Kara, and Maddie will publicly affirm their baptismal promises. They are proclaiming that they choose to continue in their journey with Christ… the journey that began with their baptism. But… then what… what does that really mean? Well, it means… that you will be known for your love… for the way you include those who are excluded… …for the way you lift others up so they can see themselves, and love themselves, as Christ sees and loves them… It means that you will let the love of Christ shine through you… that you'll be Christ's light in the darkness, and no darkness will overcome it. It means that by this love, you and all around you will know that you belong to Jesus, and that every day, Jesus is doing a new thing… through you. Do I think this will always be easy? Nope… it won't… But that's why we come back together again and again, to receive Christ's forgiveness and grace, and be renewed by Christ's love through all these folks around you. …We come together to remember how much we are loved… to see ourselves as God sees us, and allow God's vision to work in us… so we, too, can become the fullest, most beautiful version of ourselves. Because the truth is… God is always doing a new thing… making all things new, including you. That's definitely something to celebrate today! Amen.

This is a special musical performance of All My Days by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir with a duet by Ryan and Addie Thompson of Faith Lutheran Church of Okemos, Michigan.

Year C – Fourth Sunday in Easter – May 11, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd                 John 10:22-30; Acts 9:36-43   Grace and peace to you in the name of our risen savior, Jesus Christ, who consistently shows us how great God's love is for those we have pushed aside. Amen. *** Earlier this week, at our Tuesday Bible Study, we took a deeper look at this passage we heard today from Acts. It's always fun when a story we may have overlooked surprises us with details that seem to rise to the surface… in a new way. For us, this week… it was this beautiful story about this disciple… Tabitha. She is the only woman in scripture to be specifically named a disciple, even though some translations have converted the word ‘disciple' into ‘woman.' She was, in fact, a named disciple of Jesus. And she cared for those who were vulnerable and marginalized… she cared for them out of her own resources… the widows and the poor. She cared for them with love and offered them dignity in a very practical way… by weaving and sewing their clothes. This is significant. In first-century Rome, a person might only have one or two pieces of clothing at a time, and those pieces likely would have been made for them. So, the making, washing, and repair of clothing – a basic human need – was a serious business in the ancient world. Through giving of her time and skill, Tabitha was able to elevate her community of widows into a community that clearly cared for and supported each other …while surrounded by a society that would sooner have them pushed aside as objects. We are familiar with the social hierarchy of first-century Rome. A widow without a son was at the very bottom… they were the most vulnerable, and it is a recurring theme in scripture and Christian history that we, who follow Christ, must care for them. I have seen many examples of ministries that go above and beyond to care for those who are incredibly vulnerable and in need… the widows of our time. I would say our Parish House is one example of a ministry that goes above and beyond to restore life and dignity to those who are so incredibly vulnerable. And yet… how often do we encounter aid and ministry that assumes the ones being served will always depend on that aid? How often do we evaluate programs… and find that they consider those they serve to be objects of charity, rather than potential agents of ministry? Why do the stories of helping widows tend to fall short of imagining ways for them to become prosperous… or even simply… ways to reduce their vulnerability? You see… I think this was what was so special about the disciple, Tabitha. She understood Jesus' command to love and care for others, especially those who are vulnerable… She understood this to be a mission to not only provide for basic needs but also elevate them and restore their humanity and dignity. She understood the command to love those on the margins as a command to bring those who have been pushed aside… back into the center. This is what Jesus did. Again and again. Jesus healed people by restoring them to their community… and he usually did this by curing the illnesses that kept them apart. This is what Jesus did, he loved people and restored their dignity… and so this is what his disciple, Tabitha, did. Jesus, our Good Shepherd, loves us so deeply that we are more than mere objects of charity. Jesus' love for us is so abundant that we are restored… renewed… and transformed… and commissioned to carry that love forward to others. This kind of love not only sees and cares for the vulnerable on the margins, but it pulls them back into the community and calls them beloved and valuable. *** There is a community of women living near Guatemala City. They are the widows of those men who were disappeared during the great wave of violence and terror that the Guatemalan government perpetrated against the indigenous population in the 1980s. The community is called La Esperanza, which means “hope.” The women came together to offer mutual support and care for each other and their children. They would not accept direct charity, but they did accept funds from a Presbyterian program to build one durable building in the center of their community, which houses a day care center, a preschool, a health clinic, and a weaving cooperative. They have divided the responsibilities necessary for running their community, such as caring for the children, cooking, cleaning, sewing, and weaving clothes for themselves and to sell for income. Some have trained as dental hygienists and nurse practitioners to care for the community's health needs. These women have a dignified life… they were cast aside, but through love and care for each other, the kind of love that comes from Christ, their lives are renewed. *** I imagine that if the disciple, Tabitha, lived today… we might find her in a community like La Esperanza. …we would find her in a community centered around hope. We would find the disciple, Tabitha, where we find other disciples… in places where hope in the risen Christ is transformed into loving action for those in need. The kind of loving action that transforms a person from an object of ministry, into an agent of ministry… Transforming people who have been lifted up into those who can, in turn, lift others. This is the power of Christ's love working through us… through Christ's disciples. And all of this is remarkable… but we haven't even reached the most remarkable part of the story. The disciple, Tabitha, was so important to the community of widows… and so important to the community of Jesus' disciples… that when they sent for Peter after her death, he came immediately. And through Peter… Jesus restored Tabitha, back to life. Because she lived, the community of widows would not be left alone. This story about the disciple, Tabitha, teaches us something about the nature of Jesus… about the nature of God… That God's love for those on the margins is so great, that God will not leave them abandoned. And yet there is more… Because Tabitha lived, the community of widows understood firsthand that with Jesus, death does not have the final say. Reality is no longer bound to life and death, but rather, by Jesus' promise that through him, all things are made new. Those widows in Tabitha's community were no longer beholden to society's vision for them at the bottom of the social hierarchy… they were newly caught up in Christ's vision for them… as valuable, worthy, and beloved. A legacy that was surely carried forward into the community at La Esperanza. Through the resurrection power and love of Christ, we, too, are always being made new… remolded and remade… reminded that we are worthy and beloved. Through Christ's love… we are transformed. Amen.

This is a special musical performance of River in Judea by the Faith Bells of Faith Lutheran Church of Okemos, Michigan.

Today at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan Nancy by Emmanuel Sejourne was performed by Calvin Kadrofske

Year C – Third Sunday in Easter – May 4, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd                 John 21:1-19; Acts 9:1-20 Grace and peace to you in the name of our risen savior, Jesus Christ, who knows we are not perfect, and yet still calls us daily to follow. Amen. *** I love a good redemption story. A classic tale of an evil villain… or even… a more relatable character who has unfortunately made terrible choices… They recognize the error of their ways, and their life is transformed. My top guy is probably Ebenezer Scrooge… and yes, I'm talking about A Christmas Carol …during the Easter season… A few years ago, a movie called Spirited came out… a story with Ebenezer Scrooge working away in the afterlife to bring such a transformation to others who have gone astray. He was paying it forward, if you will Delightfully funny movie… and it raised a good question… when someone has seen the error of their ways, and changed their behavior… do they change permanently? … does that transformed life… stick around? Everything is set right… the book ends or the credits roll… but would Ebenezer still have his generous Christmas spirit when Easter came around? …what happens six months later when life throws some challenges… what happens when that moment of realization and commitment to change is a faded memory… and we fall back into old habits? These stories of redemption tend to hook our imagination… because they are so relatable… so human. All of us have made mistakes… every single one of us has done things we later wish we had done differently… …the things we could have said in a kinder way… the times we wish we had stopped to help instead of tucking our head and walking by. We need to believe that there is hope for us… if Ebenezer can turn his life around… so can we. If Jesus still calls Peter to follow him… still calls Peter into discipleship after how badly he messed up… then perhaps Jesus is still calling us. Peter followed Jesus for three years… he pledged his life to Jesus… He tried to give his life defending Jesus in the garden when he drew his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest's slave. And yet… only a short while later… around that charcoal fire outside the courtyard of the high priest… when it seemed they had lost… Peter denied ever having known Jesus… Three times he said… I do not know the man. And then the cock crowed… and Peter realized what just happened… and that Jesus knew he would fail him… I can only imagine how deeply that must have gutted Peter. And I bet seeing Jesus appear to them in the locked room only made it worse… it would have only highlighted Peter's lack of faith… He was wrong… they had not lost… and so his shame at his three-fold denial… would have been bone-deep. Can anyone really blame him for going fishing? But then… just as Jesus found him three years ago… Jesus finds him again. Seated at a charcoal fire… Jesus is there, cooking them breakfast. This scene… I love it. This is the Jesus I know… not a distant, unattached God in the sky watching over us… but… my Lord and my God, meeting me in the ordinary days of my life. Jesus… meeting me in the moments when I feel like the world has turned upside down. Jesus… saying to me… come and sit… let's share a meal. Things have gone a bit sideways for you… I know… but come… and let me remind you of my love. And how do they know that it's Jesus? …because of the abundance! …the great haul of fish… the grace upon grace. Around that charcoal fire on the beach, Jesus offers Peter another chance… Peter, do you love me… Yes, Lord… Then feed my lambs. Peter, do you love me… Yes, Lord… Then tend my sheep. Peter, do you love me… Yes, Lord, I love you… you know everything, and you know that I love you… Then feed my sheep… and follow me. The crucified and risen Jesus Christ tells Peter… and tells us… I've already taken into account your shortcomings… and still, I am calling you… come, and follow me. Jesus came so that we might have life, and have it abundantly… so don't think for a minute that Jesus can't work with what you've got. Just consider what Jesus has already done… In the great reversal of death's power, Jesus has transformed the dreadful cross and tomb into a sign of forgiveness and love… a sign of redemption… Jesus transforms Peter, a three-fold deserter… into a shepherd of Christ's people. And shortly after, Jesus transforms Saul, a murderous persecutor… into a champion for the Way of Christ. Jesus knows our failings… and still loves us… forgives us… and calls us to follow… to put that love into action, and to feed and tend his sheep… the people of the world whom God so loves. Jesus calls us into a transformed and joyous life… life with our Lord and our God by our side And yet… even after encountering Jesus in our lives… we sometimes drift away… we might pull away from Jesus and drift back into our old ways. …or perhaps… we may even admit that we are a little afraid of what the power of a new life with the risen Christ might mean… and so we deny we ever knew him. It's that question that the movie Spirited asked… what happens down the road… is the transformation lasting and permanent? Is Ebenezer still as generous at Easter as he was on Christmas Day? If it were only up to us and our own willpower, then I'd say no… we cannot secure our own redemption… the kind that leads to true transformation. But fortunately… our redemption is not from within us… it comes from the crucified and risen Jesus. Jesus, who knows our faults and our failings, and calls us anyway to follow him daily… Jesus calls us to receive grace upon grace…. and allow the redemptive power of a living Christ transform our lives with love… to transform us anew, each and every day. Our redemption is permanent… a once-and-done experience… we are forgiven and redeemed by the grace of the risen Jesus Christ… But our life with Jesus… our encounters with Christ… that is not one-and-done. Our experience of meeting Jesus in our ordinary… our good days and our bad… of sharing a meal… that is an ongoing experience. An ongoing relationship, rooted in love and grace… a relationship that deepens and matures over time… It's a relationship that calls to you every single day, even after we may have drifted away… even after we have made mistakes. So come and have some breakfast with Jesus… and receive Christ's transformational love for you… It is… the best redemption story there is. Amen.

Join us to celebrate Easter!

This is a special musical performance of Triumphal Entry by the Faith Bells of Faith Lutheran Church of Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical performance of Abide with Me by the Faith Lutheran Church's Faith Bells with a solo by Gwynne Kadrofske on Flute!.

This is a special musical presentation of Hosanna to the King by the Chancel Choir with special percussionists, Rich Weingartner, Matt Schnizlein, Nick Hirschenberger and a solo by Chris Lewis at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical presentation of Sing Out To God, sung by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan

Sermon 4/6/2025 – Jn 12:1-8   The prophet Isaiah brings us words from our Lord God:  “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” This is a beautiful reminder that God will surprise us God makes a way for us God brings out an army of fighters for us God nourishes and replenishes us Whatever we face, God is there, navigating beside us   The arc of the Gospels from Luke these past weeks have been building the tension toward Jesus' arrest and crucifixion We can feel the tension within the community The Pharisees are threatening Herod's wish to kill Jesus They're grumbling about what Jesus is doing and who he's hanging out with (all the wrong people) And Jesus is responding with outrageous parables about how God isn't going to fall in line with human expectations God is extravagant in God's love for God's people God will protect God's people like a fierce mother hen God will nourish the fig tree until it bears fruit God will welcome the wayward son with open arms and celebration “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”   In the midst of anxiety With the threat of death Burdened with tension God is there God is about to do a new thing Can we perceive it? Can we? Because fear Anxiety Tension The energy of these emotions act like walls Huge barriers to God's love Barriers that make God's love, mercy, tenderness and forgiveness sit on the outside of our hearts --- One thing we know about anxiety and tension – Is that they spread They are more contagious than Norovirus or Influenza A As they travel among people and communities   So today, we hear the words of the prophet Isaiah and the Gospel story about Jesus in a safe place, the home of his friends His chosen family – Lazarus who he raised from the dead, and Martha and Mary These people who are close to Jesus have been shown the nature of God through the person of Jesus They have been shown God's extravagant love again and again Through parables And miracles Through Jesus raising Lazarus from death But the tension from the community is there, It's seeped in It has spread into their home Into their hearts and minds as Mary does a new and extravagant thing   We read these stories year after year We know that Judas is the “bad guy”, who will betray Jesus to the soldiers leading to his imprisonment and crucifixion But having a woman act as the “good guy” is surprising It would have been even more surprising then than it is now For Mary to demonstrate God's abundance For Mary to break cultural expectations Challenging gender roles As she takes her hair down Uses an entire pound of perfumed oil And wipes Jesus' feet But Mary's role isn't the only surprising role in this story We see the human side of Jesus, the fierce advocate, the strong defender, the wise teacher, the righteous Son of God, As he sits and acknowledges his need of tenderness His need of support His weariness from these past months As Mary cares for him Wiping the tension out of his whole body through his feet   “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”   We acknowledge the intimacy of this act on Maundy Thursday when Jesus washes the feet of his disciples Imagine the intimacy of Mary wiping Jesus' feet with her hair and expensive perfume… Imagine how close she would have to sit to Jesus… Imagine her face, and her gaze upon him… Imagine the smell of the perfume, an entire pound of it, filling her nostrils and wafting up to Jesus' face, filling his nose The lovely fragrance spreading…permeating the entire room Lingering… Imagine his gaze upon her… As Jesus sits around the dinner table, surrounded by others, and Mary touches his feet for the first time… Imagine Jesus' surprise as she continues ministering to him until the entire jar is gone… “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”   Now imagine God caring for you in that extravagant and tender way Imagine God knowing all you've done And not done All you've endured And all you're facing in life Imagine God bringing God's self so close to you So close, just a hair's length away Close to even the dirtiest and sorest parts of yourself Not just the parts you'd offer first But even the embarrassing and hurt parts The parts you keep tucked away and covered Imagine God coming so close to those parts And blessing them Wiping them Loving them Anointing your past, present and future With a beautiful and unexpected fragrance That takes over your whole self That fills the whole room That is obnoxious in a way that even others notice “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” /         /         /         / We are so often like Judas Keeping track Judging Anxious As the tension of our community and world Spread and infect our spaces Our school and work Our congregation Our homes Even our thoughts and hearts Which is why this season of Lent is all about repentance Turning back toward God Taking a chance to let down the walls and barriers The hardness this world has erected within us And let God in Let God sit so close to us Let God let down God's hair Let God use the whole jar And reach our most unpresentable parts Let God tenderly touch those parts of us Let God wipe them clean, Let God bless them, and anoint them with God's extravagant and Holy love Amen

This is a special musical presentation of Lonesome Valley, sung by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan

Year C – Fourth Sunday in Lent – March 30, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd Luke 15:1-3; 11b-32   Grace and peace to you from God, our Father, and from our Lord, Jesus Christ, whose abundant grace makes our repentance possible. Amen. *** This fellow welcomes sinners and tax collectors… and eats with them. I don't know what these particular sinners did for the Pharisees to label them as such… but the tax collectors worked for the Roman government… they were agents for the Empire… For the average Jewish person, the tax collectors were the people who were actively working against your livelihood and your well-being. They were… not welcome at any decent Jewish person's table… so the fact that this fellow, Jesus, welcomed tax collectors and ate with them is… well… it's pretty offensive. This fellow… Jesus… he sure is a troublemaker… he is always getting the Pharisees grumbling. And so, Jesus responds to their grumbling with a parable that is even more offensive… on so many levels… It has a terrible, manipulative son who demands that his father give him his inheritance as if his father is dead to him… and then squanders all the money on prostitutes and ends up starving, surrounded by pigs… and… he is not sorry about what he did. He is not full of remorse… he does not repent, and then return to his father… What drives him to return home… is that he is hungry, and he thinks he can con his dad into feeding him again. But the hardest thing to admit is that perhaps… the greatest offense in this story… is that the father's grace is so freely and abundantly given. Yes, it is grace… that is most offensive here. *** I confess to you… that I continually find myself identifying with the older brother. I cannot help my instinctual reaction and impulse that there must be some divine consequence for the actions of the younger son… I cannot help but overlay the sin of the younger brother with examples of offensive sin in our modern time… I see in him those who are, today, manipulative and conniving, those who seize power and use it to increase the exploitation of the poor, the marginalized, and the vulnerable. I see in him those who would squander the wealth and prosperity of generations for their own gain… and those who are so blinded by prejudice and a fear of the ‘other' that they are dismantling the work toward equality and equity that others have worked and died for… and I am offended. I am offended at what Jesus' story teaches us about God… that God's arms are open wide and full of love and grace for all… even the unrepentant sinners. Even though I am well-versed in how much God proclaims unconditional love for all. I am still offended… this is my sin. And yet, I so deeply empathize with the hurt the older brother feels when he realizes there is a celebration happening, and he's not part of it. I get angry… I confess this to you… I am offended by this story. Which, of course, means that I am just as much in need of forgiveness and grace as either one of these brothers… So… if you don't mind, I'm going to preach to myself here for a few minutes because I am, clearly, captive to my sin and in need of some good news… *** During Lent, we've been paying close attention to God's urgent call to return… return to the Lord, repent… change your heart… change your mind, and turn your attention back to God and God's love for you. And what this parable today illustrates for us is that… we cannot truly repent until we have received, and accepted, God's grace and love… The younger son… as I said earlier… what drove him back to his father was not remorse… it was hunger. Had he found a meal, he would likely not have gone back. Only when he showed up and realized that his father had never stopped searching for him… never stopped loving him… that his father's arms were open wide and full of mercy and grace… Only then… did this young son's heart soften… only then did the transformative power of genuine repentance go to work on him. Grace is not a reward for our repentance. Grace… makes our repentance possible. …and our repentance itself is a loving gift from God, given to help us heal… given so that we can be made whole. Our repentance, made possible through grace, transforms our inward concern for our own needs and gain… into outward love for others and their well-being. Our ability to humbly come before God and confess that we have strayed from the way Jesus called us to go… to come before God and confess our sin… is only possible… because we have first received… grace. God is not trying to manipulate us into a fake apology or a disingenuous change in behavior… the offer of grace is not coercion… God offers us this grace freely… and in so doing, God is creating the conditions for us to be made new. God will not settle for anything less than a full transformation… a full redemption… a new creation. But… for this to be so… we must hear this good news first… God loves you, God forgives you, and God's arms are open wide, and full of mercy and grace, waiting for you to come home. And once we are home, safe in God's embrace… only then, can we begin to heal from our sin… to be healed and made whole. Bathed in mercy and grace, washed in love, we are made new, and therefore, just as we are a new creation in Christ, we cannot help but look at our neighbors in a new way… We cannot help but see God's love in them, see the dignity and value in all people, even those we have sinned against… in thought, word, or deed …and yes, even those who have sinned against us. We cannot love the world as God so loves the world… until we allow God's grace to heal our hearts… and to confess that we are as much in need of that grace and healing as anyone else. We are as much in need of that grace and healing as the lost and wayward children, the con artists, the scoundrels, those who are collaborating with the Empire, and yes… even the resentful older brothers… …we ALL need God's grace and healing… God's unfair and offensive, extravagant and boundless grace… I need to hear this every day… God loves me… God forgives me… and God's arms are open wide and full of grace. *** I still can't help but empathize with that older brother and the hurt he must have felt when he realized he was not included in the celebration. He was so wound up about who is deserving of his father's love… who is acceptable, who is worthy, who is deserving of mercy… that he refused to go into the celebration. He was so convinced of his own righteousness, and the wrongness of his brother, that he missed the party. I get it. I understand how he could feel this way… and I also understand that he is missing the point. You see, I don't read this celebration as an allegory for eternal life with God… The celebration is a real party, and it's happening now… it is our joyful response to our transformation – the new life and the new creation that comes from true repentance… and for the grace that makes it possible… right here and now… every day. The offensive celebration… is for the healing of a heart that has gone astray! For once, we were lost… and now we are found! The older brother has been with the father all this time… but he, too, has let his heart go astray… he has taken his position in his father's house for granted, and has failed to return, again and again, to his father's embrace of love and grace… he failed to allow that grace to continually renew and re-create his heart. The older brother has fallen captive to his sin, and he made it all about himself… saying to his father… but what have you done for me? But his father… who loves him… who forgives him… says to his son, my arms are open wide for you too, and full of grace, just as they have always been… come, and be made new. Come into my grace… let it go to work on your heart, and be transformed by my love… and then, my child… you, who have been made new, will have no other response but to rejoice. And so, Lord, I pray to you… guide me… guide us… every day… into your transformative embrace, and let us celebrate with you. Amen.

Join us for a lenten service from March 26, 2025

This is a special musical presentation of Come to the River, sung by the Chancel Choir and Andy Boyan on Guitar at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan

Year C – Third Sunday in Lent – March 23, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd Luke 13:1-9 Isaiah 55:1-13   Grace and peace to you from God, our Father, and from our Lord, Jesus Christ, who, together with the Holy Spirit, long for us to live fruitful lives full of abundance. Amen. *** I learned a long time ago that… I can't tell the difference between a trombone and a baritone… or an oboe and a clarinet. Now, if I'm looking at them, then yes, I can tell them apart and would even agree that they sound different… but the quality of their different sounds is not overly distinctive to my ear… so I struggle to tell them apart based on sound alone. It's just not something I have much experience with. I discovered this… tragic failing of mine back in college when I had some elective courses to fill, and I thought it would be fun to take …the History of Jazz. I thought I was taking a history class… I enjoy history… But it was not so… it was apparently a music class disguised as a history class. And I almost failed… A big part of the class involved listening to classic jazz pieces and identifying the parts of the music… not only the instrument but the artist… based on the way they were playing. I was way out of my league. But over the course of the semester, I was able to train my ear just enough to scoot by… and I also think the professor had mercy on me. I know there are people out there who are naturally gifted with hearing and can pick up on subtle differences in sound… but I think most of us have to be trained to do that… …and if we want to keep that skill and build on it, well… then we need to practice. It's very similar to our ability to recognize God's presence in our lives… and to truly listen to God's word in such a way that it shapes our lives toward fruitful living. We have to be taught… trained to recognize God through word and action… and we have to return to God every day… to practice. *** The prophet Isaiah tells us this week to “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call up him while he is near.” It's part of this beautiful invitation to come to the banquet… all who thirst… and all who hunger… Come! Eat and drink… it's all freely given, and it is so much better than the junk food you had before… the stuff that did not satisfy… come… and eat what is good! No one is turned away! The Lord is near… and wants you to truly live! This must have been incredible for the Israelites to hear… it was likely written around the time of Israel's return from the Babylonian exile, around 538 B.C.E. Can you imagine? Returning home after being exiled… returning to God after hardship and struggle… and hearing God's promise anew that God's love covers all. God proclaims… “Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live.” Listen. Train your ear to hear… Listen to God's word… and hear the promise that is spoken over you. Listen… so that you may live! And to those who have wandered away… to those who have chosen or stumbled onto the wicked and unrighteous path… let them also listen… and hear God's promise… so that they might also return to God… and God will have abundant mercy on them. Listen… so that you may live! Your God, who loves you, wants you to have the fruitful and flourishing life that you were created to have… God wants your life… to bear good fruit… and through God's word, we are given all we need to achieve it. But we must listen… and return daily to God's word… to practice our hearing. *** There are just a few problems with all this… For starters, this open invitation to all is… well… pretty open… but we humans sure do like exclusivity… we like the V.I.P. treatment… so we struggle with the idea that everyone is invited to this banquet. Also, we like to think there is a hierarchy of sins… but that's our invention… God doesn't seem to play that way. God's offer of compassion and mercy doesn't seem to have the qualifiers that our human systems want to place around everything. And furthermore… sure… God wants us to live a fruitful life… but that's harder for some… for all sorts of reasons… with lots of stumbling along the way. Even if we ignore the fact that many of the struggles some people face are due to the sin of human systems that are designed to keep them down and struggling… Most human… societies or even families… eventually want to give up on those who struggle with bearing good fruit… And yet, like the fig tree in our Gospel passage from Luke 13, God seems determined to give us more chances… to give us more time… to nurture us, and help us grow… God is determined for us to train our ears to hear… to listen… so that we may return to our Lord and live the fruitful and flourishing lives God created us to live! God comes to us in our pain and our struggle… and says… have mercy… give it another year… let us nurture this beloved child and give her more time… Because… thankfully…mercifully…  God's thoughts are not our thoughts… and God's ways are not our ways. Through the prophet Isaiah, God declares that God's love will not be denied… no obstacle is greater than God's word! For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout… So shall my word be… it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace! God is near to you now… and longs for you to incline your ear and listen to the promise found in God's word… to hear that word and repent, so you might return to the Lord, your God, every day. *** Both Isaiah and Luke emphasize the urgency of our repentance… but to be clear… this isn't a transactional experience… Repentance… returning our heart and mind to God… is not a quid-pro-quo… it is not a trade we make with God… we are not trading our remorseful apology for God's grace and forgiveness. Our repentance… is an act of faith… It's an acknowledgment of how much we need God's grace, and it communicates our trust that God hears us, knows us to our core, and still loves us. God offers us grace and forgiveness… and our repentance allows us to receive these gifts… receive them, but not hide them… God's gifts are meant to be shared. Our repentance is an act of faith that opens the way to a life that bears good fruit. …it acknowledges that when we return our hearts and minds to God, and truly listen to God's word with ears that are trained to hear… it will shape us… it will shift our hard-heartedness into compassion and patience… our cruelty into mercy and kindness… and our indifference into empathy and love. Compassion… patience… mercy… kindness… empathy… and love… are signs of a fruitful life… the kind of flourishing that God created us to live. *** But even if we are not quite there… even if we stumble and are not quite as compassionate or loving as we ought to be… God, who is near, tells us to practice our training. Give it a little more time… return to God now and incline your ear to God's word that guides us back to fruitful living. Don't wait until you have it perfect… don't wait until you think you are worthy… return now. God is not waiting for us to figure everything out… not waiting to bestow grace upon us until we have shed all questions and doubt. No… God is already here, speaking to us… speaking a word of light into our darkness… a word of love into our suffering… and so we train our ear to listen, to hear God's word. Like the talent of distinguishing a trombone from a baritone… we learn to distinguish God's word based on the good fruit it produces, both in us and through us. And we return to the Lord daily to be nourished by God's word… and trust that God's word, which is sent out with joy, will not return empty but will be led back in peace. Listen… so that you may live! Amen.

This is a special musical presentation of Once Upon A Tree, sung by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan

Year C – Second Sunday in Lent – March 16, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd Luke 13:31-35 Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18   Grace and peace to you from God, who is faithful and true, and from Jesus Christ, our Mother hen, who fiercely protects and provides for us. Amen. *** Have you ever been chased by an angry chicken? I have not… the only animals I grew up around were dogs and cats, and the occasional fish… so I do not have much experience with chickens. And because of my lack of experience, I used to miss much of the nuance of this passage from Luke… I didn't quite understand the intensity of the creature to which Jesus compares himself. I mean… it's a chicken. Not exactly scary, right? Chickens are famous for being… well… chicken… they're scared of everything! Well… so then… one of my friends who raises chickens set me right. Yes… they are scared of everything… until you threaten their babies. A mother hen is gentle and nurturing to her brood. She provides for them, and gathers them under her feathers, sheltering them and keeping them warm. But when her babies are in danger, she will not hesitate to go after the threat with fierceness and tenacity. She will go to great lengths to protect her vulnerable baby chicks… even if it costs her… her life. *** God… as a fierce Mother hen… it's a surprisingly beautiful way to understand who God is in Jesus… but not exactly what the early disciples really hoped for… or expected in a messiah. …and I think it's still that way for many people today. God's people had long awaited a conquering hero… a king who would overthrow the empire and crush those who were crushing them. And instead… we got Jesus. Not a brave warrior, but a poor, gentle Rabbi who insisted on hanging out with all the wrong people. Jesus was not a powerful ruler who would destroy our enemies… but a suffering messiah who calls upon us to love them. We think the strongman is the better deal… we are so conditioned to believe that the powerful and brash leader is the one who will save us… But only the one who was crucified on the cross …has the power to save. Jesus knew the forces of the empire were against him… he knew that his mission would end in death. But just like a Mother hen, Jesus was willing to face death – even death on a cross – in order to protect us… protect us from ourselves and our own sin… and provide for us… provide the salvation that can only come from God. Jesus was willing to face death… because Jesus is God, and God promised long before… that we would always be God's beloved children…  and God is faithful to God's promises. God made this covenant with our ancestors, Abram and Sarai… we are God's people… *** Even Abram doubted though… the scene we read today from Genesis describes one such moment of doubt. Abram laments because the promised future has not yet come to pass, but God reassures him… and Abram believes. But God takes this even further… God instructs Abram to bring animals for a ritual, and cut them in half, and lay them out, each side facing the other. And then God… passed through between the cut animals… to secure the covenant. You've heard the expression… to “cut a covenant” or “cut a deal” …yes? …this is where it comes from. The one who passes through demonstrates that they will fulfill their promise, and if they falter… then let happen to them what has happened to these animals. God promised to Abram and Sarai that they would be the ancestors to a great multitude of people… and that they would be God's children forever… under God's care and provision. And so, God passed through those animals to secure the promise for Abram, and to assure him that God will remain faithful to God's promises… even unto death. God claimed us as God's own, and laid foundations of love and trust… faithfulness and provision. And from the very beginning… God showed us what God was willing to do for us, to nurture and build this mutual relationship… Humans are the ones who falter and fall away… humans have not always held up our end of the agreement… but not God… God remains true. *** And so… roughly two thousand years after cutting that covenant with Abram… Jesus… who is God… knew where his mission would take him… he knew Herod was against him… Maybe the Pharisees were genuine in their attempt to warn him… or… maybe they were taunting him… hoping he would abandon his disciples and his mission, and run and hide… …maybe they were calling him a chicken. So, Jesus, in turn… calls Herod a fox. That's not a compliment. The fox is the notorious enemy of the chicken – and not just because he's a predator.   My friend who taught me about chickens, also taught me about foxes… A fox doesn't just kill when he's hungry. A fox will savage an entire hen house, killing indiscriminately and leaving the bodies behind. In calling Herod a fox, Jesus names Herod as a danger to everyone, including the Pharisees before him. But a hen… a Mother hen, when faced with a threat to her babies… never leaves her post. He tells the Pharisees that he's casting out demons and healing the sick… nothing will deter him from his mission. Jesus is resolute …even knowing that the path leads through death, he does not waver… because he also knows… that on the third day… the work will be complete. On the third day…sin and death will be defeated… and Love and mercy will prevail. We may still falter in our faithfulness to God… but God does not. God remains faithful and true to us, and through Jesus' death and resurrection, God has redeemed us… once and for all. Through Jesus' death and resurrection… we are saved… because Jesus gave his life to protect us… *** God in Jesus… is a fierce Mother. …and yet, tender and merciful, and full of love… longing to gather us under her wing… even though some are unwilling. God in Jesus is not an abstract idea of a god who controls the world through puppet strings, or teases us around like playthings… Jesus… is God who is near… a living, breathing, loving light in our lives who is worthy of our trust and love… worthy of our devotion… the kind of devotion that changes how you live in this world… …the kind of devotion that bends your heart toward those who are cast out and vulnerable… because they are among the first ones Jesus gathers to himself. Jesus is God… a mothering God, spreading her great wings over us, sheltering all of Creation in her feathers, protecting us… and ultimately giving her life… to save us. *** God has redeemed us… redeemed you… and me… God has given us grace and mercy… God has fulfilled the covenant made with Abram and Sarai… once and for all… and secured our place, for all time… as God's beloved children… And we, who are beloved children …we can trust in the fierce determination of our God to protect us from our sin…  …and trust in the shelter of our Lord, always. Amen      

Join us tonight for a lenten service.

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

Year C – First Sunday in Lent – March 9, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd Luke 4:1-13 Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, and from our Lord, Jesus Christ, in whose death and resurrection we share through the gift of Holy Baptism. Amen.   *** What a joyful day!  Today we celebrate Stella who has been adopted into God's family as our sibling in Christ… through the waters of baptism and through God's word… God's holy promise… spoken for us. God's promise to Stella today reminds us that this promise is for us as well… that even though we may find ourselves lost and alone in the wilderness, God's promise to us in our baptism is that God is with us… always…  God promises to meet us in our wilderness, and that through water and word, our sins are drowned each day… and each day we are made new, forgiven, and loved. Through baptism, we share in our Lord's death and resurrection… dying daily to our sin … and rising anew each day, embracing the promise of new life with Christ…  Each day we are reborn, reconciled to God… and freed to worship God and give thanks, and respond to this precious gift by caring for others and boldly loving the world as God so loves the world. Baptism is a precious gift… that draws us into God's grace, and transforms our relationship with God, and with our world. *** How poetic it is, then, that we celebrate Stella's baptism on this day… the first Sunday in Lent. During Lent, we are called to pay special focus to all that draws us away from God, and to be intentional in our thoughts and actions, choosing patterns and habits that will bring us back closer to our Creator. We might fast, as Jesus did in the wilderness, so that each thought of whatever you are avoiding, becomes a reminder to return to the Lord and give thanks. Or we might introduce more intentional prayer and time for meditation on God's faithful presence in our lives.  This can be done alone… or you may choose to lean on the support of others, and come together with our community of Faith here… you could join in our weekly bible study, the Lenten book study, or come on Wednesday nights for our Holden Evening Prayer service. Or we might choose to give more generously to those in need, sharing gifts that we have first received… and in doing so, sharing love for others and celebrating God's boundless love for all. However we choose to observe Lent, the goal is to grow in our relationship to God as we move toward the cross, and ultimately, to new life.  The goal is to interrupt the patterns of sin that tempt us… and lead us away from God, as the devil unsuccessfully tempted Jesus…  and to allow the challenge… the struggle… to strengthen us and deepen our faith and our trust in God who sustains us… and to remind us that we are forgiven and washed in grace. *** Our passage today brings us alongside Jesus in the wilderness… he is full of the Holy Spirit because he has just come from his own baptism in the Jordan River, signaling the start of his ministry on Earth. But even Jesus needed clarity for his mission… to face challenge and struggle… to strengthen himself for the work ahead, and so the Spirit leads him into the wilderness. The temptations Jesus faced mirror the temptations that Adam and Eve faced in the garden…  to eat food that is not theirs to eat… to reach for power that is promised by one without the authority to make such a promise… and to test God, rather than trust that God will be true to God's promise to provide. And where humanity falters, Jesus prevails… and in facing these challenges, Jesus gains clarity, and courage for his mission.  And so, it is poetic that on this first Sunday in Lent, we celebrate the gift of Stella's baptism, and by extension, the gift of our own baptism…  We celebrate that Stella is now full of the Holy Spirit, and by extension, we too are full of the Holy Spirit, ready to face the challenges ahead…  ready to strengthen and nurture our relationship with God and give intentional focus to all that God has done for us. Through our new sister, Stella, we are reminded of the promises we made… Promises that draw us closer to God.  Promises that open our hearts to recognize all the ways that Jesus shows up for us…because that's the goal… that's always the goal. *** God's promise to us through the word and the water is that we are always being made new… that every day, our sins are drowned… gone… and we rise from the water forgiven… and redeemed, and ready to walk with Christ. And even though we must die daily to our sin and receive the promise of new life each day… God's promise is everlasting… unwavering… and true. And though we are still flawed, God still calls us to God's self, still claims us as beloved just as we are, and desires for us to participate in the renewal of Creation by transforming the world around us with love. Baptism is our physical sign and reminder that we have received God's grace… love… mercy… and forgiveness. And so today, on this first Sunday in Lent, we celebrate the promise of new life for Stella, and for all of us… and we give thanks to God for the gift of baptism. Amen.

Year C – Ash Wednesday – March 5, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21   Remember that you are dust… and also, that you are loved. Ash Wednesday is the day we begin Lent, and we honor this day by considering our mortality… that we are made of the same dust and dirt as all the rest of Creation, and when we die… which we all will, we return to the same dust and dirt. It might seem odd to consider love, while also considering the dustiness of mortality … until you consider WHO made you from the dust and dirt… and WHY. Yes, you are dust… and dirt… but you were formed by God's own hands… formed in love. And you live because of the first gift God gives each of us… God's own breath… a gift given in love. God breathed into you… breathed life and love into you… so that you might live. Remembering that you are dust… also means… remembering that you are loved. And when the day comes that you return to dust… remember that you return to the presence of God… you return to the source of everlasting love. So then, it is with ashes and love that we step into Lent… a season of repentance and fasting… of giving alms and engaging in works of love that glorify our God… With ashes and love, we step into Lent, a season of preparation to behold God's defining act of defeating death on the cross. With ashes and love, we step into Lent and we fast from the excesses in life… from whatever it is in our lives that comes between us and our God. We fast, so we can more clearly recognize that when all else is gone… when all things become irrelevant, we know that God, and God's love, remain. Fasting, giving alms, and engaging in works of love are not about making a show of our piety… it's about setting our hearts and minds on Christ and trusting that God is faithful and will not abandon us… because we are so deeply loved. And… because we are so deeply loved, we also repent. God, in love, calls us to return… return to me, says the Lord, with all your heart… God calls us to repent. We must repent because we live in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves… and our sin holds us apart from God. Our repentance is an acknowledgment of the hold that sin has over our lives… and our repentance frees us to fully receive the love and forgiveness God offers. Our repentance… the kind of repentance that changes the way we live… the kind that guides us back toward God's justice... that kind of repentance… is rooted in love. We repent… not to become worthy of God's love, but we repent because we ARE loved. As the prophet Joel wrote…”Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger… and abounding in steadfast love.” Repent… and turn your face… return your attention… back to God… turn back to God's grace and mercy… to God's love, and forgiveness… and remember that it was God who formed you in love. You were formed from the dust and dirt, and to the dust and dirt you will return… but you will never be without God's love. So indeed… remember that you are dust… dust and dirt formed with love and given God's very breath of life… and when your life is complete… remember… that to dust you shall return… called home to eternal life with your God who loves you… Remember that you are dust… and also, that you are loved.   Amen.

Transfiguration of Our Lord March 2, 2025 Faith, Okemos Exodus 34:27-35, Psalm 99, 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2, Luke 9:28-43a   Changed From Glory into Glory   Love divine, all loves excelling, Joy of heaven to earth come down! Fix in us thy humble dwelling, all thy faithful mercies crown. Jesus, thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love thou art; Visit us with thy salvation, enter every trembling heart.   Breathe, oh, breathe thy loving Spirit into every troubled breast; let us all in thee inherit; let us find thy promised rest. Take away the love of sinning; Alpha and Omega be; End of faith as its being, set our hearts at liberty.   [Today, called the Transfiguration of Our Lord, is, in the church year, the last Sunday in the season of Epiphany.  Epiphany - the season of the Father revealing to us the glory of his Son, at once fully divine and fully human.  Today we see Jesus, together with Peter and John and James, going up on a mountain to pray.  And there Jesus is “transfigured.” ]       And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed and his clothes became dazzling white.   And suddenly talking with Jesus were two ancient figures, Moses, to whom, on a mountain, was  entrusted with the Ten Commandments and Elijah, prophet of the Lord, who, fleeing for his life, hid in a cave on a mountain after publicly naming the gross transgressions and idol worship of King Ahab and the evil deeds of his wife, Jezebel, who had ordered the killing of the prophets of the Lord.  It was there that he heard the still small voice, the sound of sheer silence calling him to rise up and continue his prophetic ministry   [Moses, Elijah, and Jesus] appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem     His departure…  [The word “departure” in the Greek , the first language in which our New Testament was written, is the same word for “exodus.”]  For the Hebrew people living centuries before, it was the absolutely pivotal moment in which God made a way for them to escape from 400 years of slavery in Egypt.  For Jesus the exodus would be his suffering and death on the cross, through which God would make a way for all the world to be set free from bondage, set free from its slavery to all the false, deceitful gods that wreck our lives, that wreck our relationships with each other, that destroy our communities and God's good creation, and yes, would wreck the very hope for justice and civility and  righteousness in a nation.   Jesus' death on the cross was God taking on to himself all the suffering and barbarism, all the personal and sometimes government-sanctioned use of power to crush our very souls.  In the words of scripture, Jesus became sin who knew no sin.  Jesus' departure, his exodus thus made possible our freedom, made possible our liberation from all the evil soul-destroying, community-destroying powers of this world.   In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul put it this way:  Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.  (Romans 6:3-4) Do you not know?  Do you not know that when you were baptized into Jesus' death, into Jesus' exodus, you were set free, free every day for the rest of your life to walk in newness of life?    Listen now to these words from our Second Reading:  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Since then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness…all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, we are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.   In the hybrid Bible Study this past Tuesday, we reflected on the glory Peter, John, and James witnessed when they looked at Jesus, at his face, his dazzling white clothing and at the two men standing with him.  They saw his glory!    This is Jesus who on the day of his baptism [which we celebrated on the first Sunday in Epiphany], while he was praying, the heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him…And a voice came from heaven, ”You are my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”  And now on this day of the transfiguration a cloud came and overshadowed them, enveloping Jesus and his disciples and from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him!”   During the Bible study I began to see my fellow participants a little differently.  I saw all of them as “exodus” sons and daughters of God, as honest, open and freed, fully human children of God. [In our shared reflections on the Word, I saw them, in my mind if not with my physical eyes, being changed, with new insights, new understandings, moving from one degree of glory to another.]   [I shared with them my father's blessing to me one night just before his death, these words from Numbers 6:24-26:  The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.]   And now I see you, all of you made in the image of God, each of you in your own distinctive way reflecting the glory of God; all of you by the grace of God being transformed from one degree of glory to another.  This glory is the gift of the Holy Spirit freely given in and through you every day of your life, a life lived in words and deeds of love, until at last you and I see Jesus face to face in all his shining glory.   This glory is the freedom to walk more and more in newness of life, a freedom to trust that Jesus meant it when in your baptism into his death, he was calling you and equipping you, to become a good listener, listening to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit in your very soul, gently calling and equipping you day by day to love appropriately everyone whom God brings into your mind, everyone whom God lays on your heart.   But I have a confession.  I don't always listen very well, either to that quiet, gentle voice of the Spirit within me or the words of inspired wisdom coming from my sisters and brothers .  So, I am very grateful for God's patience.  I know I'm not alone in my failure to listen.  Peter, John, and James didn't do so hot at listening either, even after just hearing that commanding voice from the cloud: This is my Son, listen to him!  On the very next day, after coming down from the mountain they, with Jesus, encounter a father whose son, his only child, was critically and dangerously ill.  He had asked the disciples for help.  The 12 disciples, including the three with Jesus on the mountain, had earlier been empowered by Jesus to have authority over all demons and to cure diseases.  And they had been incredibly successful.     But they grew lax in their calling.  They apparently forgot to listen both to the Spirit's voice within them and to the father's urgent plea for help.  The father of the little boy said, “I begged your disciples to cast out the demon, but they could not.”   Jesus is clearly frustrated, giving his disciples a holy balling out: “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you?” But then moving on from his frustration, he said to the father, “Bring your son here.”…Jesus in a sign of what he would do for whole world on the cross healed the boy and gave him back to his father.   Some days we too will forget to listen.  And Jesus will at times be frustrated with us.  But we are still and always will be his beloved sisters and brothers.  By the wonderful gift and presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, Jesus will remind us again and again that throughout the course of our lives we are becoming more and more like him, growing from one shining, grateful, joyful degree of glory to another expression of glory.   Come, Almighty, to deliver, let us all thy life receive; Suddenly return, and never, never more thy temples leave. Thee we would be always blessing, serve thee as thy hosts above, Pray and praise thee without ceasing, glory in thy perfect love.   Finish then thy new creation, pure and spotless let us be; let us see thy great salvation perfectly restored in thee! Changed from glory into glory, till in heav'n we take our place, Till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise! Amen

This is a special musical presentation of We Will Glorify, sung by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Chuch in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical presentation of Mercy sung by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Chuch in Okemos, Michigan.

Year C – 7th Sunday after Epiphany Pastor Megan Floyd February 23, 2025     Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, and from our savior, Jesus Christ, who longs for us to be consumed by love. Amen. *** This passage is remarkably beautiful for the way it draws us into Christ's vision of justice… and of course… love. But… that doesn't make it easy. It's a well-known passage… love your enemies… turn the other cheek,… but it often misrepresents Christians as people who will and should continue to subject themselves to abuse. It is definitely not that. I can remember, even as a child, I would hear this and think… nope… no thanks… if someone slaps me and I turn the other cheek, then I'll get slapped twice. No, thank you. What I have since learned is that this passage is really about justice, and holding others accountable for their abuse and harm… but doing so in a non-violent and loving way. Retaliation and violence cannot drive out evil… only love can do that. After all… even those who perpetrate harm against their neighbor, or community, or even the whole country… even those people are loved by God, who desire for their hearts to be remolded by love. Still doesn't make it easy. *** This passage is a continuation of the sermon on the plain that we got into last week… the blessings and woes… Blessed are the poor and hungry… blessed are the powerless Woe to you who are rich and full… woe to you who are well thought of according to the world's standards. …But I say to you that listen, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. We must read this command to love our enemies through the lens of Jesus' flip of all we understand about the world… and about who is blessed and who is issued a warning. He says, ‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged.' To cast judgment on another person is to view them, for whatever reason, as unworthy of God's gifts… to consider them as less than the beloved child of God that they are. Jesus issues blessings and woes, and a call to love our enemies… as a way to call us into a more just way of living that honors all people, regardless of status or any of our human categories. And this is huge for us in our modern American culture, but it's arguably a bigger deal for those first disciples… because the culture that Jesus is preaching in is an honor-shame culture. It's not quite the same way here and now… but for them… To be abused was a cause for shame, but to respond the way Jesus suggests shines a light on the abuse, and holds the perpetrator accountable for their wrongful actions… To respond the way Jesus suggests is to demand justice and dignity. He says… if anyone takes away your coat, do not withhold even your shirt. In that culture, to be naked was shameful, but to be someone who caused another to be naked was more shameful. Jesus said, if anyone strikes you on the cheek – and in Matthew, he specifies, strikes you on the right cheek, offer the other. Well, most people are right-handed, so to strike someone on the right cheek would mean they back-handed them… This was how someone would strike a slave or someone so low in status that the abuser would not sully the palm of their hand. But if you then offer the other cheek for them to strike, it would require an open hand, …In doing that, they are demanding their abuser face what they did and strike them as an equal… thus throwing off the shame and exposing wrongful violence. If someone takes your goods… stealing from you… Jesus said, do not ask for them back, it is then considered a gift. The shame of being a victim is turned into honor for one who is generous. And again… it exposes the wrongful theft. Jesus is not preaching suggestions for passive weakness… not at all… To respond this way takes courage, and commitment to the way of Christ and strength in knowing that calling others back into right relationship brings healing to whole communities. Jesus is offering a way to level out power imbalance and call attention to injustice. Jesus is offering a way for us to create space for a pause… an examination of actions, a call to accountability… space for confession… forgiveness… and reconciliation. Jesus is calling us to follow a way that does not tolerate evil, but instead, it exposes the evil actions and invites the perpetrator back into right relationship with their community… using love. God does not want us to destroy our enemies… God wants us to love them. *** Earlier this week, our siblings in Christ at St. Luke's ELCA church in Park Ridge, Illinois, experienced some of this world's hatred and abuse. Vandals destroyed their sign, which featured the logo for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America – the ELCA – and the logo for Reconciling in Christ, which, as we know, stands for justice and inclusion of our LGBTQ+ siblings. While it may have been a random act of disrespect… which was carried out in two separate acts… we cannot ignore that our Lutheran witness and commitment to standing with the vulnerable and marginalized has recently been nationally vilified… …and our ELCA siblings across this country are feeling the effects of that from those who are motivated to intimidate based on perceived orders from their leaders. As I read about this church, I was deeply encouraged that, in the face of harm, they are leaning into Jesus' command to love others, to be welcoming to all, and to bear witness to the Gospel. Their pastor wrote, “In a world increasingly marked by division and fear, we are called to stand firm in the radical grace of Jesus. If this was meant to discourage us, let it do the opposite. Let it strengthen our resolve to be a beacon of hope, justice, and love. We will continue to proclaim love of neighbor through word and deed, showing with our lives that love is stronger than fear.” *** Friends… this is what it looks like… to turn the other cheek. To pause… and take a breath… to call for accountability and leave room for confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation. This is what it looks like to follow in the way of Christ, to commit to love, to stand for justice, and to trust in the kind of costly grace that calls us into action. To not let the hardness of the world… harden our hearts against our enemies… or our neighbors. And no… it is not easy. And yes… there is risk. Which is why we cannot… and do not… accomplish this work on our own. It is only possible with the strength of the bonds that form within a community that follows the way of Christ together… And, most importantly, it is only possible by the will of God, who has called us to this path… and promises to accompany and guide us, to comfort us in our grief, and to transform our hearts with love. Our God, who loves us beyond measure, knows that if we hold onto fear… bitterness… suspicion… and hatred… we will be overcome… consumed by that hatred.   So let us lay all that down at the foot of the cross… and in doing so, know that we cast a holy light… a loving light… onto the injustice of our world… …and, with strength that can only come from God… let us come together to call those who perpetuate evil and violence… back into love…. Let us call them back into just relationships… offering healing for our communities… and lives transformed by grace. Jesus' sermon on the plain teaches us that what God wants for us… what Christ longs for… is for us to be consumed by mercy and compassion… consumed by love, and for that love to reshape the world. And so… though it is not easy… let us, together, love our enemies and pray for those who cause harm. Amen.

This is a special musical presentation of Above All sung by Christopher Lewis at Faith Lutheran Chuch in Okemos, Michigan.

Year C – 6th Sunday after Epiphany   Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, and from our savior, Jesus Christ, who came to bring good news to the poor. Amen. *** This one always used to make me squirm a bit… you know? No matter how much I shifted in my seat… I could not escape its conviction. We are still getting to know each other, but you have probably figured out that I love to laugh… And, of course, I like to be comfortable… and yes, I hope to maintain my good reputation. But when I read this… it's like Jesus is standing there in front of me… shaking his head and looking disappointed. I don't like that. But I know I'm not alone. We all like our comforts, and we all prefer financial security and a positive reputation. So why does Jesus say… woe to us... woe to us who are rich… woe to us who are filled… woe to us who are laughing and well thought of. Woe to us… who put our trust… our faith… in our earthly resources… *** I want to take a little detour and tell you about a time in my life when my faith just… exploded… my spiritual AH-HA moment! I've been a Lutheran all my life. My parents brought me to church every Sunday when I was little, I was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran church. There were some years in college and as a young adult that I didn't attend regularly… but church was my habit, and I valued the community that was available to me there. But when it came to my faith… well… I thought I had faith, but looking back, I don't think I fully understood it… I believed in God, but I didn't truly understand what it meant to be encountered by the living Christ… until about 12 years ago. That was when our youngest daughter was 2 years old, and I was home alone with her when she had a seizure. By the way… she is aware that I'm telling this story. I didn't fully understand what was happening, and I was terrified… I didn't know how to help her. I called my parents, and I called 911 We ended up at the hospital, where the seizures continued… and she was eventually diagnosed with epilepsy, but they couldn't figure out why she had it. So for the next several months, we were in and out of the hospital… tests and specialist visits and all sorts of things were happening. And the medical bills were just… soaring… we had insurance, but it didn't matter… the amount of the debt became comical for us… Bill was the primary earner in our family… working as a graphic designer for a tiny, struggling, family-run graphic design firm… and I worked for the church as the bookkeeper and the youth minister. We were not wealthy, but prior to this event, we were at least keeping our heads above water. And then… a few months into Kara's medical adventures, Bill was laid off… on the day after Christmas. Suddenly, we were in deep poverty. The kind where you legitimately do not know where your next meal is coming from. It was very scary. The benefit, however, of being that deep in poverty is that Kara qualified for subsidized health insurance for children, and the amount we owed stopped ballooning. And… at least at that time, there were still social safety nets that gave us some breathing room on our mortgage, so we didn't lose our house. And also, tending to Kara's medical needs became a time-consuming responsibility… and since Bill wasn't working, he was home and was able to give the extra time needed, and work with the doctors to get her stabilized. And as for our next meal… well… our church community showed up in huge ways. They brought casseroles by on hospital days… groceries would appear on our doorstep, and Meijer gift cards showed up in the mail. There was an abundance. They checked in on us… they held us… they prayed with us and for us. They surrounded us with so much love and support, that even though we felt we were free-falling, we never hit bottom. And every time I looked at them… they absolutely shined with Christ's light… and I finally understood… this is how Christ meets us in our most difficult moments… This is how Christ ministers to us…loves us… holds us… surrounds us with peace. I didn't recognize Christ in my community before because I was too busy with all my stuff… my hands were too full of my own earthly treasure… I was too used to being one of the helpers… I had no idea what it meant to be the one in need. Only once my hands were empty did I become ready to receive the fullness of God's blessing… and only through God's grace could I humble myself enough to receive it. In receiving this gift of grace, my awareness opened up, and I finally got it… that all the earthly treasure we had before, and all we have now… was always, and will always be, a gift given to us, meant to be shared… And so it is with joy that I endeavor to bring Christ's light to others, just as others brought it to us. *** I had to learn this lesson of seeing Jesus the hard way… maybe you don't have to – maybe you're not as hard-headed as me… but I am forever grateful that Jesus met me where I was and showed me grace. What else could I possibly do after that… but follow him? That's what Jesus does… he meets us exactly where we are… to call us into discipleship. And if we miss the cue… he'll try again. Just like in our gospel text, Jesus met the people on the plain... all those people, he met them on a level place… no one higher or lower than the others. He met the very Jewish people from Jerusalem and Judea… the very Gentile people from Tyre and Sidon… disciples… followers of Jesus… those seeking healing… and all the different people in between. He meets them all… on a level place… and he heals them all. But to his disciples… to those who are following him in his mission… he explains that the kindom of God belongs to those who show up empty-handed. Blessed are you who are poor… hungry… Blessed are you who are weeping Jesus turns their understanding of the world… upside down… just like he did for me. He is… re-orienting their priorities, and not all are going to accept this new world order… But… he still healed them.... he healed them all…  Because he still loves them. Because Christ is still Christ… and the invitation is always there to open our hearts and turn our minds to God's ways… to open our hands to receive the goodness of God. But his mission is plainly stated… Jesus came to bring good news to the poor. *** That time in our life with Kara and experiencing poverty… it re-oriented our priorities and opened our eyes to see Christ all around us. In time, Kara's epilepsy stabilized, and she's doing great… and Bill found a new and better job. We're doing ok…           …and I don't think Jesus is disappointed about that. Because, like I said, our priorities are different… we now consider that what we have is a gift from God, and gifts are meant to be shared. And, we understand now how much we are all connected, and how much we need each other. We understand that it is not ok for us to be satisfied in our wealth if our neighbor is starving. …what good is our freedom and privilege if our neighbor is held captive and oppressed. The blessings and woes Jesus proclaims are not two separate ideas… Jesus is not saying that God is only with the poor. God is with all the people… always… and Jesus is calling our awareness to our connection to all of them, but most especially… to those who are most in need. Those who are deeply in need or despairing are uniquely positioned to recognize that Jesus blesses them and offers encouragement… and ministers to them through others. And when we are so full of our own treasure that we have forgotten where it truly came from, Jesus brings words of challenge to remind us that we are connected and bound to all those in our community… and throughout Creation. These blessings and woes are a call into discipleship… they call us back into the way of Christ, and into a more generous, connected way of life. After all, we are… one body in Christ. And so it is with joy and delight that we care for each other and minister to each other… sharing our gifts as we are able and shining Christ's light into the world… And trusting that when we come before God with empty hands, God will fill them with love and grace and blessing. Amen.

Year C - 5th Sunday after Epiphany Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, and from Jesus Christ, our Savior… the holy seed in whom we place our hope.  Amen. *** It is a fact of life that we don't get to choose when we live, but I think it is safe to say… we are living in challenging times. The intentional chaos and resulting uncertainty of the past month is a lot of political theater, and not entirely unexpected… but what has really thrown me for a loop are these new attacks on the faithful, steadfast work of mainstream Christians with a long history of serving the poor and vulnerable. ELCA Lutherans and our many siblings in Christ, who faithfully LIVE and PREACH God's saving message of mercy for all people and love for all people, are being challenged as adversaries to the current cultural powers. But… Love… and mercy… caring for the vulnerable and centering those on the margins are …and have always been… central to Jesus' teaching and contrary to cultural norms. And yet… here we are… these are challenging times. You can imagine how I felt this week when I pulled up the lectionary texts for today and read poor Isaiah's faithful response to God's call – Here I am, Send me! …and then… what he's actually being sent into. God called Isaiah to preach to people who are deaf to God's word, and blind to God's ways… to go to a people who are so hard of heart that they turn away from those in need and turn away from God's mercy. Isaiah was called into God's service… in challenging times. Jesus also lived in challenging times… in Matthew chapter 13, he quotes this very passage from Isaiah to refer to the people he's preaching to… those for whom the good seed of God's word falls among thorns or shallow soil. And of course… Jesus preached to his neighbors in his hometown, sharing stories of God's mercy for the foreigner and the alien… and his neighbors are so angry and offended… they are determined to throw him off a cliff. So maybe the truth is… the times really haven't changed all that much. But thankfully, I am not Isaiah… and God has called me to preach to you, who are certainly NOT hard of heart… You are a people who have heard God's call to love, to offer mercy, and to stand with the vulnerable… and you have poured your hearts and your treasure into this… God's mission. And yet still… these are challenging times. *** The good news is, that true growth really only happens when we face a challenge, so maybe living in challenging times isn't so bad. Think about this.. Giant Sequoia trees are the largest trees on earth and can live 3,000 years. There are Giant Sequoia trees that were already ancient when Jesus' message of love and mercy got him killed 2,000 years ago. These incredible trees can only reproduce… the seeds can only germinate… if they go through fire. The seed cones have a hard resin that only melts away when exposed to the extreme temperature of fire. But the fire also clears the ground upon which the seed falls… and it clears a space in the forest canopy, to let in water and light. The only way that new growth can happen for a Giant Sequoia tree… is to endure challenging times… the fire that burns away and seems to destroy… also leads to healthy, new creation. *** For Isaiah, his people were facing the fire of God's judgment He was called to warn his people that turning away from God would lead to their ruin… even though he knew they would not hear him or heed his words. Their actions would lead to exile… they would face… challenging times. But for God, judgement is NEVER the last word… judgement is not how it ends. For when all else is gone… a seed remains… a holy seed, the stump of Jesse… from which healthy, new, redeemed creation can and will grow. God's promise has always been… that death does not get the final word, and all is not lost because God is faithful and true. God promised that these challenging times would lead to a new creation, and through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has fulfilled that promise to you! God's word of judgment reminds us how much we need God… and the love of God through Jesus assures us that, even in the darkest moments, there is light. And where there is light… there is hope. *** We need this constant reminder because we are a people who are easily swayed by the noise of society. We need the centering words of Jesus, our Good Shepherd, to remind us who we are… and whose we are. We need to come and be surrounded by our community of Faith, to remember that we belong to Christ, who claimed us with love and calls us to share that love with the whole world… not just our families and immediate communities, but the WHOLE world. We need Christ, our cornerstone, to strengthen our resolve to live according to God's word, especially when that way is more and more counter to the way our culture seems to want to go. This is a community that gathers around the proclamation of Christ, and him crucified, and so I believe we know what to do… We lean on Jesus… In these challenging times, we lean on Jesus and immerse ourselves in his words and teachings… We lean on Jesus, and allow our God to guide and comfort us… to be our light in the darkness. *** The path forward in challenging times is never easy… but the path is clear… if we keep our focus on Christ. In George H. Martin's commentary, he wrote that in challenging times, “the reality known to people of faith is that we walk in the way of the Lord, while others seem to walk in a different direction. We live among people who who want to hate their enemy, and yet we hang on to a message about loving not just your neighbor but your enemy as well. We live in a world of wars and rumors of wars, and yet we have a Lord who suggests that when we are weak we are strong. Such is the cross-based faith of our Christianity.” In these challenging times, when the world tells us to turn away from the vulnerable, to be suspicious of those who are different, and to show no mercy for those we've pushed to the margins… …these are the times when we grow. These are the times when we, faithful followers of Christ, must recommit ourselves as disciples… fishers of people… followers of Jesus. These are the times when we reaffirm our baptismal promises and renew our trust in God's abundant mercy and grace and our assurance that this incredible mercy and grace is for ALL people, in all the world. *** So like the fire in the forest that opens the seeds of the Giant Sequoia, Lord we pray to you, let the fire of our time and the judgment of your word open our hearts to new growth, new creation, and a renewed passion for your word. Open our hearts to new expressions of love and mercy for our neighbors, especially our neighbors in need. And Lord, in this work, fill us with renewed JOY… the joy that comes from basking in your light and living in your way of peace. Because we will have joy, and yes, we will have empathy and love, because we are called and claimed by God and given grace upon grace through our Lord, Jesus Christ… And the success of God's grace is not dependent on us, but on the steadfast faithfulness of God and God's promise to redeem and renew the world… and usher in a new Creation. Until that day, we who follow Christ have the JOY of living in God's light, even when we feel we are surrounded by darkness… For we know that God's light and God's love will always have the final word. Amen.

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

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

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