This is a special musical presentation of Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley / Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan
This is a special musical presentation of Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.
Lent 2 – B 02/25/2024
Most of us have played the game, “Follow the Leader”. It involves making choices whether to follow a person or not over and through things. There are some whom you can trust to keep you safe, there are others whom you need to be careful with. We have many people today who say, come, follow me.
What kind of criteria do we set up for whom we decide to follow? Number one, it is a good idea to look at their history and what kind of choices they have made in the past. Number two, how have they treated people especially those who have little. Number three what have they gained, knowledge or money, power and control.
There are no perfect human leaders. This week we will be the site for 3 precincts for the presidential primary elections, even though we probably know who the candidates are. As I said last Sunday, I would not tell you who to vote for, but these are criteria that I would use in making a decision. Above all ask God.
Healthy leadership in our work places are more and more difficult to find. There is so much anxiety on whether you have a job and how you look to the boss. Who is trying to please who? Doing a good honest job is not always the ticket today. We have experienced in many different forms a lack of work ethic.
That leads me to the question, “Who are people following?” As Christians, I believe that we are called to have a healthy work ethic. I worked at a Friendly’s while going to seminary. After having worked the middle shift as a manager, the dishwasher for the night was a high school guy. He came in to pick up his check and quit on the spot. I felt that was irresponsible on the part of he and his parents. Yes there could have been extenuating circumstances, but at least 2 weeks’ notice. I worked half of the shift then as the dishwasher.
Of course, as Christians, we are called to follow Jesus. Which we can never fully do. In our Gospel lesson for today Jesus is trying to let his disciples know what will be coming, that he must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. Peter was not looking for this in a leader, one to follow, thus he took Jesus aside and said no this won’t be happening.
Jesus said, Peter your anxiety has gotten the best of you, you are setting your mind on earthly things and not trusting me, your leader. Thus, if you really want to follow me, you must let go of your anxiety and wanting to have it your way and take up your cross and follow me.
Now too often this gets interpreted to be, look at me, I have to do this all by myself. This is not what Jesus is saying. He is saying that we can’t rely on ourselves for direction. We are called to rely on Jesus which means studying God’s word and listening to others to discern how to carry the cross together.
Jesus models what it means to carry the cross until he physically has to do it. Jesus is trying to clue them in that following him and carrying his cross together may not be what we are looking for. It will mean realizing that we don’t have the all the answers and focusing only on us is not following him.
Jesus is not asking us to throw our lives away when he says we need to deny ourselves and lose our lives. It is giving our wills over to Jesus. It is realizing that we own nothing in God’s eyes as in reality, God owns everything. It is about forever trying to discern God’s will for our life and living that out.
This is not what saves us, but it is a response to God’s love in Jesus Christ. We are called to live our lives for the sake of others. This is what Jesus modeled for us, as recorded in our Gospels. Even to the end Jesus lived out God’s will.
It is not easy, and it creates anxiety as it did for Peter. There are times we would like to say, no Jesus it’s not supposed to be this way. Anxiety comes when we are trying to protect ourselves. Not all anxiety is bad. It can be a red flag, but it can also be something that clouds our view of God’s will for our lives and life of our community of faith.
Change brings anxiety. We are in the process of transition, and we just lost one of our faithful witnesses. Walter was becoming the president of Faith Lutheran Church. When I think of the criteria that I suggested in looking to follow a leader, Number one, it is a good idea to look at their history and what kind of choices they have made in the past. Number two, how have they treated people especially those who have little. Number three what have they gained, knowledge or money, power and control. I believe I can see Walter fulfilling these to the best of his human ability.
He was also a valued voice on the transition team. From what I have heard and seen, Walter was a sure and steady leader. He listened to people, he helped guide Faith through some conflicted times. Walter was not out for glory as I believe what he prayed for is that this beloved community would become healthier and more focused on doing God’s will at this time.
Walter saw changes that could be made to make Faith a healthier beloved community. When a trusted and valued leader moves on, it is important for us to stop and consider what he taught us by the way he led. It looks like our newly elected vice president, Randy Royalty will be taking over as president. Walter asked Randy to serve as vice president, not knowing that his life on earth was drawing to a close. I do believe Walter relied on God for direction here also.
What Jesus is calling us to do is to bear the cross together. We need leaders and we need followers. At certain times in our lives, we are called to be one or the other. Whether we are a leader or a follower it is all bearing the cross together.
God has been teaching through leaders, including Jesus, that we are called to put our wills aside for the care of God’s people.
Thomas Shepherd, pub.1693
v. 2 by Anonymous/Unknown
v. 3 by George N. Allen, pub.1844
Jesus calls us today to follow him first, to bear his cross together. As we are deciding who we follow, consider these criteria: Number one, it is a good idea to look at their history and what kind of choices they have made in the past. Number two, how have they treated people especially those who have little. Number three what have they gained, knowledge or money, power and control.
Jesus modeled this for us and now calls us to follow him and that bearing the cross together we may model what it means to follow Jesus to carry and model his life giving love to this power driven world.
Join us for the Lenten Service this evening.
This is a special musical presentation of Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley / Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan
Lent I – B 02/18/24
Our Gospel lesson today puts Jesus in the wilderness. It is not a wilderness that we are used to in our part of the country. In our wilderness we think of different kinds of trees, streams or lakes. It is a place where hopefully we can experience peace and calmness. This is not the wilderness that Jesus was experiencing. His wilderness is often described as a desert with probably only small bushes, if even that and little to no water close by. It also says in our Gospel lesson that Jesus was tested or tempted by satan. It doesn’t sound like peace and calmness to me. Instead, it sounds like constant agitation and a climate that can be difficult to survive in.
So then, how can we relate to this type of wilderness, where there was probably no snow. One of my Old Testament professors at the Moravian Seminary suggested that this wilderness is akin to the world we live in. Not the physical climate necessarily, but the cultural and political climate that we have today.
The division in our country continues to grow. I fear for our country while going through this presidential election. We will have strong people on both sides and many who will be apathetic and think what is the purpose of voting. Voting is important. I would never tell you who to vote for, but only what to consider when you vote.
Gun violence continues and this past week was the one year anniversary of it at MSU. We heard about the gun violence in Kansas City this past week and this past week another college. This has become a political issue and Christians are divided on this and so many things. A threat to our national security was in the news this past week. All of the isms are alive and active.
The world is filled with war, Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Hamas, the bombings in the Red Sea and our retaliation. Our government can’t decide on how to or not to assist. It has become more about politics. Please notice that I have not said democrat or republican. I believe all parties need to put aside something in order to work for the safety and betterment of our country which may then be more in line with God’s law.
I do believe satan is alive and active in all of this unrest. We are being tested. Might God be saying to us how are we going to keep our covenant based on the two great commandments? Now, does this sound like the wilderness that Jesus was experiencing, where there was not much peace or calmness as he was being tested or tempted also not to live according to God’s law, God’s covenant.
What else does Mark say about Jesus’ time in the wilderness? Matthew and Luke elaborate on three specific temptations. Mark says he was with the wild beasts and the angels waited on him.
There are a number of ways that we could look at the wild beasts. One is that they were in harmony with Jesus and maybe even somehow served him. Another way is that Jesus learned to live with wild beasts. In our wilderness there are people that we are required to interact with that we don’t trust or clash with and we need to learn some way of relating to them.
The angels waited on him. We might picture the angels bringing him food and water. They may wash his feet. Whatever ways that we can imagine that could have happened as Mark does not define how they waited on him. Are there not days that we could use someone to wait on us? Frankly even going out to eat, where you don’t have to cook or clean up can be, being waited on. At night, maybe even a libation. I believe if we are ready to receive it God does provide angels waiting on us through others.
This wilderness that we live in also brings us pain and sickness. Most of us have been there or are there and have experienced this. One of our own families, the Kopf family has experienced pain, sickness and death. This is when we can be lifted up on Eagle’s wings and be held in the palm of God’s hand. This comes from the familiar Psalm 91 which will the Psalm for Lent 1 next year.
God can and does all of this, but what can we do here and now in the wilderness? The Psalm for today is one to pray. Some have suggested that it is possible that Jesus prayed this Psalm in the wilderness.
This Psalm is classified as a lament. The Psalm singer begins, To you, O Yahweh, I lift up my soul. Soul is defined as whole being. I am turning my whole being over to you God, is essentially what they are saying. I don’t know where else to turn.
When we can do this we are ready to say, Make me to know your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths. Yes this is our verse for Lent. This ‘to know’, is not only knowledge, but it is asking God to teach us to the very core of our being. This relates to the intimacy that I was talking about in last week’s sermon.
It is when we open ourselves up that we are better able to see God’s path for our lives and for our beloved community. Our ability to be taught is that we acknowledge that we do not have all the answers and are open to learning. When we look at our wilderness, our reality is that we are still sinful people, and we are not seeing God’s way clear enough.
Have we figured out yet that if and when we are willing to learn to God’s ways, that it involves change on us as individuals and as a beloved community? When we learn new things about groups of people, our thinking changes as well as our language and actions. In order for growth to happen in any area of our life, first we learn and then we make changes.
Changes have been made here at Fatih and will continue to be made. This only occurs after we learn to know God’s ways. I challenge us during this Lenten season to practice turning our lives over to God in Jesus Christ. Then we are more ready to pray, make me to know your ways, O God. Teach me your paths.
In order to live in our wilderness today this is what we are called to do.
This is a special musical presentation of A Clean Heart by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.
Ash Wednesday 02/14/2024
How can this be, Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday on the same day? The last time it happened was 2018. At first they really don’t seem like they go together. Valentine’s Day is supposed to be affirming love to people on all different levels of relationships. Ash Wednesday seems to be dark and gloomy and dealing true reality that we are sinners. We hear the words, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return”.
Some people choose not to deal with this day. Not all people come up for ashes. It is looked at by many as the beginning of a dark and dreary season called Lent. Yes, tonight we begin the season of Lent. We do hear the words, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return”.
Well then, how does this fit into Valentines Day. We think of this day as a day that we share love in many different ways to many different people. There are often cards given, candy, special meals, etc. In elementary schools, boxes are decorated, and valentines and candy are shared with class mates. Some spouses/partners try and think of something special to do or buy for the other. A day of love in which we remind others how much they mean to us.
When it comes to colors for Ash Wednesday we think of black with the ashes. With Valentine’s Day we think of red and hearts. The words we hear, Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return” do not sound like “I love you”. I would like to propose that we are talking about different ways of showing and remembering who loves us and whom we love.
Ash Wednesday, the imposition of ashes is a ritual or symbol to remind us that God loves us. We began the service with Psalm 51. David prayed this psalm after Nathan told him a story.
David had raped a commander’s wife and then had the commander sent to the front line where he was killed. Rape and murder, but David did not really see how far off he was from God’s law. Thus, God had Nathan tell David a story so David could get it.
Nathan said that there was a rich man who had many animals and a nice place to live and had what he wanted. There was a poor man who had one lamb, that was more of a pet, barely a roof over his head and little to eat. The rich man had a visitor and told his servants to go and get the poor man’s lamb for a feast.
David said the rich man should be killed for how he treated the poor man. Nathan said, you are the rich man. At that point David realized what he had done that was not right in God’s eyes. David had surrendered his identity as God’s chosen king and betrayed the trust of the nation through rape and murder. He then prayed Psalm 51.
David was sorry for what he had done but was not able to fully comprehend the depth of his sin. He hoped God would forgive him. We hear David praying, Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew in me a right spirit. He was asking God to make him clean again.
Out of love God forgave him. God chose to forgive him. Even though David’s life was never the same. He was not allowed to build the temple. On his deathbed though, he told his son Solomon not to stray from God’s covenant, God’s law.
At the base of all the covenants that God made with God’s people are the two great commandments, You shall the Lord your God, with all you heart soul and mind, and your neighbor as yourself. We are back to love.
It’s a balancing act to keep our relationship with God going as well as our relationship with others. God says the foundation of these relationships are built on love. Tonight is a night that we are reminded of God’s love for us, regardless.
Once on a church sign was “Forgiveness guaranteed, repentance optional”. At first we might say that no, we must repent in order to receive forgiveness. Think of it this way, forgiveness is always offered, and it is not based anything that we do or say. Forgiveness is freely offered by God in Jesus Christ. Repentance may be a response to love.
We repent and say that we are sorry for things that we do or say that creates brokenness. Even though, just as David did not comprehend the depth of his brokenness, neither can we. We repent out of love for God and each other. As human beings we often have problems forgiving, God does not as God loves us unconditionally.
Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday are both about love. Shared loved between us and others and God and us. This love is expressed in different ways. Valentine’s Day may be about cards, candy and many other things. Ash Wednesday is about us remembering how much God loves us unconditionally by sending Jesus and how we then respond to that love.
Could God be sharing a valentine with us tonight through unconditional forgiveness out of love
This is a special musical presentation of He Knows My Name by the Singing Sinners at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.
Transfiguration Sunday – 02/11/2024
Do we desire to know Jesus more intimately? You may say, of course all Christians do. What could that look like? Jesus does desire an intimate relationship with each one of us.
One way to begin answering this question is to look at our experience in relationship with human beings. Some people only have one best friend their entire lives, others have had a number of them. Hopefully if you have or have had a partner/spouse, they have been your best friend on many levels and this involves intimacy. We learn to appreciate these relationships, but it has not always been easy. It does mean being honest with each other and this doesn’t always make us comfortable. Even though Jesus knows everything about us, it is often difficult to be honest with him.
Having intimacy with another means that we need to be honest with ourselves. Who are we? Intimacy with another means that we trust them enough to tell us the truth even if it hurts. This is why we don’t always have a lot of best friends. There is pain and hopefully always affirmation in each of our relationships. A best friend walks with us through the celebratory times and times we would rather not have to walk through. Could Jesus be shining his light through our best friend?
In our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus takes his disciples up on the mountain. They have no idea why Jesus is taking them up there. Mark doesn’t waste any time and Jesus is transfigured before them. He was lit up along with Moses and Elijah. Moses represent the law and Elijah represents the prophets.
I question how Peter, James, and John knew who Moses and Elijah were, as I am sure they never had met them. Jesus is having a conversation with Moses and Elijah, but Mark doesn’t say what they were talking about. Since Peter could never be quiet, he suggested to Jesus that building three booths would be a good idea in order to prolong this vision. All three disciples were scared, James and John seemed to be too scared to speak.
Jesus did not even answer Peter as a cloud overshadowed them and a voice was heard from the cloud saying, “This is my Son, the beloved, listen to him.” That ended the whole scene in front of them, only Jesus and the disciples were left. It was time to leave and go back down the mountain. Jesus told them to tell no one about what they had just experienced, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. It is thought that people would not understand this scene until Jesus’ resurrection. I’m sure that can be said of the disciples also.
There seems to have been a connection there between Jesus and his disciples. This scene tied together what they would have known from their oral history and writings there may have been at that time. Jesus said he came to fulfill the law and not to abolish it. Jesus came to explain the law once again as people were not getting it. God gave these laws to guide us in how to be in relationship with them and others.
The law has not changed, and this is the original law that God gave to Moses. What came after was made by human beings and often paralyzed the intent of the law first given. Jesus summed up the law into two commandments, You shall love the Lord your God with all of you heart, soul, and all your mind and the second to love your neighbor as yourself.
These commandments help us to be in relationship with God in Jesus Christ and other human beings. Unfortunately, we have one word for love, where in the Greek there are at least three words for love. There is the philios which is the sibling kind of love; eros which is the sexual kind of love; and the agape which is a sacrificial love.
Each one of these types of love can have different levels of intimacy also. Each one takes a little bit different kind of work. This means time, thought and energy. There is only so much time in each day and we are all responsible for something or someone else. Thus, we are compelled to make decisions on how we spend our time, energy and thoughts.
The busier we get the less intimacy there is including with ourselves. Sometimes it is an event, for our disciples in the Gospel lesson it was a mountaintop experience that made them stop. There was a connection there that was not easily understood. It was a place where they were stopped and challenged to reflect on their relationships.
There was a connection that was building a foundation for the disciple’s relationship with Jesus and their neighbors. With Moses and Elijah there it connected the faith that they had grown up with. Then God came in and said Jesus is my Son, listen to Him.
I would gather that the disciples pondered this event for some time. Jesus even told them not to tell the others as they may not understand. That connection between the disciples themselves and then with Jesus was strengthened in that event. Jesus only asked Peter, James, and John to go with him and consider how they were using their time, energy and thinking in their relationships.
Jesus calls each of us into relationship with him. This relationship begins at baptism. We as the beloved community are called to model what it means to be in relationship with God in Jesus Christ and each other. At confirmation we make a public affirmation of this relationship with Jesus.
Every one of us has a different kind of relationship with Jesus. God has made each one of us to think and process differently. Thus, we relate to Jesus in different ways and may use different names to address God in Jesus Christ. In my experience in the Lutheran church, I don’t feel that we have spoken enough about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It really is a balance between a corporate and personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ.
When I was in fifth grade, I remember watching a Billy Graham Crusade on television. At the end of his preaching when he had the altar call, I knelt down and prayed. There was a connection there that I did not fully understand.
As I have grown in my faith, I now look at that as a time of connecting in that moment. Yes I had been baptized and I was a Christian and on that night I was affirming my personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ. Last Sunday we had a healing service and whether you came up for prayer or not, I believe what we were doing in worship is affirming that we believe God in Jesus Christ is a healer and that with the help of the Holy Spirit we are drawn to connect and reconnect with God in Jesus Christ.
Everything that I have described as to what goes into a human relationship is challenged even more with Jesus. With Jesus, we can’t literally see him. Thus in a sense it takes more time, energy and thinking.
Next Sunday we will be doing a few different things. We will be begin reciting the bible verse that I have chosen from our lessons in worship and wrote a newsletter article on. We will do this at the end of the announcements. Also, we will be doing the prayers of intercession a little differently. I will ask that prayer requests that are made on that Sunday are written on a card and the ushers will make sure that I get them.
We will sing a prayer song, I will then pray including these and some of the intercessions that we normally use and at the end we will sing the prayer song again. While I am praying, Bruce will be playing.
I would ask that you use this time to focus on your personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ. On Wednesday, we gather together to say that we are nothing without God in Jesus Christ. Lent is a time to step back and examine our relationship with God and Jesus Christ.
God in Jesus Christ calls each one of us by name to foster our relationship with them. Reflect while we are here in worship, maybe the mountaintop, how intimate our relationship with God in Jesus Christ is?
This is a special musical presentation of They Shall Soar Like Eagles by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.
Epiphany 5 – Healing Service – 02/04/2024
Today we are going to do something new. This is what the time of transition is about, trying new things. Can I see a show of hands, how many have ever been to a healing service? By the end of the service today, you can all say that you have.
I remember my aunt and uncle taking me to one in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It was after Christmas and I was supposed to play Christmas carols. We did not get to that until later in the evening. There was a pastor laying hands on people and praying for them. Sometimes they fell backward, and people had to catch them.
Even at my age at the time, I wondered what was going on. I have no doubts that some of the people may have been healed. The Holy Spirit can definitely move people in this way. I would dare say that most of us would not be comfortable with this and wonder if it was partly a show.
This is not what I am expecting to have happen here this morning, but that is not up to me. I do believe that the Holy Spirit has been, is and will be alive and active here. The question is what do we expect when we pray for healing?
\We can ask God to do anything. Often we would like to determine God’s answer. When it doesn’t come out the way we want it to, we can get angry, disappointed and may even think that God doesn’t care. It is easy to forget that God never promised to fix everything. What God promised is to be with us.
\God has not said, only ask for certain things. God does listen to all of our requests. Depending on what shape we are when we ask, will determine the options that we are able to see ho9w God is answering
\We can learn early on in our lives that we do not always get what we want. Parents do their best to give their children what they need. What is needed changes definition depending on who is defining it.
\As we learn to trust God, we also learn that God gives us what we need and not always what we want. I remember a story about a man who was running an orphanage in England. They sat down to eat breakfast in the morning and had no milk. The man prayed and thanked God for the milk. They finished praying and a milk truck broke down in front of the home and they then had milk.
\I believe that God always answer prayers. In the case of the milk, it was what they needed, and the man thanked God before they even had it. The man believed that God would meet their needs. It could have been in a different way. In this case it was what was needed.When we pray for healing and are able to trust God, we are better to able to see the answers. If we are stuck on what we want, it may take us a while to see God’s answer. For me the key is trust In the bible we learn that God gave to people what they needed, not always what they wanted.
In our Gospel lesson for today, Simon’s mother in law had a fever and was in bed. They told Jesus at once. I believe that they had an expectation that Jesus could heal her. and he did. Jesus came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Immediately she began to serve them.
This was Jesus’ first healing in the Gospel of Mark. By that evening word had passed and there were many people waiting to be healed. The whole city was gathered around the door. Jesus cured many and cast out demons. This was Jesus proclaiming the kingdom of God.
Every one of us has times in our life that we need to be healed. I want to define healing this morning as reconnecting with God in Jesus Christ. As human beings we are broken people. We are not perfect. Thus, we connect, disconnect and then feel the need to reconnect with God.
This is not to say that healing could not happen here in this place at this time. Some of you have specific healing requests. Again, part of this healing service is to remind us that God in Jesus Christ walks with us in every part of our lives. When we are able to trust God to give us what we need, a healing has taken place. We have connected with God in Jesus Christ. As I lay hands on you today, may you also hear God saying I love you my child. Rest in that love.
Today we are being invited to reconnect with God and receive a healing. God will decide what healing we receive. Our lives become so busy and sometimes exhausting that we are called to stop. God in Jesus Christ is always standing ready to take our hand and lift us up, just as he did with the woman in today’s Gospel lesson.
It is in this reconnection, this lifting us up, that brings us new life and vitality and an assurance of God’s love for each one of us.
Let us pray: Gracious God, we thank you for always listening and answering our prayers. We desire to connect with at this time and place. May your Spirit help us to trust that you know what we need. Thank you for always walking with us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.