Your Faith Journey

All of us are on a journey of faith in our lives. At Faith Lutheran in Okemos, Michigan we bring people one a journey of faith each week and share that journey with the world.

Special Music - Jesus Walked this Lonesome Valley/Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen 03/22/2026

Sermon - 3/21/26 03/21/2026

Sermon - 3/21/26 Year A – Fifth Sunday in Lent– March 22, 2026 Pastor Megan Floyd John 11:1-45 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who liberates us from our bindings, and redeems us through God’s love and grace. Amen. *** “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” …both sisters launch this statement at Jesus… this accusation… this plea. Did you not care… did you not love him enough? Did we not love you enough? Why… why did you let him die? Their words cut into my heart… I feel their grief… and I imagine you do, too. None of us need reach very far to grasp the pain of a loss that we wished our Lord could have prevented. This past week, I learned that the father of an old high school friend died after suffering for many years with cancer. They are devastated and broken… and yet, clinging now to the promise that Jesus gave us… that her dad is now rejoicing with God, free of his earthly pain. But… four years ago… when he was first diagnosed, they were sure that their faith would deliver him from his illness. …and I was angry at their pastor for having the audacity to proclaim that if they prayed the right way… loved God the right way… that if they could somehow have the most perfect faith… that his cancer would go away. That kind of theology… is cruel and abusive… and I wish it wasn’t so prevalent in our American spiritual culture… It adds a layer of shame and guilt on top of the bodily suffering that one is already enduring and creates impossible standards. …yeah, I was angry, and I grieved for them. But this text is tricky… Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and whatever he asks for will be given. So, the temptation is there… to hope that we can somehow compel Jesus to take away our illness… or to prevent the death of our loved one… or to reverse the accident… or to repair that which was lost. We focus on the sign… on the miracle that Jesus performed of bringing Lazarus back to life… something he did so that those who witnessed and testified to it would understand and believe that Jesus was sent from God. But if we are so focused on the miraculous raising of Lazarus… we may miss the beautiful truth that Jesus was there with them… he was with them in their sorrow… very much so… just as Jesus is with us in our pain… and in our grief… Jesus, in his compassion and empathy... weeps with us when we weep. Jesus, who is sent from God… who is God… came to share life with us… all of our life experiences… our joy and our love… as well as our pain and our grief. And we all know… that love and loss are intertwined, and that grief is a natural part of our lives. In the face of grief and loss, it is also tempting to rush into the promised joy of eternal life with Christ… to gloss over the pain of death and skip into rejoicing… but does that honor the source of our grief? At this point in Lent… in our steady march toward Jesus’ betrayal and the cross… we, too, might be tempted to skip past the hard parts and move directly into our Easter celebration. …but does skipping the discomfort of Holy Week honor Jesus and the sacrifice he made for us? Does that honor the fullness of life that Jesus spent with us? Can we not dwell for a time with Jesus… in his grief? When Jesus went to Bethany, he knew what he was going to do… he knew that he would raise Lazarus… not so that Lazarus could have more earthly life, but so that we might believe in Jesus. And yet, even knowing what he went there to do… Jesus was still deeply moved… by their grief… and he wept with them. We don’t know exactly why Jesus wept… I imagine it was complicated, as our tears so often are. Perhaps he was angry at death itself… and the pain it always brings… or perhaps he was feeling the weight of his own impending death, and how this sign of raising Lazurus would be the act that would set things in motion for his arrest. Just as the crowd speculated on his tears, we do not have a clear understanding of his grief… only that he grieved. But you know… grief does not need a clear explanation to be valid. Jesus, our God with us… grieves with us in the face of death and suffering… Jesus shares our sorrow that we must face this pain as part of the cycle of life. And yet… Jesus is still Lord over all that binds us, including death… but also… so much more. And so, just as Jesus calls to Lazarus to come out… he calls to us… Jesus calls to us not only at the end of our earthly lives, but he calls to us every day… to leave behind the things that bind us and chose life with Christ. Jesus calls to us who are dead and bound in our sin… calls to us when we are crippled with guilt and shame… he calls to us when we feel isolated and alone… he calls to us when we turn a blind eye to the pain of our neighbors… and invites us to actively participate in our own renewal. Hear the words of our Lord calling to you… come out… and… Unbind him… let him go… Unbind her… be free from the power of sin… Unbind them… be liberated to see the Glory of God at work in yourself, for you are deeply loved. Let your bindings go… so that you might be fully present in God’s love and light… and feel it’s warmth. Let your bindings go… so you are able to fully receive the grace and mercy Christ has freely laid before you. Let your bindings go… and know that you are always and forever, forgiven and redeemed. Christ is calling to you… to come out and join him. And yet, he knows… we all know… this life is a work in progress. Some days are better than others, and my friends… that’s why there is grace. Jesus’ love is not dependent on you praying the right way, or loving Jesus the right way, or having the perfect faith… Jesus loves you. Full stop. And because of that love, he calls you to come out and live your life with him… This world around us will still have brokenness and failing… we will still have pain and grief… and Christ weeps with us in our grief, and we place our pain in God’s loving care and know that on the other side of death… there is life. It can be challenging to let go of that which binds us, for sure… to let the old pass away and trust our God who calls to us into something new. But hold fast to the promise that our journey is not just to the grave, but through it… and there is new life on the other side. Amen. /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/40569405

Special Music - A Communion Meditation 03/16/2026

Sermon - 3-15-26 03/16/2026

Sermon - 3-15-26 Year A – Fourth Sunday in Lent– March 15, 2026 Pastor Megan Floyd John 9:1-41 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who finds us where we are, and calls us to be his own. Amen. *** Just a couple of days ago, on Thursday, nearly 30 people from across lower Michigan came here to Faith for a mini retreat focused on ministry with youth and young adults. When we first started planning, I expected about eight people to come… so the fact that it became a room full of people was amazing and so incredible. These folks were pastors, lay ministers, and synod staff who chose to spend their day together because they value the place of youth and young adults in the church… and each of them knew, on some level… that this is work we need to do together. We are all aware that the programs and platforms from the 90s don’t work like they used to… and that life together in a faith community is ever-changing… especially for our young people… and it’s not always abundantly clear what shape it will take next. So, we came together, and trusted that God’s Spirit would find us here… and guide us… and inspire us… to discern the way forward. It was really awesome! And God’s Spirit did find us, and reminded us that we need each other in the body of Christ… We need to hear the testimonies and witness of our neighbors beyond our church walls, so that we can better equip ourselves… and our communities to recognize how and where God shows up… Because Christ is always seeking us… God’s Spirit is always swirling around, so close, it’s blowing our hair back… but if we are blind to it, we might just think it’s windy. So… in our gospel story today… we are blessed to hear the testimony of a man whom Jesus found… He’s a poor man, desperately poor – a beggar. It’s all he can be… because he was born blind. And no one, in all of history, had ever managed to heal a person born blind. So this man is an outcast in his community. Jesus and his disciples are walking along. They walk past this blind man who is begging. The disciples are eager to learn from their Rabbi, so they ask Jesus… Whose sin caused this beggar to be blind? They don’t really see the man... They don’t address him… but they talk about him. They assume that his situation is a lesson on the consequences of sin. But Jesus saw him. Jesus saw that beloved man… and… he DID take the opportunity to teach his disciples a lesson. He applied spit and mud to the man's eyes and sent him away to wash. The man obeyed Jesus’s command… and it was at that moment that this man became a disciple… the moment that he chose to trust Jesus… and do as Jesus commanded… and then for the first time in his life, he could see! So naturally, he’s amazed and… not really sure what to do next except tell others what happened to him. But his neighbors can’t believe it – some don’t even recognize him. How could he possibly see? How could this possibly be the same person? No way. And the Pharisees… are blind to the miracle and solely focused on the fact that Jesus healed on the Sabbath, so Jesus must be a sinner. However, the man doesn’t have a deep theological explanation for what happened… he only gives his honest answer… “I don’t know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that through I was blind, now I see.” And the man… this guy that Jesus found, continues to tell his story. He continues to testify to what Jesus has done for him… and each time he does… he grows in his understanding of who this man, Jesus, must be. But the religious leaders are stuck… they can’t see past that Jesus violated their religious laws… they are stuck in how things have always been. They cannot see that God is doing something new through Jesus… and showing them that God’s kingdom is bigger than what they ever imagined. The man continues to testify… continues to give witness to his encounter… growing bolder in the dawning of his understanding. The religious leaders choose the dark confinement of the law over the light of the world shining around them. And yet, the man is working it all out, and finally… he confidently proclaims that Jesus could only be from God. …but unfortunately… that was so offensive, they cast him out of the community… again. And again, Jesus finds him. The Lord found him, and the man recognized his God! How could he possibly do anything but give thanks and praise… that he was found…he was claimed. …he was loved …and through Christ, he was given abundant life… grace upon grace. We also suffer from blindness to what the Lord has done. Not always, ok… but we’re generally out of practice. We have these moments where we’re sure that the Spirit just washed over us… but then we write it off… or …we marvel at the moment, and give our thanks… but then… we forget. We don’t run through the town telling others what the Lord has done! But you know what? I wanna hear about it! I DO! …I want to know what God is up to in your life! I wanna know how Jesus is finding you day after day. Just like how I was excited to tell you about how God found us this past week in our retreat… How Christ found us… and blessed us with the guiding presence of the Spirit. When you share your testimony about the moments when Christ finds you… even if you don’t have a full theological explanation… only that you feel it happened… that’s enough… that is sharing the Gospel! Because the first step to sharing your witness with others is to acknowledge that Christ found you… that the Spirit showed up in your life! So… the Spirit blows your hair back, and you think it’s just windy …but then you pause… maybe it’s more. …Maybe. …maybe write it down… and pray over it later… see what God reveals to you. See what God might be doing …through you. Your testimony not only opens your eyes to see Christ, but your testimony opens the eyes of others as well, so they can see Christ. Just like our retreat this past week… this work is better when we do it together… when we trust that our God will find us… wherever we are… and we share those experiences and help each other understand them… This brings us all closer to God and closer to each other as the full Body of Christ. The good news today is that just as Jesus found that man… an outcast from his community… and brought him into the fold, Jesus will find you… call you and claim you… and bring you under his protection… and his love. It’s not a one-time thing… it’s every day… the Lord finds you. And each of us is here today because the Lord found us… and because we are found… because we have been given grace upon grace …we can go to those whom God sends us… and proclaim this good news! We go confidently with a word from the Lord. …a word of love. …a word of welcome… a word of invitation… to work together… to collaborate in our ministries and in our lives… and join together in God’s abundance …of grace upon grace …that we ourselves have received from the Lord. It’s too good not to share! The miracle that Jesus offers in our gospel today is an invitation into abundant life, and it comes to you exactly as you are. You have been found …and you are beloved and worthy. So remember that God continues to call us into this joy of sharing our testimony… the Holy Spirit continues to invite us to share our experiences of how God is showing up for us in our families, and in our faith communities. We can boldly trust that the Spirit will guide us… and that others need this word… they need to hear that God does, indeed, find us and love us. You don’t have to have it all figured out… just trust your story… and rejoice in Christ’s presence. Amen. /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/40498240

Special Music - Lord Jesus You Shall Be My Song 03/09/2026

Special Music - Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days 03/09/2026

Sermon - 3-8-26 03/09/2026

Sermon - 3-8-26 Year A – Third Sunday in Lent– March 8, 2026 Pastor Megan Floyd Exodus 17:1-7 John 4:1-42 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who is truly the Savior of the world. Amen. *** Many… many years ago, Bill and I had the privilege of attending my friend’s wedding… she and her partner got married in the Valley of Fire in the Grand Canyon… at sunset. It was… spectacular! Our little party was delivered to this magical location on helicopters, which flew us through the Canyon, across the incredible landscape that just… stretched on for as far as I could see. As we flew, the walls of the Canyon were on either side of us, and yet, my brain couldn’t make sense of the scale. Then the pilot pointed out a little dark spec that was way under us… he said, “That’s the other helicopter.” Those four words… radically changed my perspective. I mean… sure, I could see that the place was well worth the title of ‘Grand,’ …but suddenly, ‘Grand’ couldn’t even contain the full scope of where we were. Nothing could… I don’t think there is any word in our language that can truly encapsulate the landscape… the magnitude… of what we call… The Grand Canyon. And the same is true… about God’s love. God’s love is so grand… so deep and wide and never ending… that we bump up against the same inability to fully wrap our minds around the full scope… the full scale of what it really means… that God so loved the world. On that helicopter… I didn’t even begin to understand how big that landscape was until the pilot showed me what it meant… until he gave me a new perspective and showed me how Grand it really was. And that’s what’s happening in our text today… Jesus is showing the disciples what it means… that God so loved the world. Telling them isn’t going to be enough… he must show them… which is why it was necessary for them to go through Samaria. Verse 4. Our translation reads, “But he had to go through Samaria.” …the Greek word is stronger than that, though… It was ‘necessary’ …it was imperative that he go through Samaria. Why? …they were traveling north from Judea to Galilee… and Samaria is between those two places. But, as the text points out… something that everyone at the time would have understood… very clearly… the Jews and the Samaritans do not associate with each other. It was an ancient family feud… they have the same ancestors… but different theology around the critical question of… where is God found? For the Jewish people, God was found in the Temple in Jerusalem… in the Holy of Holies. That’s where they went to worship. For the Samaritans, God was found high on the top of Mount Gerizim. That’s where they went to worship. They had other differences as well, but this was the most pressing theological question of their time... the question that went back to the time of Moses, in the wilderness of Sin, when they were dying of thirst… Where is God? Is the Lord among us or not? These are heavy questions… and modern denominations have split apart for less. So, to avoid the tension and the feud, Jewish people traveling from Judea to Galilee would have taken the road that ran along the Jordan River Valley. They would not have climbed through the mountains of Samaria. So why… why was it necessary for them to go through Samaria? It was necessary… because Jesus needed to show his disciples the full scale and scope of his ministry… he needed to give them a new perspective. Jesus needed to challenge their assumptions about who is in and who is out… he needed to widen their understanding of what sort of people Jesus was seeking… about whom he loved. So he took them to the very place they would have assumed was excluded. Samaria. Jesus needs to go there to find his first witness… he needs to find her… the unnamed, unmarried, powerless, Samaritan woman… discarded or widowed five times over… now living with the brother of her late husband in a Levirate marriage. She is a nobody… an outsider among religious outsiders… visiting the well when no one else would have been there… at the hottest… and brightest time of the day. Remember what I said about day and night in the Gospel of John? She’s there when the sun is at its brightest… and with this woman… Jesus proceeds to have the longest recorded conversation that he has with anybody… in any of the four gospels. It was necessary for him to go through Samaria… to find… her. Now, like anyone who talks to Jesus, she doesn’t fully understand him at first, but she sticks with it… and she trusts him with her truth. So, in response to her faith and her growing understanding around the coming Messiah… he shares his truth… He is… the I AM… the Great I AM… the same I AM from the burning bush and Moses… I know our translation says that Jesus replies, “I am he” …but that’s just added grammar for verbal flow. Jesus’ response to her is only… I AM. …and his statement holds the power and weight of all the other I AM statements. He reveals his true identity to her… before any of the disciples figured it out. And in her joy, she left her water jar at the well to run to share the good news with her neighbors… She told them of her experience… of her encounter with this man… she shared her wondering… “He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” And she invited them to come and see… come and meet him… come, and hear from him yourself. She shared her witness… her testimony… and then invited them to come and experience him for themselves. And because of her witness, her town became followers of Jesus… and were the first to recognize that he was truly… the Savior of the world. This… out-of-the-way place… in Samaria. Its… incredible. And this is only chapter four! Jesus hasn’t hardly done anything yet! He was identified by John the Baptist as the Lamb of God, come to take away the sin of the world. …then he called his first disciples… …and they enjoyed a party at the Wedding at Cana, where, thanks to some strong encouragement from his mother, Mary, Jesus ensured there would be plenty of the very best wine for the happy couple and their guests. After that, Jesus went to the Temple, where he… caused a scene. The other gospels have this Temple scene happening at the end of his ministry. John, however, has it at the beginning… it gives Jesus quite the reputation. And then Nicodemus came to visit him… at night. That’s really all that has happened until this point, when he started heading back to Galilee and said it was necessary for them to go through Samaria. Jesus was still seeking someone he could entrust his identity to… so he went to find this woman. She taught the disciples… as she teaches us… how to be a witness… how to share our stories of encounter with God… with our Savior, Jesus Christ. We don’t need to fully understand every moment of meaning… only that meeting Jesus is to encounter God… the Holy Spirit… the Divine among us… and to be in relationship with him brings salvation. We don’t have to convince others… Jesus can do that… we just need to invite people to come and see… come and encounter a love so pure and inclusive, that it’s hard to wrap our minds around. Jesus was also seeking to demonstrate to his disciples… to give them a new perspective of just how grand God’s love really was. He needed to push all the boundaries and prejudices they held… and choose the most unlikely person to be the first one with whom he shared his truth. She was his first witness… the first evangelist… starting the first church… first worshipping community… who understood that the answer to the most pressing theological question of their time… Where is God? …that the answer was, God is with us, wherever we are. Jesus needed to give them all some perspective… and we still need that today. We like to draw boundaries… we like to know who’s in and who’s out… We like to think that this is all something we can fully wrap our minds around and have some certainty about it. …especially when it comes to God’s approval… and God’s love. But it’s hard to hold that kind of scope and scale in our minds… so we need this constant reminder… this continual renewal of our perspective… this pointing out of those people that we might be tempted to exclude… God’s love includes them, too. For God so loved the world… will always be so much bigger than we can imagine, which is good news… because it means that no matter what, everyone is in. Amen. /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/40362215

Special Music - Lenten Meditation 03/01/2026

Sermon - 3-1-26 03/01/2026

Sermon - 3-1-26 Year A – Second Sunday in Lent– March 1, 2026 Pastor Megan Floyd Genesis 12:1-4a John 3:1-17 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who came, not to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Amen. *** Can I just tell you… I deeply appreciate Nicodemus. He is a religious leader among the Jews… a Pharisee… he’s a scholar of the scriptures… he knows the law of Moses through and through… the Pharisees were very strict in their law-abiding ways. He is well known with an excellent reputation… one whom others came to for advice and leadership. And yet… he is brave enough… he is brave enough to wonder… to ask… what if this man Jesus really is something more? Nicodemus has the courage to ask if maybe he missed something… he has the strength of character to observe what is taking place around him… and consider that he may have been wrong. We have all been wrong from time to time… we’ve all made mistakes… and we know that being wrong is no joke… …the realization that we are wrong about something… especially something really big… can actually trigger intense psychological discomfort… and sometimes even physical pain. These feelings can manifest as shame or guilt… and lead to cognitive dissonance in the struggle to reconcile the reality around us with our long-held position on something … and it only becomes more difficult as that reality becomes increasingly unmistakable. It’s why some people will double down on their position… on their interpretation of things… why they will insist that reality isn’t actually what we perceive with our eyes, but only what they, instead, insist it must be. It’s all about avoiding the pain of being wrong… maybe they think it makes them look tough… or strong… except… that avoidance is the weaker approach. Avoidance and refusal to take in new information may protect our psyche in the short-term, but it cuts us off from the potential to learn and grow. …And in strictly Christian terms, it prevents us from the healing that occurs when we face our mistakes or errors, and we confess them… and change our ways through repentance… so that we can receive forgiveness with a clean heart… and begin repairing the relationships that may have been harmed. I’ve always deeply appreciated Nicodemus… but in these times, when our country is so divided… when the testimonies of our neighbors to what they have seen and experienced go ignored… because their testimony challenges the positions that some will not allow to be challenged… …well, I find that in these days… I appreciate Nicodemus even more. I appreciate that Nicodemus is willing to leave room for wonder… leave room for new information… he’s willing to allow his position to be challenged, even though his position is one around which he has built his entire life. Do you know anyone like that? …I do. I appreciate Nicodemus’ strength… what must it have taken for him to come to Jesus to ask… to learn? …I certainly don’t fault him for coming to Jesus at night! I probably would have as well, were I in Nicodemus’ place… it was safer for him than to risk everything… to wonder enough to ask. Also… it’s worth noting… because we’re in the gospel of John now for the next four weeks…that in the gospel of John, the use of day and night is a thematic revelation of being in relationship with Jesus. Not to say that darkness is evil, because far too much modern bias has taken that wrong turn… but… Jesus is the light of the world, and so to be in relationship with him… to have an understanding of who and what Jesus is… in the gospel of John… is to be in the light… it is… to greet him in the day. I want you to hold on to that theme over the rest of Lent because we’ll hear much more from John in the coming weeks… you’ll find how often it comes into the description of a scene, and gives clues to where they are in relationship with Jesus. So… Nicodemus… he arrives at night… so he’s not so sure… but he can’t deny that what he has seen is amazing, and he knows that these wonders could only come from God. And in his secret conversation… we learn something very important about the nature of God through Jesus. We learn… that Jesus is going to meet us wherever we are on our spiritual journey… even if it is from a place of doubt. We learn that Jesus is going to come to us… to meet us in that space… he’s going to receive our questions and our doubts with love and compassion… along with some healthy accountability… and he’s going to guide us into a deeper understanding of who he is. It is a journey we all must take… a journey Christ invites us all to take. We don’t hear about Nicodemus again in our lectionary texts, but his story continues… he’s one of the few people, other than the disciples, whom we are blessed to return to and catch glimpses of his spiritual growth. In John 7, Nicodemus speaks up against his colleagues and peers to defend Jesus’ right to justice under the law… a position that puts him at odds with those who just want Jesus gone. And then he shows up again… at the foot of the cross. In John 19, Nicodemus brings myrrh and aloes, weighing around 100 pounds… an abundance… and he, along with Joseph of Arimathea, wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in linen cloth, and buried him in the tomb. I take Nicodemus’ actions to mean… he figured it out… he understood that Jesus was God, who came to save us, and that this salvation occurs through Jesus drawing close to us… and loving us. Because being in relationship with Jesus is the ultimate goal… not just for Nicodemus, but for all people… for the whole kosmos. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16 …it’s arguably the most famous verse in the Bible. But it is so incredibly important to hear the context, and to follow it up with the next verse… “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:17 God does not desire for us to perish in our unknowing… in our faults… our mistakes… or our sin. On the contrary… Jesus, in complete love, will make space for us so that we can authentically open our hearts to him… not just for our sake, but for the sake of the world. So that we, as part of the covenant God made with Abraham, our spiritual father… and in our obedience and devotion to Christ, we might become a blessing to others… shining the light of Christ… the light of the world… to all who need it, wherever they are… …and sharing our testimony of the Good News of all that Jesus has done. For God so loved the whole world… and that means everyone. So as the world around us continues to be fraught with division and violence against those who disagree… and as we possibly face another war in the aftermath of our country bombing Iran… Lord, we ask you to meet us where we are. Give us the courage of Nicodemus… to question what we are told if it feels contrary to how you call us to live. Let us be brave enough to admit when we are wrong, to stay true in our following of you, and to receive your forgiveness daily with a clean heart. And Lord, give us your compassion and guidance to meet others where they are… to not hold them in contempt if they are just waking up to the reality we are in, or even if they remain asleep to it. Help us to hold them in your love, as you love us… and to freely share the grace that you so freely give us. Guide us so that we may be daily reborn and transformed through your Spirit and your love. We need you now, O Christ… in these challenging times. Amen /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/40274415

Special Music - O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High 02/22/2026

Sermon - 2/22/26 02/22/2026

Sermon - 2/22/26 Year A – First Sunday in Lent– February 22, 2026 Pastor Megan Floyd Matthew 4:1-11 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who loves us and claims us as his own. Amen. *** I grew up watching Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood… Looking back over my life, I’m pretty sure that’s what radicalized me. In Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, you knew you belonged, and that who you were… was good… and that… the other people around you… well, they might be different from you… look different from you… but… they were good, too. In that neighborhood, there was an overwhelming sense that we belonged to each other… there was shared love and respect for other people, even when they made mistakes. In Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, each person… or character… was valued… seen… and supported. This is something that everyone of us needs, not just children… and we need this throughout our whole lives. Mr. Rogers was not just the face and creator of the children’s show… he was also a Presbyterian pastor… so it’s not surprising at all… that his neighborhood intentionally reflected… the beloved community that we, who are followers of Jesus, work to build. Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood was a little taste of what God’s vision for us might look like when we take seriously the ways of living that Jesus called us to practice. It was a little sample of living in the promised kingdom of God… for 30 minutes at a time. Those of us who were raised in Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood know that a better, more beautiful, and beloved neighborhood is possible… if we choose to live that way. Growing up with a show like this… it’s no wonder that I feel so strongly that compassion for others is healthy… that empathy can heal divides… and that love and support should not have conditions. It’s no wonder… that I don’t want to bend to the unjust power systems in this world… in this country… even though… I could work the system to bend in my favor. I could! …it is, after all, set up for me to do so… it’s tempting to take advantage of that. Case in point… I am a white, cisgender, heterosexual woman, wife, and mother, from a middle-class family… and my husband does not suffer from the delusion that I am merely an accessory to his lifestyle. I have a world-class education that was mostly achieved without debt, I do not suffer from debilitating diseases like addiction or depression, and… at least at this moment, I am still able-bodied… most of the time. It is tempting… it’s tempting… to sink into the power structures that privilege nearly all of my life’s characteristics. But to do so… would mean to accept an unjust and unequal community… it would mean giving up on the better way that I know is possible… not just because Mr. Rogers showed me that way when I was a child… but because Jesus was super clear about it. Embracing a privilege that marginalizes others is not part of God’s vision for us… for humanity… it does not ask us to become the best version of ourselves… or call us into a more beloved community. But… when power and privilege are laid out before you for the taking… it’s tempting… to reach out and take it, no matter who it harms. This is, of course… what Jesus himself… faced in the wilderness immediately following his baptism… immediately after hearing the voice of God claiming him as God’s beloved, in whom God was well pleased. The Spirit led him out there… into the desert… where he fasted for 40 days… facing spiritual and physical challenges… he was famished, and weak… and at his most vulnerable moment, the devil stepped in… as the devil is wont to do. We all have experience with the devil… with the voice of the accuser… whether you believe the devil to be an actual being… or the shadow side of our own human self… it doesn’t matter. In whatever shape it takes on… the accuser… the devil… is the one who whispers lies in our ear… lies about ourselves and others. It’s the voice of shame… the voice that isolates and diminishes… That is the voice of the accuser. God’s voice is the one who declares us worthy and loved… while the voice of the accuser, on the other hand… is the one who pulls us away from God’s purpose… and from God’s vision for us. The voice of the accuser is the one who would have us forget our identity as beloved… as children of God… and who offers only empty promises. It’s what the devil tried to offer Jesus… he tried to entice him to reject his identity and grasp at empty promises… to wield power that would serve only himself… instead of those he came to serve. Because… Jesus does have the power to do what the devil suggests… but he chooses not to use it. He chooses not to become an agent for the accuser, because he knows that he is… an agent of God. And Jesus knows… that empires are not eternal… and nations are not sovereign over God… and earthly power is not permanent. What the devil offers are false promises and lies, and what is built on false promises will fall… but what is rooted in God’s love and in God’s vision… will grow. Jesus, in this most vulnerable moment, holds fast to his identity… and to his purpose… and calls us to do the same, even though it’s tempting to follow the lies. Our God, who was made human in Jesus… knows this temptation we face. God’s unconditional love for us is grounded in a personal experience of the temptations and suffering that we experience all the time. So when we cry out… in our moments of weakness… when we face temptation… whether we falter or hold fast… we remain beloved… we are still washed with grace, redeemed, and claimed as God’s own… We are always being made new and always being called into a vision for a beloved community that is bigger than our own wants and needs… a vision that includes flourishing not only for ourselves but for all our neighbors. This time in the season of Lent offers us the opportunity for our own spiritual growth… a time for reflection, repentance, and renewal… a time to practice resilience in the face of temptation… a time to remember who we are as followers of our God in Christ Jesus. This is a time to reestablish our footing… to ground ourselves in God’s love and grace and mercy… and in our place of belonging in God’s community… God’s kingdom… God’s new creation that is arriving but not yet here. It is okay… to be tested… it is okay to face temptation… to face our devils… we all do. It is part of the human experience… there’s no shame in it. The devil will tell you to isolate… to pull you away from others…because when you are alone, it’s easier to forget who you are, and whose you are. But when we are grounded in God’s neighborhood… God’s loving community… that calls us each to be our best selves… rooted in the body of Christ and committed to living in ways that reflect that love… then we know we will not have to try and overcome those lies alone. The season of Lent calls us back into God’s love… back to that which sustains and supports us on our spiritual journey. This vision of beloved community that Jesus invites us into… well, it may sound like the land of make-believe from Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, but truly… this beloved community… God’s neighborhood… comes a little closer each time we live into God’s vision for us… …each time we honor the inherent value and dignity of all our neighbors, as well as our own… and hold them, and ourselves, with the same love that God holds for us. It’s not the land of make-believe… it is who we are created to be. Amen. /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/40187240

Special Music – Heavenly Sunlight 02/15/2026

Sermon - 2/15/26 02/15/2026

Sermon - 2/15/26 Year A – Transfiguration– February 15, 2026 Pastor Megan Floyd Exodus 24:12-18 Matthew 17:1-9 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who reveals to us God’s glory. Amen. *** In 2012, I had the privilege of leading my congregation’s youth group to the ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans. The week was filled with joys and challenges, and stories that still make me laugh. But one of the most incredible, mountain-top experiences I had there… was a story of divine encounter… a story of being washed over by the Holy Spirit. It was the night of closing worship, so all of the more than 33,000 participants were gathered in the Superdome to sing and praise God, to listen to inspiring speakers, and to hear the word of God proclaimed. We worshipped each night we gathered, but this one was special… It was special because during the closing worship, we would share holy communion together… as one church… 33,000+ members… one body of Christ. I don’t know if you’ve ever been inside the Superdome in New Orleans, but it is very steep, so there’s really not a bad seat in the house, so long as you don’t mind heights. My youth wanted to sit at the very top of the arena for this worship experience, so we made our way up the mountain of levels and escalators and found some seats where we could take in the entire scene below. Once we settled in, we were treated to an incredible view… a view of the church… thousands of teenagers and their adult leaders sat below, all eager to begin worship. The excitement and the buzz were intoxicating… as we watched the tiny people way down on the floor bring us together in song and worship. Now you would think that communing over 33,000 people would take all day, but… the organizers have this down to a science, and it actually runs quite smoothly and quickly. Given our location, we watched below as people moved to receive the elements, and then to be anointed… they all received a cross of oil on their foreheads to remind each and every person that they were sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. I watched this all take place, and at some point, our group moved to receive the elements as well, and to be anointed with oil… and then we sat back down to wait while the rest were served. And as I sat, I recall feeling a shift in the air… almost like a fullness surrounding me… as when a heavy fog rolls in and you can sense the weight of the space around you. I recall feeling this shift in the air begin at my feet, and then start moving up my legs… I could feel the new air rising, until it suddenly washed up and over my head, and… I just wept. I felt so completely surrounded by the Spirit… so completely held… claimed… and loved… so completely assured of God’s faithful presence. It was remarkable… and it is an experience that has stayed with me for all these years. I know… that it changed my relationship with God to one that was no longer distant, but now… more personal… close. We call these kinds of moments… these encounters… mountain-top moments… moments of encountering God… moments of profound closeness with our Creator and source of everlasting love. And of course, we call them mountain-top moments… because in scripture, God’s people often seem to meet God on the mountain… as with Moses in our reading from Exodus… and, of course, the Transfiguration of Jesus. Encountering God’s full glory is disarming… scary even… and can leave us unsure of exactly how to respond. For me… it left me weeping, which really alarmed the youth. Peter, James, and John head up the mountain with Jesus, and are witnesses to a dazzling display and blinding light… and Moses and Elijah, together with Jesus… And Peter… sweet Peter… he thinks this is great, and offers to set up tents for them… he assumes this is a moment they’ll dwell in for some time. We can hardly blame him. And then the voice from God thunders out… with the words we heard at Jesus’ baptism. “This is my son, the beloved… with whom I am well pleased…” …but then God adds… Listen to him. Listen. Peter… man… stop talking and take in the moment… just absorb the light of God for a second… let it change you… let it alter your understanding of who this Jesus really is. I understand Peter’s desire to stay in that moment… I really do… it’s normal. But we don’t live on the mountain… we don’t get to spend all our time in those incredible moments of clarity with God. We can, and should, bask in the glory of God’s light when it is there, but we can’t stay there all the time… life continues… and so… warmed from the light of those experiences, we keep moving… And yes, of course, we allow our mountain-top experiences to transform us, to shape our hearts, but then we make our way back down the mountain, to live our lives of faith in the day-to-day. I’ve asked Raymond to share this photo with you… Last week, I was at a preaching retreat in a little place near Phoenix, and on the property, there was this massive labyrinth. My colleagues and I joked that walking a labyrinth is to intentionally take the most inefficient path toward a destination… but I suppose that’s only if you consider the center to be a destination, and not simply part of the journey. I spent some time praying my way through the labyrinth and marveling at how each turn gave me a new perspective on my surroundings… pointing me toward new plants and new views… how each path brought me toward a new understanding of the landscape. In the background, though… was this mountain, with the sun shining so incredibly brightly over it. It felt so present and so close… like I could reach out and touch it… even though it was in the distance… it was an ever-present backdrop for the whole weekend. As I worked my way around the labyrinth, I was sometimes facing away from the light of the sun and from the mountain, but then I would follow the curve of the path and turn a corner… and suddenly the sun would be shining in my face, blinding me… and I would continue walking and soaking in the warmth of the light… and the glory of the mountain, and I felt so incredibly close to God. Peter faced this bright light around Jesus, on the mountain… and he wanted to stay there. We can hardly blame him. Leading up to that moment, they had been climbing through Jesus’ liberating ministry of teaching and healing… it was all so amazing… and then Jesus hits them with the shocking revelation that he must suffer and die. …and that any who want to become his followers must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow him. They must be prepared to lose their life for his sake… in order to save it. So yes… I understand why Peter wanted to stay in that glorious moment, soaking in the light and warmth… he was not ready to face the ashes and sorrow that awaited them as they turned toward Jerusalem and the cross. Are any of us ever really ready for that? And yet, they must descend… but that is the blessing of this life of faith… we get to carry God’s light forward… we get to experience these moments of encounter… of revelation… these mountain-top moments… and carry them out into the world around us. Remember, you are the light of the world… and it is the light of God’s glory with which you shine. This is what it means to walk with Jesus… to walk in the highs and lows and of this life of faith… we have these moments of profound encounter… like at the Superdome in New Orleans… and like this labyrinth at the foot of the mountain… these moments fill us with God’s Holy Spirit and shape our lives around God’s glory. They help us remember who we are and whose we are… and remind us that we are claimed and redeemed through grace and mercy… and they give us strength for the journey, when the journey takes us through ashes and sorrow. When we find ourselves walking through the shadow of death, these moments help us to keep walking… keep walking… because on the other side is resurrection and new life. And to stay on the mountain… would mean to miss out on all the ways that God continues to show up. If we only ever lived for the grand, mountain-top moments… we would miss all the ways that God reveals God’s self to us in small ways… the everyday, ordinary ways. So, we must remember… that mountain-top encounters with God are amazing… awe-inspiring… but we don’t need to stay on the mountain… because the promise of transfiguration is that the glory of God transforms every corner of our whole world… and us… along with it, everyday… and always. Amen. /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/40115490

Special Music – Offertory 02/01/2026

Sermon - 2/1/26 02/01/2026

Sermon - 2/1/26 Fourth Sunday after Epiphany February 1, 2026 Faith Lutheran, Okemos Micah 6:1-8, Psalm 1, I Corinthians 1:18-31, Matthew 5:1-12 Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done, On Earth as in Heaven… Our Father in heaven, in each moment, in each day we pray your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven. Your kingdom come, your will be done… I been thinking about our sister congregation, Immanuel Lutheran in Grand Ledge. Their pastor, Chuck Forrester, has been on leave from call for several months because of a serious medical condition. For the last five months, God provided Pastor Chrisy Bright to serve Immanuel. Chrisy, a young pastor, most recently served as an assistant to former Bishop Satterlee, and now for at least the next three months is Immanuel’s contracted pastor. In this present moment this morning she is preaching the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ to the people of Immanuel. God provided both work for a gifted pastor now without a letter of call, and pastoral leadership for a congregation whose called pastor’s return remains uncertain. An answer to most powerful of all prayers: Your kingdom come, your will be done… One year ago today, Pastor Megan was ordained, and the very next day, she served as our pastor. Surely, in this moment in the story of Faith Lutheran Church, God provided for us a shepherd abounding in compassion and joy in a time in our society when so much is uncertain. Both Immanuel and Faith have been blessed too with exceptionally wise lay leaders and brilliant musicians, so reassuring during this past tumultuous, fear-filled year in our country when the foundations of our democracy seem very tenuous. In ways we may not have readily recognized, our praying the Lord’s prayer week after week did not go unheard. In both congregations, in this fragile time for all of us, signs of the kingdom, signs of the reign of our Father and his Son, signs of God’s steadfast, faithful, loving presence… We are so blessed. [In a Zoom call on Wednesday with three other former bishops, Floyd, Marcus, and Jerry, Floyd proclaimed that, for him. these readings for today from Micah, Psalm 15, I Corinthians, and Matthew were maybe the best ones in all of our three-year cycle of biblical texts. Surely, they all are very beautiful and challenging and powerful as such a time as this.] Many of us know by heart, or have at least heard these famous words from the prophet Micah, plain-spoken words we are called to live out until we take our last earthly breath: He [God] has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God? Less familiar, but no less powerful and reassuring are the words of Psalm 15, words for each of us in each moment of each day, for all of us who are daily bathed in God’s forgiving love. Please read them with me in their entirety: LORD, who may dwell in your tabernacle… [vs.4b: They are willing to do the right thing, to stand by their oath even to their own hurt.] And then these opening words from I Corinthians 1:18 revealing the seemingly contradictory way God has chosen to save us: The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us [most of whom are probably not all that worldly wise or powerful] to us who are being saved it is the power of God. How ludicrous to worldly wisdom and worldly power and might to believe that a man accused of treason, who dies on a cross, would thereby takes away the sin of the world. But it is God’s wisdom that Jesus’ cruel death would be the very way God would save us from our deep brokenness and alienation from each other and from the One who so loves us, so heals us, so day by day rekindles our faith in and hope and love for our Maker and Redeemer and for our friends and enemies alike. And then, even more, the beatitudes in Matthew 5 as Jesus sat down and to his disciples long ago and to us this morning began his sermon on the mount. Hear the beatitudes, these blessings in a translation, a rendering by Steve Garnaas-Holmes, a friend of Pastor Megan’s: Blessed are you who have nothing to offer, for you are offered everything. Blessed are you who are broken-hearted for the world, for God weeps with you, and will rejoice with you. Blessed are you who do not seek to dominate, for love dominates your life. Blessed are you who sacrifice for the sake of justice, for you will know victory. Blessed are you who are gentle, for God's gentleness enfolds you. Blessed are you who seek only love, for God will be everywhere for you. Blessed are you who remain peaceful in conflict, for so you reveal God. Blessed are you who are treated harshly, for God treats you to the entire realm of God. Blessed are you who are punished for your compassion, for this is the way of the cross. These beatitudes are not commands. They are not orders for how we should live our lives. Rather they are promises to us when our spirits are weak and pretty much exhausted, when we mourn the injustices and the acts of violence in words and deeds against our brothers and sisters. The beatitudes are promises that when we hunger for, yearn for, work for respectful, kind, and honest relationships in our own lives and in our communities and in our country, they are promises that already God has begun to fill our hearts with hope. We see God already exposing the abuses of power and the violation of basic human rights so contrary to the way of our gentle Lord, even now calling tens of thousands of protesters to speak up for those who are treated harshly. “Your kingdom come, your will be done.” It is already coming, our Father’s will already being done. So, blessed are we, members and friends of Faith, when in each moment and each day, the Holy Spirit moves us to perform simple acts of kindness, simple acts of gentleness, simple acts of mercy. Blessed are we when that same Holy Spirit enables us to see injustices to the poor and to boldly resist in words and actions those in power who would crush and destroy the lives of those the Bible calls “resident aliens.” And blessed are we if we “take a hit,” if we a maligned for the simple acts of compassion we are called to take for the oppressed in our midst, the acts of compassion we take for Jesus who was maligned for all of us, who will always be our Immanuel, God with us, God in the very depths of our hearts… Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven…in each of our lives, in each of our hearts, in each of our actions, in each moment of each day. Amen. JDS *or “kindom,” the latter word, recently coined and offered in the Apostles’ Creed as an understanding of God’s kingdom as a beloved community of siblings, all of us as beloved sisters and brothers with Jesus as our Lord. /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/39952265

Special Music – We Are A Rainbow 01/25/2026

Sermon - 1/25/26 01/25/2026

Sermon - 1/25/26 Matthew 4:12-23; RIC Sunday; January 28, 2024 Rich Weingartner Grace to you and peace from God our parent, Jesus our Savior, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Living in a world where politicians want more and more power. Minorities are treated as “others” and are not safe. Children aren’t valued. The hungry are told to fend for themselves. Being judged by where you were born or grew up. Being condemned if you aren’t the right religion. Dangerous to hang out with the “wrong crowd.” Religious people who seek more power and control. A world where people cry “O God, How Long?!” Before we look more at that world - let’s take a look at our readings for today. First, the people of Zebulun and Naphtali receive a message of promise and hope from the prophet Isiah. A promise that God will provide a glorious future. To learn more about this promise, if we read a bit further in chapter 9 of Isiah, we find a familiar text starting at verse 6: “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders, and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” This isn’t just a message of promise and hope for the people of Zebulun and Naphtali, but for us as well. Our psalm today is considered a Trust Psalm. There are different types of psalms, like songs of thanksgiving, hymns of praise, prayers for help, and trust psalms. The Lutheran Study Bible says that the “trust psalms express faith and confidence in God amid great difficulties, threats, and dangers.” (Lutheran Study Bible, page 776) The psalm is a story of the psalmist expressing desires to God and knowing that God will deliver on the promises. So far we’ve had a message of hope and promise, and then a reminder to trust in God. I don’t know about you, but these are certainly messages I need to be reminded of on a daily basis. Today’s new testament reading was picked specifically to tie in with today’s RIC Sunday’s theme of “Celebrating Diversity as God’s Children.” Once a year we celebrate RIC Sunday to remind ourselves of the public promise and commitment we’ve made as a congregation through our public welcome statement. Just like God constantly reminds us of God’s love, we need to be constantly reminded of our commitment to our LGBTQIA+ siblings, our black and brown siblings, people of every age, marital status, neurodivergent status, political leanings, and people of all abilities. It can be easy to get into a routine and forget about the work we do as a congregation of being radically welcoming and inclusive. I remember back to our Diversity Sunday service when we received official recognition as an RIC congregation. It was so wonderful to see everyone celebrating what makes them unique as a diverse child of God. To be featured as the lead story on the 6 o’clock news and, based on the comments on Facebook, see people get riled up about our radical message of inclusive love. So, in case you haven’t heard it today or in a while, here is your reminder. You, yes you, are a vital part of God’s diversity - you are a beloved child of God - exactly as you are. You don’t need to change to receive God’s love - God loves you unconditionally. Through this love you will find yourself changing in ways that bring you closer to the fullness of God’s vision for us and the cosmos - the vision of radical and inclusive love. While we may feel lost in the world and not seen as important - remember that God sees us and we will see God’s glory revealed. When I read today’s Gospel, I started thinking about how this is the launching point of Jesus’ ministry. If the Gospel was a TV show like the shows that had theme songs and images that basically set the scene for the entire series - a quick montage of how it all began, I think this would be the imagery that would be used for the TV show of Jesus. Of course, the TV show “Jesus” would be the much more successful spin off of the prior series “John: Locust Eater”. There are two parts of today’s Gospel that I want to focus on. The first is the phrase “fishers of people”. A phrase that many of us are familiar with and have heard many times - but have you thought about what it really means? Putting a cookie at the end of a fishing line in hopes that someone will eat it and then you can reel them in? This may be an interesting way to try to bring people to the church, but probably not very effective. When Jesus called his disciples, they weren’t people out fishing as a hobby and catching a few fish for themselves or their family, no, they were in the business of fishing, bringing in large quantities of fish. To do this they used nets. When they used nets, they weren’t selective in what fish ended up in the net - no, it collected a wide range of fish. The Lutheran Study Bible shares this comment about this passage: “This odd metaphor plays on the notion of a net collecting different types of fish. These disciples will become founders of a church that ‘catches’ people of all sorts (that is, attracts people who are diverse with regard to nationality, ethnicity, and social class.)” (Lutheran Study Bible, p. 1526) Sound familiar? It should - it is very similar to our welcome statement about who we welcome, or hope to “catch” with our work as a congregation. We don’t want to selectively share the message of God’s love to only certain select people - no - we want to share that message with the world as we celebrate the diversity of God’s children. This is where the phrase “cast a wide net” comes from - the wider your net, the more fish, or people, you can “catch” or reach to share God’s message with. Speaking of sharing God’s message, the next part of the Gospel I want to look at is verse 23, where it states that “Jesus went throughout all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news.” The “good news” or looking at the Greek – “gospel”. So often we hear “preach the Gospel” or “share the Gospel”. After all we are part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America - Evangelical meaning to share the Gospel or the good news. I don’t know about you - but often when I think about sharing the gospel, I think about sharing the story OF Jesus - about his birth, death, and resurrection. However, here we have Jesus starting to proclaim the gospel, the good news. Now certainly Jesus made references to his birth, death, and eventual resurrection, but that wasn’t the core of his teachings. No, Jesus mainly preached the good news of God’s inclusive, radical, and counter-cultural love and belonging. That is the heart of the gospel, the message Jesus brought, not about Jesus himself. So, back to the world I described at the beginning. A world that sounds pretty bleak and depressing. A world that might be struggling and losing hope. A world with downtrodden that are struggling against the government, or as Pastor Megan referred to it last week, the empire. Is this world I describe the world of today? Is it the world at Jesus’ time? Yes. And just like back then, we too continue to need the message of Good News that Jesus brings. A message that runs against the norms, a message that brings a unique perspective to the world, a message that provides a promise - a message I know I’m longing to hear and need to hear these days - yes, Jesus’ message brings A New Hope. After events of the past week and yesterday, it can be hard to want to hear a message of hope. I know it isn’t easy preaching about hope and good news amidst what is going on in our world, in our country, in Minneapolis and Minnesota. So be assured, that while I’m preaching on the message of hope - that doesn’t mean that feelings of anger, fear, despair, and sadness aren’t valid - those are valid and know that God is with you in all your feelings. Also know that the message of hope is there as well - just as the message ran counter cultural during Jesus’ time - it does now as well. Back on Christ the King Sunday in November, the service spoke to me and I immediately knew I had to include part of it in my sermon today, as it summarized the message of Christ very well. This was the Sunday when we were taken on a tour of the church calendar, exploring each of the seasons of the church year. We are currently in the Time after Epiphany. Here is part of what was shared about Epiphany and the time after. In Epiphany, we look to that ancient star, and we see that the message of God’s love knows no bounds: it is a message for people of every color and every tongue, every race and every nation. In the time after Epiphany, we remember that because of Jesus, the divisions that you and I create in our lives will someday be erased by God, who comes to make us all one. Love has come to let us know that there is no such thing as a people from the east or west or north or south. There are only people of God, all created by God, all loved by God, all within the realm of God’s redemption through Jesus Christ. The light of the star brought the sages to Jesus, and Jesus is the light that brings God’s love to all - to the poor, the lame, the sick, the hurting, the sorrowful, the outcast, those rejected by the world - even to you, in your own joy and sadness, goodness and brokenness, hope and challenges. That is Epiphany. It is the fulfillment of God’s love-filled promise extended beyond all human boundaries. It is the light of God that breaks down walls and unites the human family. So, like Jesus, we are called to proclaim this Good News. Part of that Good News is that preaching the message from a pulpit isn’t the only way to share the Good News. Just as Pastor Megan has shared, and based on what the Bible says, we are all called in our own diverse ways, based on our own diverse skills, to share the Good News in wide diverse ways. Simply being an RIC congregation is a way we show God’s radical love - by emphatically stating that God’s love belongs to all, to everyone, especially those that society wants to call “other” or “less than”. You help proclaim the Gospel by simply being here - as part of a church that proudly proclaims to our queer siblings, our black and brown siblings, and anyone that society calls “others”, that God loves them and they are part of the beautiful diversity of God’s children. Some of the other ways we declare God’s love include filling the micro pantries every day - where people have access to what they need - with no questions asked, no tests to pass - just God’s love through food and personal care items. And it isn’t just the people who actually put the items in the pantries, but everyone who buys or donates the items, those who package oatmeal to be ready to go out, those who coordinate it all. Everyone who works with the young men in the parish house - you are proclaiming God’s good news through your actions. Donating items or money to support them, driving them to where they need to go, providing connections in the community so they can get jobs, praying for them - all are part of being a proclaimer of the good news. When society might want to call them less than or unwanted - we, at Faith, proudly say that they are welcome and are loved by God and are part of the wonderful diversity of God’s children. There are so many ways we all partake in proclaiming the gospel - whether you do it through music, through education, through a hug or a meal to someone who is struggling, through just checking in with people to see if they are OK. So while often, we hear of people doing more noticeable or newsworthy things like being part of a large protest in Minneapolis, skipping school or work, or being clergy that go and take action to bring awareness and end up getting arrested for civil disobedience; we have to remember that all ways that proclaim the radical message of God’s all inclusive love and redemption to all people, the message of A New Hope, are not only valid, but much needed in this world that is struggling. So while “we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed” (1 John 3:2) we strive to continue to live into the message of hope and promise. We work together, as God’s wonderfully diverse children, to proclaim the message that Christ shared, until we can all revel in the fullness of God’s love revealed to us. Until then, we work together, as fishers of people, to cast a very wide net to proclaim and live into God’s radical message of all-inclusive love and redemption for all people. We do all this through the freedom given to us by the death and resurrection of Jesus. Since God has declared that we are fully loved and included and nothing we can do can separate us from the love of God, we can boldly be proclaimers of Christ. We must always remember that when the Empire gets us down, we need to cling to the message of A New Hope, and even when the Empire strikes back because of our radical message of inclusion for the entirety of the diversity of God’s Children, that in the end, we can rely on The Return of the Jesus to carry us through. Amen. /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/39871455

Special Music - My Shepherd Will Supply My Need 01/18/2026

Special Music - Precious Jesus 01/18/2026

Sermon - 1/17/26 01/18/2026

Sermon - 1/17/26 Year A – Second Sunday after Epiphany– January 18, 2026 Pastor Megan Floyd Isaiah 49:1-7 John 1:29-42 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, whose light and love we follow. Amen. *** Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! Look here! Here is the Lamb of God! We hear this story now… today… in the season of Epiphany because Epiphany is a time to illuminate God’s revelation to us through Jesus. And God is being revealed to us… here… and now… as God was revealed to John the Baptist when he saw Jesus rise from the waters of baptism. John the Baptist, who heard the voice of God tell him to watch for the one on whom the Holy Spirit would descend as a dove… that he would be the one who baptizes with fire and the Holy Spirit… watch for this one… he is the Son of God. Behold… the Lamb of God who has come to lift away the barriers between you and God… Behold… the Lamb of God who has come to stand between you and evil… Behold… the Lamb of God who has come to liberate you from the sin of the world. Yes! Behold… Jesus has come to liberate the oppressed… to free them from the sin of the world that has held them in shackles… Behold… Jesus has come to liberate the hungry… to free them from the sin of systems that uphold inequality and imprison people in their poverty. Behold… Jesus has come to liberate those who are wounded and hurting… to free them from the violence that harms. Behold… Jesus has come to liberate us from our brokenness… to bring healing to our hearts and to our land… to rebuild the nations and bring peace. Behold! God is revealed to you… through this man, Jesus, who has come to liberate you from your sin and from the sin of the world… so come and see… follow him… and abide with him. How does it feel in your body… in your heart… to hear this call from John to behold Jesus… and to hear the call from Jesus to come and see… to follow… to abide with him? How must it have felt for those who were there… those being crushed by Empire… trapped in poverty… bound to systems of discrimination and oppression. To hear this good news as one who is being crushed… it’s a lifeline… a ray of hope and a cause for rejoicing! Yes, I do want to come and see… I do want to follow… and I do want to abide with Christ! And yet, when we look out at the world today… I sometimes wonder how much has really changed. Jesus calls us to join him in the mission and ministry of liberation, but …Lord, there is still so much suffering. It’s not lost on me that we hear this call to us… this call to join in the work of liberation… on the eve of Martin Luther King Day… a disciple of Jesus and a prophet who gave his life for the work of liberation. Like all prophets, Martin Luther King held up a mirror to his country… he showed us the sin of our society and challenged us to confess… to repent… to change our hearts and minds… and to rejoin Jesus in the work of liberation from the oppression of our sin. Martin Luther King held up that mirror… and he was killed for it. He was killed because facing our sin is painful… and liberating the oppressed means disrupting systems of wealth and power and privilege… it means disrupting systems of Empire. …and when you strike at the Empire, the Empire strikes back. Jesus calls us to come and see, but what we find might make us uncomfortable. And in the face of discomfort, far too many run and hide. In the face of discomfort, they turn away from the liberating message of Jesus… they focus solely on the individual salvation they hope to receive, and they challenge the prophets and preachers that hold up those mirrors. Unable to sit in the discomfort of the good news of the Gospel’s liberating message for the poor and oppressed, they turn away, and they cry out that politics has no place in the pulpit! …as if it were truly possible to separate Jesus’ call to welcome the stranger and love your neighbor… from the salvation that comes from abiding in and with Christ. You cannot… you cannot abide with Christ… while ignoring what he came to do, and how he calls to us to join him. Truly following and abiding with Jesus… true discipleship leads to liberation for ourselves and others… but it does not always lead to comfort and material blessings. It cannot… because truly following Jesus and abiding in him means standing with him in his mission and disrupting systems of sin. Behold! The Lamb of God who has come to take away the sin of the world! …but my friends, Jesus didn’t come to wave a magic wand. No, in fact… Jesus came preaching this good news and calling us to join him. Jesus came to invite us into God’s grand mission of love… for loving others is the only path toward liberation for us all from our sin. This is the path on which we follow Jesus. Dr. King preached this for us when he said… “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate… only love can do that.” To abide in Jesus… is to abide in love. Every generation has these crisis moments…moments when our sin against others… our sin against our neighbors… is illuminated to a point where it can no longer be ignored. These are moments when it becomes so blindingly clear that the harm being done to the least among us… the harm perpetuated against the very people Jesus called us to love and care for… is also causing incredible harm to our entire society. Our sin is harming everyone around… and it is this kind of sin of hatred and fear and abuse that holds us apart from God …apart from our Creator who loves us beyond measure. I do believe we are living in our crisis moment right now. Witnessing the terror and the atrocities being committed is enough to drive good people into despair. …but we must not despair. We must not despair because God is still being revealed to us through Jesus, and Jesus is still calling us to abide in his love… to disrupt systems that perpetuate sin and to show up for those in need wherever we can, and however we can. Showing up… won’t look the same for everyone… and that is good and right, because God calls us all, across the full diversity of Creation… to show love in as many different ways as there are people. And Jesus does not call us for our sake alone… Jesus calls us to abide in his love for the sake of others… and ultimately for the sake of creation. If we focus only on ourselves, we miss the point. Through the prophet Isaiah, God says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” God’s liberation… is like ripples of water on a pond… expanding outward beyond ourselves… reaching to the ends of the earth. And God is faithful and true and will not abandon Jesus’ mission of abiding love. So behold, the Lamb of God, who comes to take away the sin of the world… to lift away the barrier that keeps us apart from God, and invites us into abiding love. But also… hear this now… this is important… your salvation does not depend on you getting this right. We will all mess it up… none of us are perfect, and God knows it. However, you are already claimed, redeemed, and beloved by Christ, in all the messy ways we do life. Jesus knows you fully… knows all of your joys and sorrows… all of your virtues and your flaws… and loves you as you are… and still calls you… as you are to join him in his mission of love and liberation. However, faith and discipleship are not meant to be passive… because the joy of this life of discipleship is found in seeing how the way of Christ brings light to the world and heals others through love. The way of Christ has the power to transform the darkest corners and flood them with light and love… so we cannot keep this way of Christ to ourselves. This is the good news… it must be shared, especially… in times of such darkness. We need Christ’s light for the sake of the world. We need disciples who respond to hate and fear by drawing on the strength and love of Christ, and flood the darkness with light and love. That is the only way forward for us. This is the way of Jesus. We don’t join with Christ to earn our salvation or become worthy of God’s love… but we answer Jesus’ call to abide with him… because we are already loved. And because we are already loved, we can look upon our neighbor with love… and we can see clearly that our liberation is bound up with theirs… and only together can we work to break the chains that bind, and set the captives free. Jesus, the Lamb of God, calls us in love to come and see… come and see this work of liberation… come and see how our lives are connected to all others… come and see… and follow… and then abide with him in his love… for the sake of the whole world. Amen. /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/39770270

Special Music - Make Me A Servant 01/11/2026

Sermon - 1/11/26 01/11/2026

Sermon - 1/11/26 Year A – Baptism of our Lord – January 11, 2026 Pastor Megan Floyd Matthew 3:13-17 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, the beloved, whose light and love we follow. Amen. *** I knew this boy many years ago… he was kind of a goofball, and no one took him very seriously. He struggled in school, and he blamed his low grades on not being very smart. I don’t think his family, his teachers, or even he himself… expected much from his life. He was entering his teenage years when I first met him, and he was already getting into trouble… apparently, no one was surprised. His family had a lot going on… health problems, which caused money problems, and so it goes on down the line. There was a lot of instability… and I think this boy was just falling through the cracks. He was living into the story he was told about himself… that he was a screw-up and not much more… so why expect more? We have several educators in this congregation, and so I suspect that many of you are familiar with both the Pygmalion and the Golem Effects. These opposite effects describe how either positive or negative expectations and words affect our self-image… our confidence… and the standards we hold ourselves to. As much as we would like to believe we build our self-image independently, the truth is… how we see ourselves is a story that is written in collaboration with others. That’s just human… And so, I think it matters greatly that Jesus begins his ministry on earth with an act of solidarity with humanity… by entering into our human need for repentance and renewal by entering into John’s baptism… and that we then hear God’s voice from the heavens… “This is my son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” He is called… the beloved. That’s a powerful word. Jesus came alongside us… alongside humanity… in his choice to share in our baptism. I think we all agree that, as the son of God… Word of God incarnate… he didn’t need to experience a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of personal sins. And yet, Jesus insists… he must do this… this was not an action he needed for his own forgiveness, but rather, to be in solidarity with us, who do need it. And to acknowledge that our sins are not only personal, but also communal. John the Baptist was calling Israel to repentance… to repent of the sins of the community… that we are all, either directly or indirectly, complicit. Jesus entered the waters of baptism to be what he is… God with us… and to show us that, motivated by grace and mercy, God chooses us. And so, we also enter the waters of baptism to receive this beautiful gift of renewal and adoption into God’s family… a gift freely given by God. This is a gift given without qualifications, conditions, or demands… It’s not a reward for our actions… it is not given because we are good… but it is given only because God is good. And it is a gift given in love… because God is love. We are always on the receiving end of God’s mercy and promise… and that through water and the words of God’s promise… we, too, are called beloved… and we, too, are claimed as God’s children. Through the water and God’s holy words of our baptism, we enter into life with Christ… and in Christ… we are made new through grace. Jesus is a teacher who leads by example… Jesus shows us the way of love, humility, and solidarity… and then invites us to accompany him on that way. People become… we become… what we are called. God called us into existence with God’s words… God spoke and breathed life… and so we became living, breathing humans… And now… through water… and God’s word… we are washed clean, and claimed as children of the most high… and we are called… beloved. God calls you… beloved… so you are… beloved. This is an important and beautiful description of who you are… it’s why I remind you every week… to become aware of God’s gaze of love upon you. And yet, even as we know this word… defines us… we understand that it also invites us to live up to… and live into our belovedness. It sets love as the standard by which we live. We know that being claimed and loved by God, and holding that in the forefront of our minds… always… helps us to live, and act, and love our neighbors in a way that is befitting of one who is themselves… beloved. The words of God’s promise… the words of God’s love… go to work on us… these words and this promise give us the strength and courage to confess and repent of that which holds us apart from God… they help us to change our hearts and minds daily and to turn back toward Jesus… and toward love. Jesus’ powerful act of solidarity with us… his choice to enter into our baptism as one of us… calls us to live as beloved members of the full body of Christ… and it means we can rise to the expectations of one who lives their life for Christ… and in Christ. To live into our belovedness means that each day, we work to live lives, not of presumption or arrogance, but of humility… and solidarity… and companionship… lives of unassuming generosity, not looking down on others, but seeing them as Jesus would see them… as siblings in Christ… who are also beloved. That boy I knew all those years ago… I was fortunate to watch him connect with an incredible mentor who refused to let the story he had heard before be the only story that boy ever heard. This mentor made certain that a better, more positive, and loving story became louder than the old one, and I saw this boy start to believe in himself. I saw him start living like one who was loved… like one who belonged, who was valuable, and who was worthy of love… and I saw how it shaped his interactions with others. I saw his kindness and humor shine through, his patience while helping others, and his compassion for those who were suffering. His life was reset and renewed… he was reminded that he was a child of God… and that he was beloved. God calls us all beloved… and so… we become beloved. It’s a powerful word. My hope and prayer for you today is that you remember your baptism… as often as you can… remember the words of love and promise that God spoke to you… The promise that you are a beloved child of God. And if you aren’t baptized, then know that God’s invitation is always open… God’s arms are always open wide, longing to receive you in love. Because our baptism… is not a transaction with God… it is an acknowledgment of what God is already doing in and through you. Remember that through the water and word of God’s promise, you are part of the full body of Christ, and that you will never look upon another whom God does not love. Remember that you are so loved… and let that go to work in you this day and all days… let it be what you live into each day, for yourself and those around you. Author Maria Popova wrote, “…love… is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other’s light. Gentle work. Steadfast work. Life-saving work in those moments when life and shame and sorrow occlude our own light from our view, but there is still a clear-eyed loving person to beam it back. In our best moments, we are that person for another.” Remember that you washed clean in the waters of baptism, and that you are beloved… and that to be one who is beloved… means to reflect love into the world. So let it be that we all might shine with this love. Amen. _______________________ Maria Popova, The Marginalian, /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/39685780

Special Music - Still, Still, Still 01/04/2026

Sermon - 1/4/26 01/04/2026

Sermon - 1/4/26 Year A – Epiphany – January 4, 2026 Pastor Megan Floyd Isaiah 60:1-6 Matthew 2:1-12 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, our savior, whose light and love we follow. Amen. *** The crazy beautiful thing about light… is that it shines on all it touches, without judgment or discrimination, and it can also be reflected to shine into places that would otherwise remain in darkness. There was a movie I saw many years ago… with a scene in a dark cave. There was a hole in the cave's roof where a bit of sunlight shone through… and by adjusting a few mirrors, they were able to illuminate the whole room. I thought that was a cool effect… even though I later learned that the abundance of light they were able to produce was not entirely logically possible. It still felt pretty magical. But then, more recently, I learned about a real-life Norwegian town called Rjukan (Roo-Khan), situated in a mountain valley that runs east to west. From about September to March, the sun doesn’t rise high enough over the northern mountain range to shine on the town, and so for six months, the town is in shadow. About 100 years ago, when the town was founded, they dreamt about putting large mirrors on the southern mountain peak to reflect and shine the sun’s rays down into the valley and onto the town below… but they didn’t have the technology to pull it off. But then… 100 years later, in 2013… they built those mirrors! They have three large mirrors that follow the sun all day, powered by… solar energy. They illuminate and warm the town square in a bright pool of light that’s about 80-90% as strong as direct sunlight. There were lots of people who were skeptical about these mirrors, but they have changed the town… warming the people along with the town’s square… and bringing cheer back to their community during the dark winter days. It is amazing what light can do… even when it is only a reflection of the original source of that light. And today… as we celebrate Epiphany… we celebrate the light and love of Christ! Epiphany… is a celebration of illumination. It’s a celebration of a holy light that guides us… a light that puts us on the path toward knowing our Savior… and invites us into the greatest story of love… that world has ever known. And on this celebratory day, we hear again… the story of the Magi… those exotic astrologers from the east who saw the great light rising over Bethlehem, and were so moved by its appearance, they set out on a long journey to find the source. We cannot see, today, the star that they followed… but the light from that holy star is reflected forward in time for us by their courage and curiosity… these magi have sent that brilliant light forward to us so that we, too, might be guided by its light as we seek our savior. Epiphany is also a celebration of illumination through reflection… for though we are not the original source of light and love, we know that by reflecting that light into the world around us, God’s holy light continues to shine and sustain the spirits of our neighbors. We know… that the light of Christ guides us in our living and our loving, and draws us close to our Creator, the source of all love. And yet… we might wonder… how do we know we are on the right path? How do we know that the light we follow is the true light of Christ… and not the false glow of a tyrant king? After all… the Magi, who were considered wise… followed the star that rose over Bethlehem, but instead of making their journey directly there, they stopped in Jerusalem… that is where they assumed the king would be found. But instead of a savior, they found a tyrannical strongman who grasped at power that was not his for the taking… they found a selfish ruler who was more concerned with surrounding himself with gold and splendor than with caring for his people’s needs. These Magi… were drawn in by what felt like strength, but what they found was an insecure and irrational leader that could be won over with bribes, and whose rantings would be comical if it weren’t for his tendency to indiscriminately destroy those who stood in his way… They found a man who used flimsy excuses to capture and murder innocent people and caused those under his rule to live in terror, or to have to flee for fear of persecution or worse. You know the man… I’m talking, of course… about Herod. Herod consulted the scribes and learned the place where the Messiah was to be born, and sent the Magi there, to Bethlehem… he thought they could be used in his scheme to destroy the competition… But when the Magi found the child Jesus, they were overwhelmed with joy… basking in the true light of God, they knew… they knew that the light of the star had guided them true, and they were, indeed, in the presence of the only true King… they were in the presence of a savior. And so, still guided by God’s Holy Spirit, they went home… by another road. How do we know we are on the right path… and that the light we follow is the true light of Christ… and not the false glow of a tyrant? How do we know that our good intentions aren’t being used by the selfish whims of those guided by evil? How do we know that the light we choose to reflect out into the world around us… is the light and love of our Savior? It’s an important question to ask… as there are plenty of false lights in the world that clamor to hold our attention and our loyalty, and many that do so with alarming success. How do we know? …Well, we know the light we seek, and the light we reflect, is from Christ… when we see how much love it shines onto our neighbors. We know that the light we are following is the true light of Christ… when we observe how it shines onto those who are hurting… those who are suffering… those who have been pushed aside… When we reflect the light of Christ onto those from whom others would turn away, and we see how that light warms them… warms them like the sunlit town center in Rjukan (Roo-Khan)… and we see how it cares for their humanity and restores their dignity… When we reflect that light onto our neighbors, both the ones we like… and the ones we don’t… and we watch how that light draws us together as community… and how it heals… then we know that we are reflecting the true light of Christ. The false glow of tyrants like Herod will always draw people to their corrupt light… some are drawn because they prefer the darkness to cover their sin… and some are drawn in through misunderstanding, or false promises. But we know that light is not from Christ because the reflections of it cause so much pain and heartache… and celebrate selfish ambition and greed, with no consideration for those in need, or for the connections of community. But the true and pure light of Christ… brings joy… and love… and compassion… connection… and empathy… the true light of Christ brings healing to a hurting world… and oh… how much our world is hurting… and how much pain has been caused by our societal and systemic sins. So, in this season of Epiphany… when we celebrate Christ’s light and how we reflect that light as best we can into our world, let us also be as wise as the Magi in discerning between a false, dim, imitation… and the true, bright glory of our God. And know that your discernment doesn’t happen alone… for joyfully bearing Christ’s light is the work of community, with Jesus himself as our guide. But still, these are challenging times… so now more than ever, we turn to our Savior to guide us… Let us pray… Lord, have mercy on us… how we need your light. Even if we are mere reflections of your pure, true light… we know that your light has the power to warm us… and to draw all people to your healing arms. Heal us, Lord, and help us to lift up our eyes so we might behold your glory! Help us to lift up our eyes, so that we might see you… in our neighbor… and that our neighbor might see you… in us… and that, together, we understand that we are divinely connected to each other through your love, regardless of race, nationality, or creed. Guide us always, O Lord, to your light. Amen. /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/39605395

Sermon - 12-24-25 12/25/2025

Sermon - 12-24-25 Year A – Christmas Eve – December 24, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd Luke 2:1-20 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, our savior, who is born this day for us… who is God with us. Amen. *** Merry Christmas, friends… this is truly a night for wonder. Christ is born this day for you… for us! …What an incredible proclamation! Our Creator God has come to dwell with us… to share joy and laughter with us… and… to suffer and cry out in pain… with us… and for us. Through the newborn Jesus, God has revealed God-self to us … arriving in the form of pure love… for only true and perfect love is as vulnerable as a newborn child. To you… is born this day… a Savior… born into a world full of pain and sorrow… of war and greed and corruption… born into a world that is weeping… a world that is being crushed by Empire. To you… is born this day… a Savior. Amazing! It is no wonder… that Mary pondered all these things in her heart. Stories of babies always bring me around to remembering my own children when they were young… young enough for me to hold in my arms. And I think about those times when they were sick… when they were crying out in need… as parents, if we could have… we would have taken on their sickness just to ease their pain. Even when they were bigger… too big to carry… as parents, the most natural reaction to your child’s sorrow is to draw close to them… wrap your arms around them… and remind them that they do not face their troubles alone. We draw close to our children when they are suffering, and we share the burden of their pain… and on this night… on Christmas night… God, our holy parent… does just that. Our God, who loves us beyond measure, cannot bear our sorrow from afar, and so our holy parent draws close… and takes on the pain and brokenness of the world… by being born among us… as a child… arriving to humble humans, surrounded by animals… and placed in a manger, for there was no bed. To you… is born this day a Savior… It’s a birth story so humble and ordinary; it takes your breath away. …So ordinary… that we may overlook the incredible circumstances that brought Mary and Joseph so far from their home in Nazareth, so near to the time of her baby’s arrival… It was the audacity of Empire, seeking to control the whole world… compelling all people to be registered for the purpose of exploitation… that’s what brought them to that stable… to that manger, in the city of Bethlehem… the city of David. But what Empire forced for the purpose of control… God chose to use for the purpose of salvation. Control and conquest forced them into such a precarious situation… but from amid that brokenness, and from under the pressure of oppression, rises the green shoot from the stump of Jesse… …as the prophet Isaiah foretold, the savior would come from the royal line of Jesse, father of King David, whose lineage seemed to be cut off like a dead stump after the downfall of Israel… This impossible new life shines a great light in the darkness… bringing love so powerful that it can overcome cruelty… offering hope so secure that it drives out despair… and breaking the chains of oppression for the sake of justice and mercy. This is the power and promise of God, who comes to turn the world upside down, by drawing close to us… by arriving among us… God arrives, not amid wealth and power… not with military might or gold and grandeur… but in complete vulnerability, to those who are poor and lowly. Christ arrives on the margins… to those who are considered disposable… this is where our God… Word of the Father… is born. …this is where Christ is found… Christ arrives, always, where good news is most needed. It is… almost too wonderful to behold. And then, as if daring our God to be even more subversive to earthly powers… the angel of the Lord announces the arrival of our Savior… to shepherds, tending their flocks by night. It was to those who were even further in the margins of society… literally on the outskirts of the community… to them, the angel appears to proclaim the good news of great JOY… And those shepherds went to see the child, and saw that it was as the angel had told… and once they saw the promise of Love incarnate… they went on their way, glorifying and praising God… They proclaimed the good news for all to hear! TO YOU is born this day in the city of David… a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. God has heard your cry… God feels your sorrow and longs to take your pain… and so in pure Love, your holy parent has drawn close to you to bring comfort… and peace. O Holy Night! …indeed… except Christ’s arrival is so much more than one holy night… it is so much more than that first, humble Christmas… all those years ago. The arrival of Jesus Christ …the incarnation of our God… is not a one-time event… it is… eternal. Christ is arriving… every day… to the poor… the needy… the lonely… Christ is born every day for those who are marginalized and oppressed… to those for whom justice has been too long delayed and denied. Our world is still broken… and so our God is still arriving… still coming among us… choosing to show up for us and walk alongside us, ever faithful to the promise of Emmanuel that began on that first Christmas… God with us. To YOU… to US… a child is born, who is Christ the Lord… ever inviting us to take notice of those in need as if they were Christ himself… to embrace empathy, and act with compassion and love for our neighbor. Because Jesus Christ is born this day! …and therefore, we are born into the holy truth that God’s love and grace and mercy are so much greater and deeper than we can ever understand. To us, a child is born… humble and lowly… so that we might understand that power is made perfect in weakness, and love is the greatest force of all. Jesus Christ has brought salvation to the world, but we still live amid brokenness… we live in the truth that the healing of the world… will not be achieved in a swift, dramatic movement. And so, the coming of our Lord teaches us… that Christ is born wherever love is shown and wherever light shines… Christ is born in humble acts of kindness… and born when we choose to live with integrity and seek justice and mercy. Christ is born when we honor and value those who are in the margins, and when we seek to heal the sin that pushed them there. Christ is born when we draw from the strength of God’s love, and seek to heal our world. And so to us, a child is born, who is Christ our savior… inviting us to share the good news… and to keep the wonder that is the miracle of Christmas… that Christ is born in love… this day, and every day. Amen. /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/39532310

Special Music - He Shall Be Called 12/25/2025

Special Music - Gentle Mary, Tender Mary 12/25/2025

Special Music - Some Children See Him 12/25/2025

Special Music - Waiting For Bethlehem's Light 12/21/2025

Sermon - 12/21/25 12/21/2025

Sermon - 12/21/25 Year A – Advent 4 – December 21, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd Matthew 1:18-25 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, our savior, who is God with us. Amen. *** There is this beautiful portrait of the Holy Family by Matt Chinworth… it’s called Newborn King. I saw it for the first time a few years ago… and it was so different and gorgeous, it took my breath away. Instead of the typical depiction of Mary and Joseph looking clean and serene, both gazing down at the child Jesus between them… this one is more real. In Chinworth’s Newborn King, Mary is exhausted… and resting in the background… She is not the main subject of the image. This portrait… is of Joseph… calm and steady, gently holding the newborn Jesus… and loving him, the miracle that he is. In his face, you can see amazement and awe… …It is the look you have when you are overcome with love. Joseph’s quiet devotion… and his attentiveness… is such a pure expression of love… love for a child that he had chosen to accept as his own. And yes, it was a choice… a very difficult and complicated choice… for this righteous man. If he had called attention to Mary’s pregnancy, she could have been stoned to death… that is, after all, what the law prescribed. And if he dismissed her quietly, she could have been shunned and left to beg – or worse – just for her and her child to survive. And yet, even the choice to marry her is not without complication, for in doing so, his reputation could be marked by scandal. Her child would become his heir, and he would relinquish his lineage to a child who is not his blood. So, he decides the most righteous thing to do is to dismiss her quietly, but then God shows up… and turns his life upside down. The angel of the Lord appears to him and says… Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife… you have a role to play in God’s plan, so have courage and trust in God’s word. What is a righteous, God-fearing man to do? Given the circumstances, I think his trust and faithfulness to God are remarkable… he is the model of quiet obedience and commitment. And yet, it must have been terrifying, despite the angel’s opening instruction not to be afraid. Being a new parent is scary enough… but to take on the parentage and protection of God’s divine presence in human form… well, I expect that adds to the pressure. But Joseph is steady, and he obeys God’s command, even though he only knows the next step… and not where it will all eventually lead. He trusts God. It’s easy to trust the process when you know the end of the story… but Joseph… kind, supportive… righteous Joseph… is a model of courage and strength in the face of the unknown… in the face of the preposterous. But Joseph, this compassionate, earthly father of Jesus… only gets a few mentions in our Bible, and he never speaks a single word. He is there with Mary at the birth of Jesus, and later, under Herod’s threat of violence, he takes his family, and they flee to Egypt as refugees… ever the protector. His last appearance is in the background when Jesus is 12 years old and has wandered away from his family, only to be found teaching in the temple. That’s all we ever hear about Joseph… but it is enough to know his character, and to honor him for his steadfast and faithful support of his wife, Mary, silently supporting her in following God’s call on her life to bear the child of God. And in that moment… in a dream… in humble obedience, he chooses to trust in God’s word and call for his own life… to stay with Mary… to claim and name the child Jesus, meaning, God saves. He chooses to claim the child as his own, adopting him into his family lineage and thereby fulfilling what was foretold. The Salt Project commentary said this: “The angel calls Joseph to a love that doubles as a kind of courage. Courage to commit – though the neighbors may whisper and judge. Courage to nurture – though the child you raise is from the Holy Spirit. And courage to love – though the child you love is none other than Love personified, none other than ‘The God Who Saves is With Us.’ We often think of Christmas as a time to celebrate Love becoming incarnate in Jesus. But the season is also a time to celebrate how love becomes incarnate in Joseph, acting with compassion, courage, and grace. And what is the source, the wellspring of such courage, in Joseph… or in us, today? …It’s none other than God’s love… the love made flesh, the love that came to dwell with us, and save us… and love us back to life.” This righteous man from the line of David trusted in the whispers of God’s holy word and allowed those words to alter the course of his life… to take on the holy and challenging task of being a father to Jesus… a choice that continues to shape our lives today… through a love that endures forever. Joseph’s trust in God inspires us to trust in God… he teaches us to listen to the whispers of Love in our lives, calling us to seek the good and to allow our lives to follow paths of righteousness… Meaning… allowing our lives to follow along paths that lead to being in “right-relationship” with God and with all of Creation, paths walked in humility and marked by God’s justice and mercy… that is righteousness. And Joseph chose to adopt Jesus as his own… to embrace him as his own child, doing for the Christ child what God had first done for us, indeed, for the whole world… embracing us… and claiming us all as God’s beloved children. This is the holy family to which we belong… a family bonded by God’s love and trust… the kind of love that casts out hate and fear. This is the love we, who are followers of Christ, have the joy to share, even though we do so imperfectly… when we get it right, this love changes the world around us. So, hear now the angel’s words for yourself… Do not be afraid, for you are children of the most holy, and the God who saves is with us, now and always. So have courage, like Joseph, to love others as Christ loves you. Amen. ____________________________ View Matt Chinworth’s work, Newborn King, here: Commentary citation from the Salt Project Blog: /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/39485045

Your Faith Journey

TOPICS