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.

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

Special Music - Carols Around (And a Round) 12/07/2025

Sermon - 12/7/25 12/07/2025

Sermon - 12/7/25 Year A – Advent 2 – December 7, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd Matthew 3:1-12 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who invites us into repentance, so that our lives may bear good fruit. Amen. *** You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? That’s such a great line… it’s one of my favorite lines… you brood of vipers. John doesn’t really mince words, does he? But I get where he’s coming from – he’s calling out the hypocrisy of the religious leaders who are just showing up to cover their bases. You see, John the Baptist, who proclaimed in the wilderness that the Messiah was coming and that God’s glory would be revealed… he was very much like the prophet Elijah… with his camel-hair clothing and leather belt… and his diet of locusts and honey. …a bit eccentric, if you will, but very popular! Isaiah’s vision was that a voice in the wilderness would proclaim the coming Messiah, and John shows up on the scene like a new Elijah! …and the people are coming from all around to hear him preach. So, I can’t blame the religious leaders for being curious… they know their scripture, so it is possible this guy might be the real deal… and if he is, they’d want to be sure they kept their place of privilege among the religious elite. And yet… John calls them out. You brood of vipers… who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Judgement is coming… you think you can avoid it by going through the motions of baptism, even though you remain unwilling to live lives that reflect God’s love? To our ears… we hear the words judgment and wrath and fire… and it conjures up images of Hell… at least, Hell according to Dante’s Inferno. I won’t go off on this tangent now, but most of our ideas of Hell come from Dante, and not from the Bible. And yet, there are so many in our modern day who, like the Pharisees and Sadducees… they cling to ideas of wrath and judgment as some kind of cosmic punishment for not going through the motions… for not checking the boxes for all to see. …wrath and judgment that will come to others, of course… certainly not them. I’m thinking of those who claim the name Christian in one breath… and then with their next breath… turn away the stranger, the refugee, and the immigrant… how easily they forget that our Lord and Savior was himself, a stranger and a refugee, and we are commanded by God to welcome them as one of our own. And those who sing about God’s love for them in one breath… and then turn around and spew hate and spread violence against those whose love they disapprove of… how easily they forget that God shows up, again and again, on the side of love. Or those who feel so satisfied in their eternal future because they have stated publicly that Jesus Christ is their personal Lord and Savior, but have never considered that becoming a follower of Jesus means actually following the actions of Jesus… namely feeding the poor, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and causing a right scene by turning over the tables of greed and injustice… How easily people claim a personal and individual salvation… while forgetting that Jesus came to save the entire world… forgetting that a true life of faith can only be lived in community with others, working to make sure everyone is provided for… that no one is forgotten… So yeah… John the Baptist… doesn’t have much patience for hypocrisy… and truth be told… neither do I. …and I doubt you do either. But there’s a lot of it in our world today. And yet… here’s the thing… John is harsh… but he’s still offering them… the brood of vipers… he’s still offering them good news. …Therefore, bear fruit worthy of repentance… John says… don’t rest on your heritage and your position… What God wants from you is for your life to bear good fruit. He’s not turning them away… he’s inviting them in… his words are harsh, but he presumes that they, and we, have the capacity to rise up and meet the challenge… to bear the good fruit that God created us to bear. It’s not about going through the motions so others can see how holy you are… it’s about what’s in your heart. Do you truly want to be a follower of Jesus Christ? When you come to the waters of baptism, are you ready to die every day to your sin, and to rise every day, washed clean and ready to live according to God’s will? When you come to the waters of baptism… are you willing to confess the times you have fallen short of God’s will… to release your sins and repent… and receive God’s forgiveness so that you can start again? When you come to the waters of baptism… are you willing to let your life be shaped by Christ? Jesus longs for you to say yes… yes to all of it… so that you might be part of the joy that is living in the light and love of Christ. John invites his followers to be baptized with water… just as we still do today… A tangible sign of being washed clean and renewed… paired with the eternal promise of Christ’s forgiveness and faithfulness. The action of baptism is only needed once, but the remembrance of baptism is a daily practice… a daily practice of confession and repentance… a practice that re-aligns our lives back to God and Christ Jesus. Repentance means to literally change your mind… your heart… your direction. John, in the wilderness, says he baptizes with water for repentance, but the one coming after him will baptize with the Holy Spirit… and with fire. “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor …he will gather his wheat into the granary, and the chaff he will burn with… unquenchable fire.” To quote Deb… Daaaannnng. There’s that fire again… judgment and unquenchable fire… mixed with images from Dante. It’s terrifying… but let me swap out those images from Dante… for something different. So, my friend Paul is retired, and his passion is working with conservation efforts and protecting the environment. One of the things he does… is he helps with controlled burns. Controlled burns are fires that are intentionally set and managed, and they actually improve ecosystem health by reducing the amount of hazardous fuels like dead and dried undergrowth, which reduces the risk of extreme fires. They also restore habitats, control invasive species, and promote native plant growth by mimicking the natural fire cycle. We think of forest and prairie fires as bad things… but they are actually necessary for clearing away the stuff that accumulates and harms the ecosystem… they are necessary for clearing away the chaff… if you will. When we hear John the Baptist preaching of the coming judgment that will separate the wheat from the chaff… and that the fate of the chaff is to burn in an unquenchable fire… We are inclined to think that the wheat are those people who are right with Jesus… and the chaff are those who aren’t… those who are going to Dante’s hell. Except… We might forget that wheat and chaff are all part of the same plant. (x2) The Salt Project commentary states, “What the wind and fire remove are the husks that get in the way: the anxieties, self-absorption, apathy, or greed that make us less generous, less just, or less respectful of others. There is a line between good and evil, but it doesn’t run between groups; it runs through the heart of each person. What each of us requires is restoration, liberation from whatever “husks” are holding us back.” So yes, indeed, through Jesus, we are baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire… not a fire that destroys, though, but a fire that purifies… that cleanses us of our junk… a fire that restores us to good health… This is not a fire that we should fear… this fire is a gift… a gift that we receive when we open our hearts to confession and repentance for our sins. When we step into the fire of the Holy Spirit, it cleanses our hearts, washes us clean… and makes us new… it makes us capable of producing good fruit! John’s invitation to fully and truly receive the gift of repentance is the key to his challenge that our lives bear good fruit. …and this invitation is open to all. And Christ longs for all people to accept. John’s language and mannerisms are harsh… but his message is sound. Repent! For the kingdom of heaven has come near! Christ has come near! Repent… and allow the fire of the Spirit to cleanse your heart. Take comfort in the promise that the winnowing fork is in Christ’s hand… Christ, who is full of mercy and grace… and with wind and fire, Christ will not destroy… but refine… restore… and empower you as a child of God, to bear fruit worthy of repentance. Amen. /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/39311305

Special Music - Sing of the Lord’s Goodness 11/15/2025

Sermon - 11/16/25 11/15/2025

Sermon - 11/16/25 Sermon 11-16-25, Lk 21:5-19 Pastor Megan asked me to lead worship and preach this Sunday while she’s attending the youth gathering, I checked my schedule and agreed. Later when I read the text I thought “ugh… I don’t like this one” It’s hard to preach on something I don’t particularly like And maybe that’s actually the key to today’s Gospel message Similar to the disciples, We don’t like what Jesus has to say sometimes / / / I love the Gospel of Luke and his focus on social justice And when I zoomed out of this particular passage to what’s happening in Luke’s narrative, it clicked for me So let’s zoom out together / / / Jesus has been sitting in, teaching and preaching in, the temple since the end of chapter 19 when he entered the temple, caused a scene and said “My house shall be a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers”… This disruption inspired the leaders to continue to look for a way to kill Jesus And he remains within the temple through the rest of chapter 21 until chapter 22 when the Passover begins, starting his journey to the cross We’re in the midst of Jesus’ speed round to get his point across before he’s gone And he’s intense about it Jesus’ focus in the temple is one of redirection Stones and destruction aren’t unique to his warning today Back in 20:17 He said “the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone… everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces” The religious leaders’ desire to kill Jesus fueled their questioning of him They kept challenging Jesus, trying to trip him up on technicalities about taxes and marriage Jesus continued to warn and redirect the people Toward issues he saw as more important Beware of the scribes who dress all fancy and look powerful Look at this poor widow giving all she has to this oppressive system But the disciples get uncomfortable and attempt a redirection of their own They say – oh, but look how pretty and incredible and awesome this temple is! Let’s take a break from all of these hard conversations and admire the centerpiece of our community and place that honors the one true God Surely Jesus will agree with us on this topic! Jesus doesn’t falter -- and says: well, guess what, it will be destroyed! so let’s focus on something lasting / / / Jesus’ message reminds me of the Buddhist teaching of impermanence, and releasing attachment The Buddhist teacher, Ajahn Chah, said: “You see this goblet? For me this glass is already broken. I enjoy it. I drink out of it. It holds my water admirably, sometimes even reflecting the sun in beautiful patterns. If I should tap it, it has a lovely ring to it. But when I put this glass on a shelf and the wind knocks it over, or my elbow brushes it off the table and it falls to the ground and shatters, I say, ‘Of course.’ When I understand that this glass is already broken, every moment with it is precious. Every moment is just as it is, and nothing need be otherwise.” The glass is all ready broken The temple is all ready destroyed / / / But the disciples are alarmed and want to be prepared for this horrible destruction They cling to the temple and the comfort and security it offers So they ask, how will they know it’s coming?! What can they do?! And Jesus doesn’t answer them directly, as he never does But he instructs them to: “Beware” “Do not be led astray” “Do not be terrified” and leaves them with “By your endurance you will gain your souls” / / / The Jesus we see in Luke is not cozy or comforting He’s on a mission He’s provocative in the way he is trying to make us see the ugliness of the world and human nature He’s frustrating in the way he keeps pointing out the things we’d rather look away from Like the impermanence of the solid places where we rest our assurance - like these stone buildings Like the uncertainty of societal structures of power and wealth that we benefit from Like the particularities of taxes and marriage that distract us from the real focus of loving God and loving our neighbor Like the cruel and violent actions of powerful leaders masked by the fancy veneer of wealth and beauty Like the oppressive systems that benefit from the poverty of others / / / The disciples want to escape this doom and gloom Don’t we? They attempt a distraction, admiring the awesomeness of this enormous and gorgeous temple that is dedicated to God At least we have this common ground, right? But Jesus won’t give them a break He’s on a mission – then -- and now To challenge our view of the world and guide us toward seeing clearly Whatever you see will be destroyed The glass is all ready broken / / / I wonder about the metaphorical “temples” of beauty and distraction today? What are our “temples” of escape? What are the places in which we find reassurance that will eventually crumble? What are the “temples” to which we’re attached that are actually impermanent? / / / I’m sure we could compile a long list… I think of the saying “my body is my temple” How preoccupation with a body too large or too small distracts from loving that body as a gift from God And adorning that body – with clothes, jewelry, tattoos, -- can be consuming of our precious time, energy and resources I think of the ways we resist acknowledging and embracing our aging bodies / / / I think of our places… Our homes and even this sanctuary and the amount of energy we expend maintaining and improving our spaces / / / I think of the “temples” within our minds… The striving and achieving parts The protective and defensive parts That prevent us from resting and loving our whole selves And render us unable to fully love and be loved by others / / / This is hard. . . We could go on, but that’s not really Jesus’ point, is it? It’s not Jesus’ point to identify our faults and distractions No, we do that well enough ourselves The disciples did that themselves Jesus’ point is to redirect us toward God and what is everlasting Jesus’ point is to remind us of what we can really cling to / / / Jesus’ message is “Beware” “Do not be led astray” “Do not be terrified” Jesus calls us to focus on what’s real and true / / / He says these messages today in the negative sense But within these warnings I also hear: “I am the truth” “The truth will set you free” “Come, follow me” “Set down your burdens, I will give you rest” “My yoke is easy, my burden is light” These messages of Jesus’ love and healing and safety are directly connected to the warnings we hear today It’s all the same message / / / All that you see All that you count on All that you take comfort in Is destroyed The glass is all ready broken But what remains? When the literal and metaphorical temples crumble When the glass is broken What is left? Where is the good news? / / / It comes only from remembering the truth that we worship a crucified God who loves and knows us completely and continues to remain with us in the midst of destruction and even death. God’s love is permanent God’s redemption is permanent / / / We have a big task in supporting one another in remembering this And in being witnesses to this truth in this world / / / Restoration comes after destruction This is a truth we so desperately need to cling to Remembering that new life will come after death Knowing that God is bigger than all of it This promise isn’t just enough It’s the main thing God is always making us new! / / / By our endurance we will gain our souls. Amen. /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/39044235

Special Music – Down To The River To Pray 11/09/2025

Sermon - 11/9/25 11/09/2025

Sermon - 11/9/25 Year C – 22nd Sunday after Pentecost; Lectionary 32 – November 9, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd Job 19:23-27a Psalm 17:1-9 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17 Luke 20:27-38 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, in whose promise of eternal life we trust. Amen. *** A mailbox… should not leak. And while this is true, it was not my first thought on a certain day, many years ago, when our mail carrier brought our outgoing mail back into the church. The mail was soaking wet… dripping water everywhere. He’d brought it back to us because he couldn’t mail it in such a water-logged state. It seemed that there was a hole at the top of the mailbox, and during the long, torrential rainstorm we’d just had, the water had dripped into the box from the top, but had no way of exiting the otherwise secure box… So, when the mail carrier opened the box… the water poured out… along with our letters. Most of the mail just needed to be laid out to dry… but included in the stack was a letter that I’d written to a member whose husband had just died. It was a consoling letter… one that I had written from my heart… acknowledging her sorrow and sharing that space with her, so she wouldn’t feel so alone. She was important to me, and I shared her grief. Except now… my letter was no longer a letter, but an abstract puddle of blue ink… like a watercolor painting… with only the hint that there had once been words on that page. I was upset. Understandably, I think. But then… a man who happened to observe this exchange, and my now-erased letter, started criticizing my choice of pens. Clearly, I should have used a ball-point pen because then it would only need to dry out… obviously, I hadn’t thought this through when I’d written in a gel pen, or whatever it was I used. He carried on like that… on and on… and I just stared at him… because… like my now soggy letter… I had no words. Until I did… Mailboxes should not leak. …he stopped talking after that. We could have debated all day about the best pens for writing, but the pen was not the point… that thinking was too small… mailboxes should not leak. I admit, I was annoyed… but I know I have fallen into the trap of narrow thinking before. It’s human. And in our gospel today, that kind of narrow thinking is what has the Sadducees stuck. Now, of course, they don’t think they are stuck… they think they’ve landed Jesus in the perfect rhetorical trap. They are angry at Jesus, and probably a little afraid of him… I mean… he showed up at the temple and started flipping tables and driving out the merchants, causing a huge disruption… and then every day he was teaching there… and every day, they were looking for a way to kill him… but they knew they needed to be cautious because the people were so spellbound by his teaching. So, they kept trying to trap him… to trick him into saying something that would turn the people against him… and today, we heard their attempt to trap him with a debate on the resurrection. You see, the Sadducees only acknowledge the Torah as authoritative – that’s the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures… Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy – and they don’t believe in resurrection. So, their example of the childless woman being married to each of the seven brothers, and still dying childless, for them, proves that the idea of resurrection is ridiculous… Because if resurrection were really a thing… then whose wife would she be? To which man would she belong? Which man in the afterlife gets to claim her as his property? The practice of a widow marrying the next brother was an ancient patriarchal custom known as levirate marriage. If a man died childless, his brother would marry his widow and have children with her, and the firstborn son would be counted as the dead man’s child and carry on his name. It is true… that in a culture where a woman had almost no rights, this practice helped to ensure her protection and future… but it did so by effectively treating her as property, passed from brother to brother. The Sadducees think they’ve trapped Jesus… because, if resurrection is a thing, then which man gets to claim this woman as his property? When they all have an equal claim, whose wife will she be? Jesus shuts down their narrow thinking… she won’t belong to any man… because she already belongs to God… for she is already, and always has been, claimed as a beloved child of the one who created her in love. Unlike her earthly life… her vulnerable, earthly life that is dependent on men… her resurrection does not rely on who she is to others… it’s only about who she is to God. So, Jesus responds to the Sadducees using the Torah as his evidence… that Moses himself experienced evidence of the resurrection… when God said I AM the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” …not I WAS, but I AM… “…for to God, all of them are alive.” …alive in the presence of God. Resurrection is not about a continuation of earthly life… It’s not just… more life in the same roles we played on earth… that is narrow thinking… it’s too restrictive… and it misses the point. Resurrection is ultimately a promise… that after we die, we will rest in the presence of God. And the truth is… the finer details of our resurrection will remain a mystery until we get there… but the promise of God with us… is assured. From Job, we hear… for I know that my redeemer lives… and after I am gone, I know that I will again see God. (paraphrased) And from 2 Thessalonians, we hear that God chose you… and called to you through our gospel so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord. (paraphrased) God chose you… you are already God’s beloved. And from our Psalm, we hear this language of being known by God… “Show me your marvelous lovingkindness, O Savior of those who take refuge at your right hand… Keep me as the apple of your eye, and hide me under the shadow of your wings…” You are fully known by God, who loves you just as you are… and God’s promise to us is that we will eternally rest in that love, because… God is love. Even so… as I think about the resurrection, and about God’s incredible and wondrous love… I think about the people here on Earth, in my life, whom I love. I am very fortunate to live thousands of years after the time of levirate marriage, and I am certain that my husband does not consider me his property… Without getting too mushy, we might say we belong to each other… a belonging that has grown through decades of mutual love and respect. And so, because God is love… and God is very clear throughout scriptures that God is on the side of love… then I anticipate that, of all the emotions… the love we have shared on earth will be with us in our eternal life. This is my hope… of course… and I know I share that hope with so many others. And given the larger picture of God’s relationship with us, and what we know of God, I don’t think we’ll be disappointed. I think love will persist. But I also suspect that being in God’s loving presence when all else of my earthly life has fallen away… will be even more than I can imagine with my limited, human perspective. And… I’m ok with letting that be a surprise. But truthfully, we know that God is with us now… so thinking about the resurrection, and of the promise that we will be in God’s presence after we die, is still thinking too narrowly. Resurrection is something that we can only know through hope and faith in the living God… and the living God… is the one who meets us in the baptismal waters… and in the shared meal of bread and wine. The living God is the one who is faithful and true… and is continually inviting us back into a shared relationship. The living God meets us in our joy and celebrates with us… and the living God meets us in our sorrow, and ministers to us through the consolation and compassion of our community. Our living God… is not waiting until after we die to be with us! We are in God’s loving presence now, just as we will rest eternally in God’s loving presence in the resurrection. And yes, the promise of resurrection matters because it reveals and reminds us of our primary identity as God’s beloved children… and that God will never let us go. But the afterlife is not the point… because the heart of resurrection is the same now as it is in our eternal life with God. The heart of resurrection… is God’s promise to be with us always… now and forever… no matter where we are or what we are going through. For our God is not God of the dead, but of the living, and to God, we are and always will be… alive. Amen. /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/38969430

Special Music - Praise His Holy Name 11/02/2025

Sermon - 11/2/25 11/02/2025

Sermon - 11/2/25 Megan Floyd Year B – All Saints Sunday – November 3, 2024 Luke 6:20-31 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who calls us into holy living for the sake of the world. Amen. *** We are gathered here today on All Saints’ Sunday… the day the Church sets aside to remember those we have loved and cared for, who have died during the past year. We gather to celebrate them… even though it may stir up the grief within us… we know… that our grief honors their place in the story of our lives… And we take comfort in the promise that our dear ones are resting in the embrace of our Lord. We, as a community of faith, trust in the Good News that Jesus has defeated death… so that death is no longer the end… And we trust in the Good News… that we are a forgiven people, called and claimed by God and redeemed through God’s love. We trust this Good News… this promise for us as disciples… as followers of Christ… because we know that God’s enduring faithfulness is forever and ever, Amen. And yet we know… that while the goodness that God offers is free to all people… we know that being a disciple… a follower of Christ… still comes with a cost. The cost of discipleship… is that it must change your life… it must change how you live… how you love… how you treat others, especially the poor and hungry. The cost of discipleship is that it transforms your whole being… when you allow your life to become one with the life of Christ… It’s not a change that we make so that we can receive the promised goodness of God… those promises are already ours. It’s a change that comes in response to what Jesus offers when we take seriously what he calls us to do… It’s not easy… this life of discipleship… which is why we need God’s grace and forgiveness every day. It’s not easy… but this life of following Christ… this challenging and difficult life… this holy and beautiful life… this is the life that Jesus calls us into. Because this kind of life… this way of living… is what brings closer the kingdom of God and allows us to be co-creators with God in the ever-unfolding new creation. We hear this call today into a holy and loving, yet challenging and difficult way of life… We hear it in the blessings and woes… and in the call to love those who are against us, and to turn the other cheek. And these words from Jesus today might make us uncomfortable… and that’s ok! My friends… the truth is, if the Gospel of Jesus doesn’t make you uncomfortable, at least sometimes, then you aren’t reading it closely enough! I know these words make me uncomfortable… but I know that they are still Good News, and so I stick with them because I trust Jesus. Presiding Bishop Curry once said that Jesus is always on the side of the poor and oppressed, and so whenever we read scripture, we should strive to hear it from their perspective… because when we do… we can’t help but to hear Christ’s words as Good News. And what sounds like Good News for only the poor… and only those who are persecuted… really is Good News for all people. This way of life that Jesus calls us into, for both the rich and the poor, calls us into lives of equality, dignity, and love… It disrupts the social hierarchy that those on top cling to with fervor, and it demands that they fully recognize the inherent value and worth of all human life… but again… especially the lives of those who are on the margins. This way of life calls us to overthrow systems that depend on the suffering and struggle of many to support the few… And Jesus is not preaching about theoretical concepts… he is calling us to recognize the real human lives of those around us who are hurting… and to understand that we are connected. This way of life… this life of discipleship… it calls us to be accountable for our actions… it shines a loving light onto our sin, so that we might repent, and be reconciled with those we have harmed. Listen… We know that Christ lives in us, and so when we honor the light of our God that is present in all people… then working to repair broken relationships also reconciles us back to God… and puts us back into right relationship. And I know that I want to be right with God, and I’m sure you do, too. This really is Good News for all people! Jesus calls for a reversal of the usual way of responding… and instead calls us to the more difficult path of making room for repentance, forgiveness… and reconciliation. This is most certainly… Good News! …it’s so good, and so important, that it actually comes up multiple times in our lectionary. During our Bible Study this week, I thought I was having déjà vu, until I realized that I preached on this same text about loving our enemies and turning the other cheek back in Epiphany, on February 23… But for today… we are hearing this call into a loving, yet difficult way of living… under the shroud of All Saints’ Day… And, given the day… these seem to be a strange selection of readings to hear as we remember our loved ones. Except that this Good News… is not only good for all people living… it is good news for those we have loved and lost. Because this difficult life that Jesus calls us into is full of grace and forgiveness, and it is marked by the ever-present opportunity to turn back… to hold each other accountable… in loving and non-violent ways, for the purpose of healing the relationship and restoring the community. …and it is marked by the continual invitation to be reconciled with God. And I believe God will succeed in God’s promise to reconcile all of creation. Because God’s desire for us, more than anything… is that we get this right… because love… is so very important. This life that Jesus calls us to… this holy and beautiful, challenging and difficult… life of discipleship… is so important, because it is a foretaste of the kingdom to come. And the joy that we have as disciples… is that we get to live in this glory now… and celebrate all the ways that God’s love shines through us. And so, as I hear these words from Jesus today, I know that God’s desire for us to be reconciled in this life is also… only a foretaste of the full reconciliation with God that will come after we die. After all… that is God’s promise to us… for ourselves… and for those we love. That death no longer has the final word… that we, who set our hope on Christ, are claimed and redeemed as beloved children of God, in this life and beyond, …and that we will be raised anew with Christ on the last day. And so, the hope and celebration of All Saints’ Day lie in our trust that this life Jesus calls us into… this beautiful and difficult life, grounded in God’s enduring promises of renewal… …will be for the praise and glory of Christ now and always, forever and ever. Amen. /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/38885500

Special Music - Peace Is Our Prayer 10/26/2025

Sermon - 10/26/25 10/26/2025

Sermon - 10/26/25 Year C – Reformation Sunday – October 26, 2025 John 8:31-36 Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, and from our Savior, Jesus Christ, who sets us free. Amen. *** “…the truth will make you free.” On the surface, this seems like a simple thing to say. It’s really inspirational, yes? The truth will make you free… I’ve seen this verse printed on coffee mugs and tote bags, and I’ve heard it quoted in shows and movies. The truth will make you free… My truth is that when I hear this, I hear it stated by Marilla Cuthbert from Anne of Green Gables… not the Netflix remake, but the old 1985 version with Megan Follows that I watched on repeat until the VHS tape wore out. For some reason, when she said it, it felt very important. The truth will make you free… This statement seems straightforward, and yet, for me, there are these nagging questions that follow… Like what is truth? And what… is freedom? The more I consider these questions, the more abstract the concepts become… truth and freedom. Since these are Jesus’ words, we can infer he is speaking to something beyond our human, earthly experience… but that insight doesn’t make it clearer. Full understanding feels just beyond my grasp… and you know, that’s okay. Jesus isn’t known for giving clear answers. Asking questions, yes, but not so much on giving answers. Jesus wants us to sit with his words… to roll them around in our minds. He said, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Jesus’ words are an invitation. His words are an invitation to a group of people who are there… because they believe in him. Like us here today, they believe Jesus has something worth teaching. But rather than giving up a clear answer, Jesus calls them… like he calls us, to a journey of discovery. Belief is only the first step. There is so much more to discover. There is a destination on this journey, but this destination isn’t a place… it’s a person… it is the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, if you continue in my word… it’s important to note here that the word translated as “continue” is the Greek word meno… it means to abide… and it shows up 41 times in the Gospel of John… that’s a lot… It gets translated into many different words like continue, stay, dwell, remain… but the word is always meno… abide… and its meaning is so much deeper than any of those English words. To abide is more like… occupying the same physical space. It is to give our whole identity and person over to the identity and person of Jesus Christ… so much so… that we are entirely different from what we were before. “…if you abide in my word…” And abiding with Jesus Christ isn’t necessarily the final destination either… abiding with Jesus Christ isn’t the promised reward that is only available to us after we die. Jesus is calling us to abide with him now, to dwell with him today, to continue in his word from this moment on… and when we accept his invitation to abide… to dwell… to let our very self… become one with the person of Christ, THEN we will become his disciples. “…and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Becoming a disciple means accepting Jesus’ invitation to journey toward understanding truth and freedom. Jesus’ invitation is to journey toward the understanding that Jesus IS truth, the truth that makes known the eternal God… because Jesus IS the eternal God. Becoming a disciple means embracing the journey toward a truth… that sets us free… It is a truth that sets all people free, the freedom to recognize that Jesus is God, here with us, offering love, provision, and protection. This truth… and this freedom… they take a lifetime and beyond to understand because God is not restricted by our human perceptions… and our limited interpretations. And this truth that sets us free is for all people because God so loves the whole world. Jesus is truth, and this truth is freedom, but fully understanding it is just beyond our grasp, imploring us to keep learning and keep growing. Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Jesus is inviting us to dwell with him, to abide in his words. What Jesus calls us to is a serious commitment of continual growth and learning …of being changed by this mutually abiding relationship. Jesus calls us to allow ourselves to be formed and RE-formed by his Word… to embrace a continual state of being made new. *** Now… I want to pause here a moment… because we follow the lectionary… the three-year cycle of scripture readings… which means we have been on a steady march through the Gospel of Luke… traveling with Jesus toward Jerusalem… and the cross. Like all authors, Luke has his own literary style and his own agenda for his Gospel. For Luke, and specifically for the passages we have been dwelling in these last couple of months, it is… a travel narrative… drawing together a pluralistic community under the name of Jesus… and emphasizing that the promises of salvation and the kingdom of God are open to all peoples, but most especially… the marginalized, the poor, the disabled, women, and Gentiles… anyone whom society pushes out. Luke’s gospel stresses the importance of community, and how we live together and share our resources… as part of our mission and call as disciples. Through his way of telling the story, Luke emphasizes that our God is not a conquering war hero… but a humble Savior… who turns expectations upside down… and saves people in unexpected ways… through healing, forgiveness, wholeness, and restoration. But now for Reformation Sunday, we interrupt our march through Luke… to hear from the gospel of John. For John, his primary theological claim is that Jesus IS God who offers us salvation through a relationship with him… and to prove God’s faithfulness to us, Jesus goes willingly to the cross to lay down his life for us. We are continually invited into a relationship with God through Jesus… and it is through this relationship that we receive grace and salvation. And like any relationship… it requires daily nourishment… it requires investment in who we are becoming as we journey with Jesus as disciples… as we abide in his Word. I wanted to point this out for you… because for me… it actually feels a bit jarring to dig as deeply into the Luke narrative as we have been and to lean into Luke’s way of understanding Christ… only to then jump into a different perspective without at least acknowledging the shift. And yet… both Gospels are true…and both offer us the Good News of Jesus Christ, our Savior who takes away the sin of the world. But when we take notice their differences in perspective… instead of blending them together into one harmonized gospel… I think it gives us a richer understanding of God, through Jesus, in whom we abide. *** And so… on this Reformation Sunday… I think it is quite perfect that we look to John, who so strongly emphasizes our relationship with Jesus… that on this day of celebrating that we are continually Re-forming… continually growing and changing because of our relationship with God through Jesus… who better to hear from… than John… John… who understands that when Jesus calls us to abide, it is an ongoing process… It’s not a once-and-done salvation experience, but a lifelong relationship. And that when Jesus calls us to abide as his disciples… that we are being called into a communal relationship… we are being called into community. Something that Luke certainly supports! This journey of discipleship… of abiding in God’s word… we do this together… we abide in Jesus’ Word as a community of believers… supporting each other through joy and sorrow… through strong faith and doubt. We abide in Jesus’ Word together… because we share the same goal of being formed and re-formed by God’s Word. We abide in Jesus’ Word together so that over time, our understanding of God, and of God’s gifts of grace and salvation will grow… Receiving this grace brings freedom… Freedom to dedicate your life to reflecting God’s love onto your neighbors rather than chasing salvation for yourself. Receiving God’s grace is to know the truth that this grace is God’s gift to us, given through Jesus, who invites us to spend our lives with him. Our lives here and now, in this place. Today. “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” These are, indeed, important words. Believing in Jesus is only the beginning, but knowing the truth that is Jesus, who is God, and the freedom that truth brings… is a lifelong journey that will continually change us in the most beautiful ways. This is the invitation Jesus offers you… to choose this life and this journey with Christ to discover how abiding in Jesus as a lifelong disciple will reveal God’s glorious truth and God’s most beautiful freedom. Amen. *** /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/38785305

Special Music - The Gift of Love 10/19/2025

Special Music - I Lift Up Mine Eyes 10/19/2025

Sermon - 10/19/25 10/19/2025

Sermon - 10/19/25 LUKE 18:1-8 This is the holy gospel according to Luke. Glory to you, O Lord. Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and to not lose heart. He said, in a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, grant me justice for my accuser. For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice so she may not wear me out by continually coming. And the Lord said, listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth? This is the gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ. Good morning. Good morning. My name is Jesse. I am the program innovator for Living Water Ministries. I've been working year round for Living Water for three years. Actually, last week I just celebrated my three year anniversary. So I've been on staff for three years, but camp has long been a part of my life. I was a camper through my whole childhood. I worked on summer staff. And now I am so blessed to be able to be part of the work that we do all year round. Before I talk about the gospel, I want to extend my gratitude to all of you. Faith and the people here have long been a part of camp and our programs. You have kids who come to camp, volunteers who can't come to camp and work with U.S. donors. Your pastor comes to camp every year. Camp is a really big part of this faith community. I also want to share with you a little bit about Living Water. For those of you who don't know us, the first thing that we do is summer camp. That's our main thing that we do. And during our typical weeks of camp, we have campers who are grades one through 12. And we do worship in the morning and we sing songs and we create this really, really special community for kids of all these ages. We have a couple of specialized programs. We have a week of camp for adults with developmental disabilities. We have a week of camp called Bridge Builders for high schoolers. And this is anti racism and leadership training. And new this year, we are launching a new program called In God's Image, which is a week of camp for LGBTQ high school youth. And coming up next Month we have Charge. Charge is a youth gathering for middle school and high schoolers, and this is at the Great Wolf Lodge. And Charge is an event that provides a powerful faith community where students get to develop leadership skills and grow in faith, all while having fun at the water park at Great Wolf Lodge. And because the love of Christ is abundant and freely given, Living Water believes that money should never be a barrier that stops a child from having a camp experience. So during COVID camp was closed for two summers, but this gave us the ability to give camp away for free in the summer of 2022. So every kid who came to camp in 2022 did so at no cost. And so since then, we have offered a tier pricing system to keep this equity going. So when families register their camper, they have the choice of paying full price, half price, or no price, no questions asked. It's just something that they get to select when they are registering their camper. So this and all of our ministry is made possible through generous individuals and congregations sharing their gifts with campers. Every year we hold our Run the Race campaign where runners and non runners alike come together and everybody commits to raising $2,000 and running a 200 mile relay race from Traverse City to Muskegon. So last month, we held our Run the Race event, and. And we raised over $131,000, which is so cool. And all of that gets to go to making camp the best place that it can be. And so why all this matters to you, why I'm telling this to you, is because of the people sitting in the pews with you. You have kids who come to camp. You have people who volunteer. Those campers become summer staffers. And your pastor is part of camp. The people at Faith sitting with you are super involved in the work that God does at camp. And we do all this because of the gospel. We do all of this work because of Jesus. So in the parable today, Jesus asks, asks us that if the people cry out to God, will he delay long in helping them? So if we cry out, will God help us? And honestly, sometimes it seems like God's not like he is delaying, like we've been crying out for quite some time and not hearing anything back. Because how long must we cry out until we finally see justice? How long must we cry out until we see an end of genocide? How long must we cry out until our black and brown siblings stop being kidnapped and murdered? How long until our children are safe in their schools? How long? Because sometimes it feels like we can't cry Any louder and still nothing. Jesus also asks, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? And I think that the answer to that is also no. If Jesus comes to earth today, do you think he's happy with all of this? Is he impressed with our faithfulness? And I don't think so. I think that this is so far from the image of the kingdom of Earth that God has planned for us. This is so far from God's plan of perfect discipleship. And where is the faith on earth? In the first reading, Jacob wrestles with God. And this isn't a short wrestling match. Wrestling matches, we know, are about, what, two minutes? You know, it's a couple minutes and someone counts to three, and then it's over. But that's not what this was. God came to Jacob in the night, and they wrestled until daybreak. And God even says to Jacob, let me go. But Jacob says, I will not let you go until you bless me. And when the wrestling match ends, Jacob overcame and God blesses him. But Jacob doesn't walk away completely victorious. He walks away with a limp. He walks away blessed and limping. And this is what our prayer and what our faithfulness is supposed to look like. It's supposed to look like this wrestling match where we are relentlessly clinging to God and not letting go until God blesses us, holding on despite the risks, despite the injury, despite the people telling us to give up, to let go, to go home, to hold on even though we will walk away with a limp. I could tell you 100 success stories about camp, about the kids who came to camp not believing in God and then left excited about Jesus. The kids who came their whole lives and became counselors, the kids who finally found a refuge and a home at camp where they could finally be themselves. But that's not what I'm going to do. I will be happy to share these stories with you after service. I have plenty of them. But right now, I'm going to share a story with you that left me limping. Last summer, I sent a camper home. He made it about halfway through the week. But after multiple attempts at running away and getting physical with another camper and with a staff member, we made the decision that he had to go home for the safety of other campers and for his safety. But that still hurt. I felt like I had just failed this kid. I was trying to be something for him, and I fell short. And I was beating myself up, thinking, are we really creating a place for all of God's children? Are we really doing this right? And really, the answer is yes. And I had to make the hard decision to keep people safe. And I told his mom when she came to pick him up that camp isn't a no for him. This isn't a no. It's a not yet. So when he's ready to come back, we are ready for him. We will be here, because that is holding on to God and not letting go until he blesses us. And so that is why we tell every single kid that the love of God is for them. We tell every single kid that they can come just as they are. Tell every single kid that there is nothing that they could ever, ever do that would make God love them less. And that is the wrestling that we need to be doing. And I'm not letting go of that. And I will be limping, and I will be blessed. /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/38637100

Special Service - An evening of prayer and songs for love, justice, and peace 10/13/2025

Special Music - Shine A Little Light 10/12/2025

Sermon - 10-12-25 10/12/2025

Sermon - 10-12-25 Year C – 18th Sunday after Pentecost; Lectionary 28 – October 12, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd 2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c Psalm 111 Luke 17:11-19 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, to whom we give thanks and praise for all our Creator has done for us. Amen. *** Some days ago, while going through the motions of the morning… I felt overcome by such a profound sense of sadness. Sadness for the world… for our country… for our siblings in Chicago who are under attack… for our transgender siblings who are being vilified… and for our children who don’t know that this isn’t normal. I felt sadness… mixed with pain and anger, and maybe even dipping a toe into despair. That’s not an emotional place I generally go… but… it’s been hard. I have shaped my life around Christ… my values… my dreams… they are shaped around how Jesus Christ calls us to be and live… how Jesus calls us to love… and what I see in this world right now… the hate and fear of immigrants… driving people to carry out violence against their neighbors… whom they are called to love… hate and fear carried out in the name of Jesus... I know… that this is not what Christ wants for us. God has shown us that we are made for community… that we need community… and we know that we are better and stronger when we… not just include, but fully embrace… the full diversity of God’s people. We know we are stronger and closer to God’s vision for our world when we do as Christ did… and go to our neighbors who have been pushed to the margins, and witness to their worth and value. We know we are following God’s will when we go to our neighbors on the edges of our community and witness to their belovedness… when we call them our siblings, and mean it… …and when we help them find their place back in the center of our communal life together. We know this is God’s will for us because Jesus demonstrated this action… over and over again… Jesus showed us how to welcome those who have been rejected… and Jesus showed us how to love. And yet… so much in our country today is pushing us all away from each other. It is costing lives… so you can understand my sadness… and my anger. So, on that morning… I was deep in my own thoughts… until at some point, I wasn’t thinking so much as I was listening… and I had a moment of clarity. One of those moments where the Spirit reaches out and drapes you in peace… the kind of peace that we long for… the kind of peace that we pray for. I had a moment of clarity when I remembered… that gratitude is medicine. Gratitude is medicine… and thankfulness to Jesus Christ is resistance… and praise to our Creator for all that God continues to do for us… and through us… in these crazy times we are living in… That praise… is joy! And in that moment of gratitude and joy, blanketed by God’s peace… I found myself again… I remembered who I was… and whose I was… and I felt whole again. I felt my joy return… the joy that comes from feeling true gratitude to my God! And… I wonder… I wonder if that was a little bit how Naaman felt… after being made clean and returning to Elisha to give praise to God. I wonder… if this was how the psalmist felt… the pure joy of giving praise and thanksgiving to the Lord with their whole heart… Declaring… that the works of the Lord’s hands are faithfulness and justice; and that all the Lord’s precepts stand forever and ever because they are done in truth… and equity. I wonder… if this was… just a little bit… how the Samaritan felt… when he turned back to give praise and thanksgiving to God, because through Jesus… he was restored. Through Jesus, he was healed of the disease that forced him to the edges… healed of the disease that prevented him from taking part in communal life. Jesus healed him of the disease that made him untouchable… Jesus healed all ten of the men… of the disease that made them untouchable. And I am sure… that the other nine who were also healed… I’m sure they were glad for their healing… I am sure they were thrilled to rejoin their community. Of course they would be… it was a miracle. But it was only… the outcast among outcasts… who turned back to offer praise and thanksgiving… it was only the foreigner… who turned back to give praise… only the Samaritan… connected his miraculous healing to God’s doing, through Jesus. Only the one who would still be an outcast in that society, even when healed of this disease… only him… gave praise and thanksgiving for all to hear. Now… recall that the Samaritans and Jews shared the same ancestry, but when Assyria invaded the northern kingdom, they exiled many of the Jews. Those who remained intermarried with the Assyrians and built new lives. But when those who were exiled were allowed to return, they considered the Samaritans to be religiously and ethnically impure. They were considered permanently unclean and were rejected… banned from Jerusalem… and from worshipping at the Temple… So, the Samaritans built their own Temple on Mount Gerizim. And the larger religious question of… Where is God? …hung as a backdrop behind all their interactions. Is God only in the Temple in Jerusalem… or is God on a mountain… or is God found wherever God’s people are found? So, I wonder… when it was only the Samaritan who came back to give praise and offer thanksgiving… I wonder… if it was because he was better situated to recognizing God out in the wild, than his pure-Jewish brothers. I wonder… as I consider his openness to God’s presence… I wonder how the disciples felt about learning about faith in Jesus… from this foreigner… and I wonder… how do we feel about it… at this time, when foreigners are being so violently persecuted. Jesus told this Samaritan man… after he was healed of his disease… he told him his faith had made him well… his faith… his trust that God was there with him… had made him whole. His response to what God did for him… brought him back to his Creator… and it made him remember who he was… and whose he was. His response of praise and thanksgiving gave him the opportunity to dwell in the presence of God, even just for a moment… and when we dwell in the presence of God, we are slowly transformed… and re-formed by God’s love. That was God’s promise to that Samaritan man… God’s promise through Jesus… and it’s God’s promise to us, as well. God’s promise… that when we turn back to God with grateful hearts, we are turning back to dwell in God’s presence… and be comforted by God’s peace. So… we may be walking through some dark valleys these days… but God’s faithful and enduring promise to us is that God is with us… And God is continuing to move and act in this world… continuing the holy work of creation… through us and through our neighbors who are fighting for justice and peace… and love. And so, our gratitude… our thankful response to God’s faithfulness and God’s justice… reconnects our spirit to God’s Spirit… Our response of praise brings us back to the source of life… and makes us whole. Reconnecting with God through gratitude… renews us… and it strengthens us. Therefore, it is with true joy in my heart… that I give thanks and praise to my God for this life… and this calling… for my family… and for you. I give thanks and praise for your witness and your courage… for the ways that you show up for your neighbors… and the ways that you stand with those who struggle on the margins. I give thanks and praise to God for the wider community of faith to which we belong… a great cloud of witnesses, committed to shaping their lives and communities around the gospel… And I give thanks and praise to God for the transformation in my own heart that other morning, when the world just felt too heavy. God’s Holy Spirit scooped me back up and set me on my feet… and turned my attention back to all the good things God was still doing through so many incredible people. So I give thanks to my Lord and my God… for meeting me in my storm… allowing me to dwell in my Creator’s presence, and for making me whole again. And I give thanks to God for the invitation to all of us, to revisit the source of life, every day… to receive healing and renewal… So, what more can I say, but Hallelujah!! …and Amen. /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/38554785

Special Music - Gaudeamus Hodie-Let Us Rejoice Today 09/28/2025

Sermon - 9-28-25 09/28/2025

Sermon - 9-28-25 Year C – 16th Sunday after Pentecost; Lectionary 26 – September 28, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd Luke 16:19-31 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who, together with Moses and the prophets, has given us the way to the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen. *** My friend Sara has a wild yard. And I do mean… wild. She moved into her quiet, suburban neighborhood some years ago, and to her neighbor’s dismay… she didn’t mow the lawn. It’s the kind of yard you might expect to see out in the country… way out… around an abandoned house… but certainly not in her manicured neighborhood… And oh my goodness, did it cause an uproar! The neighbors couldn’t understand why she kept such an untidy lawn, and they glared out their living room windows, casting judgment on her… and filed complaints with the city. She had to petition for the right to let the grass and dandelions grow… and for the leaves to fall where the wind blew… and let them stay there. She asked her neighbors… to trust the process… And she won! …well, sort of… I believe they struck a deal that if she kept the area around the front clear, she could do what she wished with the rest, which was fine… because her backyard is massive. The first year, it was just a mess… chaos everywhere! Even the grass was confused. But then… after about a year or so had gone by… after the neighbors had mostly made their peace with my friend Sara’s “process…” They noticed something they hadn’t seen in years… one warm summer evening… they saw… Fireflies! …Lightning Bugs! Little glowing lights, twinkling, and blinking, and flying around… and the neighbors marveled! ...One of Sara’s neighbors told her that she hadn’t seen fireflies since she was a child! How extraordinary and delightful! …and once they noticed the fireflies, well then… then they started noticing other little things. They noticed all the butterflies that would stop and visit Sara’s wild yard. Beautiful and colorful, graceful butterflies… floating all around. They noticed that a fox had moved into the grove of trees in her backyard, and it was safe and secure enough for it to have little fox pups. And the trees! Even the trees seemed fuller… brighter… like they could finally breathe. And the grass… the grass that was so confused…well, it was no longer just plain grass… but a blanket of all different shades of green, full, tall, and strong, and filled with wildflowers. …and of course, happy, buzzy bees, gathering pollen. My friend Sara’s wild yard… was no longer a yard… it was a garden, in the most natural sense of the word. It still required some tending… a bit of care here and there, but her care was directed toward increasing the garden's habitability for the diversity of plants and creatures that now lived there, including …herself. And she tends this garden because the fireflies, and the butterflies, and the bees, and the family of foxes… need this space… They are all important… all the little creatures that might go unnoticed by some and considered a nuisance by others… all connected to each other, and connected to Sara and her family… in the great web of God’s Creation. Sara’s garden is the resource she has available to share with her neighbors, both human and otherwise, and in doing so, she is helping to heal the small sliver of God’s beautiful kingdom, right where she stands. And… her wild and full garden brings her joy! Now… you may be asking… why am I talking about natural gardens in suburban neighborhoods… after hearing a gospel text that is clearly about money? Well! I’m so glad you asked! And you’re right… this text today is about money… but ultimately… ultimately, it’s about relationships… and connection. Remember our text from last week about the rich man and his shrewd manager? Jesus ends that parable with the mic-drop statement… “You cannot serve both God and wealth… or rather… Mammon.” And the Pharisees are indignant… they like their wealth and comfort, and they scoff at Jesus and ridicule him for challenging them in this way. And so Jesus doubles down… and tells the Pharisees this next parable that we heard today. Today’s text is part of the larger conversation that we’ve been in now for three weeks. And yes… Jesus is talking about money again… Jesus talks about money a lot, actually… and what our responsibility is when we have an abundance of resources. But, I feel like I hit that point really hard last week, so this week, I wanted to dig into the why… why is it so important… that we take Jesus at his word? So, this parable we have today… it’s a fable, really… Jesus is not suddenly giving us a description of heaven and hell… but he is telling a cautionary tale and drawing from the imagery of Greek mythology to do so. And in this tale, the rich man was so caught up in his own perceived earthly importance… that he never really noticed poor Lazarus, who lay at his gate, covered in sores. He saw him, of course, but the shock of his need was no longer… shocking. The rich man even knew his name was Lazarus… and yet, day after day, while the rich man feasted sumptuously, poor Lazarus lay there starving. The chasm between them… the chasm that becomes a real barrier in the place of the dead… was self-imposed by the rich man during his life. And then… of course… they both die… and the rich man, in his agony, asks Abraham to send Lazarus to serve him… and to serve his brothers. Even in death, the rich man thinks he deserves something better on account of his wealth. Even in death, the rich man cannot recognize that they are both children of Abraham… they are connected… they are brothers through the great web of God’s Creation. As long as the rich man is unable to see poor Lazarus as a brother, who is worthy of life and love and care, and connected to him through God… as long as the rich man is unable to see this… he will remain in the place of the dead. Jesus is, once again, flipping everything upside down. Jesus is challenging the idea that if you have money, you must be more valuable and loved by God. This terrible idea is one that is still prevalent today… the idea that those who have earthly treasure are more blessed… more favored and loved by God… …and that those who are poor must have done something to deserve their lot in life. And while it is true, that our individual choices in life do have some bearing on what we experience… This way of thinking conveniently absolves us of any responsibility toward those who have not fared as well as we have… And it is directly contrary… to what God has been trying to get us to understand since the time of Moses. We have free will, yes, but we are all… also part of larger systems beyond our individual control. Like the butterflies and bees who find their food sources and habitats either covered in chemicals or gone… or the fireflies whose eggs get swept away in the fall clean-up… some things are beyond our control. We don’t know why Lazarus was forced to beg at the rich man’s gate… but we know that the chasm between them was very real… as real as it is in our world today. And yet… we know… that Jesus came to bring good news to the poor and to liberate the oppressed. Over and over, Jesus preaches that his ministry was not to engage in personal relationships with individuals as their Lord and savior… but to show us that we are connected! …that our true flourishing is caught up with our neighbors! Jesus came to show us that we belong to each other, and we have a responsibility to each other… each according to what we have been given. Jesus came to show us that his ministry of breaking the chains of oppression means to break the systems that perpetuate that oppression. Jesus’ ministry requires us, as followers, to engage and embrace this work that God is doing through us. We belong to each other, and Jesus desires to give us the kingdom… to show us the way to the kingdom of heaven. And God’s kingdom… well, it looks like a beloved community of neighborly care and love, in both abstract and concrete ways. It comes from shared respect and dignity… it comes from equality in both word and deed. It comes from the intentionality of really seeing our neighbors who are in need, instead of passing them by and wondering why they don’t just get a job. And Jesus… he was doubling down on the teachings of Moses and the prophets, because through them, God had already shown us the way to this beautiful kingdom… This beautiful kingdom of God… is at hand… heaven is being formed here! Being formed, more and more, as we conform our lives to the way of Christ! The kingdom of God… is not a reward for checking all the boxes during your life… It’s not a cookie you get for being a good kid. The kingdom of God is a garden… it’s a garden that needs tending… a garden that needs the space and freedom to grow and support the full diversity of life… The kingdom of God is a garden that honors all life as sacred. Friends, we are here now, in this garden… and Jesus longs for us to recognize that we have a responsibility to tend this garden, and that when we do… we will flourish together. Is it perfect? NO!… not by a long shot. But let’s trust the process… let’s keep showing up for our neighbors, and… let our neighbors show up for us… Let’s look into the eyes of those who are passed by, those who are poor and begging… those who society would like to forget… and recognize them as our kin, and honor God’s Spirit within them… Let’s recognize that all people are our siblings and celebrate their value and worth… and delight in all the ways we are privileged to participate in God’s great web of creation. For I know this… God has given us the instruction and the tools we need to tend this garden… to deconstruct the chasm that isolates and sterilizes our world. And I trust God’s process… and I trust God’s promise… that we are being called into God’s life-changing and transformative ministry. I’ll be honest… I don’t think that we will see it fully bloom in our lifetimes, but I know… that when I live according to God’s word… and I pay attention, I see fireflies dancing all around in this garden, and that gives me hope. Amen. /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/38383095

Special Music - Blessed Assurance 09/22/2025

Special Music - Saved By Grace 09/21/2025

Sermon - 9/21/25 09/21/2025

Sermon - 9/21/25 Year C – 15th Sunday after Pentecost; Lectionary 25 – September 21, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd Luke 16:1-13 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who, together, offer liberation through reorientation. Amen. *** Jesus says… we cannot serve both God and wealth. …and yet, it is as true today as it was then… that both God and wealth, or Mammon, demand to be our top priority. These words from Jesus are convicting… we cannot serve both God and wealth… they are convicting… because we know in our heart… they are true. …and Jesus… well… he tends to be right. That’s why we’re here, yes? I actually prefer the old translation… instead of wealth, the original Greek uses the Aramaic word, Mammon. Mammon is a personification for the acquisition of wealth… something Martin Luther called in the Large Catechism, the “most common god on earth.” So, it isn’t so much wealth or money alone… that demands our dedication… Jesus doesn’t criticize wealthy people just for being wealthy… and money is a tool we all must use. But it’s the pursuit of money for the sake of getting richer that Jesus condemns… it’s the drive to store up more and more at the expense of others, the persistent need to acquire more and more that takes over our lives. To build bigger barns while others are starving… and then to rationalize our greed and overabundance… this is the Mammon that Jesus warns us against. To worship Mammon is to prioritize the accumulation of wealth… while disregarding the suffering and needs of others. Mammon demands that we look only to our own wants and desires, acquiring only for ourselves alone. Mammon is… isolating. God… on the other hand… demands that we put God above all else, and then look to our neighbor… God invites us to look through the lens of God’s love… and look to the needs of our neighbor first… so that we may flourish together… through relationship and in community. We cannot serve both God and Mammon. So… to illustrate this point… Jesus offers a rather strange parable. And all the authors I’ve read seem to agree that this one is just weird and challenging. It helps, I think, to dig into the context… and recall the economics of Roman-occupied Galilee in the first century. Remember… that the Roman Empire exploited the people's resources and labor through crippling taxation, which was often more than the average peasant could pay. And the rich landlords and rulers were basically loan sharks who got richer by exploiting peasants… offering loans to pay their taxes, but with exorbitant interest rates, something that was in direct violation of biblical covenantal law. So, when the peasants couldn’t pay back the loans, the rich would take ownership of their farm, disinheriting the peasant farmers of their family land… But they would “graciously” allow the peasants to stay on as tenant farmers… who now had to pay both taxes to the Roman government AND a high percentage of their yield to the rich new landowner. So… the rich got richer… and the poor got poorer. It was… an unjust system. Furthermore, the rich tended to live in the south, around Judea… while the peasant farmers lived in the north, around Galilee. The rich landowners wouldn’t go back and forth themselves… that could be dangerous, so they utilized middle managers to collect their spoils. These managers would also add to the debt that the farmers owed, because that’s how they got paid… and the more they added, the more money they made for themselves. It was the manager’s prerogative to squeeze these poor farmers out of as much of their crops… as much of their wheat, wine, and olive oil as possible. The farmers were, after all, expendable… all that mattered was gaining more wealth. Mammon. And so now here we are… Jesus’ teaching… his words for us today continue on from the gospel from last week. Last week’s scene opened with the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, grumbling because this man, Jesus, welcomes sinners and eats with them. Jesus put people over and above social order and expectations. So, he tells the grumbling Pharisees these parables… There was a lost sheep… there was a lost coin… there was a lost son. And then comes our text for today… “There was a rich man who had a manager…” “There was a rich man… who had a manager.” Does it ring a little differently now? This manager is about to get fired for squandering his boss’ property… he’s in trouble for not delivering as much as the rich man thought he should have. He’s about to be tossed out on his butt with nothing… so what does he do? What does he do? Once the hold of Mammon is broken… he has clarity! He realizes… that what he needs in his life are people. Mammon… the pursuit of wealth… drives people away. But for true flourishing… we need community. Money isn’t the ultimate measure of things… not in God’s economy! Our neighbor… our relationships and our community… this is where true riches are found. But… this guy… this middle-manager… he’s still locked in an unjust system… he’s still trapped by it, just as much as the poor farmers are still trapped… but he realizes… he realizes that generosity is the best investment. He uses that ill-gotten wealth, gained from exploiting others, to ease the debt burden on his neighbors, and gain social capital in the process. It’s very possible that the amounts he reduced each person’s debt by was the amount of his portion, and the interest that was added onto it. Because… after all, the rich man is ultimately impressed. His manager chose to forego wealth… for the riches of relationships. He used the last remaining shreds of power he had to disrupt the unjust system… and revive the community by reviving biblical, covenantal economic life. He revives the community and gives them hope… by reorienting himself back to God’s command to love God above everything else… and to love our neighbor. He is liberated from Mammon… set free from the addictive nature of chasing after wealth and hoarding resources at the expense of his neighbors’ well-being. And he is transformed… restored into community when he realizes that people matter so much more than money. Because in God’s economy… your neighbor’s needs are bound up with your own. (x 2) Our own true flourishing and riches can only be achieved by working for the well-being of others. We cannot serve both God and Mammon. And that’s that. Jesus leaves some loose ends in this parable… there’s no epilogue… no discourse where Jesus fully explains its meaning to his disciples, who never seem to understand anyway. We are simply left with the wondering… left with the open question of “how much more…” If even this dishonest manager can realize that relationships and people are more important than chasing after money… then… how much more… should the children of light realize that “true riches” have to do with relationships rather than wealth or possessions. How much more? You see… Jesus never says that having money is bad… or criticizes wealthy people for being wealthy. What matters for Jesus… is what you do with that wealth. What Jesus says… is that when we reorient ourselves back to God and God’s commandments… when we love God above all else, and love our neighbor as ourselves… Then it changes our relationships. Our relationships with our neighbors are transformed when we realize that we are all connected… and every person is valuable to the community, and that every person is loved by God. And… reorienting ourselves back to God… changes our relationship with money. Rather than allowing money to become an idol… we understand that money is a tool, and we can use it to help others, so that together, we are blessed. Here’s a beautiful example… in my old church, the men’s group met monthly on a Saturday to make homemade bread and have breakfast together. …No agenda, other than spending time together and making delicious bread. Then they’d offer that fresh, homemade bread to the congregation and collect a free-will offering… and… I know they always held back a few loaves for the single mom who was getting by on pennies. Finally, they used the money they raised to fund microloans through a non-profit program called Kiva, which offers very low—or no-interest loans for entrepreneurs in underserved communities worldwide. As the loans were paid back, which they always were, the men reinvested the funds in other people, giving more and more people the boost they needed to help themselves and their communities. The more they gave away, the more they found they were richly blessed, and they always seemed to have more to give… more to invest in people. And so, out of their abundance, they also regularly gave to our youth program, and to our food ministry… and to so many other ministries. These men were quietly committed to sharing as much as they could, and they delighted in watching how their investments in people always brought returns. Blessing others and investing their money in helping to heal unjust economic systems… was a true joy for them… and their joy was our joy! And this gospel today… this challenging piece of good news… is also a source of joy. Because Jesus came to bring good news to the poor… to set the oppressed free, to restore us to each other… and to liberate us from the bondage of our sin… and Mammon… Mammon is a big one. But Jesus does not leave us to the destruction of our sin… Jesus calls us back, time and time again… back to God and to the source of our salvation. Jesus reminds us that we are commanded to serve only one God, who is above all other gods. A God who loves us and has given us the way of everlasting life… who liberates us… and points us toward the true richness found in relationships and community. So, love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind… and love your neighbor as yourself. Trust in the good news of Jesus and in God’s commands. Do this… and you will be richly blessed. Amen. _________________________________________________________________________ Notes: Commentary on Luke 16:1-13, by Barbara Rossing, on Commentary on Luke 16:1-13, by Mary Schertz, September 2007 issue of Christian Century /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/38295115

Special Music - Panis Angelicus 09/14/2025

Special Music - Holy Thy Name 09/14/2025

Sermon - 9/14/25 09/14/2025

Sermon - 9/14/25 Sermon 9-14-25, Ex 32:7-14, Lk 15: 1-10 The scripture for today really caused me to lean into my identity as a chaplain – and a word of warning – a chaplain will likely leave you with more questions than answers… The role of a chaplain is to ask questions that support others in remembering and reconnecting with their own coping strategies and belief systems One question that today’s scripture brings up is What is the nature of God? / / / This is a question that I often explore with patients I think of the 50-year-old woman with newly diagnosed triple-negative breast cancer – a very aggressive and difficult-to-treat cancer -- who finds the courage to ask “Is God punishing me for something?” as she comes to terms with how every aspect of her life is now upended and at risk / / / What is the nature of God? This is an age-old question that humankind continues to wrestle with Not only among various religious traditions But also within Christianity Maybe especially within Christianity This disagreement is understandable – as we have two conflicting examples of God’s nature in scripture today. In Exodus, the Lord says to Moses: “…Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them” (Ex. 32:10) / / / Then in Luke Jesus likens God to one who continues to seek, welcome and rejoice over humankind – especially those who have “been lost” Throughout scripture we can find examples of God’s nature to justify whatever perspective we choose to hold As we can with most issues Is God slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love or punishing sinners in judgement? Perhaps the more challenging debate lies within the questions about ourselves What do we believe? How do we live out those beliefs? How do we respond when we inevitably bump up against life circumstances and people who challenge those beliefs? / / / / I utilize psychology and sociology often as a chaplain, and draw upon those studies as I reflect on theology – the study of God – today Anthropomorphism is placing human attributes on things or beings that are not human We do this with our pets all the time, imagining their mood or desires We do this with plants and trees, imagining the grass is crying out in despair after days without rain – or rejoicing after the rain finally comes It’s easy with these examples to recognize how we’re likely projecting ourselves onto our dog or cat or lawn But what about with God? Might we also project ourselves onto who we wish God to be? / / / / So I read and reflect upon today’s scripture with the awareness that anthropomorphism and projecting are real I also reflect on them from an Internal Family Systems perspective which acknowledges that we have different, and sometimes competing parts of ourselves that influence our thoughts and behavior This acknowledges how at times there is a part of myself that wants my enemy to suffer AND a part of myself that wants to extend compassion to my enemy / / / / Going back to the reading from Exodus with this perspective I think about Moses Moses who at the beginning of his call story begged God to pick someone else – anyone else – to do this work Moses who realized the difficulty of his call and lamented the grumbling and complaining of the Israelites to God Moses who continually turned around and devoted himself to guiding and teaching these people who kept messing up and falling short of “the plan” Moses who today implored God to return to God’s good nature – and changed God’s mind / / / / The Israelites built the golden calf and began worshipping it instead of God This is the famous example of idolatry that Abrahamic traditions reference But, it also demonstrates humankind’s greed – And desire to possess and control God / / / / If God seems to stretch us too far out of our comfort zone Let’s project onto God traits that are more like us Let us make a god into one we can understand And abide And feel better about worshipping / / / / So we hear this anger from God in the book of Exodus over the people worshipping the golden calf and breaking the covenant They break their promise to worship only God They cannot keep their end of the bargain And God is angry – so angry God plans to burn wrath hot against them and consume them! But I wonder Is this God’s anger Or Moses’? Moses - After years of serving in this role that he didn’t really want Teaching and guiding and nurturing these people Literally participating in saving their lives While being on the receiving end of their grumbling and disobedience I wonder if Moses is angry / / / / Fast-forward about 1200 years and the religious leaders are grumbling The Pharisees are grumbling about Jesus who cannot be controlled Jesus the Christ cannot be predicted or contained Jesus’ love is bigger than what the law holds as he welcomes those outsiders Jesus, one with God, is despised and rejected Jesus persists in showing compassion to sinners Those who aren’t keeping the covenant promise with God / / / / Jesus gives us yet another window through which to glimpse the nature of God Through his own actions And with two parables One about a shepherd and one about a woman These are two other groups in addition to the tax collectors that the Pharisees looked down upon And here Jesus likens God to both a shepherd and a woman / / Jesus draws us a picture with his story of God who rejoices over those who return to God – and calls a huge celebration! / / / / What is the nature of God? Jesus is trying to show the Pharisees that their righteousness has become a barrier to their ability to experience God Perhaps the merit of following the law is not the most important thing Somehow keeping track of right and wrong is preventing them from sharing in God’s love and celebration “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Lk 15:7) The wild thing is that in these parables we know that neither sheep nor coins can repent There is no criticism of the sheep who wandered off, wondering what was it thinking and how long it wasn’t paying attention to where it SHOULD have been going It’s laughable to blame a coin for getting lost in the couch but I suppose we’d likely blame the caretaker of that coin for being so irresponsible God is rejoicing over what the Pharisees would have called worthless sheep and coins Who cannot even repent Which begs the question -- can we repent? / / / / In spite of Moses’ – or God’s anger In spite of ignorance and sinning and irresponsibility God keeps the covenant God keeps God’s promise God continues to show humankind mercy And Jesus is calling the Pharisees – and us - out God calls us out of the human nature of judgement and criticism And toward God’s celebration / / / / What is the nature of God? Maybe deciding we know the answer to that question is like building another golden calf Maybe focusing on God’s nature is yet another way to avoid confronting our own nature What parts of ourself want to burn hot against someone What parts of ourself feel justified in the good works we do What parts of ourself continue to notice the short-comings of others What parts of ourself criticize our own mistakes or times when we chose poorly What parts of ourself limit our ability to celebrate and rejoice for keeping track of all our own faults and all that’s wrong in this world / / / / What is the nature of God? I do know that I want God to be slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love when I’m looking into this woman’s tearful eyes listening to hear fears about not seeing her teenage daughter graduate from high school I also recognize the part of me that wants God to be a flaming hot wrath consuming the one whose actions and words seem so wrong And because of that I know that I have to let it go – and let God be God And refocus on my call and challenge as a Christian To continue to wrestle with the enormity of God’s love To believe that God keeps God’s promise even when I can’t keep mine To give love to myself and to my neighbor in ridiculous and generous ways And in the midst of it all, celebrate and rejoice with God Amen. /episode/index/show/faithlutheran/id/38215025

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