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  • Special Music - Panis Angelicus

    Special Music - Panis Angelicus
    2025/09/14

    Today, we had a special musical performance of Panis Angelicus with a solo by Cody Boyan at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

    Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC
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    4 分
  • Special Music - Holy Thy Name

    Special Music - Holy Thy Name
    2025/09/14

    Today, we had a special musical performance of Holy Thy Name by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

    Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC
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    3 分
  • Sermon - 9/14/25

    Sermon - 9/14/25
    2025/09/14
    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 ...
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    21 分
  • Special Music - Heavenly Sunlight

    Special Music - Heavenly Sunlight
    2025/09/07

    Today, we had a special musical performance of Heavenly Sunlight by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.
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    4 分
  • Sermon - 9/7/25

    Sermon - 9/7/25
    2025/09/07
    Year C – 13th Sunday after Pentecost; Lectionary 23 – September 7, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Psalm 1 Luke 14:25-33 Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, and from Jesus, our Savior, who urges us to choose life, so that we may live. Amen. *** These are some challenging words from Jesus today. …Reminds me of the good news from a few weeks ago, when Jesus said he did not come to bring peace, but division… these words make me catch my breath. Yet they are part of the Good News and have been set before us… and so today, we will wrestle with them… together. “Whoever comes to me and does not hate their family, and yes, even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” Is Jesus really telling us that… hate… is a mark of discipleship? Isn’t God supposed to be all about love? Isn’t the greatest commandment, above all the others… You shall love the Lord, your God, and then… you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself. Yes! Jesus did say that! …and it wasn’t new information… he was drawing from Deuteronomy and Leviticus, which his listeners would have known. And what about the fourth commandment… You shall honor your father and mother? How are we to follow God’s commandment to honor our parents if Jesus states that we cannot become his disciples unless we hate them? We call the gospels Good News… but Good News… isn’t always easy to hear. And yet… it is still good. It is good because it comes from God, who is, indeed, all about love. But it requires us to make choices… choices between life and death… blessings and curses. Choose to fear and love the Lord, your God, above all else. The one who created you, who loved you into existence, desires for you to put God and God’s commandments before everything else. Following God has always been about loving God above all else… because we are so loved. And we know… we know… that following God’s will for us… that following God’s commandments does, in fact, lead to a full life blessed with love and abundance… …it leads to communities that care for the needs of others, where all people are valued and supported, and where everyone has enough. Even though God desires for us to choose this life and these blessings… it still comes with a cost. See, the common thread between our texts today is God’s desire for us to first recognize all that God offers us… all that God has laid out for us to consider… and then to make the choice, the only choice… that leads to a flourishing life. …not just for us alone, for we are not meant to be alone… but a flourishing life as communities that have chosen to love God above all else. Choose life… so that you may live… but count the costs of this life of discipleship so you don’t make this choice blindly… and you will know …that what God offers is good. We know all about making choices… and we know all about making sacrifices for those choices. There are the little choices we make every day, like choosing a healthy lunch over fast food, because we know that while that burger and fries might taste great in the moment… if that was all we ate, every day… we wouldn’t feel so great. And generally what you choose to eat for lunch doesn’t become your whole identity… it doesn’t demand that you put everything and everyone else as secondary. That would be crazy. But there are choices we make… sacrifices we make… that require this of us… like for example… the choice to play youth travel sports. Working in youth ministry, I regularly lamented the rise in popularity of youth travel sports. Maybe some of you have had your kids involved in travel teams, I don’t know… And if you did and loved them, you might get angry with me about this… But here’s my perspective from the ministry side of things. Whenever one of my church youth joined a travel team, it was pretty much the death blow to whatever life of faith they and their family had been developing until that point. Participation in travel teams demanded that everything else be sacrificed. First, the family had to invest thousands of dollars every year for their child to be on the team, which wasn’t even a guarantee they’d play. And, it was a travel team, so every weekend, the family would be traveling for games… and over the years, it seemed that weekends alone weren’t enough, so they started planning for other games during the week. These teams insisted that for the athlete to be successful, every available moment needed to be devoted to the travel team. The team was the highest priority, and if you challenged that, you couldn’t be on the team. And so, these kids sacrificed a lot. They sacrificed any opportunity to be involved in anything else with their school or friends. They sacrificed their grades as they struggled to balance school and their commitments to the team. And they sacrificed their faith, and any relationships their family had been ...
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    15 分
  • Special Music - Precious Jesus

    Special Music - Precious Jesus
    2025/08/31

    Today, we had a special musical performance of Precious Jesus with a solo from Deb Borton at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

    Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC
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    3 分
  • Sermon - 8/31/25

    Sermon - 8/31/25
    2025/08/31
    Year C – 12th Sunday after Pentecost; Lectionary 22 – August 31, 2025 Pastor Megan Floyd Proverbs 25:6-7a Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16 Luke 14:1, 7-14 Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, and from Jesus, our Savior, who invites us to share in the gift of a meal, for which we can never repay. Amen. *** It is remarkable to me how often the Holy Spirit swirls around us with opportunities to practice the radical love that Jesus invites us into… And there are a couple of exciting ones that I’ll tell you about in a bit…. These opportunities were awesome when I first heard about them, but even more so after thinking about how they fit with our scripture today. The Spirit is feisty like that… I love it… but before I tell you about them… we need to talk about Jesus… and his lesson on table manners. Drawing from the old wisdom found in Proverbs, Jesus tells these Pharisees and leaders not to claim the most prestigious spot at the table, where you might have to lower yourself if someone higher in the social hierarchy arrives. But instead… choose the lowest spot, so that you might be honored when asked to move higher. “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled… and all who humble themselves will be exalted.” What Jesus leaves hanging in the air… is that if they intentionally choose the lowest spot… so that the host will honor them… choosing to humble themselves so that they may be exalted among others… then they have missed the point. …they have missed the point. The game of honor and shame… of social hierarchy and status… of being humbled or exalted before others… is not how the kingdom of God works. Jesus tells us to forego the shuffling around for status altogether and instead, invite those who cannot return the favor… to give to those who cannot give anything in return. Do not invite the elite of society to your dinner party. Instead, invite those whom our society pushes to the edges… the ones whom society would like to forget exist. Jesus’ word for us today… is to step away from the cultural expectation of social climbing and quid pro quo… to stop jockeying for status and prestige… Share a meal with those with whom no one else would dare share a meal … those who have no food to offer you in return. This is what Jesus himself did… time and time again… revealing to us the values of God’s kingdom. When you look upon those who have nothing to offer you… and recognize that in the eyes of God, you are equal… and you are both loved beyond measure… That is where God’s blessing is revealed… that is how we glimpse the face of God in our neighbor. Not by lording our status or privilege over them… but by recognizing that we are siblings through Christ. And just as I am reminded today of the radical hospitality that Jesus calls us to extend… I also remember that we are the ones who have nothing to offer… and yet, Jesus invites us to such a meal… We are the ones… whom Jesus has invited to come and share the meal of bread and wine… a meal that comes with the promised presence of our God, and the full and great cloud of witnesses from all time. We are the ones whom Jesus has invited to receive this incredible gift… for which we cannot ever repay, and for which we are only worthy to receive because Jesus has declared us to be worthy. We dine on such a meal almost every time we gather for worship… …and so, our Savior, Jesus Christ, is calling us to do for others, as he did for us… as Jesus continues to do for us. Jesus is inviting us to live in a completely different world within our culture… inviting us to embrace the values and ideals of God’s kingdom… inviting us to claim the blessing that is found by extending grace and hospitality to those whom others would just as soon forget. And to not only see ourselves as equal to them under God’s eyes… But to connect with them in such a way that their suffering becomes our suffering, their hunger becomes our hunger… their pain becomes our pain… so that together, we might break the causes of oppression, poverty, and harm. Because when our neighbor is suffering… it’s personal. It was counter-cultural then, and it is counter-cultural now… Jesus has been inviting us into something new, and something better… this whole time. Our text from Hebrews tells us to remember those in prison as if you were in prison… remember those being tortured as if you were being tortured. That’s a level of connection that most of us would rather avoid… Yet, we are urged not to keep those in need at arm’s length. They are our siblings in Christ, and God loves them as much as God loves us. This idea… completely topples the social hierarchy… and shreds the practice of jostling for the seat at the table that will earn you the most prestige. Invite those who cannot invite you in return… give to those who cannot repay your kindness. This kind of generosity… is the true source ...
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    18 分
  • Special Music - Kum Ba Ya

    Special Music - Kum Ba Ya
    2025/08/24

    Today, we had a special musical performance of Kum Ba Ya by the Treble Maker Singers at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

    Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC
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    3 分