Episodios

  • Special Music - Lord Jesus You Shall Be My Song

    Special Music - Lord Jesus You Shall Be My Song
    Mar 9 2026

    Today, we had a special musical performance of Lord Jesus You Shall Be My Song by the Faith Chancel Choir with Ariella VanderLaan on oboe at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

    Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC
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    3 m
  • Special Music - Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days

    Special Music - Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days
    Mar 9 2026

    Today, we had a special musical performance of Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days by the Faith Chancel Choir with Ariella VanderLaan on oboe at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

    Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC
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    4 m
  • Sermon - 3-8-26

    Sermon - 3-8-26
    Mar 9 2026
    Year A – Third Sunday in Lent– March 8, 2026 Pastor Megan Floyd Exodus 17:1-7 John 4:1-42 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who is truly the Savior of the world. Amen. *** Many… many years ago, Bill and I had the privilege of attending my friend's wedding… she and her partner got married in the Valley of Fire in the Grand Canyon… at sunset. It was… spectacular! Our little party was delivered to this magical location on helicopters, which flew us through the Canyon, across the incredible landscape that just… stretched on for as far as I could see. As we flew, the walls of the Canyon were on either side of us, and yet, my brain couldn't make sense of the scale. Then the pilot pointed out a little dark spec that was way under us… he said, "That's the other helicopter." Those four words… radically changed my perspective. I mean… sure, I could see that the place was well worth the title of 'Grand,' …but suddenly, 'Grand' couldn't even contain the full scope of where we were. Nothing could… I don't think there is any word in our language that can truly encapsulate the landscape… the magnitude… of what we call… The Grand Canyon. And the same is true… about God's love. God's love is so grand… so deep and wide and never ending… that we bump up against the same inability to fully wrap our minds around the full scope… the full scale of what it really means… that God so loved the world. On that helicopter… I didn't even begin to understand how big that landscape was until the pilot showed me what it meant… until he gave me a new perspective and showed me how Grand it really was. And that's what's happening in our text today… Jesus is showing the disciples what it means… that God so loved the world. Telling them isn't going to be enough… he must show them… which is why it was necessary for them to go through Samaria. Verse 4. Our translation reads, "But he had to go through Samaria." …the Greek word is stronger than that, though… It was 'necessary' …it was imperative that he go through Samaria. Why? …they were traveling north from Judea to Galilee… and Samaria is between those two places. But, as the text points out… something that everyone at the time would have understood… very clearly… the Jews and the Samaritans do not associate with each other. It was an ancient family feud… they have the same ancestors… but different theology around the critical question of… where is God found? For the Jewish people, God was found in the Temple in Jerusalem… in the Holy of Holies. That's where they went to worship. For the Samaritans, God was found high on the top of Mount Gerizim. That's where they went to worship. They had other differences as well, but this was the most pressing theological question of their time... the question that went back to the time of Moses, in the wilderness of Sin, when they were dying of thirst… Where is God? Is the Lord among us or not? These are heavy questions… and modern denominations have split apart for less. So, to avoid the tension and the feud, Jewish people traveling from Judea to Galilee would have taken the road that ran along the Jordan River Valley. They would not have climbed through the mountains of Samaria. So why… why was it necessary for them to go through Samaria? It was necessary… because Jesus needed to show his disciples the full scale and scope of his ministry… he needed to give them a new perspective. Jesus needed to challenge their assumptions about who is in and who is out… he needed to widen their understanding of what sort of people Jesus was seeking… about whom he loved. So he took them to the very place they would have assumed was excluded. Samaria. Jesus needs to go there to find his first witness… he needs to find her… the unnamed, unmarried, powerless, Samaritan woman… discarded or widowed five times over… now living with the brother of her late husband in a Levirate marriage. She is a nobody… an outsider among religious outsiders… visiting the well when no one else would have been there… at the hottest… and brightest time of the day. Remember what I said about day and night in the Gospel of John? She's there when the sun is at its brightest… and with this woman… Jesus proceeds to have the longest recorded conversation that he has with anybody… in any of the four gospels. It was necessary for him to go through Samaria… to find… her. Now, like anyone who talks to Jesus, she doesn't fully understand him at first, but she sticks with it… and she trusts him with her truth. So, in response to her faith and her growing understanding around the coming Messiah… he shares his truth… He is… the I AM… the Great I AM… the same I AM from the burning bush and Moses…...
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    24 m
  • Special Music - Lenten Meditation

    Special Music - Lenten Meditation
    Mar 1 2026

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

    Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC
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    4 m
  • Sermon - 3-1-26

    Sermon - 3-1-26
    Mar 1 2026
    Year A – Second Sunday in Lent– March 1, 2026 Pastor Megan Floyd Genesis 12:1-4a John 3:1-17 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who came, not to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Amen. *** Can I just tell you… I deeply appreciate Nicodemus. He is a religious leader among the Jews… a Pharisee… he's a scholar of the scriptures… he knows the law of Moses through and through… the Pharisees were very strict in their law-abiding ways. He is well known with an excellent reputation… one whom others came to for advice and leadership. And yet… he is brave enough… he is brave enough to wonder… to ask… what if this man Jesus really is something more? Nicodemus has the courage to ask if maybe he missed something… he has the strength of character to observe what is taking place around him… and consider that he may have been wrong. We have all been wrong from time to time… we've all made mistakes… and we know that being wrong is no joke… …the realization that we are wrong about something… especially something really big… can actually trigger intense psychological discomfort… and sometimes even physical pain. These feelings can manifest as shame or guilt… and lead to cognitive dissonance in the struggle to reconcile the reality around us with our long-held position on something … and it only becomes more difficult as that reality becomes increasingly unmistakable. It's why some people will double down on their position… on their interpretation of things… why they will insist that reality isn't actually what we perceive with our eyes, but only what they, instead, insist it must be. It's all about avoiding the pain of being wrong… maybe they think it makes them look tough… or strong… except… that avoidance is the weaker approach. Avoidance and refusal to take in new information may protect our psyche in the short-term, but it cuts us off from the potential to learn and grow. …And in strictly Christian terms, it prevents us from the healing that occurs when we face our mistakes or errors, and we confess them… and change our ways through repentance… so that we can receive forgiveness with a clean heart… and begin repairing the relationships that may have been harmed. I've always deeply appreciated Nicodemus… but in these times, when our country is so divided… when the testimonies of our neighbors to what they have seen and experienced go ignored… because their testimony challenges the positions that some will not allow to be challenged… …well, I find that in these days… I appreciate Nicodemus even more. I appreciate that Nicodemus is willing to leave room for wonder… leave room for new information… he's willing to allow his position to be challenged, even though his position is one around which he has built his entire life. Do you know anyone like that? …I do. I appreciate Nicodemus' strength… what must it have taken for him to come to Jesus to ask… to learn? …I certainly don't fault him for coming to Jesus at night! I probably would have as well, were I in Nicodemus' place… it was safer for him than to risk everything… to wonder enough to ask. Also… it's worth noting… because we're in the gospel of John now for the next four weeks…that in the gospel of John, the use of day and night is a thematic revelation of being in relationship with Jesus. Not to say that darkness is evil, because far too much modern bias has taken that wrong turn… but… Jesus is the light of the world, and so to be in relationship with him… to have an understanding of who and what Jesus is… in the gospel of John… is to be in the light… it is… to greet him in the day. I want you to hold on to that theme over the rest of Lent because we'll hear much more from John in the coming weeks… you'll find how often it comes into the description of a scene, and gives clues to where they are in relationship with Jesus. So… Nicodemus… he arrives at night… so he's not so sure… but he can't deny that what he has seen is amazing, and he knows that these wonders could only come from God. And in his secret conversation… we learn something very important about the nature of God through Jesus. We learn… that Jesus is going to meet us wherever we are on our spiritual journey… even if it is from a place of doubt. We learn that Jesus is going to come to us… to meet us in that space… he's going to receive our questions and our doubts with love and compassion… along with some healthy accountability… and he's going to guide us into a deeper understanding of who he is. It is a journey we all must take… a journey Christ invites us all to take. We don't hear about Nicodemus again in our lectionary texts, but his story continues… he's one of the few people, other than the disciples, whom we are blessed to return to and catch glimpses of his spiritual growth...
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    18 m
  • Special Music - O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High

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

    Today, we had a special musical performance of O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High by the Faith Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

    Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC
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    4 m
  • Sermon - 2/22/26

    Sermon - 2/22/26
    Feb 22 2026
    Year A – First Sunday in Lent– February 22, 2026 Pastor Megan Floyd Matthew 4:1-11 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who loves us and claims us as his own. Amen. *** I grew up watching Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood… Looking back over my life, I'm pretty sure that's what radicalized me. In Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, you knew you belonged, and that who you were… was good… and that… the other people around you… well, they might be different from you… look different from you… but… they were good, too. In that neighborhood, there was an overwhelming sense that we belonged to each other… there was shared love and respect for other people, even when they made mistakes. In Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, each person… or character… was valued… seen… and supported. This is something that everyone of us needs, not just children… and we need this throughout our whole lives. Mr. Rogers was not just the face and creator of the children's show… he was also a Presbyterian pastor… so it's not surprising at all… that his neighborhood intentionally reflected… the beloved community that we, who are followers of Jesus, work to build. Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood was a little taste of what God's vision for us might look like when we take seriously the ways of living that Jesus called us to practice. It was a little sample of living in the promised kingdom of God… for 30 minutes at a time. Those of us who were raised in Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood know that a better, more beautiful, and beloved neighborhood is possible… if we choose to live that way. Growing up with a show like this… it's no wonder that I feel so strongly that compassion for others is healthy… that empathy can heal divides… and that love and support should not have conditions. It's no wonder… that I don't want to bend to the unjust power systems in this world… in this country… even though… I could work the system to bend in my favor. I could! …it is, after all, set up for me to do so… it's tempting to take advantage of that. Case in point… I am a white, cisgender, heterosexual woman, wife, and mother, from a middle-class family… and my husband does not suffer from the delusion that I am merely an accessory to his lifestyle. I have a world-class education that was mostly achieved without debt, I do not suffer from debilitating diseases like addiction or depression, and… at least at this moment, I am still able-bodied… most of the time. It is tempting… it's tempting… to sink into the power structures that privilege nearly all of my life's characteristics. But to do so… would mean to accept an unjust and unequal community… it would mean giving up on the better way that I know is possible… not just because Mr. Rogers showed me that way when I was a child… but because Jesus was super clear about it. Embracing a privilege that marginalizes others is not part of God's vision for us… for humanity… it does not ask us to become the best version of ourselves… or call us into a more beloved community. But… when power and privilege are laid out before you for the taking… it's tempting… to reach out and take it, no matter who it harms. This is, of course… what Jesus himself… faced in the wilderness immediately following his baptism… immediately after hearing the voice of God claiming him as God's beloved, in whom God was well pleased. The Spirit led him out there… into the desert… where he fasted for 40 days… facing spiritual and physical challenges… he was famished, and weak… and at his most vulnerable moment, the devil stepped in… as the devil is wont to do. We all have experience with the devil… with the voice of the accuser… whether you believe the devil to be an actual being… or the shadow side of our own human self… it doesn't matter. In whatever shape it takes on… the accuser… the devil… is the one who whispers lies in our ear… lies about ourselves and others. It's the voice of shame… the voice that isolates and diminishes… That is the voice of the accuser. God's voice is the one who declares us worthy and loved… while the voice of the accuser, on the other hand… is the one who pulls us away from God's purpose… and from God's vision for us. The voice of the accuser is the one who would have us forget our identity as beloved… as children of God… and who offers only empty promises. It's what the devil tried to offer Jesus… he tried to entice him to reject his identity and grasp at empty promises… to wield power that would serve only himself… instead of those he came to serve. Because… Jesus does have the power to do what the devil suggests… but he chooses not to use it. He chooses not to become an agent for the accuser, because he knows that he is… an agent of God. And Jesus knows… that empires are not eternal… and nations are not sovereign over God… and earthly power is not permanent...
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    19 m
  • Special Music – Heavenly Sunlight

    Special Music – Heavenly Sunlight
    Feb 15 2026

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

    Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC
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    4 m