Your Faith Journey - Finding God Through Words, Song and Praise

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

  1. Aug 10

    Special Music - Blessed Be Your Name

    Today, we had a special musical performance of Blessed Be Your Name, a summer ensemble performance at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan. Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC

  2. Aug 10 ·  Bonus

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  3. Aug 10

    When God's Love Won't Let Go

    Year A – Pentecost 11; Lectionary 19 – August 9, 2026 Pastor Megan Floyd             Romans 10:5-15   Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, from the Holy Spirit, our Sustainer, and from Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Amen. *** There is something in this passage from Romans that has always troubled me. You may have heard these words used as a kind of spiritual ultimatum: "If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."  (Rom 10:9) I've heard those words used to frighten people: Have you said the right words? Do you really believe? What if your faith isn't strong enough? What if you haven't confessed properly? But that way of hearing this passage makes salvation sound like something we accomplish. Something we have to get right. And I do not believe that is the gospel. We do not have agency over our own salvation. We don't save ourselves by believing hard enough… And we don't save ourselves by saying the right words. Salvation is God's work… as are grace and mercy… And thanks be to God for that! …because that means our salvation does not depend upon our ability to get God to love us, for God has already acted. In Jesus Christ, God has already come among us... Christ has already died and risen… and God's grace is already being poured out. And that is where Paul takes us in this passage: "The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart." Not far away or hidden behind some spiritual achievement… or locked behind a gate that we have to figure out how to open. The Word is near us… Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is near us… because Christ is near us. Always. And I think the great spiritual challenge of our lives is not figuring out how to make God come closer… but rather… learning to recognize that God is already here. God's closeness comforts me, but it has been especially comforting over this past week of turmoil. Many of us are carrying sadness and anger because Meschac, a young man this congregation helped after he came to our country… was taken into custody by ICE last Sunday morning. He is kind and generous, and exactly the sort of person we want beside us in our neighborhoods and communities. And yet… he has been caught up in a system that treats human beings as problems to be removed… rather than neighbors to be loved. It is hard, in moments like this, to see the kingdom of God, and to believe that Christ is near when humanity's cruelty is so very present. But… this is why Paul's words matter. The Word is near… Christ is near. And Christ is especially near to our friend and neighbor whose dignity is being denied. Our calling is not to manufacture the kingdom of heaven. It is to wake up to it. Jesus spent his ministry opening people's eyes. He showed them that the kingdom of God was not merely some distant destination after death. God's reign was breaking into the world already—in healing, forgiveness, mercy, radical welcome and reconciliation, and of course… through love for our neighbor. And when Jesus says, "Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself," he is showing us what it looks like to live with our eyes open. This is where our confession of faith comes into play… Yes, we want to confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord, and yes, we want to believe it in our hearts. But not because those words are a password that gets us into heaven. We confess Christ because saying it opens our hearts to the reality that is already here. We confess Christ because faith gives us eyes to recognize what God is already doing. We confess Christ because when Christ becomes close to our hearts, our lives begin to change. Our obedience to God's will does not purchase God's grace… it is how we respond to God's grace. Lois Neeves recently gave me a book called Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus, and the authors put this beautifully: "Disobedience [to the way of Christ] is a problem, but it can also be an opportunity. If half-heartedness has been stunting your growth, you can reverse its downward pull by repenting and asking God to help you respond to him with renewed trust and obedience. As you do, you may find yourself enjoying unprecedented spiritual growth as God opens up new channels for grace to flow into your life. The way we understand Jesus' words about the kingdom is critical to the kind of life we will live. If we think that the 'kingdom of heaven' is simply about Christ's second coming or about going to heaven when we die, we'll be tempted to become passive and complacent. But if Jesus' kingdom is a living, dynamic reality—a reality that is right now steadily advancing against the kingdom of darkness—that's a different story. As followers of Christ, our obedience is vital because it is a catalyst for the Spirit's work, making us more like Jesus so that his reign can spread across the whole earth." Let me summarize that: our obedience does not make God's kingdom come. God is already at work in our lives. But our obedience to God's will and God's ways can help us see it… and our lives can become a way through which God's love can reach someone else. When we refuse to look away from our neighbor's suffering, when we welcome the stranger and the immigrant, when we stand with someone who is afraid, when we speak up against cruelty, when we forgive, when we feed, when we shelter, when we love—we are not earning our place in God's kingdom. We are living as people who have discovered that the kingdom is already here. This is the freedom of the gospel. We don't have to control God. We can't, actually. Nor do we have to secure our salvation. We can't do that either. And we don't have to be afraid that we haven't done enough… because God has already done what we could never do. And because we are freed from having to save ourselves… we are free to love... Free to serve… Free to stand beside our neighbor who is being harmed and offer protection. We are free to let God's Word become as close to us as our own hearts and as natural to us as the words we speak. So… the question for us this morning is not, "Have I done enough to get into heaven?" But rather, "Where is Christ already here, and am I awake enough to see him?" Because, my friends, Christ is here. Christ is near to you, always. And the kingdom of heaven is not merely something waiting for us at the end of our lives. It is God's living presence among us now. And every time we love God by loving our neighbor… every time mercy becomes visible through our lives… every time we choose compassion over cruelty… we discover that God's love is not only around us, but moving through us. God is already here… already loving us… and already redeeming all of creation. And our calling is simply—and profoundly—to wake up, to recognize that holy grace, and to let it flow through our lives and out into the world. It will be challenging at times… but we don't have to do this alone… because… p God is with us. Amen.

  4. Aug 2

    Special Music - Come to the Water

    Today, we had a special musical performance of Come to the Water, a summer ensemble performance at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan. Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC

  5. Aug 2

    Sermon - 8-2-26

    Year A – Pentecost 10; Lectionary 18 – August 2, 2026 Pastor Megan Floyd             Romans 9:1-5   Grace and peace to you from God, who is faithful and trustworthy, from the Holy Spirit, who is with us always, and from Jesus Christ, the source of our salvation. Amen. *** In that passage from Romans that Tabitha just read… could you hear the heartbreak in Paul's words? Could you hear his anguish over his Jewish siblings who had not come to follow Christ? He muses on the possibility of giving up his own place with Jesus… if only it meant they would not be forgotten. Just as Moses tried to offer himself up as a sacrifice for his people after the regrettable golden calf incident… Paul offers himself. Except… God's gifts are not ours to trade, and his sacrifice is not needed, for our God is full of compassion, and God's promises are grounded in mercy. This brief passage from Romans marks the beginning of Paul's lengthy theological wrestling with how God's covenant with Israel remains trustworthy even as he has been called to proclaim the risen Christ to the Gentiles. It comes immediately after one of the most beloved passages in all of Scripture—that triumphant declaration that nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And then… almost without warning, Paul is overcome with sorrow. He doesn't launch the next theological point with an argument… He begins with tears. This past Thursday evening, the book study group spent some time talking about Abraham Lincoln, which got me thinking. History reminds us that Lincoln's views on slavery developed over time. Early in the Civil War, he often spoke of preserving the Union as his highest constitutional duty. Yet after years of unimaginable suffering, after hundreds of thousands of lives had been lost, he stood before the nation at his Second Inaugural Address and called the country not to vengeance, but to healing: "With malice toward none; with charity for all." Winning the war was one thing, but… healing the nation was another. There is an enormous difference between winning an argument and loving people. Paul could have begun Romans 9 by praising himself for being on the right team… but instead, he says, "I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart." That is what the love of Christ looks like. …Paul's anguish is not rooted in judgment. It is rooted in love. He is a Jewish man whose heart is breaking because the people he loves most have not come to know Christ as he has… He has not stopped loving them. He has not written them off… He has not declared them beyond God's reach. His heart aches because they are still his family… and isn't that a feeling we know? Perhaps your heart aches for a child who no longer comes to church. A spouse who once believed but no longer does. …A sibling who walked away after being hurt. A dear friend whose faith quietly faded. Maybe you have sat in worship and instinctively looked toward the place where someone used to sit. There is grief in those empty places. Sometimes people leave because life pulls them in different directions. Sometimes they leave because they no longer recognize Christ in the church. And sometimes… and we must confess this honestly… sometimes they leave because the church has pushed them away. Our LGBTQIA+ siblings. People living with disabilities whose gifts were overlooked. People who asked hard questions. …People who never quite fit the mold. We print "All Are Welcome" on our signs... We proclaim it from our pulpits. But sometimes… unintentionally… our actions tell another story. However a person leaves… it hurts. …Paul understands that pain. But beneath Paul's grief is an even deeper question. Can God be trusted? If God's chosen people have not all embraced Christ, have God's promises somehow failed? That is the question Paul spends the next three chapters wrestling with. Truthfully, it is our question too. Can I trust God? …Can I trust grace? Can I trust forgiveness? …Can I trust that God's promises really are for me… or do I still have to prove myself? We live in a world that teaches us every blessing must be earned. Work harder. …Do better. …Be more successful. Even in the church, we quietly slip back into believing that if we pray enough, serve enough, forgive enough, then maybe God will be pleased with us. We do this… even as we know better. We preach grace… and yet we keep trying to earn what has always been God's gift. This is what drove Martin Luther nearly mad until he followed Paul's writing through the theological working out that finally led him… to grace. (…and a complete, unintended reformation of the Catholic church) Paul wrote, "I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people." It is a breathtaking statement… but Paul cannot save them any more than we save the people we love. Because Christ already has. Paul says, "I wish I could offer myself." …and Jesus says, "I already have." That is the Gospel… right there in a nutshell. Christ has already carried the burden we cannot carry. Christ has already accomplished the salvation we could never accomplish. Which means the fate of those we love does not rest on our shoulders. It rests in the hands of the God whose mercy is deeper than our understanding and whose faithfulness is greater than our fears. As theologian Mary Beth Anton reminds us, Paul ultimately must place his beloved people into God's hands… and so must we. Perhaps that is why I love what happens every time we share the meal of holy communion. The bread is broken, the wine is poured… Christ gathers us together. And yet… I suspect… every one of us can think of someone we wish were here with us. Someone whose voice used to join ours in singing. …Someone who drifted away. Maybe someone who was wounded by the church… or someone who is angry with God. Every Communion table has empty places we wish were filled. …Paul knows exactly what that feels like. But this table also reminds us of something else. This table does not belong to us. It belongs to Christ, and it is Christ who invites us… who welcomes us… and it is Christ who feeds us. Jesus Christ… who gives himself for the life of the world. The promises made here do not depend upon our worthiness. …They depend upon God's faithfulness. That is why Paul continues his wrestling all the way through Romans 11 before arriving at one of the most beautiful conclusions: "The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." (Rom 11:29) Not temporary or conditional. They are irrevocable. And then he goes even further: "For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that God may be merciful to all." (Rom 11:32) Paul does not say God is merciful only to those who have earned it… He says God's mercy is for all… because every one of us stands in need of it. Our Jewish ancestors were the first recipients of God's covenants, God's promises, God's steadfast love. Through Christ, we have been graciously grafted into that same family tree. We have not replaced them; we have been welcomed alongside them into God's unfolding story of salvation. And the God who was faithful to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah is the same faithful God who remains true to every promise made in Christ. That is why theology should never become detached from compassion. If our understanding of God does not make us love more deeply, then we have misunderstood God.    (x2) Every page of Scripture tells the story of our God whose mercy continually reaches farther than we imagined. It tells of our God in Christ who feeds the hungry because he has compassion for them… stories of our God who refuses to abandon God's people. Story after story of our God whose love is stronger than our failures… whose promises are trustworthy even when we cannot yet see how they will be fulfilled. So today, we come to this table with gratitude, carrying the names of people we love. We bring our grief and our questions… and even our doubts. We come wondering how God is still at work in lives we cannot control. And Christ places bread into our hands and says, "This is my body, given for you." Not because we earned it, or because we understood everything. …But because mercy is who God is. And when we leave this place, we'll go… trusting what Paul finally came to trust: that the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable… and that nothing will ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And because that promise is true, we can live with hope instead of despair, and with hearts that are continually shaped by the mercy we ourselves have received. Amen.

  6. Jul 26

    Special Music - Michi

    Today, we had a special musical performance of Michi, a solo on Marimba by Calvin Kadrofske at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan. Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC

  7. Jul 26

    Sermon - 7/26/26

    Year A – Pentecost 9; Lectionary 17 – July 26, 2026 Pastor Megan Floyd               Romans 8:26-39               Matthew 13:31-33,44-52   Grace and peace to you from God, who calls us beloved, from the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us, and from Jesus Christ, who guides us ever closer to the kingdom of heaven. Amen. *** The kingdom of heaven is like a Little Free Library. It sits quietly on an ordinary neighborhood street, right in front of Kathy and Carl Richardson's house… right across the street from mine. It isn't grand or flashy... it's not the sort of thing that attracts headlines. And yet, almost every day, I see people stop. Some open the little door just to see what is there. Some leave with a novel tucked under their arm. Others arrive carrying books they have already loved, hoping someone else will discover them. I overheard one of my neighbors say the other day, "I love stopping here," …They didn't know I could hear them. They simply delight in this small gift that is quietly part of the life of our neighborhood. Kathy and Carl didn't build a whole library system. They built a little box. And somehow, that little box has become a place of generosity, curiosity, connection, and delight. The kingdom of heaven is like that… a Little Free Library. Jesus says, "The kingdom of heaven is like..." and then he tells stories that must have disappointed almost everyone listening. No kings… No armies… No great battles between good and evil, or glorious temples. Instead... He tells of… a mustard seed… a woman baking bread… a farmer in a field… a merchant searching for a pearl… and fishermen sorting through their catch. It is almost as if Jesus is saying, "If you're looking for God's kingdom in the places where the world expects to find power, you're looking in the wrong direction." Because that was certainly true in his own day. The Roman Empire wanted everyone to believe that power lived in marble palaces, military parades, and the emperor's throne. Rome announced its greatness from monuments that reached toward the sky. And yet… Jesus pointed toward weeds. Rome celebrated conquest… while Jesus talked about yeast. Rome believed greatness was measured by how many people you ruled. And Jesus said… the kingdom comes quietly, patiently, almost unnoticed, until one day you realize everything has changed. The kingdom of heaven is not what we expect… but perhaps that is because God is not where we expect. As one commentator beautifully observes, Jesus transforms human life not by helping us escape this world, but by helping us see heaven close at hand. That has always been difficult for us to believe. It was difficult then… and it is still difficult now... because we have been shaped by kingdoms that tell us a different story. Our world tells us that what matters is what is impressive, and successful… what is profitable… what can be measured… and what can be earned. And if we're honest, we often begin to believe that God must work the same way. Surely God's grace belongs to those who have somehow earned it. But Paul writes to the Romans as though he knows every one of those fears before we can even speak them aloud. "What will separate us from the love of Christ?" Will it be hardship… or distress? …Persecution or famine? …Danger or death? Paul's answer is breathtakingly simple. Nothing. Nothing in your past or in your present… Nothing waiting for you tomorrow. Nothing in all of creation. …Nothing. …Not because life is easy… Paul knows life isn't easy. …He names suffering honestly. But suffering is never stronger than God's love. The kingdom has come near because God has come near… and God remains near. …Always. That is harder to receive than we often admit. Many of us have spent our lives believing that love must be earned… That acceptance has conditions… That belonging has requirements. Our culture teaches us this every day. It says… Produce more… Achieve more… Be more… Prove yourself… Only then perhaps you will be enough. And when we have lived inside that story long enough, we begin telling it to ourselves. We even imagine that… God must be telling the same story. But Jesus… tells another story. The kingdom of heaven is like a micro food pantry standing quietly beside our church… and at the public library. There are no office hours… no applications… no identification cards… no interview. No one stands at the door asking whether you've earned the right to have food. No one asks whether your need is great enough… no one asks whether your generosity is large enough. If you need something, you take it… If you have something to share, you leave it. Sometimes the shelves are filled by someone whose name no one knows. Sometimes they are emptied by someone carrying burdens no one else can see. And then, quietly… without fanfare… they are filled again. Every single day. Yeah. The kingdom of heaven is like that. Grace flows in… and grace flows out. No one owns it… Everyone receives it… Everyone is invited to participate. That, I think, is what Jesus wants us to see. God's grace is not found by escaping the ordinary but by discovering that the ordinary has become the dwelling place of the extraordinary. Not somewhere else… but here. Not someday… but today. Not after we've finally become the people we think God wants us to be… but now. Because the kingdom of heaven has already come near, and that is good news not only for us as individuals, but for the whole Church. The Church is not called to manufacture God's kingdom. We are called to notice it. …To join it! …and to participate in what God is already doing! Every can of tuna shared… and every hungry neighbor fed… every book that finds its way into the Little Free Library… and every conversation shared across it… these are the little things that build the connection between our neighbors. Every prayer whispered beside a hospital bed… every act of forgiveness. Every quiet act of kindness that no one else notices… these are the signs that the kingdom of heaven has come near. Sometimes we imagine that changing the world requires extraordinary people doing extraordinary things. Jesus seems to think otherwise. …He speaks of tiny seeds… a handful of yeast… a hidden treasure… a simple fishing net. Little things… ordinary things. Things that hardly seem important until, somehow, they become places where God's abundance begins overflowing into the lives of others. Perhaps that is why Paul can say with such confidence that nothing can separate us from God's love. Because God's love is already closer than we imagined… Closer than our successes and our failures. Closer than our doubts… and our fears. …Closer than our next breath. The kingdom is not waiting somewhere beyond the horizon. It is already breaking into the ordinary places of our lives. Into neighborhood sidewalks… Into little wooden libraries. …Into food pantries… and kitchen tables… Into conversations. The kingdom of heaven is breaking into this table, where ordinary bread and ordinary wine become for us the extraordinary gift of Christ's presence. I believe that has been God's way all along. …Choosing what the world overlooks… offering blessing to what the world dismisses. Drawing near where no one expects heaven to appear. And so, this week, I wonder what parables Jesus might tell if he were walking through our neighborhoods. I think he would point to Kathy and Carl's house and say, "The kingdom of heaven is like a Little Free Library." And I think perhaps he would point toward our food pantries and say, "The kingdom of heaven is like this." And then perhaps he would look at us—not because we are impressive, or because we have earned anything special, but simply because we are beloved—and he would remind us that the kingdom of heaven has already come near. Near enough to feed us… near enough to forgive us… near enough to transform us. Near enough that nothing—not hardship or grief, not failure or fear, not life or death, nor anything else in all creation—will ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Thanks be to God. Amen.

  8. Jul 19

    Special Music - PSALM 139

    Today, we had a special musical performance of PSALM 139, a duet by Andy Bpyan and John Schleicher at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan. Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC

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

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