Your Faith Journey - Finding God Through Words, Song and Praise Faith Lutheran Church, Okemos, MI

This is a special musical presentation of Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus by soloist Bob Nelson at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, MIchigan

When I worked on my pastoral counseling degree at the Moravian Seminary in Bethlehem, PA, I learned a new way of approaching scripture. It was to ask questions of the text in order to gain more understanding. In other words, what do I need to know in order to have somewhat of a grasp on the text.
This approach works for me as I like to be a detective with a text. I want to know the context. Who are all of the characters? Where are they? Setting – town, desert, on or by a lake, etc. What may be some of the words to examine in the original language? There is a free website called the Blue Letter Bible. It’s commentaries are a bit conservative, but you can do word studies. Greek words often have more than one meaning and it is up to the translator to pick the English word.
In Hebrew, there can often be seven English words for one Hebrew word. Depending on what word is used, it can change the meaning of the whole passage.
When scholarship progresses, translators may change the English word.
In order to understand the original message, knowing the context and setting is necessary. As well as getting a grasp of the original language words. It’s not about taking a verse or two and making it fit our way of thinking. It is about first getting a grasp of the message to the people who are listening in the text, their possible dialogue and what it means to them.
Very often there were people asking questions. This didn’t mean that they didn’t believe, but that they wanted to grow in their faith. Sometimes we are afraid that to ask a question means that we may look stupid. Actually, asking the question can further our knowledge and understanding. Just as in a text people may come from different backgrounds or different teachings. This all plays into the understanding of what is being said in context.
Today in our Gospel lesson, we have Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee and a leader of the Jews coming to Jesus who was known as a kind of a rebel Jew.  He felt that coming to Jesus might help him better understand what Jesus had been teaching. Nicodemos also came at night so as not to be seen by other Jews and their leaders as he was not ready for their perceptions. There was something that Jesus had been teaching that Nicodemos wanted to better understand.
Nicodemos acknowledged that Jesus was a teacher from God. This may not have been something he did in public as most of the Jewish leaders did not like that Jesus was rocking the boat for them. Because of what Jesus had been doing, Nicodemus acknowledged that only someone sent from God could do what Jesus had been doing.
What had Jesus been doing in the Gospel of John up until this point? Jesus had turned water into wine at the wedding. Jesus had cleared the temple. These are what John chose to put in his Gospel.
Jesus was someone that Nicodemos trusted, someone that could give him a better understanding of God. Of course, Jesus makes a statement that makes Nicodemos scratch his head. “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
Of course, Nicodemos could have just said okay without really understanding, but he continued this dialogue of faith as he wanted to understand what Jesus was talking about. He asked Jesus, how can anyone go for a second time into their mother’s womb. Nicodemos was taking this literally. Another translation is being born from above.
This says our connection is with God. Yes we are physically born, but at baptism we are born again. At that time, it is acknowledged that we have eternal life. Parents and sponsors answer at an infant/child baptism for them in affirming this connection or relationship. At confirmation, we affirm that we are continuing in this relationship with God in Jesus Christ.
I believe that as adults we are called to create a safe environment for kids to ask questions. Now sometimes we don’t have the answers and that is okay as long as we acknowledge that and try and d

This is a special musical presentation of Bless His Holy Name by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir and the Faith Bells at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical presentation of True Light! by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir with a solo by Christopher Lewis at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

We are doing many things in our worship service today. Each one is a different celebration. It is important in our community of faith to recognize those things that we can celebrate. Celebrations can also remind us of what we can be thankful for.
We give thanks to God for our music staff and all that they do celebrate the gifts of all those who are called to participate in our music program. This is what the community of faith is about, sharing our gifts to the glory of God. Music can bring us closer to God in Jesus Christ. Music also proclaims the good news. Many times, in rehearsal Deb has said to preach what we are singing.
Music is an offering to God. We practice and practice and then we offer in worship to the best of our ability, the gifts we have been given. It is not considered a performance. Here is a good place to bring the Holy Spirit in as we rely on the Holy Spirit in our offering, to bring the message clearly home.
I believe we also have many singing with us today in the heavenly choir. Especially today, we can remember Walter and his many years that he sang in the choir. Many of you will also remember others who have participated in our music program who are in heaven continuing to worship and praise our triune God.
Today we also recognize our graduates. People who have been working on their education and continue to do so. We celebrate their gifts today and the gifts that God has given them to share with us and our neighbor. Once again the Holy Spirit is alive and active in their lives. We pray that as they continue their journey in the pursuit of education and experience that the Holy Spirit would continually remind them of Jesus’ love for them and that this community of faith is here to continue supporting them.
Today we also celebrate the Affirmation of Baptism of 3 of our youth. We go back and forth on calling it confirmation or affirmation of baptism. It is all the same as the confirmands are confirming their relationship with Jesus Christ and affirming this relationship that began at baptism. In class we have studied this year the sacraments, Reformation, Advent & Christmas, the Old Testament and the New Testament. We did a retreat at Stony Lake, where we did all of the Holy Week services.
I can’t forget to mention one of their favorite things to do, worship notes. Thank you for doing them as it helps me to see if what I have said in my sermons came across. Thankfully it seems that I have been getting the message across as what I read in their notes is what I said.
This past week we met with Calvin, Raymond, and Jasper and they shared with Pam, myself and their parents how they relate to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Thank you for your sharing your faith with us. They also shared the Bible verse that they chose for today and told us why. Thank you.
This is what is important, to see if the material we learned relates to their lives. The sharing they did was an opportunity for them to put their faith into words. Jesus calls each one of us to share our faith wherever we are on our faith journey. We hope that they will continue to share their faith and gifts here in our community in our ministries.
Yes, today is Pentecost where we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. We also call it the birthday of the Christian church. The story of Pentecost truly describes the church that Jesus was teaching about.
Jewish people gathered from all over to celebrate the giving of the Torah (the ten commandments, the law) to Moses. God picked this time as it was a scheduled celebration. Yet there were so many people who had come from different cultures and spoke different languages. How was this going to work? Jesus had prayed for the church to be one.
Too often we have equated oneness with thinking and feeling exactly the same way. Sometimes when this doesn’t happen we can feel uncomfortable, anxious and often defensive. The beauty of being diverse and inclusive is that we are all differe

This is a special musical presentation of Rain Down! by the Singing Sinners at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.