Take Off Your Shoes Sermon Podcast By Marie Duquette

God tells us in today's reading that Jesus is his son and commands us: Listen to Him! Today we consider why that's a fine idea. There is one reason to listen to Jesus that makes listening to him different than listening to anyone else. 

What does it mean to speak with one voice? In the Lutheran tradition, it is the name of one of our hymnals. The phrase shows up in scripture and in our liturgy. In a world so divided, even as we celebrate the history of Black Americans, how can we speak with one voice? Rev. Michael Johnson, co-pastor at Love Rising Lutheran Church in Detroit and leading member of BRRICK, the task force responsible for studying racism and leading anti-racism workshops through Southeast Michigan for the ELCA brings the Word on today's episode of Be Ye Lifted. 

What does it mean to have the mind of Christ? How is this different than other worldviews? What exactly is a worldview? What is the value of asking: What humbles me? How can the answers to these questions guide us through a time of great turmoil such as we are living through today. All these questions we consider today in light of Paul's 1st letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 2. 

This episode begins with a special reading from The Book of God, a novel based on the bible by Walter Wangerin, Jr. The scene is the presentation of Jesus. He is with his family in the temple, having just been circumcised and named, when Simeon enters the story. 

Following that is the Gospel Acclamation, then the rest of the Gospel and the sermon.

What does it mean when Jesus says the Gospel of setting the oppressed free is fulfilled TODAY? For followers of Jesus, it means we must always be asking how the Gospel is Good News to specific people and groups of people. Today we look at how it is Good News to the LGBTQIA community, a group that we have been intentional about welcoming and including as a Reconciling in Christ congregation since 2014. 

(rerecorded from live sermon) What is our responsibility in continuing the work begun by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? How do we begin? What topics are we avoiding about which we dare not continue to be silent? How can we move the mountain of violence that continues to grow in the United States?

Pr. Elizabeth Friedman is a guest preacher from Ann Arbor's Lord of Light Campus Ministry. 

What is a faithful response to this turbulent time in which we are living? How do we focus when ground underneath our feet seems to be shifting hourly? Where's the hope in apocalypse? These questions are considered against the words from John 1: In the beginning was the Word...

Roots & Wings, the band we are blessed to have lead worship periodically, leads us into this week's message with an Hallelujah round. From there, we consider Matthew's account of the Holy Family's flight to Egypt after Jesus was born. This Gospel makes it clear that politics has always been part of the biblical story. Which leads into the ongoing controversy of how religion and politics fit together now. Because they do. They always have. 

Why Bethlehem? For the census. Counting People. Counting on People. People who Count. Counting Steps. This Christmas Eve message looks at the place in our lives, where then and there, meet here and now. Because Jesus Christ was born.