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

Today, we had a special musical performance of Praise His Holy Name by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir with a solo by Bob Nelson at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC

Megan Floyd

Year B – All Saints Sunday – November 3, 2024

Luke 6:20-31

Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who calls us into holy living for the sake of the world. Amen.

***

We are gathered here today on All Saints' Sunday… the day the Church sets aside to remember those we have loved and cared for, who have died during the past year.

We gather to celebrate them… even though it may stir up the grief within us… we know… that our grief honors their place in the story of our lives…

And we take comfort in the promise that our dear ones are resting in the embrace of our Lord.

We, as a community of faith, trust in the Good News that Jesus has defeated death… so that death is no longer the end…

And we trust in the Good News… that we are a forgiven people, called and claimed by God and redeemed through God's love.

We trust this Good News… this promise for us as disciples… as followers of Christ… because we know that God's enduring faithfulness is forever and ever, Amen.

And yet we know… that while the goodness that God offers is free to all people… we know that being a disciple… a follower of Christ… still comes with a cost.

The cost of discipleship… is that it must change your life… it must change how you live… how you love… how you treat others, especially the poor and hungry.

The cost of discipleship is that it transforms your whole being… when you allow your life to become one with the life of Christ…

It's not a change that we make so that we can receive the promised goodness of God… those promises are already ours.

It's a change that comes in response to what Jesus offers when we take seriously what he calls us to do…

It's not easy… this life of discipleship… which is why we need God's grace and forgiveness every day.

It's not easy… but this life of following Christ… this challenging and difficult life… this holy and beautiful life… this is the life that Jesus calls us into.

Because this kind of life… this way of living… is what brings closer the kingdom of God and allows us to be co-creators with God in the ever-unfolding new creation.

We hear this call today into a holy and loving, yet challenging and difficult way of life…

We hear it in the blessings and woes… and in the call to love those who are against us, and to turn the other cheek.

And these words from Jesus today might make us uncomfortable… and that's ok!

My friends… the truth is, if the Gospel of Jesus doesn't make you uncomfortable, at least sometimes, then you aren't reading it closely enough!

I know these words make me uncomfortable… but I know that they are still Good News, and so I stick with them because I trust Jesus.

Presiding Bishop Curry once said that Jesus is always on the side of the poor and oppressed, and so whenever we read scripture, we should strive to hear it from their perspective…

because when we do… we can't help but to hear Christ's words as Good News.

And what sounds like Good News for only the poor… and only those who are persecuted… really is Good News for all people.

This way of life that Jesus calls us into, for both the rich and the poor, calls us into lives of equality, dignity, and love…

It disrupts the social hierarchy that those on top cling to with fervor, and it demands that they fully recognize the inherent value and worth of all human life… but again… especially the lives of those who are on the margins.

This way of life calls us to overthrow systems that depend on the suffering and struggle of many to support the few…

And Jesus is not preaching about theoretical concepts… he is calling us to recognize the real human lives of those around us who are hurting… and to understand that we are connected.

This way of life… this life of discipleship… it calls us to be accountable for our actions… it shines a loving light onto our sin, so that we might repent, and be reconciled with those we have harmed.

Listen… We know that Christ lives in us, and so when we honor the light of our God that is present in all people… then working to repair broken relationships also reconciles us back to God… and puts us back into right relationship.

And I know that I want to be right with God, and I'm sure you do, too. This really is Good News for all people!

Jesus calls for a reversal of the usual way of responding… and instead calls us to the more difficult path of making room for repentance, forgiveness… and reconciliation.

This is most certainly… Good News! …it's so good, and so important, that it actually comes up multiple times in our lectionary.

During our Bible Study this week, I thought I was having déjà vu, until I realized that I preached on this same text about loving our enemies and turning the other cheek back in Epiphany, on February 23…

But for today… we are hearing this call into a loving, yet difficult way of living… under the shroud of All Saints' Day…

And, given the day… these seem to be a strange selection of readings to hear as we remember our loved ones.

Except that this Good News… is not only good for all people living… it is good news for those we have loved and lost.

Because this difficult life that Jesus calls us into is full of grace and forgiveness, and it is marked by the ever-present opportunity to turn back…

to hold each other accountable… in loving and non-violent ways, for the purpose of healing the relationship and restoring the community.

…and it is marked by the continual invitation to be reconciled with God. And I believe God will succeed in God's promise to reconcile all of creation.

Because God's desire for us, more than anything… is that we get this right… because love… is so very important.

This life that Jesus calls us to… this holy and beautiful, challenging and difficult… life of discipleship… is so important, because it is a foretaste of the kingdom to come.

And the joy that we have as disciples… is that we get to live in this glory now… and celebrate all the ways that God's love shines through us.

And so, as I hear these words from Jesus today, I know that God's desire for us to be reconciled in this life is also… only a foretaste of the full reconciliation with God that will come after we die.

After all… that is God's promise to us… for ourselves… and for those we love.

That death no longer has the final word… that we, who set our hope on Christ, are claimed and redeemed as beloved children of God, in this life and beyond,

…and that we will be raised anew with Christ on the last day.

And so, the hope and celebration of All Saints' Day lie in our trust that this life Jesus calls us into… this beautiful and difficult life, grounded in God's enduring promises of renewal…

…will be for the praise and glory of Christ now and always, forever and ever. Amen.

Today, we had a special musical performance of Peace Is Our Prayer by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC

Year C – Reformation Sunday – October 26, 2025

John 8:31-36

Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, and from our Savior, Jesus Christ, who sets us free. Amen.

***

"…the truth will make you free."

On the surface, this seems like a simple thing to say. It's really inspirational, yes?

The truth will make you free… I've seen this verse printed on coffee mugs and tote bags, and I've heard it quoted in shows and movies.

The truth will make you free… My truth is that when I hear this, I hear it stated by Marilla Cuthbert from Anne of Green Gables… not the Netflix remake, but the old 1985 version with Megan Follows that I watched on repeat until the VHS tape wore out.

For some reason, when she said it, it felt very important.

The truth will make you free… This statement seems straightforward, and yet, for me, there are these nagging questions that follow… Like what is truth? And what… is freedom?

The more I consider these questions, the more abstract the concepts become… truth and freedom.

Since these are Jesus' words, we can infer he is speaking to something beyond our human, earthly experience… but that insight doesn't make it clearer.

Full understanding feels just beyond my grasp… and you know, that's okay.

Jesus isn't known for giving clear answers.

Asking questions, yes, but not so much on giving answers. Jesus wants us to sit with his words… to roll them around in our minds.

He said, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

Jesus' words are an invitation. His words are an invitation to a group of people who are there… because they believe in him.

Like us here today, they believe Jesus has something worth teaching.

But rather than giving up a clear answer, Jesus calls them… like he calls us, to a journey of discovery.

Belief is only the first step. There is so much more to discover.

There is a destination on this journey, but this destination isn't a place… it's a person… it is the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, if you continue in my word… it's important to note here that the word translated as "continue" is the Greek word meno… it means to abide… and it shows up 41 times in the Gospel of John… that's a lot…

It gets translated into many different words like continue, stay, dwell, remain… but the word is always meno… abide… and its meaning is so much deeper than any of those English words.

To abide is more like… occupying the same physical space.

It is to give our whole identity and person over to the identity and person of Jesus Christ… so much so… that we are entirely different from what we were before.

"…if you abide in my word…"

And abiding with Jesus Christ isn't necessarily the final destination either…

abiding with Jesus Christ isn't the promised reward that is only available to us after we die.

Jesus is calling us to abide with him now, to dwell with him today, to continue in his word from this moment on…

and when we accept his invitation to abide… to dwell… to let our very self… become one with the person of Christ, THEN we will become his disciples.

"…and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

Becoming a disciple means accepting Jesus' invitation to journey toward understanding truth and freedom.

Jesus' invitation is to journey toward the understanding that Jesus IS truth, the truth that makes known the eternal God… because Jesus IS the eternal God.

Becoming a disciple means embracing the journey toward a truth… that sets us free…

It is a truth that sets all people free, the freedom to recognize that Jesus is God, here with us, offering love, provision, and protection.

This truth… and this freedom… they take a lifetime and beyond to understand because God is not restricted by our human perceptions… and our limited interpretations.

And this truth that sets us free is for all people because God so loves the whole world.

Jesus is truth, and this truth is freedom, but fully understanding it is just beyond our grasp, imploring us to keep learning and keep growing.

Jesus said, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

Jesus is inviting us to dwell with him, to abide in his words.

What Jesus calls us to is a serious commitment of continual growth and learning

…of being changed by this mutually abiding relationship.

Jesus calls us to allow ourselves to be formed and RE-formed by his Word… to embrace a continual state of being made new.

***

Now… I want to pause here a moment… because we follow the lectionary… the three-year cycle of scripture readings… which means we have been on a steady march through the Gospel of Luke…

traveling with Jesus toward Jerusalem… and the cross.

Like all authors, Luke has his own literary style and his own agenda for his Gospel.

For Luke, and specifically for the passages we have been dwelling in these last couple of months, it is… a travel narrative… drawing together a pluralistic community under the name of Jesus…

and emphasizing that the promises of salvation and the kingdom of God are open to all peoples, but most especially… the marginalized, the poor, the disabled, women, and Gentiles… anyone whom society pushes out.

Luke's gospel stresses the importance of community, and how we live together and share our resources… as part of our mission and call as disciples.

Through his way of telling the story, Luke emphasizes that our God is not a conquering war hero… but a humble Savior… who turns expectations upside down… and saves people in unexpected ways… through healing, forgiveness, wholeness, and restoration.

But now for Reformation Sunday, we interrupt our march through Luke… to hear from the gospel of John.

For John, his primary theological claim is that Jesus IS God who offers us salvation through a relationship with him… and to prove God's faithfulness to us, Jesus goes willingly to the cross to lay down his life for us.

We are continually invited into a relationship with God through Jesus… and it is through this relationship that we receive grace and salvation.

And like any relationship… it requires daily nourishment… it requires investment in who we are becoming as we journey with Jesus as disciples… as we abide in his Word.

I wanted to point this out for you… because for me… it actually feels a bit jarring to dig as deeply into the Luke narrative as we have been and to lean into Luke's way of understanding Christ… only to then jump into a different perspective without at least acknowledging the shift.

And yet… both Gospels are true…and both offer us the Good News of Jesus Christ, our Savior who takes away the sin of the world.

But when we take notice their differences in perspective… instead of blending them together into one harmonized gospel… I think it gives us a richer understanding of God, through Jesus, in whom we abide.

***

And so… on this Reformation Sunday… I think it is quite perfect that we look to John, who so strongly emphasizes our relationship with Jesus…

that on this day of celebrating that we are continually Re-forming… continually growing and changing because of our relationship with God through Jesus… who better to hear from… than John…

John… who understands that when Jesus calls us to abide, it is an ongoing process…

It's not a once-and-done salvation experience, but a lifelong relationship.

And that when Jesus calls us to abide as his disciples… that we are being called into a communal relationship… we are being called into community.

Something that Luke certainly supports!

This journey of discipleship… of abiding in God's word… we do this together…

we abide in Jesus' Word as a community of believers… supporting each other through joy and sorrow… through strong faith and doubt.

We abide in Jesus' Word together… because we share the same goal of being formed and re-formed by God's Word.

We abide in Jesus' Word together so that over time, our understanding of God, and of God's gifts of grace and salvation will grow…

Receiving this grace brings freedom… Freedom to dedicate your life to reflecting God's love onto your neighbors rather than chasing salvation for yourself.

Receiving God's grace is to know the truth that this grace is God's gift to us, given through Jesus, who invites us to spend our lives with him. Our lives here and now, in this place. Today.

"If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

These are, indeed, important words.

Believing in Jesus is only the beginning,

but knowing the truth that is Jesus, who is God, and the freedom that truth brings… is a lifelong journey that will continually change us in the most beautiful ways.

This is the invitation Jesus offers you…

to choose this life and this journey with Christ to discover how abiding in Jesus as a lifelong disciple will reveal God's glorious truth and God's most beautiful freedom.

Amen.

***

Today, we had a special musical performance of The Gift of Love by the Faith Lutheran Faith Bells Bell Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC

Today, we had a special musical performance of I Lift Up Mine Eyes by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir with a flute solo from Gwynne Kadrofske at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC

LUKE 18:1-8 This is the holy gospel according to Luke. Glory to you, O Lord. Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and to not lose heart. He said, in a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, grant me justice for my accuser. For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice so she may not wear me out by continually coming. And the Lord said, listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.

And yet, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth? This is the gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ. Good morning. Good morning. My name is Jesse. I am the program innovator for Living Water Ministries. I've been working year round for Living Water for three years. Actually, last week I just celebrated my three year anniversary.

So I've been on staff for three years, but camp has long been a part of my life. I was a camper through my whole childhood. I worked on summer staff. And now I am so blessed to be able to be part of the work that we do all year round. Before I talk about the gospel, I want to extend my gratitude to all of you. Faith and the people here have long been a part of camp and our programs.

You have kids who come to camp, volunteers who can't come to camp and work with U.S. donors. Your pastor comes to camp every year. Camp is a really big part of this faith community. I also want to share with you a little bit about Living Water. For those of you who don't know us, the first thing that we do is summer camp. That's our main thing that we do. And during our typical weeks of camp, we have campers who are grades one through 12.

And we do worship in the morning and we sing songs and we create this really, really special community for kids of all these ages. We have a couple of specialized programs. We have a week of camp for adults with developmental disabilities. We have a week of camp called Bridge Builders for high schoolers. And this is anti racism and leadership training. And new this year, we are launching a new program called In God's Image, which is a week of camp for LGBTQ high school youth. And coming up next Month we have Charge. Charge is a youth gathering for middle school and high schoolers, and this is at the Great Wolf Lodge.

And Charge is an event that provides a powerful faith community where students get to develop leadership skills and grow in faith, all while having fun at the water park at Great Wolf Lodge. And because the love of Christ is abundant and freely given, Living Water believes that money should never be a barrier that stops a child from having a camp experience. So during COVID camp was closed for two summers, but this gave us the ability to give camp away for free in the summer of 2022. So every kid who came to camp in 2022 did so at no cost. And so since then, we have offered a tier pricing system to keep this equity going. So when families register their camper, they have the choice of paying full price, half price, or no price, no questions asked. It's just something that they get to select when they are registering their camper. So this and all of our ministry is made possible through generous individuals and congregations sharing their gifts with campers.

Every year we hold our Run the Race campaign where runners and non runners alike come together and everybody commits to raising $2,000 and running a 200 mile relay race from Traverse City to Muskegon. So last month, we held our Run the Race event, and. And we raised over $131,000, which is so cool. And all of that gets to go to making camp the best place that it can be. And so why all this matters to you, why I'm telling this to you, is because of the people sitting in the pews with you. You have kids who come to camp. You have people who volunteer. Those campers become summer staffers.

And your pastor is part of camp. The people at Faith sitting with you are super involved in the work that God does at camp. And we do all this because of the gospel. We do all of this work because of Jesus. So in the parable today, Jesus asks, asks us that if the people cry out to God, will he delay long in helping them? So if we cry out, will God help us? And honestly, sometimes it seems like God's not like he is delaying, like we've been crying out for quite some time and not hearing anything back. Because how long must we cry out until we finally see justice? How long must we cry out until we see an end of genocide? How long must we cry out until our black and brown siblings stop being kidnapped and murdered? How long until our children are safe in their schools? How long? Because sometimes it feels like we can't cry Any louder and still nothing. Jesus also asks, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? And I think that the answer to that is also no. If Jesus comes to earth today, do you think he's happy with all of this? Is he impressed with our faithfulness? And I don't think so.

I think that this is so far from the image of the kingdom of Earth that God has planned for us. This is so far from God's plan of perfect discipleship. And where is the faith on earth? In the first reading, Jacob wrestles with God. And this isn't a short wrestling match. Wrestling matches, we know, are about, what, two minutes? You know, it's a couple minutes and someone counts to three, and then it's over. But that's not what this was. God came to Jacob in the night, and they wrestled until daybreak. And God even says to Jacob, let me go.

But Jacob says, I will not let you go until you bless me. And when the wrestling match ends, Jacob overcame and God blesses him. But Jacob doesn't walk away completely victorious. He walks away with a limp. He walks away blessed and limping. And this is what our prayer and what our faithfulness is supposed to look like. It's supposed to look like this wrestling match where we are relentlessly clinging to God and not letting go until God blesses us, holding on despite the risks, despite the injury, despite the people telling us to give up, to let go, to go home, to hold on even though we will walk away with a limp. I could tell you 100 success stories about camp, about the kids who came to camp not believing in God and then left excited about Jesus.

The kids who came their whole lives and became counselors, the kids who finally found a refuge and a home at camp where they could finally be themselves. But that's not what I'm going to do. I will be happy to share these stories with you after service. I have plenty of them. But right now, I'm going to share a story with you that left me limping. Last summer, I sent a camper home. He made it about halfway through the week. But after multiple attempts at running away and getting physical with another camper and with a staff member, we made the decision that he had to go home for the safety of other campers and for his safety.

But that still hurt. I felt like I had just failed this kid. I was trying to be something for him, and I fell short. And I was beating myself up, thinking, are we really creating a place for all of God's children? Are we really doing this right? And really, the answer is yes. And I had to make the hard decision to keep people safe. And I told his mom when she came to pick him up that camp isn't a no for him. This isn't a no. It's a not yet.

So when he's ready to come back, we are ready for him. We will be here, because that is holding on to God and not letting go until he blesses us. And so that is why we tell every single kid that the love of God is for them. We tell every single kid that they can come just as they are. Tell every single kid that there is nothing that they could ever, ever do that would make God love them less. And that is the wrestling that we need to be doing. And I'm not letting go of that. And I will be limping, and I will be blessed.

Join us for a special service - An evening of prayer and songs for love, justice, and peace. This is a fantastic way to come together to talk to and support each other through turbulent times.

Acknowledgments: Copyright 2025 Augsburg Fortress. All Rights Reserved. CCLI: Streaming License #CSPL141616 Size B. CCLI Church Copyright License #720217 Size B. Reprinted by permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual License #SAS000803. Podcast/Streaming and Music printed by permission under OneLicense #A-708005. Scripture is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission.

Today, we had a special musical performance of Shine a Little Light by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir with solos from Ray Herek and Paula Pulter at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC

Year C – 18th Sunday after Pentecost; Lectionary 28 – October 12, 2025

Pastor Megan Floyd

2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c

Psalm 111

Luke 17:11-19

Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, to whom we give thanks and praise for all our Creator has done for us. Amen.

***

Some days ago, while going through the motions of the morning… I felt overcome by such a profound sense of sadness.

Sadness for the world… for our country… for our siblings in Chicago who are under attack… for our transgender siblings who are being vilified… and for our children who don't know that this isn't normal.

I felt sadness… mixed with pain and anger, and maybe even dipping a toe into despair. That's not an emotional place I generally go… but… it's been hard.

I have shaped my life around Christ… my values… my dreams… they are shaped around how Jesus Christ calls us to be and live… how Jesus calls us to love…

and what I see in this world right now… the hate and fear of immigrants… driving people to carry out violence against their neighbors… whom they are called to love… hate and fear carried out in the name of Jesus...

I know… that this is not what Christ wants for us.

God has shown us that we are made for community… that we need community… and we know that we are better and stronger when we… not just include, but fully embrace… the full diversity of God's people.

We know we are stronger and closer to God's vision for our world when we do as Christ did… and go to our neighbors who have been pushed to the margins, and witness to their worth and value.

We know we are following God's will when we go to our neighbors on the edges of our community and witness to their belovedness… when we call them our siblings, and mean it…

…and when we help them find their place back in the center of our communal life together.

We know this is God's will for us because Jesus demonstrated this action… over and over again… Jesus showed us how to welcome those who have been rejected… and Jesus showed us how to love.

And yet… so much in our country today is pushing us all away from each other. It is costing lives… so you can understand my sadness… and my anger.

So, on that morning… I was deep in my own thoughts… until at some point, I wasn't thinking so much as I was listening… and I had a moment of clarity.

One of those moments where the Spirit reaches out and drapes you in peace… the kind of peace that we long for… the kind of peace that we pray for.

I had a moment of clarity when I remembered… that gratitude is medicine.

Gratitude is medicine… and thankfulness to Jesus Christ is resistance… and praise to our Creator for all that God continues to do for us… and through us… in these crazy times we are living in…

That praise… is joy!

And in that moment of gratitude and joy, blanketed by God's peace… I found myself again… I remembered who I was… and whose I was… and I felt whole again.

I felt my joy return… the joy that comes from feeling true gratitude to my God!

And… I wonder… I wonder if that was a little bit how Naaman felt… after being made clean and returning to Elisha to give praise to God.

I wonder… if this was how the psalmist felt… the pure joy of giving praise and thanksgiving to the Lord with their whole heart…

Declaring… that the works of the Lord's hands are faithfulness and justice; and that all the Lord's precepts stand forever and ever because they are done in truth… and equity.

I wonder… if this was… just a little bit… how the Samaritan felt… when he turned back to give praise and thanksgiving to God, because through Jesus… he was restored.

Through Jesus, he was healed of the disease that forced him to the edges… healed of the disease that prevented him from taking part in communal life.

Jesus healed him of the disease that made him untouchable… Jesus healed all ten of the men… of the disease that made them untouchable.

And I am sure… that the other nine who were also healed… I'm sure they were glad for their healing… I am sure they were thrilled to rejoin their community. Of course they would be… it was a miracle.

But it was only… the outcast among outcasts… who turned back to offer praise and thanksgiving… it was only the foreigner… who turned back to give praise… only the Samaritan… connected his miraculous healing to God's doing, through Jesus.

Only the one who would still be an outcast in that society, even when healed of this disease… only him… gave praise and thanksgiving for all to hear.

Now… recall that the Samaritans and Jews shared the same ancestry, but when Assyria invaded the northern kingdom, they exiled many of the Jews.

Those who remained intermarried with the Assyrians and built new lives. But when those who were exiled were allowed to return, they considered the Samaritans to be religiously and ethnically impure.

They were considered permanently unclean and were rejected… banned from Jerusalem… and from worshipping at the Temple… So, the Samaritans built their own Temple on Mount Gerizim.

And the larger religious question of… Where is God? …hung as a backdrop behind all their interactions.

Is God only in the Temple in Jerusalem… or is God on a mountain… or is God found wherever God's people are found?

So, I wonder… when it was only the Samaritan who came back to give praise and offer thanksgiving… I wonder… if it was because he was better situated to recognizing God out in the wild, than his pure-Jewish brothers.

I wonder… as I consider his openness to God's presence… I wonder how the disciples felt about learning about faith in Jesus… from this foreigner…

and I wonder… how do we feel about it… at this time, when foreigners are being so violently persecuted.

Jesus told this Samaritan man… after he was healed of his disease… he told him his faith had made him well… his faith… his trust that God was there with him… had made him whole.

His response to what God did for him… brought him back to his Creator… and it made him remember who he was… and whose he was.

His response of praise and thanksgiving gave him the opportunity to dwell in the presence of God, even just for a moment…

and when we dwell in the presence of God, we are slowly transformed… and re-formed by God's love.

That was God's promise to that Samaritan man… God's promise through Jesus… and it's God's promise to us, as well.

God's promise… that when we turn back to God with grateful hearts, we are turning back to dwell in God's presence… and be comforted by God's peace.

So… we may be walking through some dark valleys these days… but God's faithful and enduring promise to us is that God is with us…

And God is continuing to move and act in this world… continuing the holy work of creation… through us and through our neighbors who are fighting for justice and peace… and love.

And so, our gratitude… our thankful response to God's faithfulness and God's justice… reconnects our spirit to God's Spirit…

Our response of praise brings us back to the source of life… and makes us whole.

Reconnecting with God through gratitude… renews us… and it strengthens us.

Therefore, it is with true joy in my heart… that I give thanks and praise to my God for this life… and this calling… for my family… and for you.

I give thanks and praise for your witness and your courage… for the ways that you show up for your neighbors… and the ways that you stand with those who struggle on the margins.

I give thanks and praise to God for the wider community of faith to which we belong… a great cloud of witnesses, committed to shaping their lives and communities around the gospel…

And I give thanks and praise to God for the transformation in my own heart that other morning, when the world just felt too heavy.

God's Holy Spirit scooped me back up and set me on my feet… and turned my attention back to all the good things God was still doing through so many incredible people.

So I give thanks to my Lord and my God… for meeting me in my storm… allowing me to dwell in my Creator's presence, and for making me whole again.

And I give thanks to God for the invitation to all of us, to revisit the source of life, every day… to receive healing and renewal…

So, what more can I say, but Hallelujah!! …and Amen.