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

Today, we had a special musical performance of Gaudeamus Hodie-Let Us Rejoice Today by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC

Year C – 16th Sunday after Pentecost; Lectionary 26 – September 28, 2025

Pastor Megan Floyd

Luke 16:19-31

Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who, together with Moses and the prophets, has given us the way to the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen.

***

My friend Sara has a wild yard. And I do mean… wild.

She moved into her quiet, suburban neighborhood some years ago, and to her neighbor's dismay… she didn't mow the lawn.

It's the kind of yard you might expect to see out in the country… way out… around an abandoned house… but certainly not in her manicured neighborhood…

And oh my goodness, did it cause an uproar!

The neighbors couldn't understand why she kept such an untidy lawn, and they glared out their living room windows, casting judgment on her… and filed complaints with the city.

She had to petition for the right to let the grass and dandelions grow… and for the leaves to fall where the wind blew… and let them stay there.

She asked her neighbors… to trust the process… And she won!

…well, sort of… I believe they struck a deal that if she kept the area around the front clear, she could do what she wished with the rest, which was fine… because her backyard is massive.

The first year, it was just a mess… chaos everywhere! Even the grass was confused.

But then… after about a year or so had gone by… after the neighbors had mostly made their peace with my friend Sara's "process…"

They noticed something they hadn't seen in years… one warm summer evening… they saw… Fireflies! …Lightning Bugs!

Little glowing lights, twinkling, and blinking, and flying around… and the neighbors marveled! ...One of Sara's neighbors told her that she hadn't seen fireflies since she was a child!

How extraordinary and delightful!

…and once they noticed the fireflies, well then… then they started noticing other little things.

They noticed all the butterflies that would stop and visit Sara's wild yard. Beautiful and colorful, graceful butterflies… floating all around.

They noticed that a fox had moved into the grove of trees in her backyard, and it was safe and secure enough for it to have little fox pups.

And the trees! Even the trees seemed fuller… brighter… like they could finally breathe.

And the grass… the grass that was so confused…well, it was no longer just plain grass… but a blanket of all different shades of green, full, tall, and strong, and filled with wildflowers.

…and of course, happy, buzzy bees, gathering pollen.

My friend Sara's wild yard… was no longer a yard… it was a garden, in the most natural sense of the word.

It still required some tending… a bit of care here and there, but her care was directed toward increasing the garden's habitability for the diversity of plants and creatures that now lived there, including …herself.

And she tends this garden because the fireflies, and the butterflies, and the bees, and the family of foxes… need this space…

They are all important… all the little creatures that might go unnoticed by some and considered a nuisance by others… all connected to each other, and connected to Sara and her family… in the great web of God's Creation.

Sara's garden is the resource she has available to share with her neighbors, both human and otherwise, and in doing so, she is helping to heal the small sliver of God's beautiful kingdom, right where she stands.

And… her wild and full garden brings her joy!

Now… you may be asking… why am I talking about natural gardens in suburban neighborhoods… after hearing a gospel text that is clearly about money?

Well! I'm so glad you asked!

And you're right… this text today is about money… but ultimately… ultimately, it's about relationships… and connection.

Remember our text from last week about the rich man and his shrewd manager? Jesus ends that parable with the mic-drop statement… "You cannot serve both God and wealth… or rather… Mammon."

And the Pharisees are indignant… they like their wealth and comfort, and they scoff at Jesus and ridicule him for challenging them in this way.

And so Jesus doubles down… and tells the Pharisees this next parable that we heard today. Today's text is part of the larger conversation that we've been in now for three weeks.

And yes… Jesus is talking about money again… Jesus talks about money a lot, actually… and what our responsibility is when we have an abundance of resources.

But, I feel like I hit that point really hard last week, so this week, I wanted to dig into the why… why is it so important… that we take Jesus at his word?

So, this parable we have today… it's a fable, really… Jesus is not suddenly giving us a description of heaven and hell… but he is telling a cautionary tale and drawing from the imagery of Greek mythology to do so.

And in this tale, the rich man was so caught up in his own perceived earthly importance… that he never really noticed poor Lazarus, who lay at his gate, covered in sores.

He saw him, of course, but the shock of his need was no longer… shocking.

The rich man even knew his name was Lazarus… and yet, day after day, while the rich man feasted sumptuously, poor Lazarus lay there starving.

The chasm between them… the chasm that becomes a real barrier in the place of the dead… was self-imposed by the rich man during his life.

And then… of course… they both die… and the rich man, in his agony, asks Abraham to send Lazarus to serve him… and to serve his brothers.

Even in death, the rich man thinks he deserves something better on account of his wealth.

Even in death, the rich man cannot recognize that they are both children of Abraham… they are connected… they are brothers through the great web of God's Creation.

As long as the rich man is unable to see poor Lazarus as a brother, who is worthy of life and love and care, and connected to him through God… as long as the rich man is unable to see this… he will remain in the place of the dead.

Jesus is, once again, flipping everything upside down. Jesus is challenging the idea that if you have money, you must be more valuable and loved by God.

This terrible idea is one that is still prevalent today… the idea that those who have earthly treasure are more blessed… more favored and loved by God…

…and that those who are poor must have done something to deserve their lot in life.

And while it is true, that our individual choices in life do have some bearing on what we experience…

This way of thinking conveniently absolves us of any responsibility toward those who have not fared as well as we have…

And it is directly contrary… to what God has been trying to get us to understand since the time of Moses.

We have free will, yes, but we are all… also part of larger systems beyond our individual control.

Like the butterflies and bees who find their food sources and habitats either covered in chemicals or gone… or the fireflies whose eggs get swept away in the fall clean-up… some things are beyond our control.

We don't know why Lazarus was forced to beg at the rich man's gate… but we know that the chasm between them was very real… as real as it is in our world today.

And yet… we know… that Jesus came to bring good news to the poor and to liberate the oppressed.

Over and over, Jesus preaches that his ministry was not to engage in personal relationships with individuals as their Lord and savior… but to show us that we are connected! …that our true flourishing is caught up with our neighbors!

Jesus came to show us that we belong to each other, and we have a responsibility to each other… each according to what we have been given.

Jesus came to show us that his ministry of breaking the chains of oppression means to break the systems that perpetuate that oppression.

Jesus' ministry requires us, as followers, to engage and embrace this work that God is doing through us.

We belong to each other, and Jesus desires to give us the kingdom… to show us the way to the kingdom of heaven.

And God's kingdom… well, it looks like a beloved community of neighborly care and love, in both abstract and concrete ways.

It comes from shared respect and dignity… it comes from equality in both word and deed.

It comes from the intentionality of really seeing our neighbors who are in need, instead of passing them by and wondering why they don't just get a job.

And Jesus… he was doubling down on the teachings of Moses and the prophets, because through them, God had already shown us the way to this beautiful kingdom…

This beautiful kingdom of God… is at hand… heaven is being formed here! Being formed, more and more, as we conform our lives to the way of Christ!

The kingdom of God… is not a reward for checking all the boxes during your life… It's not a cookie you get for being a good kid.

The kingdom of God is a garden… it's a garden that needs tending… a garden that needs the space and freedom to grow and support the full diversity of life…

The kingdom of God is a garden that honors all life as sacred.

Friends, we are here now, in this garden… and Jesus longs for us to recognize that we have a responsibility to tend this garden, and that when we do… we will flourish together.

Is it perfect? NO!… not by a long shot.

But let's trust the process… let's keep showing up for our neighbors, and… let our neighbors show up for us…

Let's look into the eyes of those who are passed by, those who are poor and begging… those who society would like to forget… and recognize them as our kin, and honor God's Spirit within them…

Let's recognize that all people are our siblings and celebrate their value and worth… and delight in all the ways we are privileged to participate in God's great web of creation.

For I know this… God has given us the instruction and the tools we need to tend this garden… to deconstruct the chasm that isolates and sterilizes our world.

And I trust God's process… and I trust God's promise… that we are being called into God's life-changing and transformative ministry.

I'll be honest… I don't think that we will see it fully bloom in our lifetimes, but I know… that when I live according to God's word… and I pay attention, I see fireflies dancing all around in this garden, and that gives me hope.

Amen.

Today, we had a special musical performance of Blessed Assurance by the Faith Bells at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC

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

Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC

Year C – 15th Sunday after Pentecost; Lectionary 25 – September 21, 2025

Pastor Megan Floyd

Luke 16:1-13

Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who, together, offer liberation through reorientation. Amen.

***

Jesus says… we cannot serve both God and wealth. …and yet, it is as true today as it was then… that both God and wealth, or Mammon, demand to be our top priority.

These words from Jesus are convicting… we cannot serve both God and wealth… they are convicting… because we know in our heart… they are true.

…and Jesus… well… he tends to be right. That's why we're here, yes?

I actually prefer the old translation… instead of wealth, the original Greek uses the Aramaic word, Mammon.

Mammon is a personification for the acquisition of wealth… something Martin Luther called in the Large Catechism, the "most common god on earth."

So, it isn't so much wealth or money alone… that demands our dedication…

Jesus doesn't criticize wealthy people just for being wealthy… and money is a tool we all must use.

But it's the pursuit of money for the sake of getting richer that Jesus condemns… it's the drive to store up more and more at the expense of others, the persistent need to acquire more and more that takes over our lives.

To build bigger barns while others are starving… and then to rationalize our greed and overabundance… this is the Mammon that Jesus warns us against.

To worship Mammon is to prioritize the accumulation of wealth… while disregarding the suffering and needs of others.

Mammon demands that we look only to our own wants and desires, acquiring only for ourselves alone. Mammon is… isolating.

God… on the other hand… demands that we put God above all else, and then look to our neighbor…

God invites us to look through the lens of God's love… and look to the needs of our neighbor first… so that we may flourish together… through relationship and in community.

We cannot serve both God and Mammon.

So… to illustrate this point… Jesus offers a rather strange parable. And all the authors I've read seem to agree that this one is just weird and challenging.

It helps, I think, to dig into the context… and recall the economics of Roman-occupied Galilee in the first century.

Remember… that the Roman Empire exploited the people's resources and labor through crippling taxation, which was often more than the average peasant could pay.

And the rich landlords and rulers were basically loan sharks who got richer by exploiting peasants… offering loans to pay their taxes, but with exorbitant interest rates, something that was in direct violation of biblical covenantal law.

So, when the peasants couldn't pay back the loans, the rich would take ownership of their farm, disinheriting the peasant farmers of their family land…

But they would "graciously" allow the peasants to stay on as tenant farmers… who now had to pay both taxes to the Roman government AND a high percentage of their yield to the rich new landowner.

So… the rich got richer… and the poor got poorer. It was… an unjust system.

Furthermore, the rich tended to live in the south, around Judea… while the peasant farmers lived in the north, around Galilee.

The rich landowners wouldn't go back and forth themselves… that could be dangerous, so they utilized middle managers to collect their spoils.

These managers would also add to the debt that the farmers owed, because that's how they got paid… and the more they added, the more money they made for themselves.

It was the manager's prerogative to squeeze these poor farmers out of as much of their crops… as much of their wheat, wine, and olive oil as possible.

The farmers were, after all, expendable… all that mattered was gaining more wealth. Mammon.

And so now here we are… Jesus' teaching… his words for us today continue on from the gospel from last week.

Last week's scene opened with the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, grumbling because this man, Jesus, welcomes sinners and eats with them.

Jesus put people over and above social order and expectations.

So, he tells the grumbling Pharisees these parables… There was a lost sheep… there was a lost coin… there was a lost son.

And then comes our text for today… "There was a rich man who had a manager…"

"There was a rich man… who had a manager." Does it ring a little differently now?

This manager is about to get fired for squandering his boss' property… he's in trouble for not delivering as much as the rich man thought he should have.

He's about to be tossed out on his butt with nothing… so what does he do?

What does he do? Once the hold of Mammon is broken… he has clarity!

He realizes… that what he needs in his life are people. Mammon… the pursuit of wealth… drives people away. But for true flourishing… we need community.

Money isn't the ultimate measure of things… not in God's economy! Our neighbor… our relationships and our community… this is where true riches are found.

But… this guy… this middle-manager… he's still locked in an unjust system… he's still trapped by it, just as much as the poor farmers are still trapped… but he realizes… he realizes that generosity is the best investment.

He uses that ill-gotten wealth, gained from exploiting others, to ease the debt burden on his neighbors, and gain social capital in the process.

It's very possible that the amounts he reduced each person's debt by was the amount of his portion, and the interest that was added onto it.

Because… after all, the rich man is ultimately impressed. His manager chose to forego wealth… for the riches of relationships.

He used the last remaining shreds of power he had to disrupt the unjust system… and revive the community by reviving biblical, covenantal economic life.

He revives the community and gives them hope… by reorienting himself back to God's command to love God above everything else… and to love our neighbor.

He is liberated from Mammon… set free from the addictive nature of chasing after wealth and hoarding resources at the expense of his neighbors' well-being.

And he is transformed… restored into community when he realizes that people matter so much more than money.

Because in God's economy… your neighbor's needs are bound up with your own. (x 2)

Our own true flourishing and riches can only be achieved by working for the well-being of others.

We cannot serve both God and Mammon.

And that's that. Jesus leaves some loose ends in this parable… there's no epilogue… no discourse where Jesus fully explains its meaning to his disciples, who never seem to understand anyway.

We are simply left with the wondering… left with the open question of "how much more…"

If even this dishonest manager can realize that relationships and people are more important than chasing after money… then… how much more… should the children of light realize that "true riches" have to do with relationships rather than wealth or possessions.

How much more?

You see… Jesus never says that having money is bad… or criticizes wealthy people for being wealthy. What matters for Jesus… is what you do with that wealth.

What Jesus says… is that when we reorient ourselves back to God and God's commandments… when we love God above all else, and love our neighbor as ourselves…

Then it changes our relationships.

Our relationships with our neighbors are transformed when we realize that we are all connected… and every person is valuable to the community, and that every person is loved by God.

And… reorienting ourselves back to God… changes our relationship with money.

Rather than allowing money to become an idol… we understand that money is a tool, and we can use it to help others, so that together, we are blessed.

Here's a beautiful example… in my old church, the men's group met monthly on a Saturday to make homemade bread and have breakfast together.

…No agenda, other than spending time together and making delicious bread.

Then they'd offer that fresh, homemade bread to the congregation and collect a free-will offering… and… I know they always held back a few loaves for the single mom who was getting by on pennies.

Finally, they used the money they raised to fund microloans through a non-profit program called Kiva, which offers very low—or no-interest loans for entrepreneurs in underserved communities worldwide.

As the loans were paid back, which they always were, the men reinvested the funds in other people, giving more and more people the boost they needed to help themselves and their communities.

The more they gave away, the more they found they were richly blessed, and they always seemed to have more to give… more to invest in people.

And so, out of their abundance, they also regularly gave to our youth program, and to our food ministry… and to so many other ministries.

These men were quietly committed to sharing as much as they could, and they delighted in watching how their investments in people always brought returns.

Blessing others and investing their money in helping to heal unjust economic systems… was a true joy for them… and their joy was our joy!

And this gospel today… this challenging piece of good news… is also a source of joy.

Because Jesus came to bring good news to the poor… to set the oppressed free, to restore us to each other… and to liberate us from the bondage of our sin… and Mammon… Mammon is a big one.

But Jesus does not leave us to the destruction of our sin… Jesus calls us back, time and time again… back to God and to the source of our salvation.

Jesus reminds us that we are commanded to serve only one God, who is above all other gods.

A God who loves us and has given us the way of everlasting life… who liberates us… and points us toward the true richness found in relationships and community.

So, love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind… and love your neighbor as yourself.

Trust in the good news of Jesus and in God's commands. Do this… and you will be richly blessed.

Amen.

_________________________________________________________________________

Notes:

www.kiva.org

Commentary on Luke 16:1-13, by Barbara Rossing, on www.WorkingPreacher.org

Commentary on Luke 16:1-13, by Mary Schertz, September 2007 issue of Christian Century

Today, we had a special musical performance of Panis Angelicus with a solo by Cody Boyan at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC

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

Published Under License From Essential Music Publishing, LLC

Sermon 9-14-25, Ex 32:7-14, Lk 15: 1-10

The scripture for today really caused me to lean into my identity as a chaplain – and a word of warning – a chaplain will likely leave you with more questions than answers…

The role of a chaplain is to ask questions that support others in remembering and reconnecting with their own coping strategies and belief systems

One question that today's scripture brings up is

What is the nature of God? / / /

This is a question that I often explore with patients

I think of the 50-year-old woman with newly diagnosed triple-negative breast cancer – a very aggressive and difficult-to-treat cancer -- who finds the courage to ask "Is God punishing me for something?" as she comes to terms with how every aspect of her life is now upended and at risk

/ / /

What is the nature of God?

This is an age-old question that humankind continues to wrestle with

Not only among various religious traditions

But also within Christianity

Maybe especially within Christianity

This disagreement is understandable – as we have two conflicting examples of God's nature in scripture today.

In Exodus, the Lord says to Moses: "…Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them" (Ex. 32:10)

/ / /

Then in Luke Jesus likens God to one who continues to seek, welcome and rejoice over humankind – especially those who have "been lost"

Throughout scripture we can find examples of God's nature to justify whatever perspective we choose to hold

As we can with most issues

Is God slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love or punishing sinners in judgement?

Perhaps the more challenging debate lies within the questions about ourselves

What do we believe?

How do we live out those beliefs?

How do we respond when we inevitably bump up against life circumstances and people who challenge those beliefs?

/ / / /

I utilize psychology and sociology often as a chaplain, and draw upon those studies as I reflect on theology – the study of God – today

Anthropomorphism is placing human attributes on things or beings that are not human

We do this with our pets all the time, imagining their mood or desires

We do this with plants and trees, imagining the grass is crying out in despair after days without rain – or rejoicing after the rain finally comes

It's easy with these examples to recognize how we're likely projecting ourselves onto our dog or cat or lawn

But what about with God?

Might we also project ourselves onto who we wish God to be?

/ / / /

So I read and reflect upon today's scripture with the awareness that anthropomorphism and projecting are real

I also reflect on them from an Internal Family Systems perspective which acknowledges that we have different, and sometimes competing parts of ourselves that influence our thoughts and behavior

This acknowledges how at times there is a part of myself that wants my enemy to suffer AND a part of myself that wants to extend compassion to my enemy

/ / / /

Going back to the reading from Exodus with this perspective I think about Moses

Moses who at the beginning of his call story begged God to pick someone else – anyone else – to do this work

Moses who realized the difficulty of his call and lamented the grumbling and complaining of the Israelites to God

Moses who continually turned around and devoted himself to guiding and teaching these people who kept messing up and falling short of "the plan"

Moses who today implored God to return to God's good nature – and changed God's mind

/ / / /

The Israelites built the golden calf and began worshipping it instead of God

This is the famous example of idolatry that Abrahamic traditions reference

But, it also demonstrates humankind's greed –

And desire to possess and control God

/ / / /

If God seems to stretch us too far out of our comfort zone

Let's project onto God traits that are more like us

Let us make a god into one we can understand

And abide

And feel better about worshipping

/ / / /

So we hear this anger from God in the book of Exodus over the people worshipping the golden calf and breaking the covenant

They break their promise to worship only God

They cannot keep their end of the bargain

And God is angry – so angry God plans to burn wrath hot against them and consume them!

But I wonder

Is this God's anger

Or Moses'?

Moses - After years of serving in this role that he didn't really want

Teaching and guiding and nurturing these people

Literally participating in saving their lives

While being on the receiving end of their grumbling and disobedience

I wonder if Moses is angry

/ / / /

Fast-forward about 1200 years and the religious leaders are grumbling

The Pharisees are grumbling about Jesus who cannot be controlled

Jesus the Christ cannot be predicted or contained

Jesus' love is bigger than what the law holds as he welcomes those outsiders

Jesus, one with God, is despised and rejected

Jesus persists in showing compassion to sinners

Those who aren't keeping the covenant promise with God

/ / / /

Jesus gives us yet another window through which to glimpse the nature of God

Through his own actions

And with two parables

One about a shepherd and one about a woman

These are two other groups in addition to the tax collectors that the Pharisees looked down upon

And here Jesus likens God to both a shepherd and a woman / /

Jesus draws us a picture with his story of God who rejoices over those who return to God – and calls a huge celebration!

/ / / /

What is the nature of God?

Jesus is trying to show the Pharisees that their righteousness has become a barrier to their ability to experience God

Perhaps the merit of following the law is not the most important thing

Somehow keeping track of right and wrong is preventing them from sharing in God's love and celebration

"there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance" (Lk 15:7)

The wild thing is that in these parables we know that neither sheep nor coins can repent

There is no criticism of the sheep who wandered off, wondering what was it thinking and how long it wasn't paying attention to where it SHOULD have been going

It's laughable to blame a coin for getting lost in the couch but I suppose we'd likely blame the caretaker of that coin for being so irresponsible

God is rejoicing over what the Pharisees would have called worthless sheep and coins

Who cannot even repent

Which begs the question -- can we repent?

/ / / /

In spite of Moses' – or God's anger

In spite of ignorance and sinning and irresponsibility

God keeps the covenant

God keeps God's promise

God continues to show humankind mercy

And Jesus is calling the Pharisees – and us - out

God calls us out of the human nature of judgement and criticism

And toward God's celebration

/ / / /

What is the nature of God?

Maybe deciding we know the answer to that question is like building another golden calf

Maybe focusing on God's nature is yet another way to avoid confronting our own nature

What parts of ourself want to burn hot against someone

What parts of ourself feel justified in the good works we do

What parts of ourself continue to notice the short-comings of others

What parts of ourself criticize our own mistakes or times when we chose poorly

What parts of ourself limit our ability to celebrate and rejoice for keeping track of all our own faults and all that's wrong in this world

/ / / /

What is the nature of God?

I do know that I want God to be slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love when I'm looking into this woman's tearful eyes listening to hear fears about not seeing her teenage daughter graduate from high school

I also recognize the part of me that wants God to be a flaming hot wrath consuming the one whose actions and words seem so wrong

And because of that I know that I have to let it go – and let God be God

And refocus on my call and challenge as a Christian

To continue to wrestle with the enormity of God's love

To believe that God keeps God's promise even when I can't keep mine

To give love to myself and to my neighbor in ridiculous and generous ways

And in the midst of it all,

celebrate and rejoice with God

Amen.

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

Year C – 13th Sunday after Pentecost; Lectionary 23 – September 7, 2025

Pastor Megan Floyd

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Psalm 1

Luke 14:25-33

Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, and from Jesus, our Savior, who urges us to choose life, so that we may live. Amen.

***

These are some challenging words from Jesus today.

…Reminds me of the good news from a few weeks ago, when Jesus said he did not come to bring peace, but division… these words make me catch my breath.

Yet they are part of the Good News and have been set before us… and so today, we will wrestle with them… together.

"Whoever comes to me and does not hate their family, and yes, even life itself, cannot be my disciple."

Is Jesus really telling us that… hate… is a mark of discipleship?

Isn't God supposed to be all about love?

Isn't the greatest commandment, above all the others… You shall love the Lord, your God, and then… you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Yes! Jesus did say that! …and it wasn't new information… he was drawing from Deuteronomy and Leviticus, which his listeners would have known.

And what about the fourth commandment… You shall honor your father and mother?

How are we to follow God's commandment to honor our parents if Jesus states that we cannot become his disciples unless we hate them?

We call the gospels Good News… but Good News… isn't always easy to hear. And yet… it is still good.

It is good because it comes from God, who is, indeed, all about love. But it requires us to make choices… choices between life and death… blessings and curses.

Choose to fear and love the Lord, your God, above all else.

The one who created you, who loved you into existence, desires for you to put God and God's commandments before everything else.

Following God has always been about loving God above all else… because we are so loved.

And we know… we know… that following God's will for us… that following God's commandments does, in fact, lead to a full life blessed with love and abundance…

…it leads to communities that care for the needs of others, where all people are valued and supported, and where everyone has enough.

Even though God desires for us to choose this life and these blessings… it still comes with a cost.

See, the common thread between our texts today is God's desire for us to first recognize all that God offers us… all that God has laid out for us to consider… and then to make the choice, the only choice… that leads to a flourishing life.

…not just for us alone, for we are not meant to be alone… but a flourishing life as communities that have chosen to love God above all else.

Choose life… so that you may live… but count the costs of this life of discipleship so you don't make this choice blindly… and you will know …that what God offers is good.

We know all about making choices… and we know all about making sacrifices for those choices.

There are the little choices we make every day, like choosing a healthy lunch over fast food, because we know that while that burger and fries might taste great in the moment… if that was all we ate, every day… we wouldn't feel so great.

And generally what you choose to eat for lunch doesn't become your whole identity… it doesn't demand that you put everything and everyone else as secondary.

That would be crazy.

But there are choices we make… sacrifices we make… that require this of us… like for example… the choice to play youth travel sports.

Working in youth ministry, I regularly lamented the rise in popularity of youth travel sports. Maybe some of you have had your kids involved in travel teams, I don't know…

And if you did and loved them, you might get angry with me about this…

But here's my perspective from the ministry side of things.

Whenever one of my church youth joined a travel team, it was pretty much the death blow to whatever life of faith they and their family had been developing until that point.

Participation in travel teams demanded that everything else be sacrificed.

First, the family had to invest thousands of dollars every year for their child to be on the team, which wasn't even a guarantee they'd play.

And, it was a travel team, so every weekend, the family would be traveling for games… and over the years, it seemed that weekends alone weren't enough, so they started planning for other games during the week.

These teams insisted that for the athlete to be successful, every available moment needed to be devoted to the travel team.

The team was the highest priority, and if you challenged that, you couldn't be on the team.

And so, these kids sacrificed a lot. They sacrificed any opportunity to be involved in anything else with their school or friends.

They sacrificed their grades as they struggled to balance school and their commitments to the team.

And they sacrificed their faith, and any relationships their family had been nurturing at their church… all of this was sacrificed on the altar of youth travel sports.

And for what? …for the hope that someday they might play professionally? I suppose… it occasionally happens, but not usually.

Everything in their world became focused on themselves and the game…

Their parents supported it, or often even pushed their kid to do it, because they thought they were giving them the best chance to get ahead in this life… in this culture.

And… it always broke my heart. Always.

Because, in my observations… once a family chose to sacrifice everything for youth travel sports… sacrifice everything for their child's individual teenage success, it was almost impossible to bring them back around to the importance of their faith community.

There would be no more opportunities to show them the incredible transformation in ourselves and in the people around us when we choose, not to live just for ourselves, but to live for God and others.

There would be no more opportunities to show them how much loving others, as God loves us, is actually one of the most beautiful blessings of all.

And no more opportunities to walk with them on their faith journey, when the doubt creeps in, or they get angry with God about something that happened…

To be able to offer the kind of reassurance that can only come from the people in your faith community who are with you on that journey, and can speak into your experience.

Now please understand… I know that youth travel sports are not really the problem… and I'm sure not all of them are as intense as the ones I encountered.

They are a product of our culture that tells us every day that if you aren't focused on your own personal gain and success, then you've already lost.

But that's actually contrary to God's desire for us…we weren't created to be alone… we weren't created to toil away as individuals.

We were created to succeed and flourish as a people when we love and honor God first, and love and honor our neighbors… when we follow God's commandments.

By prioritizing God and the collective needs of the community over our own, we discover what God knew to be true all along… we discover that our hearts and lives are transformed, and we are abundantly blessed.

This life of discipleship… this life of following Jesus… leads to an abundant life… but it comes with a cost.

We must be willing to put God first in our lives… before all else…

and to trust that God is faithful and true in God's promise… that what God has set before us is life and prosperity… and death and adversity.

And God wants us to choose life, and that life is good.

So the mark of discipleship is not hatred for your family… no… the mark of discipleship is love for God above everything else.

And when you love God above all else, it becomes your identity…

and it becomes the lens through which you look at everything and everyone around you… so you see the world as God sees it.

You see the world through God's lens of perfect love.

It's a breathtaking view… a costly view, and the choice is yours to make… and the Good News is… God is going to keep putting this choice in front of you.

God is going to keep putting this choice in front of you, no matter how far you have wandered, and no matter how much you have decided that the life of discipleship is too hard.

The Good News is… God isn't going to give up on you… because God loves you, and really wants you to choose life.

Amen.