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

A wonderful performance by the Faith Lutheran Church Joyful Noise Choir, a group of children under age 16 that share their musical gifts with all of us today!

We will never be free until we are dead to the whole business of justifying ourselves.  And, the really good news is that Jesus came to raise the dead!  Our situation is not hopeless because God is the master of impossible situations.  Through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, we are able to discover that we are freed from the burden of self-justification.  We are recipients of an amazing gift – God’s all-encompassing grace.  And that grace enables us to let go of self and go forth to love and care for all those around us.

We will never be free until we are dead to the whole business of justifying ourselves.  And, the really good news is that Jesus came to raise the dead!  Our situation is not hopeless because God is the master of impossible situations.  Through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, we are able to discover that we are freed from the burden of self-justification.  We are recipients of an amazing gift – God’s all-encompassing grace.  And that grace enables us to let go of self and go forth to love and care for all those around us.

Special music by the Faith Lutheran Chorale of Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Special music by the Faith Lutheran Chorale of Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

As we hear and try to understand the parable Jesus tells us today, just maybe the really good news for all of us is that God is the one who is like that widow – unrelenting, persistent, assertive – like a dog on a bone.  God is the one who does not and will never give up.  God has not, does not, and will not ever give up on us, even when we have acted as though we "neither feared God nor had respect for people."  Just maybe, the real message in this short little story is that, because of God’s great love for us, God became vulnerable like that poor widow, even to the point of being nailed to the cross like a common criminal.   And, in the death and resurrection of Jesus, God’s reign has broken into this world and continues to break into our world, bringing forth justice for all people.  Now that is the kind of good news worth sharing.  That is the kind of message for which each of us can be like a dog on a bone!

As we hear and try to understand the parable Jesus tells us today, just maybe the really good news for all of us is that God is the one who is like that widow – unrelenting, persistent, assertive – like a dog on a bone.  God is the one who does not and will never give up.  God has not, does not, and will not ever give up on us, even when we have acted as though we "neither feared God nor had respect for people."  Just maybe, the real message in this short little story is that, because of God’s great love for us, God became vulnerable like that poor widow, even to the point of being nailed to the cross like a common criminal.   And, in the death and resurrection of Jesus, God’s reign has broken into this world and continues to break into our world, bringing forth justice for all people.  Now that is the kind of good news worth sharing.  That is the kind of message for which each of us can be like a dog on a bone!

The Faith Lutheran Chorale shared a musical presentation of I Will Awaken The Dawn

The Faith Lutheran Chorale shared a musical presentation of I Will Awaken The Dawn

Today at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, MI, Jack Dingledine shared a stewardship temple talk about being good stewards for the Earth.