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

We follow the one who loved this world so much he went to the cross. Following Jesus is not easy, but His word is still the best news this world has ever heard for bad times or good, and that is what you and I are called to remember together. Discipleship is demanding. Discipleship is a delightful thing, and discipleship is a determined thing. If you would follow Him, come with all you are and with all you have. The promise of life, abundant life, life that truly matters is always in front of us. And, the promise of God’s unconditional love, forgiveness and grace far outweigh whatever the cost discipleship might bring. May God’s love free us to choose life and daily center our lives in Christ, beginning now.

Special Music by the family pick-up family choir at the September 4 service at Faith Lutheran church in Okemos, Michigan.

Special Music by the family pick-up family choir at the September 4 service at Faith Lutheran church in Okemos, Michigan.

Meal-time experiences and parties were one way in which the writer of Luke described and portrayed a vision of the Christian life. And, the banquet is a symbol of the reign of God. Table fellowship becomes a metaphor for the kingdom of God, where social boundaries and unjust divisions in human community no longer exist. Jesus embodies radical hospitality. Jesus invites us to stop the bookkeeping and let go of all imposed boundaries and distinctions we try to create. Jesus invites us to be the community of God’s people we are called to be.   Jesus’ words reach across boundaries of place and time and call us to bear witness to the fellowship that exists between God and humanity. Jesus’ words call us to let go of our score keeping and live into the joy and freedom of fellowship with God and all others. Such fellowship is all about grace, the grace and love in which God holds not only us, but the entire cosmos. That is table fellowship, Jesus style!

Meal-time experiences and parties were one way in which the writer of Luke described and portrayed a vision of the Christian life. And, the banquet is a symbol of the reign of God. Table fellowship becomes a metaphor for the kingdom of God, where social boundaries and unjust divisions in human community no longer exist. Jesus embodies radical hospitality. Jesus invites us to stop the bookkeeping and let go of all imposed boundaries and distinctions we try to create. Jesus invites us to be the community of God’s people we are called to be.   Jesus’ words reach across boundaries of place and time and call us to bear witness to the fellowship that exists between God and humanity. Jesus’ words call us to let go of our score keeping and live into the joy and freedom of fellowship with God and all others. Such fellowship is all about grace, the grace and love in which God holds not only us, but the entire cosmos. That is table fellowship, Jesus style!

Jesus is always calling and inviting each one of us saying, “Come forth, come and enter into life in all its fullness.” Jesus is calling each one of us to a new vision of the way things ought to be with ourselves and with the world. Jesus wants to set you free! He says to you, to me, to each one of us, “The Kingdom of God is at hand, it is within you, it is in your midst.”

Jesus is always calling and inviting each one of us saying, “Come forth, come and enter into life in all its fullness.” Jesus is calling each one of us to a new vision of the way things ought to be with ourselves and with the world. Jesus wants to set you free! He says to you, to me, to each one of us, “The Kingdom of God is at hand, it is within you, it is in your midst.”

This is special music from Tammy Heilman today at the Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is special music from Tammy Heilman today at the Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Jesus calls us to discipleship and a life of faith.  Today, his words seem harsh, but they are honest, lay it on the line words.  We are not called to live a sugar coated, comfortable life of faith. We are called to participate in Christ’s mission. And, as God works through us, Christ restructures us; Christ breaks down walls of division; Christ repairs us in order that we might become repairers of a broken world. God takes us into God’s ongoing work of reconciling, binding up, and making whole. And, yes, it is not easy, it is demanding, costly and risky. However, we do not do this alone because it is Christ who is our peace in the depth of the struggle. And, it is Christ who is with us every step of the way.

This is a sermon based on the text from Luke 12:49-56 as presented on August 14, 2016 at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.