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

This is a special musical presentation of My Jesus Walked, sung by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Year C – First Sunday in Lent – March 9, 2025

Pastor Megan Floyd

Luke 4:1-13

Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, and from our Lord, Jesus Christ, in whose death and resurrection we share through the gift of Holy Baptism. Amen.

***

What a joyful day!

Today we celebrate Stella who has been adopted into God's family as our sibling in Christ… through the waters of baptism and through God's word… God's holy promise… spoken for us.

God's promise to Stella today reminds us that this promise is for us as well… that even though we may find ourselves lost and alone in the wilderness, God's promise to us in our baptism is that God is with us… always…

God promises to meet us in our wilderness, and that through water and word, our sins are drowned each day… and each day we are made new, forgiven, and loved.

Through baptism, we share in our Lord's death and resurrection… dying daily to our sin … and rising anew each day, embracing the promise of new life with Christ…

Each day we are reborn, reconciled to God… and freed to worship God and give thanks, and respond to this precious gift by caring for others and boldly loving the world as God so loves the world.

Baptism is a precious gift… that draws us into God's grace, and transforms our relationship with God, and with our world.

***

How poetic it is, then, that we celebrate Stella's baptism on this day… the first Sunday in Lent.

During Lent, we are called to pay special focus to all that draws us away from God, and to be intentional in our thoughts and actions, choosing patterns and habits that will bring us back closer to our Creator.

We might fast, as Jesus did in the wilderness, so that each thought of whatever you are avoiding, becomes a reminder to return to the Lord and give thanks.

Or we might introduce more intentional prayer and time for meditation on God's faithful presence in our lives.

This can be done alone… or you may choose to lean on the support of others, and come together with our community of Faith here… you could join in our weekly bible study, the Lenten book study, or come on Wednesday nights for our Holden Evening Prayer service.

Or we might choose to give more generously to those in need, sharing gifts that we have first received… and in doing so, sharing love for others and celebrating God's boundless love for all.

However we choose to observe Lent, the goal is to grow in our relationship to God as we move toward the cross, and ultimately, to new life.

The goal is to interrupt the patterns of sin that tempt us… and lead us away from God, as the devil unsuccessfully tempted Jesus…

and to allow the challenge… the struggle… to strengthen us and deepen our faith and our trust in God who sustains us… and to remind us that we are forgiven and washed in grace.

***

Our passage today brings us alongside Jesus in the wilderness… he is full of the Holy Spirit because he has just come from his own baptism in the Jordan River, signaling the start of his ministry on Earth.

But even Jesus needed clarity for his mission… to face challenge and struggle… to strengthen himself for the work ahead, and so the Spirit leads him into the wilderness.

The temptations Jesus faced mirror the temptations that Adam and Eve faced in the garden…

to eat food that is not theirs to eat… to reach for power that is promised by one without the authority to make such a promise… and to test God, rather than trust that God will be true to God's promise to provide.

And where humanity falters, Jesus prevails… and in facing these challenges, Jesus gains clarity, and courage for his mission.

And so, it is poetic that on this first Sunday in Lent, we celebrate the gift of Stella's baptism, and by extension, the gift of our own baptism…

We celebrate that Stella is now full of the Holy Spirit, and by extension, we too are full of the Holy Spirit, ready to face the challenges ahead…

ready to strengthen and nurture our relationship with God and give intentional focus to all that God has done for us.

Through our new sister, Stella, we are reminded of the promises we made… Promises that draw us closer to God.

Promises that open our hearts to recognize all the ways that Jesus shows up for us…because that's the goal… that's always the goal.

***

God's promise to us through the word and the water is that we are always being made new…

that every day, our sins are drowned… gone… and we rise from the water forgiven… and redeemed, and ready to walk with Christ.

And even though we must die daily to our sin and receive the promise of new life each day… God's promise is everlasting… unwavering… and true.

And though we are still flawed, God still calls us to God's self, still claims us as beloved just as we are, and desires for us to participate in the renewal of Creation by transforming the world around us with love.

Baptism is our physical sign and reminder that we have received God's grace… love… mercy… and forgiveness.

And so today, on this first Sunday in Lent, we celebrate the promise of new life for Stella, and for all of us… and we give thanks to God for the gift of baptism.

Amen.

Year C – Ash Wednesday – March 5, 2025

Pastor Megan Floyd

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Remember that you are dust… and also, that you are loved.

Ash Wednesday is the day we begin Lent, and we honor this day by considering our mortality… that we are made of the same dust and dirt as all the rest of Creation, and when we die… which we all will, we return to the same dust and dirt.

It might seem odd to consider love, while also considering the dustiness of mortality … until you consider WHO made you from the dust and dirt… and WHY.

Yes, you are dust… and dirt… but you were formed by God's own hands… formed in love. And you live because of the first gift God gives each of us… God's own breath… a gift given in love.

God breathed into you… breathed life and love into you… so that you might live.

Remembering that you are dust… also means… remembering that you are loved. And when the day comes that you return to dust… remember that you return to the presence of God… you return to the source of everlasting love.

So then, it is with ashes and love that we step into Lent… a season of repentance and fasting… of giving alms and engaging in works of love that glorify our God…

With ashes and love, we step into Lent, a season of preparation to behold God's defining act of defeating death on the cross.

With ashes and love, we step into Lent and we fast from the excesses in life… from whatever it is in our lives that comes between us and our God.

We fast, so we can more clearly recognize that when all else is gone… when all things become irrelevant, we know that God, and God's love, remain.

Fasting, giving alms, and engaging in works of love are not about making a show of our piety… it's about setting our hearts and minds on Christ and trusting that God is faithful and will not abandon us… because we are so deeply loved.

And… because we are so deeply loved, we also repent.

God, in love, calls us to return… return to me, says the Lord, with all your heart… God calls us to repent.

We must repent because we live in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves… and our sin holds us apart from God.

Our repentance is an acknowledgment of the hold that sin has over our lives… and our repentance frees us to fully receive the love and forgiveness God offers.

Our repentance… the kind of repentance that changes the way we live… the kind that guides us back toward God's justice... that kind of repentance… is rooted in love.

We repent… not to become worthy of God's love, but we repent because we ARE loved.

As the prophet Joel wrote…"Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger… and abounding in steadfast love."

Repent… and turn your face… return your attention… back to God… turn back to God's grace and mercy… to God's love, and forgiveness… and remember that it was God who formed you in love.

You were formed from the dust and dirt, and to the dust and dirt you will return… but you will never be without God's love.

So indeed… remember that you are dust… dust and dirt formed with love and given God's very breath of life… and when your life is complete… remember… that to dust you shall return… called home to eternal life with your God who loves you…

Remember that you are dust… and also, that you are loved.

Amen.

Transfiguration of Our Lord

March 2, 2025

Faith, Okemos

Exodus 34:27-35, Psalm 99, 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2, Luke 9:28-43a

Changed From Glory into Glory

Love divine, all loves excelling, Joy of heaven to earth come down!

Fix in us thy humble dwelling, all thy faithful mercies crown.

Jesus, thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love thou art;

Visit us with thy salvation, enter every trembling heart.

Breathe, oh, breathe thy loving Spirit into every troubled breast;

let us all in thee inherit; let us find thy promised rest.

Take away the love of sinning; Alpha and Omega be;

End of faith as its being, set our hearts at liberty.

[Today, called the Transfiguration of Our Lord, is, in the church year, the last Sunday in the season of Epiphany. Epiphany - the season of the Father revealing to us the glory of his Son, at once fully divine and fully human. Today we see Jesus, together with Peter and John and James, going up on a mountain to pray. And there Jesus is "transfigured." ]

And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed and his clothes became dazzling white.

And suddenly talking with Jesus were two ancient figures, Moses, to whom, on a mountain, was entrusted with the Ten Commandments and Elijah, prophet of the Lord, who, fleeing for his life, hid in a cave on a mountain after publicly naming the gross transgressions and idol worship of King Ahab and the evil deeds of his wife, Jezebel, who had ordered the killing of the prophets of the Lord. It was there that he heard the still small voice, the sound of sheer silence calling him to rise up and continue his prophetic ministry

[Moses, Elijah, and Jesus] appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem

His departure… [The word "departure" in the Greek , the first language in which our New Testament was written, is the same word for "exodus."] For the Hebrew people living centuries before, it was the absolutely pivotal moment in which God made a way for them to escape from 400 years of slavery in Egypt. For Jesus the exodus would be his suffering and death on the cross, through which God would make a way for all the world to be set free from bondage, set free from its slavery to all the false, deceitful gods that wreck our lives, that wreck our relationships with each other, that destroy our communities and God's good creation, and yes, would wreck the very hope for justice and civility and righteousness in a nation.

Jesus' death on the cross was God taking on to himself all the suffering and barbarism, all the personal and sometimes government-sanctioned use of power to crush our very souls. In the words of scripture, Jesus became sin who knew no sin. Jesus' departure, his exodus thus made possible our freedom, made possible our liberation from all the evil soul-destroying, community-destroying powers of this world.

In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul put it this way: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:3-4) Do you not know? Do you not know that when you were baptized into Jesus' death, into Jesus' exodus, you were set free, free every day for the rest of your life to walk in newness of life?

Listen now to these words from our Second Reading:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Since then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness…all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, we are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

In the hybrid Bible Study this past Tuesday, we reflected on the glory Peter, John, and James witnessed when they looked at Jesus, at his face, his dazzling white clothing and at the two men standing with him. They saw his glory!

This is Jesus who on the day of his baptism [which we celebrated on the first Sunday in Epiphany], while he was praying, the heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him…And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." And now on this day of the transfiguration a cloud came and overshadowed them, enveloping Jesus and his disciples and from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him!"

During the Bible study I began to see my fellow participants a little differently. I saw all of them as "exodus" sons and daughters of God, as honest, open and freed, fully human children of God. [In our shared reflections on the Word, I saw them, in my mind if not with my physical eyes, being changed, with new insights, new understandings, moving from one degree of glory to another.]

[I shared with them my father's blessing to me one night just before his death, these words from Numbers 6:24-26: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.]

And now I see you, all of you made in the image of God, each of you in your own distinctive way reflecting the glory of God; all of you by the grace of God being transformed from one degree of glory to another. This glory is the gift of the Holy Spirit freely given in and through you every day of your life, a life lived in words and deeds of love, until at last you and I see Jesus face to face in all his shining glory.

This glory is the freedom to walk more and more in newness of life, a freedom to trust that Jesus meant it when in your baptism into his death, he was calling you and equipping you, to become a good listener, listening to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit in your very soul, gently calling and equipping you day by day to love appropriately everyone whom God brings into your mind, everyone whom God lays on your heart.

But I have a confession. I don't always listen very well, either to that quiet, gentle voice of the Spirit within me or the words of inspired wisdom coming from my sisters and brothers . So, I am very grateful for God's patience.

I know I'm not alone in my failure to listen. Peter, John, and James didn't do so hot at listening either, even after just hearing that commanding voice from the cloud: This is my Son, listen to him! On the very next day, after coming down from the mountain they, with Jesus, encounter a father whose son, his only child, was critically and dangerously ill. He had asked the disciples for help. The 12 disciples, including the three with Jesus on the mountain, had earlier been empowered by Jesus to have authority over all demons and to cure diseases. And they had been incredibly successful.

But they grew lax in their calling. They apparently forgot to listen both to the Spirit's voice within them and to the father's urgent plea for help. The father of the little boy said, "I begged your disciples to cast out the demon, but they could not."

Jesus is clearly frustrated, giving his disciples a holy balling out: "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you?" But then moving on from his frustration, he said to the father, "Bring your son here."…Jesus in a sign of what he would do for whole world on the cross healed the boy and gave him back to his father.

Some days we too will forget to listen. And Jesus will at times be frustrated with us. But we are still and always will be his beloved sisters and brothers. By the wonderful gift and presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, Jesus will remind us again and again that throughout the course of our lives we are becoming more and more like him, growing from one shining, grateful, joyful degree of glory to another expression of glory.

Come, Almighty, to deliver, let us all thy life receive;

Suddenly return, and never, never more thy temples leave.

Thee we would be always blessing, serve thee as thy hosts above,

Pray and praise thee without ceasing, glory in thy perfect love.

Finish then thy new creation, pure and spotless let us be;

let us see thy great salvation perfectly restored in thee!

Changed from glory into glory, till in heav'n we take our place,

Till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise!

Amen

This is a special musical presentation of We Will Glorify, sung by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Chuch in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical presentation of Mercy sung by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Chuch in Okemos, Michigan.

Year C – 7th Sunday after Epiphany

Pastor Megan Floyd

February 23, 2025

Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, and from our savior, Jesus Christ, who longs for us to be consumed by love. Amen.

***

This passage is remarkably beautiful for the way it draws us into Christ's vision of justice… and of course… love.

But… that doesn't make it easy.

It's a well-known passage… love your enemies… turn the other cheek,… but it often misrepresents Christians as people who will and should continue to subject themselves to abuse.

It is definitely not that.

I can remember, even as a child, I would hear this and think… nope… no thanks… if someone slaps me and I turn the other cheek, then I'll get slapped twice. No, thank you.

What I have since learned is that this passage is really about justice, and holding others accountable for their abuse and harm… but doing so in a non-violent and loving way.

Retaliation and violence cannot drive out evil… only love can do that.

After all… even those who perpetrate harm against their neighbor, or community, or even the whole country… even those people are loved by God, who desire for their hearts to be remolded by love.

Still doesn't make it easy.

***

This passage is a continuation of the sermon on the plain that we got into last week… the blessings and woes…

Blessed are the poor and hungry… blessed are the powerless

Woe to you who are rich and full… woe to you who are well thought of according to the world's standards.

…But I say to you that listen, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

We must read this command to love our enemies through the lens of Jesus' flip of all we understand about the world… and about who is blessed and who is issued a warning.

He says, 'Do not judge, and you will not be judged.'

To cast judgment on another person is to view them, for whatever reason, as unworthy of God's gifts… to consider them as less than the beloved child of God that they are.

Jesus issues blessings and woes, and a call to love our enemies… as a way to call us into a more just way of living that honors all people, regardless of status or any of our human categories.

And this is huge for us in our modern American culture, but it's arguably a bigger deal for those first disciples… because the culture that Jesus is preaching in is an honor-shame culture. It's not quite the same way here and now… but for them…

To be abused was a cause for shame, but to respond the way Jesus suggests shines a light on the abuse, and holds the perpetrator accountable for their wrongful actions…

To respond the way Jesus suggests is to demand justice and dignity.

He says… if anyone takes away your coat, do not withhold even your shirt.

In that culture, to be naked was shameful, but to be someone who caused another to be naked was more shameful.

Jesus said, if anyone strikes you on the cheek – and in Matthew, he specifies, strikes you on the right cheek, offer the other.

Well, most people are right-handed, so to strike someone on the right cheek would mean they back-handed them…

This was how someone would strike a slave or someone so low in status that the abuser would not sully the palm of their hand.

But if you then offer the other cheek for them to strike, it would require an open hand,

…In doing that, they are demanding their abuser face what they did and strike them as an equal… thus throwing off the shame and exposing wrongful violence.

If someone takes your goods… stealing from you… Jesus said, do not ask for them back, it is then considered a gift. The shame of being a victim is turned into honor for one who is generous.

And again… it exposes the wrongful theft.

Jesus is not preaching suggestions for passive weakness… not at all…

To respond this way takes courage, and commitment to the way of Christ and strength in knowing that calling others back into right relationship brings healing to whole communities.

Jesus is offering a way to level out power imbalance and call attention to injustice.

Jesus is offering a way for us to create space for a pause… an examination of actions, a call to accountability… space for confession… forgiveness… and reconciliation.

Jesus is calling us to follow a way that does not tolerate evil, but instead, it exposes the evil actions and invites the perpetrator back into right relationship with their community… using love.

God does not want us to destroy our enemies… God wants us to love them.

***

Earlier this week, our siblings in Christ at St. Luke's ELCA church in Park Ridge, Illinois, experienced some of this world's hatred and abuse.

Vandals destroyed their sign, which featured the logo for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America – the ELCA – and the logo for Reconciling in Christ, which, as we know, stands for justice and inclusion of our LGBTQ+ siblings.

While it may have been a random act of disrespect… which was carried out in two separate acts…

we cannot ignore that our Lutheran witness and commitment to standing with the vulnerable and marginalized has recently been nationally vilified…

…and our ELCA siblings across this country are feeling the effects of that from those who are motivated to intimidate based on perceived orders from their leaders.

As I read about this church, I was deeply encouraged that, in the face of harm, they are leaning into Jesus' command to love others, to be welcoming to all, and to bear witness to the Gospel.

Their pastor wrote, "In a world increasingly marked by division and fear, we are called to stand firm in the radical grace of Jesus.

If this was meant to discourage us, let it do the opposite. Let it strengthen our resolve to be a beacon of hope, justice, and love.

We will continue to proclaim love of neighbor through word and deed, showing with our lives that love is stronger than fear."

***

Friends… this is what it looks like… to turn the other cheek.

To pause… and take a breath… to call for accountability and leave room for confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

This is what it looks like to follow in the way of Christ, to commit to love, to stand for justice, and to trust in the kind of costly grace that calls us into action.

To not let the hardness of the world… harden our hearts against our enemies… or our neighbors.

And no… it is not easy. And yes… there is risk.

Which is why we cannot… and do not… accomplish this work on our own.

It is only possible with the strength of the bonds that form within a community that follows the way of Christ together…

And, most importantly, it is only possible by the will of God, who has called us to this path… and promises to accompany and guide us, to comfort us in our grief, and to transform our hearts with love.

Our God, who loves us beyond measure, knows that if we hold onto fear… bitterness… suspicion… and hatred… we will be overcome… consumed by that hatred.

So let us lay all that down at the foot of the cross… and in doing so, know that we cast a holy light… a loving light… onto the injustice of our world…

…and, with strength that can only come from God… let us come together to call those who perpetuate evil and violence… back into love….

Let us call them back into just relationships… offering healing for our communities… and lives transformed by grace.

Jesus' sermon on the plain teaches us that what God wants for us… what Christ longs for… is for us to be consumed by mercy and compassion… consumed by love, and for that love to reshape the world.

And so… though it is not easy… let us, together, love our enemies and pray for those who cause harm.

Amen.

This is a special musical presentation of Above All sung by Christopher Lewis at Faith Lutheran Chuch in Okemos, Michigan.

Year C – 6th Sunday after Epiphany

Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, and from our savior, Jesus Christ, who came to bring good news to the poor. Amen.

***

This one always used to make me squirm a bit… you know? No matter how much I shifted in my seat… I could not escape its conviction.

We are still getting to know each other, but you have probably figured out that I love to laugh…

And, of course, I like to be comfortable… and yes, I hope to maintain my good reputation.

But when I read this… it's like Jesus is standing there in front of me… shaking his head and looking disappointed.

I don't like that.

But I know I'm not alone. We all like our comforts, and we all prefer financial security and a positive reputation.

So why does Jesus say… woe to us... woe to us who are rich… woe to us who are filled… woe to us who are laughing and well thought of.

Woe to us… who put our trust… our faith… in our earthly resources…

***

I want to take a little detour and tell you about a time in my life when my faith just… exploded… my spiritual AH-HA moment!

I've been a Lutheran all my life. My parents brought me to church every Sunday when I was little, I was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran church.

There were some years in college and as a young adult that I didn't attend regularly… but church was my habit, and I valued the community that was available to me there.

But when it came to my faith… well… I thought I had faith, but looking back, I don't think I fully understood it…

I believed in God, but I didn't truly understand what it meant to be encountered by the living Christ… until about 12 years ago.

That was when our youngest daughter was 2 years old, and I was home alone with her when she had a seizure.

By the way… she is aware that I'm telling this story.

I didn't fully understand what was happening, and I was terrified… I didn't know how to help her.

I called my parents, and I called 911

We ended up at the hospital, where the seizures continued… and she was eventually diagnosed with epilepsy, but they couldn't figure out why she had it.

So for the next several months, we were in and out of the hospital… tests and specialist visits and all sorts of things were happening.

And the medical bills were just… soaring… we had insurance, but it didn't matter… the amount of the debt became comical for us…

Bill was the primary earner in our family… working as a graphic designer for a tiny, struggling, family-run graphic design firm… and I worked for the church as the bookkeeper and the youth minister.

We were not wealthy, but prior to this event, we were at least keeping our heads above water.

And then… a few months into Kara's medical adventures, Bill was laid off… on the day after Christmas.

Suddenly, we were in deep poverty. The kind where you legitimately do not know where your next meal is coming from.

It was very scary.

The benefit, however, of being that deep in poverty is that Kara qualified for subsidized health insurance for children, and the amount we owed stopped ballooning.

And… at least at that time, there were still social safety nets that gave us some breathing room on our mortgage, so we didn't lose our house.

And also, tending to Kara's medical needs became a time-consuming responsibility… and since Bill wasn't working, he was home and was able to give the extra time needed, and work with the doctors to get her stabilized.

And as for our next meal… well… our church community showed up in huge ways. They brought casseroles by on hospital days… groceries would appear on our doorstep, and Meijer gift cards showed up in the mail.

There was an abundance.

They checked in on us… they held us… they prayed with us and for us.

They surrounded us with so much love and support, that even though we felt we were free-falling, we never hit bottom.

And every time I looked at them… they absolutely shined with Christ's light… and I finally understood… this is how Christ meets us in our most difficult moments…

This is how Christ ministers to us…loves us… holds us… surrounds us with peace.

I didn't recognize Christ in my community before because I was too busy with all my stuff… my hands were too full of my own earthly treasure…

I was too used to being one of the helpers… I had no idea what it meant to be the one in need.

Only once my hands were empty did I become ready to receive the fullness of God's blessing… and only through God's grace could I humble myself enough to receive it.

In receiving this gift of grace, my awareness opened up, and I finally got it… that all the earthly treasure we had before, and all we have now… was always, and will always be, a gift given to us, meant to be shared…

And so it is with joy that I endeavor to bring Christ's light to others, just as others brought it to us.

***

I had to learn this lesson of seeing Jesus the hard way… maybe you don't have to – maybe you're not as hard-headed as me… but I am forever grateful that Jesus met me where I was and showed me grace.

What else could I possibly do after that… but follow him?

That's what Jesus does… he meets us exactly where we are… to call us into discipleship. And if we miss the cue… he'll try again.

Just like in our gospel text, Jesus met the people on the plain... all those people, he met them on a level place… no one higher or lower than the others.

He met the very Jewish people from Jerusalem and Judea… the very Gentile people from Tyre and Sidon… disciples… followers of Jesus… those seeking healing… and all the different people in between.

He meets them all… on a level place… and he heals them all.

But to his disciples… to those who are following him in his mission… he explains that the kindom of God belongs to those who show up empty-handed.

Blessed are you who are poor… hungry… Blessed are you who are weeping

Jesus turns their understanding of the world… upside down… just like he did for me.

He is… re-orienting their priorities, and not all are going to accept this new world order…

But… he still healed them.... he healed them all… Because he still loves them.

Because Christ is still Christ… and the invitation is always there to open our hearts and turn our minds to God's ways… to open our hands to receive the goodness of God.

But his mission is plainly stated… Jesus came to bring good news to the poor.

***

That time in our life with Kara and experiencing poverty… it re-oriented our priorities and opened our eyes to see Christ all around us.

In time, Kara's epilepsy stabilized, and she's doing great… and Bill found a new and better job. We're doing ok…

…and I don't think Jesus is disappointed about that.

Because, like I said, our priorities are different… we now consider that what we have is a gift from God, and gifts are meant to be shared.

And, we understand now how much we are all connected, and how much we need each other.

We understand that it is not ok for us to be satisfied in our wealth if our neighbor is starving.

…what good is our freedom and privilege if our neighbor is held captive and oppressed.

The blessings and woes Jesus proclaims are not two separate ideas… Jesus is not saying that God is only with the poor.

God is with all the people… always… and Jesus is calling our awareness to our connection to all of them, but most especially… to those who are most in need.

Those who are deeply in need or despairing are uniquely positioned to recognize that Jesus blesses them and offers encouragement… and ministers to them through others.

And when we are so full of our own treasure that we have forgotten where it truly came from, Jesus brings words of challenge to remind us that we are connected and bound to all those in our community… and throughout Creation.

These blessings and woes are a call into discipleship… they call us back into the way of Christ, and into a more generous, connected way of life.

After all, we are… one body in Christ.

And so it is with joy and delight that we care for each other and minister to each other… sharing our gifts as we are able and shining Christ's light into the world…

And trusting that when we come before God with empty hands, God will fill them with love and grace and blessing.

Amen.

Year C - 5th Sunday after Epiphany

Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, and from Jesus Christ, our Savior… the holy seed in whom we place our hope. Amen.

***

It is a fact of life that we don't get to choose when we live, but I think it is safe to say… we are living in challenging times.

The intentional chaos and resulting uncertainty of the past month is a lot of political theater, and not entirely unexpected…

but what has really thrown me for a loop are these new attacks on the faithful, steadfast work of mainstream Christians with a long history of serving the poor and vulnerable.

ELCA Lutherans and our many siblings in Christ, who faithfully LIVE and PREACH God's saving message of mercy for all people and love for all people, are being challenged as adversaries to the current cultural powers.

But… Love… and mercy… caring for the vulnerable and centering those on the margins are …and have always been… central to Jesus' teaching and contrary to cultural norms.

And yet… here we are… these are challenging times.

You can imagine how I felt this week when I pulled up the lectionary texts for today and read poor Isaiah's faithful response to God's call – Here I am, Send me! …and then… what he's actually being sent into.

God called Isaiah to preach to people who are deaf to God's word, and blind to God's ways… to go to a people who are so hard of heart that they turn away from those in need and turn away from God's mercy.

Isaiah was called into God's service… in challenging times.

Jesus also lived in challenging times… in Matthew chapter 13, he quotes this very passage from Isaiah to refer to the people he's preaching to… those for whom the good seed of God's word falls among thorns or shallow soil.

And of course… Jesus preached to his neighbors in his hometown, sharing stories of God's mercy for the foreigner and the alien… and his neighbors are so angry and offended… they are determined to throw him off a cliff.

So maybe the truth is… the times really haven't changed all that much.

But thankfully, I am not Isaiah… and God has called me to preach to you, who are certainly NOT hard of heart…

You are a people who have heard God's call to love, to offer mercy, and to stand with the vulnerable… and you have poured your hearts and your treasure into this… God's mission.

And yet still… these are challenging times.

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The good news is, that true growth really only happens when we face a challenge, so maybe living in challenging times isn't so bad.

Think about this.. Giant Sequoia trees are the largest trees on earth and can live 3,000 years.

There are Giant Sequoia trees that were already ancient when Jesus' message of love and mercy got him killed 2,000 years ago.

These incredible trees can only reproduce… the seeds can only germinate… if they go through fire.

The seed cones have a hard resin that only melts away when exposed to the extreme temperature of fire.

But the fire also clears the ground upon which the seed falls… and it clears a space in the forest canopy, to let in water and light.

The only way that new growth can happen for a Giant Sequoia tree… is to endure challenging times… the fire that burns away and seems to destroy… also leads to healthy, new creation.

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For Isaiah, his people were facing the fire of God's judgment

He was called to warn his people that turning away from God would lead to their ruin… even though he knew they would not hear him or heed his words.

Their actions would lead to exile… they would face… challenging times.

But for God, judgement is NEVER the last word… judgement is not how it ends.

For when all else is gone… a seed remains… a holy seed, the stump of Jesse… from which healthy, new, redeemed creation can and will grow.

God's promise has always been… that death does not get the final word, and all is not lost because God is faithful and true.

God promised that these challenging times would lead to a new creation, and through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has fulfilled that promise to you!

God's word of judgment reminds us how much we need God… and the love of God through Jesus assures us that, even in the darkest moments, there is light.

And where there is light… there is hope.

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We need this constant reminder because we are a people who are easily swayed by the noise of society.

We need the centering words of Jesus, our Good Shepherd, to remind us who we are… and whose we are.

We need to come and be surrounded by our community of Faith, to remember that we belong to Christ, who claimed us with love and calls us to share that love with the whole world… not just our families and immediate communities, but the WHOLE world.

We need Christ, our cornerstone, to strengthen our resolve to live according to God's word, especially when that way is more and more counter to the way our culture seems to want to go.

This is a community that gathers around the proclamation of Christ, and him crucified, and so I believe we know what to do…

We lean on Jesus… In these challenging times, we lean on Jesus and immerse ourselves in his words and teachings…

We lean on Jesus, and allow our God to guide and comfort us… to be our light in the darkness.

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The path forward in challenging times is never easy… but the path is clear… if we keep our focus on Christ.

In George H. Martin's commentary, he wrote that in challenging times, "the reality known to people of faith is that we walk in the way of the Lord, while others seem to walk in a different direction.

We live among people who who want to hate their enemy, and yet we hang on to a message about loving not just your neighbor but your enemy as well.

We live in a world of wars and rumors of wars, and yet we have a Lord who suggests that when we are weak we are strong.

Such is the cross-based faith of our Christianity."

In these challenging times, when the world tells us to turn away from the vulnerable, to be suspicious of those who are different, and to show no mercy for those we've pushed to the margins…

…these are the times when we grow.

These are the times when we, faithful followers of Christ, must recommit ourselves as disciples… fishers of people… followers of Jesus.

These are the times when we reaffirm our baptismal promises and renew our trust in God's abundant mercy and grace and our assurance that this incredible mercy and grace is for ALL people, in all the world.

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So like the fire in the forest that opens the seeds of the Giant Sequoia, Lord we pray to you, let the fire of our time and the judgment of your word open our hearts to new growth, new creation, and a renewed passion for your word.

Open our hearts to new expressions of love and mercy for our neighbors, especially our neighbors in need.

And Lord, in this work, fill us with renewed JOY… the joy that comes from basking in your light and living in your way of peace.

Because we will have joy, and yes, we will have empathy and love, because we are called and claimed by God and given grace upon grace through our Lord, Jesus Christ…

And the success of God's grace is not dependent on us, but on the steadfast faithfulness of God and God's promise to redeem and renew the world… and usher in a new Creation.

Until that day, we who follow Christ have the JOY of living in God's light, even when we feel we are surrounded by darkness…

For we know that God's light and God's love will always have the final word.

Amen.