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

This is a special musical presentation of My Shepherd Will Supply My Need, performed today by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir with Gwynne Kadrofske on flute and Ian Morgan on oboe at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

In today's Gospel lesson, Jesus is telling yet another parable. I wonder if Jesus doesn't think that his crowd, which included church leaders, chief priests and Pharisees, were not getting his point. Or maybe Jesus knew they understood what he was saying but they were not willing to admit it. Here Jesus was telling another story that was really about his audience, especially the church leaders.

I can't directly recall anyone or myself fully using this approach to get a point across. But what does come to mind is an Old Testament character that listened to a story told by a prophet, and he recognized himself in the story. That character being David.

So the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story: "There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle. The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man's own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing an animal from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man's lamb and killed it and prepared it for his guest."

David was furious. "As surely as the Lord lives," he vowed, "any man who would do such a thing deserves to die! He must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he stole and for having no pity."

Then Nathan said to David, "You are that man! The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul. I gave you your master's house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. Why, then, have you despised the word of the Lord and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife. From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah's wife to be your own.

David Confesses His Guilt

Then David confessed to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." Nathan replied, "Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won't die for this sin. Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the word of the Lord[a] by doing this, your child will die."

David fasted and wept while the child was alive, as he thought that Perhaps the Lord will be gracious to him and let the child live. But why should I fast when he is dead? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him one day, but he cannot return to me."

Then David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and slept with her. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and David[c] named him Solomon.

David recognized that he was the person in the story and confessed his separation from God, his sin. What he realized is that he had misused the power that he had been given. He used his power to take advantage of many people. This is the issue here as well as in our Gospel lesson.

God have given the chief priests and Pharisees a great deal of power and control which they used for their gain and not the gain of others. Does this sound like last week's sermon? Jesus is still making the same point.

In our Gospel lesson we have a landowner, which we can relate to God. The landowner gave his tenants, which can be related to the chief priests and Pharisees, responsibility over the land and the agreement was that they would pay the landowner for the use of the land. The tenants thought that they would exert power and control over the landowner and not pay him and keep the land.

When it came time to collect, the landowner sent first his slaves to collect the payment. The tenants killed one and stoned the other. More slaves were sent with the same treatment. The landowner sent his son thinking the tenants would respect his son, but no they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

The tenants felt that since they were on the land they were in control. Of course, when Jesus asked what would happen when the landowner came, the chief priests and Pharisees said that he would put those wretches to a miserable death and lease the land to other tenants. But wait a minute, who was Jesus really talking about?

Jesus reminded them of the scripture, Psalm 118:22 that the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. The cornerstone was and is Jesus, which they were rejecting. Jesus tells them that since they are not producing fruit in the kingdom that the kingdom will be taken away from them.

Once again they wanted to arrest Jesus, but he had the backing of the crowds as they looked at Jesus as a prophet. Thus, they were scared to arrest him. Jesus was questioning their teaching of the law.

We would like to say that we are not like the tenants or the chief priests and Pharisees. In reality we may not be as violent as they were. My hope is that we might be able to see how we do reject Jesus and along with the tenants can be blind. They somehow thought that once they took care of the son, they had it made.

The tenants focus was not on producing fruit for others. This is what Jesus was saying that kingdom living is about. We are called to show love to our neighbors. Here at Faith, we do show love to our neighbors in many ways, but what might we be missing?

In listening to the YouTube videos for our Christ's Kaleidoscope study, I am reminded over and over again of the history that we are not teaching in our schools. We don't want people to feel uncomfortable. If we don't feel uncomfortable then we are not learning the truth of what white people have put races other than our own through.

On Friday night I went to see To Kill a Mocking Bird at the Wharton. Even though written in 1960, the issues with racism are still with us. They seem to be camouflaged in our systems today. This creates a blindness for us to see our racism.

We often think racism is whether we like someone or not, but it is about words and ideas and how they affect others. At the heartbeat of racism is denial. Anti-racism is about confession. Before we can try and say that we are not racist, we are called to study the history of races and our role as white people in it.

You see it's not only what is happening today, but it is the history of races that brings us to where we are today. Many white people are scared of not being the ruling race. I don't believe that that is the way God set it up. All races are equal in God's eyes.

Jesus tries to tell us again today that it is about a God's beloved community working together for the betterment and support of each other. I continue to discover my blindness to my racism and white privilege. It is an ongoing process as we have been indoctrinated to think that the white race is the superior race.

I believe loving our neighbor is about learning about other races', in general other people's histories that are different than we are. It will help us to see that we are all equal in God's eyes. This will reduce our blindness in being able to love our neighbor.

Let us pray, Gracious God, you call us to love our neighbors, but sometimes it makes us feel uncomfortable. We have been taught throughout history that the white race is superior even though we don't believe that is what you have tught us and continue to try and teach us. Even your son, our savior, Jesus was Jewish.

We ask that your Holy Spirit would shine on our blindness and help us to begin to see that you love all people and not just one person or race is superior.

In Jesus, name, Amen.

This is a special musical presentation of Jubilate Deo, performed today by the Faith Lutheran Singing Sinners Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

What comes to mind when you hear the word 'authority'? Who has authority? How do we get it? Do we want it? Sometimes the older you get the less you want, other than over your own life.

The way our world is set up there are levels of authority. The way our church is set up there are levels of authority. The way our lives are set up there is authority.

We are surrounded by authority. In some respect we have a choice whether we want to recognize it or not. Often there is a price to pay if we don't recognize authority.

We first learn about authority in our homes growing up. Our parents or guardians are the first authority figures that we meet. Parents set healthy expectations to help children learn how to set healthy boundary lines for their own lives. As we are growing up we desire autonomy over our lives and once we have it we find out that it takes work to maintain it.

Throughout history we have seen healthy uses of authority and unhealthy. We have seen this in the church and in homes. Unhealthy authority occurs when we think we have all the answers. Healthy authority happens when we are willing to listen and work with others.

Unhealthy authority often causes us to want to keep things the same, as that is when we think we will have the most control. Jesus challenges the authority of the chief priests and elders of the people in our Gospel lesson for today. To put this scene in context in our Gospel lesson, let us first look at what came before this in chapter 21 of Matthew.

At the beginning of the chapter, we hear the familiar Palm Sunday story. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey with the people shouting Hosanna to the Son of David, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The crowd was saying that he was the prophet, Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.

Then he entered the temple and began tipping tables and driving out those who were buying and selling. This is one of the only times that we see Jesus exerting this kind of physical energy toward people. He said to them that they had made his house a den of thieves but it was supposed to be a house of prayer.

This is the backdrop for today's Gospel lesson. I'm sure when Jesus walked into the temple again, the chief priests and the scribes did not know what Jesus would say or do. Jesus wasn't what their expectations for a Messiah were, but when he came into the temple earlier he sure took authority.

They wanted to keep their authority or maybe take back their authority. For the chief priests and scribes, their identity was wrapped up in the work they did in the temple. Their approach was to go right up to Jesus and ask him who said you could be teaching here as this is our territory.

Typical Jesus, who very seldom gave a straight answer, asked them a question, who gave the authority to John the Baptist to be baptizing, was it divine or human? Can you picture them huddling trying to give an answer that would help them keep their authority? Well, "If we say, 'From divine,' he will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe John?' 26But if we say, 'Of human origin,' we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet." 27So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And he said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

Jesus then told a parable to drive home the point that he was really trying to make. A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' 29He answered, 'I will not'; but later he changed his mind and went. 30The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, 'I'm on my way; but he did not go. 31Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, Of course "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God before you. 32For John came walking on the road of justice and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him."

Jesus is not looking for people to just tell others what to do and not do it themselves. My husband's mother used to say, "you have to walk your talk". Authority is not about power and control. It is about living out what we say is true. If we have rules or guidelines, I believe we need to follow them until we change them.

Paul reminds us today about the model of Christ. In our 2nd lesson for today we have the same lesson often read on Palm Sunday as it points out that Jesus wielded a different type of authority. It was not one that people were used to, as the authority that were used to was one about taking advantage of others. Jesus authority was about loving others. Jesus modeled obedience to what God expected.

God came down to earth to be human. Most people at that time did not recognize God in human form as it wasn't what they expected as the Messiah. John the Baptist had rocked the boat and people were beginning to listen to him. He was not trying to exert power and control over people but letting them know what he believed to be the truth. That was to repent and believe.

Jesus was rocking the boat as he was challenging everyone to actually live the law out of love for God and neighbor. In reality, this was following the law. Jesus was pointing out that the chief priests and scribes were not trying to follow the law, what they were teaching.

This is what Jesus continues to challenge us to do, to walk our talk, to follow the law out of love for God and neighbor. Laws are meant to be in place to protect the community and individuals, not so others gain power and control over others for their own gain. This kind of living, following the law that God in Jesus Christ gave us out of love for God and neighbor, is what tells others who our ultimate authority is.

This kind of living, which is the kingdom living that we continue to talk about is not easy. Walking our talk holds us accountable for saying that we are a Christian and loving God and our neighbor. We are taught authority and then we usually test it out.

So as Christians when we walk our talk we are challenged to model our love for God and others. This then tells people who our ultimate authority is. This type of authority is not about power and control, but about love for God and each other. This surpasses politics and corporations, educational institutions, etc. At one point in our life most of us have some level of authority, Jesus challenges us to use that authority out of love.

Pentecost 17 – A -09/24/2023

It is so easy to plan out how something should happen. Often we don't consider all of the variables. There will be different approaches when we work with one or more people other than ourselves. Each one of us processes differently. All of us have different skill sets and experience.

Yet as human beings we have our set of expectations that we think are the right way to accomplish something. What have we learned and experienced about our expectations? The more set-in stone our expectations, the more disappointments and frustration that we may experience.

So often we want someone to do something differently than they have ever done it before. When it doesn't happen, the way want it to, we become frustrated and irritated with the person. In reality, we have set ourselves up for failure.

It says that we have not paid attention to this person to see how they work, how they process. We have not really listened to them and considered their skill sets and experience. I'm not trying to place judgement on the other person as they are who they are.

The healthy way of getting something accomplished is guiding the process to the completion of the desired task. For me part of the fun is to experience other people and their way of thinking and processing. How we actually get there is not as important as the participation and the richness of what people bring to the table.

In our Gospel lesson today, the landowner had a task that needed to be accomplished, work done in the vineyard. He went out and collected workers throughout the day. He was very clear on his expectations and their pay. The workers also had their expectations.

When the workers first heard what was expected and their pay, they agreed to it. One scholar has said that every parable has an absurdity to it. The absurdity in this parable is the fact that at the end of the day everyone got paid the same amount. It didn't make any difference if they had worked an hour or two or all day. The absurdity is what is begging us to really to listen to what Jesus is saying.

Originally, everyone had agreed on the wages, but when it came to receiving their pay, those who had worked more hours, of course wanted more pay. This is not what they had agreed to. It didn't seem fair that those who had worked less got the same pay as everyone else.

Now, I myself am just as comfortable being up here or in the back row or at an instrument or singing in the choir. It doesn't make me any better or less than any of you. The point is every one of us is important in God's eyes. In the end we all receive what Jesus promised, forgiveness, salvation and new life. This is the gift and not the payment for what we do.

God in Jesus Christ promised the same to everyone regardless of what we do or don't do. So then why do anything if the promise is already there? We are asked to do it out of thankfulness for what we have been promised. Jesus always carries through on what he has promised.

In this respect this is like the landowner, as he followed through on what he had promised. The workers who had worked more hours changed their expectations when they felt that they were entitled to more wages. I believe we have a whole different way of thinking and acting when we feel entitled.

Entitlement blinds us from seeing the generosity of God in Jesus Christ. In the end the workers in the vineyard received their wages and most likely had enough to take care of their families for that day. This was what their first expectation was.

I believe that we can see more clearly when we look through the eyes of generosity rather than entitlement. We are taught through scripture that we do not own anything, that everything belongs to God, and we are the caretakers. This is not the way our culture thinks and promotes.

In our second reading for today, we find Paul in prison. I can imagine this is not what he expected. He expected to get back to Phillipi and continue building the church. He adjusted to his new setting and didn't want it to get in the way of the church's growth in Phillipi. Thus, he chose to write a letter to encourage the Philippians to continue in their faith.

Paul was saying no matter what our setting is, what is most important is growing in Christ. Just because he cannot be with them does not mean that Christ is not with them. Christ's generosity does not stop because they are not together. Christ's promise of forgiveness, salvation and new life is still the same.

Paul was concerned that the expectations that the Philippians had of him being with them to grow in their individual and corporate faith should not get in the way of their growth as followers of Christ. He tried to encourage them so as not to get stuck in this expectation as he did not know when they would be together again.

Paul says27Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, 28and are in no way intimidated by your opponents. For them this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation. And this is God's doing. 29For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well—30since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

It is so easy to get stuck in our expectations that we forget about the outcome of a plan. For Christians, the final plan being that eventually we will go home to be with God in Jesus Christ. In the meantime, while we are living here on earth we are called to practice kingdom living.

Kingdom living today is remembering that we have a generous God who offers us freely forgiveness, salvation and new life. This is a gift not an entitlement or wages for what we do. Kingdom living is about living for Christ and not ourselves.

Paul reminds us today that living for Christ is about putting Christ first. In doing this we are promised to have what we need to live. When we start getting into entitlement as our society teaches we can lose sight of what we already have. What do we expect from others and from ourselves?

We are called to check out our expectations, are they for our gain our Christ's gain? Whose plan are we trying to follow?

As absurd as it was the landowner stuck to what he had promised. Jesus does the same. We, along with the workers, as human beings can easily get into the entitlement mode instead of the generosity mode and change our expectations.

In kingdom living we are called to live in the generosity mode which helps us to see more clearly what Jesus wants us to see. It more fully allows us to live for Christ. It allows us to better keep our expectations consistent and in line with Christ.

Remember as Paul says we are all in this struggle together to follow Christ and grow in our faith. It's not about how much we do, but that we are called to serve graciously.

This is a special musical presentation of Whoever Would Be Great Among You, performed today by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical presentation of Ten Thousand Reasons, performed today by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus continues to teach his disciples and us how to live in his kingdom. Today we hear Jesus talking about forgiveness. It seems that Peter wants to push the ticket and really get Jesus to spell it out. So, Jesus did, in telling a parable. One has to wonder if Peter liked the answer.

The king was very generous, and he was hoping that this was a model for his servants. Unfortunately, that was not the case. In the end the generosity was basically revoked.

This was a harsh revoking of generosity by the king. This is where we need to be careful not to totally compare the king to God. Jesus was trying to make a point, but we do not know this to be God's nature. What we understand Jesus to be saying is how important it is to forgive and from your heart.

We know that there are some things that are easier to forgive than others. When forgiveness is needed it means that there is some kind of brokenness. For forgiveness to happen a change needs to occur in one or both parties. Sometimes it will only occur in only one party.

When someone doesn't follow through once or twice and they say that they are sorry, most often we can forgive and let it go. When it continues to happen, the sorry part begins not to work, and forgiveness becomes more and more difficult. So, does Jesus say that we just continue to forgive?

If you continue to set up something to do with them, yes then you are probably expected to forgive. You can forgive, but then draw boundary lines and say this is the last time I am going to try. I don't believe that Jesus is saying you need to be a doormat.

Forgiveness is a process. As the level of hurt deepens, the longer it can take to be able to forgive. Part of the process is realizing that the forgiveness can really be for you also. The longer that you hold on to a hurt, the more it can debilitate you.

Forgiveness is a way of life that Jesus calls us to and models for us. True forgiveness comes from the heart Jesus tells us. It is not easy and again most of what Jesus asks us to do is not easy.

Remember last week Jesus was talking about how to handle disagreements or conflicts and was teaching about listening to each other. We know that this is not easy at times. Now today, Jesus knew that these disagreements could turn into conflicts and produce hurt and in order for the kingdom to function and carry out the mission of love they need to be addressed and healed. This is where forgiveness comes in.

When we carry around hurt, our effectiveness to love diminishes and will continue to, until we address the conflict that needs healing. Sometimes this healing or resolution will only happen in one person. We are only responsible for ourselves.

Healing for us who have been hurt is about letting it go. Acknowledging it, speaking to the person that we have felt harmed by and then begin the process of letting it go. There are times, depending on how deep it goes, one may need professional help.

This really becomes more about our own health. We do not have control over the other person; thus it is better to go into the conversation not expecting them to understand. If they do, then it will seem even easier to let it go.

Now we may be the person who may have done the hurting. Honestly, it is easy to hurt others unintentionally. We can say we didn't mean to do it, but can we still take responsibility for our words and actions?

We could say well now you have hurt me by saying that I hurt you. But no, stop. Jesus is teaching about forgiveness today and loving. The bottom line is that we make mistakes, and we always will. We are called to acknowledge how we may have hurt someone in any way. This is how healing and restoration happens in Jesus' kingdom. It happens through forgiveness.

At times we may not feel like taking on this character of generosity of loving and forgiving as there are times we choose to wallow in hurt. Our need to preserve "me" can become overwhelming if we do not choose to make forgiveness part of our behavior, part of our character. Forgiveness is generous and it is not all about me.

We have the most gracious model in God coming to earth in God's son Jesus to offer us forgiveness, salvation and new life. We can say that we are not Jesus and that is true, but we are not called to do this forgiving thing on our own. We have been given the Holy Spirit to help us.

In reality we cannot do anything completely on our own of what Jesus teaches us as to how to live in the kingdom. Jesus is only looking for our willingness or obedience to say yes to picking up the cross and continuing his work. Today Jesus is reminding us how forgiveness works in the kingdom. Then to allow the Holy Spirit to help us as we stumble along trying to follow Jesus' teaching about how to live in the kingdom and specifically today, forgiving.

God in Jesus Christ was and is extravagant in loving and forgiving and in turn we are called to be extravagant in our loving and forgiving. There is an example that I would like to remind you of:

1) Amish ShooterSiege at Amish School Ends in Murders, Suicide

StoryCorps September 30, 20164:38 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition By NPR Staff

Ten years ago, a gunman barricaded himself inside a one-room Amish schoolhouse near Lancaster, Pa. Then he opened fire. Charles "Charlie" Roberts killed five children and injured five others before killing himself. The Amish community responded in a way that many found surprising: They forgave the shooter. And, in the years since, they have grown close to his family.

Charlie's mother turned on the radio that morning to hear" the newscaster say that there had been a shooting at the local Amish schoolhouse," "By that time she was at her son's home, and she saw her husband and the state trooper standing right in front of her as she I pulled in, "She looked at her husband and said, 'It was Charlie.' He said, 'I will never face my Amish neighbors again.'

That week, the Roberts had a private funeral for their son, but as they went to the gravesite, they saw as many over 40 Amish started coming out from around the side of the graveyard, surrounding them like a crescent.

"Love just shown from them," Terri said. "I do recall the fathers saying, 'I believe that I have forgiven,' but there are some days that she questions that."

Terri found it especially hard to accept that forgiveness when she thinks of one of the survivors, Rosanna. She was the most injured of the survivors and had injuries to her head. She was now 15, still tube-fed and in a wheelchair and continue to have seizures. They were worse when it got to be closer to the anniversary date.

Terri asked if it would be possible for her to help with Rosanna once a week and she began reading to her, bathing her and drying her hair"

Terri had heard one of the fathers say, 'None of us would have ever chosen this. But the relationships that we have built through it, you can't put a price on that.' " "Their choice to allow life to move forward through forgiveness was a healing balm for all of them.," she said. "And I think it's a message the world needs."

How many of us ask the question could we have forgiven Charlie and his parents? The Amish had forgiven Charlie and his family to the point of inviting his parents into their lives. I don't believe they could have done it without the help of the Holy Spirit. Not that they were perfect, but they were wearing their generosity of forgiveness and love as they knew God in Jesus Christ had forgiven them out of love.

This is what we are called to do, to live a life of generosity in love and forgiveness, with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Healthy communication is the key to all healthy relationships. I believe that you would agree with this. As soon as there is a disagreement, our healthy communication is tested. How can we continue to hear each other and in communicate in a healthy manner?

In reality, we know that we will never agree on everything. If this can be used as a premise for a relationship, then it is not so much of a surprise when there is a disagreement. Too often, it is not, and communication breaks down. There are many stories of churches splitting because a person was not invited to a party. In reality, we know it is how it was handled that caused the split.

I have done couples counseling. Unfortunately, often by the time that they came to see me, I had to interpret English between the two. I set the chairs up so that they were facing each other. Boundary lines were set. Many times, they could just not hear what the other was trying to communicate. I understood what they were saying but needed to assist them in hearing what each other was trying to say. By this point in their relationship, usually, one had already decided they were done.

No matter what type of relationship it is, healthy communication continues to be what will keep the relationship healthy. I believe in our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus is saying that disagreements that can continue into conflicts will happen in the earthly kingdom in our communities of faith. Jesus gives us a way today to handle this which begins with only two people. Jesus knows that we can often unintentionally hurt someone in the way in which we communicate.

We don't always know their story. Too often, when we don't know how to say something, we kidding around, and that can be risky if we do not know the person well enough. In a singing group that I directed where we were on the road for summer, kidding around went too far one day. There was a concert that not all of the group sang in as they were to upset. I told the group that if they were not able put it aside for the concert, that they did not have to sing.

Some chose not to sing. I was emotional before beginning the concert. I gave people the space that they needed. We were able to process the conflict in the next few days. Everyone stayed with the process, and we became closer after that.

Almost every time that there is a conflict, there is hurt involved with one or both parties. Jesus is saying that we need to listen to each other. He didn't say that we have to agree with each other on everything.

Listening takes work. It means that we have to be quiet. I remember in a small group class that I took, that we could only speak if we were going to share something about what we were feeling or thinking. At times there was a great deal of silence which can also be uncomfortable.

There are times to be silent and there are times to speak. Listening takes silence for one person in a dyad of communication. It is difficult to listen without immediately thinking of a response without the other person finishing. Jesus is saying there will be disagreements that can turn into major conflicts and to resolve them we need to listen as fully as we can.

I believe we often forget that there is an unseen person in every communication that occurs and that is Jesus. I wonder if our conversations would take on a healthier tone sometimes if we realized that Jesus was there. Also, the fact that Jesus is not there to take sides but love each person, equally.

Every conversation that we have, remember that Jesus is present. When a disagreement/conflict can be resolved within the dyad, no one else needs to be involved. Human nature often takes over though, and we feel that we need to involve other people and then it gets messy. Listening then becomes more difficult.

If we can't hear each other, we will probably not hear Jesus or be cognizant that Jesus is present. When we realize that we are not hearing the other person, it may be good time to find a neutral person or two or three that you and the other person can agree upon. The witnesses would only be there to help each other hear each other. Also, to keep it honest. Jesus will still be there.

So why spend time talking about this? How we manage ourselves and our community of faith is a model to others of Jesus' love. This does not mean that we will ever do this perfectly, but others are watching how we handle disagreements/conflicts. Jesus gave us a model of how to do it in his kingdom and today we are reviewing it.

In Chapter 15 of our church's constitution under Discipline and Adjudication this Gospel lesson is used as a guide. I'm sure you all have a copy of the constitution at home. Council members, do you have a copy of the church's constitution? All of this to say that this is the model that Jesus gave and the ELCA has made it part of the way we are called to function as a community of faith.

Jesus says to us, look I know that you are not perfect. Feelings and emotions, though, are part of you, and can often make you somewhat deaf and not able to hear each other. Jesus says I have asked you to love your neighbor as yourself and this includes listening to each other. I have asked you to love me with your heart, soul and mind and this means recognizing that I am a part of every conversation you have, whether with one person or a group of people.

The more people that get involved the messier it gets. Out of love for Jesus' kingdom we are called to address disagreements with the person you have a disagreement with first. Try and resolve it and remember that Jesus is there for both of you.

Thus, it still boils down to Love God and neighbor even if you disagree by striving to listen to each other and acknowledge what you have heard out of love. This is the model of healthy communication that we are called to have as Christians.

Let us pray, Gracious God and yes we need your grace as we are not always the best listeners. You have given us a model to address disagreements that thoroughly involves listening. May your Holy Spirit remind us that you are present and you have called us to love our neighbor and you. When we experience disagreements, help to take a minute to breathe and that you are there to help us express ourselves in a loving manner. In Jesus name, Amen.

This is a special musical presentation of Good and Simple Gifts, performed today by the Singing Sinners Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.