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Crazy, Amazing LOVE

4/25/2022

6 Comments

 
The peak of the Easter celebration has crested; yet the joy, gratitude, and reverence of this mystical event continues to resonate in my thoughts. I am always overwhelmed by the truth that God’s love is so crazy amazing. To know that the Father, God-almighty, yet also all-vulnerable, would give his only begotten Son so that whosoever would believe in him, would have life everlasting and the Spirit indwelling; well, this is Crazy, Amazing 
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Yvette Wyatt
LOVE.  (‘Whosoever’- isn’t this a wonderful and hope-filled word?) Yet Easter didn’t always have a meaning of rescue and redemption for me.
​

The cliché of ‘getting out of the forest in order to see the trees’ is a useful figure of speech to describe my spiritual 20/20 hindsight. In my second part of life, I can look back and clearly see how Christ, in his ‘perfect for me’ way, was not only real and present in my life, but — also in his perfect timing and preparation — revealed his participation in my journey. It is ‘God’ to whom I prayed in childhood times of fear and worry. Jesus, the baby, had something to do with Christmas. Advent candles were lit as a countdown to Christmas. When I started sporadically attending a junior high youth group, via The Joy Bus, my mother gifted me a copy of The Living Bible. Then, because it seemed important to be married in a church, I chose the Methodist Church where my best friend had been married. Slowly, Jesus Christ was drawing me close to him through events and relationships.

After marriage, we moved to McMinnville, Oregon, where Jim attended Linfield College. Through a friendship at work, we were invited to attend the Church of Christ in the small neighboring town of Amity. It was there that I accepted Jesus as my personal savior and was baptized — immersion-style. (I was 6 months pregnant with our third child, Michael, and was worried — needlessly — that I wouldn’t go under because of the baby bubble. It gives me joy to say that Michael was baptized twice: first, in utero; second, in FPC.) My baptism became a milestone marker in my faith journey.

Prior to baptism, I had experienced coincidental “miracles” and subtle promptings which hinted of ‘a God thing.’ Those small events that one could either pay attention to or easily push aside. Yet, when I arose from my immersion, I literally heard the Lord speak out loud in my mind with what I call a teeter-totter message. First: “I am pleased by your obedience.” This was IMMEDIATELY followed by a seeming conviction to humility: “Understand this is not your doing, but Mine.” As my faith was in its infancy, my understanding was also simple and immature. Though I felt both the personal pleasure of my Lord, and then a directive to humility, there was something more of the truth that was just beyond my grasp.  (Apparently, I needed to hear the humility directive as clearly as possible, as ‘pride’ is truly ‘the thorn in my side.’)

Now after three decades (almost as long as the Israelites wandered the desert) of living and learning in the middle of God’s crazy, amazing love, I realize why it is so overwhelming. It is the grace of God. God’s grace. God-almighty and God-all-vulnerable. While it may seem obvious, it is totally beyond simplistic in that it is given both individually and universally. It was personal and pointed in my conversion experience at baptism. I heard it as ‘I did this for you.’ Yet it is offered to ‘whosoever’ believes that Jesus, the Son of Man died, and rose again as Jesus Christ.

Certainly, Christ’s personal giving of grace is total joy on its own, but the importance of the personal is that it allows me to see the universal perspective. If God’s grace is for me, me with that ugly thorn of pridefulness, me who is also included in ‘whosoever,’ then it is only a single, grace-granted step to seeing that the Christ living in me lives everywhere. And this individual step toward the perspective of universal grace is where it gets exciting. This is where the work of kingdom-building can happen. This is where revival is activated. This is where Love1st becomes a beacon to those needing the message of this amazing grace. It is thrilling to be at First Presbyterian Church in this time of exploding grace.

The Christ in me greets the Christ in thee.
Peace, Yvette Wyatt
Ephesians 2:8 
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
6 Comments

Visionaries

4/19/2022

3 Comments

 
For some time Brandie has admired a painting hanging in the church’s Fireside Room. He was inspired to contact the artist, Stan Miller, a few weeks ago. That date happened to be the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination, April 4th. This is what Brandie learned from Stan Miller about the lovely portrait that hangs above the fireplace in our Fireside Room.

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Brandie Edwards
Nice to hear back from you, it helps me to have a little bit of an idea of whom I’m talking to when I explain what a painting means to me. I think my sister got married in your church, if it’s the one close to downtown — back in the 1970’s.

So the name of this print/painting, is “Visionaries.” 

Martin Luther King (who was killed on this day in 1968), Ghandi and Christ. I used my brother Greg as the model for the Christ face — many people don’t know who this face is, since each sees Christ in their own way. When I was brought up, my Dad’s heroes were these three people. Ghandi chose non-violence to bring about change in India. King was very influenced and inspired by Ghandi’s approach and

"My color scheme is quite earthy, it's not really colorful, and the way I paint is in a sense of quietness," he says. "The comments I get from people are that my work is quiet, serene, gentle, and familiar, yet original. I try to convey a universal emotion when I paint a portrait."

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used non-violence for his causes. Both were influenced by Christ’s words and instruction to Love God, love each other, love your enemies, overcome evil with good. Those who take the sword, die by the sword. And on the cross he looked down on those who crucified him and said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."

John F. Kennedy said, after WW2, when they were having parades for him and all the soldiers who had fought and died in WW2, “War will exist until that distance time, when the conscientious objector is lifted up and honored as we honor our soldiers today.” That’s the idea behind this painting. Thanks for your interest Brandie, Stan

Stan is a local award-winning watercolor artist. He was born on a small farm in Southeastern South Dakota in 1949 and eventually moved with his family to Spokane when he was 15. He graduated in 1973 from Spokane Falls Community College with an Applied Arts degree and a Commercial Art degree. Visit Stan’s website to learn more and view some of his amazing art:  Stan Miller
3 Comments

Relentless Kindness

4/11/2022

2 Comments

 
I recently watched Season 1 of Ted Lasso after being intrigued by what I’d heard — that it’s really good. After I did a little research I realized that the star, Jason Sudeikis, wasn’t the actor who had so many roles in what I call ‘boy humor’ — the main reason I avoided watching it. Also, it’s only only available on Apple+  TV.

​But a few weeks ago I acquired access to Apple+ TV and now I’m 
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Janet Starkey
hooked on Ted Lasso. ‘Ted is a man who shows empathy and kindness to everyone, even those who seem to not deserve it. His acts of kindness range from offering a comforting word, to baking biscuits (cookies) for his boss — and throughout each episode, viewers see how Ted’s actions take off as other emulate him, knowingly or not.’1

To provide some context, Ted is an American football coach who knows nothing about soccer and yet he’s hired to coach AFC Richmond, a fictional premier soccer team in England. The team’s owner hopes to ruin the team with this hire just to spite her ex-husband. Can you imagine being hired to do something with the hope and expectation that you will fail miserably? Not very kind!

The town and the players are prepared to hate Ted, convinced he’s a tosser (an obnoxious jerk) and worse. As the season progresses ‘Lasso’s southern charm and infectiously joyous personality and emotional complexity makes him hard to hate.’2 He wins over the hearts of countless detractors and eventually his own team.

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Practicing kindness is simple — it's teachable (Pastor Neal’s Kindness & Positivity class)  and it’s contagious (Ted Lasso).

So my prayer is that we all do our best to practice relentless kindness. Never give up.
​
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32

“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.”  Luke 6:35
​
In His Name, Janet
​
1  Ted Lasso Reminds Us of The Importance of Kindness. Marijke Vroomen Durning, November 23, 2021. 

2  Why Ted Lasso is a Better Christian Than I'll Ever Be. 
2 Comments

Gifts of the Spirit

4/4/2022

6 Comments

 
I joined 1st Presbyterian Church in 1985, and, within about 6 months, I was on Session, originally asked to be an alternate. As I recall, I was told at the time that no one ever resigned from the Session, so I wouldn’t have to do anything. Then, about a month later, someone was moving away; and I—largely ignorant of Presbyterian doctrine—was an Elder. God choosing to use me then was slightly terrifying, but apparently He knew what He was doing, even if I didn’t.
​
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Scott Fischer
I was immediately assigned to lead the Membership Committee, and it seemed to me that the largest responsibility was making coffee for coffee hour on Sunday morning between services.  So, one Sunday I started the brew in the large coffee pots and somehow got distracted after I’d turned the pots on and forgot to put the lid on one of them.  Off I went to do something else. When I came back a while later to check on things, I found a couple of elderly female members of our congregation aghast and staring at the ceiling as coffee intermittently spurted up like a geyser and ricocheted off the ceiling tile, creating a nice brown stain.  I rushed past them and quickly picked up the lid and slammed it down on the pot, grabbed a towel and started to clean things up as I escorted them out, probably saying something like “Show’s over; nothing to see here!”
​
Thinking about this now, 37 years later, reminds me of the unique gifts and talents that we all have and how all of us offer a different gift to the overall body of the Church, as 1st Corinthians 12 so beautifully describes.
​
1 Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed …. 4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work ….
​
Obviously, coffee-making may not have been a talent of mine at that time, but maybe God wanted to use me to learn, so I could serve in other ways in the future. He wants to challenge us to do what is out of our comfort zone to grow us in Christ.

Let’s all try to be open to His calls for us, even if we make fools of ourselves sometimes! After all, He does seem to have a great sense of humor!

In His Name,
​Scott
6 Comments

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 First Presbyterian Church | 521 E Lakeside Ave | Coeur d'Alene | ID  83814
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  • Home
    • Connect With Us >
      • Prayer Request
      • eNews Archive >
        • 2020 eNews Archive
  • Who We Are
    • Leadership & Staff >
      • Job Opportunities
      • Blogs >
        • Blog Archive 2021 >
          • Our Mission
          • Blog Archive 2020
    • Elders, Deacons & Ministry Teams
    • History >
      • Barb McPland Clothing Giveaway
      • Keefer's Cabin
      • Past Ministers
    • What Presbyterians Believe
    • Annual Reports
  • Ministries
    • Family Ministry >
      • Nursery
      • Children
      • 1st Pres Youth
      • Family Connections
    • Missions
    • Serve >
      • Choir >
        • Special Music Archive
      • Church Ministry Teams
      • Ecumenical Kitchen
      • Family Promise
      • Handbell Choir
      • Knitting for Warmth
      • Praise Team
      • Reception Team
    • Grow >
      • Book Studies
      • Men's Fellowship
      • Presbyterian Women
      • Sermon-based Small Groups
      • Sunday Bible Study
      • Women's Circles
  • Sundays
    • Contemplative Worship
    • Classic Worship
    • Sermons
  • Giving
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