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Odds and Ends . . .
Dear friends in Christ,
This past week 15 children learned about God’s Ten Good Rules in our preschool Vacation Bible School. When asked, “Why did God give us rules?” they chimed, “Because God loves us.” Yes! God does love us, “the Bible tells us so!” How
exhilarating it is to see the Word take shape in these little ones!
What we do in education ministry in this place is so important. We promise in each baptism that we will nurture and grow children in the faith. Why? So that they will learn to trust God. Learning can take many forms…that’s the “how” of learning. But the “what” must not get lost in the “how.” Like building a good house, the foundation must be firm!
Our foundation as a Christian community (the “what” of our being) is found in the Word. If children are to learn to trust God, they must know God’s Word. They must know Christ, the Word made flesh. Based on Colossians 3:16, we, as individuals and as a community in Christ, should let the Word take up residence (find a dwelling place) in us. How else can we be formed and shaped into disciples of Christ?
Each new school year brings great opportunities for teaching and learning and growing in discipleship. What will this year bring? What do you IMAGINE?
At long last we have a date for the next blood drive at Trinity:
Sunday, August 29
9:30—12:30
(Bring your picture ID)
Once again the ladies of Trinity Lutheran will prepare school kits for Lutheran World Relief. Now is a great time to buy school supplies, as many stores have them on sale for the coming school year. The following items are requested for the kits:
· Spiral Notebooks
· Rulers
· Crayons
· Erasers
A collection box has been placed just outside of the office door in the atrium for these items. Thank you for your generosity!
God’s Beloved People,
 Do you know the Public Radio series “This I Believe?” If not, I encourage you to check out www.thisIbelieve.com. Here’s what is said about the series:
This I Believe is an international project
engaging people in writing and sharing essays
describing the core values that guide their daily lives. More than 70,000 of these essays, written by people from all walks of life, are archived here on our website, heard on public radio, chronicled through our books, and featured in weekly podcasts. The project is based on the popular 1950s radio series of the same name hosted by Edward R. Murrow.
I mention it this month because I just had the
extraordinary experience of listening to about 20 of these essays, thanks to the CD set that was a Christmas gift from my brother-in-law, John Briehl. These essays make for wonderful late-night companionship when the radio reception is bad or you feel sleepy! They make for inspiring listening when you’re confused or lost in life.
I’m thinking of this today for several reasons. In my devotion tonight with the Council at Trinity, Bonners Ferry, I spoke of God’s first promise to Abram (Genesis 12:1-3) and the reality that we can’t live without such promises. Nor can our commonweal, or Church, survive without similar promises we make to one another on a daily basis. (This, by the way, is the heart of former
Secretary of State Warren Christopher’s essay in the This I Believe series). To say “this I believe” is to define oneself in community and to offer one another partnership and stability in life. We need this from one another more than ever these days!
I’m also remembering that this is the season of
Confirmations around our Church, and some of you will have the pleasure of listening to our young people
summarize their beliefs in essays read before the
congregation. Listen carefully to what our young have heard from the Holy Spirit and faithful teachers! I hope your hearts resound in hope!
Further, this is the season of Pentecost and the
celebration of the third great festival of the Church Year. Having heard the stories and absorbed the sermons of the Christ-Cycle (Advent through Pentecost Sunday), I
wonder what you would say you believe about the God who always makes the first move with a promise and a call?
We now enter the season of the Church (Trinity Sunday to Christ the King Sunday) and in some ways make our response (This I Believe!) to all that we have heard. I pray that the days ahead are a rich feast of
reflection and promise. This I believe: God is ushering
us into a rich, rich day when the best of the church will be called forth on behalf of Life and all that God loves!
Pastor Martin Wells
PS: Thanks to all who arranged such a wonderful Synod Assembly for us! It was an excellent event in every way and a sign of the life into which God is calling us!
Tuesday, July 6th through Friday, July 9th, 8:30am to 12:00 noon
Lutherhaven will be leading the event. They will send 3-4 camp counselors to lead worship, songs, games etc. We need lots of volunteers to help with classrooms, snacks, crafts and registration. Call the church office, 208-664-5743 to volunteer to help with VBS.
Perhaps you are new to Trinity…
Or maybe you’ve been attending for some time but never joined.
I want to invite YOU to the
Welcome Café!
Come and sip coffee or tea while we:
- Hear the BIG STORY of God’s
love and plan for salvation
- Hear the LUTHERAN STORY
about Martin Lutheran and the Reformation
- Learn a little about the ELCA, The Evangelical Church in America
- Learn a little about the HYMNAL, Evangelical
Lutheran Worship
- Hear TRINITY’S story- this congregation’s history of
living out the gospel
- Share YOUR story
We will meet Sunday morning from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m., beginning
September 20th. Look for the signs in the Atrium. Remember, we have a nursery attendant!
We look forward to welcoming YOU! -Pastor Ann
A devotional from John A. Nunes,
Lutheran World Relief’s President and CEO
Lutherans have a plainspoken way of just calling things what they are. As one seminary professor once put it: “It is false optimism that brings ultimate despair.”
Life can collapse without warning. Disasters strike in our personal lives as well as on a global scale. When dreams are destroyed and communities are devastated around the world, LWR hears the cries as a call to deliver hope.
On a frigid, mid-January evening, my
15-year-old son ended up hospitalized after a
basketball game. As I sat in the cold emergency room from 9:30pm until 4:30am, consoling him in his personal pain, reports of a tropical catastrophe unfolded on the E.R. TV screen. Haiti, barely surviving in backbreaking poverty, had absorbed a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. On my much smaller telephone screen, e-mail messages zipped around the world as the LWR team sprang quickly into action.
Regretfully, we must accept the inevitability of disaster and human suffering. Yet, we are never satisfied to stand by idly watching people die. LWR commits to carry the compassion of U.S. Lutherans into the epicenter of life’s earthquakes.
As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Deeply woven into the fiber of our tradition is the conviction that all people are made in the image of God. If we accept this, we cannot be content to see people hungry or suffering.”
A Prayer:
In our world of real despair and horrible
disasters, use us, Lord Jesus, to be true agents of the ultimate hope found in you. Amen
You Can Be a Contributing Reporter
to this newsletter! We will publish notices
of upcoming church and community events,
meetings, personal notices you’d like to share, information that is appropriate and pertinent
to readers of this newsletter. Contributions are heartily welcomed! Please email to the church at office@trinitylutheran-cda.org — or directly to the editor at clarie@icehouse.net — or leave in the Trinity office. Deadline for entries is the 15th of the month — but that’s a soft deadline!
Compassion Fund
Lutheran World Relief Health Kits
TLC Women request the following items to include in the kits they assemble for LWR: hand towels, nail clippers, tooth brushes, combs and pre-folded cloth diapers. Thank you!
Coeur d’Alene Homes Auxiliary Update:
Since starting sales in 1975 the auxiliary has given Cd’A Homes about $453,000. This is THANKS to everyone who has given us items to sell. Which brings us to say, we need items: particularly, furniture, large or small. If you need items picked up, please call 664-3841 or 664-2965.
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