Follow the link to learn more about this four week worship series, helping us to reflect spiritually on our relationship with money.
October 3, 2021 "On the Mend: Healing Trust"
19th Sunday after Pentecost
Today, we conclude our worship series based upon reflections from the Gospel of Mark and Jesus’ teaching about what brings life, wholeness (the “Reign of God”). This Sunday, Jesus is clear that children hold the keys to the kingdom. What is it about children that we are to seek in order to reside in the healing wholeness of God?
September 26, 2021 "On the Mend: Healing Division"
18th Sunday after Pentecost
Is this healing possible for this world of us and them? Today, Jesus swings a metaphorical 2x4 to wake up the disciples to not only see the possibility, but the necessity of us to embrace, "Whoever isn't against us is for us." May this time in worship remove the stumbling blocks in your life and the ones you may be putting before others.
September 19, 2021 "On the Mend: Healing Pride"
17th Sunday after Pentecost
The Gospel of Mark tells many stories of Jesus healing and speaking about what brings life, wholeness (the “Reign of God”). What relief and healing could come by letting go of the need to be right, to be first, or to “win?” We gather with the disciples and lean on the wisdom the Spirit offers us during this time of worship.
This Sunday, we join Peter in discovering how the risk of not living the Gospel way of the cross, leads to a death of another kind. How do we heal our fear of losing the things of this world, so that we can truly live?
15th Sunday after Pentecost As we explore the ways in which we need to be healed, this Sunday we consider the things we are closed off to and the things about which we stay silent. Shutting things out or holding things in can both be dangerous to our health. Healing can mean the freedom to face difficult things. Jesus says to us, “be opened!”
14th Sunday after Pentecost We are thankful you are joining in this time of worship and healing. Prepare a form of bread, wine or grape juice if you would like to join in Holy Communion. This week we start a new worship series, "On the Mend". We all are sick and tired of trying to make it through this world of uncertainty and constant change. We are more than ready to be “on the mend”. This Fall, the Gospel readings from Mark tell many stories of Jesus healing and speaking about what brings life, wholeness (the “Reign of God”). Today, Jesus challenges our assumptions about what needs to be fixed in our relationships with God and each other. Only when we truly see our source of pain, can we let God heal us from the inside out.
13th Sunday after Pentecost "To Whom Shall We Go?" Today, we conclude the 6th chapter of John. As we turn to God in worship, we join the disciples in learning to trust the morsels of living bread we receive, will be enough for today. May this time of prayer, song, and chewing on God's Word given through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus continue to transform you into what you receive; the Body of Christ.
12th Sunday after Pentecost The day after Jesus feeds the 5000 in the Gospel of John 6, the crowds are hungry for more, but what Jesus offers them becomes too hard for them to swallow. Come and chew on this Word from God and join Jesus around the table he has set. Our host and meal; our means of having and living life eternal, now and forever.
In celebration of the return of the Sandpoint Music Festival and after a long year of reduced or no singing as a congregation, we gather today to give God our song and praise. All you need is held within these pages, so lend your voice to the song all creation sings. Because of the outdoor setting, we were not able to record.
We welcome Amber Remillard as a guest preacher. We continue reflecting upon John 6 and how the bread Jesus gives, is all we need for daily life. Ordinary bread, the staple food for most of the world and our taste of the God's kingdom come.
Whether gathering in worship near or far, we give thanks to God for binding us all together and feeding us with One heavenly food, Jesus Christ, our bread of life. May the Word heard and tasted through this time in worship, nourish you and help you grow in your faith and love of God and one another. Come and join the feast and celebration!
"And if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” - 2 Corinthians 5:17
This summer, we will explore how our relationship with God continues to renew us and transform us into a new creation. The apostle Paul challenged the church in Corinth to tend and nurture this becoming new in Christ. That as they prayed, worshiped, worked, and sought to be the body of Christ together, they would more and more reflect the glory of God in the world.
May these next eight weeks help you pay attention to the ways the Holy Spirit is bringing this holy mystery to light, through you and this community we share.
July 18, 2021 “Breaking Down the Walls”
8th Sunday after Pentecost
"Come away with me”, Jesus invites. Come discover for the first time or remember once again that in Christ, you are a new creation. You are held tight by God’s grace and the Holy Spirit is joining hand to hand, building upon Jesus our cornerstone, this home where all are pleased to dwell, especially God.
Today, scripture draws us into the beautiful, mysterious outpouring of God’s grace and challenges us to invest in our present and future as a new creation in Christ Jesus. May this time in worship help you rediscover this abundant gift of life for you and all creation.
Whether we feel ready or not, at some point God will push us from the nest and send us out to help others discover the new creations they are in Christ Jesus. With Ezekiel, Paul, Jesus, and the disciples, our worship invites us to discover what God gives us for the journey. Whether it is received well or not, we keep sharing our stories of how God's grace has been and will be sufficient for us, them, and all creation. May you discover the freedom this brings.
How do we make sense of the promise Paul declares, “you are a new creation in Christ” with the old wounds we carry and the ongoing suffering we witness in our lives? Come and worship with two daughters of God and their intertwined stories in the Gospel of Mark as we seek to become the new creation we are in Christ Jesus. May you find healing in God’s Word and Meal shared new to you this day.
Today, we welcome guest preacher, Amber Remillard. On this day when we give thanks for men who have faithfully live out the call to be fathers and as we observe the summer solstice, we wonder together how God is doing a new thing in our midst, right now. No longer fenced in, how will we live into this new creation we are in Christ Jesus?
June 13, 2021 "Tending the Seed Sown"
3rd Sunday after Pentecost
Jesus and Paul invite us to ponder our expectations of what it means to be a new creation in Christ. Please see the bulletin for details about the announcements.
This summer, we will explore how our life in Christ continues to renew us and transform us into a new creation. The apostle Paul challenged the church in Corinth to tend and nurture the resurrection life Jesus initiated and the relationships it creates. That as they prayed, worshiped, worked, and sought to be the body of Christ, they would more and more reflect the glory of God to the world. May these next eight weeks help you pay attention to the ways the Holy Spirit is bringing this holy mystery to light, through you and this community we share.
“Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” — Psalm 30:5b As Easter people, we are called to dance our dances of freedom for all the world to see–even and perhaps especially in times of great difficulty. Dances of hope. Dances of justice. Dances of love. During this season, post-resurrection stories point to the joy of living in the beloved community and extending that fellowship through our witness as we dare to dance again!
Pentecost Sunday - May 23, 2021 "Spirit Poured Out: Dare to Dance Again"
Pentecost and Affirmation of Baptism
Welcome! Thank you for accepting the Holy Spirit's invitation to worship God today and dare to dance to the beat of God's heart again. We are thankful for the many ways the Holy Spirit connects us together to be the body of Christ for the sake of the world. Today, we gather to celebrate with our Confirmands, who will affirm the promise God made to them through the waters of Baptism and the life the Spirit continues to call them to live as the church; Christ's hands and feet, reflecting Christ's light in the world.
Seventh Sunday of Easter - May 16, 2021 "Clap Your Hands"
Our time with the risen Christ is coming to an end. Jesus has given us the lens in which to interpret scripture and anticipate our mission as witnesses of this Good News. May you continue to be filled with God's love and grow in the wisdom and revelation of what God's power can do using our hands and feet, now the body of Christ - here on earth - reaching out with his love.
Sixth Sunday of Easter - May 9, 2021 "Break Forth"
Our Easter celebration keeps growing as the Holy Spirit adds more and more people to the dance of God's love. Today, we meet up with Peter and Cornelius - two households who would never meet on their own, but God has other plans. May this time in worship help stir Christ's joy in your life, as you abide in God's love and Word for you today.
Fifth Sunday of Easter - May 2, 2021 "Guide My Steps"
We are a resurrection people! Those who seek new life – new beginnings. And we, the church, must be a place of knowing and growing and accepting love. We hear today the question asked by the Ethiopian eunuch: “Here is water. What is to keep me from being baptized?” As we dance into diversity and acceptance, may the Spirit guide our steps for nothing is keeping us from it!
Fourth Sunday of Easter - April 25, 2021 "The Dance of Love"
The Gospel of John and 1 John, invite us to learn the way of love in our actions and our words. God gave us a patient teacher, Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd, who calls out the steps and helps us dance with all of creation to a rhythm pulsing with abundant life. Dare to dance again!
Third Sunday of Easter - April 18, 2021 "Dancing Sure"
This sermon has to be seen to capture all the Spirit has in store for you through worship today. May the Spirit give you confidence for the resurrection dance.
Find information about our 2021 Lent Worship Series and recordings of the services by following the link above.
"God is Holding Your Life" Worship Series for the Season after Epiphany
Selah, is a word found throughout the Psalms. Most experts on the Bible are not sure what it means. The best theory is that selah marks a pause in the singing of the Psalms. A time, perhaps to listen for the Holy Spirit or take a breath.
This is what we will be doing in this season after Christmas, after Epiphany when the Magi finally arrive with their gifts and time of devotion. Instead, of rushing from the manger and throwing ourselves toward our hopes for a return to "normal", we will continue to live into the simplified life we witnessed on Christmas Eve. Not palaces or important people and perfectly planned events, just a baby born for us into the ordinary lives of a Palestinian family, trying to live according to customs and laws of their times. In the midst of challenges and an unclear future, they also found joy. The way we all do.
Over the centuries, ordinary people of faith expressed these experiences and how they sense God's presence in their midst, through praying and singing the Psalms. For the next 7 weeks, this is where we will go to remember all God has done for us and allow the Holy Spirit to continue to reveal the way God is holding us and guiding us through it all. A way into the new year, we can count on and sing about with those who have gone before us.
This wouldn't be a true 2020 Christmas Eve without technical difficulties. Pastor Steve and Pastor Lori hope you will hear the true meaning of Christmas as only the telling from Luke 2:1-20 can do. Thank you to all the members, who helped share this Good News and offered images to help us remember what God - Emmanuel - with us has done and will continue to do, to bring peace on earth as it is in heaven. Merry Christmas!
Advent 4 - December 20, 2020 "I Believe in the Light": Illuminating Peace"
Season after Pentecost - A Time for Contemplative Action Compassion and Justice for All God has Made
Service of Thanksgiving and Praise
Join congregations from across the Northwest Intermountain Synod of the ELCA for worship and an opportunity to give thanks for all we are and all God continues to give us yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving!
This festival Sunday in the life of the church, remembers and gives thanks for the identity God gives us through the waters of Baptism; beloved, saints of God. Yes, we do recognize those people of faith, who have been set aside by the church as exemplars of the faith (Saints), we also embrace the teachings of Martin Luther also. That indeed we are saints and sinners, redeemed by the lamb who was slain and is seated at the center of our lives eternally. And, because of this grace given to us through Jesus the Christ, we live now by faith, trusting in this promise that whether we live or whether we die, we belong to God, saints according to his promise.
Today, we join with the larger church in seeking out the Holy Spirit and listening for how God is supporting us, re-forming us, and leading us through this wilderness time. Come and join leaders of our Northwest Intermountain Synod and Rev. Lamont Wells, program director for LuMin/Campus Ministry in the ELCA, who will offer the sermon today.
October 18, 2020 "Golden Calf or the Glory of the Cross"
Due to technical difficulties when recording, we do not have a video, but the bulletin and sermon can be found using the buttons below.
Season after Pentecost - A Time of Growth and Contemplation
July 12 - August 23, 2020
In this six-week worship series, adapted from the Worship Design Studio, we will dwell with the God of Divine Goodness, deeply in love with us, and practice ways to return that love as we fall more deeply in love with creation and with one another.
One thing I ask of you, [Divine Goodness], one thing I seek: that I may dwell in your house all the days of my life, to gaze on your beauty and to meditate in your Temple. - Psalm 27:4 (Inclusive Bible)
In preparation for this worship series, take a look at the resources below. The At Home Preparation document outlines suggestions for setting aside space for worship, creating items to support your senses, and offers weekly reflection activities for all ages to do during the week.
Follow the Nurturing Faith Resources button for additional resources to cultivate a life of contemplation and compassion for all ages. This is where you will find the links to interviews with Wendy Farley that go more deeply into the themes raised in worship. Wendy Farley is a professor of spirituality and her book (the title of this worship series) will be available this Fall.
This Sunday, we are invited to join with the larger church in worship, live. An email with the Zoom invite will arrive by August 1. If you do not receive it, contact Pastor Lori at flcpastorlori@icloud.com. Note the change of time. FLC fellowship will happen on Zoom at 10:00 a.m., then we will shift to join our sister synod in Tanzania for prayer and worship at 11:00 a.m. PDT. If you do not have access to Zoom, use the morning prayer service to guide your worship this morning as you lift up the ministries we share as a synod and with the UKD.
"Beauty, Contemplation, and Radical Compassion" Week 1 July 12, 2020
Holy Hilarity Sunday - July 5, 2020
Martin Luther’s thermometer for detecting the health of your faith, was by the measure of laughter. Or as he put it, “You have as much laughter as you have faith.” So, in celebration of our freedom in Christ and as a means of strengthening our faith, we join a long-held festival of the church: Holy Hilarity Sunday (usually celebrated the Sunday after Easter). “The custom was rooted in the musings of early church theologians (like Augustine) that God played a practical joke on the devil by raising Jesus from the dead.” May this service renew you, so you may continue to answer the call to meet the needs of the world with hope and compassion.