Adult Education Newsletter

Greetings! Our focus this winter and spring is Amazing Grace. Just what is grace, you may ask. It is an unearned, possibly undeserved gift, given freely to the receiver but at a cost for the giver. Gifts have differing values which are contingent on two things: how indispensable the gift is to the receiver, and how costly it is to the giver. For example, an unexpected cup of coffee from a friend is appreciated, especially if we are in dire need of an energy boost to meet a dreaded deadline and, even more so, if your friend is someone you have placed on the back burner for a long time. You have been graced by a friend who overcame hurt and did not allow your ungrace toward them to continue. Both the need and the cost pump
up the value of their gift, and, in turn, the relationship with the giver. Grace is truly amazing when it enters into deep hurt, despair, a closed mind, or a hard heart. Even everyday “graces” can be powerful glue to relationships when we don’t let the everyday aspect cloud over the unmerited nature of the gift we’ve received, or the gift’s goodness in our day.

When we consider the mission of First Pres Caldwell to Shine God’s Light, we are talking about sharing the amazing grace of God through the gift of his one and only Son. In Philippians 2: 3-8 the apostle Paul beautifully parses, line by line, the sacrifices Jesus chose, bearing the price of our sins so that we might choose him. Remembering too that there is nothing we can do to lose his love, then how do we respond to such love? Paul also entices us to be grace dispensers: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” Let the gift of his humility also be ours and invite his Spirit to build in us a desire to respond to others’ “interests” as Jesus does. This issue is about offering grace in a world filled with “ungrace”. Sharing God’s grace can be costly, but it can also be truly amazing for the receiver and the giver.

Let us know how we are doing at adult.edu@firstprescaldwell.org.

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