The Poet’s Prize Creations

Dear friends –

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.
– Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
– Ephesians 2:10 (NRSVA)

If you tried to write a poem today, how would it be received by a loved one?

For the third Christmas of our marriage, my wife Linda and I began a “poetic” tradition that still continues, bringing both of us a special kind of joy. That year she had asked for a curling wand for her hair as the “big gift” she wanted me to get for her. I let her know that I was NOT going to be the kind of husband who bought his wife a curling wand for Christmas, but she insisted it was her No. 1 wish despite my protests.

I gave her the curling wand, but also included in the box some extra cash, along with a letter telling her the cash was for her to do with as she pleased. The letter—a poem of sorts—was written in the kind of tone one might expect to hear from Ralph Kramden, the know-it-all lead character from The Honeymooners. It was full of sass and over-the-top complaints about how she wasn’t dealing with some kind of rube or jamoke, and how I wasn’t going to let some good-looking dame make me look bad in front of the other fellas’ wives by having me give her some kind of “hair doohickey.”

Linda almost couldn’t finish reading the letter out loud in front of our family that Christmas morning. She laughed so hard she cried, and it was clear she valued the effort put into the letter far more than the cash or the curling wand.

Over the years since then, one of us has often written a poem or a limerick or crafted song lyrics to a tune we both know as a special gift to the other. At my 50th birthday party, Linda and our sons sang to the tune of the “Gilligan’s Island” theme song, exchanging the original lyrics for those she had written, making references to various events from my life. On occasion, I’ve tried my hand at romantic poetry, even working to sustain a variety of rhyme schemes to go along with the flourished language.

But it’s the funny ones Linda likes the best. I’ve penned letters to her from Star Trek’s famous Klingon Lt. Worf, author Agatha Christie, and even Dr. Suess. I’m not sure I would call any of them great works of literature, but they’ve made her smile and let her know I love her.

During a recent sermon as part of her “Say Yes to God’s YES” teaching series, Senior Pastor Tassie Green explained that the original Greek word from Ephesians 2:10 for the concept of “handiwork” or “what he has made us” (shown in the two translations above) is poíēma (ποιῆμα). In other translations, the same Greek word is translated “workmanship.”

Our English words poem and poetry are drawn from the same Greek root.

As a writer, hearing that gave me chills. Am I God’s poetry? Was each of us planned since before the dawn of time to be such a work of art that we would be part of God’s museum of timeless good works? I believe so. Ephesians 2:10 and its surrounding context is saying, in essence, “God made you through great skill and effort, with a purpose that has existed before you were born. A purpose for good.”

Now I don’t know how to answer all the hard questions about predestination and its juxtaposition with free will, but when I think back on the happy tears rolling down my wife’s face as she was reading that first Christmas letter, I can only imagine what God was feeling as he prepared us for what we are meant to accomplish in this time.

Speaking of being prepared, we are just over a week away from our Come and See Sunday on September 7, 2025. Our worship service start time will move to 10:30 a.m., and it will be followed immediately by our new Connections hour. We will have loads of fun activities (like games and bounce houses) and good food, so a) pray for good weather, and b) make sure to be there! There’s more information online here!

We are so thankful to all of you showing your support for the schedule change and for stepping up to help make Come and See Sunday such a positive event!

This weekend we have worship at 10 a.m. with the final from the “Say Yes to God’s YES” teaching series, our last Lemonade on the Lawn for the summer (weather permitting), and a Labor Day Monday.

If you get a chance, sit back and celebrate the truth that you are God’s poem, wonderfully written and meant for great things!

In Christ,

Jim Teague

FPCE Director of Communications