TRINITY TIDINGS
January 17th, 2021
ANNOUNCEMENTS
First Communion Class will be offered in-person on Sunday, January 31st at 6pm for youth in 3rd grade and above. If you are uncomfortable attending class or you can’t make that day, please contact Pastor Brad at 715-702-2755 to schedule an individual class.
First Communion Sunday is Sunday, February 21st at 9am worship.
Volunteers needed to remove snow from the church sidewalks. A snowblower is provided by the church. Sign up sheet in the Narthex or follow the link below to sign up.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080E49AEA62FA2FB6-snow
Don’t forget that you can support Trinity through the GivePlus app OR using the donate form on our website. Download the free app, search for Trinity Lutheran Boyceville, and go from there!
Wednesday worship moves to in person on February 3rd. It will continue to be live streamed as well at 6 pm.
2020 Giving Statements have been mailed to your house. If you have any questions, please contact Becky Nyhus.
2021 Offering Envelopes are available. You can pick them up on the table in the Narthex or have an usher grab them for you.
MUSINGS FROM PASTOR BRAD
On Friday, which is my day off, I sat down to eat lunch after finishing my house cleaning and my workout. As I flipped through the channels, I came upon TCM and one of my favorite musicals of all time, “Kiss Me Kate.” I was in “Kiss Me” Kate” my junior year of high school and it was my favorite musical I was in, even though I wasn’t the lead. As I was watching it on my TV, mouthing the dialogue and singing the song, it brought back a warm and joyful feeling. I remembered late nights building sets, working on the dance numbers (I got to choregraph some of my dances and I used the movie as reference), and the fun we had doing the show.
And yet, as I thought about it, I’m not really sure why I have such fond memories of that show. As I thought about what was going on in my life during that show, which occurred in late March of 1993, my life wasn’t going really well. Not well at all. My girlfriend and I had broken up and she was in the show as well, which made for some awkward moments. Even worse, I was flirting with one of my friend’s ex-girlfriends (with his permission) which made the situation worse. All my friends knew that my ex-girlfriend and I would get back together but that didn’t make things great. Along with that, I was struggling in an advanced English class (term paper) and arguing with the teacher. I was trying to earn a starting spot on the varsity baseball team so I was stressed about that. Worst of all, we had just found out my Dad had cancer and as we got ready for opening night, he had just come home from the hospital. I was relieved that he was going to be there to watch my sister and I in the show but there had been a lot of sleepless nights worrying about him, praying that he would be ok, and that we would be ok.
As I sat in the chair watching the movie, thinking about all these things, I had a realization. The reason I looked upon that time with such fondness was because not too long after that, my life would change forever. My girlfriend and I got back together (at the wrap party, of course). I earned a starting spot in baseball. I got the grade up in English. But six weeks after the show, my Dad died. My life was forever altered and so I look back at that time BEFORE then with rose colored glasses, a time when my biggest worry was girls and grades and sports. Life was simpler, easier, and comfortable.
I know I think the same way when I look back to early March of 2020. Amy and I were on vacation in Disney World and having a great time. Then the world shut down and it hasn’t been the same since. Maybe you are like me and you look back at that time wistfully. Maybe you wish you could return to that time. Maybe you have used the term “I can’t wait till we can get back to normal.” But there is something I learned in back in 1993: we can’t go back. We aren’t Doctor Strange with the Time Stone and can turn back time. The things we experience in life change us and we are changed. We might see our lives get back to “normal” but we won’t be the same. And that’s ok.
We go forward into life knowing that the Lord is with us. And we can look back at our life and fondly remember those times before our lives changed. There is nothing wrong with looking back. But we can’t live in the past. We live with hope and with the future always before us. And though we will remember much of the horrible things that have happened since March 2020, over time we might also remember the good things that occurred as well. And we will remember fondly a time before our lives were turned upside down but hopefully take the lessons we learned from this time to help us succeed and grow in the future.
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