December 31, 2022
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Crew is on January 4th at 3:30 pm till 5 pm for all for all 3rd-6th graders!
Communion Bread Bakers needed! Please sign-up on the table in the Narthex.
All reports for the Annual Report are due on January 15th
Volunteers Needed to remove snow from our sidewalks! Please sign-up on the table in the Narthex. We have a new tractor with snow blower that you can use.
Pick up your 2023 Offering envelopes in the Narthex.
First Communion Class is January 22nd at 10:30-11:30 am. First Communion class is for all youth from 3rd grade and above whose parents believe they are ready to receive communion
Winter Family Fest, Sunday, January 29th, 2 pm till 4 pm. Sled rides, games, food, and more! All ages welcome!
Did you order a poinsettia for Christmas? Come pick it up! Stop by the church and take your poinsettia home. We have bags for you to use to keep them protected from the cold.
Don’t forget that you can support Trinity through the Vanco app OR using the donate form on our website. Download the free app, search for Trinity Lutheran Boyceville, and go from there!
MUSINGS FROM PASTOR BRAD
On my annual trip home to Chicago for the Peterson family Christmas with my sisters, we did something we had never done before. We went to Wrigley Field. They had an event going on called Winterland. At Winterland, they had a European Christmas Market outside the stadium, and inside they had all sorts of activities. Ice slides, a train that went around the infield, tilt-a-whirl, a tea cup ride, a bunch of games, lots of decorations, a skating rink, and a beverage tent with a place where you could roast marshmallows.
It was pretty cool and I was pretty much acting like a 12 year old boy (a surprise, I know). I went with my niece and nephews down the ice slide and played some of the games with them. I enjoyed a beverage with Amy, my sisters, and their spouses in the tent. I watched Amy go on the Tilt-A-Whirl with my sisters and I excitedly rode the train around the infield, getting excited as we got glimpses into the dugouts and imagining that I was going by where Cub greats of the past had stood. Even as we walked through the bowels of the stadium to get to the field, I stopped at the Cubs Hall of Fame to show my family the plaque of Boyceville native Andy Pafko. It was a pretty cool experience, at least for me, as I became a child again for just a little bit.
In one sense, I have to admit I was embarrassed about how I was feeling and acting. It was just a winter carnival inside a baseball stadium. But at the same time, as I reflected about our time there, I thought that maybe it was an example of a New Years resolution that I could have and that maybe we all need. To be willing to experience life with childlike wonder. To embrace that part of life. I could have approached it cynically and think about the cost of the tickets to be able to do the activities (though the outdoor market was free and to enter the stadium itself was just $5).
Sometimes I think we don’t let ourselves get enveloped in wonder enough, to see the joy in the world. To be a kid again, just for a bit. Maybe that is why I love going to Disney parks so much or attending Bible Camp with our youth. It helps me put aside the stresses of life and experience the wonder of a child, to see the simple joys and blessings in fun and imagination that the Lord gives us. Life is full of joy. It has its shares of hurts and difficulties, there is no doubt. But it is also full of joy.
I hope in the New Year you will embrace the joy. That you might allow yourself to bask in the wonder, to appreciate the blessings, to be a kid from time to time. I hope in the New Year you will see that God is active and present in all of it. Have a Happy New Year and may God in Jesus Christ fill you with wonder and joy!
PICTURES OF THE WEEK
Here are two pictures from my time at the Wrigley Field Winterland. The first is me at the end of riding the ice slide, and then my family in front of Wrigley.
(L-R): Logan, Abby, Me, Amy, Megan, Jack, Amy, Ryan, Tyler, Will.
My family. Logan and Abby is my twin sister Megan and her husband Ryan’s kids. Tyler & Jack are my older sister Amy and her husband Will’s kids (Niece Kaelyn is absent as she lives in Australia).
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