January 11, 2023
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Crew is on January 18th at 3:30 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!
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
Our puppy Baxter does a lot of cute things. He loves to zoom around the house with his toy lamby in his mouth. He will stare at this reflection in a mirror and wonder why another dog is staring back at him. He curls up all cuddly on our laps and falls asleep, so peaceful and serene. And then there are things he does that isn’t as cute, like chew up rugs, jump on his sister all the time, and then do what we call the pogo.
The pogo is that he stands on his hindlegs and jumps up on down, often at Amy or I wherever we are sitting, as he wants to come up. But nine times out of ten, we lift him up and he uses us as a human ladder so he can go to the top of the chair or the couch and look outside. Then he climbs down, all the way back to the floor, and like thirty seconds later comes back, doing the pogo, wanting to come up again. This happens A LOT and can be incredibly annoying. We have to keep going down to get him, stopping whatever we are doing, to get him, for him only to jump down right away. Of course, we could NOT pick him up, but there is that chance he will settle in and be all cute. But it can sure be a hassle as he does it again and again and again (and again).
But it made me think of our relationship with God. We are the Baxter, wanting to God to pay attention to us, to lift us up. And God is Amy and I, constantly coming down to us, constantly lifting us up, constantly giving us forgiveness, grace, mercy, and hope. God keeps lifting us up and yet we sometimes are just using God for a few moments. Then we jump down and go back to our lives, only to return again, seeking God’s help, guidance, and salvation. You would think that God would get tired of it. But just like Amy and I keep lifting up Baxter, God continues to lift us up through Jesus Christ. God keeps coming down to us in Christ, coming down to offer us new life, to lift us up out of the darkness and mire of this world and restore us, renew us, and offer us a sanctuary of peace and hope. I’d like to think God is like Amy and I, hoping that we might stay awhile in God’s embrace of love and grace, taking a moment to rest and bathe in the salvation we have received by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
God loves us so much God will never not reach down for us. Never not bring us to God. That is why God sent Jesus after all. To save us. To come down to us so that we would be free of sin, death, and the devil. And Amy and I will continue to pick up Baxter, no matter how many times he jumps up and down. Why? Because we love him. And the same is true for God and us. God loves us, no matter what, and will always be there to lift you up. Every time. Every day. For that we can say, “Thanks be to God!” Amen
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