ANNOUNCEMENTS
Lunch & Pie Social Sunday, August 20th, from 10 am till 4pm! Sponsored by the Women of Trinity. Come for great food, homemade pie, and a chance to join together in fellowship with this Trinity tradition!
WORKERS NEEDED FOR THE LUNCH & PIE SOCIAL We need helpers of all genders and ages to serve this Trinity Tradition. 9 am till 11 on Saturday, August 19th. Then on Sunday with shifts at 9 am, 10 am till Noon, Noon till 2pm, 2 pm till 4pm, and clean-up after 4 pm. Can you give even an hour? Every moment counts! See the sign-up in the Narthex or call the church office to sign-up!
Worship at Pafko Park on Sunday, August 13th, at 9 am. Bring a chair to sit in. Hot Dog lunch to follow worship.
Float riders needed for the Pickle Fest float! Each rider gets their own bag of candy. Let PB know if you can help! All ages welcome!
Monday Bible Study each Monday at 10 am.
Lagers with the Lord, Monday, August 14th, 6 pm at Buckshots. All are welcome!
School Bags: We are collecting items for school bags and kits. Pick up a bag in the church or grab school supplies and bring them to the church.
Confirmation Parent Meeting, Wednesday, August 30th, 7 pm.
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
“Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
It was July 18th at 7:21 am when I realized I had made a huge mistake. In the annals of the mistakes, I have made in my now 21 years of being a pastor, this mistake might easily be in the top 5 of all of my mistakes. I literally started sweating and thought I was going to throw up, the pit in my stomach was so bad. I immediately was in panic mode and started to frantically search and even called Amy to help me. What was my mistake? I hadn’t reserved transportation for our 33 people going to Denver on our Mission Trip that upcoming Saturday. Our largest trip ever and we had no way to get there. No vans. No nothing. What I thought was a reservation was last year’s reservation, which were for the same dates, but I didn’t double check the year.
I felt devasted. I felt awful. I knew, even before I tried, that there would be no 15 passenger vans available for rent. Maybe in the winter. But the summer? No way. I started to make reservations for minivans and other vehicles. I called all the chaperones to tell them what was going on and to see if they could all drive a vehicle if needed. In the midst of all this, I still had to do my job, leading worship at Glenhaven and even had to get my oil changed. I finally got our transportation fully figured out and set on Friday morning and even then, I wasn’t sure we would have enough room for our bags and had a back-up just in case. It was a frantic lead0up to our trip, even more so than usual. I was spent and we hadn’t even left yet. But what made it worse was this: I couldn’t let my mistake go.
Even now, as I write this, I’m not sure I have let it fully go. I’m a person who holds myself to a high standard and often that standards and expectation of myself can be a negative. I get upset when I hit bad golf shots or feel I gave a bad sermon. I beat myself up if I haven’t been a good friend or husband. I think way more about the things that I do wrong than anything I do right. This is incredibly unhealthy. I know it too and yet I can’t stop it.
And in this situation, it consumed me. I had a hard time sleeping those days before the trip. Even when we got there, I would find myself awake, brooding over my stupidity and idiocy. I couldn’t even pass it off on Katie not being there for the first time in awhile as I always took care of the vans. Always. My job. My responsibility. And I fumbled it. I dropped it. I put all the work of the kids, all the work of the parents, all the support from the congregation to send us to Denver in jeopardy. My awesome chaperones told me it was ok, that we got it all worked out, that they would step up and do whatever needed to be done. Amy told me it was ok, we all make mistakes, and I got it all figured out it in the end.
But I wouldn’t listen to their comfort and reassurances. And so, my guilt almost consumed me. I know it made me unhealthy and made this trip the hardest one I had ever been on. All because I couldn’t forgive myself. All because of my own pride, ego, and perfectionist standards. All because of my sin.
Forgiveness is a gift we receive in Jesus Christ, and it is an incredible gift we give each other. I like to think I’m a pretty forgiving person for the most part. But not to myself. And that needs to change. So often I sit with people who can’t forgive themselves the mistakes they make. It isolates them, keeps them away from the Lord, from their relationships, from engaging in the wider world. They know their sin and they worry that is all that people will see of them. And when I sit them, I remind them of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. I remind them that they are loved, not only by Jesus, but by others, no matter the mistake. That in the church they always have a place and that true healing comes first and foremost from accepting the grace and forgiveness that comes in Jesus Christ. After all, we pray in the Lord’s Prayer for God to forgive us our trespasses. We need to have faith in that promise and prayer.
I need to have faith in that promise and prayer. And I’m so thankful for people like Amy and others who reminded me that we all make mistakes and there is forgiveness for all of us. I need to be reminded that it is ok to not be perfect. To screw up from time to time. That when I screw up and I work to fix it, that is enough and that the same forgiveness I preach about is also for me. I’m reminded about something that Yoda says to Luke Skywalker in “The Last Jedi” when he says, “The greatest teacher, failure is.”
You can bet I will never make that mistake again (and I put in my calendar 20 times to be sure). But the biggest lesson that I have learned from this is that I need to forgive myself. It does me and no one else good to wallow in despair and guilt. To trust in the forgiveness offered to me in Jesus Christ. Because, after all, it all worked out. We had a great trip and we served the Lord. My prayer for you today is that if you are carrying around guilt that weighs on your soul, give it to the Lord. Forgive yourself for your Savior Jesus Christ died and rose for your sins and to set you free from all bondage. May God bless you today and always!
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