January 19, 2024
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Lagers with the Lord, Monday, January 20th, 6 pm, Buckshot’s
First Communion Class Sunday, January 26th at 10:30 AM Class is for all youth 3rd grade and above who have not been previously instructed. Please bring a Bible. Parents should attend with their child. Please contact PB if you cannot make this class. First Communion Sunday is February 2nd.
Crew January 29th, 3:30 pm till 5 pm for all 3rd-6th grade youth.
Super Bowl Pizza’s Order deadline is Sunday, February 2nd. Proceeds benefit our youth going to Luther Park Bible Camp. See attached form.
Voices of Praise every Wednesday night at 7 pm! Come join us for a time of song. A great time to sing with others and have some fun!
We are collecting Cereal for the WestCAP food pantry in January! Bring your boxes and place them by the altar in the Narthex.
Trintiy Lutheran Annual Meeting is on Sunday, February 2nd, at 10 am. Annual reports will be available on Sunday, January 19th.
MUSINGS FROM PASTOR BRAD
I was feeling a little angry earlier this week and a little bit down about the world at large. What had me feeling that way you might say? Well, to put it bluntly, nothing angers me more than when something terrible happens and the first reaction isn’t to have sympathy for the victims of the tragedy, it is start to casting blame for the tragedy, especially when the blame is uniformed, idiotic, politically motivated, and wrong. There is plenty of time to analyze and examine when something happens to think about why something happened. But in the moment, the first thing that should be going through everyone’s mind is this: how can we help. Thoughts of sympathy, compassion, kindness. It doesn’t matter if it is a shooting, a natural disaster, or whatever awful event that happens, those should be our first instincts. And I fear that instead, the opposite happens. It is blame. It is to stoke more fear and collect political points and clicks and increase division in an already divided world. And that makes me a little angry.
And so, it is in that mood that I turned on one of my newest favorite shows that was getting ready to have its season finale, “Skeleton Crew.” This is a Star Wars show on Disney+, but outside of being a Star Wars show, what I love about it is that it is a show of that reminds me of movies like “Goonies,” and “ET,” of my youth. It is fun, not too steeped in Star Wars lore (you barely have to know anything to enjoy it), and stars Jude Law who is absolutely awesome in it and a group of kids that are just great. And there is a line in the season finale that just hit me as a reminder of a truth that I hold dear and that I can forget. It was something that I needed to be reminded of when I get a little angry at the world and frankly when I start to lose a little faith in it. Because sometimes, even the most faithful of us doubt from time to time.
The set up here is that one of the kids (I don’t want to say who so you won’t get spoiled in case you want to watch the show), has be reunited with their parent. The parent has been lamenting that they were trying to protect their child from the galaxy, who they believe is a very dangerous place full of evil and dangerous people. And the child says this: “Yeah, the galaxy is scary and dangerous. Everywhere we went, even the worst places, there were good people too. People that can help us.” Good people too.
It is so easy to look out at the world around us and only see the bad. To not trust and to not trust in each other. To only see the worst in each other. Sometimes, I fall victim to that way of thinking. But I think it is wrong. I think we are fundamentally good. Decent. Kind. Caring. Compassionate. Sometimes it can be hard to see, there is no doubt about that. But it is there. When I heard that line, it resonated with me. I like to think it was God sending me a reminder, as God often does, to remember who we are. God’s creation is good, as God declared in Genesis. Sin mucks it up, but God has an answer for that in death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And God has an answer for that in us, the followers of Jesus, who bring the love and grace of Christ in the world. Who can be examples of compassion, kindness, and love. That look to embrace instead of divide. Welcome instead of push away. Accept instead of blame.
Of course, historically the church hasn’t always been great at that either. It is a history we have to wrestle with. But we can start with our individual actions every day. We start by the way we choose to look at the world. When something is going on in the world, do we embrace the victims with compassion or do we play the blame game? Will we be people of love or be people who further hate? Will we be people who seek to understand those who are different than us and or will we demonize them? The choice is ours. But in this galaxy of ours, even in the worst places, there are good people. People who will help. For as it says in Genesis 1:31, “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.”
Speaking of help, if you would like to help regarding some of the recent tragedies, whether they be foreign or domestic, I encourage you to go to this link for the ELCA Lutheran Disaster Response: Lutheran Disaster Response. They do an amazing job and stay often after others leave to help people rebuild and get back on their feet. Of, consider giving to Trinity Missions, or stop in at WestCAP or Stepping Stones and volunteering some time or asking if there is a way you can make a difference.
May God bless you today and always.