April 6, 2025
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Lent worship this Wednesday at 6:30 pm! Holden Evening Prayer service. Come join us! Last one for this year!
Lent Meal from 5:30 pm till 6:30 pm. This week the meal is Taco Bar served by the Women of Trinity. Come join us!
Crew is on Wednesday, April 9th, at 3:30 pm till 5 pm for all 3rd-6th grade youth
Maundy Thursday worship Thursday, April 17, 6:30 pm
Good Friday worship Friday, April 18th, Noon & 6:30 pm
Easter Sunday Worship, Sunday, April 20th, 6:30 am and 9:00 am
Easter Breakfast, Sunday, April 20th, 7:30 am. Biscuits and Gravy, Scrambled Eggs, Fruit, Beverage. Free-will offering to support our youth going to camp. Served by Confirmation Youth.
Lagers with the Lord April 21st at 6 pm at Buckshot’s.
We are collecting items for our FREE FOOD, FREE STUFF, FOR ALL. This event will be on May 3rd and will be open to our community to help those in need. We are collecting the following items: soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, dish soap, laundry detergent, underwear (men’s & women’s), socks. Please bring those items to the church and place them in the bins in the Narthex.
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! Bring your boxes and place them by the altar in the Narthex. Please make sure the cereal is not expired.
SAVERS FUN DRIVE-Bring your household items and clothes to Trinity in May. Every Saturday in May, from 9 am till Noon. We are collecting items as a fundraiser for the Women of Trinity. All items should be clean and in good condition. Place clothes and shoes in white kitchen trash bags and all other items in boxes. Thank you for supporting the Women of Trinity!
MUSINGS FROM PASTOR BRAD
My favorite disciple is Peter, and you might think it is because my last name is Peterson, and though that was the initial reason (because when you are five years old and you learn about the disciples for the first time, that is what happens), Peter has remained my favorite because he is just so . . . messy. I mean, think about it. Peter is always getting things spectacularly right and then incredibly wrong. He will say Jesus is the Messiah, the first one to confess such a thing, and then ten seconds later Jesus is calling him Satan because Peter gets it so wrong about what being the Messiah means. Jesus is calling him the rock on which he will build the church and yet this same rock is the one who denies Jesus three times. Peter is so, well, human. Like us, he has profound faith but makes profound mistakes.
But what if, when we talked about Peter, we never talked about those mistakes? What if, when I read the story of Jesus’ passion on Good Friday, I skipped over the part of Peter denying Jesus? What if we only talked about Peter’s triumphs? It makes Peter less of a compelling character. Even worse, it makes him less of a connection point for us, who so often have moments of great faith and great doubt and mistakes. We need the whole story, not just half of it.
As a lover of history, I appreciate the whole story, not just half of it. And sometimes the whole story is messier than we wish it would be. Our denomination, Lutheran, is named for Martin Luther. And when I tell the story of Martin Luther, I tell the good. There is so much good. Martin Luther changed the world. But I also tell the bad, on how his writings against the Jews later in life not only led to violence at that time but laid groundwork that the Nazi’s used to justify the Holocaust. Why? Because telling the whole story is important and I believe telling the bad doesn’t erase the good. At the same time, it is our mistakes that help us grow and learn as people. Finally, we believe in a God of forgiveness. After all, Jesus forgave Peter after his denial, and Peter would go on to lead the disciples (and make a few more mistakes too).
It is dangerous in life to only tell half the story, to erase the past, because in erasing the past, we are doomed to not learn from our past mistakes. One of the reasons I talk about my own failings in my sermons is because I hope others can learn from them. But also, because as a kid I thought that my pastors and religious leaders were perfect human beings and that I could never ever be like them and that God must love them because they were perfect. To find out that they weren’t, and yet God still loved them and called them to serve the Lord, opened the door for me to realize that maybe, just maybe, God might be able to use me, despite my obvious shortcomings and failings.
We are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God. Whether that be individuals, communities, institutions, churches, governments, and the world at large. We all need forgiveness, grace, mercy, and second chances. We can choose to learn from our past, from our history, or to ignore it and erase it. Ignoring and erasing it is a fatal mistake that dooms us to ignorance, arrogance, and lack of vision. I give thanks that we have the full story of Peter to learn from. I give thanks for the leaders in my life that were willing to share their whole story with me to give me an example to learn from and grow from. I’m thankful for a merciful God who sends his one and only Son Jesus Christ to die for my sins, who offers all who call on his name forgiveness and eternal life and a chance to learn and grow from our mistakes. For a God who never gives up on us, who guides us, and reminds us that we are never alone, even when we screw up. As the great Jedi Master Yoda said to Luke Skywalker in the Last Jedi, “The greatest teacher, failure is.”
May God bless you today and always.