Are You Ready for Christmas?

Luke 2:7b

“…there was no place for them in the Inn.”

Are you ready for Christmas?  I am sure you have had one or two people ask you that question over the past month.   Normally that is a simple way of asking, “Is your tree up?  Have you decorated?  Are your Christmas cookies made?   Have you finished shopping?  Are you ready for company to arrive?  Have you bought your groceries for Christmas dinner?”  When people ask me they usually are also asking, “Are the services ready?  Is your Christmas sermon written?” 

Usually Linda has us more than ready for Christmas. This Christmas however we were kind of limited on how ready we could be.  We have more guests than we have beds and bedrooms.  Steven is sleeping on our coach in the living room.  A friend of Dora’s and her little toddler son are sleeping in our home office, on a thin mattress on the floor.  Nobody’s complaining.  We are having a great time.  I just wish we had comfortable places for everyone to sleep.  You might say that this Christmas our home is a modern day Bethlehem.  There’s no room at the Inn. 

That got me to thinking. It changed the way I understood this question – “Are You ready for Christmas?”  Think about it – having cookies baked, decorations up, presents bought and wrapped – none of that makes you ready.  Christmas isn’t about those things.  Christmas is about the birth of Jesus, about the coming of God into this world and into our lives.  That should be what this question refers to. – “Are you ready for Christmas?  Are you ready for God to come to you?  Are you ready for Jesus?”  Or is your life, like our apartment – so full of the stuff and activities of this world, that you just don’t have much room for Him? 

Linda and I have been so excited about having Jon, Dora, Kellan and Steven, as well as Dora’s friend and her son, with us for Christmas.  They have all been here since last Sunday.  Yet so far all I have been able to do is fit them in at times when I am not busy with something else.  Too often that is how we fit Jesus in – give Him a place on the floor in the office, let him fill in the cracks of our lives, give him those fleeting moments when we aren’t already busy with something else.  We offer him our version of a manger.  Are you ready for Christmas?  Is there room at your Inn?  Our answer to that question is probably not what we wish it would be. 

Thank God that His answer is exactly what you and I need it to be.  Our God’s answer is a resounding yes.  When Jesus was born 2000 years ago, God had prepared everything.  In fact the Bible tells us that “in the fullness of time,” that is when everything was ready, “God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the full rights of son.”  In spite of the fact that we too often have no room for Him, Jesus left heaven to make room for us in His family.  That’s why He took up residence in that manger, and lived for a while in this world.  That’s He died on the cross – to pay for your room and mine in His Father’s mansions.  That’s why He came to you in baptism – to adopt you into His family.  That’s why He comes to you in Holy Communion.  He gives you a foretaste of the feast He has waiting for You at His Father’s table. 

Are you ready for Christmas?  Thank God He was ready… ready to be laid in that manger… ready to be nailed to that cross. There may have been no room for Jesus in that Inn, yet because of Him God has a room ready for you and for me, forever in His home.  Merry Christmas!

Are You Ready to be Uncomfortable?

Matthew 1:18b–20a (ESV)

When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. ²⁰ But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit….

Do you understand what a “comfort zone” is?  That’s when you are in situations that are normal for you… where nothing happens that you don’t expect or can’t handle easily.  I’m in my comfort zone when I am preaching a sermon.  Johanna our music director is in her comfort zone when she is playing the organ. Most of us like being in our “comfort zone.” That’\s where life is predictable.  That’s where life is easiest.   

Joseph was in his comfort zone.  He was living in Nazareth.  He had grown up there.   He had a job that he was good at.  His marriage to young Mary was all arranged.  Everything was great.  That all changed.  His “bride to be” came to him with the news that she was pregnant.  “But don’t worry Joseph, I haven’t been unfaithful.  I am still a virgin.  The child is God’s.”  How’s that for uncomfortable?  Not only was his fiancée pregnant, she was crazy.  Joseph, however, wasn’t going to be pushed out of his comfort zone so easily.  He had this figured out. He could handle this.  Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly…”    That way her reputation and his could be protected.  He could stay in his comfort zone!  Boy was he wrong.  His discomfort was only beginning.  As he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit….  Mary was telling the truth.  The Lord wanted him to marry her.  That was going to be very uncomfortable.   People weren’t going to believe the story about her pregnancy any more than he had.  The rest of his life he would have to live with what people said about him, Mary and their “illegitimate child.”   He would soon have to take Mary with him to Bethlehem, in the last days of her pregnancy.  There he would be powerless to take care of her.  He wouldn’t be able to find her a decent place for giving birth.  When Herod came to kill the baby, he wouldn’t be able to protect her.  Joseph and his young family would be forced to run away to Egypt.  He was suddenly thrust into all sorts of uncomfortable situations he couldn’t possibly handle on his own. 

That’s what happens whenever God begins to work in your life.  Following Jesus is going to force you out of your comfort zone. He puts us in situations where that we can’t handle… situations where we have to trust in Him, not ourselves. Taking your faith seriously will often make your life uncomfortable.  I can guarantee that your Lord will begin confronting you with thoughts, beliefs, activities in your life that are just flat out wrong… that have to change.  Joseph had to give up his plan to divorce Mary.  There are other examples.  Friends will think you have become a fanatic.  People will think you are crazy – crazy to believe in a virgin birth, in creation, in man rising from the dead and so forth.   You are going to feel uncomfortable saying no when your friends invite you to do something you believe is wrong.   People you love, will say things… they will post things on Facebook that you vehemently disagree with.  It’s going to be hard to hold your tongue and not argue.  It’s going to be downright uncomfortable to go on loving people who make you angry.  That’s what Jesus wants you to do.  He wants you to care more about them then whether or not you win an argument.  There will hard days, tragic days… days of illness or death.  On those days you are going to wonder, “God where are you?” On such days, worry and fear are going to seem a lot more comfortable to you than faith and trust.  Are you ready to be uncomfortable?

Why would God do this?  Because in our comfort zones we are living a lie, a false comfort that we can handle things on our own.  But, in fact, we can’t.  So God calls us out our comfort zone into His… into the place where the only thing we have to rely on is Him and His promises.  That’s what He offered Joseph.   “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”   That’s what He offers us as well – His promises.  And they are more than enough.  They offer real comfort because they are true.  He keeps His promises.  He does what He says.  The proof is Mary’s little child.  Here is Immanuel – God with us in flesh and blood.  Here is Jesus to save us from ours sin.  This is how far God is willing to go to keep His promises – He gave up His own son!  Jesus gave up His own life on the cross.  He became more than uncomfortable so that you and I might have the real comfort that He alone can give.  There is a modern parable about faith that I love.  A man asked his friends if they believed he could push a wheel barrow on a single tight wire across Niagara Falls.  When most believed he couldn’t, he proved them wrong and did it.  Then he asked again.  This time they all said, they believed he could.  Then he asked them, “If you really believe, which of you will get inside the cart and let me push you across?”  That’s discomfort of faith.  You are crawling in God’s wheelbarrow, putting yourself completely in His hands and trusting Him.  The odd thing is – faith may feel very uncomfortable to you and me but it is the only place where true comfort is found – in Him 

Are You Ready for God to Change Your Plans?

Luke 1:28–29 (ESV)

And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”  But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.

You know this wasn’t what Mary had planned for her life.  She had no plans to be a mother before she got married, let alone to be the mother of God’s Son.   She had no plans to move to Bethlehem, then to Egypt, then back to Nazareth.    Mary had no plans for her son to be the Savior of the world.  I doubt that Mary would have chosen to watch her Son be nailed to a cross and die.  Never in a million years did she think that by the end of her life she would be living in Ephesus with the Apostle John. No, Mary’s plans must have looked much different. At some future date she was going to marry Joseph, the man picked out for her by her father.  Then they would have children.  He would support them with his carpentry.  They would live out their lives together and die in Nazareth.    All that changed when God sent her that angel.  “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”    We can all understand why Mary was greatly troubled by this.  After all, in that one moment, God changed all of her plans. I doubt very much that she was ready.

Are you ready for God to change your plans?  I ask that because when He calls that’s what he does. At one time, I planned on being a musician not a Pastor.  God had other plans.  He kept sending people to point out to me that liking music wasn’t the same as being good at it.  But talking, teaching – that He has given me a talent for.  I never planned on living in Texas.  God called us there twice.  I planned on retiring at Concordia Wisconsin but then God called me back to Texas.  I planned on retiring at Lamb of God in Flower Mound but then God called us to Germany.  I have given up figuring out what comes next.  Our DCE here at Trinity in Frankfurt, Kendra McNatt will tell you that she wasn’t supposed to be here.  This wasn’t her plan. She was never going to be a church worker. She was going to train dolphins. She was pretty good at it.  So when God called, she didn’t want to follow. She would tell you she wasn’t ready.  But He kept calling. She kept resisting (and in the process making herself miserable) until one day “kicking and screaming” she said yes. 

Are you ready for God to change your plans?  His calling will not likely come to you from an angel, although He could send one if He wished.  His calling will most likely not be into fulltime church work, but for some of you it might.  It may be a calling to be a leader or a teacher in the church.  He may call you to change jobs or to move to a new town.  If there are destructive behaviors going on in your life, I can guarantee that He will call you to leave that behavior behind.  His may use an illness or the loss of a job or some other crisis in your life to help you hear his voice.  However it comes, whenever it comes, whatever His calling is, 0my guess is that you will not really be ready for the change.  I don’t think any of us ever are.  My prayer is that even so, when God calls that you will say yes to whatever it is… even if it scares you… even if you don’t understand it. 

That’s what Mary did.  There was no way she was ready for what God was about to do in her life… Even after the angel’s explanation of her pregnancy, she wasn’t ready. Oh she accepted His words, but I doubt she understood them… I doubt very much that she was prepared for all the things that were about to change.  Yet Mary said yes. “Behold I am the servant of the Lord.  Let it be to me according to Your Word.”  How could she say yes even though she wasn’t ready?  Because what the Angel made plain to Mary was that God was ready.  He had been preparing from before the beginning of time to give His Son. He had brought all history to this point.   Now in the fullness of time He sent forth His Son.   No matter how many unknown things were about to happen, they would not be unknown to Him.  He was ready.  She could trust Him.   We are no different.  Though we are never really ready for God to work changes in our lives, we can trust Him.   We can say yes because we know He is ready.  He made this world.  He knows our names, counts the hairs on our head and gave His Son for us.  We can follow His calling without fear.  He is always ready.   

Are You Ready for a New Way of Life?

Matthew 3:1–2 (ESV)

“In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

This call to Germany was a call to a different kind of life. That simply goes with moving from one country and culture to another.  Let me share some examples – living far from most of our kids yet closer to Jon than in years; shopping for groceries every other day not every other week; taking public transportation or walking rather than driving; taking the train rather than the plane or car; pastoring a small congregation rather than a large one; pastoring people from many nations rather than one or two; learning a new language and having to use it; in the US “how are you” is a greeting, here it’s an invitation to a serious conversation; the pace of life is slower here but always with a purpose; Linda and I have more time with each other; the Germans don’t have what I call “Italian sausage” on their Pizza; going out to eat is a three hour experience, not 45 minutes; the road signs and the rules of the road are different… I could go on. Now I want you to know, I love the life we had in America and I love the life God is giving us here.  We needed many of these changes.  However if someone had asked me 15 months ago, “Are you ready for a new way of life?” I would have said yes, indeed I did but I didn’t know what that meant.

Advent asks you the same question. Are you ready for a new way of life?  That is what God is offering you.  That is what John the Baptist invites us to.  “Repent,” He says, “For the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”   How is this new life different?  Let me give you some examples from God’s own words –

·         That you “might not perish but have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16)

·         that you might “have life and have it abundantly…”  (John 10:10)

·         you are given “treasure in heaven that moth and rust cannot destroy, and thieves cannot break in and steal.”  (Matthew 6:20)

·         You are “born anew into a living hope…” (1 Peter 1:3)  …”a hope that does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5)

·         Where we “no longer live for ourselves but for Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:15)

·         Where “if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation.”  (2 Corinthians 5:17)

·         Where it “is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God…”  (Galatians 2:20)

I could keep going but you get the point.  That’s the new life God offers you.  That’s the new life Jesus was born, lived, died, and rose again to win for you and me.  Are you ready for a new way of life?

That new life is yours through repentance and faith.  That new life is given to you freely as you are buried with Christ by baptism into death and are raised with to new life.  That new life is yours for free as by daily confessing your sins you again and again drown the old greedy, selfish you so that every day God might bring forth a new man to live before Him.  But, you object, repentance is not so easy.  Sometimes when you or I say we’re sorry, we’re just going through the motions.  We’re saying but we don’t really mean it.  Sometime we’re only saying I am sorry because we got caught.  There are also times when you and I really do mean it.  Most often we really do want to change the way we live.  We even promise to change, try to change.  But then again and again, we fall back into the same old trap… commit the same sin over again.  Like Paul, “I do not do the good that I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do, that I keep on doing… O wretched man that I am, who will save me from this body of death?”  Can I ever be ready for this new way of life?

Yes.  But you need to remember that in this life the new life is not yet complete.  We have that new life but we are not yet in heaven. We have victory over sin and yet we still daily struggle with sin.  We are forgiven, but not yet in perfect.  Our whole life this side of heaven is lived between the already and the not yet.  Our whole life is thus about learning to live the new life God has given and is giving us in Christ.  Repentance is not simply a one-time event.  Turning from sin and back to God is the daily moment by moment life of a Christian… adjusting, changing, dying and rising again are all about learning to live the new life of faith.  That’s the way it’s been here in Germany.  When we came we were told that adjusting to life in a new culture would take at least 18 months. It takes up to five or more years to really feel at home.  Learning to live the new life in Christ takes a lifetime – a lifetime of repentance, of forgiveness, of discovering that you really can trust God’s promises, that God really does love you, that the hope you have is real, that you do have a treasure in heaven that cannot be taken away.  Are you ready for a new way of life?    More and more each day… learning that new life each day…  With God’s help, by His grace, He is in the process of moving you from the culture of this world to the culture of His kingdom… getting you ready for the day when He says to you, “Come inherit the kingdom prepared for you...”  So you are ready but also not yet… for that life is now yours but at the same time not yet….

Are You Ready for God to Answer Your Prayer?

“But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid Zechariah, your prayer has been heard.’”

Luke 1:13a

Are you ready?  This is the season of getting ready.  As you can see Linda has been busy getting ready for Christmas, putting up decorations, baking cookies, buying presents and so forth.  At Church I am getting services ready as well - writing sermons and so forth.  The choirs are getting music ready.  Many of you are getting ready for parties, for guests and more.  Advent is about getting ready - ready for Jesus to come again in glory… to come to us today in Word and Sacrament.  The whole message of John the Baptist was about getting ready – “Repent,” he said, “for the Kingdom of God is near.”  The whole Christmas story is about different people who were not quite ready for God’s work in their lives,

Zechariah is the perfect example.  He and Elizabeth have been praying and praying and praying for God to give them a child!  They wanted a baby more than anything.  Finally one day an angel comes to him.  “Do not be afraid Zechariah, your prayer has been heard.”   Zechariah is not ready.  He wonders, “How can I be sure of this?”  He even gives a reason why this could not possibly be.  “I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”  It’s almost as if he’s been praying but never really expected God to answer.  He’s not ready for what that angel told him.  

How could it be that any of us who prays would not be ready for God to answer that prayer?  One reason could be that we go into prayer, like Zechariah, expecting nothing.  I have been guilty sometimes of just going through the motions of prayer… as part of my daily ritual… but with no real expectations.   Are you ever guilty of that – just rattling of the words of prayer?  Just going through the motions? 

This story reminds us that God is serious in inviting us to pray.  That’s His promise.  “Ask and it shall be given.  Seek and you shall find.  Knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks the door will be opened.  Which of you if he son asks him for bread will give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!”    I remember how my confirmation Pastor urged us to pray, expecting God to be listening.  He said, “Be careful what you ask for. You might be surprised when you get it.”

Of course there is another reason why there are times when we aren’t ready for God’s answer to our prayers.  Sometimes God doesn’t give us the answer we want.  I remember one lady who was really down.  She had cancer.  She prayed and prayed and prayed but it didn’t get better.  God was giving her an answer she wasn’t ready for.  Then she started praying differently.  She added to her prayer, “Lord if it is not your will I get better, give me faith to trust in Your will even when it is hard.  Indeed, either way Lord, grant that whether I get better or sicker, You might use me to help others and to glorify your name.”   When we see prayer as a laundry list of things we want God to do for us, then we aren’t going to be ready when He doesn’t give us the answer we want.  What a difference it makes when we see prayer as an act of faith- sharing our petitions with our inviting God and asking Him to submit our will to His.  After all you can trust Him even when His answer is No.  He is the God who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for you. That’s a God who can work all things together for good.  Approach Him in prayer with that faith and you will be ready for whatever answer He gives.  e HeH

Thankful "Have-nots"

Deuteronomy 8:10 (ESV)

“You shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land He has given you.”

You hear a lot in our world about the divide between the “haves” and the “have-nots,” between the wealthy and the poor, between the 1% of the world that has most of the world’s wealth and the 99% who get the rest.  Now I am not trying to play down these concerns.  But it struck me this week that the idea that I “have” anything is an illusion.  I was packing for an overnight trip with my brother in-law Dean.  I was thinking about the fact that I needed to pack very little for this trip.  Other than my CPAP machine I packed everything I needed in my backpack.  Then it hit me.  “You think you are taking very little on this trip, wait till you die.  On that trip you get to take only what you “own” - which is absolutely nothing. 

The idea of “having” things, of “having” anything, at least in the sense of owning something is an illusion.  You and I don’t own anything.  The homes we live in, the clothes we wear, the money in our wallet, the cars we drive, the food we eat, our jobs and even the ability to work –  everything is a gift from God.  None of it belongs to us.  It all belongs to Him.  He gives to us or perhaps we should say, He loans to us “everything we need to support this body and life.”  I am a Have-not.  We all are.

That is such a important realization for each of us.  It is the soil from which grow thankful and generous hearts. Think about what Moses wrote in the verse from Deuteronomy 8.  He didn’t write, “You shall bless the LORD YOUR God for the good land” you have.  No, Moses wrote, “You shall bless the Lord your God for the good land He has given you.”  Everything we have is a gift from our Father in heaven. Thanksgiving is not the sum total of your possessions.  Thanksgiving is the fruit of how gracious, generous and giving God is.  No matter how much or how little you or I have been given, there is reason for thanksgiving. His gifts are all more than we could ever deserve.  We are “thankful have-nots” - every one of us. 

Let me take that one step farther.  That fact enlarges our understanding of how one gives thanks.  Giving thanks becomes more than a few words in prayer or in worship.  It becomes the act of giving to others as generously as God has given to you and me.  The word is thanksgiving after all. It’s amazing isn’t it?  When we look at the stuff in our lives as things we “have”… as ours – then we become defensive about the whole idea of giving – because “it’s mine. You can’t keep asking for what’s mine.  My resources are limited.”  That’s all changes when we realize that we have nothing, and that we are cared for by the God whose resources are limitless. All our stuff is a gift from Him and there is always more in His storehouse.  Trusting Him and His giving heart, we are free to give… to give generously to others as He has given to us. The greatest compliment a parent can be given is to see their son or daughter trying to be just like them.  The greatest thanks we can offer to God our Father is to love and to give as He has given to us.  That’s the joy of being a “thankful have-not.” 

The Perfect Prayer for the Age of Terrorism

“This, then, is how you should pray… Thy kingdom come…”

Matthew 6:9a & 10a

I have to admit that once again I am conflicted.  Since I heard about the terror attacks in Paris, my thoughts, emotions and reactions have been pulled in many different directions.   My first reaction was anger – anger at the evil of what those terrorists did in Paris. Like many I have wanted swift retribution.  I’ve wanted the borders closed here and in America, stopping the flow of refugees from the Middle East.  But then my conscience speaks and reminds me that 99 out of 100 of those refugees are just people fleeing for their lives, looking for someplace safe for themselves and their children to live.  I am reminded of what I heard Ed Westcott (Director of LCMS World Missions back in the 1980s) in a sermon when refugees were coming to the USA on boats from Cuba and many college students were coming from other countries to study in America.  There was a lot of fear and resentment among Americans.  It was in my heart too until Dr. Westcott reminded us that many of the people coming to the US were from countries where we could not take the Gospel.  Now God was bringing them to us in America.  He was giving us the opportunity to tell them about Jesus.  Then when they returned to their home countries they would take the Gospel with them, to places where we could not go.  This is true right now – in the midst of this crisis God is bringing people to us from places we can’t go with the Gospel. 

So all the emotions are there – anger, fear, resentment, compassion, love, a desire to think and feel and act towards all involved in a way that reflects who our God is! I bet many of you are conflicted like me.  What should we do?  Well when I am confused I find that the best thing to do is take it to God in prayer.  In fact Jesus Himself has already taught us a simple prayer to use in this age of terrorism – “Thy kingdom come…”

That prayer brings together all our conflicted thoughts.  On the one hand Government is a part of God’s kingdom.  With this prayer we are asking Him to guide our governments to react properly, to punish evil doers and protect us from harm.  We are praying for our Lord to end terrorism, to do justice and restore peace among nations.    That’s the proper God given work of government.  . 

“Thy kingdom come…” We are also asking our God to bless and grow His kingdom of grace… to bless the work of His church in telling the good news of His love and forgiveness. God is bringing all these people to us.  So we pray to Him - “Lord help us, as believers, to extend Your kingdom by telling them about Jesus, about His death and resurrection, about the grace and forgiveness He offers to all who believe.”  We are praying for God’s Spirit to work faith in the hearts of those He is bringing.

“Thy kingdom come…”  With these words we are especially praying for ourselves, for God to work in our conflicted hearts. Luther explained this prayer in his Small Catechism. “The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also.”  In other words, “Lord by your Spirit be at work in my heart that I might repent of all evil, turn to you in faith and follow you.  By Your grace rule in my heart that I might think, speak and act towards others in accordance with Your love towards me.”

“Thy kingdom come…”  Finally, with these words we are asking our Lord to do the one thing that will restore justice and peace, once and for all.  With these words we are praying the final prayer found in the Bible, at the end of Revelation - “Amen! Come Lord Jesus.”

Am I saying that we should pray that God should at one and the same time, work through government to punish the evil doers and at the same time use us to share His love with everyone, even the terrorists?  Are we praying for Him to turn every heart towards Himself, even the hearts of those who hate us? Yes!  This prayer says all those things.  It’s the perfect prayer for the age of terrorism.  “Thy Kingdom Come!”  Amen!

Do You Have a Logo?

Galatians 6:14 (ESV)

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

I bet you recognize these corporate logos easily – McDonald's, Nike, Disney, Target, Coke, Pepsi.  These logos do exactly what they are supposed to do.  We see them and immediately we think of the company, what kind of company it is and what that company sells.  These logos are inextricably tied in with the identities of the companies they represent.

That got me to thinking.  If I had a logo, what would it be?  Well believe it or not, the first thing I thought of was my head.   Often times if I am wearing a hat, people who know me will walk right by me without seeing me.  People who have known me all my life will have a hard time picking me out in a crowd or from a distance.  But if I remove my cap, people who know me recognize me almost instantly.  I guess you could say that my bald head is one of my logos.  Shoot one my good friends, when he was in high school gave me the nickname that has stuck with me for years – PB.  It’s a play on my professional initials and my baldness.  PB can stand for Pastor Braun or Pretty Bald.  Strange as that may sound, that seems to be one of my logos.

If you think about it, we Christians are identified by a very strange logo – the cross!  How strange is that? After all, the cross was an instrument of cruel torture and death.  The worst criminals were executed on cross.  Death by crucifixion was a gory, bloody, excruciating way to die. The cross is the ancient version of the electric chair, the gas chamber or the hangman’s noose.  Yet we Christians places crosses at the center of our houses of worship.  We hang various versions of crosses on the walls of our homes.  We wear them as jewelry around our necks and on rings.  And just as people seeing the golden arches think immediately of McDonalds, so when people see a cross they think of Christianity.

When you think of what the cross is, it seems a very strange logo indeed.  Yet when you realize what Jesus did on his cross, this isn’t strange at all. The cross is the perfect logo for our faith.  It tells you a lot about what it means to be a follower of Jesus.  For one thing, the cross reminds us of just how deeply serious the problem of our sin is – so serious that we could never make up for it. We could never pay the debt we owe.  The only way we could be saved is if God paid the price of our sin for us.  That’s what He did – giving His Son Jesus to die for our sins on the cross.  The cross is thus also a tremendous reminder of just how much God loves us.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son…”  That one and only son Jesus “loved us and gave himself up for us” on the cross.  The empty cross reminds us that we “have been given a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”  

Yes the cross is the perfect identifying logo for you and me as Christians.  The cross is the most perfect witness to the world of what Christianity offers to everyone that is makes it different from every other religion – A God who knows we can’t make our way back to Him so He comes down to us.  He takes on our flesh and blood, lives the life we fail to live, dies in our place and rises again the third day… A God who stoops down that He might lift us up…   Like the Apostle Paul, this is a logo we should wear gladly for all to see – “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified to me and I to the world.”  (Galatians 6:14)

When is Helping Really Helping

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way fulfill the law of Christ…

Each one should carry his own load.”

Galatians 6:2 & 5 (NIV)

I haven’t brought you out here in a while. (For those of you reading and not watching the video – look at the picture posted with this post)  You may remember that last year in Advent I brought you out here to show you a building they were tearing down.  Well it is almost a year later and as you can see they are now in the midst of constructing a brand new building. 

You will also notice the huge cranes that are here on this construction site.  They are why I have brought you out here one more time.  I think these cranes can help us understand two verses, Galatians 6:2 & 5 that are sometimes a very confusing.   At first glance these verses seem to contradict each other.  How does it make sense that in verse 2 St. Paul encourages us to “carry each other’s burdens” but then in verse 5 he writes that “each one should carry his own load?”  The key is in understanding the difference between a “burden” and a “load.”  That’s where these construction cranes come in.  The purpose of these cranes is lift, carry and put in place objects that are way too heavy for the men to carry themselves.  These cranes are not used to lift the smaller items that the workers can carry.  There you have it.  A “burden” is something too difficult or too heavy for a person to carry himself.  A “load” is something one person can handle. 

Paul in these verses is answering the question, “When is helping really helping?”  As a Pastor I have been asked many times, “How do I know when I should help someone?  How do I know if by helping I am doing more harm than good?”  The answer is in understanding the difference between a “burden” and a “load.”  Let me give you a couple of examples.  I had a parent call me once who was very frustrated with how her son was doing in college.  I asked what was going on.  She said, “He keeps getting himself in trouble.  Each time, I call the school and argue his way out of that trouble.  Then two weeks later he is in more trouble.  He’s not getting his work done for class.  He’s flunking.  I have tried everything.  I have even written his papers for him.  None of it helps.”  This is a good example of someone whose help is doing more harm than good.  Her son needed to face the consequences of his actions and learn how to deal with them.  He didn’t have to, because his mom was doing it for him.  She was carrying his load and it wasn’t helping. 

One more example – a friend of mine, Dick Lasch, had a neighbor who fell off of a ladder and broke his back.  This neighbor was completely immobilized for several months.  During that time Dick went over once a week and mowed the man’s lawn, and did other things for the man which at that point he couldn’t do for himself.  Dick was helping to carry that man’s burden. When the man got healthy again, Dick stopped because now the neighbor could do it for himself. 

In other words, helping people with struggles they can’t handle by themselves and at the same time allowing them to struggle with the things that they can handle – that’s when helping is really helping.  Paul says that this “fulfills the law of Christ.”  After all this is what Jesus does.  He allows us to deal with the struggles and decisions that we can handle. We are perfectly capable of making right choices, and so forth.  Sure we can pray to him for guidance.  But ultimately he doesn’t make those choices for us.  He allows us to carry life’s load and so learn to walk faithfully with Him. However the burdens of life – the things we can’t handle – sin, addiction, temptation, death and more – those he carries for us.  Isaiah says it so clearly, “He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows… He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His wounds we are healed.”  That’s what He did for us on the cross.  He took up our burdens.  That’s also why He places us in churches and gives us one another.  He knows that there are different kinds of burdens that we need help with.  So He gives us each other to care, to listen, to hold each other accountable – to be His presence in each other’s lives – Jesus through us carrying each other’s burdens. 

The Real Wittenberg Door

John 10:9 (ESV)

“I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”

Well the 500^th anniversary of the start of the Reformation is now just two years away.  498 years ago Dr. Martin Luther, troubled by the church’s practice of selling indulgences, wrote a document called “The Ninety-five Theses.”  To make a long story short, these indulgences were pieces of paper that promised forgiveness of sins to the person who purchased it.  Luther strongly objected to the idea that the forgiveness could be bought or sold.  Having written his theses Luther is said to have then posted them on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.  He did this in order to invite other church theologians to debate the whole issue of indulgences.    In the coming months Luther’s theses were translated into German, reprinted and spread all over the German states.  They proved to be the spark that started the protestant reformation. 

Right now Germany is getting ready to celebrate this anniversary.  Luther sites around Germany and in particular in Wittenberg are in the process of being renovated and renewed.  The expectation is that over the next two years Christian and in particular Lutheran pilgrims will be coming from all over the world to visit these sites.  We here at Trinity are planning to sponsor one such tour next summer for the members of Trinity and our partners in the US.  One sight I am sure many will hope to see is that famous door of the church in Wittenberg.  What they will find however is that the original doors from Luther’s day no longer exist.  They were long ago destroyed by fire and/or war.  In their place are beautiful bronze doors that have all 95 of Luther’s Theses engraved upon them. 

Now I know there are many who lament that the original door is long gone.  I, however think it’s okay that it’s gone.  Because that door is not what the reformation is all about.  The real Wittenberg door of the reformation, the one I believe Martin Luther would want us to focus on is the one described in the words of Jesus from John 10:9.  Jesus points to Himself saying, “I am the door.  If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”  Jesus is the true door of the reformation, not the one in Wittenberg. Faith in Him alone as the only assurance of salvation is the heart of what Luther sought to preach and teach. Jesus is the heart of the Bible and it’s message.

All the other doors which you and I might try are either fakes or are closed to us.  The forgiveness for sale in the indulgences was a lie.  You and I cannot afford the cost of our sin.  Promising to change, to do better, while laudable, does not in any way make up for your sins or mine. You and I by our efforts cannot undo our guilt.  The fact that we might be a nicer person than our neighbor does not open heaven’s door any wider for you or me.  I remember once trying to get into a church building through what I thought was the front door.  I was told the church would be unlocked.  So I pushed and I pulled and I knocked. The door wouldn’t open. No one answered.  It was really frustrating.  It was also embarrassing when I learned that it wasn’t even a door.  It was just decoration. There was no getting in that way.  The real door was on the other side of the building.

It’s the same with salvation.  You can push and pull on the other doors.  You’ll just get frustrated.  They won’t open.  There is only one door – faith in Jesus. It’s a cross shaped door.  Our Lord was nailed to that door.  Nails were driven through His hands and feet that our sinful debt might be paid in full by Him.  Because He died on that cross and rose again, that door is wide open.  That’s what Jesus did so that your sins and mine might all be forgiven.  Because of Him that forgiveness is free to all who believe in Him.  This is the Gospel message at the heart of the reformation – In Jesus God has opened a doorway to life and salvation that no one can shut.  “I am the door.”  Jesus promises, “If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”    Yes the original doors from 1517 are long gone.  However the real Wittenberg door still stands.  His name is Jesus.  Because of Him, the way to salvation stands wide open to all.  Jesus invites you to enter through Him.

Reflections on 35 Years of Marriage

“Isaac knew his wife and then he loved her”

Genesis 24:67

As of May 17 of this year Linda and I have been married for 35 years.  Now I know this is a few months late to present this blog but that’s because we waited till now to celebrate that anniversary.  On the days when you see and read this blog Linda and I will be in Italy on a week’s vacation, celebrating our 35 years together.  So I thought it appropriate to take a couple of moments to reflect on God’s blessings in our life together as husband and wife.

The Bible verse I choose for this blog – a portion of Genesis 24:67 – is the text Pastor David Koch preached on at our wedding in Milwaukee.  “Isaac knew his wife and then he loved her.”  Pastor kind of shocked us that day.  He told us that he was sure we thought we loved each other and that he was equally sure that we didn’t… not yet.  He was pretty sure, he told us, that at that point we really had no idea what it meant to love each other but that we would spend a life time together learning.  That’s why he used this text. First Isaac knew his wife… and then he loved her. 

Pastor Koch was so very right.  What we called love at that point in our lives was really the romantic feelings we had for one another.  Loving each other was something we would learn to do as we lived life together as husband and wife. That day we thought we knew each other.  Little did we know how little we really knew!  We have spent a life time getting to know one another. As we have raised children, moved around the country (and now the world) struggled to make ends meet, celebrated birthdays and Christmases, argued with each other, forgave each other, stuck with each other on some difficult days, cried at our parents funerals, celebrated our kids graduations and weddings, held our grandchildren – that’s how we got to know one another.  That’s how we learned what love really is. 

It’s not a feeling.  Too many confuse romantic feelings with love.  Don’t get me wrong.  Those feelings are wonderful.  But you can’t live forever on a honeymoon. If that’s the basis of your marriage, it won’t last.  Far too many get divorced because they don’t “feel” that way anymore.  So they go searching for the “new relationship high” with another person.  Love is what happens as you celebrate, as you are patient, as you are forgiven and as you forgive each other… as you stick with and care for your spouse on the days when you feel like doing just the opposite.

Over time you discover what I have discovered – that God has really blessed me in Linda. For example she knows now to be patient when I am ranting and raving.  She has learned I just need to think some issue through out loud. We love so many of the same things – a nice walk, to travel, to be and play with our grandchildren , to go out for a nice dinner.  I bring Linda out of her shell.  She keeps me from making a fool of myself.   She knew instinctively what our kids needed as children. My gift was when they were teens.  Linda has learned that I love surprises.  I have finally learned that she really does hate them.  She’s good at buying clothes for me.  I have learned to let her buy clothes for herself.

The best part though is Linda’s faith. I could point to the notes in her Bible or how she loves to listen to Christian music on her I-pad.  But what really stands out to me is how throughout our marriage she has been open to going wherever God would lead us.  During most of the calls I received as a Pastor, Linda, by her own choice, almost never went with me to visit the congregations.  She prayed and helped me wrestle through each call but each time, for her it was in God’s hands.  So we have moved from Nebraska to Texas to Wisconsin back to Texas and now to Germany.  In each place God has blessed us in ways we could not have imagined.  We have raised 4 children, seen three of them so far get married and been blessed with five of the most beautiful grandchildren.  Through all of that I have continued to know more and more about my wife… and learned what it means to love her and to be loved by her. 

Happy anniversary Linda!  I love you and thank God for you. I pray God gives us many more years of getting to know and learning to love each other. 

Are You Connected?

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Colossians 3:16

Oops… sorry I wasn’t paying attention.  I just had to get a couple of texts sent and emails completed. – just got to stay connected.  You won’t believe this by I had a colleague who hated using email.  Send DJ  an email and you may or may not get answer.  Most likely, you won’t.  When he was one of my Associate Pastors this was the one thing that people complained about.   They believed that he was either disorganized, or disrespectful, or wasn’t a good communicator or didn’t care.  Now, I want you to know that I agreed that he should answer their email. Again and again, I told him, “There’s an easy way for you to save yourself a lot of grief – Answer your emails!”  Why did he hate email?  Well it wasn’t any of the things that people thought it was.  He isn’t lazy.  He wasn’t trying to be disrespectful. DJ just really prefers getting on the phone and calling you… or even better coming to see you to talk face to face. 

And you know what?  He’s right!  All these gadgets and all the social media we use – they are good for sharing information but not for connecting with people…. Not for developing significant relationships.  In fact I am coming to believe they are a huge obstacle to making real connections with people. I wonder how many reading or listening to this have found themselves sitting a table or in a room with family or friends but nobody is talking to each other.  Why? Because they are all on their cell phones or I-pads sending texts, answering emails or googling something.  I wonder how many of us here have ever tried to deal with a serious subject through email, only to have people misunderstand your intent and become angry.  How many of us have taken a couple of minutes to send email or a text, only have those few minutes become a half hour or even an hour wasted?    In this age of short tweets and text messages, have we lost the ability to have a deep conversation with someone?

That’s sad because one of the keys to a healthy spiritual life… one of the characteristics of a healthy congregation is to have growing, personal relationships and connections with each other in Christ.  One of the ways in which we stay connected to our Savior Jesus is through our relationships with each other. Yes we can each read our Bibles and pray on our own.  But its together as the church that we speak and hear from one another the word of God… its together that we come to the Lord’s table to be nourished by His body and blood in the bread and wine… its together that we love and care for one another, celebrate with one another – that is how God keeps us connected to Himself.  That’s why Paul urges us in Colossians 3, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

Cell phones and I-pads and computers… email, text messages, and tweets are all wonderful gifts from God.  But they are no substitute for the care and love both given and received when people take the time to talk, to listen, to share together what’s happening in life and what’s going on in their hearts. I remember a father once telling me of watching TV one night with his son.  On the show they were watching a father who was upset because his son was so engrossed in a TV show he was watching that he wasn’t listening to his dad.  Finally the dad on the TV show said, “Turn that TV off and listen to me.”  The father who was sharing this with his son then told me, “You know I thought that was some really good advice.  So I did what the TV actor said. I got up, turned off the TV and started talking to my son.” Being connected is in many ways just that easy.  Put your phone down.  Turn off your I-pad. Take some time to go with a friend for coffee. Talk, visit, listen, get to know each other better… and in so doing get to know your savior better too.   

The Real War

Ephesians 6:10–12 (ESV)

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.   For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."

Russian planes bombing targets in Syria.  Refugees from Middle East Wars flooding Europe.  Iran putting troops on the ground in Syria.  Fighting in the Ukraine.  Tensions between the US and Russia… US and China… US and Iran… North and South Korean troops on High Alert.  ISIS beheading Christians.  America bombing ISIS targets.  Iran threatening to annihilate Israel.  The headlines just go on and on. Right now there just seems to be war everywhere. I cannot help but think of our Lord speaking about “wars and rumors of war...” in Matthew 24.  There doesn’t seem to be any end in sight to any of this.  These headlines, when you let them all sink in, are scary. What’s happening to the world?  What’s kind of world will it be for my grandchildren?

It’s easy to become obsessed with all of this and forget that these wars are simply a symptom… an outward manifestation of the real war that’s going on.  Without meaning to diminish any of the horrors that I just referred to, it’s important to remember that the real war is the one St. Paul describes in Ephesians 6:12.  “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”  Those headlines are scary but the real war is scarier.  Those headlines are of events still far removed from our lives but the real war is part of our daily lives.  This real war is not about territory, or oil, or political or military power, or even religion.  This real war is being fought against the real “Axis of Evil” – the devil, the sinful world and our own sinful flesh.  This real war is over heaven or hell. It’s a matter of eternal life or death for every single person in this world.  This war is fought every day in every temptation you face, in every struggle that challenges your faith, in the conflict that goes on in your heart between believing or not believing, in every choice that comes your way. 

How can we possibly fight such a war?  That’s why I love Dr. Luther’s famous hymn – “A Mighty Fortress is our God.”  This real war is what that hymn is all about.  Luther reminds us that we can’t possibly fight this war on our own – “The old evil foe now means deadly woe; Deep guile and great might are His dread arms in fight; on earth is not His equal.  With might of ours can naught be done soon were our loss effected.” 

How can we possibly hope to win out in this war?  Quite simply because “for us fights the valiant One, Whom God Himself elected.  Ask ye, Who is this? Jesus Christ it is, of Sabaoth Lord, and there’s none other God; He holds the field victorious.”  After all Jesus took on this war.  He fought in our place. He gave His life in our defense and He rose up victorious over our sin, death and the devil himself.  Therefore “though devils all the world should fill, all eager to devour us, we tremble not, we fear no ill; they shall not overpower us.  This world’s prince may still scowl fierce as he will, he can harm us none.  He’s judged; the deed is done; one little word can fell him.”   What is that one little word? Jesus.

What’s my point in all of this?  Be concerned about the events of this world.  Care for and pray for the victims of these terrible wars.  But don’t ever lose sight of the real war that’s going on. These wars between men are symptoms of that war. Identify the real enemy correctly.  It is not your neighbor or your spouse or the person who can’t stand you.  It’s not ISIS, or Syria or Russia.  Our real very dangerous enemies are the devil, the world and our sinful flesh.  Most important of all, follow and trust solely in the One who fights for us, the Valiant One who has already won this war – Jesus Christ.  Or as St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”