Hand Me Downs

“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children,

And shall talk about them in your house,

And when you walk by the way,

And when you lie down and when you rise.”

Deuteronomy 6:6-7

I love “hand me downs.”  I am not sure if this is an American phrase or not so let me explain what it means.  A “hand me down” is something that when it was new belonged to someone else.  Then when they were done using it, they passed it on (‘handed it down”) to you.  Our kids were clothed with hand me downs.  Parents in the congregations we served were always bringing us bags of clothing that their kids had grown out of.  They gave them to us so our kids could wear them.  We even had our own “hand me downs.”  We kept clothes and toys we bought for Ben when he was little.  They were handed down to his brothers and sisters so they could use them. 

This book is a “hand me down” that was given to me when I was in the 7^th grade.  It’s a copy of the 1941 edition of the Small Catechism of Dr. Martin Luther.  Before it belonged to me, this belonged to my sister Kathy.  She used this book when she was in the 7^th and 8^th grade, going through instruction in preparation for confirmation.  Then when I got to that age, I used it.  She “handed it down” to me.  I started thinking about this book this week, because we at Trinity are getting ready to start a new group of youth through the process of confirmation instruction.  Each of them will receive a copy of Luther’s Small Catechism for them to use as part of that instruction.  

What is a “Catechism?  Well if you look up the word “Catechism” in an English dictionary you will read that it is a “book of questions and answers used for instructing people in the Christian faith.”  That definition falls short however.  The word “catechism” really refers to the specific content being taught rather than to the book.   In Luther’s day the word “catechism” at first refereed to the three chief parts of Christian doctrine – the Ten Commandments, the Apostle’s Creed and the Lord’s prayer.  Today we have six chief parts. In addition to the above we have added Holy Baptism, Confession and Absolution and the Sacrament of the Altar.   In addition Luther’s Small Catechism also contained instructions about prayer, a table of duties with Scripture passages that help us understand how God wants us to live our faith in the various callings of life, and a section of questions and answers to be used in preparation for receiving Holy Communion.  All of that, the portion written by Dr. Luther, is found in the first 35 pages of this book. The rest of the book is a series of questions, answers and supporting Scriptures that were added over the years to further teach the faith.

It struck me, that the purpose of this little book is to pass on to the next generation the most important “hand me down” that can be passed from one generation to the next – our faith in Jesus Christ.  This book is a summary of the basics of the Christian faith… a summary of what we are taught in God’s word.  This book was written to help parents, pastors DCE’s and other teachers to “hand down” the faith to the next generation.  Luther makes that clear that this is the purpose of this book.  He begins each section with the words -  “As the head of the family should teach it in a simply way to His household.”

Every once in a while I have a parent ask me, “How do I talk to my kids about our faith?”  They want to know how to pass on this most important of all “hand me downs.”  Here is the answer.  Use the Catechism.  This is the churches textbook for making and forming disciples.  Make this book a part of your daily family routine – at dinner, during family devotions, or at bedtime.  Read Scriptures with your kids.  Read through a section of the catechism with them. Say it together with them.  When you get through, start over.  Then teach them how to pray – At first let them hear you pray.  Later invite them to pray with you.  Finally, let them pray on their own.  This is the method for handing down the faith, outlined for us by Moses – “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk about them in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise.” Deuteronomy 6:7  This is a great “hand me down.”

The Secret

"I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."   

Philippians 4:12-13

When I started this blog a year ago, my first blogs all took their themes from the names of our grandchildren.  Well I want you to meet our newest grand daughter - Hailey Sharon Elaine Braun.  She was born after we moved to Germany and so Linda and I just met Hailey this week.  It has been a joy to get to know her this week.  I love the meanings of her name.  Hailey mean s "hay meadow."   Sharon means "budding rose or flower."  Elaine means "shining light or sun."  Put all those names together and it's all about growing things and the sun or light that's needed to make those things grow.  More than that I have loved getting to know her personality.  She is the most content little girl... Very content to sit on the floor and entertain herself.  As her name indicates she seems to have "everything she needs."

I watch Hailey, happy to just sit and play with a few simple toys and I wonder, "why can't I... Why can't we be content like that?  Why is there this constant need for more -more money?   More things?   More success?  Why is there this ongoing need for something new or different?  "If only I had a different house or a different car or a different job... If only... If only... If only - then you or I would be happy?"  Why is contentment so elusive?  

The answer lies in the nature of sin.  Instead of trusting God we put our trust in ourselves.  We take our lives in our own hands.  Life becomes about what we can do... About what we can get for ourselves... About what we have.  Therein is the problem. God's job is one we can't handle and so we can never do enough... We can never have enough.

The key to contentment is never how much we have but who has us.  That's what does it for Hailey.  She's content because her mom and dad have her.  They take care of her.  They cloth her, feed her, protect her, love her.  It's the same for us - even more so.  Our Heavenly Father has given His own son to save us from sin.  Our Heavenly Father adopted us as His own in baptism.  He feeds our souls daily in His word and regularly at His table.... He provides all we need for our body and life....He "guards us from all danger and protects us from all evil."  He listens to our prayers and answers them in ways so much better than what we ask for.  Contentment is not about what we have.  It's the fact that HE HAS US!  

In Hailey I see Paul's secret at work - "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."

Diet and Exercise

“Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good,

And delight yourselves in rich food.”

Isaiah 55:2b

I love going for long walks with our dog Molly and with Linda.  Any of you who follow my facebook page know this.  I often post my walks on Facebook.  Its sort of an accountability exercise.  You’ll notice however that I don’t post what I have been eating each day.  That’s probably where I need some real accountability.  After all losing and controlling weight takes both good exercise and good diet.  And in fact I do have many people trying to get me to eat better – Linda, my ministry coaches – Jerry and Bill, my kids – especially my daughter in-law Anna.  My kids with Anna’s help even developed a year-long booklet for me to encourage me to be healthier. Let s face it, I need to lose weight.  To do that takes both good exercise and good diet.  I am really good and disciplined about exercising almost every day.  But as you can tell, all the exercise in the world won’t help me lose weight if I don’t start to eat better. 

Diet and Exercise!  It strikes me that both are important for us spiritually!  Feeding your faith properly and exercising that faith daily are both essential to growing your faith.  What concerns me is our spiritual diet.  In every place I have served as Pastor, I have been concerned by the size of the Bible classes.  I have wondered, “Why aren’t more people in Bible study? Why aren’t people so hungry for God’s Word that they would hate to ever miss a Bible study opportunity?”  I know the excuses – “I am too busy”.  “I went to confirmation.  I know enough.”  I am embarrassed to go to Bible class because I don’t know as much as others.”  “Bible Class is boring.”  I have used the excuses.  Sometimes if I am too busy or get up too late, I skip my devotion time.”  Friends if we aren’t feeding our faith it will hurt how we exercise that faith.  The temptations we struggle with will get the best of us.  Life will be robbed of joy and contentment.  We may notice our spiritual anemia in a lack of kindness and short temper.  In your spiritual life, as in your physical life, diet and exercise are both important.

My wife is a good cook and when Linda starts making one of her delicious meals, I can’t wait to eat all the good food she has made.  Well, our God lays out such a gourmet spiritual feast for us daily right here in His Word.  Here in His word He speaks to us His law and Gospel – bringing us face to face with the reality of our sin and then freely offering us a feast of forgiveness life and /Salvation in Jesus Christ.  Here in the Word is the “Power of God unto salvation for all believe.” (Romans 1:16)    This word is “able to make you wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:15b-17)

I know that many food diets fail because you have to eat a diet of foods that you don’t really enjoy, a diet you simply can’t eat for the rest of your life.  That’s what is great about the diet God offers us.  Here He offers us “rich food,” the delicious food of His word.  Listen to how He describes this diet in Isaiah 55.  “ Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in rich food.”  That’s why in this blog I don’t spend a lot of time expressing opinions on the events of the day or engaging in political debate.  Oh I may mention them but that is not my purpose.  My purpose is that you and I would feast on God’s Word, may hear how that Word applies to our lives and experiences.  My prayer is that our hunger for the Word of God would grow… that we would have a good healthy balance in our spiritual diet and exercise.

What's in a Name?

“And I tell you, you are Peter

And upon this rock I will build My church

And the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”

Matthew 16:18

The other night Linda was trying to look me up on Facebook.  She kept typing in Wayne Braun but my page didn’t come up.  That’s mainly because I included my middle initial when setting up my account.  I have always done that – signed pretty much everything “Wayne M. Braun.”  My sisters always thought that was funny.  But there is a reason for it.  I love my names – first, middle and last – Wayne Michael Braun.  I love what they mean.   Wayne means wagon maker or burden bearer.   Michael, the name of the Archangel of God, is a Hebrew name that asks the question, “Who is like God?”  Of course the implication is that there is no one like our God.  Now I don’t know whether or not my parents thought about the meaning of those names, but I do know how God has used them in my life.  My names have helped me to understand who God wants me to be – One who points to the burden bearer – Jesus – who alone is God.  There is none like Him. 

Do you know what your names mean?  Take a moment and look up the meanings.  Do you know the story of how or why you were given your names?  Whatever the story, your name is a precious gift.  Your name represents everything you are, all that people know about and think of you.  Your name and your reputation go hand in hand.  Even more important, if you are one who believes in Jesus, your name, and your reputation is connected directly to the name and reputation of Jesus.  People form their opinions about Christianity and Jesus by looking at His people, by looking at you and me. That is a big responsibility. In fact it’s one at which I fail miserably on a regular basis. 

That’s why I like the passage from Matthew 16.  The disciples have just finished telling Jesus what people are saying about Him.  “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophet.”   Jesus asks what they think. In response Peter makes his great confession.  “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”   In response Jesus tells Peter that this confession is a blessing God has revealed to Peter.  Indeed Jesus uses Peter’s name to spell out for him just how important this confession is.  “And I tell you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church.  And the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” 

Two things strike me.  The first is that people today are no different than they were in Jesus’ day.  They will believe all sorts of things about Jesus.  That’s why our confession of faith, in word and deed, is so very important. People need to hear the truth about Jesus from our lips and see His love in action through our actions.  That’s the part that scares me.  Like I said, I fail miserably every single day in being the witness God wants me to be. 

But as I said, there are two things that strike me here.  The second thing is the one that comforts me.  This passage is often misunderstood to mean that St. Peter was the rock on which Jesus built the church.  But that’s not what Jesus means.  Jesus uses Peter’s name, which means “cliff or rock” but Peter is not the “rock” Jesus is pointing to.  The rock Jesus refers to is Peter’s confession.  It’s the good news that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus is the rock on which the church is built.  He is the rock solid foundation for faith.  We aren’t inviting people to build their hope for eternity around us.  We are feeble, weak sinful human beings.  We are inviting people see the true rock on which all hope is built, to build their lives and hopes on Him who died for their sin and rose again.  We will fail, but Jesus is the rock against which not even the gates of hell can prevail.  I think Jesus gave Peter his name so that whenever he faltered and failed Peter would find renewed hope in the reminder – “I am not the rock.  Jesus is!”  In Peter’s name, God has given you and me that same gift, that same reminder, that same comfort – that we are not the hope we offer to people.  Jesus is!  Its amazing what great gifts God can give us in a name.  

A Most Dangerous Book

Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

For some the Bible is considered a “most dangerous book.”  A couple of months ago, Linda and I went to visit a lady who was told that as she grew up. She was told that Christians had corrupted the Bible.  You couldn’t trust what you read there.  She was told,  “Don’t read that book.”  I wonder if that is not what God used to make her curious. Sometimes being told “Don’t” will lead you to do just the opposite.  Eventually there did come a time in her life, a time of illness and loneliness when she did pick up this book and read it.   It did turn out to indeed be a very dangerous and powerful book in her life but not because it was corrupted or told lies.  The danger in this book was the fact that the Bible told her the truth – the truth about her sin, the truth about her need for God and most importantly the truth about how God loved her so much that He gave His one and only Son Jesus to be her savior.   She would tell you that in reading this book God changed her life.  Because of what she read here she is now a believer in Jesus. 

Is this book truly dangerous?  It is if you don’t want to know the truth.  It is if you are trying to avoid God.  It is if you don’t want to change.  After all, here in these pages you meet the living God, the creator of the heavens and the earth.  The same God who could speak a word and call creation into existence speaks to you here.  St. Paul wrote that “all Scripture is God-breathed…”  Think about that.  God once formed Adam from the dirt and breathed into His nostrils the breath of life.  That God breathes through these pages.  The writer to the Hebrews calls this book a “double edged sword” cutting both ways.  Here God speaks His law and shows us the unpleasant truth about our sin.  More than that here He speaks to us the comforting news of forgiveness – forgiveness Jesus purchased for us by His life, death and resurrection.  Paul calls that message “the power of God unto salvation for all who believe…”  He promises that “faith comes from hearing the message, the message about Christ.”

I remember being asked a question by a member of my first parish in Nebraska.  He asked me, why I was always bringing my Bible with when I came to see him in the hospital or at home.  I answered his question with one of my own.  “If you hired a carpenter to build something would you ask him to leave his tools in his truck?  Would you ask him to build whatever it is without his tools?  No.”  That’s why I would bring my Bible with to visit that man.  That’s why I am sharing this with you today. This book is God’s tool. His Spirit promises to work in our lives through His word – to bring us to sorrow over sin, to give us faith, to comfort us with His forgiveness, to strengthen our faith and make it grow. 

I worry sometimes that many of us are scared of this book.  Oh we disguise that fear.  We blame our busy lives as the reason we don’t take time daily for the Word and for prayer.  I hear men make the excuse that “men” just don’t go to Bible Study.”  Are those real excuses or are we just afraid of what God might do through this book?  Are we afraid that He might change our lives?  Is that the reason that we too often ask God to leave His tools out in the truck?  Is it because we don’t want Him meddling in our lives?  Friends, God wants to do great things in our lives… to change our lives and through us change the lives of others.  This dangerous wonderful life-changing book is His chief tool.  My challenge to each of you is to have the courage of faith to dedicate your life to the study of this book… and to marvel at how God works in you and through you… changing your life and the lives of others through this most dangerous book. .  

Unpacking for the Trip

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in an steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,

Where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in an steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Matthew 6:19-21

This is one of the things I do not enjoy doing.  I love traveling.  I love taking trips and going on vacation.  I just hate packing.  Sometimes it’s like pulling teeth for Linda to get me to pack for a trip.  I almost always wait to the last minute.  My biggest problem with packing is that I am always afraid I will forget something – a belt, a toothbrush, socks – or that I won’t have enough of something to make it through the trip.  The result is I always pack too much and can’t get it all in my suitcase.  Inevitably Linda comes into look at what I have laid out to pack and shakes her head.  You don’t need fourteen pair of underwear.  You don’t need two suits.  You don’t need this.  You don’t need that.  We’re going on vacation, not moving away permanently.  I like unpacking a lot better.  You just take all the dirty clothes out of your suitcase, and throw them in a pile to get washed.  Yes I hate packing but since I love going on trips, I have to do it.

There is however one journey where this all gets turned around – the journey to heaven.  Getting ready for that journey involves a life time of unpacking.  Why?  Because on that journey you can’t take anything with you.  Like someone once said, “There are no U-Haul trucks following the hearse to the cemetery.”  You would think, knowing I just said about packing, that I would be all over getting ready for this journey.  But I am not.  When it comes to my walk through life, I am a pack rat.  I am always wanting the latest gadget, the newest DVD.  I loved grilling so much, I once had three grills in my backyard.  I have a hard time unpacking that stuff.  I struggle to let go of things.  For a long time, I kept all of my dad’s tools even though I didn’t know how to use most of them.  It took moving to Germany to get me to start letting go.  I would imagine many of you are just like me.

In that way I think Jesus was very definitely speaking to you and to me.  :Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in an steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, Where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in an steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Too often we let things take too prominent a place in our life… almost to the point where they become false gods in our lives. 

The problem with all the things we can’t live without – they don’t last!  Moth and rust destroy them  Thieves break in and steal them.  God, I believe has designed life to teach us this… to get us to unpack our suitcases to get ready for the journey to heaven.  The Lord used Linda and this move to Germany to help me to begin unpacking.  We sold, or gave away most everything we owned – our home, dad’s tools, most of our furniture, and so on.  I really struggled with this. What would I do without all that stuff.  You know what?  It has been a blessing!  I haven’t missed all of it.  Worries about “my things” has been lifted off my shoulders.  Unpacking my false gods, has left me with only one thing to hold on to – my God and Savior.

I saw this happen to my mom.  As she got older, she slowly had to unpack everything from her life.  First was her own home, selling it and moving into an apartment.  Then she unpacked her car and driving.  After that she unpacked her furniture and possessions and moved into an assisted living. Alzheimers ultimately unpacked her memory, to the point where she didn’t know anymore who I was.  I wondered, “Lord, does my mom have anything left?”  One day He gave me an answer.  I went to visit her.  I sat and prayed with her.  I started to say the Lord’s prayer.  She joined me.  That she remembered.  That’s what she had left – her faith.  That’s what you discover as you unpack for the trip.  When your suitcase is completely empty, you are not.  When all the things that don’t last are gone, you are left with the one treasure that lasts forever – your God and Savior Jesus Christ.   

A Taste of Home

O Taste and see that the Lord is good.”

Psalm 34:8

Yum.  I never realized a hot dog could taste so good!  But it does!  It is for a me a real taste of America.  People are always asking me, “How are you doing? How are you adjusting to life in Germany?”  My answer is usually pretty much the same.  We’re doing fine.  We  miss  our grandkids, our kids and our friends.  But other than that we are making new friends.  Trinity is made up of warm and extremely loving people.  Germany is a great place to live.    We really love Germany.  Yet there are moments when we really miss America and the people we love there. There have been ups and downs, good moments and bad moments.

At those moments, we try remember some advice our son Jon gave us.  He has lived internationally for 5 or 6 years now.  Jon told me, “When you get there, look for things that remind you of America.  On days when you get really homesick or miss America, go do one of those “American things.”  That has been really good advice.  For Linda and me, one of those things we do, is to eat something  “very American.”  I remember one day when I was a really disgruntled mood.  I was homesick but hadn’t put that name to it yet. That night Linda made hot dogs for dinner.  Boy did those hot dogs taste good.  They were a taste of home. They were just the cure I needed for my homesickness.

So now I ask all of you - “How are you doing?  How are you handling life a long way from home?”   I know that most of you don’t think of yourself as living a long way from home but you do.  For those who believe in Jesus our home is in heaven.   We live here as strangers and aliens.  We are in this world but not of this world.  There are going to be times in this life when we feel really out of place – when the morality or the beliefs of those around us is going to make us feel very uncomfortable. There are number of ways we can tend to react to that.  One is simply to get discouraged, and tired of swimming against the stream, wondering what we are doing here and so forth.   Another reaction might be that we compromise our own beliefs in order to fit in and be accepted - to go along in order to get along. A third reaction is to get angry and judgmental of the people around us.  “What’s wrong with them?  Why can’t they see things the way we see them?”  But that would simply shut doors in the faces of those whom God calls us to love.

Such moments of feeling out of place, are moments of homesickness.  We long for the home Jesus promised us in heaven.  The best cure for such homesickness?  A taste of home!  That’s why God invites us to His dinner table.  That’s what He offers us in Holy Communion.  He invites us to “Taste and see that the Lord is good!”  He gives us here a “foretaste of the feast to come.”  He gives us a taste of home.    He gives us a taste of His love, of the price He paid to forgive our sins. With this taste He reminds us of how He responded when we felt out of place with Him.  When we were in fact His enemies He loved us, died for us, adopted us as His own in baptism.  With this taste He says, “Love those around you, as I have loved you.”  With this taste He encourages us to keep on living for Him as strangers in this world trusting in His promises that He has a place for us, He will come again to receive us unto Himself that where He is, we will one day also be – at home. 

In my first parish, I had a shut in named Faye Werner.  She was bedfast, paralyzed from the waist down.  Every time I visited her, she would ask me, “Pastor, Why am I still here?  Why won’t God take me home?”  Faye was homesick. So I would take her Holy Communion.  In this meal God gave her a taste of home, He reminded her that His home was real and that one day He would come to take her there.  That’s why this meal is so delicious.  That’s why when you are discouraged, tired of feeling out of place, ready to give up, or perhaps even angry at the world around you, He invites you to His table.  Here He forgives you.  He encourages you.  He calms your heart.  He gives you hope. Instead of judging you, He loves you so that you might do the same.  He gives you a taste of Home.  Yum!