War's Glory or Glorification

Pr. Peterson asks in his blog post The Cost of War, “Was there ever an idea so stupid as glory in war?” I’m not entering the thread that comment sprouted. It has by now taken on a life-form of its own, well removed from where it started.

Still, as the daughter, wife, and mother of military combatants, I’m somewhat pressed to answer that question. My father served in Vietnam, as did my husband. My son has seen duty in Gulf I, and now three tours in Iraq. This November he will see duty in Afghanistan. When the World Trade Towers were attacked he was in Kosovo. That is considered a combat tour, also. Al told that is six tours in combat zones.

My father once told me that the only glory in war was in the movies. My husband and son have echoed the same sentiment, but now include video games. I suppose, then, Pr. Peterson is correct on one level: Was there ever an idea so stupid as the glorification of war?

There is a distinct difference between there being glory in war, which is a result of human sacrifice for a greater good, and the glorification of war, which is magnifying war for its own sake. What I appreciate Pr. Peterson saying is the latter, not the former.

War is a necessary evil, now that we are subjected to sin in this life. While war reduces daily bread, a strong army protects the First Article gifts of the people.

It would therefore be fitting if the coat-of-arms of every upright prince were emblazoned with a loaf of bread instead of a lion or a wreath of rue, or if a loaf of bread were stamped on coins, to remind both princes and subjects that through the office of the princes we enjoy protection and peace and that without them we could not have the steady blessing of daily bread. (LC: LP, 75)

And yet why is there war? God chastises His children.

By nature we all have this beautiful virtue that whenever we commit a wrong we like to cover and gloss over our disgrace so that no one may see it or know it. Nor man is so arrogant as to boast before the whole world of the wickedness he has committed. We prefer to act in secret without anyone’s being aware of it. Then if anyone is denounced, God and his name have to be dragged in to turn the villainy into righteousness and the disgrace into honor.

This is the common course of the world. Like a great deluge, it has flooded all lands. Hence we get what we deserve: plague, war, famine, fire, flood, wayward wives and children and servants, and troubles of every kind. Where else could so much misery come from? It is a great mercy that the earth still bears and sustains us. LC: The Ten Commandments, art. ii, par. 59-60)

It is good to read The Children’s Homer with children. They get a taste of what war is really like. The men of Tory argue, “We are right! Our cause is just. Helen came with Paris willingly.” The men of Sparta argue, “Menelaus did no wrong. No man should have his wife stolen from him. There is a pact among the rulers, and it must be honored.” The children learn that on both sides there is honor and sacrifice for friends; on both sides there is dishonor in war.

We also read the book with this as our presupposition: “They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them” (Romans 2:15). There are no good works for those who are not in Christ, even by way of the Promise. It is a tough lesson to work through for some, but they soon get it.

This is a lesson the world about us doesn’t get, so it glorifies war itself. We don’t recognize that war is God’s tool calling the nation to repentance. Repentance? Repentance for what? That implies sin, and this nation has yet to identify real sin instead of its own made-up varieties of socio-political wrong-doings.

There are glories in war, true instances where soldiers have made sacrifices. Some, where, when or whom we can only leave to the Father Himself, are magnificent good works. These aren’t the same things as we now see portrayed in the movies and cheapened by video games. I understand that a hungry nation wanting to express gratitude to its Audy Murphys and SGT Yorks wanted to see their stories portrayed onscreen–but unending versions of Rambo and Empire: Total War are another thing entirely.

Laetare: Rejoice in What it is!

Now and again a word or even a phrase hits me right between two firing neurons and literally explodes with excitement and heavenly light. Such occurred on Laetare of this year, the Fourth Sunday in Lent–which was March 22.

The Old Testament reading included Exodus 16:15, “When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.’”

In Hebrew the word for the question asked is "manna," What is it? It’s a double entendre. The question names the thing asked about: Manna? Manna. It’s sort of an Hebraic Abbott and Costello “Who’s on First?” Still, it’s by God’s giving that the question is asked and answered in the first place, so it is God’s happy joke on us.

Manna, is very similar to another question with which we are familiar, Luther’s Was ist das? (What is this?) of his Small Catechism. And this is where it all gets exciting.

After walking around in that huge vast desert the Children of Israel were hungry. So God fed them His way. He sent them bread from heaven. It sustained them in their temporal life, but not eternally. For that another Bread from heaven was needed. Jesus would speak of that later during His ministry on earth (Jn 6:49-58).

As God’s New Israel (He 8:8), the baptized wander in a desert no less vast and huge, no less fraught with dangers and enemies than our forefathers in faith did. They are just as hungry. God feeds them again with His heavenly food. Luther’s catechetical question makes the connection for us. God’s Word comes to us as heavenly bread; we ask,What is this? The answer is a confession according to His Word. Daily bread given; daily bread received. All this in preparation for the Greater Bread to be given and received in the gift of His Son who gives His own Flesh and Blood for us to eat and drink in the bread and wine for the forgiveness of sins.

Was ist das?, What is this? It is Christ, come down from heaven.

Morning Prayer

The more I use it, the less I know it. Even the simplest sections have a depth that defies reaching. Every now and again an opportunity to delve deeper into its riches presents itself, and I find myself in awe of its beauty once more. I’m speaking of the Small Catechism, of course.

Our classroom opening ritual consists of the Invocation, Luther’s Morning Prayer, The Lord’s Prayer (in Greek), the Creed (in Latin), the Pledge of Allegiance, My Country ‘Tis of Thee, and the National Anthem. By then we are ready to pray the Catechism and go to Chapel.

One day last week one of my students was silent during the Morning Prayer. We can’t have any of that, I decided. Instead of fussing at the poor child, I reckoned that he really didn’t know what he was missing out on. It was time to break Luther’s prayer down, bit-by-bit according to good Was ist das? style.

It’s a simple prayer, written for use by the children of God of all ages.

I thank you my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.

Introduction:

I thank you my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son

God becomes a Father to us through Christ, His Son. It is Christ who revealed God as “ Our Father.” Through Christ we may speak to God as our Father, asking Him whatever we will. He is our Father in Christ; we are His children in Christ.

that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger;

Do we not confess in the First Article of the Creed that our heavenly Father, the God Almighty Creator of heaven and earth defends and protects us against all danger and guards and protects us from all evil?

First Petition

and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil

In the Third Petition of the Lord’s Prayer we pray that “God’s will is done when He breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, which do not want us to hallow God’s name or let His kingdom come.” Of course, God’s kingdom has already come to the baptized, and none will be snatched away from it (Jn 10:27-28).

that all my doings and life may please You.

When we pray this simple line we do so in accord with the First Petition of the Lord’s Prayer. To hallow God’s name, keep it holy, is to teach His Word in truth and purity so that we, as the children of God, also lead holy lives according to it. Conversely, anyone who teaches or lives contrary to God’s Word profanes the name of God among us. So we pray here that we may not be found among those who profane God, but, rather, in the company of those who glorify His name by our work and speech.


Second Petition
For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul and all things.
These words Christ Himself spoke from the cross, “Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’ And having said this he breathed his last” (Lk 23:46). Our Lord and Savior, ever filling His own mouth with His Father’s Word, was quoting Psalm 31.

5 Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.

Jesus trusted Himself to His Father for all things, even His death for sins that were not His own. The Father turned away from His own Son on the cross and chose to save mankind. On that day, the First Son came last, and the last sons came first. Then God’s Son was raised from the dead. He who was last is now the firstfruit of the resurrection of the dead, and those who are in Him shall be as He is. So we, too, pray as He did.

Conclusion

Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.

God sets His angels watch over His own. There are heavenly angels whom God sends for this purpose (Ps 34:7). And then there are other angels God sends for His purposes. For what is an angel but a messenger? And what greater power over the evil one is there than God’s own Word and Christ’s Sacraments, the very living presence of Immanuel? The Office of the Holy Ministry and the angels therein administer to the needs of Christ’s people, that the evil foe may not claim any as his own.

Amen

The blessedness of this word resounds in heaven! Yes and yes again! It shall be so because we are in Christ and He has given these words to us.

Convocation of Sacred Ghosts

Friday nights are for decompressing. Don’t get me wrong—this year’s class has been a “dream” class for any teacher. They are wonderful students. But that doesn’t mean that after a full week of teaching I still don’t need an evening home with my husband doing the mindless nothingness of eating pizza and watching bad tv. Ghost Whisperer is a fine example of this. It has an implausible premise with an untenable ending. It’s utterly hopeless, for it is lacking in the one thing needful for hope: Jesus Christ. If He is not the source of the light to whom the living have been drawn, then there is no hope for those who have now sleep in death.

 

On a recent show Melinda, the Whisperer herself, took a picture of herself. What it revealed was that she is surrounded by specters. From the tone and setting of the show, viewers were led to believe these were unhealthy ghosts. Either that or that Melinda was being haunted by dead ones who had unresolved issues only she could solve. Oh, dear; oh, my.

 

And yet, what a wonderful picture that was to see for such doubting Thomsases as we! A dear and blessed friend of mine once told me (and I won’t give his name for fear I’ll get this wrong and thereby shame him!) that when we confess that a particular piece of sacred bread given by the hands of the pastor is the Body of Christ, and likewise the wine is Christ’s Blood given the same way, then we must also confess Christ’s Body in those who are receiving these Holy Things into themselves around us.

 

Yet it goes even further. The blessed hand that feeds is Christ’s hand feeding, just as in Baptism it is not the pastor, but Christ Himself who does the work of it.

 

Thus God is present in Baptism, in the Lords Supper, and in the use of the Keys because His own Word is present there. Therefore even though we do not see or hear Him but see and hear the minister, God Himself is nevertheless truly present, baptizes, and absolves. And in the Lord’s Supper He is present in such an extraordinary way that the Son of God Himself gives us HIS body with the bread and His blood with the wine. (LW 3:220).

 

And still deeper and more wonderfully, when Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father, we are put to the question: Where is the Father and His right hand? God is everywhere, and His right hand is where He is. So Christ is where His Father is, everywhere. That means heaven isn’t “up there.” We are surrounded by heaven. How this can be is a mystery, something too unfathomable for my mind to comprehend.

 

Still, it means that the angels, archangels, and all the heavenly hosts surround us daily. We can’t see them, but the armies of heaven surround God’s baptized. How can it be otherwise? Didn’t Christ say there is but one Lord, one Faith, and one Baptism (Eph 4:5)? Therefore, the Church only has one Body (Eph 4:25). The narrow door (Lk 13:24) has room for only one body: Christ’s.  Yet that body has many members (Ro 12:5; 1Co 12:20). Those who sleep in the Lord cannot be excluded, for we confess the resurrection of the dead. 

  

Some members of Christ’s body can be seen; some cannot be seen. Those which can be seen pray and work for the Body of Christ. In their various vocations as “little Christs” each member of the church touches the life of the other, serving the other. In this way Christ is served, while Christ is serving others. The heavenly hosts still serve the church in heaven, “We also grant that the saints in heaven pray for the church in general, as they prayed for the church universal while they were on earth” (Ap. I; 9, 2).

 

Surrounded by unsettled ghosts haunting the living and causing their lives to be a wretch? Does not the parable of the rich man and Lazarus teach us this is impossible (Lk 16)? There is a vast gulf between heaven and hell. Moreover, why would Satan allow any to have a vacation from hell, which is what haunting on earth would allow. And heavenly angels always enter with God’s message of peace.

 

So let Hollywood have its silliness, but from that teach us a thing or two. We—the baptized—are surrounded by those whom we cannot see as well as those whom we can see. The baptized are never alone, for to be baptized is to be one of a unity; it is to be a member of a body of many members, the Church who is the Body of Christ—who is her Head.

 

A true picture of one of the baptized would reveal him surrounded by angels, archangels, Adam, Eve, Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Isaiah and all the heavenly hosts. Jesus was counseled by Moses and Elijah before His crucifixion, and comforted by angels in His passion. Dare any of us who have been clothed in Christ, those who are full inheritors of His Father’s kingdom, deny that we receive the same in our hour of need? Indeed we are taught to pray for such daily: “Let Your holy angel be with me that the evil for have no power over me. Amen.”

 

 

 

Generic Jesus, Generic Christianity

In the newest mailing of CTQ (April 2007), Larry Rast explores America's many Jesuses in an essay titled American Christianity and its Jesuses. He quotes Richard Wightman Fox (Jesus in America: Personal Savior, Cultural Hero, National Obsession):

Benjamin Franklin understood Jesus as a wise man worthy of imitation. Thomas Jefferson regarded him as a moral teacher. The assassination of Abraham Lincoln, which occurred on Good Friday, was popularly interpreted as paralleling the crucifixion of Jesus... as one preacher put it: “Jesus died for the world, Abraham Lincoln died for his country.” Elizabeth Cady Stanton appropriated Jesus’ message to champion women’s rights. George W. Bush named Jesus as his favorite political philosopher.... As we have seen in recent presidential elections, the name of Jesus is often thrust into the center of political debates, and many Americans regularly enlist Jesus, their ultimate arbiter of value, as the standard bearer for their views and causes.

Rast demonstrates that the present Americanized icon of Jesus-as-moralist had its foundation in nineteenth century religiosity. He does this through the Unitarianism/Arianism of Barton Warren Stone (1772-1844), the American Lutheran rationalism of Frederick Henry Quitman (1760-1832) (who defined the Gospel as the “free response of the willful subject to the divine government revealed in and through Christ), and the work of Charles Grandison Finney (1792-1875). In Rast’s words, Finney “articulated a perfectionist vision of moral government theology that explicitly and purposefully denied forensic justification and the idea of imputation.” Accordingly, each man had a different view of Jesus, crafted a different Jesus through their theologies, and the effects of each man remain within America’s culture today.

Recently during an interview, Joel Osteen called Mitt Romney, a Mormon, a Christian. Now, don’t get me wrong in this. I’m with Luther on this issue. I’d rather be ruled by a competent heretic than by an incompetent Christian. So this isn’t a statement about voting for a Christian or none other. What I’m getting at is I’m not certain that a man who doesn’t hang a cross where he preaches and doesn’t preach repentance that leads to the forgiveness of sins could recognize the difference between a true Christian or a box of rice puffs anyway.

We like to bat the name Christian around as if it were Kleenex. Kleenex is a brand name for tissues, not the name of the thing itself. However, Kleenex has been applied to every sort of tissue manufactured so that when someone asks for one we don’t even pause to ask, “Do you really mean to be brand specific, or will a Puffs do?” It is becoming so that Christian is just such a generic term. Slap a cross on a mug and the coffee inside is just that much better. Drape a cross around the neck, and whoopsie-doodle, there goes another Christian walking down the street. Is he baptized? Has attended church in the last decade? What does that matter? He has a cross on. Joel Osteen is considered to be Christian pastor, and yet he doesn’t even need to mention Jesus at all. Talk about Deus absconditus!

We Lutherans are in such a privileged position. We know what the Gospel is. And yet, here is another term that is so quickly becoming generic simply because too many have taken it upon themselves to redefine the term. It simply isn’t enough for hungry ears to hear words like “unity in the Gospel,” “I’m a Christian,” or “I believe in Jesus” to know what those words mean any more. Too many others will be able to counter back, “Oh! Then we agree. We are one in the Faith.” While it is good to find those with whom we do agree, it is not this outward agreement that makes us one. It is unity in Christ’s Body and Blood that makes us one, then we are united with each other. So terminology, even the identity of Jesus Christ Himself, must be spelled out so there is no doubt what we mean by by Gospel in the first place. This unity is based on no mere generic proclamation, “Jesus is Lord,” but Christ’s very Body and Blood delivered in the bread and wine for us to eat and drink at His Table for the forgiveness of sins. It is that which unites us to each other as Christians. This Meal is already anticipated in Baptism in which Christ unites Himself to His people–even little babies–through the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

To be Christian is to be Lutheran. The Lutheran confession of the Faith is not ambiguous. It is real meat, full of gristle and grit. This doesn’t mean the toughest bits to chew are handed out to those who are ready only for gnawing on the bones. However, Luther advised that the Small Catechism be taught in the home by the head of the household even to the youngest, but then went on to say he could not go without it himself. There is a model to be followed then. There are no uncertain terms to be found in the Catechism. It is simple enough for a child, yet has the depth and wisdom for a skilled doctor of theology. The most effective theologians are trained by knowing it well–which includes young children.

Pr. Sawyer wrote this clear outline to explain the Faith based on the Small Catechism. It is easily learned, and even more readily available to those who make praying the Catechism a part of their daily lives.

1. We are all born sinful and in need of salvation. The Ten Commandments teach this.

2. God, in His Mercy, has given His Son into death for us. Jesus rose from the dead and now, seated at the right hand of the Father, He pours out His blessings of life, forgiveness and salvation through His Means of Grace.

3. By these Means, He works faith, by which we look to God for all good things, praying as dear children talk to their dear Father.

4. He began such child-like trust and confidence in us when we were Baptized. He does this even in infants!

5. Since we forget what it means to be His children, He never ceases to hear our confession and speak His word of Holy Absolution over us.

6. By that kind of Fatherly and tender mercy, He leads us constantly toward His Supper, by which we eat and drink Christ's Flesh and Blood in bread and wine until we die; and even then, these will raise us up to live forever!

We Lutherans are privileged, but not arrogantly so. We have been given a great gift through the reformation of the church begun by Martin Luther. He didn’t speak in uncertain terms. His Jesus was not one who floated in the æther. Rather, the Jesus of Luther was the Jesus of the Bible and of history. As Creator of the heaven and the earth, of all that is seen and unseen, He alone could enter this world as both God and Man and rescue mankind. Christ alone could continue to enter this world in water, bread, wine, and word to deliver His salvation to mortals. He does not deal with us by generalities, but in specifics and in certain locations in time and place. When we make this clear to our (backyard, next door, water cooler, overseas) neighbors, then we are being true Christians, speaking of the Jesus who was sent by the Father to be incarnated as a human for our sakes, who bled and died on a cross, suffering the wrath of the Father for our sins so that we would not. This is the Jesus who only came for sinners, not the righteous who need no Savior. It is this Jesus who willingly takes to Himself all our sins, and imputes to us all of His righteousness. All means all just as when He said "It is finished" He meant most assuredly nothing was left to be done that was left undone. This is a very specific Jesus, not one whom anyone can confess with a blithe, "Jesus is Lord," call that "The Gospel" by which they desire unity, and mean an entirely different Jesus than the one whom the Father sent and the Holy Spirit calls and gathers His church to.

The world is hungry to know the one true Jesus. Their ears are itching to hear of Him. They hear story after sweet story that speak nothing of sin and salvation, only of pretty sunsets, green meadows, and cool waters, and earthly treasures and then pronounce "Oh! What a sweet Jesus we have. Isn't the Gospel so nice?" Yet nothing has been spoken of sin by which any would wish to long for the forgiveness only Jesus brings wherever He comes! Much may even be said of what one is to do next in order to perpetuate the good peace and unity of the gospel (which is no gospel!) just now experienced (Pass on the email to five more people and continue the peace and joy! Hmmm... maybe here we have a new koinonia with a virtual Presence Jesus. He's as present in this as He is at certain altars where His very Body and Blood are denied in the Sacrament because His words are disbelieved. So can't it be argued that the koinonia achieved is virtually the same?)

Jesus didn't tell stories to wrap things up in nice pretty patty-pat answers to make us all feel all cozy and warm inside. Jesus told stories to draw us near to Him. His parables caused His disciples, those who were paying attention, to have more questions. What does this mean? They didn't get it most of the time, so they begged Him to explain more fully the way of Jesus, the way of the Gospel.

This is the way of the Christian, too. What does this mean? should be on the lips of us all as we listen to our pastors as well as to our neighbors. With the former, we find mutual conversation and consolation with a brother. With the latter, we find opportunity to give a good confession of the hope that is within us. Our mission fields are not as far away as we suppose they were.

Emi Takes a Friend to Sunday School

Last weekend both sets of Emi’s grandparents were gathered at her house in preparation for her sister Lianna’s baptism. I had brought an old CD player with me —a purple one, her favorite color alongside pink. Emi was thrilled. We were upstairs in her room (Oy!) listening to the St. Paul’s Children Choir CD and playing doll house while the others were having a good time “visiting”. Emi was singing along. “O Lord, open Thou my lips… Away in a manger… I am Jesus’ little lamb…” The liturgical hymns were familiar and comfortable to her. She was in heaven! She soon designated one part of her room as “church” and the other “room.”

“Grammy,” she asked, “will you come to Sunday School with me? You can be my friend.” I agreed we could work that out. She danced around with joy.

When we finally went downstairs to join her parents and the rest of the grandparents we found they had been making other plans. Sunday School began at 9:30. They wanted to meet at Shoney’s for breakfast at 9. That meant Sunday School would have to take a pass on Lianna’s Baptism Day if that plan stayed as it was.

I put the question to Emi. “Emi, do you want to go get pancakes at Shoney’s, or do you want to go to Sunday School?” She loves her pancakes, and she knows what going to Shoney’s is all about.

Emi didn’t hesitate. “I want to go to Sunday School.”

“Even if it’s blueberry pancakes?”

“No, Grammy. I’m going to Sunday School and you’re going with me. You’re going to be my friend.”

Plans changed. We met at Shoney’s at 8. Emi got her pancakes and then went to Sunday School with Grammy as her friend. Afterward her baby sister Lianna slept through her baptism.

It was a joy to see Emi so eager to go off to Sunday School. I asked her later what she learned. “Jesus,” she replied. Then she busied herself with preparations for her sister’s baptism. I was wearing a pin remembering my own baptism. On it are a crucifix, a shell with my baptismal birthdate, and a crown with crosses. Emi was especially enthralled with the crown, so I explained that she has one, too. It’s the Crown of Life that Jesus gave her in her baptism and will give her one day. Lianna was going to receive hers when the water hit her head and Pr. Peters said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Emi was fascinated. So much so that when the first bit of water hit her sister’s head she gasped. Throughout the service “crown” references continued to come up. If I didn’t catch it to point out to Emi, she pointed it out to me: “He said crown!” Later she asked Pr. Peters, “You know what Lianna has? A crown.”

Emi will be four in November. Catechesis happens when parents and other authorities take the time to see that it rightly does. It’s a part of her life, not an interruption into it, postponing the regularly scheduled daily programming. For Emi, catechesis is her habit of life.

We have found in our school that children who pray the Catechism daily and learn to judge their actions by its teachings also learn to think differently. They not only place their own actions under the Catechism, they evaluate the world around them by the same. For example, when they read books they make assessments of the characters and their values according to the Catechism. This becomes a valuable tool. Padraic Column’s Children’s Homer proves that in war there are noble men among both friend and foe. Yet, when none worships the true God, there are no good deeds at all. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s The House in the Big Woods repeatedly demonstrates the deviltry that lurks behind disobeying one’s parents.

Invariably there is an expectation of forgiveness from my students for characters who have erred and repented in their readings. When it is not forthcoming the students immediately notice and are dismayed. On the other hand, the students also recognize that an oft-repeated “apology” for the same offense without the demonstration of a lesson learned means a lack of true repentance.

Even while watching movies one or another will exclaim, “Hey! That’s like what Jesus does for us.” or “They treated him like Judas. They didn’t forgive him.” Sometimes it takes a bit of work to get to what their connection is, but eventually it can be seen.

Because the Catechism is foremost in their minds, it is that which shapes their thoughts. These children begin at the age of four not just memorizing the Catechism, but also applying it to the way they work and play at school.

Two brothers ran down the hallway. One slipped into my classroom through one door and out the other, slamming it behind him. He was playing hide-n-chase with his younger brother. So I called the older one over. He’s my student.

I explained the facts of life to him: I’m nearly 99 years old and already use a cane to get around. His slamming of the door just jars my old arthritic bones even more. Does he want to break them with all that slamming and jostling?

Well, of course he didn’t. He just wanted to hide from his brother. By then the younger one had joined us.

So did he want to slip up and fall and crack his head open? Or did he maybe want to catch his brother’s fingers in the door and hurt them?

Well, of course he didn’t. He just wanted to play with his brother.

Playing with his brother is great, but this wasn’t the place for it. That was for outside, not inside. Inside someone could get hurt, and getting hurt was what commandment?

“You shall not commit adultery,” he replied.

“I don’t think so,” I answered. “You aren’t married yet.”

He nailed it the next time. So he and his brother repeated the Fifth with meaning, and then the Fourth because they’d been told already not to run in school. And then the First, of course.

After the apology came the forgiveness.

This, too, is how Emi is learning to live. Jesus gave her a crown in baptism, and holds it for her forever. Not even when she sins does she lose this crown. We caught her saying “I lost my crown” after she had gotten into trouble. I didn’t make connections until after a while she said, “I got my crown back again.” So I explained to her, “Emi, Jesus holds your crown for you forever. You never lose it, no matter what you do. You are baptized. Jesus holds you as His own. Jesus holds Lianna as His own. You are both His special princesses, and He has your crown forever. Baptism means you never lose your crown.”

We catechize because we baptize. Can’t have one without the other.

Catechism Essay

Why the Catechism is Important

The Catechism is important to keep us from going crazy. It does this by reminding us of what Jesus has done for us. The Commandments, Baptism, and Confession are important parts of the Catechism that do this.

The first part of the Catechism that is important is the Commandments. The Commandments are important because they tell you how you should treat your parents, not to hurt or harm your friend, to not misuse God’s name, and not to steal. We learn to do this because this is how God treats us in Jesus. The second part of the Catechism that is important is Baptism. Baptism is important because it brings you to Christ our Savior, and Jesus tells us to do it. The third part of the Catechism that is important is Confession. Confession is important because you repent of your sins and receive Absolution, that is, forgiveness.

In conclusion, the Catechism is an important book to learn. It has a lot of good things about our Lord Jesus Christ.

Fifth Grade

Catechism Paragraph 6

Why It Is Good to Say the Catechism Daily

It is good to say the Catechism daily. There are three reasons why this is true. The first reason why it is good to say the Catechism is to understand God. If you do not understand God, saying the Catechism daily will give you a chance to. The second reason to say the Catechism daily is to learn to trust God. If you have never trusted God it will help you to. The third reason why it is good to say the Catechism is to learn it, and to teach other people. When you learn the Catechism you can go out in the world and tell about God. In conclusion, it is just good to say the Catechism.

Third Grade

Catechism Paragraph 5

Why It Is Good to Say the Catechism Daily

All people need to say the Catechism daily. There are three reasons why everyone needs to say the Catechism. The first reason why people need to say the Catechism is so they don’t forget the Commandments. They don’t want to forget the Commandments because then it is harder to do things kindly. The second reason why everyone needs the Catechism is so they don’t get mad at God. They do not want to get mad at God because it is very unhealthy. The third reason why people need the Catechism is so that they don’t think God is against them. They don’t want to think that way because then they can become evil. In conclusion, it is obvious that everyone needs to say the Catechism daily.

Third Grade

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How the Catechism Teaches Me

I have two good things to talk about the Catechism. My two things are Baptism and the Lord’s Prayer. My first thing is Baptism. I like Baptism because it talks about water that is holy because of God’s word in it. The Catechism also teaches me the Lord’s Prayer. I like the Lord’s Prayer because Jesus put these words in my mouth. These two things remind me of Jesus’ word and what Jesus did for me.

Second Grade

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How the Catechism Teaches Me

The Catechism teaches Christ and Baptism. The first thing you learn is Christ is our Lord. It teaches us in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. The second thing you learn is Baptism. Baptism teaches us about Christ and his word. Both of these things teach about God forgiving us.

Second Grade

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How the Catechism Teaches Me

Catechism teaches me two things and I chose two. These two are God loves us more than possible and Jesus died. The first thing I chose is God loves us more than possible. I chose God loves us more than possible because he created us. The second thing I chose is Jesus died. Jesus died because he saved us. Catechism teaches me a couple of things and I like these two because it is a matter of his word and because he loved us.

Second Grade

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How the Catechism Teaches Me

Catechism teaches me two things. These two are Jesus and Baptism. The first thing the catechism teaches me is Jesus. It teaches me Jesus because it has the Lord’s Prayer. I also learn about Baptism. I like Baptism because it washes away my sin. I like these two because the Lord gives them to me.

Second Grade