#309 Praying with the Psalms

Leading the congregational prayer (or the prayers of the people or the "long" prayer, depending on what you like to call it) is one of the more intimidating parts of leading worship for me. Jesus warns us about babbling on in our prayers, yet there are so many things that I should pray for, both within and outside of the congregation. Jesus warns us about the perils of praying publicly, yet that's a part of my job. Throughout my ministry I have often used the Lord's Prayer, which Jesus teaches after those warnings as a guide for organizing my prayers.

But I think it's good to pray in different ways at different times, and the Lord's Prayer isn't the only prayer in the Bible. For one thing, God has given us a whole book of prayers, Psalms. Over time I have used more and more psalms as guides when I lead prayers. I started with Psalm 13, which has a simple pattern of lament, request, praise. I would read a couple verses of the psalm and then offer some of my own prayers of lament, request, and praise. Eventually I branched out to use a few other psalms, like 25, 27, and 42. I wouldn't always use every verse of the psalm, but I would read two or three verses to set a direction and then offer some related prayers of trust, thanksgiving, request, and so on.

Lately I've found myself reading Psalms in my personal devotions. I continue to marvel at the wide variety of emotions and tones captured in these prayers. So I've been trying a new approach to praying with the psalms. Lately I've been taking a psalm like 3, 5, or 9 and, without reading any of the verses, using its structure to organize my prayers. Sometimes I'll borrow some language or imagery, but my use of these psalms has been a little bit looser. I've found that starting with different psalms has helped me think about different things I can pray about (and sometimes different ways I can pray about those things). I've also noticed how often the psalm-writers express their trust in God while praying, so I've been trying to do more of that myself. Even after praying for several years now, I feel like I'm always learning more and more about how to pray. I'm glad God gave us Psalms to teach us.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#308 Motives

Sometimes, when I want to make myself squirm, I ask myself this question: Do I check in with my church members because I love them or because it's my job to check in on them? Honestly, it's normally a mixture of love and duty. At times love has the upper hand, and at times love isn't as much of a factor. Thankfully, there isn't much difference on church members' end (unless my attitude makes it very obvious that I'm only doing this because I know I should). However, I think the question is important because it gets to my motives. Doing things because I'm supposed to isn't inherently bad. In fact God uses duty to train us to do what's good and right: I've noticed myself come to love others more easily the more I practice caring for them. That being said, it is better for me to do things because I want to. God tells His people to "do everything in love" (1 Corinthians 16:14). We believe that truly good works are done not for selfish reasons or out of obligation but for God's glory.

So every once in a while it's good to check my motives. It's good for me to show care for others. Hopefully I do that even if I don't necessarily want to. But I hope, with the help of the Holy Spirit to grow in showing care for others because I truly care for them, because I want to honor God by imitating His care for us. God's work of leading me away from sin and making me holy doesn't end with my external behavior; it needs to get all the way to my heart.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#307 Reading Scripture Together

Last month Tess and I completed reading the whole Bible together. It was a long project. We started reading a chapter a day when Advent began late in 2020. (We were doing this along with our church at the time, but we moved during the middle of our reading plan.) What made our reading different than other Bible reading plans I've done is that we always read aloud. Originally we read one chapter a day, taking turns. But along the way we got derailed for stretches, especially after Jeremiah was born, so for the last few months of our reading we normally read two chapters a day—one for each of us. (We still finished about three months after we were first scheduled to get done.)

There were a couple of things I found particularly good about reading the Bible this way. First, reading aloud is slower than reading internally. Sometimes listening was a challenge, but reading to each other made us take more time with the Word. Second and better yet, we spent a few moments talking about each chapter. Mostly we commented on things that stood out to us. Sometimes we found connections with earlier chapters or with passages that I was preaching from at the time. Sometimes we wrestled to understand what we'd read or asked difficult questions about how this passage applied to our current context. I think by reflecting together we learned from each other and thought more deeply than we would have on our own. I love talking about the Bible with others, and Tess was a wonderful partner. I recommend reading and reflecting on God's Word with others to anyone who wants to give this strategy a try.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#306 Cleansing

Back in September I had the privilege of baptizing my son, Jeremiah Brian. I really wasn't blogging then, so I'm getting around to writing this now, just a little while after his birthday. I've mentioned before (while blogging about my daughters' baptisms) how much I love baptism. There's something about this visible sign and seal of God's grace that really drives the meaning of God's work home. Administering baptism—particularly for my own children—is one of my great joys as a minister.

Every human being is a sinner. We have done wrong and disobeyed God. Our very nature is sinful. Worse, we cannot make up for our sins. The only way for us to be right with God again is for us to be cleansed—forgiven and made new. The clear water of baptism makes visible to us God's promise to wash away all of our sins as well as our sinfulness through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit applies the benefits of Christ's work directly to each Christian. Baptism can be done in a few different ways, but Tess and I chose to have Jeremiah immersed, plunged in the water from head to toe. For us, this was a beautiful picture of how God cleanses us entirely. Just as water washes dirt away, so, through Jesus, Christians' sins are gone forever. What a blessing to be cleansed!

Grace and peace,

BMH

#305 Being Jimmy Olsen

For this post to work, you need to know who Jimmy Olsen is. Back in the 1950s, when The Adventures of Superman was on TV, everybody knew Jimmy Olsen. Jimmy is a photographer at the Daily Planet, where he works with Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Traditionally Jimmy is roughly a teenager, a little bit younger than Clark and Lois, who are both working adults. Due to the TV show, Jimmy Olsen became so popular that he had his own comic book, Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen, which ran for 20 years. (And then Jimmy's adventures were part of The Superman Family, which ran for another 8 years.) That might not seem unusual, but Jimmy Olsen has no special powers or abilities. He doesn't really fight crime. His claim to fame is that he's friends with Superman. Jimmy wears a special watch that emits an ultra-sonic signal so he can get ahold of Superman when he's in trouble, which happens a lot.

A few months back I had a conversation with a church member who was really struggling with some health challenges. We talked on what seemed to be a particularly tough day, and after our conversation ended, I was feeling down. I wished I could do something to make this person feel better. As I walked home, it occurred to me that I'm not and can't be Superman, but I can be Jimmy Olsen. See, I'm nobody's savior. I've never demonstrated any miraculous powers, and there are a lot of troubles that are simply beyond me. But I know Christ Jesus, who can handle any trouble. In fact, He calls me His friend. I don't have a signal watch, but I can pray. What's more, I can trust that Christ will hear me and that He is able to help out. Like Jimmy Olsen tells people about Superman, I can tell others about Jesus and, in a sense, help them contact Him. What happens then is up to Christ, but I know from personal experience that He is powerful and good.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#304 Look! Up in the Sky!

So… it's been a while since I posted anything on this blog. Three-kid life has gotten to me. But today I have something that needs to be shared. It's the third installment in my ongoing adventures with Superbabes. (Check the first and second installments if you haven't already.)

Before we begin, you may enjoy this record of our adventures more with some theme music, whether from TV's Smallville (top) or My Adventures with Superman (bottom). (They are both pretty short, so you may need to repeat them.)

And now, the adventures continue! Superbabes streaked to the rescue with his incredible power of flight:

Arriving on the scene, Superbabes caught the evildoers off-guard by bursting through the wall:

We encountered Bizarro, Superbabes' imperfect duplicate:

Thanks to new high-speed camera technology, we were able to catch evidence of Superbabes' fantastic superspeed. To the naked eye, he would only appear as a red-blue blur:

Superbabes demonstrated his remarkable freeze breath:

Superbabes quickly destroyed a huge robot that was threatening innocent civilians:

With the threat taken care of, Superbabes imprisoned the criminal mastermind in the eerie Phantom Zone:

After another day of heroics, Superbabes paused for an exclusive interview with Lois Lane (photograph courtesy of Jimmy Olsen):

Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings at a single bound, Superbabes is here to save the day!

Grace and peace,

BMH

#303 Preaching Words

As I prepare and preach sermons, I try to be consistent in prayer. I ask God to guide me to properly understand the text. I ask Him to help me explain each passage well, tie it to Christ Jesus, and connect it with the lives of His people today. Generally, I'm praying at the beginning of my study, as I transition into writing, and on Sunday morning before I deliver the sermon. Over the years I've landed on a consistent set of words for how I'd like to preach. I ask God to help me preach His Word

• Faithfully - This is the biggest one for me. I want to understand what God is saying through the Bible passage and communicate that truth to God's people. I don't want to stray into theological errors or start bringing my own ideas into the text. I hope my preaching accurately reflects who God is and what He has done for His people and what that means for our identity and lifestyle.
• Effectively - I want to use relatable words and images. I want to show how God's Word relates to the joys and struggles of our everyday lives. I hope and pray that those who hear me preach feel like they and their concerns are being addressed. God's Word should affect us and draw us closer to Him.
• Boldly - I want my preaching to be first and foremost about the good news of Jesus Christ. I want to be honest about our need for salvation and the fact that only Christ can save us. Where it's necessary, I want to expose the lies we and others tell us. I want to point out where God is at work in our world. I want to proclaim His message, even when it's not what I or others want to hear.
• Enthusiastically - I want to proclaim Jesus with joy and conviction. Our God is awesome. His love is extravagant. His faithfulness is overwhelming. No one can compare with His holiness, His righteousness, His patience, His wisdom. I want God's people to be excited about God.
• Creatively - This is least important one, but I want to express God's truth in my own words. I want to communicate something different with each different sermon. Sometimes even hearing a familiar truth in a new way helps us unlock better and fresher understanding.

That list is intimidating. I can't do that on my own, and I know I have lots of room to grow. So not only will I keep practicing, but I'll keep praying. May God be glorified when I preach.

Grace and peace,

BMH