#3 Of Comfort and Calling

I said it was my goal to blog about once a week. I managed to keep that up for two weeks. Whoops! I'll try to be more consistent in the future, and maybe I'll even pump out an extra post in the next week or so to make up for missing last week. We'll see. I do have a few ideas developing in the back of my head.

So this week I'm back in Wisconsin, taking some extra time to do some reading and prep for my upcoming examination by my classis. (A classis is a regional group of churches. I need to be examined before I can officially be ordained as a minister of the Word.) The trip and study time have been pretty great so far, though on Monday my mom did finally get me to go through all my stuff in my old room. I found a lot of things that brought back cherished memories or reminded me of things that I haven't thought about in years. However, there was one item in particular that stood out.

In 2006, coming out of my freshman year of high school, I participated in a SERVE project in Benton Harbor, MI. At the end of the week, my work crew wrote notes to each other on paper plates. While I was cleaning my room this week, I found my paper plate. One of the girls I met on the trip had written "I think you should be a pastor" to me. I remember thinking that that comment was really weird when I first read it and had never had any thoughts about going into ministry. Now, on the brink of proving that girl right, I'd love to go back in time and ask her just what it was she saw in fifteen-year-old me that made her think I should be a pastor. (Sorry about the generic references! I saw the name of my SERVE friend when I read the plate, but I can't remember it again. I'm now in Sheboygan Falls visiting my in-laws, while the plate is in a box back in Waupun, waiting to make the journey to Iowa.)

As amazing as it is that someone else could see that I should be a pastor about two years before I even entertained the idea, I don't find it all that surprising. These prophetic words remind me of one of the Bible verses that is most dear to me, Jeremiah 1:5: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." (Quick interpretive detour: clearly this verse refers specifically to the prophet Jeremiah. However, I believe it finds its greatest fulfillment in Jesus Christ, our chief prophet and teacher, and, following the Heidelberg Catechism, I believe that I share in Jesus' anointing as prophet, priest, and king. So I think I can safely apply this to me as well as to all the rest of God's people. We aren't all called to be pastors, but God does have a calling for each of us.) It is unbelievably comforting and wonderful that God would have a plan for me even before my birth. It's taken me a while to get to the end of my journey of becoming a pastor, and I am definitely intimidated by the call at times, so it's incredibly encouraging to think that God has been working out His purposes for me for years and that I'm not the only one who can see it in me. Right now I'm really excited about being a pastor and don't need much affirmation, but more difficult days will come. Hopefully on those days, God will remind me that I didn't just decide to be a pastor. He chose and called me and used others to confirm that sense of call.

Grace and peace,
BMH

#2 Judgment Calls

Let's talk about opinions. I know I'm not the only one writing about opinions because I've read a couple articles on this theme. (Here's an example from Screen Rant.) So I'm not breaking new ground here, but this topic has been on my mind for a few months now. I'm writing this post to help me express something that I've been thinking about for a while but also to see if anyone else has any insights to further the conversation. Here goes.

Back in March, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was released in theaters. Film reviewers, for the most part, were critical of the film, and the majority of reviews were negative. As you'd expect, a lot of people who went to see the movie liked it, and a lot of others didn't. (Full disclosure: I really, really enjoyed BvS. I would say there's only one superhero movie that's been released in my lifetime that I enjoyed more. In fact, Tess bought me the "Ultimate Edition" of this movie as an anniversary present.) Because I was so interested in the film, I read a lot of articles about it after its release. I found a lot of discussion about whether the critics were right or wrong. Was the film good or bad? And, at a more individual level, were your feelings about the film correct or incorrect?

As I've reflected on this, I'm left with this question: what kind of questions are those? To put it another way, where did we get the idea that opinions are right or wrong? When did we forget how opinions work? Speaking in gross generalizations here, Americans are an individualistic bunch. So how come we're so concerned about what others think about movies? (or TV shows? or music? or some other art form?) Why do we think that people who enjoy different things than we do or people who--gasp!--don't enjoy the things we do are somehow wrong?

Before we go on, it's confession time. I'm just as guilty of this as others. I would love to tell what the best Star Wars movie is. I will probably tell you that you're wrong if you tell me that you don't like Lord of the Rings. And I am prepared to go on thirty-minute tirades about why Superman is the better than other superheroes or about why DC movies are better than Marvel movies. (Just ask Tess. She's heard some of my frustrated ramblings.) But that kind of talk is foolish. I don't want to do that anymore. I'm trying to reform, to move on to saying things like "My favorite book in The Chronicles of Narnia is The Silver Chair" and "I prefer The End Is Not the End to other House of Heroes albums." I tried to be very careful about how I talked about BvS above, and I hope that others will hold me accountable if I slip into right/wrong talk about opinions in the future.

Now that my confession is complete, I have one more thing that I'm wondering about. We live in a day and age that likes to say that there are no absolute truths, especially when it comes to things like morality and religion. And yet, it seems to be absolute truth that, for example, Captain America: Civil War is a good movie, while Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a bad movie. But not even all film critics agree on these movies. Neither has 100% positive or negative reviews. As a Christian, I believe that there are absolute truths in the areas of religion and ethics. I believe that there is a God who is the Creator of heaven and earth and who has univeral standards for how humans should live. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He is the only way for humans to come to God. I believe there is one God in three persons. But I don't think there are absolutes in the area of art. Since I believe that one God created flamingos and tigers and puffer fish and everything else and that He also created humans as men and women and--to quote the Sunday school song--"red and yellow, black and white," I believe that God rejoices in diversity and multiplicity. I think it only makes sense that we should have different tastes in movies and music and stories and art. I think God delights in our creativity and uniqueness. I believe God reveals Himself and His beauty in all kinds of things and in ways we wouldn't necessarlily expect. In the end, I think we've got our absolutes mixed up. We look for absolutes where we shouldn't and don't look for absolutes where we should.

So if you also liked Batman v Superman, let's talk about that. And if you didn't like BvS but liked some other movie instead, please tell me about what you like about that other movie. I hope we have the courage to make up our own opinions when it comes to art, instead of worrying about what others think. Let's stop trying to be the same. Let's stop trying to have the "right" opinions. I don't think that makes sense, anyway.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#1 The Adventures Begin (Again)!

Yesterday I accepted a call to become minister of the Word at Kanawha Christian Reformed Church. This seems like as a good a point as any to start a new blog, so here goes:

It has been a little more than two months since I graduated from seminary. In that time the most remarkable thing has happened. I've started to feel more like myself than I have in years. While I was in seminary, I turned much less frequently to some of the habits and hobbies that had defined me throughout high school and college. Part of that was busyness. Part of that was spending more of my free time with my wife. Tess and I got married about a month before I started seminary, so naturally I had to set aside some of my individual pursuits to make sure I was paying enough attention to Tess. Finally, to be fair, I did pick up a few different habits. Wanting a quick and easy read that would be a huge change-of-pace from seminary reading, I started reading comic collections more often in seminary than before.

But in the past couple months I've had more free time. Especially during my seven-and-a-half weeks in Iowa I've started doing some of the things I love more regularly. I've been running consistently--if not all that intensely. I've been playing guitar at least a couple of times each week. And, in addition to some comics, I've been reading some non-illustrated books at my own pace. I've read How God Became King and all of The Chronicles of Narnia. I just started rereading Once a Runner, and I've been slowly working through some Ante-Nicene Fathers. (I do like theology pretty well, I just like to read it in small doses.)

Overall it's been wonderful. I didn't feel like I wasn't myself during seminary, but now that I've graduated, I do think that I had part of myself somewhat buried during those three years. It's nice to feel like I have all of myself again. It's good to restart some old adventures while embarking on some new ones. Up, up, and away!

Grace and peace,
BMH