#271 From the Cutting Room Floor

Each week as I prepare my sermon I learn more than I put in my preaching. Things have to be cut for the sake of time and clarity. If I include everything, I will probably start to lose the congregation's attention, and the sermon will be in serious danger of becoming too complicated to follow. So some things I cut out of the sermon because I don't think they're important to the main idea(s) of the passage. Those normally aren't a huge loss. But sometimes there are things that I leave out simply because I can't find a way to fit them into the flow of the sermon. Including certain details ends up feeling like a distraction from my main points. Sometimes those are the more difficult cuts.

Two Sundays ago (Sep 11) I was preaching from Genesis 45, the story where Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers and is reunited with them more than twenty years after his ten older brothers sold him into slavery. My focus was on God's providence, how God is in control of all things and works out His good purposes even through and in spite of human evil. Joseph gives a beautiful speech about that, and the book of Genesis is directing our attention to God's activity. But there was one beautiful small detail that I didn't figure out a way to work into my sermon. When Joseph sends his brothers to get their father and move down to Egypt by Joseph, he gives them sets of clothing. It seems that these garments were not ordinary clothing but clothing for special occasions. The story of Joseph and his brothers began in Genesis 37 with Joseph's brothers hating him because their father gave Joseph a special robe, a clear sign that Joseph was the favorite son. Here, just past the climax of the story, all the brothers have special robes. It's a little piece of information, but it really shows how things are being made right among Joseph and his brothers.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#270 Reflections on Praying with a Two-year-old

I recently started praying with my younger daughter, Mia, as part of her bedtime routine. She's getting better at communicating, so I can now ask her what she wants to pray for and understand what she's saying. I also think she's experienced prayer in enough other settings by this point to have at least somewhat of an idea of what we're doing. Anyway, when it's time for Mia to give me prayer requests, the first thing out of her mouth is always the same: "Me!" It's pretty cute, and I'm happy to pray for her.

But I think Mia's response is a pretty good indicator of the way we think. I know when I pray individually, my own needs and wants are often the first thing on my mind. I try to teach my kids to think of others when we pray together, and I'm normally pretty good about thinking of others when I have to pray publicly, but that selfishness is hard to overcome. It stretches us to pray for other people, to think of their concerns and their desires. I think praying for others is part of loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.

However, even that shouldn't be the end of our praying. When we pray, we bring ourselves before God. I know I could grow in thinking about my prayers being about God. Praying is an opportunity to thank God for what He has done, to praise Him for who He is, to sit quietly and enjoy His presence and listen for His voice. Thinking about God in our prayers helps keep our prayers from becoming like a grocery list or a letter to Santa Claus. God loves to care for our physical needs and give us good gifts, but God does so much more than that. Trusting God to provide for us is good, but loving God rightly goes beyond that. We can and should pray for our personal concerns, but we can and should do more when we pray. Mia's helped me remember that, so hopefully I'll do a good job of teaching her to pray.

Grace and peace,

BMH