#30 3:00 AM

"Brian! Brian!" The voice of Tess pulls me out of my normal deep sleep. My eyes spring open and glance around our bedroom, dimly illuminated by a nightlight. As I try to piece together what's happening, I hear Lanie crying. "Can you change her diaper? I need to run to the bathroom before I feed her." Slowly my brain figures out what Tess is asking. I mumble something positive and grab my glasses so that I can see what I'm doing. The cold sensation of leaving my covers behind wakes me up just a little more as I pick up my squirming daughter in her bundle of blankets. "Hi, Lanie," I coo, staggering toward the changing pad. I flick the lightswich on and blink in the brilliant light. Lanie's fussing grows louder and louder. I peel back her sleeper, grab a new diaper and a baby wipe, and open her old diaper to survey the damage. As Lanie wails at me, I try to reassure her that everything's okay while wiping her off as quickly and effectively as I can manage in my sleepy stupor. After securing the new diaper, I trash the old one and wash my hands. By the time I'm finished, Tess has appeared to rezip Lanie's sleeper and carry her off for feeding time. I stumble back to the bedroom, nearly asleep by the time I pull the covers back up. As I drift back to dreamland, I have only one thought: I love my sweet babes.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#29 In Life and in Death

Last week I officiated my first funeral. A ninety-eight-year-old member of our congregation died early in the week; we gathered on Saturday to remember her life, mourn her passing, and celebrate the hope we have in Jesus Christ. The whole process, from my first contact with family members through planning and conducting the funeral to parting conversations after lunch, was pretty special. Funerals and the grieving process can be extremely emotional and difficult, but they're also quite sacred. They lead us to reflect on the core of our Christian beliefs. We shared memories of a beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother and did our best to capture the essence of who she is. We reflected on her legacy. We meditated on Psalm 23, noting how our sister has come through the valley of the shadow of death to dwell in the house of the LORD forever. We recited the first Q&A of the Heidelberg Catechism, professing our comfort of belonging to Jesus Christ "body and soul, in life and in death." We sang songs of hope. And at the gravesite, we said our good-byes, clinging to Jesus' words from John 11: "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die." The part of the day that has stuck with me the most was reciting the Apostles' Creed together at the gravesite, ending with our belief in "the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting." Death is not the end, for Jesus Christ is our victory. That part about resurrection is important. If only our souls lived forever, then I don't think we could say death is defeated. Part of us would be lost in death; we'd just have some sort of spiritual work-around. But with resurrection, death is truly defeated. Even our bodies come back to life in Christ. Death cannot claim any part of us forever. That gives us hope and that gives us joy, even in the most somber, solemn times.

Grace and peace,
BMH

#28 Where Is God in All of This?

The men's Bible study in Kanawha just finished discussing the book of Esther. Esther is an unbelievably well-written book. The tension is real; the drama is intense; it seems no detail goes to waste. We found time after time where an event mirrored or reversed a previous event. (For example, Esther risks her life by going before King Xerxes without being summoned, while the previous queen was dismissed for not going before the king when she was summoned.) In short, Esther made for a very fun study.

Now the book of Esther is famous for never mentioning God. God's name never appears in the book, nor are there any references to worship or other religious practices. Instead, God's people are delivered through a series of events that unfold like coincidences. The events of the book of Esther take place while God's people are in exile, far from the land of Israel and the temple in Jerusalem, the symbol of God's presence with His people. So the people feel far from God's presence. God seems silent to them. And yet, the people are delivered. As best as we can tell, the book of Esther is written to show how God works on behalf of His people even when He seems absent. There doesn't seem to be any way the events of Esther could happen the way they do if God is not controlling circumstances and protecting His people. God is truly active, not absent.

The book of Esther is very relevant to our situation as God's people in the church today. God's people are scattered throughout the world. Many of us feel that God is not as active as He was in Bible times: we don't seem to see as many miracles being done, and we don't always hear God speaking so clearly when the Bible was finished nearly 2000 years ago. But Esther teaches us that God is still in control. God doesn't just leave things up to chance. He watches out for and delivers His people even when He seems absent or silent. We may be threatened; we may even suffer. But God will not let His people be destroyed. In fact, He will continue to make His church grow, and He will eventually completely defeat our enemies. Sometimes God may seem hard to find. But He never abandons us. He remains faithfully present with us and working in our midst. Always.

Grace and peace,
BMH

#27 Epiphany

Since Christmas I've been preaching on the life of Jesus as recorded in the gospel of Luke. This season after Christmas is called Epiphany in some traditions, and it focuses on how God and His purposes are revealed in Jesus the Christ. I started this sermon series because last summer I was inspired by reading one of N.T. Wright's books, How God Became King. In this book, Wright talks about how many Christians focus on the events of Jesus' death and resurrection when thinking about Jesus. While these events are certainly important--more space in the gospels is devoted to the week of Jesus' death and resurrection than any other period in His life--the majority of the space in the gospels is dedicated to Jesus' ministry before His death. Wright argues that if we unthinkingly follow the flow of the Apostles' Creed (Jesus "...was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried...) and sort of skip over Jesus' ministry, we risk misunderstanding Jesus, or at least understanding Him incompletely. It's true that Jesus' life built toward His death and resurrection. Certainly the forgiveness of sins was a central reason why Jesus came. But Jesus didn't go immediately from birth to death. The rest of His life wasn't just a waiting game. Jesus' life goes a long ways to revealing God and His purposes to us. We learn a lot about how God fulfills His promises to His people and about what God is continuing to do until Jesus' return.

I really started thinking after reading Wright's book. I can remember a lot of sermons about the meaning of Jesus' birth and death and resurrection. I remember hearing preaching on Old Testament stories and New Testament letters and even some of Jesus' teachings and parables. But I don't remember hearing a lot of sermons that talked about what Jesus did while here on earth. (Now it's possible that my memory simply has some gaps here.) So I've been trying to think and preach more about what Jesus did as He travelled through Galilee and Judea (and Samaria, though that hasn't come up in my sermons yet). It's been a lot of fun for me, mostly because Jesus is--forgive me if these seems a bit crude--just so cool. Jesus didn't go out of His way to get people to like Him; He was totally secure in His identity. Jesus challenged things that everybody believed, He broke social rules left and right, and He simply mesmerized many of the people who encountered Him. They'd never met anybody like this Jesus, and they often weren't sure what to make of Him. But Jesus just kept doing His thing: driving out demons, healing the sick, revolutionizing religious teaching, calling disciples, hanging out with outcasts and rejects. No matter what people may think of Christians and Christianity in our society, it's hard not to at least admire Jesus.

So let's bring this home. So what? If Jesus shows us more clearly than anything else who God is, then what do we learn about God from Jesus? Let me give just a couple examples. First, we learn that God cares about us. God's Son becomes fully human and lives as one of us. He hangs around ordinary people. He interacts with the least and the lowliest people and honors and respects them. Jesus embodies love and hospitality for every kind of person. Second, we see that God is fixing our broken world. Jesus brought God's kingdom, making God's reign more clear to us. He brought healing and restoration and hope almost everywhere He went. No power of evil or darkness or sin was even close to a match for Him. He freed people from suffering and oppression. Jesus' ministry gives us confidence that God will someday set everything right. What's more, Jesus shows what kind of people we should be and what kind of people we will be. The Bible says that God is conforming us to the image of His Son. He's making us like Jesus, making us into people who are loving and good and compassionate and courageous. Jesus calls us to follow His example and helps us to do it. So let's learn from Jesus and, with His help, go and do likewise.

Grace and peace,
BMH

#26 Pitch Imperfect

I spend more time with Lanie than anybody but Tess. Lanie sleeps through a lot of our time together, which is fine. Sleeping Lanie is just as adorable as awake Lanie and cuddles up to me even better. But having Lanie awake and alert is even more fun. While she stares at me with her big blue eyes, I rock her back and forth and walk and dance around with her. I talk to her about things that are going on around us and tell her stories from my life. And, something that I didn't expect, I sing to Lanie. A lot. I'm not really sure where it comes from. I'm normally pretty self-conscious about my singing, but when I'm with Lanie, I break into song again and again. Sometimes I make things up on the spot; other times I take a familiar song like "Sweet Caroline" and reshape into something more baby-friendly, like "Sweet Baby Girl" (bum bum bummm!) I'm sure my singing is pretty terrible, but Lanie doesn't seem to mind. Maybe she thinks her daddy is hopelessly strange, and maybe she realizes that she just makes me happy.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#25 On the Homefront

Yesterday Tess and Lanie came home from the hospital. We bundled Lanie up in a blue sleeper and a knit stocking cap, secured her in carseat, and introduced her to the soothing sounds of The Decemberists on the way home. Once I brought Lanie through the door, things started to feel real. I think I'm finally getting it through my head that Lanie is here to stay. She sleeps in a bassinet next to Tess and my bed. She's waiting for me when I come home from work. She stares at me with her big blue eyes and makes confused faces. She sucks on my finger when she gets fussy and scares herself more than I ever thought a person could. But most of all, she just melts my heart. I know her plan is to be sweet and cute enough now that I never really can get mad at her. But even though I see through her plan, I know that it will work. It's only been four days, and she already know me too well. I'm done for.

Grace and peace,
BMH

#24 She's Here!

We have good news! Alena Joy Hofman was born yesterday (January 27) at 10:58 AM. Lanie weighed 7 lb. 6 oz. and was 19.5 in. long at birth. She's only been here a day, but she's already brought us so much joy. Lanie was born by Cesarean section, which meant I got to hold her first. She wraps her little fingers around my index finger. She makes cute faces and squirms and coos. I get to swaddle Lanie and change her diapers. I'm pretty much obsessed already. But anyway, you're here for the pictures, so here you go:

I'm sure there'll be plenty more to come!

Grace and peace,

BMH