#37 Drowning

Alena Joy Hofman was baptized yesterday. Baptizing Lanie was probably my favorite moment of my pastoral ministry so far. I love the imagery of baptism, especially infant baptism. God acts to claim us as His own, even though we are totally helpless. As our liturgy says, "For you, child, Jesus came into the world. For you He died and conquered death. All this He did for you, little one, though you know nothing of it yet." In baptism we celebrate that God acts first to deliver us and then calls us to follow Him, to truly live into our identity as His children.

Baptism also reminds of our union with Christ. In Romans 6, Paul writes, "Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." Baptism is a sign and seal of our dying and rising with Christ. It's as if our old selves are drowned in the waters of baptism, as Jesus raises our new selves to life. As the hymn "Sing! A New Creation" puts it:

Sing! A new creation calls us;
God's Son, firstborn from the dead,
makes the drowning which befalls us
into cleansing birth instead.

In order to make this imagery and symbolism of dying and rising more visible (since God gives us the sacraments to make His good news clearer to us), Tess and I chose to have Lanie baptized by immersion. It was a beautiful, meaningful moment. See for yourselves: 

God holds out His promises in His grace. We have responded with a promise to raise Lanie as a child of God. Now we pray that God's Spirit will stir in her and lead her to claim His promises and receive His grace in faith.

Grace and peace,
BMH

#36 Let Sleeping Brians Lie

Lanie woke up at 6:30 this morning. Tess gave Lanie her pacifier, and then turned to me and said, "Brian, do you want to get up and take her?"

"Sure," I replied, "I'll take her, but I'm going to sleep for a little bit longer."

By the time Tess had processed this, I was snoring again. Thankfully, Lanie took her pacifier and went back to sleep.

When Lanie woke up again at 7:30, I got up without any trouble.

Tess told me this story around 9:00 this morning. I had no idea. We laughed about the whole thing for a solid couple of minutes. I guess Holy Week must've really taken it out of me. Happy Easter everyone!

Grace and peace,
BMH

#35 Music on My Mind

I listen to quite a bit of music on a weekly basis. I have music playing almost the entire time I'm writing each of my sermons. Tess and I have the radio on whenever we're driving out of town. We go through quite a few songs with worship services and other church activities. With all that music in my life, I almost constantly have one song or another in my head. Sometimes I sing them to Lanie or belt them out in the shower. And sometimes I start humming them without knowing it. I'll be walking along and find myself halfway through a verse or a few bars into a chorus. Normally that isn't a big deal, but occasionally I catch myself doing this while walking in a group of people. I snap back to focus from being in my own little world and find others giving me some interesting looks. A lot of strangers probably think I'm a little bit out there. Then again, I think most of the people who know me think the same thing. :) I often wonder if other people hum subconsciously. Anybody else want to own up to that?

Grace and peace,
BMH

#34 Opening Day

Today is Major League Baseball's Opening Day. (Yankees, Rays, Giants, Diamondbacks, Cubs, and Cardinals fans, I know your teams played yesterday. I don't care. Today is the real opening day.) Opening Day is one of my favorite days of the year. I'd be up for making it a national holiday. (Side note: there are two kinds of people in the world: people who love baseball, and people whom I don't understand.) After about five months, my favorite sport is fully back. Over the next six months, I'll have 162 Brewers box scores to check. I'll keep tabs on batters' BA, OBP, SLG and pitchers' IP and ERA. I'll feed my interest in mathematics by looking up some advanced statistics like WAR, RC, and FIP. I'll start peppering my conversations with phrases like "runners at the corners," "hit for the cycle,""walk-off," and "suicide squeeze." I'll wonder if bringing the LOOGY out of the bullpen will turn those RISP into LOB. The Brewers will probably be terrible yet again, but I'll cherish each time Bob Uecker calls "Get up, get up, get outta here, gone!" and Bernie tumbles down his yellow slide. I'll dream about the smell of beer and brats on a sunny day at Miller Park. And I'll keep hoping that maybe, just maybe, the Brewers will bring home a pennant at some point in my life. For now, happy Opening Day, everyone!

Grace and peace,
BMH

P.S. Here's an acronym guide: BA = batting average; OBP = on base percentage; SLG = slugging percentage; IP = innings pitched; ERA = earned run average; WAR = wins above replacement; RC = runs created; FIP = fielding independent pitching; LOOGY = left-handed one out guy; RISP = runners in scoring position; LOB = left on base. If you'd like more explanation, Google is your friend!

#33 Color Commentary

March Madness is far and away my favorite yearly sporting event. Year after year I find myself sucked in by the drama of back-and-forth finishes, star performances, and amazing upsets. But this year has been even more special. This year I have Lanie to watch the games with me. She doesn't understand anything that's going on yet; in fact, I'm pretty sure she can't even see far enough to make out what's happening on the TV. But that doesn't matter, because her daddy is around to announce the game for her. I fill her in on big threes and huge dunks and crucial defensive stops. I explain the foolishness of risky passes, the beauty of patiently finding the open man, and the hope brought by key offensive rebounds. And most of all, I emphasize again and again the necessity of making free throws. You have to make your free throws. (Hopefully, if I repeat this enough to Lanie while she grows up, she'll just inherently know the importance of foul shots if she does decide to play hoops.) Lanie normally just looks at me while I provide my color commentary, but every once in a while she flashes a smile that suggest she enjoys it. I'll turn her into an expert yet.

Lanie enjoying Saturday's Elite Eight games with Daddy

Grace and peace,
BMH

#32 Minesweeper

This weekend our youth group fasted for thirty hours for World Renew's FAST Forward program. When we weren't collecting food for the local food bank, doing Bible studies, or having worship times, we played some games. One of these games simulated the dangers people in many parts of the world face as they cross fields littered with unexploded ammunition to gather food. One member of each team had to walk blindfolded through a "field" of styrofoam cups while another member of the team guided them. If the scavenger touched a cup, they had to put down whatever they had picked up, and the next person on the team took over.

At the end of the game, my team and the team next to us were both gathering our final can of food. By the time my teammate started, the other team was just about on their way back. I quickly guided my teammate to the can. We were in total sync. He passed cup after cup without a problem. When he turned around to come back, the other team was almost halfway back. I started yelling out directions to "take big steps" and "just go!" Bit by bit we hauled in the other team, bounding over and around cups with ease. With the two scavengers nearly neck and neck a few feet from the finish, I instructed my teammate to jump forward, and he just beat out the other team. We screamed and jumped and hugged each other in wild celebration of our victory. Finally, I thought, we won a game! What a comeback! I basked in the glow of this triumph for a few hours until we reviewed the scores at the end of the weekend. It turns out, the third team had finished collecting their items a couple minutes before us. We had been totally oblivous. Here I had made a fool of myself celebrating over just another game we lost. We'll see if I live this one down.

Grace and peace,
BMH

#31 Daddy Day

Monday is far and away the best day of my week because Monday is Daddy Day. On Monday I get more time with Lanie than any other day of the week. Tess is happy because she gets freedom to relax or take care of projects that she can't get around to on other days. Lanie is happy because she still gets attention. But Daddy is the real winner on Daddy day. I get to cuddle and bounce and kiss and sing to my sweet babes, who smiles and coos and stares back at me. I've had some busy weeks at work over the past month. But Mondays, by comparison, remain beautifully, refreshingly chill. My squirmy, happy, gassy, adorable, sweet daughter is experiencing so many new things, and I get to experience them with her. It's the best.

This week's Daddy Day got a little interrupted by shoveling and a tax appointment. But Lanie and I still managed to pack in quite a bit. We bounced up and down. We used her swing while listening to a couple albums by The Civil Wars. She pooped through her diaper and screamed at me while I lovingly cleaned her up. We cuddled in the recliner as she took a nap. We took some precious pictures. She spit up all over my shirt. We walked around the house. We made faces at each other, and I did my best to imitate her noises. We held hands. I rubbed her belly. We did tummy time. For the most part, we just kept each other warm and happy while getting to know each other just a little better. Today was a good day.

Grace and peace,
BMH