#159 Read with Me

When I was a kid, my dad read to me. We read day in and day out. I remember being four or five years old, and my dad reading all seven books of The Chronicles of Narnia to me, one chapter a day. (I'm pretty sure my mom also read to me, but reading was more often a Dad thing.) So when I became a dad, I was super excited to read to my daughter, Lanie. Beyond my fond memories of reading with my dad, I've also heard many times how good it is to read with children. Lanie and I read a bedtime story every night. When Tess or I put Lanie down for her nap, we read a book with her then, too. Sometimes when I'm feeling a little too tired to keep up with Lanie I try to talk her into reading instead of bouncing off the walls. (It even works sometimes!)

On my own I read a pretty good number of Superman comics. (What can I say? I like books with pictures.) They normally aren't targeted almost exclusively at kids like they were a couple generations ago, but kid-friendly comics do still get published. A few years back through a library app I stumbled upon a great but short-lived series called Superman Family Adventures. I read it, enjoyed it, collected it, and enjoyed it all over again. Last year, the guys behind Superman Family Adventures returned with a new book about Clark Kent's early adventures as Superman: Superman of Smallville. I thought it was great, too, so when I received some Christmas money, I decided to buy a copy. I don't know if I'll have a child interested in comics, but if I do, I figured Superman of Smallville would be a great first one for her or him to read.

Last week Superman of Smallville showed up at the Hofman house.

When Lanie saw it, she was immediately interested. I don't know if it was the bright colors or the simple art style, but she was drawn to the book like a pin to a magnet. So later that day she brought me the book and asked me to read it to her. Suddenly my reading with Lanie and my own reading came together. We read the first chapter. Later on she grabbed me again and had me read the other three chapters to her. The next day we read the whole thing again. The day after that we read the first volume of Superman Family Adventures. As you'd expect, I've been beyond thrilled to read this with her, and I mean, come on. Look at this sample page:

What's not to love? Lanie doesn't have to like Superman or even comics in general. But if she wants to read and reread Superman of Smallville, I can't imagine I'll tell her no.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#158 Trash Talk

Tess and I bought Candy Land for Lanie this Christmas. She really likes the game, and she doesn't need a whole lot of help from us. We have a lot of fun together. There's only one downfall: Lanie has learned how to trash talk. As soon as we get the game out she starts giving me a hard time: "I go to ice cream [the special ice cream cone space is pretty close to the goal]. Daddy cry, cry."

So a couple things: First, for some reason Lanie thinks that losing to her in Candy Land is absolutely devastating for me. I've never cried, but she's sure I'm hurting, and she really feels the need to rub it in. Second, her trash talk is pretty justified: she wins pretty much every time we play. It's incredible. She really doesn't draw fantastic cards. She's not pulling the ice cream cone card early in the game every time. But I can't seem to beat her. For whatever reason, whenever I get within about twenty spaces of the end, I inevitably pull the peanut card and end up way back, only about one-third of the way to the end. So I'm stuck listening to Lanie's trash talk. She's savage. We may be playing Candy Land, but my daughter isn't all sweet.

Grace and peace,
BMH

#157 New Year, Big Whoop

Full transparency: New Year's is probably my least favorite holiday. Some people live for New Year's celebrations. It would be hard for me to care less. Part of my trouble with New Year's is that it comes so close to Christmas, which I care way more about. I'm still in the middle of celebrating Christmas when we reach December 31 and January 1. I don't want to switch over to something else.

Also, New Year's comes at a weird time during our seasons, at least here in the northern U.S. Nothing really seems to change when the year does. Schools are halfway through their year at best. Winter still has a looooong way to go most years. Most of the major U.S. sports I follow are still going on: pro and college football are just wrapping up; basketball (both pro and college) and hockey feel like they're only just settling into their regular seasons. In my job as a pastor, thinking of the year starting around the beginning of December with Advent (the first season on the church calendar), makes a lot more sense: then the cycle of holidays and celebrations truly starts over.

Finally, I'm an introverted morning person. New Year's is not my cup of tea. Staying up until midnight is not out of the question for me; I do it on a semi-regular basis. However, after 9:00 pm or so I'm definitely not at my peak. Plus, I've been at a fair number of New Year's celebrations that are big gatherings with a bunch of people I don't really know. Meeting new people and being around a lot of people can be challenging enough for me. Doing that decently late at night is brutal. I may only be 28, but I feel too old for New Year's shenanigans. So when 2021 comes around, I'll probably be in bed, dreaming of more enjoyable (for me at least) holidays.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#156 Light

Today is December 23. At long last, days are getting longer again here in the north of the world. In two days we will celebrate Christmas, our annual celebration of the incarnation of the Son of God, the birth of Jesus the Christ, our Savior and Lord. Now, as many people know, the Bible makes no reference to the calendar when discussing the birth of Jesus. December 25 is in many ways a made-up birthdate.

(There are a couple prominent theories as to why Christians settled on December 25: One is that Christmas takes over former pagan winter solstice celebrations. Another is that a December 25 birthday would place Jesus' conception around March 25, the time of his death and resurrection, connecting God's work of creation and redemption in Jesus. Despite what you may have heard, neither theory is acutally totally certain.)

That being said, celebrating Jesus' birth toward the end of December is very fitting for those of us who live in northern lands. John 1 describes Jesus as "the true light" that "was coming into the world." In both John 8 and John 9, Jesus says that He is "the light of the world," and in John 12 Jesus says, "I have come into the world as a light." The slowly lengthening days remind us of how Jesus brings light to our world. The light of Christmas pierces the darkness of our despair, for God Himself has come to save us from sin and death, to rescue us from evil and oppression, to deliver us from suffering and brokenness. Jesus drives away our darkness with His perfect light. He helps us understand the truth about God and ourselves more and more. He overcomes our sinfulness and transforms us into His likeness. We celebrate Christmas because light has come into the world through Jesus. We await His coming again, when there will be no more night, when Jesus Himself will give us light rather than the sun or the moon (Revelation 21). This winter and every winter, we can celebrate, because Jesus our Savior shines light into our hearts, leading us to Him. Jesus, the light of the world, gives us hope.

Grace and peace,
BMH

#155 12 Days

Dear non-Christian world,

I understand your desire to secularize Christmas. While I wish that you shared my belief in Jesus Christ, you don't. But you still want to celebrate and give gifts at the end of the year. I don't blame you for that. (Now since the holiday's name itself refers to Christ, no one should really talk about celebrating Christmas without believing in Christ Jesus, but we'll ignore that for now.)

However, I do have a complaint I'd like to file. You probably know about the so-called twelve days of Christmas, at least from that rather ridiculous song. Because that expression is so popular, companies and TV shows and the like love to have their own twelve-day celebrations in the days leading up to December 25th. But here's the thing: the twelve days of Christmas START on December 25th. Christmas Day is the beginning of what Christians historically intended to be a twelve-day celebration. (After all, the birth of the Savior and the miracle of God becoming human while still remaining divine deserve quite a bit of rejoicing and reflecting.) So, please stop using the twelve days of Christmas incorrectly. If you're going to take something incredibly important to our faith, strip it of its intended religious meaning, and use it for your own purposes, please at least use our terminology accurately.

Thanks for your time. I hope that you do have an enjoyable Christmas season. If you've got questions, please reach out to me or another Christian you know.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#154 Let Henry Cavill Play Superman!

As you likely know, dear readers, I am a big Superman fan. So today let's talk about this guy:

That's Henry Cavill. He played Superman in 2013's Man of Steel, 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and 2017's Justice League. I think Henry is a fantastic Superman. He's got the classic look and physique. He's charismatic and talented. And that dude LOVES Superman. A week or two ago Henry was making the rounds doing interviews for his new Netflix show, The Witcher. Again and again he talked about how much he'd like to make more Superman movies. He's got story ideas. He's got passion. He's even—as far as I understand—still got a movie left on his original Superman contract. I would LOVE to see another Superman movie starring Henry Cavill. I'm confident he would do an excellent job.

But there's a problem. Warner Bros., the studio behind Superman movies, was not happy with the performance and reception of Cavill's Superman movies. Word on the street is that they'd like to wait for a while and then start over with a new actor.

I just have a little blog. It's not likely that anyone from Warner Bros. will see what I write. But I'm still posting in support of Henry Cavill. I really, really, really enjoyed his Superman movies, even if others didn't. But here's the thing: criticisms about story and tone are not Cavill's fault. That's not his job as an actor. (In fact, as I understand, the response to Cavill has been very positive overall.) If Warner Bros. wants to make different Superman movies, great! So does Henry. He'll tell you that he'd love to explore different possibilities. But, you ask, will audiences be able to handle a somewhat different take on the same character by the same actor? Um, yeah. James Bond movies do this all the time. Look at the recent Daniel Craig movies. Quantum of Solace was a hot mess? No worries, Skyfall is a smash. Spectre has some issues. That's okay, push forward with No Time to Die. Let's treat Superman the same way. Let Henry Cavill make more Superman movies. He knows the part. He's become a star. And he respects and really gets the character. So here's to you, Henry. You're still MY Superman. I'm pulling for you.

Grace and peace,
Brian

P.S. To follow up on post #152, Lanie did get to build her snowman. Check it out:

#153 Grace Church

When I was in seminary, Tess and I went church shopping. We were new to Grand Rapids and wanted to settle in with a church for the three years I would be in school. We hoped to find a congregation where we felt like we belonged, where we could get involved, and where we could hopefully grow and learn and even be challenged. We visited half a dozen churches or so over the first few months we were in town. There was a lot we liked, but we didn't feel like we'd found the place for us to be yet. There were so many churches around. Then I met a woman named Pat, who invited Tess and me to come to the church she attended: Grace Christian Reformed Church.

The next Sunday Tess and I went to Grace Church. When we were driving home after the service, we looked at each other and said, "This is the one." We never thought about looking for another church again.

For a little less than three years, Grace Church was home for Tess and me. There were a lot of things I loved about Grace Church. It began as an African-American church plant, and it grew into a church that was passionate about people from different backgrounds coming together in Christ. The congregation at Grace Church was more diverse than any I'd been a part of before. We celebrated black history month with an amazing dinner each year. We sang a whole variety of songs from different traditions. Lots of different people participated in worship, and children were intentionally included in children's messages and communion celebrations and waving streamers. Grace Church felt very intergenerational. It certainly wasn't perfect, but I learned and experienced a lot there.

I'd say there were two main things I loved about Grace Church. First, worship at Grace felt real. Sometimes churches (wrongly) make you feel like you need to get your life together before you come to church. Grace didn't feel that way to me. In sermons and prayers and fellowship, we talked about the tough times in life, about our weaknesses and struggles and need for God. Our worship (very appropriately) reminded us that we are all sinners saved by God's grace. The second thing I loved about Grace Church was communion. At Grace we truly celebrated communion. We gathered together at the front of the sanctuary in groups to share the bread and the cup. While we waited before and after our turn, we sang. Often we would begin quietly, even somberly, reflecting on Christ's sacrifice. But we would often finish with loud, joyful, triumphant songs, celebrating that Christ has triumphed and is with us to strengthen our faith and will come again. I firmly believe that communion is more than just remembering Jesus' death (though that is certainly necessary); it's also seeing how God is feeding us now and looking forward to what God will do. Grace Church helped me understand that.

I've been back to Grace Church a couple times since Tess and I left Grand Rapids and I became a pastor. Grace still feels like home. The worship is familiar and challenging and varied and points us to God. The congregation welcomes me like family, eager to hear about what I've been doing and how God is working in my life. I hope that I'm able to apply the lessons I learned at Grace Church in my ministry. I hope that a person who comes to a church I serve feels welcome, feels like worship is real, feels like there's reason to celebrate, and most of all, feels drawn toward Christ Jesus and His grace.

Grace and peace,
BMH