Stephen W. Hiemstra's Blog, page 244

35. Prayers of a Life in Tension by Stephen W. Hiemstra

Almighty Father,

We give thanks for the many blessings that you have given us. Among these gifts are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. May we likewise bless others with these gifts. Sanctify us in your righteousness that we might be fit stewards of your grace. And if our sanctification includes persecution, grant us to bear it with strength and dignity and grace always pointing to source of our strength and dignity and grace which is you. And as long as life shall remain in us never separate us from your love which is Christ Jesus that we may share it with others until we meet you in glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Germany

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and

do not lean on your own understanding.”

(Prov 3:5)

Germany

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

In July of 1972 before my freshman year of college, I traveled with the Parkdale Senior High School symphony band around Europe. We played concerts and visited tourist sites, such as Saltzburg, Munich, and Venice. Our final destination was Vienna, Austria where we competed in a music festival and played our grand performance in Mozart Hall. Pretty much everywhere we visited, the French that I had studied in high school was useless and most people spoke German. So when I started college at Indiana University (IU) in September, I registered to study German.

German was an interesting language, in part, because it was very logical and a bit counter-cultural. Worried about whether my draft board would accept my application to be a conscientious objector status,[1] I also envisioned that I could immigrate to the Federal Republic of Germany to avoid Vietnam—a completely uninformed idea. Even though I had visited Germany, I knew really nothing about it nor how I would support myself if I went there. Nevertheless, I enjoyed studying German and modern German literature, and continued my studies until I decided to leave IU in 1974.

After leaving IU, my focus shifted to economics, which required catch up work also in mathematics, statistics, and computer science. My language study at Cornell University focused on learning Spanish and on gaining oral and reading competence in Spanish during my time in Puerto Rico. My focus did not return to German until I later realized that Cornell would not support me for continuing with doctoral studies.

My interest in things German was sparked again at Cornell because I had a close friend, Joachin, in the department of agricultural economics who was from Germany. We spent at lot of time together and, because of our friendship, he began dating a student living in my house on Elmwood Avenue. When I learned that my time at Cornell would end once I finished my thesis, he suggested that I apply for an exchange program that Cornell had with Universität Göttingen [2] in Germany—this was a pretty exotic idea because I was only one outside the German studies program to apply. Shortly before I left for Puerto Rico in 1977, my friend graduated and returned to Germany where he was killed in a motorcycle accident on the autobahn, which I learned on returning from Puerto Rico.

On my return, I wrote and defended my thesis, which was entitled: Dual Market Structures in the Food Economy of Puerto Rico (January 1979). The U.S. Census Bureau took an interest in this work and I was offered and accepted a full-time position in Washington D.C., presumably to head up the Census of Puerto Rico. This position was to start in the June of 1978, but one morning in May I received an unexpected call. When I picked up the telephone, a very German sounding voice asked: “do you want to go to Germany?” I responded: “when do you need to have an answer?” He asked again: “do you want to go to Germany?” I managed to convince him to let me call him back in the morning. In the meantime, I called my father who said that I should talk to my supervisor at the Census Bureau. When I spoke to my supervisor, he was emphatic—“take the fellowship; go to Germany!” So I accepted the fellowship—everyone else (six others) who had applied for the fellowship had turned them down, perhaps because of the way the question was posed!

The decision to study in Germany was a big deal, in part, because it bought me time to apply to other doctoral programs and, in part, because I had no idea what I was getting into. Universität Göttingen was in a small university town by that name and, at the time, I could find no map of Germany—at home or in the library—detailed enough to locate the town. When I received letters from the university, they were in German which I could not read well enough to understand. My parents recruited a German woman from Lewinsville Presbyterian Church, [3] who tutored me in the language, but she was too polite to be much help.

When I left for Germany, I did so totally on faith that I would be able to find the university once I arrived. My flight with Icelandic Airlines flew to Luxembourg where the station-master directed me to board the correct train to Göttingen. It took the entire day to travel to Göttingen which was to cause me some heartache because I intended to spend the night in the Göttingen youth hostel, which closed its doors a half hour before I arrived. The taxi driver who dropped me off had already left when I discovered the hostel door was locked so I found myself wandering around the neighborhood looking for help.

Help came in the form of a man attending a meeting in a nearby school—he wasn’t much interested in helping me out, but took me back to the hostel and, much to my embarrassment, started throwing pebbles at the director’s window. The director finally came down and let me in, where I joined the other residents in their evening meal. By then, it was about 8:30 p.m. and I was exhausted, but happy to have a place to spend the night.

In the morning, the director moved me from a bunk bed in the dormitory to a private bedroom. Almost immediately I was visited by a young man who worked as a janitor in the hostel. We tried without success to speak in German causing me great consternation, but then I discovered that he was not German, but Polish and he spoke passable English. He had come to me looking to get advice about finding a college to study at in the U.S.!

After my visit with the Polish student and breakfast, I set out to find the international student office. The office was not hard to find, but the director then informed me that I was a week late in arriving because university registration required that I  visit a number of government offices and a doctor’s office; I also needed to move into the dormitory. In other words, I had two weeks of work to do in one week, but first paperwork, paperwork, paperwork—Sei willkommen zu Deutschland!

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscie....

[2] http://www.uni-goettingen.de.

[3] http://www.lewinsville.org.

Packer Explains God’s Sovereignty and Human Responsibility

J. I. Packer. 2008. Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (Orig Pub 1961). Downers Grove: IVP Press.

Review by Stephen W. Hiemstra

We live at a time of spiritual lethargy, which is often rightly equated with laziness. In part, this lethargy is the result of philosophical postmodernism that winsomely accepts ideas in obvious tension. Tension arises when my reality and your reality differ, but rather than work out the differences we just ignore the tension, as if it would just go away. But when the subject turns to God, this tension will not simply go away because God’s salvation is not defined by our convenient, custom realities; God defines the one reality that matters because he created it. If we are going to understand God’s reality, then we need to study theology.

In his book, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, J. I. Packer addresses the question: “if God is in control, why should we do anything at all?” (8) Packer answers the question by first observing that the apparent contradiction between divine sovereignty and human response is just that “an appearance of contradiction” (24), not a real contradiction, which arises because God is both king and judge (27). As king, God makes the rules; as judge, he holds us accountable. Packer writes:

“What the objector has to learn is that he, a creature and a sinner, has no right whatsoever to find fault with the revealed ways of God. Creatures are not entitled to register complaints about their Creator.” (28)

Because we are created by God as moral agents, we must not be tempted neither to believe that we alone are responsible for the Gospel’s effectiveness nor that God will sovereignly bring the Gospel to everyone on his own (30-40).

Packer sees evangelism as “to present Christ Jesus to sinful men in order that, through the power of the Holy Spirit, they may come” (44) to him in faith and as having only two motives—the love of God and the love of mankind (74).

The presentation of the Gospel message, according to Packer, has 4 parts: it is a message about God, sin, Christ, and a summons to faith and repentance (60-71).  Of course, the details here matter. For example, Packer see the true conviction of sin as having 3 aspects:

Awareness of a wrong relationship with God;
Conviction of sins always includes conviction of particular sins.
Awareness of our sinfulness—complete corruption and perversity in God’s sight. (64-65)

Another obvious detail is that the person of Christ and his divine work should not be separated (66-67).

At the time of publication, J.I. Packer was a professor of Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada) and is best known for his book, Knowing God.  Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God is written in 4 chapters:

Divine Sovereignty.
Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility.
Evangelism.
Divine Sovereignty and Evangelism.

These chapters are preceded by a foreword, preface, and introduction.

One of the more memorable points that Packer makes, is also one of his first:

“…what we do every time we pray is to confess our own impotence and God’s sovereignty. The very fact that a Christian prays is thus proof positive that he believes in the lordship of his God” (16).

Yes, yes, yes! Unfortunately, not everyone prays and prayer can be difficult in the absence of a clear theology to lead us. In a period of spiritual lethargy, when theology is held in contempt, this can clearly be a challenge.

As here in Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, J.I. Packer is distinguished by his clear exposition of biblical truth. Oftentimes, his clarity makes the Gospel seem simpler than the many theological controversies would lead us to believe—thank goodness.

Reference

Packer, J.I. 1993. Knowing God. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.

34. Prayers of a Life in Tension by Stephen W. Hiemstra

Holy and Gracious God,

In the power of your Holy Spirit, help us to cast off the works of the flesh

By separating ourselves from sexual immorality, impurities, sensuality, idoaltry, and sorcery,

Fleeing from from enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, dissensions, divisions, and envy,

Refusing to engage in drunkenness and orgies.

Through the example of Jesus Christ, bid us to purse the fruits of the spirit

By practicing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Crucify the passions of the flesh in us that we may passionately love the fruits of the spirit (Gal 5:19-24).

May peace on your terms grow to become our peace on our terms and

may we share it with those around us.

In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.

Puerto Rico

“Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” 

(Jer 1:4-5 ESV)

Puerto Rico

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

One of the formative events in my emerging career as an agricultural economist was the World Food Conference of 1976, which was held at the Stephen’s Theatre at Iowa State University. The conference followed concerns expressed in the 1972 Club of Rome report:

“The intent of the project is to examine the complex of problems troubling men of all nations: poverty in the midst of plenty; degradation of the environment; loss of faith in institutions; uncontrolled urban spread; insecurity of employment; alienation of youth; rejections of traditional values; and inflation and other monetary and economic disruptions..[which have] three characteristics in common: they occur to some degree in all societies; they contain technical, social, economic, and political elements; and, most important of all, they interact.”

The Club of Rome project followed the OPEC oil embargo in 1972 and world grain shortages in 1972-74, and it modeled the world economy and predicted catastrophic resource constraints before the end of the twentieth century—because the world’s best and the brightest minds had advanced this premise, it captured the attention of the entire planet. Here was an urgent reason to study economics, particularly agricultural economics, because starvation was expected. As one speaker put it: “ya gotta wanna”. Before you can avert starvation and save the world, you have to want to do it. Before the end the conference, I clearly wanted to.

Another important topic discussed at the conference were results of the Alliance for Progress that was initiated by the Kennedy Administration and focused on economic development in Latin America, but the lessons learned were applied worldwide. Economic development focused, in part, on land reform and modernization of agriculture to boost food production. Because of the successes of Operation Bootstrap in Puerto Rico after World War II, Kennedy appointed Governor Luis Muñoz Marín as coordinator of the program.[1]

When I left Iowa State to begin graduate studies at Cornell University, my interest was to study economic development with particular interest in Latin America, where Cornell had strong ties. One challenge in pursuing Latin American studies was that I had studied German, not Spanish, in college and would need to become fluent. So I enrolled in Spanish at Cornell and looked for opportunities to study in Latin America in doing my thesis research.

Although I had never been to Latin America, my father—the other Stephen Hiemstra—had strong ties to Puerto Rico. All through my college years, my Dad (and oftentimes my entire family) traveled to Puerto Rico because  his work as chief economist for the Food and Nutrition Service in the U.S. Department of Agriculture required periodic visits. As chief economist, he was responsible for, among other things, program evaluation of the food stamp program and, because about two-thirds of all Puerto Ricans were eligible for food stamps, the Puerto Rican program required special attention. Consequently, my Dad suggested that I consider Puerto Rico as the place to focus my research. When I ran the idea by my advisor at Cornell, he was delighted and told me that he had personal ties to the director of the agricultural experiment station at Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.[2] By the end of my year of college Spanish in 1977, arrangements had been made to finance my studies on the island for the summer.

I flew to Puerto Rico by way of Mexico City (Aeroméxico was wonderful) where I spent ten days with a Chilean friend (and former roommate), Eduardo, who was working at the time for the Inter American Development Bank (IADB). While I expected that Eduardo would use the occasion to share his IADB work experiences with me, but he felt that it was more important to expose me to Mexican culture. For example, in Mexico City we visited the Museo Nacional de Antropología—full of pre-columbian artifacts,[3] Chapultepec—a very large park with canals in the center of the city, and Pirámide del Sol—an Aztex pyramid.[4] Then, Eduardo’s roommate, Cuauhtémoc,[5] invited me to a fiesta de quince años (quinceanera) in Veracruz, Mexico.[6]

My experience in Mexico overwhelmed my sense of social justice between the beggers, small children working as street merchants, and the vast differences between rich and poor. To see old men walking naked in the streets in the very shadows of great cathedrals, startled  and shamed me. Fearful that I would run out of money far from home, I refused to buy much of anything, even from the small children; at one point, Eduardo bought some small trinket from the kids right after I refused even to talk to them—shaming me in my fear. The same fear of the future that keeps us from offering charity in our comfortable surroundings somehow becomes obscenely perverse in the company of those that are absolutely destitute.

The quinceanera also brought shame. The quinceanera was for Cuauhtémoc’s cousin and, because she was now 15, by custom she was eligible to marry. At the party, her friends all lined up to dance with me because everyone knew that I was a gringo and single, but, as a self-respecting 24 year old, I did not know how to react to invitations to dance from a room full of 15 year old girls; in any case, being inebriated, I did not handle it well. After the party, when I objected to sleeping in a bed with three other guys, the family put me up in a hotel—all by myself. When I woke up in the morning in this strange hotel, Eduardo and Cuauhtémoc were nowhere to be seen and I had no money, no idea where I was, a terrible hangover, and not enough Spanish fluency to work it all out. That evening, I found myself at a dinner party as the guest of honor of the young lady’s parents who were anxious to arrange a wedding for their daughter; she, like any other 15 year old, found the conversation tiresome and spent the evening watching television. In the end, I was shamed of my ignorance and I think that Cuauhtémoc found me a disappointment.

After 10 days of tacos (even though freshly made) for the three meals a day, I was ready for Puerto Rico. On my last day in Mexico City, I think that Eduardo was tired of my complaining about the tacos and took me to a nice Mexican restaurant. He ordered dinner for me, but refused to tell me what he had ordered. After we finished eating, he asked if I enjoyed my dinner and I said yes. He then told me that I had eaten cat—to this day, I am not sure what it was.

My flight to Puerto Rico included a fueling stop in Guatamala—I only remember the sweltering heat and humidity. By the time we arrived in San Juan, it was already late afternoon. For some reason, I had expected that someone would meet me at the airport, but I found myself alone in the airport the only white person in a large crowd of black people; while I had read many books about Puerto Rico and its large population of persons of African descent, I never expected to find myself racially isolated in this kind of situation. When I asked for directions to the bus station, I only got blank stares—finally, someone explained that I need only take one of the buses out in front of the airport. Because Río Piedras was not far from the airport, I decided to take a taxi hoping that I would not get lost. It was almost dark—about 8:30 p.m.—when I arrived at the University of Puerto Rico.

For some reason, I expected that the University of Puerto Rico knew that I was coming and walked confidently to the main dormitory with my one large suitcase. When I arrived, a dozen students were hanging out at the front desk when I inquired about a room. The desk clerk knew nothing about me and had no idea what to tell me, but one of the students was from New York and told me that he knew a boarding house with a spare room. So in the dark, about 10 p.m., we walked to Calle Manilla where he introduced me to Matilda, an old woman who spoke no English at all but who had an extra bed to rent for 30 dollars a month. Happy to have any place at all, I took a shower and went to bed, wondering whether I had made some horrible mistake.

Years later (2012), drifting off in church listening to a sermon in Spanish, again I wondered whether I had made a horrible mistake in choosing to get involved in Hispanic ministry. I prayed: “Lord, why have you brought me to this time and this place.” God answered my prayer as I started to reflect on how I had come to Christ through the testimony of a young New York gang member—Nicky Cruz,[7] in the movie, The Cross and the Switchblade.[8] I thought: “Cruz, Cruz—that sounds Puerto Rican.” I later learned that Nicky Cruz was indeed Puerto Rican. In other words, God had brought me to faith at age 13 through the testimony of a young Puerto Rican, even though at the time I had no idea what a Puerto Rican was.

Consequently, neither my “horrible mistake” in 1977 nor my “horrible mistake” in 2012 was any mistake at all.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allianc....

[2] La Estación Experimental Agrícola en Río Piedras. http://www.eea.uprm.edu/estaciones/rio-piedras.

[3] http://www.mna.inah.gob.mx/index.html.

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid....

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuauht%....

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veracru....

[7] http://NickyCruz.org.

[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amg_Q....

REFERENCES

Iowa State University. 1977. Proceedings of the World Food Conference of 1976, June 27-July 1. Ames: Iowa State University Press.

Meadows, Donella, H. Dennis L. Meadows, Jorgen Randers, and William W. Behrens III. 1975. The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome’s Project on the Predicament of Mankind. New York: Universe Books Publishers.

Ortberg Sees Open Doors

John Ortberg. 2015. All the Places to Go—How Will You Know? God has Placed Before You an Open Door: What Will You Do? Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Review by Stephen W. Hiemstra

When I was in my twenties, overwhelmed with the immense uncertainties of life, I made a promise to myself—that I would never turn down an opportunity in life for lack of courage or for the unwillingness to give it my best effort. More than once, I rolled the dice and bet on a future that at the time seemed nothing more than a pipe dream. In the midst of all this uncertainty, I always felt God’s presence and divine provision, but I must admit that I tired of crawling, having depleted the last reserves of my energy, through so many open doors.

In his book, All the Places to Go—How will You Know?, John Ortberg explores the idea of the opened door, as presented before the church in Philadelphia:

“The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” (Rev 3:7-8; 4)

Ortberg sees the opened door both as a symbol of boundless opportunities and  of being useful to God (5). It is also for Ortberg a reminder of a beloved Greek professor, Gerald P. Hawthorne, which he had known while a student at Wheaton College (268).

For Ortberg, the opened door is a fitting metaphor for how God invites us to step out in faith and service rather than having us wait for confirmation and comfort (257). He writes (10): “It’s an open door. To find out what’s on the other side, you’ll have to go through.” This opened door invitation always appears riskier than it really is because of who offers the invitation and for what purpose. The purpose that Ortberg sees is intensely interesting: “God’s primary will for your life is not the achievements you accrue; it’s the person you become.” (15). As God tells Abram: “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 12:3; 9, 35). In offering such blessings, God invites us to decide which doors to go through as part of our sanctification (16) and our decisions form our character and mold our identity (8).

This identity issue is important and distinguishes open door people from closed door people. Ortberg highlights these characteristics of open door people:

“Open-Door People are Ready, Ready or Not” (25).
“Open-Door People are Unhindered by Uncertainty” (29).
“Open-Door People are Blessed to Bless” (35).
“Open-Door People Resist and Persist” (38).
“Open-Door People Have Fewer Regrets” (42).
“Open-Door People Learn About Themselves” (46).
“Open-Door People Are Not Paralyzed by Their Imperfections” (48).

 Of all these observations about open-door people, the question of regrets was for me most interesting, as Ortberg writes:

“We begin our lives regretting the wrong things we have done, but we end them regretting the open doors we never went through.” (43)

Think of all the films that chronicle the stories of people who took risks that others thought foolish at the time—in Titanic (1997), a young woman scorns the proposal of a rich young man to hang out with a vagabond or Last Holiday (2006), a woman empties her bank account on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Europe only to learn her fatal diagnosis was an error.  Risks not taken lead to regrets and Ortberg observes that open-door people are less likely to have them because: “The reason I can be open to tomorrow is that God is already there.” (24). As believers in God, we know the end of the story is in Christ.

Ortberg writes his book in 10 chapters:

All the Places to God…How Will You Know?
Open-Door People and Closed-Door People
No Mo FOMO: Overcoming the Fear of Missing Out
Common Myths about Doors
Door #1 or Door #2
How to Cross a Threshold
What Open Doors Will Teach
The Jonah Complex
Thank God for Closed Doors
The Door in the Wall

These chapters are followed by an afterword, acknowledgments, notes, and an author bio. Placing his acknowledgments section among end materials draws attention to the influence of his Greek professor and is an Ortberg innovation.

John Ortberg is author of a number of books, senior pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, and an adjunct faculty member at Fuller Theological Seminary. He was educated at Wheaton College and holds both a masters of divinity and doctorate of clinical psychology from Fuller Theological Seminary. He serves as a trustee of Fuller Theological Seminary and a board member of the Dallas Willard Center for Spiritual Formation.

John Ortberg’s All the Places to Go—How Will You Know? is a surprisingly lucid survey of what it means both to be a disciple of Christ and to respond to God’s invitation to grow in the faith, as Jesus says: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” (Rev 3:20) The open door motif adds fresh insight into God’s call at a time of critical need in the church for new models of discipleship and service. As such, this is a book to share with young people, small group discussions, and, of course, aspiring pastors.

He defines an open door as: “divine invitations to make our lives count, with God’s help, for the sake of others.” (63)

I am reminded of the dream of Solomon—“God said, ask what I shall give you.” (1 Kgs 3:5)—and Solomon asked for wisdom, which God was pleased to give him (1 kgs 3:10).

In past studies of corporate culture, I became aware of the special influence of mistakes in forming culture because they involve investment of more money. Thus, painful losses form the shadow side of open doors. In confronting such losses in our own lives, Jesus’ model is his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Rather than turning into his pain, Jesus turns to God: “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (Matt 26:39)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(1997_film).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Holiday_(2006_film).

http://www.JohnOrtberg.com.

Menlo Park, California. Menlo Park Presbyterian Church (http://Menlo.church) is affiliated with the Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians, commonly known as ECO (http://eco-pres.org).

http://Fuller.edu.

33. Prayers for a Life in Tension by Stephen W. Hiemstra

Great Physician, Prince of Peace, Lord of the Sabbath,

Where can we find peace but with you? Holy Spirit grant us your peace. As our bodies are at war within us… We want to be filled with your peace, impatiently filling our stomachs beyond need and beyond capacity looking for you but finding only the refrigerator. repeatedly popping pills for the unsightly ailments real and imagined needing you but but not making room for you in our busy schedules. Heal our hearts, bodies, and minds; grant us your peace.

Where can we find peace but with you? Jesus grant us your peace. As our relationships are in tadders… We want to be faithful children and parents and spouses imprudently grasping first after our own goals, looking to be served by those around us rather than serving, jealously demanding more from others than from ourselves. Heal our families and relationships; grant us your peace.

Where can we find peace but with you? Gentle Father grant us your peace. As we neglect our fellowship with you.., we want to be faithful worshipers, servants, and ministers, serving you but more nearly trying to get our own way, unfaithfully constructing idols of things great and small, hoping in total foolishness to bribe and control you. Forgive our sin; look beyond our transgressions; pardon our iniquity.

Grant us your abundant peace, in Jesus’ previous name, Amen.

The Audition

“Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!

Serve the LORD with gladness!

Come into his presence with singing!”

(Ps 100:1-2)

The Audition

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

At the end of my second summer working as an aquatics instructor at Goshen Scout Camps, I pooled my summer savings with other savings and bought a new trombone, a Conn 88h. The Conn 88h was considered a base trombone, unlike the Silver Bach Stradivarius—a tenor trombone—that I had played since the fifth grade. The Conn 88h was visibly different in having both a Remington mouthpiece and a trigger for outer register notes, but most people cited the deeper, more mellow sound as the most important distinction.

Distinctive or not, my new trombone helped me win first chair in an audition to the Prince George’s County Youth Orchestra, a much coveted position, and I moved up to practicing an hour a day. As I entered my senior year, I had already been playing first chair in the Parkdale Senior High School Symphonic Band and the school orchestra going on two years; I also enrolled in a music composition class. At Riverdale Presbyterian Church, I was also singing in the Youth Choir and taking voice lessons from choir director. Privately, I studied trombone with David Bragunier, who at that time was the tuba player in the National Symphony Orchestra.

Although I had played trombone since the fifth grade and was involved in numerous musical groups, it was not until my senior year of high school that I started to think of making music a career. Senior year created the atmosphere for making such decisions because college applications needed to be written which, of course, involved a bit of stock-taking. In taking stock, I realized that music had become my primary social activity and I enjoyed modest success as a player between taking first chair in every group that I played with and competing in solo competitions at the county and state festivals. Consequently, in the fall of 1971 as a senior in high school, I announced my intention to audition for entrance into the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana.

I am not sure that I understood at that point the seriousness of my decision to audition for music school, either in terms of the talent and commitment required. After all, most of my friends had no idea of what they would study in college and college seemed such a long ways off at that point. Picking a course of study in high school seemed to allow plenty of time to prepare and seemed much like picking out a new suit to see what looks good and what fits. But studying music was not like picking out a new suit, I learned, because my audition was only a matter of a couple months off and I was woefully unprepared, as my teacher worked hard to convince me.

The heart of my teacher’s concerns about my preparation originated with the simple problem that trombone playing was primarily a social activity for me, not a professional aspiration. Professional musicians practice many hours of day to reach a level of perfection seldom attained by amateurs. For me, moving from half an hour of practice to an hour a day of practice daily was a big move, but it was not indicative of a professional commitment.

By yearend 1971, I moved from an hour of practice daily to closer to two hours a day and my teacher had arranged for me to study with a colleague of his, a trombonist with the National Symphony Orchestra. My new teacher began by adjusting my embouchure to account for my over-bite and to move to playing with a wider range in the upper register. This new embouchure required new muscles in my mouth to be used and the old muscles to be used differently, which initially reduced my performance range. Of course, I was excited about my new teacher and all these changes, but I was also a bit overwhelmed—I was practicing more, getting prepared for my audition, and overwhelmed by the whole prospect of visiting Indiana University in February.

Overwhelmed was also my Dad who did not know what to make of my new interest in music, even though he supported my efforts both to prepare for my audition and travel to Indiana. Music was a great hobby, he said, but my modest talent did not seem adequate to support a viable career in his view; still, he was prepared to accept the judgment of the music department auditioning me. Consequently, he asked that I give the audition my best shot, but accept the outcome of the audition—if I passed, then I could study music, but, if I failed, he asked that I focus my studies elsewhere. My Dad’s advice about the audition seemed sound enough and I promised to accept it.

When the time came to audition, I traveled to Bloomington, Indiana on a Friday alone and stayed the night in one of the dormitory. A music student that I met the previous summer at a church retreat lived in that dorm and she met me for dinner in the cafeteria and introduced me to a few people. Tired from the trip, I took a shower and went to bed early.

On Saturday morning, I walked over to the music building arriving early to warm up. The building was full of practice rooms and prospective students were directed to an empty room to warm up. After warming up, I found myself waiting for what seemed like an eternity with students coming and going everywhere—horns blowing, stings playing, flutes piping—auditions ran late. When my turn to play arrived, I was all jazzed up, overstimulated, so anxious beyond words that I was unable to play even a Bb scale. I gave the judges no excuse to pass me; the audition was a nonstarter, dismal failure.

In the fall of 1972 I began attending Indiana University without a clear major. My failed audition so shamed me that I was unable to continue playing trombone or to enjoy listening to classical musical until after I got married and moved to Centreville, Virginia, more than a decade later. With the formation of a new church plant in Centreville in 1987, I joined the church choir and, with a new job and our first child on the way, in 1989 I bought a studio upright, Young Chang piano and learned to play hymns.

Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit

Art by Sharron Beg

Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Luncheon for the Soul, Wednesday, June 15, 2016 Trinity Presbyterian Church, Herndon, Virginia

Welcome

Good afternoon. Welcome to the Luncheon for the Soul. My name is Stephen Hiemstra. I am a volunteer pastor from the Centreville Presbyterian Church and a Christian author.

Today’s message focuses on a question: In what ways can we make room for God in our lives? (2X)

Prayer

Let’s pray.

Heavenly father.  Thank you for your presence among us this morning.  We appreciate that your word still moves our hearts and stimulates our minds. Make your presence especially obvious in this moment and this place.  In the power of your Holy Spirit, open our eyes and give us ears that hear. In the name of Christ Jesus, Amen.

Scripture

Today’s text comes from the Gospel of Mathew 5:3. This is the first Beatitude and a part of the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount.

Hear the word of the Lord:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 5:3 ESV)

The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Introduction

In October 2014, I was invited to offer comments on my Book, A Christian Guide to Spirituality, at the Mubarak Mosque in Chantilly, Virginia on the day of Eid. In the Islamic Calendar, Eid is a day as holy as Easter on the Christian calendar and it celebrates the sacrifice of Abraham of his son, Isaac, by means of their own sacrifices of domestic animals, such as sheep.

This invitation made me very nervous. As a Christian, what would I say about the Christian faith to a group of Muslims? Consequently, during the three days before Eid, I began a period of prayer and fasting and asked God what I should say to the Moslems.

God responded to my prayer, but he said nothing about my invitation. Instead and much better, God gave me the inspiration to write a new book, Life in Tension, which I hope to publish later this summer.

In this example of answered prayer, I spent three days in prayer and fasting. In this way, I was open to her a word from God and God responded.

In what ways can we make room for God in our lives? (2X)

Analysis

Our text today gives another answer to this question, but this text is a bit more interesting and also more complicated in the context of the Bible. Listen again to today’s text:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 5:3 ESV)

Every Word in this Beatitude is interesting for different reasons, as we will see.

Blessed (2X). The New Testament was originally written in the Greek language and the Greek for blessed (the word μακάριος) means: “favor, blessing, fortune, happy (or joyful), and privileged”.

In the Old Testament the most famous use of the word blessed appears in Psalm 1, where we read:

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Ps 1:1-2 ESV)

Consequently, many times blessed is said to mean more honor or blessings, not only happy or joyful.

Poor in Spirit (2X). This expression is found nowhere else in the Bible, but it explains the significance of the a phrase in Isaiah 61:1, where it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;” (Isa 61:1 ESV)

Here poor means “brokenhearted”, “captives”, and “those who are bound” which is very similar to the phrase in Matthew for “poor in spirit”.

More important in the understanding of the word, poor, is that in Hebrew, which was the language of the Old Testament, poor also means “afflicted, humble, meek.” Consequently, the phrase in Matthew 5:3, “poor in spirit” appears to be a direct  translation of the word, poor, in Hebrew, which has a wider significance in Hebrew than in Greek or Spanish or English.

The Kingdom of Heaven (2X). In the Hebrew language, the covenantal name of God (YHWH) is holy and can only be used in a worship service. In other contexts, phrases such as “the Lord”, “The Name” or “The Kingdom of Heaven” are substituted out of respect for the holiness of the name of God.

After all this analysis, it is accordingly possible to interpret the First Beatitude as saying: God blesses those that are humble or, more appropriately, God blesses those that make space in their lives for him; because those that are humble have respect for other people, including God.

Being humble makes space for other people; as does forgiveness, grace, patience, generosity, mercy, compassion, and other fruits of the spirit. All of the spiritual gifts make room in our lives for relationships, including our relationship with God.

In what ways can we make room for God in our lives? (2X)

Further Analysis

The idea of offering space for God in our lives (and, by implication, for other people) has a long tradition in the Bible. For example, the night after King Solomon had dedicated the first temple in Jerusalem, God said to him:

“if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chr 7:14)

Today which country needs this promise the most? (2X)

After the Beatitudes, later in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matt 7:7 ESV)

If we offer more space in our lives to Christ, he promises to come into our lives and save us from our sins, our fears, our pains.

In what ways can we make room for God in our lives? (2X)

Closing Prayer

Let’s pray.

Almighty God, beloved Son, Ever-present Spirit, we praise you for your gracious love and consolation in times of pain and loss. Cleanse our hearts of the evil passions that lead us to sin and lead to violence against other people. In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.

 

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Luke 6:20 ESV)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/03/eid-al-adha-2014_n_5927040.html.

μακάριος means “humans privileged recipient of divine favor” and can also mean “favored, blessed, fortunate, happy, privileged” (BDAG 4675, 2, 2a).

The Luke’s Gospel, this Beatitude refers only to the poor (Lukes 6:20), but Matthew was an Apostle (and likely witness to the Sermon on the Mount) while Luke was a colleague of Paul and a Greek (and not a witness to the Sermon).

“poor,afflicted,humble,meek” (BDB 7238).

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Gal 5:22-23)

References

Bauer, Walter (BDAG). 2000. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd ed. ed. de Frederick W. Danker. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. .

Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius (BDB). 1905. Hebrew-English Lexicon, unabridged.

Dichosos Los Pobres En Espíritu

Art by Sharron Beg

Dichosos Los Pobres En Espíritu

Por Stephen W. Hiemstra,

Almuerzo para el Alma, Miércoles, 15 de Junio, 2016, Iglesia Presbiteriana de Trinidad, Herndon, Virginia

Bienvenido

Buenos tarde. Bienvenido al Almuerzo para el Alma. Mi nombre es Stephen Hiemstra. Soy un voluntario pastoral de la Iglesia Presbiteriano de Centreville y también un autor cristiano.

Nuestro mensaje de hoy enfoca en una pregunta: ¿de cuál manera podemos hacer espacio en nuestras vidas para Dios? (2X)

Oración

Vamos a orar.

Padre celestial. Gracias por tu presencia entre nosotros esta mañana. Gracias que tu palabra todavía mueva nuestras corazones y estimula nuestras mentes. Haga tu presencia especialmente claro en este momento y este lugar. En el poder de tu Espíritu Santa, abran nuestros ojos y danos oídos que oyen. En el nombre de Jesucristo, Amen.

Texto

El texto de hoy viene del evangelio de Mateo 5:3. Eso es la primera beatitud y una parte de la introducción del sermón de la montaña. Escuchan la palabra de Dios:

“Dichosos los pobres en espíritu, porque el reino de los cielos les pertenece.” (Mateo 5:3 NVI)

La palabra del Senior.  Gracias a Dios.

Introducción

En Octubre de 2014, fui invitado a ofrecer comentario sobre mi libro, Una Guía Cristiana a la Espiritualidad, en la Mezquita de Mubarak en Chantilly, Virginia por el día de Eid. En el calendario musulmán, Eid es un día tan santo como pascua en el calendario cristiano y celebran el sacrificio de Abraham de su hijo Isaac por medio de sus propios sacrificios de animales domésticos, como ovejas.

Yo fui muy nervioso sobre esta invitación. ¿Cómo cristiano, que debería decir sobre la fe cristiana a un grupo de musulmanes? Entonces, durante los tres días antes Eid, empecé a un periodo de oración y ayuno, y pedí a Dios cual debiera decir a los musulmanes. Dios me respondió a esta oración, pero no dijo nada sobre mi invitación. En lugar y mucho mejor, Dios me dio la inspiración para escribir un nuevo libro, La Vida en Tensión, que voy a publicar más tarde en este verano.

En este ejemplo de la oración contestada, pasé tres días en oración y ayuno. En esta manera, yo estaba abierta a oír una palabra de Dios y Dios respondió.

¿De cuál manera podemos hacer espacio en nuestras vidas para Dios? (2X)

Análisis

Nuestro texto de hoy tiene una otra repuesta a esta pregunta, pero el texto es un poco más interesante y también complicado en el contexto de la biblia. Escuchan el texto de hoy otra vez:

“Dichosos los pobres en espíritu, porque el reino de los cielos les pertenece.” (Mateo 5:3)

Cada palabra en esta beatitud es interesante por razones diferentes como vamos a ver.

Dichosos (2X). El Nuevo Testamento fue escrito originalmente en el lenguaje griego y el griego para dichosos (la palabra μακάριος) significa: “del favor, bendiciones, fortuna, alegría (o gozo), y privilegio”. En el Antiguo Testamento el uso más famoso parece en Salmo 1 donde es escrito:

“Dichoso el hombre que no sigue el consejo de los malvados, ni se detiene en la senda de los pecadores ni cultiva la amistad de los blasfemos sino que en la ley del SEÑOR se deleita, y día y noche medita en ella.” (Ps 1:1-2).

Entonces, muchas veces se dice que dichosos significa más honra o bendiciones, ni solamente gozo y alegría.

Los Pobres En Espíritu (2X). Se encuentra esta expresión en ningún otro lugar en la biblia, pero explica mejor la significancia del frase en Isaías 61:1 donde se escrita:

“El Espíritu del SEÑOR omnipotente está sobre mí, por cuanto me ha ungido para anunciar buenas nuevas a los pobres. Me ha enviado a sanar los corazones heridos, a proclamar liberación a los cautivos y libertad a los prisioneros…” (Isa 61:1)

Pobre aquí significa “los corazones heridos”, “los cautivos”, y “los prisioneros” muy cerca del sentido de la frase de Mateo: “los pobres en espíritu”.

Más importante en el entendimiento de la palabra “pobre” es que en hebreo, que estaba la lengua del Antiguo Testamento, significa también “afligidos, humilde, manso”. Entonces, la frase en Mateo 5:3, “los pobres en espíritu” parece como una traducción directamente de la palabra “pobre” en hebreo que tiene un significado más amplio en hebreo que en griego o español o inglés.

El Reino De Los Cielos (2X). En la lengua hebreo, el nombre de pacto  de Dios (YHWH) es santo y pude ser usar solamente en un servicio de alabanzas. En otros contextos, se usen frases, como el señor, “el nombre, o el reino del cielo por respeto a la santidad del nombre de Dios.

Después todo este análisis, eso es posible a interpretar la primera beatitud como diciendo: Dios bendiga los que son humildad o, más apropiado, Dios bendiga los que hacen espacio en la vida para él; porque los que son humildad tienen respeto para otras personas, incluso Dios.

La humildad hace espacio para otras personas; también el perdón, la gracia, la paciencia, la generosidad, la misericordia, la compasión, y otras frutas del espíritu. Todos los dones espirituales hacen espacio en nuestras vidas para relaciones, incluso relaciones con Dios.

¿En cuál manera podemos hacer espacio en nuestras vidas para Dios? (2X)

Más Análisis

Esta idea de ofrecer espacio para Dios (y, por implicación, otras personas) tiene una tradición antigua en la biblia. Por ejemplo, la noche después el rey Solomon había dedicado el primero templo en Jerusalén Dios le dijo:

“Si mi pueblo, que lleva mi nombre, se humilla y ora, y me busca y abandona su mala conducta, yo lo escucharé desde el cielo, perdonaré su pecado y restauraré su tierra.” (2 Chr 7:14)

¿Cuál país hoy necesita esta promesa el más? (2X)

Después las beatitudes, más tarde en el sermón de la montaña, Jesús dijo:

“Pidan, y se les dará; busquen, y encontrarán; llamen, y se les abrirá.” (Mateo 7:7)

Si nosotros ofrecer más espacio en nuestras vidas a Cristo, el promete a venir en nuestras vidas y sálvanos de nuestras pecados, nuestros miedos, nuestras dolores.

En cuál manera podemos hacer más espacio en nuestras vidas para Dios.(2X)

Oración Para Terminar

Oramos.

Dios todopoderoso, amado hijo, omnipresente Espíritu, alabamos por tu gracioso amor y consolación en tiempos de dolor y pérdida. Limpia nuestros corazones de las pasiones malvadas que nos llevan a pecar y lidera a violencia contra otras personas. En el precioso nombre de Jesús, amen.

“Dichosos ustedes los pobres, porque el reino de Dios les pertenece.” (Lukas 6:20 NVI)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/03/eid-al-adha-2014_n_5927040.html.

μακάριος means “humans privileged recipient of divine favor” and can also mean “favored, blessed, fortunate, happy, privileged” (BDAG 4675, 2, 2a).

En el evangelio de Lucas, esta bienaventuranza refiere solamente a los “pobres” (Lucas 6:20), pero Mateo era apóstol de cristo (y testigo del sermón de las montañas) mientras Lucas era un colegio de Paul y griego (y no testigo del sermón de las montañas).

“poor,afflicted,humble,meek” (BDB 7238).

“En cambio, el fruto del Espíritu es amor, alegría, paz, paciencia, amabilidad, bondad, fidelidad, humildad y dominio propio. No hay ley que condene estas cosas.” (Gal 5:22-23)

Referencias

Bauer, Walter (BDAG). 2000. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd ed. ed. de Frederick W. Danker. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. .

Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius (BDB). 1905. Hebrew-English Lexicon, unabridged.