Five persons just completed the Fall session of the New Members Class and shared their testimonies with the pastoral elders. We enjoyed a terrific small group experience together while getting to know each other better and sharing our spiritual journeys. Spending eight weeks together talking about faith related matters made us feel more connected to each other, to our church and to God.
The next New Members Class begins on Wednesday, January 9, 7-8:15 pm. Please consider joining me if you are ready to profess or re-affirm your faith in Jesus publicly, if you wish to be baptized, or if you want to become a full member of Hope Fellowship Church. I want to get to know you better and I am eager to meet with you.
The New Members Class is not the only thing that is starting up this week. As a congregation, we’re also going to begin a journey through the Psalms. In fact, if you have a One Year Bible, I hope that you've already read Psalms 1-5.
A whole year in the Book of Psalms? Preaching on a Psalm every Sunday in 2013? Yep!
Last year, our series on “Inextricably Linked Lives” in the Old Testament presented a serious challenge. There were so many verses to read every day. The stories were easy to follow. But the regulations and the prophecies were often tedious and confusing. Well worth the work, mind you. But hard to digest!
In comparison to last year’s reading challenge, this year will feel like a bit of a break as we focus on only the Psalms and the Proverbs in the One Year Bible. The passages are quite short, rarely more than a dozen verses a day. And for the most part they’re easy to understand. What will not be so easy is dealing with the feelings contained in the Psalms. As poems, they express our fears, our hopes, our anger and our gratitude. As songs, they voice our sadness, our guilt, our disappointment in life and our praise. As prayers, they direct our thoughts and emotions to the Lord.
Don’t expect rhyme and don’t expect rhythm just because the Psalms are poetic. Instead, expect pairs of ideas and lots of symbols. In fact, it would be an interesting exercise to list all the metaphors that the psalmists used to describe God.
Psalms can be read silently or read aloud. Marja and I have been alternating verses as we read each day’s Psalm to each other at the breakfast table. Find out what works for you or your family. Then reflect on the verse, image or thought that meant the most to you, and why.
The Psalms can also be prayed. Simply take the thought and feeling contained in each verse and direct it to God in a personal way. For example, Psalm 1:1 says, “Blessed are those who do not walk in step with the wicked.” As a prayer, it could sound like this: “Dear Lord, please bless me and help me to shut out any bad advice or negative influence that comes from those who want nothing to do with you.”
The Book of Psalms will help us express what we have a hard time expressing. Like a favourite song or poem that captures what we want to say, the psalms put our innermost feelings into words.
A new year is an opportunity to enjoy a new beginning. I hope that some of you will make the New Members Class part of that new beginning. And I hope that all of you will accept the challenge of living with the Psalms for an entire year.
- Pastor Peter
The next New Members Class begins on Wednesday, January 9, 7-8:15 pm. Please consider joining me if you are ready to profess or re-affirm your faith in Jesus publicly, if you wish to be baptized, or if you want to become a full member of Hope Fellowship Church. I want to get to know you better and I am eager to meet with you.
The New Members Class is not the only thing that is starting up this week. As a congregation, we’re also going to begin a journey through the Psalms. In fact, if you have a One Year Bible, I hope that you've already read Psalms 1-5.
A whole year in the Book of Psalms? Preaching on a Psalm every Sunday in 2013? Yep!
Last year, our series on “Inextricably Linked Lives” in the Old Testament presented a serious challenge. There were so many verses to read every day. The stories were easy to follow. But the regulations and the prophecies were often tedious and confusing. Well worth the work, mind you. But hard to digest!
In comparison to last year’s reading challenge, this year will feel like a bit of a break as we focus on only the Psalms and the Proverbs in the One Year Bible. The passages are quite short, rarely more than a dozen verses a day. And for the most part they’re easy to understand. What will not be so easy is dealing with the feelings contained in the Psalms. As poems, they express our fears, our hopes, our anger and our gratitude. As songs, they voice our sadness, our guilt, our disappointment in life and our praise. As prayers, they direct our thoughts and emotions to the Lord.
Don’t expect rhyme and don’t expect rhythm just because the Psalms are poetic. Instead, expect pairs of ideas and lots of symbols. In fact, it would be an interesting exercise to list all the metaphors that the psalmists used to describe God.
Psalms can be read silently or read aloud. Marja and I have been alternating verses as we read each day’s Psalm to each other at the breakfast table. Find out what works for you or your family. Then reflect on the verse, image or thought that meant the most to you, and why.
The Psalms can also be prayed. Simply take the thought and feeling contained in each verse and direct it to God in a personal way. For example, Psalm 1:1 says, “Blessed are those who do not walk in step with the wicked.” As a prayer, it could sound like this: “Dear Lord, please bless me and help me to shut out any bad advice or negative influence that comes from those who want nothing to do with you.”
The Book of Psalms will help us express what we have a hard time expressing. Like a favourite song or poem that captures what we want to say, the psalms put our innermost feelings into words.
A new year is an opportunity to enjoy a new beginning. I hope that some of you will make the New Members Class part of that new beginning. And I hope that all of you will accept the challenge of living with the Psalms for an entire year.
- Pastor Peter
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