Highlights from The Pastor's Book

Having read Pastor Hughes' chapter in Worship by the book (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/145835), I felt that Chapter 1 here (authored by O’Donnell) paled in comparison. I'd skip the chapter, save for the section on page 27 that highlighted how Christ fulfilled the Jer. 31:31-34 prophecy, which was recorded in Heb. 8:7-13,

"Under the new covenant, Christians are thus to worship all the time—in their individual lives, in their family lives, and when they come together for corporate worship. Corporate worship, then, is a particular expression of a life of perpetual worship... Thus, with the New Testament perspective in mind, as Christians we must center our worship on Christ as the temple, priest, and sacrifice." (p27).

Having grown up in a charismatic church, (and even though I recently have found myself resonating increasingly with reformed theology), Chapter 2 is still pretty much foreign to me. I have never celebrated advent and most of the hymns highlighted are foreign to me. The poems for Christmas (p78-86), Good Friday (106-110) and Easter (118-122), however may prove to be useful in time to come! Chapter 3 was a pleasant surprise after two so-so chapters! (Perhaps because I'm looking forward to my own wedding soon; and that I have not been to many weddings that had sound gospel-centered preaching since I entered Bible School). I found this section on Pg 130 especially useful in helping me look at wedding in an entirely different light,

"Christian weddings are not commonly thought of as evangelistic, but they are, and here’s why: First, the presiding pastor's (your) ... preaching is to be gospel redolent, full of the good news... you normally have more non-Christians ... than on any Sunday service! The whole service is built around the Scriptures ... [and] the hymns and songs (rightly chosen) are also full of scriptural truth... paint[ing] a beautiful picture of what the gospel has done for the bride and groom and what it demands of them in marriage. Such a service can be used by Christ to make attendees thirsty for the water of life."

The Crucial Questions segment (p131-133) in the pre-marital counselling section provides advice and guidelines that are timelessly useful, whereby a minister can do himself and the couple a huge favour by ascertaining the following about them:

1. Do you discern that they are Christians? Can they explain what the gospel is? Or perhaps asking them "What are some of the ways you serve Christ?" 2. Is the couple chaste? "If a Christian couple is sexually active (fornicating is the biblical word), they are by definition living in sin... Their flagrant lack of restraint, should they marry, may sow the seeds of distrust... Nevertheless, if the couple repents and submits to pastoral guidance, ... and does so in fellowship with the body of Christ, then holy matrimony may be pursued." (p132) 3. Do they have family support to get married? "Parental distaste for or disapproval of one’s spouse can add substantial stress to a marriage... the pastor should explore the reasons before consenting to perform the wedding." (p132-133) 4. Do they have a similar direction in life? "The pastor needs to ask a few probing questions about their values and goals in life. Mutuality foreshadows harmony. Dissonance augurs trouble." (p133) 5. Do they want to have children? "Couples that marry and covenant with each other to forgo children are at odds with the Scriptures and with the historic church... if a couple is in sharp disagreement about having a family, they should consider whether to pursue marriage at all." (p133)

Chapter 4 is immensely useful. Hughes reminds us of the "the divinely appointed opportunity that every funeral allows" (p182). For him, "Death is an enemy (1 Cor. 15:26), but also an evangelist... Death forces the most profound questions to be asked, but mercilessly mocks those who sleep through its lessons.” (p183). In providing initial pastoral care to a grieving family, Hughes cautions that "comfort can morph into awkwardness if, for example, the grieving family feels that they have to be attentive to the pastor as they are making and receiving calls from loved ones... Sometimes the necessary details regarding the times for the visitation, funeral, and burial can be discussed at the initial visit with the family." (p184). The list of questions for the purposes of gathering information about the deceased on pgs 186-187 are extremely helpful; the busy pastor can then best conserve his time by immediately drafting a brief remembrance while the conversation is still fresh (and edit later). Downloadable versions of the Sample Funeral Information Worksheet and Sample Funeral Service Planning Worksheet (p585) will probably make the book price seem like a bargain. Hughes affirms that "the apparent reason for a funeral service is to confront loss, mourn the deceased, and offer comfort to the family; the conscious purpose of a Christian funeral must be to glorify Christ by declaring the good news of his death, burial, and resurrection" (p191). He closes the chapter with the insightful counsel that "pastoral care can be easily enhanced with a simple plan for follow-up, monitored through the church office or administrative assistant. The following is a sequence that honors the anniversaries of the day of death: One-month anniversary—call or visit; Three-month anniversary—send a card; Six-month anniversary—call; One-year anniversary—visit; Two-year anniversary—visit" (p195-196). The sample funeral sermons are invaluable in illustrating to us new ministers how the theoretical is applied to reality. (p197-231). I found the Poem enrichment segment extremely difficult to read through, perhaps because my own exposure to literature was only two years in secondary school (when I was 13-14 years old). The only poem that resonated with me was Samuel's Crossman's "My song is love unknown." I guess still prefer quoting from hymns, because the words would subconsciously relate better with something that they had heard before, even if it were decades ago. Chapter 5: I thoroughly enjoyed it. My imagination and concept of what prayer could be is expanded. I have never seen prayers like these! I am most probably going to spend alot of time reading, re-reading and meditating on these model prayers. This chapter is definitely not one to be sped-read through, but one that you should consider savouring and enjoying piece by piece. The only type prayers I had been exposed to thus far were "extemporaneous" prayers (spoken or done without preparation) and I treasure D A Carson's the exhortation that "public praying is a pedagogical opportunity... The answer ... is to provide more prayers that are carefully and freshly prepared." (cited in p263). I also appreciate the advice that "much depends on how well pastoral leaders prepare to lead the people in prayer... [as] prayer is more easily caught than taught." (p263). Another piece of extremely helpful counsel, "public prayers of the pastor must be a reflection of his private prayer; public prayer must flow from our communion and intercession with God in secret. Congregational prayers can be theologically precise and beautiful but hollow if they are not rooted in the heart and practice of the pastor." (p265). The last helpful advice was that prayer should never be "a pro forma weekly confession in which brain-numbed worshipers repeat a confession of sin... [but] transparent, engaged, passionate confession by the assembled body of Christ... it should never be routine." (p271). I realise that I have been exhorted all these years to pray, pray, pray, and yet have not had prayer modeled for me so that I could do likewise (until now)! I am challenged and inspired to pray like never before! On the topic of confessions, I found this piece of advice helpful,

"we are not advocates of a pro forma weekly confession in which brain-numbed worshipers repeat a confession of sin in muffled Latinate cadences. Rather, we are advocating transparent, engaged, passionate confession by the assembled body of Christ. We believe it should never be routine. Corporate confession of sin must be varied. Sometimes there needs to be no more than a reading of a Scripture passage along with the pastoral invitation, “Let us confess our sins” (or, “Let us confess our sins, as is fitting to each of our souls”), followed by sixty seconds of silence (real silence, without musical accompaniment) in which the congregation may do so! Another time it may be done by the use of an ancient confession with a brief pastoral rubric about praying it from the heart and then praying it slowly enough for people to do it." (p271-2).

Like Chapter 2 on Annual Services, the closest I've been to Creeds (Chapter 6) is Hillsong's This I Believe (The Creed). I did appreciate the suggestion of introducing creeds in a worship service by means of a short, thoughtprovoking paragraph, such as:

"My brothers and sisters, there are many ways we identify ourselves as God’s people. We sing the great hymns of the faith. We pray in the Spirit. We celebrate the sacraments. We listen to God’s Word proclaimed. Now we come to profess God’s story of our salvation through words of the ___________ Creed. And in doing so, we seek to acknowledge the past and present communion of saints and long for the time when all God’s people from every tongue, tribe, and nation will acknowledge together the truths of God’s Word before his throne. Let us now confess wholeheartedly the faith of the universal church." (p331).

I understand the authors' choice of Hymns and Songs (Chapter 7), but unfortunately I would not be able to provide much helpful evaluation of their suggested song lists (as I come from a very different tradition or song preference, of Planetshakers, Jesus Culture, Hillsong, Passion, Paul Baloche). I do resonate with their affirmation that "Music must be the servant of preaching" (in contrast to the worship segment being the highlight of the service, pre and post-sermon),

"This means that the lyrics of the songs used during the service should reflect the text of Scripture preached that day and that the music attached to those lyrics needs to maintain the integrity of the words in an enhancing and confirming manner. We believe that the Word of God read and preached is the central component of our public worship, but the music helps raise our affections—provided they are raised primarily by the truth of God’s revelation." (p352).

I cannot agree more that we are to be "sensitive to our specific congregations’ vocal abilities and knowledge of music, ... pitch, tempo, and rhythm, [therefore] we must select songs that are singable." (p352). I emphatically concur that we should and cannot allow sub-standard worship leading,

"Musicians must see themselves as fellow laborers in the Word and must lead with understanding and an engaged heart. Those who minister in worship services must be healthy Christians who have confessed their sins and by God’s grace are living their lives consistently with the music they lead. The sobering fact is that over time the congregation tends to become like those who lead. Musicians are also called to render their very best to God. Qualitative standards can be expressed classically (unity, clarity, proportion), and biblically (creativity, beauty, craft). In Christian worship, where music is a servant of the Word of God, musical standards are a requisite to clear communication. Church music must be judged by universal standards of musicianship: it must be good music, well performed, with due attention paid to intonation, rhythmic accuracy, articulation, and tone. Happy is the congregation led by godly, competent musicians." (p353).

Baptism (Chapter 8) was so-so, perhaps it is far simpler in complexity as compared to weddings or funerals! I found that this was a wonderful suggestion, or what they term "A very nice touch," is when 'the congregation sings a stanza of a hymn or song [to] allow time for the one just baptized to exit the baptismal tank and the next to be ready for entrance. Some stanzas that work well are from the following hymns (p388): • “My Heart Is Filled with Thankfulness” • “My Jesus, I Love Thee” • “Praise the Name of Jesus” • “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” • “I Love Thee”' My takeaway actually was how Christians, like the two authors, could extend charity to one another even though they differ on certain non-essentials. In this instance it would be Kent Hughes (Baptist) and Douglas O’Donnell (Paedobaptist); in layman's terms, they differ in that the latter baptises infants and the former does not. And yet they come together to affirm what they hold in common:

i. The theological symbolism of immersion and elevation from the water throbs with the movement of the gospel. Submersion pictures our union with Christ in his death and burial, elevation our being raised with him to newness of life. (p375). ii. The waters of baptism are emblematic not only of our death, burial, and resurrection with Christ, but also of our washing and cleansing from sin that occurs concurrent with conversion. (p375). iii. The New Testament consistently records that baptism was reserved for those who professed faith in Christ—believers only. (p376). iv. Baptism is not necessary for salvation. A symbol cannot save... The imperative is simply to obey Christ, who commanded baptism for all who believe. (p376). Fundamentally, baptism is an outward physical sign of an inward spiritual reality. Nothing magical or supernatural takes place because someone is immersed in these waters. The act of baptism does not save you, but only is a symbol pointing to the reality of your salvation. You could liken it to a wedding ring that, in and of itself, does not make you married, but serves as a sign to the world that you have committed yourself in marriage to your lifelong spouse. (p392) v. In discerning the readiness of a professing believer for baptism, the church should consider whether the person is regenerate (p377), repentant (p377) and old enough (p378). vi. Congregational Covenant: where the pastor asks the people being baptised to stand and affirm their commitment as printed in the bulletin. Eg. “Do you, the body of Christ, promise to receive these children in love, pray for them, help instruct them in the faith, and encourage and sustain them in the fellowship of believers?” (p399).