LEARNING ABOUT PASTORAL CARE! AT A WORSHIP CONFERENCE?

By Pastor Bryce Mensink

I don’t know if the presenter intended to provide further training in spiritual formation and in pastoral care, but he inspired some valuable thoughts in me.

“I read a Psalm every day,” testified song writer John L. Bell in Seminar 4, “The Pastoral Resources of the Psalms.” The seminars were an in-depth look at a single topic, spread over two sessions the first day of the annual Calvin Symposium on Worship. During Bell’s presentation, I thought of how I used to practice this, covering all the Psalms twice each year. Upon occasion, I would even get out the Psalter hymnal and sing my Psalm of the day. This is how I once scheduled these readings, using the dates and Psalm numbers to remember my place:

During that seminar, I vowed to resume the practice, occasionally listening to selections from the 3 CDs full of Psalm recordings that were given to every attendee at the Symposium.

“And,” elaborated Bell, “I think of individuals I know whose present spiritual needs are addressed in one or more of the lines of a particular Psalm. Sometimes I even jot their names in the margins of my Bible.” I thought of the hundreds of times I have read from the Psalms when I was with people. But, I could not remember many times when I thought of people I know while away from them and reading the Psalms, alone in the presence of the Lord. I vowed to look into my Psalm for the day until a found a verse or two for me: the line about my relationship with God that I most need to hear the most. And/or: the prayer to God that I most need to say.

But my plans did not stop there. After I would sense that the Holy Spirit is revealing the glory of God to me and/or He is speaking through my heart to the Heavenly Father, then I would start to think more intensely about others I know. Just recently, I told someone I was thinking of her as I was reading a Psalm and I wanted to repeat the portion to her. I trust that the Word was another gift from the Lord that fed her soul in some way.

John L. Bell is known around the world as a distinctively Christian song writer and worship leader.But, whether intentional or not, he said some things for my growth as a disciple and pastor. The Psalms were in Jesus’ heart and close to the tip of His tongue. Mr. Bell’s practices are leading me to get more lines from God’s Uniquely Inspired Hymn Book into my heart and then into my conversations. And Bell’s example has already helped me serve as a bridge between the Psalms and someone else’s spiritual heart.

Yes, probably the best idea I received from the Worship Symposium was a devotional practice more in the fields of spiritual formation and pastoral care.