Hold Fast That Which is Good

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” I Thessalonians 5:21

That appears in my father’s handwriting at the end of an inscription in A Lutheran Prayer Book edited by John W. Doberstein. The rest of the inscription says, “Presented to John Charles Horn on his Confirmation at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Overbrook, Philadelphia, Pa, April 3, 1966 William M. Horn, Pastor.” The passage from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians follows; it was my confirmation verse. The same verse shows up in its more modern form in this Sunday’s lessons.

My father was a very perceptive man. I do not know what my siblings’ confirmation verses were, but he chose mine wisely. Already as a young teenager I must have been showing signs that I would be questioning, wondering, forming the analytical mind of a scientist. Dad did not worry about those doubts; he knew himself and his own growing up well enough to realize that at some point children need to question what they have been given, so that they can take it back as their own. It was his prayer for me that in testing everything I would learn to discern the good, and hold to it tightly.

The small book with his inscription was a great aid in learning to discern the good. As I look at it now, with its tattered cover and well-thumbed pages, I realize how extraordinary a book it is. It is indeed a Lutheran prayer book, with a daily office for morning and evening, a year-long lectionary geared to the liturgical seasons that takes one through the breadth of the Bible, and a collection of prayers for various occasions. It prepared me for the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer even though I did not know it at the time. It led me into a world where prayer and Bible reading are daily rituals, a world where I still dwell. Its daily selections from Luther’s Small Catechism created a deeply-rooted theology that continues to nourish my faith. In short, it prepared me for what I do now: teach and preach the Word of God.

Did my dad know all that when he gave me the book? Perhaps. Once, when I was in botany graduate school, I remarked that I might someday be a pastor. He thought that I would be a good one. I didn’t ask him why; the comment itself was precious enough without details.

I use a different prayer book now, one that is Anglican rather than Lutheran. Yet I still hold fast that which is good, good enough for Paul, good enough for my father, good enough for anyone who wants to walk toward light, toward truth, toward God.


[Advent 3: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24.]