Richard & Joanne Aasman
Interview with Rev. Richard Aasman
Richard Aasman is a veteran minister of the gospel, having served for nearly 40 years in regular pastoral ministry. Ordained in 1980, Rev. Aasman has served three Canadian Reformed congregations, two in Ontario and one in Edmonton, Alberta—his current and longest ministry. The Lord has gifted Pastor Aasman with leadership talents that have been recognized among the churches: three times he has served as chairman of a general synod and twice as chairman of the Board of Governors of CRTS. He has also been a co-editor and regular contributor to Clarion Magazine. I was grateful that my experienced colleague agreed to write for Christ’s Psalms, Our Psalms and I think you’ll find his answers to my questions rather interesting. Enjoy!
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PH: Let me start by thanking you for your contribution to Christ’s Psalms, Our Psalms. Besides being invited, what drew you to participate in this project?
RA: I have preached on quite a number of psalms over the course of almost forty years. Often I used them for weddings or funerals, so I found a lot of comfort and direction from the Psalms. What really drew me to CPOP was the opportunity to dig a little deeper and to see the connections between the psalms. The thing that intrigued me the most was the strong focus on seeing the connection between each psalm and our Lord Jesus Christ. I knew right away that I wanted to be involved in this project.
PH: Which particular psalms did you work on? There was some (limited) choice in psalm assignments – was there anything special about this group for you? Please tell us about it.
RA: Initially I asked to work on a certain selection that was of particular interest to me, but they were not available. That’s probably a good thing because I ended up working on psalms that otherwise I might not have thought about. My first assignment consisted of Psalms 111-118 and 138-140. After I completed these, I was also asked to work on Psalms 109 and 110. Psalms 111-118 are known as Hallelujah Psalms, with Psalms 113-118 forming a subgroup known as the Egyptian Hallel. There are themes that are interwoven among this grouping. Sometimes a question in one psalm is answered in another. Psalm 113 asks “Who is like the Lord our God?” No one is like him, a truth clearly shown in Psalm 114 which describes the Exodus.
PH: One of the key things you were asked to find were legitimate connections to Jesus Christ in each psalm. How did you find this task? Did your psalms present any distinctive difficulties in this respect? Did you learn of any connections to Christ that were new to you?
RA: Before I s
tarted working on specific psalms, I read several articles and books that looked at the Psalms as an entire, unified book. One was The Messiah and the Psalms: Preaching Christ from all the Psalms by Richard P. Belcher Jr. My thought after some extensive reading was: why hadn’t I read this stuff forty years ago? There are some psalms that are clearly Messianic such as Psalm 110. David is directly writing about his great son and Lord, Jesus Christ. There are psalms, however, that are not distinctly Messianic: there is no mention of a king or kingdom, and nothing that indicates the work or suffering of Jesus Christ. And yet each and every psalm does point to him. Take Psalm 117: not only is it short, but we know neither the author nor the historical context in which it is written. Yet, it praises God for his steadfast love and faithfulness. Ultimately that love and faithfulness to us is shown in the gift of his Son Jesus Christ. As a result of working with a number of psalms, I developed a deeper appreciation of how richly they all point to the person and work of Jesus Christ.
PH: You are a full-time minister with plenty of demands on your schedule. How did you manage to work on CPOP alongside of your regular work? Did you encounter any special challenges? What sorts of things did you do to help you complete the assignment?
RA: I decided that I would preach on every psalm that was assigned to me. I spread the work over quite a few months, making sure that I had a less busy week when starting one. During such a week I would study and prepare a sermon on that psalm for Sunday, and then finish my assignment on the following Monday to Wednesday. After the first couple of psalms, this worked smoothly for the most part. In the ministry things come up that take you away from your desk.
PH: How many hours (on average) did you put into each psalm? How did your wife feel about your involvement in Christ’s Psalms, Our Psalms?
RA: Just as with sermon preparation, I find it hard to estimate how many hours I actually spent on writing assignments. I would say about five work days went into preparing the material for one psalm. Most of the time was spent on translating from the Hebrew and carrying out exegesis. Once I had a “handle” on the psalm, the writing part could go quite quickly. My wife was very supportive of my work on the Psalms. We both really liked the project and felt it was worth being involved in it.
PH: Tell us about one of the most interesting or surprising things that you learned in working on your psalms.
RA: One of the things that really struck home is how the 150 Psalms form one book. There is a message in the connections between the psalms. We see how Jesus Christ our King is humiliated, but in the end he is victorious. Psalms 1 and 2 set the theme of the book addressing all people to “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” The other thing that struck me is how the imprecatory psalms still function in a meaningful way for us today. I mentioned that I preached on each of the psalms that I worked on. I was given Psalms 109 and 110 after I had finished my initial assignment. When I read Psalm 109, I thought to myself: there is no way that I can preach on this. By the time I got into it, I changed my mind. I preached on Psalm 109 in several congregations and I received positive feedback. If you read what I wrote on Psalms 109 and 139, you will see what I mean.
PH: How did the study of the Psalms impact you personally?
RA: By the time I finished my work on the psalms I realized I had a deeper desire to spend more time in the Scriptures. Taking time to really understand the text, and not taking shortcuts like skipping the translating and carrying out careful exegesis, brings out the riches of the gospel. That’s beneficial to me personally, but obviously also for my congregation. I think it has had a good impact on my preaching.
PH: CPOP Study Resource was developed in part with Christian teachers and preachers in mind. In your mind, what stands out as the most useful features for educators? For ministers?
RA: Peter, the nature of our work is such that we did not write long, academic articles. Anyone who really wants to dig into a psalm will still need to refer to commentaries, Bible dictionaries and that sort of thing. Having said that, the CPOP Study Resource can benefit both educators and ministers. For ministers preparing a sermon on a psalm, our work will help to identify genre, structure, 
themes, main message, links with other parts of Scripture, confessional references, and Christology. For educators I believe this work will be particularly beneficial. It is very readable and nicely structured in sections, making it easy for students to follow. It has elements that other commentaries often don’t work out as well, such as, placement in the Psalter, Christology, and application. There are things that teachers can focus on to draw students into a good discussion. Poetic elements, key words, usually expressions, and themes make an important and fascinating study. Each study resource ends with a number of questions, going from less to more difficult. Sometimes it calls on students to think “outside the box.”
PH: How do you think people in your church might use either CPOP’s Study Resource or Devotional? What benefits do you see in this material for ordinary Christians?
RA: Honestly, I can’t imagine anyone not benefitting from both the Study Resource and the Devotional. The first would be very helpful for a Bible study group. Using the Devotional as a family or personally would work well. Each entry is readable and not too long. It gives us something that makes us think about our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I am pretty excited about these possibilities, and the blessing both volumes can be for all Christians.
PH: Over the course of your ministry you have become very involved with mission work overseas. Is there a role for CPOP to play in benefitting new believers and fledgling churches on the mission field? Please explain.
RA: Where I have worked overseas in a teaching/mission context, there is a real hunger for simply knowing and understanding God’s Word. Translating CPOP’s Study Resource or Devotional into their language would be an incredible blessing. It would be received with open arms. Peter, you only need to give the okay, and we will get this translated quickly. We will get it into the hands of people who need it and want it.
PH: Thank-you for taking the time to answer these questions. Did you wish to make any other comments about this project that might interest our readers?
RA: I really appreciate being able to give some of my impressions in this interview. Personally I am really looking forward to seeing the completed work. I would like to see what my colleagues wrote on the other psalms. Speaking of my fellow contributors, we did have to do some collaboration. For instance, Psalms 138-145 have the superscription that identifies David as the author. Quite a number of commentators refute that. Since I worked only on Psalms 138 to 140, I wanted to be sure that I was on the same page as my colleague working on the latter psalms. Thankfully, we agreed, as you will see.
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