Month: January 2009 (Page 2 of 3)

Who Am I, O Sovereign Lord?

January 20, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

In 2 Samuel 7, the recently-coronated King David decides he’s going to build God a house. A temple. A beautiful temple worthy of the Almighty Yahweh. But the Lord speaks to David through his prophet, Nathan, and says, no, you’re not going to build me a house, I’m going to build you a house.

And then God goes into great detail about all the things he’s going to do for his servant David.

I’m going to make your name great. I’m going to cut off all your enemies. I’m going to give you and all the people you rule rest from your battles. I will always be with you just like I’ve always been with you in the past. I’m making your name among the greatest in the world. Your sons, your family, will rule forever. I’m making you a dynasty.

And David is blown away. He’s completely amazed. It’s almost as if he doesn’t understand.

“Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your site, O Sovereign Lord, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant. Is this you usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign Lord?”

Who am I? I’m a shepherd boy. I’m insignificant. I’m small. I’m human. I’m fallible. And you’re doing all this for me? Who am I? Are you kidding me? I’ve done nothing to deserve your great favor. I’ve done nothing to merit your marvelous gifts. I’ve done nothing to earn your rich blessings. I can’t live up to your glorious promises. Who am I? Is this how you treat everybody?

And, praise God, the answer is “yes!” Yes! This is how God treats man. In all our selfishness. In all our pride. In all our sin and rebellion and denial. In all our inclinations to evil. While we were dead, while we were enslaved, while we were paralyzed, while we were enemies of the Creator of heaven and earth, he reaches down in love and mercy and saves us. He rescues us. He’s with us. He lifts us up. He restores us. He blesses us. He forgives us. He protects us. He provides for us. He meets every one of our needs—and then some!—according to his glorious riches through Christ Jesus.

And like David, we realize that, through his great descendent, Jesus our Lord, we are given immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us. More than all we ask or imagine. Some of us realize it much sooner than others. It takes some of us a long time to see it. To recognize it. I’m not sure any of us will ever fully understand it this side of glory. But once we at least recognize it, our lives are changed forever.

“How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you.”

Amen.

Christ Is All And Is In All

January 16, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

I enjoyed a fantastic lunch today with Manuel Calderon, our Hispanic minister here at Legacy. We’re planning a bi-lingual worship assembly for next Sunday in an effort to better integrate our Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters into our church family at-large. And it’s facsinating to me that the barriers between us—the Anglos and the Hispanics—have much more to do with culture than with language.

They all speak English!

Granted, some communicate in English better than others. But of the 35-40 members of our “Spanish-speaking” congregation, only one or two speak exclusively Spanish. It’s not the language that divides us as much as it is our different cultures, our different socio-economic situations, our different “classes,” our different colors, our different backgrounds. We are increasingly speaking the same language, yet our Hispanic brothers and sisters remain segregated from the Anglos in our Christian churches.

You know, “segregation” is an ugly, ugly word in the history of this country. We have argued and revolted and debated and fought and bled and died to eradicate segregation in our larger society. And we’re still fighting. Because it’s such an awful word. It’s such a horrible distortion of what it is we claim to stand for.

But ‘segregation” seems to be perfectly OK in our Christian settings. And I don’t think we can be perfectly OK with that.

We have black congregations and white congregations and nobody seems to care. We have white congregations with 30 Hispanics meeting by themselves in a back room and nobody seems to care. For some reason it’s approved as OK. It’s brushed aside as “the way things are” or simply ignored as “the way it’s always been.” It’s excused as “the way they want it.”

Is it the way Christ Jesus wants it?

The early church was scandalous in the ways it welcomed all classes, all cultures, all genders, all languages and dialects into its fellowship. We’ve managed to avoid that scandal by segregating ourselves. The early church had to work through many difficulties, had to learn how to sacrifice and serve and look out for the needs of others as they welcomed all comers. We’ve avoided that hardship and the lessons and the spiritual growth that come with it by keeping to ourselves.

As church leaders, we should never wet our fingers and stick them up in the air to see which way the wind’s blowing. We should attempt to change the wind!

I don’t know about you, but Colossians 3:11 means something to me.

“Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”

Galatians 3:28 sounds like truth to me.

“Their is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

We pray for Christian unity. We long for the day when all our differences are ultimately rendered meaningless. We anticipate that great banquet when all the nations and languages and tribes and peoples are gathered around our Lord’s table. We yearn for the realization of the perfect union we share in Christ Jesus.

I think if we’re praying for something, we ought to be working for it too. I think if we see something as God’s eternal will, we ought to be doing something about it.

We’re trying at Legacy. We’re trying. We’re not perfect. We’re not moving nearly quickly enough. It’s messy. It’s hard. But we’re trying.

Peace,

Allan

The Way Of The Kingdom

January 15, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

Jerry Plemons and I met for about an hour Tuesday with the principal and a couple of counselors at Thomas elementary school less than three miles south of our church building. They had contacted us first, asking if there were anything we could do to help them and the children in their school. Sixty-five percent of these children are on free and reduced lunch, economically-disadvantaged kids with only one parent, barely one pair of shoes, and no sense of community beyond their 8:00 to 3:00 school day behind the bricks. The school is lacking adequate funds for playground equipment, day planners, uniforms and underwear and socks. They need scholarships for field trips and science camps.

Can we help them? You bet!

And we are. Legacy is committed to giving every penny of our Sunday night contribution for the next 12 weeks—hopefully over $6000—to Thomas Elementary. We’re going to organize a rotation of volunteers to greet kids at the door in the mornings and read with the children in the afternoons. We’re going to adopt this school in much the same way we’ve adopted Walker Creek Elementary across the street. It’s a no-brainer.

I’m reminded of N. T. Wright’s comments about how to live in the Kingdom of God. In his book The Way of the Lord: Christian Pilgrimage Today, Wright says the royal decree of our King, the Christ, is “an invitation to a Kingdom-spirituality, invoking the power of the King to liberate those held in Satan’s bondage.” So, living in the Kingdom looks like this: a life of complete submission to the King, a life marked with loyalty and love and total commitment to his cause. It means taking up his cause and planting the flag of his Kingdom in territory currently occupied by enemy forces. Territory like Thomas Elementary.

“You commit yourself to the work of healing and liberation, both actual and symbolic. You commit yourself to freeing slaves, to loosening the bonds of debt, to bringing good news to the poor. And you commit yourself to doing these things, not as a grand social action which you will implement by your own energy and ingenuity, but in the power, and with the weapons, of the Kingdom of God: by prayer and fasting, by truth and righteousness, by the gospel of peace, by faith, by salvation, by the Word of God.”

Where Are The Kids?

January 13, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

Where are the kids? The local TV stations used to ask us at 10:00 every night. It’s the question I ask Carrie-Anne when I come home after work. Thirty minutes after church when I’m ready to get in the car. In a crowded mall. At the park. When it’s especially quiet in the house. When the bikes are left on the lawn. Where are the kids?

If we ask that question as we’re reading Scripture—where are the kids?—the answer always comes back, “right in the big middle of everything.” Right where God put ’em. Right where God wants ’em.

Matthew 21 – Jesus enters the temple in the last week of his life. The children are there shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David!” The religious leaders in the temple are indignant. Maybe the kids were clapping, I don’t know. Maybe just the fact that the kids were in the middle of the temple being loud was enough to upset these teachers and priests. Jesus answers their indignation by quoting Scripture. “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise.”

Exodus 10 – Before the plague of locusts, God tells Moses he’s doing this “that you may tell your children and grandchildren…”

Exodus 12 – God insitutes the formational Passover Supper with everyone’s kids right there around the table. “When your children ask you…then tell them.”

Exodus 13 – God explains the dedication of the first-born. “On that day, tell your son, ‘I do this because of what the Lord did for me.'” Also, “when your son asks you…,” tell him the great story.

Deuteronomy 4 – God’s giving the Law to his people. “Teach them to your children and to their children after them.”

Deuteronomy 6 – Same thing. “Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” And again, when your son asks you, tell him the stories.

Joshua 4 – Setting up the stones to mark the spot where they crossed the Jordan River. When your children ask you, tell them.

Matthew 18 & 19, Mark 10, Luke 18 – Parents bring their children to Jesus. And he welcomed them gladly. They brought their kids to Jesus so he could touch them and bless them and teach them. And he did. Jesus took little kids in his arms, he placed his hands on their heads, he prayed for them. He warns us not to ignore them or neglect them or discourage them in any way because the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to our little children and he’s not willing that any of them should be lost.

In our Scriptures, the kids are always right in the big middle of everything. Exactly where God put ’em. In our Bibles, the children are never on the edges, they’re not peripheral participants in the community of faith. They’re not sent to the other room. They don’t eat at a different table. They’re not placed in an “age-appropriate educational environment.” They are critical components. They are integral to God’s plan for his people. They are the centerpiece to our sacred conversations and the core of our holy gatherings.

Where are the kids?

When you’re praying. When you’re reading the Word. When you’re singing praises to God. When you’re at the common table with your brothers and sisters in Christ. When you’re talking about our Savior and the Gospel’s impact on your life.

Where are the kids?

Making The Exchange

January 12, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

“What we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us; we will not hide them from the children; we will tell the next generation.” ~Psalm 78:3-4.

The apostle Paul calls life in Christ a race. He tells us to run the race in order to win. And we have to understand that this race we’re running is a relay. None of us is running this race alone. We’re all in it together. Someone passed the baton to you. And you are charged with passing the baton to others. Today we are standing on the shoulders of those who’ve gone before. At the same time, we’re paving the way for those who are coming after.

Nobody runs the race alone.

Notice these boys who are receiving the baton. Looking back. Eyes on the runners who are racing toward them. Stretching back with their hands open to receive the baton. Measuring their steps so they match up with their teammates.

Look at this girl who’s passing the baton. She’s running her fastest right here at the exchange. She’s given it all she has. Her part of the race is almost over. But she’s running faster and working harder now than she was at the beginning. Look at how she’s stretching and straining and lunging forward to pass this baton to the one who will run after her. Look how they’re both concentrating on this critical task.

Now look at the point of exchange. This is my favorite moment of a good relay. Notice how, for a time, these two are actually running together. Step by step. Side by side. In perfect rhythm. One finishing her assignment, one just getting started. Running. Cooperating. Sprinting. Enduring. Together at the point of exchange. Side by side.

We appealed to the older members of our Legacy church family last night to embrace their God-ordained mission of passing on the faith to the younger generations. And I want to repeat and reinforce that plea here today, specifically to those 50-years-old and older in our Legacy family, and generally to any of our older brothers and sisters who might be reading this today.

We believe the most effective way for us to pass on the Christian faith is through our deeply-rooted relationships with one another. And we believe those powerful relationships are best formed in our Sunday night Small Groups. These meaningful relationships are forged on living room couches and around kitchen tables. These bonds are strengthened in our homes and in our shared meals. And we need you older members of this body of believers to jump in with us.

We need you. We need your wisdom. We need your experience. We need your example of someone who’s seen it all, endured it all, and kept the faith. Our children need to see it in you. They need older people to look up to. We need your love.

You’re running the race. You’ve been running it a long time. But you’re not done. Now’s the time to pass the baton. It’s time to understand that we’re not running this race alone. As the younger lean back and strain with open hands to receive your love and concern and stories and faith, we need you to run faster and stretch out with everything you have to pass it on to us. You’re not finished. We need you.

Where else are you going to be able to have the impact on those younger than you? Not in our church assemblies where we sit in rows of pews and look through the backs of each other’s heads to a single person up on a stage and then go to lunch with people our own age. Certainly not in Bible class where, again, we naturally (and usually intentionally) segregate by age. It doesn’t happen there. It happens in our homes.

Please join us. Please work with us in forming intergenerational Small Groups where you can be energized by our kids and our energy and our relative youth, where you can be served by us and loved and appreciated by us as we get to know you in ways we never will otherwise.

And as we make the exchange, as you stretch out and we lean back, as we lock eyes and match our steps, as the faith is being passed in these Christ-centered relationships, we’ll soon discover that we’re actually running together. Side by side. Step by step. In perfect rhythm.

Amen.

KK&C Top 20

January 9, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

January 9, 2009

The votes have been cast and counted. The misspellings have all been corrected. And the final “KK&C Top 20″ college football poll of the 2008 season is ready for your review. Twelve of our 20 panelists were able to drag themselves to a keyboard and put forth the three-and-a-half minutes of effort it takes to make good on their word to vote each week. (Wait…I don’t mean for that to sound as harsh as it does) And eleven of those twelve first-place votes go to the University of Florida, crowning the Gators the KK&C national champions. That should clear up any controversy and allow Mr. Obama to concentrate more on fixing the war and the economy than in proposing playoff systems

The lone dissenting first place vote comes from Mark Hooper. And he gives it to UT, claiming the Longhorns “would have beaten Florida; no doubt Texas is the best team in the country!”

Oh, yes. It’s just that kind of fire and passion and blind loyalty and incoherence that make this poll what it is. Thank you.

And bias. Unabashed, unashamed bias. Like Jason Skelton proclaiming that Texas Tech’s loss to Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl wasn’t any worse than OU’s defeat to Florida. Or Jim Gardner placing Ohio State at #20 in his list, declaring the Buckeyes “THE most overrated program in the history of college football!” SEC and BIG 12 apologies abound throughout the comments.

In Gardner’s email, he proposes a Poetic Justice Bowl to be played annually between teams who’ve lost at least three consecutive BCS games in order to get “these consistently under-performing teams out of the mix, so as not to clog up new and worthy teams from a spot.” OU versus Ohio State. Somebody would have to win, right?

And in commenting on Penn State’s loss, Charlie Johanson observes that he’s “never watched a more predictable bowl game.” Charlie’s a Texas A&M fan, so he’s probably only seen one or two in his lifetime.

While I’m getting in a few final shots, I held onto a couple of pictures this year that I was ready to use in an emergency. I never needed them. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy them now. So, here’s Mark Hooper as a high school quarterback back in the 60s. Here’s Janie Royse as a high school cheerleader back in her day. Here’s David Byrnes getting ready to go out. Here’s Kevin Welch and Jason Skelton. Here’s Aaron Green in his winter pajamas. And here’s Darryn Pope just because.

Thank you for participating. I had a great time reading your emails and comments and watching it all from the sidelines. I hope you had fun and, as Dan Miller put it, were able to get reacquainted with college football again. I also hope you made some closer friends. Thanks, also, to Scott Beard for designing the KK&C Top 20 logo. Excellent work, brother.

You can get to the final poll by clicking on the green “KK&C Top 20” tab in the upper right hand corner of this page or by clicking here. I’ll keep it up for a while. Enjoy.

Month: January 2009 (Page 2 of 3)

Who Am I, O Sovereign Lord?

Christ Is All And Is In All

The Way Of The Kingdom

Where Are The Kids?

Making The Exchange

KK&C Top 20

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