The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Church (Page 1 of 61)

For All the Saints

July 6, 2026 / / 0 Comments

“We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints…” ~Colossians 1:4

A “love in the Spirit” (Colossians 1:8) loves all the saints, all the saved. No exceptions. No loopholes. You don’t love some people in your church, you don’t show love to most of the people in your church–your “love in the Spirit” is a love for all the saints. And the writer of Colossians mentions those saints specifically in chapter 3, just in case you’re wondering, just in case you thought you had an out:

Greeks and Jews
Circumcised and uncircumcised
Barbarian and Scythian
Slave and free
Rangers fans and Astros fans.

A Christ-like love is a love for all the saints. No background checks, no application forms, no boxes to check, or requirements to meet. Our Lord Jesus has taken the burden off us of having to decide who to love and who not to love. He says our God causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. God blesses everyone. God loves everyone. So, whoever is around me is going to get rained on! I’m going to love whoever is by me or in front of me. If you’re near me, you’re going to get loved.

Jesus says “Love one another as I have loved you.”

It’s like you’re a FedEx driver. All the love is from God; you’re just the delivery guy! God fills your truck and you deliver the package. I heard Rick Atchley say this at Pepperdine a couple of months ago: “God’s love is not poured to be stored; we are filled to be spilled for the sake of others.”

And God will test you on it. He’ll give you pop quizzes to see if you’re loving all the saints. God will put difficult people in your life to stretch you to love them. And he usually does that at church. He’ll put a very difficult person right next to you in your Bible class. God will place a couple of impossible people right behind you in the Worship Center. He’ll put a difficult person in your small group. He does it all the time! The call is to love that hard person with your love in the Spirit.

If you are a baptized follower of Christ, you have received the gift of God’s Holy Spirit. And part of that gift is love. Divine love. Holy Spirit love. A love for all the saints.

Peace,

Allan

Sing Loud, Die Happy

April 20, 2026 / / 2 Comments

We’ve got Minnesota right where we want ’em. The Wild outplayed the Stars in Saturday’s Game One up and down the ice for the entirety of all three periods. They out-skated us and out-hit us, they won every face off and beat us to every loose puck, they out-shot us, out-fought us, out-hustled us, out-goalied us, and killed us on special teams. It was Game One. Again. For the eighth time in the Stars’ past ten playoff series. We’ve got ’em right where we want ’em.

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Coconut Cream Dr Pepper is back and it’s just as wonderful as I remembered! It’s been a couple of years since Dr Pepper first gave us this glorious option and then took it away almost as soon as it arrived–I didn’t realize how seriously they were using the phrase “limited edition.” For almost two years now I’ve been lamenting its demise and begging for its return. It’s back now–for how long, I don’t know–and it is still, by far, the very best of the many different flavored Dr Peppers. The coconut flavor is really strong–you smell it before your first sip and it lingers even after you swallow. It smells like summer and it tastes even better. And, yes, we are stocked up at Stanglin Manor.

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I have just ordered a book based on a review by D.J. Bulls in Restoration Quarterly, and I’m planning to read it before the end of the week. The book is called Sing Loud, Die Happy: An Exploration of How God’s Gift of Song is Meant to Change Us. The title is intriguing enough, yes? The author, Jim Thompson, surveys the entirety of Scripture to present a comprehensive case for the paramount priority of singing for the individual disciple of Jesus and for his gathered church. According to D.J., Thompson explores the whole of Church history and encourages us to reinvest in singing. He also quotes from a variety of historical Church and music figures, including Aristotle, Martin Luther, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Bono. Here’s a quote from the book:

“We do not sing in worship to reflect our moods any more than our sermons should reflect our pet theories on the Gospel. Rather, quite bluntly, we sing in an effort to take us away from what we think and draw us toward what we ought to think, feel, and experience. We sing to create a mood more than to reflect one.”

And, from the last chapter, a list of ten encouragements for all of us:

1 – Sing with your family.
2 – Be a part of a church that enjoys singing and whose singing reflects the variety of song found in Scripture.
3 – Join a church where the song leaders aren’t trying to be faddish Christian celebrities but are shepherding people by inviting them into the transformative power of singing together.
4 – Learn and sing along to new music.
5 – Remember and sing along to old music.
6 – Look at people when you sing.
7 – Sing when you don’t feel like it.
8 – If you can’t sing with your lips, sing with your soul.
9 – Gather some friends for a sing-along.
10 – Sing with people different from you.

Singing is not only what we do; as children of God and followers of Christ Jesus, it is an important part of who we are.

Peace,
Allan

Christian Ethics Apply Only to Christians

April 2, 2026 / / 0 Comments

For those of us who live in the Basin, our annual 4Midland Maundy Thursday service is at 7:00 this evening at First Methodist Church. Our four churches–GCR CofC, First Baptist, First Methodist, and First Presbyterian–are coming together to remember our Lord’s last supper with his apostles in that upper room. It’s a powerful experience and a great joy to see a nearly 100-member choir made up of singers from all four of our congregations and to see and hear the Scriptures read and re-enacted by folks from all four churches. But it is a somber service. It’s a service that grabs your heart and soul and all of your senses. The sounds of the thirty pieces of silver hitting the plate, the nails being driven into our Savior’s hands and feet, the impending darkness of the whole scene. The betrayal. The sorrow. The grief. The suffering. And the love; oh, the matchless, limitless love!

Over the years, Maundy Thursday has become a very important part of my walk with Jesus. This is one of the ways I follow him. If you live in Midland or anywhere close, I invite you to this powerful assembly this evening. You’ll be so blessed by the experience. Maybe even transformed.

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Why are some Christians trying to force society into conforming to our values and ethics? The Christian life is only for Christians. The Gospel does not make sense outside of Church.

Thou shalt not kill. Blessed are the poor. The last shall be first. Love your enemies. Protect the foreigners. Don’t repay evil with evil. Obeying the teachings of Jesus and living the life of Jesus only makes sense if there’s a strong community of faith to back it up. We do Church and Christianity a great injustice when we say our Christian ethics do make sense in the world. I hear some Christians say that all people, whether they’re believers or not, should affirm and adopt our Christian ethics. Because they make sense. The governments and schools and all rational people should be forced to accept our Christian attitudes and practices and then America will be a better place to live.

No.

Following Jesus does not make sense. It’s not logical or rational outside the community of faith and the social support and habits and vision of God’s Church. The Church is different. The Church does not mirror the world, of course; and we don’t wring our hands and get too worked up over the world. By the grace of God and the power of his Holy Spirit, we live in HIS world–the real world that’s already arrived in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and the eternal world that’s coming.

We have to submit ourselves to the revelation and receive Church as the gift it is. The Church is the gift of Christ as he embodies himself in the world, as Jesus calls and restores, as he redeems and re-creates. And it’s so much bigger and wider and deeper and higher than anything we can manipulate or take charge of. We don’t start church or establish church or run church. We enter church and participate in church: the acceptance of a new born-again water and Spirit identity in baptism, the resurrection meal, the reading of and obedience to holy Scripture, prayer, confession and forgiveness, welcoming the stranger and outcast, speaking and working for justice and peace, healing and truth, beauty and redemption.

There are the world’s ways and there are the opposite ways of Christ Jesus. His ways don’t make sense for non-Christians.

Peace,
Allan

The Greatest Need

March 23, 2026 / / 0 Comments

“The greatest need for our times is fellowship, the call simply to be the church, to love one another, and to offer our lives for the sake of the world. The creation of living, breathing, loving communities of faith at the local church level is the foundation of all the answers. The community of faith incarnates a whole new order, offers a visible and concrete alternative, and issues a basic challenge to the world as it is. The church must be called to be the church, to rebuild the kind of community that gives substance to the claims of our faith.”

~ Jim Wallis, Call to Conversion, 1982

Body of Christ: Transformation

March 19, 2026 / / 0 Comments

My bracket is set and I’m ready to start defending my Stanglin Family March Madness Bracket Racket title. I’ve got Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech winning only one game each. I’ve picked Houston, again, to win the national championship. My Final Four is Houston, Duke (gag), Arizona, and Iowa State. The winner gets a celebratory dinner at his/her place of choice and his/her bracket proudly displayed on the refrigerator for a full year.

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We’ve been hammering home the point this week that if anybody is going to meet Jesus today, they’re going to meet him through the Church, the Body of Christ. That’s how our Lord designed it. We are his eyes and mouth and ears, we are his hands and feet, his physical presence in this world. We live our lives as individual disciples and together as his followers in imitation of him so people around us can experience Jesus, so they can see him for who he really is.

Except…

I know the Church. I know the Church and all its weaknesses. I am one of the Church’s weaknesses. I sometimes can be a reason people don’t see Jesus. To some extent, all of us are capable of behaving in ways that might hide the Body of Christ from others or, at worst, behaving in ways that are the opposite of Jesus’ ways.

Because of that, not everybody has a great experience with church. Some people have been hurt by the Church. Some people have been rejected by the Church, God help us. Some people don’t feel supported by the church or encouraged, they don’t feel like they’re a part. Instead of meeting Jesus at church, instead of finding God’s love and forgiveness and acceptance and his fellowship, they experience loneliness at church. Or rejection. Or pain.

As a result, there are people who believe in Jesus and love Jesus and want to follow Jesus, but they don’t want any part of Church. They see the Church or they experience the Church and there’s no way they can believe such a sorry collection of sinners can be related to Jesus.

The Church can be boring. It can be self-centered and self-righteous. It can be hypocritical. It can be worldly. Very worldly. I could go on. The Church has a lot of weaknesses, yes. But the Bible says we’re seeing things right now through a dark glass. We only see a poor reflection of the reality, like looking at a cracked and clouded mirror. The Bible says we’re hoping for what we don’t see yet. And, you know, for all its brokenness and failures, the Church still looks pretty good when she’s all dressed up to worship God on Sunday. Or when she’s fist-bumping elementary students outside their school on Monday. Or feeding homeless people at Family Promise on Tuesday.

The point is that, despite all the problems, based on the words of Jesus in the Bible and our own experiences for over two-thousand years, the poor old Church knows, for better or for worse, this is the form by which the risen Christ has chosen to be present in the world. We are the Body of Christ.

So, if you’re going to have a real relationship with Jesus, you must be connected to his Body. You don’t discover Jesus by escaping his community, but by joining it. You don’t grow closer to God by seeking him by yourself, but by entering the life of his Church, by leaning into and embracing the ordinary patterns of worship, repentance, prayer, knowledge, community, Christian practice, and mission that have formed God’s people for centuries.

We do not meet Christ as isolated individuals. We meet him as devoted members of his Body. We are saved together, we are healed together, we are restored and strengthened and shaped together. When you read the earliest Christian writers, you notice that when they wrote about knowing Christ personally, it was about being united to his Body, standing shoulder to shoulder with the community he founded and submitting to the shared Scriptures and sacraments and saints. The early Christians did not describe salvation as “Me and Jesus,” but as “Us in Christ.” Baptism did not place you in a private booth with God, it plunged you into a people. The communion meal did not evoke private internal feelings about Jesus, it joined your life to the lives of all the other believers at the table.

If you’re looking for a personal relationship with Jesus, you must be where he is. If you’re looking for more in your relationship with Christ, you must be where Jesus always promised to be. In the Scriptures. In the prayers. In the supper. In the worship. In the communion of saints. In the life of his Body. And, as every member of his Body has always discovered, the closer we draw to the Church, the closer Christ draws to us.

Peace,
Allan

Body of Christ: Imitation

March 18, 2026 / / 0 Comments

As the Body of Christ, God’s Church is the physical, flesh-and-blood presence of Jesus in the world. By our baptismal participation in his life, death, and resurrection, we are commissioned by Christ to do the things he did in the ways he did them for the sake of others. Why? So people will see Jesus. So people will experience Jesus. If anybody’s going to meet Jesus in this world, they’re going to do it through the Church.

Words are never enough. Not even God’s words. That’s why his Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. That’s Incarnation. Jesus was not crucified because of his words. His words are not what changed the lives of broken people, his words are not what united fractured groups, his words are not what turned the whole world upside down. It was his presence. It was the physical things Jesus did while he was in the body. It was the healing and feeding, the forgiving and praying, the eating and sharing with all the wrong people, the refusal to recognize man-made boundaries, the lavish love, the liberal grace–that’s what got him killed. That’s what altered forever the course of history. That’s Incarnation.

Our words are never enough. The things we say in the safety of our sanctuaries aren’t going to change the world. Abstract truth doesn’t stir anybody’s heart. Theological concepts don’t compel faith and love, even when they’re true. But when that truth becomes embodied, when it’s up close and personal truth, real flesh-and-blood truth, that’s when truth gets interesting. That’s imitation. If we are to be the Body of Christ, the Church must be in the business of imitating our Lord.

The apostle Paul says he always carries around in his body the death of Jesus so the life of Jesus may be revealed, so Jesus’ life may be revealed in our (plural) mortal body (singular).

So, as the Body of Christ, we always side with the oppressed, never with the oppressors. We always stand with the minorities, we always take care of the refugees, we always protect the weak. We never discriminate, we never divide, and we never use violence or force. We always give, always forgive, and we always show love. That’s how people see Jesus, how people experience Jesus. We do the same things Jesus did in the ways he did them for the sake of others. If anybody’s going to meet Jesus today, they’re going to meet him through the Church, the Body of Christ.

Luke 3 tells us that huge crowds of people were coming to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. And the people being baptized asked John, “What shall we do?” John answered, “If you have two coats, give one of them to somebody who doesn’t have one. If you’ve got food, give it to somebody who doesn’t have any.”

Tax collectors were being baptized, and they asked, “What should we do?” John replied, “Stop stealing from people, stop taking advantage of the weak, treat everyone equally.”

Some soldiers were being baptized, and they asked, “What are we supposed to do?” John said, “Stop using threats and force to get your way, stop accusing people and lying about people.”

People are being baptized for the forgiveness of their sins, they’re going into the water for a salvation relationship with God, and the instructions are not about saying the right words or believing the right things or thinking the right way. The instructions are about doing. The expectation is for real, physical actions toward the poor; tangible concrete actions for the oppressed; flesh-and-blood actions for the outcast, the marginalized, and the exploited and the weak. Not the words we say in the safety and comfort of our church buildings, but the real actions we take in our communities; the real, physical skin-and-bones actions in the interests of others–all others!–bold, courageous, Christ-like actions that go against the grain of the culture and will cost us our reputations, our relationships, and our resources. That’s the imitation of Christ that makes the Church his body.

Our Lord Jesus is the One who brings life where it feels like death is in charge. He breaks down walls, he reconciles enemies, he forgives sinners, and he welcomes prodigals home. He brings light to darkness, he provides hope where there is despair. That’s our Lord Jesus! He is still saving people right now today! He is still forgiving and reconciling and redeeming today! That world says that’s not possible. They say Christ’s power alone isn’t enough for all the crises we’re facing, and they are wrong! The same Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the grave and ignited the first Church is working right now, awakening hearts, renewing minds, and empowering us as the Body of Christ!

So, we faithfully love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Why? So people will see Jesus.

We don’t just act on behalf of all people living inside the womb who might be harmed, we also act courageously on behalf of all people living outside the womb who might be harmed. Why? So people can meet Jesus.

We forgive those who sin against us, we lay down our rights for the sake of others, we stand firmly with the oppressed. Why? So the world will know the Kingdom of God is here!

This broken world is sick and tired of the Church’s words–words–words–words–words. They’re all sick of it. This lost world desperately needs the real, concrete, physical, flesh-and-blood actions of the Body of Christ.

Peace,
Allan

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