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Around the Table: Part 8b

January 9, 2014 / / 0 Comments

“Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body [of the Lord] eats and drinks judgment on himself.” ~1 Corinthians 11:27-29

I’m trying to keep these Around the Table posts from being too long. So allow me today to clean up a little bit from yesterday’s observations from Paul’s Lord’s Supper correctives in 1 Corinthians 11.

A lot of our distorted communion theology comes from the misunderstanding and misapplication of two key phrases in these three verses. These two phrases, as we’ll see more clearly in future posts, have been used and misused in all the worst ways to shift the Lord’s Supper over the centuries from the celebratory communal meal as it was originally intended to today’s solemn introspective snack.

Eating in a Worthy Manner

The word Paul uses here is not an adjective, it’s an adverb. It’s anaxios, which could be translated as “unworthily” or “unworthy manner.” The word describes the way one eats and drinks, not whether one is worthy to eat or drink in the first place. None of us is worthy to eat and drink in righteous relationship at the same table as our God. Or, put another way, all of us, by the grace of God and the blood of his Son, are worthy to share a meal at the Lord’s feast. Our worthiness to be at the table is not in question; that was settled at the cross of Christ. Praise God! What’s in question is how we eat when we’re gathered at our Lord’s Meal with other Christian brothers and sisters. According to the particular situation that Paul’s addressing there in Corinth, eating in an unworthy manner means eating in a way that only concerns yourself or your peers. It means eating in a selfish way that erects barriers between people and groups of people. It means drawing lines at the table between people of different backgrounds, different life circumstances, or different color, language, or race. Eating in a worthy manner is not about silently meditating on the cross of Jesus or reflecting on one’s own sins committed during the previous week. It’s not about quickly judging yourself and deciding you’d better not take a cracker crumb this week or, yeah, I’m good enough to participate today. It’s not private introspection; it’s public action. Worthy manner means considering the needs of others around the table more important than your own. It means sharing. It means paying attention to the people around you. Which leads us to…

Recognizing the Body:

First, it’s not “recognizing the body of the Lord.” The earliest original Greek language manuscripts do not contain “of the Lord.” Those three words were added to the text somewhere along the way, probably several centuries later, undoubtedly to help shift the mood of the Supper to one of quiet reflection. (There was a reason for that. Again, we’ll see it more clearly and explore it more thoroughly in upcoming posts.) Everyone at the table, in Paul’s words, must recognize the body while they eat and drink. Recognize the body? How can that possibly mean anything other than the Church?

Earlier, in the same conversation, Paul has used “body” to describe the church: “Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf” (1 Corinthians 10:17). Later, in the same letter, he leaves no doubt as to what he means when he uses the word “body” at least 17 times in 16 verses to mean “church” (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). This is just the way Paul writes; he loves to refer to the gathered saints as “the body.”

“…for the sake of his body, which is the Church.” ~Colossians 1:24

“…to be head over everything for the Church, which is his body.” ~Ephesians 1:23

“For we are all members of one body.” ~Ephesians 4:25

“…just as Christ does the Church — for we are members of his body.” ~Ephesians 5:30

To recognize the body at the Lord’s Supper is to recognize God’s Church as a united community. This is about acknowledging the communal meaning of the Meal. The Lord’s Supper is a powerful witness to unity, it’s a strong testimony to a tangible fellowship that transcends all barriers. Especially in the context of the particular issues in Corinth, Paul’s command to recognize the body can only mean to recognize all the people around the table together. This is not about concentrating on the battered body of Jesus hanging on the cross. It’s not about tuning out distractions, not making eye contact with anybody, being super quiet, so as individuals we can focus on the death of our Lord. It’s just the opposite; it’s exactly the opposite! It’s explicitly about tuning in to everybody and everything around us, about making eye contact and physical contact with our brothers and sisters, it’s a command to talk and visit and smile and chat and welcome and serve, to focus on the resurrection community we’re blessed by God to share together.

You know, the communion meal is genius. It really is. God knew what he was doing when he gave us this Supper. Because you can’t do communion by yourself. You can’t do communion on TV, you can’t order it on-line, and you don’t get communion at a drive-thru. In order to do communion, you have to be within arm’s reach of other people. You must be within touching distance of other Christians. You have to share a loaf, you have to serve a cup, you have to look at each other. Doing it by yourself is not communion. Doing it by yourself even in a room full of hundreds of people is not communion. Distorting these two key phrases in 1 Corinthians 11 has profoundly damaged our Lord’s Supper. Expressing the intended communal aspects of the meal is what’s required. It’s what must be recovered.

Peace,

Allan

Members of God’s House

January 2, 2014 / / 0 Comments

People are looking for a connection. We have a human need to belong to something, to be a part of something, to be a part of some group. We get our identity, in large part, from the groups to which we belong. And that something, or some group, should be successful and popular. Even if it’s only a sports team, that drive to identify with something is enormous.

So we buy the jerseys. We refer to “our” teams as “we” and “us.” We have a need to belong, to connect, to have some sense of fitting in this world. And it’s from this sense of belonging — at work, at school, at the club, at the football stadium — that gives us the confidence and ability to relate and accomplish things. Our own families, of course, are foundational in giving us a true sense of belonging.

“You are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” ~Ephesians 2:19-20

We do belong. We belong to God and to God’s family. That’s our connection.

Christ has brought us home to God. We live in God’s house as his much-loved sons and daughters. We belong with God and are involved in what he is doing. The other people in the house are family with us. This home defines us. Christ gives us a place in this world. And from that connection, that sense of belonging, we grow in our abilities to relate to each other and accomplish great things for the Kingdom.

Remember where home is. Remember who’s your family.

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The “4 Amarillo” cooperative coalition among the four downtown Amarillo churches made the list of the year’s top “headliners” in the local Amarillo Globe News. You can read the article in yesterday’s paper by clicking here.

Peace,

Allan

Thanksgiving 4 Sunday

November 22, 2013 / / 0 Comments

“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one.” ~John 17:22

We’ve been given a profound intimacy with the Father and Son that changes all of human life. It’s a unity that encompasses the Father with the Son, all disciples with them both, and all disciples, in turn, with one another. This is the gift of Jesus’ prayer. It’s not what we have to do or maintain; it’s what God through Christ has already given us and continues to maintain through the power of his Holy Spirit. It’s just a matter of whether we recognize it or not.

This Sunday, we are set to gather in gratitude to give thanksgiving to our God for the gracious gift of this unity. We will acknowledge the fellowship we share with the other Christian congregations in downtown Amarillo on this day of worship and praise and thanksgiving. Together.

Our guest preacher here at Central on Sunday is Howard Griffin, my good friend and the senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church. As has become our custom on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, we will share a special time of communion around several tables in the worship center piled high with a wide assortment of breads, representing the divinely-ordained diversity in Christ’s Body, his Church. Then at 6:00 Sunday evening, all four churches are meeting at First Baptist for the first ever “4 Amarillo” Thanksgiving service.

As God’s children, unity is our nature. This is who we are: One with Christ and one with his followers everywhere. What that means is that there is very little, if anything, outside of denying Jesus as Lord in word or deed that can separate us. If that’s the case — and it is! — then our diversity and our differences are not just tolerated, they’re embraced and appreciated. Even celebrated. Thanksgiving seems like a perfect time for just such a celebration.

Peace,

Allan

Even the Sparrow Has Found a Home

October 17, 2013 / / 0 Comments

“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young — a place near your altar,
O Lord Almighty, my King and my God!” ~Psalm 84:1-3

For the Israelites of old, the temple in Jerusalem represented both the physical and spiritual dwelling place of God. The temple is where God lived; it was his throne and his footstool; it’s where his people gathered to meet with him in worship and praise, in sacrifice and service. If one wanted to experience the presence of God, if one wanted to be near to God, he or she went to the temple. Of course, everybody wants to be near to God. Everybody wants to be in his presence. So everybody goes to the temple. Even the birds of the air make their nests in the temple eaves, they lay their eggs and hatch their little bird babies as close to the altar as they can get. Everybody wants to be near to God.

And God is in his holy temple.

Our understanding today is that God, by his Holy Spirit, actually dwells inside each one of us as his dear children and disciples of his Christ. We, the Church, are the temple of God. His presence is within us. And I would never attempt to equate our church building here at 1401 South Monroe with the temple in Jerusalem. The differences are at once obvious and numerous and beyond enormous. But when God’s people come together in his presence, in the name of his Son, and by the power of his Spirit, he does meet with us in a special way. He is present with us together on Sundays in our church buildings in ways that he is not present with us otherwise. There is something unique happening. We can’t put our finger on it, we have a difficult time defining it; but we know.

“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
They go from strength to strength, till each appears before his God.” ~Psalm 84:5-7

I imagine that God is the one who gathers us together on Sunday mornings. I imagine he blesses his people as they iron their shirts, as they match their socks, as they feed the kids, as they search for their Bibles and the car keys during that hurried early morning hour. He is the one who calls and gathers and blesses. People don’t come to the church building because the preacher called. They don’t gather because the elders or their friends brought them here. It’s God. God calls us to gather as his community of faith and worship him. And as we drive down I-40 and negotiate Washington Street with all of its lights, as we arrive from north, south, east, and west Amarillo and beyond, as we pull into our parking spot, God is preparing us. He’s reminding us. He’s getting us ready to experience his presence in powerful ways we haven’t since the Sunday before.

“Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” ~Psalm 84:10

This church building at 1401 South Monroe is a place where God’s people do regularly experience his presence in profound ways. We discussed this together as a staff earlier this week. After reading and praying through Psalm 84, each of us named two or three places — physical places — around here where we encounter God’s presence. During baptisms on a Sunday morning. Praying with newly baptized believers behind the baptistry. At funerals. During the congregational singing. During the sharing of communion. While watching kind brothers and sisters helping one another up and down stairs, opening doors for each other, cleaning up somebody else’s spill. While spontaneous prayer circles break out in the worship center. In our youth group’s Huddles and Muddles. When we do anything in the old chapel. Walking by Mark’s office while he ministers to a broken young man or a woman who’s lost all hope. Listening to the children laugh at Kid’s University downstairs.

Our God lives here at 1401 South Monroe. Yes, I know, he dwells inside each one of us in powerful and mysterious ways. The ways our God lives with us and in us today is a marvelous fulfillment of his eternal covenant promises. It’s more than any of us could have possibly imagined. It’s so wondrous that even “angels long to look.” It’s so much better now — indescribably better — than when God’s presence was only experienced at the temple. But that doesn’t discount in any way the fact that our God, yes, does indeed live here in our church building, too. Yes, he does.

Where and when in your church building do you really, really, really feel the presence of our God?

See you Sunday,

Allan

Let’s Astonish the World

August 14, 2013 / / 0 Comments

What a tremendous response! What a terrific reaction to what our God revealed to us at Central this past Sunday! And, my, how it continues even now into the middle of the week! The emails and texts that began pouring in during lunchtime Sunday are still being received today in a fairly steady stream. There’s an enthusiasm over what we’ve discovered together as a church family. There’s an overwhelming resolve to jump wholeheartedly into what our God has put in front of us. There’s a continual hum, a buzz, a current of Holy Spirit energy that’s tangible in this place. It’s real. You can feel it. We’ve tapped in to something here. Maybe… God’s holy will?

Allow me to share with you in this space today the heart of the message we heard together Sunday from God’s Word. Tomorrow, my plan is to share some of the response to the message in an effort to further process what happened Sunday.

The lesson Sunday came from the last part of Jesus’ prayer in John 17, his plea for unity among all future believers. It served as the culmination of our sermon series on this powerful prayer. And it provided the theological base for our “4 Amarillo” partnership with First Baptist, First Presbyterian, and Polk Street Methodist.

My prayer, Jesus says, is that all of them may be one. May they be brought to complete unity. It’s this unity, this uncompromising love and acceptance we have for all baptized Christian believers that will prove to the world Jesus really is who he says he is and who we say he is. Our unflinching dedication to love and defend all Christians, to worship and serve with all Christians, will astonish the world.

Well, Allan, not all people who’ve been baptized, right? I mean, a lot of people are baptized in different ways than we are, and for different reasons. We can’t worship with and have fellowship with all Christians.

That’s why the church is not astonishing the world.

Christ’s prayer is for unity. Christ’s will is for complete unity among all his followers today. So, let’s go there.

If God accepts someone, I must also accept them, too, right? I can’t be a sterner judge than the perfect judge, can I? Nobody would say, “Well, I know that God accepts this woman as a full child of his, I know she’s probably saved, but she doesn’t meet all of my standards in the things she believes and the way she worships, so I’m not going to accept her.” Nobody would say that. We must fellowship everyone who has fellowship with God. We must fellowship everyone who is saved. All the saved.

So… who are the saved?

There was a time when we would say everyone who hears, believes, repents, confesses, and is baptized is saved. OK, for the sake of this discussion, let’s go with that. The next question is, “He who hears what?”

“The Gospel!”

“She who believes what?”

“The Gospel!”

“Whoever repents and confesses and is baptized by what or through what or into what?”

“The Gospel!”

Right. That means the next question is… what is the Gospel?

That Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God, that he alone is Lord, and that we are saved by faith in him. You might check out 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 or several other places in Scripture where Paul sums up the Gospel. It seems pretty clear that it’s about declaring Jesus as Lord and as the only way to the Father and submitting to his lordship in baptism and in a new way of life. We’ve never required anything else. The Church has never asked for another confession. We’ve never asked anybody their position on women’s roles or children’s worship before they’re baptized. We don’t put a teenager in the water and catalog all his views and opinions on instrumental worship before he’s saved. (Unfortunately, some of us do that about a month later.) That stuff is not Gospel. Paul says it’s nothing but Christ and him crucified.

Romans 15:7 says we are to accept one another as Christ accepted us. We are to receive others by the same standards we were received at our baptisms. You know, your acceptance by God is a gift. That fact that Christ Jesus has accepted you is pure grace. The imperative for us is to extend that same gift, to show that same grace, to all others who have received it from our Lord.

Well, what about the Christian who disagrees with me on divorce and remarriage, or on the age of the earth? What about the Christian who doesn’t see church names or the Lord’s Supper the way I do? What about our discord over steeples or shaped notes?

In Romans 14-15, the issues are eating mean versus vegetables and the observance of holy days. And Paul knows what’s right and wrong. He knows the correct answer. There is a right and wrong on these matters. But Paul says, in Christ Jesus, it doesn’t matter. You don’t believe me? Read Romans 14:1-15:7.

Now, here’s where it gets us. You ready?

Do you believe that you are perfect? Do you believe you have God’s will completely and perfectly figured out? That you are living exactly right, that you believe everything exactly right, that your worship is exactly right according to God’s plans? Do you think you know everything and do everything perfectly? No? That’s what I thought. Then what in the world saves you? What covers you in your innocent mistakes? What saves you in your accidental misunderstandings and your sincere misinterpretations? Why, it’s God’s grace, of course. His matchless grace.

Do you believe that the Churches of Christ are perfect? Do you think that the CofCs  have everything totally figured out? That we are worshiping exactly right, that our leadership structures are completely lined up with God’s intent, that we have all of God’s will entirely mapped out and expressed perfectly? No? That’s what I thought. Then what in the world saves us? What covers us in our innocent mistakes? What saves us in our accidental misunderstandings and our sincere misinterpretations? Why, God’s grace. Yes, his wonderful grace.

You think there’s any chance at all the Methodists might be doing something right according to the will of God that we’re not? You think the Presbyterians might possibly have something figured out that we don’t? What if the Baptists’ understandings of something in the Bible are richer and fuller than ours? What if another group’s practice is more in line with God’s will than ours? Is it even possible? Yes, of course. Then, what covers us in our innocent mistakes and accidental misunderstandings and sincere misinterpretations? Grace. Yeah, I know.

Now, let’s assume that we have it right on the Lord’s Supper and the Methodists have it wrong. Let’s pretend that we’re right about baptism and a plurality of elders and the Presbyterians and Baptists are wrong. Does the grace of God not cover them completely in their innocent mistakes and accidental misunderstandings and sincere misinterpretations? Are they any less saved?

But they’re wrong and we’re right!

So you get God’s grace where you lack understanding but they don’t? You get the grace of God in your misinterpretations of God’s will but they don’t? Why? Because you try harder? Because we’re more sincere? Because, somehow, we deserve it?

Whoa.

The unbelieving world looks at that and says, “No, thanks.” And I don’t blame them. A religion as visibly divided as ours does not reflect the truth. It reflects our fallen world, not the glory of our God.

Our Christian unity will have an eternal impact on our world. But the world has to see it. Our unity, which already exists as a gift from God, must be visible. It must be practiced and experienced. When it is, the world will believe.

A Methodist preacher, a Church of Christ preacher, a Baptist preacher and a Presbyterian preacher all walk in to a bar is the first line of a bad joke. The Methodist church, the Church of Christ, the Baptist and Presbyterian churches all putting aside their differences to worship and serve together for the sake of the city is a serious and everlasting testimony to the love and power of God! Our “4 Amarillo” efforts are a witness to the world that this is for real! That Christ Jesus is our King! That the world really is changing! That hearts are being melted and people are being transformed! That barriers are being destroyed and walls are coming down! That the devil has been defeated and the Kingdom of God is here!

Peace,

Allan

The Work We’ve Been Given To Do

July 29, 2013 / / 0 Comments

“Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” ~John 17:1

Jesus begins his very public prayer at the end of that last meal with his disciples acknowledging that the time for him to die, to glorify the Father in a selfless act of unconditional love, was at hand. The hour had come. It was here. It was time. The prayer is certainly set in and around the context of his impending death. But for a brief moment at the beginning of this prayer, Jesus allowed himself room to reflect for a moment on his brief earthly life and ministry.

“I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. I have revealed you…”

Jesus always told people if you had seen him, you had seen the Father. If you knew Jesus, you knew the Creator of Heaven and Earth. Yes, Jesus revealed God to the world. Jesus reveals God’s glory. Jesus allows us to see God. Jesus allows us to experience God. Jesus’ compassion shows us God’s compassion. Jesus’ mercy shows us God’s mercy. Jesus’ gentleness shows us God’s gentleness. Jesus’ intolerance for religious people who judge others and think they’re better than everybody else shows us God’s holy intolerance for religious arrogance and pride. Jesus’ love and forgiveness shows us God’s great love and forgiveness. Revealing God — this was a large part of the work God had given Jesus to do.

And, to borrow the powerful language from Christ’s prayer, the time has come for the Church of God to do the work God has given us to do. The time has come for us to reveal our God to the world. If we don’t, who will?

This world is full of cops and lawyers and judges and juries who accuse and prosecute and punish. The time has come for God’s people to be the ones who forgive. The world is full of writers and broadcasters and politicians who spread hate and fear in order to divide and conquer. The time has come for Christ’s followers to be the ones who spread love and hope in order to reconcile and restore. The world is full of soldiers and generals and armies and kings who take and kill in the name of country and security. The time has come for Christ’s Church to be the ones who give life, who give resources, who give of themselves, who give and give and give in the name of the One who came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

The time has come for us to complete the work we’ve been given to do, to reveal the love and grace of Almighty God to a world that does not know him. If we don’t, who will?

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I’m not playing “Taps” for the Rangers just yet. It’s not completely over. But this team is on life support. They’re barely breathing. The family’s been called in. The grandkids are gathering photos for the slide show. It’s not looking good.

The Rangers have lost four straight and nine of their past eleven games. They have been shut out — zero runs! — in three of their past four games. The Rangers haven’t scored a run in 21 straight innings. They have scored three runs or fewer in twelve of their past fifteen games and hit .177 with runners in scoring position during this same fifteen game stretch, including yesterday’s 0-3 showing in Cleveland. As of this very moment, Texas is six games back of Oakland in the AL West and fourth in the Wild Card standings. Worse than that, yesterday marked the 30th consecutive day the Rangers have not made up ground in the division. They’ve gone a full month now either staying put or losing ground to the A’s.

Yikes!

I’m still convinced that Nelson Cruz will be suspended this coming weekend, probably Friday, for the remainder of the season. So now the Rangers need at least two or three brand new bats, not just one or two. I was hopeful that the Garza signing would spark something in these guys. No, it hasn’t. And I’m afraid Ron Washington’s 45-minute closed door team meeting after yesterday’s embarrassing effort won’t do it either.

We’ll know for certain this time next Monday whether to pull the plug on this team. Texas plays the Angels in a three-game set in Arlington beginning tonight and then go head-to-head with the A’s in Oakland this coming weekend. So, come Monday, we’ll know.

It’s been three or four years since Cowboys pre-season football was more interesting than watching the Rangers.

Crud.

Allan

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