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Category: Church (Page 27 of 59)

A Matter of Life and Death

October 2, 2012 / / 4 Comments

(Commenting on this post automatically enters you into the drawing for all the books we’re giving away in conjunction with this blog’s upcoming 1,000th article. Scroll way down to the posts on September 20 and 21 for details.)

While studying this week for our sermon on obedience to Christ’s commands (John 15:10-14, “Obey My Commands”), I’ve come across the text of a sermon from Ephesians 5:21ff preached by William Willimon on the topic of submission. While discussing how the world has subtly attacked the Christian doctrine of submission and declared war on our lives of obedience, Willimon speaks about the importance of our Sunday morning worship gatherings. He calls our worship assemblies “a matter of life and death.”

A couple of years ago, I was invited to preach in the congregation where a friend of mine serves. The congregation is located in the heart of one of our great cities. The congregation is entirely black people who live in the tenement houses in that part of the city. I arrived at eleven o’clock, expecting to participate in about an hour of worship. But I did not rise to preach until nearly twelve-thirty. There were hymns and gospel songs, a great deal of speaking, hand-clapping, singing. We did not have the benediction until nearly one-fifteen. I was exhausted.

“Why do black people stay in church so long?” I asked my friend as we went out to lunch. “Our worship never lasts much over an hour.”

He smiled. Then he explained, “Unemployment runs nearly 50 percent here. For our youth, the unemployment rate is much higher. That means that, when our people go about during the week, everything they see, everything they hear tells them, ‘You are a failure. You are nobody. You are nothing because you do not have a good job, you do not have a fine car, you have no money.’

“So I must gather them here, once a week, and get their heads straight. I get them together, here, in the church, and through the hymns, the prayers, the preaching say, ‘That is a lie. You are somebody. You are royalty! God has bought you with a price and he loves you as his Chosen People!’

“It takes me so long to get them straight because the world perverts them so terribly.”

Paganism is the air we breathe in this current world; consumerism is the water we drink; individualism and imperialism are the oxymoronic values that shape us. These things capture us, they convert our kids, they subvert us Christians. We live in a hostile place for discipleship. That’s what makes our congregations, our communities of faith, and our appointed times of corporate worship, a matter of life and death.

We must regularly speak together about God in a world that lives as if there is no God. We must talk to one another as beloved brothers and sisters in a world which encourages us to live as strangers. We must pray to God to give us what we can’t have by our own efforts in a world that teaches us we are self-sufficient and all-powerful. What we do together on Sundays matters a great deal.

Peace,

Allan

Orienting for Glory

September 21, 2012 / / 4 Comments

This coming Sunday marks the first of six straight weeks in which our adult Bible classes here at Central are pairing up with one another in an effort to better live what we preach in intergenerational, multi-cultural relationships. If you’re one of our members at Central, for six straight Sundays you’re going to be in a Bible class with people who are not your age. Their kids won’t be the same age as your kids. Their salaries might not match yours. Some of these people may come from completely different backgrounds, have completely different viewpoints, and sport a completely different skin color than yours. For six weeks a lot of you will listen to teachers you’ve never heard in a classroom you’ve never visited.

It’ll be different.

We’re all going to be pushed out of our comfort zones. We’re all going to experience a little vertigo as we get used to the different people and different styles. We’re all going to have to give a little, to bend a bit, to sacrifice and serve to make this happen.

It’ll be difficult.

But this is not a move to disorient us. It’s actually intended to orient us. This is an effort to orient us to that blessed day when all of God’s children are together around that one table at the eternal wedding feast of the Lamb. Different colors and languages, different ages and styles, different backgrounds and sets of experiences — yet, one people around one table.

That glorious day is coming. God has promised it, Christ Jesus died and was raised for it, and the Holy Spirit is working toward it. And we should live our lives today in great anticipation. We should be leaning into it daily. Looking forward to it, practicing it, getting ready for it.

It’s only an hour on Sunday mornings for just six weeks. But our prayer is that it’ll go a long way in helping us experience and express our Father’s holy will for his Church.

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The 1,000th posting on this five-year-old blog is going to happen before the end of October. And I’d like to celebrate that weird little milestone by giving you, the readers, brand new copies of some of the great books that have informed and shaped my thinking and writing and preaching. We’ll hold a drawing on the day of that 1,000th post. The only way to enter the drawing is by posting comments between now and then — see the end of yesterday’s post for details on how you can enter your name up to 14 times. You can enter multiple times, but you can only win one prize.

Grand Prize – all three books in John Mark Hicks’ series on the sacraments of the Church of Christ: Come to the Table, the book that launched my continuing quest to better understand Christ’s meal; Down to the River to Pray, a wonderful call to restore Christian baptism to the center of the life of the Church; and A Gathered People, a beautiful look at the ways God works in our corporate assemblies to transform us into the image of his Son.

First Prize – Resident Aliens, Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon

Second Prize – Surprised by Hope, N. T. Wright

Third Prize – The Reason for God, Timothy Keller

Fourth Prize – The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis

Fifth Prize – The Jesus Way, Eugene Peterson

Peace,

Allan

 

Brueggemann’s First Blush

September 20, 2012 / / 8 Comments

Walter Brueggemann looks and acts like a cartoon character. A tiny little man with white hair and eyeglasses that hang way too close to the end of his nose, this most respected of Old Testament scholars and expert on the ancient prophets, was in Abilene as a guest speaker at this week’s annual ACU Summit. The headliner, so to speak, wowed us with his deep insights and wisdom. He moved effortlessly from difficult text to even more difficult application. He seemed to whisper and shout at the same time, raising his eyebrows, cocking his head to one side, dragging the last words of key sentences for almost half a minute in a whiny, yet authoritative, rasp, and all the while wringing his oversized hands in an exaggerated fashion in front of his face. It would be very easy to imitate Brueggemann’s style. It’s hilarious. And fascinating.

But it would be impossible to duplicate his substance.

The old professor reminded us that our God has a high regard for his people but our God also has a high self-regard for God. Both. Brueggemann pointed out that our therapeutic culture mostly thinks God is only in it for us. He loves us, he forgives us, he restores us, he’s patient with us, he saves us because, afterall, that’s what God does. It’s his job. We would do good, however, to wake up. It would benefit us greatly to become like the child who wakes up one day to discover that her mom has a life of her own. Our God is a free agent. He chooses. He wills. He decides. And he changes his mind. His eternal holiness trumps everything else about him. Therefore, he is both a passionate and punishing God. Both.

I hope to write a little more about Summit, particularly Brueggeman’s brilliant insights, in the following couple of days. (Anybody who can drop cuss words from the pulpit in both ACU’s chapel on the hill and Moody Coliseum merits more than just a couple of paragraphs in this space. We were all shocked when Mark Hamilton prayed before Brueggemann’s afternoon keynote that God would “loosen his tongue.” Had Brother Hamilton not attended any of the earlier sessions?)

But, here’s what I really want to write about today. That was all just an introduction.

I have a tendency, personally, to think and talk about the Churches of Christ in apologetic terms. In my defense, most of the negative things I think and say about my faith heritage are in the past tense: we used to be this, we’re trying to get away from that, we’ve always thought this way, we’re changing the way we do that, etc., But, still, the truth is, when somebody brings up the Church of Christ in a conversation, my gut instinct is to apologize. We used to think we were the only ones going to heaven, but we’re moving away from that. We used to abstain from working with other Christian denominations, but we’re getting better. We’ve traditionally taught and practiced a works-based salvation, but our understanding is much better now. We used to ignore the Holy Spirit, but not anymore.

You know what I mean? Do you do that, too? There’s so much good going on in our particular branch of God’s Kingdom, we have so much to offer the Christian community and the world. And I know that. I talk about it all the time with our own people. I see so much good, I experience so much joy, I hear so many wonderful things. But, still, my default is to apologize first.

After his morning keynote at ACU, Brueggemann was asked by moderator Brady Bryce to share his first impressions of the Church of Christ. And it wasn’t a fair question. Up until the moment he arrived on campus Sunday, I’m not sure Brueggemann had ever seen a Church of Christ member in person. I wouldn’t bet he’d ever heard of the Church of Christ before Brady called him last year. It wasn’t right to ask this Episcopalian and UCC scholar to share his thoughts on our movement in front of all of us. He begged out, but Brady pushed.

And Brueggemann said he was very impressed with the immediacy and the urgency with which we approach Scripture. He said our interpretation of the Bible was simple and fresh. He said our teachings and approach to faith and life in Christ were not complicated. And, again, “fresh.”

Fresh? Did you ever think you would live to hear a world renowned scholar refer to anything related to the Churches of Christ as “fresh?”

Now, to be fair, Brueggemann had spent a couple of days by this time listening to our best speakers and worshiping with our best singers. I know he was paying attention because he referred to and quoted from several of the sermons we had heard since Sunday night. And he specifically cited the immediacy and urgency with which we approach Scripture as fresh.

This outsider who has a keen eye for what’s faithful and good, this alien scholar who thinks so well and only says what he really thinks — this esteemed man of God had a first impression of us. And it was good. It was very good.

When am I, a lifelong CofC insider, going to fully get over the past so I can wholeheartedly embrace the present and the future of our denomination? Our present is exciting and our future is promising. Brueggemann’s first blush reminded me that we are brimming with holy potential for the great cause of our Christ. We are important in the Kingdom of God. We do have a lot to offer. I knew this already, I’ve known it for a long time. But it’s good to hear it from an outsider, to be reminded by someone who’s not nearly as concerned about our past as I am.

As of today, thanks to Walter, I’m done apologizing. I’m through with qualifying the wonderful attributes of our movement with backward glances at our struggles. I’m not ever going to shrink back from my CofC heritage again. And I may even take up hand-wringing during my sermons.

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I started writing this blog when I began my first full-time congregational preaching with the Legacy Church of Christ in June 2007. Today’s post is #985. I’m thinking that post #1,000 will happen before the end of October. And on that day, I’d like to celebrate by giving away brand new copies of some of the books that have radically shaped my thinking, my preaching, and my writing. Now, this is not going to be like Oprah — I’m not giving away any cars or houses — but I do want to distribute some excellent books.

Everyone who posts a comment on my blog between now and that 1,000th writing will automatically be entered in a drawing for the books. You can only be entered once per post during that time. You can only be entered a maximum of 14 times. You’ll only get credit for one entry per post regardless of how many comments you write per post. But it does start today. I’ll reveal the titles of the books tomorrow. The judge’s decisions (mine) are final. Good luck.

Peace,

Allan

Passing the Baton

July 26, 2012 / / 0 Comments

“What we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us, we will not hide them from their 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 to win. And I believe it’s critical that we understand this race that we’re running is a relay. There’s not a single one of us running this race alone. Someone passed the baton to us. And we are now passing that baton to others. We are today standing on the shoulders of those who’ve gone before and, at the same time, paving the way for those coming after. It’s a relay. And something really special happens as the baton is passed.

Notice the boys in this picture who are receiving the baton. See how they are looking back at the runners who’ve gone before. They’re stretching back with open arms, open hands, to receive the baton. They’re measuring their steps so they match up with those who are passing the baton to them, trying to match their stride.

Now look at the one passing the baton. Notice how she is running her fastest right here at the exchange. She’s giving it all she’s got. Her part of the race is almost over. She’s near the end of her leg. But look at how she’s running harder and faster now and working harder now than she was at the beginning. Look at how she’s stretching and straining and lunging to pass this baton on to the one who will run after her. Notice how she’s concentrating on the task.

Now, see how for a time these two are actually running together. For just a brief moment, right at the point of the exchange, the two are running perfectly together. Step by step. Stride for stride. In perfect rhythm. One finishing her assignment, one just getting started. Running together. Cooperating together. Sprinting together. Enduring, persevering, working together. Side by side.

I love that image. I think it’s divinely-ordained. And I believe this is where God’s Church needs to dwell. We need to live in that really cool moment of exchange.

You older Christians, we need you to be actively involved in raising our kids. We need you. We need your wisdom. We need your experience. We need your advice. We need your examples of someone who’s seen it all and endured it all and kept the faith. Our children need to see it in you. They need older people to look up to. 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 you’re not running your race alone. We need you to run faster, to work harder, to reach out to us and pass the baton.

You younger Christians, we need you to be fully engaged with those who are running ahead of you. Look to them. Make eye contact with them. Measure your steps to match theirs. Reach back to them. And be in a spirit to accept from them. Strain with everything you’ve got to accept their love. Their concern. Concentrate on receiving their stories. On accepting their faith.

As we exchange the baton, as the older people stretch and the younger people reach back, as the Christian faith is being passed along in our Christ-centered relationships with one another, we’ll discover that we really are running side by side, step by step.

“He commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.” ~Psalm 78:5-7

Peace,

Allan

When The Sermon’s Over

July 10, 2012 / / 2 Comments

If my honeymoon here at Central is supposed to last one year — I’m not assuming anything here; it may last another two or three years or, without my knowledge, it may have ended months ago — then I’ve got only about six more weeks of this wonderful bliss. So, please indulge me with your love and grace and allow me to encourage you in a way that, I hope, provokes some honest self assessment and reflection.

It ain’t over when the sermon is over.

In fact, I would argue — get ready, I’m about to! — that the best and most important part of our Sunday morning assemblies occurs after the sermon is finished. Church is not over when the sermon is over; it’s just getting started. If you’re heading for the doors and out into the parking lot the moment I close my Bible, you’re missing out on the best stuff that happens during our assemblies. If the last thing you see or hear, experience or participate in, during our weekly gatherings in that worship center is my voice, here’s what you’re missing.

1) Self-Reflection – the song that we sing together right after the sermon is chosen in order to promote some healthy and much needed self-assessment. The song is connected to the just-presented Word in a way that should lead to personal and congregational reflection. It’s hard enough in this noisy world with our hectic pace and our short attention spans to find time to reflect on God’s Word and our response to it. Whether you hit the parking lot one minute after the sermon’s done or 30-minutes later, the honest truth is that, by that time, you’ve already forgotten every bit of it. You’re on to the next thing. What sermon? What Word of God? We believe that the Word preached has a life-transforming power. We believe that God’s Spirit uses that Word to change us, to shape us, to form us more into the image of Christ. Those moments immediately following the proclamation of that Word are much better spent thinking and reflecting, meditating and contemplating application, than in gathering up purses and papers and rushing up the aisles. What’s the hurry?

2) Baptisms – yes, it still happens occasionally. Somebody will be so moved by the proclaimed Word of God, he will walk down to the front of the worship center right after the sermon and be baptized on the spot. A previously unsaved child of God will declare her allegiance to her Creator, submit fully to the Lordship of our Christ, participate in the death and burial and resurrection of Jesus, and be delivered from her sins into eternal life in glory. Why would you want to miss that? It’s the thing we teach and preach, it’s the thing we uphold as vital to salvation, it’s the very thing we’ve fought to defend. It’s baptism! It’s the chance to witness up close and personal our Almighty God snatching an eternal soul from the clutches of Satan and redirecting him or her to heaven. It’s the opportunity to physically watch God keep his centuries-old promises. It’s a holy occasion to participate in God’s salvation, to witness a birth, to be present when a child of God is reclaimed and restored to righteousness. Why in the world would you miss that in order to get to Arby’s or to the lake fifteen minutes earlier? To me, it’s like a football player who has given his life to football saying “no, thank you” to starting at quarterback in the Super Bowl in order to go home and watch a hair-clip infomercial on a 13-inch black-and-white TV. It’s that crazy.

3) Bearing Burdens – two or three times a month, it seems, somebody in our church family or somebody from the Amarillo community is taking that time right after the sermon to ask our church for their prayers. A brother in Christ comes down to the front to confess sin and ask forgiveness; a sister comes to reveal her broken heart over a family matter; or, as was the case this past Sunday, three ladies from the downtown women’s abuse center come forward and beg us to pray for God’s mercy and strength. To me, this is our fully-involved God saying to us, “You want to be more like Christ? You want to become more like my Son? Here, minister to these hurting people.” Encouraging the downtrodden, giving strength to the weak, forgiving the sinner, loving the unlovable — these are all very Christ-like things to do. Jesus lives to intercede for us; interceding on behalf of others makes us more like him. Bearing the burdens of others is about as Christ-like as it gets. It’s incomprehensible that while your brother is mustering up all the courage in his body and soul and mind to walk down that aisle to throw himself upon the mercy of God and his church, you’re skipping up the opposite direction to get to the ballgame or to your enchiladas and rice. With only a little prompting, forty or fifty people got out of their seats to embrace those three women Sunday, to put their arms around them and pray with them as they bared their hearts to God and to us. I praise God for that physical, tangible, see-able outpouring of his grace. It was the best thing, the most powerful thing, that’s happened in our worship center in months. I pray you didn’t miss it because you were in a hurry to mow your lawn.

4) Exhortation – at the end of every assembly, one of our shepherds stands up to bless us. One of our elders, one of our spiritual fathers (to use a New Testament term), reads to us from the Holy Word of God. He challenges us to live in the coming week for Christ. He blesses us. And he prays for us. I don’t understand why anybody would walk out on that. You know it’s coming. We do it every week. One of the men this church family has ordained as the most Christ-like among us, one of the men we’ve said we will follow because he is so obviously following our Lord, one of the men we believe God has placed among us to shepherd us is going to get up and bless us! He’s going to read Holy Scripture to us! He’s going to pray! It’s incredibly important. It’s huge. I can’t understand why anybody would walk out on that blessing.

It ain’t over when the sermon is over. Usually it’s just getting started, the best part of our Christian assemblies together is still to come. God still has plenty of work to do — on you, on me, on our church. I lovingly encourage you to stick around.

Peace,

Allan

Desperately Needing Exercise

July 8, 2012 / / 0 Comments

“…to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” ~Ephesians 4:12-13

We wrapped up our quarterly Central Orientation for visitors and new members to our congregation this morning by talking about works of service. We read the above passage from Ephesians 4 — it’s quickly becoming a bit of a theme passage for us around here — and reminded one another that these works are prepared in advance by God for us to do. If we really are the body of Christ, it’s vital that each member of the body function according to the gifts he or she has been given by the Holy Spirit to do the works that have prepared for that member by God. We stress this all the time at Central. A member of the Central Church of Christ doesn’t just show up on Sundays and sit there.

Legendary Oklahoma football coach Bud Wilkinson was asked one time if professional sports contributed at all to the physical fitness of Americans. He surprised most everybody in the room when he said, “No.”

“A professional football game is a happening where thousands of spectators desperately needing exercise sit in the stands watching twenty-two men on the field desperately needing rest.”

I hope that doesn’t describe your church: a handful of participants and a whole bunch of spectators.

All of us — you and me, everybody in your church and everybody in mine —desperately need exercise. The passage in Ephesians tells us clearly that working for the sake of others builds up the body. Works of service result in unity. Selflessly serving others causes us to be mature in Christ. Using our divinely ordained gifts to benefit others is part of attaining to that whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Paul goes on to say that these works of service keep us from acting like babies, from being tricked by lies and false teachings. Working hard for our Lord and his church is part of “growing up into Christ.”

“…as each part does its work.”

If you’re in God’s Church, you’re in a work zone. You’re not just sitting there, right?

Peace,

Allan

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