Category: Church (Page 54 of 61)

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.

Passing The Baton

January 9, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

In his 1984 Hall of Fame induction speech, Harmon Killebrew recounted the days when his father taught his brother and him how to play baseball out in the front yard. One afternoon Killebrew’s mother admonished his dad from the porch, “Y’all are ruining the lawn!” To which his dad replied, “We’re raising kids—not grass!”

At the Legacy Church of Christ, we’re raising kids—not grass. We’re raising kids—not immaculate buildings and well-oiled programs. We’re raising kids—not perfect worship services and effective curricula. We’re raising kids.

We’re passing on the faith to the children our Lord has entrusted to us. We’re teaching them from a context of grace and love and support and respect and encouragement. We’re attending to the material and emotional needs of our children. And we’re showing them what it means to live a full life in Christ Jesus, as genuine disciples of the Savior, with all the loving instruction, enlightening, warning, and disciplining that goes along with that. It’s a serious commitment at Legacy; not a casual obligation or an afterthought. The Christian training of our children is not attained by irregular and isolated efforts, but by regular and unceasing repetition in meaningful relationship, as commanded by our God through Moses:

“These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 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.” ~Deuteronomy 6:6-7 May our Father bless us as we pass on the faith to our children. And may we experience the thrill of the Apostle John who rejoiced in the knowledge that his “children are walking in the truth.”

Peace, Allan

First, Be Reconciled

December 31, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

“I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord.” ~Philippians 4:2

The apostle Paul believes Christian unity is huge. It’s critical. It’s paramount to the successful advance of the Gospel and it’s necessary for the continuing growth, or sanctification, of the Church. And not just in idealistic or imaginary ways. Paul means unity on every pew, in every relationship.

Jesus taught the same thing. In fact, I’d say this is where Paul gets it. The Holy Son of God says our relationships with one another are much more important than anything we do in our worship assemblies. But we always want to worry about our worship assemblies. We write about our worship practices, we discuss our worship trends, we fret over worship changes or lack of changes, we spend a lot of ink and time and energy and effort on what we do in a big room together for 75-minutes every week. Jesus says if you’re not reconciled to your own brother, forget it.

“If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” ~Matthew 5:23-24

If you’re fighting with your sister, if you’re arguing with your brother, if you’re not on speaking terms with somebody in your congregation right now, if there’s ill will between you and somebody in your church, Jesus’ instructions would be to make things right before you offer a song, before you offer a prayer, certainly before you come to the table.

You might say, “It’s none of your business. This is a private matter between us.”

Paul would say, “Oh, no. Your disagreement, your arguing is everybody’s business. The unity and sanctity of God’s Church is too important.”

First, be reconciled. Then, come worship.

Whether it was something that happened between you two last week or you two are nursing a grudge that was born twenty years ago. Make that phone call. Go to her house. Invite him out for coffee. Agree with each other in the Lord. It could be the most important New Year’s resolution you make. It would be just the kind of “starting over” a God of reconciliation who gives his people the ministry of reconciliation would be expecting.

First, be reconciled. Then, come worship.

It’s important.

Lex Orandi Lex Credendi

December 16, 2008 / Allan / 3 Comments

The Latin phrase “lex orandi lex credendi” means, loosely I suppose, “we worship as we believe” and / or “we believe as we worship.” There is a strong, unbreakable relationship between what we believe about our God and the Gospel of Jesus and the manner in which we worship. Christ’s Church has for centuries used this formula in shaping worship liturgies and assembly practices. But the fact is, the formula stands as true whether the Church and its various and scattered congregations recognize it or not.

Think about it.

Is our understanding of the Gospel reflected in the ways we worship? Do the ways we worship communicate to the church family and to non-members our understanding of God’s plan to redeem the world?

Most theologians and all church historians would say our Christian assemblies are intended to “rehearse the Gospel.” When we come together we re-tell the story, we re-enact the history of our God and his people. And how we worship is a fairly accurate indicator of how clearly we get it.

If we understand the Gospel as an all-inclusive effort by God to reach out to the entire world in all its diversity to forgive and redeem—all cultures, all peoples, all nations, all languages, all social classes, all ages, all backgrounds—does our worship assembly reflect that? If we see God’s plan as calling his people to live together in communities of faith and to be transformed more into the image of Jesus in the ways we sacrifice and serve each other, does our time together on Sundays communicate that? If we sing praises to God with great joy and enthusiasm, what does that say about our understanding of God’s grace? Do multiple cups and pre-broken bread at communion time say more than we want it to about our comprehension of community at the Lord’s table? Do our attitudes toward others—in an opposite corner of the worship center or in the pew directly in front of me—reflect our grasp of what Jesus has done for us? If we understand that to be like Christ is to die to ourselves and serve others, is that our practice and mindset when it comes to the assembly?

What if every single thing we did together as a community of faith were viewed through the lens of what Jesus’ birth, life, teachings, ministry, suffering, death, burial, resurrection, and eternal reign means for the child of God.

Jeff Childers and Frederick Aquino, in their great book Unveiling Glory, claim this is the only way to make decisions and form policies regarding our congregational worship.

“What if a community of believers paid such close attention to the meaning of Jesus’ coming into the world that they were gripped by the mission of God? They would have a guiding vision, a driving purpose that helps them make decisions fitting their sense of destiny. What if a preacher helped his church meditate on the deeper mysteries about Jesus, such as the significance of his being both human and divine? That church might develop some new attitudes about such things as diversity in the church or the place of tradition. What if a church’s leaders regularly talked together about the Apostles’ teachings on Christ? They might get excited about the Apostles’ basic aim of transformation into Christlikeness. This is a clear agenda, a Christ-centered ideal they could use to measure ministry decisions. They would look for worship policies that helped form a church environment that nurtures spiritual growth and maturity.

When we reflect carefully on a subject — like worship — in light of the meaning of Christ, we can come to see it in Christ-centered ways, to talk about it in Christ-focused language, and to keep our conclusions about it grounded in the central matters of the gospel.

Ultimately then, the aim is the same as that of our salvation: transformation. Done well, it forms us into the image of Jesus.”

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No new “KK&C Top 20” college football poll today. The next and final poll will be released on January 9 following the BCS national championship game.

While vacationing in Branson recently, pollster David Byrnes noticed and commented on the striking similarity between fellow pollster Mark Hooper and Moe Bandy. After reviewing the photos, I must agree. Hooper’s out of town a lot. He’s emailed his weekly poll from all over the world. I’m going to have to go back through all the old records to see if we ever received a poll from Missouri. Nice wig, Hooper. We’re on to you.

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If anyone ever — EVER — throws anything at me while I’m preaching, I hope I exhibit the same calm presence as President Bush. I’ve watched the video a hundred times. And I can’t get enough. He stared the guy down like Nolan Ryan facing Robin Ventura. It was like he was daring him to throw his camera or his hat. He dodged and then popped back up for another. Incredible. Hilarious. Bring it on!

I can’t see anyone in the pulpit really acting that way, though, except maybe John Bailey. The man throwing anything at John would be terrified if he actually hit him.

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The blogging may be sporadic, if not entirely shut down, for the rest of the week. Whitney, our oldest, goes into Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas tomorrow morning for Thursday’s surgery. She’s having reconstructive surgery on her left foot to fix a couple of issues she’s been dealing with for a little over ten years. They’re actually taking some bone out of her hip and grafting it into her foot to straighten it out and give it a little more regular shape. She’ll be in the hospital until at least Saturday. And she’ll wear a cast and be on crutches and in a wheelchair for six weeks.

She finally admitted Sunday that she’s “a little nervous.” But she’s also looking very forward to getting everything fixed. Her parents are a little anxious, too. Please keep our precious angel in your prayers to our gracious Father this week.

Peace,

Allan

Joyful Righteousness

December 12, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.” ~Philippians 3:7

The apostle Paul hailed from the royal tribe of Benjamin. He might have even been named after Israel’s first king. He spoke both Hebrew and Aramaic. He had memorized most of the Holy Scriptures. His diploma carried the name of the leading school in religious thought. He belonged to the religious sect that upheld God’s law more than any other. He was unmatched in religious zeal. He had no tolerance for commandment-breakers. In short, Paul was perfect — as perfect as any God-fearing Jew could possibly be.

But when Paul opened up his books to read the ledger of his life, surprisingly he found he was completely bankrupt! He had nothing!

His faith was in his own righteousness. And it wasn’t enough. His trust was in his own abilities to keep God’s law. And it wasn’t even close. He had been comparing himself to others and had always been judged worthy. But when he was forced on the road to Damascus to compare himself to the Holy Son of God, he came up empty.

So he writes, “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” (Phil. 3:8)

Paul didn’t count his heritage or his good works as trash. He didn’t stop keeping God’s commands or renounce his schooling. He determined that his faith in those things was worthless. Trust in his own law-keeping and ritual-following was worthless. Paul realized that his own righteousness would never save him. He could only trust the righteousness that comes freely from God by faith in his crucified and resurrected Son.

That confidence in his salvation by faith in Christ is what allowed Paul to write, despite external opposition and internal conflict that plagued God’s Church, “My brothers, rejoice in the Lord!”

Peace,

Allan

Category: Church (Page 54 of 61)

Where Are The Kids?

Making The Exchange

Passing The Baton

First, Be Reconciled

Lex Orandi Lex Credendi

Joyful Righteousness

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