The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Church (Page 59 of 59)

Mashed Potatoes

February 28, 2008 / / 1 Comment

MashedPotatoesTerry Rush is one of my spiritual heroes. And he probably doesn’t even know it. His passion for the Christ and his compassion for God’s people hit me like a freight train every time I hear him speak, every time we share a quick little two minute conversation or email, both times I’ve sat with him and other preachers in his study at the Memorial Road church in Tulsa, and every single time I read his blog. I want to share with you today something Terry wrote on his blog, Morning Rush,  yesterday regarding the Church of God as a sacrificial Body of believers, a truly selfless family bent on doing this thing together.

Enjoy:

“I may be off an author or two but I think it was Juan Carlos Ortiz who wrote a book in the 70s discussing unity. He pointed out boiled potatoes in one bowl does not equal unity just because they are all together. Mashed potatoes is unity. He went on to explain: boiled ones are still individuals simply at the same location. The mashed are blended in with all others to serve one purpose as a unit.

Boiled? These members are in but not committed. They are in the church for their welfare, but not in it for the sake of the body. There is a thin line which calls for personal examination. Are we in the church for experiencing what makes me happy or to extend the body of Christ to the current and the next generations? Are we in it because our kids like it and need it or because God has burdened our hearts to live for Him? Are we in it to give us something good to do or to show mercy and love to a rude society? Are we boiled or mashed?

If boiled we find it easier to pick up our blankets and toys and find a new picnic. If mashed we find we can’t breathe without the body of Christ…He is our total life. What makes a boiled potato a mashed one? Beaters. Jesus asked us to face the beaters every day…..take up your beaters and follow me….he said, sorta. Each congregation is so much healthier mashed. There is found complete harmony. Only boiled? Oh, we may sit in the same bowl but we aren’t in it for the others. While we may sit together, we are still in this for self.

Take up your beaters. Let us submit to the beatings we take realizing we are simply in the wonderful kingdom process of God growing His people into one selfless body.”

Just 27 more days until the Tulsa Workshop!

Peace,

Allan

Building Faith At Home

February 26, 2008 / / 13 Comments

Jason and Kipi have been on me for some time to read Mark Holmen’s latest work, Building Faith at Home. The premise of the book is that what we as followers of Jesus do in our homes is much more important to passing on the Christian faith than what we do in our churches. And I believe that with all my heart. Amen. The focus and the attention and the emphasis we place on what we do together during our weekly assemblies is not just overshadowing what parents should be doing with their kids at home, it’s in some ways undermining it. And until we begin again to live our lives of faith in front of our children and with our children, what we’re doing in our churches isn’t really helping. We’re raising generations of kids now—I’d say even people my age and younger, maybe beginning with the first generation to be raised with a Youth Minister—who are sold on church programs and faithful to church activities but who have no real depth of commitment to our God in Christ Jesus.

I believe all that. I see the impact of it everyday. It’s evident in the things we talk about and argue about and the choices we make within our own congregation here at Legacy.

And as I cracked open Building Faith at Home for the first time Saturday night, I was struck by the statistics Holmen uses to back up what we’ve suspected all along.

*Since 1991, the population in the U.S. has grown by 15% but the number of adults who don’t attend church has increased 92%, from 39-million to 75-million.

*In 1990, 86.2% of Americans claimed to be Christian. Today that number is less than 75%. It’s going down by nearly a full percentage point per year. It that trend continues, non-Christians will outnumber Christians in this country by the year 2042.

*Search Institute conducted a survey of more than 11,000 young people from 561 congregations across six different Christian denominations. Keep in mind, these are all church kids! According to their responses: only 12% of youth have a regular dialogue with their mothers on faith issues; only 5% have a regular faith dialogue with their fathers; only 9% of youth experience regular reading of the Bible and devotions at home; and only 12% of youth have ever experienced a faith-based service event with a parent.

*In Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions, George Barna claims “fewer than ten percent of parents who regularly attend church with their kids read the Bible together, pray together (other than at meal times), or participate in an act of service as a family unit. Even fewer families—1 out of every 20—have any type of worship experience together with their kids other than while they are at church.”

It seems that religious life in the home is just about nonexistent. It’s nearly extinct.

And the Church is called to teach our families how to share their faith, how to live their faith, how to exhibit their faith with each other.

I’m only halfway through Holmen’s book. And it’s pretty good. He gives very practical ideas for helping parents and kids grow and mature their faith at home. And I think we can very easily implement a lot of those things here at Legacy. It’s not so much overhauling what we do, it’s just looking at what we do through a different lens. It’ll require only some minor, yet critical, tweaking and adjusting as we encourage families to worship together and study together in their homes.

I especially appreciate Holmen’s emphasis throughout this first part of his book on involving all the different generations in our churches with each other in faith-building exercises. So much, if not most, of what we do as a congregation is segregated by age-group. Bible classes, retreats, fellowships, even our Small Groups are mostly divided along generational lines. And that’s not healthy for anybody. A truly healthy church will be intergenerational almost everywhere. Having young marrieds without children and parents of teenagers and empty-nesters and 85-year-old widows in the same classes and groups and pews and small groups should be the norm, not the exception. So when Holmen mentions baby blessings and involving much more of the whole church family in those ceremonies, I think we can apply baptisms along the same lines, much like what we did with the Dennis grandkids on Sunday. When new members come to the church I’m trying to involve the whole church family in vowing publicly to love them and take care of them and work with them as we follow Jesus. Weddings and funerals, high school and college graduations, anniversaries and other rites of passage should be celebrated by the whole church family together.

But everything we do should be geared toward getting our members to actually live out their faith in their homes with their spouses and kids and cousins and grandchildren.

Read a Bible story to your kids tonight. Pray with your spouse tonight. Plan to do something together as a family that will serve someone else.

Peace,

Allan

The Church In The Kingdom

February 1, 2008 / / 20 Comments

Only got two suckers to jump in and post corny preacher and corny Bible jokes yesterday and early this morning. I thought we needed a little humor after a couple of days of pretty heavy stuff on the blog. Sure enough, that’s what we got. Very little humor. If you have corny Bible or preacher jokes, it’s not too late to share. Just hit comments on yesterday’s blog and pile on.

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IF the Pats win it Sunday, they end all debate about the best team in pro football history. Period. It’s over. As we’ve said all season long, PatsLogoespecially as it pertains to the Cowboys, it’s difficult to get wins in the NFL. Forget beating everybody, it’s hard beating anybody in that league. They’re all so equal in talent and skill and coaching and scouting and payroll. To do what New England has done is remarkable. And if they pull it off against the Giants on Sunday, it blows away what the ’72 Dolphins did.

Shula’s72FinsHow many playoff teams did that Miami squad beat during its run to 17-0? Zero. They didn’t play a single playoff team that year. In fact, they only played two teams with winning records: the 8-6 Chiefs and the 8-6 Giants. And you can’t downgrade what New England has done this year because the AFC East is so weak. The ’72 Dolphins’ division opponents that year were the 7-7 Jets, the 4-9-1 Bills, and the 3-11 Patriots. One of thier other wins was against the 1-13 Oilers.

Contrast that with what the Pats have done this season. New England faced seven teams with winning records, seven playoff teams, during the regular season and won by an average score of 37-17. New England scored at least 27 points in every game but two and only gave up more than 28 once.

In their two playoff games, the ’72 Dolphins barely squeaked by the Browns 20-14 and beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh 21-17. (Why did the undefeated Dolphins have to play the AFC Championship Game on the road? I might be looking at a bad list.) And they won Super Bowl VII 14-7 over the ‘Skins. The current edition of the Pats has won their two playoff games 31-20 and 21-12.

Go Giants. And if New York can pull off the biggest Super Bowl upset since Joe Willie’s Jets shocked the Colts in Super Bowl III, then the Greatest Ever tag belongs to the Dolphins without dispute. But if New England does what they’re expected to do, it’s over.

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Jesus preaches the Kingdom. “Repent!” he says, “The Kingdom of God is near!” And then what does he do? He frees the prisoner, heals the blind, rescues the oppressed.

Those are the signs of the Kingdom.

John the Baptist sends to find out if Jesus is the Messiah and Jesus says look, you know what the signs are. “..the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.”

That’s the Kingdom.

Jesus, show us the Kingdom. What does the Kingdom look like, Jesus? Where is it?

Not once did Jesus ever say, “See those people over there meeting every Sunday for Bible class and worship? That’s the Kingdom.” Jesus never once pointed out, “That group that takes communion weekly and sings acappella, that’s the Kingdom.” The Son of God didn’t say, “When you see three songs and a prayer and announcements either at the beginning or the end (or both), you’ve seen the Kingdom.”

Distressed people being encouraged. Cold people being warmed. Hurting people being comforted. The outcasts being brought in and made family. That’s the Kingdom.

When we talk about the Kingdom strictly in terms of Church and the institution and the rules and the order — when that’s our whole idea of Kingdom — we quickly lose sight of the very things that make the Kingdom of God what it is. Centuries of church development and decision-making and rule-making can cloud our vision. When we see the Kingdom exclusively as Church, we tend to focus only on the features and characteristics of the Church.

Our challenge as the Legacy Church of Christ is to occasionally flex our autonomy — you know, that autonomy we brag about — to insure that our identifying characteristics genuinely correspond to those of the Kingdom Jesus was preaching. Maintaining our institutional status quo is not necessarily the same as being faithful to Jesus and his mission. Being a member in good standing or being a middle of the road church isn’t necessarily the same as living under the reign of God.

The true marks of the Kingdom have very little if anything to do with what happens between prayers and announcements in our building. The Kingdom of God is firmly grounded in Jesus’ foundational principles, the “weightier matters” of justice and mercy and faithfulness in our community. Our requirements as subjects of the King are not as much about keeping the rules as they are about acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly before God.

Our King came into this world in order to serve and to save. And that is the business of his subjects, as well. May our Lord bless us as we serve and rescue and save in his name.

Peace,

Allan

Party Lines

January 30, 2008 / / 5 Comments

Screwtape“The congregational principle makes each church into a kind of club, and finally, if all goes well, into a coterie or faction.” ~Screwtape

In his 16th letter to Wormwood, the senior tempter advises his nephew that if he can’t cure his patient from going to church, the next best thing is to “send him all over the city looking for the church that ‘suits’ him until he becomes a taster or connoisseur of churches.” Once he finds the church that meets his needs and makes him feel comfortable and important, the trick is to cause the patient to be “violently attached” to some party within it. And Screwtape claims that the devils don’t really have much use for Christian doctrine. They’re much more concerned with the things that don’t really matter.

“The real fun is working up hatred between those who say ‘mass’ and those who say ‘holy communion’ when neither party could possibly state the difference between, say, Hooker’s doctrine and Thomas Aquinas’, in any form which would hold water for five minutes. And all the purely indifferent things — candles and clothes and what not — are an admirable ground for our activities. We have quite removed from men’s minds what that pestilent fellow Paul used to teach about food and other unessentials…you would think they could not fail to see the application.”

The difference, I think, between C. S. Lewis’ Anglican Church in 1940s England and our Churches of Christ in 2008 America is that our parties or factions all get together in different congregations. Liberal churches and conservative churches, progressive congregations and traditional congregations; those are our party labels. And members of our  “parties” up and move all over the place—admittedly much more so here in Texas and in the South than in other parts of our country where there aren’t Churches of Christ on every corner—to join congregations that suit them. So our arguing over the unessentials isn’t done at an annual convention. It’s done across town between “competing” congregations, in magazines and books, at lectureships and seminars.

Screwtape refers in this letter to Romans 14 and Paul’s discussion there on one of the hot button issues of his day, the eating of meat. I’ve generally tried to apply Paul’s message of mutual love and patience and respect in that situation to our inter-congregational disputes over hand-clapping, song selection, praise teams and whatever other indifferent thing about which we argue. But upon further review, it’s so much bigger than that! Paul’s talking about the eating of meat! There are huge theological differences between the “man who eats everything” and the “man who eats only vegetables.” There were sharp divisions in the early church over meat offered to idols, meat sold in the pagan marketplaces, meat deemed clean or unclean depending on to whom you talked. Keeping the sacred days of the Hebrew Scriptures or ignoring them altogether was another massive theological issue. This wasn’t just sitting or standing for three songs or where to put the announcements. These were the big things, the huge things, the things that cause us today to leave our churches and go somewhere else.

Paul says in Romans 14 we should assume those on both sides of these issues are sincere in their gratitude and dedication to God and that they’re fully convinced in their own hearts that what they’re doing is right. And leave it at that. Love each other. Serve each other. Encourage each other. Stop fighting and arguing.

“For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men. Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification” (Romans 14:17-19).

Paul paints a picture in Romans 14 of brothers and sisters going out of their way, sacrificing their own feelings, for the benefit of their brothers and sisters who hold opposite convictions. He never speaks of leaving to find a group of people who agree on everything. Seeing things differently and acting differently and believing differently is actually God’s plan for his Church. That’s the kind of setting that fosters mutual love and patience and sacrifice and service. That’s the kind of dynamic that produces a Christ-like transformation. Our differences on these things are God-ordained for God’s purposes.

At the end of the 16th letter Screwtape actually rejoices because churches so often split up along these party lines.

“Without that the variety of usage within the Christian Church might have become a positive hotbed of charity and humility.”

Peace,

Allan

You Knew This Was Coming

January 29, 2008 / / 11 Comments

Super Bowl parties at church. Church-sponsored Super Bowl parties. You knew this was coming. Let’s go ahead and throw it all out there.

Let’s not avoid this. Let’s actually embrace this discussion and see where it leads us.

The larger issue I see is with a Christian church celebrating and glorifying the sex, violence, and greed symbolized by this American free-enterprise entertainment extravaganza in the same room where we glorify and worship our God and on the same screen where we post the holy words of Scripture and sacred songs of praise. I see a tremendous disconnect and mixed-message. If you watch NFL football — and I do — you know a lot of what those broadcasts stand for, including but not limited to the PG-13 pregame, postgame, and halftime shows, directly opposes our Christian message. It contradicts the very things for which the Church of God stands. At the very least I believe it’s questionable to invite our family and friends and little kids to the church building and project those images on a huge screen in our worship center.

I don’t see a difference between doing that and holding American Idol or Dancing With The Stars or Survivor parties at church. Fans of those TV shows are just as passionate and follow it just as closely as fans of the football TV shows.

I know the building is just a building. I’m fully aware that the church is the people, not the space. But what the church does together as a collected community of God’s people in the space that community has designated for Christian activities such as worshiping our Father and encouraging each other is important. It does matter. At the very least, it demands careful thought.

And it’s not easy. I do struggle with my thoughts and my feelings and my convictions on this. (Please see the three-day blog from August: The Question of Sacred Space, Sacred Space Part Two, and Sacred Space Last Part.) Again, God is no more present with me in a beautiful cathedral with a thousand other disciples than he is with me alone in my closet. I get that. And I believe that.

Also, I don’t think it’s hypocritical to object to the idea that if watching the Super Bowl at home in my living room is OK, then it’s OK to watch the Super Bowl in the worship center at church. I would answer that we would probably all agree that there’s nothing wrong or sinful with you drinking a glass of wine  in your kitchen. But we wouldn’t want to wheel in a dozen barrels of it for a Fifth Sunday Fellowship at the building. For many reasons.

I understand a lot of this makes me look and sound like a prude. And I generally try to avoid that as much as possible.

I’m curious as to your reflections and thoughts on this matter.

Peace,

Allan

P.S. Please don’t cancel your Small Groups Church meetings this Sunday. Schedule your dinner and times of worship and application of the Word around the TV show if you must. Watch the TV show together. Bond around the TV show. But please don’t cancel.

Satan's Ally: The Church

November 20, 2007 / / 1 Comment

“…fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans.”   ~Screwtape

While writing to encourage his nephew / apprentice Wormwood in C. S. Lewis’ masterpiece, senior tempter Screwtape observes that many converts to Christianity have been reclaimed for hell. He tries to downplay the significance of Wormwood’s human “patient,” the one he’s charged with getting to hell, becoming a Christian by pointing out that, “One of our great allies at present is the Church itself.”

“Do not misunderstand me,” Screwtape explains. “I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as with an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans.”

Satan and his devils prey on our continual confusion between appearance and reality. We sometimes view the Church based on purely physical terms: does it have a steeple, how many members, what’s their contribution, do they have a praise team, are they friendly, were the restrooms clean, is it well lit, is there enough parking, do they have a program for singles? And we view people in the Church the same way: what is she wearing, why did he say that, he didn’t say ‘hi’ to me, she’s been divorced, he never smiles, they don’t discipline their kids, they don’t come to Bible class.

I suppose it’s quite obvious how the devils in hell, intent on separating us from our God, could see the Church as a great ally. How we view and judge the Church sometimes completely contradicts, and therefore undermines, what are our true beliefs about the Church. We know the Church is God’s elect. But when we fuss and argue and split over insignificant issues and ideas, when we treat each other worse than we treat strangers at the store, we can’t help but see the Church as worldly and ordinary. Nothing special. We know that men and women are created in the image of God and made to live for eternity. Forever. But when we see an old man or a sick woman, or when we notice deformities or other frailties, or when we focus on our own aches and pains, we all begin to seem very temporary. The one we sit next to in our Church assembly, to us, may seem weak and silly. To Satan and his devils, that same person is known in hell as a “great warrior” in the Kingdom of God. But we don’t see it.

If we’re not careful, that constant confusion between appearance and reality can kill us. Judging the Church and God’s people in the Church based on outward physical appearance and not invisible unseen reality plays right into the devil’s hands.

Peace,

Allan

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