Category: Church (Page 59 of 61)

Gathered By God

August 17, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

“When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present…” ~1 Corinthians

“I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;
I do not seal my lips, as you know, O Lord.
I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.
I do not conceal your love and your truth
from the great assembly.” ~Psalm 40:9-10

“Praise the Lord in the great congregation;
praise the Lord in the assembly of Israel.” ~Psalm 68:26

“On the day which is called Sunday we have a common assembly of all who live in the cities or in the outlying districts, and the memoirs of the Apostles or the writings of the Prophets are read, as long as there is time. Then, when the reader has finished, the president of the assembly verbally admonishes and invites all to imitate such examples of virtue. Then we all stand up together and offer up our prayers, and, as we said before, after we finish our prayers, bread and wine and water are presented. He who presides likewise offers up prayers and thanksgivings, to the best of his ability, and the people express their approval by saying ‘Amen.’ The Eucharistic elements are distributed and consumed by those present, and to those who are absent they are sent through the deacons. The wealthy, if they wish, contribute whatever they desire, and the collection is placed in the custody of the president. With it he helps the orphans and widows, those who are needy because of sickness or any other reason, and the captives and strangers in our midst; in short, he takes care of all those in need. Sunday, indeed, is the day on which we hold our common assembly because it is the day on which God, transforming the darkness and matter, created the world; and our Savior Jesus Christ arose from the dead on the same day.” ~Justin Martyr, 155 C.E.

“Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.
The Lord gives strength to his people;
the Lord blesses his people with peace.” ~Psalm 29:2, 11

“We come together for a meeting and a congregation, in order to beseige God with prayers…We assemble for the consideration of the Holy Scriptures, to see if the circumstances of the present times demand that we look ahead or reflect. Certainly, we nourish our faith with holy conversation, we uplift our hope, we strengthen our trust, intensifying our discipline at the same time by the inculcation of moral precepts. At the same occasion, there are words of encouragement, of correction, of holy censure.” ~Tertullian, 197 C.E.

“The heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,
your faithfulness, too, in the assembly of the holy ones.” ~Psalm 89:5

“Here, indeed, we have no earthly holy place, framed and adorned by human hands; no inner temple veiled in mysterious sanctity; no golden emblems of the regalia of heaven; no blinding light of glory beaming forth from between the cherubims; but we have the assembly of the saints; the congregation of the Lord; the body of Christ animated by his Spirit; the ordinances of divine service revealing, publishing, commemorating the love of God to men; the holy privilege of drawing near to God in concert with those who have obtained like precious faith with us; the unveiled spiritual glories of the reign of heaven; the light of life; the joys of love divine.” ~Robert Richardson, 1847

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” ~Hebrews 10:19-25

At The Cross

August 14, 2008 / Allan / 3 Comments

“To us who are being saved it is the power of God.” ~1 Cor. 1:18

When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died,
my richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast save in the death of Christ, my God;
all the vain things that charm me most I sacrifice them to his blood.

Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small;
love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true, its shame and reproach gladly bear;
then he’ll call me someday to my home far away, where his glory forever I’ll share.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ~1 Corinthians 1:18-24.

Drops of grief can ne’er repay the debt of love I owe;
Here, Lord, I give myself away, ’tis all that I can do!

At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light,
and the burden of my heart rolled away,
it was there by faith I received my sight,
and now I am happy all the day!

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood shed on the cross.” ~Colossians 1:19-20

Near the cross! O, Lamb of God, bring its scenes before me;
help me walk from day to day with its shadow o’er me.
In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever,
’til my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river.

I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word. ~Psalm 119:16

How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth. ~Psalm 119:103

The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the Word of the Lord stands forever. ~1 Peter 1:25

Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and obey it. ~Luke 11:28

From the first moment of Faith Builders at 9:00 Monday morning through this very moment as I’m listening to God’s Word being read by Susan Garrison and her daughter Allie it has been, and continues to be, an incredibly awe-inspiring week. I’m amazed at the power and the love of our God. I’m thrilled that he looks at me in all my sin and shame and loves me enough to save me. I’m grateful he’s put me in the middle of this community of believers who love him and love each other. And I’m humbled that, for some still unexplained reason, I’m the preacher.

Peace,

Allan

Outside The Box

August 6, 2008 / Allan / 1 Comment

“And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.” ~1 Samuel 4:4

Eli’s unholy sons represent the unholy people of God in 1 Samuel 4. Their actions and their disregard for the Lord and for other people reflected the fact that God’s people at this time were all doing what was right in their own eyes. And when the Lord sends the Philistines in to defeat his people, the Israelite elders decide they just need to go get the ark of the covenant, the visible symbol of the presence of God, out of the Tent of Meeting and parade it into the next battle.

They had the box. But they didn’t have God. It never occured to them that God’s not in the box. God is outside the box. And he cannot be bought or sold. He cannot be persuaded or tricked or controlled or managed by manipulating a symbol or a ritual or a set of words and motions.

The lives of the people did not reflect the glory of God. The lives of the leaders were in open defiance of the covenant of God. And it didn’t matter if they brought in ten thousand thrones of God, he was not going to give them victory under these circumstances. It’s not wherever the box is, God is. God’s not in the box.

The Israelites were putting their faith in the symbol of their relationship with God instead of in the God of the relationship.

Whether I’m stealing meat that belongs to God or not using the gifts he’s given me; whether I’m taking things from people by force or not giving them what they deserve; whether I’m having sex with temple prostitutes or not changing the channel when I should. I can do what’s right in my own eyes as long as I have the box. I’ve got the symbol. I’ve got the ritual. I’ve got the building. I’ve got the proper interpretation of church government. I’ve got the right name. I’ve got the correct order of worship. I’ve got the box.

How arrogant and foolish. Why do we do this?

We build this box. We’ll take the name on the outside of the building, support it with one songleader (acappella), elders and deacons (in that order), weekly communion, baptism by immersion, and then we’ll close it with the lid of our favorite songs and favorite Bible translation. And before you know it, we’ve got God in this box. This is where he is. And we take this box into all our battles: our battles against Satan and our battles against each other. And pretty soon, when everything that’s right about God is in our box and everything outside our box is wrong, you open it up and it doesn’t matter what I do on Saturday night as long as I’m in here on Sunday morning.

Or worse, it doesn’ t matter how pure and genuine my neighbor’s relationship is with God and others, if he says the words out of order at the Lord’s Table, he’s wrong.

Don’t misunderstand me. Some of the things I’ve mentioned are important. Very important. And we uphold these things and teach them and stand strong for them. But just because we take ownership of certain doctrines and practices never means for one second we have a monopoly on God. We don’t. He’s not in the box. He acts in ways we’ll never understand. He moves in ways we cannot comprehend.

There’s an old story about Augustine walking along the beach one day when he came across a little boy running back and forth pouring water from a bucket into a hole in the sand. Augustine asked him what he was doing, and the boy replied, “I’m trying to put the ocean in this hole.”

Who are we to try to contain and control an infinite and eternal God in our finite minds and limited understanding?

Who do we think we are? Our God’s not little. He’s huge.

He’s outside the box. Way outside the box.

Peace,

Allan

The Church Is The Building, Too

August 4, 2008 / Allan / 8 Comments

They’re in the middle of the impressive task of installing the pews in our new worship center. And in just two weeks we’ll be assembling together in this beautiful building to worship our God and spur one another on in our lives of faith.

We say all the time that the Church is not the building, it’s the people.

OK. I’ll buy that. I believe that. Up to a point.

We shouldn’t carry that statement or that position so far that it discounts or nullifies the sacred nature of the actual place where God’s children meet him in sacred assembly.

The building is important. It’s OK to feel that way. There’s nothing wrong with feeling the way you do when you walk into our new worship center or into the old church building in Arkansas where you were baptized or into the church buildings in Tulsa or Abilene where you meet and worship with dear friends once a year.

Our church buildings are vital to our faith. Our buildings collect stories and develop associations that give great depth and breadth to our experience of following Jesus together. It’s in our new worship center where our two younger daughters will put on their Lord in baptism. A couple of them may wind up getting married in there. We’ll sing and pray together in there during the funeral of some very dear sweet person reading (or writing!) this article right now. We’ll send off missionaries together in there. We’ll laugh and we’ll cry together in there. We’ll experience birth and death and everything in between together in there. We’ll hear the Word of our Lord together in there. We’ll share the communion meal together in there. We’ll be convicted and moved, we’ll confess and repent, we’ll chase little kids around the aisles together in there.

And we’ll do all those things together in the presence of each other and in the presence of our Holy God.

Your grandmother’s house is full of stories. Your childhood home is full of memories. Your current space of residence serves as the comforting and stabilizing center of your family’s hectic schedule. Our church buildings serve the same important function of reminding us of who and what has gone before and pointing ahead to who and what is to come, all in the presence of and by the power of our eternal God.

Yes, the Church is the people. But the building represents the people and the stories and the memories and the provision and care of the God we serve.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our 20 pollsters for the inaugural The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys Top 20 College Football Poll are all in. 19 Texas residents and one from California. Eighteen men and two women whose formative years were spent in places as widely varied as Chicago and Broken Arrow and Mississippi and Ohio. Judging from our pollsters’ list of favorite teams, it looks like we have the Big XII, Big 10, SEC, C-USA, Mountain West, WAC, and Pac-10 Conferences completely covered. It should be a totally comprehensive poll. And legitimate. Until the first time ACU or Harding or UTA receives votes. Then it’s over.

I still need a logo for this thing. Submit your entries now. Design a logo for the KK&C Top 20 and email it to me at astanglin@legacychurchofchrist.org

Thanks for jumping in. Much more later.

Peace,

Allan

One God, One People, One Purpose

July 3, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

“You will be for me a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” ~Exodus 19:6

Our behavior, not just the “belief system” we adhere to, is the most visible means by which we distinguish ourselves from those who have not been raised with Christ and united with him in his death, burial, and resurrection. We should never forget that what is required of us, because we are saved by grace, is a high moral standard of thought and action that for those outside the Kingdom of God is incomprehensible.

Our obedience to God reflects the fact that our citizenship is in heaven. It shows others that he is training us to transcend the present world even though we still occupy its space. It is what is expected of us, because God is forming us into creatures that this world can’t fully grasp.

We demonstrate by our words and actions, in no uncertain terms, that we are of a different pedigree, a holy race. It is, to the rest of the world, the clearest proof of the existence of God—not a logical exegetical argument, not forceful rhetoric, but pure, humble, godly lives lived in the shadow of the cross and in the brilliant glow of the resurrection.

Peter quotes Exodus 19:6 and follows it up with these words, “Live such good lives among the pagans that…they may see your good deeds and glorify God” (1 Peter 2:12).

We’re not called to be God’s people so we can belong to him privately or exclusively. He has a grand goal in mind when he creates us to be his kings and priests. He calls us to live public lives of sacrifice and service to others in his name. And when we do, we show the world that the Gospel works. It’s not just words or a great idea. It changes us from the inside out and makes us into creatures whose behavior is beyond explanation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, the Finale!

Legacy VBS 2008 is over. And those of us in the musical get our evenings back for the first time in a little over a month. My greatest fear going into last night’s final scenes would be that, after accidentally breaking or tearing or ripping something in the previous three nights, I wouldn’t be able to break the styrofoam Ten Commandments or the styrofoam golden calf when I was supposed to. But it all came off beautifully. And the kids were all very impressed by the fury of Moses’ righteous indignation.

Can I get theological with the musical?

I can’t help but see our God at work here.

Somehow we were able to take 75 different cast members and set designers and technical operators with 75 different skills and abilities and dreams and visions and come together under one mission. Somehow we were able to unite behind one purpose. Together we fought through missed lines and muted mics and unlearned lyrics (my bad, sorry!) and sporadic rehearsal attendance. Together we smoothed out the rough edges. Together we sacrificed and served and built up and encouraged. We helped each other change costumes and sets and switch out microphones. We worked with each other on scripts and blocking and music.

The people with beautiful voices sang like angels. The funny people made everybody laugh. The focused people kept us on track. The creative people designed a parting of the seas and built a huge mountain. The technical people kept the whole thing lit up and loud. The nurturing people kept us all edified.

And we didn’t kill each other.

I was there every night for over a month and I can’t recall ever hearing one cross word. Not one. Yes, there were moments of exasperation and exhaustion and frustration. But not once did I hear one person say one bad thing about another person. Not once did anybody raise a voice toward anybody else. Not one accusatory finger was wagged. Not one motive was judged. Not one person was ridiculed or rebuked.

It doesn’t seem possible. You couldn’t have gathered a more diverse group than our 75—widely and wildly different ages, backgrounds, experience, personalities, expectations, talents, and tempers. How did it come together so smoothly?

Do I really need to explain?

One purpose. We were way too focused on the mission to gripe or complain or grumble or worry about ourselves. Way too busy. Way too under the gun with the urgency of the task, way too determined to accomplish the purpose. There was a job to do, a big-picture job to do, and we had to do it. And that meant working together as a team, putting the show ahead of the individual personalities or scenes or numbers.

To me, theologically speaking, the musical represents the beauty of God’s Church. People from all walks and all personalities united as one people by the blood of Christ Jesus; working as a team, as one Body, helping each other, encouraging each other, sacrificing for each other, serving each other, to work toward the common purpose.

Kipi, thank you for your hard work and patience. Thank you for your commitment to the children and the families of Legacy and North Tarrant County. And everybody on the cast and crew of Moses: Bound for Holy Ground, thank you for showing everybody in unmistakable ways what it looks like to be the people of God.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jesse and/or Mason have posted tons of pictures—350, I think—of their recent mission trip to Honduras. Click here to check ’em out.

Peace,

Allan

Jumping Off The Line: Part Two

June 17, 2008 / Allan / 2 Comments

A young man (anybody younger than me is young) came into my study here last week to ask me some questions about Legacy. This man is going through the final stages of a horrible divorce. He’s lived out in West Texas for several years but is now moving back to DFW. He was born and reared in Dallas. And as he’s shopping for a church here in North Tarrant County, he asks me this question:

“Where is Legacy compared to ___ ___ Church of Christ and ___ ___ Church of Christ?”

And he named two congregations in Dallas, one known throughout our fellowship as being “progressive” or “liberal” and the other labled as “traditional” or “conservative.”

Where is Legacy on that line? Where are you?

Of course, it reminded me of that A-B Line we’re all trying to eradicate from our thinking and our conversations, this linear way of thinking and talking that does our church families and the Kingdom of God much harm. I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago. (You can read it again by clicking here.) And I told this man in my office, “I’m not going to have the conversation this way.”

When we use words like “conservative” or “progressive” or “liberal” or “traditional” we’re really just describing people’s opinions. And discussions that focus on these words and concepts and the issues they invite inevitably turn into political battles for power instead of spiritual searches for the truth.

The truth is nowhere to be found on that line.

Henri Nouwen, in his book In the Name of Jesus, addresses church leaders on the dangers of this type of thinking:

“Christian leaders cannot simply be persons who have well-informed opinions about the burning issues of our time. Their leadership must be rooted in the permanent, intimate relationship with the incarnate Word, Jesus, and they need to find there the source for their words, advice, and guidance.

Dealing with burning issues without being rooted in a deep personal relationship with God easily leads to divisiveness because, before we know it, our sense of self is caught up in our opinion about a given subject. But when we are securely rooted in personal intimacy with the source of life, it will be possible to remain flexible without being relativistic, convinced without being rigid, willing to confront without being offensive, gentle and forgiving without being soft, and true witnesses without being manipulative.”

I explained the A-B Line way of thinking to this young man in my study and he caught on very quickly. He seemed to appreciate my desires to jump off that line in our considerations and conversations to focus on the sanctification and salvation of the souls here at Legacy and the lost in our immediate community. He fell in love with the concept of being guided by the Word of God and his Holy Spirit instead of outside forces such as other churches and that constantly-moving “middle of the road.”

It’s really easy to show people the flaws in the way we think and talk about church and the benefits of the alternative “C” way of doing things. It’s a piece of cake to do that in one-on-one discussions. But how do we communicate this to the entire church body? How do we get everybody to jump off the line? It’s such a radical idea, and so opposite of the way we’ve always thought and talked, I’m afraid teaching this in classrooms or preaching it on Sunday would make things worse instead of better.

Is it even possible to get an entire church body to jump off the A-B Line? How do we do it?

Peace,

Allan

Category: Church (Page 59 of 61)

Gathered By God

At The Cross

Outside The Box

The Church Is The Building, Too

One God, One People, One Purpose

Jumping Off The Line: Part Two

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Categories

Archives

Allan's Links