The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Incarnation (Page 9 of 11)

The Gospel is for All!

December 7, 2011 / / 0 Comments

It’s sunny and 22-degrees in Amarillo as I’m penning this post. That’s a full twenty degrees warmer than it was this time yesterday. Oh, yeah. We haven’t been above the freezing mark in nearly four full days. And it has been an adventure. I got stuck in the snow and ice on the way to work Monday morning going around that uphill curve at Hillside and Criss to I-27. The fire department had to push me out. I wasn’t the only one; there were five or six other cars stuck on that hill and they were in the beginning stages of shutting the street down. But it was still a little embarrassing. Then yesterday morning, the van wouldn’t start. The battery was shot. Thankfully, by the time I had the new battery in hand and was ready to install it, the temperature had warmed up to six degrees. You know what it’s like to be turning a bolt and bang your knuckles against a sharp metal plate in six degrees?

I need some weight in the back of my Ranger. I need a better pair of gloves. And maybe one of those George Costanza gortex coats like Kevin Schaffer wears. I’ll never understand how Greg Dowell walks around in this mess in those topsiders without socks. Or how Mark Love is good with just a T-shirt. It’s supposed to warm into the upper 30s later today. But I feel like this snow and ice is going to be with us through March.

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Holy Scripture gives us a beautiful picture of the birth of Jesus. It’s a glorious masterpiece. Breath-taking in detail. Fascinating in theological imagery. One of the many, many things we’re clearly shown in that little stable in Bethlehem is that the good news of salvation from God in Christ is for everybody. Christ Jesus came for everybody. Everybody’s in on this good news.

Look at the manger scene in Scripture. Look at the people in the story. Young and old, rich and poor, male and female, blue collar shepherds and professional scholars, righteous and sinners, Jew and Gentile. God with us means God with all of us!

No exceptions. No fine print. No disclaimers or escape clauses or special qualifications. The angels proclaim that the good news of great joy is for all the people. And the portrait of the stable illustrates it beautifully.

I’ve heard all my life that the ground is level at the cross. Well, the ground is just as level at the manger. In the glory of the nativity, God shows us that we all belong to the same family. We’re all equally lacking and equally blessed. By becoming a human, God draws the entire human family to himself without any distinctions. The good news is that all who are baptized into Jesus are the same. There’s neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free.

God is the God of the universe. But he’s no elitist.

And when we give in to our impulse to avoid uncomfortable people or awkward situations, that’s not Christ-like. The most awkward and uncomfortable birth for the most exalted figure of Jesus Christ shows us and reminds us that the value and importance of life is found in life itself, not in all the things that come with life.

The Gospel is for all. Including the uncomfortable and the awkward. Like you. And me.

Peace,

Allan

Hallelujah!

December 21, 2010 / / 1 Comment

There were over a hundred of us on the stage at the end of Sunday’s worship assembly. Young and old. Men and women. Great singers and mediocre singers. The confident and the panicked. Friends and family and complete strangers. It was quite a collection of saints.

And we sang the Hallelujah Chorus.

Charlotte Greeson led us. And we followed as best we could. We only had two 45-minute rehearsals. The practice times were short and hurried and intense. Charlotte was tough, but full of grace. She was strict, but so loving. She was hardest on the tenors. And we deserved it. Good night, we deserved it. After Wednesday’s practice, one of the tenors suggested that Charlotte could rip you apart and make you like it. I was reminded of what Tom Landry famously said to his mid-60s Cowboys: I make you do what you don’t want to do so you will become what you want to become.

Paul Dennis read the prophesy from Isaiah 9. “To us a child is born, to us a son is given.” Steven Johnson followed up with the Christ hymn from Philippians 2. “Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father!” And I wondered if we tenors would all hit that opening F-sharp. At the same time.

I still don’t know if we did or not. But, man, whatever happened during those four minutes was really incredible.

There were smiles and hugs and tears and laughter. A wide range of emotions felt and experienced. God was given glory and honor. And his people were encouraged. One lady near the back of our worship center commented afterward that the whole church was inspired by this use of our God-given talents. A much younger boy reportedly told his mom, “That was pretty good for old people.” One lady who took the backstage ramps with her walker to join us for the song wiped back tears as she exclaimed that, at her age and in her health, she wasn’t sure she would ever have had another chance to sing the Hallelujah Chorus in that way with a large choir and an audience. She was blessed. I was blessed. We were all blessed.

Music is a powerful thing. It moves us. It lifts us. It sustains us. And sometimes it transcends us.

Here’s the link to the YouTube video of Legacy’s Hallelujah Chorus.

Thank you Charlotte Greeson and Mary Hollingsworth for a Sunday worship assembly we’ll never forget. Thank you to the leadership of the Legacy church that allows and even encourages us to find new ways to express our faith and praise. And thank you to all who sang and all who encouraged.

Peace,

Allan

Beauty, Eh?

December 1, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Set aside five minutes and watch this video. Seriously. It’s a flash mob scene from a couple of weeks ago at a shopping mall in Ontario, Canada. David McTee sent me this link late yesterday and I’ve watched it through tear-streaked eyeballs three times now. It’s beautiful. It’s absolutely beautiful.

Click here.

I must admit, the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s “Messiah” gets me everytime. I love singing it. I love listening to it. It moves me. It transforms me. But this video took me by surprise. I’m not sure what it is. It has absolutely blown me away.

It’s very incarnational, I think.

Christ Jesus, through his people, invading a shopping mall and revealing his glory. The Son of God joining a large group of people, dwelling in their midst with all their worldly concerns and problems and thoughts, the good and the bad, and turning his face toward them to bless them. The promised Messiah breaking through the barriers of time and space to reclaim his Father’s creation. Jesus working through his people to redeem a shopping mall, if only for a moment. The Holy One of Israel, through his Church, blessing this group of unsuspecting men, women, and children.

The Incarnation. God with us. In the most unusual places. It takes my breath away.

Peace,

Allan

You Are So Great!

November 23, 2010 / / 0 Comments

“You give me your shield of victory,

and your right hand sustains me;

you stoop down to make me great.”

~Psalm 18:35

I get disappointed in myself pretty often. It’s easy to do when you stumble as much as I do. It’s easy when the things you say and do and think don’t always reflect the glory of God. I feel overwhelmed at times. It’s easy when you’re the preacher for a huge church and feel the weight of others’ expectations which, by the way, aren’t nearly as heavy as the expectations I have for myself. I can experience real periods of self-doubt. It’s easy when you’re criticized by others. It’s easy when your plans and strategies don’t work out the way you envision.

I don’t always feel great.

Maybe you don’t, either.

But, WE ARE GREAT!

WE ARE VERY GREAT!!!

The Creator of Heaven and Earth has condescended to us. He’s come down to us. He put on our flesh and he took on our sin. He has chosen to live inside us. He makes us great!

We are great because we are chosen by God to belong to him and to be his children. We are great because we are empowered by his Spirit to stand strong and to be victorious in our battles against Satan. We are great because we wear his name. We live in a righteous relationship with him. Because of Christ’s work on the cross and the Spirit’s work at that garden tomb, we are seen by our Father as perfect. Perfect! Great!

God stoops down to make us great.

So, do something great today. Do something really great. Something big. Something powerful. Something that reflects the glory of God and his Kingdom. Something that matters, that will really matter for all eternity. It’s in you. You’re great, you know?

Peace,

Allan

Faithful Love

October 1, 2010 / / 0 Comments

 “The Lord, the Lord…abounding in love and faithfulness.” ~Exodus 34:6

Abounding in Love & FaithfulnessThe Hebrew word is emeth. It means faithfulness. Firmness. Truth. Fidelity. Steadfastness. It’s volitional, not emotional. That means it will not quit. It will never quit. It remains true to the course. Devoted to the commitment. Loyal to the promise.Faithfulness always finishes what it starts.

Another Hebrew word that comes from emeth is “amen.” When we say “amen” after a prayer, we’re affirming the words of that prayer, its truth. We are participating in that prayer. We’re saying, “Those are words I’ve prayed with that person. I’m with that person who just prayed that prayer.”

In a way, God says these words to us and about us by revealing himself as faithful. This marvelous facet of God’s eternal glory is a word of confirmation to us. God says, “I’m with this person.”

“I’m with you.”

And he proves it by coming to earth, putting on flesh, suffering as a human, and staying true to the course all the way to the cross. Faithful to the promise to forgive our sins. Devoted to the plan to redeem us as his chosen people. Loyal to his Word to breathe his Spirit into us and give us eternal life.

“God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.” ~1 Corinthians 1:9

Peace,

Allan

Fertilize Somebody

February 10, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Incarnational Church“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” ~John 1:14

Eugene Peterson translates this well-known verse as “The Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood.”

What does it mean for the Holy Son of God to become flesh and live with us? What does it mean for God himself to walk our streets, to eat our food, to breathe our air, to hug our kids, so suffer and die for us — suffer and die with us?

It means everything! The Incarnation of God means everything in that it shows the lengths he goes to redeem us and provide for us what we cannot provide ourselves. It means everything in that he was not content to save us from his throne in heaven. Our Father came here, where we are, to experience everything we experience. He brought heaven down to us.

And we’re commissioned by our baptisms into the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus to do the same thing. We walk the streets with our neighbors. We share meals with the homeless. We breathe the air in the government housing apartments. We hug the kids at Fortress and Walker Creek Elementary. We suffer with those in the hospitals. And we die everyday for and with the orphan, the widow, and the stranger in the gate.

Luis Palau says the Church is like manure: Pile it up together and it stinks up the neighborhood; spread it out and it enriches the world.

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Jenny BizJenny Bizaillion is doing so much better today. She’s down to just one blood pressure medicine now and her numbers are doing OK. Her breathing is better. Her color is better. In fact, they are actually going to take her off the ventilator at 8:00 tomorrow morning. They’re going to wake her up. The doctors have told David and Rick and Beverly that they really can’t explain Jenny’s improvement over the past 48 hours but whatever the family’s doing, keep it up.

The family. That’s all of us. You, too. And we’re not doing anything. Our God is doing it all. Give him praise for Jenny’s improved health. And keep praying that our merciful Father will fully restore her with strength and healing.

“Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power that your enemies [flu, pneumonia, disease, fear, death] cringe before you.
All the earth bows down to you;
they sing praise to you,
they sing praise to your name.’
Come and see what God has done,
how awesome his works in [Jenny’s] behalf.”
~Psalm 66:3-5

Peace,

Allan

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