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Category: Worship (Page 1 of 27)

A Very Late Cultural Invention

January 12, 2026 / / 0 Comments

The great Drew Pearson is 75 today. The OG 88. Walk around today with a little bit of a chip on your shoulder in his honor. Try to use the phrase “Hail Mary” at least a couple of times. And just point to the crowd knowingly. Don’t spike it.

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I’m not a hundred-percent sure what to do with Substack. It feels like social media, to which I am fundamentally opposed. But some of the best writers I know personally are writing there regularly. So, I’m reading Jim Martin and Daniel Harris and Carrie McKean. Then Steve Schorr, my brother and partner in the Gospel at First Presbyterian, turned me on to the Disarming Leviathan guys. And now I have come across Kenneth B.

I do not know who Kenneth B. is. He is an orthodox Christian. That’s it. Maybe that’s all I need to know. He has written an excellent piece on the Church and our understandings of Church as the Body of Christ. Or, better said, our gross misunderstandings. And it is the best article on Church as the transforming community of faith I have read in a long time.

He writes about people a little younger than me, people in their 40s and 50s maybe, and how they were raised to view Christianity as a personal relationship with Jesus, faith as an emotional experience, and the Church as functioning to produce that experience.

“The idea that church existed to form a people rather than to stimulate an individual was unimaginable to us. Church was treated like a spiritual energy drink. You consumed it for a jolt of religious feeling, and if you stopped feeling the jolt, you changed flavors… Looking back, I realize that what I was handed was not the faith of the apostles, but a very late cultural invention.”

I just preached yesterday about how God’s Holy Spirit transforms us in Christian community, how our commitments to Christ and to his people–people we would never choose, people we don’t agree with, people we may not even like–form us more and more into his holy image. I only wish I had read Kenneth B’s article before I had preached. I think I might have just read the whole thing to everybody and called it good. This is excellent stuff.

“Because the entire structure was built around individual experience, religious feeling became the engine and the evidence of faith. A good church was one that gave you an experience. A bad church was one that did not. Piety was defined by how deeply a song moved you, how intensely a sermon pierced your conscience, how often you felt the Spirit goosebump the back of your neck. If you prayed and felt nothing, the prayer was thought to have failed. If you worshiped and felt nothing, the worship was considered dead.” 

Please read this whole article. It’s right here. Click right here. Read it twice. I think I’m going to write about it in sections this week, along with excerpts from yesterday’s sermon.

“Consider how the early Christians spoke. They did not describe salvation as me and Jesus but as us in Christ. Baptism did not place you in a private booth with God. It plunged you into a people. The Eucharist did not symbolize an internal feeling. It joined your life with every believer at the table.” 

Okay. It’s really good. Check it out. Then come back tomorrow.

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The boys are six months old. They are both rolling over consistently and sleeping on their bellies. Elliott is starting to hold his own bottle, here and there. Sam is watching Elliott intensely and hollering at him when he feels ignored. They are the two coolest little kids on the planet and they will be center stage at the annual Baby Dedication Service at the Jenks Church this Sunday. We will be on the front row. Cheering and laughing and praising God for his grace in the gift of these guys who fill us with so much joy.

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I had an incredible weekend in Dallas with some of the people I absolutely love the most. Three of the four Horsemen had lunch together at Dan’s house Friday. I snuck in a box of Swiss Cake Rolls and Zebra Cakes–don’t tell Debbie–and we laughed together and talked about all that God is doing in our lives. The Parkinson’s keeps Dan-O mostly confined to his bedroom now, but his Spirit has never known any bounds. He is as full of joy and encouragement as I’ve ever seen him. I thank God for Dan and for his continuous encouragement to me. He sees things in me I never did. Still does. He speaks them into existence, to our Lord and to me, sometimes at the same time.

Friday night, my sister Rhonda and I drove to Oak Cliff to take our Aunt Louann to dinner at the historic Norma’s Cafe. I knew we were going to make for a very loud party, so I made sure we sat in a booth in the very back corner of the restaurant. I think we still scared away some of the patrons. Oh, my word, we shared memories and Stanglin stories, we puzzled over unanswered questions and deep family mysteries, we sang songs (hard to explain), and laughed at everything. And we did it all way too loud.

At one point, the couple in the booth behind Louann got up to leave and looked at us with huge grins on their faces. They laughed and said, “Y’all have some really interesting stories!” I apologized and they assured us it was fine, they were entertained. They could tell we were having fun and that made it fun for them. As they walked away, Louann yelled at me, “WHAT DID THEY SAY?” So I told her. And Louann responded, “DO YOU THINK THEY HEARD US?!” And I yelled back, “I DON’T KNOW! DO YOU THINK THEY HEARD US?!”

Then Saturday morning, Rhonda and I met at the Saturn Road Church of Christ in Garland for Coach Richmond’s funeral. Coach Larry Richmond was my high school football coach at Dallas Christian. He was a history and health teacher and, for a couple of years in an emergency situation, our tennis coach. And we all loved him deeply. There were about 20 of us at the service who played for Coach Richmond, and we took pictures together and swapped a lot of football stories in the foyer, at the reception, and for about three hours at the On the Border at Saturn Road and Northwest Highway.

That crazy last drive and the Savage Fake that beat Metro Christian. The 4th quarter meltdown in that playoff game at Bishop Lynch. Cowboy drills. Sideline tackle drills. Uphill forties. Dean Stewart’s grades that were questionable for the Trinity game and kept him out of the First Baptist game. The Greenhill bell. Crack-backing on Greg Lybrand in practice and fearing for my life every day after until he graduated. A certain peanut butter incident after a week of two-a-days at football camp. The Bomb Squad. Ground Control. Coach T’s “Major Tom” towel. All the nicknames. Pearhead’s intense running. Godoy’s speed and the physical way he went after a football. Dumb Adkins’ toughness and leadership. Coach Lisle.

As I drove to Midland after that long lunch, my head aching from laughing too hard for too long, and Rhonda drove home to Edmond, we talked on the phone with each other for almost an hour and a half. Psycho-analyzing all of it. Reviewing feelings and reactions. Remembering people who weren’t there. Reminding of something funny or unexpected that was done or said.

I came away from the weekend overflowing with gratitude to God for all the amazingly wonderful people he has placed in my life. My whole life. Coach Richmond was MY coach! So was Coach Lisle! I had both of them! And Coach A and Coach T and Coach Savage and Coach Smith and Coach Shack. How was I so blessed? Jason Reeves is MY friend. So is Dan and Kevin and Robby John! Todd Adkins was MY teammate and running buddy in high school and MY roommate in college. I also went to high school and was friends with Mark Cawyer and Randy Hill and Michelle Peoples and Jeff Majors and Stephen Fitzhugh and Kyle Douthit! How? Rhonda Kingsley is MY sister! Completely undeserved! Totally lucky! Deeply and richly blessed by God!

Don’t wait until next week. Tell the people you love that you love them.

Peace,

Allan

Micah 6: Priorities

November 5, 2025 / / 0 Comments

“He has showed you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” ~Micah 6:8

God has announced to Israel that they have broken the covenant, that he is going to punish them because they have been disloyal to him, and they immediately figure it must have something to do with their corporate worship. What do I sacrifice to make God happy? How do we do church right? How do we need to worship correctly? What sacrifices do I bring, and how much?

And our God says, No! It’s not about the sacrifices. It’s never been about the sacrifices. The very heart of the covenant has always been you loving other people and treating other people the same way I’ve loved and treated you. Everybody.

See, God’s covenant is a relational covenant. He is in relationship with us. And his covenant relationship with us lays a holy claim on all our relationships. The relationship between you and your spouse. The relationship between you and your children. You and your brothers and sisters in your church. The relationship between you and your boss, you and your co-workers, you and your teachers and classmates, Your relationship with your neighbor on food stamps. Your relationship with your enemies. With your customers. With the lady in front of you at the store. Your relationship with the widow, the orphan, and the immigrant at the wall. All these people. Every single relationship. Everyone in your community. How do you treat them? What do you think about them? What do you say about them? What do you do for them?

Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.

It doesn’t matter what happens in the temple on Saturday or at church on Sunday if your life with your neighbors is out of whack the other six days of the week. God’s people know this. We’ve always known it.

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice.” ~1 Samuel 15:22

“I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings.” ~Hosea 6:6

“Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me!… I cannot bear your evil assemblies!… When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen…. Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” ~Isaiah 1:11-17

It’s very similar to what our Lord says in the Sermon on the Mount. If you’re offering your gift at the altar and remember you’re crossways with somebody, if you’re not acting with love or mercy or justice with somebody, get out of the temple! And don’t come back until you’ve made things right!

The expert in the Law told Jesus that to love God and love neighbor “is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12:33-34). Jesus told him that his statement was correct and that he was “not far from the Kingdom of God.”

You know, it’s dangerous for Jesus to insist that loving your neighbor is more important than what happens in church services, but that’s what he always says all the time.

“You hypocrites! You give a tenth of all your spices–mint, dill, and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law–justice, mercy, and faithfulness (Jesus is quoting Micah 6)… You strain out a gnat, but swallow a camel!” ~Matthew 23:23-24

You can do worship exactly right–whatever “right” means to you or your friends or your group. You can close your eyes during every prayer, keep your hands in your lap while you sing ancient hymns, look up every Scripture during the sermon, and read Matthew 27 silently to yourself during communion. It doesn’t matter if you lied to your boss Friday and you plan on lying to him again tomorrow.

You can clap and raise your hands to contemporary praise songs and kneel down on the floor during every prayer and read responsive psalms ’til the cows come home and recite the Apostles’ Creed. But it’s not doing you or God any good if you’re ignoring the poor or cheating your customers or posting hateful speech online.

Priorities. Knowing how to pay attention to what really counts versus fooling around with insignificant issues. We don’t want to major in the minors. Jesus calls that neglecting the more important matters. The weightier matters. The heavy stuff.

If the specifics of our corporate worship are not the number one concern of God, why is it sometimes our number one priority? Have we misunderstood what pleases God? Or are we really just concerned with what pleases us?

Why are God’s people in Micah so willing to do the religious stuff, but not the heavy stuff that God cares the most about?

Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.

Peace,
Allan

Micah 6: Context

November 3, 2025 / / 0 Comments

 

“He has showed you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” ~Micah 6:8

 

I’m going to spend this week posting here about Micah 6:6-8. It’s a core Scripture, a foundational passage that reveals the heart of our God and transforms us for an abundant life in Christ. We know it, we quote it, we memorize it, and we wear it on T-shirts–it’s an important couple of verses. But how deep have we really gone with these holy words?

Let’s go.

Micah is prophesying sometime around the turn of the 7th century BC, and God’s people at this time are very well off. They’re wealthy. Rich. Powerful. And their lifestyle reflected it. What they thought about, what they talked about, and how they behaved was connected to their wealth. You see the evidence throughout Micah. God’s people are eaten up with buying more land, building bigger houses, taking longer vacations, and putting more money in the bank. The next-door-neighbor doesn’t matter. The needy family down the street isn’t important. What matters to God’s people in Micah is selling as much of my product as I can and getting as much for it as I can, even if it means hiding behind some fine print or not telling the whole truth about every detail or every transaction. Doing whatever it takes to keep up with the Bar-Joneses. Or to get ahead.

This attitude, this way of life, started at the top with Israel’s leaders and worked its way down through all the people. Micah is full of the accusations. The judges are taking bribes. The priests are only teaching what the people are paying them to teach. The prophets are only preaching what they’re told to preach, mainly that everything’s great. Everything’s good. The way we’re living, the things we’re doing–everything’s fine.

“If a liar and deceiver comes and says, ‘I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’ he would be just the prophet for this people!” ~Micah 2:11

In other words, if every time you came to church the preacher said, ‘What we need is more beef fajitas and more Blue Bell ice-cream,” you would love it!

“Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they lean upon the Lord and say, ‘Is not the Lord among us? No disaster will come upon us.'” ~Micah 3:11

We’re thinking only of ourselves, we’re getting richer and more comfortable while parts of the city are suffering more and more, there are poor people and sick people everywhere we look, but we’re great. Everything’s good.

And the Lord finally says, “Enough!”

“Stand up, plead your case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say. Hear, O mountains, the Lord’s accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For the Lord has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel.” ~Micah 6:1-2

This is a court case being described here. It’s a jury trial. God is the plaintiff bringing the case against Israel. Micah is the bailiff formally announcing the criminal charges. The mountains and hills are the witnesses–they’ve seen everything–and they’re being called to testify. The covenant has been broken. Next comes the voice of God:

“My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me. I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam. My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.” ~Micah 6:3-5

God says, What have I done to deserve this? I rescued you from slavery. I’ve blessed you with great leaders. I protected you from evil kings. I brought you over the Jordan River and gave you all this land. Remember?

Now, I’m not sure if the next two verses are the people responding to God, or if it’s Micah quoting what the people have said in the past, or if Micah’s assuming this is what the people will say in response to God. Here it is:

“With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God?” ~Micah 6:6

God’s not happy with us? God says we’re breaking the covenant? He says we’re going to be punished (although I really can’t see that happening because we are his chosen people, after all). God’s reminding us again of all the things he’s done for us? So, how do we make God happy? How do we please God? What’s he looking for out of us?

“Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sins of my soul?” ~Micah 6:6-7

If God’s upset with us, we must not be doing worship correctly. We should be more careful with the sacrifices. We should go to church more. We should maybe offer an extra calf or two. We should probably consider Wednesday nights.

When you see a puddle of oil on the driveway under your car, it shouldn’t cause you to change the air freshener hanging on the rear view mirror. If your son is failing all his classes at college, you shouldn’t yell at him for not knowing the words to the school fight song. There’s an old saying about the futility of re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The silliness of that. The absurdity of completely misreading the whole situation. Jesus calls it straining a gnat while swallowing a camel. And God shuts it down. The Lord, through his prophet Micah says, No, you don’t get it! It’s simple! Look, we’ve been over this for centuries!

“He has showed you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” 

Yeah, but where’s the list of things we’re not supposed to do? 

No. Three things. Right here. Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God.

But where’s the stuff on how we’re supposed to worship?

No. Three things. Here they are. Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God.

Our God has always communicated very clearly since Day One what he wants from us. This has been the deal since the very beginning. These are the things that matter to God. This is the top priority. Three basic foundational things. Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God.

Peace,

Allan

Where “All” Becomes “One”

July 31, 2025 / / 0 Comments

“You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” ~Galatians 3:26-28

I believe we are blessed to live in the country we live in, but the systems and structures and mottos and politics of this world will never unite anybody. The only place where the “all” becomes “one” is in Christ alone. In Christ is the only place where all people become one people. Our Lord Jesus is creating one global eternal community, not a bunch of them. So, in Christ, all the barriers are gone. There’s no more separation, no more distinctions or differences–everybody’s totally equal in Christ. The walls are down, the doors are open, the bridges are built! Now that Christ Jesus has come, all people have become one people!

To treat anyone differently, to deny anyone equal standing or equal freedom in God’s Church based on their nationality or their social standing or their gender is to, as Paul writes, proclaim “a different Gospel, which is really no Gospel at all” (Galatians 1:6-7). That kind of discrimination or distinction contradicts not just how we’re saved, but also why we’re saved. When we discriminate or make those distinctions in the Church, our actions contradict our message.

For illustration and application purposes, Paul gives us three pairings. All in the same context. All in the same breath.

In Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek. This is about ethnicity. He’s talking about nationality and culture, this is about color and race and language, anything ethnically that the world divides over. No one has to become a Jew to be a Christian. When we give equal honor and equal freedom and equal standing to Christians of all colors and from all nations and who speak all languages, then we’re proclaiming the Word of the Lord.

The worshipers in Revelation are singing to Christ Jesus in heaven. Listen to their song:
“You were slain, and with your blood you purchased people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation!” ~Revelation 5:9

The saints of God come from all over and they’re singing the same song. If we treat Christians differently or show them less honor or give them less freedom because they’re a different color or come from a different country or speak a different language, we are proclaiming something different than God’s Word.

In Christ, there is neither slave nor free. This is about social standing and economic status. How a person is educated, what kind of job she has, or how much money he makes has nothing to do with how a person is accepted as righteous by God or how that person serves and worships in God’s Church. It’s totally irrelevant. If anybody’s getting preferential treatment at church, it should be the poor and the marginalized and the people on the outside. Listen to our Lord:

“Invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed… Bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame… Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in so that my house will be full!” ~Luke 14:13, 21, 23

Our Lord’s brother says it straight up in James 2, that if you show favoritism for a rich man over a poor man, you are sinning against God who has chosen the poor to be rich in faith and to inherit his Kingdom. If you only talk to Christians who have jobs, if you only eat with Christians who live in your zip code, if you only show honor to Christians who can pay you back, you’re proclaiming a different Gospel, which is really no Gospel at all.

In Christ, there is neither male nor female. This is about gender and all the different dynamics that surround gender. This is about bestowing or not bestowing status or freedom in the Church based on a Christian’s sex.

It’s interesting to me that in a lot of our churches, in our Bible classes and small groups and in almost all our church settings, our Christian sisters are encouraged to express their full freedom in Christ and asked to exercise their spiritual gifts. But it’s different in the Worship Center. Generally speaking, women lead prayers and read Scripture and exhort the church at 9:30 all over the campus, but they’re not allowed to do those exact same things in front of the exact same people and the same God in the Worship Center at 10:30.

It seems like we should interpret and apply this third pairing just like we do the other two.

In 1 Corinthians 11, where the apostle Paul instructs women on how to pray and how to teach in the Sunday assembly, it’s in the context of we are all one together in Christ and how we need each other and each other’s spiritual gifts.

“In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.” ~1 Corinthians 11:11-12

In Christ, men and women are the same. No gender is better than the other, no gender is more honored or more gifted or more free to exercise those gifts than the other. Males and females are equal in Christ. Again, it seems to me we should interpret and practice this third couplet like we do the other two. We wouldn’t tell some Christians they can’t lead a prayer in the assembly because they’re Black. We wouldn’t tell some Christians they can’t lead the communion time because they don’t have a job. So why do we tell some Christians they can’t do those things because they are women? Paul sees these categories as the same.

Now, there are two verses in the Bible that are used to restrict Christian women in exercising their spiritual gifts, two lines addressing two particular concerns in two very specific settings. But we have this central passage in Galatians 3 and many others that call for and demonstrate this equal standing between men and women in Christ. It seems that if we restrict our Christian sisters where the Bible doesn’t, we’re proclaiming a different Gospel, which is really no Gospel at all.

Peace,

Allan

Good to Remember

September 23, 2024 / / 0 Comments

It is good for God’s people to be together on Sundays. It is good for us to be reminded. To remember together. To affirm together as one people that, yes, this world is being saved. This whole world is being redeemed and restored. Everything that’s broken is being fixed and everything’s that’s gone wrong is being made right.

Not by politicians or platforms or parties. Not by power or force or money or threat. This world is not being saved by democracy or elections or the media or your favorite website.

Salvation is being won by God’s love and mercy grace. Reconciliation is happening through forgiveness and service and sacrifice. Our salvation and the salvation of the entire planet belongs only to our God through our risen and coming Lord Jesus!

“Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
Give thanks to the Lord; call on his name!
Make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted!
Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things!
Let this be known to all the world!
Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion!
For great is the Holy One of Israel among us!”
~Isaiah 12

It’s good to be reminded.

Peace,

Allan

Fleshing It Out

August 24, 2024 / / 0 Comments

This Sunday at GCR, we’re concluding our sermon series in Ezekiel with the well-known dry bones vision in chapter 37. It’s going to be a special Sunday and I don’t want to bog it down with a bunch of lame puns. So, I’m getting them out of the way right now.

“Read Ezekiel 37:1-14 and we’ll flesh it out together this Sunday.”

“Read Ezekiel 37:1-14 and bone up on your knowledge of this familiar story.”

“Don’t be a bonehead; read Ezekiel 37:1-14 to get ready for this Sunday’s sermon.”

“Make no bones about it–you need to be at GCR this Sunday morning.”

The impressive mural on the stage in our Worship Center was painted by our own incredibly talented sister Cassie Bundy. It’s eight-feet tall and 20-feet long and it serves as the perfect backdrop to what’s going to be a powerful morning at our church. At times tomorrow, the mural will serve as scenery and, at other times, as the focal point of our participation in and response to the sermon. I am so thankful to God for Cassie’s eagerness to share her gifts with God’s people. And I pray that eyes and ears will be tuned in and hearts will be open for our Lord’s powerful message of forgiveness and salvation.

We’re not going to sing “Dry Bones” this Sunday, but we are going to be immersed in the Word of God to us from this significant passage. And if you have a bone to pick with me for anything I’ve written here, don’t let it get under your skin.

Peace,

Allan

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