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Unity Begins with Me

April 22, 2026 / / 0 Comments

I’ve read an excellent article this week that I want to share with you today. The piece is written by Jeanie Shaw, affiliated somehow with the Common Grounds Unity group in California, a Restoration Movement organization working for increased harmony between our three Stone-Campbell branches. It’s a quick two-page read about how our historical Church of Christ hermeneutic has shaped us to be divisive and fractured, instead of together and unified.

Here’s an excerpt:

“I grew up reading the Bible too often as a rulebook, a blueprint that promised clarity and safety if I interpreted it correctly. Like many from my Restoration heritage, I was taught that unity came from agreement–agreement produced by correct interpretation. Without realizing it, that belief formed a judgmental lens. I believed I was being faithful, when in reality I was often rigid, narrow, and inwardly critical of perspectives that differed from my own.”

Shaw tells the story of how her hermeneutic shifted and how that impacted her relationships with her three older sisters. When she began to understand the Bible as a revelation of the heart of God, she began to see that her unity problems within her church and among her sisters started with her.

“I began to understand that Jesus was not calling us to uniformity, but to relational love rooted in the very life of the Trinity. I began to see that the glory Jesus speaks of in John 17, his glory he has given to us, is the glory of humility, self-giving love, and making room for the other, not the glory of being doctrinally precise. This shift in hermeneutic reshaped my soul. It softened me. It unsettled my certainty. It humbled me in ways I didn’t know I needed. It taught me that Scripture is not a weapon for judgment, but a window into mercy. And in that softened place, I noticed my sisters and others differently.” 

Oh, it’s a good article. Here’s the link. 

I talk to preachers and congregational leaders all over the great state of Texas and it is clear to me that the same issues of tribalism and division, suspicion and conspiracy, that are plaguing American society are also infecting our Lord’s Church. The same impulses and (mis)understandings that are ripping our culture apart are also doing severe damage to the Body of Christ. And we in the Churches of Christ might be more susceptible to it because of our historically awful constitutional reading of Scripture.

At the very least, this article could give you some insights and language for conversations you might be having in your own church. In some cases, it might even be something you could forward to a brother or sister who might be open to reflecting on their own roles and responsibilities with the issues they’re having in your congregation. Or, maybe you need to be introspective about the part you’re playing in whatever divisions might be forming in your church. After all, as Shaw writes, unity is not guaranteed by perfect agreement; unity is formed in the heart. Unity begins with me.

Peace,
Allan

 

The Precious Image of God

April 21, 2026 / / 0 Comments

The Scriptures teach us that, in some ways, the holiness and sacredness of our God has been imparted to all of humanity, so that every single human life is holy and sacred and every single human life has divine dignity. When our God put his image on us or in us, we became beings of eternal value. The reason God considers murder to be so heinous is that God made humans in his image (Genesis 9:5-6). The brother of our Lord Jesus and others of the apostles forbid us from speaking ill of others or abusing others with our words because all people have been made in God’s likeness (James 3:9). There is something so valuable about human beings that not only can they not be murdered physically, they can’t even be cursed verbally, based on their divine worthiness as image bearers of God. The precious image of God in or on all people means all people have the divine right to not be mistreated or harmed.

The Bible does not limit these prohibitions to only good people or God’s people or people like us. Regardless of their record or character, all human beings have a heavenly-ordained glory and significance to them because God created them and he loves them.

Nicholas Wolterstorff illustrates this beautifully in his book “Justice: Rights and Wrongs.” He imagines a foreigner, a guy who knows nothing about American history, being confused to learn that the Mount Vernon estate in Virginia is preserved and designated as a national monument. Mount Vernon is revered by Americans as a place of great significance and value. But it doesn’t make sense to this guy because Mount Vernon is small and plain and, as far as historical Virginia plantation houses, has very little to offer in architectural merit or beauty. Why do Americans love this house so much and treat it with so much honor and respect?

Because this is George Washington’s house. The founder of our country lived here. He owned this house.

Oh. That explains it. The physical merits and quality of the house don’t matter. Since we treasure the owner, we honor his house. What the house looks like or how it functions as a house is irrelevant. Because it was precious to him, and we revere him, it is precious to us.

So we treasure each and every single human being, all of them, as a way of showing respect and honor for their owner and Creator.

Peace,

Allan

Sing Loud, Die Happy

April 20, 2026 / / 2 Comments

We’ve got Minnesota right where we want ’em. The Wild outplayed the Stars in Saturday’s Game One up and down the ice for the entirety of all three periods. They out-skated us and out-hit us, they won every face off and beat us to every loose puck, they out-shot us, out-fought us, out-hustled us, out-goalied us, and killed us on special teams. It was Game One. Again. For the eighth time in the Stars’ past ten playoff series. We’ve got ’em right where we want ’em.

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Coconut Cream Dr Pepper is back and it’s just as wonderful as I remembered! It’s been a couple of years since Dr Pepper first gave us this glorious option and then took it away almost as soon as it arrived–I didn’t realize how seriously they were using the phrase “limited edition.” For almost two years now I’ve been lamenting its demise and begging for its return. It’s back now–for how long, I don’t know–and it is still, by far, the very best of the many different flavored Dr Peppers. The coconut flavor is really strong–you smell it before your first sip and it lingers even after you swallow. It smells like summer and it tastes even better. And, yes, we are stocked up at Stanglin Manor.

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I have just ordered a book based on a review by D.J. Bulls in Restoration Quarterly, and I’m planning to read it before the end of the week. The book is called Sing Loud, Die Happy: An Exploration of How God’s Gift of Song is Meant to Change Us. The title is intriguing enough, yes? The author, Jim Thompson, surveys the entirety of Scripture to present a comprehensive case for the paramount priority of singing for the individual disciple of Jesus and for his gathered church. According to D.J., Thompson explores the whole of Church history and encourages us to reinvest in singing. He also quotes from a variety of historical Church and music figures, including Aristotle, Martin Luther, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Bono. Here’s a quote from the book:

“We do not sing in worship to reflect our moods any more than our sermons should reflect our pet theories on the Gospel. Rather, quite bluntly, we sing in an effort to take us away from what we think and draw us toward what we ought to think, feel, and experience. We sing to create a mood more than to reflect one.”

And, from the last chapter, a list of ten encouragements for all of us:

1 – Sing with your family.
2 – Be a part of a church that enjoys singing and whose singing reflects the variety of song found in Scripture.
3 – Join a church where the song leaders aren’t trying to be faddish Christian celebrities but are shepherding people by inviting them into the transformative power of singing together.
4 – Learn and sing along to new music.
5 – Remember and sing along to old music.
6 – Look at people when you sing.
7 – Sing when you don’t feel like it.
8 – If you can’t sing with your lips, sing with your soul.
9 – Gather some friends for a sing-along.
10 – Sing with people different from you.

Singing is not only what we do; as children of God and followers of Christ Jesus, it is an important part of who we are.

Peace,
Allan

Chasing Stanley’s Chalice

April 18, 2026 / / 0 Comments

The greatest annual postseason in all of sports gets underway late this afternoon, and I am absolutely beside myself with giddy anticipation over the multiple two-and-a-half-hour heart attacks I will endure over the coming weeks. The Dallas Stars, who have been to the Western Conference Finals the past three straight seasons, are dropping the puck against the Minnesota Wild in what will definitely be the most thrilling matchup of the first round and, potentially, of the entire tournament.

Just push “PLAY” on the video below. Go full screen and turn the volume way up. Feel your pulse quicken. Notice the catch in your breath. The gulp in your throat. The butterflies doing somersaults in your stomach. The urge to throat-punch anyone not wearing Victory Green.

The Stars finally addressed their one glaring need, the one thing that has kept them out of the Stanley Cup Finals the past years: toughness. They’ve been ramping it up all season. They are physically forechecking now, from goal line to goal line, throughout the lineup. They have two 40-goal scorers in Wyatt Johnston and Jason Robertson, a superstar sniper-scorer in Mikko Rantanen, and one of the NHL’s top power plays. Miro Heiskanen is probably the best two-way defenseman in the NHL, and I’ll take Otter in net right now over anybody else in the league. One of the Star’s major strengths, their incredible depth, is being tested right now with Roope Hintz out for at least the first two games. But they entered last year’s first round without Miro and Robo and still came out on top.

However, almost all that one says about the Stars can also be said about Minnesota. Two 40-goal scorers, a violent forecheck, and depth. These two teams are about as equally matched as you can get. And I can’t wait.

It’s going to be tight. The energy is going to be over-the-top, the desperation will be palpable, the bodies will be flying, the hits will be bone-rattling, the momentum will be constantly shifting, and the margin of victory will be measured in inches and seconds. Bring it on.

Does anyone know a good cardiologist?

Let’s Go Stars!
Allan

Open the Curtains!

April 16, 2026 / / 0 Comments

I believe God calls us to regular and serious self-examination, but my experience with this is that serious self-examination can be both difficult and dangerous. It’s very easy for the enemy to turn my thoughts against me. I avoid silence and solitude–just me and our Lord–because of what gets very quickly revealed about me and my soul. I find it easier to pray about others and minister to others and work harder and produce more than to deal with my own stuff. It’s better when I remember that the enemy is a big fat liar. But I do struggle with this.

Introspection and self-reflection is hard. It can be confusing, maybe even chaotic. Are these gifts from God or is it arrogance? Am I passionate or am I a bully? How mixed are my motives? Am I really making any kind of a difference in our church? Is my own level of discipleship to Jesus too inconsistent to be a preacher? Man, I can get twisted up inside myself pretty fast.

Thomas Chalmers, a 19th century Scottish pastor and theologian compared self-examination to walking into and sitting in a dark room. You can’t see what’s inside the room because the room is dark. So how do you see? How do you brighten the room? Not by straining your eyes or looking harder. Not by sitting longer in the dark and taking more time. Not by squinting. Not by concentrating.

You can’t see yourself more clearly just by focusing more intently on yourself.

Chalmers says you must go to the window and open up the curtains! Let the light of Christ, he says, break into the darkness of whatever’s going on in your soul. And Chalmers says the light is the Word of God.

“If we derive no good from the work of self-examination, because we find that all is confusion and mistiness within, then let us go forth upon the truths which are from without, and these will pour a flood of light into all the mazes and intricacies of your soul, and at length will render that work easy, which before was impossible.”

Self-reflection is difficult and dangerous. Don’t attempt it without soaking in the sunshine of God’s Word. Listen to the voice of the Lord. Learn to look more at Christ than at yourself. You’re not changed by focusing on yourself, but by focusing on Jesus.

God knows the very worst about you, and he still loves you. He does not deal with us according to our sins. He promises that if we confess, he will forgive us and cleanse us and transform us. You must be secure in the love of God for you before any self-examination can be confident or fruitful. Know how precious and honored you are in God’s sight, know the glory of who you are in Jesus, know the guaranteed future you have with God in Christ. Remember that God is for you!

Now.

Now you can identify where God is at work in you. Now you can keep going with the assurance that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.
Now I can identify where God is at work in me. Now I can keep going with the assurance that he who began a good work in me will bring it to completion.

This post is more about me than you. Let’s both try to be better at this.

Peace,
Allan

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