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Around the Table: Part 1

September 5, 2013 / / 0 Comments

“They saw God, and they ate and drank.” ~Exodus 24:11

Regular readers of this space know that the communion meal is the one area of our Christian worship, the one part of our history and tradition and liturgy, that really gets me going. It’s the area in which I’ve done the most research and study and the thing about which I’m most passionate. There’s a whole lot going on around the table when disciples of Christ gather to share a meal. And I believe that on Sundays in our churches, we miss most of it.

Here at Central last night, we began an eleven week study of our Lord’s Supper that will take us from Genesis all the way through Revelation. From the Israelites eating on the mountain with God and Christ sharing that last meal with his apostles to the biblical accounts of the early church’s Christian meals to our communion beliefs and practices today, we’re going to explore Scripture and ancient practices, history and context, custom and command. And, by God’s grace, we’re going to arrive at a deeper and stronger communion theology for our congregation.

We opened up the study last night by considering the very first communion meal shared between God and his people in Exodus 24. This is the holy meal that sets the tone for all the communion meals to come. This is the meal Jesus was pointing his disciples back to around the table on that last night. This is the primary model through which all communion meals are informed and formed.

We set it up by looking at a couple of stories in Genesis. In Genesis 31 Jacob and Laban are fighting within their own family. They can’t get along. Jacob takes off with his wives and children and flocks. Laban gives chase, catches up with his daughters and grandchildren and son-in-law, and they begin to argue with one another there in the desert. After both have angrily vented, Laban proposes a peace treaty.

“Come now, let’s make a covenant between you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us… So they took stones and piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap.” ~Genesis 31:44-46

A similar thing had occurred in Genesis 26. Isaac and Abimelech were at each other’s throats over land and crops and flocks. There were lies. Their servants were fighting. Finally, Abimelech suggested a peace treaty.

“There ought to be a sworn agreement between us — between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you… Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank.” ~Genesis 26:28:30

The meal celebrates the reality of the peace. Eating and drinking together expresses in tangible, concrete, and visible ways the reality of the new relationship between the once estranged parties. The treaty brings about the peace; that peace is then experienced at the meal.

Just like with God and his people on the mountain.

In Exodus 19, the Lord announces a covenant for his people and the people accept the terms. “We will do everything the Lord has said!” In Exodus 20, God summarizes the terms of the covenant, which are then itemized in more detail in Exodus 21-23. This covenant is then ratified, or made official, by the sacrifices in Exodus 24:

“They offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, ‘We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.’ Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you…'” ~Exodus 24:5-8

The covenant is sealed with the blood of the sacrificed animals. Both sides have made pledges, both sides have agreed, and now there’s a brand new relationship. This is it, Moses says. It’s done.

“Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel.” ~Exodus 24:9

And God struck the leaders of Israel dead right there on the spot. Yes? Of course! Nobody can see God and live. We know that. The original readers of the ancient text know this. The first hearers of this story knew it. You can’t see God. Duh! You and I have always known that. He is holy, we are not. He is righteous, we are not. He is perfect and transcendent and above all else and we are certainly not. A person cannot see God and live. It just doesn’t work that way.

That’s why the next line in the story is so dramatic. That’s why what happens on the mountain is so extraordinary and shocking; scandalous, even!

“But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.” ~Exodus 24:11

These high priests and Levites and leaders of God’s people, representing all of Israel, ate and drank a covenant meal with God. They were face to face with the Creator of Heaven and Earth, at his table eating and drinking with him in the reality of a brand new kind of holy relationship. God’s people had been washed by the blood; there were made righteous by the sacrifice. The blood had rendered them perfect in the eyes of God and allowed them to enter into his presence. The sacrifice allowed them to commune with God. They were not killed when they saw him. God did not strike them dead when they came into his holy presence. He welcomed them with a fellowship meal of food and drink. They celebrated the reality of the relationship, the reality of their salvation, by eating and drinking with God.

God never intended an altar. He planned for it, yes, because he knew. But he never intended an altar. He always intended a table. God’s goal is a table. The altar serves the table, the altar makes the table possible. The altar is the atoning work of forgiving sin; the table is the tangible experience of that forgiveness.

Jesus himself, the apostles, all the New Testament writers and readers, and certainly the early church all live in a context of a clear distinction between altar and table. The altar and the table are two different things; there are two completely different forms, entirely different functions between the sacrifice and the meal. Those differences were established and understood by generations and centuries of teaching and practice.

In many ways we have combined the two. Down through the centuries, God’s Church has actually turned the table into an altar. It has destroyed the original form and function of the table. The intent of God’s table and our Lord’s meal has been terribly distorted. The aim of our study is to restore our understanding of the feast, if not our Sunday assembly communion practices.

I’m excited about our study. I’m thrilled already with the early response. By God’s grace, going forward, his Gospel and our salvation in Christ Jesus will be better experienced and more fully expressed around the table here at Central.

Peace,

Allan

God Bless the Newtons

September 3, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Just a couple of weeks after Judy Newton had been diagnosed with brain cancer, she looked right into my eyes and told me, “Allan, I want to spend whatever time I have left getting closer and closer to God. I want to spend all my time with God. I want to talk to him and hear him. I want to see him. I want to be more present with him and more available to him. I want to understand him and know him better. I want to get closer to God. I want to see God.”

About nine months into the trial, this sweet sister I had only met about a month before she was diagnosed confirmed that it was happening. She told me she was hearing God and seeing God in ways she never had before. She felt closer to our Lord than she ever had. She was filled with an inexpressible peace — and even joy! — that she had never before experienced.

This afternoon Judy Newton, a loving wife, a fabulous mother of two, a beloved third grade teacher at Bivins Elementary, and a valuable member of our praise team here at Central, passed from this life to the next. Surrounded by her family, forgiven by her Savior, and wrapped in the loving arms of her God.

I can confidently say today that all of us who have known Judy through this trial have also seen God. We’ve seen God through Judy. We’ve all seen God in Judy. We’ve heard his voice. We’ve felt his presence. We’ve experienced his peace and joy through our sister, Judy. God has revealed himself to us in powerful ways through his precious daughter, Judy. He showed us.

Of course, we’ve witnessed it and participated in it by walking through this with their whole family. We’ve seen God’s glory in the great faithfulness of her husband, Lanny. We’ve seen God’s glory in their daughter Aleisha’s sacrificial service to her mother. We’ve seen God’s glory in the compassion and tenderness shown by their son, Zach. Judy’s faith never wavered. Her commitment to her God never waned. Her determination to trust her Lord, to see his work in everything and everyone around her, was astonishing.

Judy wanted so badly to see God. She wound up showing God to all of us.

“Where, o death, is your victory? Where, o death, is your sting? Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! ~1 Corinthians 15:55-57.

Peace,

Allan

Singing as Discipline: Part Two

August 30, 2013 / / 3 Comments

Finally, the opening night of the Texas high school football season! Fight songs and Frito-Pie, pep rallies and pom-poms, booster club cookouts and homemade signs, game programs filled with local ads wishing the kids luck and hot chocolate in the Thermos, shoe polish on the car windows and new paint on the bleachers, touchdowns and tackles, clapping for the other school’s band, great catches and dramatic picks, momentum, crossing your fingers before the 34-yard field goal, and “why don’t we throw (or run or blitz or stunt or screen or fake or trap or zone) more?” Amarillo High’s Golden Sandies open up at home tonight against Odessa. We’ll be tailgating with some of our best friends in the Bivins Stadium parking lot at 7:00 and in our seats on the 30-yard line in plenty of time for the 8:00 kickoff.

“Blow, Sand, Blow!”

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I shared with you last time the first half of an interesting article by Sean Palmer regarding our corporate singing when we gather as God’s saved people. His question — and it’s a good one — is “what would church look like if we re-framed corporate singing as a spiritual discipline?” You can click here to read the article in its entirety.

To re-cap the first part of his article upon which we reflected in the last post, our corporate singing is viewed by many of us as an individual pursuit. It’s funny because we can’t do corporate singing by ourselves. It has to be done together, as a group. But we think and act like we want all the songs picked out and sung just for us. We enjoy, celebrate, bemoan, criticize, and judge our worship assemblies based mainly on what we personally like. And that’s wrong, wrong, wrong, for a whole long list of reasons.

Allow me to give you today Palmer’s second half of the article with my own comments sprinkled in. These are five things he believes would change in our churches, five things that would result for all of us, he thinks, if we were to view our singing together as a spiritual discipline.

1. We wouldn’t expect immediate results. No faithful practitioner of spiritual disciplines expects to walk in, practice a discipline for an hour, and leave humming a tune and tapping their toes. In the realm of spiritual practices, we know that a blessing is found in the practice itself. You could practice contemplative prayer for years without any tangible outcome, uplifting feeling, or goosebumps. But you come to love and enjoy practicing the presence of God.

Randy Harris says his second great fear about practicing contemplative prayer is “What if something happens?” His number one greatest fear about contemplative prayer is “What if nothing happens?” The point of a spiritual discipline is to enter the practice in complete submission to God, giving yourself entirely to him, and inviting him to do with you exactly what he wants. It’s to be present to God, present with God, available to be used by God as he wishes. Isn’t it enough — isn’t it everything! — to bask joyfully in the glory that is communion with Christ and his saints? I’m singing with God’s people in the holy presence of God, for cryin’ out loud! Does it matter that it’s not my favorite song? This “audience of one” idea is not good for our worship theology. God is not an audience in our worship. We’re not performing anything for God. He’s not sitting back on his heavenly throne just soaking up our praise and prayers. Our God is active in our worship. He is moving us and changing us and blessing us and speaking to us and growing us together in our worship. Maybe I won’t see it or feel it at the moments. Maybe it’ll take months or years. But it’s enough to just sing with my brothers and sisters in the knowledge that I’m being transformed.

2. We could sing on behalf of others. There are songs I hate, like “Amazing Grace.” I’ve never liked it. But I know “Amazing Grace” is tremendously meaningful for others. A friend recently shared with me the place of the song “Amazing Grace” in the recovery movement. The song means a great deal for members of AA and other recovery groups. Those folks are in my church. As a spiritual discipline, I can sing that song — though I despise it — on their behalf. I sing, therefore, not because it’s efficacious for me, but for those around me.

To me, this is the most powerful and practical and understandable of Palmer’s five reasons. This is the logic I have used for years when I speak or write about the evils of personal preference tainting our holy worship of God. The really unfortunate thing here is that he uses the words “hate” and “despise” to describe his own feelings about the classic hymn “Amazing Grace.” How can you be a Christian and not like “Amazing Grace?” Seriously.

We’ll know that Christ is being formed in us when we can joyfully sing other people’s songs. Maybe a younger person doesn’t care for “How Great Thou Art.” It’s too slow and the language is weird. But that younger person realizes how much that song means to all the older people in the room. He loves these older brothers and sisters. They are his Christian family. And this song really moves them. It reminds them of faithful friends, of long gone relatives, or of sweet moments in other locations. They absolutely love this song. It’s one of their favorites. So, the younger person sings it with all of his heart, soul, and strength. He sings this song he doesn’t really like for the sake of all the people in the room who totally love it. He sings it at the top of his lungs with gusto and enthusiasm, because he knows it brings so much joy to so many other people around him. He’s blessing them. In the same ways, an older person may not be really fond of “Mighty to Save.” It’s too long and the tempo is weird. But that older person realizes how much that song means to all the younger people in the room. She loves those younger brothers and sisters. They are her Christian family. And this song really moves them. It reminds them of the summer camp or the youth retreat, of a mission trip or some other really transformative event in their lives. They absolutely love this song. It’s one of their favorites. So, the older person sings it with all of her heart, soul, and strength. She sings this song she doesn’t really like for the sake of all the people in the room who totally love it. She sings it at the top of her lungs with gusto and enthusiasm, because she knows it brings so much joy to so many other people around her. She’s blessing them.

Serving other people, meeting the needs of others, considering them more important than you, is very Christ-like. It’s extremely Christ-like. In fact, it’s the very essence of who Jesus is. Our King came to this earth not to be served, but to serve. I wonder why we can’t come to a worship assembly for 75-minutes with the same attitude.

3. We could be less manipulative. I hate to be the one to tell you, but many worship experiences are designed to manipulate your feelings. That’s not all bad. Church leaders should want you to do something at the end of a service, and music is frequently used to disarm congregants toward that end. Anecdotally, Christian Rich Mullins was approached by a fan. The fan said, “I was really moved during that song going into the third verse. I felt the Spirit.” Mullins responded, “That wasn’t the Spirit; that was when the kick-drum came in.” Perhaps as a spiritual practice, all of us would be more open to simply allowing God to move in our midst rather than modulating up the last chorus, jumping around, turning up the volume, and hosts of other tricks we invent to gin up the congregation.

It’s a weird cycle for worship leaders and preachers and those charged with planning worship assemblies.And a trap. Most of us, by nature, are people-pleasers. We enjoy the pats on the back and the words of affirmation and appreciation for our hard work and our wonderfully executed sermons and song-leading. And we can be overly focused at times on getting things to feel and move just right. I’m guilty of this. I’m one of the worst. More energy! More volume! More drama! More interaction and participation! More, more, more! In moments of serious personal reflection, I sometimes wonder if our God is saying less, less, less.

4. We could hear the God of the desert. Perhaps God doesn’t want us to sing the songs we love. Might it be possible that some of us have come to praise our worship and worship our praise when the call of God is for us to go into the desert, to experience emptiness in an area of life on which we have come to overly depend? If so, could all of the church-hopping and in-fighting over music over the last twenty years been our avoidance of entering the space in which God wants to lead us? Could it be possible that one of the reasons we’re not experiencing greater engagement with God is because we have abandoned his voice and chosen a tune we like? We must never forget, before Jesus begins his life of impact, he goes into the desert.

To treat singing in a worship assembly as a spiritual discipline would be to faithfully sing the songs that are given to us at that time. It would be to ask God to lead us where he wants us to go in our singing. It would be submitting to his voice and his will in our worship. I try to personally find the voice of God in every word that is said to me by a brother or sister in Christ. I believe God speaks to us through other faithful people. He communicates with us and teaches us this way. So, even if I’m being hollered at by a church member who wants to wring my neck (hasn’t happened in a while; whew!), I try to assume there’s some truth to what he is saying to me. Somewhere in his criticism is a nugget of something I really need to hear and pay attention to. Shouldn’t we also view our corporate singing the same way? Somehow, as I sing this song I don’t really like, God is speaking to me. Somewhere in this lousy song with the simple notes and shallow lyrics is a bit of eternal truth about our holy Creator. Shouldn’t I sing that song with the intention of listening for that? Shouldn’t the assumption always be that God is doing something here?

5. We could actually praise God. We have to ask ourselves serious questions about the nature of who we worship when we walk out of common worship upset with God-directed music and lyrics, regardless of whether or not the praise team was “singing our tune.” If corporate singing were a spiritual discipline, God would be at the center of it. And in God’s presence, humankind has always simply bowed.

Peace,

Allan

Corporate Singing as Spiritual Discipline

August 28, 2013 / / 8 Comments

Yes, today is Wednesday. It’s hump day, it’s already the middle of the week, and I’ve neglected to post the traditional first-day-of-school pictures that have always marked the beginning of another education cycle at Stanglin Manor. The tradition is that I wake them up five minutes before their alarms are set to ring with several loud and very off key singings of “School Bells.” And, right before we head out the door, the taking of the pictures. Here they are: Valerie, our “little middle,” a junior now at Amarillo High; and Carley, our “tiny bear,” entering 8th grade at Bonham.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’d like to spend today and tomorrow considering a piece authored by Sean Palmer, a very talented preacher of the Word down in Temple, Texas. This short article was forwarded to me a couple of weeks ago by our worship minister here at Central, Kevin Schaffer. I love the article and want to share it and explore it in this space for two reasons: 1) I agree with it entirely; it says everything I’ve been preaching and teaching about corporate singing for many years, and 2) it says it so much better than I ever have.

With Sean’s forgiveness (he has to forgive me; he’s a Christian!), I’m just going to paste the first half of the article right here:

There’s nothing the church does so wonderfully and terribly as singing. If you’ve spent more than 10-minutes inside an American worship service, you already know how important singing is. Regardless of the worship style of your congregation, the music is important and usually done well. Music has power. It transforms moments and has the power to embed memories and stir emotions. We are moved by the singing and music in ways little else can or does. For most of us, the music and singing of our congregation is one of the major reasons we picked it.

And that’s the problem. In the mid-20th century, some traveling and nationally known preachers decided that a “personal Savior” was the carrot-and-stick that would motivate non-believers to come to faith. It worked. For the last 50-years, the sales pitch for faith in Jesus has been a personal one. “If YOU were to die today, where would you spend eternity? If YOU ask Jesus into your heart… If YOU accept Jesus as your personal Savior…” A measure of individualistic focus is right and good. After all, I live in a world where I cannot make faith decisions for other people. And as a good Anabaptist, I would choose not to even if I could. Nevertheless, it’s nearly impossible to imagine that such a singular focus could result in much other than a self-centered faith. After all, we got into this for personal reasons.

And that’s where the singing comes in.

Our corporate/common singing, regardless of the musical style of our congregation, is still viewed by too many as an individual pursuit. This is odd, because we can’t do corporate singing alone. We just wish the songs were picked and sang as if corporate worship existed for us alone. Don’t believe me? Do you know anyone who left their church because of a change in “worship?” In truth, these changes are barely changes in worship. Most churches still celebrate the Eucharist, engage sermons, sing, pray, and — sadly — have announcements. What changes is the singing! And the reason people leave over “worship” is because they no longer “like” the singing… personally.

Of course, we rarely say that out loud. We say, “It’s not what I grew up with. This music doesn’t speak to me. I’m not being fed by this.” Or we evaluate the musicality and lyrical content of the music. Don’t get me wrong. It hardly ever matters what style of music you prefer — hymns, CCM, instrumental, Gregorian, a cappella, classical, jazz — all of us do the same thing.

Our problem is that we enjoy, celebrate, bemoan, criticize, and judge church life based on what we like. We are deciding on the basis of what we like because we’ve bought into the lie that our corporate singing should be personal. Personal worship for a personal Savior, right? But what would church look like if we reframed corporate singing, not in the ever-narrowing category of “worship,” but as a spiritual discipline?

If corporate singing were a spiritual discipline…

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Allright, let’s stop right here for the day. I’ll post the second half of the article, all five of Palmer’s reasons for viewing congregational singing as a spiritual discipline, tomorrow. For now, let’s consider his premise that most of the people in our churches — including, if we don’t guard against it, our church leaders — view their salvation in Jesus Christ as a personal thing.

In our increasingly individualistic and highly specialized society, our default is to see what God has done through Christ on the cross and what the Spirit did at the garden tomb was for me. Christ died for me. God loves me. Jesus gives me eternal life. I am saved. I am a Christian. I worship God. He answers my prayers. Me, me, me!

Contemporary praise songs support this individualistic view of our salvation and relationship with God. Most church songs written in the U.S.A. in the last quarter-century use many more singular personal pronouns than plural. O Lord, Prepare Me to be a Sanctuary. A Shield About Me. My God is Mighty to Save. I will Call Upon the Lord. I stand to praise you, but I fall on my knees. O God, you are my God, and I will ever praise you. My Life is in You, Lord. Holy Lord, most holy Lord, you alone are worthy of my praise. On Bended Knee I Come. Nobody Fills My Heart Like Jesus. He Has Made Me Glad. I Worship You, Almighty God. Make Me a Servant. The joy of the Lord will be my strength, I will not falter, I will not faint. You Are My All and All. Jesus, you’re my firm foundation, I know I can stand secure. Lord, I Lift Your Name on High. I Sing Praises to Your Name. I could go on and on. But this is enough to make the point.

They’re not all like this. Some of the songs we sing together speak as or to the corporate body of Christ. But for every We Bring the Sacrifice of Praise or We Shall Assemble on the Mountain, there are a dozen or more songs like There’s a stirring deep within me and Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down, here I am to say that you’re my God.

Those of you who are members of churches who use an abundance of technology during corporate worship, have you noticed how all the pictures and backgrounds are mainly of one person worshiping God? You probably haven’t noticed it or paid attention to it because it’s so prevalent in our society and, consequently now, in our churches. Look at it this Sunday. One man standing on a mountain with his hands raised to God. One woman in a field, bowing down in prayer to God. It’s in our PowerPoints and Easy Worships, on our bulletins and websites, our art and our language foster and support this idea of an individualistic salvation. Kevin tells me all the time it’s next to impossible to find worship images for our use in assemblies that depict more than one person adoring God.

Naturally, and unfortunately, this shapes us into a people who expect the songs on Sunday mornings to be our personal favorite songs, the songs we personally enjoy, the songs that speak to us personally, the songs that personally move us or have special meaning for us. Personally. Of course, no one is saved alone. Not one person is saved by him or herself. God saves us together, with one another, belonging to one another, in a faith community. Together. The overwhelming majority of the pronouns in Scripture are plural. The Bible was written for the collection of God’s people. God so loved the whole world that he gave Jesus who came and died for the whole world. We are made more like Christ together. We grow in the Spirit as a group. We watch and pray, sacrifice and serve, as a body. Worship in our Scriptures is never an individual or a personal thing. But we’re all programmed to view it that way. As long as we do, we’ll keep having “worship wars” and we’ll keep judging the worth of a church assembly based on our own personal preferences.

Peace,

Allan

Drawing a Line in the Sand

August 23, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Among the many texts and emails I’ve received from my brothers and sisters here at Central following that sermon on Christian unity I preached two weeks ago, this one stood out:

“Hands down best CofC sermon I have ever heard in my 56 years of life on this earth!!! Two thumbs up!!!”

“You need to get out more often. Just kidding. I appreciate those kind words. The response has been tremendous. Now we’ve got to put it into action.”

“I’ve heard others try to preach that sermon and they’ve done pretty good at it but could never simplify it down and just spell it out like you did where there was no doubt left in anyone’s mind that grace covers all believers! Even the Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians!”

“Thanks, sister. You’re a blessing to me.”

“I’m glad you have gotten good response because, realistically, you drew a line in the sand for us as CofC people. You are right, we can enjoy that sermon, but now comes the hard part…living it.”

A line in the sand, huh? The intent of the build up to that sermon and that day and us as a church going forward is to erase the lines, to eradicate the barriers between Christian denominations. Of course, I know what this dear lady means. Drawing the line means we’ve said very clearly and very forcefully now that we understand our Lord’s holy will is for his people to worship and serve together, to fellowship with each other, to show love and esteem for one another in order to evangelize the world. And we intend to practice it. We intend to make it a part of who we are and how we think and behave.

From another email written by a Central member: “Thank you for that sermon this past Sunday. The term ‘sermon’ and ‘thank you’ seem so inadequate for such a powerful message. That is a message we should all hear. And often. Ever since our family moved to Central it has felt like a rock lifted off my shoulders in the sense that I was free of the baggage of years of animosity toward and from the Churches of Christ. I didn’t realize however that there was still a fair bit of baggage on my shoulders until I felt it being lifted Sunday morning. That fact that we can recognize and then work with other churches and Christians is such an unreal feeling… maybe a little like we’ll all feel together in heaven. I have said that I have never heard John 10:16 (at least the way I understand it) preached at a Church of Christ. Well, I have now! Grace for 14th and Monroe as well as those down the street? Hallelujah, preach on, brother!”

That email is just one of several I’ve received that express a sense of the powerful words of Jesus’ prayer lifting a weight from their shoulders. A lot of it seems to do with their own personal feelings and beliefs, which have been at odds with their understanding of traditional CofC beliefs and practices, being validated and encouraged from the pulpit on a Sunday morning by their elders and ministers. And, again, if some line in some sand was drawn, it’s about visibly and emphatically renouncing the long-time perception that we think we’re the only ones going to heaven.

Our elders are also receiving emails, of which this is a sample: “Thank you for having the courage in your leadership to take a position that embraces neighbor churches. You set the tone. You foster the culture and the atmosphere that allows and promotes a message like the one we heard Sunday. What a great feeling it is to look past our differences and work together with other Christians. I have told you before that I cannot express my appreciation enough for the impact Central and its staff has had on my family. Now, I want to thank you for the impact Central and its staff has had on me.”

I think the message from John 17 is liberating. I think it frees us to truly be the new people we were created to be at our baptisms. We are full of God’s Holy Spirit, we are re-created to experience all of life in brand new ways, we are united with all of God’s children and all followers of the Christ. Now, we’ve given our people permission — a mandate, even — to act like it. That’s why it feels so good, I think. Because we’re doing what we were created to do. We’re actually pursuing, for a change, what God really wants. That’s why it feels good.

Another way we empowered our congregation was by giving them an argument against those who disapprove fellowshipping other churches and Christians. Immediately following the sermon, one of our oldest members walked down front and confessed to me, “Allan, I’ve been struggling for the past several weeks with this partnership with these other churches because of baptism. My concern has always been about fellowshipping people who are baptized differently than us and for different reasons. You answered it for me. It’s God’s grace. The same grace he has for me, he has for all Christians.”

God’s grace covers all Christians. It covers practice and doctrine. It covers behavior and belief. How does anyone read the Scriptures and come to any other conclusion?

A couple of days ago I received a text from a good friend of mine in Fort Worth: “You are not thinking big enough with “4 Amarillo.” Your reach is much bigger than you think. Make it easy for people to donate who read the blog and get excited, yet aren’t in Amarillo.”

“But it’s a local thing. People who read the blog and get excited about it should pursue a similar path with their own churches, right?”

“In a more perfect world they would. There might be people who will write a check instead of work. While you may prefer they do it locally, if they want to give money to a very good cause, let them.”

One of our plans is to build several Habitat for Humanity houses together next summer. At some point, we may have to organize more officially in order to keep up with the money and other necessary things that go with big projects. So, yeah, there may be a way to donate to “4 Amarillo” later. For now, if you don’t live in our city, I urge you to begin laying the groundwork for similar demonstrations of Christian unity in your own place. Pray about it. Study it. Consider the evangelistic implications for the Kingdom of God. And then do it. It feels good, because it’s right.

If it will help, here’s a link to the audio of the sermon we preached on August 11. It’s called “The Time Has Come: That the World May Believe.” Click here to listen or to download.

One last email: “We’ve had 4+ inches of rain this past week. When I heard a group of farmers this morning wonder why we are getting so much now all of a sudden, I told them it’s because the Church of Christ, the Presbyterians, the Baptists, and the Methodists are finally working together!”

Peace,

Allan

The Appetizer

August 21, 2013 / / 2 Comments

What a marvelous gathering Thursday night at Polk Street Methodist as about a hundred of us from all four of the downtown churches combined and packed our school supplies for delivery this week to our four downtown area elementary schools. It was the first official project in our “4 Amarillo” efforts. And, by any measure, it was a tremendous success.

I’m very, very proud of my Central church family for their enthusiastic embrace of this initiative. I’m so grateful for the leadership in our church family that has fostered a culture in which this kind of Christian unity can be explored and expressed. And I feel so blessed by our God to be right in the middle of something that is an answer to the prayers of Christ Jesus. Our Lord asked God to make all his future followers one body, united in spirit and truth, so that the world may believe. And we are taking that request seriously, jumping in with everything we’ve got to put aside our differences for the sake of the city.

We delivered our school supplies and catered a breakfast for all the teachers at Bivins Elementary yesterday. The other three churches are delivering their supplies today. The Amarillo Globe-News ran not one, but two, front page stories, above the fold about our ecumenical efforts. And everywhere I’ve gone this week, it seems that a lot of people in our city are talking about what’s going on with the downtown churches. You can click here to read the AGN story about the night we packed the school supplies. Click here to see a short video the newspaper put together with us four downtown pastors that night. And click here to read the other AGN story about how “4 Amarillo” began. I love the line Howie Batson, the long-time pastor at First Baptist, used to describe our dreams as four churches from different denominations coming together to serve others. He said this school supply drive is just the appetizer, it’s not the main course.

I’m still fairly floored by the response of our own Central Church of Christ family. Even today, I’m still hearing third and fourth hand from folks who are still talking about that John 17 sermon of a couple of weeks ago. I’m still hearing stories this week from those who’ve heard other people talking about that lesson on Christian unity. The emails and texts are still trickling in, even this morning, about that sermon, about that day, when we proclaimed together that the matchless grace of God trumps and covers all of our denominational differences.

I’m still processing a lot of it. I’m still in conversation with others about why that one lesson, why that one day, impacted so many of our people in such profound ways. I had my theories even as soon as lunch at Ruby Tequila’s that afternoon. And they haven’t changed much since then.

I believe that so many of our people have felt for a long time that our exclusive stance and sectarian practices were wrong. It’s been very difficult for most of us to believe that Churches of Christ are the only true church and that we alone have the entire truth of God’s Word and will for his people. It never made sense to most of us. It just didn’t add up. So a lot of us have been practicing unity with other believers, even though we never used the word “ecumenical” and didn’t even realize we were doing anything revolutionary. Most of us have studied the Bible in groups with Christians from other streams. Most of us have worshiped at funerals and weddings with Christians from other denominations. We’ve joined hands in service projects, we’ve raised hands at Christian concerts, and we’ve clasped hands in prayer at hospitals. Getting along with other Christians, putting aside our differences in some beliefs and practices in order to worship and serve together isn’t new for most of us. A lot of us have been doing things like this for years.

But two Sundays ago, it was the very first time that any of our church family had ever heard it publicly stated in an official worship assembly by the official preacher, commissioned by the official church elders, as an official church policy that we would pursue such unity among all Christian disciples in our city. I think it validated what most of our church practices outside our worship gatherings. I think it sanctioned what they were already doing. I think it liberated everyone to continue to explore and express Christian unity in their own ways. And I believe it addressed and removed the stigma we still bear in many circles that we believe we’re the only ones who are right. There was an almost audible congregational sigh of relief during and after that sermon that is still being expressed today. Not only is it OK to fellowship and worship and serve with other Christians outside the Churches of Christ, it’s expected by our Lord and it’s actually a great tool for evangelism. Not only is it OK, for many reasons it’s preferred!

More than that, even, I believe the overwhelmingly positive response is because we gave our church a clear argument for Christian unity that maybe they’ve never heard. I believe our people have always known that fellowshipping other Christians was OK, they just never really knew how to articulate the reasons. They didn’t know how to answer the staunch separatists among us who criticize any kind of ecumenical programs or gatherings. The argument on grace that I presented that day and posted here  in this space last week is air tight. In my view, it’s indisputable. How in the world can God’s grace cover me and us in our imperfections and not cover other Christians? How can an honest man or woman do or believe any more than they know? We must admit that we don’t have everything perfectly figured out and that God’s grace covers our misinterpretations, our misunderstandings, our honest but misguided beliefs and practices, and even the things we’ve innocently but royally messed up in massive ways. Doesn’t the same matchless grace we sing about cover all Christians of every stripe of the same shortcomings? If we believe God’s grace is only for us because we’re trying harder or because we’re more sincere, then we are guilty of a shameful arrogance and pride.

I’m not sure too many of our folks have ever heard it in those specific terms or have thought about it in that particular way. And they were liberated! They were freed to recognize all followers of Jesus as brothers and sisters, united by the blood of our common Savior! They’ve been given an inarguable response to the critics. They’ve been equipped with an apologetic to the way they’ve always felt in their hearts. And they can’t stop talking about it.

Before this week is over, I’ll share a couple of the emails and texts I’ve received about this, process this whole thing a little bit more, and then move on. There are other things to write about here and I’ve spent maybe too much time on this. One more post, maybe Friday.

In the meantime, keep praying about “4 Amarillo.” Keep praying for the hearts of our city and for the Christian ministries of God’s people here. And keep asking God to use our attempts at unity for his eternal glory and praise.

Peace,

Allan

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