The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Ode To The Bear

September 10, 2007 / / 3 Comments

CarleyBonnetIt was eight years ago today, September 10, 1999, that God blessed our family with Carley Renae. In Wichita Falls. Our only child not born in Austin. The only one we knew was coming the day she came. An alarm clock woke us up at 7:00 that morning to drive to the hospital, not water breaking and painful contractions at 3am like with the other two. But the delivery took just as long. It wasn’t until after dinner that Friday evening, after we ran Granny and Grandpa and Gram and Gran-Gran and Pop-Pop and Aunt Pam out of the room that Carley made her first appearance. She just needed a little privacy. We thought maybe she was shy.

 We were wrong.

There’s not a shy bone in Carley’s body. Never has been. CarleyDP

Carley’s been given plenty of nicknames in her eight years—that’s just part of being in our family, I think. Carl. Carley Sue. Gnarley (which Jimmy Mitchell took to the next level when he started calling her Gnarles Barkley). Little Bit.

But Carley has always been and will always be The Bear.

It began early in her life. She wouldn’t just cry when she needed something. She screamed. When she was wet. When she was hungry. When she wanted something. Anything. She would scream in a way the other two never screamed. Like she was furious. Carrie-Anne was the first one to call her a bear. And it stuck. It was her attitude and her angry screaming as a baby that started it.

But as it turns out, Carley is our most sensitive child. She cries at the drop of a hat, as often in reaction to the pain of others as for her own pain. And she is our most affectionate. She loves to hug and cuddle and play. She’s always grabbing our hands or jumping on our backs. She went from angry bear to cuddle bear in a hurry.

But we just call her Carley Bear.

Carley is a sweet, funny, outgoing, loud, compassionate little girl. She keeps us constantly entertained with her singing and dancing. She says exactly what’s on her mind, which also keeps us very entertained. She is a beautiful gift from our God. And she fills our lives with joy.

Happy Birthday, little girl. We love you.

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CowboyJoeMore questions than answers, I think, from last night’s Cowboys game. Understand, I do tend to see only the negatives with this team. In fact, I’m sure I’m actually looking for them. But aside from Jason Witten’s amazing performance, don’t a lot of things from last night’s win over the Giants concern you?

How long will Romo be able to keep throwing those wobbly side-arm balls in the NFL?

How long until Marion Barber does something in the heat of battle so incredibly dumb that he gets suspended for four games?

Yes, the Cowboys D is good against the run. But with that secondary, who needs to run? The Cowboys DBs made Eli to Plaxico look like Montana to Rice. Anthony Henry and Jacques Reeves are WAY overmatched. And, I’m sorry, Roy Williams is probably one of the top three or four most overrated players in the entire NFL. I would take Everson Walls right now over anybody else the Cowboys have—single kidney and yellow T-shirt and everything.

What is that extra little plastic strap around the back side of Wade Phillips’ headset?

The Giants lost their starting quarterback and their starting running back in a one-score game. We all realize that, right?

How many games can the Cowboys win, giving up 35 points on defense? And don’t say it’s OK if Dallas scores more. Dallas won’t.

And, as much as I hate saying this, Jerry Wayne’s new Pepsi commercial with Romo and Phillips is actually very funny. Jerry is running a very close second to Payton Manning for most completely over-exposed NFL personality. But that new Pepsi spot is pretty good.

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Finally (you Legacy brothers and sisters will appreciate my use of “finally” here), a word on change from C. Eric Lincoln, especially in light of our on-going conversations regarding small groups:

“A society or a community that is religiously alert will invariably react to whatever may be perceived as a religious innovation because whatever is new is perceived as an implied threat or contradiction to what has already been settled by history and confirmed by tradition. The ‘innovators’ seldom see their new doctrine or practice as innovation but are quite likely to find its justification, or indeed its roots or requirements, in precisely the ‘Old-time Religion’ to which all parties appeal as jus canonicum.”

We find our unity, our common ground, in whatever discussion we’re having, in the blood of Jesus Christ and his claim of Lordship over every segment of our lives. Our commonality is found in the Holy Word of God and in his mission for his Church. We can all agree on that.

Peace,

Allan

FWC 13, DC 7

September 8, 2007 / / 1 Comment

What does crow taste like? Humble pie, anyone?

 Fort Worth Christian definitely showed up to play football and gutted out a pretty impressive home win over my Chargers. Despite what the final score might indicate, there were a lot of big plays. It’s just that all of DC’s big plays were overturned or brought back by penalties.

Dallas Christian did have a chance to make the Cards pay for a missed extra point and win the game at the end. They got the ball at their own 20 yard line with just under seven minutes to play and drove it all the way down to the FWC seven yard line at the 1:50 mark. First and goal at the seven. An incomplete pass on first down stopped the clock. But then, as a fitting capper to what had plagued the Chargers all night, a holding penalty pushed them back to the 17 yard line and they just couldn’t pull it off from there. With 45 seconds left they faced a fourth and goal from the five. But an incomplete pass in the end zone ended the DC drive and sealed the deal for the Cardinals.

We were walking across the field to get to our car after the game when Coach Thannum, the FWC Athletics Director, stopped me to take issue with my Dallas Christian T-shirt. I asked him if I could take at least partial credit for their win since my chapel talk obviously inspired the entire school community. And he told me I could take lots and lots of credit. He said my inspirational talk about being fully committed to our goals, about putting behind all the things that distract us from achieving our goals, set the perfect tone for the day. They apparantly talked about it all day long getting ready for the game.

D’oh!

We had a fantastic night. The Brownlows, our common-law members at Legacy, were the perfect hosts. It was so good seeing old DC classmates and teammates such as Jeff M., Mike M., Brian C., Todd S., and their families. We also got to catch up with some old friends from Mesquite like the Montanas, the Powers, and the Tollesons. And then, there are so many new friends on the Fort Worth side of things now. An almost perfect evening.

Congratulations to the Marble Falls Mustangs after their big win over Crockett last night! I’m sure Kyle and Stan and Cord are smiling this morning.

Peace,

Allan

Be Holy Because I Am Holy

September 7, 2007 / / 3 Comments

JerryWayneDoorOur Children’s Minister at Legacy, Kipi Ward, is the one who mischievously taped the Jerry Wayne JerryWayneCloseupPapa John’s pizza ad to my office door. It didn’t take me long to figure it out. She and I share a common disgust for the way he acts in public. Look at the expression on his face. Click on the closeup shot on the right and look at how his leg is hiked up in the Heisman pose. Are you kidding me? The owner of the Dallas Cowboys is in his suit and tie, in all seriousness, striking the Heisman pose, to sell pizza.

Forget the pizza. Deliver me!

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I just returned to the office from speaking at chapel at Fort Worth Christian High School. A very pleasant fellow, Mark Weathers, invited me a few weeks ago. And I didn’t realize until just a few days ago that I was scheduled to speak the very morning of the Fort Worth Christian – Dallas Christian football game.

Very weird.

As we were chit-chatting in the foyer the bell rang and here they all came, a couple of hundred high school students in an overwhelming sea of Cardinal Red. All the football players wearing their jerseys, all the cheerleaders in their uniforms, all the pep squad in thier red shirts, and everybody else with some kind of red shirt proclaiming their spirit and allegiance to FWC. I turned to Mark and I said, “There’s no way they can know I graduated from DC.”

I captured their attention, I’m fairly sure, with a little joke about the football coach and lots of sports analogies during a brief message on commitment taken from King Asa’s life in 1 Kings 15. And it’s not like I was wearing my letter jacket or my high school ring. But it was very surreal. I felt like they all knew I was not one of them.

For most of my 40 years on this earth, Fort Worth Christian has been the enemy. Now, I find myself in a church family that meets less than two miles from the campus. Some of my best friends now, I’m finding out, were playing football and basketball at FWC the same time I was at DC. And now their kids are Cardinals. I’m playing hoops at the Cardinal gym once a week. I’m so disoriented. Paradigm shift. Worlds are colliding!

We’re having dinner tonight with Andrew and Stephanie Brownlow and their two wonderful little boys who spent most of Wednesday night trying to put a FWC ballcap on my head. And then we’re going to the ballgame together. At Fort Worth Christian. The last DC football game I attended, I was suited up. That was well over 20 years ago. But I’m starting to get butterflies again.

My junior year we snapped a four game losing streak to Fort Worth Christian 14-7 at our place. We commemorated that victory with a special patch on our jackets. My senior year we beat the Cards on their field 63-14. The first team only played the first series of the third quarter and then we had the rest of the night off. I predict a similar outcome tonight. In fact, I predict the same score: DC 63-14.

ChargersFans

I further predict that I will not be sporting any body paint tonight.

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For those of you who care (mom and the other two), the swelling has gone down a little but my nose is still very sore and very crooked. And I’m a little worried about the discrepancy in nostril size. Suddenly, I’m not concerned about popcorn lung anymore.

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“You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.”  ~Leviticus 20:26

 The greek word Paul uses in 1 Thessalonians 4:4 and 4:7 is “hagiosmos.” It means a process leading to a state of holiness or holiness as the end result of a process. Either way, Paul is communicating a process. Continual conformity to God’s character. Becoming exactly like God.

And sometimes we distort this a little bit. We think of holiness strictly as separation from the world or separation from our culture. Paul’s idea of holiness is fundamentally a different concept. His is all positive. Holiness is a process of becoming more and more like our God who’s chosen us and who saves us.

Now, modeling ourselves after God does require some separation from things that don’t please him or things that conflict with his holy character. But to overemphasize or only emphasize the idea of separation hides or ignores the primary aspect of sanctification.

It is multi-faceted. You can view holiness as the gift God gives us at baptism. You can see it as a future goal to be realized on that last day when Jesus comes back to take us to Heaven. You can view it as an on-going journey. It’s past, present, and future. It’s all of that. It’s a one word summary of God’s will for his children.

And as God’s children, it’s our calling.

“For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.”                            ~1 Thessalonians 4:7

Peace,

Allan

On Distractions, A Bloody Nose, and Thursday Night Football

September 6, 2007 / / 2 Comments

This will forever be known as the day I became a perimeter player. But first…

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One of my dear friends in Austin — let’s call her Brooke — included in her comments yesterday regarding congregational singing this provocative nugget:

I’m not sure where the idea arose that worship should be “free from distractions.” I haven’t really thought it all the way through, but I think the incarnation implies distractions, even in worship.

I also have not worked all of this out in my own head and heart. But it is something I struggle with mightily. Big time.

As a deacon over worship for two different congregations and a song leader and worship leader for 25 years, I always thought I had a grasp on how worship should be structured and on what’s important and what’s not. And then, a little over two years ago, Thomas G. Long blew the doors off my worship theology at the end of the introduction to his excellent book The Witness of Preaching.

He writes of his childhood church experiences in rural Georgia, particularly of the stray dog that would wander into the sanctuary during hot summer days when the doors and windows to the building had been left open to catch whatever little breeze they could. The dog wasn’t there every Sunday, but almost. Long jokes that the “stray hound of indecipherable lineage” had a better attendance record than some of the church officers.

“The ushers knew better than to try to run him off, the one and only attempt at that having driven him bounding toward the pulpit. So, while we sang hymns, the cur would sniff curiously at the ankles of the worshipers. Deacons would step around him on their way to take up the offering, and during the pastoral prayer the dog would wander aimlessly around the room. He was an endless source of mirth for us children, and he occasionally served as a handy and spontaneous sermon illustration in such references as ‘no more sense of right and wrong than that dog there.’

Looking back on it now, I realize what a trial it must have been for our ministers to attempt to lead worship and to preach on those Sundays when this mongrel was scampering around the building and nuzzling the feet of the congregation. I readily confess that I do not covet similar circumstances for myself, but there was something wonderful about those times as well. Whatever else it may mean, a dog loose in worship unmasks all pretense and undermines false dignity. It was clear to us all that the grace and the joy and the power present in our communion, and these were present in abundance, were not of our own making. We were, after all, people of little worldly standing who could not keep even our most solemn moments free of stray dogs. I want to believe that even our dark-suited, serious-faced ministers were aware of the poetic connection between a congregation of simple farmers and teachers in their Sunday best with a hound absurdly loose in their midst and a gathering of frail human beings astonishingly saved by the grace of God, grace they did not control but could only receive as a gift. If so, then in some deep and silent place within them they were surely taken with rich and cleansing laughter — and if they were, they were better preachers of the Gospel for it.”

I had always held strongly to the belief that worship should come off without a hitch. We should have our very best songleaders leading the songs, our very best readers reading the Scriptures, and the very best speakers and orators praying the prayers. I had always cringed when I had planned a Scripture reading or a song to be read or sung at just exactly the right moment only to have the person responsible for executing my plan mess it up. What will the visitors think? How does this reflect on me? It’s not our best we’re giving to God or each other.

Even though I still struggle and wrestle with this, I see now that kind of thinking is wrong at best and idolatrous at worst.

Long describes the “poetic connection” between simple, frail humans and the astonishing grace of our Lord. Grace that is completely out of our control. It’s a gift that God delights in giving and we gladly and humbly accept.

God views, and we must, too, not the misread passage or the ill-timed song or the confusion that new members sometimes bring to the Lord’s Table, but the people. We should see the people, the church, as an amazing collection of God’s children in all of our weakness and humanness. That speaks more to God’s love and mercy on a Sunday morning than anything we can plan. Instead of looking down when Brother Sam mispronounces “reconciliation,” I should look at the courage God gives him to read the Scriptures in front of the assembly. Instead of rolling my eyes when Brother Neil starts the song on the wrong note, I should roll my attention to the joy of the Lord evident in Neil’s service. And instead of shaking my head when Brother Joe goes down the wrong aisle during communion, I should praise God that Brother Joe is a brother!

It’s not the well-orchestrated, perfectly executed worship service we should strive for. It’s recognizing that God meets us, his Church, his children, in our imperfect songs and in our imperfect prayers and in our imperfect sermons.

There is no perfect sermon or perfect worship service. There is only a perfect God who loves his Church.

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Thursday is my basketball day at Fort Worth Christian with a bunch of other area ministers and coaches. An hour and a half of wide-open full-court hoops that gives me the exercise and the recreation I need to finish out the week strong. Today I was having an unusually good outing. In fact, I ended the first game by driving through the lane, around and through a couple of defenders, and scoring the winning bucket. As the second game was beginning to start, Eric, one of my teammates, and I were talking about driving to the lane and playing inside. Like Darrell Royal’s mantra that three things happen when you pass and two of them are bad, we both acknowledged to each other that good things happen when you drive the lane, and we vowed to do more of that during the second contest.

I was playing help defense early in that second game when one of the few young flat-bellies who plays with us began to drive to the hole. He had the ball down low. I stepped into the lane to take a swipe and he brought the ball up, nailing me right in the face with an 18-pound sledgehammer! I later found out it was just his elbow. But it felt like a Mack truck. I’m sure it wasn’t delivered with the same force as Kermit Washington’s punch to Rudy T. But it’s one of the first things that went through my mind.

That happened at about 12:30 this afternoon. The bleeding didn’t stop until about 1:30.

You know how a tornado can hit the rough part of town and people jokingly say the storm did about 17-million dollars worth of improvements? I’m hoping that, once the swelling goes down in my lip and my nose, I won’t be horribly disfigured but actually better looking. Right now my nose is crooked as a dog’s hind leg and one nostril is considerably bigger than the other one. My lip is busted. And I’m hoping like crazy that I’m not going to get two black eyes. I’d post a picture. But it would be so graphic that the filter on your computer wouldn’t even allow you to get to this site.

Playing down low is overrated.

I’ll be back. But today I have become a perimeter player.

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NFL KickoffThe Colts and the Saints kick off the NFL season at 7:30 Texas time tonight and I can’t wait. Just a few more hours. I know they’ve been opening the season on Thursdays now for a while. And I know for a couple of years now they’ve been playing on Thursday nights during the end of the season. And I guess this is the second season for Monday night doubleheaders. I always thought one of the main reasons NFL football became the national sport is because all the games were played at the same time on the same day. You gear up for it all week. You talk about it. You read about it. You get ready for it. And then BOOM Sunday comes and it’s crazy! And you spend all the next week analyzing the outcome and reviewing it play by play and then starting the process all over again for the next Sunday set of games.

 Is there any chance in the world, as popular and as unstoppable as the NFL appears to be, that the league could ever start to suffer from over exposure? Could NFL games on TV four days a week ever hurt professional football? I realize there are some who will move heaven and earth to be in front of the tube for every NFL game. But most of us (right?) can’t do that. We don’t have time for that every other night. And so we’ll miss a bunch of games and highlights. Will that ever cause us to care less? Will that ever plant in our minds the idea that we can live without it?

Probably not.

Go Saints. Love Drew Brees.

Peace,

Allan

Directions for Singing

September 5, 2007 / / 8 Comments

Remember the Roseberry – Courtney wedding a couple of weeks ago that sparked The Great Sacred Space Debate of 2007? It was also at that wedding that I saw again John Wesley’s Directions for Singing that he wrote in 1761 and placed on the inside cover of his “Select Hymns” book of that same year. Those instructions for congregational singing have appeared in the exact same form in the front of every Methodist hymnal since, even to this day.

I come across this historic set of instructions every couple of years or so — at a friend’s wedding or a community funeral or while browsing old book stores and antique shops. I saw them again last Saturday inside an old song book at a booth in Canton and I wanted to run them by you in case you’ve never seen them and to remind those of you who have.

There’s tremendous wisdom in these directions. A part of me (not all of me, but a pretty big part of me) would like to see these rules plastered in the fronts of our song books, too — those of us who still use song books, I suppose.

  1. Learn these tunes before you learn any others; afterwards learn as many as you please.
  2. Sing them exactly as they are printed here, without altering or mending them at all; and if you have learned to sing them otherwise, unlearn it as soon as you can.
  3. Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a slight degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up, and you will find it a blessing.
  4. Sing lustily and with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, than when you sung the songs of Satan.
  5. Sing modestly. Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony; but strive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound.
  6. Sing in time. Whatever time is sung be sure to keep with it. Do not run before or stay behind it; but attend close to the leading voices, and move therewith as exactly as you can; and take care not to sing too slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.
  7. Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.

What do you think? I’m curious.

The rules certainly stress a congregational focus. Learning these songs that our church sings the way our church sings them. It’s clear that Wesley is committed to doing things in a way that will best encourage the entire congregation to enter into the singing. If a song is sung differently every time it’s sung, a lot of people will stop singing for fear of missing the cue or singing the wrong words at the wrong time or tempo. Unannounced surprises squelch full congregational participation.

Singing together — the same words, the same notes, the same tempo — embodies a rich theology of singing in that all the members combine to form one beautiful sound. All the different voices, all the ranges, all the skill levels and talents come together as one just as all of God’s different people with different backgrounds and different gifts form the one body, the Church. I’m reminded of Ignatius’ writings on congregatioanl singing in 110 AD while on his way to being martyred in Rome:

“It blends all voices together and causes one single fully harmonious chant to arise; young and old, rich and poor, women and men, slaves and free, all sing one single melody…all the inequalities of social life are here banished. Together we make up one single choir in perfect equality of rights and expression whereby earth imitates heaven. Such is the noble character of the Church.”

I especially like the instructions to sing with gusto, with passion, with enthusiasm. Don’t drag them out. Sing them like we used to. And make sure you’re singing these sacred hymns of praise and encouragment with the same passion and energy you sing your school’s fight song. Right?

Aim at pleasing God, not yourself or the person sitting next to you. I see older people all the time who refuse to sing a song based solely on what year it was written. And I see teenagers do the exact same thing. People my age will sulk and pout if there are a few too many “thees and thous” in an inspirational hymn. If the aim is to please God with our sacrificial servant hearts, song selection stops being an issue.

Anyway, I’m curious as to your thoughts. Hit the comments line at the top of this post and let me know. Is some of this stuff too strong? What parts are especially relevant today, 250 years later?

Peace,

Allan

Running Backwards

September 4, 2007 / / 0 Comments

What an incredibly busy last couple of days and an even busier week ahead! We spent most of the weekend with my side of the family out in East Texas where my parents live in Liberty City, using about half the day Saturday to shop in Canton on the way back here to North Richland Hills. Keith had to teach his classes at Harding yesterday, but Rhonda’s family came back with us to see the house and worship with us Sunday at Legacy. Rhonda’s middle child, Caleb, is the sports nut in their family. And she’s constantly telling him to get rid of some of his sports junk and stop accumulating more sports junk. I brought them in to see my office here at the church building Sunday afternoon and all that did was provide Caleb with more ammunition. When he saw my Dallas Cowboys lamp that I got on my 12th birthday and the Super Bowl pennant from ’72 and the collector’s glasses I purchased in 1979, he became even more convinced that it was OK to hang onto all that stuff.

Good for you, Caleb. Don’t throw any of it away! Live the dream!

Carrie-Anne is teaching one of the three-year-old classes at the Legacy church day school this year and I was honored to be the first speaker at their weekly chapel services this morning. I’m having lunch with my good friend Paul Brownlow today, breakfast with David Byrnes Thursday morning, and dinner with the Roseberrys Thursday night. Friday morning I’m speaking at chapel at Fort Worth Christian (weird) and then we’re having dinner and attending the Dallas Christian – Fort Worth Christian football game that night with Andrew and Stephanie Brownlow and their kids. Give Away Day kicked off here at Legacy Sunday. And Carley’s birthday is Monday. She wants to go to Chuck E. Cheese. I’m trying to talk her out of it.

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I’m right smack dab in the middle of book #3 in the ACU Heart of the Restoration Series, Unveiling Glory: Visions of Christ’s Transforming Presence. In a chapter on Jesus’ earthly ministry and teachings, the authors make an interesting observation. They claim that we sometimes distort or downplay Jesus’ role as an example for us to follow.

“He is the founder of the church and the doorway into eternal life, not so much a model for our current behavior. Instead, the institutional features of the church take the lead, so that discipleship is defined in terms of meeting the conditions for membership and faithfully upholding the traditions of the institution. In direct defiance of Jesus’ teaching and example, matters such as adherence to specific worship forms become more important measures of faithfulness than whether or not one is showing mercy to those in need. The church’s vast resources are pledged to support and defend its traditions in such matters. Straining out the gnat of procedural details, we fall into danger of swallowing the camel of apathy towards the sick and wounded.”

There are probably none among us who don’t feel that this is a real threat to genuine discipleship to Jesus. And most, if not all, of us want to get as far away from the sectarian mindset as we can. We want to flee the old judgmental dynamic of the church. We want to avoid at all costs the arrogance of that attitude and legalistic atmosphere. And, rightfully so, we run away from those things.

But I’m afraid a lot of us are running backwards.

We’re so bent on distancing ourselves from those harmful aspects of the church that, while we’re running, we don’t take the time or the effort to turn around and watch where we’re going. Are we thinking as seriously and reflecting as deeply about where we’re running as we do about from what we’re running? Some of us are running away from legalism and church tradition — backwards — so fast that we could be heading right for the edge of a fatal cliff and not even realize it. We’re not looking for it. And we don’t see it.

The authors of Unveiling Glory, Jeff Childers and Frederick Aquino, address this very thing that I’ve been concerned about for some time.

“Ironically, strong currents of reaction against traditional preoccupation with the institution can produce a similar distortion of Jesus’ ministry. Some among us have felt the need to reject what they see as a religion of maintaining rules and regulations about procedural matters. They refuse to carry a Pharisaical yoke of legalism that burdens people unnecessarily and distracts them from pursuing a personal relationship with the Lord and cultivating matters of the heart. They yearn to experience the liberty of the Gospel. However, at times this impulse becomes so all-engrossing that it leads us to suppose that the freedom Jesus brings is an escape from our own traditions, from obedience, and from duty. Rather than understanding the Good News to be about deliverance from sin and the opportunity to serve others as slaves of God, we see it as delivering us from the bondage of our religious ancestors and from the oppressive burden of religious obligation.

People start to judge the spiritual vitality of churches based on how non-traditional they are in certain areas and how well they avoid creating uncomfortable feelings of guilt or obligation, rather than using the rigorous standards of servant spirituality that Jesus shows us. Taking up the anthem that ‘it is for freedom that Christ has set us free,’ we run the risk of using our freedom ‘to indulge the flesh’ rather than serving one another in love.”

Let’s do everything we can to separate ourselves from an arrogant, self-assured, legalistic mindset. Let’s do everything to flee that sort of thinking and acting within our brotherhood and in our communities. But let’s turn around and watch carefully where we’re going.

Peace,

Allan

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