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Category: Repentance (Page 1 of 4)

Together 4 Midland

February 22, 2026 / / 0 Comments

I’m still in awe of the grace of God that he would allow us to experience together what we experienced at the “4 Midland” Ash Wednesday service at First Baptist. Our Christian brothers and sisters from all four churches–First Baptist, First Methodist, First Presbyterian, and GCR CofC–worshiped together, sang and prayed together, confessed our sins and repented together, administered and received ashes together, and entered the Christian season of Lent. Together.

How beautiful. How powerful. What a blessing. An honor. What a generous gift of God’s grace.

 

 

 

 

 

The sanctuary was packed with what seemed to be a fairly equal number of us from each of our four congregations. I always joke to GCR that “it’s not a competition; but we want to win.” No, we were all pretty evenly represented Wednesday. And while my brother Darin, the pastor at First Baptist, worries that they just don’t have the chops when it comes to traditional Christian liturgy, they definitely have the music covered. My goodness, the orchestra! And the 85-member choir made up of the choirs and worship teams from all four churches!

It’s a glorious thing when God’s children can put aside their denominational differences to worship and serve together as the one Body of Christ. It’s an undeniable testimony to our community and a tremendous blessing for us. And it’s one way to physically answer the prayer of our Lord.

 

 

 

 

 

I always offer to take our GCR youth group out for ice cream after the 4 Midland Ash Wednesday service. I don’t know how appropriate it is to eat ice cream immediately after entering a season of prayer and fasting, but it gets our kids to the service and it gives me an opportunity to hang out with the coolest youth group on the planet. And, yeah, they are the best.

Over the past dozen years or so, Ash Wednesday has become a vital part of my walk with Christ, an indispensable move in the rhythms that guide my discipleship. I hope it’s that way for you, too. We’re following our Lord now to the cross, to the tomb, and then out of that empty grave. But the journey begins with this season of confession and repentance, reflection and transformation, fasting and prayer. What a gift from God that, for us, it begins with four Midland churches. Together.

Peace,

Allan

Leaning into Liturgy

February 18, 2026 / / 0 Comments

The 4Midland churches are gathering at First Baptist this evening for our annual Ash Wednesday service. This marks the fifth Ash Wednesday service we at GCR have shared with a local congregation of another denomination, and the fourth we’ve co-led as 4Midland. For some of us, this 1,400-year-old Christian tradition is still new. According to Lifeway research, only 25% of Americans observe the season of Lent–that number has stayed the same for over a decade. The Barna Group reports that Churches of Christ are among the “least aware” of traditional Christian liturgical practices.

For me, personally, by God’s grace, tonight’s will be my 13th Ash Wednesday service. Ash Wednesday and this season of Lent have become a vital part of my walk with Christ, an indispensable move in the rhythms that guide my Christian discipleship. If you live in the Permian Basin, I invite you to join us at 6:30pm at First Baptist in Midland. If you live outside the Basin, I urge you to find an Ash Wednesday service today and lean into it.

Ash Wednesday meets us in our desperate need for repentance. It reminds us of the Gospel need to mourn sin and grieve its terrible consequences. Ash Wednesday takes our sin and suffering seriously. It’s a sober kickoff to 40-days of fasting and prayer, confession and repentance, reflection and transformation.

Right now, the American church is struggling with unity while we’re wrapped up in our country’s bitterly divided politics. American Christians are fighting for contentment and joy while we live in a culture obsessed with consumption. We’re wanting to point our minds to Christ while the world around us is drowning in social media and other digital distractions.

Our spiritual needs are tied directly to the unstable ways of the world.

Leaning into the ancient church calendar is a helpful way to anchor yourself and your church in Gospel rhythms that counter whatever might be happening in the world or in the news cycle; remembering that the story of God is bigger than the story of your state or your career or your nation or your church; orienting yourself toward the larger story of God and his people, God and his creation, God and his salvation mission through Christ Jesus–we participate in a stable pattern of faith and faithfulness in contrast to all the things right in front of us we can’t control. The natural disasters are real. So are the political problems and the racial injustice and our complicated relationships. The Church calendar reminds us of God’s providence in the chaos, of his calm and faithful presence in the raging storm.

And we do it together. Practicing these ancient liturgies is done in community with the global Church, it connects us to all Christians everywhere for all time. It helps to counter-program the uniquely American individualism that erodes our dependence on God and one another. It trains us to think and behave and relate in common unity with other followers.

Ash Wednesday reminds us that we need to repent, both individually and corporately, and it gives us the venue and the tools to do it together with other sinners turned saints by the life-giving blood of Jesus.

If you’ve never been to one, I encourage you to find an Ash Wednesday service today and give yourself to it. Ask God to speak to you, to show you something you need to see, to transform you. Then lean into it. Surrender to the service and the readings and the songs and the prayers. Participate fully, expecting that God will do something in you and through you for his glory.

It’s never too late to try a 1,400-year-old tradition.

Peace,
Allan

A Juneteenth Prayer

June 19, 2025 / / 0 Comments

On this Juneteenth holiday, I invite you to join me in prayer to our God for three things:

~ lament to our Lord the atrocities of slavery and acknowledge to him this country’s sins of racism and segregation

~ thank God for the progress we’ve made  and that we are not where we once were, as individuals and in this country

~ personally resolve before God to continue fighting racism and segregation in all its forms in our communities, our families, and our churches

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Juneteenth used to be an exclusively Texas thing. For Texas Monthly’s wonderful profile of Opal Lee, the Fort Worth grandmother who almost single-handedly turned our Lone Star tradition into an official national holiday, click here.

You might also check out the work Jerry Taylor and others are doing at the Carl Spain Center on Race Studies and Spiritual Action on the campus of Abilene Christian University. Their website is here.

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Finally, this Juneteenth prayer I have borrowed from the Archdiocese of Baltimore:

We pray, O Lord, for change. 
Jesus, you revealed God through your wise words and loving deeds, 
and we encounter you still today in the faces of those whom society has pushed to the margins. 
Guide us, through the love you revealed, 
to establish the justice you proclaimed, 
that all peoples might dwell in harmony and peace, 
united by that one love that binds us to each other and to you. 
And most of all, Lord, change our routine worship and work
into genuine encounter with you and our better selves
so that our lives will be changed for the good of all. 
May it be so in Christ Jesus. Amen. 

Peace,

Allan

The Kingdom is Coming

December 30, 2024 / / 0 Comments

“Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is near!” ~John the Baptist

The prayer of the early church was “Marana tha.” “Lord, come quickly.” That is not a prayer for Jesus to come again as a helpless infant, it’s the longing of God’s people for Christ to return to earth in the fullness of his divine power and glory. It’s the desperate cry of God’s people for the coming of that day when every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. When Jesus comes again to finally put an end to all sin and wickedness forever, when Jesus makes right all the things that are wrong, and he fixes everything that’s broken.

That’s not so scary to the poor and oppressed of our world. That’s not scary to the marginalized and mistreated. But for those of us with a lot to lose? It’s maybe a little scary.

John the Baptist is proclaiming a reality that’s coming, a reality that’s going to expose what you and I sometimes think is reality. This coming eternal reality is going to reveal what we think nobody knows about. It’s going to show just how false our earthly conditions and our human endeavors really are. The Holy One of Israel is going to expose all our pretensions for what they really are. In him is life, and that life is the light of all people. And that light is going to shine in the darkness.

“Judge nothing before the appointed time; wait til the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of human hearts.” ~1 Corinthians 4:5

There is nothing hidden that won’t be exposed. Everything that’s concealed is going to be known and brought out into the open. All things are going to be revealed for what they really are. What’s in the dark will be brought out into the light. What’s kept in secret will be announced out loud for all to hear.

So.

Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is near!

John sees right through the selfish charades of the world and the games we play and the lines we say and the hypocritical loopholes we construct and how precious all of it is to us. He sees right through all of it to the sheer power and holiness of our coming Christ. John is pointing to the future, not the past. He’s orienting us away from our religious rituals and our rights and privileges toward the person of Jesus. He’s turning us away from our present systems and structures and all our values and positions to the utterly brand new authority and dominion of our coming Lord and his Kingdom.

It’s happening.

John the Baptist is standing out in the desert, right there in the Jordan River, where the world’s resistance to God is meeting the irresistible force of his certain coming. The ax is already at the foot of the trees. This thing’s already in motion. It’s happening. And you’d better get ready. You’d better re-think your priorities. You’d better re-order your life.

We Are Going to Die

February 15, 2024 / / 0 Comments

A meme was going around this week having a little fun at the weird juxtaposition of Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day. It was a red and pink Valentine’s Day card covered in pretty hearts that said, “We are going to die.” Yes, we are. That’s what Ash Wednesday is all about, to remind us of our own mortality, our own fallen and broken nature, that we are going to die someday and we cannot truly live without the salvation of a righteous relationship with Christ Jesus. Ash Wednesday is not something we Church of Christers typically observe. But this year we began the traditional season of Lent with more than 900 of our brothers and sisters from our three partner churches, by hosting the 4Midland Ash Wednesday service at GCR.

And it was glorious.

We combined the worship teams and choirs from all four churches and sang nearly a dozen songs together. We confessed our sins and listened to our Lord’s words of forgiveness and assurance. We prayed. We sat in silence. And then we sang some more. Pastors and shepherds from all four churches applied ashes from ten stations down front. And I think we sang the whole time.

It was glorious.

We Baptists and CofCers have very little experience with Ash Wednesday–we’re still mostly just sticking our toes in the water at this point and feeling this thing out. Darin Wood opened the evening by holding up the order of service and announcing to the Baptists in the room, “This is a liturgy.” Even the Methodists and Presbyterians seemed a little uneasy receiving ashes in a CofC worship center with no stained glass or kneeling benches. Thank goodness for Steve Brooks who provided the ashes for our service–I wouldn’t even know where to begin! But there was love. So much love. The unity and love was thick in there last night. The smiles and the warmth. The hugs and hospitality. It was evident on every face and felt in every interaction. There was a sweet spirit in the room before, during, and after the event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was honored to share the ash-imposing duties (ash imposer? ash applier? there’s got to be a better term for that, but if Steve Schorr doesn’t even know what to call it, maybe there’s not) with our GCR Youth Minister J.E. Bundy and our Children’s Minister Kristin Rampton. However, I realized about four minutes into the ashes part that I was standing too close to Kristin. One of the great joys of applying ashes–there are many!–is in the interactions I have with little kids. Last night I would notice small children in the line, our GCR children, and smile at the thought of blessing them with the ashes and the words of Scripture. But they were all going to Kristin!

 

 

 

 

 

I am thankful for Deeann Camp who came down the aisle to me with their two-week-old daughter Clara. Two-weeks-old! It was her first time in church since having the baby, the first time the baby had been to church, the first time I had seen her. How humbling it is, how provocative and eye-opening, to apply a tiny little cross to that itty-bitty brand-new forehead and look that infant baby in the eyes and tell her that someday she will return to the dust from which she is made. I’m guessing that was a powerful moment for Deeann. I hope it was. It was for me.

Methodist ashes, a Baptist-style choir, Church of Christ songs, and Presbyterian prayers.

And it was glorious.

I am so grateful to God to be at a church that sees all Christians as God’s children and our brothers and sisters in Christ and is actively breaking down the walls between denominations. I am so thankful to be the preacher at a church like this. I am grateful to the Lord for the wonderful team of ministers and elders at GCR who believe so much in the Gospel work of unity and labor so hard to pull it off. I am thankful for my friendships with Steve Schorr, Darin Wood, and Steve Brooks. I am thankful for the vision we share of a more united Body of Christ. We took this picture just to prove that not every single time we get together is for cheeseburgers.

God bless our four churches during this important season of Lent. God bless our brothers and sisters in Christ at First Methodist, First Baptist, and First Presbyterian. And may our worship and service partnership together be an undeniable witness to the power of Christ’s love to tear down every barrier between us and God and between us and one another.

Peace,

Allan

Ash Wednesday in Midland

February 14, 2024 / / 0 Comments

We are hosting the 4Midland Ash Wednesday service at GCR tonight. At 6;30 this evening, nearly a thousand Christians from First Baptist, First Methodist, First Presbyterian, and GCR CofC will come together in our newly remodeled worship center to begin the ancient Christian practice of Lent. Ash Wednesday is a bit out of our comfort zone for Church of Christers, but we’ve asked our congregation for more than two years now to participate in this solemn worship assembly with other Christians and just see what God will do.

This is how we live the great Story. This is how Christians, for centuries, have always prepared for Holy Week and Easter, for the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. This 40-day period of prayer and fasting moves our bodies and our hearts into closer communion with Christ and with one another. And it begins with Ash Wednesday.

The ashes placed on our foreheads remind us that we are human and broken, that we are going to die, and we need Jesus to live. That’s why, when they are applying the ashes, pastors will sometimes say, “From dust you were created and to dust you shall return.” Imposed on us in the form of a cross, the ashes also remind us of our sin, our need for redemption, and the truth of forgiveness and restoration in Christ. That’s why pastors will sometimes say, “Repent and believe the Good News!”

We cannot appreciate God’s infinite mercy if we do not realize we need mercy. We cannot understand salvation apart from a recognition of our need to be saved. If our sin is not removed from us, we are forever separated from God. Ashes remind us of this need.

Wearing ashes on our foreheads also acknowledges the sacrifice of Christ Jesus, who substituted his own death for the “burnt offerings” made by the priests to atone for the sins of God’s people.

Four different churches representing four different denominations coming together to participate in these ancient Christians practices is also a powerful witness to our community. We demonstrate the truth that Jesus died on the cross and was raised to eternal life in order to tear down all the barriers between us and God and between us and one another. When we come together in each other’s buildings, when we combine our worship teams and choirs, when we join hands in prayer and recite the ancient creeds, we are declaring that we belong to a Kingdom that is eternally bigger than our churches and that our King really is the Prince of Peace.

If you’re in the Midland area, I invite you to join us at GCR Church tonight at 6:30. If you’re not in West Texas, I urge you to find an Ash Wednesday service somewhere to attend this afternoon or this evening. Give yourself to it. Immerse yourself in the songs and prayers. Participate in the confession and repentance. Soak into your soul the blessed words of assurance. Allow a minister to look you in the eyes while applying a cross made of ashes to your forehead. Let him or her intercede for the Lord on your behalf. Hear the words, “From dust you were created and to dust you shall return.” Hear the words, “Repent and believe the Good News!” Let those words change you. Let the worship move you closer to the Lord. Give the whole thing to God and just see what he might do.

Peace,

Allan

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