Category: Stanglin Family (Page 23 of 26)

The Way We Speak

January 2, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

One of the many joys of my Christmas morning was unwrapping a copy of Eugene Peterson’s latest theological work, Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in his Stories and Prayers. Peterson had finished his trilogy on spiritual conversations with his most excellent The Jesus Way. But apparently he needed to write one more. And God’s Church is all the better for it.

I’m halfway through this theological treatment of the parables and prayers of Jesus. Peterson examines, in the way only he can, the ways our Lord used language and conversation to reach out to others with the love and grace of God. When he spoke, people were drawn to Jesus. His words engaged the people around him. His conversations involved them. He spoke truth and grace. He encouraged and instructed. He spoke love.

I want to share with you a short passage from the introduction of Tell It Slant that challenges us in this new year to “be careful little mouth what you say.” Our tongues are powerful tools, able to heal and destroy, to comfort and enrage, to protect and attack, with a bare minimum of effort or syllables. James knew this well. So does Peterson:

“There is a lot more to speaking than getting the right words and pronouncing them correctly. Who we are and the way we speak make all the difference. We can sure think of enough creative ways to use words badly: we can blaspheme and curse, we can lie and deceive, we can bully and abuse, we can gossip and debunk. Or not. Every time we open our mouths, whether in conversation with one another or in prayer to our Lord, Christian truth and community are on the line. And so, high on the agenda of the Christian community in every generation is that we diligently develop a voice that speaks in consonance with the God who speaks, that we speak in such a way that truth is told and community is formed.”

May our words in 2009 reflect the love and the mercy of the God who saves us. May our conversations always teach and encourage. And may our language glorify God and exalt Christ Jesus.

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We rang in the New Year as a church family with an evening of games and food and worship. I don’t have a lot of pictures because I was way too busy dominating Sequence (OK, Carrie-Anne dominated, I rode her coattails to impressive victory), collecting Uno word cards, getting Bear’ed and Bull’ed by Lance, and barely surviving Around the World with Sarah. I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate the gift of a new year from our God than reading together from Hebrews and Galatians and 1 John, singing songs of praise, praying together to dedicate this new year to our Lord, and then circling up to sing It Is Well as the clock struck 12:00.

Wow. God-ordained, Jesus-inspired, Spirit-powered, community-forming.

And then the sparklers.

Typical New Year’s Day at Stanglin Manor: sleep in; donuts; college football; traditional Texas New Year’s Day lunch with ham, cabbage, and black-eyed peas; college football; college football; rented movie; college football. Perfect.

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My great friend Jason Reeves, the preacher at the Grayston Church in Diana, Texas and one of the Four Horsemen, has finally waved the white flag and joined the blogging community. I’m placing a link to his site, Reeves’ Rhetoric, on my blogrole on the right hand side of this page. You can also get there by clicking here.

You’ll be encouraged by Jason’s blog. God speaks through him. God will speak to you through him. He’ll challenge you. He’ll make you think. He’ll force you to re-evaluate your walk with Christ as you examine his. I know. Because most everybody I know falls way short when placed next to Jason. Especially me.

Jason, some days the blog will be an unforgiving task master. Some days it’ll take too much time. Some days it’ll seem that it’s not having as big an impact as you’d like. But those days are few and far between. You’ll discover that the blog is a wonderful way to connect to people you might not otherwise. You’ll see that it’s a great tool for reinforcing your sermons and classes. It forms Christian community. It teaches and encourages. It allows you to better articulate your thoughts and dreams while you’re wrestling with God and his Word and his world. It’s an effective way for other people to be inspired by your faith and your hope.

I pray that our Father will use your words and your thoughts to speak to the people in his Kingdom. I pray that your blog will reach people who need increased faith and stronger hope. I pray that God will be glorified in the time and effort you put into it.

And the very first time that lady from Denver with the pregnant teenager and abusive husband or that man in Arizona who’s left God’s Church calls you on the phone, from out of the blue, to tell you that your words about Habakkuk or your thoughts on 1 Thessalonians are the only thing that’s kept them going, you’ll fall on your knees in gracious humility and praise God for using you in ways far beyond what you could ever ask or imagine.

Peace,

Allan

Assembly As Gospel

August 25, 2008 / Allan / 7 Comments

If this is what it means to have a daughter in high school, I’m not ready. This is the scene that greeted us when we woke up this morning. I have my suspicions as to the culprits. And even though I can’t write on this blog what they say about paybacks, it doesn’t make it any less true.

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“…I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” ~Ephesians 4:1

“…conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” ~Philippians 1:27

As a response to God’s grace and in imitation of Jesus, we deny our own selfish ambitions and place the interests of others ahead of our own. Jesus emptied himself for our sakes and he became the obedient servant for the Father’s glory. That’s the gospel. And that’s how we live the gospel. The glory of God and the priority of others. Love God and love your neighbor. Jesus says that’s the whole deal. Paul says in Ephesians 4 this is what leads to maturity. This is what leads to “unity in the faith.” Without this mindset, without this focus, we’re still babies.

I’ve tried applying these gospel principles to our Christian assemblies over the past three weeks as we’ve moved together into our new worship center here at Legacy. What this mature mindset means is that, in our assemblies, there’s very little, if anything, that could ever happen that could ever divide us. Our diversity and our differences wouldn’t just be tolerated, they’d be embraced and appreciated, even celebrated.

Whether a person kneels or stands or prostrates himself on the ground in prayer, or adopts the one prayer posture not authorized in Scripture: sitting on one’s rear end…

Whether a person claps his hands or raises his hands or does with his hands the one thing not authorized in Scripture: sits on them…

Whether a person talks and/or sings during the Lord’s Supper or meditates quietly to himself…

Whether a person sings classic hymns that were written 300 years ago or contemporary praise songs that were written three months ago…

Whether a person wears a suit and a tie or shorts and flip-flops…

We are brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus our Lord and in his death, burial, and resurrection that saves us. We share a common Savior and a common destination. And when we finally and fully grasp that, we will imitate our Lord by making ourselves the least important person in the room.

Planning and conducting and participating in our assemblies is not about finding and conforming to specific regulations found in the New Testament. It’s all about doing what we do in ways that are worthy of the gospel, in ways that proclaim and embody the good news of our Lord and his Kingdom.

John Mark Hicks has written another excellent book about the Christian sacraments. This one, A Gathered People: Revisioning the Assembly as Transforming Encounter, is about our time together in our assemblies. This excerpt is from the final chapter, “Contemporary Gatherings: Assembling Worthy of the Gospel.”

“As long as we are regulated by the gospel, we should value diversity as it reaches people beyond the limits of our own settings. But this demands maturity. The gospel calls us to put the interests of others ahead of our own. But this demands mature discipleship. Can we tolerate different tastes and styles even when we do not like them? Can we vary our styles out of respect for what touches the heart of another even if it does not touch ours? Can we appreciate what a particular style does for one even though it is not as meaningful to us? Can we practice what is uncomfortable for us for the sake of the other?

The gospel demands that we do because Jesus himself endured great discomfort—to put it mildly—for our sakes. As disciples of Jesus, we must follow him into that kind of discomfort, even suffering. To say that we must ‘suffer through’ a particular song for the sake of another trivializes the cross of Christ but to deny that song to others simply on the basis of our own comfort and tradition is to reject the cross of Christ for narcissism.”

Wow. The Father certainly poured a whole lot into our laps with these assemblies. It’s almost like he wants us to practice getting along together.

God’s gift of unity means we belong to each other. We are part of each other. Living worthy of the calling, making every effort requires an eagerness to think about one another, to serve one another, to love one another, to build up one another, to bear one another’s burdens, to submit to one another, and encourage one another.

Even in our assemblies.

Especially in our assemblies.

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School Bells! School Bells! I got to sing the Stanglin’s traditional first day of school song to wake up not three but four girls this morning. Four girls at four different campuses (help me, is it campi?) now. Huge backpacks. Sack lunches. Combination lockers. P.E. New friends. New teachers. And now Carrie-Anne’s right in the middle of it, too. I’m pulling taxi duty two days a week now. I’ve always been the one to haul the kids to school in the mornings. But Carrie-Anne’s always picked them up. Until now. On Mondays and Wednesdays it’s me. This afternoon it took me 65-minutes to leave the church building and make it home with all three. I’m hoping that’s just first day traffic. C-A has her first math, history, and art appreciation classes today. It’s going to be an interesting year. We’ve begun yet another little leg of our journey together.

Peace,

Allan

Meet Me In St. Louis, Louis!

July 8, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

Hi, from St. Louis, the Gateway to the West, where the Mississippi is flooded, Obama was stranded, the Cardinals are in Philly, and the mermaids and mermen sculptures at Union Station are anatomically correct.

No blogging this week while the family and I are taking our summer vacation.

Please check out the blogs I have linked to from the right side of this page while we’re gone. Don’t get hooked on them. Just check them out.

Thank you, Bonny, for feeding Skittles. Thank you, Jennifer for getting our mail and watering our flowers. We’re having a ball. See y’all soon.

Peace,

Allan

Sixteen Rules

May 1, 2008 / Allan / 3 Comments

In studying this week for Sunday’s sermon on the value of our children and the divine ordinance to teach our children and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, I’ve come across a list of Sixteen Rules written by Susannah Wesley over 200 years ago. Susannah Wesley was the mother of 19 children, including the great John and Charles Wesley. She made it a point to openly dedicate each of her children to God, to whom they do actually belong. And she parented all her children by these Sixteen Rules. As I review her rules, I’m struck at once by the antiquated nature of the guidelines and, at the same time, the deep, eternal truths in them. Each of the rules has a big-picture world view behind it, a lasting set of life time values within it, and a future vision of godly living ahead of it. Reflecting on these rules individually and as a whole has shown me where Carrie-Anne and I are doing pretty well with our three girls and some other areas we should probably work on.

I also can’t help but notice that over half these rules could be—should be—applied broadly and forcefully to children and adults in our churches.

1) Eating between meals not allowed.

2) As children they are to be in bed by eight p.m.

3) They are required to take medicine without complaining.

4) Subdue self-will in a child, and thus work together with God to save the child’s soul.

5) Teach a child to pray as soon as he can speak.

6) Require all to be still during Family Worship.

7) Give them nothing that they cry for, and only that which they ask for politely.

8) To prevent lying, punish no fault which is first confessed and repented of.

9) Never allow a sinful act to go unpunished.

10) Never punish a child twice for a single offense.

11) Commend and reward good behavior.

12) Any attempt to please, even if poorly performed, should be commended.

13) Preserve property rights, even in smallest matters.

14) Strictly observe all promises.

15) Require no daughter to work before she can read well.

16) Teach children to fear the rod.

Upon further reflection, Jerry Wayne could probably stand to enforce these among most of his players in the Cowboys locker room, too.

Peace,

Allan

A Dark & Stormy Night

April 10, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

Chainsaws and chippers. The sounds of cleanup dominate our little North Tarrant County neighborhood this afternoon. The thunderstorms that raged through our area early this morning packed 80 mph winds and lots of lightning and thunder. We lost two-and-a-half fence panels, a couple dozen shingles, a flag pole, and two hours of sleep. And our DISH is apparantly off line which means we don’t have any TV. But that’s it.

Most of our neighbors in our Ember Oaks Subdivision, though, fared much worse. Trees and fences and roofs are down all over the place. On just our street, Ember Oaks Drive, and Fireside, the street that intersects ours about half a block north, I’ve counted 28 trees with major damage, 17 fences missing at least one panel, and five roofs with missing shingles.

As always, click on the pic to get the full size. These first two are of Dave’s big tree next door to the North:

These are from our own fence on both sides of our house.

These show a little of the roof damage to our house. I haven’t checked the other sides yet. Hopefully this front is all I’ll need to fix.

These are of other trees on Ember Oaks:

This is looking north up Ember Oaks toward Fireside:

These are from the corner of Fireside & Ember Oaks, half a block north of our house.

These are from Fireside, just around the corner:

I had joked last night that the faithful few in the Oasis class at Legacy were the ones ignoring the overly-excited TV weathermen who were telling us the sky was falling. I said we all knew our houses wouldn’t be destroyed and the end wouldn’t come until well after midnight. And when the walls of our upstairs bedrooms began moving at just after 3am and we heard the cracking of the trees, I was afraid maybe I had been right. We’re very thankful to God today for keeping us safe through the storm.

“My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
~Psalm 62:1-2

Hopefully you and your families were delivered through the storms OK. I must hurry home now and do my best to readjust our DISH to 1) avoid the $29 service fee and the delay until Saturday afternoon for repair, and 2) to make sure I can watch the Stars’ opening round playoff game tonight against Anaheim. I can’t miss tonight’s playoff game because there may only be four or five total for Dallas. Carrie-Anne and Whitney are going to AAC tonight for the Mavericks and Jazz. Bud Hale gave us the tickets (thanks, Bud!) but C-A’s going instead of me because she’s never been to a Mavs game before. They’re going to have a blast. And I get Valerie and Carley all to myself tonight. I’m not sure yet what we’re going to do. I know it’ll have to be something fun and special. And I know it’s NOT going to be Chuck E. Cheese’s.

Peace,

Allan

March Sadness

March 24, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

Thank you, Georgetown.

My champion didn’t even make it through the first weekend. I still have three of my Final Four alive. But the second-seeded Hoyas choking against Davidson cost me 20 points in the Stanglin family pool. Peeps and malted chocolate Whopper eggs are soothing me somewhat. Heading in to the Sweet 16, Carrie-Anne’s actually leading the house with 45 points. My reign as Bracket Champ continues. But the throne is teetering.

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What if Mark Cuban trades his entire kingdom for Jason Kidd and the Mavericks don’t even make the playoffs? The Mavs are 9-8 since trading for the troubled point guard. And they’re 0-8 against teams with a winning record. Since trading for Kidd, Dallas has slipped from 5th place in the Western Conference standings to 7th, just a half-game out of 8th and only two games out of 9th. That means they’re just two games away from missing the postseason.

And Dirk’s injury yesterday during their third consecutive loss doesn’t help. He’s gone for at least two to three weeks. And they have a couple of games against Golden State and Denver during that stretch. Wow.

I’m not celebrating the fact that Cuban’s Mavs have fallen apart since they acquired Kidd. OK, maybe I am just a little…

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Easter photos from Sunday afternoon at Vic and Kathryn Akers’. As always, click on the pic for the full size.

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And the stone is up around the stumple on the new worship center! We really don’t know what to call that short, stocky, outcropping on top of the new building. It’s certainly not a steeple. It’s too wide and stumpy. One of our elders suggested “stumple” a few weeks back. And it’s stuck. Here are pictures of our newly stoned stumple.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Stanglin Family (Page 23 of 26)

Assembly As Gospel

Meet Me In St. Louis, Louis!

Sixteen Rules

A Dark & Stormy Night

March Sadness

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