Category: Texas Rangers (Page 32 of 33)

Allow me to comment on a couple of your comments, attempt to sum up my thoughts at this point, and then get to some Rangers and Cowboys:

I’m sure Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple, not because they were making change, but because they were ripping people off. They were using their position to exploit the position of others and taking advantage of those who had no recourse and no way to defend themselves. However, having said that, Jesus goes on to quote the prophets when he declares that his house should be a house of prayer.

This whole thing with sacred space doesn’t have to be about money. It just has to be about recognizing things that are sacred and working to keep them that way, recognizing what worship space is for and what it’s not for. Of course, Christ’s Lordship claims all of creation. All things are sacred to Christ. God’s work through Jesus is to redeem all things back to him. And so we don’t just need to concentrate on the physical parts of our church buildings. Even more, we must apply those same principles to our daily and hourly lives.

There is a genuine tension here, not unlike the tensions we find throughout our Holy Scriptures. The Kingdom of God has come and the Kingdom of God is coming. We’re adopted as children of God and we’re groaning as we await our adoption as God’s children. We’re in the world and separate from the world. That “right now and not yet” tension is not unlike this question of sacred space.

My great friend Jim Gardner contributes this insightful gem in an email:

“What is undeniable to me is that people, created in God’s image, are the apex of God’s noble purpose and, as such, communities of faith that are serious about their calling should place their investment into causes that advance the reign of God in the hearts of people. That more often happens in the 165 hours each week we are away from the facility than it does in the three hours we inhabit the facility.”

True.

In the temple courts and house to house. Both. There’s a Scriptural description of both.

Last thing and most important thing: let’s just recognize and be aware that basketball goals and big screens and chairs and walls and paint color are not neutral. It all communicates something. Everything communicates something. Those things may communicate different things to different people depending on their experiences. But all things communicate ideas and shape perspectives and provoke expectations. Nothing’s completely neutral.

Here’s the bottom line. you wouldn’t use a gold-plated tray for BOTH communion and for spitting out your wad of chew. You wouldn’t use the font for BOTH baptisms and hot tub parties. And you wouldn’t use our worship space BOTH for praising God and for screening “Godfather.” We recognize that those lines are there. And we also understand that different people will draw their lines at different places for different things. We just need to be aware that, indeed, those lines do exist. And those things need to be thought through and talked about by church leaders, not ignored. We shouldn’t behave as if it doesn’t matter.

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It was 14-3 when Whitney and I left for a quick bite at Whataburger before Bible class last night. It was 23-3 when Bible class began. And then we got home and learned that the Rangers had defeated the O’s 30-3. A modern Major League record. An all-time American League mark. And it immediately got me thinking: how many games this year will the Cowboys score 30 points? What’s the over-under on that? I’d put it at two. And I’d take the under. Along those same lines, the folks in Baltimore were thinking the same kinds of things. The NFL Ravens, who play across the street from the Orioles, haven’t given up 30 points in a game since the 12th week of 2005. It was funny watching the highlights last night as even the Baltimore fans were cheering for Texas as the score climbed into the upper 20s. As long as we’re getting scorched, we may as well break a record! It’s like cheering for the losing team with a no-hitter on the line in the 8th. At some point you find yourself rooting for the opponent just for a chance to see history.

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I was watching an interview with Cowboys coach Wade Phillips last week. And he was asked, as he is almost every day, what he expected out of his team this year. Record-wise. He replied, “I just want to get the best out of the players we have.” He went on to explain that they could have a losing mark this year and, if his players all played up to their maximum levels of expectation, they would still consider it a successful season.

If his players all met the highest expectations, the coach still doesn’t know if they would have a winning or a losing season? It sounds like the coach doesn’t know what he has. Or maybe he’s just overly downplaying things on purpose to manage expectations.

New Cowboys Defensive Coordinator Brian Stewart was also asked last week what it takes to be a great defense. And Stewart said it takes three things: no injuries, players playing up to their potential, and luck. According to his criteria, he and the coaches and players have little or no control over two-thirds of what it takes to be great. Now, are they just managing expectations or are they setting themselves up for later when this team stinks?

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There are just seven more days until football season. One week from tonight we’ll have eleven college football games, some of them on TV, including the nightcap highlight SEC tilt from Starkville where Mississippi State hosts LSU. Seven more days until the games that count. And the greatest football player to ever wear #7 is John Elway.

At Stanford, Elway never went to a bowl game and lost more games than he won. Although he did hit .321 for the Cardinal baseball team. But he wound up in the College Football Hall of Fame. And that can only be based on the fact he’s the winningest quarterback in NFL history. Which is weak. But, whatever.

Elway was the Colts top pick and the number one draft pick overall in 1983. But he refused to play in Baltimore and wound up in Denver where he played 234 games in 16 years and led the Broncos to six AFC Championship Games, five Super Bowls, and two Super Bowl wins. He went to the Pro Bowl nine times. He was the NFL MVP in 1987 and the Super Bowl MVP in ’99. He’s the only QB in history to pass for 3,000 yards and run for 200 in seven consecutive seasons. He passed for over 51,000 total career yards with 300 TDs and ran for another 3,407 with 33 rushing touchdowns. Elway’s actually the 5th leading rusher in Broncos history. And he could lead a comeback. 47 times Elway took the Broncos on a game-winning or game-tying drive in the fourth quarter or overtime. 46 of those times were against the Cleveland Browns. Or at least it seems that way. Of course, detractors would say he wouldn’t need all those comebacks if he didn’t get his team so far behind at the start. The man did throw 226 career interceptions.

I prefer the old AFL style Orange Crush uniforms seen here and here over the current look seen here and here. And the cheesy look seen here.

Morton Anderson gets an honorable mention. But Elway’s the best ever #7.

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I’m sick of the forced banter between Dale Hansen and new Channel 8 weatherman Pete Delkus. I’ve been watching WFAA TV since before I can remember. But last night I turned it off. For those two to talk about their sex lives and make fun of each other’s sex lives and joke about Viagra and who can and who can’t and then drag the other two news anchors into it is just too much. It’s juvenile, sophomoric, and completely inappropriate. How do they keep any news credibility or legitimacy about them? It’s embarrassing.

I think I’m switching to Fox 4. Possibly 11.

Peace,

Allan

I appreciate so much the thoughts and the comments I’ve received regarding the blog this week, especially as it pertains to our current discussion on worship.

If you haven’t been to the comments page the past couple of days you can check them out here and here. One particularly revealing comment came from our brother Jason sometime last night:

I agree that we’ve got to be real in our worship in both style and substance but I think we have to be aware that the things that we are used to don’t create pseudo Church like barriers to seekers that don’t make sense to the rank and file (let alone seekers). What I mean is Church favorite hymns that reference things that don’t mean much in our current day vocabulary like Ebeneezer, Canaan, and Zion. These words from old hymns might be part of the lyrics of the beloved favorites, but they don’t hold much for the seekers or the rank and file members (like me). I’d rather have newer songs with relevant lyrics that mean more in today’s language. Just my 2 cents. Not trying to start a riot.

It’s not a riot. It’s just the back and forth of an emotional conversation about worship.

And I don’t want to throw Jason under the bus. I know his heart is pure and his love for our Lord is real. And he knows I know that. But his comments reflect a broad current of thought today in God’s church. And I think it needs to be addressed.

Those words to which he refers are not just part of the lyrics of the beloved favorites. The words “Canaan” and “Zion” and the images those words evoke are the very words and images handed to us by God and his prophets. Those words serve to evoke the very promises of our God—promises of eternal life with him, promises of protection and provision, promises of leaving this place to be with him and each other in a much better place. Our faith and our beliefs and our practices all hinge on words like “Canaan” and “Zion.” They come straight out of our Bible. And they’re not obscure words in a couple of hidden passages. They’re foundational, basic words that are consistently found throughout our Scriptures, from Genesis through Revelation. They’ve been used by God and his people in our articulation of and passing on of the faith for thousands of years. The words and ideas they convey were used by Moses and the Prophets, Jesus and the Apostles, and all Christians since.

I would say the words “salvation” and “repentance” and “sanctification” and “reconciliation” are just as biblical and just as foundational. But I imagine, to most “seekers” and most “rank and file members” today, they are just as irrelevant and make just as little sense as “Canaan” and “Zion.” That is not a reflection on the songs we sing as much as it is a sad commentary on the state of our teaching in the Church, the level of private Bible study and careful theological reflection in our personal lives and in our homes, and maybe our lack of an overall vision that, as disciples of Christ, we do not live in this world. God’s Church lives in another dimension. But if our songs or sermons or prayers reflect that other dimension too much, we balk.

But we can’t discard those words and images. We explore them and teach them and learn them and embrace them and live them and we grow in the faith together through them. The chemistry teacher doesn’t change or throw out the vocabulary because his students don’t understand it. He teaches it. And his students learn to use it, and even love it, so they can communicate with each other and with those who’ve gone before, with those who’ve studied and taught and experimented and learned chemistry hundreds of years ago.

Let’s teach the lasting words of our faith. Let’s don’t throw them away.

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The Cowboys pre-season begins tonight at Texas Stadium against the Colts. I’m sure that Aaron and Jennifer Green have had their Payton Manning jerseys washed and ironed and laid out for a couple of days now. And I suppose it’ll be good for the Cowboys fans to watch their starters for six or seven plays.

I’m not ready yet to give my prediction on the Cowboys season. Give me a couple of weeks.

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Speaking of the football season, there are 21 days left until the games actually mean something. And the best player to ever wear the #21 is the great pioneer of American football, the one and only Jim Thorpe. An All-America halfback at Carlisle from 1907-1912, Thorpe won an Olympic gold medal in the decathalon in the 1912 games. But it was as a member of the original Canton Bulldogs in Ohio and the very first president of the American Professional Football Association in 1920 that we honor him today. He wowed fans with his speed and toughness and ability to dominate both sides of the ball in the very earliest stages of the development of the game. He played for the Bulldogs, the Cleveland Indians, the Oorang Indians, the Rock Island Independents, the New York Giants, and the Chicago Cardinals. He’s in the College Football Hall of Fame. And he’s a charter member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Thorpe wore #21 for the Giants and Cardinals. Barry Sanders wore #21 at OSU and receives honorable mention. I suppose Deion Sanders deserve mention, although I’m not sure how honorable. But Jim Thorpe is the greatest ever #21.

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I shouldn’t be, but I am continually surprised at all the ways our sports teams keep finding to sell corporate sponsorships and advertising for actual in-game events. At the Rangers game Tuesday night, it was a little disturbing to hear the legendary voice of Chuck Morgan announce the Samsung Call to the Bullpen during a Rangers pitching change and the Jiffy Lube Pitching Change when the A’s made a similar adjustment. It’s not just a first down anymore, it’s a Radio Shack First Down. Doesn’t this, in some ways less subtle than others, work to undermine the dignity of the teams and the games?

Jerry Wayne’s computer-edited dancing in the Cowboys lockerroom during the Papa John’s Pizza commercial nauseates me. It proclaims without shame — even with pride — that I’m more than willing to do anything anybody asks me to do anywhere anytime if they’ll give me money. Never mind the dignity of the game or the teams or the people who’ve gone before us and from whose sacrifice and vision we benefit. Give me your money and I’ll sell off anything. And Jerry Wayne started all this.

I was amused and horrified at the same time when, a couple of weeks ago, I was watching a Mike Doocey interview with Jerry Wayne on Channel 4. Doocey asked Jones if there were even a remote chance that the new football stadium wouldn’t be named in exchange for dollars. Is there any way that you might name it simply Cowboys Stadium or Tom Landry Stadium? Jerry just smiled and told Dooce, “The Cowboys are America’s Team. And part of being America’s Team is the relationship and the connection we have with America’s corporations.”

And he said it with a straight face.

And, good for him, trying to mask his laughter, Doocey followed up with, “Are you saying that it’s your relationship with America’s corporations and their advertising dollars that make the Cowboys America’s Team?”

And Jerry Wayne replied, “I’m saying it’s the money from America’s corporations that pay for our players that America cheers for.”

I’m sure Tom Landry rolled over in his grave. But maybe Tex Schramm smiled.

Peace,

Allan