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Walking the Blood Path for Me

November 28, 2011 / / 0 Comments

We spent our assembly time together here at Central yesterday considering the weird passage in Genesis 15 about the blood path ceremony between God and Abram. All the pieces of animal, all the blood, the thick and dreadful darkness, the two symbols representing God passing between the pieces.

Clearly, God was promising Abram that God’s promises about giving Abram many descendents and lots of land and, eventually, blessing all the nations of the earth by his seed were trustworthy. God was going to be true to his word. And he staked his life on it by walking between the bloody pieces of the sacrificial animals. God used a very common practice, this ceremony with which everybody was familiar, to demonstrate his commitment to his word.

If what is explicit in Genesis 17:1, that Abram had to be blameless and live in perfection before the Lord, was understood at this time to be Abram’s part of the covenant — and I believe it was — then it’s remarkable that God walked the path between the pieces twice. The smoke and the fire, two theophanies representing YHWH Lord, both pass through the blood. God stands in for Abram. He walks in Abram’s place. The promise from the Lord, in addition to the kids and the land and the Messiah is that God is going to pay for his people’s sins. God pays the price whether he or Abram violates the covenant. Either way, the penalty is on God. Whenever and however the covenant gets broken, when it’s broken, God dies.

The significance of this powerful picture of God walking the blood path in Genesis 15 cannot be overstated. Yes, what God has promised he will certainly do. In the scheme of Genesis and the rest of the Torah, this story goes a long way in reminding us that God overcomes seemingly insurmountable obstacles — barren wombs, enemies in the promised land, the sin of his people — to keep his word. Yes. But it’s so much more than that, too.

God’s perfect promises are free gifts to his people. God is the One who initiates the relationship with us and provides for us what is needed to maintain it. We bring nothing to the table. The Father desires to bond eternally with people who consistently reject him. And he’s willing to prove his devotion to the relationship by offering his own life. Not only that, but the Lord is willing to pay the price himself for the covenant failures of man.

And God’s promise is unconditional. It was not dependent on Abram at all. The covenant stands no matter what the people believe or what they practice. The fulfillment does not depend on man’s faith or faithfulness. God’s “I AM” is perfectly adequate for man’s “I am not.” We can’t perfectly keep the terms of our covenant with God. It’s impossible. We are entirely unable to walk before the Lord and be blameless. But, praise God, that’s not the end of the matter. Our Father made the provision for us long ago. His walking through the blood symbolizes his willingness to stand in for us, to do what is necessary to cover for us, when we violate the terms of the covenant.

At the end of the day, Abram was assured that his own future and the futures of his children and descendents were firmly in the hands of the covenant God. “On that day,” Genesis 15:18 says, “the Lord made (lit: cut) a covenant with Abram.” The point remains the same for you and me under the renewed covenant: God’s word is dependable. It’s perfect. The Lord keeps his promises. Our Father is faithful; and very, very good.

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The seeds of yesterday’s sermon were planted in me by a teaching I heard from Ray Vander Laan about seven years ago. A year later, Dr. Mark Shipp assigned the Genesis 15 text to me for an exegetical research project at Austin Grad. Vander Laan inspired me. Shipp challenged me. And now this picture in Genesis 15 is a part of me. You can read Vander Laan’s work on the subject here. You can read my exegetical paper on the passage by clicking here: Genesis 15 Exegesis

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It turned out to be a full weekend project. In and around Thanksgiving food, football, and family; in between Christmas decorating and shopping; before and after church and study and movies and games; Valerie had to write a poem for school. This poem had to be based on an earlier project in which she had described herself by using dualities found in images and ideas from nature. Among other things, Valerie had written about fire, which produces energy and warmth, yet also displays a tendency to ignore boundaries and be destructive. She had mentioned Spring, contrasting songs and flowers against the inevitable wind and storms. There were also the complexities of a diamond: multi-faceted, hard, yet submitting to the gem-cutter’s blade. She also sees herself in the Azaleas: striking in their brilliance, yet so stinking high-maintenance. But could she express all of this in a poem?

Oh, yes she can.

It’s beautiful. I suggested she title it “A Song Unfinished.” She went with “The Stonecutter’s Project.” It describes my little Valerie perfectly. A bundle of energy and talent and unlimited potential. Enjoy.

She crackles, she sizzles, inspires as she dances;
she daringly spreads as she leaps at new chances.
Fiery, bold, contagious.
Careless, impulsive, outrageous.
A tendency to both warm and consume as she advances.

A skip in her Vans and a spritz of perfume;
like Spring, she has sprung, entirely in bloom.
Songbirds, shamed by her voice.
But beware of her other noise:
the lightening and thunder of an alternate mood.

Like the Azalea in season, so striking, so pink;
it takes the right mix of rich soil and zinc.
P, B, and Js.
Grilled cheese and Lays.
For Valerie, nothing more, nothing less, and a D. P. to drink.

Like the diamond that dazzles through each of its facets,
the word “brilliance” defines and sums up her assets.
Unique, strong, true to her pledges.
Stubborn, steadfast, still rough around the edges.
Continually refined by the Stonecutter’s tools, a polished gem with no regrets.

Peace,

Allan

Thanksgiving Wish

November 24, 2011 / / 0 Comments

“I am a poor wretch whom God took charge of, and for whom he has done so indescribably much more than I ever expected… that I only long for the peace of eternity in order to do nothing but thank him.”

~Soren Kierkegaard

Joy at the Table: Part Two

November 22, 2011 / / 1 Comment

A comment from Rob’s Dad regarding yesterday’s post: How do you reintroduce the joy? I love your point and wonder what steps and actions you would put in place?

This is proving to be a difficult thing at best. Shifting our focus at the Lord’s Supper from individual introspection and silent meditation on Jesus’ death to a corporate celebration of joy and thanksgiving for Jesus’ resurrection and eternal life is going to take a long, long time. Normally when we’re talking about changing something in our corporate assemblies — instead, I should say making something we do better, more theologically correct, more transformational, more in tune with the Gospel of Christ — we have to deal with a few decades of bad teaching and shallow understanding. But with this communion thing, we’re tackling a distortion of the original intent and practice that has been more than 12 or 13 centuries in the making.

Understanding that most church leaders and congregations first need a thorough study of the Scriptures and Church history when it comes to the Lord’s Supper, I will offer a few suggestions and changes that should be prayerfully considered by all worship ministers and congregational elders to restore Gospel joy to the table and put the community back in communion.

1) Sing songs of praise and thanksgiving before table time. Please notice that in your song book index, Lord’s Supper songs are categorically about the suffering and death of Jesus. Almost all of them. Singing only those kinds of songs in and around the Lord’s Supper will focus us exclusively on just one aspect of God’s salvation work through Christ. It narrows our understanding of what’s happening at communion. It actually counters what the Bible says about the great joy of the disciples as they ate with their Lord on that first Resurrection Sunday. Singing songs about death causes us to act like we’re at a funeral. There’s not much joy around the casket at a funeral. We eat and drink like it’s Friday instead of Sunday. Jesus is not dead; he is alive and reigning at the right hand of our Father in heaven! I would suggest singing songs of praise and thanksgiving. Any song that has the words “Thank you” in them would be great. Eucharist means thanksgiving, right?

2) Explore other Lord’s Supper themes. In an effort to broaden the experience and deepen our understanding of communion, we ought to focus on a different theme each week. It’s not just about Jesus’ death. The table also expresses the unity of Christ’s Church, it points to the great eschatalogical wedding feast of the Lamb, it remembers Jesus’ meals and teachings during his ministry, it proclaims the Gospel, it reminds us to serve the needy, it prompts praise and thankgiving, it celebrates the Resurrection, it moves us to renew vows of loyal discipleship to our Lord, and, yes, it also rejoices in the sacrificial death of the Son of God. The apostle Paul ties the Lord’s Supper directly to our unity. Luke conects it to Jesus’ feeding of the multitudes. All the Gospels say the Lord’s Supper is a resurrection meal. Acts uses communion as an act of Christian fellowship and community. Jesus says the feast represents the Kingdom. Revelation shows us how it’s a participation in eternity. Why would we limit our table experiences on Sundays to just one of these many facets? Why not explore Exodus 24 and Isaiah 25 and Luke 24 and John 20 and Romans 6 and Revelation 5 in our Lord’s Supper meditations? Why not use songs from the “Invitation” index? There’s never been a better communion song written than “All Things Are Ready, Come To The Feast.” Why don’t we try that?

3) Smile. Don’t allow your guy presiding at the table to be grumpy. Don’t let him look so solemn like he’s carrying a coffin down the center aisle. Most of the time, these men don’t realize they look so sad or even angry. They just grew up thinking it was wrong to smile during communion. So, while they’re standing up in front of the entire congregation, waiting on the last of the bread trays to be collected and the men to get back in position for the distribution of the cup, they stare. They stare either blankly out into space or they stare holes through the walls where the men are scurrying into place for the next act. Again, I don’t think they’re doing it on purpose. One of the happiest, most cheerful, funniest guys I know at Legacy — a great friend — acts like a completely different man when he is presiding over the Lord’s Table on Sunday mornings. He looks mad. Tell your guys it’s OK to smile. If you’re up there, remember to relax. Breathe. Smile. Chill out. Christ is risen and he’s promised you eternal life. It’s OK to smile. In fact, it’s preferred.

4) Direct the congregation to share during the supper. Most of us were taught to look down at our shoes or stare into the pages of our Bibles or close our eyes during communion. How about teaching your church to interact with one another instead? It’s communion, right? Community! Instead of keeping that special passage of Scripture to yourself, why not share it with the person next to you? “Hey, check this out; this verse always means a lot to me during communion.” Or maybe, “Hey, this is always what I think about during the Lord’s Supper.” Or perhaps grab a hymnal (if you’re blessed enough to even know what that is) and point out a favorite to a neighbor on your pew, “This song was always one of my favorite communion songs.” Instruct your church to pass the trays with a simple, “Christ’s Body broken for you” or “Christ’s blood poured out for you.” Something to get people talking and sharing. You could also announce a new rule in your congregation: nobody does communion by themselves! If somebody’s sitting alone, invite them to sit with you. Or you just go sit by them. Take your whole family and go join them for the meal. Instead of greeting visitors in your church at the beginning of the assembly, do it as you prepare for communion. Have everybody stand and greet one another and invite one another to the table. An atmosphere of joyful community around the table isn’t very natural anymore. It hasn’t been for a long time. We’re going to have to teach it and show it, model it and encourage it.

5) Enjoy communion after the sermon, not before. It’s much easier to tie the Table into the Word if it’s after the sermon. With just a little time and practice, you’ll find that it’s really very simple to continue the theme of the sermon and the songs and the prayers of the rest of the assembly right into this most important aspect of the day. Instead of the Lord’s Supper itself being “separate and apart,” it becomes the climax, the high point, what the whole rest of the assembly was leading us to. Pretty soon, the table becomes a very natural way to express and experience what’s been talked about and taught and preached through the sermon and the songs and the prayers that have come before.

6) Bigger pieces of bread and bigger cups of wine. Encourage bigger bites and drinks. It’s hard to latch on to the symbolism of a heavenly feast when it’s just a sip and a crumb. It’s like sprinkling water on somebody’s head for baptism instead of immersing all of him in a tub of water. It’s just not the same. Not even close. Unleavened bread was first introduced to the Church’s Lord’s Supper in the 900s in order to set the communion experience as so completely different from anybody’s every day meal experience that it would cause congregants to act differently, with more reverence and awe, more silence and solemnity. It was successful. Obviously. Chunks of bread and gulps of juice would help fix that a little.

These are just a few suggestions off the top of my head. What has your church done to restore the joy and community to our Lord’s Table? What would you try if you were allowed to? I’m always open to faithful suggestions.

Peace,

Allan

Joy at the Table

November 21, 2011 / / 1 Comment

The Lord’s Supper is the central, communal, corporate act of God’s Church. Instituted by our Savior, passed on by the apostles, and practiced for centuries by God’s people, our communion meal has historically served as the primary reason for Christian gathering and the climax of the Christian assembly. It’s the high point. The pinnacle.

As most of you know by now, my great desire is to see the Lord’s Supper returned in our churches to the rightful place of prominence it has always enjoyed until recently. In our Church of Christ assemblies, our communion time needs to be the highlight. And it’s not. Not always.

And it won’t be — not consistently, anyway — until we return the joy.

When presenting the case for expressions of joy and gladness and celebrations of happiness during our Lord’s Meal, I’m often reminded by well-meaning brothers and sisters that our time at the table is meant for remembering the death of Jesus. It’s inappropriate, they say, to rejoice when thinking about death. Our time at the table is for somber introspection and solemn reflection, not conversation and singing and grinning. Certainly not laughter.

First, I would say our Sunday communion has much, much more to do with the Resurrection than with the Crucifixion. Much more. I would suggest the first Christians didn’t really think about Jesus’ death during their Sunday meals. They were too overcome by the fact that the Christ really was alive. That was the focus of communion.

But if a person insists that the communion meal is about remembering the death — and people will do this by quoting 1 Corinthians 11:26: “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” — we’re on solid ground to celebrate in that case, too.

For the writers of Scripture, the death of Jesus was and is good news. It’s great news! And it is more than appropriate at the table of Christ  to express the pleasure and the joy that are caused by his death. To “proclaim” means to announce publicly and clearly what has happened and what it means eternally. It’s not to be whispered through cupped hands into the ears of a just a few disciples in the room. The good news is to be shouted with joy.

The Eucharist (thanksgiving, right?) is the perfect time and place, not to mention the most practical form, for showing and confessing that the death of Jesus is totally different from a natural event or a criminal act or some tragic loss. The death of Jesus gives us no reason to accuse or moan or lament or complain.

Those celebrating the Lord’s Supper know the pain and the shame, the horror and scandal, of Christ’s death. However, we rejoice in the crucifixion and praise the slaughtered Lamb because God has raised him from the dead and accepted his intercession on our behalf. In Paul’s theology and in the message of John, Hebrews, 1 Peter, and Revelation, the Crucified One is always the living and reigning Christ. The One who rules the Church and the world and who will come again is the crucified Christ.

We have abundant reason to rejoice in Christ’s death and praise the crucified yet living Lamb.

And until we recapture that sense of great joy around our living Lord’s table, we will continue to commemorate a solemn service instead of a celebratory feast. It will remain a weekly task to be performed instead of a community meal to be enjoyed. And it will stay in the background. It won’t ever rise past the preacher or the music in terms of proper position and prominence in our Sunday assemblies.

What if our Sunday communion services sounded and felt more like what you’re going to experience around your dining room table this coming Thusday? What if, when we dine with our risen Lord on Sundays, joy were the prevailing mood?

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More than $7,500 raised for Madison Knebusch and her family at yesterday’s spaghetti lunch. Praise God!

Bad news received just this afternoon regarding the PET scan today on Madison’s right lung. Another round of chemotherapy to begin later this week.

“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.” ~Habakkuk 3:18

We love you, Madison and Levi and Shannon, Britton, Londen, Gracyn, and Hudson. Our hearts are breaking with yours as you endure this horrible trial. We ache for you and with you. And all of us want so desperately to do something to help. We want so badly to help. And, honestly, sometimes we don’t even know what to say. We don’t have the words. Sometimes we say dumb things and do dumb things out of a deep love for you that is compelling us to try anything to provide you with encouragement and comfort. Please be patient with us and forgive us.

Please know how much we love you.

We trust in our loving Father. We ask for increased faith. And we continually lift you up to our mighty God for his divine purposes.

Grace & Peace,

Allan

Immersed in Prayer

November 17, 2011 / / 2 Comments

I’m so blessed to be here at Central. And so privileged to be serving with a group of church elders who rely so much on our heavenly Father and so little on themselves. What a joy!

The shepherds here at Central are an accomplished bunch. Each of them has enjoyed many levels of success in business, in society, in family, and in church life. I’m serving with men who are retired educators, retired TXDOT roadworkers, and retired CPS social workers. Our elders include a dentist, an opthalmologist, and a pharmaceutical salesman who used to play college football and still looks like he could line up against Demarcus Ware. We’ve got a power plant engineer, an oil and gas engineer who’s achieved at the highest levels of the international energy industry, and a man who’s constructed half the big buildings in Amarillo. There’s a commercial real estate leader, a hospice administrator, and a financial planner. These are competent men. Full of brains and brawn, experts in their fields, offices full of awards and trophies and medals. Well respected leaders of commerce and service and trade. Big thinkers, excellent communicators, magnetic personalities.

And you wouldn’t know any of it by walking into one of our elders meetings.

Because they spend so much time praying.

They don’t rely on their own achievements or gifts. They don’t count on their own cunning or craft. They depend wholly on God. Constantly. Consistently.

Three quick examples that have blown me away recently:

Two weeks ago we were in the middle of a question regarding an issue — a policy, really — that had been implemented some time ago but had been put on hold by the preacher search. Two of our shepherds who stood to benefit the most from re-starting the policy had brought it up and requested that we move forward. Following some very brief discussion, it was decided unanimously to get it going again. To which one of those two elders said, “Hey, I really appreciate the vote; thank you so much for the decision. But, can we not implement it just yet? Can we take the next two weeks and just commit to praying about this? I want to make sure this is really God’s will and not just a decision we’ve made tonight based on anything else. Let’s all promise to pray about this for two weeks and then come together on it one more time. If, after two weeks of prayer, nothing’s changed, then let’s move forward with our God’s blessing.”

Last night we were in the middle of our budget presentation. It’s a two-million-dollar annual budget. Lots of numbers. Lots of decisions. Lots of ministries and buildings and salaries and maintenance and outreach. Lots of detail. And right in the middle of it, one of our shepherds stopped the whole meeting down. “Hey, guys, we’ve really been blessed here by our God. Over 90% of the pledges for our capital campaign, more than 200-thousand dollars in extra giving for extra ministries that aren’t even in our budget, debt-free with emergency money in reserve. Can we just stop for a minute or two and thank our Father?”

And we did. We stopped everything, put our arms around each other, and prayed. This elder confessed his lack of faith, told God in front of all of us that there was a time when he never would have imagined these kinds of blessings for Central. He begged for forgiveness and then poured out his heart and guts in praise and thanksgiving to the faithful Giver of all good gifts.

And then again, at the end of last night’s meeting, another prayer. Of course. It’s what these guys do. “Lord, empower us and enable us to walk with people, to help people and serve people, who won’t serve us back. To walk with people who may not even love us back.”

Whoa.

My spirit is refreshed to be among so many who won’t hardly make a move without immersing it in prayer. I am re-energized by this faithful focus on the One who is the source of all energy. I’m thrilled with the commitment all around me to be in constant communication with the Originator of all joy. And I’m confident and bold, full of courage and strength, as we all depend so completely on the Father who promises to work everything out to his glory and praise.

Preachers, I beg you to pray. Elders, I beg you to immerse your meetings in prayer. Teachers, small group leaders, deacons and ministry leaders and committee chairs, drown your meetings in prayer. There’s not another thing you can do that can produce more peace and courage around the table than to confess to God in the presence of one another that he alone is the instigator and finisher of all the great works of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Peace,

Allan

At That Time…

November 15, 2011 / / 0 Comments

“At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth…” ~Matthew 11:25

The words at the beginning of this passage in Matthew that lead directly to our Lord’s little prayer of thanksgiving refer to that time in Jesus’ life when he’s having to answer questions about his mission and denounce unrepentant cities. John the Baptist is openly questioning the Messiahship of Jesus. His closest family and friends in the fishing villages around Galilee are ignoring his message.

How do you think all this rejection made Jesus feel? How do you think Jesus was doing at that time?

With one word, how would you describe your current situation? Where are you right now? In one word, what’s going on with you at this time?

Content? Frustrated? Happy? Angry? Confused? Overwhelmed? Hectic? Depressed? Worried? Confident? Scared?

Jesus seems pretty confident that his heavenly Father is behind these perceived setbacks and that these disappointments are actually a part of God’s holy will. And he gives thanks. Jesus gives thanks for the problems he’s encountering and praises God for working in them to spread the Word and advance the Kingdom.

The powerful and unstoppable energies of the Kingdom of God are always moving, always growing, always surging just beneath the surface. All around us. Huge rivers of prayer and faith and hope and praise and forgiveness and salvation and rescue and holiness flow right by us every day. In every single nook and cranny, hidden in the shadows, overlooked in the crowds, drowned out sometimes by the noise, are the eternal works of our gracious Redeemer.

So, like our Lord, we give thanks. At that time. At this time. We give thanks.

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Two Sundays ago Kevin Schaffer, our marvelously talented worship minister, stopped us down right in the middle of song to correct our clapping. We were singing “King of Kings.” You know how it goes: King of kings and Lord of lords, glory (CLAP!) Hallelujah. And our congregation was butchering the clapping. We were clapping before the word, during the word, after the word; it was a mess. Near the end of the first stanza, Kevin had had enough and he stopped us.

“We are going to learn how to clap. And we’re going to start with just one. Just one clap. Do it with me…”

And he proceeded to teach us and show us how to clap. It worked really well. Kevin was very patient with us and we all had a good laugh. After we had practiced together for a few minutes, it actually sounded pretty good the second time around. There’s hope here at Central.

I was reminded of that episode by a blog post written by Jon Acuff. It’s called “Clapping Our Hands: A Step-By-Step Guide to the Death of Rhythm.” A dear friend of mine forwarded it to me this morning. Jon hilariously nails the reasons our churches have a hard time clapping during congregational singing and gets inside the minds of the congregants to show us what everybody’s really thinking as the song begins, why the clapping is all over the place, and why it dies out completely before the song’s even over. It’s a quick, light, funny read about why our church clapping sounds like “somebody lit a box of hand firecrackers.” Click here to read it. And try to click on the downbeat, not the upbeat.

Peace,

Allan

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