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Snowplow on Mid-Cities!

February 4, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Four days of sub-23-degree temperatures. Glacier-esque (to describe just how slowly it’s eroding; there’s no melting going on here) ice still on all of the roads. We haven’t had a lick of precipitation since Tuesday, but the schools have been closed for four days. Rolling blackouts that had us in the dark for about 30-minutes twice yesterday. Lows in the lower teens, highs in the upper teens all week. Church services and Bible studies canceled. Meetings postponed. And this morning we wake up to a fresh three-inches of snow on the ground. And it’s still coming down!

Coming into work this morning, driving very slowly on Mid-Cities Boulevard, when I attempt to turn left on Martin to go in the back way (I’ve tried the front entrance off Mid-Cities twice this week; I’m oh-for-two — that’s steeper than it looks). And here it comes just over the hill. Something, I daresay, has never been seen in this zip code. Ever.

A snowplow. (Is that one word, or two? I honestly have no idea.) A snow plow on Mid-Cities! I could have turned in front of it. I had plenty of time. But I just didn’t want to. I wanted it to go by me. I wanted to watch it. I wanted to see it up close. I was mesmerized. I couldn’t take my eyes off this thing. Here it came, in the far left lane, right at me, a mountain of snow and ice being shoved to the shoulder in front of it.

I rolled my window down to get a good look at the driver as he passed. Had they imported a guy from Pittsburgh or Green Bay? I’m sure nobody around here has ever driven one of these things. At the very least this operator has to be from Pampa or Amarillo. No, it was actually an employee of the City of North Richland Hills, wearing his official green city-issued coat. I smiled — almost laughed, actually — and shook my head in wonderment and even a bit of amusement as he went by. Our eyes met for a brief moment.

He was not smiling.

I love it.

No apologies. I really do enjoy this. It’s wild. It’s unprecedented. It’s extreme. It’s new. It gets everybody excited. It makes everybody hyper. It really heightens the senses when you’re driving around on / in it. And it breaks up the monotony.

But, seriously, tonight we’ve gotta get out of the house. We’ve watched movies together, we’ve cooked together, we’ve stayed up late and slept in together. We’ve played Uno, Phase 10, Apples to Apples, Skip-Bo, and even a few made up games. And we’ve all got a bit of cabin fever. It’s not gotten to the Jack Nicholson – Shelly Duval point in The Shining yet. Not yet. But we’re definitely going to go do something else tonight.

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So our Small Group is getting together Sunday evening to watch the Super Bowl. Michael sent an email to all of us a couple of days ago claiming that one cannot attend a Super Bowl party and not have a rooting interest. He wanted to know which team we were each pulling for. Here was my reply:

If the Steelers were playing the devil himself and an army of demons from hell, I’d root for the devil. I would have to. Cheering for the Steelers to win a Super Bowl is evil incarnate. In fact, if anyone at our Small Group party is pulling for Pittsburgh, I believe it will cease to be a Christian gathering. I’ve lost 15-pounds already this week because I vomit everytime the TV shows the Steelers logo painted in the end zone at Cowboys Stadium.

On the other hand, how can any of us legitimately root for the Packers? If it weren’t for Jerry Kramer and Bart Starr the Super Bowl hardware would be called the Landry Trophy instead of the Lombardi.

Sunday is truly about finding the lesser of two evils. I’m firmly convinced that’s Green Bay.

I’ve reconciled all of this by choosing not to pull for either of these two hated franchises. I’m merely rooting for the Steelers to lose. It’s the only way. My brain and my heart have found peace with that.

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My favorite quote from Super Bowl week came a couple of days ago from Troy Aikman.

When asked about the awful weather in DFW, Aikman blamed Roger Staubach. “He’s the one with the direct line to God; at least that’s what I’ve been told all these years.”

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My friend Dan Bouchelle, the director of Missions Resource Network, has written a great post today on his blog Confessions of a Former Preacher. (He used to be one of us.) Dan pens some great insights into the burden of the church a preacher carries. But I especially like his observations on the relationship between preaching and community and worship and community. It’s good stuff. Click here to read it.

Peace,

Allan

Trust the Word

February 1, 2011 / / 0 Comments

[Allow me just a couple of more postings about Dietrich Bonhoeffer from Eric Metaxas’s latest biography.]

Preach the Word. Preach the Word. How many times I have been told, “Preach the Word!” Jimmy Butler here at Legacy exhorts me with, “Preach the Word, brother!” at least a couple of times every week. People write that to me at the ends of cards and letters and emails. I’ve written it and said it — even texted it —  to my preacher friends countless times. In California, I’ve heard it shouted from the congregation as a preacher takes the pulpit.

Preach the Word. Yes. That is our call as ministers of the Scriptures. Proclaim boldly and courageously the Holy Word of God. Faithfully. Without compromise.

Bonhoeffer certainly pushed his students to preach the Word. But he encouraged them to a deeper understanding of what it means to be a Christian proclaimer when he urged them to “trust the Word.”

In 1932, Bonhoeffer told his young seminarians at his illegal underground training school at Finkenwalde, “We must be able to speak about our faith so that hands will be stretched out toward us faster than we can fill them. A truly evangelical sermon must be like offering a child a fine red apple or offering a thirsty man a cool glass of water and then saying, ‘Do you want it?’ Do not try to make the Bible relevant. Its relevance is axiomatic. Do not defend God’s Word, but testify to it. Trust the Word. It is a ship loaded to the very limits of its capacity.”

Trust the Word. What a powerful idea.

We must understand that when the Word of our God is presented it will shake people, it will wake people, it will completely undo people. The Word of God has the power within itself to cause people to see their great need for salvation from God in Christ. If the Word is truly preached, the answers to the deepest needs of mankind will be received without all the baggage and camouflage and add-ons of “religion” and false piety and denominational hogwash. The grace of God, without filters and arguments, will touch people.

We don’t have to try to make it relevant. It is eternally relevant!

We don’t have to worry about it being powerful. It is supremely powerful!

And we preachers need to trust it. Trust the Word.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has promised us that not one bit of his proclaimed Word will ever return to him empty. Trust that great promise. Trust the Word.

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The Packers and Steelers arrived in North Texas yesterday and brought snow and ice and temperatures in the teens and minus-zero wind chills with them. The roads are all completely iced over after an all night sleet and freezing rain and flurry fest. Schools are out today. The church offices are closed. Ditches are littered with abandoned cars. Tree limbs are snapping. Power lines are sagging. Nobody’s outside.

It was sunny and 75-degrees Saturday and Sunday. It’s 16-degrees right now, snowing, with 30-mile-per-hour north winds. I’m really interested to watch all the national shows tonight and read all the national press tomorrow to see how DFW fares in the eyes of the global sports media.

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I’ve added another great link to the “Around the Table” page on this blog. It’s a click to several communion meditations by Jay Guin. I recommend checking them out. Instead of beginning your table talk this Sunday morning with, “When Howard called me last night and asked me to do the Lord’s Supper…” how about starting it with some theology? Some inspirational Scripture? A short illustration that ties what’s happening at the table today with Jesus’ meals from two thousand years ago or that great wedding feast of the Lamb to come? I invite you to read these meditations. And use them.

Peace,

Allan

Forgetting the Point

January 27, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Dietrich Bonhoeffer inspires me. I’ve been fascinated by Bonhoeffer since the day Michael Weed introduced me to the Christian author, theologian, and martyr in a theology class at Austin Grad a little over five years ago. Bonhoeffer moves me. Not just because he wrote about true discipleship to Jesus, not just because he preached against the cheap grace he saw accepted and practiced in the Church, and not just because he talked all the time about the ultimate lordship and reign of Christ. Bonhoeffer moves me because he so truly lived it. He embodied it. He gave his life for it.

So I pay attention to Bonhoeffer. He was real. He put his very life on the line for what he preached and wrote about commitment to Jesus and God’s salvation mission in the world. As Paschal once noted, “I tend to believe the witnesses who get their throats cut.” Me, too.

It’s been almost three weeks since I finished reading Eric Metaxas’ hefty biography, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. I’ve spent several hours since going back over the things I’ve highlighted, re-reading the pages I’ve marked up, trying desperately to will the words and the passion of this great man into my very soul.

There’s so much I want to share with you from this book. His writings about the Church sound as if they were penned yesterday. His understanding of the Gospel is as clear as if he were at those resurrection meals with Jesus. His call for true discipleship to our Lord is challenging. Convicting.

Personal.

Allow me to give you a taste.

Bonhoeffer was greatly troubled by the secularization he saw in the Church. The focus, as he saw it, wasn’t as much on the central Christian doctrines of forgiveness and grace, sanctification and discipleship, resurrection and justice as it was on progress and success, relevancy and status. Note how his observations about the big churches in New York City, written when he was at Union Theological Seminary in 1930, ring just as true today.

“In the place of the church as the congregation of believers in Christ there stands the church as a social corporation. Anyone who has seen the weekly program of one of the large New York churches, with their daily, indeed almost hourly events, teas, lectures, concerts, charity events, opportunities for sports, games, bowling, dancing for every age group, anyone who has heard how they try to persuade a new resident to join the church, insisting that you’ll get into society quite differently by doing so, anyone who has become acquainted with the embarrassing nervousness with which the pastor lobbies for membership — that person can well assess the character of such a church. All these things, of course, take place with varying degrees of tactfulness, taste, and seriousness; some churches are basically ‘charitable’ churches; others have primarily a social identity. One cannot avoid the impression, however, that in both cases they have forgotten what the real point is.”

Ah, the point. What is the point? What is God’s mission for his Church? What do we aim for? What do we live for? What’s the goal? What’s the point?

To seek and to save the lost. To bind up the injured and strengthen the weak. To release the captives and set the prisoners free. To proclaim and to live in the truth that God in Christ has defeated the dark forces of sin and death and Satan and is right now making his dwelling place among us, renewing and restoring all of creation, reconciling the world to himself in righteous relationship so that we will be his people and he will eternally be our God.

It’s hard work. It’s dirty work. It’s grimy and messy. It requires muscle and sweat and blood and tears. It takes great sacrifice. It takes every ounce of everything you’ve got.

But that is the point. Let’s not ever forget the point.

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Today is my great friend Dan Miller’s 50th birthday. In honor of Dan, let’s all repair our cars with duct tape and twistie ties and order extra cheese. On everything.

Happy birthday, Dan. I love you, brother. You mean the world to me.

Allan

Gospel Funerals

January 25, 2011 / / 1 Comment

Four funerals in 20 days here at Legacy. Four friends of mine. Long time shepherds and deacons and Bible school teachers and song leaders. Pillars of this family of God at Legacy. Whew! It’s been an emotional month around here.

Allow me a couple of observations as I’ve reflected on the death of God’s saints. And funerals. And, like I tell my kids, I’m not trying to give you a guilt trip. I’m trying to teach you.

I believe funerals, just like everything we do as a congregation, are gospel. I think attending funerals embodies the gospel. Showing up at a funeral communicates the gospel. Being at a funeral rehearses the gospel. It imitates the gospel. Participating in funerals is a holy gospel practice. To attend a funeral is to be present for a sacred gospel moment.

First, funerals are important to us if we really do believe that we are “one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Regardless of the size of our church, we are brothers and sisters in Christ. We are family. And we all go to family funerals. Saying “but I didn’t know that person” doesn’t cut it. You didn’t really know your great-uncle Ed, either, but you went to the funeral two years ago because of your mom. You may not have known the lady in the casket, but many people here at church did. And they’re sad. They’re grieving. And we all belong to each other. Going to funerals is a beautiful opportunity to obey the gospel commands to “mourn with those who mourn” and “bear one another’s burdens.”

Second, funerals give us another chance to declare our conviction that death does not have the final word. We grieve differently than the world grieves. We are a community of hope. We know that physical death has been defeated by Christ’s work on the cross and the Holy Spirit’s work at the garden tomb. We know we are all going to experience resurrection. So at funerals we sing praises to God. We thank him. We bask in the glory of his great promises to deliver us to the other side. We speak and preach and share together our anticipation of the new heavens and the new earth. Going to funerals is a proclamation of the gospel.

Third, attending funerals is a Christ-like, gospelesque sacrifice. It is. It takes time out of your busy schedule to go to a funeral. You have to give up part of your own day, part of your calendar, to make it to a funeral. You have to consider others better than yourself — or, at least, what they’re doing during those two hours more important than what you had planned. It’s growing in the understanding that to comfort the grieving family is more important than your own comfort. Showing love and support to the mourners is a higher priority than your shopping trip or your TV show. Hugging people and crying with people and loving on people is gospel behavior. Showing someone by your presence at a funeral that they are very important to you is extremely Christ-like. It’s very much in the way of Jesus, in Jesus’ manner, to give of yourself for the sake of others. It’s one of those transformational things. Going to funerals shapes us, molds us, changes us to be more like Christ.

As a western society, we don’t go to funerals as much as we used to. As a Christian community of faith, I think we should all make more funerals than we miss.

Peace,

Allan

Happy Birthday, Little Middle!

January 24, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Fourteen years ago today God blessed our family with a round butterball of a baby girl. Valerie Nicole. She was bigger than she was supposed to be. Way big. Off the charts big. Almost too big. Doctors and other mothers there at South Austin Medical Center came from other wings and other floors to see this nine-and-a-half-pound baby. She absolutely dwarfed all the other infants in the hospital nursery. She looked really out of place. For a couple of days, Valerie was the center of attention there,  a minor celebrity. Carrie-Anne found herself, too, being discussed among strangers in the hallways as the little bitty lady who gave birth to this huge baby. It was funny. I had to drive back to Marble Falls to get some size 3-6 months clothes for Valerie to wear home from the hospital. The newborn-0-3-months were way too small.

Valerie was big.

I look at Valerie today and the word “big” still describes her.

Oh, no, not physically. Not at all. She weighs 90-pounds soaking wet. She’s a twig. In fact, that’s what I call her sometimes. Our Little Middle child. She’s tiny. Thin as a rail. You can’t believe how skinny and little she is.

It’s her personality that is so big. Funny. Loud. Outgoing. Talented. Still the center of attention. Laughing at everything. Leading the way. I drop her off at North Ridge Middle School in the mornings and at least a half dozen girls come running to her every time. She’s confident. She’s beautiful. She’s hilarious. Silly. Everybody likes being around her. I love being around her.

Her voice is big. Big and rich. Soprano. And Valerie lives to sing. Ancient hymns and classic German and Latin Renaissance pieces with her choir. Contemporary hymns and devotional songs with our church family and our small group and her youth group. The Guess Who and Taylor Swift, Aerosmith and Justin Bieber in the car and in her room. She loves to sing. And I love listening to her.

Her heart is big. Generous. Sacrificial. Selfless. She really does put the needs of others first. Usually. She adores little kids. She can color with them, cook for them, play games with them, teach them, and never grow tired. Her heart was created, I think, to work with little kids. Sensitive. Man, she’s really sensitive, too. Ultra-sensitive to the needs of others. She can tell when somebody else is hurting. And it makes her sad. And it compels her to try to do something about it. She cries at chick-flicks and every time somebody dies on Little House on the Prairie (which is every episode). But the true bigness of her heart shows when she cries because somebody else near her is hurting. I see our God’s compassion reflected in my Val Pal. And I love it.

She’s at a funny age right now. Old enough to put on the makeup every morning and be very concerned about what she’s wearing. Old enough to roll her eyes at me when I say something corny. Old enough to show responsibility in serious matters. But still young enough to wear rainbow-striped toe-socks up to her knees, crawl around on the floor pretending to be some made-up animal, and watch Scooby Doo cartoons ’til noon on Saturday.Still young enough, too, to be thrilled when I eat lunch with her at school. Still happy to see me coming.

Oh, Valerie. You are something else, girl. God has blessed you tremendously with a big personality, a big heart, a big beautiful voice, and tons of huge potential. The possibilities for you are absolutely endless. I’m so proud of you. And I can’t wait to see how this thing turns out.

Happy Birthday. I love you.

Dad

Obliterating the Roadblocks to Christian Growth

January 21, 2011 / / 0 Comments

As you can imagine, I have a stack of articles and papers in my study here that I intend to write about in this space. As you also know, that stack tends to pile up and grow as other things press in on me and immediate concerns crowd into my blog posts. Near the bottom of this pile is something from the Spring/Summer 2010 issue of ACU Today. It’s a list of bullet points from a 1993 speech made by then university president Dr. Royse Money.

At the beginning of the speech, Money declares, “I come to you tonight with a heavy burden on my heart for the Church. As we seek to be the Church that belongs to Jesus Christ, I see hindrances along our way that impede our progress. I want to be honest with you tonight and discuss some issues and problems and challenges we face in our fellowship (Church of Christ) that are not easy or pleasant to discuss. But we must.”

This month at Legacy we’re talking about what’s NEXT. What’s NEXT in your walk with Jesus? What’s NEXT for our congregation? What is God calling you to NEXT? Where is Christ leading us NEXT? We’re looking at Peter’s “add to your faith…” We’re considering Paul’s call to “attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” and “straining toward what is ahead,” and “pressing on.”

Legacy’s elders and ministers are gearing up for our annual retreat together tonight and tomorrow at Camp Carter on the other side of Fort Worth. In the midst of our prayers and planning and reflections heading into this weekend, Money’s bullet points are worth considering. For Legacy. For your church. For your congregation’s leaders. For you as a child of God and a disciple of his Christ.

~We must realize that unity does not mean uniformity of belief.
~We must determine the essentials of faith apart from traditions, customs, comfort and personal preference.
~We must realize in dealing with those who differ with us, both within our fellowship and beyond, that tolerance and a certain level of fellowship is not the same as total endorsement of another’s views.
~We must learn to handle diversity in a charitable way.
~We must mark those who cause division among us.
~We must rediscover that in our allegiance to Christ, the bride wears the name of the Groom.
~We must realize that the enemy is Satan and not each other.
~We must determine what the real issues are regarding the role of women in the Church.
~We must decide on the way Scripture should be interpreted.
~We must realize the powerful dynamics of change.
~We must rededicate ourselves to search relentlessly for truth as it’s revealed in the Scriptures.

To Money’s excellent observations and clarion call for action, I would add a couple of my own:

~We must shift our focus from pastoring the saved inside our walls to saving the lost outside our walls.
~We must be motivated by Christ’s love instead of by a driving desire to be right.
~We must relax and stop taking ourselves so seriously as we realize we live under and in the grace of God.

We ignore these things at our own peril. Just talking about them and feeling like we’ve done something isn’t enough. Action must be taken. Hearts must soften. Lives must change. Leaders must lead. Pro-active instead of reactive. Just holding our own isn’t cutting it. Christ’s compelling love wasn’t given freely to us so we can huddle up and play church and avoid doing anything wrong. His sacrifice on the cross and the Holy Spirit’s powerful work at the garden tomb is a call to action. Holy action. Christian leadership. The Kingdom of God is “forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it!”

May our merciful Father bless us with wisdom and vision. May he graciously overcome our staggering incapabilities to lead his people forward in his eternal Kingdom.

Peace,

Allan

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