The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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The Cup of Blessing

October 19, 2007 / / 1 Comment

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”

The central image in the great 23rd Psalm is the prepared table, an obvious symbol of provision and honor. The fact that our Shepherd / King provides for us and honors us “in the presence of my enemies” paints a beautiful portrait of our God’s protection and blessing while we journey through life on earth. A life lived in the presence and power of God is still a life lived in a world not yet restored to the wholeness God intends. So, even though we presently experience divine presence and reward, we are still among the enemies.

We should recognize that being in Christ doesn’t mean the troubles, cares, pains, and dangers of this world are removed from us. We remain “in the presence of” our enemies. However, we should ask ourselves and reflect on the ways, day after day, our Father is setting a table for us in the presence of those enemies.

One of the ways our Lord protects us and provides for us is in acts of love and service done for us by our Christian brothers and sisters. When the culture and the world seek to taunt us and tear us down, we find comfort and strength in the handshakes of friendship, the caring hugs, the community of fellowship, and the unity we share in the blood of Jesus.

These acts of love toward us become tables prepared by God — and his people — in the presence of our enemies who want to ridicule us and shatter our hopes.

God prepares the table of provision and protection and honor. I challenge you, today, to become a caterer at that table to those we know and love who are surrounded by enemies.

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We’re preparing now to take Legacy from a church that does small groups to a “Small Groups Church.” And it seems the biggest hurdles here in making that transition are related to the concept of breaking down the already established larger groups into smaller groups so more people can be invited in. This is a church-wide struggle here. It’s not just one age group or demographic. Young, old, in-between — there are lots of people here very worried about breaking out of their comfort zones and their comfort circle of friends and engaging other brothers and sisters in the congregation who don’t have those kinds of friendships and connections.

In our congregational informational meetings (the next one is set for Tuesday evening, October 23) everyone completely buys into the concepts of applying the Word, connecting as a family, and evangelizing our community through Small Groups. But lots of people don’t seem to understand how it’s up to the established groups, who already see the significance of what we do, to lead the other 65-70 percent of the congregation in the same direction. I keep hearing that they’re afraid they’re going to lose their friends if they begin a new group. I keep hearing that what they already have as a group is so special, so meaningful, so deep and intimate, they don’t want to lose it.

If it’s that special and meaningful and deep and intimate, why in the world wouldn’t you want to share it? Why wouldn’t you want to grab three or four other families in our church and help them experience the same thing? Why wouldn’t you do everything you could — if it’s really that great — to mentor others to help them grow and minister in the same ways you have?

You must read Jennifer Green’s blog post from yesterday. Click here. She and her husband Aaron see the benefits of Small Groups. And while they’re deeply connected to an existing group in our Young Families Class, they’re determined to start a new group in January so they can involve other people in our church who need it just as badly as the rest of us. They already have in mind a couple of neighbors on their street they’re going to invite and involve. They’ve been praying about it for weeks. And they can’t wait for January. They’re already inviting people to join them. They’re encouraging the entire class to follow their enthusiastic example.

If you’re nervous about commiting to a new group or leading a new group or breaking your existing group up in order to minister to others, Jennifer’s blog will inspire you. Read it.

Thank you, Aaron and Jennifer. And thanks to all who are jumping in.

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The Cowboys’ last two games have been decided in the 4th quarter. In both of those 4th quarters, combined, all 30 of the closing minutes against the Bills and Pats, Terrell Owens was thrown to five times. He’s seen five 4th quarter passes come his way in the past two 4th quarters. He dropped one. Two were intercepted.

For the entire season, Owens has only three 4th quarter catches.

And here’s T.O. from Wednesday:

“That’s all on the quarterback. All I can do is run my routes. Look at the film and there’s some situations and opportunities for me to get the ball.”

Let the turmoil build.

Minnesota has the league’s worst ranked defense against the pass. You think Romo’s going to be throwing the ball all over the place Sunday? The Vikings also have the #1 rushing offense in the NFL. I’m thinking the Cowboys are going to lose the time of possession battle as badly as they did against New England. And if they’re throwing 75-percent of the time, that’s not going to translate into a win.

Peace,

Allan

Living as an Individual in Community

October 18, 2007 / / 1 Comment

Almost everything I do from the pulpit I do in the context of community. The Community of Faith. The Church. The Family of God. I believe that God creates us, he brings us together, and he sustains us to live in community. I believe part of being created in the image of God is in our living in community the way he does. We give each other life and support each other and share in relationship just as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit do. And I think this way of thinking is critical. I think it’s paramount to our Christian walk.

I believe it takes a village to raise a child. I believe the business of the Church is to create a culture that is counter to the culture we experience in the world. I believe nobody is saved by himself. No one gets to Heaven alone.

I believe that and I teach that because the God of Heaven and Earth, the God of Holy Scripture acts on behalf of people. He intercedes and interferes for people. And when he acts with and for and through individuals, his purpose and his mission is focused on a much larger group. Of people.

Christianity and discipleship is done in community.

But then the Sermon on the Mount reminds us that the standards of our community — even our church community — will not save us. As critically important as they are, the conduct and behavior and beliefs of the Church will not redeem us. What is paramount in that regard is our individual and personal commitment to walk in the ways of God.

Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount that our Father sees what we keep secret. What we don’t show to anybody else, he knows. It doesn’t matter what other people think about me, my Father knows if my religion is just a show. He knows if I’m just performing for the people who hear me preach. He knows if I’m just faking it for the people sitting next to me on my pew. He knows.

Jesus tells us that the day is coming when people will present themselves to him in judgment and show him all the great and mighty deeds we’ve done in his name. We preached Jesus. We defeated Satan. We helped people. And we did it in the name of the Christ. I preached. I baptized. I ran the shoe department at Give Away Day. I visited the sick. I cooked for that family. I co-led a Small Group. And I did it all in the name of Jesus.

And the answer Jesus will give to so many that day is, “Who are you? Have we met? You must have been calling on somebody else all those years. I don’t have a clue who you are. And those things you did were actually evil.”

If we seek Jesus and Jesus alone, if we purify our hearts and take care to devote ourselves only to the Father, we will never have that fear. It’s in that we become truly his.

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I’m happy to direct you to “Talkin’ The Walk,” a daily blog now being written by our Youth Minister here at Legacy, Jason Brown. I’m more impressed every day with Jason’s love for our Lord and for the young people and families of this congregation. He and I struggle with the same things as far as culture and Christ, youth ministry versus family ministry, and a host of other related dilemmas. He’s passionate about walking in the Jesus Way. And about taking as many people with him as he can. I thank God for Jason and his wife, Cori, and their precious daughter, Rylee. I’m blessed to know him. You’ll be blessed to read him.

Peace,

Allan

Whitney Update

October 17, 2007 / / 0 Comments

The tests at UT Medical Center in Dallas only took about an hour and a half. It seemed like the same kinds of tests Whitney’s already done. But they also took a couple of vials of blood for some other testing. An MRI is being scheduled for either Friday or Monday. And we’re set to meet with doctors one week from tomorrow, Thursday the 25th, to go over all the results. So it’ll be at least one more round of tests — hopefully only the MRI — and maybe several days before we know anything at all about Whitney’s swollen optic nerves.

The neuro-opthamologist did tell Carrie-Anne today that Whitney’s eyes, her actual eyeballs, appear to be normal and healthy. So that’s pretty good news.

 Whitney appears to be in her normal good spirits, as well. Please, keep our oldest daughter in your prayers. And I’ll keep you updated here.

May our God bless us and all our kids.

Allan

THE Call to Discipleship

October 17, 2007 / / 1 Comment

As disciples of the Christ, what we want to know — what we need to know — is not what this or that man wants us to do or what this or that church wants us to do. What we want and need to know is what Jesus wants of us. When we assemble as followers of Jesus and listen to a sermon, we want to hear the Word of Christ; his Word, not man’s.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in the introduction to his The Cost of Discipleship:

“The real trouble is that the pure Word of Jesus has been overlaid with so much human ballast — burdensome rules and regulations, false hopes and consolations — that it has become extremely difficult to make a genuine decision for Christ. Of course it is our aim to preach Christ and Christ alone, but when all is said and done, it is not the fault of our critics that they find our preaching so hard to understand, so overburdened with ideas and expressions which are hopelessly out of touch.”

I’m teaching a Wednesday night class, beginning this evening, on the Sermon on the Mount as recorded by Matthew in Matthew 5-7. It’s so rich and it’s so deep. It’s so broad and huge and meaningful and life-changing. And it’s so simple. And it’s so demanding.  And it’s straight from the mouth of our Lord and Savior.

And it’s not some list of unattainable high ideals that are neat to talk about and hope for but ultimately impossible to achieve while we live in this world. The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ call to discipleship to him. The Sermon on the Mount, when internalized and taken for what it is, the teachings of our King, transforms us into his image.

Again from Bonhoeffer:

“When the Bible speaks of following Jesus, it is proclaiming a discipleship which will liberate mankind from all man-made dogmas, from every burden and oppression, from every anxiety and torture which afflicts the conscience. If they follow Jesus, men escape from the hard yoke of their own laws, and submit to the kindly yoke of Jesus Christ. But does this mean that we ignore the seriousness of his commands? Far from it. We can only achieve perfect liberty and enjoy fellowship with Jesus when his command, his call to absolute discipleship, is appreciated in its entirety.

The command of Jesus is hard — unutterably hard — for those who try to resist it. But for those who willingly submit, the yoke is easy and the burden is light.”

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                          ***Legacy Construction Update***

Welding  Welder  WorkScene

Sparks are flying! Here are some pictures of all the welders and welding today at the Youth and Benevolence Center here at Legacy.

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At 12:30 today our oldest daughter, Whitney, will see a neuro-opthamologist in Dallas regarding her swollen optic nerves. They’ve promised three or four hours of tests. And then, who knows what?

I know Lance and Keith and Tonia and the entire Legacy Junior High Youth Group lifted her up in prayer at last night’s Bible study. Our brothers and sisters here at Legacy are also praying. I know so many of our dear friends in Marble Falls are lifting her up to our Father. And all of our family and friends from Austin to Fresno and everywhere in between are doing the same. Thank you. Thank you for all the prayers and cards and kind thoughts. It means a lot to Whitney and it means the world to us.

Cynthia, thank you for the comment you left this morning. And for the passage of Scripture that speaks so perfectly to us today. “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.” Psalm 68:19.

Peace,

Allan

The Anti-Christ Church

October 16, 2007 / / 6 Comments

The title of today’s post is taken from Eugene Peterson’s The Jesus Way.

We had another of our wonderful Small Groups Planning Committee Meetings last night, a beautiful blend of young and old, men and women, the practical and the creative, thinkers and doers, all committed to helping our Legacy church family become more closely connected with each other and our God. At one point our discussions last night turned to the Lord’s Supper. Communion. The Eucharist. The purpose of that fellowship meal. How it works. And the power of sharing that meal with God’s people around a Christian table.

The Lord’s Supper is a living, breathing metaphor that portrays our complete unity with each other and our total submission to our Father. God calls us to the table — in a congregational setting on a Sunday morning with several hundred other disciples or with a dozen brothers and sisters in Jim and Pat’s kitchen — to enter into that four-fold liturgy that we find in the Passover and in the Last Supper and in each of Jesus’ resurrection meals: taking, blessing, breaking, and giving.

In our communion together, the life of Jesus is taken and blessed and broken and distributed. And that shapes our lives as we give ourselves to each other and to our community. Christ in us is to be taken, blessed, broken, and shared in our testimony and service. Christ in us was distributed to over 2,300 needy people here Saturday — economically disadvantaged children, single mothers, jobless fathers. And it’s around the table where that style of living is nurtured and taught.

But that’s not the American Way. Sharing a meal together in the name of Jesus in someone’s house isn’t enough. It’s not nearly “enough” for the American Christian. We need bigger and flashier and better and louder. We’re a nation of consumers. And so we try to get people into our churches by giving them what they want. Eugene Peterson writes:

“We identify what they want and offer it to them, satisfy their fantasies, promise them the moon, recast the Gospel in consumer terms: entertainment, satisfaction, (I would add “experience”), excitement, adventure, problem-solving, whatever. This is the language we Americans grow up on, the language we understand. We are the world’s champion consumers, so why shouldn’t we have state-of-the-art consumer churches?

Given the conditions prevailing in our culture, this is the best and most effective way that has ever been devised for gathering large and prosperous congregations. Americans lead the world in showing how to do it. There is only one thing wrong: this is not the way in which God brings us into conformity with the life of Jesus and sets us on the way of Jesus’ salvation. This is not the way in which we become less and Jesus becomes more. This is not the way in which our sacrificed lives become available to others in justice and service. The cultivation of consumer spirituality is the antithesis of a sacrificial, ‘deny yourself’ congregation. A consumer church is an anti-christ church.”

With the “end” in mind: the giving of our lives fully to Christ and his Kingdom, the “means” really do matter. In fact, aren’t the end and the means really the exact same thing?

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Larry Tolleson has sent me a bunch of pictures he took while we were at Texoma a couple of weekends ago. I was mostly interested in the shots of Tate rounding second during the kickball game. Larry provides pictures of Tate running to third(notice Shanna in the four-wheeler in the background that started the tragic chain of events) and of Tate immediately after he separates his shoulder. He missed the actual slip and fall that resulted in the injury. Or maybe he just chose not to forward that picture, proving that his feelings toward Tate and his situation are much more sensitive than mine.  But he also got a clean shot of Jennifer trying to cram his arm back in the socket. Ah, memories.

HeadedToThird  TateGoesDown Separation

Here are some other random shots of us and the kids that weekend.

Carley FirstTime? HomeRun  Hot&Steamy MadFace  WhitGoesDeep

Peace,

Allan

Let the Turmoil Begin!

October 15, 2007 / / 3 Comments

SadRomoI thought it would take much more than a single blowout loss to the dynastic Patriots. I was hopeful throughout the entire Bills game last Monday night that, two losses in a row — against Buffalo and New England — would really show us what this Cowboys team is made of. It would be at that point we’d recognize that a brand new head coach, two brand new offensive and defensive coordinators, and a quarterback starting a season for the first time in his career can’t be any good. Not to be mention T.O.’s presence in that locker room. The fingerpointing would begin, the doubt would start to creep in. Questions. SadSonOfBum

And then, maybe, possibly, they’d lose to Minnesota and go into the bye week on a three game losing streak. Writers and reporters have to make up stories during the bye week. And all those stories would focus on what’s wrong with this lousy team.

Bingo. Turmoil.

But that Bills win nipped all that. A single blowout loss to the Patriots means nothing. It’s out of conference. It’s to a Super Bowl caliber team that whips everybody. No big deal. It’s just one loss. They’re still 5-1 and in the driver’s seat.

But I’m reading and hearing some of the stuff coming out of the Cowboys locker room last night and I think they might be already cracking at the seams. They may be even more fragile than we thought they were.

Terrence Newman was asked about the coverage on Kyle Brady’s TD catch that completely turned Roy Williams around in the end zone. Newman’s response was, “We had some guys doing some things that weren’t that smart.”

Tony Romo blasted Kyle Kozier on the field and on the sidelines for his holding penalty that negated a first down run on 4th and 1. That’s all well and good. As the quarterback, that’s Romo’s job. But Romo tells reporters last night the game was lost on that one play. The game was over when Kozier held.

Nice.

RomoGoesDownRomo also made it a point to say repeatedly last night that the Cowboys offense was playing under a lot of pressure because their defense couldn’t stop New England. He compared it to the way it felt playing quarterback at the end of last season when they couldn’t stop anybody and the Cowboys had to score tons of points or lose.

Nice.

When Wade Phillips was asked about the decision to kick the field goal on 4th and goal from the five, down 14 points with ten minutes to go, he said, “If we had a play that could score, I would think we’d have run it on 3rd down.” When told of Phillips’ comments, offensive coordinator Jason Garrett said he did have a play in mind, but he wasn’t asked.

Beautiful.

One loss. And already the back biting and finger pointing.

The Cowboys have played two games this year against playoff-caliber offenses. And they’ve been ripped apart by both of them. Eli Manning threw for 312 yards and four TDs in the opener. Brady yesterday threw for 388 yards and five scores. And both of those games were at Texas Stadium. After Minnesota’s Tarvaris Jackson next week, they face Donovan McNabb, Eli Manning, Brett Favre, Jon Kitna, and McNabb again. It’s not too late to make a quarterback trade for your fantasy league.

48 points is the most the Patriots have scored in a game in 23 years. The Patriots scored six offensive touchdowns. The Cowboys scored two. The Cowboys haven’t scored a first quarter touchdown since the middle of last December. How are you going to get down 14-0 to the Patriots and expect to win? You can’t play catchup all game long with New England. The Cowboys offense never got on the field. New England went 11-17 on third downs. After the game, Roy Williams, the most overrated player maybe in Cowboys history, berrated reporters, “Just because we couldn’t stop them on third down doesn’t mean we’re a bad defense!”

Isn’t that the very definition of a bad defense?

One more quote. Terrell Owens made a big show by saying he wouldn’t talk with reporters, specifically about Randy Moss, until after the game. The two times reporters asked a question of Owens about Moss his reponse was simply, “Next question.”

Nice.

Let the turmoil begin.

Go Vikes,

Allan

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