ITLOTC 4-27-18

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

Easter

What to Love?

This past Sunday the word was brought to the herd by the twofold effort of one Brother Toph Whisnant and his trusty sidekick Fred Rogers, who came back to life as he does every graduation Sunday.  

That Rog-Dog has an emotional A game is not something worth debating anymore. The proof is in the smorgasbord of mascara colors that run each year. Fred has a kindness game that rivals that of Barnabas. His instruction to love is so implicitly powerful in his demeanor and television show that you’d have to be nearly dead to miss it.  

I was struck by a moment that I’m sure didn’t escape you. There’s a bit of foreshadow to set it up. Fred reveals to us that one of the most meaningful moments of his show was when he hosted Jeff Erlanger, a little boy in a wheelchair. Then the time machine of digital editing takes us back to that show. Jeff explains that a tumor severed his spine and rendered him paralyzed in his arms and legs. Then the moment. It’s the moment that Rog-Dog discovers that his lifetime achievement award will be presented to him by Jeff. What just kills me is the amount of joy that oozes off Fred’s face when he sees and is surprised by Jeff. You would have thought Jesus Christ walked onto the stage. I should tell you that I’ve been a Christian long enough and have read enough C. S. Lewis and other Christian bookstore best sellers to know what humility is supposed to be. To quote Clive, “It is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”  That difference is powerful. My problem is that I always try to conjure things like humility, but humility won’t be conjured. It is or it is not. There is no try.

So I think about that moment on Fred’s big day and all the people in that room. It’s a big-deal room. TV hall of fame moments draw important crowds. And what always strikes me about Rog-Dog is how much more enamored he is by Jeff than by the celebrities around him. I want to be the kind of person who wants Jeff Erlanger to present him his lifetime achievement award, but the truth is, I’d rather have Brad Pitt do it. And my wanting Jeff to do it is like me trying to be humble.  

So I’ve been wondering how it is that someone falls in love with all the right kinds of things and people so that we come out looking like Jesus at the end of life.  

Theologian Emeritus and Super Ninja Stan Hauerwas wrote a book with Jean Varnier, who founded the L’Arche Community. The book is titled Living Gently in a Violent World. I’m going to paraphrase a story from that book. A deaf woman has a dream in which she sees Jesus in heaven. She wakes up and tells everyone about her dream, in which Jesus signs in the most beautiful way you’ve ever seen. Like French fingers or something dazzling. She is deeply moved by her dream. What strikes Varnier in processing her dream later is that her solution was not that her hearing was restored in heaven, it was that Jesus spoke her language. In other words, there was nothing for Jesus to heal. She was already whole.  

The saints among us can see those things. Saints like Fred Rogers. A lifetime of choosing the Jesus way has formed their hearts in the shape of Jesus’ heart. What do you see?

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Parishioner of The Week

This week we have two teachers who have taken the Mr. Roger's message to the next level winning teacher of the year.  Noel Carlson and Erin Balk are both winner champions who have turned the classroom into a holy space.  

Study Hall - Mon/Tues

It’s that time of year again, when all your hard work pays off.  This Monday/Tuesday, UBC will be open from 10am-midnight for our annual Study Hall.  We will have snacks, drinks, coffee, and a mishmash of fun. And, as always, Chef Watlers will be making the best pancakes this side heaven at 10pm on Tuesday.  Come study at UBC, your finals will be #blessed.

Sunday School

The last week of Sunday School is this Sunday, 4-29.  However, the Cheers SS class has informed us that they would like to finish their study on Mark which will take three more weeks.  So, their last class will be Sunday, May 13th.  

Pastoral Associate Applications

Each academic year UBC employees two pastoral associates.  While a modest stipend is offered to these individuals, the main goal is for interested persons to gain pastoral experience and be able to list this experience on a resume or other items.  Pastoral associates begin work in July and finish the following May.  Weekly responsibilities include attending staff meeting, helping with worship on Sunday mornings and other events as needed.  Pastoral associates are also given one ministry to oversee such as Sunday School, community partner relationships, mi casa's etc.  

Interested persons can apply here.

World Hunger Relief Fundraiser

UBC champions for the Lord!  I have great news.  This last Sunday I asked you for $2,500 to feed hungry people and waco with nutritious food and you came through!!!!  All the tabs for the fundraiser were taken and half of that money came in that morning.  If you have pledged to give you can do so a number of ways.  Go to our easytithe page and select the "benevolence option." Or you can drop off cash or check in an envelope in our mail slot under the "UBC" letters on the building at any time.  Thank you so much.  

Children's Sunday

On April 29 - This Sunday! - our kids are going to be leading us in worship at UBC! We are so excited for them to have the opportunity to lead us in worship because we think that it will be a formative moment for them as well as a formative moment for our entire congregation and we are very excited about it! If you have any questions feel free to email taylor@ubcwaco.org to ask!

Work is Worship

Greeters: Blaylocks 

Coffee Makers: 

Mug Cleaners: UBC Youth 

Money Counter:   Anna Tilson

Welcome Station: Carlsons 

Announcements

• Sermon Text: Children's Sunday 
• 5-14 Finance Team Meeting 
• 5/10-25 Thailand Mission Team in Thailand 
• 6-3 Summer Grill After Church/Picnic Party
• 7-14 Trampoline Park Fun Day 
• 8-5 Cameron Park Picnic 
• SWCC Movie Days @ UBC: 6-18, 7-9, 7-23

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members. 

Chair- Emma Wood:  emmaj.wood@yahoo.com

Byron Griffin: byrontgriffin@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

Adam Winn:  adamwinn68@yahoo.com

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

Student Position: Samuel Moore: samuel_moore2@baylor.edu

Student Position: Leah Reed: Leah_Reed@baylor.edu

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

JD Newman: JD_Newman@baylor.edu 

Hannah Kuhl: HannahKuhl@hotmail.com  

Justin Pond: pondjw@gmail.com

Anna Tilson: Anna_Tilson@jrbt.com

Doug McNamee: douglas_mcnamee@baylor.edu

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Rob Engblom: Rob_Engblom@baylor.edu

Ross Van Dyke: Ross_Vandyke@baylor.edu

Jared Gould: jared.gould1@gmail.com

Rebekah Powell: rpowell671@gmail.com

Kristen Richardson: wacorichardsons@gmail.com

Liturgy 4-22-2018

This blog is a record of the call to worship, Scripture readings, and prayers from our Sunday liturgies.  If you are interested in writing something for the liturgy, or if you have a concern about any aspect of our liturgy, please email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Call to Worship

we have gathered to worship the One who made all things

the One who is making all things new

to enter the story of God and the people of God

and find our own stories transformed

to learn to see our neighbors as God does

that we might learn to love as God does

Amen.

Scripture

Psalm 23

The Eternal is my shepherd, cares for me always.
The Eternal provides me rest in rich, green fields
   beside streams of refreshing water,
  soothes my fears;

The Eternal makes me whole again,
   steering me off worn, hard paths
   to roads where truth and righteousness echo the Name.

Even in the unending shadows of death’s darkness,
   I am not overcome by fear.
Because You are with me in those dark moments,
   near with Your protection and guidance,
   I am comforted.

You spread out a table before me,
   provisions in the midst of attack from my enemies;
You care for all my needs, anointing my head with soothing, fragrant oil,
   filling my cup again and again with Your grace.

Certainly Your faithful protection and loving provision will pursue me
   where I go, always, everywhere.
I will always be with the Eternal,
   in Your house forever.

John 10:11-18

Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.

I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

Prayer

This week's prayer was written by Maggie Griffin:

God,

We are especially grateful that you’ve given us each other. 

You gift us communities and places in which we are able to be ourselves and become ourselves.  

You use us to craft stories, plays, and melodies that point us to humanity’s many conditions, so we can better understand your people. 

You use us to teach others about art and nature, sparking awe and wonder about Your creation. 

You use us to create children’s programming to share your message of radical inclusivity, radical empathy, radical humility, and radical love. 

You use us, each in our own way, with different passions, skills and talents to offer one another a better, broader, brighter picture of your character.

You use us to offer community to each other at our loneliest; to show us grace when we can’t look ourselves in the mirror; to remind us of our part in the gospel when we’ve written ourselves out; to challenge each other when we become complacent; to sit with each other in doubt and grief and to celebrate with each other in times of joy and redemption.

God, today we are particularly grateful for the gift of the individuals who are soon graduating.  Thank you for the ways in which their presence, passion, and talents have formed our community. 

Amen.

Setlist 4-22-2018

Yesterday was the fourth Sunday of Eastertide, and our songs were gathered with that in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Heart Won't Stop by John Mark and Sarah McMillan

House of God Forever by Jon Foreman

Death In His Grave by John Mark McMillan

Shadow by Jameson McGregor

Pulse by Jameson McGregor

Doxology

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

Heart Won't Stop: We sang this song to articulate and celebrate what Easter shows us about how far God is willing to go to set things right with us.

House of God Forever: We sang this song to echo Psalm 23, which was one of yesterday's readings, celebrating God's care for us.

Death In His Grave: This song allows us to rehearse again the Resurrection story as we go through the Easter season, emphasizing both the suffering of Jesus and the victory of Jesus over death.

Shadow: This song is about the difficulty of being formed in the way of Christ.

Pulse: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Pulse then: We sang this song to acknowledge the interconnectivity of Creation and to draw ourselves toward loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos. 

-JM

ITLOTC 4-20-18

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

Easter

Eastertide (by jamie)

Let’s talk Church calendar.  We began the year waiting in the darkness and dislocation of Advent for the Light that came on Christmas.  Then during Epiphany, we came to know this Light, and in doing so, came to know what God would have us know about who God is and who we are.  After that, we entered the wilderness of Lent, coming to terms with the gap between who we are and who we are made to be, At Holy Week, we saw the Light of Christ extinguished, and on Easter, we saw the Light blaze forth again.   

We are now in the Resurrection space of Eastertide.  

In the past, I’ve mentioned that the three elements of UBC’s benediction interface with a season of the Church calendar.  “Love God,” attaches to ordinary time, “Live Life to the Fullest” attaches to Lent, and “Embrace Beauty,” attaches to Eastertide.  

Josh touched on the connection between Resurrection and beauty in his sermon last week, but I’ll take a swing at it too.

The Resurrection is an emphatic Yes to life and creation.  It’s a doubling-down on embodied existence, as if to make it perfectly clear that God didn’t create the universe and bodied creatures without reason.  It takes the wind out of the sails of the worldview that says this is all just a cage we need to escape.  It is a rewrite on the finitude of the life/death cycle of creation, adding resurrection to the end.  

All good and well, but why do we emphasize embracing beauty in this season?

A few years ago, I came across a book by Madeliene L’Engle called Walking on Water, the subtitle of which is “Reflections on Faith and Art.”  If you haven’t read it, find a reason to. 

In talking about art, she is really talking about Beauty—or, at least, the kind of beauty people can make.  She points out how difficult it is to say what exactly makes something art, or beautiful, but teases out a definition (borrowing some words from Leonard Bernstein): art is drawing cosmos out of chaos—which we might think of as saying: beauty is when cosmos emerges out of chaos.  

I like the sound of that.  It strikes me as sufficiently vague to be meaningful.

But let’s think about that a little more.

In the midst of a world that time and again (and recently, again and again) proves to be thoroughly chaotic, little pockets of cosmos break through.  Natural beauty asserts itself over against our short-sighted self-importance.  Songs, novels, films, poems, etc. re-frame our condition, and invite us to be re-framed with it.  Artists enter into their own pain and order it into something bodied, something that might resonate with someone else and cause their pain to be transformed too.  Artists stop moving long enough to experience the heights of life as well, and order the bliss from chaotic ineffability into a creative moment, and we find ourselves invited to do the same. 

But there is another way cosmos emerges from chaos in all of this.  It is in our being drawn outside of our own subjectivity and coming awake to our connectedness with our fellow creation.  Beauty invites us to shift our entombed gaze outward, and to embrace more fully the depth of the world around us.

If all of this is in any way an accurate description of beauty, we might think of the Resurrection itself as an Event of Beauty, of cosmos emerging from chaos, life emerging from death.  And, as with any work of art, we might find ourselves, the way we see, live, move, and have our being, drawn in and transformed by it.

So, as we journey through Eastertide, we join the disciples in looking for signs of the Resurrection, in places ordinary, strange, and wonderful.  And in our looking, we open ourselves to being drawn into Resurrection ourselves.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns about any of this, feel free to email jamie@ubcwaco.org. I’m working on what you might call a “long-form” version of these thoughts, so I have a lot more to say if you’re interested.

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Backside (TONIGHT)

Backside is at 7pm tonight--come hear some songs and poems, eat some baked goods, look at some art, and buy some handmade stuff.

Pastoral Associate Applications

Each academic year UBC employees two pastoral associates.  While a modest stipend is offered to these individuals, the main goal is for interested persons to gain pastoral experience and be able to list this experience on a resume or other items.  Pastoral associates begin work in July and finish the following May.  Weekly responsibilities include attending staff meeting, helping with worship on Sunday mornings and other events as needed.  Pastoral associates are also given one ministry to oversee such as Sunday School, community partner relationships, mi casa's etc.  

Interested persons can apply here.

World Hunger Relief Fundraiser

UBC champions for the Lord!  I have great news.  This last Sunday I asked you for $2,500 to feed hungry people and waco with nutritious food and you came through!!!!  All the tabs for the fundraiser were taken and half of that money came in that morning.  If you have pledged to give you can do so a number of ways.  Go to our easytithe page and select the "benevolence option." Or you can drop off cash or check in an envelope in our mail slot under the "UBC" letters on the building at any time.  Thank you so much.  

Children's Sunday

On April 29 - just over three weeks from now! - our kids are going to be leading us in worship at UBC! We are so excited for them to have the opportunity to lead us in worship because we think that it will be a formative moment for them as well as a formative moment for our entire congregation and we are very excited about it! If you have any questions feel free to email taylor@ubcwaco.org to ask!

Leadership Team Nominations

First we'd like to applaud the fearless Stan Denman, Sharyl Loeung, and Jon Davis for their leadership these last three years.  Their stints are coming to an end this April.  In addition to their departure, one of our student positions are being vacated as well.  Leah Reed is graduating and moving onto bigger, but not necessarily better things.  As a reminder, the student positions are on year commitments that can be renewed up to three years.  

So that means we are looking for new folks to serve on the leadership team.  Here is some information for you to consider from the bylaws. 

Section 1.  Leadership Team

(A) Purpose.  The Leadership Team shall be the primary decision-making body of UBC.  The Leadership Team will oversee all the business and property of the church, as well as make the final decisions regarding hiring and dismissal of staff and the acquisition and selling of assets that are beyond budgetary provisions. 

(C) Qualifications.  Each member of Leadership Team shall have been a member of UBC for at least one year, exhibited an understanding and commitment to the mission and values of the church, and be willing to fulfill all responsibilities in the Leadership Team job description.

(E) Term.  Members of Leadership Team may serve for a duration lasting up to three years.  While they are encouraged to remain the full three years, members may voluntarily remove themselves from their position at any time.  Members serving as student member commit to a year with the chance to renew up to three years. 

Nominations begin now.  So if you'd like to nominate yourself or anyone else, please use this link.

Work is Worship

Greeters: Blaylocks 

Coffee Makers: Clark Mi Casa 

Mug Cleaners: Teddi & Wesley 

Money Counter:   JD Newman 

Welcome Station: High Holy Hospitalitarians

Announcements

• Sermon Text: Mr. Rogers Sunday 
• 4-29 Leadership Team Meeting 
• Study Hall Days 4-30/5-1
• 5-14 Finance Team Meeting 

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members. 

Chair- Emma Wood:  emmaj.wood@yahoo.com

Byron Griffin: byrontgriffin@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

Adam Winn:  adamwinn68@yahoo.com

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

Student Position: Samuel Moore: samuel_moore2@baylor.edu

Student Position: Leah Reed: Leah_Reed@baylor.edu

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

JD Newman: JD_Newman@baylor.edu 

Hannah Kuhl: HannahKuhl@hotmail.com  

Justin Pond: pondjw@gmail.com

Anna Tilson: Anna_Tilson@jrbt.com

Doug McNamee: douglas_mcnamee@baylor.edu

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Rob Engblom: Rob_Engblom@baylor.edu

Ross Van Dyke: Ross_Vandyke@baylor.edu

Jared Gould: jared.gould1@gmail.com

Rebekah Powell: rpowell671@gmail.com

Kristen Richardson: wacorichardsons@gmail.com

Liturgy 4-15-2018

This blog is a record of the call to worship, Scripture readings, and prayers from our Sunday liturgies.  If you are interested in writing something for the liturgy, or if you have a concern about any aspect of our liturgy, please email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Call to Worship

we have gathered to worship the Risen Lord

Boundless Love, Embodied

to be drawn into God’s story

and find our own stories transformed

to bear the marks of the Risen Christ

that our lives might embody
the hope of Resurrection

amen.

Scripture

Psalm 4

Answer my prayers, O True God, the righteous, who makes me right.
    I was hopelessly surrounded, and You rescued me.
Once again hear me; hide me in Your favor;
    bring victory in defeat and hope in hopelessness.

How long will you sons of Adam steal my dignity, reduce my glory to shame?
    Why pine for the fruitless and dream a delusion?

Understand this: The Eternal One treats as special those like the Eternal.
    The Eternal will answer my prayers and save me.

Think long; think hard. When you are angry, don’t let it carry you into sin.
    When night comes, in calm be silent.

From this day forward, offer to God the right sacrifice from a heart made right by God.
    Entrust yourself to the Eternal.

Crowds of disheartened people ask, “Who can show us what is good?”
    Let Your brilliant face shine upon us, O Eternal One, that we may know the undeniable  
    answer.

You have filled me with joy, and happiness has risen in my heart, great delight and unrivaled    
     joy,
    even more than when bread abounds and wine flows freely.

Tonight I will sleep securely on a bed of peace
    because I trust You, You alone, O Eternal One, will keep me safe.

Luke 24:36b-48

Jesus himself stood among the disciples and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 

And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. 

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

Prayer

This week's prayer was from The Iona Community Worship Book:

O God,
Early in the morning,
When the world was young,
You made life in all its beauty and terror;
You gave birth to all that we know.

Hallowed be Your Name

Early in the morning,
When the world least expected it,
A new born child crying in a cradle
Announced that You had come among us,
That you were one of us.

Hallowed be Your Name

Early in the morning,
Surrounded by self-interested religious leaders,
Anxious statesmen
And silent friends,
You accepted the penalty for doing good,
For being God:
You shouldered and suffered the cross.

Hallowed be Your Name

Early in the morning,
A voice in a guarded graveyard
And footsteps in the dew
Proved that You had risen,
That You had come back
To those and for those
Who had forgotten, denied and destroyed You.

O God, bring new life,
Where we are worn and tired,
New love,
Where we have turned hard hearted
Forgiveness,
Where we have wounded,
And the Joy and freedom of Your Holy Spirit
Where we are the prisoners of ourselves.

Amen

Setlist 4-15-2018

Yesterday was the third Sunday of Eastertide, and our songs were gathered with that in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

All Creatures of Our God and King

Noise by Jameson McGregor

Pulse by Jameson McGregor

Because He Lives by Bill and Gloria Gaither

Heart With No Companion by Leonard Cohen

There's A Wideness in God's Mercy by Jameson McGregor (adapted from F. Faber)

Doxology

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

All Creatures of Our God and King: We sang this song to find language to worship the Creator, Sustainer, and now re-Creator of all that is.

Noise: We sang this song to voice Christ's redemption in our stories, his entering into our condition and rewriting it.

Pulse: We sang this song to acknowledge the interconnectivity of Creation and to draw ourselves toward loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Because He Lives: We sang this song to speak of the everyday hope that the Resurrection offers us--not merely a hope that it will all shake out in the end, but that the the Kingdom is breaking in in glimpses even now.

Heart With No Companion: This song is a meditation on the implications of the Resurrected Christ; specifically, the hope that reaches every kind of despair.

There's A Wideness In God's Mercy: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we sang about There's A Wideness in God's Mercy then: We sang this song to celebrate God's mercy and to remind ourselves that any view we hold about God's rigid wrath says more about us than it does God.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos. 

-JM

ITLOTC 4-13-18

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

Easter

An Interview With Peter

UBC the Magazine recently got to interview St. Peter. We talked with him about Paul, Easter traditions, and other odd facts.  

UBCtM: Hey, Peter, thanks for your time.  

Peter: You bet, thanks for having me.

UBCtM: You’ve been head of the church for almost 2,000 years now. Does that ever get tiring, and what advice do you have for pastors, priests, and other spiritual leaders concerned about longevity?

Peter: The job itself doesn’t get tiring, but the I-met-St.-Peter-at-the-pearly-gates jokes get old. I also think I’m depicted a little bit unfairly in a lot of Western art. The advice I would give is this: make sure you have good people around you that you can be honest with about how life is going. Mary-Mag, James, and I have a weekly meeting at Drink of This Cup. That’s a safe space for me to share the ways I feel fragile.

UBCtM: Mary-Mag?

Peter: Magdalene.

UBCtM: Are those your best friends?  

Peter: Well, Jesus is everyone’s best friend in heaven, but that goes without saying. So if you are interested to know if those are are my second best friends? Yes. I like Job, but he can be a downer sometimes. John is fun to be around too. He’s imaginative, but sometimes he’ll slip back into apocalyptic language when he talks about current events. People get confused by that, but I love the Christian Halloween costumes that come out of his writings.  

UBCtM: “Christian Halloween Costumes.”  Did you mean harvest festival costumes?

Peter: My bad. Yes.

UBCtM: Let’s talk about Paul for a second. The last I read about you two in Galatians, things seemed to be on thin ice. Is stuff better now?

Peter: Paul and I get along great now. He was right to confront me on my stuff back then. I think sometimes people forget the magnitude of the shift that was happening in the first century. We were all Jews who were able to see Jesus in the Hebrew Scriptures, but we still considered ourselves Jewish. That in and of itself was a radical shift and a leap of faith, but as Paul and others developed an inclusive vision of gentiles, it felt like essential elements of Jewish faith were being negotiated in the name of inclusion and relevance. Like, imagine if there was a second incarnation of Jesus and this Jesus claimed to be the person the New Testament Scriptures were always talking about. And then this Jesus proceeded to reinterpret the meaning of eschatological texts that predicted his return. That’d be trippy, right?  

UBCtM: Gosh-darn-tootin‘ right it would.  

Peter: So you are part of this revolution, but then this guy who, BTW, was murdering Christians last week says we can throw out baptism and justification by faith through grace alone so the new converts don’t feel excluded. So, yeah, I was a little apprehensive. And when my Jewish brothers came around, I left the gentile table. We all have our Robert the Bruce moments.

UBCtM: Robert the Bruce?  

Peter: Yeah, man, Braveheart. I love that movie.  

UBCtM: Paul has been a darling of the church in the West since the Reformation, and before, but especially since then. Now he seems to have fallen out of favor with pockets of the church. How is that processed in heaven?  

Peter: Interestingly, I think Paul has been misunderstood both then and now.  

UBCtM: How so?  

Peter: To the Reformers, I say that the New Perspective on Paul has some valid criticisms. Luther’s interpretation didn’t account first-century Judaism for what it was. As a result, I think Luther over- (or under-, depending on how you look at it) interpreted “works of righteousness.” Consequently, we’ve made a mess of it and pitted James against Paul. A careful reading finds consonance between grace and work.. To modern detractors I say, yes, it’s true that Paul didn’t cast a theological vision for slavery and women that seemed to match the hermeneutical trajectory of the Jesus movement, but keep in mind the guy was doing theology for a massive theological movement that was understaffed and decentralized--without Facebook and Twitter. Do you know how many letters he wrote that got lost by carrier pigeons and wizard owls? You’re lucky we got seven undisputed letters in the Bible. That’s to say nothing about the fact that Paul thought the apocalyptic era of his day was going to wrap up at any moment.  

UBCtM: Speaking of undisputed letters, who wrote Hebrews?

Peter: Jason the Gentile.

UBCtM: Shut up!

Peter: I’m just messing with you, man. No one knows but the Father . . . and the author, which I happen to know because she told me.

UBCtM: She! You serious?  

Peter: Yeah, why else wouldn’t someone take credit for that book? It’s a masterpiece.  

UBCtM: So people in heaven don’t know?  

Peter: Tough to say, but there are rumors.  

UBCtM: Why doesn’t God set the record straight?

Petere: People don’t realize God has a playful side. Once you’re delivered and saved and aren’t causing problems, you are able to experience a whole new side of God. God loves keeping us guessing. It’s like the whole heretic Easter egg hunt.

UBCtM: Do say more.

Peter: Every year on Easter, God sets up an Easter egg hunt. Most of the eggs are filled with the fruits of the Spirit, but God alway hides one golden egg. That golden egg has a heretic in it. So every year we get to see one more heretic here and learn how wide, deep, and long the love of Christ is. People go crazy for it. The banquet table is off the hook that day.  

UBCtM: Don’t people see the heretic before the reveal?

Peter: It’s too hard to explain. In heaven there’s logical sequence but no time. So it’s an all-at-once thing. Also, remember that God gives everyone a new name when they get here. Between that and glorified bodies, they are unrecognizable. God just tells the heretics to keep quiet about who they were until the big reveal.  

UBCtM: Who are some of your favorite people in heaven?

Peter: Aside from Jesus?

UBCtM: Yes.

Peter: Oscar Romero, Intan, and St. Perpetua.

UBCtM: Okay, I know Romero and Perpetua, but I don’t recall Intan from church history.  

Peter: You wouldn’t. He’s a little boy that died in the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia.  

UBCtM: Obviously I’m intrigued. Say more.

Peter: Yeah, so when stuff like that happens, it feels chaotic around here. Not because God’s not in control, but because even here in heaven we retain a sense of agency. God still lets us serve by giving us jobs. So as you can imagine, the welcome center is immediately overloaded and the party planning committee has way more than they can handle. So I volunteer in the welcome center. I met Intan that day. Intan is a sweet boy, which feels odd to speak about now because he’s being perfect and transcending age like the rest of us here in heaven, but his presence is helpful for my formation, so I like being around him.

UBCtM: How?

Peter: Well, the only one of us who can be perfectly and appropriately present to every emotion at once is Trinity. So God can always respond to prayer perfectly. For the rest of us, it’s just so hard not to get overwhelmed by joy all the time. My memories of pain are in constant danger of being extinguished by the presence of Christ. Of all the shoddy attempts at understanding heaven by human authors, I think I like C.S. Lewis’s “further up, further in” chapter best. It at least rightly alludes to the fact that heaven is ever expanding our capacity for joy in the life of God. Sometimes when I’m with Jesus, I’ll ask to stare at his scars as a meditation practice. It helps me mourn for the world. Otherwise I feel phony doing it because it’s perfect here. Intan is a gift in the same way. He reminds me of the anguish of those who are still waiting for all of this. But even then I just get so excited for them when I think about the moment heaven will come to them in death.  

UBCtM: Interesting stuff. You’ve given us a lot to think about. Thanks for your time, Pete. We hope you’ll do this again.  

Peter: Sure thing.  

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Pastoral Associate Applications

Each academic year UBC employees two pastoral associates.  While a modest stipend is offered to these individuals, the main goal is for interested persons to gain pastoral experience and be able to list this experience on a resume or other items.  Pastoral associates begin work in July and finish the following May.  Weekly responsibilities include attending staff meeting, helping with worship on Sunday mornings and other events as needed.  Pastoral associates are also given one ministry to oversee such as Sunday School, community partner relationships, mi casa's etc.  

Interested persons can apply here. 

Backside - April 20

If you are a musician, poet, storyteller, visual artist, baker, or otherwise creative type, we are having an open mic/open wall/open table event at 7pm on Friday, April 20.  If you are interested in participating, sign up in the lobby on Sunday, or email jamie@ubcwaco.org!

Graduate Luncheon - April 22

If you are graduating (hs, college, masters, or phd), we would love to have you stay for lunch after church Sunday, April 22nd.  The service that day will be our annual graduate commissioning service, and we would like to invited those are graduating to stay for lunch with the staff.  There will be a sign-up sheet in the foyer the next two Sundays.  If you have any questions, please shoot toph@ubcwaco.org an email.

Children's Sunday

On April 29 - just over three weeks from now! - our kids are going to be leading us in worship at UBC! We are so excited for them to have the opportunity to lead us in worship because we think that it will be a formative moment for them as well as a formative moment for our entire congregation and we are very excited about it! If you have any questions feel free to email taylor@ubcwaco.org to ask!

Town Hall Agenda

Our quarterly town hall will take place after church this Sunday.  These are the items that will be addressed there and at the leadership team meeting on Sunday, April 29th.  

• Finance update
• Land Update 
• Deacon Update- I really needed a better word to describe this, but as a result of some conversations staff and leadership have been in about connectedness we are investigating a way to offer more connectedness and care at UBC.
• Leadership Team Members 
• Cuba Partnership 
• HR Reviews
• Scholarship Renewals 

Leadership Team Nominations

First we'd like to applaud the fearless Stan Denman, Sharyl Loeung, and Jon Davis for their leadership these last three years.  Their stints are coming to an end this April.  In addition to their departure, one of our student positions are being vacated as well.  Leah Reed is graduating and moving onto bigger, but not necessarily better things.  As a reminder, the student positions are on year commitments that can be renewed up to three years.  

So that means we are looking for new folks to serve on the leadership team.  Here is some information for you to consider from the bylaws. 

Section 1.  Leadership Team

(A) Purpose.  The Leadership Team shall be the primary decision-making body of UBC.  The Leadership Team will oversee all the business and property of the church, as well as make the final decisions regarding hiring and dismissal of staff and the acquisition and selling of assets that are beyond budgetary provisions. 

(C) Qualifications.  Each member of Leadership Team shall have been a member of UBC for at least one year, exhibited an understanding and commitment to the mission and values of the church, and be willing to fulfill all responsibilities in the Leadership Team job description.

(E) Term.  Members of Leadership Team may serve for a duration lasting up to three years.  While they are encouraged to remain the full three years, members may voluntarily remove themselves from their position at any time.  Members serving as student member commit to a year with the chance to renew up to three years. 

Nominations begin now.  So if you'd like to nominate yourself or anyone else, please use this link.

Work is Worship

Greeters: Richardsons 

Coffee Makers: Jacob and KT

Mug Cleaners: Andrew & Carson 

Money Counter:   Doug M. 

Welcome Station: Kerri & Melissa 

Announcements

• Sermon Text: Luke 24:36-48 "Easter Embodied" 
• 4-22 Mr. Rogers Sunday  
• 4-29 Chidren's Sunday 
• 4-29 Leadership Team Meeting 
• Study Hall Days 4-30/5-1
• 5-14 Finance Team Meeting 

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members. 

Chair- Emma Wood:  emmaj.wood@yahoo.com

Byron Griffin: byrontgriffin@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

Adam Winn:  adamwinn68@yahoo.com

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

Student Position: Samuel Moore: samuel_moore2@baylor.edu

Student Position: Leah Reed: Leah_Reed@baylor.edu

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

JD Newman: JD_Newman@baylor.edu 

Hannah Kuhl: HannahKuhl@hotmail.com  

Justin Pond: pondjw@gmail.com

Anna Tilson: Anna_Tilson@jrbt.com

Doug McNamee: douglas_mcnamee@baylor.edu

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Rob Engblom: Rob_Engblom@baylor.edu

Ross Van Dyke: Ross_Vandyke@baylor.edu

Jared Gould: jared.gould1@gmail.com

Rebekah Powell: rpowell671@gmail.com

Kristen Richardson: wacorichardsons@gmail.com

Liturgy 4-8-2018

This blog is a record of the call to worship, Scripture readings, and prayers from our Sunday liturgies.  If you are interested in writing something for the liturgy, or if you have a concern about any aspect of our liturgy, please email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Call to Worship

we have gathered to worship
the Creator and Sustainer of all that is

the Lord of Resurrection,
making all things new

seeking to be drawn into God’s story

and to draw God’s story into our own

to be drawn together in one heart and soul,
clothed in the extraordinary grace of God

that our lives might be reflections
of Resurrection hope.

Amen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scripture

Psalm 133

How good and pleasant it is
   when brothers and sisters live together in peace!
It is like the finest oils poured on the head,
   sweet-smelling oils flowing down to cover the beard,

Flowing down the beard of Aaron,
   flowing down the collar of his robe.
It is like the gentle rain of Mount Hermon
   that falls on the hills of Zion.

Yes, from this place, the Eternal spoke the command,
   from there the Eternal gave the Eternal’s blessing—life forever.

Acts 4:32-35

During those days, the entire community of believers was deeply united in heart and soul to such an extent that they stopped claiming private ownership of their possessions. Instead, they held everything in common.

The apostles with great power gave their eyewitness reports of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Everyone was surrounded by an extraordinary grace.

Not a single person in the community was in need because those who had been affluent sold their houses or lands and brought the proceeds to the emissaries of the Lord.

They then distributed the funds to individuals according to their needs.

Prayer

This week's prayer was written and read by Tylor Standley:

God of all we know and, more importantly, all that we do not know, 

We come to continue the two-thousand-year celebration of the resurrection of your son. Some of us as doubters, and some with unshakeable faith. We ask for your patience when our doubt gives way to despair, and for your forgiveness when our certainty gives way to zealous intolerance.

We come to listen to stories of the signs you performed in the presence of your disciples, signs that point us toward the cloud of unknowing, and the clarity that comes when we enter there--signs that reveal the mystery that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God who gives life.

Sometimes, it is frustrating that we can only read of these signs from disciples who were there—disciples who heard, who saw with their eyes, who looked at and touched with their hands the revelation of the Word of Life. Easter was so long ago.

And yet, Easter is not over, for we are your Resurrection People and you are revealed by our togetherness. So, we gather not just to hear about signs, we gather to make them. We gather, because by doing so we see your body with our eyes, we look at and touch with our hands. 

Let those of us who have believed be of one heart and soul, let us share all things in common. And through our unity with one another, let us be unified with you. Let us be children of love and peace.

Amen.

Setlist 4-8-2018

Yesterday was the second Sunday of Eastertide, and our songs were gathered with that in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Crown Him With Many Crowns

Amazing Grace by Citizens & Saints

There's A Wideness in God's Mercy by Jameson McGregor

Murdered Son by John Mark McMillan

Inbreaking by Jameson McGregor

Mystery by Jameson McGregor (adapted from Charlie Hall)

Doxology

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

Crown Him With Many Crowns: We sang this song to orient our attention toward Jesus as the Risen Lord, whose power is made perfect in weakness and whose reign is underscored by nonviolence and love.

Amazing Grace: As we enter Resurrection season, this song offers us language to articulate the sustaining presence of God's grace through the deaths and resurrections we experience in the course of life.

There's A Wideness In God's Mercy: We sang this song to celebrate God's mercy and to remind ourselves that any view we hold about God's rigid wrath says more about us than it does God.

Murdered Son: This song speaks to the death of Jesus as it relates to our own deaths; namely that Christ has grabbed us and raises us with him.

Inbreaking: This song is a plea for the Slaughtered Lamb to raise hope out of brokenness and draw us into the Resurrection life.

Mystery: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Mystery then: We sang this song to proclaim Jesus' rise from death at the hands of political and religious oppressors, and raised this as a challenge for us to rise to the aid of the oppressed.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos. 

-JM

ITLOTC 4-6-18

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

Easter 2 - by Taylor

The Gospel text from the Lectionary this week is John 20:19-31. It’s the story of Thomas the Doubter. V. 24-31 say the following:

“But Thomas, sometimes called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, “We saw the Master.” But he said, “Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won’t believe it.” Eight days later, his disciples were again in the room. This time Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said, “Peace to you.” Then he focused his attention on Thomas. “Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don’t be unbelieving. Believe.”  Thomas said, “My Master! My God!” Jesus said, “So, you believe because you’ve seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing.” Jesus provided far more God-revealing signs than are written down in this book. These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way he personally revealed it.” John 20:24-31

T the story of Thomas might be one of my favorite stories because it is such a reminder of how I often interact with God in my own life. Because I like to think of myself as someone who is fairly good at dealing with authority. I like to think that I don’t have issues taking direction or listening to input from other people. And honestly – you know – I can say I have grown in those areas over the past several years (although there’s plenty of growth to come). But those things do not come easily.

It’s easy to see (now) that those things stem from a sense of pride – from my own sense that I am definitely right and that my ideas are the best ideas in every situation. That’s obviously not a great (or healthy) way to walk through the world – but it does help me understand Thomas’ point of view here. It would be hard for me to believe my friends or coworkers if they told me that something impossible happened if I had not witnessed that thing for myself. And I also have a tendency toward the dramatic (in case you haven’t noticed), so I can practically here myself saying, “Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won’t believe it.” I can imagine that seemed like the most reasonable thing to say at that particular moment.

But I also have been surprised by God in so many big and generous ways (none of them even coming close to the size or generosity of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection) and in those moments I have found that my reaction is always similar to Thomas’ reaction upon seeing Jesus. “My Master! My God!”

I love so much that Jesus walks Thomas through that moment. That he says to him, “Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don’t be unbelieving. Believe.”  Because those are the words I so often need to hear. Don’t be unbelieving – Believe. And I love even more that Thomas doesn’t need to stick his hand in Jesus’ wounds – in the presence of the risen Christ Thomas has no use for hyperbole because the most wonderful and extravagant thing is right in front of him. Belief comes easy.

But that is not always the case as Thomas and Jesus and the author of the Gospel of John remind us – “These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way he personally revealed it.” – there will be plenty of days when belief is hard to come by. And that’s ok. But as we continue walking through this Easter season, let us strive to be a people of belief so that in the act of believing we might have real and eternal life in the way that Jesus personally revealed it.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns about any of this, feel free to email taylor@ubcwaco.org.

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Parishioner of the Week

Adair McGregor for an incredible job preparing flowers for our Easter extravaganza this Sunday. 

Town Hall

There will be a town hall after church Sunday April 15.  The meeting will happen after church and last about 30 minutes. 

Backside - April 20

If you are a musician, poet, storyteller, visual artist, baker, or otherwise creative type, we are having an open mic/open wall/open table event at 7pm on Friday, April 20.  If you are interested in participating, sign up in the lobby on Sunday, or email jamie@ubcwaco.org!

Graduate Luncheon - April 22

If you are graduating (hs, college, masters, or phd), we would love to have you stay for lunch after church Sunday, April 22nd.  The service that day will be our annual graduate commissioning service, and we would like to invited those are graduating to stay for lunch with the staff.  There will be a sign-up sheet in the foyer the next two Sundays.  If you have any questions, please shoot toph@ubcwaco.org an email.

Children's Sunday

On April 29 - just over three weeks from now! - our kids are going to be leading us in worship at UBC! We are so excited for them to have the opportunity to lead us in worship because we think that it will be a formative moment for them as well as a formative moment for our entire congregation and we are very excited about it! If you have any questions feel free to email taylor@ubcwaco.org to ask!

Cesar Chavez Teacher/Staff Encouragement

We are providing lunch to the folks at CCMS next week to encourage them during testing, and in addition to lunch we are writing an encouraging note.  If you could take some time before or after the service on Sunday to write an encouraging note to the folks at CCMS, that would be wonderful.  The notes and basket will be on the foyer table.  If you have any questions, please email toph@ubcwaco.org 

Leadership Team Nominations

First we'd like to applaud the fearless Stan Denman, Sharyl Loeung, and Jon Davis for their leadership these last three years.  Their stints are coming to an end this April.  In addition to their departure, one of our student positions are being vacated as well.  Leah Reed is graduating and moving onto bigger, but not necessarily better things.  As a reminder, the student positions are on year commitments that can be renewed up to three years.  

So that means we are looking for new folks to serve on the leadership team.  Here is some information for you to consider from the bylaws. 

Section 1.  Leadership Team

(A) Purpose.  The Leadership Team shall be the primary decision-making body of UBC.  The Leadership Team will oversee all the business and property of the church, as well as make the final decisions regarding hiring and dismissal of staff and the acquisition and selling of assets that are beyond budgetary provisions. 

(C) Qualifications.  Each member of Leadership Team shall have been a member of UBC for at least one year, exhibited an understanding and commitment to the mission and values of the church, and be willing to fulfill all responsibilities in the Leadership Team job description.

(E) Term.  Members of Leadership Team may serve for a duration lasting up to three years.  While they are encouraged to remain the full three years, members may voluntarily remove themselves from their position at any time.  Members serving as student member commit to a year with the chance to renew up to three years. 

Nominations begin now.  So if you'd like to nominate yourself or anyone else, please use this link. 

Work is Worship

Greeters: Ricky & Rose 

Coffee Makers:  Emmy & Caroline 

Mug Cleaners: Cooleys 

Money Counter:   Hannah Kuhl 

Welcome Station: Kerri & Melissa 

Announcements

• Sermon Text: Acts 4:32-25
• 4-13 Date Night
• 4-13&14 College Spring Retreat 
• 4-15 Town Hall 
• 4-20 Backside
• 4-22 Mr. Rogers Sunday  
• 4-29 Chidren's Sunday 

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members. 

Chair- Emma Wood:  emmaj.wood@yahoo.com

Byron Griffin: byrontgriffin@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

Adam Winn:  adamwinn68@yahoo.com

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

Student Position: Samuel Moore: samuel_moore2@baylor.edu

Student Position: Leah Reed: Leah_Reed@baylor.edu

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

JD Newman: JD_Newman@baylor.edu 

Hannah Kuhl: HannahKuhl@hotmail.com  

Justin Pond: pondjw@gmail.com

Anna Tilson: Anna_Tilson@jrbt.com

Doug McNamee: douglas_mcnamee@baylor.edu

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Rob Engblom: Rob_Engblom@baylor.edu

Ross Van Dyke: Ross_Vandyke@baylor.edu

Jared Gould: jared.gould1@gmail.com

Rebekah Powell: rpowell671@gmail.com

Kristen Richardson: wacorichardsons@gmail.com

Liturgy 4-1-2018

This blog is a record of the call to worship, Scripture readings, and prayers from our Sunday liturgies.  If you are interested in writing something for the liturgy, or if you have a concern about any aspect of our liturgy, please email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Call to Worship

we have gathered to worship the Living God

proclaiming that Christ has died, Christ is Risen,
and Christ will come again

to be drawn into God’s story

and find our own stories changed
into stories of Resurrection

that we might be formed into Resurrection people

sowing life where there is death
and hope where there is brokenness.

Amen

Scripture

Isaiah 25:6-9

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines,
of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.

And he will destroy on this mountain
the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
he will swallow up death forever.

Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.

It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God;
we have waited for him, so that he might save us.

This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

Mark 16:1-8

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint Jesus.

And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”

When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.

But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”

So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Prayer

This week's prayer was written and read by Sharyl Loeung:

Risen One
Author of Light
and Life
You are victorious

We are here today because
You Are Victorious

Some of us here today need to know victory
We need to know victory in our own lives
We need to know that Light conquers darkness

So we look to you this Easter season and we ask you to show up
Show up along the road as we travel
May your presence be as real to us as it was on the Road to Emmaus, but
May we recognize you
See you
& may we point you out for each other along the way

Setlist 4-1-2018

This past Sunday was Resurrection Sunday, and our songs were gathered with that in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

In the Night by Andrew Peterson

Wayward Ones by The Gladsome Light

Hope by Jameson McGregor

Death In His Grave by John Mark McMillan

Mystery by Jameson McGregor (adapted from Charlie Hall)

When Death Came Calling by Jameson McGregor

Be Thou My Vision

Doxology

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

In the Night: This song is a stream of stories about God showing up in the midst of despair in the Bible.  It carried us through Lent, and on Sunday it was our entry into Easter.

Wayward Ones: We sing this song every time we take communion to remind ourselves of a couple of things.  First, we are a broken people--though we are seeking to become more like Jesus, we often fail at this.  Second, Christ has given Himself for us despite our brokenness.  We take communion to remember the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf, even though we did not, and do not, deserve it.

Hope: We sang this song to give voice to the hope of Resurrection.

Death In His Grave: This song narrates Jesus' defeat of Death and rescue of humanity from destruction.

Mystery: We sang this song to proclaim Jesus' rise from death at the hands of political and religious oppressors, and raised this as a challenge for us to rise to the aid of the oppressed.

When Death Came Calling: This song is a song of grief and resurrection.

Be Thou My Vision:  Throughout the Lenten season, we have closed our liturgies with these words to reaffirm our desire to seek our vision, wisdom, and security in God alone.  On Easter, we added the final stanza into the mix, and asked Christ to be our victory as well.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos. 

-JM

ITLOTC 3-30-18

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

Lent

Jesus' Obituary

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Parishioner of the Week

Jana Parker, for pretending to be a donkey and letting toddlers ride on her back on Palm Sunday. 

and 

Tylor Standley for getting a twitter response from Mark Hamill.  

Leadership Team Nominations

First we'd like to applaud the fearless Stan Denman, Sharyl Loeung, and Jon Davis for their leadership these last three years.  Their stints are coming to an end this April.  In addition to their departure, one of our student positions are being vacated as well.  Leah Reed is graduating and moving onto bigger, but not necessarily better things.  As a reminder, the student positions are on year commitments that can be renewed up to three years.  

So that means we are looking for new folks to serve on the leadership team.  Here is some information for you to consider from the bylaws. 

Section 1.  Leadership Team

(A) Purpose.  The Leadership Team shall be the primary decision-making body of UBC.  The Leadership Team will oversee all the business and property of the church, as well as make the final decisions regarding hiring and dismissal of staff and the acquisition and selling of assets that are beyond budgetary provisions. 

(C) Qualifications.  Each member of Leadership Team shall have been a member of UBC for at least one year, exhibited an understanding and commitment to the mission and values of the church, and be willing to fulfill all responsibilities in the Leadership Team job description.

(E) Term.  Members of Leadership Team may serve for a duration lasting up to three years.  While they are encouraged to remain the full three years, members may voluntarily remove themselves from their position at any time.  Members serving as student member commit to a year with the chance to renew up to three years. 

Nominations begin now.  So if you'd like to nominate yourself or anyone else, please use this link. 

Work is Worship

Greeters: Walters 

Coffee Makers:  No Coffee Makers This Week 

Mug Cleaners: No Mug Cleaners This Week 

Money Counter:   Justin Pond 

Welcome Station: Tom & Kareem

Announcements

• Sermon Text:  Mark 16:1-8 "where is Jesus?" 
• 4-13&14 College Spring Retreat 
• 4-15 Town Hall 
• 4-20 Backside
• 4-22 Mr. Rogers Sunday  
• 4-29 Chidren's Sunday 

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members. 

Chair- Emma Wood:  emmaj.wood@yahoo.com

Byron Griffin: byrontgriffin@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

Adam Winn:  adamwinn68@yahoo.com

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

Student Position: Samuel Moore: samuel_moore2@baylor.edu

Student Position: Leah Reed: Leah_Reed@baylor.edu

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

JD Newman: JD_Newman@baylor.edu 

Hannah Kuhl: HannahKuhl@hotmail.com  

Justin Pond: pondjw@gmail.com

Anna Tilson: Anna_Tilson@jrbt.com

Doug McNamee: douglas_mcnamee@baylor.edu

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Rob Engblom: Rob_Engblom@baylor.edu

Ross Van Dyke: Ross_Vandyke@baylor.edu

Jared Gould: jared.gould1@gmail.com

Rebekah Powell: rpowell671@gmail.com

Kristen Richardson: wacorichardsons@gmail.com

Liturgy 3-25-2018

This blog is a record of the call to worship, Scripture readings, and prayers from our Sunday liturgies.  If you are interested in writing something for the liturgy, or if you have a concern about any aspect of our liturgy, please email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Call to Worship

we have gathered to worship the One whose mercy endures forever

the One whose love unfolds in our brokenness

to step into the story of God and the people of God

and find our own stories transformed

that we might take up the mind of Jesus

who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited, 

but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave, 
being born in human likeness. 

And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death-- 
even death on a cross. 

Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name
that is above every name, 

so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend, 

in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord, 
to the glory of God the Father.

Amen

Scripture

Isaiah 50:4-9a

The Lord God has given me
the tongue of a teacher, 
that I may know how to sustain
the weary with a word. 

Morning by morning he wakens--
wakens my ear
to listen as those who are taught. 

The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious, 
I did not turn backward. 

I gave my back to those who struck me,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; 

I did not hide my face
from insult and spitting. 

The Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced; 
therefore I have set my face like flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame; 
he who vindicates me is near. 

Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together. 
Who are my adversaries?
Let them confront me. 
It is the Lord God who helps me;
who will declare me guilty?

Mark 11:1-11

When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it.

If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street.

As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it.

Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,

“Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Prayer

This week's prayer was written and read by Emma Wood:

God, we have a problem.
Our culture is sick and, unknowingly, we have caught humanity’s disease.

In our separation from You who birthed us,
We have become vulnerable to fear, power, oppression and the seduction of knowing.

Remind us that you cannot be understood. Remind us that as we grasp to be formed into kingdom people that we will never get it right because of our humanness.

God, you know that we have good intentions. But it seems that our world has made you one dimensional. Our feeble attempts at knowing you have made you male, aged, power seeking, and exclusive.

We have begun to hate you in your fullness. Misogyny has run rampant in our governments, institutions, organizations, gatherings and households. We have denigrated your divine feminine attributes. We have admonished boys and men when they dared to feel. We have systematically created a world in which women have been assigned second class citizenship. We have pathologized the feminine imago dei.

We have labeled women as “emotional,” “sensitive” and “irrational,” we have blamed them for their own abuse, exploitation and oppression. We have denied that this sin is an issue, we have felt justified as we’ve pointed out all the ways in which women are treated fairly in this world. We have suggested that perhaps their lack of representation at the highest levels can be explained by their inherent inferiority. By biological differences. By innate skills and qualities that end up being fulfilled in devalued social positions. We have criticized your creation time and time again until it has become our truth. Lord, forgive us for our ignorance.

Let us not forget that

Lord, you are our Dayspring, the source of life, a mother nursing her child.

You are our Comfort, a mother hen drawing her chicks under wing.

You are Wisdom, the intuition of felt knowledge, that which cannot be rationalized.

Lord, You are Mercy. You became flesh and told a story in which Jesus overthrew power structures and spoke radical, inclusive, misfit love. A story in which time and time again Jesus turns the systems of the world on its head by elevating the role of women, intentionally affirming their value and dignity.

This is the story of the Lenten season in which we anticipate with bated breath the living Christ, the good news in which, through finding the tomb empty, women are the very first humans to witness your promise fulfilled. God, thank you for breaking the rules our world has constructed, thank you for revealing your inclusive truth through the Word and through the Gospel message.

God, we need help.

Help us to see you in your fullness, and to see your fullness in all people.

Help us to question gender roles and oppressive power structures.

Open our eyes to the ways in which we have internalized a God made in man’s image- and give us strength and humility to listen to and privilege the voices of women, the feminine and the oppressed amongst us.

In a world where the feminine circle has been placed below the masculine line we are reminded that you have revealed yourself as a circle, alpha and omega, beginning and end, as eternal.

I pray that UBC can become a people that hold man’s image of you loosely, that this image be laid down as we humbly embrace your mystery. 

Amen.

Setlist 3-25-2018

Yesterday was Palm Sunday, and our songs were gathered with that in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Here is Our King by David Crowder* Band

Come Thou Fount

Rise Up by BiFrost Arts

In the Night by Andrew Peterson

Be Thou My Vision

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

Here Is Our King: We sang this song to enter into the part of the Jesus story where he enters Jerusalem.

Come Thou Fount: This song offers us language to seek vitality from God in the wilderness of Lent, and encourages us to look at who God has been for us in order to expect who God will continue to be for us.

Rise Up: We sang this song as a petition for God to rise to the defense of the weak in a world that privileges the strong.

In the Night: This song carries us through Lent all the way to Easter.  It is a record of God’s showing up in the midst of despair throughout the biblical narrative.

Be Thou My Vision:  Throughout the Lenten season, we will close our liturgies with these words to reaffirm our desire to seek our vision, wisdom, and security in God alone.

-JM

ITLOTC 3-23-18

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

Lent

Entering In

And just like that, Lent is basically over.  Time is weird.  

As we roll into Holy Week, I want to reassert the charge I offered on Ash Wednesday: put on some intense blinders and ignore that you know how this story goes.  

Enter into the story with the disciples.  

Let yourself really think you understand who Jesus is and what it means for Jesus to be the Messiah—the domination and defeat of the enemies of God and the political re-establishment of the people of God in the world.  

Let yourself feel secure in your decision to fall in behind divine power—to be on the right side of history, so to speak.

Let yourself feel the buzz of anticipation that the wait for a better tomorrow is almost over.

Do this so that the arrest of Jesus on Thursday feels like a gut punch.

Do this so you can carry the hope against hope alongside the disciples that Jesus is simply biding his time as he is tortured and maimed; that he will soon stop it all and kill his oppressors with a wink.

Do this so when you hear that he has been crucified, you want run as fast and as far as you can, feeling like an utter fool for being so wrong and throwing the life you were building away.

Do this so when you wake up on Saturday, meaning itself is shattered and it seems your life is ruined.

Because it is in this despair that we are best postured to encounter the utter confusion, wonder, and hope of Easter.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns about any of this, feel free to email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

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Parishoner of the Week

Natalie Ramirez for leading music and crushing it this last Sunday. 

Lost And Found

As a reminder, the lost and found will be purged on Monday, March 26th.  Please check that bin, located in the copy room behind Kim's office if you think you might have something in there. 

Holy Week Schedule

3-24 SWCC Easter Egg Hunt (see below)

3-29 Maundy Thursday.  Join us for a potluck dinner mixed with the M.T. liturgy.  The service will conclude with communion.  This event will take place in the backside.  This extravaganza will begin at 5:30 P.M. CST

3-30 Good Friday.  This service will take place in the sanctuary.  Service will begin at 5:30pm

Annual Easter Egg Hunt

Come out to our annual Easter Egg Hunt with the South Waco Community Center.  The fun will begin at 11am, and we will most certainly be finished by noon.  Please bring your own basket to place eggs in.  The Easter Egg Hunt is on March 24, at 11am.  The address for the SWCC is 2815 Speight Avenue.  If you have any questions, please toph@ubcwaco.org. 

College Spring Retreat

Are you freshman or sophomore who is looking for a great experience at an epic college retreat? Well then look no further than UBC.  Brother Toph will be leading a group of courageous champions like yourself on a two night/three day retreat on April 13/14 2K18.  You can sign up after church or email toph@ubcwaco.org.  

Work is Worship

Greeters: Blaylocks 

Coffee Makers:  Jacob & KT

Mug Cleaners: Youth 

Money Counter:  JD Newman 

Welcome Station: Braodduses

Announcements

• Sermon Text:  Val Fisk Preaching for Women's Month 
• 3-25 Palm Sunday 
• 3-29 Maundy Thursday Service 
• 3-30 Good Friday Service 
• 4-13&14 College Spring Retreat 
• 4-15 Town Hall 
• 4-20 Backside
• 4-22 Children's Sunday 

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members. 

Chair- Emma Wood:  emmaj.wood@yahoo.com

Byron Griffin: byrontgriffin@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

Adam Winn:  adamwinn68@yahoo.com

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

Student Position: Samuel Moore: samuel_moore2@baylor.edu

Student Position: Leah Reed: Leah_Reed@baylor.edu

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

JD Newman: JD_Newman@baylor.edu 

Hannah Kuhl: HannahKuhl@hotmail.com  

Justin Pond: pondjw@gmail.com

Anna Tilson: Anna_Tilson@jrbt.com

Doug McNamee: douglas_mcnamee@baylor.edu

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Rob Engblom: Rob_Engblom@baylor.edu

Ross Van Dyke: Ross_Vandyke@baylor.edu

Jared Gould: jared.gould1@gmail.com

Rebekah Powell: rpowell671@gmail.com

Kristen Richardson: wacorichardsons@gmail.com

Liturgy 3-18-2018

This blog is a record of the call to worship, Scripture readings, and prayers from our Sunday liturgies.  If you are interested in writing something for the liturgy, or if you have a concern about any aspect of our liturgy, please email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Call to Worship

we have gathered to worship
the Forgetful God revealed in Jesus Christ

to devote our attention
to the One whose compassion blots out our sin

seeking to be formed by the renovating memory of God

into people whose hearts mirror God’s own

whose minds are open to the wisdom of the Spirit

and whose lives are joined
with God’s work of re-Creation in the world.

Amen.

Scripture

Jeremiah 31:31-34

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

John 12:20-33

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

Prayer

This week's prayer was written and read by Emmy Edwards:

God,
We want to see You.
We want to know You.
We want to love You.

Merciful God,
Forgive us for the ways we close our eyes when You show us Your face in the faces of the downtrodden.
Forgive us when we hid our minds from You in shame, fear, or guilt.
Forgive us when we love our own designed comfort instead of You.

Mysterious God,
So today, even in the wilderness, we ask for new eyes, new minds, and new hearts.

We ask to see You more – even if it’s just to expand our world.
We ask to know You more – even if it’s just to know how greatly we’re known by You.
We ask to love You more – even if it’s just to grasp at the hem of your cloak.

God,
You are relentless in Your pursuit of us and all Your beloved.
You invite us to see You, to know You, and to love You.
You invite us to be redeemed.
Today, and moment by moment each day, will You give us the grace to say yes?

Amen

ITLOTC 3-16-18

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

Lent

Five Women I admire

It's women's month.  You knew that right?  So in this blog I'm going to tell you about 5 women that I admire.  

Rule: I can't be related to the people because of course I would say my wife, daughters, mom, sisters, etc.  

5. Michelle Obama: UBC is a wonderful church in many ways.  One of those ways is that it does not place job expectations on my family.  I'm acutely aware of how bad the job of pastor's spouse can be, because I saw my mom do it.  Lindsay always tells people she grew up Catholic so she doesn't have any model to work with anyway.  Ha.  There is a job that has to be worse than being the spouse of clergy though, and that is being the spouse of a politician.  I 100% agree that politicians are elected officials who should be held accountable for their decisions and even more accountable when they seem to ignore the voice of their constituents, and I think criticism comes with the job, but I often think criticism is turned to cruelty.  All that to say, I think the weight that every 1st lady carries is a remarkable thing.  There have been many good ones.  I happen to be a big Laura Bush fan as well.  That being said, because of the politics of race in this country, I think few if any, carried a load as heavy as Michelle Obama.  Never once did I see not respond without dignity and class.  She is a remarkable individual who I'm proud to point out to my children as an example of elegance and strength.  

4. Terri Gross: I love asking people hypothetical questions like, "if you could have any job in the world or you had to do another job than the one you have, what you pick?"  My answer that that question is always, "I would do Terri Gross's job."  If you don't know and didn't infer, she hosts the daily NPR talk show Fresh Air.  It is to me a show about humanity.  Her guests have no vocational, demographical, or national uniformity.  She interviews all kinds of people.  I've often noted about myself that one thing that never seems to tire within me is my curiosity.  I love discovering new ideas and people.  Terri Gross has a career of perfecting curiosity and asking intriguing questions to mine for meaning in people.  I have learned a good deal both from her guests, but also from her ability.  

3. Barbara Brown Taylor: I've read more of BBT's sermons than anyone else's.  There are few who can do so much with so little.  Sometimes when I'm writing sermons and I'm stuck I have to force myself not to read BBT.  That's right I said NOT read BBT, because as soon as I do I know that will be the end of the my creative instinct.  The problem is she's likely done it and done it better.  In that regard reading her can be deflating.  Kind of like playing PIG with Michael Jordan. I can't say something like, "BBT taught me how to preach."  1. That would be overstated, 2. My style is nothing like hers and 3. I'm not even nosebleed section of the same stadium, much less same ballpark.  But I do think BBT has taught me how to think.  I got a text today.  It asked, "who are some theologians you love."  I listed a few, but then confessed I don't read much theology anymore.  Then about a half minute later I decided I do read theology, just not the kind that academics care about.  BBT is not just a great preacher, she is a theologian and an ecclesiastical pioneer.  

2. J.K. Rowling:  Yes, this one is obvious because I'm a nerd.  You probably saw it coming as soon as you read the title of this post.  It may surprise you to know that for the first 5-6 years of Harry Potter's book and film life, I scoffed at the idea of children's book about wizards.  In the first year of our marriage when we were dirt poor and Netflix wasn't a thing, Lindsay and I rented a lot of movies form the library and went to what we called "the dollar theatre."  One semester they had a deal. If you bought there plastic cup, you could refill it as many time as you wanted.  So we'd buy two tickets and medium popcorn for $5.  We ended up going to the movies so often that sometimes we'd go without knowing what was playing and watch the movie that started the closest to the time we arrived.  Eventually Harry Potter part 3 made it's way to the dollar theatre. Desperate for a good movie, we decided to rent the first two from the library and watch the third at the dollar theater.   That was our Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights that weekend.  I remember when we walked out of the theater after the third movie.  I looked at Lindsay and said, "She is so unbelievably creative."  That was the hook.  I bought all the books and became a lifelong fan afterwards.  I think theology, our world views, are collected narratively.  No, I'm not claiming J.K. Rowling is a theologian, but I do think she teaches people about what matters.  

1. Lindsay Carney: OK, I lied, but I wanted to build the suspense.  In the good marriages I know one person usually remarks, "we love each other more now than ever."   Here's a different way to say that.  Stanley Hauerwas says that you can't possibly know what you mean when you say your vows.  I think that's right.  It's a commitment we make without knowing what's being committed.  For that reason marriage has the potential to be a marvelous adventure.  In most of my closest relationships I find that at some point I need distance.  What's remarkable to me about my wife is that I grow more fondly of her with time.  I don't need distance from her.  She is an extraordinary mother, wife, teacher, but she is also a good human.  I feel safe when I'm with her and I feel like she strengthens my belief in God because she makes God known through her presence in our home and lives.  She is strong and beautiful and she is everything that is beautiful about being a woman.   

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Parishoner of the Week

Kelly and Matthew Palmer for staffing the welcome station both weekends of spring break.  

Welcome Team

You may have noticed that we have a welcome station for first time visitors in the coffee room. We are looking for a team of people to be willing to serve in the role of welcoming new people. If you feel like you have great social skills and a passion for helping people connect to UBC, email josh@ubcwaco.org.  Time commitment is from 9:45-10:00 A.M. on Sunday mornings. 

College Spring Retreat

Are you freshman or sophomore who is looking for a great experience at an epic college retreat? Well then look no further than UBC.  Brother Toph will be leading a group of courageous champions like yourself on a two night/three day retreat on April 13/14 2K18.  You can sign up after church or email toph@ubcwaco.org.  

Annual Easter Egg Hunt

Come out to our annual Easter Egg Hunt with the South Waco Community Center.  The fun will begin at 11am, and we will most certainly be finished by noon.  Please bring your own basket to place eggs in.  The Easter Egg Hunt is on March 24, at 11am.  The address for the SWCC is 2815 Speight Avenue.  If you have any questions, please email toph@ubcwaco.org

Work is Worship

Greeters: Richardsons 

Coffee Makers:  Kailey Davis 

Mug Cleaners: Andrew & Carson 

Money Counter:  Anna Tilson

Announcements

• Sermon Text:  Taylor Post Preaching for Women's Month 
• SWCC Easter Egg Hunt 
• 3-25 Palm Sunday 
• 3-29 Maundy Thursday Service 
• 3-30 Good Friday Service 
• 4-13&14 College Spring Retreat 
• 4-15 Town Hall 
• 4-22 Children's Sunday 

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members. 

Chair- Emma Wood:  emmaj.wood@yahoo.com

Byron Griffin: byrontgriffin@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

Adam Winn:  adamwinn68@yahoo.com

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

Student Position: Samuel Moore: samuel_moore2@baylor.edu

Student Position: Leah Reed: Leah_Reed@baylor.edu

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

JD Newman: JD_Newman@baylor.edu 

Hannah Kuhl: HannahKuhl@hotmail.com  

Justin Pond: pondjw@gmail.com

Anna Tilson: Anna_Tilson@jrbt.com

Doug McNamee: douglas_mcnamee@baylor.edu

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Rob Engblom: Rob_Engblom@baylor.edu

Ross Van Dyke: Ross_Vandyke@baylor.edu

Jared Gould: jared.gould1@gmail.com

Rebekah Powell: rpowell671@gmail.com

Kristen Richardson: wacorichardsons@gmail.com

Liturgy 3-11-2018

This blog is a record of the call to worship, Scripture readings, and prayers from our Sunday liturgies.  If you are interested in writing something for the liturgy, or if you have a concern about any aspect of our liturgy, please email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Call to Worship

we have gathered to worship
our Creator and Sustainer

seeking rest in the wilderness of Lent

and hoping to be formed
more fully in the way of Christ

to make his self-giving love our own

and to seek the wisdom of the Spirit of God

that we might pursue the Kingdom of God
with our lives

Amen

Scripture

Numbers 21:4-9

From Mount Hor the Israelites set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way.

The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.”

Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.”

So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.”

So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

John 3:14-21

Jesus said, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

Prayer

This week's prayer was written and read by Kim Stübben:

God,

So much of the time things are unexplainable, they are so difficult that they are beyond comprehension, so painful that they defy logical thought, so confusing that hope is hard to grasp onto. 

But you make ways. That sounds cliche, but I know it’s true because you promise that you make ways. When life gets to be a way where we can’t fathom making it, somehow we do. Somehow, regardless of what life is or where it takes us, you are there. 

So much of the time I want to know why. I want to know what the purpose is for it all. I want to know the reasons things happen. Why do we suffer? Why is pain so prevalent? Why, how, can we be the source of so much pain?

Though we can’t know why (even though we try so much of the time to make sense of it all), help us to be aware when we are the cause. We can’t control so much of what happens in our world, but help us navigate the way you set, the path you wish us to go. Help us bring light into the darkness, even when it is us that dim the light. 

Amen. 

Setlist 3-11-2018

Yesterday was the fourth Sunday of Lent, and the songs were gathered with that in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Your Love Is Strong by Jon Foreman

Wandering by Jameson McGregor

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

In the Night by Andrew Peterson

Be Thou My Vision

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

Your Love Is Strong: We sang this song to begin our gathering by proclaiming the self-giving love of God.  

Wandering: This song gave us language to celebrate God's faithfulness to us despite our inconsistent faithfulness to God.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about  O Love That Will Not Let Me Go then: Lent can be a daunting season as we come to terms with our sin.  We sang this song to remind ourselves of the enduring love of God.

In the Night: This song carries us through Lent all the way to Easter.  It is a record of God’s showing up in the midst of despair throughout the biblical narrative.

Be Thou My Vision:  Throughout the Lenten season, we will close our liturgies with these words to reaffirm our desire to seek our vision, wisdom, and security in God alone.

-JM