Thailand Update - Final

We have been back from Thailand for approximately 48hrs now, and I have been asked many times how the trip was.  This is always a difficult question to answer, in part, because it is hard to sum up two weeks of cross-cultural experiences in one conversation.  However, I will try to attempt of a few highlights in this final blog.

Our ministry partners in Chiang Mai work with South Asian immigrants in a major tourist area in the city.  Their work with these immigrants include a house church, helping people connect with others from their home country, and building relationships that reflect the light and love of Jesus Christ.  We talk a lot about relational evangelism within Christian circles, and our ministry partners spend their ordinary everyday living out Truth.  We, as a team, had the opportunity to participate in their work, and place ourselves in their shoes for a few days.

Over the course of the first two days of shop visits, we were able to meet and connect with 13 new people from South Asia, something that would have taken our ministry partners months to a year to do.  During our time in Thailand, we spent time praying for the human trafficking nightmare that exists there, and praying specifically for those who are involved in the sex trade.   We were told 2 days before we left, by one partners we connected with while there, 2 pedophiles were arrested during our last week in Thailand, and two children were set free from their bondage. According to our ministry partner, she attributed this as a direct result of so many people praying for God to move and justice to be served.

We also had the privilege of worshipping with fellow believers from India, Nepal, Myanmar, and Bangladesh, singing songs of praise in Hindi as well as in English.  We heard one particularly powerful testimony from our friend Prabhu, who is from India.  He is in Thailand to study and become a missionary, his vision is to plant a church for Thai people.  He came to Thailand without the support of friends and family, yet trusting God to provide.  Once he had moved, his parents (who are Hindu) said they felt compelled to help him with his work in Thailand, although they do not understand why he is there.  Our friend Prabhu gives thanks to God for his provision.

Thank you for praying for the team while we were in Chiang Mai.  We learned and experienced at a great deal while were there.  We learned about South Asian Culture, Thai Culture, and the influences of Buddhism on the daily life of Thai’s.  We participated in prayer walks in the temples, tourist areas, and human trafficking hubs of Chiang Mai.  We were given a glimpse of how the Spirit is moving in Thailand, India, Nepal, Myanmar, and Bangladesh.  I would like to leave you with a quote shared by one of ministry partners our last night in Thailand: “Sometimes we have too much information, and not enough transformation.”  Please continue to pray for our team, that the Spirit would transform us more into the image of Christ because of our time in Thailand.   Please pray for our ministry partners in Chiang Mai, and please to continue to pray for Truth to be know throughout South Asia. 

Embrace Beauty,

Toph

*this is a photo overlooking Chiang Mai (it is also my first photo with a selfie-stick)

Setlist 5-29-2016

This was the second Sunday after Pentecost, and our songs were once again gathered with the Holy Spirit 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 recordings from Sunday morning of a few of them, and below the recordings, there is an example of one way you might think of these songs in light of this week's theme. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me atjamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Just A Closer Walk With Thee

Your Love Is Strong by Jon Foreman

Be Thou My Vision

Pain by Jameson McGregor

Holy, Holy, Holy

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. 

Just A Closer Walk With Thee: In the wake of Pentecost, we have entered into ordinary time, though the Holy Spirit is still very much on our minds.  Just A Closer Walk With Thee is in many ways a song we might think of as being directed toward Jesus, but the Spirit is our connection to the Person of Jesus.  Furthermore, the presence of the Spirit among us is central to our following Jesus, as Jesus lived by the Spirit.  With this in mind, the core petition of this song is addressed to Jesus, but seeks the guidance of the Spirit.

Your Love Is Strong: This song is essentially a meditation on the Lord's Prayer, with an emphasis on being transformed into Kingdom people.  When we think of transformation, we think of the Spirit--the Spirit is the One who does the weaving of our stories, who dwells in our interconnectivity and helps to shape us.  We sang this song to ask the Spirit to continue this work.

Be Thou My Vision:  As with the previous two songs, we sang this song as a petition to the Spirit to shape us into people whose vision, wisdom, security, and hope, are all oriented toward the love of God.  

Pain: I had the opportunity to share this song a couple of months ago at a service at Baylor that was a Space for Lament for people affected by sexual violence.  This song is ultimately about how damaging pain of all kinds can be when buried inside of us, and how God is able and willing to take the weight of our pain.  By that, I don't mean take it away, though I believe in time God moves us forward on a journey of healing (however that might look), but instead I mean that God takes the weight upon Godself--that we don't carry it alone.  The second verse of the song has a more particular kind of pain in view: that of keeping secrets, of sweeping our own evils under the rug and carrying around the guilt.  God carries this pain with us as well, and enacts healing for these situations.  Last week, the institution of Baylor began the process of reckoning with its own evils.  And this reckoning has the potential to be painful in many different ways.  But God is in the midst of this kind of pain too.  I recently put out a video of this song, which you can watch here:

Holy, Holy, Holy: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at our songs from two weeks ago (I was out of town last week).  This is what we said about Holy, Holy, Holy then: We sang this song to begin our time together singing about the particularity of God, as we acknowledge the Spirit as part of the Trinity for the first time in the Christian calendar this year.

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 5-27-16

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

Pentecost

"A Word on Lament"

Sometimes I struggle in deciding what to acknowledge in the world around us.  Be that the world within Waco or across the globe.  The events of the last 24 hours seem inescapable.  As you may know, we spent the Lenten season addressing sexual violence in worship.  Jamie led that charge, but he was inspired and helped by the words of our friends, some of them within our community and some of them from beyond.  Sharyl Loeung was one of the instrumental voices in crafting that moment and she's also a member of the leadership team.  So I thought it best if I scraped what I wrote for the newsletter on Monday and asked her to write something instead.  She graciously agreed to this on such a short notice.  

_____________________________________________________________

I find myself a bit lost today. I believe it is safe to assume I’m not the only one in our community that feels the same. It has been quite a week for our little Wacotown. Here we are again, entrenched in scandal. 

For many of us, employment at Baylor, association to Baylor by alumni status, as parent’s of Baylor students, as Baylor fans, this entire situation has brought about conflicting emotions. Some have taken to social media to vent our concerns, others have only been able to process in hushed tones and via text messages. 

Personally, I find myself stuck somewhere between the protocol of an employee and bound as a minister who has already been vocal about the need to address rape culture in our midst. Yet in part, I wonder if my church experience has denied me of a language for days like yesterday.

If you grew up in a church like mine or even no church at all, you probably didn't hear much about lament. Churches in the U.S. prefer a model of celebration and praise. We live in a privileged society that rarely feels the need to lament, but without lament our theology is incomplete. Lament challenges our celebratory assumptions with the reality of suffering. Walter Brueggemann defines lament as the language of suffering. Lament is a cry for justice against oppressing injustice. It's an emphasis on telling the whole story, pretty or not. Any attempt to diffuse or minimize the emotional response of lament only adds to the suffering. Lament must run its course. The appropriate response to lament is to be present while expressing lament alongside the sufferer rather than trying to explain it away. We must practice holding a space for lament. 

It’s in practicing lament I’ve come to realize, somewhere along the way, I had learned to ask, “how does this situation affect me?” with my reaction directly related to the latter question. There was little concern for community. Certainly little concern for someone’s who’s needs directly conflicted with my own. The communal practice of lament leads to corporate confession of corporate sin (something Jamie challenged us with during the Lenten season). Bell Hooks might describe this simply as identifying our place in the social order of things and what actions we might take to make things right. 

    As I think about how overwhelming the task before us is, I am encouraged that I am not alone. I am not called to every corner of the university, the city, the church to make things right. I am limited in my giftings, but there are so many of you with different gifting, called by the Spirit to hold your space and enact change. There will be hard work ahead, but too many have suffered horror at the expense of a blind eye here, a dismissive tone there, and outright denial of truth all around. We have much to lament, much to repent, and much to do. May the church be the light in the darkness. May we come together for the Kingdom in the same way we have come together for championship games. 

Further Reading: 

Bruggemann, Walter. Peace. St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2001.

Rah, Soong-Chan. Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2015.

Rohr, Richard. A Lever and a Place to Stand: The Contemplative Stance, the Active Prayer. Mahwah, NJ: HiddenSpring, 2011. 

www.strongwomenwrite.org

http://www.unsilent.org/ (Locally based. Caution: Content may require trigger warnings)

Meet Our Newest Pastoral Associate

This June marks the conclusion of our time with our first year of pastoral associates.  We couldn't have been more thrilled with the work Liz Andrasi and Luke Stehr did for us.  As we get ready to say goodbye to them we welcome two new pastoral associates.  We'd like to introduce them to you this week and next week.  

Name: Marshall Cook

Reason you are in Waco:  G.W. Truett Theological Seminary & Deep, abiding personal affection.

Best restaurant in Waco: Taqueria El Crucero

Scripture that means something to you: The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.  The KJV really nails that one even with beta spelling of "fullness" .

TV Show?: Scrubs; Hon. Mention: New Girl

Book?:  Brother to a Dragonfly by Will D. Campbell

Summer Fun Activities

If you are in the process of filling up the summer fun calendar, let me interest you in a pair of opportunities.  Our summer Sunday School Class, the Breakfast Club, will begin meeting at 9:30 A.M. in the backside, starting June 5th.  This will be a breakfast potluck, hang out time, concluded by a small liturgy.  Still haven't had enough UBC fun?  Join us for Tuesday MD Chain lunches.  As you may or may not remember, Toph has led a group to Tuesday dive lunches over the past few summers.  As you also may or may not know, Toph is gone on sabbatical, which means I will take over lunches.  And here is the great news.  Instead of local dives we will are going to chains that serve Mountain Dew.  It's going to be riveting.  So mark your calendars and come with an appetite. 

UBC Root Class Camp-In

We are SO excited to welcome the newest members of the UBCKids Root Class!  To celebrate this big step, we would like to invite all incoming 1st graders and current Root Class members to our 4th Annual Root Class Camp-In!  There will be food, games, camp-crafts and tons of fun in the "Great Indoors" of UBC!  We hope your kiddo can join us!  Contact Emily if you have questions or would like to help out!

Work is Worship

Greeters: Rick and Jeff 

Coffee Makers: Chad

Mug Cleaners:  Team Wood 

Money Counter: Hannah Kuhl 

Announcements:

• Sunday Sermon Text: Luke 7:1-10, "impressing Jesus" 
• Please continue to be in prayer for our Thailand team, which travels home soon. 

Do you have an emergency and need to talk to a pastor? 

254 413 2611

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- Kristin Dodson: kschwebke@prodigy.net

Joy Wineman: joy.wineman@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

David Wilhite: David_Wilhite@baylor.edu

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

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

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

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.

Maxcey Blaylock: maxceykite@gmail.com

Mathew Crawford: mathewcrawford@yahoo.com

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Rob Engblom: Rob_Engblom@baylor.edu

Ross Van Dyke: Ross_Vandyke@baylor.edu

UBC in Thailand - Blog #3

Our time in Thailand is quickly winding down, and we are beginning to put into words the experience(s) we have had as a team.  Last night, we were asked to write a short statement of what we have been challenged with, or a prayer we have going home.  Below you will the find the statements from the team; we were asked to keep the statements to roughly 140 characters.  Please continue to pray for our team and the ministry here in Thailand, we look forward to sharing our experiences with you when we get back.

“In the midst of my daily routine, do I find intentionality in my steps?  Are those steps only caring for myself, or do they seek to invest and be transformed by others?”

“Feeling convicted about how my consumption affects the people, animals and the environment in developing countries like Thailand. Also about how intentionally I spend my time.”

“I've learned to pursue Christ in the way I am called, I must step outside of my comfort zone.”

“This hasn't been the typical Ubc trip for me. We haven't product anything tangible like a school or a house. But something tangible in my heart has started happening. I have been able ask myself hard life questions that I hope will draw me closers to YHWH. And that will hopefully transform my life.”

“Here in Thailand I have been challenged to become a better listener of the Spirit, and to be more intentional in my conversations, words, and free time.”

“At the beginning of the year I wanted to meditate on and bring into practice being intentional, it wasn't until this week that I fully understood what intentionality meant.”

“Our ministry partners have been a great example of how to be intentional our everyday lives and shown us how easy it can be to talk to people about Jesus Christ.”

“Being surrounded by so many cultures and ideas has taught me so much and has really broadened my view of faith.”

“Thank you Thailand for showing me the beauty in Earth, in all your people regardless of religion, and in bold intentionality. #champ4dalord”

“In Thailand, our ministry partners reminded me that the importance of ministry isn't defined by the number of people it converts.”

“Being immersed in such a different culture like Thailand has shown me many things about my own. From our crazy demands, to incredible opportunities. #thankful”

“My view of the kingdom of God has moved both from head to heart and from narrow to broad by seeing how different people, cultures, and places are all needed and all contribute to the kingdom as a whole in its full picture.”

“Thailand has expanded my view of the community of faith by giving me the opportunity to connect with believers from entirely different cultures than my own #seeyouinheaven #haveanicelife”

UBC IN Thailand - Blog #2

Welcome to our second update in the #UBCinthailand blog.

Today was a blast and a half for the team. After a devotion in Colossians and a culturally inclusive breakfast spread, we loaded up in the songthaews and with iconoclast strides headed to the mountains.

Our destination was the sticky waterfalls, and a fedora-clad new friend of ours (Orvil) was able to accompany us.  Sticky waterfalls are named as such because the rock formations are mostly porous limestone. This means that we were able to “swim upstream” and climb up all four tiers of the waterfall.

After a refreshing morning in God’s creation, the team was rejuvenated for a typical afternoon of shop visits. At this point in the trip we have begun to form relationships with some of the shopkeepers. Today, we were able to return to familiar shops and continue ongoing conversations and relationships in hopes of engaging in spiritual conversations. Our work here in Thailand is very relational and slow. This is not a culture that is necessarily eager and equipped to readily receive the gospel, it requires a lot of leg work, that we are honored to engage in.

As we function mainly as extensions of our ministry partners’ work, after shop visits we take time as a team to debrief and fill out summary sheets on our visits. This way, our ministry partners can review the information that we have gathered and use it to strategically follow up with specific shopkeepers. 

Yesterday we had the opportunity to attend a church service in English as well as in Hindi. We all found it very exciting to get to worship amidst so many different cultures.

As we eat dinner tonight at a Japanese hot pot restaurant, we eagerly anticipate the opportunity to continue in this ministry partnership for the remainder of our trip. Please pray that we would be humble and faithful in following the Spirit’s prompting here and that we would continue to care for and encourage one another.

Peace and blessings y’all

Joy and Dilan

UBC Thailand Team Update

This past Sunday, May 15th, I and 12 of my friends from UBC left the United States for Thailand. Most of us were nervous and excited for the trip and all of the things we would be doing there. We sat in airports and in planes for 32 hours in anticipation of landing in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  When we landed, we were greeted by our ministry partners. After talking with them, I could tell that their hearts were on fire for the Gospel and that they were excited we were here to come alongside them in their ministry.

 During our first full day here, we had an orientation on Thai culture and how we would be interacting with the people here in Thailand, who are mostly Buddhist. We learned the three staples of Thai culture: having a heart of water, a cool heart, and a heart of fear. A heart of water meaning that they went with the flow, and a cool heart meaning they tried to avoid conflict of any kind. These excited me because these are attributes that I hope I have, but the third one was interesting to me. When the Thai people say that they have a heart of fear, they mean that the have a reverence or respect towards people of authority, which I thought was very different than the rebellious America that I know. I thought in retrospect that the other two hearts weren’t exactly the American expectation either. The point of teaching us this was to point out that we would be in a very different culture, but to me it was reassuring that the people we would be talking to would be agreeable.

So far, we’ve gone into the market twice and both times I felt that when I walked into a shop I wasn’t intruding or interrupting anything that was going on. They were the ones that were interested in us and where we were from. It was surprisingly easy to jump into conversation, which was my biggest worry going into the trip. The Thai couple that we met where extremely kind and wanted to know where we were from and what our story was, which made it very easy to tell them our story. We got to connect with that family because her son apparently went to school at the University of Texas to study aerospace engineering. It was amazing to me that we could connect with the people of Thailand so easily.

Going into the market is very strategic because there are people there that come from other countries and go back after 3-4 years. People that come from all over the world to raise money for their families back home. This means they get to build relationships with people who can go back and spread the Gospel in their home countries, which might restrict the Christian faith. When we go into the individual shops we see if they are receptive to talking about faith or if they completely shut us down. This helps our ministry partners by establishing relationships in the market and letting them prioritize possible long term relationships. After the first two days, they told us that we had talked to four shop keepers that they had yet to establish relationships with. This may not sound like a lot immediately, but the time it takes to create meaningful relationships can be measured in years, so to have something in mind before going into a shop is very meaningful.

 It hasn’t been just our ministry partners who are reaping the benefits of this trip though, many of us have had formative conversations with people here that we wouldn’t be able to experience in America. We went on a tour of 3 different Buddhist temples where we learned the basics of the Buddhist faith, and had an amazingly energetic tour guide named Bee, who we could tell loved what she was doing. Learning about Buddhist faith was interesting and personally I can see how people are attracted to it. Ideas like karma have penetrated even our society and it was interesting to see where those ideas come from. We also got to see how different our faith is from there’s. The basis of their faith is that when their good works outweigh the bad, they can reach enlightenment. I love that our faith begins with enlightenment (having an experience with God) and continues with good works afterwards. It drives home for me the importance that these people are having the Gospel shared with them.

Thank you to everyone who supported us on this trip.  We are eternally grateful.

- Carson 

ITLOTC 5-20-16

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

Pentecost

What Kind of Humility 

What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?  Psalm 8:4

There are some themes that, no matter how long I preach, I just can’t figure how to communicate.  At the top of that list would be humility.  Part of that comes from the thing itself.  What is humility?  And if it is being embodied, how will you see it?  How do you talk about it? 

Every once in a while I’ll catch a quote, or connect a moment with an allusive idea, or see a movie clip that deepens my understanding.  The best thing I’ve heard on humility is something you’ve likely heard.  CS Lewis said that, “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”

For the longest time the image in my head of humility had to do with a deferential meek person who never inserted himself into situations.   If that temperament is reflective of anxiety on the inside of that person, that’s likely coming from the latter part of Lewis’s definition.  But a humble person could in fact be boisterous, loud, engaged, and I think curious.   They could even be assertive. 

Have you ever been in a situation where you were eating lunch with a friend or new acquaintance, and it’s life giving?  And the reason it’s life giving is because the conversation was effortless and sincere.  And after reflecting on the conversation you realize that you answered questions the whole time and were given the opportunity to talk about your passions and dreams.   And then you realize that you did most of the talking and the other person did most of the listening.  I think that might be a form of humility. 

I have a friend who is better at that than anyone I've ever met.  At some point our stint of living in the same city came to an end.  So some other friends and I said goodbye to this humble friend.  As part of our farewell ceremony we all named one thing we loved about our humble friend.  And my smart friend quoted Chesterton to my humble friend and said, “you make people feel large in your presence.” 

That’s what my humble friend does.  He takes interest in other people.  He rarely directs the conversation back to himself and if he does it’s usually in a self-deprecatory manner.  

I’ve thought about that image and it seems to me to be at the center of the Christian life.  We are a people who are made to be curious about and love God, others and the world around us. 

Psalm 8 is my absolute favorite Psalm.  It is full of doxology, creation theology, anthropology and if Richard Hays is right, Christology.  At the center of this Psalm, which has cosmic worship at the heart of it, is a statement on humility.  It comes on the heals of stargazing ...  “What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you should care for them?”  I feel like that’s how my friend lives his life, gazing at people and the world around him with a glad and sincere heart that celebrates his place in it.  He just doesn’t seem to have the time to think about himself. 

How about you?  What or who do you spend most of your time thinking about? 

Discernment Committee

It's fitting that I find myself writing this as we approach Pentecost.  For the last few months I have been addressing the fact that UBC has a space issue, mostly related to serving our children.  In the January and March town hall meetings I addressed this briefly, and a few weeks ago I asked you all to be in prayer about this issue.  

On Monday night in our finance team meeting, we talked about investigating the cost of some solutions and potentially doing a capital campaign.  Let me be clear, this could mean spending money on a solution (i.e. a building for kids, office space across the street) and money spent is a theological decision and reflection of the church's values.  So that is where you come in.  

1. We'd like to assemble a discernment committee so that everyone has a chance to give input into this moment. 

2. We'd like to assemble a discernment committee so that we can move to putting together a solution that reflects the thoughts and wisdom of a group. 

So if you feel that this is something you might be called to please think about the following things. 

1. Am I willing to give a significant amount of time to help with this?  I have not set meeting times, but I would imagine 1 or 2 a month for four months.  (could be more). 

2. Am I willing to listen and value opinions different than my own? 

3. Am I willing to be a point person and talk with and listen to people who are not on the committee who would like to give input?  

4. Am I ok if I don't get picked to be on the committee?  If we have a large number people that would like to serve in this role, we won't be able to take everyone.  Are you willing to trust that the committee is a representation of the diversity at UBC including me? 

We Need Your Help

UBC has a few small home improvement type projects that we need to do and could probably get done in a morning work day.  Projects include: 

• Fixing the bamboo fence in the back
• Laying new vinyl flooring in the children's rooms
• Hauling furniture to the dump

If this is a skill set you have or even if you just have an eager heart and would like to help, we will take it.  Please email josh@ubcwaco.org. 

Work is Worship

Greeters: Ricky and Juliet 

Coffee Makers:  Sagers

Mug Cleaners:  Cooleys 

Money Counter: Josh McCormick 

Announcements:

• Sunday Sermon Text:  John 16:12-15
• Summer Sunday School: Breakfast Club!  Come join us for a shared breakfast/potluck and fellowship in the Lord followed by Liturgy.  This begins Sunday, June 5. 

Do you have an emergency and need to talk to a pastor? 

254 413 2611

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- Kristin Dodson: kschwebke@prodigy.net

Joy Wineman: joy.wineman@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

David Wilhite: David_Wilhite@baylor.edu

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

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

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

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.

Maxcey Blaylock: maxceykite@gmail.com

Mathew Crawford: mathewcrawford@yahoo.com

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Rob Engblom: Rob_Engblom@baylor.edu

Ross Van Dyke: Ross_Vandyke@baylor.edu

Setlist 5-15-2016

This Sunday was Pentecost, the day that we remember the coming of the Holy Spirit as the initiator of the movement we now call the Church.  Our songs were gathered with this 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 recordings from Sunday morning of a few of them, and below the recordings, there is an example of one way you might think of these songs in light of this week's theme. 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:

Holy, Holy, Holy

How Great Thou Art

Fall Afresh by Jeremy Riddle

Burn It Down by Jameson McGregor

All Creatures of Our God and King

Doxology

Recordings:

From time to time, we'll post live recordings of the songs from Sunday morning.  These recordings aren't what you would call polished--sometimes guitars are out of tune, sometimes the vocals are off--but they are records of moments we've shared together.  Here's one from this week.

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. 

Holy, Holy, Holy: We sang this song to begin our time together singing about the particularity of God, as we acknowledge the Spirit as part of the Trinity for the first time in the Christian calendar this year.

How Great Thou Art: We sang this song to focus on our worship of God in three particular realms--God as Creator, God as Savior, and God as Transformational Presence (Spirit).  In order to do this, we rewrote the third stanza to read, "O Breath of Life, when I recall the moment//You came down low to dwell within our midst//You tune my eyes to see Your subtle movement//You draw us forth, to all begin again."  The structure of this song is essentially three passes at pointing out something about God, and responding with praise, the ever-simple "How great Thou art."  When we sing this together, we are simultaneously expressing praise in that moment, and also learning the proper response to coming into contact with the activity of God.

Fall Afresh: We sang this song to engage the Pentecost moment through considering our own need for the presence of the Spirit among us, as we battle against our own complacency regarding our own transformation into people who are more like Jesus.

Burn It Down: In the book of Acts, as soon as the Spirit comes on the scene, walls begin to fall down.  Walls that took the form of communication barriers, government powers, particular understandings of the story of God and the people of God, prejudices the fledgling church had absorbed from their culture, and probably many more.  This kind of destructive behavior is also evident in the prophets of the Old Testament.  By the power of the Spirit, they were able to speak truth to power--words that amounted to firebombs against the walls that had been built to make the religious feel pious, good, and safe, while simultaneously keeping the poor and cast out from engaging the Hope of God.  It is safe to say that the Spirit is in the habit of knocking down walls that would hinder the Gospel and keep Hope from people who need it most.  This song is about this "destructive" side of the Spirit, and ultimately petitions the Spirit to fold us in to this rebellion and use us to knock down these walls.

All Creatures of Our God and King:  We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about All Creatures of Our God and King then: We sang this song to champion Easter hope for all of creation--God did not just do something significant for humanity in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  Everything is different now, and the whole of creation is now headed for its own Resurrection.

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 5-13-16

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

(Almost) Pentecost

The Spirit ... the Renaissance member of  Trinity

Romans 8:15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" 8:16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God

If I were a better theologian I could list off for you all the jobs of each person within the Trinity. There are a few theologically approved taglines that sum it up like, "Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer" or "Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier," but the problem with those is that each member of the Trinity has more jobs than those words imply.  Still I can't help but be impressed with the versatility of the Spirit.  Here's a compiled list of the all the jobs the Spirit has.  In this way I've always thought that Spirit has a kind of Renaissance quality.  

Rarely do I preach the epistles, but as I glanced at the lectionary texts for Sunday I was taken with a new image.

Adoption.  This is one of the jobs of the Spirit. 

The reason this image stood out to me is because of my life circumstances.  This last year my sister and her husband adopted their son from Haiti.  They did as much thoughtful research and preparation as they could.  They read books.  They talked with people who have been through this experience.  They read blogs.  They visited Haiti.  They invested in organizations that try and reunite families before they let children be adopted.  They did all they could. 

Bringing Widnel home.  Picture taken at the MSP Airport. 

And yet, in much the same way first time parents substitute actually having a child with reading books about it, it has been a process of learning.  My sister, on several occasions, has spoken about it as a “brutiful” experience.

As I’ve watched them learn and grow as a family, I think I have been most impressed with my sister and brother in law’s efforts to create a sense of equal love among their children. They desire, so deeply, for their adopted son to lose that adjective and simply be their son.  That desire comes with effort. 

It’s that effort that has my attention and has focused it vicariously on the Spirit’s work as described in Romans 8:15-16.  One of the first things we are told as Christians is that we are loved and accepted by God.  And yet as a pastor, I can attest that one of the most difficult concepts for us to accept as humans is that we are loved and accepted by God.  Martin Luther said that we need to hear the gospel every day.  And in hearing the good news we are told again and again by the Spirit that we are children of God.  Believing it takes faith.  How are you doing? 

Meet Our Newest UBCer 

Duncan Thomas Rettler

birthday: May 5, 2016
birth weight: 7 pounds, 15.5 ounces
birth height: 18.5 inches
favorite packer: Brett Goode

Enneagram Number: 5

Baptism Sunday

Please be in prayer this weekend for our dear friend and sister in Christ Sarah Guberman who will be baptized this Sunday.  

UBC in Thailand

This Sunday, 13 of us will travel to Chiang Mai, Thailand, to work with missionaries who minister alongside people from South Asia.  We will have the opportunity to partner with people from Thailand, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan.  We will be working in a main tourist area of Chiang Mai, helping to expand the outreach of the missionaries there. Please pray for our team as we go, pray for the missionaries we are partnering with, and pray for the shopkeepers we will encounter in Chiang Mai.  We will be posting a few blog posts on the UBC page while we are there, so follow the UBC blog for more information.  The folks from UBC going on the trip are: Toph, Melissa Rowland Whisnant, Kareem Shane, Adam Beckman, Dilan Braddock, Joy Wineman, Kaylin Campbell, Madison Schreckengost, Carson Kleinbeck, Katie Walton, Jacob Schreiber, David MacDonald, and Bri McDermott.

Trip to Franklins BBQ.  

Will Knight and Rick Lhotan will be leading a trip to Franklin's BBQ on Thursday May 19th.  The trip will meat at and leave from UBC @ 6:30 A.M.  If you have questions please email Will @ will.ray.knight@gmail.com.  

Discernment Committee

It's fitting that I find myself writing this as we approach Pentecost.  For the last few months I have been addressing the fact that UBC has a space issue, mostly related to serving our children.  In the January and March town hall meetings I addressed this briefly, and a few weeks ago I asked you all to be in prayer about this issue.  

On Monday night in our finance team meeting, we talked about investigating the cost of some solutions and potentially doing a capital campaign.  Let me be clear, this could mean spending money on a solution (i.e. a building for kids, office space across the street) and money spent is a theological decision and reflection of the church's values.  So that is where you come in.  

1. We'd like to assemble a discernment committee so that everyone has a chance to give input into this moment. 

2. We'd like to assemble a discernment committee so that we can move to putting together a solution that reflects the thoughts and wisdom of a group. 

So if you feel that this is something you might be called to please think about the following things. 

1. Am I willing to give a significant amount of time to help with this?  I have not set meeting times, but I would imagine 1 or 2 a month for four months.  (could be more). 

2. Am I willing to listen and value opinions different than my own? 

3. Am I willing to be a point person and talk with and listen to people who are not on the committee who would like to give input?  

4. Am I ok if I don't get picked to be on the committee?  If we have a large number people that would like to serve in this role, we won't be able to take everyone.  Are you willing to trust that the committee is a representation of the diversity at UBC including me?  

We Need Your Help

UBC has a few small home improvement type projects that we need to do and could probably get done in a morning work day.  Projects include: 

• Fixing the bamboo fence in the back
• Laying new vinyl flooring in the children's rooms
• hauling furniture to the dump

If this is a skill set you have or even if you just have an eager heart and would like to help, we will take it.  Please email josh@ubcwaco.org. 

Work is Worship

Greeters: 

Coffee Makers:  Emmy 

Mug Cleaners:  Carrons 

Money Counter: Hannah Kuhl 

Announcements:

• Sunday Sermon Text:  Genesis 11:1-9

Do you have an emergency and need to talk to a pastor? 

254 498 2261

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- Kristin Dodson: kschwebke@prodigy.net

Joy Wineman: joy.wineman@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

David Wilhite: David_Wilhite@baylor.edu

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

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

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

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.

Maxcey Blaylock: maxceykite@gmail.com

Mathew Crawford: mathewcrawford@yahoo.com

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Rob Engblom: Rob_Engblom@baylor.edu

Ross Van Dyke: Ross_Vandyke@baylor.edu

Setlist 5-8-2016

This was the seventh week of Easter.  Our songs were gathered with this 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 recordings from Sunday morning of a few of them, and below the recordings, there is an example of one way you might think of these songs in light of this week's theme. 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:

Death in His Grave by John Mark McMillan

All Creatures of Our God and King

Because He Lives by Bill and Gloria Gaither

Noise by Jameson McGregor

Come Thou Fount

Doxology

Recordings:

From time to time, we'll post live recordings of the songs from Sunday morning.  These recordings aren't what you would call polished--sometimes guitars are out of tune, sometimes the vocals are off--but they are records of moments we've shared together.  Here are a couple from this week.

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. 

Death in His Grave: We sang this song to begin our final Easter service with a song from our first Easter service, singing about Jesus' victory over the powers of Death.  During Advent, we collectively voiced a longing that God would "change everything." And at Christmas, we rejoiced because God in fact did change everything--God's becoming God-with-us created a new kind of future for the world--one marked by hope.  On Good Friday, this Hope was shattered and put in the ground.  Then on Easter, we saw two things: (1) God was willing to go much farther than we thought to set things right with us--the gap between what it is to be God and and what it is to be human is unimaginably large, but then, having crossed that, God stepped further still into death, and then broke through this full-stop into a new kind of life; and (2) we saw God's real answer to our Advent longing.  In light of Jesus' victory over death, everything changed.  I've posted a video for Death in His Grave before, so I'm not going to do that again.  As I was writing this, though, and thinking about Easter as a further answer to the longing of Advent, I thought about the final Advent song we sang in December.  Here's the video for that song:

All Creatures of Our God and King:  We sang this song to champion Easter hope for all of creation--God did not just do something significant for humanity in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  Everything is different now, and the whole of creation is now headed for its own Resurrection.

Because He Lives: We sang this song to focus once again on one way the Resurrection can affect our daily lives--namely, by giving us the drive to get out of bed, knowing that life is not meaningless and that God is working to put every broken piece back in place.

Noise: This song does a couple of things: (1) It narrates the history of the divine-human relationship, underscoring God's choice to be God-for-us even when we don't do a good job at being us-for-God.  (2) It emphasizes the fact that, because of the Incarnation and the suffering that Jesus endured, God understands our pain--both physical and emotional--and does not count our acknowledging or responding to our pain against us.  The significance of this song in light of Easter is that God's human experience feeds back into God's faithfulness, and though we time and again will become "broken promises," God has given us the Promise of Easter--this emphatic Yes to life.

Come Thou Fount: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs, and also to look ahead to Pentecost next week.  This is what we said about Come Thou Fount last week: In some ways, we might think of Easter as a season in which we devote particular attention to a story about God showing up in the midst of tragedy and transforming despair into Hope.  Come Thou Fount is a petition for the Spirit to transform our minds and hearts into faculties that know how to worship God in light of who God has been for us.  The second stanza talks about raising an Eben-ezer, which we can think of as a monument to God's faithfulness--a reminder of God's showing up for us in the past.  With this in mind, we might think of Easter as a whole as an Eben-ezer we have grafted into our Calendar.

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 5-6-16

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

Easter

Created for One Another

“I ask  … that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you.” - John 17:20-21

Most of the early attempts at explaining the trinity were dismissed as heretical.  The church fathers were much more comfortable with saying what the trinity was not.   The trinity is not three different gods.  The trinity is not one person with three different masks.  The trinity is a mystery we are invited into.  

One term that the church fathers were comfortable with is perichoresis.  The Greek prefix peri means around.  Think of the perimeter, which describes the boundaries around you.  Choresis is also familiar.  We know the word choreography, which means something like scripting movement, or you might say dancing.  So perichoresis means a dance around.  God, then, was thought about as a elegant dance which we are beckoned to join.  

But perichoresis means something more than that.  It also means mutual indwelling.  The trinity can finish each other’s sentences.  They can ride motorcycles in that circle cage thing.  They would be the trapeze artists with perfect timing.  

I once heard a pastor preach on perichoresis and he gave a very moving example.  He has a son with autism and he talked about the first time he went to a support group for parents with an autistic child.  He described the deep sense of relief and solidarity they had in talking with parents who struggled with the same things.  We’ve all experienced something like this.  A moment or conversation when you have a deepened sense that someone knows exactly what you mean. 

It feels good to be understood, to have shared experience, to have a sense that you know and are known, that the emotional responses we have are not predictable, but natural. 

A few months ago I preached about vulnerability and in doing so lifted much of my material from this 20 minutes of brilliance provided by Brene Brown.  Brown has a Ph.D. and so approached these questions about vulnerability from a scientific standpoint, but her findings are nonetheless spiritual.  We are at some level, created for intimacy.  To have our souls penetrated and understood by the other. 

Perhaps the gift that John 17 gives us is that we have a theological reason to make the same point.  We are created in the image of God.  And that God is trinity.  The three whos and one what guarantee that our souls hunger for one another. 

The trajectory of Christian discipleship then is not just that I’m formed into the image of Jesus, but that we are forming each other into the image of Jesus.  To be created in the image of God is to be created for community.   We are invited into the dance. 

Meet Our Newest Finance Team Member

Doug McNamee

Name/Family:  Doug, Wife - Lacy, Daughter - Josephine

What do you do?: Senior Associate Athletic Director for Annual Giving @ Baylor, in short....fundraise for student-athlete scholarships, new buildings, etc.

Favorite Waco Restaurant: Jason's Deli

TV show you love:  Wife can attest, I don’t watch shows. Borderline narcoleptic and ADD, thus I don’t mix well with shows or movies. If I watch TV, its news or sports and it better be on before 9pm. 

Bible Verse, Chapter, Book you love: Ruth 1:16

Something we might not know about you: I've never found anyone with a bigger head than me. Not metaphorically, literally. When those hats say "one-size-fits-all", they are lying.

Mother's Day Information

Mother’s Day is this Sunday and at UBC, we see this day as a moment take time out of our lives to think about, remember fondly and say “Thank You!” to all of the maternal influences in our lives!  In this modern age, we feel that distance should not keep our mom’s, grandmothers or other motherly-types from seeing the face that they love so much, so be sure to stop by the Photo Booth in the coffee room to snap write a message and snap a quick photo to post/tweet/email/print-and-frame for that special formative-female in your life!

UBC Softball Next Fall

if you are interested in playing softball next fall please email will @will.ray.knight@gmail.com. The cost should be around $30.  This year UBC will require those who sign up to pay before the season starts.   There will be a sign up after church this Sunday.  Money will be due by the middle of July.  

Sunday School

This is the last weekend of Sunday school for the spring semester.  We will have one summer Sunday school class that begins on June 5th.  

Work is Worship

Greeters: Rick 

Coffee Makers:  Joy & Ryan 

Mug Cleaners:  Stephen & Leigh 

Announcements:

• Sunday Sermon Text:  Acts 16:16-34
• Trip to Franklins BBQ.  Will Knight and Rick Lhotan will be leading a trip to Franklin's BBQ on Thursday May 19th.  The trip will meat at and leave from UBC @ 6:30 A.M.  If you have questions please email Will @ will.ray.knight@gmail.com.  

Do you have an emergency and need to talk to a pastor? 

254 498 2261

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- Kristin Dodson: kschwebke@prodigy.net

Joy Wineman: joy.wineman@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

David Wilhite: David_Wilhite@baylor.edu

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

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

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

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.

Maxcey Blaylock: maxceykite@gmail.com

Mathew Crawford: mathewcrawford@yahoo.com

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Rob Engblom: Rob_Engblom@baylor.edu

Ross Van Dyke: Ross_Vandyke@baylor.edu

Setlist 5-1-2016

This was the sixth week of Easter (and Easter itself for the Orthodox Church).  Our songs were gathered with this 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 recordings from Sunday morning of a few of them, and below the recordings, there is an example of one way you might think of these songs in light of this week's theme. 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:

Wandering by Jameson McGregor

Come Thou Fount

Fall Afresh by Jeremy Riddle

Heart With No Companion by Leonard Cohen

Wayward Ones by The Gladsome Light

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. 

Wandering: This song is about the relentless faithfulness of God to God's commitment to be God-for-us by being God-with-us.  Throughout the Easter season, we are compelled to think seriously about the significance of Jesus' death and resurrection for the divine-human relationship.  A main theme of Wandering is our tendency to observe the movement of God and, intentionally or not, attempt to harness this movement for our own purposes.  It is no secret that Jesus' followers were fully expecting His mission to culminate in an overthrow of Roman oppression and the inauguration of the Kingdom of God.  They saw what Jesus was doing, thought it meant temporal power and deliverance, and thus thought the crucifixion was the end of the story for them--that they had gotten up their hopes for nothing.  On the other side of things, the Jewish authorities that partnered with the Romans to have Jesus eliminated thought they were protecting the movement of God as they understood it, and sought to protect what they held to be the Truth in killing Him.  In the Resurrection, we see Jesus return not with vengeance, but with love--an emphatic yes to God's creation.  God chose to be God-for-us even when we chose to be against God.  Why?  Because that's what God is like.  God is telling a story with us, but God is fully willing and able to cut back against our attempts to derail the story.

Come Thou Fount: In some ways, we might think of Easter as a season in which we devote particular attention to a story about God showing up in the midst of tragedy and transforming despair into Hope.  Come Thou Fount is a petition for the Spirit to transform our minds and hearts into faculties that know how to worship God in light of who God has been for us.  The second stanza talks about raising an Eben-ezer, which we can think of as a monument to God's faithfulness--a reminder of God's showing up for us in the past.  With this in mind, we might think of Easter as a whole as an Eben-ezer we have grafted into our Calendar.

Fall Afresh: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Fall Afresh then: We sang this song as a prayer, voicing together our desire for the Spirit to be with us.  In this season, it is fitting to dwell on the fact that the Spirit of the Living God is in fact the catalyst of the Resurrection.  The Spirit is the power that makes dead things live again. In the call to worship yesterday, we acknowledged that there are many kinds of death that we experience, not all of which involve our hearts ceasing to beat.  Change of all kinds is a kind of death, and change seems to be a fundamental part of life.  The Spirit is constantly working to raise us to life--life to the fullest.  So, as many of us are on the edge of new seasons of life (either because we are moving to new schools, new jobs, or because we are ready to break out of a rut we've been in), we sang this song to petition the Spirit to raise us up once again.

Heart With No Companion: This song imagines a greeting that stretches across the gulf of sorrow and despair to give hope to those who feel worthless, aimless, or simply stuck.  This greeting is comprise of a love that is "vast and shattered," which we might imagine as the kind of love that Jesus embodied; the kind of love that Jesus carried through torture, crucifixion, and death.  On Easter, I finished our series of Lent readings by talking about Jesus as a Mirror that was shattered and put back together, but with a series of cracks.  This image might help think about this song--the kind of misery that Jesus experienced allows His love to greet us in the midst of our own struggles.  Furthermore, if the shattering of Jesus means Hope for creation, this love carries with it the Hope of meaning into the most stalled-out circumstances we might face.  

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.

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 4-29-16

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

Easter

Easter Peace

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. John 14:27

Sometimes I get confused by the church calendar.  Take this week for example.  One of the alternative readings is from John 14.  This is the beginning of the priestly prayer.  Jesus is in the middle of a pretty lengthy farewell address with all kinds of good information.  But it strikes me that this should be holy week material, the kind of thing you’d read on Good Friday.  And yet here it is in Easter week six. For six weeks we’ve been doing the discipleship with the confidence the Golden State Warriors. Jesus came back from the grave, what else you got Satan? 

On the other hand we know the story.  The Ascension of the Lord takes place next Thursday followed by one last Sunday and then the Holy Spirit shows up on Pentecost.  That turns out to never be safe.  If you scan the extracanonical literature you’ll find that the tradition includes gruesome deaths for Jesus followers.  So … perhaps these words from Jesus are the right place.   He’s promising peace for his followers hours before He will be crucified.  The more I follow Jesus faithfully the more I find that the only kind of peace that will do me any good is the kind that can be promised hours before a torture death. 

Peace feels like one of those almost too-large-of-an-idea-to-put-into-a-definition topics.  So this week I decided to use one of my sophisticated research tools to help make sense of the term, namely I put it out there on Facebook.

I got all kinds of answers ranging from internal congruence, following the Lord’s will to knowing the one true ring has been destroyed and a Don Williams song.   I got a pretty sophisticated treaty on pacifism and a lot of answers that suggested some form of inner tranquility despite circumstances.  One person included this illustration, which seems to embody all those comments.

If I were to attempt some kind of intertextual exegesis, I might point myself to 1 John 4:18 where the author maintains that peace’s close cousin love casts out all fear.  It seems like regardless of the attribute, life in Christ is concerned with removing fear.   

But the pragmatic part of me always wants to ask, “yeah, but how do you do that.”  One answer I’m learning is that it means moving through the storm, not around it.  I was listening to a discussion between Rob Bell and Richard Rohr last week.  At one point Rob talked about suffering and how suffering is lessened as you move through something again and again.  So for examples, emails that used to keep up him for hours he now no longer thinks twice about.  How did he get there?  By experiencing that email over and over and eventually learning it didn’t really matter. 

This is why, in my opinion, cruciformity is such a prominent part of the discipleship.  It’s not that we are immune to pain, but rather that we are taught how to move through it by volunteering to move through it.  How are you dying today?

Meet Our Newest Finance Team Member 

Anna Tilson 

Name/Family: Anna Tilson; Husband - Adam Tilson; Dog - Bauer Tilson

What do you do?: I am a CPA and work at Jaynes, Reitmeier, Boyd & Therrell (JRBT) here in Waco

Favorite Waco Restaurant: Lula Jane's

TV show you love: Comedy - Friends; Drama - 24 (Hence the name of our dog above), House of Cards, First two seasons of Homeland (Sorry - couldn't choose just one!)

Bible Verse, Chapter, Book you love: The gospels - Again, can't choose just one :)

Something we might not know about you: I LOVE musical theatre, which actually played a role in me marrying my husband. We played opposite of each other in Little Shop of Horrors our senior year of high school and became good friends in the process. We stayed in touch, I secretly loved him, and two years later we started dating. :)

Sumer SS

Instead of having regular Sunday School classes this summer, starting June 5, we will be having Sunday Breakfasts.  These breakfasts will be potluck.  Please consider joining us each morning at 9:30 in the Backside for a time of food, company, and prayer.  Our hope is that this will be a good time for our community to form relationships with one another over the course of the summer.

Thank You To Bekah!

I would like to take a moment to say a HUGE thank you to Bekah West!  Bekah has been volunteering with the Bloom class this entire year, but she also gave of her time during the week to help in any way…and I do mean ANY way I needed!  Without her help and others like her, the UBCKids Ministry would not be possible!  Sadly, She and her husband Ben have been called to serve at another church in our area which means that this coming Sunday will be their last at UBC.  The entire community will feel their loss, but UBCKids will miss Bekah and her faithful, willing and generous heart deeply!  Thank you Bekah and Ben for giving of yourselves for the betterment of our community…especially the smallest among us!

Sincerely~ 

Emily Nance

UBCKids Pastor

Study Hall

It is that time of year again, and study hall at UBC is back.  The church will be open from 10am till midnight on Monday and Tuesday.  We will have snacks, coffee, and drinks all day.  On Tuesday at 10pm, we will have our pancake extravaganza!  If you study at UBC, you will be a #championforthelord during finals.  #yourbestfinalsnow

Work is Worship

Greeters: Blaylocks 

Coffee Makers:  Chad & Joel 

Mug Cleaners:  Madi 

Announcements:

• Sunday:  Acts 16:6-15 "Keep Moving" 
• Study Hall Days: May 2nd and 3rd 
• Trip to Franklins BBQ.  Will Knight and Rick Lhotan will be leading a trip to Franklin's BBQ on Thursday May 19th.  The trip will meat at and leave from UBC @ 6:30 A.M.  If you have questions please email Will @ will.ray.knight@gmail.com.  
• if you are interested in playing softball next fall please email will @will.ray.knight@gmail.com. The cost should be around $30.  

Do you have an emergency and need to talk to a pastor? 

254 498 2261

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- Kristin Dodson: kschwebke@prodigy.net

Joy Wineman: joy.wineman@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

David Wilhite: David_Wilhite@baylor.edu

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

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

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

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.

Maxcey Blaylock: maxceykite@gmail.com

Mathew Crawford: mathewcrawford@yahoo.com

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Rob Engblom: Rob_Engblom@baylor.edu

Ross Van Dyke: Ross_Vandyke@baylor.edu

Setlist 4-24-2016

This was both the fifth week of Easter in the life of the Church calendar, and Mister Rogers Sunday in the life of ubc.  Mister Rogers Sunday is a commissioning service of sorts where we celebrate our graduates and commission them to continue to seek to be the presence of Christ to the people they encounter as they move on to new things.  Our songs were gathered with both of these themes 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 recordings from Sunday morning of a few of them, and below the recordings, there is an example of one way you might think of these songs in light of this week's theme. 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:

Future/Past by John Mark McMillan

Fall Afresh by Jeremy Riddle

Be Thou My Vision

There by Jameson McGregor

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

Doxology

Recordings:

From time to time, we'll post live recordings of the songs from Sunday morning.  These recordings aren't what you would call polished--sometimes guitars are out of tune, sometimes the vocals are off--but they are records of moments we've shared together.  Here are a couple from this week.

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. 

Future/Past: This song contrasts God's power, might, and status as Wholly Other, with the notion that God has chosen to be God-for-us and God-with-us.  The Resurrection really seals the deal for both of these ideas, and ultimately intertwines them.  And so, as we live out our stories and grapple with our own anxieties in the face of change or struggle, we can lean into the idea that, though God transcends our problems, God is taking them on with us, carrying with God the same Lordship that places God above our problems in the first place.

Fall Afresh: We sang this song as a prayer, voicing together our desire for the Spirit to be with us.  In this season, it is fitting to dwell on the fact that the Spirit of the Living God is in fact the catalyst of the Resurrection.  The Spirit is the power that makes dead things live again. In the call to worship yesterday, we acknowledged that there are many kinds of death that we experience, not all of which involve our hearts ceasing to beat.  Change of all kinds is a kind of death, and change seems to be a fundamental part of life.  The Spirit is constantly working to raise us to life--life to the fullest.  So, as many of us are on the edge of new seasons of life (either because we are moving to new schools, new jobs, or because we are ready to break out of a rut we've been in), we sang this song to petition the Spirit to raise us up once again.

Be Thou My Vision: We sang this song to close this season of life in our community by seeking guidance in the next season.  As a community who seeks to be formed in the way of Christ, to embrace beauty, and to live on mission, we are in constant need of God to be our vision, wisdom, security, and hope, because we are in constant need of transformation. 

There: This song is an exercise in perspective, noting that God was present before any of our problems, is present in the midst of them, and will be present long after they all fade away.  It is also a personal confession of the unhealthy relationship I've built with anxiety, which is somewhere between addiction and idolatry (if there's even a difference in this case).  

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 said about There's a Wideness in God's Mercy then: We sang this song because it is during Easter that we see just how wide God's mercy is.  We are well-versed at finding reasons why God's mercy would not apply to us, and we are perhaps even more well-versed at finding reasons why God's mercy would not apply to them.  This song shines a light at the lies at the heart of these assumption--God is wilder than we ever dreamed, and God's mercy is no different. 

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 4-22-16

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

Easter

On Identifying Christians

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

-       John 13:35

The term Evangelical is under scrutiny.  Despite the best efforts of some like Truett's Roger Olson, it may be a lost cause.  Even Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore, a figure who traditionally has been comfortable with the word’s proximity to conservative politics, has distance himself from it.  Despite your political convictions, this is one of the dangers of language and the loss of meaning.  What a word means to one individual, might be completely different to what it means to another.  When one word is used to describe a voting block that at least in 2004 was described as 55 million strong, you’re likely to get a tent that is, well, too big.

This is not a post about the word evangelical or even politics.  That’s just my example.  This is about intended meaning.  To borrow language from Saussure, the sign may no longer point to the signified.  In Gospel of John, more than the others, Jesus prepares his disciples for his departure.  He gives all kinds of practical wisdom.  One problem Jesus seems to anticipate is the confusion about what will properly signify the people who are Christians.  So he makes a definitive statement here.  The Christian will be identifiable by love. 

C.S. Lewis wrote a book on love called The Four Loves.  In it he explores four different Greek words that get translated as love and differentiates their meanings.  My point is that perhaps Jesus has only muddied the waters in an attempt to offer clarity. 

I have good news for you.  The way Christians claim to know things transcends these potential muddy waters.  We claim to know with the aid of the Spirit.  You have been gifted by God with the ability to see beauty and compassion and I daresay love, even the love that Jesus is talking about here. 

This is important because what ends up signing Christian disciples is often less than flattering.  I have a confession.  I’m more or less suspicious of Christian t-shirts, most of the time they seem like bad advertising to me.  In so far as they represent an opportunity to edify the reader, then I think they are great.  But if they have the purpose of defending a contentious issues (like creation) or drawing boundaries or they are a bad knockoff of a popular cultural image (think Ford symbol that instead spells Lord), I think they are a bad idea.  Because more than likely you’re going to have that one moment in the day when you sin … say throw a can of tuna in the grocery store because your coupon expired, and a that exact moment an atheist walks by.  What have you done?  Confirmed his/her suspicions. 

One time I saw a t-shirt that, in my mind properly critiqued, all other t-shirts.  It read, “They Will Know We Are Christians By Our T-Shirts.”  That of course is a rebuke based on John 13:35.   I think this is a great reminder that the business of following Jesus is not easy.  At the end of the day our measuring stick is our love.  Nothing else.  We should be wary of signs that display our discipleship all too easily.  

So what about you?  How would someone know if you were a Christian? 

Pastoral Associate Applications

If you are part of our UBC community and are interested in serving a pastoral associate, you can apply by clicking here.  Applications are due by 5:00pm on Friday, May 15th. Pastoral associates serve the mission of UBC by serving along full time staff to complete pastoral work as determined by the needs of our community and the desires of the applicant.  Associates will be selected by the staff.  Associates will make a commitment from June 1, 2016 through June  30, 2017.  If you have questions for clarification please email Josh @ josh@ubcwaco.org. 

SS Update

Our last Sunday School of the semester will happen on May 1st.  Sunday summer school will begin in the first week of June. 

Leadership Team Meeting

We will have our April leadership team meeting Sunday Night.  If you were unable to make last months town hall or you would like information on what is being discussed, please email josh@ubcwaco.org.  

Work is Worship

Greeters: Will 

Coffee Makers:  Sarah & Caroline 

Mug Cleaners:  Cooleys 

Announcements:

• Sunday Sermon: Graduation Sunday: Mr. Rogers 
• Study Hall Days: May 2nd and 3rd 
• Trip to Franklins BBQ.  Will Knight and Rick Lhotan will be leading a trip to Franklin's BBQ on Thursday May 19th.  The trip will meat at and leave from UBC @ 6:30 A.M.  If you have questions please email Will @ will.ray.knight@gmail.com.  
• if you are interested in playing softball next fall please email will @will.ray.knight@gmail.com. The cost should be around $30.  

Do you have an emergency and need to talk to a pastor? 

254 498 2261

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- Kristin Dodson: kschwebke@prodigy.net

Joy Wineman: joy.wineman@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

David Wilhite: David_Wilhite@baylor.edu

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

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

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

Hannah Kuhl: HannahKuhl@hotmail.com  

Justin Pond: pondjw@gmail.com

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.

Maxcey Blaylock: maxceykite@gmail.com

Mathew Crawford: mathewcrawford@yahoo.com

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Rob Engblom: Rob_Engblom@baylor.edu

Ross Van Dyke: Ross_Vandyke@baylor.edu

ITLOTC 4-15-2016

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

Easter

Picked by God

My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.  – John 10:27-8

My junior and senior year of college I really upped my theology game.  Actually that’s when I began my theology game.  I think we have a habit of doing theology or owning/articulating a theology when we sense it matters for our life.  Said differently, we only care about what we feel really impacts our lives.  For my 21 year old post-evangelical self, that was in the fires of the Calvinism/Arminianism debate. 

I went to a college that had previously employed two professors who became figureheads in this conversation, so Bethel felt like a hotbed of human freedom debate.  Let me take the drama out of this post.  I was then and still am a version of Arminian.  But the confession that means more now is that I just don’t care as much about this as I used to.  Retrospectively, I can now see that, like so many of the theologies that were important to me, being right about this was another form of idolatry in my life.  Now I’m much more comfortable admitting there is a motif of determinism in scripture and a motif of human culpability and freedom.  There are philosophical systems on both sides of the debate that read that last sentence and are all too eager to say “yes and that is precisely why _______________ism is true.”  It won’t surprise most people to know that at the end of the day I find the mystery of their compatibility and the kind of worship cultivated in the heart by the stories that employee both motifs much more inspiring than I do the air tight logic promised by both proposals. 

When I was a junior I had a roommate who was extremely intelligent, patient and kind.   He was also thoroughly reformed.  So we’d stay up until 2:00 AM shooting our Wells Fargo basketball into a Nerf hoop, drinking cherry coke, eating chips and salsa and chatting about the mysteries of theodicy and sovereignty.  One day I asked him to make me a Calvinist without using Paul.  “No problem,” he replied.  And for a few weeks we combed through the scriptures and he made his case. 

I remember vividly when he quoted me John 10:27-8.  Granted I didn’t care much for John at the time, I had one of those “how have I missed this?” moments.  I struggled for weeks and then months asking how Jesus himself could have been in the business not just of selecting certain sheep, but more offensively not selecting others. 

-------

What I’m going to tell you is not new at all, but then again saying something new in theology or biblical studies is like trying show the world a color it has never seen before.  It’s difficult. 

-------

At some point this last year I showed a clip from first The Lord of the Rings in which Frodo volunteers to walk the ring of power to Mordor.  I’m always struck by Gandalf’s face when he first hears Frodo volunteer for the task.  It reminds me of the face of pained parent.  The grief derived from all the trouble Frodo will face and all that it will demand of Frodo is displayed in Gandalf’s knowing expression of anguish.  I also think Gandalf’s face displays a proper reluctance. 

People who are called to do something are motivated by something more than recognition or even desire.  They are driven by a purpose, which can transcend emotion.  That’s how I understand Frodo’s task.  He was made to take the ring to Mordor.  He was elected to do so. 

------

A popular way to understand John 10:27-8 is to assume that Jesus is speaking salvation.  This is then a definitive claim that some of us are predestined for heaven and some of us for hell.  There is another way to understand these verses and that is that election is about service.  It is about task and kingdom work.  Being picked doesn’t come at the expense of everyone else going to hell, it comes at the expense of you being mapped on a discipleship trajectory by God’s grace. And if we really understood that instead of jumping up and down about having won the salvation lottery, we'd wear Gandalf's expression of reluctance and pain.  Just ask Peter, Paul, or any other martyr who followed Jesus unto death.  Election is about awesome responsibility. 

Missiologist Leslie Newbigin says: “To be chosen, to be elect, therefore does not mean that the elect are the saved and the rest are lost.  To be elect in Christ Jesus, and there is no other election, means to be incorporated into his mission to the world, to be the bearer of God's saving purpose for his whole world, to be the sign and agent and the firstfruit of his blessed kingdom which is for all.”

My thoughts.  What are yours? 

Pastoral Associate Applications

If you are part of our UBC community and are interested in serving a pastoral associate, you can apply by clicking here.  Applications are due by 5:00pm on Friday, May 15th. Pastoral associates serve the mission of UBC by serving along full time staff to complete pastoral work as determined by the needs of our community and the desires of the applicant.  Associates will be selected by the staff.  Associates will make a commitment from June 1, 2016 through June  30, 2017.  If you have questions for clarification please email Josh @ josh@ubcwaco.org. 

Last Philosophy Talk

This Wednesday evening, April 20th, Chris Tweedt will lead his final philosophy talk at UBC from 7:30-8:30 PM.  

Here's a brief description of what will be talked about: 

Who, If Anyone, Should We Trust about Religion?

Should we trust people about religious matters? If so, who should we trust? There's a lot of disagreement about religion; should that make us more hesitant to trust others about it? Should consensus make us more trusting? 

We'll discuss answers philosophers have given to these questions and others during this philosophy discussion hour.

 If you have any questions email josh@ubcwaco.org. 

UBC Finance Team

Do you love excel spread sheets?  Is April 15th your favorite day after you own birthday?  You may be the person we are looking for to serve on the UBC finance team. Interested persons should submit their name to josh@ubcwaco.org.  Here is some information taken from the bylaws about the finance team.  

(A) Purpose.  The Finance Team shall exist for the following purposes:

a.     To serve as the primary advisory group for the Leadership Team in all budgetary and financial aspects of the church. 

b.    To oversee, in coordination with the ministerial staff, yearly budgetary processes, working to create a financial ministry plan in alignment with the ethos, mission and values of UBC.

c.     To advise the staff and Leadership Team on any emergency financial matters that may arise with regards to the physical infrastructure of the church building, as well as those matters pertaining to compensation and benefits of personnel.

d.    To assess the current financial status of the church on a monthly basis and advise the staff and Leadership Team on matters concerning changes in planned ministry expenses.

e.    To advise the Human Resources/Staff Support team on all financial matters regarding new and existing personnel, including available resources concerning salaries, salary increases, insurance, taxes, etc.

f.      To advise the church body on all matters relating to stewardship, financial integrity, etc.

(C)  Qualifications.  Finance Team members shall have been an active participant in the life of UBC for at least a year, have received at least a bachelors degree level of education (or roughly an equivalent amount of experience in business or finance,) and have at least a basic understanding of financial reports and budgets.

Work is Worship

Greeters: Luke Blaylock 

Coffee Makers:   Sarah & Caroline 

Mug Cleaners:  Leigh & Stephen

Announcements:

• Sunday Sermon: Acts 9:36-43 "Ordinary Dorcas"
• Backside, April 22nd.  If you have art to display on a wall or in space or music to fill our ears, then you might be interested in the backside.  email jamie@ubcwaco.org 
• Study Hall Days: May 2nd and 3rd 
• Trip to Franklins BBQ.  Will Knight and Rick Lhotan will be leading a trip to Franklin's BBQ on Thursday May 19th.  The trip will meat at and leave from UBC @ 6:30 A.M.  If you have questions please email Will @ will.ray.knight@gmail.com.  

Do you have an emergency and need to talk to a pastor? 

254 498 2261

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- Kristin Dodson: kschwebke@prodigy.net

Joy Wineman: joy.wineman@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

David Wilhite: David_Wilhite@baylor.edu

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

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

Tom Haines: thomas_haines@baylor.edu

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

Chris Kim: chris_kim@alumni.baylor.edu

Hannah Kuhl: HannahKuhl@hotmail.com  

Justin Pond: pondjw@gmail.com

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.

Maxcey Blaylock: maxceykite@gmail.com

Mathew Crawford: mathewcrawford@yahoo.com

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Rob Engblom: Rob_Engblom@baylor.edu

Ross Van Dyke: Ross_Vandyke@baylor.edu

Setlist 4-10-2016

This was the third week of Easter, and our songs were gathered around that theme. Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics. Below the songs, there is an example of one way you might think of these songs in light of this week's theme. 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 McMillan

Amazing Grace by Citizens and Saints

All the Poor and Powerless by All Sons and Daughters

When Death Came Calling by Jameson McGregor

All Creatures of our God and King

Doxology

Recordings:

From time to time, we'll post live recordings of the songs from Sunday morning.  Here are a couple from this week.

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: This song echoes Psalm 139's sentiment that there is no place we can go to escape God; that God keeps choosing to be God for us, regardless of whether or not we are good at being people of God.  That idea is huge from the vantage point of the Psalms, but it seems like it is wholly overshadowed in light of the Resurrection--it's not just that God is God for us regardless of where we hang our hats, but rather that God has chosen to be God with us in the midst of our darkest moments, and rewrote the cycle of life and death to make this known to us.  If you've never heard the original version of this song, you should go look it up.  In the meantime, here is a video of John Mark McMillan performing it....with Stand By Me mashed in their too...

Amazing Grace: While we spent the season of Lent thinking about sin, we will spend the season of Easter thinking about grace.  This song by no means captures the fullness of what might be said of the grace revealed in the death and Resurrection of Jesus, but it's a good start.  I think most poignantly, it doesn't just speak to the effect of grace upon our salvation--that gets a lot of airtime (and, yeah, it's important)--but instead speaks to the way grace affects our lives here and now.  In choosing to be God for us by being God-with-us, God has given us a vantage point from which we can truly be alive:  the end of the human life is no longer death but resurrection.  The Resurrection wove a new kind of beauty into life that we can now embrace.  This is a grace to us.  

All the Poor and Powerless: The Resurrection is good news in too many ways to count.  Some look to the Resurrection at the moment in Jesus' life where His divinity was finally made clear, which makes sense, since even the disciples seemed to be on the fence up until the end.  So we might think of the Resurrection as the moment where all the things that people knew to be true of Jesus became things they knew to be true of God in a new way.  One of those things was that Jesus stood with the people on the bottom rung of society--with the ones other people didn't care for or think were good enough in general.  The Resurrection made it clear that this wasn't just some guy who, from some vantage points, was also worthy of very little attention, but instead was God.  That's the kind of thing you'd want to shout from a mountain--that God stands with the afflicted, the unimportant, the cast-off and unloved--and that's why we sang this song.

When Death Came Calling: This is a song about grief in light of the Resurrection.  We often hear associated with Easter that death has lost it's sting.  That's always been perplexing to me, and I didn't have to live very much life to realize that the most literal meaning of that phrase was simply not true.  Death stings.  Sometimes it's a sting that causes debilitating emotional pain.  Sometimes it's a sting that seems to carry a toxin that leaves your entire body and mind numb.  For a while, I thought I was a bad Christian for wearing grief heavily, but then I finally acquired some context to put behind the famous "Jesus wept" verse--Jesus wept because He was grieving, and He was grieving because death is grief-worthy.  And I think this is still true after the Resurrection.  The sting that death lost is a sting of a different kind, perhaps better labeled "finality."  It's a sting that we will find missing later, replaced by the beauty of creation reborn.

All Creatures of Our God and King: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about All Creatures of Our God and King then: We sang this song to begin our time together proclaiming that the resurrection of Jesus affected more than just our personal salvation--it was an emphatic yes to life, to creation as a whole.  Now every inch of the cosmos sings a song not just proclaiming that it was created by God, but that God entered into it, took on the cycle of life and death that permeates the whole of creation, and ultimately broke through that cycle and crowned it with Resurrection.

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 4-8-16

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

Easter

Picking that guy?!?

I'm not preaching Sunday, but I've made it a discipline to read the lectionary texts weekly anyhow.  I'm especially intrigued by the Easter season because it usually includes something from Acts.  Acts is increasingly becoming one of my favorite books of the bible.  It is full of questions for a church without a completely formed identity asking questions about how to do stuff.  New situations are constantly thrust upon Jesus' followers without an instructional manual, but with the promise of the Spirit. 

This weeks reading is Acts 9.  You know this story even if you don't know Acts 9.  Paul is knocked to the ground by a light from heaven.  He hears and sees what everyone else can only hear.  He's temporarily blinded by what has to be the most dramatic conversion story to this day.  

There's a version of Christian theology that posits God always knew/knows from eternity past and future (both words predicated on the concept of time which officially had status after God gave it essence) what He would do.  I say that because any time you try and peer into the life of the Trinity and ask the question "what was God thinking?" you're really asking something that may be nonsensical. Still I find myself wondering what God was thinking in picking Saul/Paul.  

My curiosity is addressed in the figure Ananias.  He has the same question.  "Wait, who did you pick?  Isn't that the guy that's trying to kill all of us?"  Yes, that is the guy that God picked.  The one who was trying to kill all of us.  God sees something in Paul that we can't before Acts 9. God believes that Paul can change. 

Have you ever thought about listing an "ability to change" as an attribute?  We tend to celebrate terms like flexibility and open-mindedness, but I don't think we collective value change.  Change is often seen as weak.  

I've been eligible to vote in US political elections since 2000.  I didn't really start paying attention until 2004 when George W. Bush defended his title against John Kerry.  Here's what I remember.  I remember protestors standing outside Kerry rallies yelling "Flip, Flop" as though his amendments on positions was unforgivable.  I was naive then, I didn't know that position changes often have more to do with political expediency than they do a heartfelt shift in convictions.  Still even in the world of ethically muddy politics we see glimmers of healthy change.  Paul Ryan recently apologized for his past positions and more importantly, comments on poor people.  I suppose that this too could have been for selfish reasons, but from my limited vantage point it looked like a genuine change.  

One of my favorite theologians is Clark Pinnock.  I have several of his books on my shelf including two that he wrote on reading scripture. They represent two ends of a spectrum.  Pinnock wrote both of them with conviction and passion, but somewhere between them he changed.  

Both books are more valuable because of the visible migration within his theology.  Readers are able to see what change looks like.

One of the reasons I find change to be such an attractive feature is because it requires another kingdom characteristic—humility.  In order to change, one has to be willing to acknowledge that his/her previous convictions were wrong.  That takes large amount of maturity. But the bigger reason is because we must change.  Our sanctification is predicated on the supposition that like God believed transformation was possible in the life of Paul, transformation is also a must in our lives.  Grace makes change possible and then invites us into it. 

How might the Spirit be changing you? 

UBC Finance Team

Do you love excel spread sheets?  Is April 15th your favorite day after you own birthday?  You may be the person we are looking for to serve on the UBC finance team. Interested persons should submit their name to josh@ubcwaco.org.  Here is some information taken from the bylaws about the finance team.  

(A) Purpose.  The Finance Team shall exist for the following purposes:

a.     To serve as the primary advisory group for the Leadership Team in all budgetary and financial aspects of the church. 

b.    To oversee, in coordination with the ministerial staff, yearly budgetary processes, working to create a financial ministry plan in alignment with the ethos, mission and values of UBC.

c.     To advise the staff and Leadership Team on any emergency financial matters that may arise with regards to the physical infrastructure of the church building, as well as those matters pertaining to compensation and benefits of personnel.

d.    To assess the current financial status of the church on a monthly basis and advise the staff and Leadership Team on matters concerning changes in planned ministry expenses.

e.    To advise the Human Resources/Staff Support team on all financial matters regarding new and existing personnel, including available resources concerning salaries, salary increases, insurance, taxes, etc.

f.      To advise the church body on all matters relating to stewardship, financial integrity, etc.

(C)  Qualifications.  Finance Team members shall have been an active participant in the life of UBC for at least a year, have received at least a bachelors degree level of education (or roughly an equivalent amount of experience in business or finance,) and have at least a basic understanding of financial reports and budgets.

Families @ Baylor Soccer Fields

The UBC families will be meeting at the Baylor Soccer fields Sunday after church to throw frisbees, footballs and have fun.  Pizza and drinks will be provided.  If you are interested in Attending, please email josh@ubcwaco.org. 

Graduate Luncheon

If you are graduating in 2016 (May, August, or December), we would like you to stay for lunch on Sunday, April 24th, after church.  This is a great opportunity for and the staff to reflect on your time at UBC, and we will feed you some delicious Waco grub.  There is a sign-up sheet in the foyer the next two Sundays, please sign-up if you would like to come.  The luncheon is only for graduates and staff.  If you have any questions, please email toph@ubcwaco.org 

Thailand Shirts

If you would like to buy a Thailand mission team shirt, time is running out.  The shirt will only be one sale till April 17th, so make sure to purchase one before it’s too late.  All profits go to our team members to help them go on the trip.  If you have any questions, please email toph@ubcwaco.org   You can buy a shirt by following this link: http://www.ubcwaco.org/new-page/

Work is Worship

Greeters:  Marygale and Rick 

Coffee Makers:  Stephen & Emmy 

Mug Cleaners: Team Lee 

Announcements:

• Sunday Sermon: Revelation 5:11-14 ... please be in prayer for our friend and fellow UBCer Mick Colananni who will be preaching this Sunday. 
• Backside, April 22nd.  If you have art to display on a wall or in space or music to fill our ears, then you might be interested in the backside.  email jamie@ubcwaco.org 
• Study Hall Days: May 2nd and 3rd 
• Chris Tweedt will be leading a series of three talks about the intersection of faith and philosophy. Talks will run in the evening from 7:30-8:30 and will take place at UBC. for more information email Chris @ christweedt@gmail.com
  • Feb 24: Perceiving God or Arguing for God?
  • Mar 23: What Does God Think About Suffering?
  • April 20: Who, If Anyone, Should We Trust about Religion? 

Do you have an emergency and need to talk to a pastor? 

254 498 2261

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- Kristin Dodson: kschwebke@prodigy.net

Joy Wineman: joy.wineman@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

David Wilhite: David_Wilhite@baylor.edu

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

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

Tom Haines: thomas_haines@baylor.edu

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

Chris Kim: chris_kim@alumni.baylor.edu

Hannah Kuhl: HannahKuhl@hotmail.com  

Justin Pond: pondjw@gmail.com

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.

Maxcey Blaylock: maxceykite@gmail.com

Mathew Crawford: mathewcrawford@yahoo.com

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Rob Engblom: Rob_Engblom@baylor.edu

Ross Van Dyke: Ross_Vandyke@baylor.edu

Setlist 4-3-2016

This was the second week of Easter, and our songs were gathered around that theme. Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics. Below the songs, there is an example of one way you might think of these songs in light of this week's theme. 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

Murdered Son by John Mark McMillan

Because He Lives

There's A Wideness In God's Mercy by Jameson McGregor (adapted from Frederick Faber)

Wayward Ones by The Gladsome Light

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 begin our time together proclaiming that the resurrection of Jesus affected more than just our personal salvation--it was an emphatic yes to life, to creation as a whole.  Now every inch of the cosmos sings a song not just proclaiming that it was created by God, but that God entered into it, took on the cycle of life and death that permeates the whole of creation, and ultimately broke through that cycle and crowned it with Resurrection.

Murdered Son: We sang this song for a couple of reasons.  One was to reflect on what God did to and for us in the death and resurrection of Jesus.  The verses talk about God setting us up above all the stars, raising us high above our station, making us "friends" of God, hiding our faults, and breaking us out of the cycle of dust and grave.  Another reason we sang this song was to think what it took for God to do this.  The chorus praises God's "murdered son."  This language can be jarring, but it is accurate.  It serves as a reminder that what God did for us in Jesus was not simply an act of kindness done at no expense.  Instead, it meant God becoming human and enduring suffering, the one who is powerful taking on the position of one who is on the bottom end of a power differential--it meant God entering into everything God is pulling us out of.

Because He Lives:  We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Because He Lives then: We sang this song to remind ourselves that the Resurrection has an effect on our daily lives--that it is relevant for our own outlook on life.  Everything is different because of this moment.  Everything has changed.  Every story now gets woven into a greater story, and tragedies don't triumph in the end.

There's A Wideness in God's Mercy: This song was written in 1854 by Frederick Faber.  I encountered a quote from it recently that I couldn't get of my head, so I looked it up.  I suppose we don't always choose the things that hijack out brains, so I don't know that I can offer a thorough reason for why I chose to adapt it.  I kept reading this hymn text, and eventually read it with a guitar in hand.  Shortly after, I started chopping it up.  What I ended up with is a fairly small percentage of the total song, but you can google the whole thing if you'd like.  For me, this song shines a light on the scope of the relationship between God's love and God's mercy, as revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus, and then causes us to shine a light on ourselves and the ways we try to put stipulations on the love of God--the line of thinking that leaves us doubting whether or not God could really love us, or sometimes, them.

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.

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

-JM