June 18, 2016

josh carney

ITLOTC 6-17-16

June 18, 2016

josh carney

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church)

Pentecost

"Legion"

I’ve often said in sermons that Jesus’ miracles do more than heal/fix/restore. They add commentary to the story and/or the mission. Very often the same could said of the Jesus’ exorcisms, though those may be a kind of miracle.

There’s an interesting story that shows up in Matthew 8/Mark5/Luke 8.

Jesus heads to the region of the Garasenes, which is on the east side of Galilee. Most of Jesus’ ministry occurs on the west side, but if you map Jesus story in say, the gospel of Mark, he looks like a ping pong ball being shot back and forth across the lake. Jesus is going to the area of the Gerasenes. It’s really the southeast side and it’s where Decapolis (ten federated cities of the Roman Empire) was located. There he meets a man living among the tombs. He’s untouchable for many reasons. Here i’m just going to give you some facts in short hand so you can appreciate this for all it is worth.

· The region of the Gerasenes was a place where land was granted for Roman military veterans with status--a retirement village of soldiers if you will.

· The demon possessed man (hereafter “dpm”) could not be “subdued” by anyone because he was “occupied” by demons

· The space the dpm was in, the region of the Gerasenes, for a Galilean, was occupied by a force that no one could subdue.

· The dpm is said to be living among the graves. This is a violation of the Holiness code.

· When Jesus asks the dpm for a name, he Jesus it is “legion.” Legion is a word used to describe a division of Roman Soldiers (scholars estimate that number to be around 2,000).

· Nearby was a “band” of pigs. Band is a word often used to describe military cadets

· The demons ask to into the pigs. There are about 2,000 of them and they are also symbols of uncleanliness.

· The 2,000 pigs “charged” into the sea, this undoubtedly is an allusion to Pharaoh’s army that also “charged” into the sea. (1)

It would not be disingenuous then to conclude that Jesus is suggesting that the people in this region were made sick by the imperial rule and power. In the Christian tradition we have one final authority and that is Jesus.

I sometimes argue with my friend David Wilhite about the attributes of God. The first five centuries of church theology, which is Wilhite’s specialty, pretty much figured most of this out. Part of what they figured out is that God is impassive. In case you don’t speak nerd language that means without change in emotion. Or even more simply, God doesn’t change. That used to bother me especially since Jesus wept in the garden and at other places, but then I began to see the benefit of the doctrine. God, who is perfectly present in every emotion all the time, doesn’t make Jesus our authority because God needs some kind of loyalty or affection from humans. One of the reasons God makes Jesus the final authority because every other possible leader, including every human there was or is, ends in idolatry. Humans will fail humans.

In this particular election it's not hard to convince people that Jesus is Lord. There are enthusiasts in both parties, but more than I remember in past elections, people are disappointed with their party candidates on both sides. I simply take this to mean that Jesus was right back when he casted the demons into the pigs.

Pray for our politicians, they need all they can get.

(1) Interested readers can read more about this in most biblical commentaries on Matthew, Mark and Luke or for a simplified easy to read version … Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw’s Jesus for President.

Grills and Chills

Friends, this Wednesday, June 22nd we will have a grills and chills event at the Wren Household. We will have sign ups this Sunday after church so we know how much food to get. if you include your email you will then be sent an address. UBC will provide drinks, burgers, dogs, and a veggie alternatives. We are asking participants to bring a side. If you will not be at church this Sunday and would still like to sign up please email josh@ubcwaco.org.

Discernment Team

Wanted to put out one last call for our discernment team. We are looking for individuals in the church who are passionate about the future of our kids ministry and can help us dream about how to solve our space issues. If you are interested in being on this team, please email josh@ubcwaco.org. PS: we have plenty of men that volunteered, i'd love for a few our women to throw their names in.

Survey Help

Friends, one of UBC's former employees and fearless warrior champions, Katie Lauve Moon (pictured below), is doing PhD work at Tulane. As part of her research she is asking that people from our community take this survey. I will include this survey 3 times over the next 6 weeks. So if you are annoyed, you can help make it disappear by participating now.

Random Cool Picture to be used as thumbnail to generate more Traffic

A Lord of the Rings Kind of Place that is in Norway

Work is Worship

Greeters: Will

Coffee Makers: Emmy

Mug Cleaners: Leigh & the Cooleys

Money Counter: Hannah Kuhl

Announcements:

Sunday Sermon Text:
MD Chains Location: Panda Express by Target
Summer Grills & Chills @ the park ... Wednesday June 22nd. More information to come.
Special thanks to my friend Taylor Post for brining word to the herd this last Sunday.

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

Rob Engblom: Rob_Engblom@baylor.edu

Ross Van Dyke: Ross_Vandyke@baylor.edu

June 14, 2016

Ubc Waco

Setlist, ubcmusic

Setlist 6-12-2016

June 14, 2016

Ubc Waco

Setlist, ubcmusic

This was the fourth Sunday after Pentecost, and our songs were gathered with the faithfullness of God 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:

House of God Forever by Jon Foreman

Wandering by Jameson McGregor

Future/Past by John Mark McMillan

Fever 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'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.

House of God Forever: We sang this song to express Psalm 23 together. If we're honest, this psalm calls us to make claims about the way we trust God that are more intense than we can honestly say most of the time. Because of this, House of God Forever pulls us along--asks us to claim a greater reliance on the faithfulness of God than we might carry at this moment, but this draws us closer to living in that place.

Wandering: This song contrasts God's faithfulness to us with our own attempts at being faithful that usually have a self-serving bend to them. The point isn't to beat ourselves up about this--I think this is something we should combat and of which we must be aware, but it is also part of what it is to be human. Instead, the point is to recognize that God's faithfulness to us is unwavering. Because of this, we can fail again and again and still be pulled along on the Way of Christ.

Future/Past: This song presents the grandeur of God and underscores the fact that God has called us "friends." Taken with the idea of God's faithfulness, this song bolsters our assurance that God is with us in the same way in the midst of the joy and the pain of life, and that, just as our past has been marked by this, we can remain confident that our future will be as well.

Fever: This song makes a metaphor of the relationship between fever and virus. Fevers are used to restore order to the body when it has been invaded by a virus/bacteria--to move toward regaining the status quo. Fever imagines a scenario in which the thing that we keep pulling ourselves back to is in fact the worse thing, and it seeks out a wilder pathogen to overtake the attempts to restore "order." As for what this means, I think that's pretty pliable--you could probably find your own meaning in it.

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: This is a song that deals directly with mercy in the context of Jesus, but that is far from the only lens we can use when looking at There's A Wideness in God's Mercy. For instance, the Spirit's transformative presence with us is no doubt an example of the wideness of God's mercy. As we traverse the varied terrain of our day-to-day, we do so in cooperation with the Spirit, who is shaping us and our stories into something new, beyond the measure of our minds.

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

-JM

June 10, 2016

josh carney

ITLOTC 6-10-16

June 10, 2016

josh carney

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church)

Pentecost

You Are That Man

"You are that man!" 2 Samuel 12:7

1. Parables

Jesus wasn't the first person to use parables. The tradition of parables is older than the incarnation portion of his story. The most obvious place to see this is in Nathaniel's rebuking David.

David saw Bathsheba bathing on the roof. He had her husband killed. Their consequent sexual relationship lacked consent.

It's an awful story with an awful ending. Their baby dies.

God is angry. David won't get off the hook.

Sometimes we become so immune to criticism that we need to hear it creatively. That's how God cracks David's heart, with a creative story.

The prophet Nathaniel shows up and tells David a story about rich man with many sheep and a poor man with one sheep. The rich man steals the poor mans sheep.

It's more descriptive than that though. Nathan describes this lamb--the lamb plays with the poor man's children. There's clearly affection between the family the animal. The rich man takes it to feed a visitor. He didn't want to tap into his own flock so he robs the poor to feed the rich.

It's outrage!

The strategy works. David is furious. He even calls for the death penalty.

Then the micdrop. Nathan tells David, "You are that man!"

2. Automatic Video Feeds

Have you ever watched a video and then because you didn't close the screen after the video, the video feed cues another video. Yesterday I clicked on a video of a hydraulic press crushing a can of silly string because I like those kind of videos. Then it showed me a video of a hydraulic press crushing a diamond.

Enthralling! I was hooked.

The next video was a hydraulic press crushing a hydraulic press. Best one yet.

Then a video of a fight between high school students in a bathroom. Confession, I should have turned off the video feed at this point, but curiosity get the best of me. "They looked like middle schoolers," I thought, "surely this ends in comedy or it wouldn't survive on the internet." There's an inaudible exchange of words. Then the bigger kid attacks the smaller kid. Other kids watch. I've not been in a fight, but this doesn't look too bad. Then, the big kid picks up the little kid and slams him to the ground. I'm hoping his backpack breaks the fall, but I'm concerned about his head. It could have really gotten hurt.

Then the most heart crushing thing I've heard in a while. The kid on the floor cries a deep cry of agony. Something took my heart and wrapped it in knots.

I couldn't believe how angry I got. Every ounce of pacifism in me was swallowed up in rage. I wanted to storm the school scream at the Principal. I wanted to find the parents of the bigger kid and lecture them for raising such a terrible human being. I wanted to throw that bigger kid against a locker and scare the hell out of him.

Here's what was happening in me. I found an entry point. I have four kids ... and for a split second I imagined that it could have been one of mine getting beat up. Vicariously, I was involved in that situation. That's usually the best way for me to do empathy.

About 30 minutes later I recalled a moment from middle school. Our teacher informed us that we'd have a substitute the next day. It was a sewing class. Occasionally we needed copies of a pattern to be made on the copy machine in the office.

Jake devised a plan. He'd send our naive substitute to make a copy so that one girl in our class could pummel another. I knew about the plot and I did nothing. And then the next day when it happened, I did nothing.

I was that man.

3. Prophets and Judgement

There is a motif of prophetic judgement in the scriptures and there is a motif of repentance. They are not mutually exclusive, but as I do my own journey, I'm sometimes confused by which voice i should employ.

There are so many instances that need leadership and truth telling. Thank God for those voices. And still, Christian faith is relentless in it's demand that our primary work be introspective.

Judgement is a theological necessity that ought to be exercised carefully. Some of us should share opinions and educate people. But some of us should probably listen. Because if we are too hasty in our condemnation, we just might find that, "we are that man."

Children's Ministry Info for Sunday

This week Emily will be on vacation, so Liz Andrasi will be at the UBCKids helm! To our UBCKids community, be sure to ask Liz if she needs any extra hands, or a refill on her coffee, or anything else! She’s going to do an amazing job, there is no doubt, but extra help is always welcomed! Thanks, Liz and thanks in advance to UBC!

Textile Generosity and other Interesting Points: By Marshall Cook

We all remember middle school. Oh the memories:

Concert band renditions of Queen's "We Will Rock You",
Significant others that you hold hands with if your buddies aren't around,
The agony and confusion over why your boyfriend won't hold your hand when his buddies are around,
The inexplicable and pungent mix of industrial grade cleaner, sweat, and over zealously applied drug store fragrances.

Sadly, these halcyon days have passed many of us by...

BUT WAIT, what if you could reach in to that world and give a middle school student the one thing universally desired by these precious, pubescent, proto-people: The gift of looking and feeling Fresh to Death.

Through Our Church Family's partnership with Cesar Chavez Middle School and Communities in Schools, this opportunity is within your reach. Please consider the following options:

Donate a new or gently used uniform to Communities in Schools; Bring it by the church and Marshall (that's me) will get it to the right place. Anything sized for K-12 is wonderful!
Write a check to Communities in Schools of the Heart of Texas and write "uniforms" in the memo line. Again, I'm happy to collect at the church
Donate online here ( For reference, the boys "Husky 14" size shirt that I would have worn in Middle School runs a cool $12).

I hope you'll join me in this opportunity to love our (adolescent) neighbors.

Love y'all,

Marshall Cook

Former Middle Schooler

UBC T-Shirts

If you ordered a UBC t-shirt ... great news. you can now pick them up. please find Josh or Jamie on Sunday or whenever and we'll hook you up.

Harry Potter Party

We will be hosting a Harry Potter party at then end of July to celebrate the release of the new book. If you are interested in either Harry Potter or parties, and would like to help Josh plan and execute this party, that would be greatly appreciated. interested persons should email, josh@ubcwaco.org

Random Cool Picture to be used as thumbnail to generate more Traffic

Work is Worship

Greeters: Rick

Coffee Makers: Chad

Mug Cleaners: Emma

Money Counter: Josh McCormick

Announcements:

Sunday Sermon Text: Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 Please be in prayer for my friend Taylor as she prepares to bring us a word this Sunday.
MD Chains Location: Viteks by Baylor.
Summer Grills & Chills @ the park ... Wednesday June 22nd. More information to come.

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

Rob Engblom: Rob_Engblom@baylor.edu

Ross Van Dyke: Ross_Vandyke@baylor.edu

June 6, 2016

Ubc Waco

Setlist, ubcmusic

Setlist 6-5-2016

June 6, 2016

Ubc Waco

Setlist, ubcmusic

This was the third 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 at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

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

Your Love Is Strong by Jon Foreman

Come Thou Fount

Pulse by Jameson McGregor

Wayward Ones by The Gladsome Light

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.

There's A Wideness in God's Mercy: This is a song that deals directly with mercy in the context of Jesus, but that is far from the only lens we can use when looking at There's A Wideness in God's Mercy. For instance, the Spirit's transformative presence with us is no doubt an example of the wideness of God's mercy. As we traverse the varied terrain of our day-to-day, we do so in cooperation with the Spirit, who is shaping us and our stories into something new, beyond the measure of our minds.

Your Love Is Strong: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs. This is what we said about Your Love Is Strong last week: 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.

Come Thou Fount: We sang this song to continue to call upon the Spirit to tune us into instruments of grace, and to call upon ourselves to look back on the way God has been faithful to us as we face new challenges in life (that's the Ebenezer part--and I know I've talked about this before, but "Ebenezer" is maybe the most obscure word that we sing on a regular basis. The idea of an Ebenezer calls back to a moment in 1 Samuel 7 when Samuel makes a monument to embody the recollection of God's showing up in the midst of an impossible situation.)

Pulse: This is a new song. As some of you know, I'm recording an album right now called Wild One. A couple of months ago I started to get kind of burnt out picking apart those 10 songs for the recording process, so I decided to start writing another album to keep my wheels moving. I've been writing about the Holy Spirit and the Church (and I struggle to speak meaningfully about one without the other). Pulse embraces the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Life--the breath that we see breathed into Adam in the garden story--and leans into the idea that it is possible to experience life without fully embracing the breadth of what this means (and in turn tries to remedy that disconnect). Namely, that we are all connected--we are children of the Living God. We have a tendency to be selective with whom we count as "us." And we are amazingly skilled at creating various kinds of "them." But this seems to be undermined by the Holy Spirit. This song is a petition for the Spirit to make this interconnectivity real to us and to teach us how to love one another as we should.

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

June 3, 2016

josh carney

ITLOTC 6-3-16

June 3, 2016

josh carney

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church)

Pentecost

Questions About Sexual Violence

his week my friend and colleague Kyndall Rathaus, who is a pastor at Lakeshore Baptist Church here in Waco, wrote an article for the Baptist Standard entitled "A Christian Feminist Response to Baylor." The article has been part of my formation this week. By that I mean it has caused me to stop and think and ask questions about my Jesus following in this particular area. Sometimes discipleship means asking, "do i know everything I should know about this?" and "how might the Holy Spirit be challenging me to grow?" So in response to this article I decided to interview another friend, our own Dr. Emma Wood who has a PhD in clinical psychology and specializes in questions about gender. Instead of writing an article this week, I thought I'd share that interview with you.

Summer Fun

Friendly reminder that this Sunday is the beginning of summer Sunday School. Even if you didn't sign up for the breakfast potluck you can still come, please bring a savory or sweet dish to share. Also, this Tuesday will be our first MD Chains lunch. We will be meeting by Fuego by Baylor.

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 introduced Marshall last week and this week we'd like to introduce Kim.

______________________________________________________________

Name: Kim MinnickReason you are in Waco:  Working on my MDiv in Spiritual Formation at Truett SeminaryBest restaurant in Waco: Bangkok Royal. Scripture that means something to you: I tend to stress and get anxious over things I c… — Name: Kim Minnick

Reason you are in Waco: Working on my MDiv in Spiritual Formation at Truett Seminary

Best restaurant in Waco: Bangkok Royal.

Scripture that means something to you: I tend to stress and get anxious over things I can't control - John 16:13 reminds me that the Spirit is constantly at work, which pairs nicely with Matthew's reminder in 6:25-34 to not worry.

TV Show?: Currently caught up on Gilmore Girls and catching up on Parks and Rec. I'd like to watch Lost again. Sunday nights are devoted to Game of Thrones.

Book?: Ender's Game and really the whole Enderverse

Something we’d never know about you: I was a percussionist in high school and received a "1" at UIL for a 4-mallet marimba solo. I hope to have my own marimba one day.

Survey Help

Friends, one of UBC's former employees and fearless warrior champions, Katie Lauve Moon (pictured below), is doing PhD work at Tulane. As part of her research she is asking that people from our community take this survey. I will include this survey 3 times over the next 6 weeks. So if you are annoyed, you can help make it disappear by participating now.

UBC T-Shirts

if you ordered a UBC t-shirt ... great news. you can now pick them up. please find josh or jamie on Sunday or whenever and we'll hook you up.

Work is Worship

Greeters: Evie & the Walters

Coffee Makers: Van Dykes

Mug Cleaners: Leigh

Money Counter: Anna Tilson

Announcements:

Sunday Sermon Text: 1 Kings 17:8-16
MD Chains Location: Fuego by Baylor
UBC Roots class welcome camp in is tonight. If your child is entering 1st grade or is between 1st and 4th grades and they would be interested in joining our children for an overnight of fun and fellowship email emily@ubcwaco.org.
Summer Grills & Chills @ the park ... Wednesday June 22nd. More information to come.

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

Rob Engblom: Rob_Engblom@baylor.edu

Ross Van Dyke: Ross_Vandyke@baylor.edu

May 31, 2016

Ubc Waco

Thailand Update - Final

May 31, 2016

Ubc Waco

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)

May 31, 2016

Ubc Waco

Setlist, ubcmusic

Setlist 5-29-2016

May 31, 2016

Ubc Waco

Setlist, ubcmusic

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

May 27, 2016

josh carney

ITLOTC 5-27-16

May 27, 2016

josh carney

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.

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

May 24, 2016

Ubc Waco

UBC in Thailand - Blog #3

May 24, 2016

Ubc Waco

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”

May 23, 2016

Ubc Waco

UBC IN Thailand - Blog #2

May 23, 2016

Ubc Waco

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

May 21, 2016

Ubc Waco

UBC Thailand Team Update

May 21, 2016

Ubc Waco

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

May 20, 2016

josh carney

ITLOTC 5-20-16

May 20, 2016

josh carney

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

May 16, 2016

Ubc Waco

Setlist, ubcmusic

Setlist 5-15-2016

May 16, 2016

Ubc Waco

Setlist, ubcmusic

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

May 13, 2016

josh carney

ITLOTC 5-13-16

May 13, 2016

josh carney

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. — 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.