ITLOTC 12-16-16

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

Advent

Merry Christmas

This is my last newsletter entry for the year (see below).  As a kid I remember watching VH1 on New Year’s Eve.  They always used the evening’s programming to chronicle what had happened that year.  I took a kind of comfort in that.  Being reminded and remembering the world, as I had experienced it, always felt cathartic and necessary for me to move forward.  Remembering is an important discipline in Christian faith, and the year’s end seems to be the moment when culture gives us the tools and the motivation to do just that.  

2016 will forever be the year my father died.  I knew for the eleven years my dad had cancer, and really every day before that, that someday he would die.  Still, the magnitude of his death has been a force that I haven’t figured out how to absorb.  Two words seem to characterize what I felt and continue to feel:  Hollow and ache.  I can’t offer you much commentary on the first, other than something seems to be missing.  My sister, on Christ the King Sunday, talked about how part of her conception of God died with my dad.  I think that’s true for me and also part of the reason for my hollowness.  Something is now gone.  

The ache I know a little better.  I expect and understand its function in life.  It’s not a pain.  It doesn’t hurt acutely.  I go on with life. I make plans.  I celebrate the gifts God continues to give us.  I laugh with my children.  I get excited about movies.  I appreciate moments of friendship.  But all of that now is undergirded by something constant.  It’s not like a thorn that needs to be removed from your foot or a pebble from your shoe.  It is a reality that I drift into, and when I do, time stops, I sit down, recall moments from when I said goodbye and breathe deeply.  I almost utter something like, “yes, that really happened.”

In the confusion of death, many memories from the last 36 hours I was with my dad are jumbled together.  Some of them that I recall hurt, others make me laugh, but all of them are good because they are real and true.  I’ve spent the almost five months since his death pulling them apart and chronicling them both on paper and in my heart.  I want to share one memory that has floated to the top for me.  

It’s a memory that I remember with the help of a picture.  I’d share the picture if it was mine to share, but it’s not.  It belongs to my parents and to the trinitarian love that they danced in until the last moments of their togetherness. My brother, the last to gather with my family in the final moments, greeted my father, who by this point had not demonstrated meaningful consciousness in quite some time. My mom, who I reasoned had been waiting for my brother, then laid down on his hospice bed next to him in my sister’s living room.  She began whispering things in his ear.  I don’t know what was said, but I knew enough to take my picture.  

I’ll tell you what I saw there.  Nearly fifty years of marriage.  I saw two people committed to a vision for life.  Two people sharing in the work of the kingdom.  I saw a mom and dad proud of their four children.  I saw a grandfather and grandmother proud of their 15 grandchildren.  I saw faithfulness that carried them through stress, fights, tight grocery budgets, and a whole hell of a lot of sacrifice for us kids.  I saw my mom letting go of eleven years of driving to hospitals in three different cities, sitting patiently beside her husband during chemo and radiation appointments.  I saw my mom juggling finances and working with insurance companies to make a way forward.  I saw her endure disappointments of hopes unfulfilled and a season of blissful retirement cut short.  I saw fidelity.

In my sister’s living room where my father died, there was another picture.  It hung on the wall above the head of his bed.  I used those last hours by my father’s side to notice that picture.  It was often the object of my visual attention when I found myself splashing around in emotions that I was greeting for the first time.  I’m still not sure what the picture is of.  Having grown up in northern Wisconsin, it reminded me of a ginseng field.  

Now I will tell you about something that has come to mean a great deal to me:  Months later, when I was looking at my picture of love, I found myself in that whimsical picture hanging above my father’s head on the wall.  I’m a faint reflection holding my phone to capture the image of my parents’ love.  Strangely, perhaps providently, I’m centered above my parents in the middle of them as if there were room between them.  It was by every measure an accident, and yet it is for me a kind of grace.  I belong to them.  I came from that love and now that love lives on in me.  

This self-giving that my parents modeled was first given to them as Love just as it is now given to me as the same Love.  So, as the culture’s calendar comes to a conclusion in the same moment when the church’s begins, I remember this: Christmas is and must be Easter’s equal companion.  God came.  His arrival is the most explicit of His moves in a redemptive story that began before the garden was rolled out.  And it is to these eternal realities and this story, that my parents’ Love now rests.  

Merry Christmas. 

ITLOTC Break

Our beloved newsletter, cleverly named ITLOTC, will be taking a two week hiatus after today.  So please, do not sit on the edge of your couch with a cup of warm coco in hand nervously refreshing your inbox every five minutes while you wait on Friday December 23 & 30.  Because there will be no newsletter on those days.  Instead we urge you true companion, take this time, which has been liberated from the demands of academic calendars, kids sporting events and other schedule killing regularities and enjoy your family, friends, and the season when we celebrate the arrival of our dear Savior.  

Holiday Church Schedule 

Saturday December 24th @ 5:00 PM, UBC will gather to celebrate the coming of our Lord Jesus with worship enacted through scripture reading and carol singing.  

Sunday January 1st @ 11:00 AM, UBC will gather to share brunch and bring in the new year with liturgy. 

At both of these gatherings, there will be no child care, but what we promise instead is a festive environment where children are welcome! 

The Middle Ages Christmas Party 

The Middle Ages, the group formerly known as Empty Nesters, which is the group formerly known as the Upside, is getting together for a Christmas party like it's 1999, check that, like it's 1979.  This festive celebration commemorating the birth of our dear savior, will take place on December 17th @ 6:00 PM CST.  For more information please email terijan@gmail.com.

Christmas Card Board

Have you ever had this thought?  "Golly gee, I wish UBC had some kind of directory so I could help remember peoples names." Well I have good news for you.  We are going to use one of our bulletin boards to display your Christmas cards.  So bring one for ol' UBC and we'll put it for everyone to see.  

Work is Worship

Greeters: Will & Richardsons 

Coffee Makers: Toph & Kim  

Mug Cleaners:  Carney-Factor 

Money Counter: Justin Pond 

Announcements

• Sunday Sermon:  Matthew 1:18-25 "Christmas Stories Part 4: Bar Talk" 

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- Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

Joy Wineman: joy.wineman@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

Adam Winn:  adamwinn68@yahoo.com

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Emma Wood: emmaj.wood@yahoo.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

Liturgy 12-11-2016

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

Call to Worship

We have gathered to worship the God who makes deserts bloom like roses

Bringing with us
our own cracked and dry places

God of Joy, who brings living water into parched places,

We ask that you would bring
Peace into our chaos
Hope into our despair
Empathy into our apathy

Until streams flow in our deserts

And our deserts become gardens

Amen

Joy Candle Liturgy

Grasping for Hope, we light the first candle.

[Light Hope Candle]

Longing for Peace, we light the second candle

[Light Peace Candle]

Today, let us consider the fact that we are able to reach for Hope and seek Peace confidently because of the faithfulness of our God; that in the midst of immense darkness, we see glimpses of Light.  In directing our attention to the Light that God is giving us, we are captured by Joy.  This joy is neither fleeting, nor is it limited to the range of emotions that we might call “happy.” Instead, Joy is a way of seeing, where our priorities are not dictated by our own benefit, and where we stubbornly refuse to call the way things are “the way things will always be,” because we see that our God is still working to reconcile all things to Godself. With this in mind, we light the third candle.

[Light Joy Candle]

Hear now of the Lord coming into the darkness of Exile to lead us home in Isaiah 35:1-10.

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,
   the desert shall rejoice and blossom;
like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly,
   and rejoice with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
   the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
   the majesty of our God. 

Strengthen the weak hands,
   and make firm the feeble knees. 
Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
   ‘Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God.
   He will come with vengeance,
with terrible recompense.
   He will come and save you.’ 

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
   and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 
then the lame shall leap like a deer,
   and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
   and streams in the desert; 
the burning sand shall become a pool,
   and the thirsty ground springs of water;
the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp,
   the grass shall become reeds and rushes. 

A highway shall be there,
   and it shall be called the Holy Way;
the unclean shall not travel on it,
   but it shall be for God’s people;
   no traveller, not even fools, shall go astray. 
No lion shall be there,
   nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
   but the redeemed shall walk there. 

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
   and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
   they shall obtain joy and gladness,
   and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 

Scripture

Matthew 11:2-11

When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written,

‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’

“Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

Prayer

This week's prayer was written by Kerri Fisher:

We thank God now for Christ, who is our joy-- 
a spring flowing up and out of us, from a well that lies deep within.

A joy which somehow mysteriously confirms: 
That even in our waiting we are complete, 
That even in our confusion we can know and be known
That even in our sorrow we might be ever full. 

Help us God, to desire to be seekers and cultivators of this joy.
To accept and to share it with children, friends and lovers.
To acknowledge it in strangers, in places, in moments.
To borrow it from one another as we have need--
And to cling to it in the darkness and in the light.

Amen.

Setlist 12-11-2016

This week was the third Sunday of Advent, and our songs were gathered around the theme of Joy.  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:

Joy (Brightest) by ubcmusic

Hope (There Will Come A Light) by ubcmusic

Peace (Change Everything) by ubcmusic

A Great Rejoicing by Crowder (with additions by Jameson McGregor)

Joy to the World

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. 

Joy (Brightest): This song explores the kind of joy that we associate with Christmas.  We take for granted that the wholesale change that Jesus brings about is something that we can be excited about.  This song isn't claiming that we shouldn't be excited about, but instead that the joy that arises out of this moment might demand something of us--that perhaps everything we've ever looked to for comfort or for a standard of goodness/love is about to be shown up, and that in God's changing everything, we too will be changed.  This song, as well as the rest of our original advent songs, is available for free download here. 

Hope (There Will Come A Light): This song was written specifically for advent at ubc.  It focuses on the hope of the coming of the Light, but hones in on what that means for the darkness around us--namely, the inauguration of its progressive demise. This song, as well as the rest of our original advent songs, is available for free download here. 

Peace (Change Everything): This song is a plea for peace to come into our lives in a number of ways.  The first verse asks when the night will be turned to day, a broad request for an answer to the uncertainties of life.  The second verse wonders when our weapons and violence will have no place among us.  The third verse longs for the dissolution of our worry and anxieties. And the fourth verse longs for a remedy for the existential concerns of death.  Through the chorus, this song raises the question of how exactly God plans on addressing these problems, wondering what a solution would even look like--a king (some kind of leader or outside force to set things right? Or a new way to breathe (a new way to be human--a new way to live)?  Neither? Both?  But the heartbeat of the song is the plea that closes out each verse: "Oh God, bring peace." This song, as well as the rest of our original advent songs, is available for free download here. 

A Great Rejoicing: This song is from ubc's former music & arts pastor, David Crowder.  The version I played yesterday was essentially a different song, but maintained the chorus lyrics and some of the themes from the original. This version was tweaked to address our advent theme more directly, playing up the idea of joy being like streams of living water bringing life to dry places.

Joy to the World: We sang this song to engage both of our identities during advent--with our ancient identity, we looked forward to the coming of Joy in the Incarnation on Christmas, and with our contemporary identity, we looked back on the Incarnation and contemplated the way it affects the way we wait for the coming of the Kingdom in the here and now.

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 12-9-16

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

Advent

Town Hall Agenda

his Sunday after church we will meet in the backside for our quarterly town hall meeting.  I anticipate the meeting to be shorter so we will host it right after church.   

Finance Update

Children's Pastor Search Update 

Leadership Team Update:

The leadership team voted to add to permanent spots specifically for college students.  We will explain the specifics of this decision.  Also, we are taking nomination for new members as Joy Winemann graduates this week and is leaving for CO.  We will miss you Joy!

UBC Children and Families Pastor

UBC is looking for a full time children and families pastor.  If you are someone you know might be interested please direct them to the UBC homepage where they can click on the button and download the documents needed to apply.  

UBCYP

Is this you? 

0r is this you? 

or are you something completely different?  Good news.  It doesn't matter.  If you are a young professional, in the no mans land of not college and somewhere else, consider joining the UBCYP group on Friday, December 16th for some radical fun.  If you have any questions please email jamie@ubcwaco.org. 

The Middle Ages Christmas Party 

The Middle Ages, the group formerly known as Empty Nesters, which is the group formerly known as the Upside, is getting together for a Christmas party like it's 1999, check that, like it's 1979.  This festive celebration commemorating the birth of our dear savior, will take place on December 17th @ 6:00 PM CST.  For more information please email terijan@gmail.com. 

Christmas Card Board

Have you ever had this thought?  "Golly gee, I wish UBC had some kind of directory so I could help remember peoples names." Well I have good news for you.  We are going to use one of our bulletin boards to display your Christmas cards.  So bring one for ol' UBC and we'll put it for everyone to see.  

Work is Worship

Greeters: Ricky and Juliet 

Coffee Makers: Joy & Ryan 

Mug Cleaners:  Cooleys 

Money Counter: Anna Tilson 

Announcements

• Sunday Sermon:  

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- Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

Joy Wineman: joy.wineman@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

Adam Winn:  adamwinn68@yahoo.com

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Emma Wood: emmaj.wood@yahoo.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

Jared Gould: jared.gould1@gmail.com

Liturgy 12-4-2016

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

Call to Worship

Creator, in the midst of our darkness,

we have gathered to wait for Your Light

And to be transformed by Your peace.

Rewrite the stories we tell
about the way things are

About the way things have to be

And replace them
With a story about what happens
When a light enters the darkness.

Amen.

Peace Candle Liturgy

As we wait for the Light to come into our darkness, we do so in Hope.

[Light Hope Candle]

In our waiting, we also seek the peace of God, that peace that passes all understanding, that puts broken pieces back together, and heals wounds that, by any measure, are beyond repair.

[Light Peace Candle]

Here is God’s promise of peace from Isaiah 11:

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, 
and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 
The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 
His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. 
He shall not judge by what his eyes see, 
or decide by what his ears hear; 
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; 
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 
Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, 
and faithfulness the belt around his loins. 
The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid, 
the calf and the lion and the fatling together, 
and a little child shall lead them. 
The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together; 
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. 
They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; 
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea. 
On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious. 

Scripture

Matthew 3:1-12

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
    make his paths straight.’”

Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Prayer

This week's prayer was written by Val Fisk:

Lord God, who was and is and is to come, let your spirit of wisdom and understanding rest upon us. Teach us to work for the shalom of the world you have created. Fill us with peace as we live in the tension of the already-here and not-yet-arrived Kingdom of God. As we wait with hope for your coming, fill us with shalom that leads to righteousness, greater faith, and a growing love for you and your purposes. 

God, as we seek shalom and as we seek you, teach us about hospitality. Teach us to welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us. Teach us to welcome the poor, the widow, the orphan. Teach us to welcome the immigrant, the weary traveler, the homeless. Teach us to welcome all races, all genders, all orientations, all of humanity with the grace that you extend to each “me” in this room, a sinner. Teach us to welcome our enemies, for you love them with the same love you extend to us. 

Lord, as we anticipate your coming in this season, we anticipate so much - your entrance through birth into human flesh, your daily entrance into our hearts, and your entrance into eternal glory and restoration at the end of time. Let us not become so wrapped up in the image of a baby in a manger that we forget to anticipate your return. As we are filled with your peace and your hospitality, fill us also with your discernment and your love, so that we might be more sensitive to the needs and hurts of those around us. 

Today, we pray for those who have experienced loss this year and are celebrating holidays without those loved ones. Fill these members of your body with peace and teach us to love them well. We pray for those who have lost a child, those who have endured miscarriages, and those who have been unable to conceive. Teach us to speak gently as we speak of the coming of the Christ child. Fill these members of your body with peace and teach us to love them well. We pray for those who have received difficult diagnoses this year. Fill these members of your body with peace and teach us to love them well. We pray for those who have suffered abuse at the hands of others. Fill these members of your body with peace and teach us to love them well. We pray for those who have lost jobs, homes, security and plans for the future. Fill these members of your body with peace and teach us to love them well. And God, for so many other hurts, aches, and unknown circumstances, we pray for peace, love, and even joy in the midst of sorrow. 

In the name of the Mother, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, 
Amen

Setlist 12-4-2016

This week was the second Sunday of Advent, and our songs were gathered around the theme of Peace.  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:

Hope (There Will Come A Light) by ubcmusic

SMS [Shine] by David Crowder* Band

Peace (Change Everything) by ubcmusic

A Lament by Emily Haas

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. 

Hope (There Will Come A Light): This song was written specifically for advent at ubc.  It focuses on the hope of the coming of the Light, but hones in on what that means for the darkness around us--namely, the inauguration of its progressive demise. This song, as well as the rest of our original advent songs, is available for free download here.

SMS [Shine]: This song voices a longing for an in-breaking of Light into the chaos of the world, which can just as easily be considered a plea for peace to break into in whatever struggles might mark our lives in this season.  

Peace (Change Everything): This song is a plea for peace to come into our lives in a number of ways.  The first verse asks when the night will be turned to day, a broad request for an answer to the uncertainties of life.  The second verse wonders when our weapons and violence will have no place among us.  The third verse longs for the dissolution of our worry and anxieties. And the fourth verse longs for a remedy for the existential concerns of death.  Through the chorus, this song raises the question of how exactly God plans on addressing these problems, wondering what a solution would even look like--a king (some kind of leader or outside force to set things right? Or a new way to breathe (a new way to be human--a new way to live)?  Neither? Both?  But the heartbeat of the song is the plea that closes out each verse: "Oh God, bring peace."

A Lament: This song was written by Emily Haas.  I asked her for some thoughts on this song, and this is what she said: Everything is meaningless and I rarely believe in God.  Some days, a perfectly balanced stone on a windowsill speaks and the eager skip of a kid goat in pasture elicits something eternally good.  April sees pictures when she prays and Lauren mutters unintelligible languages.  Karina trusts as a child and tells me, "just to ask."  I am not comforted.  I am not happy and I don't understand why I have health insurance via my parents while a 3rd grader in McLennan County doesn't have dinner.  That's a speck.  Surely, if God is true, if Christ is the Christ, then there is not a bit of human experience he is unable to redeem.  And I lament that the issues are systemic and there's too much to be done and wonder - what is the point?  And then, life is full of purpose and I do believe in God// and I have never experienced "hearing" "THE VOICE OF GOD"//and am hesitant to claim, "it was Him!" but maybe I should and I wrote this song because he "said" and "says" these things to me in a way that is contrary to my whirring mind. 

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 12-2-16

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

Advent

Beginning Again

Two newsletters ago, Josh gave a rundown of the liturgical calendar in his post about Christ the King Sunday, when the Story we enter in liturgy is brought to a close.  This past Sunday was the first week of Advent, the time where the story cycles back to the beginning as we start again.  At the beginning of the service, I read some introductory thoughts on this season (you can find that transcript here), and talked about the dual identity that we carry through this (and ultimately every) season of the Church calendar.

These dual identities are 1) the people of God in a much earlier part of the Story (Israel, etc.); and 2) the people of God in our particular time and place.  The former group is poised to receive the Incarnation for the first time, knowing just how dark the world is and how badly it needs God to break in and set a Light among us.  The latter group carries the whole of the Christian Story thus far, and looks ahead to the coming of the Kingdom in fullness (the big finale, if you will).  Both of these are important, and the hope in our liturgy is that the story we experience as identity 1 will shape what it means to be identity 2.

This concept is central to the way we approach liturgy at ubc. A few weeks ago, Josh asked me to describe our “worship style” on Sunday morning.  I labeled it “ancient/future.”  There are several ways to describe what that means, but a big part of that is this dual-identity idea.  As Christians, we do ourselves no favors by attempting to ignore the story of Christian history that has led to the present moment.  When we read scripture, sing songs, hear sermons, etc., we need to be prepared to look at the whole of the history of the divine-human relationship if we have any hope of being formed in the way of Christ here and now.  And, more than looking, we need to enter this story; to know that Who God has been and Who God is are one and the same.  So, as we begin another journey through the liturgical year, keep both of these identities in mind.

Malcolm Guite has a book of sonnets that are themed around the Christian year called Sounding the Seasons, and it is fantastic.  The first sonnet in this sequence is sort of a thesis statement for the whole thing, and I think it is particularly relevant to the part of the liturgical year we find ourselves in:

Sounding the seasons

Tangled in time, we go by hints and guesses,
Turning the wheel of each returning year.
But in the midst of failures and successes
We sometimes glimpse the love that casts out fear.
Sometimes the heart remembers its own reasons
And beats a Sanctus as we sing our story,
Tracing the threads of grace, sounding the seasons
That lead at last through time to timeless glory.
From the first yearning for a Saviour’s birth
To the full joy of knowing sins forgiven,
We start our journey here on God’s good earth
To catch an echo of the choirs of heaven.
I send these out, returning what was lent,
Turning to praise each ‘moment’s monument’.

As always, if you have any questions about any of this, by all means, email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Town Hall

UBC will hold our quarterly town hall after church on December 11th.  The meeting will occur directly after church, in the backside and take about 20 minutes.  

UBC Children and Families Pastor

UBC is looking for a full time children and families pastor.  If you are someone you know might be interested please direct them to the UBC homepage where they can click on the button and download the documents needed to apply.  

Backside (TONIGHT)

Wall space and mic space are available for you to display your talent at UBC in the backside  TONIGHT!  If you've never been, think about that hacky sack scene from She's All That, only not really.  Also, we are looking to share cookies, so if you do that, plan on that.  The extravaganza begins at 7:00 PM CST.  If you have any questions please contact jamie@ubcwaco.org.  

Study Hall

Baylor cut out one of her dead days?  Can you believe that?  Ugh!  Anyhow we are still going to hold a day of studying, unhealthy food, and getting nothing done at UBC on December 7th.  Pancakes will be served that evening by chef Jeff.  Please consider coming.  Also if you have a test in Heritage, Carney will let you quiz him to help you study.  Think about it. 

UBCYP

Is this you? 

0r is this you? 

or are you something completely different?  Good news.  It doesn't matter.  If you are a young professional, in the no mans land of not college and somewhere else, consider joining the UBCYP group on Friday, December 16th for some radical fun.  If you have any questions please email jamie@ubcwaco.org. 

The Middle Ages Christmas Party 

The Middle Ages, the group formerly known as Empty Nesters, which is the group formerly known as the Upside, is getting together for a Christmas party like it's 1999, check that, like it's 1979.  This festive celebration commemorating the birth of our dear savior, will take place on December 17th @ 6:00 PM CST.  For more information please email terijan@gmail.com. 

Work is Worship

Greeters: Walters and Evie 

Coffee Makers: Emmy & Stephen 

Mug Cleaners: Dilan & Shane 

Money Counter: Doug McNamee 

Announcements

• Sunday Sermon:  "Christmas Stories Part 2: Even the Animals Are Getting Along"  Isaiah 11:1-10

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- Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

Joy Wineman: joy.wineman@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

Adam Winn:  adamwinn68@yahoo.com

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Emma Wood: emmaj.wood@yahoo.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

Jared Gould: jared.gould1@gmail.com

Liturgy 11-27-2016

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

Call to Worship

Here at the beginning, the Story cycles back.

Faithful God, You are the One Who makes all things new

out of the chaos
of our present age
make us new

Renew us in hope, 

That we may be a people
Driven by love and not fear,
Who know that you
Have not abandoned us

God of promise, 

Come into our darkness
and leave Light enough to see

Amen.

Advent Intro

Today, we find ourselves in the first week of Advent.  If that’s a new term for you, Advent is the season leading up to Christmas where we enter into a drama of sorts.  We unstick ourselves in time, stepping back a couple thousand years, in order to allow ourselves to receive the Gift that God is bringing on Christmas as though we don’t already know what we are celebrating at the end of December.  It is a season of waiting on God, of looking back on the way that God has been faithful to God’s people, and trusting that God will continue to be faithful to us.  

Now, we also stand as particular people in a particular time and place, who can look back a couple of thousand years and know exactly what we are celebrating at the end of December—people who stand in the midst of a story where we have seen just how far God is willing to go to set things right—yet who also know that things are still very broken.  As these people, we too look forward, trusting that God will continue to be faithful to us.

Holding both of these identities, we are preparing ourselves to receive a light in this darkness, and to learn what this light has to teach us about who God is and how God relates to the world.

Of this season, N.T. Wright says:

“For many, Christianity is just a beautiful dream.  It’s a world in which everyday reality goes a bit blurred.  It’s nostalgic, cozy, and comforting.  But real Christianity isn’t like that at all.  Take Christmas, for instance: a season of nostalgia, of carols and candles and firelight and happy children.  But that misses the point completely.  Christmas is not a reminder that the world is really quite a nice old place.  It reminds us that the world is a shockingly bad old place, where wickedness flourishes unchecked, where children are murdered, where civilized countries make a lot of money by selling weapons to uncivilized ones so they can blow each other apart.  Christmas is God lighting a candle; and you don’t light a candle in a room that’s already full of sunlight.  You light a candle in a room that’s so murky that the candle, when lit, reveals just how bad things really are.  The light shines in the darkness, says St John, and the darkness has not overcome it. Christmas, then, is not a dream, a moment of escapism.  Christmas is the reality, which shows up the rest of ‘reality.’”  

With this in mind, we might think of Advent as taking time to look around to see how dark the world is, and how very badly it needs a Light.

Hope Candle Liturgy

We are reminded in this season of Advent that we live by Hope.  Hope in the coming of the Messiah.  Hope that God will bring Light into our present darkness.  Hope that those pinned in by anxiety will find rest.  Hope that those who feel worthless will find their true Value.  Hope that the poor, the homeless, and the refugee, will be given the mercy and justice of God.  And hope that Love will cast out every fear.

For now, we wait, trusting that God is faithful and redeeming all things.  We declare our Hope in lighting the first advent candle.

[Light the Hope candle]

Hear God’s promise of hope from Isaiah 2:2-4: 

In days to come
   the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
   and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it. 
   Many peoples shall come and say,
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
   to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
   and that we may walk in his paths.’
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
   and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 
He shall judge between the nations,
   and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
   and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
   neither shall they learn war any more.

Scripture

Matthew 24:36-44

No one knows the hour or the day, not even the messengers in heaven, not even the Son. Only the Father knows. As it was at the time of Noah, so it will be with the coming of the Son of Man. In the days before the flood, people were busy making lives for themselves: they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, making plans and having children and growing old, until the day Noah entered the ark. Those people had no idea what was coming; they knew nothing about the floods until the floods were upon them, sweeping them all away. That is how it will be with the coming of the Son of Man. 

Two men will be plowing a field: one will be taken, and the other will be left in the field. Two women will be somewhere grinding at a mill: one will be taken, and the other will be left at the mill. So keep watch. You don’t know when your Lord will come. But you should know this: If the owner of a house had known his house was about to be broken into, he would have stayed up all night, vigilantly. He would have kept watch, and he would have thwarted the thief. So you must be ready because you know the Son of Man will come, but you can’t know precisely when.

Prayer

This week's prayer was written by Kim Stübben:

God, 

Together we hope. As we find ourselves in the darkness of thoughts, the darkness of feelings, the darkness of circumstances, and the darkness we have yet to encounter, help us to hope – to find hope – for the light that illumines. 

As we try to light our own way, as we feel around for the light switch, the candle, the lamp, the matches… help us see that this light is yours and not ours. Help us see in the darkness the glimmer of hope, to hear the voice of hope, to feel the heartbeat of hope, help us to heal by hope.

Lord, as we grasp for peace when we begin to see what lies in the darkness, help us to see the hope found in you and the hope found in each other. 

Amen. 

Setlist 11-27-2016

This week was the first Sunday of Advent, and our songs were gathered around the theme of Hope.  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:

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Rescue is Coming by David Crowder* Band

Hope (There Will Come A Light) by ubcmusic

Anthem by Leonard Cohen

Hope by Jameson McGregor

Doxology

How They Fit In:

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

O Come, O Come Emmanuel: This song contrasts mourning/longing and hope especially well.  We sang it to begin out time together by locating ourselves both with the people of God before the birth of Christ and with the whole of the people of God in our own time.  

Rescue is Coming: We sang this song to proclaim the same desperate hope that we established in the first song.  Though we may be able to look around and see how dark the world is, we are awaiting the coming of a Light.  The "rescue" we talk about in this song is not one of escapism--it's one of an in-breaking that delivers us from the brokenness of creation, not creation itself.

Hope (There Will Come A Light): This song was written specifically for advent at ubc.  It focuses on the hope of the coming of the Light, but hones in on what that means for the darkness around us--namely, the inauguration of its progressive demise. This song, as well as the rest of our original advent songs are available for free download here.

Anthem: Leonard Cohen had a way of capturing the essence of vulnerability and existential longing.  This song is about hope, perseverance, brokenness, and beauty, all of which are prominent themes of advent.  The hope we carry toward Christmas is a wounded one, and that makes it all the more meaningful.

Hope: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Hope then: This song voices the hope we have in Christ, the fire in the darkness.  In this image that comes into the world through John 1, we find the most fundamental summation of the Christian story--God set a light in the darkness that the darkness did not overcome.  Fire is more real than the darkness, such that there is no amount of darkness that can overcome the light of the fire. 

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 11-25-16

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

Advent

Time Travel & Dreambooks

Last week three different people texted me telling me that I needed to see the film Arrival.  I don’t get to the theater much.  Really, I don’t get anywhere much anymore.  That’s what four kids and reduced sleep will get you.  Even if my wife and I find the time and money to do something, we forfeit the opportunity out of sheer exhaustion.  

BUT, three is a lot.  Three unsolicited texts from voices I trust.  So I went and I was not disappointed.  Still, there is criticism to be had.  To say that a timeline was manipulated would be overstated, but (spoiler alert) Amy Adams develops an ability to prognosticate.  After briefly losing myself in fantasies of sports betting (thanks Biff), I recovered only to discover my constant objection to this kind of a thing.  Amy Adams foretells that several moments from the future are coming and (1) does not choose to change them(???) which, perhaps, the movie was simply offering a metaphysic in which that wasn’t possible, but (2) what’s more baffling, she seems to demonstrate the kind of ambiguity and surprise that would normally accompany knowing something for the first time when she experiences what she already knows.  

I’ve come to accept two truths when viewing movies that play with time travel.  First, theoretical physics can now prove something like this is true, namely that time is relative.  Second, even knowing that, conceptualizing that experience and the effects of that movement is extremely difficult for our minds which have only ever known linear movement within four dimensions of space and time.  

So while I watched the movie, I wondered about the precision of all occurrences.  Let me personalize the concept:  Sometimes when I think about past mistakes, I play with the idea that I would take them back given the opportunity.  But now, I find that any time I enter into such mental experiments, I reject the notion of the possibility if said event occurred before the birth of any of my children.   My rationale is that if something like the butterfly effect is true, even within the successive choices made in my own life, I run the risk of jeopardizing their conception date.  Odd, I know, but nonetheless rational.  This has made me realize that one of the roles of love in our lives is to fix in time and space with deep meaning.  

We are on verge of advent.  It’s a season chiefly about waiting.  Like Israel waited, we are currently waiting for Jesus to come (again).  Time slows.  Time quickens.  Some of us can’t get enough time, for others it stands still.  What if you could manipulate the events that comprise your waiting?  Improve them?  Would you?

I have a tradition with my children.  It usually rolls around sometime between July and October.  I make one of my few annual trips to the Highway 6 mall and snag a Dreambook from the Hallmark store.  The Dreambook, if you don’t know, is the genius piece of marketing brochure that brings you this year's latest ornament collection.  My children and I flip through the 60 or so pages, selecting our favorite ornament from each page.  We all put our initial by our favorite ornament and drink a glass of eggnog from my Clark Griswold Moose Mugs.  It’s glorious.  

I hit a snag in my tradition this year.  I got to Hallmark too late.  In September, I finally stopped by to ask for a Dreambook only to be told that they were all out and that they did not know if they would get any more.  They offered to put my name on a waiting list and call me if any more came.  I’ve worked retail.  I know this is a small consolation, but I took them up on their offer.  By October I hadn’t heard anything, so I took another trip to the mall and go the same result.  No phone call and no Dreambook.  November rolled around, and I left for my cruise.  When I got back, I reasoned that my phone had been off the grid for a week and so it was possible that I had missed the magic call.  That hope proved helpful.  I stopped by again last week, and they had gotten more Dreambooks.  

So, on Thursday night last week I sat down on the couch with my four kids and my mom, who happened to be in town.  She was new to the party, and she was enthusiastically welcomed.  You may not know this about me, but I love Christmas more than all of you…combined.  I learned my passion from my mother.  Though our home was never decorated extravagantly, it was filled with intention: the music, the smells and even the unorthodox and unthemed arrangement of ornaments on our tree all oozed  something personal and authentic.  My mom taught me how to celebrate seasons of life.  

After we had finished and put the kids to bed, my mom remarked several times how much she enjoyed joining our tradition.  It felt good to give her back some of the meaning that she has given me my entire life.  It felt good to provide a space that she wanted to enter.  

I’m keeping a close watch on these seasons.  They are the first without my father.  That reality and that experience with my mom sent me reflecting on the botched timeline of the Dreambook tradition.  Had Hallmark had my book when I wanted it, I would have missed that moment with my mom.  Perhaps that experience was a small thing and certainly not something that I’m willing to speculate about the role of divine providence within, but I can now see that if I could go back and change when I had gotten the Dreambook with either a time machine or foreknowledge, I would choose to do neither.  

The waiting I did proved to produce the largest of experience of joy within me.  The work we do in Advent is similar.  The waiting is hard, but in the end, we trust that it is good and right.  That takes faith.  I hope you find it this season.

Backside

all space and mic space are available for you to display your talent at UBC in the backside on Friday December 2nd, 2016.  If you've never been think about that hacky sack scene from She's All That, only not really.  The extravaganza begins at 6:00 PM CST.  If you have any questions please contact jamie@ubcwaco.org. 

Advent Workshop

Parents, our annual advent workshop will be after church this Sunday.  If you have not already been contacted about participating and would like to do so, email josh@ubcwaco.org 

Work is Worship

Greeters: Rachael, Carson, Christian 

Coffee Makers: no coffee maker 

Mug Cleaners: no mug cleaner 

Money Counter: Justin Pond 

Announcements

• Sunday Sermon: Matthew 24:36-44 "Christmas Stories Part 1: Too Early" 
• Order of Phoenix Dallas Event: Dec. 3
• Study Hall: Dec 7th 
• The Middle Ages Christmas Party Dec. 17

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- Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

Joy Wineman: joy.wineman@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

Adam Winn:  adamwinn68@yahoo.com

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Emma Wood: emmaj.wood@yahoo.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

Jared Gould: jared.gould1@gmail.com

Setlist 11-20-2016

This week was Christ the King Sunday, and our songs were gathered with this theme 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:

Revelation Song by Jennie Lee Riddle

Death In His Grave by John Mark McMillan

Because He Lives by Bill and Gloria Gaither

Hope by Jameson McGregor

Crown Him With Many Crowns

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. 

Revelation Song: We sang this song to begin our time together with a focused and straight-forward moment of singing about God's grandeur and particularity.  In thinking about Christ as King, we are met with a picture of power and majesty that is distinctly different than we might imagine out of our own cultural expectations--this almighty King abandoned His station to dwell among the disenfranchised and to champion the cause of the nobodies, and is well-imaged as a slaughtered lamb.  In this, we find wonder, mystery, and hope.

Death in His Grave: This song traces the story of Christ, underscoring that Christ's kingship is directly linked to his death--his complete self-emptying--and his resurrection.

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 proclaim that our daily hope in the face of uncertainty is located in the risen Christ. 

Hope: This song voices the hope we have in Christ, the fire in the darkness.  In this image that comes into the world through John 1, we find the most fundamental summation of the Christian story--God set a light in the darkness that the darkness did not overcome.  Fire is more real than the darkness, such that there is no amount of darkness that can overcome the light of the fire. 

Crown Him With Many Crowns: This song well-captures the kind of King that Jesus is: the slaughtered Lamb who receives unmatched and unmatchable praise, who has known intimately the worst of our suffering and conquered it, whose tools of war are peace and love, and to whom all other crowns belong, that we might all find rest and belonging.

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

-JM

11-18-16

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

11-18-16

Christ the King

Earlier this year (church calendar year) I received a generous email from a student who praised my preaching and wanted to introduce himself because he was new to the church.  After a bit of sermon analysis he said, but I want to make one suggestion.  He cited his favorite preacher and noted that they "share the gospel in every message."  The email exchange included only my reply, so I don't know what the sum total of the gospel message was for this particular individual.  I'm guessing that he meant something like Romans 3:23, 5:8 and 10:9.  I don't disagree.  That is the gospel AND it is so much more.  

I said a few things in my answer, but in it I included the fact that we believe liturgy is formative and that the gospel is so large it takes at least a year to tell the story.  And it needs to be heard again every year.  During Advent we begin our year new again.  We start from the beginning with the hope that He who has come will come again.  We wear the story of Israel longing and then celebrate when Christ arrives clinging to the promise that he will advent again.  12 days later we welcome Mathews inclusive addition noting that this arrival is for the whole world.  It includes foreign kings.  This is good news for us because we are gentiles!  

After a short period of ordinary time we begin again on Ash Wednesday.  This is Romans 3:23.  We are sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God and so it important that we live into that reality.  If we don't begin by properly diagnosing the problem, we can’t move towards the correct solution.  For about six weeks we remind ourselves of that sin during Lent.  After that six week period of dessert walking and mindful preparing is over we enter into Holy Week.  Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday.  

Plight moves to solution.  Hegel called it thesis, antithesis, synthesis.  Walter Brueggemann calls it orientation, disorientation and new orientation, but the theological language describes the pattern this way: Life, Death, and Resurrection.  It is God’s new creation promised to us in front of the foundations of the earth.  A pattern in creation and a pattern interrupted once and for all in God’s yes to humanity.  In Jesus, death died.  

People were made to party, so that’s what we do during the Easter season.  We sit at the banquet table and celebrate.  The end has signaled our new beginning.  But Christ must go so that the Spirit can come (John 16:7).  Our hearts burned near the end of Easter and now our hair has been set on fire.  The gospel has been proliferated by the Spirit who is the sign and seal of our salvation.  

But this takes courage.  The gospel is already, but not yet.  Living into the resurrection means that we too may have to die.  Die in our marriages, die in our relationships, die in humility or just plain die.  There are martyrs, even today, who die for this story.  We give up the right to be right when we wear the pattern of life, death and resurrection.  

To borrow a phrase from Anne Lamott, “we are all scared little kittens.”  That’s how we are sent out in this peaceless world.  As salt and light to give taste and vision to a blind and bland world.  But take heart, because you have been sent with God’s Spirit.  The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you (Romans 8:11).   And so, in what turns out to be the longest season on our calendar, we practice.  We rehearse this story that has been told.  We play out the patterns of forgiveness and generosity.  We are a people who strive to hope all things with kindness and patience.  We become the latest instalment of God’s mercy filled rescue plan.  

But I must warn you of something.  Not everyone will be glad to hear about the constitution that comes with the pattern.  Jesus has made some dangerous claims.  Claims that got him killed.  And now they must be our claims.  Chief among them is that He is chief.  Christ is King.  No one hates this claim more than Caesar.

Sometimes I pity Caesar.  He or she is dealt a losing hand to begin with.  Caesar’s empire has stretched from England to India, between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, but now there are hundreds of Cesar’s all over the world.  Cesars that build nuclear warheads.  Caesars whose best option is send troops to war to kills hundreds of people to save others.   Caesars who drop bombs with drones.  Caesars who have to appoint judges to make decisions about whose lives are most important.  Can you imagine?  Who would want that job?

You see life, death and resurrection is an invitation.  It’s a community of Three Persons, but They make for terrible politics.  And so the church is called to live in a world where Caesar plays second fiddle.  And this Sunday we throw our ecclesiological new years party with that in mind.  Sunday we celebrate that Christ is King.  

Thanksgiving Love Feast

That time of the year when you eat the same meal in four different settings and it's amazing.  Kick off your turkey eating season Sunday night(11/20) @ 6:00 PM as we dine together in fine fashion at our annual Thanksgiving Love Feast.  UBC will provide the turkey you provide the sides.  email toph@ubcwaco.org for more information.  

Advent Workshop

Parents, our annual advent workshop will be after church (after lunch) on Sunday November 27th.  If you have not already been contacted about participating and would like to do so, email josh@ubcwaco.org 

Work is Worship

Greeters: Will & Richardsons 

Coffee Makers: Joy & Ryan 

Mug Cleaners: Dilan & Shane 

Money Counter: Anna Tilson 

Announcements

• Sunday Sermon: Christ the King Sunday: Testimony! 
• Backside Event: Dec 2nd 
• Order of Phoenix Dallas Event: Dec. 3
• Study Hall: Dec 7th 
• The Middle Ages Christmas Party Dec. 17

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- Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

Joy Wineman: joy.wineman@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

Adam Winn:  adamwinn68@yahoo.com

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Emma Wood: emmaj.wood@yahoo.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

Jared Gould: jared.gould1@gmail.com

Liturgy 11-13-2016

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

Call to Worship

Maker, as You set about making new heavens and a new earth,

why not re-make all of us as well?

Maker, if You’re not done making, 

Renovate our hearts
Leaving love where there is fear
And empathy where there is loathing.

Re-calibrate our eyes to see people as You do,

And weave your Spirit through our spines
So we can stand beyond our breaking

Amen.

Scripture

Isaiah 65:17-25

For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight.

I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days, 
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.

They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

They shall not labor in vain,
or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord--
and their descendants as well.
Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox; 
but the serpent-- its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.

Luke 21:5-19

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, Jesus said, "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down."

They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?" And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, `I am he!' and, `The time is near!' Do not go after them.

"When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately." Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

"But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls."

Prayer

This weeks' prayers came from An Iona Prayerbook.  The first is uncredited, and the second is credited to Eddie Askew:

Healer of Galilee,
you come, again and again,
to permeate
our human condition;
to take upon yourself
all that hurts us.
And again today
you accompany us
when our bodies are racked with pain,
when our minds are in confusion,
when our self-esteem is lost,
when our failures overwhelm,
when our faith falters,
when our relationships break down,
when in our loneliness we move
beyond tears

Lord Christ,
you are the still centre of every storm.
In you is calm,
whatever the wind outside.
In you is reassurance,
however high the waves.
In you is strength,
however contrary the tide.

Setlist 11-13-2016

This was the twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost, and our songs around the theme of hope.  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

There by Jameson McGregor

Because He Lives by Bill and Gloria Gaither

Wild One by Jameson McGregor

Chariot by Page France

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: We sang this song to begin our time together proclaiming that God is not in the habit of abandoning us--even when we deserve it most.  God's faithfulness to us is thankfully not conditional upon our own faithfulness to God.  Because of this, we can have hope that God is continually working toward reconciliation with us, and in this we can stake our hope.

There: This song is about the fact that God transcends every source of anxiety that we encounter in life, which means the threats we feel around us do not have the same effect on God.  Though God enters into our suffering with us, God is not chained to it.  And in drawing nearer to God, we find a refuge that will deliver us as well.

Because He Lives: We sang this song to proclaim that our daily hope in the face of uncertainty is located in the risen Christ. 

Wild One: This song is about our propensity to create idols out of ideas--the idea of safety, the idea of prosperity, a particular idea of who God is--and the way in which these idols shatter when they come into contact with God.

Chariot: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs. This is what we said about Chariot then: This song paints a vivid picture of an apocalyptic wedding feast where the varied and broken stories that make up human history are woven into a decidedly untragic ending.  As we think about the communion of the saints and our Christ-centered interconnectivity, it is fitting to begin by imagining the moment in which this interconnectivity is no longer veiled.

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 11-11-16

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

Listening

On Sunday, after we participated in communion, we had the option to grab the sticker shown above: "I communed with someone I disagree with today."  This week has revealed what we already knew: our country is deeply divided.  It is in this season, the Church should be on the front lines practicing empathy and listening to those marginalized and those who marginalize.   The following is an excerpt from David Dark's book: The Sacredness of Questioning Everything:

Fordham University philosophy professor Merold Westphal puts the matter rather beautifully: "If I am good listener, I don't interrupt the other or plan my own next speech while pretending to be listening.  I try to hear what is said, but I listen just as hard for what is not said and for what is said between the lines.  I am not in a hurry, for there is no pre-appointed destination for the conversation.  There is no need to get there, for we are already here; and in this present I am able to be fully present to the one who speaks.  The speaker is not an object to be categorized or manipulated, but a subject who life situation is enough like my own that I can understand it in spite of the differences between us.  If I am good listener, what we have in common will be more important than what we have in conflict"  

"What we have in common will be more important" than defensively dissociating ourselves from those who might somehow call our rightness into question.  And being capable of discerning what we have in common with the people who challenge our sense of decorum will involved silencing the tape, the inner monologue, that tells us why we're right and others are wrong, even as we pretend to listen by nodding knowingly.  Our momentarily stilled tongues might genuinely signify the reception of another person's witness.  And if they do, it could be that God's kingdom, where two or more are gathered in this way, is already present.

"In the end," Thomas Merton assures us, "it is the reality of personal relationships that saves everything."  And the reality comes unto us when we cast aside our categorizing impulses and our armored suits of offhandedness (powerful feeling though they may be) and enter into the dangerous and redeeming space where people, all kinds of people (the marginalized and those who marginalize), enter into the blessed work of actually listening to one another.

Thailand

If you are interested in going on our trip to Thailand, please contact toph@ubcwaco.org  There are still a few spots open, and the trip is May14-28, 2017.  We will be working with South Asian immigrants in northern Thailand.

Order of the Phoenix Game Night

Our middle school youth group (5th-8th) is having a game night, TONIGHT, Friday November 11th from 6:30-8:30 PM.  Email tcarlson76@hotmail.com for more information.  

The Middle Ages Wine Night

The Middle Ages will be meeting tomorrow night November 12th at the Classy Glass Wine Bar for some chardonnay and to hear some saucy jazz featuring guitarist one Chuck Jennings.  for more information email jeff_walter@baylor.edu.

Thanks Giving Love Feast

That time of the year when you eat the same meal in four different settings and it's amazing.  Kick off your turkey eating season next Sunday night(11/20) @ 6:00 PM as we dine together in fine fashion at our annual Thanksgiving Love Feast.  UBC will provide the turkey you provide the sides.  email toph@ubcwaco.org for more information.  

Work is Worship

Greeters: Ricky & Juliet 

Coffee Makers: Emmy & Stephen 

Mug Cleaners: Cooleys 

Money Counter: Anna Tilson 

Announcements

• Sunday Sermon: Luke 21:5-19 (Kim Stübben)
• Thanksgiving Love Feast: Nov 20th 
• Advent Workshop: Nov 27th 
• Backside Event: Dec 2nd 
• Order of Phoenix Dallas Event: Dec. 3
• Study Hall: Dec 7th 
• The Middle Ages Christmas Party Dec. 17

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- Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

Joy Wineman: joy.wineman@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

Adam Winn:  adamwinn68@yahoo.com

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Emma Wood: emmaj.wood@yahoo.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

Jared Gould: jared.gould1@gmail.com

Liturgy 11-6-2016

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

Call to Worship

We have gathered seeking rest in the midst of our journey

Broken people
following broken footsteps
on a long and shifting road

In our rest, we seek to know and be known by Our God

To be dwell in God’s story
And to be found there

And in our being known, we seek to be changed

To be formed by the Spirit
Into people who are more like Jesus.

Amen

Scripture

Psalm 145:1-5, 18-22

I will exalt you, O God my King, 
and bless your Name for ever and ever.
Every day will I bless you
and praise your Name for ever and ever.
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; 
there is no end to his greatness.

One generation shall praise your works to another
and shall declare your power.
I will ponder the glorious splendor of your majesty
and all your marvelous works.
The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and loving in all his works.

The Lord is near to those who call upon him, 
to all who call upon him faithfully.
He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; 
he hears their cry and helps them.
The Lord preserves all those who love him, 
but he destroys all the wicked.
My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord; 
let all flesh bless his holy Name for ever and ever.

Luke 6:20-31

Jesus looked up at his disciples and said:

"Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
"Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
"Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.

"Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

"But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
"Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
"Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.
"Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets

"But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you."

Prayer (this week it's a poem)

This week, we read a sonnet by Malcolm Guite called "The gathered glories":

Though Satan breaks our dark glass into shards
Each shard still shines with Christ’s reflected light,
It glances from the eyes, kindles the words
Of all his unknown saints. The dark is bright
With quiet lives and steady lights undimmed,
The witness of the ones we shunned and shamed.
Plain in our sight and far beyond our seeing
He weaves them with us in the web of being
They stand beside us even as we grieve,
The lone and left behind whom no one claimed,
Unnumbered multitudes, he lifts above
The shadow of the gibbet and the grave,
To triumph where all saints are known and named;
The gathered glories of His wounded love.

Setlist 11-6-2016

This was the twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost, and our songs around the theme of communion of saints.  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:

Chariot by Page France

Heart Won't Stop by John Mark McMillan

Pulse by Jameson McGregor

When the Saints by Jameson McGregor (adaptation)

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. 

Chariot: This song paints a vivid picture of an apocalyptic wedding feast where the varied and broken stories that make up human history are woven into a decidedly untragic ending.  As we think about the communion of the saints and our Christ-centered interconnectivity, it is fitting to begin by imagining the moment in which this interconnectivity is no longer veiled.

Heart Won't Stop: To think more deliberately about Christ-centered interconnectivity we talked about, we sang this song to single out the connective tissue in this relationship: the love of God.  In this love, we find an unmatched relentless pursuit that cannot be severed, even by death.  It is this death discarding love that allows us to cling to the hope that we are connected to one another through Christ beyond time and space.

Pulse: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Pulse then: This song is a prayer that God would reconnect us to the Pulse of the Spirit in creation, and that we would learn to base our love for one another in our mutual status as creatures of God.  There is no person for whom this does not apply, and, though it is at times seemingly impossibly difficult, we do not get a pass on our call to love everyone.

When the Saints: This song was requested by David Wilhite, our guest preacher this week.  He asked me if I had a rendition of it, and I did not.  After listening through about 30 versions, I realized that I was ill-equipped to do the song any of those ways, so I made my own.  In that process, I became acquainted with the sense of longing that drives this song--an awareness that the journey of faith is one where we follow in the footsteps of people who have died, seeking to be drawn further in to a story about resurrection and redemption, cutting against the brokenness that we find in the world around us.

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 11-4-16

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church) 

Pentecost

All Saints

All Saints Day was Tuesday of this week.  We didn’t have a liturgy that night, but we are going to be observing that day in one way or another during our liturgy on Sunday.

I didn’t grow up observing All Saints Day—which I guess could also be said of the majority of the Church calendar.  In my church experience, we didn’t speak very often of “saints”—there was this strange aversion to anything that might be perceived as Catholic (I grew up a Southern Baptist). Somewhere along the way, I picked up surface-level knowledge of a handful of saints throughout history, and came to value them as people who well-embodied what it is to be formed in the way of Christ in a particular time and place.  In light of this, holding them in our memory allows us to embrace their stories in ways that might inform our own lives.  The stories are crafted through the artistry of the Spirit, and have the ability to inform and inspire the stories that we find ourselves in the midst of.  

But this isn’t only true of famous or canonized saints.  There are saints of all sorts lighting up the world.  They are those caught up in the love of Christ—that Love that is decidedly unconditioned and relentless.  They are recognizable not by the pious radiance of their every breath, but in the moments where the person God made them to be and the person they are is synchronized. 

Let’s pause for a moment and let Malcolm Guite have a word about saints:

“The gathered glories”

Though Satan breaks our dark glass into shards,
Each shard still shines with Christ’s reflected light,
It glances from the eyes, kindles the words
Of all his unknown saints. The dark is bright
With quiet lives and steady lights undimmed,
The witness of the ones we shunned and shamed.
Plain in our sight and far beyond our seeing,
He weaves their threads into the web of being.
They stand beside us even as we grieve,
The lone and left behind whom no one claimed,
Unnumbered multitudes, he lifts above
The shadow of the gibbet* and the grave,
To triumph where all saints are known and named;
The gathered glories of his wounded love.

*I didn’t know what this was, and I’m probably not alone, so I’ll save you a Google: it’s a gallows.

While I’m tempted to comment on this line-by-line, I’m not going to do that.  Instead, I want to address the broad idea about the relationship of saints and death and us.  Saints are saints because of their being-held in the love of Christ.  This is not what you would call a super exclusive club.  In their mutual relationship to this Love, they find themselves woven together. Most of you are probably trying to exclude yourself from this kind of “saint” category—stop that.  Saints don’t earn their title, but are instead what they are because of Christ, and you are found in that same Love.  So anyway, we’re all held together by this shared Love.  And just as death cannot separate us from the love of God, death cannot separate those caught in the Light of Christ from one another; not really.  Loss still hurts, it still stings in some way, but we are not alone in our grief, and we are not left in our grief.  We are left with stories that, just like those of the more famous saints, can inform and inspire our own stories.  

So let’s celebrate them.  And celebrate with them.

When we take communion, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.  And in doing so, we proclaim also that he rewrote what dying means.  We often think of communion as a time where we are united as a church in our shared meal, and that our church is united with a much broader community of people.  We have a sense of the sort of lateral community with the broader church in communion, but we should also carry a sense of the community we join across time (both ways).  

So, with all this in mind, we are encouraging you this Sunday to bring a picture of any loved ones you’ve lost whose story has served to inform or inspire your own journey toward Christ, or perhaps people who have impacted you from afar, and to place those pictures on the communion tables to hold this broader community in mind.

JM

Made in Waco

Is a handmade/crafted local market and it is tomorrow at UBC!!!! So get out and either sell, shop or volunteer.  Great way to start your Christmas shopping season and support local business and local beauty.   If you have any questions email Jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Order of the Phoenix Cookout Fundraiser

Our middle school youth group will be holding a fund raiser/lunch after church this Sunday.  For $5 (suggested donation) you get a burger chips and a soft drink.  All proceeds go towards TOOTP budget.  

Order of the Phoenix Game Night

Our middle school youth group (5th-8th) is having a game night, next Friday November 11th from 6:30-8:30 PM.  Email tcarlson76@hotmail.com for more information.  

The Middle Ages Wine Night

The Middle Ages will be meeting on Saturday November 12th at the Classy Glass Wine Bar for some chardonnay and to hear some saucy jazz featuring guitarist one Chuck Jennings.  for more information email jeff_walter@baylor.edu. 

Work is Worship

Greeters: Blaylocks 

Coffee Makers: Joy & Ryan 

Mug Cleaners: Dillon & Shane 

Money Counter: Josh M. 

Announcements

• Sunday Sermon: Please be in prayer for the Rev. Dr. David Wilhite who will be preaching "When the Saints Go Marching In." Luke 6:20-31
• The Middle Ages at the Wine Bar: November 12
• Thanksgiving Love Feast: Nov 20th 
• Advent Workshop: Nov 27th 
• Backside Event: Dec 2nd 
• Order of Phoenix Dallas Event: Dec. 3
• Study Hall: Dec 7th 
• The Middle Ages Christmas Party Dec. 17

Community Needs

If you have a need you would like included in the newsletter, email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

• A ubc family is looking for a nanny.  If you're interested in more information, email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

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- Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com

Joy Wineman: joy.wineman@gmail.com

Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu

Adam Winn:  adamwinn68@yahoo.com

Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com

Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com

Emma Wood: emmaj.wood@yahoo.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

Jared Gould: jared.gould1@gmail.com

Liturgy 10-30-2016

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

Call to Worship

We have gathered to seek the One who seeks us

To find the One who has found us

And to enter into the story of Jesus

taking up the love without borders,
and the life that is unbound.

And to be caught up in the work of the Spirit

To fill our lungs with this Breath
And be changed from the inside.

Amen

Scripture

Isaiah 1:10-18

Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.

When you come to appear before me,
who asked this from your hand?
Trample my courts no more;
bringing offerings is futile;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation--
I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me,
I am weary of bearing them.

When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen; 
your hands are full of blood.

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
learn to do good;
seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow.

Come now, let us argue it out,
says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be like snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.

Luke 19:1-10

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today." So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 

All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner." Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost."

Prayer

This week's prayer was adapted by Toph from Kyle Lake's final sermon:

May we live, and live well.
May we breathe deeply the fullness of Christ.
May we be present in each moment we find ourselves in.
May we enjoy each day and feel the warmth of the sun, or the cool crisp air of autumn in our lungs.
May we get knee-deep in a novel and lose track of time.
May we feel the satisfaction of a job well done—a paper well-written, a project thoroughly completed, a play well-performed.
May we be able to mourn when it is time, and may we find ourselves in community in our mourning.
May we laugh, and laugh hard, with friends and family.
May we experience each day with a renewed appreciation of each smell we encounter.  
May we savor every bite of food we take, and relish in the company of friends.  
May we love God.
May we embrace beauty.
May we live life to its fullest.
And may we recognize it is most certainly all a gift from God.
Amen.

Setlist 10-30-2016

This was the twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost, and our songs around the theme of breaking/mending.  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

Pulse by Jameson McGregor

Fall Afresh by Jeremy Riddle

Wash Me Clean by Page CXVI

Come Thou Fount

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. 

Future/Past: We sang this song to begin our time together expressing the example God has set in seeking out the Other in love--specifically, God's reaching out to us despite the infinite distinction between who God is and what we are.

Pulse: This song is a prayer that God would reconnect us to the Pulse of the Spirit in creation, and that we would learn to base our love for one another in our mutual status as creatures of God.  There is no person for whom this does not apply, and, though it is at times seemingly impossibly difficult, we do not get a pass on our call to love everyone.

Fall Afresh: We sang this song as a prayer that the Spirit would reawaken us to the transformative call of the Kingdom.

Wash Me Clean:  This song is equal parts confession and hopeful longing.  It admits our need to forgiveness and transformation, and also imagines, with the prophets, the kind of transformation that God has planned for human history.

Come Thou Fount: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Come Thou Fount then: This song asks that God would tune our hearts to sing the story of God's presence in our lives, as well as confesses our proneness to wandering.  Perhaps it is in having a clear understanding of the way that God has entered the broken places in our lives in the past that we are able to make it through brokenness in the future.  So, like the prayer offered before we sang this song (that will be posted with the Liturgy blog on Wednesday), we has God to flood the dry and broken places within us with a renewed understanding an appreciation of who God has been for us in our lives.

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

-JM