ITLOTC 3-17-20

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church)

Lent

The Creative Renaissance Started in Quarentine

A few months ago, I told you about a theory I learned about.  It was about our brains and mapping reality. The claim is that 90% of what we see is actually constructed from memory.  This is why when you walk into a room and something is misplaced or you get a haircut and momentarily forget about it you are startled for a moment before your brain loads the information.  That moment of dissonance is caused by what you expected to see vs what you actually see.  

I’ve been thinking about this in a particular way.  Here is my thesis: routine is the enemy of creativity.  Actually, I think that’s too simple to be a statement about all of humanity, so let me just talk about my own experience.  I need routine. I need a schedule for my day with small goals, or I feel like I wasted it. In fact, I have found that in a recent creative endeavor that is precisely because I’m keeping my routine that I’m able to offer creative output.  Still I keep thinking about the brain mapping problem. Creative solutions come from thinking outside the box. Sometimes we can’t get outside the box unless it’s forced on us. Penicillin, Play-Doh, the microwave, and pacemakers were all accidental creations- products with origins rooted in an out of the box experience. 

There’s a poem that’s been making its way through social media by Lynn Ungar called Pandemic.  Here’s the first part: 

What if you thought of it

as the Jews consider the Sabbath—

the most sacred of times?

Cease from travel.

Cease from buying and selling.

Give up, just for now, 

on trying to make the world

different than it is. 

Sing. Pray. Touch only those

to whom you commit your life.

Center down.

This of course has me thinking about Sabbath and it’s religious function.  I had wondered if perhaps Sabbath is a way to teach our brains to stop mapping even if only for a short time each week.  And what if in that space of mental space creativity could be born anew.  

Another popular meme I’ve seen makes the claim that during the great plague of London, which also forced people into quarantine, Newton discovered gravity and Bill Shakespear wrote King Lear.  I don’t know if that’s true and I’m not going to fact check it because it supports my working thesis.  

*******

Let me interrupt this newsletter for this late breaking development.  I began writing this yesterday afternoon, 3-16-20. Then lo, this morning, 3-17-20, my friend Emily wrote a treatise on instagram that comes to a conclusion that I was going to aim for.  I’m going to conclude with that here.

*******

I woke up today with an odd sense of hope and expectation. Those weren’t quite the feelings I might anticipate right now, so I tried to understand why. 

This virus is powerful. Not in a death toll sort of way (though it may be that as well) but more in its reach and impact. Governments, economies and our everyday lives have kneeled in response. And yet it has the ability to unify the planet in a way nothing prior has. This time there is no common enemy. There is no fateful day. Rather, no matter where you are on the planet we are all experiencing something similar. It’s also unique in that we are being driven towards solitude rather than communion. And all of these realities seem to have stirred something deep in me which is hard to articulate but here’s the best I’ve got. 

Our time and money and humanity is footing the bill for this costly virus and I, for one, would like a good return on this investment. 

So, with unrepentant audacity, this is what I’m hoping will transpire. I would like for this time of shared isolation to birth a global renaissance. There, I said it. 

We can eat chips and scroll on our phones and let the days melt one into another or we could do the thing. Whatever the thing is in you that you have ignored or squashed or hidden away. Whatever dormant dream remains within you because there’s never the time or energy to attend to it. Now there is. 

Write the song. Or the book. Paint, draw – I don’t know what your thing is, but you do. You might have to dig a little to remember but it’s there. It’s always been there. Waiting patiently for today.

If the kids are home with you, let them witness you investing time in something you’re passionate about. Maybe they can work on their own masterpieces at the same time. If you live alone and you’re just trying to fill the quiet with noise, I hope you’ll be brave enough to let the silence be the impetus to create something beautiful. 

If we get to the end of this time with nothing to show for, it will be a massive loss. Not just for you but for me. For humankind. That may sound overly dramatic but I’m sticking with it. 

I can’t wait to see what the world creates with our collective solitude. Let’s not put it off any longer. Let’s start today. The beauty and truth inside of you has actual healing power. And we’ve never needed that kind of magic more.

with love, e. paben

Pub Group this Wednesday @ 5:30

I have a very exciting offer for you. This Wednesday @ 5:30 will have pub group? How is this going to happen you wonder? Via the internet like everything else that is happening. Brother Jameson has decided that he will pour himself a cold one and come to you live on Wednesday March 18 @ 5:30 P.M. Should you like to join him, please make sure you are following UBC on Instagram where the live stream will happen. You could also pour yourself a cold one and ask him questions or interact with other beverage enjoying UBCers who will be in the same digital space.

Liturgy Packets

Champions, we, the staff of UBC, spent Monday brainstorming best ways to create corporate worship experiences. One adjustment we are now making is that all responsive liturgy including song lyrics, readings, etc, will come to you pre-worship experience. Please make a point to seek those resources and have them ready for your digital worship experience should you care to do so. As of now, liturgy packets are scheduled to be posted and or delivered on Saturday.

Worship Experience Highlights

I have two digital worship experience highlights that I’d like to share with you. The first is this picture that Callie Oxhandler drew of Jamie during the service.

One of the very fun things for us this past Sunday was getting to connect in worship with former UBCers who are spread out all over. We are very honored y’all tuned in and still consider us part of your life. To that end I submit my second item, Theo Lee worshiping with us from Kuala Lumpur.

WacoISD Meals for Kids

We are still looking for volunteers to help pass out meals to kids at Kate Ross next week.  The breakfast shift is from 7:45-9:30a, and the lunch shift from 10:45a-12:30p.  If you can help out please contact toph@ubcwaco.org

LAS (Lord’s Army of Shoppers)

Friends, we are in the process of putting together a list of people who could run errands for those who are most vulnerable, or are in quarantine during this time.  If you would like to volunteer to be on the call list, please send toph@ubcwaco your name and number.  As we have needs come into UBC, we will reach out to you and see if you are available to pick up groceries, food, medicine, etc… for someone in need.  We would love to have at least 20 people on the list.  If you have any questions, or would like to be put on the list, please email toph@ubcwaco.org

HR Team Member

The HR team is looking for someone to serve on the team. The purpose and qualifications are listed below. If you are someone you know has an interesting please email josh@ubcwaco.org.

(A)Purpose.  The Human Resources/Staff Support Team shall exist for the following purposes:

a.     To establish procedures for the hiring of ministerial and non-ministerial staff, and to enact those procedures when advised by Leadership Team to do so.

b.    To advise Leadership and Finance teams on issues regarding long-term staff needs. 

c.     To create and implement staff review procedures.

d.    To advise Leadership and Finance teams on matters regarding staff compensation, benefits, grievances and termination.

e.    To be a liaison between the congregation and staff during times of conflict after all attempts at personal, one-on-one resolution has been made.  

(C)Qualifications.  HR/Staff Support Team members shall have been an active participant in the life of UBC for no less than one year, have received a bachelor’s degree (or roughly an equivalent amount of experience in personnel management, ministry, or other related field,) and have a demonstrable understanding of organizational management.  

Parishioner of the Week

Catherine Ballas, for being a baller and coming up to film our first ever live stream service with her camera.

Work is Worship

Greeters: No Greeters this week

Coffee Makers: no coffee makers this week

Mug Cleaners: no mug cleaners this week

Money Counter:  no money counters this week

Announcements

• Sermon Text: John 9 “Whose Fault Is This!”

Youth Schedule

March 27 - TBD (Talent Show?)

April 19 - 5/6 Family Game Night

April 26 - After Church Picnic 

May 13 - Last Youth

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: Kerri Fisher: Kerri_Fisher@baylor.edu

Byron Griffin: byrontgriffin@gmail.com

Jeremy Nance: Jeremy.J.Nance@L3T.com

Joanna Sowards: jo.sowards@gmail.com

Kathy Krey: kathykrey@gmail.com

Jose Zuniga: jzgrphix2002@yahoo.com

Taylor Torregrossa: Taylordtorregrossa@gmail.com

Student Position: Davis Misloski

Student Position: Maddy O’Shaughnessy

UBC Finance Team

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

JD Newman: JD_Newman@baylor.edu 

Catherine Ballas: catherine@refitrev.com

Jen Carron: jen.carron78@gmail.com

Mike Dodson: financeteammike@gmail.com

George Thornton: GeorgecCT1982@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

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

Erin Albin: erin.albin1@gmail.com

Sam Goff: samuelgoff92@gmail.com

Rebekah Powell: rpowell671@gmail.com

Kristen Richardson: wacorichardsons@gmail.com

The Helpers (A Pastoral Prayer for 3-15-20)

The Helpers 

A prayer inspired by Fred Rogers and you.*

Blessed are the HEB workers, gas station attendants, postal carriers and anyone who went to work so that the rest of us could buy the things we think we need. 

Blessed are the doctors and nurses, and health care workers who haven’t slept in weeks and who expose themselves to danger so we can feel safe everyday.  

Blessed are the policy makers who are exhausted because they are emotionally torn by how their decision will impact all of us. 

Blessed are the nerdy people who got made fun of for loving science as a kid, but are doing critical research to save lives. 

Blessed are the free internet providers, zoom chat room space creators and anyone else who gave of their abundance so that the lonely could have community.  

Blessed are those who provide food: the lunch ladies, superintendents, and politicians who fought for kids to keep eating, and the restaurant owners who are providing free meals for children. 

Blessed are the opera singers, actors, dancers and entertainers who are giving their talents away for free so that we can experience joy. 

Blessed are the newspapers that are giving away accurate information online without a subscription.  

Blessed are the teachers who are worrying about that kid who they know has a hard home life.  

Blessed are the burned out stay-at-home mom and dads who are going stir crazy. 

Blessed are the businesses that are giving the stir crazy kids a safe place to be. 

Blessed are the working parents who are now stay-at-home mom and dads because they didn’t have another choice.

Blessed is the person who grabbed two gallons of milk, but put one back because there were only two left.

Blessed are those who volunteer to provide transportation for those in need and run errands for strangers. 

Blessed are the fearful, for you have considered the cost and are still showing up. 

Blessed are those with anxiety attacks and thoughts that everyone else considers irrational. You care deeply and it consumes you - hidden inside of that is love and we can see it. 

Blessed are the pregnant, the children, the elderly and the immunocompromised who are particularly vulnerable. Your lives are worth more than the stock market, productivity and our lives being easy.  We needed that reminder. 

Blessed are the people with power who made decisions to cancel large gatherings to save lives even though they’ll lose money. 

Blessed are those who are enduring criticism for canceling large events because they have dared to believe in data that will not be able to prove them right if it works. 

Blessed are the small business owners whose existence has been teetering for years because of Amazon, but whose presence on one critical night provided children’s tylenol for a customer very much in need. 

Blessed are the companies that are using their power and privilege to fight price gouging. 

Blessed are those who are using their social media platforms to rebuke racism  

Blessed are the college athletes who invested their lives in something that they may never get to finish. 

Blessed are those who played their last game without knowing it. 

Blessed are those whose study abroad plans were canceled early. 

Blessed are those who have lost, are losing, or will lose.  You are dust and for the first time you really know it. 

Jesus blesses you.

*and Nadia Bolz-Weber whose beatitude prayer served as an inspiration.

Setlist 3-9-2020

This past Sunday was the second Sunday of Lent, and our songs were gathered with this in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.   If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

In the Night by Andrew Peterson

Lord I Need You by Matt Maher

Deliver Me by David Crowder* Band

What the Dry Years Took Away by ubcmusic

Be Thou My Vision

ITLOTC 3-3-20

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church)

Lent

The Nobodies

I (Taylor) have been thinking so much lately about the ways in which we caveat the way in which we value human life. We don’t mean to – I know – and we would never say we value some lives more than others. We would never say it out loud I mean. But so often we live in such a way that conveys it.

I went to a luncheon at the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work at Baylor yesterday where I heard a lecture from Karen Gonzalez author of The God Who Sees: Immigrants, the Bible, and the Journey to Belong. During our time together she shared a poem by Eduardo Galeono – an influential Urugyan journalist and novelist. The poem is titled “Las Nadies” or “The Nobodies,” and I have been thinking about it non-stop since. So I wanted to share it here with all of you:

Fleas dream of buying themselves a dog, and nobodies dream of escaping poverty: that one magical day good luck will suddenly rain down on them–will rain down in buckets. But good luck doesn’t rain down yesterday, today, tomorrow, or ever. Good luck doesn’t even fall in a fine drizzle, no matter how hard the nobodies summon it, even if their left hand is tickling, or if they begin the new day with their right foot, or start the new year with a change of brooms.

The nobodies: nobody’s children, owners of nothing. The nobodies: the no ones, the nobodied, running like rabbits, dying through life, screwed every which way.

Who are not, but could be.
Who don’t speak languages, but dialects.
Who don’t have religions, but superstitions.
Who don’t create art, but handicrafts.
Who don’t have culture, but folklore.
Who are not human beings, but human resources.
Who do not have faces, but arms.
Who do not have names, but numbers.
Who do not appear in the history of the world, but in the police blotter of the local paper.
The nobodies, who are not worth the bullet that kills them.

-       “Los Nadies”, Eduardo Galeono

I loved it because it seemed to connect with so much I have been thinking about lately and offer conviction at the same time. We are called to love everyone. And we believe that all humans are born bearing the Imago Dei – every single person bears the image of God into this world. And if we believe that really and truly then we should be working continually to create a world that reflects that. A world where nobody is a nobody.

So I am going to be thinking about how I can best live that out. But I don’t know that there is one single way, there are probably a bunch – advocacy, hospitality, supporting non-profits that are doing good work, and a million other things come to mind – and I don’t know that one single person can move the needle on this, it probably requires a multitude. But I’d love to talk to you about it if you have similar thoughts or any ideas about what we can do. Just shoot me an email at taylor@ubcwaco.org and we’ll talk.

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College Retreat - April 3-5 - $40

We are heading to Cedarcreek lake for a weekend of learning from each other, and relaxing.  The $40 covers all meals and lodging for the weekend.  This is always a highlight of the year, so you don’t want to miss out.  If you have any questions, please contact toph@ubcwaco.org

HR Team Member

The HR team is looking for someone to serve on the team. The purpose and qualifications are listed below. If you are someone you know has an interesting please email josh@ubcwaco.org.

(A)Purpose.  The Human Resources/Staff Support Team shall exist for the following purposes:

a.     To establish procedures for the hiring of ministerial and non-ministerial staff, and to enact those procedures when advised by Leadership Team to do so.

b.    To advise Leadership and Finance teams on issues regarding long-term staff needs. 

c.     To create and implement staff review procedures.

d.    To advise Leadership and Finance teams on matters regarding staff compensation, benefits, grievances and termination.

e.    To be a liaison between the congregation and staff during times of conflict after all attempts at personal, one-on-one resolution has been made.  

(C)Qualifications.  HR/Staff Support Team members shall have been an active participant in the life of UBC for no less than one year, have received a bachelor’s degree (or roughly an equivalent amount of experience in personnel management, ministry, or other related field,) and have a demonstrable understanding of organizational management.  

Parishioner of the Week

Taylor Torregrossa Beard for being a on the social media and getting uBC in the game.

Work is Worship

Greeters: Corntassel

Coffee Makers: Berenice

Mug Cleaners: Cheatham

Money Counter: 

Announcements

• Sermon Text: Genesis 12:1-4

• 3-26 Night of Belonging Spring 1

• 3-29 nUBCers Lunch

• 4-23 Night of Belonging Spring 2

Youth Schedule

February 29 - Leap Year Celebration (Movie/Game Night)

March 11 - NO YOUTH (Spring Break)

March 27 - TBD (Talent Show?)

April 19 - 5/6 Family Game Night

April 26 - After Church Picnic 

May 13 - Last Youth

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: Kerri Fisher: Kerri_Fisher@baylor.edu

Byron Griffin: byrontgriffin@gmail.com

Jeremy Nance: Jeremy.J.Nance@L3T.com

Joanna Sowards: jo.sowards@gmail.com

Kathy Krey: kathykrey@gmail.com

Jose Zuniga: jzgrphix2002@yahoo.com

Taylor Torregrossa: Taylordtorregrossa@gmail.com

Student Position: Davis Misloski

Student Position: Maddy O’Shaughnessy

UBC Finance Team

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

JD Newman: JD_Newman@baylor.edu 

Catherine Ballas: catherine@refitrev.com

Jen Carron: jen.carron78@gmail.com

Mike Dodson: financeteammike@gmail.com

George Thornton: GeorgecCT1982@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

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

Erin Albin: erin.albin1@gmail.com

Sam Goff: samuelgoff92@gmail.com

Rebekah Powell: rpowell671@gmail.com

Kristen Richardson: wacorichardsons@gmail.com

Setlist 3-1-2020

This past Sunday was the first Sunday of Lent, and our songs were gathered with this in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.   If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

In the Night by Andrew Peterson

Wandering by Jameson McGregor

Eternal Anchor by ubcmusic

Wayward Ones by The Gladsome Light

Drawing in the Dust by Jameson McGregor

Be Thou My Vision

ITLOTC 2-25-20

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church)

Epiphany (for the last time in 2020)

Bored with Eternity

I’ve been thinking about Jesus’ miracles lately.  More particularly ranking them. Resurrection obviously comes in 1st place, but you gotta wonder if Jesus gets credit for that one.  In Romans 8:11, the Spirit is the active agent of the miracle and Jesus is the passive recipient. But still Jesus has Lazarus resuscitation on his resume, and that’s pretty good.  I’ve never brought anyone back from the dead after three days, nor have any doctors that I can remember. So we’ll let those two exist in their own category. How about the rest of them? 

The feeding of the 5K is the one miracle that makes an appearance in all four gospels (save resurrection, which we already talked about).  So that’s probably a pretty important one. There are other resuscitations (raising the widow’s son in Nain, Jairus’ daughter, etc.) You could make broad sweeping generalizations about the other miracles.  You have the exorcisms, healing of paralytics, the blind, lepers, and some anomalies like dropsy, and withered hands. These are all really impressive miracles and I’m glad that Jesus did them, especially for the people who received those restorations.  That being said, I will now reveal my top three favorite miracles. 

3. Calming the storm

2. Walking on Water

1. Turning Water to Wine

My favorite miracles all have something in common.  Well two things. They involve water, but I wasn’t going for that one.  They aren’t the human restoring miracles. In that way they could be viewed as a bit frivolous.  

Some Christians I know don’t think miracles happen today.  Some think they do. I hope they do and I’m willing to pray for them, but I can’t guarantee anything.  In the meantime I tend to think the miracles are useful in that they help us have an imagination for the Kingdom of God.  The kingdom is a place that will eradicate leprosy, blindness, paralysis and other human challenges. But what do the frivolous miracles teach us?  I like to think that they teach us that God is fun. I know that’s not a popular adjective to ascribe to God. None of the famous theologians write on that one, but I think they are important and this is why. 

In what follows I will include spoilers from NBC’s The Good Place.  If you have not seen the ending of that show and care to not have it spoiled, please don’t read this newsletter anymore.  

After telling the staff that I was going to write about The Good Place in the newsletter, they got very restless and indicated that I needed to offer several kinds of spoiler alerts.  This is another spoiler informing you that I’m going to write about the finale of The Good Place below. 

A few weeks ago NBC aired the final episode of The Good Place.  It’s a show about postmortem reality for humans picking on tropes about heaven and hell in a humorous way.  For most of the show the main characters are 1. Realizing they aren’t in fact in the good place, 2. Critiquing the system that keeps the majority of humans out of the good place and 3. Negotiating a new system in which people can in fact get into the good place.  In the last few episodes our main characters finally make it into the good place. The good place is and is not what you might imagine, but included in the good place is the reality and those who make it have eternity and the resources to experience whatever they wanted in life.   It’s hard to develop plot in that environment, so the writers turned to the only source of potential conflict to conclude the show. People get bored in the good place. The last act of mercy of the good place architect creates is to let people cease to be. People can choose nonbeing, which all of our beloved main characters eventually do.  

I have two criticisms of the ending.  1. When Eleanor finally ceases to exist, a fairy dust particle from her disintegration floats down to attach itself to and direct a piece of mail to Michael.  This indicates that Eleanor is now guiding Michael.  The problem I have with this is very simple. If Eleanor really ceased to be, so would her agency and any kind of influence that she might exert on the cosmos.  What this suggests to me is that the writers weren’t actually comfortable with exhaustive definite extinction. Why? Because I believe the soul longs for the eternal.   2. While I think it completely reasonable to end the show the way the writers did, especially since they had to depict it within the four dimensions of time/space as we know it, i think it is a theological (perhaps anthropological) mistake to think that we have exhausted our sense of satisfaction with the eternal given our same limited view created by our vantage point in space time.  Said differently, when overwhelmed by the possibility of the infinite, the finite will fail to compute proper possibility including emotional response. 

Back to the miracles.  What I like about the three water miracles is that opposed to being merely restorative, they are expansive.  Instead of bringing things back to the way they should be, i.e. healthy hands, eyes, noses, limbs, they explore the world of joy where those hands, eyes, noses and limbs can be used for pleasure.  

One of my favorite speeches from television comes from the lips of John Cavil in Battlestar Galactica.  John is a cylon (bad guy robot) who complains about being human.  You can watch that speech here, but if you’re too lazy to, let me paste the words from a meme I found that accomplishes the same thing below: 

My concluding point is this.  The water miracles teach us to dream of a world that is to come.  One that asks us to develop an expanding capacity for joy and goodness.  I don’t think we can overdo, run out of, or get bored of those things and I think we should have the humility to entertain that notion. 

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College Retreat - April 3-5 - $40

We are heading to Cedarcreek lake for a weekend of learning from each other, and relaxing.  The $40 covers all meals and lodging for the weekend.  This is always a highlight of the year, so you don’t want to miss out.  If you have any questions, please contact toph@ubcwaco.org

Ash Wednesday Service

UBC will host Ash Wednesday services on 2-26 at 7:00 AM & 5:30 PM. Liturgy will last about 30 minutes. There will be no childcare, but children are encouraged to come and attend worship.

Parishioner of the Week

Special shout out to Adam & Rebekah Powell Lewis for all the work they are doing on our relationship class on Wednesday evenings.

Work is Worship

Greeters: Harris

Coffee Makers: Clark Mi Casa

Mug Cleaners: Ron Miller

Money Counter:  JD Newman

Announcements

• Sermon Text: Special Guest Erika Graham

• 3-26 Night of Belonging Spring 1

• 3-29 nUBCers Lunch

• 4-23 Night of Belonging Spring 2

Youth Schedule

February 29 - Leap Year Celebration (Movie/Game Night)

March 11 - NO YOUTH (Spring Break)

March 27 - TBD (Talent Show?)

April 19 - 5/6 Family Game Night

April 26 - After Church Picnic 

May 13 - Last Youth

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: Kerri Fisher: Kerri_Fisher@baylor.edu

Byron Griffin: byrontgriffin@gmail.com

Jeremy Nance: Jeremy.J.Nance@L3T.com

Joanna Sowards: jo.sowards@gmail.com

Kathy Krey: kathykrey@gmail.com

Jose Zuniga: jzgrphix2002@yahoo.com

Taylor Torregrossa: Taylordtorregrossa@gmail.com

Student Position: Davis Misloski

Student Position: Maddy O’Shaughnessy

UBC Finance Team

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

JD Newman: JD_Newman@baylor.edu 

Catherine Ballas: catherine@refitrev.com

Jen Carron: jen.carron78@gmail.com

Mike Dodson: financeteammike@gmail.com

George Thornton: GeorgecCT1982@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

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

Erin Albin: erin.albin1@gmail.com

Sam Goff: samuelgoff92@gmail.com

Rebekah Powell: rpowell671@gmail.com

Kristen Richardson: wacorichardsons@gmail.com

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ITLOTC 2-18-20

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church)

Epiphany

Songs: The World Is Yours and Mother

Greetings. I hope this finds you well. For the last couple of years, I (Jamie) have made a habit of using Josh’s sermon text for the upcoming Sunday as a prompt for a song. Its not the most creative writing exercise, but it is consistent, and I’m a sucker for consistency and routine. I don’t really know how many songs have emerged out of this exercise, but most of them never end up becoming something I would play in front of people.

Anyway, last week I assumed I would not be finishing a song because the sermon text was the Beatitudes, which is a passage that has enough familiarity to lend itself to being cheesy in song form. However, after several days of pacing around my house and my office mumbling lines to myself, and about 15 minutes before church started on Sunday, I had a version that was complete enough to play. There were several people who asked me if I had a recording of the song, so I threw together something to post here.

Several people also asked me if we had a recording of Mother, and I realized that I haven’t mentioned that we are working on a recording of that to release in the very near future. But in the meantime, I threw together a demo of that song as well because people have been asking about it since 2017 or something and I haven’t delivered.

You’ll find the songs and lyrics below. (If the Soundcloud players don’t load, try these links: The World Is Yours; Mother)

Take care!

-Jamie

The World Is Yours

Blessed are
The withered ones out starving for a peace
Whose taste they’ve never known

Blessed are
The bearers of the shame of never quite
Becoming who they’d hoped that they would be

Blessed are
The ones who wake and plead
That their whole life this far was just a dream

Blessed are you
The world is yours

Blessed are
The bloodshot midnight mourners in the hall
Their whole world standing still

Blessed are
The bloodshot midnight mourners in the park
No one speaks their names

Blessed are
The ones who know the sting
Of the phantom limb embrace of love, removed

Blessed are you
The world is yours

Blessed are
The ones who cast their mercy to the wind
It goes where it goes

Blessed are
the ones who nurse a pain that’s 
not their own
The meek amongst the wolves  

Blessed are you
When the knife is in your back
And they’re calling for your head
To finally shut you up
And blot out what you said 
about the way the scales are rigged
That’s how its always been
So just know you’re neither crazy nor alone

So lift up your head
The world is turning upside down
And as the tables fall, you’ll find you never left the ground
Behold the Great Inversion
Like a tide that lifts wrecked boats
Has risen from the heart of one
Who’ll never let you go

Mother

is there a hair on my head
you haven't numbered yet?
you haven't numbered yet?
in the night, crying in the cold
is there a pain of mine
you haven't called you own?

O Mother Comfort
Mother Known
though our minds so well ignore Your grace
You bring it just the same
You bring it just the same
we reside in Your self-giving love
but You've somehow found enough
for all the space that we take up

O Mother Wisdom
Mother Love
Mother Comfort
Mother Enough

through life and death,
that cradled set,
beginning and the end,
Beginning and the End,
You are a shield
a beacon of defense
and our weaknesses align
as You gather us in

O Mother Warrior
Mother Age to Age
Mother Wisdom
Mother Grace
Mother Comfort
Mother Love-that-can't-be-bought
Mother Faithful
Mother God

Mother God

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Ash Wednesday Service

UBC will host Ash Wednesday services on 2-26 at 7:00 AM & 5:30 PM. Liturgy will last about 30 minutes. There will be no childcare, but children are encouraged to come and attend worship.

Cesar Chavez Encouragement, 2/22

The fine folks over at Cesar Chavez Middle School have asked if we would participate in a project to encourage the students there.  After church on Sunday the 22nd, we will be writing some notes on stars to encourage the kids.  Please plan to stay after church for a little while to help out, it should only take 15-20 minutes.  If you have any questions, email toph@ubwaco.org

Parishioner of the Week

Jackson Connor. From Taylor Post, “Hey - I have a suggestion for parishioner of the week: Jackson. He worked the PNO, he was up at the church today for clean team, and he’s working on Sunday school tomorrow.”

Work is Worship

Greeters: kristi pereira

Coffee Makers: Oliver & Michael

Mug Cleaners: Oliver & Michael

Money Counter: Jen Carron

Announcements

• Sermon Text:

• 2-26 Ash Wednesday Service 5:30 PM CST

• 3-26 Night of Belonging Spring 1

• 3-29 nUBCers Lunch

• 4-23 Night of Belonging Spring 2

Youth Schedule

February 29 - Leap Year Celebration (Movie/Game Night)

March 11 - NO YOUTH (Spring Break)

March 27 - TBD (Talent Show?)

April 19 - 5/6 Family Game Night

April 26 - After Church Picnic 

May 13 - Last Youth

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: Kerri Fisher: Kerri_Fisher@baylor.edu

Byron Griffin: byrontgriffin@gmail.com

Jeremy Nance: Jeremy.J.Nance@L3T.com

Joanna Sowards: jo.sowards@gmail.com

Kathy Krey: kathykrey@gmail.com

Jose Zuniga: jzgrphix2002@yahoo.com

Taylor Torregrossa: Taylordtorregrossa@gmail.com

Student Position: Davis Misloski

Student Position: Maddy O’Shaughnessy

UBC Finance Team

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

JD Newman: JD_Newman@baylor.edu 

Catherine Ballas: catherine@refitrev.com

Jen Carron: jen.carron78@gmail.com

Mike Dodson: financeteammike@gmail.com

George Thornton: GeorgecCT1982@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

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

Erin Albin: erin.albin1@gmail.com

Sam Goff: samuelgoff92@gmail.com

Rebekah Powell: rpowell671@gmail.com

Kristen Richardson: wacorichardsons@gmail.com

Setlist 2-16-2020

This past Sunday was the sixth Sunday of Epiphany, and our songs were gathered with this in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.   If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Mystery by ubcmusic (adapted from Charlie Hall)

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go by ubcmusic (adapted from G. Matheson)

Mother by ubcmusic

The World Is Yours by Jameson McGregor

Where God Has Always Been by ubcmusic

Doxology

ITLOTC 2-10-20

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church)

Epiphany

Biblical Tricksters

I’ll tell you what I’m thinking about this week.  I just finished reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic.  The subtitle is semi-helpful “creative living beyond fear.”  That sounds a little self-helpy to me, but really what Liz is trying to do is get creative people to overcome objections they have to attempting creative endeavors.  I bought it because it was recommended to me a few times and I heard a fascinating interview with her on Krista Tippet’s On Being.   

On my goodreads page I gave the book 5 stars.  I loved it. All of it. The way Gilbert organized the book, her writing and especially her content.  In a book of so many things to love, let me tell you about what I loved the most. Or at least have thought about the most.  Gilbert talks extensively about the tortured artist. I had heard of the tortured artist, but thought of it as a kind of trope.  But Gilbert talks about it a lot and has been in the writing game for a while, so i figured that maybe the tortured artist is a real thing.  By tortued artist I think Gilbert means something like this: creatives that actively seek things like depression and hardship in order to be able to have the kind of a creative output that they want.  

Now for the thing I loved.  Gilbert campaigns against being a tortured artist.  she acknowledges that the forces that act against the creative person are real, but suggests there’s a better way.  She has a plethora of suggestions. You should read the book if you want to know about them. Let me hone in one. Be a trickster.  Yes, that’s right, a trickster.  My wife uses the word trickster. We have a foster daughter.  I call her Stella. She is fiercely independent. Does not want others to have control or too much input into her life.  Sometimes, when she wants to be left alone, like say … when she is in the car seat, if you call her name she closes her eyes and pretends that she is asleep so she doesn’t have to respond to you.  The funny part of this story is that she is 2 years old. For this crafty disobedience, my wife calls her a trickster. In my mind, tricksters are people who can work the margins of the rule book to get the world to work in their favor.  The shrewd manager in Luke 16 is a trickster.  

But who cares what I think tricksters are.  What does Liz Gilbert think they are and how is trickstering a healthy way to combat the darkside of the universe that plagues our creative efforts?  Here I’ll give Liz the microphone:

Martyr says: “I will sacrifice everything to fight this unwinnable war, even if it means being crushed to death under a wheel of torment.” 

Trickster says: “Okay, you enjoy that! AS for me, I’ll be over here in this corner, running a successful little black market operation on the side of the unwinnable war.” 

Martyr says: “Life is Pain.” 

Trickster says: “Life is interesting.” 

Martyr says: “The system is rigged against all that is good and sacred.” 

Trickster says: “There is not system, everything is good, and nothing is sacred.” 

Martyr says: “Nobody will ever understand me.” 

Trickster says: “Pick a card, any card!” 

Martyr says: “The world can never be solved.” 

Trickster says: “Perhaps not … but it can be gamed.” 

Ok I’ll stop there even though Liz goes on.  I was thinking about tricksters in the Bible and the first person that came to my mind was Jacob.  Jacob was a trickster. He stole his brother’s birthright and blessing for a bowl of soup. He’s even referred to as the supplanter.  Some real trickster business can be found in Jacob’s story. Jake wrestled God. Most people would have gotten smoked in that match. Jake earned himself a nice limp, but not before he secured himself a blessing from God.   In my mind Jacob’s story has always had a cousin in the new testament … the syrophoenician woman. She approaches Jesus asking for a miracle. Jesus says no, and establishes Israel’s priority. 99.9% of people would have walked away.  Not her, she’s a trickster. She offers Jesus a comeback. It’s not wildly different than Jake wrestling God. Jesus grants her miracle. Trickster stuff.  

I’ll tell you why I’m enamored with tricksters.  To me it seems to be a theological category I hadn't thought of before.  

We’ve all been warned about the problems with the prosperity gospel.  God is not a cosmic vending machine and any theology that treats God as such is bankrupt.  Still, one can’t deny that God provides and that God blesses. It may be that our theological hangup is that God seems to do so idiosyncratically.  I for the life of me, cannot figure out why some people get their miracles and some don’t. It really doesn’t seem fair. But what Liz Gilbert has helped me see is that there is a kind of believer … a kind of faith that doesn’t really care what the rules are or what is supposed to happen.  This person is a playful theological someone who dares to hope for something entirely different invents a new set of rules. In the very least I can say this. In the cases of the shrewd manager, Jacob and the syrophoenician woman God was interested in being tricked.  

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Parents Night Out

Do you have children that you would love other people to watch for free while you go on an outing with your significant other? Or perhaps you don’t have a significant other, but do have children and would really just love some time to yourself. Well boy do I have a deal for you. UBC is hosting a parents night on Valentines day from 6-9 PM CST. Those interested in taking advantage of this rare opportunity should act now. Don’t wait! Please email Taylor@ubcwaco.org to sign up.

Ash Wednesday Service

UBC will host Ash Wednesday services on 2-26 at 7:00 AM & 5:30 PM. Liturgy will last about 30 minutes. There will be no childcare, but children are encouraged to come and attend worship.

UBC Missions Committee

If you are interested in learning more about the newly forming UBC Missions Committee, you can come to our first meeting this Sunday after church.  We will be meeting the Red Room, 10 minutes after the service ends.  If you have any questions, email toph@ubwaco.org  

Cesar Chavez Encouragement, 2/22

The fine folks over at Cesar Chavez Middle School have asked if we would participate in a project to encourage the students there.  After church on Sunday the 22nd, we will be writing some notes on stars to encourage the kids.  Please plan to stay after church for a little while to help out, it should only take 15-20 minutes.  If you have any questions, email toph@ubwaco.org

Parishioner of the Week

Brother Toph Whisnant. Typically this space is reserved for parishioners because, well, if a staff person does something well or good, there’s a sense in which they should be cause it’s his or her job. But let me tell you about Brother Toph. On Monday we had our annual fire inspection. After the inspection was over, one of the main waterlines began leaking. That leak turned into a small waterfall. So Toph spent a few hours that spilled into the evening mopping water and pouring out buckets to save the UBC kitchen until the after hours emergency plumber could arrive.

Work is Worship

Greeters: Richardson

Coffee Makers: Clark Mi Casa

Mug Cleaners: Nelsons

Money Counter: Richardson

Announcements

• Sermon Text: Matthew 5:3-12 “blessed”

• 2-26 Ash Wednesday Service 5:30 PM CST

• 3-26 Night of Belonging Spring 1

• 3-29 nUBCers Lunch

• 4-23 Night of Belonging Spring 2

Youth Schedule

February 29 - Leap Year Celebration (Movie/Game Night)

March 11 - NO YOUTH (Spring Break)

March 27 - TBD (Talent Show?)

April 19 - 5/6 Family Game Night

April 26 - After Church Picnic 

May 13 - Last Youth

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: Kerri Fisher: Kerri_Fisher@baylor.edu

Byron Griffin: byrontgriffin@gmail.com

Jeremy Nance: Jeremy.J.Nance@L3T.com

Joanna Sowards: jo.sowards@gmail.com

Kathy Krey: kathykrey@gmail.com

Jose Zuniga: jzgrphix2002@yahoo.com

Taylor Torregrossa: Taylordtorregrossa@gmail.com

Student Position: Davis Misloski

Student Position: Maddy O’Shaughnessy

UBC Finance Team

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

JD Newman: JD_Newman@baylor.edu 

Catherine Ballas: catherine@refitrev.com

Jen Carron: jen.carron78@gmail.com

Mike Dodson: financeteammike@gmail.com

George Thornton: GeorgecCT1982@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

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

Erin Albin: erin.albin1@gmail.com

Sam Goff: samuelgoff92@gmail.com

Rebekah Powell: rpowell671@gmail.com

Kristen Richardson: wacorichardsons@gmail.com

Liturgy 2-9-2020

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

Call to Worship

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

with our songs, our prayers, 
and our listening

to learn to direct our attention to God

with the whole of the lives we are living 

trusting the Spirit of God 
to transform our hearts and minds

to make us new 
and form us in the way of Christ

Amen

Scripture

Isaiah 58:1-9a

Shout out, do not hold back!
Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
to the house of Jacob their sins.

Yet day after day they seek me
and delight to know my ways,|
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments,
they delight to draw near to God.

“Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,
and oppress all your workers.

Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
will not make your voice heard on high.

Is such the fast that I choose,
a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?

Will you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?

Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

John 19:25-27

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” 

Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

Setlist 2-9-2020

This past Sunday was the fifth Sunday of Epiphany, and our songs were gathered with this in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.   If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

SMS [Shine] by David Crowder* Band

Waking Life by ubcmusic

Rise Up by BiFrost Arts

Where God Has Always Been by ubcmusic

Pulse by Ubcmusic

Doxology

ITLOTC 2-4-20

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church)

Epiphany

Friends, (it’s Taylor) I’ve been thinking a lot about people lately. And about how we’re all so different. And about how it seems like no matter how many times I learn that lesson – that we’re all different, that we all have different motivations and different triggers, and different reasons for doing things – the lesson never really sinks in. Because every time I think I’ve learned it – it pops up again in some other way.

            I think of one of the first times I learned that lesson – it was during my Covenant Group at Truett.  At this point we were in our third year of meeting together and we were studying the Enneagram. I had previously been studying the Enneagram independently for awhile and I thought I understood that people were different that we all experienced the world differently.  But, turns out, I did not.

            One day we were all sharing a little bit about our own number and how we first understood ourselves to be that number. And my friend Elizabeth was going last. Elizabeth is a 9 and right before she shared our group leader said, “Ok, so it’s Elizabeth’s turn to share. But first I want to ask a question. Elizabeth – what if I said right now ‘It’s Elizabeth’s turn, but actually we’ve run out of time and Elizabeth won’t be able to share. See everybody next week!’ How would you feel about that, Elizabeth?” Elizabeth responded and said, ‘Um…I would feel fine. If we ran out of time, it’s not a big deal.” And I said, “Mmhmm, yes of course that’s what you’d SAY. But secretly you’d be mad and hurt and feel sad for the rest of the day, right?” And Elizabeth looked at me and said, “No. I’d really feel fine about it. Why would I be upset?”

            And y’all. My world exploded. I couldn’t imagine not getting upset about that experience and Elizabeth couldn’t imagine getting upset about the same thing.

            I thought I understood that we were all experiencing the world differently. But even when Elizabeth told me how she would react, I was making all sorts of assumptions about the secret thoughts and emotions she was having. And she wasn’t having any of them!

            This same idea popped up at book club last night in the form of a question/topic that the internet has been obsessed with recently. Apparently, some people have an inner monologue running through their head all day and some people do not – some people are hearing their thoughts in the form of words inside their head most of the time and some people are not. I do not have a running inner monologue – my thoughts most often present in what can best be described as pictures or scenes.

            But as we all sat around admitting whether we thought in words or in some other form I loved watching the expressions on everyone’s faces. We all looked like how I had felt that day in Covenant Group. Amazed. Amazed to learn that people were so different from us. Amazed to learn that people operated in ways that we couldn’t imagine. Amazed at our own ability to assume and not even know we were making an assumption. It is one of my favorite things in the world.

            One of the things I have been focusing on in 2020 is remembering to assume positive intent from other people. I think it’s my tendency to believe that if someone hurts my feelings or behaves in a way that I don’t understand it is because they have poor intentions. But the reality is that I can’t really know what someone else’s intent is. But I can choose to believe that they didn’t intend to hurt me or upset me – they were just living their life in the way that made the most sense to them.

We are all so different. God has made us all so different. It is such a comfort for me – to see the different ways that we all exist. It is both frightening and beautiful.  It reminds me of how big God is and also of how small I am in the grand scheme of things. It makes me curious – it makes me want to know more about how people operate in ways I couldn’t imagine. And mostly, it helps me to remember that, for the most part, we are all just trying our best and we ought to do our best to help each other through.

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Parents Night Out

Do you have children that you would love other people to watch for free while you go on an outing with your significant other? Well boy do I have a deal for you. UBC is hosting a parents night on Valentines day from 6-9 PM CST. Those interested in taking advantage of this rare opportunity should act now. Don’t wait! Please email Taylor@ubcwaco.org to sign up.

Leadership Team Nomination

Friends, one Byron Griffin’s stint on the leadership team is coming to an end.  During his term, Byron got Griff-Care passed, helped balance the church budget and was instrumental in shaping for our foreign policy in Cuba as we withdrew from the Thailand.  Thanks for the years of service Byrondo.  That means we are looking for leadership team nominations.  If you would like to nominate someone for the leadership team, please do so by using this link to fill out the form.

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

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

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

Parishioner of the Week

Lindsey Roberson for and I quote Taylor Post, “truly do everything I ask her. Sometimes I have to tell people not to ask her for help because she’ll do everything.”

Work is Worship

Greeters: Corntassel

Coffee Makers: Glovers

Mug Cleaners: Howertons

Money Counter: 

Announcements

• Sermon Text: Special Guest Preacher CoKiesha Bailey Robinson

• 2-9 (week of) Mi Casa’s Resume

• 2-26 Ash Wednesday Service 5:30 PM CST

Youth Schedule

February 29 - Leap Year Celebration (Movie/Game Night)

March 11 - NO YOUTH (Spring Break)

March 27 - TBD (Talent Show?)

April 19 - 5/6 Family Game Night

April 26 - After Church Picnic 

May 13 - Last Youth

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: Kerri Fisher: Kerri_Fisher@baylor.edu

Byron Griffin: byrontgriffin@gmail.com

Jeremy Nance: Jeremy.J.Nance@L3T.com

Joanna Sowards: jo.sowards@gmail.com

Kathy Krey: kathykrey@gmail.com

Jose Zuniga: jzgrphix2002@yahoo.com

Taylor Torregrossa: Taylordtorregrossa@gmail.com

Student Position: Davis Misloski

Student Position: Maddy O’Shaughnessy

UBC Finance Team

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

JD Newman: JD_Newman@baylor.edu 

Catherine Ballas: catherine@refitrev.com

Jen Carron: jen.carron78@gmail.com

Mike Dodson: financeteammike@gmail.com

George Thornton: GeorgecCT1982@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

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

Erin Albin: erin.albin1@gmail.com

Sam Goff: samuelgoff92@gmail.com

Rebekah Powell: rpowell671@gmail.com

Kristen Richardson: wacorichardsons@gmail.com



Liturgy 2-2-2020

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 Eternal One

the One who knows us, 
who sees us, 
who loves us 

to enter the story of God 
with our songs, our prayers, and our listening

to see our own stories anew 

hoping the Spirit would form our hearts and minds 
in the way of Christ

transforming our shame into strength
and drawing our ordinary lives 
into the work of God in the world 

Amen

Scripture

Malachi 3:1-4

Thus says the Lord, See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight-- indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

John 4:1-30

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John” —although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized— he left Judea and started back to Galilee. But he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 

The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” 

The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 

The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”

Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” They left the city and were on their way to him.

Setlist 2-2-2020

This past Sunday was the fourth Sunday of Epiphany, and our songs were gathered with this in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.   If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Wideness by Ubcmusic (adapted from F. Faber)

House of God Forever by Jon Foreman

Pulse by Ubcmusic

Wayward Ones by The Gladsome Light

Lifted//Lifting by Jameson McGregor

Eternal Anchor by Ubcmusic

Doxology

ITLOTC 1-28-20

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church)

Epiphany

Casserole Diplomacy

UBC turned 25 this month.  We had a party to celebrate on Sunday.  If you made it, thanks for coming. If you couldn’t, I understand.  

I mentioned in the sermon that UBC is 25, I have been worshiping here for 15.5 of those years, and that I have been a pastor for 12.5 of those years.  That is enough time to feel growth and change. I have been here long enough to think of UBC in small eras. That could be lectionary cycles, four year cycles of certain Baylor classes that were especially meaningful to me, or the hard things that have happened.   There are a number of ways to divide up the time. Regardless of how one is inclined to do that, one thing remains true about time, it keeps going.  

I will tell you a secret that all pastors know.  People come and go from congregations. In my monthly pastor group meeting, we joke that we have trading cards.   When people leave the church you are pastoring, it is hurtful, but less so the longer you do it. Because you stop caring?  No. Because you learn it is inevitable? Yes. Sometimes I read articles about this and the author rants and raves at how the church has fallen prey to the same kind of consumerism that marks everything else in our world.  Perhaps that's true, but I think it more likely that people change and that accommodating the change in ourselves can be a healthy thing.  

In my reflecting on time and change I slowed down last week to think about who is still at UBC that was there before I started.  That list, in so far as my memory serves me well, is very small. Without asking their permission I’m going to print their names right here in this newsletter: 

Emily & Jeremy Nance

Kristen & Mike Dodson 

Marshall Cook

Wade Mackey

Craig Nash

Holly & Britt Duke 

Jana & Jack Parker 

A few have gone and returned.  That is, they were here before I was here and come back, but this is the small list of people who were here before I started and are still here.  Sunday after the party during the clean up time, I got up from a table of lingering folks and saw that Jeremy & Emily and Jack & Jana were cleaning.  I was deeply touched by that, both because we can always use help with that kind of a thing, but also because I realized how much their presence means to me in a way that is intangible.  

A few years ago Craig and I were talking about community and he was paraphrasing a quote he’d seen recently.  It went something like this: if you want a thirty years of community then you have to be somewhere for thirty years.  If you want twenty years of community you have to be somewhere for twenty years … 

Today I was talking to someone about twenty and thirty year communities.  That’s not what she called it, but that’s what she meant. She said they lived in Waco for a few years, but it wasn’t until this last year until they had community.  “You know the kind where people don’t knock anymore and just come over any time, that kind of community.”  

I don’t know how to wrap up my thoughts on meaningful community other than to offer you this Terry Tempest Williams quote that has come to mean a great deal to me. 

“It just may be that the most radical act we can commit is to stay home. What does that mean to finally commit to a place, to a people, to a community. It doesn't mean it's easy, but it does mean you can live with patience, because you're not going to go away. It also means commitment to bear witness, and engaging in 'casserole diplomacy' by sharing food among neighbors, by playing with the children and mending feuds and caring for the sick. These kinds of commitment are real. They are tangible. They are not esoteric or idealistic, but rooted in the bedrock existence of where we choose to maintain our lives.That way we begin to know the predictability of a place. We anticipate a species long before we see them. We can chart the changes, because we have a memory of cycles and seasons; we gain a capacity for both pleasure and pain, and we find the strength within ourselves and each other to hold these lines.That's my definition of family. And that's my definition of love.”

Terri Tempest Williams “A Voice In The Wilderness: Conversations with TTW” 

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Meet Our Newest UBCer

Name: Russell Broxton Thornton
Birthday: 11/16/19
Birth weight: 3lb 10oz (now is over 7lb!)
Birth height: 16” (now almost 19”!)

Enneagram Number: 4

Leadership Team Nomination

Friends, one Byron Griffin’s stint on the leadership team is coming to an end.  During his term, Byron got Griff-Care passed, helped balance the church budget and was instrumental in shaping for our foreign policy in Cuba as we withdrew from the Thailand.  Thanks for the years of service Byrondo.  That means we are looking for leadership team nominations.  If you would like to nominate someone for the leadership team, please do so by using this link to fill out the form.

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

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

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

Spiritual/Religious Trauma

Dear Toph,

My name's Alice Fry- we've met a couple times. I wanted to share this event with you that I'm hosting at the Good Neighbor House. At the Trauma Informed Care luncheon UBC hosted last year, this was the topic and I know you mentioned that you recognize this among some of your member's stories. I thought it might be a resource you could use. 

Here's a blurb if you need more information:

"Sometimes our search for meaning, purpose, and the divine can become a weary burden. Whether our experience is with organized religion or spirituality, we can become victims of damaging beliefs and toxic systems that continue to cause lasting hurt and suffering long after the event itself is over. Compassionate listening can help. Join us in this 6 week, peer led support group as we trace the paths we've taken to get us here and envision our own paths forward, together. Regarding interest in attending the group or any questions you may have, please contact Alice Fry  at ally_otis@baylor.edu."

One Heart - Mentoring Opportunity

One Heart is a ministry which seeks to engage college-aged students in mentorship with youth aged 12-16 who have exited the criminal justice system in McLennan County.  Through building relationships and the influence of positive role models One Heart shoes to see a reduction in recidivism rates and break the prison cycle.  You can learn more about One Heart’s mission and goals: here  If you have any questions, please email toph@ubcwaco.org

Vote for Ubcmusic in the JFH Awards

Ubcmusic, Vol. 2 is up for Contemporary Album of the Year and Independent Album of the Year in the JFH Awards. Is that a big deal? Probably not. But would it be fun to win? Absolutely. Will we likely win if all of Ubc casts a vote? Yes. You can vote here.

UBC Missions Committee

Over the next few months, we will be looking at UBC’s engagement with what God is doing in the world and discussing UBC’s missional philosophy.  If you would like to be a part of this committee, please contact toph@ubcwaco.org for more information. 

Parishioner of the Week

Luca Meehan for his monster basketball shot at last Tuesdays WMS game.

Work is Worship

Greeters: Harris

Coffee Makers: David Rehfeld

Mug Cleaners: Ron Miller

Money Counter: JD Newman

Announcements

• Sermon Text: Special Guest Preacher Sean Palmer

• 2-9 (week of) Mi Casa’s Resume

Youth Schedule

February 29 - Leap Year Celebration (Movie/Game Night)

March 11 - NO YOUTH (Spring Break)

March 27 - TBD (Talent Show?)

April 19 - 5/6 Family Game Night

April 26 - After Church Picnic 

May 13 - Last Youth

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: Kerri Fisher: Kerri_Fisher@baylor.edu

Byron Griffin: byrontgriffin@gmail.com

Jeremy Nance: Jeremy.J.Nance@L3T.com

Joanna Sowards: jo.sowards@gmail.com

Kathy Krey: kathykrey@gmail.com

Jose Zuniga: jzgrphix2002@yahoo.com

Taylor Torregrossa: Taylordtorregrossa@gmail.com

Student Position: Davis Misloski

Student Position: Maddy O’Shaughnessy

UBC Finance Team

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

JD Newman: JD_Newman@baylor.edu 

Catherine Ballas: catherine@refitrev.com

Jen Carron: jen.carron78@gmail.com

Mike Dodson: financeteammike@gmail.com

George Thornton: GeorgecCT1982@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

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

Erin Albin: erin.albin1@gmail.com

Sam Goff: samuelgoff92@gmail.com

Rebekah Powell: rpowell671@gmail.com

Kristen Richardson: wacorichardsons@gmail.com

Liturgy 1-26-2020

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 Eternal One 

the Maker of all things,
whose boundless love endures boundlessly 

to participate in the story of God and the people of God
with our songs, our prayers, and our listening

bringing with us the full complexity of our lives

hoping the Spirit of God would form us more fully into the way of Christ

and draw us into God’s work 
of Beloved Community in the world. 

Amen

Scripture

Psalm 136 

O give thanks to the Lord, for the Lord is good,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.

O give thanks to the God of gods,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;
O give thanks to the Lord of lords,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;
who alone does great wonders,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;

who by understanding made the heavens,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;
who spread out the earth on the waters,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;

who made the great lights,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;
the sun to rule over the day,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;
the moon and stars to rule over the night,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;

who struck Egypt through their firstborn,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;
and brought Israel out from among them,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;

with a strong hand and an outstretched arm,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;
who divided the Red Sea in two,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;

and made Israel pass through the midst of it,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;
but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;

who led the people of the Lord through the wilderness,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;
who struck down great kings,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;
and killed famous kings,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;

Sihon, king of the Amorites,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;
and Og, king of Bashan,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;
and gave their land as a heritage,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;

a heritage to the Lord’s servant Israel,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;
It is the Lord who remembered us in our low estate,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;

and rescued us from our foes,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;
who gives food to all flesh,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever;

O give thanks to the God of heaven,
for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.

Acts 16:6-10

They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 

During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

Prayer

This week’s prayer was from An Iona Prayer Book (98):

Lord of Life
we celebrate your countless gifts,
in days and nights,
in rainbows and rain,
in touch, dream and smile,
in partners who love,
in kids who cuddle,
in grannies who listen,
in friends who care,
in dogs that lick,
in hands that sew,
in food on the table;
yet above all,
in your coming among us,
walking our roads,
calling our names,
enfolding our lives,
inviting us home.

Setlist 1-26-2020

This past Sunday was the third Sunday of Epiphany, and our songs were gathered with this in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.   If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Come Alive by ubcmusic

Be Thou My Vision

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go by ubcmusic (adapted from George Matheson)

Boundless Love by ubcmusic

The Word Is Yet Flesh by ubcmusic

Doxology

ITLOTC 1-21-19

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church)

Epiphany

Sunday school 2K20 Spring Lineup

Sunday school starts this Sunday at 9:30, and childcare is provided!

Harry Potter and the Sacred Text

Led by Aleigh Ascherl

Millions of people have read, loved, and found meaning in the Harry Potter series. So, what if we read it as a sacred text? Modeled after the podcast by the same name, this class will be reading and discussing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to see what it might have to teach us about our faith and the practice of it. Each week we'll read a portion of the book through a central theme and then engage in some traditional forms of sacred reading together.

Book Study: Inspired by Rachel Held Evans

Led by Craig Nash

If the Bible isn’t a science book, instruction manual, or position paper, then what is it? New York Times bestselling author Rachel Held Evans invites readers on a journey of rediscovery as she explores the magic of the Bible, engaging the old, familiar stories in new ways that honor the past and enlighten the present.

Drawing upon recent scholarship and literary analysis, Evans creatively retells our favorite Bible stories, explaining their contexts and possible interpretations, and then connects these ancient stories to our present-day ones. Using her well-honed literary instincts and experience in both evangelical and mainline Protestant traditions, Evans discovers a way of understanding that avoids noncommittal liberalism on one hand and strident literalism on the other. 

Readers are invited to fall in love with Scripture all over again without checking their intellect--or their imaginations--at the door.

Bible Study: Daniel

Led by Daniel Harris

Apocalypse! Come on a whirlwind of a journey through a series of dreams and visions in the middle of the Babylonian Exile.

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Meet Our New Office Manager

Name: Rissé Miller

Why are you in Waco?: My husband, Ron, and I wanted to be close to my family in Houston but raise our boys in a smaller town. We love it here!

TV Show: This is Us. 

Movie: Elf

Favorite Book, Chapter or Verse in the Bible: Prov. 16:3, all of Romans, pretty much anything in the Epistles

Best Waco Restaurant: Harvest on 25th, hands-down.

Something We Might Not Know About You: I teach boys hip hop :P

Leadership Team Nomination

Friends, one Byron Griffin’s stint on the leadership team is coming to an end.  During his term, Byron got Griff-Care passed, helped balance the church budget and was instrumental in shaping for our foreign policy in Cuba as we withdrew from the Thailand.  Thanks for the years of service Byrondo.  That means we are looking for leadership team nominations.  If you would like to nominate someone for the leadership team, please do so by using this link to fill out the form.

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

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

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

One Heart - Mentoring Opportunity

One Heart is a ministry which seeks to engage college-aged students in mentorship with youth aged 12-16 who have exited the criminal justice system in McLennan County.  Through building relationships and the influence of positive role models One Heart shoes to see a reduction in recidivism rates and break the prison cycle.  You can learn more about One Heart’s mission and goals: here  If you have any questions, please email toph@ubcwaco.org

UBC Missions Committee

Over the next few months, we will be looking at UBC’s engagement with what God is doing in the world and discussing UBC’s missional philosophy.  If you would like to be a part of this committee, please contact toph@ubcwaco.org for more information. 

25 on the 26

UBC turns 25 in January. To celebrate this remarkable moment and as a nod to God’s faithfulness we will have a festive 90s themed party with pizza, trivia and other extraordinary things this Sunday after church!

An Evening With C.S. Lewis (March 18th, 7PM)

On Wednesday, March 18th, our friends at the Hippodrome are putting up a production of An Evening With C.S. Lewis, a one-man show about the life and work of…..C.S. Lewis.  Lewis has, at one time or another, influenced many in our community through his intellectual honesty and compelling storytelling, offering a path toward asking questions of faith and wonder.  Anyway, whether or not you can look back on C.S. Lewis as a welcome influence in your faith development, this play is probably the closest you’ll ever get to seeing him on a stage.  You can use the code “BRITISH” at checkout for a 50% discount, or if you’re a student, you can use the code “STUDENT” at checkout for an even bigger discount (be sure to bring your student ID to the show).

Tickets are available here: https://wacohippodrometheatre.thundertix.com/events/164231

Parishioner of the Week

The following parent-champions who drove to mid-winter retreat: Hoppe, Krey, Latendresse, Tran, Burns & Kat McClellan.

Work is Worship

Greeters: Kristi Lee Pereira 

Coffee Makers: Oliver & Michael

Mug Cleaners: Oliver & Michael

Money Counter: Ballas

Announcements

• Sermon Text:

• 1-19 Quarterly Town Hall

• 1-26 “25 on the 26” UBC’s birthday extravaganza

• 1-26 Spring Sunday school Begins

• 2-9 (week of) Mi Casa’s Resume

Youth Schedule

January 15 - First Youth

January 17-19 - Mid Winter Retreat

January 26 - Sunday School Starts

February 29 - Leap Year Celebration (Movie/Game Night)

March 11 - NO YOUTH (Spring Break)

March 27 - TBD (Talent Show?)

April 19 - 5/6 Family Game Night

April 26 - After Church Picnic 

May 13 - Last Youth

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: Kerri Fisher: Kerri_Fisher@baylor.edu

Byron Griffin: byrontgriffin@gmail.com

Jeremy Nance: Jeremy.J.Nance@L3T.com

Joanna Sowards: jo.sowards@gmail.com

Kathy Krey: kathykrey@gmail.com

Jose Zuniga: jzgrphix2002@yahoo.com

Taylor Torregrossa: Taylordtorregrossa@gmail.com

Student Position: Davis Misloski

Student Position: Maddy O’Shaughnessy

UBC Finance Team

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

JD Newman: JD_Newman@baylor.edu 

Catherine Ballas: catherine@refitrev.com

Jen Carron: jen.carron78@gmail.com

Mike Dodson: financeteammike@gmail.com

George Thornton: GeorgecCT1982@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

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

Erin Albin: erin.albin1@gmail.com

Sam Goff: samuelgoff92@gmail.com

Rebekah Powell: rpowell671@gmail.com

Kristen Richardson: wacorichardsons@gmail.com

ITLOTC 1-14-20

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church)

Epiphany

Teflon and Velcro: An Update on my Gratitude Experiment 

 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. - Philippians 4:8

Hello UBCers (and others who still read this newsletter and my entries (God bless you for this special kind of sacrifice)),  

I’d like to kick off 2020 with an update on my last post from 2019.  In that post I talked about an intentional approach to slowing down time.  The way I plan to slow down time is by being present and the way I plan on being present is by being grateful.  

So here is a dispatch from my experiment - a pair of brief anecdotes from last week: #1) Thursday.  I go to the World Cup Cafe for lunch with my friends. We sit down and in the booth behind us my neighbor and his lunch date.  My neighbor is the director of Mission Waco, which is the parent organization of WCC. Because I’m feeling extra gregarious and because my neighbor and I have a pretty amicable relationship, I told our server that our bill would be covered by the guy in the booth next to us.  She looked over at the booth, identified my neighbor, and immediately made the connection and got in on the joke. She took our orders and walked over to inform him of the decision. He looked up, we made eye contact and laughed. This kind of throw away humor is gold once you make it past 35 years old.  It’s the kind of stuff that enneagram 3s live for. My friends and I had a long lunch. By the time we were finished the place had cleared. We were knocking on the door of 2:00 PM CST. When we arrived at the cash register, the sales clerk informed us that our lunch was paid for. 

Neighbor and I had this text exchange: 

#2)  My registration sticker for my minivan is out of date.  The last good month was December. As you now know the process requires you to get your car inspected and then go to the government agency for motor vehicles to get your sticker.  So on that same day last week, after my Great Clips haircut, I pulled across the street to Kwicker Sticker. The guy asks for my insurance and pulls my car into the inspection space.  He’s gone for what seems to be an ominous length of time.. Finally he comes into the waiting room. “OK, I’m ready to see you.” This is different than, “You’re all ready,” which communicates “you passed.”  Kwicker Sticker Guy, hereafter KSG, reluctantly informs me that I will not pass. He apologises and quickly tells me that he will not fail me or charge me, but can’t for the sake of integrity pass me. He then proceeds to show me why.  My power steering hose is leaking fluid. KSG must have extensive mechanical knowledge because he also shows me exactly what’s wrong, how to fix it and then invites me over to his computer to help me look up where to buy the part as cheaply as possible.  Then he says, “If you want, you could go to another inspection site. Just add some power steering fluid and they’ll pass you. That way if you can’t fix it until this summer or something, you can still get your car registered. Again, I apologize, for the sake of integrity I can't pass your car.”  It’s now clear to me what he means by “not failing me.” The state car tracking system shows all my appointments at these places. By not registering my failure he has given me the option to go elsewhere and use the work around. At the end of our appointment - after the advice, help and generous treatment - I insist on paying for my inspection even though I didn’t pass (this is the law BTW).  But again KSG refuses my money. I know this routine enough not to fight it. I offer my gratitude one more time and drive away. 

What I have learned so far is that these small graces are frequent.  More so than we might realize. On average, I haven’t had more of these moments in 2K20 than I did last year.  So what has paying attention taught me?  

A few years ago Rob Bell hosted Richard Rohr on his podcast.  The theme was, “Embracing Alternative Orthodoxy.” There were 7 points.  I can’t name them for you. What I do remember was Rohr making this point: good thoughts are like teflon and bad thoughts are like velcro.   That probably doesn’t need explanation, but allow me. Negative comments, thoughts and experiences implant on the brain (something about evolution and survival).  Good thoughts, experiences, and comments are like teflon, they don’t stick at all. So this is my big revelation in my experiment: you have to meditate on and appreciate the good things.  Rohr says that we have to actively think about a good thing for 15 seconds before it actually registers.  

So on thursday evening last week, I did just that.  I thought about the food I ordered, how good it was, my friends and our delightful conversation and then my neighbor.  That was a free experience. Then I thought about KSG, what motivated him to help me and his refusal to accept my money.  I thanked God for both of them.   

Eager to see what happens tomorrow.  

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Meet Our New Youth Pastor

As you all know, the mighty and valiant Dilan Braddock left us for more money and a real job. As such we have been pleading with the Lord to send us a replacement (as if Dilan could ever be replaced (disgusted gif)). Lo, an angel of the Lord appeared to us and said, “I bring you good tidings of great joy, I have for you a new youth pastor, and he is British.” There was much rejoicing. Here’s a few details on our new guy.

Name: Kieran Frank Cressy (Yes, that makes my initials KFC. Yes, my parents realised that. No, they didn’t care.) 

What are you doing in Waco: I moved here in May 2019 from England, to marry my beloved wife! 

Favorite Waco Restaurant?: Lula Janes, or Lolita’s. 

Bible verse, chapter or book that has been meaningful for you?: I really love the Old Testament, but one book in particular that I’ve found great meaning in is the Book of Job. The way in which Job talks to God is oddly reassuring - we learn that it’s okay to be angry, confused, and, crucially, that it’s okay to voice those fears and frustrations with God. He doesn’t just want our fair-weather, peak moments - he wants our brokenness and our hurt too. 

TV Show: Very hard. Here’s a few that have been fundamental for me: Lost, The West Wing, The Newsroom, New Girl, Brooklyn Nine-Nine. 

Movies: Also very hard, so here’s another list: Interstellar, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Star Wars, Into the Spider-verse, How To Train Your Dragon. 

Something We’d never know about you?:  The first time I travelled without my parents was aged 18, with my friend Jake, and we went backpacking and wild camping around Norway for 2 weeks. 

Town Hall

Our quarterly town hall will take place after church this Sunday. I anticipate that it will last about 1 hour.

25 on the 26

UBC turns 25 in January. To celebrate this remarkable moment and as a nod to God’s faithfulness we will have a festive 90s themed party with pizza, trivia and other extraordinary things on January 26th after church.

An Evening With C.S. Lewis (March 18th, 7PM)

On Wednesday, March 18th, our friends at the Hippodrome are putting up a production of An Evening With C.S. Lewis, a one-man show about the life and work of…..C.S. Lewis.  Lewis has, at one time or another, influenced many in our community through his intellectual honesty and compelling storytelling, offering a path toward asking questions of faith and wonder.  Anyway, whether or not you can look back on C.S. Lewis as a welcome influence in your faith development, this play is probably the closest you’ll ever get to seeing him on a stage.  You can use the code “BRITISH” at checkout for a 50% discount, or if you’re a student, you can use the code “STUDENT” at checkout for an even bigger discount (be sure to bring your student ID to the show).

Tickets are available here: https://bit.ly/382YBQL

Spring Sunday School

Begins on January 26th. More information on the following classes will be published in our Jan 21st newsletter:

• Harry Potter and the Sacred Text

• Daniel on Daniel

• Inspired by Rachel Held Evans

Parishioner of the Week

Ron Miller, for doing mugs like a baller.

Work is Worship

Greeters: Richardson

Coffee Makers: Jessica Washington

Mug Cleaners: Sarah Cooley

Money Counter: JD Newman

Announcements

• Sermon Text: John 1:38-45/Psalm 40

• 1-19 Quarterly Town Hall

• 1-26 “25 on the 26” UBC’s birthday extravaganza

• 1-26 Spring Sunday school Begins

• 2-9 (week of) Mi Casa’s Resume

Youth Schedule

January 15 - First Youth

January 17-19 - Mid Winter Retreat

January 26 - Sunday School Starts

February 29 - Leap Year Celebration (Movie/Game Night)

March 11 - NO YOUTH (Spring Break)

March 27 - TBD (Talent Show?)

April 19 - 5/6 Family Game Night

April 26 - After Church Picnic 

May 13 - Last Youth

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: Kerri Fisher: Kerri_Fisher@baylor.edu

Byron Griffin: byrontgriffin@gmail.com

Jeremy Nance: Jeremy.J.Nance@L3T.com

Joanna Sowards: jo.sowards@gmail.com

Kathy Krey: kathykrey@gmail.com

Jose Zuniga: jzgrphix2002@yahoo.com

Taylor Torregrossa: Taylordtorregrossa@gmail.com

Student Position: Davis Misloski

Student Position: Maddy O’Shaughnessy

UBC Finance Team

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

JD Newman: JD_Newman@baylor.edu 

Catherine Ballas: catherine@refitrev.com

Jen Carron: jen.carron78@gmail.com

Mike Dodson: financeteammike@gmail.com

George Thornton: GeorgecCT1982@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

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

Erin Albin: erin.albin1@gmail.com

Sam Goff: samuelgoff92@gmail.com

Rebekah Powell: rpowell671@gmail.com

Kristen Richardson: wacorichardsons@gmail.com

Liturgy 1-12-2020

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

Call to Worship

we have gathered to worship the Living God

the One who created the heavens and stretched them out
Who spread out the earth and what comes from it

to enter the story of God— 

the story of bruised reeds, unbroken
of dim wicks unquenched
of justice being faithfully brought forward

and to find our own stories transformed by this Light

into vessels of God’s care 
for all of God’s creatures

 amen

Scripture

Isaiah 42:1-9

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.

He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.

He will not grow faint or be crushed
until he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it:

I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.

I am the Lord, that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to idols.
See, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth,
I tell you of them.

Acts 10:34-43

Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 

You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ--he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 

We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 

He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Matthew 3:13-17

Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” 

Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 

And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

Prayer

This week’s prayer was from Jan Richardson:

May the path
that Christ walks
to bring justice
upon the earth,
to bring light
to those who sit
in darkness,
to bring out those
who live in bondage,
to bring new things
to all creation:

may this path
run through our life.
May we be
the road Christ takes.