Casting Stones
John 8:1-9
while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’
This week World Vision, a nonprofit Christian organization whose vision it is "for every child to experience life in its fullness," caused a firestorm when they first announced that they would employ individuals who are part of legal same sex marriages and then just two days later reversed that decision.
U.S. World Vision President reported that by Wednesday the organization had already lost over 2,000 financial supporters equaling $840,000 annual shortfall.
I made a decision to read just one opinion piece this week. It was from the blog of Russell Moore who is president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. You can read his piece here. I picked Moore because he is a lot smarter than I am and I find that I consistently disagree with him on most things.
In his blog Russell Moore says that, "At stake is the gospel of Jesus Christ." I agree (with some nuancing), the gospel is at stake when the church makes judgements about whether or not to same sex couples can marry. It's also at stake when we decide to take away money from children in need. The only difference between the two issues is that Jesus explicitly says that the gospel is at stake when you take away money from children in need. That I don't find ambiguous.
UBC has a history of radioing silence on issues that are controversial. Part of that stems from our belief that UBC is not Josh or Craig or Tye or Toph or Emily or the leadership team. UBC is all of us and i promise you that "all of us" is very diverse. But despite this diversity and my ambiguity I do think there is a right answer to the question is homosexuality wrong.
When president Obama came out in favor of homosexual marriage a few years back I was interviewed by a local TV station. As you might have guessed they wanted to know what the church thought. My answer was that I'd give an answer when the church had won the right to speak into the lives of the LBGT community.
Jesus told the woman caught in adultery to "go and sin no more," but only after placing himself between her and those ready to cast stones. I find that i'm part of a 21st century church that loves to tell people to go and sin no more, but rarely loves to stand between them and flying stones.
This week the church didn't do anything to win the right speak into the lives of the LBGT community. In fact we took 840,000 steps back and I think it's important that we know ...
the world is watching.
Meet The Finance Team
Meet Tom McCarty
Family: The greatest sales job I ever did was getting my wife Beth to marry me! I definitely married up and feel lucky every day that I get to spend life with her. We have two wonderful little boys that keep us constantly moving. Aiden is 4 years old and loves to climb, run, and jump on everything. Asher is 3 and has far and away the best sense of humor of any of us.
Vocation/Job/What I do: Beth has often described my job as similar to Chandler on Friends (I explain, but nobody quiet gets it!). I work for Intuit running strategic planning & project management for our Small Business Sales group. Basically, I try to figure out ways to fix broken processes, or how to implement new things to improve the business.
Favorite Movie: Wow - that’s tough. I really love movies, so a little hard to only pick one. I’ll go with my favorite sports movie and say The Natural for now.
Best Restaurant in Waco: 1424 for the occasions that Beth & I get to go out without the boys!
Chapter from the Bible that is meaningful to me: Admittedly, I’m not the best at spending time here. That said over the past couple years I have enjoyed spending time in the Psalms because I always found something the resonated with where I was in life.
Best Television Show: I like to keep it light right now, so Modern Family & Big Bang Theory. Of my favorite series ever was HBO’s Band Of Brothers.
Favorite Holiday: Definitely Christmas
Something you might not know about me: I spent my college years in a band and had long sideburns, a terrible goatee, and multiple ear rings. Not some of my best style choices.
Hobbies: Running, traveling, St Louis Cardinals baseball, watching any Baylor sports, poker, and my favorite is just sitting on the coach with Beth!
DR T-Shirts
Friends, would you consider buying a DR shirt to support our missions team in May? T-shirts will be on sale through March 31st.
http://thesimpleengine.com/store/ubcwaco/UBCWacoDR2014
Families @ Baylor Soccer Field
Has been rescheduled for Sunday April 6th. It will occur at the Baylor soccer field and pizza will be provided. Bring play clothes because we are going to throw Frisbees, footballs and kick European footballs. Interested? Email josh@ubcwaco.org.
Love Feast
This Sunday (March 30th) @ 6:00 PM. Bring food and sign up
Work Is Worship
3-30-14
Coffee Makers: Jess Hinshaw & Claire Cole
Coffee Clean Up: Katherine Ellis & Rea Cleamons
Greeters: Bonnie Dennis
Also, this Sunday brings this quarter to a conclusion. That means our April-June sign ups will be posted. Please consider signing up for our new quarter.
Announcements
- Sunday Sermon Text: Psalm 23
- John Sunday School: John
- Christians in the Headlines: Divergent (the movie)
- Psalms of Ascent Sunday School: Psalm 127-129
- If you feel like the music is at times too loud, we have earplugs available next to the mints out front.
- The Empty Nesters will be meeting for dinner (TONIGHT) Friday March 28th @ 6:30 at Don Carlos. Please contact Linda Taft taftchef@gmail.com if you are interested in more information.
- If you’d like to purchase a children’s ministry t-shirt for you or your child, please email Emily@ubcwaco.org or find her at church on Sunday. The shirts cost $8.
- Marriage Ministry Presents: Game Night. April 12th @ UBC. Child care provided. Email craig@ubcwaco.org if you have questions.
Do you have an Emergency? Do you Need to talk to a Pastor?
254 366 9779
(please do not send texts to this number)
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: Jana Parker jparkerslp@gmail.com
Kristin Dodson kschwebke@prodigy.net
Kaley Eggers kaley.eggers@gmail.com
David Wilhite david_wilhite@baylor.edu
Austin Tiffany Austin_Tiffany@baylor.edu
Byron Roldan Byron_Roldan@baylor.edu
Teri Walter terijan@gmail.com