ITLOTC
(In The Life Of The Church)
Lent
Bible Madness Is Here (Rounds 3 & 4)
Welcome back to the second week of Bible Madness in which we move from 16 teams to the final four. If you missed last week's action you can read about that here.
The sweet sixteen included all four number 1 seeded gospels as well as all of the 2 seeds. From their the field diversified with a pair of 3 seeds, a lone 4 seed, and two 5 seeds. Not one, but two 11 seeds snuck in, but the real Cinderella story belongs to Apocrypha hopeful 1st Maccabees, who in their first tournament appearance have already upset 1st Corinthians and then destroyed Titus in a round 2 matchup.
So let's get this round 3 action underway.
Jerusalem Division
Round 3
Allegedly before the game Tim Tebow gave the entire Philippians squad eye black stickers with 4:13 written on them. It might be one of Coach Apostle Paul's best teams ever, but God supplied all of their needs except a win in this case. Top seeded Matthew was too much. By the fourth quarter the floor looked a like a lake of fire as Jesus separated sheets from goats and real ballers from the pretenders.
The Psalms with their crushing 150 options brought James' work to and end. The fervent, heartfelt prayer of a righteous man will get you a lot of things, but not a victory over the Psalms. Some reporters noted a distraction. A spunky German fellow who called himself Martin dressed in the garb of a 16th C monk kept heckling James. Yelling things like "strawman" and "you're as bad as revelation." Eventually Martin was kicked out of the arena. Martin was later heard saying, "that's fine, i've been kicked out of worse institutions."
Round 4
We called it back before the tournament started. This is the 1 vs 2 match we've been waiting for. An electrifying audience made up of predominantly Jewish fans, were on their feet the whole time. When asked about this one fan said, "it's the only gospel I can stomach and the Psalms really are the most important thing ever written." Matthew brought his misdirection offense with his antithetical statements. Psalms answered their imprecatory entries. A startling moment came when 137 was ejected for the baby dashing stuff. With the game on the line Psalms coach James Mayes used a timeout to tell his players, "though you walk through the valley of the shadow, fear no evil." It all came down to 22. Psalm 22 that is. Right before he was about to die Jesus cried out, "My God, My God why have you forsaken me?" The Psalms protested, "hey, that's my line," to which Matthew replied, "No ... that's His line." Game over. Shortly after the game Mardell had street vendors selling "No ... that's His line" t-shirts.
Alexandria Division
Round 3
Hebrews never found it's way. Two things seemed to have plagued Hebrews. 1. Ever since Rene Girard introduced mimetic theory, interest in Hebrews has waned. 2. Scrutiny over authorship has lessened it's steam in tournament play. Head coach Melchizedek will likely get an extension, but only if someone can find him anywhere besides Genesis 15. Luke looked slow, but that's what we'd expect from the ox. He'll have to tighten up play if he expects to get past a hot handed ...
Romans looked about ten chapters longer than Galatians as they dominated Galatians. Many thought Richard Hayes's squad was prepared with a narrative substructure offense that has baffled teams all year, but Romans simply pointed out that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, including Hays.
Round 4
The first 2 seed to make the finals will be Romans. Tom Wright's team made mincemeat of Luke. When asked how he did it, Wright said that they isolated all the "L" material and kept pounding the in Christ stuff in chapter 5-8. "Ever since Schweitzer amended the reformed reading and pointed out to the grace stuff, it changed how I read the law in 1-4." If Romans had a 6 man it was their evangelical constituency that filled up a roaring crowd of 144,000. They could be heard shooting things like, "The kingdom doesn't save, only propitiation can do that," and "John, St. Jon of the Cross, John Calvin, John Edwards and John Piper!" Whatever that means?
Carthage Division
Round 3
Suffer no more. John put an end to Job's misery with some Job 42 like mystery. Job may have uttered things he did not know, like how to handle the Logos. John got the party started in chapter 2 with giant wine barrels and now he's spraying champaign all the way to the elite 8. Coach Ray Brown had this to say after the game, "if this team can resuscitate Lazarus, then they can resuscitate a final four appearance. Bring on Isaiah!"
Indeed they will play Isaiah after Isaiah upended 2 seeded Exodus. Moses turned out to be a bit of a one trick pony. After he got Israel out of Egypt the complaining started and that internal strife broke this team apart. Coach Breuggemann complained about the reffing, "The Empire! I'm convinced that Isaiah is a vigilante. We called for traveling at least 40 times. That just doesn't happen at this level."
Round 4
There was a disciple who went unnamed. A six man who's jersey was blank on the backside. He was the story in John's victory over Isaiah. Teammates simply called him "beloved." Isaiah hung tight but eventually Jesus broke into the priestly prayer and from that point on John shined. Jesus uttered a bunch of I AM statements including with one. "I am going to win this game!"
Rome Division
Round 3
The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church and how about a mother and her seven sons! 1 Maccabees has stunned the gospel of Mark handing the gospels their only sweet 16 loss. How about that? This latest win will likely cause committee members to evaluate their inclusion of mid majors and other small conferences. What 1 Mac has done has been unprecedented.
The conquest is over folks. Genesis quietly put to sleep Joshua as they separated the day and the night. For the first time in the tournament the starting patriarchs played into the 3rd quarter. Genesis has now played 15 seeded Zechariah, 7 seeded Jonah and 11 seeded Joshua. Things likely only get easier for them as 12 seeded 1st Maccabees looks to play spoiler two times in a row.
Round 4
Joining Matthew, John, Romans in the big dance will be Genesis. Fans were inspired by 1st Maccabees run. One fan had this to say, "i mean ... i don't really know a lot about he intertestamental period and now i want to know more because of 1st Maccabees. It's also made me ask questions like, 'what is the cannon anyway?'" Genesis on the other hand will join Romans as the underdog in a battle with gospels John and Matthew.
So to conclude this exciting journey we invite you to cast your vote? Who bible madness champion.
Sarah Bessey
As a conclusion to our celebration of women in the kingdom of God in the month of March, UBC is proud to have Sarah Bessey preaching this Sunday. Sarah is the author of Jesus Feminist and Out Of Sorts. Sarah is a prolific blogger, speaker and writer. After church Sunday Sarah has agreed to join us for a women only lunch in the backside. So if you go grab your lunch after church and come back we'll host a Q & A with Sarah. We hope you can make it!
UBCYP
The young professionals of UBC will gather for an extravaganza at Jameson McGregor's house on 3-25. It will be a night filled outdoor festivities so pray against the rain ... at least over on the Live Oak Ave. area. Interested persons who would like more information should email jamie@ubcwaco.org.
UBC Families at the Soccer Field
Friends after church next Sunday 4-2-17, the UBC families will be meeting over at the Baylor Soccer Fields for some pizza, drinks and fellowship in the Lord. We'll toss frisbees, footballs and futball. Interested persons should email josh@ubcwaco.org to sign up.
Lent at the Hippodrome
Can't get enough of Lent? Still haven't fully connected with your sinfulness? Could you use another does of good old fashion ash poured over you head? Come hear a series of talks on Lenten themes in the form of story at the Hippodrome on Wednesdays.
Work is Worship
Greeters: Blaylocks
Coffee Makers: Kareem and Carson
Mug Cleaners: Madison & Kaylin
Money Counter: Nonezo
Announcements
- Sunday Sermon: Special Guest Preacher Sarah Bessey
- April 7th and 8th - Spring Retreat (Freshman/Sophomores)
- April 13th - Maundy Thursday
- April 14th - Good Friday
- April 16th - Easter
- April 22--The Middle Ages Baylor Theatre production of the comedy NOISES OFF—
- April 30th - Mr. Rogers Sunday
- April 30th - Graduate Luncheon
- May 2nd - Study Hall
- May 5th - Rend Collective @ UBC
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Leadership Team
If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members.
Chair- Jon Davis: jdavis83@gmail.com
Byron Griffin: byrontgriffin@gmail.com
Stan Denman: Stan_Denman@baylor.edu
Adam Winn: adamwinn68@yahoo.com
Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com
Sharyl Loeung: sharylwl@gmail.com
Emma Wood: emmaj.wood@yahoo.com
Student Position: Samuel Moore: samuel_moore2@baylor.edu
Student Position: Leah Reed: Leah_Reed@baylor.edu
UBC Finance Team
Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.
Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com
Hannah Kuhl: HannahKuhl@hotmail.com
Justin Pond: pondjw@gmail.com
Anna Tilson: Anna_Tilson@jrbt.com
Doug McNamee: douglas_mcnamee@baylor.edu