ITLOTC
(In The Life Of The Church)
Ordinary Time
In Defense of the Threadbare
Social media has changed the world that I began preaching in, into what it is now. More specifically, it has proliferated feel good sermon illustrations. This is hard for a pastor, especially if you want your illustrations to have the quality of being unique. Feel good moments inevitably go viral overnight. For me they are no less feel-goody, but my enneagram 4 wing doesn’t want me illustrating with threadbare moments. Some of them are so good, that I show them anyway. Like the Alabama dad getting football tickets for Christmas or the John Lewis Christmas advert from 2011.
I recently saw a feel good moment that slowed me all the way down. Let me set up the moment. In January of 2015 ESPN personality and sports reporter Stuart Scott passed away. I wrote the following and posted it on facebook.
I take in the world auditorily. Some of you are kinesthetic learners, some of you need to see to believe. I need to hear. Or at least I find that I understand something at the deepest level when I hear it. Voices are and were a big deal to me. “The soul is contained in the human voice,” said Jorge Luis Borges. It’s why I save my dad voicemails. As I indicated in my facebook post, certain voices formed me as a child. They were voices I learned to trust. Though I did not list them, Peter Jennings and Dan Rather were almost as formative as the ones I listed above. So when the power trio of Rather, Brokaw, and Jennings disappeared from network news within a few years, I felt something slipping away.
Alex Trebek is another one of those voices for me. It’s possible that my time to listen to him is coming to an end. In March this year Trebek announced that he had stage four pancreatic cancer. He stated that he would fight it aggressively and he must have because I almost forgot about it until last week when he announced he would begin undergoing chemotherapy again. This announcement came in the middle of Jeopardy's riveting tournament of champions. That evening, during final jeopardy, Dhruv Gaur used his answer to say, “we love you Alex.” You can watch that moment and Alex’s response here.
I’m trying to understand why these moments mean so much to me. I have some guesses. 1. I’m emotionally repressed and so what for a normal person might be Tuesday, an emotional experience that I connect to is something akin to a divine encounter. 2. Trebek runs a tight ship. The place of humor, anger, sadness and even happiness on the show is subtle to non-existent. The show and Trebek are particularly stoic. This moment then, was poignant. 3. Kindness is intoxicating.
I’m going with all three, but leaning into answer number three. Kindness is identified as a fruit of the Spirit by Paul in Galatians 5. It is, in my mind, the active attempt to use a small part of our platform, resources or our very selves to offer a grace to the other. It is one of the tools of discipleship. So i have tasked myself with an act of kindness this week. I’m looking for a moment to use my resources to ascribe worth and value to someone else. I hope you will do the same.
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Meet Our Newest UBCers
Name: Alexis Grace Thompson
Weight: 6 lbs 9 oz
Height: 19 inch
Birthday: October 29
Enneagram Number: 9
Name: Lorelei Dee Thompson
Weight: 6 lbs 12 oz
Height 19 inches
Birthday: October 19
Enneagram Number: 5
Part Time Office Manager Position
UBC is looking to hire a part time (20 hour a week) office manager. The office manager need not be a member of the UBC community. They do need to be able to put up with the current staff and all their eccentricities, so please pray for us as that narrows the field significantly. Application and job description can be found by clicking this link.
Foster Kid Presents
Champions for the Lord, AKA, you who have willingly taken the opportunity to love a foster child by purchasing a present. You should have received an email form me, josh@ubcwaco.org, last week about presents and other details. By way of reminder I’d like to gently point out the present are due back at UBC no later than December 3rd. Thank you for your help.
Thanksgiving Lovefeast - 11/24 - 5:30pm
Our annual Thanksgiving Lovefeast is around the corner. If you would like to volunteer to cook a turkey or ham (UBC will provide the turkey and ham), please contact toph@ubcwaco.org
Youth Word of the Week
The word was moose. Taylor did not use the word moose. On thinking through Taylor’s sermon my only thought was maybe she could have snuck it in this way. “The vacuum salesman was aggressive like a moose cornered by wolves on a snowy Canadian cliff.”
Parishioner of the Week
Mike Dodson had let jamie/UBC use a 6K microphone to record advent songs. thanks Mike, for being on the finance team, seeing our numbers and still taking the risk of lending us the microphone.
Announcements
Sermon Text: Luke 23:33-43
Christmas Eve Service December 24th, 5:30 PM
Work is Worship
Greeters: Kristi Lee Pereira
Coffee Makers: Berenice
Mug Cleaners: Cooleys
Money Counter: JD Newman
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
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Jose Zuniga: jzgrphix2002@yahoo.com
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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
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