ITLOTC
(In The Life Of The Church)
Pentecost
Hope Deferred
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
Proverbs 13:12
Hope should come with a warning label. It’s this explosive, powerful thing that can make you or break you.
I was recently reading up on Viktor Frankl, the Austrian neurologist and holocaust survivor who wrote Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl noted that a common factor in those who survived vs those who didn’t was an orientation to propose. A kind of hope. That’s insane. The answer isn’t water, food, clothing or shelter (all super important BTW). The answer was hope.
I like starting with Frankl, because really all subsequent commentary I can offer on this should be properly oriented to my privilege. I have a great life.
And yet, I still hope for things. I hope that at some point in my life I will live close to Lake Superior. I hope that someday I will be able to write for a living. I hope that I will eventually stop drinking mountain dew and shed some weight. I hope that my kids will want to live by me when they are older. I hope that I have a stint as a hobby farmer. Hope is the stuff of dreams. It’s also the hardest of the advent themes for me to understand. Let me frame it this way. What is the difference between hope and faith? I’ll grant that faith has a much broader definition and theological function, but it strikes me that everything true about hope is held within faith. Hebrews 11:1 says that, “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Why not just go right by hope to faith since it includes it.
I was thinking that maybe hope is something we can use when we are not sure what we are supposed to be sure of. I hope that I get to live on Lake Superior some day, but God hasn’t promised me that.
My friend Tye says that expectations are prepaid resentments. I think hope can feel like that if it’s misplaced, which is what I began by saying that hope can make you or break you.
I’m going to tell you something vulnerable now, so don’t laugh at me if it seems funny to you. When the lottery reaches a certain point, I buy tickets. If asked about the ticket purchases I rattle off all the right things one should say about purchasing lottery tickets. “It’s just for fun. The odds of winning are 1 in 302 million.” But secretly, like Charlie Bucket discovering that golden ticket, I really let myself believe that I'll win. I pour myself a glass of whiskey and look at gilded age mansions on Zillow to purchase. And then I don’t win. Because we live in the world of social media, I know that if I won the way I’d find out is that multiple people would have posted the story on my feed. “Winning lottery ticket sold at …” So when those headlines don’t show up, I know I didn't win and at that point a small bit of disappointment sets in. “Look what hope did to me!” I rant to the gods who will listen.
I have my last therapy session in November. My therapist is having a baby and taking some time off. I also think she wants to boot me. Almost like my emotional self is living in my mom’s basement. It’s time to get out and move on. Because our time is winding down, I’m doing that thing where I finally connect to my emotions about her and therapy and have decided that I will miss her and that I actually have to employ all the tools she’s given me to get healthy. My therapist knows about my habit of purchasing lottery tickets and my Zillow addiction. I think she has been using therapy voodoo to try and get me to not do that. I think it’s working. I find myself not caring about the lottery as much anymore. I forget to buy tickets. When I do I forget to look to see if I won.
And what has really happened? I think she is properly orienting my disposition to hope. Teaching me to hope for the right things and have my heart accept the real disappointments for what they are. This is hard work.
So I was wondering what hope does in your life. Is it making your heart sick or saving your life?
Town Hall
Join us this Sunday after church for a virtual town hall.
Staff Favorites
Because our newsletter has grown thin of late, i’ve added a new feature called, “staff favorites.” The instructions are as follows. Draw a line, either on a piece of paper that you printed this on or in your mind, connecting the correct individual with the corresponding category. After you venture your guesses, you can view the solution here.
All Saints Liturgy
Our virtual all saints liturgy will be at 5pm on Sunday, November 1st. Part of that liturgy involves reading the names of those who have died, but have somehow reflected the love of God to us or modeled well for us what it is to be formed in the way of Christ in their particular time and place. Spend some time thinking of names you might want to submit (you need not have known this person directly), and email jamie@ubcwaco.org by noon on November 1st.
A Large Outdoor Space
Floating this one more week: Also, note here … I have thought about Cameron Park and talked with our Tom Balk about it. That option is a bit more complicated than you might think. I’ll keep digging, but wanted you to know that idea has been listed.
Hello friends, we here at UBC are continuing to brainstorm thoughtful ways to be together that are safe. To that end we are exploring the possibility of meeting in a large outdoor space. While UBC does have some very attractive parking lots, we feel that the noise from 17th/18th streets in those locations would make it difficult to have a kind of worship extravaganza. To that end we are thinking about taking our talents to another location for an outdoor gathering. Here some needs: a large space that could accommodate parking and space for roughly 300 (that’s likely optimist) individuals to spread out with their family units. A power source is probably necessary. Plumbing would be an added bonus, but we can work without it. If you have any ideas please email josh@ubcwaco.org .
Parishioner of the Week
our former pastoral associate Val Fisk for getting ordained.
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
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
Luci Hoppe: lhoppe@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.
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
Craig Nash: Craig_Nash@baylor.edu