ITLOTC
(In The Life Of The Church)
Advent
Park Bench Jesus by Josh
At the conclusion of the church calendar year, I preached about Matthew 25’s sheeps and goats. In case you are not familiar with that parable, Jesus develops some criteria to distinguish between sheep (good guys) and goats (bad guys). The criteria is how you treat the poor, naked, thirsty, hungry and imprisoned, which we collectively call the least of these. Wait there’s more. Jesus ups the ante. It turns out that what you do to the least of these you do to Jesus. To give this claim by Jesus some grit, I cited the work of sculptor Timothy Schmalz who gave us Homeless Jesus, a sculpture of homeless Jesus covered in a blanket with his naked crucified feet sticking out at the end on a park bench.
For some reason that image sank its teeth in me. It’s been with me all of advent. Everytime I see a least of these, I think of that image and Jesus whispers, “there is me.” I hate when he does that.
This has sent me on a journey of reflecting on my attitude towards the poor. Full disclosure, I land somewhere between Ebineezer Scrooge before his conversion and Scrooge McDuck in my attitude towards the least of these. It’s not that I’m greedy for greedy’s sake or that I love money. Nay, my enneagram subtype is security. It’s that I want to feel safe and money makes me feel safe. Said differently, if I get extra cash, I don’t dream about what I can spend it on, I revel in the possibility that my savings account will grow.
Back to park bench Jesus and his affection for the least of these. I don’t participate in every UBC opportunity to help with the community, but I do participate in some of them. Most recently I did the buy the products and gift card for the Waco Family Holiday Food Pantry. As I was shopping I was listening to the Jim Cramer on my shoulder that told me to be sensible about the products I was buying. For example, I found a $5 off coupon that, when purchasing several of the products on my list together, earned me a discount. So I narrowed my choices accordingly. Then I got to products where I reasoned the consumer could care less about the brand of the product. A prime example would be bleach. Bleach is bleach, right? Some items, like deodorant, I let my ego have a vote and selected Old Spices “swagger” because I thought it would be nice for the person to smell like me. As I was downgrading my selections I thought about park bench Jesus. What kind of products would purchase for Jesus. I have to admit it refocused my approach.
Then I began thinking about an article I read in Stanley Hauwerwas’s book The Work of Theology entitled, “How to ‘Remember the Poor.’” It feels daunting to try and summarize the article, so I won’t, but suffice to say after offering a brief survey of the church’s relationship with the least of these and disavowing false dichotomy of being a church about the worship of God or a church concerned with social justice, Hauwerwas, following others cited in the article, argues that we only properly love God through justice infused worship. Part of the justice filled worship is the acts of moral imagination that the church participates in. Here I’ll quote Hauwerwas at length:
“‘World’ names the impatience with the poor for their inability to imagine not being poor. The world does not have time to be with the poor, to learn with the poor, to listen to the poor. To listen to the poor is an exercise of great discipline, but such listening surely is what is required if charity is not to become a hatred of the poor for being poor. We must listen to the stories the poor have to tell because only by listening to such stories do we have the means to know how to go on.”
So as I was shopping I began to think about my least of these family. I wondered what circumstances had brought them to the food pantry. I imagined they were like me; one bad business deal or one unthoughtful tweet the only difference between us. I imagined that they were earnest in their wanting to care for their children. I imagined their constant anxiety for having to depend on things like the food pantry to make Christmas work. I imagined them putting back the expensive shampoo to get the cheap shampoo so they could buy their kids a barbie doll and a truck. Then I put back the cheap shampoo and got the nice shampoo because I remembered that, that one lady put the really good perfume on Jesus’ feet. Then I remembered Jesus’ feet sticking out on the park bench. Then I remembered that I was buying shampoo for Jesus. Then I remembered I was in a sanctuary right there in the cosmetic aisle at HEB and that Jesus was the recipient of my worship.
Meet the UBCers
In a recent leadership team meeting, it was shared with staff that one of the delightful part of having scripture readers outsourced is getting see some of the folks who call UBC home. To that end I’d like to introduce a new UBC newsletter item called “meet the UBCer(s)” where I, Josh, interview UBCers in 5-10 minute interviews for you to learn about them. Enjoy the … Larimores
Christmas Movie Quiz
How many Christmas movies can you find? Only 5% of the population can find some of them?
Christmas Eve Service
UBC will have a parking lot Christmas Eve service on December 24th at 6:00 P.M. If you plan on attending this service please know that the building (read bathrooms) will not be open. To that end, we can say that the liturgy will likely be 20-30 minutes. We hope you can make it and would love the chance to worship with you through windshields. Also, we will not be distributing candles, but are encouraging parishioners to bring a device that can illumine: perhaps a candle, the light on your cell phone, whatever you feel comfortable with, for the singing of silent night at the conclusion of the service.
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.
ITLOTC Break
ITLOTC will be taking a two week break. Our last newsletter for the 2020 year will be sent on December 22nd. On the 29th and on January 5 there will be no newsletter. For the most up to date information from UBC please visit this blog, check facebook, or follow us on twitter &/or instagram.
Parishioner of the Week
Dr. Jessica Smith for completing her PhD in higher education.
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