ITLOTC
(In The Life Of The Church)
Pentecost
God, Mammon, & Racism
I should start off with a warning. I make a pretty sincere effort to parse my public statements so they are 1. What I deem faithful to the principles of the Kingdom of God as I read it, laid out by Jesus in the gospels and, 2. free from political commitments at least in terms of party alignment. The second is undoubtedly difficult because neither party or any platform will ever comply completely with the Kingdom of God, but also because I do see political leanings in both camps that, for lack of a better way of phrasing it, accidentally stumble into the kingdom of God. Perhaps this newsletter entry will inevitably fall prey to violating my second commitment. That is not my intent, but I’m willing to accept that objection if you feel that way by the end of it. As always, you are encouraged to voice your disagreement.
I will begin by simply naming three different things I read that had an impact on me.
The first is from Bono’s foreword in Jeffrey Sachs’s book The End Of Poverty. The book was written in 2005 when the US was still in Iraq and the Red Campaign was a thing. Bono quotes then Secretary of State Colin Powell who says, “the war against terror is bound in the war against poverty.”
The second is the running thesis of an Atlantic article that came out last year. The title of the article is Better Schools Won’t Fix America. The title, which is a bit clickbaitish, is not anti school or public school but, serves the larger point of the article which is that the number one predictor of child performance in school is household income.
The third i read this week. It was an instagram response from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She was asked, “What does a defunded police look like to you?” Here is her response: “The good news is that it actually doesn't take a ton of imagination. It looks like a suburb. Affluent white communities already live in a world where they choose to fund youth, health, housing etc more than they fund police. These communities have lower crime rates not because they have more police, but because they have more resources to support healthy society in a way that reduces crime.”
There is a theme to my quotes. Money matters. More generally we might say that resources matter.
I will tell you that when I first heard about “defunding police departments” I froze inside. I’ve got enough enneagram 6 energy in health and a self preserving subtype to think, “wait a minute, I need the police to protect me.” That my first instinct/assumption is that they would protect me is another discussion in privilege that I won’t take up here. As I have googled and read, I think that the notion of defunding police departments could 1. be productive and 2. is poorly named.
I will now also tell you that I’m suspicious of solving social problems by shifting money around. I do support social programs, and at the same time I can see they are sometimes inefficient and waste money. I’ve also spent enough of my life touting that the church should solve the world's social ills not the government to know that it doesn’t work. The problem is that the church has been around for 2,000 years and as far as I can tell hasn’t made a concerted effort to do that since the first century. I’m complicit in that part BTW. So I don’t believe that will work either. My conclusion then isn’t that the government shouldn't try or the church shouldn't try; I think they both should keep trying, but I want to acknowledge that it is hard.
I am going to conclude by addressing you though. Our discipleship asks everything of us. One of the most immediate ways that our sacrifice can happen is through giving. So I want to pose two questions for white people. 1. Very tangibly I want to ask if you are able to give money to something concrete to fight racism? And if you are not able to give, ask yourself if that’s really true? 2. More philosophically I want you to ask yourself what are you willing to sacrifice to fight racism? What are you willing to let it cost of your life?
UBC Pandemic Update
The leadership team met Sunday June 7th and one of the items discussed was a possible UBC reunion date. That is, a day when we will resume in person worship. The collective wisdom in the room all pointed to continuing waiting. This decision came before the data was released last week about he spike in numbers both in Texas and McLennan County. To that end, I’m informing you that we have agreed to resume discussions about when to meet in August, but will not be meeting in person for the foreseeable future. Thank you for your continued patience and support during this time. We are in this together.
Liturgy 6-16-20
A few notes about this Sunday’s worship experience. 1. we think it will be a special Sunday. 2. it will be a Facebook premiere, which means that it will not be live, but it will still be a live communal experience on Facebook. so tune in like normal. 3. we will have a guest preacher. Emmitt Drumgoole is a pastoral resident at 2nd Baptist Church in Liberty Missouri. Before that Emmitt served and worshiped at Calvary Baptist here in Waco while getting his M. Div. from Truett Seminary. Emmitt is preaching this sermon for his home church in Missouri and at the conclusion of the sermon will invite parishioners to take communion. we have decided that we will join 2nd Baptist in communion, so please have elements prepared for your Sunday worship experience should you so desire.
Family Resource Pantry
Thank you to everyone who has been volunteering and everyone who has donated so far. This is our week to donate and buy supplies for the pantry, so please use the link below to see what still needs to be bought this week. If you have any questions, please email toph@ubcwaco.org. Here's that link:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084eacae2aabff2-community
Learning Together - Understanding the Church’s Complicity in Racism“
What we need is a generation of Christians, who will intentionally and in a sustained way consciously fight against the racism that still pervades our society.” - Jemar Tisby Starting in July, we will begin a six week series in which we read and discuss Jemar TIsby’s book: The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism. There are many ways you can access the book: you can buy it, you can download the audiobook, or you can watch the 12 part series on Amazon Prime. We will be reading/listening/watching two chapters a week, and we will meet every other week for discussion. If you would like to purchase the book but do not have the funds available, please let us know and we will get you a copy. We will begin reading/listening/watching on July 1, and our discussions will happen on July 15, July 29, and August 12. Toph will be leading the discussion times, however, if you are a poc in our congregation and would like to lead/help lead, we would welcome your leadership. If you are a poc and would like to help, please contact Toph. If you have any questions, email toph@ubcwaco.org
Parishioner(s) of the Week
Marshall Cook for writing and getting publish this article in the Baptist Standard.
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