ITLOTC
(In The Life Of The Church)
Epiphany
Winter (by Josh)
I sit at my desk on this Monday after Valentine's Day, and both of my heating units are running. Our kids, repeatedly tantalized by this rare snow, are in and out the door. The temperature of our house is in a constant struggle. I have burned through a significant portion of our wood stack, and it is only monday. We have yet to lose power, but it is only a matter of time. For as novel, and I think beautiful, as this central Texas meteorological miracle is, it has already made life difficult if not downright painful for some. People are checking into hotels. Others are graciously escaping there with the help of the Salvation Army. We know of a couple who moved to their car at 3 in the morning because their house couldn’t rise above 38 degrees. By the end of the cold spell, we will collectively be “done” with the cold if most of us don’t feel that way already.
So what good is the cold? I suppose for some, no good. Part of our collective misery is that Texas isn’t built for this. By that I mostly mean in terms of infrastructure. I saw someone ask why we can all use air conditioners at once, but not heaters. Preparedness. The same reason people die of heat stroke in the north on the rare occasion that it reaches 100. They don’t design power grids for millions of air conditioners because they are not needed.
Beyond logistical problems what can be said of this weather for what it is? What can be said of winter for what it is. I’d like to take this unique circumstance to share with you something that has been incredibly meaningful for me. In his book Let Your Life Speak, Parker Palmer writes a chapter in which he uses the four seasons to help make sense of our spiritual journey. I’d like to share a few paragraphs from the section on winter that I used as part of my dad’s Eulogy at his funeral.
“But for me, winter has an even greater gift to give. It comes when the sky is clear, the sun is brilliant, the trees are bare, and the first snow is yet to come. It is the gift of utter clarity. In winter, one can walk into the woods that had been opaque with summer growth only a few months earlier and see the trees clearly, singly and together, and see the ground they are rooted in.
A few years ago, my father died. He was more than a good man, and the months following his death were a long, hard winter for me. But in the midst of that ice and loss, I came into a certain clarity that I lacked when he was alive. I saw something that had been concealed when the luxuriance of his love surrounded me--saw I had relied on him to help me cushion life’s harsher blows. When he could no longer do that, my first thought was, “Now I must do it for myself.” But as time went on, I saw a deeper truth: it never was my father absorbing blows but a larger and deeper grace that he taught me to rely on.
When my father was alive, I confused the teaching with the teacher. My teacher is gone now, but the grace is still there--and my clarity about that fact has allowed his teaching to take deeper root in me. Winter clears the landscape, however brutally, giving us a chance to see ourselves and each other more clearly, to see the very ground of our being.”
Grace and Peace my friends
Stay Warm.
Meet the UBC(ers)
The Ligawas
Special Worship Leaders This Sunday
As we continue to celebrate black voices in our liturgy this month i’m pleased to announced that UBC will be led in preaching this week by Rev. Christopher Mack and in music by Rev. Jocelyn Henderson.
Christopher or C-Mack as he is sometimes affectionally referred to, is a former UBCer and now young adults pastor at Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio. C-Mack is a dynamite preacher and voted best preacher in Texas by Preacher magazine.
Joslyn Henderson is a full-time graduate student at Truett Seminary and Baylor School of Music, first earning her Bachelors of Vocal Performance from Spelman College in Atlanta. Her academic interests are in Black sacred music. She is a Deborah Carlton Loftis Ambassador of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, having led multiple workshops on Black hymnody across the country. She is a prolific gospel singer and worship leader. In addition, Joslyn is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.
Ash Wednesday
We’ll have an Ash Wednesday liturgy tomorrow (2/17) at 5pm on facebook/vimeo. How can we contemplate our sinfulness and mortality without ashes? How can it be Ash Wednesday without ashes? Can communion happen with bourbon and a hotdog bun? Tune in to find out. Note: we will participate in communion together, so have some elements ready to go. Note note: If you find yourself on facebook at 5pm tomorrow and there is no service to see, a loss of internet/power has prevented the service from happening, so just read this instead for the main takeaway: Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Parishioner of the Week
All the workers who went to work this week so we could keep on keeping on.
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