ITLOTC
(In The Life Of The Church)
Lent
On (Not) Singing
(by jamie)
Greetings. I want to speak to you of singing—or, I guess more particularly, not singing. In the event that you do not yet know, though we are going to be gathering for the first time in our parking lot on Sunday, we will not be singing together. The reason for this is pretty simple: for all that we’ve learned about how to responsibly navigate our pandemic world after a year’s worth of refining best practices for being around one another, the recommendations around congregational singing have changed very little—it’s still a roll of the dice. Even masked, spaced, and outside, the projected force of singing (aside from being rather uncomfortable whilst masked in the sun) sidesteps those precautions more easily than simply breathing or speaking [Note: if you know of a study that says otherwise, please send that to me for consideration]. I understand that there are communities that have been singing this whole time. I understand that it might be frustrating to maintain an abundance of caution in our gatherings when you see other people more or less living normally. I feel it too. And yet, out of love for one another, and all the one-another’s each of us encounters in our own lives, we are going to wait a little longer to reincorporate singing together into our liturgies. For as far as we have come, the pandemic is still part of our reality, and the ways in which we acknowledge or ignore that fact will ultimately have an impact on how long it remains a part of our reality.
That being said.
While we will not be singing together on Easter, I will be playing songs, so I want to offer a word about what it means to participate in music without singing. I’ve been thinking about something I’ve shared about singing in church several times over the years. It was directed primarily to people who truly were not in a place where they could sing along with any sense of honesty, but I think it applies here. It is this: to be in the presence of music, and to direct one’s attention to music, is to participate in music. Lyric and melody work their way into realms of our hearts and minds out of view.
Singing along is not the end-all, be-all of participation in music. Devoted contemplation of lyrics, for instance, is an active listening that forms our imaginations, and thus our lives, just as thoroughly, and perhaps at times more thoroughly, than forming those same words into sounds on our lips. So I invite you to attend to the lyrics, to turn them over in your hearts and minds and carry them with you. The particles expelled by contemplation are internal and carry no viral load. They are cast into the corners of your soul and pollenate gardens there.
Worship, in the way we conceive of worship services, is, at its core, an act of attention. We direct our attention toward God via whatever collection of songs, prayers, sermons, etc., allowing them to enter the realm of our hearts and minds. And after we have parted ways, as those inputs dance around in rooms beyond our view, they join their dance to that of the community of our consciousness, and in turn inform in some way how we live. That last bit—that embodied outworking of what we believe about God, our neighbor, and ourselves—whether in acts of notable significance or the sacred mundane and ordinary, is worship. I want to be clear about this. Singing can be an act of worship, but worship is not dependent on singing. Worship is the gathered whole of your life. So, while I very much look forward to the day that we sing together again, the time between now and then will be no less comprised of our worship of the Living God.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that if you have a desire to make some sort of sound alongside the music, humming seems to be a safe option. If it is meaningful for you to produce some sort of vibration—to feel the music within your own body in community with others—consider this a license to hum. And further, it likely goes without saying, but if it helps to move your body in some way, to sway or tap your foot, etc., consider this a license to do that.
See you soon.
Meet the UBCer(s)
Leigh Anne Diaz
Sunday Need to Know/To Do
Hello friends. Here are some things to know for Sunday.
Parking will look different. To reference which parking spots will be available please reference this entry. We will have some folks outside before the service to help direct traffic.
Please bring communion elements for your worshiping group.
Please bring chair(s) or a blanket for your worshiping group.
Taylor will be disbursing children’s packets.
Easter Fridays
Hello friends. As many of you know, Easter is a season of celebration in the church. Keep your eyes and ears open for a series of Friday night parking lot events to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord through fellowship. The first is a Jeopardy night that will happen on Friday, April 9th @ 7 PM. There will be a children’s game and a older person games. Prizes are being decided on, but they will likely be amazing (if finance team approves them).
Holy Week Schedule
Maundy Thursday: video companion to used with your Thursday dinner (forthcoming)
Good Friday: Facebook Premier @ 5:30
Easter Sunday: Parking lot service @ 10:45
Mr. Rogers Sunday
Are you Graduating?
Hello UBC Family, it is fast approaching the time of year in which we honor all those graduating at UBC. If you are graduating hs, college, or grad school, we would love to honor you during our Mr. Rogers service at the end of April. Please send an email to toph@ubcwaco.org to let us know you are graduating.
Parishioner of the Week
Cooper Hale for matching into the Emergency Medicine Residency at Northwestern! And both him and Lily for making the big plans to move to Chicago soon!
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
Craig Nash: Craig_Nash@baylor.edu
Kristen Howerton: khowerton94@gmail.com
Patrick Broaddus: patrickjbroaddus@gmail.com