Setlist 4-29-2018

Yesterday was both the fifth Sunday of Eastertide and Children's Sunday.  Our songs were gathered with these things in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Jesus Loves Me

Lord, I Need You by Matt Maher

Fall Afresh by Jeremy Riddle

There's a Wideness in God's Mercy by Jameson McGregor (adapted from F. Faber)

All the Poor and Powerless by All Sons & Daughters

Doxology

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

Jesus Loves Me: The littlest of our little ones began our gathering by offering us this theological gut-punch that proclaims the truth of Divine Love, God's strength in weakness, and our connection to the Word of God in Christ that is mediated through the Bible.

Lord, I Need You: We sang this song to speak of our dependence upon God in our journey to being formed more fully in the way of the Resurrected Christ.

Fall Afresh: We offered this song as a petition for the Spirit to reinvigorate our hearts and help us to seek to know God more fully.

There's A Wideness in God's Mercy: We sang this song to offer ourselves a critique of the limits we place on the love of God, and to celebrate God's generous mercy.

All the Poor and Powerless: This song reminds us that God stands with the poor and powerless, and offers us a challenge to proclaim the Gospel: God's freedom for the captive, vindication of the oppressed, and weaving together of history to raise the lowly from the depths.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos. 

-JM

Liturgy 4-22-2018

This blog is a record of the call to worship, Scripture readings, and prayers from our Sunday liturgies.  If you are interested in writing something for the liturgy, or if you have a concern about any aspect of our liturgy, please email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Call to Worship

we have gathered to worship the One who made all things

the One who is making all things new

to enter the story of God and the people of God

and find our own stories transformed

to learn to see our neighbors as God does

that we might learn to love as God does

Amen.

Scripture

Psalm 23

The Eternal is my shepherd, cares for me always.
The Eternal provides me rest in rich, green fields
   beside streams of refreshing water,
  soothes my fears;

The Eternal makes me whole again,
   steering me off worn, hard paths
   to roads where truth and righteousness echo the Name.

Even in the unending shadows of death’s darkness,
   I am not overcome by fear.
Because You are with me in those dark moments,
   near with Your protection and guidance,
   I am comforted.

You spread out a table before me,
   provisions in the midst of attack from my enemies;
You care for all my needs, anointing my head with soothing, fragrant oil,
   filling my cup again and again with Your grace.

Certainly Your faithful protection and loving provision will pursue me
   where I go, always, everywhere.
I will always be with the Eternal,
   in Your house forever.

John 10:11-18

Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.

I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

Prayer

This week's prayer was written by Maggie Griffin:

God,

We are especially grateful that you’ve given us each other. 

You gift us communities and places in which we are able to be ourselves and become ourselves.  

You use us to craft stories, plays, and melodies that point us to humanity’s many conditions, so we can better understand your people. 

You use us to teach others about art and nature, sparking awe and wonder about Your creation. 

You use us to create children’s programming to share your message of radical inclusivity, radical empathy, radical humility, and radical love. 

You use us, each in our own way, with different passions, skills and talents to offer one another a better, broader, brighter picture of your character.

You use us to offer community to each other at our loneliest; to show us grace when we can’t look ourselves in the mirror; to remind us of our part in the gospel when we’ve written ourselves out; to challenge each other when we become complacent; to sit with each other in doubt and grief and to celebrate with each other in times of joy and redemption.

God, today we are particularly grateful for the gift of the individuals who are soon graduating.  Thank you for the ways in which their presence, passion, and talents have formed our community. 

Amen.

Setlist 4-22-2018

Yesterday was the fourth Sunday of Eastertide, and our songs were gathered with that in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Heart Won't Stop by John Mark and Sarah McMillan

House of God Forever by Jon Foreman

Death In His Grave by John Mark McMillan

Shadow by Jameson McGregor

Pulse by Jameson McGregor

Doxology

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

Heart Won't Stop: We sang this song to articulate and celebrate what Easter shows us about how far God is willing to go to set things right with us.

House of God Forever: We sang this song to echo Psalm 23, which was one of yesterday's readings, celebrating God's care for us.

Death In His Grave: This song allows us to rehearse again the Resurrection story as we go through the Easter season, emphasizing both the suffering of Jesus and the victory of Jesus over death.

Shadow: This song is about the difficulty of being formed in the way of Christ.

Pulse: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Pulse then: We sang this song to acknowledge the interconnectivity of Creation and to draw ourselves toward loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos. 

-JM

Liturgy 4-15-2018

This blog is a record of the call to worship, Scripture readings, and prayers from our Sunday liturgies.  If you are interested in writing something for the liturgy, or if you have a concern about any aspect of our liturgy, please email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Call to Worship

we have gathered to worship the Risen Lord

Boundless Love, Embodied

to be drawn into God’s story

and find our own stories transformed

to bear the marks of the Risen Christ

that our lives might embody
the hope of Resurrection

amen.

Scripture

Psalm 4

Answer my prayers, O True God, the righteous, who makes me right.
    I was hopelessly surrounded, and You rescued me.
Once again hear me; hide me in Your favor;
    bring victory in defeat and hope in hopelessness.

How long will you sons of Adam steal my dignity, reduce my glory to shame?
    Why pine for the fruitless and dream a delusion?

Understand this: The Eternal One treats as special those like the Eternal.
    The Eternal will answer my prayers and save me.

Think long; think hard. When you are angry, don’t let it carry you into sin.
    When night comes, in calm be silent.

From this day forward, offer to God the right sacrifice from a heart made right by God.
    Entrust yourself to the Eternal.

Crowds of disheartened people ask, “Who can show us what is good?”
    Let Your brilliant face shine upon us, O Eternal One, that we may know the undeniable  
    answer.

You have filled me with joy, and happiness has risen in my heart, great delight and unrivaled    
     joy,
    even more than when bread abounds and wine flows freely.

Tonight I will sleep securely on a bed of peace
    because I trust You, You alone, O Eternal One, will keep me safe.

Luke 24:36b-48

Jesus himself stood among the disciples and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 

And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. 

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

Prayer

This week's prayer was from The Iona Community Worship Book:

O God,
Early in the morning,
When the world was young,
You made life in all its beauty and terror;
You gave birth to all that we know.

Hallowed be Your Name

Early in the morning,
When the world least expected it,
A new born child crying in a cradle
Announced that You had come among us,
That you were one of us.

Hallowed be Your Name

Early in the morning,
Surrounded by self-interested religious leaders,
Anxious statesmen
And silent friends,
You accepted the penalty for doing good,
For being God:
You shouldered and suffered the cross.

Hallowed be Your Name

Early in the morning,
A voice in a guarded graveyard
And footsteps in the dew
Proved that You had risen,
That You had come back
To those and for those
Who had forgotten, denied and destroyed You.

O God, bring new life,
Where we are worn and tired,
New love,
Where we have turned hard hearted
Forgiveness,
Where we have wounded,
And the Joy and freedom of Your Holy Spirit
Where we are the prisoners of ourselves.

Amen

Setlist 4-15-2018

Yesterday was the third Sunday of Eastertide, and our songs were gathered with that in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

All Creatures of Our God and King

Noise by Jameson McGregor

Pulse by Jameson McGregor

Because He Lives by Bill and Gloria Gaither

Heart With No Companion by Leonard Cohen

There's A Wideness in God's Mercy by Jameson McGregor (adapted from F. Faber)

Doxology

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

All Creatures of Our God and King: We sang this song to find language to worship the Creator, Sustainer, and now re-Creator of all that is.

Noise: We sang this song to voice Christ's redemption in our stories, his entering into our condition and rewriting it.

Pulse: We sang this song to acknowledge the interconnectivity of Creation and to draw ourselves toward loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Because He Lives: We sang this song to speak of the everyday hope that the Resurrection offers us--not merely a hope that it will all shake out in the end, but that the the Kingdom is breaking in in glimpses even now.

Heart With No Companion: This song is a meditation on the implications of the Resurrected Christ; specifically, the hope that reaches every kind of despair.

There's A Wideness In God's Mercy: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we sang about There's A Wideness in God's Mercy then: We sang this song to celebrate God's mercy and to remind ourselves that any view we hold about God's rigid wrath says more about us than it does God.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos. 

-JM

Liturgy 4-8-2018

This blog is a record of the call to worship, Scripture readings, and prayers from our Sunday liturgies.  If you are interested in writing something for the liturgy, or if you have a concern about any aspect of our liturgy, please email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Call to Worship

we have gathered to worship
the Creator and Sustainer of all that is

the Lord of Resurrection,
making all things new

seeking to be drawn into God’s story

and to draw God’s story into our own

to be drawn together in one heart and soul,
clothed in the extraordinary grace of God

that our lives might be reflections
of Resurrection hope.

Amen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scripture

Psalm 133

How good and pleasant it is
   when brothers and sisters live together in peace!
It is like the finest oils poured on the head,
   sweet-smelling oils flowing down to cover the beard,

Flowing down the beard of Aaron,
   flowing down the collar of his robe.
It is like the gentle rain of Mount Hermon
   that falls on the hills of Zion.

Yes, from this place, the Eternal spoke the command,
   from there the Eternal gave the Eternal’s blessing—life forever.

Acts 4:32-35

During those days, the entire community of believers was deeply united in heart and soul to such an extent that they stopped claiming private ownership of their possessions. Instead, they held everything in common.

The apostles with great power gave their eyewitness reports of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Everyone was surrounded by an extraordinary grace.

Not a single person in the community was in need because those who had been affluent sold their houses or lands and brought the proceeds to the emissaries of the Lord.

They then distributed the funds to individuals according to their needs.

Prayer

This week's prayer was written and read by Tylor Standley:

God of all we know and, more importantly, all that we do not know, 

We come to continue the two-thousand-year celebration of the resurrection of your son. Some of us as doubters, and some with unshakeable faith. We ask for your patience when our doubt gives way to despair, and for your forgiveness when our certainty gives way to zealous intolerance.

We come to listen to stories of the signs you performed in the presence of your disciples, signs that point us toward the cloud of unknowing, and the clarity that comes when we enter there--signs that reveal the mystery that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God who gives life.

Sometimes, it is frustrating that we can only read of these signs from disciples who were there—disciples who heard, who saw with their eyes, who looked at and touched with their hands the revelation of the Word of Life. Easter was so long ago.

And yet, Easter is not over, for we are your Resurrection People and you are revealed by our togetherness. So, we gather not just to hear about signs, we gather to make them. We gather, because by doing so we see your body with our eyes, we look at and touch with our hands. 

Let those of us who have believed be of one heart and soul, let us share all things in common. And through our unity with one another, let us be unified with you. Let us be children of love and peace.

Amen.

Setlist 4-8-2018

Yesterday was the second Sunday of Eastertide, and our songs were gathered with that in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Crown Him With Many Crowns

Amazing Grace by Citizens & Saints

There's A Wideness in God's Mercy by Jameson McGregor

Murdered Son by John Mark McMillan

Inbreaking by Jameson McGregor

Mystery by Jameson McGregor (adapted from Charlie Hall)

Doxology

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

Crown Him With Many Crowns: We sang this song to orient our attention toward Jesus as the Risen Lord, whose power is made perfect in weakness and whose reign is underscored by nonviolence and love.

Amazing Grace: As we enter Resurrection season, this song offers us language to articulate the sustaining presence of God's grace through the deaths and resurrections we experience in the course of life.

There's A Wideness In God's Mercy: We sang this song to celebrate God's mercy and to remind ourselves that any view we hold about God's rigid wrath says more about us than it does God.

Murdered Son: This song speaks to the death of Jesus as it relates to our own deaths; namely that Christ has grabbed us and raises us with him.

Inbreaking: This song is a plea for the Slaughtered Lamb to raise hope out of brokenness and draw us into the Resurrection life.

Mystery: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Mystery then: We sang this song to proclaim Jesus' rise from death at the hands of political and religious oppressors, and raised this as a challenge for us to rise to the aid of the oppressed.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos. 

-JM

Liturgy 4-1-2018

This blog is a record of the call to worship, Scripture readings, and prayers from our Sunday liturgies.  If you are interested in writing something for the liturgy, or if you have a concern about any aspect of our liturgy, please email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Call to Worship

we have gathered to worship the Living God

proclaiming that Christ has died, Christ is Risen,
and Christ will come again

to be drawn into God’s story

and find our own stories changed
into stories of Resurrection

that we might be formed into Resurrection people

sowing life where there is death
and hope where there is brokenness.

Amen

Scripture

Isaiah 25:6-9

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines,
of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.

And he will destroy on this mountain
the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
he will swallow up death forever.

Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.

It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God;
we have waited for him, so that he might save us.

This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

Mark 16:1-8

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint Jesus.

And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”

When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.

But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”

So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Prayer

This week's prayer was written and read by Sharyl Loeung:

Risen One
Author of Light
and Life
You are victorious

We are here today because
You Are Victorious

Some of us here today need to know victory
We need to know victory in our own lives
We need to know that Light conquers darkness

So we look to you this Easter season and we ask you to show up
Show up along the road as we travel
May your presence be as real to us as it was on the Road to Emmaus, but
May we recognize you
See you
& may we point you out for each other along the way

Setlist 4-1-2018

This past Sunday was Resurrection Sunday, and our songs were gathered with that in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

In the Night by Andrew Peterson

Wayward Ones by The Gladsome Light

Hope by Jameson McGregor

Death In His Grave by John Mark McMillan

Mystery by Jameson McGregor (adapted from Charlie Hall)

When Death Came Calling by Jameson McGregor

Be Thou My Vision

Doxology

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

In the Night: This song is a stream of stories about God showing up in the midst of despair in the Bible.  It carried us through Lent, and on Sunday it was our entry into Easter.

Wayward Ones: We sing this song every time we take communion to remind ourselves of a couple of things.  First, we are a broken people--though we are seeking to become more like Jesus, we often fail at this.  Second, Christ has given Himself for us despite our brokenness.  We take communion to remember the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf, even though we did not, and do not, deserve it.

Hope: We sang this song to give voice to the hope of Resurrection.

Death In His Grave: This song narrates Jesus' defeat of Death and rescue of humanity from destruction.

Mystery: We sang this song to proclaim Jesus' rise from death at the hands of political and religious oppressors, and raised this as a challenge for us to rise to the aid of the oppressed.

When Death Came Calling: This song is a song of grief and resurrection.

Be Thou My Vision:  Throughout the Lenten season, we have closed our liturgies with these words to reaffirm our desire to seek our vision, wisdom, and security in God alone.  On Easter, we added the final stanza into the mix, and asked Christ to be our victory as well.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos. 

-JM