Liturgy 1-29-2017

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

God, You have told us what is good
And what You require of us

To do justice
To love kindness
To walk humbly with You

And you have revealed to us the way a life like this looks:

The Word became flesh,
Drew near to the world’s mess
 took notice of the Other, 
the weak and lowly
and shamed the mighty.
 

Spirit of Life, we have gathered that You
might form us in the way of Christ,

fit us for Your kingdom,
and change us into people of
justice, kindness, and humility

Amen

Scripture

Micah 6:1-8

Hear what the Lord says:
Rise, plead your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice.
Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the Lord,
and you enduring foundations of the earth;
for the Lord has a controversy with his people,
and he will contend with Israel.

“O my people, what have I done to you?
In what have I wearied you? Answer me!
For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
and redeemed you from the house of slavery;
and I sent before you Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam.
O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised,
what Balaam son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.”

“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

Psalm 15

Eternal One, who is invited to stay in Your dwelling?
    Who is granted passage to Your holy mountain?

Here is the answer: The one who lives with integrity, does what is right,
    and speaks honestly with truth from the heart.
 
The one who doesn’t speak evil against others
    or wrong his neighbor,
    or slander his friends.
 
The one who loathes the loathsome,
    honors those who fear the Eternal,
And keeps all promises no matter the cost.
 
The one who does not lend money with gain in mind
    and cannot be bought to harm an innocent name.

If you live this way, you will not be shaken and will live together with the Lord.

Matthew 5:1-12

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Prayer

Not available at the time of posting--check back in the future.

Setlist 1-29-2017

This week was the fourth Sunday of Epiphany, and Josh's sermon text was the Beatitudes.  Our songs were gathered at the intersection of these two themes.  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 recordings from Sunday morning of a few of them, and below the recordings, there is an example of one way you might think of these songs in light of this week's theme. 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:

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

All the Poor and Powerless by All Sons & Daughters

Future/Past by John Mark McMillan

Burn It Down 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. 

There's A Wideness In God's Mercy: Through the Beatitudes, the fourth week of Epiphany allows us to consider the upside-down logic of the Kingdom that Jesus came proclaiming.  Those who are truly blessed do not necessarily look like it when viewed through the lens of prosperity that our culture has offered us.  This song carries a similar theme in that it proclaims God's love to be broader than our minds can handle, and God's strictness to be much more malleable than we expect. 

All the Poor and Powerless: We sang this song to celebrate God's presence among the poor, the powerless, the criminal, the stranger, and all of those who feel hopeless or abandoned.  This song serves as a reminder to us of where God stands in conflicts between the powerful and the oppressed, which also serves as a reminder of where we are to stand if we are to be where God is.

Future/Past: This song charts the distance between who God is and who we are, yet notes that God has transgressed this division, drawn near to us, and called us friends.  We offer God nothing that God doesn't already have--God has nothing to gain from drawing near to us--yet it is fundamental to who God is to welcome us strangers into God's presence.  In our weakness, God calls us blessed. And we would do well to remember that God calls all sorts of the cast-out, rejected, and afflicted blessed as well.  With that in mind, if we are to claim to be the people of God, we are bound to offer the divine welcome to all of those people as well.

Burn It Down: This song was originally written for Pentecost 2016.  It is a petition for the Holy Spirit to set a fire on our tongues to speak the truth to power for the purpose of standing alongside the parts of God's creation (creatures and otherwise) that are trampled or taken advantage of.

Mystery: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Mystery then: In coming to know the Person of Jesus, we encounter a multi-faceted Mystery.  This Person who is infinite, yet finite; divine, yet human; weak, yet strong; defeated, yet victorious; comes to us and calls into question all we think we know to be true about the world.  Jesus' identity as Mystery is one of the primary reasons we so desperately need Epiphany to renew our holy curiosity every year--sometimes we forget that we don't have Jesus figured out.  This song takes the Mystery of Jesus and champions it using the "formula" of Christ has died//Christ is Risen//Christ will come again, as the chorus.  The verses are about the way that Jesus' mystery status meets us in our own lives from without.  Here Jesus is the answer to our problems: the sanity and clarity that enters our dissonance, and the evergreen living peace that enters our conflict.  But Jesus is also the question to our assumptions about the world: the Eternal Word who is brought low, the cup of salvation that is poured out, the Embodied Love that is broken, and the Trampled Redeemer that is raised and freed.  Taken together the verses and chorus of this song champion Jesus as our source of hope when things seem irredeemable--because we learn that Jesus is not limited by what we expect of the way the world works.  So in the bridge section, we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus as a symbol of holy subversion to the power structures of the world, and take up singing about this subversion as our own way to subvert oppressive systems of power. 

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 1-22-2017

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 is our Light and our salvation

Seeking clarity, courage, and curiosity

Eternal, as we sing, pray, and listen,

Shape our minds to mirror the mind of Christ

And let us find in him a unity

a unity that anchors our hearts in your Kingdom
and our concerns in the needs of the Other

Amen

Scripture

Psalm 27:1, 5-13

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom then shall I fear? 
the Lord is the strength of my life;
of whom then shall I be afraid?
One thing have I asked of the Lord;
one thing I seek; 
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life;
To behold the fair beauty of the Lord
and to seek the Lord in the Lord’s temple.

For in the day of trouble the Lord shall keep me safe in the Lord’s shelter; 
The Lord shall hide me in the secrecy of the Lord’s dwelling
and set me high upon a rock.
Even now the Lord lifts up my head
above my enemies round about me.

Therefore I will offer in the Lord’s dwelling an oblation
with sounds of great gladness; 
I will sing and make music to the Lord.
Hearken to my voice, O Lord, when I call; 
have mercy on me and answer me.

You speak in my heart and say, "Seek my face." 
Your face, Lord, will I seek.
Hide not your face from me, 
nor turn away your servant in displeasure.
You have been my helper;
cast me not away; 
do not forsake me, O God of my salvation.

Matthew 4:18-23

As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

Prayer

This week's prayer was taken from The Iona Community Worship Book (p.81):

There is no pain in our hearts or in our planet
That you do not know,
For you have touched the lowest places on earth

Teach us to grieve with you, O Christ, the loss of
All the beauty that is being killed.

There is no place in the heavens that cannot be touched by your resurrection presence,
For you fill all things

Give us strength in your victory over death
To grow into your way of love,
Which does not despair but keeps sowing seeds of hope
And making signs of wholeness.

Under Christ's control all the different parts of
The body fit together and the whole body is held
Together by every joint with which it is provided.

Teach us to know our interconnectedness
With all things.
Teach us to grow with each other
And all living creatures through love.

Setlist 1-22-2017

This week was the third Sunday of Epiphany, and our songs were gathered with this 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 recordings from Sunday morning of a few of them, and below the recordings, there is an example of one way you might think of these songs in light of this week's theme. 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:

Come Thou Fount

Just A Closer Walk With Thee

Your Love Is Strong by Jon Foreman

Mystery by Jameson McGregor (adapted from Charlie Hall)

Crown Him With Many Crowns 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. 

Come Thou Fount: We sang this song to enter into the mindset of encountering anew a God with whom we have a history.  As we continue our journey through Epiphany and meet Jesus again, we do so looking back on our own stories of God's faithfulness to us through the process of coming to know God and coming to let go of things we came to know about God that ended up being refined over time.

Just A Closer Walk With Thee: This song expresses a desire to be more fully formed in the way of Christ.  As we meet Jesus anew during Epiphany, this song puts language to this coming-to-know and joins it with a further desire of coming-to-be-more-like Jesus.

Your Love Is Strong: This song begins with a plea for the Kingdom to come in our world and in the immediate vicinity of our lives.  We sang this song primarily to give voice to that plea.  In coming to know Jesus, we come to know the Kingdom that he brought with him.  This Kingdom has come and is coming.  So the plea we made in this song is both for God to more fully form us into Kingdom people in the present, and for God to bring about the Kingdom in fullness in the future.

Mystery: In coming to know the Person of Jesus, we encounter a multi-faceted Mystery.  This Person who is infinite, yet finite; divine, yet human; weak, yet strong; defeated, yet victorious; comes to us and calls into question all we think we know to be true about the world.  Jesus' identity as Mystery is one of the primary reasons we so desperately need Epiphany to renew our holy curiosity every year--sometimes we forget that we don't have Jesus figured out.  This song takes the Mystery of Jesus and champions it using the "formula" of Christ has died//Christ is Risen//Christ will come again, as the chorus.  The verses are about the way that Jesus' mystery status meets us in our own lives from without.  Here Jesus is the answer to our problems: the sanity and clarity that enters our dissonance, and the evergreen living peace that enters our conflict.  But Jesus is also the question to our assumptions about the world: the Eternal Word who is brought low, the cup of salvation that is poured out, the Embodied Love that is broken, and the Trampled Redeemer that is raised and freed.  Taken together the verses and chorus of this song champion Jesus as our source of hope when things seem irredeemable--because we learn that Jesus is not limited by what we expect of the way the world works.  So in the bridge section, we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus as a symbol of holy subversion to the power structures of the world, and take up singing about this subversion as our own way to subvert oppressive systems of power. 

Crown Him With Many Crowns: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Crown Him With Many Crowns then: During Epiphany, the lectionary carries us through a series of texts that reveal something about the way in which Jesus is God-with-us.  Last week's Gospel text showed Jesus crowned with the Holy Spirit, and God claiming him as God's son.  This week's text had John the Baptist pointing to that coronation, and we joined in that pointing in singing this song.

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 1-15-2017

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 behold the Lamb of God
Who takes away the sins of the world

But our eyes struggle to see Him clearly

God, as we sing, pray, and listen

transform the way we see

Not only to see how You are with us

but how You would have us
be with one another

Amen

Scripture

Psalm 40:1-12

I waited patiently for the Lord;
    the Lord inclined to me and heard my cry.
The Lord drew me up from the desolate pit,
    out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
    making my steps secure.

The Lord put a new song in my mouth,
    a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
    and put their trust in the Lord.
Happy are those who make
    the Lord their trust,
who do not turn to the proud,
    to those who go astray after false gods.

You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
    your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
    none can compare with you.
Were I to proclaim and tell of them,
    they would be more than can be counted.
Sacrifice and offering you do not desire,
    but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering
    you have not required.

Then I said, “Here I am;
    in the scroll of the book it is written of me.
I delight to do your will, O my God;
    your law is within my heart.”
I have told the glad news of deliverance
    in the great congregation;
see, I have not restrained my lips,
    as you know, O Lord.

I have not hidden your saving help within my heart,
    I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
    from the great congregation.
Do not, O Lord, withhold
    your mercy from me;
let your steadfast love and your faithfulness
    keep me safe forever.

For evils have encompassed me
    without number;
my iniquities have overtaken me,
    until I cannot see;
they are more than the hairs of my head,
    and my heart fails me.

John 1:29-42

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 

And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” 

They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 

He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

Prayer

This week's prayer was written in conjunction with this video that our friends from Jesus Said Love asked us to show:

God of the Vulnerable, 

Our world is plagued with broken systems that protect one another.  

Somewhere in that nest of brokenness, is the trafficking industry.  

God, this evil feels too great for us to combat, but let it not be too great for You.

For those who are at risk of being trafficked, we ask that you would protect them, surrounding them with people who care for them and who notice them.

For those who have been trafficked, we ask that you would continue to be with them in their pain, cultivating hope, but more than this, we ask that you would deliver them and set them on a path to healing and wholeness.

For those organizations whose work it is to seek and save the trafficked and combat the systems that sustain their plight, we ask that you would give them strength, wisdom, and courage.

And for those who traffic, we pray that Your Light would come to them, setting fire to the evil they have cultivated, and that from the ashes, you would form them into something new. 

We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the Slaughtered Lamb, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Setlist 1-15-2017

This week was the first Sunday after Epiphany (or the second Sunday of Epiphany, depending on how you want to slice things), and our songs were gathered with this 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 recordings from Sunday morning of a few of them, and below the recordings, there is an example of one way you might think of these songs in light of this week's theme. 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 by Jameson McGregor

Wandering by Jameson McGregor

SMS [Shine] by David Crowder* Band

Noise  by Jameson McGregor

How Great Thou Art

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: During Epiphany, the lectionary carries us through a series of texts that reveal something about the way in which Jesus is God-with-us.  Last week's Gospel text showed Jesus crowned with the Holy Spirit, and God claiming him as God's son.  This week's text had John the Baptist pointing to that coronation, and we joined in that pointing in singing this song.

Wandering: Broadly, the weeks between Epiphany, proper, and Lent raise two questions: 1) what does God want us to know about who God is? and 2) what does God want us to know about who we are?  We sang this song to trace out part of the answer to both of those questions: God is faithful, and we are consistently wayward. [Note: An album version of this song is available here.]

SMS [Shine]: This song takes up a more metaphorical theme of Epiphany--that of the Light of God--proclaiming that we need God to shine on us in our own personal darkness, and into the darkness of the world.  

Noise: This song is a combination of several of the aforementioned themes of Epiphany.  It expresses several valences of what it means for God to be God, and what it means for us to be us, and also narrates the coming of the Light into the darkness.  [Note: An album version of this song is available here.]

How Great Thou Art: We sang this song to begin to close our time together by making a series of declarations about who God is--a master craftsman, a selfless Lord, and a dependable rescuer--and wrapping all of them in a blanket statement about God's greatness.

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

-JM