The Mirror in the Wilderness (Part 6)

Every Sunday during Lent, we will be taking time to wrestle with our place in the culture of sexual violence within our society.  While this is, unfortunately, one of many sub-cultures of a broader culture of violence in our society, we have chosen to name this one during Lent because it is not necessarily an evil that we have named before at ubc.  I’ll be the first to admit that this is difficult, but we will face this difficulty together.  

The litany included in this post is taken from a liturgy in protest of sexual violence that you can find here, and the women who put that together are putting out more material and resources here.  This group is also hosting a series of liturgies on Baylor’s campus over the next month.  The next service will be “A Space for Hope” on Tuesday, March 29th, at 8pm in Elliston Chapel.

Posted below is something I read during church on March 20th.  It is the second of several pieces we will encounter in our liturgy over the next few weeks  You can read the first piece here, the second piece here, the third piece here, the fourth piece here, and the fifth piece here.  If you have any questions or concerns about anything you see here, please email me at Jamie@ubcwaco.org. 

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This is the final week of Lent.  For the past 5 weeks, we have been reckoning with our place in the midst of a culture marred by sexual violence. If you haven’t been here, all of the readings I have done on this topic are available on the ubc blog under the title, “The Mirror in the Wilderness.” 

When we started this journey together, our aim was to use the season of Lent both to shine a light on the prevalence of sexual violence in our culture and to shine a light on ourselves revealing our complicity in this broader system—to talk about something we don’t talk about.  We’ve been doing this out of the conviction that problems in our culture are our problems, and that, as the church, we don’t get to point fingers at everyone else and pretend that we aren’t a part of the problem.  We are.

We have noted a few ways that we might consider ourselves to be complicit in this system: the impulse to distance ourselves from stories of sexual violence whenever possible, the cause and effect rhetoric we offer to those affected, and the language we let slide in the world around us and out of our own mouths.  These provide a starting point for weeding out our place in this broader system, but they are by no means the full picture.  There is more work to do. 

Lent is a time when we give particular interest to wrestling with sin in our lives, but it is not the only season where we do this. Shining a light on our sin is something we should ultimately always to be open to.  And so, I pray that you will continue to ask the Spirit to bring to light your complicity in this system of evil, even beyond this time we call Lent.  Keep asking hard questions of things that you assume are harmless.  Keep seeking wisdom and courage for combatting things that you know are harmful.

Systems are hard to take down because they transcend any one person or group of people—instead they reside in ideas, in apprehensions, in assumptions, in prejudices, in culture itself—all things that shape people.  But it’s not that people are removed from the equation.  People are shaped and thereby become the avenue by which culture shapes other people.  People live into the ideas that they receive, they pass them on—most often without mentioning them at all—and they contribute to the narrative of how things are.  Thus, these ideas are sustained by our acceptance.  But we’ve been talking about what happens when we don’t accept these ideas.  What happens when we decide the way things are isn’t cutting it anymore.  What happens when we pull back the curtain to try to figure out how these systems work.  What happens when we throw a rock in the machine.  When we take responsibility for our own complicity in systems of violence and seek personal transformation?  When we go off script in interacting with the people around us?  And when we pass this counter-system on to other generations?  The system will not be able to stay the same. 

We need to do this hard work for the good of our neighbor, for the good of the world, and for ourselves. 

So ubc, may be we a people of the way things could be.  May we be a people who search ourselves for ghosts in our own machines that would keep us from being more fully formed in the way of Christ, and who catch the wave of the Kingdom and ride it into fulfillment.

Now, if you are willing and able, please stand and join me once again in this litany of commitment.  We’ve said these words many times together, but make an effort to continue to let them form you.

As a community of faith we will not forget those who are hurting. We will listen carefully. We understand there are those among us who suffer in silence. And so...

We will not further silence our neighbor
with platitudes or should-haves.
We commit to hold their pain gently.

We know we must continue to challenge the power dynamics in our world that make abuse prevalent, even when these dynamics and systems benefit us.

We will not worship ideas or institutions.
We will love God and love our neighbor above all else.

We struggle to understand how the world can be so broken, but we will not let this deter us from seeking justice.

We will not cease praying for your Kingdom come.
We commit ourselves to the journey ahead.
Our friends will walk alone no longer.

---

JM

Setlist 3-20-2016

This week was the sixth Sunday of Lent, also known as Palm Sunday, and our songs were selected with these themes 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, 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:

Here Is Our King by David Crowder* Band

Just A Closer Walk With Thee

Lord, I Need You by Matt Maher

In the Night by Andrew Peterson

Up On A Mountain by The Welcome Wagon

Be Thou My Vision

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. 

Here Is Our King: We sang this song because it was Palm Sunday.  We sang these words to take the posture of the crowds welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem.  This is in some ways strange, because we know that Jesus was not actually bringing about the political revolution that they expected, and we also know that this disappointment would ultimately make them turn on Jesus with the authorities.  Perhaps this can serve as a reminder to us that there is a difference between who God is and who we expect God to be, and the former is the one that deserves our worship.

Just A Closer Walk With Thee: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Just A Closer Walk With Thee then: We sang this song to declare one of our intentions as we walk through Lent together--to reach the other side as people who are more fully formed in the way of Christ.  When we sing this song at ubc, the second stanza is probably the most important, underscoring that the Christian life is one in which we all falter from time to time, but that our burden is shared by Jesus.  In Lent, this takes a slightly different meaning as we think about our time in the wilderness together.  Even in this more intentional time of formation, we are prone to wander, but we can press forward knowing that Jesus understands our struggles.

Lord, I Need You:  We sang this song because as we continue to seek transformation in this last week of Lent, we need God to be the one who changes us.  The petition in the bridge of the song (teach my song to rise to You when temptation comes my way), is in some ways answered in singing this song, as the chorus raises a song to God in the midst of temptation.  We have been singing it often during this season to allow God to root these words deep within us.

In the Night: This song is a journey through the biblical narrative, cataloguing the process of struggle and victory, woundedness and healing, etc., strung together by the refrain "In the night, my hope lives on."  We'll add a verse each week during Lent as we move toward Easter, when Hope really takes root.

Up On A Mountain: We sang this song to fast forward to Thursday night when we remember Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane, where he has essentially already been abandoned by his friends, and is terrified of what is to come.  If you aren't familiar with this song, you should check it out:   

Be Thou My Vision: We will sing this song every week during Lent to close our time together.  As we go back into the wilderness of Lent, we will ask once again for God to be our vision, wisdom, security, and hope.

-JM

The Mirror in the Wilderness (Part 5)

Every Sunday during Lent, we will be taking time to wrestle with our place in the culture of sexual violence within our society.  While this is, unfortunately, one of many sub-cultures of a broader culture of violence in our society, we have chosen to name this one during Lent because it is not necessarily an evil that we have named before at ubc.  I’ll be the first to admit that this is difficult, but we will face this difficulty together.  

The litany included in this post is taken from a liturgy in protest of sexual violence that you can find here, and the women who put that together are putting out more material and resources here.  This group is also hosting a series of liturgies on Baylor’s campus over the next month.  The next service will be “A Space for Hope” on Tuesday, March 29th, at 8pm in Elliston Chapel.

Posted below is something I read during church on March 13th.  It is the second of several pieces we will encounter in our liturgy over the next few weeks  You can read the first piece here, the second piece here, the third piece here, and the fourth piece here.  If you have any questions or concerns about anything you see here, please email me at Jamie@ubcwaco.org. 

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Today is the fifth Sunday of Lent, and we are continuing our reckoning with our place in the midst of a culture that is marred by sexual violence.  If you haven’t been around for the past four weeks, the things I have read during this time are available on the ubc blog, under the title, “The Mirror in the Wilderness.”

I want to return to an idea that I’ve mentioned before—that perhaps when we see a particular kind of violence hold a prevalence in our culture, there are certain ideas or assumptions that are engrained in our culture that in some way help this broken part go unmended, or perhaps normalize it.  For us, that also means there are ideas and assumptions engrained in us that make it difficult for us to be the presence of Christ within our culture.  Last week, we began dreaming together about what a culture that does not authorize or pave the way for a prevalence of sexual violence might look like, and I urge you to continue asking that question of yourselves. 

I want now to begin thinking on a much smaller scale and ask what a version of each of us might look like within that culture.  This is difficult because we don’t necessarily know how to be any other way than we are, but this tension is the Christian life, is it not?  Old things being made new?  But that means that we might need to question things that we have taken for granted in the process—things that we’ve never really thought were that big of a deal—little things we let slide.  What do you let slide?

Is it comments people you don’t know make to other people you don’t know?  Comments that are perhaps in poor taste—crude, yes, unwanted by the addressee, yes, but not necessarily harmful?  What if those comments really are harmful?  What if allowing them to go unchecked makes them normal, and what if this normal authorizes a broader culture of sexual violence?  Should you say something?  Would the stranger even care what you have to say?  Maybe it doesn’t matter if they internalize it.  Maybe it just matters that it’s spoken out loud.  But this is uncomfortable.

What about when it isn’t a stranger?  What about when it’s someone you love, or at least care for, making the comment, the joke, the behind-the-scenes insult, and you know they don’t mean any harm by it?  How do you know?  And how do you know that something small like this won’t snowball over time? Maybe the people you love do internalize the things that you say.  Maybe you help form them.  But this too is uncomfortable.

And what about yourself?  What do you let slide off your own tongue that steals power from other people, that makes light of what is decidedly heavy, that minimizes the cries of people who have been wronged, that normalizes aggressive behavior, on and on? You likely wouldn’t know unless you have been told or have taken time to look.  So in this fifth week of Lent, I’m asking you to look.  And it will likely be uncomfortable, but that’s Lent.

Now, we will participate in the litany of commitment that we have taken on the past couple of weeks, in the hope that it will continue to shape us.

As a community of faith we will not forget those who are hurting. We will listen carefully. We understand there are those among us who suffer in silence. And so...

We will not further silence our neighbor
with platitudes or should-haves.
We commit to hold their pain gently.

We know we must continue to challenge the power dynamics in our world that make abuse prevalent, even when these dynamics and systems benefit us.

We will not worship ideas or institutions.
We will love God and love our neighbor above all else.

We struggle to understand how the world can be so broken, but we will not let this deter us from seeking justice.

We will not cease praying for your Kingdom come.
We commit ourselves to the journey ahead.
Our friends will walk alone no longer.

---

JM

Setlist 3-13-2016

This week was the fifth Sunday of Lent, and our songs were selected with this theme 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, 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

Deliver Me by David Crowder* Band

In the Night by Andrew Peterson

Be Thou My Vision

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 look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Come Thou Fount then: As we continue through Lent, we are ultimately hoping that some change takes place in us that isn't undone as soon as Lent is over. We mainly sang this song for the final stanza, where we acknowledge our tendency to wander, and express a desire for God to fix us in place.  

Just A Closer Walk With Thee: We sang this song to declare one of our intentions as we walk through Lent together--to reach the other side as people who are more fully formed in the way of Christ.  When we sing this song at ubc, the second stanza is probably the most important, underscoring that the Christian life is one in which we all falter from time to time, but that our burden is shared by Jesus.  In Lent, this takes a slightly different meaning as we think about our time in the wilderness together.  Even in this more intentional time of formation, we are prone to wander, but we can press forward knowing that Jesus understands our struggles.

Deliver Me: As we near the end of Lent, we sang this song to express that we continue to rely upon the Spirit to pull us through and to change us into people who are more like Jesus.

In the Night: This song is a journey through the biblical narrative, cataloguing the process of struggle and victory, woundedness and healing, etc., strung together by the refrain "In the night, my hope lives on."  We'll add a verse each week during Lent as we move toward Easter, when Hope really takes root.

Be Thou My Vision: We will sing this song every week during Lent to close our time together.  As we go back into the wilderness of Lent, we will ask once again for God to be our vision, wisdom, security, and hope.

-JM

The Mirror in the Wilderness (Part 4)

Every Sunday during Lent, we will be taking time to wrestle with our place in the culture of sexual violence within our society.  While this is, unfortunately, one of many sub-cultures of a broader culture of violence in our society, we have chosen to name this one during Lent because it is not necessarily an evil that we have named before at ubc.  I’ll be the first to admit that this is difficult, but we will face this difficulty together.  

The litany included in this post is taken from a liturgy in protest of sexual violence that you can find here, and the women who put that together are putting out more material and resources here.  This group is also hosting a series of liturgies on Baylor’s campus over the next month.  The next service will be “A Space for Anger” on Tuesday, March 15th, at 8pm in Elliston Chapel.

Posted below is something I read during church on March 6th.  It is the second of several pieces we will encounter in our liturgy over the next few weeks  You can read the first piece here, the second piece here, and the third piece here.  If you have any questions or concerns about anything you see here, please email me at Jamie@ubcwaco.org. 

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This is the fourth week of Lent, and we are continuing to reckon with our place in the midst of a culture that is marred by sexual violence.  If you have not been around for the past three Sundays, the transcripts of what I’ve read about this are available on the ubc blog under the title “The Mirror in the Wilderness.” 

We’ve been creating space for the Spirit to shape our imaginations when thinking about what it looks like to come alongside people who experience sexual violence, and how to combat the prevalence of this violence in our culture. 

We talk about imagination at ubc from time to time because our capacity for imagination is a gift from God.  Imagination allows us to dream of worlds that are different than our own.  It seems like the concept of imagination got narrowed in our culture at some point to point to worlds of magic and unicorns and the like, as though imagination is merely an avenue of entertainment or escapism, unrelated to the truth of things.  This is somewhat different than what we are aiming at when we talk about the Spirit shaping our imaginations.  The conceiving of worlds different than our own that we are talking about is instead centered on the idea that perhaps the way things are is not the way things have to be.  Though we are inescapably the product of the way things are, and sometimes don’t know how to be anything other than people of the way things are, God has given us the gift of imagination so that we can be transformed into people of the way things could be, knocking about until the way things are changes.  It’s at the heart of the Christian story, because God is not the God of the way things are. 

Imagination is also at the heart of Jesus’ talk about the Kingdom of God: the kingdom is here--among us--and yet, of course, we look around and see a world that is not driven by the selfless love of the kingdom of God, and we look in the mirror and we see people who are prone to place their own desires over the desires of others, but the Kingdom is nonetheless here because Jesus told brain-breaking stories about what it is like, and he has given us a lens to see what it all could be.  And if we let that dream guide our own dreams about the way things could be, we might find ourselves as people who no longer accept the way things are, and instead become people who let the dream of the Kingdom become our waking life.  Our imaginations help us call the norm into question and drive us to rage against systems that hold the world as we know it in place, and ultimately build new ones.

And so, over the past few weeks, we have called into question the veracity of the self distancing our culture has taught us regarding whose problems we should call our own, and we have called into question the rationalizing we have learned how to do that implicitly casts blame in the wrong direction. 

Perhaps we should now zoom out a little bit and raise a question: What if our culture is seeded with ideas that authorize the prevalence of sexual violence that we see around us?  Ideas that turn a blind eye to injustice.  Ideas that lead to selective hearing.  Ideas that normalize aggression. 

And what if it could be otherwise? 

What might that culture look like?  What kinds of conversations would take place there?  How would people interact?  How would authority structures maintain order?  How would people view themselves?  How would they view other people?

Let’s take on imagining that world together, and lean into it.  Because the systems that we are a part of will struggle to stay the same if we do.

We will now participate in a litany that is a part of the Liturgy in Protest of Sexual violence that we have been using the past few weeks.  We read this litany last week together, and we will continue to do it, because it seems in line with the kind of world that we are imagining together, because perhaps in lingering on these words, we will found ourselves molded into people who better embody them.  I’ll read the light print, you may respond with the bold.

As a community of faith we will not forget those who are hurting. We will listen carefully. We understand there are those among us who suffer in silence. And so...

We will not further silence our neighbor
with platitudes or should-haves.
We commit to hold their pain gently.

We know we must continue to challenge the power dynamics in our world that make abuse prevalent, even when these dynamics and systems benefit us.

We will not worship ideas or institutions.
We will love God and love our neighbor above all else.

We struggle to understand how the world can be so broken, but we will not let this deter us from seeking justice.

We will not cease praying for your Kingdom come.
We commit ourselves to the journey ahead.
Our friends will walk alone no longer.

---

JM

Setlist 3-6-2016

This week was the fourth Sunday of Lent, and our songs were selected with this theme 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, 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:

Wandering by Jameson McGregor

Come Thou Fount

Lord, I Need You by Matt Maher

In the Night by Andrew Peterson

Wayward Ones by The Gladsome Light

Be Thou My Vision

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. 

Wandering: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Wandering then: We sang this song to proclaim God's faithfulness to us despite our tendency to try to bend God to our own purposes.  As we continue in Lent, it is necessary for us to not misconstrue our fasting as spiritual clout by which we might contractually obligate God to do things for us.  We are instead hoping that God will change us.

Come Thou Fount: As we continue through Lent, we are ultimately hoping that some change takes place in us that isn't undone as soon as Lent is over. We mainly sang this song for the final stanza, where we acknowledge our tendency to wander, and express a desire for God to fix us in place.  

Lord, I Need You: We really only sing this song during Lent--it expresses something that is always true, but we have fixed it in this season because we are trying to give voice to this truth in a particular way for the duration of these weeks in the hope of experiencing a transformation of self that burns the message of this song into our minds.

In the Night: This song is a journey through the biblical narrative, cataloguing the process of struggle and victory, woundedness and healing, etc., strung together by the refrain "In the night, my hope lives on."  We'll add a verse each week during Lent as we move toward Easter, when Hope really takes root.

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.

Be Thou My Vision: We will sing this song every week during Lent to close our time together.  As we go back into the wilderness of Lent, we will ask once again for God to be our vision, wisdom, security, and hope.

-JM

The Mirror in the Wilderness (Part 3)

Every Sunday during Lent, we will be taking time to wrestle with our place in the culture of sexual violence within our society.  While this is, unfortunately, one of many sub-cultures of a broader culture of violence in our society, we have chosen to name this one during Lent because it is not necessarily an evil that we have named before at ubc.  I’ll be the first to admit that this is difficult, but we will face this difficulty together.  

The litany included in this post is taken from a liturgy in protest of sexual violence that you can find here, and the women who put that together are putting out more material and resources here.  This group is also hosting a series of liturgies on Baylor’s campus over the next month.  The next service will be “A Space for Anger” on Tuesday, March 15th, at 8pm in Elliston Chapel.

Posted below is something I read during church on February 28.  It is the second of several pieces we will encounter in our liturgy over the next few weeks  You can read the first piece here and the second piece here.  If you have any questions or concerns about anything you see here, please email me at Jamie@ubcwaco.org. 

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This is the third week of Lent, and we are continuing our journey through reckoning with our place within a culture marred by sexual violence.  If you haven’t been around for the past couple of weeks, we began the first week by acknowledging that we do in fact have a problem, and last week we voiced a prayer together in the voice of survivors of sexual violence.  Throughout both weeks, we have been trying to create space for the Spirit to shape our imaginations regarding how we might engage problems that seem much bigger than we can take on.  The transcripts of what I read for the past two weeks are now posted on the ubc blog under the title “The Mirror in the Wilderness,” and I would encourage you to go read those again, or for the first time.

In the first week, I suggested that one aspect of living within this culture that we might call sin is the tendency for many of us to—whether we mean to or not—distance ourselves from stories we hear—that is, unless we or someone we love are affected by sexual violence, we have a tendency to not consider it to be our problem.  And since this does not seem to mirror what Jesus would do, this impulse is something we should seek to combat. 

I’d like to suggest another point of self-reflection this week. Without saying that we are all in fact guilty of this, it seems reasonable to suggest that many of us could be at some point: our culture has a tendency to allow cause-and-effect thinking to drive the way we engage people when they recount the stories of their experiences of violence to us.  More directly, we have a tendency to suggest—or at least to think— that if a person had not chosen to wear a particular kind of clothing, or had made different choices about where they spent their time socially, or had not chosen to consume this or that beverage, they might not have found themselves in such a harmful situation. 

This impulse is not only unhelpful, because should-haves do not undo tragedy; it is also harmful, silencing, and alienating. But in and through all these things, it is a lie.  It is a lie because there is no choice a person can make that would make them deserve sexual violence, yet this is precisely what is heard when one suggests that any choice made by the person who experienced sexual violence led to this experience.  And with this, it communicates that the person who was the aggressor in sexual violence did something reasonable.  Which is also a lie, as this is never the case.  Further, it is a lie because people are subjected to sexual violence even when they in fact do what this flawed sense of cause and effect says they should.  Finally, perhaps it is often a lie because it is a statement of self-preservation masquerading as advice or care—in my experience, when rationalizing words roll off my tongue in place of mutual lament, it is me trying to tell myself that this won’t happen to me or anyone I love.  That it’s easily preventable.  This is a lie.

These words are empty. These words help no one.

I do not think it is a stretch to call this impulse sinful, in that it disregards the needs of a person who is hurting, it aids in clouding our vision of what is truly evil, it does not champion the truth, and it places our own need to be comfortable over all of these things.  As we continue to seek the Spirit’s guidance in being formed into people who are more like Jesus over the next few weeks, let’s keep this in mind.

We will now participate in a litany of commitment that is a part of the Liturgy in Protest of Sexual Violence that we have been using the past few weeks.  This won’t be the only time we read this commitment during Lent, because it is ultimately a lot to live into, but try your best to hold these words in your mind and discern what areas of this commitment you might need help with.  I’ll read the light print, you may respond with the bold.

As a community of faith we will not forget those who are hurting. We will listen carefully. We understand there are those among us who suffer in silence. And so...

We will not further silence our neighbor
with platitudes or should-haves.
We commit to hold their pain gently.

We know we must continue to challenge the power dynamics in our world that make abuse prevalent, even when these dynamics and systems benefit us.

We will not worship ideas or institutions.
We will love God and love our neighbor above all else.

We struggle to understand how the world can be so broken, but we will not let this deter us from seeking justice.

We will not cease praying for your Kingdom come.
We commit ourselves to the journey ahead.
Our friends will walk alone no longer.

---

JM

Setlist 2-28-2016

This week was the third Sunday of Lent, and our songs were selected with this theme 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, 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:

Fall Afresh by Jeremy Riddle (with an addition by Jameson McGregor)

Wandering by Jameson McGregor

All I Can Say by David Crowder* Band

In the Night by Andrew Peterson

Be Thou My Vision

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. 

Fall Afresh: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Fall Afresh then: We sang this song to confess our need of the Spirit's presence in Lent because the Spirit is the One who is able to transform us into people who are more like Jesus.  Also, as we continue our communal journey through Lent, reckoning with our place in a culture marred by sexual violence (this part of our Lenten journey is introduced here), we are seeking that the Spirit would shape our imaginations to find new ways of being the presence of Christ in our world.

Wandering: We sang this song to proclaim God's faithfulness to us despite our tendency to try to bend God to our own purposes.  As we continue in Lent, it is necessary for us to not misconstrue our fasting as spiritual clout by which we might contractually obligate God to do things for us.  We are instead hoping that God will change us.

All I Can Say: We sang this song because the middle of the Lenten journey can be taxing, and it is important to remember that God is with us in our struggles.  Furthermore, we sang this song because it voices the core sentiment of feeling worn out or harmed in general, and there are many among us who need to be able to voice these words--even if it is in singing a song with a room full of people.

In the Night: This song is a journey through the biblical narrative, cataloguing the process of struggle and victory, woundedness and healing, etc., strung together by the refrain "In the night, my hope lives on."  We'll add a verse each week during Lent as we move toward Easter, when Hope really takes root.

Be Thou My Vision: We will sing this song every week during Lent to close our time together.  As we go back into the wilderness of Lent, we will ask once again for God to be our vision, wisdom, security, and hope.

-JM

The Mirror in the Wilderness (Part 2)

Every Sunday during Lent, we will be taking time to wrestle with our place in the culture of sexual violence within our society.  While this is, unfortunately, one of many sub-cultures of a broader culture of violence in our society, we have chosen to name this one during Lent because it is not necessarily an evil that we have named before at ubc.  I’ll be the first to admit that this is difficult, but we will face this difficulty together.  

The litany included in this post is taken from a liturgy in protest of sexual violence that you can find here, and the women who put that together are putting out more material and resources here.  This group is also hosting a series of liturgies on Baylor’s campus over the next month.  The next service will be “A Space for Silence” on Tuesday, March 1st, at 8pm in Elliston Chapel.

Posted below is something I read during church on February 21.  It is the second of several pieces we will encounter in our liturgy over the next few weeks  You can read the first piece here.  If you have any questions or concerns about anything you see here, please email me at Jamie@ubcwaco.org. 

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Today we are continuing our reckoning with our place in a culture marred by sexual violence.  Last week, we acknowledged that we have a problem, one facet of which is, for some of us, our tendency to distance ourselves from situations involving sexual violence if at all possible, and identified this impulse as unlike what we might expect from Jesus, and thus as sin.  

In the coming weeks, I want to encourage you to continue to pray that the Spirit would shape your imagination regarding how you yourself might be an instrument of change in our culture of violence.  The truth is, we all have some degree of influence in our immediate social surroundings, and while knowing exactly what we can do is often times a daunting task, we can at least seek wisdom from God—to refuse to do even this is its own kind of problem.

We are going to pray together now, using words that were composed by Kendall Rothaus, Lilly Ettinger Leman, Emma Wood, Rachel Toombs, Natalie Webb, Sharyl Loeung, and Heather Mooney, in their liturgy in protest of sexual violence.  This prayer is written for the voice of survivors of sexual violence, but if you are not a survivor yourself, I want to offer you two ways of looking at this: First, we do not gather to worship together only as a group of individuals, but as a body that is united in Christ.  Therefore, the fact that these words can have a direct meaning for some of us means that they can and should be voiced by all of us as we pray together. Second, there are petitions in this prayer for particular kinds of people—compassionate listeners, faithful advocates, etc—and in praying for these things, you might think of it as a petition that God would form you into a person like that, or to help you use gifts that God has already given you to be that person for someone who needs it. 

God. In a world that has little time for us,
we want to believe that you have time.
In a culture that too easily dismisses us,
we want to believe that you care.
Among institutions that are slow to come to our aid,
we want to believe that you are eager to help.

You are our first and last resort.

 Here is our petition:

We ask for comfort and peace.

God, hear our prayer.

We ask for courage and strength.

God, hear our prayer.

We ask for Your justice and healing.

God, hear our prayer.

We ask for compassionate listeners.

God, hear our prayer.

We ask for faithful advocates.

God, hear our prayer.

We ask for bold truth-tellers.

God, hear our prayer.

We ask for personal and institutional transformation.

God, hear our prayer.

We’ll take a moment in silence now to allow the Spirit to minister to us and to continue to shape our thinking about these things.