Setlist 7-3-2016

This was the seventh Sunday after Pentecost, and our songs were gathered around the theme of transformation. 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

Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) by Hillsong United

Peace (Change Everything) by Jameson McGregor

I Love You by Mike Robinson

Wayward Ones by The Gladsome Light

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 begin with a plea that God would transform us into people who know how to find God in the world around us and how to express ourselves when this happens--the second stanza is the heart of the first reason (raising an "Ebenezer" is depicting solidifying the realization that God has been with you), and the second reason is embodied especially in these lines: "tune my heart to sing thy Grace" and "teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above." 

Oceans: We sang this song to ask God to make us into people who are willing to traverse uncertainty and seek God in the midst of that uncertainty.

Peace (Change Everything): Like the Advent song we sang a couple of weeks ago in the wake of the attack on the LGBT community in Orlando, we sang this in response to the attacks in Istanbul, Bangladesh, and Baghdad.  Advent is a time where we look around and see how dark the world is and how very badly it needs a light, but there are moments all throughout the year that remind us of this darkness without our having to take the time to think specifically about it.  We sang this song to make a plea to God to transform the world around us.  Since this song has not been recorded, here is a video of it if you would like to listen again:

I Love You: This is a song written by Mike Robinson, a professor at UMHB and a beloved part of the ubc community.  The lyrics depict the narrative of the last supper, and Mike shared it with us this week because we were participating in communion.

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.

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

-JM

Setlist 10-18-2015

This week, our songs were gathered around the theme of struggle.  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

Amazing Grace by Citizens & Saints

Future/Past by John Mark McMillan

Oceans by Hillsong United

Unyielding by Sarah Dossey Keilers (Dossey)

Wandering 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. 

Amazing Grace: We sang this song as an exercise in perspective--to champion what God has done for us already over/against the struggles that we now face.  When I find myself in the midst of a difficult or dark time, and I can't see the end of it, that sometimes the only comfort I can find is in looking back on the things that God has brought me through in the past, and that is sometimes enough to convince me that there will be a day when my present pain is something I can look back on as well, knowing that it ended.  Probably the most straight-forward line of this song for our purposes this week is Through many dangers toils and snares i have already come//Twas grace that brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home.  I want to be clear that I am under no illusion that looking back can cancel out the struggles we face in the present, but I am convinced it can be enough to give us strength to keep moving forward.

Future/Past: I suppose this song, too, is an exercise in perspective.  We sang it to put into our mouths an expression of the fact that, though God commands unlimited cosmic power--and is thus a fundamentally superior and more real Person than any of us--God has bent low to regard us not simply as creatures who exist, but creatures with whom God desires to relate; creatures for whom to care.  This is great and terrifying news for us, and it makes a difference in how we view both the future and the past.  It means that there is significance to every moment that is beyond us; that there is hope in the midst of struggle around which we cannot wrap our minds.

Oceans: We sang this song to proclaim that God not only delivers us from struggles, but is with us in the midst of them.  God's faithfulness to us allows us to keep our eyes above the waves of chaos, which is to say that we can maintain a sense of perspective marked by trust in the midst of uncertainty--that our eyes can in some way maintain contact with God, though the rest of us in caught in despair.

Unyielding: Sarah has written a blog about this song on her band site--check it out!

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 that God is faithful to us even when we consistently misconstrue what it is to be faithful.  The verses of this song imagine various ways in which we recognize the power of God, then try to harness this power for our own devices--with what seem to be the best of intentions--and how God chooses to continue to journey with us anyway, coaxing us into understanding that God is not one to be tamed.

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

-JM

Setlist 8-30-2015

This week, our songs were gathered around the theme of grace.  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

Heart Won't Stop by John Mark and Sarah McMillan

Amazing Grace by Citizens & Saints

Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) by Hillsong United

Hope by Jameson McGregor

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. 

Heart Won't Stop: We sang this song to begin our time together proclaiming the relentless love of God that breeds a grace that isn't contractual or begrudging, but is instead a passionate force that is born out of God's decision to be God-with-us. 

Amazing Grace: We sang this song to think about the fact that the grace of God does not simply extend forgiveness to us that we don't deserve, but is something that transforms us into people who are more like Jesus.

Oceans: We sang this song to think about God being with us as we navigate our lives, specifically the more chaotic territories of life. The grace of God is not something that merely affects us in the end, but in the midst of life.

Hope: I've been working on this song for the better part of a year.  For a long time, I only had the lines, "You lit a fire in the darkness the darkness did not overcome," (loosely pulled from John 1), and "You sang out Hope into the dead of night, and it echoed off the edge of time," (which I pulled from an Advent song I wrote called Light).  Sitting with this, I started to wonder what this "darkness" or "night" might be in the scope of this song.  I thought about what I would label dark points of my life, and the dark times I've walked through with friends.  

I thought about the alcoholics I know.  They tell me that their addiction is a life condition--it's not something they're going to "get over," so no matter how long they are sober, they will still self-identify as an alcoholic.  They can't go back, and life will never be quite the same. 

I thought about my dear friend who is hemmed in by both bipolar disorder and depression, knowing that if he runs out of medication, or if something about his biological environment changes, his world will quite quickly become a dark and untrustworthy place.  There was a time when he lived free of this diagnosis, but he can't go back to that time--his life will never be free of the potential of this darkness.  

I thought about the conversations I've had with friends--and with myself--on the other side of a major life change, where what was has an allure that is lacking in what is, and the weight of this loss is unbearably heavy.  We can't go back; life will never be the same.  

It was this collective sense of darkness, and the ubiquitous not being able to go back, that I had in mind when I wrote this song.  I wrote it for them.  I wrote for me.  I likely wrote it for you.  

Each verse of this song ends with me putting these words into the mouth of God: "I've called you mine."  After the third verse, this changes to, "I've called you mine, and you can't go back."  Of all the things, great and small, from which we can't go back, this is the most enduring.  The conditions of life find their resolve in death, but the condition of being a child of God can't be erased by something as temporal as death.  God chose to be God-with-us in the midst of the darkness, and no shade of darkness can change that.  This is grace. 

This is a piece of what this song means to me, but there is much more going on.  Reading the lyrics will be a start to understanding this song better, but if you want to talk about it at all, please send me an email.

All the Poor and Powerless:  We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs, which were gathered around the theme of singing.  This is what we said about All the Poor and Powerless last week: We sang this song to turn our attention to humans.  There are two refrains in this song that involve what humans cry out in worship to God.  One is "Alleluia" (familiar?) and the other is "He is God."  I'll admit: part of me recoils against taking something as complex as the worship of God and reducing it to such simple phrases, but I feel like what I said about the previous song fits here as well: Simple? Yes. Legitimate? Yes.  What else is there to say?  The most complex praises of a theologian or business person (or whoever) can probably all be reduced back to this one idea. 

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

-JM

Setlist 7-5-2015

This week, our songs were gathered around the theme of providence.  "Providence" can be a kind of ambiguous term, and you can probably find a variety of different takes on what it might mean.  When I say providence, I mean God's interweaving of the stories of our lives into a greater story--a story we believe by faith to be the best kind of story.  This means that God is drawing us toward Godself and, in a broad sense, taking care of us.   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 or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs

Wandering by Jameson McGregor

House of God Forever by Jon Foreman

Oceans by Hillsong United

You Were There by Jameson McGregor

Wayward Ones by The Gladsome Light

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. 

Wandering: We humans are gifted at seeing something great (such as God) and attempting to use this great thing to our advantage--to harness its power.  When we try to do this to God, God slips our proverbial leash.  Instead of moving in the direction we want, God insists that we go the way God wants.  But God does not abandon us because of this--God is faithful to us, even when we try (and fail) to take control.  In the context of providence, we sang this song to reaffirm that we worship a God who does not cut ties when we try to be god-wranglers, but instead continues drawing us toward Godself.  God's providence is possible because God does not turn away from us.

House of God Forever: This song is built around Psalm 23, and uses the image of God as a Shepherd to talk about God's care for us--specifically that this means we don't have to be afraid in the face of danger.  This is not to say that if one is afraid, one does not have faith, but rather to say that God will not abandon us to fend for ourselves.  God has drawn near to us in Jesus, and God is still drawing us toward Godself.  

Oceans: We sang this song to think about the fact that, though much of what we face in life may seem chaotic or overwhelming, we can trust that God is not overwhelmed.  Because of this, we can trust that God is able to help us navigate the troubled waters of life.

You Were There: This song is an exercise in perspective:  God was there before there was anything evil, God is there despite our present anxiety, and God will be there after everything here is gone (Everything in the universe has a clock that's running out, but God does not).  While God is present in the midst of our pain, and understands our pain, God is more real than everything we experience in the world.  We can confidently fix our eyes on God in the midst of anxiety, having faith that God is unhindered by the things that overwhelm us.

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.

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

-JM

Setlist 5-24-2015

This week, we were fortunate to have our friend Liz Andrasi preach to us from Acts 2:1-13.  Our songs were gathered around the theme of Pentecost.  Pentecost is when we remember the coming of the Holy Spirit to the Church in Acts 2.  Josh wrote about Pentecost in the newsletter this week, so be sure to check that out if you haven't yet.  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 or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs

Fall Afresh by Jeremy Riddle

All Creatures of Our God and King by David Crowder* Band

Holy Spirit by Jesus Culture

Oceans by Hillsong United

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.

Fall Afresh: When we come to Pentecost each year, we are celebrating the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts, thanking God for blessing the Church with the Gift of God's continual presence.  We are also reminding ourselves that this Gift has been given to us as well.  In reminding ourselves of this, we are hoping for a renewed awareness of the Spirit's presence.  We shouldn't reduce Pentecost to a yearly refilling station for caring about the Spirit, but we also should not pretend that we live lives that are fully aware of the Spirit at all times.  Pentecost is a time to remember that we are a people who have been given a Gift, and to live into that reality.

All Creatures of Our God and King: Pentecost is significant for the Church, yes, but it is also significant for the whole of the cosmos.  When we think about the Holy Spirit, we should think of the Spirit of Life who mediates God's love to the things that God has made--people, plants, animals, subatomic particles, etc.  God is active and present in the farthest reaches of space, and is weaving a multitude of smaller stories into one great story.  

Holy Spirit: This song focuses more on the personal encounter of the Spirit.  I'd like to note a few unrelated things about this song.  First, it is not an accident that we gather together to sing this song.  The Spirit is certainly able to influence us when we are alone, but it seems like the Spirit is much more active among a community.  As Liz pointed out in her sermon, the focus of the Acts 2 narrative is what the Spirit does through people.  Second, I want to clarify that, while this song centers around expressing an openness to the Spirit, we should not fool ourselves into thinking that the Spirit needs our permission or invitation to move among us--as if we could conjure the Spirit.  Third,  I've had a few people tell me that they didn't like a few lines of this song, specifically "come flood this place and fill the atmosphere."  Let me confess: I don't like that line either.  It feels like a forced rhyme with "welcome here." I find it within myself to sing this song because I ultimately do want to express an openness to the Spirit, and to petition for a greater awareness of the Spirit's presence and power.

Oceans: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at the songs we sang last week.  Here's what we said then: Before Jesus' ascension, He promised the disciples that the Holy Spirit would come empower them to continue His work.  In His leaving, Jesus called His followers to stay the course.  We too are called to continue His work--and seeking to do this can be equal parts confusing and overwhelming.  Oceans uses the image of walking on water to illustrate at least two things: doing things that we are literally incapable of doing without God's aid, and entering into chaotic and unknown territory.  As we contemplate what it means for us to be Jesus in the world, we must not lose sight of the fact that we are neither able nor expected to do it alone.

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

-JM

Setlist 5-17-2015

This week, Josh preached from Acts 1: 15-26.  Our songs were gathered around the theme of the Ascension.  The Ascension is the moment when Jesus "was taken up" and "hidden by the clouds" in Acts 1.  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 or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs

Come Thou Fount

All the Poor and Powerless by All Sons and Daughters

Oceans by Hillsong United

Up On A Mountain by The Welcome Wagon

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 think again about the work of Jesus in light of the Ascension and to begin anticipating the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost (next week). This song can be understood to be firmly planted between the Ascension and Pentecost--especially when we look at the stanzas out of order.  The second stanza talks about raising an "Eben-Ezer"--a throw-back to the time Samuel made a monument to signify God being with Israel in a battle against the Philistines (1 Sam 7:12)--to remember what God has done for us in Jesus.  The third stanza looks back on the work of Jesus as well in acknowledging the fact that we stand as debtors in light of what Jesus did for us [Note: We are not debtors in the sense that God has a cosmic ledger that shows us in the red--Jesus wiped that ledger clean.  We are debtors in that we know that Jesus did something for us that we can in no way repay, and our gratitude drives us to respond in love.] Ok. So. We look back before the Ascension in the second two stanzas.  In the first stanza, we look forward to the coming of a "Fount of Every Blessing" that can "tune our hearts" and teach us a song sung by "flaming tongues above." This fount that we call for is the Holy Spirit.  

All The Poor and Powerless: In the Ascension, we see that Jesus did not simply rise from the dead for a time, only to die again.  Instead, He stepped beyond the realm that we might call physical to be with the Father.  He didn't die--he left.  The power of the resurrection held true.  This means that the hope of the resurrection and the hope of the Kingdom movement that entered the world through the ministry of Jesus live on, even in the absence of Jesus walking among us.  This is means that the poor, the powerless, the lost, the lonely, thieves, cowards, and all those who society would quickly rid itself of if given the option, can find their Hope.

Oceans: Before Jesus' ascension, He promised the disciples that the Holy Spirit would come empower them to continue His work.  In His leaving, Jesus called His followers to stay the course.   We too are called to continue His work--and seeking to do this can be equal parts confusing and overwhelming.  Oceans uses the image of walking on water to illustrate at least two things: doing things that we are literally incapable of doing without God's aid, and entering into chaotic and unknown territory.  As we contemplate what it means for us to be Jesus in the world, we must not lose sight of the fact that we are neither able nor expected to do it alone.

Up On A Mountain: This song reminds us of the dread that Jesus had before the crucifixion (like any of us, he did not want to die), and that He was aware of what would ultimately become of the human race if he did not die.  Despite all of this, the third verse points out that the work of Jesus for us did not cease after the cross.  Though Jesus is no longer among us in flesh and blood, Jesus is still intimately concerned for the human race--He is praying on our behalf and is with us through the Spirit. Though Jesus ascended, He is not wholly gone--we are not alone.

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

-JM