Liturgy 9-30-2018

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

bringing the whole of our selves

our joy and our pain
our hopes and broken dreams
our hearts and our minds

trusting that the Spirit of the Living God is in our midst

healing us in the love of Christ
sustaining us in the hope of Christ
and forming us in the way of Christ

Amen.

Scripture

Exodus 2:1-6

Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months.

When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.

The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said.

Mark 9:38-50

John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

“If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.

And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.

“For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

Setlist 9-30-2018

This past Sunday was the nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost.  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 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:

Come Thou Fount

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

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go by ubcmusic (adapted from G. Matheson)

Where God Has Always Been by Jameson McGregor

Rise Up by Bifrost Arts

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 turn our attention to who God has been for us, who God is for us, and who God will continue to be for us.

All Creatures of Our God and King: We sang this song to join our voices to the whole of creation in acknowledging the grandeur of the Creator.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go: We sang this song to grasp for hope in the midst of abandonment. Some of us sang this first-hand, and others sang this on behalf of those who are experiencing a sense of abandonment.

Where God Has Always Been: This song is about God’s consistent identifying with the trampled up the earth, and God’s being-set-against the power structures that do the trampling.

Rise Up: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week’s songs. This is what we said about Rise Up then: This song offered us words with which to ask God to rise to the defense of the trampled of the world, and to remind ourselves what sort of work we are stepping into when we say we are following in the way of Christ.

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 9-23-2018

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

to direct our attention toward the One
who liberates the trampled of the world,
and whose righteousness is everlasting

hoping to be formed more fully in the way of Christ

to learn how to relate to God,
our neighbor, and ourselves

and to embrace the Spirit of God in our midst

that we might carry the Kingdom of God
in our ordinary lives

Amen

Scripture

Psalm 54

Liberate me, O God, by the authority of Your name.
Vindicate me through Your legendary power.
Hear my prayer, O God;
let the words of my mouth reach Your sympathetic ear.

The truth is, these strangers are rallying against me;
cold-blooded men seek to slay me;
they have no respect for You.

But see now! God comes to rescue me;
the Lord is my valiant supporter.
the Lord will repay my enemies for the harm they have done; they are doomed!

According to Your faithful promises, silence them.
I will sacrifice to You willingly;
I will lift Your name by shouts of thanksgiving, O Eternal One, for Your name is good.

God has pulled me out from every one of the troubles that encompass me,
and I have seen what it means to stand over my enemies in triumph.

Mark 9:30-37

Jesus and his disciples passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”

Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

Setlist 9-23-2018

This past Sunday was the eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost.  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 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:

Just A Closer Walk With Thee

Hope by Jameson McGregor

Rise Up by Bifrost Arts

Chasing the Wind by Jameson McGregor

There 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. 

Just A Closer Walk With Thee: This song offered us language to express our desire to be formed more fully in the way of Christ, despite the fact that this is a path that is difficult for us to stay on.

Hope: We sang this song as a reminder of the hope that undergirds our existence: that God’s act of re-creation in the world is not snuffed out by the darkness of the world.

Rise Up: This song offered us words with which to ask God to rise to the defense of the trampled of the world, and to remind ourselves what sort of work we are stepping into when we say we are following in the way of Christ.

Chasing the Wind: This song is about the way we seek to make ourselves worthy of love, or to numb the pain of the fiction that we are not, and grasps for the unknowing of childhood, before the fiction took hold.

There: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week’s songs. This is what we said about There then: We sang this to proclaim God’s constancy above and within the chaos of our world.

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 9-16-2018

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 is righteous and full of compassion

the One who brings rest for the weary,
and whose love is stronger than the grip of the grave

to enter into the story of God and the people of God

and be formed in the way of Christ

that we might be people of the Spirit

who walk with the Eternal
in the land of the living

Amen.

Scripture

Psalm 116:1-8

I love the Lord, because the Lord has heard the voice of my supplication,
because the Lord has inclined the Lord’s ear to me whenever I called.

The cords of death entangled me;
the grip of the grave took hold of me;
I came to grief and sorrow.
Then I called upon the Name of the Lord:
"O Lord, I pray you, save my life."

Gracious is the Lord and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.

The Lord watches over the innocent;
I was brought very low, and the Lord helped me.
Turn again to your rest, O my soul,
for the Lord has treated you well.

For you have rescued my life from death,
my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling.
I will walk in the presence of the Lord
in the land of the living.

Mark 8:27-38

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”

And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.

For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?

Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Setlist 9-16-2018

This past Sunday was the seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost.  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 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:

Holy, Holy, Holy

Death In His Grave by John Mark McMillan

There by Jameson McGregor

Just the Same 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. 

Holy, Holy, Holy: We sang this song to orient our attention toward the Creator and Sustainer of us all, confessing the limits of our knowledge of God while also expressing wonder at the love and power of God in our midst.

Death In His Grave: This song rehearses the death and resurrection of Jesus, and we sang it to continue to immerse ourselves in the story of God’s re-creation of the world.

There: We sang this to proclaim God’s constancy above and within the chaos of our world.

Just the Same: This song swims through the dance of evolving faith, grasping for truth while knowing that whatever we find is only a piece of the whole.

Mystery: This song offers us a shorthand version of the Gospel story (Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again) as an anthem to raise in the midst of struggle, and a reminder that the way of Christ is costly.

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 9-9-2018

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 Lord of all

to direct our attention
to the One who sets the prisoner free,
who opens the eyes of the blind,
who lifts up those who are pulled down

to enter into God’s story

and find our own stories transformed

hoping the Spirit might infuse our lives with the way of Christ

teaching us to care for the stranger,
the orphan, and the widow,
and frustrate the way of the wicked

amen

Scripture

Psalm 146

Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Put not your trust in rulers, nor in any child of earth,
for there is no help in them.
When they breathe their last, they return to earth,
and in that day their thoughts perish.

Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help!
whose hope is in the Lord their God;
Who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them;
who keeps the Lord’s promise for ever;

Who gives justice to those who are oppressed,
and food to those who hunger.
the Lord sets the prisoners free;
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind;
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;

The Lord loves the righteous;
the Lord cares for the stranger;
The Lord sustains the orphan and widow,
but frustrates the way of the wicked.

The Lord shall reign for ever,
your God, O Zion, throughout all generations.

Mark 7:24-37

Jesus set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”

And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

Setlist 9-9-2018

Yesterday was the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost.  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 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:

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

Mystery by Jameson McGregor (adapted from Charlie Hall)

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

Where God Has Always Been by Jameson McGregor

Crown Him With Many Crowns

Doxology

Recording

Here’s a demo recording of Where God Has Always Been:

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: We sang this song to begin our time contemplating the wideness of the mercy within which we find ourselves. 

Mystery: This song offers us a shorthand version of the Gospel story (Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again) as an anthem to raise in the midst of struggle, and a reminder that the way of Christ is costly.

All Creatures of Our God and King: This song invites us to consider our place amongst the family of all of creation, and to offer praise to the Maker of us all.

Where God Has Always Been:  This song was written while thinking through the texts from Psalms and Isaiah from the lectionary for last week.  It is in praise of the Lord of all with their backs against the wall, reminding us that God has thrown in with the oppressed and forgotten of the world and rises to their defense.

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: We sang this song to begin our time by singing about Jesus as Lord of everything.

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 9-2-2018

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

to direct our attention to the Creator and Sustainer of all that is

hoping to be formed by God’s story

that our stories would be One

and hoping that the Spirit of God would work faith in our hearts

that in our living and moving,
we might reflect the way of Christ

amen.

Scripture

Psalm 15

Lord, who may dwell in your tabernacle?
who may abide upon your holy hill?
Whoever leads a blameless life and does what is right,
who speaks the truth from his heart.

There is no guile upon his tongue;
he does no evil to his friend;
he does not heap contempt upon his neighbor.
In his sight the wicked is rejected,
but he honors those who fear the Lord.

He has sworn to do no wrong
and does not take back his word.
He does not give his money in hope of gain,
nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.
Whoever does these things
shall never be overthrown.

Mark 7:1-18, 14-15, 21-23

When the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.)

So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”

He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,

‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.’

You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”

Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”

For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Setlist 9-2-2018

This past Sunday was the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost.  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 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

Wayward Ones by The Gladsome Light

Come Thou Fount

Shadow 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. 

Crown Him With Many Crowns: We sang this song to begin our time by singing about Jesus as Lord of everything.

Wayward Ones: This is our communion hymn, and it contemplates Christ's self-giving love that is displayed and remembered in the eucharist.

Come Thou Fount: This song offered us language to anchor our faith in who God will be for us in who God has been for us up until this point.

Shadow: This song is about the tension between what we claim to believe and the beliefs revealed in our action.

Be Thou My Vision: This song is a petition for God to reframe our sense of vision, wisdom, security, and hope; to give us an overall different lens through which to view the world and our place in 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