Liturgy 3-19-2017

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

Fountain of Living Water,

we have gathered hoping that You
will irrigate our hearts and minds

cleanse the dryness in us

and nurture the kingdom love You
have sown among us

teach us to live, and to live fully

so that we too might become fountains,
spreading Your Life and Love throughout the world.

Amen

Scripture

Exodus 17:1-7

From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.”

Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

John 4:5-42

Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”

Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” They left the city and were on their way to him.

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.

The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”

 

Black History Month Interviews

Throughout our liturgies in February, we interviewed four of our fellow ubcer's about their faith journeys and their experiences as people of color.  At the beginning of the month, I stated that we were incorporating Black History Month into our liturgy in the hope that engaging issues of race, and asking the Spirit to shape our thinking in this realm, would extend beyond February, hence our revisiting these interviews now.  

In listening to these interviews, it is my hope that we can get to know Kerri, Kareem, Leah, and Rennekia better, and gain further insight into who God is through their stories about who God has been to them in their own lives.  If you are not a person of color, I would encourage you to do the following as you listen::

1) notice that there isn’t one “black experience.” 
2) listen for the things that people (particularly church people) have done that invalidated or negatively framed this part of who they are, and ask the Spirit to help you seriously consider if you have been complicit, intentionally or not, in causing this sort of pain.
3) imagine how you can carry these sorts of difficult conversations into your own friendships, or how you might apply this curiosity in seeking out blogs, documentaries, etc. to learn from people you do not know personally (because, once again, this sort of vulnerable insight is not something that black people “owe” white people, so outside of the context of relationships, asking these sorts of questions can come across negatively).
4) notice that we live in a culture where no one really has to ask white people about their experiences; not that there is only one “white experience,” either, but our culture—even our American “evangelical” church culture—has been so saturated with white voices, a general idea of whiteness is not difficult to come by.

If you want to read more about the reason we did these interviews, check out the newsletter entry about it here.  At any rate, here are the interviews:

Kerri Fisher is a social worker, writer, and professor at Baylor University.

Kareem Shane is a powerhouse of personality who cares deeply for people, holds an MDiv from Truett Seminary, and works for the VA.

Leah Reed is a junior at Baylor University, where she is a Religion major.  She is also one of our student Leadership Team members.

Rennekia Goffney holds an MDiv from Truett Seminary, and is a gifted preacher and speaker.

As always, if you want to talk about any of this further, you can email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Liturgy 3-12-2017

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 devote our attention
to the One who formed us and knows us

seeking to be formed anew
and to know as we are known

we have gathered that God might form in us

hearts of justice, mercy, and humility
and minds of empathy, care, and awareness

Spirit of Life, form us in the way of Christ

and fold us into Your story of redemption

Amen

Scripture

Nehemiah 2:1-8

In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was served him, I carried the wine and gave it to the king. Now, I had never been sad in his presence before. So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This can only be sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my ancestors’ graves, lies waste, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”

Then the king said to me, “What do you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. Then I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors’ graves, so that I may rebuild it.” The king said to me (the queen also was sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a date.

Then I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may grant me passage until I arrive in Judah; and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, directing him to give me timber to make beams for the gates of the temple fortress, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the gracious hand of my God was upon me.

John 3:1-17

There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”

Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

“Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Prayer

This week, our prayer time was a reflection on Kathleen Norris' "My Messy House" from Bread and Wine:

When I’m working as an artist-in-residence at parochial schools, I like to read the psalms out loud to inspire the students, who are usually not aware that the snippets they sing at Mass are among the greatest poems in the world.  But I have found that when I have asked children to write their own psalms, their poems often have an emotional directness that is similar to that of the Biblical Psalter.  They know what it’s like to be small in a world designed for big people, to feel lost and abandoned.  Children are frequently astonished to discover that the psalmists so freely express the more unacceptable emotions, sadness and even anger, even anger at God, and all of this is in the Bible that they hear read in church on Sunday morning.

Children who are picked on by their big brothers and sisters can be remarkably adept when it comes to writing cursing psalms, and I believe that the writing process offers them a safe haven in which to work through their desires for vengeance in a healthy way.  Once a little boy wrote a poem called, “The Monster Who Was Sorry.”  He began by admitting that he hates it when his father yells at him: his response in the poem is to throw his sister down the stairs, and then to wreck his room, and finally to wreck the whole town.  The poem concludes: “Then I sit in my messy house and say to myself, ‘I shouldn’t have done all that.'”

“My messy house” says it all: with more honesty than most adults could have mustered, the boy made a metaphor for himself that admitted the depth of his rage and also gave him a way out.  If that boy had been a novice in the fourth-century monastic desert, his elders might have told him that he was well on the way toward repentance, no such a monster after all, but only human.  If the house is messy, they might have said, why not clean it up, why not make it into a place where God might wish to dwell?

Liturgy 3-5-2017

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, in this wilderness of Lent,

let our wandering hearts find rest in You

untangle our mismanaged priorities

teach us the truth about
who we are and what we are for

shape us by this truth, and teach us to wear it proudly

so that we may live life to the fullest

Amen.

Scripture

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’“

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

Matthew 4:1-11

Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

But he answered, “It is written,

‘One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him,

“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him,

“Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
‘Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.’”

Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

Prayer

This week, we made a prayer of Barbara Cawthorne Crafton's "Living Lent," from Bread and Wine:

We didn't even know what moderation was. What it felt like. We didn't just work: we inhaled our jobs, sucked them in, became them. Stayed late, brought work home – it was never enough, though, no matter how much time we put in.

We didn't just smoke: we lit up a cigarette, only to realize that we already had one going in the ashtray.

We ordered things we didn't need from the shiny catalogs that came to our houses: we ordered three times as much as we could use, and then we ordered three times as much as our children could use.

We didn't just eat: we stuffed ourselves. We had gained only three pounds since the previous year, we told ourselves. Three pounds is not a lot. We had gained about that much in each of the twenty-five years since high school. We did not do the math.

We redid living rooms in which the furniture was not worn out. We threw away clothing that was merely out of style. We drank wine when the label on our prescription said it was dangerous to use alcohol while taking this medication. "They always put that on the label," we told our children when they asked about this. We saw that they were worried. We knew it was because they loved us and needed us. How innocent they were. We hastened to reassure them: "It doesn't really hurt if you're careful."

We felt that it was important to be good to ourselves, and that this meant that it was dangerous to tell ourselves no. About anything, ever. Repression of one's desires was an unhealthy thing. I work hard, we told ourselves. I deserve a little treat. We treated ourselves every day.

And if it was dangerous for us to want and not have, it was even more so for our children. They must never know what it is to want something and not have it immediately. It will make them bitter, we told ourselves. So we anticipated their needs and desires. We got them both the doll and the bike. If their grades were good, we got them their own telephones.

There were times, coming into the house from work or waking early when all was quiet, when we felt uneasy about the sense of entitlement that characterized all our days. When we wondered if fevered overwork and excess of appetite were not two sides of the same coin – or rather, two poles between which we madly slalomed. Probably yes, we decided at these times. Suddenly we saw it all clearly: I am driven by my creatures – my schedule, my work, my possessions, my hungers. I do not drive them; they drive me. Probably yes. Certainly yes. This is how it is. We arose and did twenty sit-ups. The next day the moment had passed; we did none.

After moments like that, we were awash in self-contempt. You are weak. Self-indulgent. You are spineless about work and about everything else. You set no limits. You will become ineffective. We bridled at that last bit, drew ourselves up to our full heights, insisted defensively on our competence, on the respect we were due because of all our hard work. We looked for others whose lives were similarly overstuffed; we found them. "This is just the way it is," we said to one another on the train, in the restaurant. "This is modern life. Maybe some people have time to measure things out by teaspoonfuls." Our voices dripped contempt for those people who had such time. We felt oddly defensive, though no one had accused us of anything. But not me. Not anyone who has a life. I have a life. I work hard. I play hard.

When did the collision between our appetites and the needs of our souls happen? Was there a heart attack? Did we get laid off from work, one of the thousands certified as extraneous? Did a beloved child become a bored stranger, a marriage fall silent and cold? Or, by some exquisite working of God's grace, did we just find the courage to look the truth in the eye and, for once, not blink? How did we come to know that we were dying a slow and unacknowledged death? And that the only way back to life was to set all our packages down and begin again, carrying with us only what we really needed?

We travail. We are heavy laden. Refresh us, O homeless, jobless, possession-less Savior. You came naked, and naked you go. And so it is for us. So it is for all of us.

Liturgy 2-26-2017

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 God revealed in Jesus Christ

To learn what God would
have us know about who God is
And who we are made to be

Spirit, as we sing, pray, and listen

Form us in the way of Christ

Make thin spaces out of our lives

So that we carry your light wherever we go.

Amen.

Scripture

Psalm 99

The Lord is King;
let the people tremble;
the Lord is enthroned upon the cherubim;
let the earth shake.
The Lord is great in Zion;
The Lord is high above all peoples.
Let them confess the Name, which is great and awesome;
the Lord is the Holy One.

"O mighty King, lover of justice,
you have established equity;
you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob."
Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God
and fall down before his footstool;
the Lord is the Holy One.

Moses and Aaron among the Lord’s priests,
and Samuel among those who call upon the Name,
they called upon the Lord, and the Lord answered them.
The Lord spoke to them out of the pillar of cloud;
they kept the Lord’s testimonies and the decree that the Lord gave them.

O Lord our God, you answered them indeed;
you were a God who forgave them,
yet punished them for their evil deeds.
Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God
and worship the Lord upon the Lord’s holy hill;
for the Lord our God is the Holy One.

Matthew 17:1-9

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

Liturgy 2-19-2017

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

Holy God, we have gathered to draw near to you

and in our drawing near, to become like You

we have come that you might mend what is broken in us

and form us by your love
that we may carry your reconciliation into the world.

write your story on our hearts

and teach us the art of being as we were made to be.

Amen.

Scripture

Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God.

You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another. And you shall not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God: I am the Lord.

You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning. You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.

You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Matthew 5:33-37

“Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.”

Liturgy 2-12-2017

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 of justice, we have gathered to direct our attention to You

though our minds are pulled in many directions
grant us the peace of this hour to find rest in You

Drawing near to Your transforming Love

re-form our hearts in the way of Christ
so that we direct our attention to you in all of our hours

And re-calibrate our lives

so that we live as citizens of Your Kingdom.

Amen

Scripture

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Moses said, “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.

But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

Matthew 5:21-37

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.

“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

“Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.”

Black History Month Interview 1

During February, we are taking a cue from Black History Month and making an effort to talk about race and diversity in our liturgy.  We've never done this before, so we are laying a foundation to build upon in years to come.  The primary way this will be present in our liturgies is through a series of interviews with ubcer's about their experience as a person of color and how the Hope of Christ connects to that part of who they are.

Our first interview was with Kerri Fisher, a social worker, writer, and all around wonderful human being.  You can listen to the interview here:

Kerri has also been working on a podcast called On Ramp, that you can (and should) check out here.  The conversations all center around matters of race and faith, and link through to several articles, videos, etc. for further reading.  

Liturgy 2-5-2017

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 Lord of all

Seeking rest, meaning, 
hope, and transformation

God, in our singing, praying, and listening,

Shape us into the people You
have made us to be

People who know You and one another

The way Jesus did

Amen.

Scripture

Isaiah 58:1-12

Shout out, do not hold back!
Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet day after day they seek me
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments,
they delight to draw near to God.

“Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,
and oppress all your workers.
Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to strike with a wicked fist.

Such fasting as you do today
will not make your voice heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?

Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.

The Lord will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places, 
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water, 
whose waters never fail.
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.

Matthew 5:13-20

Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

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.

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.

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.

Liturgy 12-18-2016

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

In our waiting, we wear thin

In the dark, our eyes forget how to see.
In this long night, our hearts forget how to dream.

We have come that You might strengthen us, O God

that Your Love would weave through our frames
And hold us up right

So that in our waiting, we might find Life.

As we wait on the Light,
Transform the people we’ve become
Into those who know how to shine.

Amen

Joy Candle Liturgy

Grasping for Hope, we light the first candle.

[Light Hope Candle]

Longing for Peace, we light the second candle

[Light Peace Candle]

Seeking Joy, we light the third candle

[Light Joy Candle]

Today, we light the love candle. What we mean by “love” when we use it in the context of the Christian story is difficult to pin down.  It doesn’t fit neatly into bullet points.  Instead, it is best defined in a person: the Person of Jesus.  We are beginning a journey through the life of Jesus, and we will become better acquainted with Love throughout the year.  But even in the earliest part of the story of Jesus, the Incarnation, God is showing us what love is: God chooses to be God with us when we deserve God against us.  This surprising flash of light in the darkness is the heart of love. And we light the fourth candle with this particular love in mind.

[Light Love Candle]  

Hear now the Lord speaking out of love for the people of God in Isaiah 7:10-14:

The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test. Then Isaiah said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of human beings?  Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. 

Scripture

Matthew 1:18-25

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 

But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”

which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Prayer

This week's prayer was written by Kareem Shane:

God this week we observe love during the Advent season. God we confess that we don’t know who to love each other and often we don’t know how to love You.
 
God during this Advent is season we recognize both our holy longing and the healing love you have for us, despite the many barriers we put up between ourselves and You.
 
This morning God we sit in our chair and simply cry out “Come Lord Jesus!” God if we let ourselves feel what is in our hearts, we know you will fill us with Your love.  And we can carry that experience with us as we go through the busiest of our week.
 
God we know You waits with infinite love, with Your arms outstretched to meet us. The words we say don't matter. We can speak as if  you are a Friend that we have not seen in a long time, but one with whom we can sit in a comfortable silence and experience Your love and peace.
 
God in this moment we choose to slow down. To breathe more deeply. To allow Your love to penetrate our hearts in the midst of a busy season of life. In this moment we cry out again, “Come, Lord, Jesus.”
 
God we know our lives are messy and we trust You don’t mind messiness of our lives. We believe You love us.
 
God we trust that Your love can’t find its way to our into wound and broken hearts.
 
God again we cry out “Come, Lord, Jesus!” We asked that You come into this place but not only this place but our house, into our families, into our struggles. Bring Your healing love and give us joy again.
 
Come and unite us and let us experience, each in our own way, the love you are offering for us now.”
 
Amen

Liturgy 12-11-2016

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 God who makes deserts bloom like roses

Bringing with us
our own cracked and dry places

God of Joy, who brings living water into parched places,

We ask that you would bring
Peace into our chaos
Hope into our despair
Empathy into our apathy

Until streams flow in our deserts

And our deserts become gardens

Amen

Joy Candle Liturgy

Grasping for Hope, we light the first candle.

[Light Hope Candle]

Longing for Peace, we light the second candle

[Light Peace Candle]

Today, let us consider the fact that we are able to reach for Hope and seek Peace confidently because of the faithfulness of our God; that in the midst of immense darkness, we see glimpses of Light.  In directing our attention to the Light that God is giving us, we are captured by Joy.  This joy is neither fleeting, nor is it limited to the range of emotions that we might call “happy.” Instead, Joy is a way of seeing, where our priorities are not dictated by our own benefit, and where we stubbornly refuse to call the way things are “the way things will always be,” because we see that our God is still working to reconcile all things to Godself. With this in mind, we light the third candle.

[Light Joy Candle]

Hear now of the Lord coming into the darkness of Exile to lead us home in Isaiah 35:1-10.

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,
   the desert shall rejoice and blossom;
like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly,
   and rejoice with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
   the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
   the majesty of our God. 

Strengthen the weak hands,
   and make firm the feeble knees. 
Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
   ‘Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God.
   He will come with vengeance,
with terrible recompense.
   He will come and save you.’ 

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
   and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 
then the lame shall leap like a deer,
   and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
   and streams in the desert; 
the burning sand shall become a pool,
   and the thirsty ground springs of water;
the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp,
   the grass shall become reeds and rushes. 

A highway shall be there,
   and it shall be called the Holy Way;
the unclean shall not travel on it,
   but it shall be for God’s people;
   no traveller, not even fools, shall go astray. 
No lion shall be there,
   nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
   but the redeemed shall walk there. 

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
   and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
   they shall obtain joy and gladness,
   and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 

Scripture

Matthew 11:2-11

When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written,

‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’

“Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

Prayer

This week's prayer was written by Kerri Fisher:

We thank God now for Christ, who is our joy-- 
a spring flowing up and out of us, from a well that lies deep within.

A joy which somehow mysteriously confirms: 
That even in our waiting we are complete, 
That even in our confusion we can know and be known
That even in our sorrow we might be ever full. 

Help us God, to desire to be seekers and cultivators of this joy.
To accept and to share it with children, friends and lovers.
To acknowledge it in strangers, in places, in moments.
To borrow it from one another as we have need--
And to cling to it in the darkness and in the light.

Amen.

Liturgy 12-4-2016

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, please email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Call to Worship

Creator, in the midst of our darkness,

we have gathered to wait for Your Light

And to be transformed by Your peace.

Rewrite the stories we tell
about the way things are

About the way things have to be

And replace them
With a story about what happens
When a light enters the darkness.

Amen.

Peace Candle Liturgy

As we wait for the Light to come into our darkness, we do so in Hope.

[Light Hope Candle]

In our waiting, we also seek the peace of God, that peace that passes all understanding, that puts broken pieces back together, and heals wounds that, by any measure, are beyond repair.

[Light Peace Candle]

Here is God’s promise of peace from Isaiah 11:

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, 
and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 
The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 
His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. 
He shall not judge by what his eyes see, 
or decide by what his ears hear; 
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; 
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 
Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, 
and faithfulness the belt around his loins. 
The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid, 
the calf and the lion and the fatling together, 
and a little child shall lead them. 
The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together; 
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. 
They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; 
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea. 
On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious. 

Scripture

Matthew 3:1-12

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
    make his paths straight.’”

Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Prayer

This week's prayer was written by Val Fisk:

Lord God, who was and is and is to come, let your spirit of wisdom and understanding rest upon us. Teach us to work for the shalom of the world you have created. Fill us with peace as we live in the tension of the already-here and not-yet-arrived Kingdom of God. As we wait with hope for your coming, fill us with shalom that leads to righteousness, greater faith, and a growing love for you and your purposes. 

God, as we seek shalom and as we seek you, teach us about hospitality. Teach us to welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us. Teach us to welcome the poor, the widow, the orphan. Teach us to welcome the immigrant, the weary traveler, the homeless. Teach us to welcome all races, all genders, all orientations, all of humanity with the grace that you extend to each “me” in this room, a sinner. Teach us to welcome our enemies, for you love them with the same love you extend to us. 

Lord, as we anticipate your coming in this season, we anticipate so much - your entrance through birth into human flesh, your daily entrance into our hearts, and your entrance into eternal glory and restoration at the end of time. Let us not become so wrapped up in the image of a baby in a manger that we forget to anticipate your return. As we are filled with your peace and your hospitality, fill us also with your discernment and your love, so that we might be more sensitive to the needs and hurts of those around us. 

Today, we pray for those who have experienced loss this year and are celebrating holidays without those loved ones. Fill these members of your body with peace and teach us to love them well. We pray for those who have lost a child, those who have endured miscarriages, and those who have been unable to conceive. Teach us to speak gently as we speak of the coming of the Christ child. Fill these members of your body with peace and teach us to love them well. We pray for those who have received difficult diagnoses this year. Fill these members of your body with peace and teach us to love them well. We pray for those who have suffered abuse at the hands of others. Fill these members of your body with peace and teach us to love them well. We pray for those who have lost jobs, homes, security and plans for the future. Fill these members of your body with peace and teach us to love them well. And God, for so many other hurts, aches, and unknown circumstances, we pray for peace, love, and even joy in the midst of sorrow. 

In the name of the Mother, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, 
Amen

Liturgy 11-27-2016

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, please email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Call to Worship

Here at the beginning, the Story cycles back.

Faithful God, You are the One Who makes all things new

out of the chaos
of our present age
make us new

Renew us in hope, 

That we may be a people
Driven by love and not fear,
Who know that you
Have not abandoned us

God of promise, 

Come into our darkness
and leave Light enough to see

Amen.

Advent Intro

Today, we find ourselves in the first week of Advent.  If that’s a new term for you, Advent is the season leading up to Christmas where we enter into a drama of sorts.  We unstick ourselves in time, stepping back a couple thousand years, in order to allow ourselves to receive the Gift that God is bringing on Christmas as though we don’t already know what we are celebrating at the end of December.  It is a season of waiting on God, of looking back on the way that God has been faithful to God’s people, and trusting that God will continue to be faithful to us.  

Now, we also stand as particular people in a particular time and place, who can look back a couple of thousand years and know exactly what we are celebrating at the end of December—people who stand in the midst of a story where we have seen just how far God is willing to go to set things right—yet who also know that things are still very broken.  As these people, we too look forward, trusting that God will continue to be faithful to us.

Holding both of these identities, we are preparing ourselves to receive a light in this darkness, and to learn what this light has to teach us about who God is and how God relates to the world.

Of this season, N.T. Wright says:

“For many, Christianity is just a beautiful dream.  It’s a world in which everyday reality goes a bit blurred.  It’s nostalgic, cozy, and comforting.  But real Christianity isn’t like that at all.  Take Christmas, for instance: a season of nostalgia, of carols and candles and firelight and happy children.  But that misses the point completely.  Christmas is not a reminder that the world is really quite a nice old place.  It reminds us that the world is a shockingly bad old place, where wickedness flourishes unchecked, where children are murdered, where civilized countries make a lot of money by selling weapons to uncivilized ones so they can blow each other apart.  Christmas is God lighting a candle; and you don’t light a candle in a room that’s already full of sunlight.  You light a candle in a room that’s so murky that the candle, when lit, reveals just how bad things really are.  The light shines in the darkness, says St John, and the darkness has not overcome it. Christmas, then, is not a dream, a moment of escapism.  Christmas is the reality, which shows up the rest of ‘reality.’”  

With this in mind, we might think of Advent as taking time to look around to see how dark the world is, and how very badly it needs a Light.

Hope Candle Liturgy

We are reminded in this season of Advent that we live by Hope.  Hope in the coming of the Messiah.  Hope that God will bring Light into our present darkness.  Hope that those pinned in by anxiety will find rest.  Hope that those who feel worthless will find their true Value.  Hope that the poor, the homeless, and the refugee, will be given the mercy and justice of God.  And hope that Love will cast out every fear.

For now, we wait, trusting that God is faithful and redeeming all things.  We declare our Hope in lighting the first advent candle.

[Light the Hope candle]

Hear God’s promise of hope from Isaiah 2:2-4: 

In days to come
   the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
   and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it. 
   Many peoples shall come and say,
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
   to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
   and that we may walk in his paths.’
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
   and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 
He shall judge between the nations,
   and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
   and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
   neither shall they learn war any more.

Scripture

Matthew 24:36-44

No one knows the hour or the day, not even the messengers in heaven, not even the Son. Only the Father knows. As it was at the time of Noah, so it will be with the coming of the Son of Man. In the days before the flood, people were busy making lives for themselves: they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, making plans and having children and growing old, until the day Noah entered the ark. Those people had no idea what was coming; they knew nothing about the floods until the floods were upon them, sweeping them all away. That is how it will be with the coming of the Son of Man. 

Two men will be plowing a field: one will be taken, and the other will be left in the field. Two women will be somewhere grinding at a mill: one will be taken, and the other will be left at the mill. So keep watch. You don’t know when your Lord will come. But you should know this: If the owner of a house had known his house was about to be broken into, he would have stayed up all night, vigilantly. He would have kept watch, and he would have thwarted the thief. So you must be ready because you know the Son of Man will come, but you can’t know precisely when.

Prayer

This week's prayer was written by Kim Stübben:

God, 

Together we hope. As we find ourselves in the darkness of thoughts, the darkness of feelings, the darkness of circumstances, and the darkness we have yet to encounter, help us to hope – to find hope – for the light that illumines. 

As we try to light our own way, as we feel around for the light switch, the candle, the lamp, the matches… help us see that this light is yours and not ours. Help us see in the darkness the glimmer of hope, to hear the voice of hope, to feel the heartbeat of hope, help us to heal by hope.

Lord, as we grasp for peace when we begin to see what lies in the darkness, help us to see the hope found in you and the hope found in each other. 

Amen. 

Liturgy 11-13-2016

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, please email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Call to Worship

Maker, as You set about making new heavens and a new earth,

why not re-make all of us as well?

Maker, if You’re not done making, 

Renovate our hearts
Leaving love where there is fear
And empathy where there is loathing.

Re-calibrate our eyes to see people as You do,

And weave your Spirit through our spines
So we can stand beyond our breaking

Amen.

Scripture

Isaiah 65:17-25

For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight.

I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days, 
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.

They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

They shall not labor in vain,
or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord--
and their descendants as well.
Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox; 
but the serpent-- its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.

Luke 21:5-19

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, Jesus said, "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down."

They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?" And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, `I am he!' and, `The time is near!' Do not go after them.

"When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately." Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

"But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls."

Prayer

This weeks' prayers came from An Iona Prayerbook.  The first is uncredited, and the second is credited to Eddie Askew:

Healer of Galilee,
you come, again and again,
to permeate
our human condition;
to take upon yourself
all that hurts us.
And again today
you accompany us
when our bodies are racked with pain,
when our minds are in confusion,
when our self-esteem is lost,
when our failures overwhelm,
when our faith falters,
when our relationships break down,
when in our loneliness we move
beyond tears

Lord Christ,
you are the still centre of every storm.
In you is calm,
whatever the wind outside.
In you is reassurance,
however high the waves.
In you is strength,
however contrary the tide.

Liturgy 11-6-2016

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, please email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Call to Worship

We have gathered seeking rest in the midst of our journey

Broken people
following broken footsteps
on a long and shifting road

In our rest, we seek to know and be known by Our God

To be dwell in God’s story
And to be found there

And in our being known, we seek to be changed

To be formed by the Spirit
Into people who are more like Jesus.

Amen

Scripture

Psalm 145:1-5, 18-22

I will exalt you, O God my King, 
and bless your Name for ever and ever.
Every day will I bless you
and praise your Name for ever and ever.
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; 
there is no end to his greatness.

One generation shall praise your works to another
and shall declare your power.
I will ponder the glorious splendor of your majesty
and all your marvelous works.
The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and loving in all his works.

The Lord is near to those who call upon him, 
to all who call upon him faithfully.
He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; 
he hears their cry and helps them.
The Lord preserves all those who love him, 
but he destroys all the wicked.
My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord; 
let all flesh bless his holy Name for ever and ever.

Luke 6:20-31

Jesus looked up at his disciples and said:

"Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
"Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
"Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.

"Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

"But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
"Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
"Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.
"Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets

"But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you."

Prayer (this week it's a poem)

This week, we read a sonnet by Malcolm Guite called "The gathered glories":

Though Satan breaks our dark glass into shards
Each shard still shines with Christ’s reflected light,
It glances from the eyes, kindles the words
Of all his unknown saints. The dark is bright
With quiet lives and steady lights undimmed,
The witness of the ones we shunned and shamed.
Plain in our sight and far beyond our seeing
He weaves them with us in the web of being
They stand beside us even as we grieve,
The lone and left behind whom no one claimed,
Unnumbered multitudes, he lifts above
The shadow of the gibbet and the grave,
To triumph where all saints are known and named;
The gathered glories of His wounded love.

Liturgy 10-30-2016

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, please email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Call to Worship

We have gathered to seek the One who seeks us

To find the One who has found us

And to enter into the story of Jesus

taking up the love without borders,
and the life that is unbound.

And to be caught up in the work of the Spirit

To fill our lungs with this Breath
And be changed from the inside.

Amen

Scripture

Isaiah 1:10-18

Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.

When you come to appear before me,
who asked this from your hand?
Trample my courts no more;
bringing offerings is futile;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation--
I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me,
I am weary of bearing them.

When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen; 
your hands are full of blood.

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
learn to do good;
seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow.

Come now, let us argue it out,
says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be like snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.

Luke 19:1-10

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today." So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 

All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner." Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost."

Prayer

This week's prayer was adapted by Toph from Kyle Lake's final sermon:

May we live, and live well.
May we breathe deeply the fullness of Christ.
May we be present in each moment we find ourselves in.
May we enjoy each day and feel the warmth of the sun, or the cool crisp air of autumn in our lungs.
May we get knee-deep in a novel and lose track of time.
May we feel the satisfaction of a job well done—a paper well-written, a project thoroughly completed, a play well-performed.
May we be able to mourn when it is time, and may we find ourselves in community in our mourning.
May we laugh, and laugh hard, with friends and family.
May we experience each day with a renewed appreciation of each smell we encounter.  
May we savor every bite of food we take, and relish in the company of friends.  
May we love God.
May we embrace beauty.
May we live life to its fullest.
And may we recognize it is most certainly all a gift from God.
Amen.

Liturgy 10-23-2016

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, please email jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Call to Worship

You Who are quick to forgive and slow to anger,

we have come seeking mercy
for the good have left undone
and the wrong we have done.

Teach us the humility of Jesus

so that we can embrace our true selves,

and fill us with Your Spirit

so we never walk alone.

Amen

Scripture

Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22

Although our iniquities testify against us,
act, O Lord, for your name's sake;

our apostasies indeed are many,
and we have sinned against you.

O hope of Israel,
its savior in time of trouble,

why should you be like a stranger in the land,
like a traveler turning aside for the night?

Why should you be like someone confused,
like a mighty warrior who cannot give help?

Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us,
and we are called by your name; 
do not forsake us!

Thus says the Lord concerning this people:

Truly they have loved to wander,
they have not restrained their feet;

therefore the Lord does not accept them,
now he will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins.

Have you completely rejected Judah?
Does your heart loathe Zion?

Why have you struck us down
so that there is no healing for us?

We look for peace, but find no good;
for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.

We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord,
the iniquity of our ancestors, 
for we have sinned against you.

Do not spurn us, for your name's sake;
do not dishonor your glorious throne;
remember and do not break your covenant with us.

Can any idols of the nations bring rain?
Or can the heavens give showers?

Is it not you, O Lord our God?
We set our hope on you, 
for it is you who do all this.

Luke 18:9-14

Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, `God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, `God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted."

Prayer

This week's prayer was from An Iona Prayer Book, and is credited to Brother Roger:

You are the God of every human being
and, too dazzling to be looked at,
you let yourself be seen as in a mirror,
shining on the face of Christ.
We are eager to glimpse a reflection of your presence,
so open in us the gates of transparency
of heart.
Come and refresh the dry and thirsty ground
of our body and our spirit.
Come and place a spring of living water
in the lifeless regions of our being.
Come and bathe us in your confidence
to make even our inner deserts
burst into flower.

Amen.