I wish you all could have been at UCC as we celebrated Youth Sunday this week. This worship service is one of my favorites of the year. The youth lead every aspect of worship — prayer, readings, communion, preaching. It is like a balm to the soul of those who...
Church Family, I just spent five amazing days exploring some of the most beautiful places our nation has chosen to preserve. I camped with friends for two days in Zion National Park and then drove to Bryce Canyon National Park to spend a few hours. (We also made a stop...
Dear Church: About 30 members participated in a discernment activity Sunday. We used four scenarios for the future development of the church property (no change, minimal change, moderate change and maximum change) to clarify the church’s vision as it relates to the neighborhood — to answer a central question that...
Dear Church: In my Easter message I quoted the poet Ranier Maria Rilke: “Go to the limits of your longing.” The line comes from his Book of Hours. The full poem is as follows: God speaks to each of us as he makes us, then walks with us...
Dear Church: University Baptist Church was founded as a mission of First Baptist Church to the University of Texas in 1908. On the occasion of the church’s 75th anniversary in 1983, the congregation expressed its gratitude “to those great-hearted people who conceived the dream of the University Baptist Church with...
Dear Church: Earlier this year we inserted into the church’s announcements a prayer request: “Please pray for our Discernment Committee, the staff and the congregation as we step further into the wonder and fear of what the Spirit is doing at the corner of 22nd and Guadalupe.” The prayer request...
Every spring I watch astounded by the new life that sprouts from the trees, flowers, and vegetables in my back yard. Little miracles are happening everyday in my back yard. And at the same time, I cannot help but also think about the death and decomposition that is happening in...
