Mosaic Blogs

Hi Mosaic,

I haven’t posted for a long time. Remember what I shared on Sunday about the food shortage in the food banks (Daily Bread & Second Harvest) of Yonge Street Mission. Inspired by the Holy Spirit and His Word found in 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 (New Living Translation), I have initiated a food drive and will welcome non-perishable items and financial donations towards supporting these food banks. It is also important to note that God expects us to give in proportion to what we have.

11Give in proportion to what you have. 12 Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. 13 Of course, I don’t mean your giving should make life easy for others and hard for yourselves. I only mean that there should be some equality. 14 Right now you have plenty and can help those who are in need. Later, they will have plenty and can share with you when you need it. In this way, things will be equal. (2 Corinthians 8:11-14, NLT)

I will be collecting them this Sunday, July 5th, 2009 and will deliver them Sunday (I’m still waiting for them to call me back to see if that is feasible, if not I will deliver them on Monday). If you would like to help me deliver the food on Sunday, you are welcome to contact me before Sunday via email: dimshie@gmail.com

Here is some information about Yonge Street Mission:

Yonge Street Mission’s Community Services Branch serves the Regent Park, Moss Park and lower St. Jamestown communities.  In the last year, about 15,000 people have participated in our programs with about 88,000 visits.

Community Services provides programs from daycare, after-school children’s homework and arts programs, breakfast clubs, youth leadership programs, drop-ins for socially isolated adults, ESL assistance, employment and housing support, women and family programs, computer education for children and adults, seniors programs and a food bank.

The demand on our Food Bank has increased significantly this year, at the same time that food prices have increased and donations to Daily Bread Food Bank have dwindled.  As we approach the summer season, we invite you to conduct a food drive.  Yonge Street Mission will arrange collection of the food.
The Regent Park/Moss Park community is one of the most economically disadvantaged regions in Canada.  Here is a snapshot of the community:

High number of children and youth: There is a higher percentage of children and youth in the community than in the rest of Toronto (27.9.3% of the population is youth aged 14 and under.  There are 1045 children between the ages of 5 and 9 and another 1020 between the ages of 10-14. 16.4% of the population is youth aged 15-24.  There are 925 teens between the age of 15 to 19.)  Almost 45% of the population is 24 years or under.  In the City of Toronto, 16.4% of the population is under age 14.

Lowest income census tract in Ontario: 73.2% of residents in North Regent Park live below the low income cut-off before tax.  In the City of Toronto, 18.4% of the population is considered low income before taxes

Regent Park North remains in the lowest-income census tract in Ontario. The second lowest-income census tract in Ontario contains Regent Park South.  The median family income in Regent Park is $22,902.. The median individual income before tax for persons 15+ in North Regent Park is $12,078. The median individual income before tax for persons 15+ in South Regent Park is $14,696.  For a family of one, the before tax low-income cut-off is $20,778; for a family of four, it is $38,610,

Working poor and Recipients of Social Assistance: Over 40% of households derive their income from employment. Around 40% of households receive social assistance. Thus, despite stereotypes, the same number of families receive income from working as receive social assistance.

Large Population of Newcomers: New residents are increasingly recent immigrants, with 25% of the population arriving in Canada during the past five years.  More than half of the newest immigrants in the Regent Park area arrived from mainland China and Bangladesh. Immigrants from Vietnam, Somalia, Jamaica and Sri Lanka compose the majority of the remainder. Today, 63% of residents speak a language other than English as a first language.  Almost 2000 new immigrants arrived in and around Regent Park in the last five years, with over 2000 arriving in the five years previous to that.

Hugely Diverse Population: Approximately 60% of Regent Park residents are immigrants. 78% of Regent Park residents are members of a visible minority. Over 70 languages are spoken in Regent Park.  The region has twice the number of single-parent families as the rest of Toronto.

Here is what they need:

• Canned fruit
• Canned vegetables
• Kraft Dinner
• Canned fish (tuna, salmon, sardines)
• Chunky stew
• Cereal
• Juice
• Pasta
• Kidney beans or red beans
• Dairy (milk and eggs) – cash donations or ability to deliver

Also very much appreciated would be financial donations for purchasing

• Fresh fruit and vegetables
• Fresh eggs
• Meat

See you Sunday everyone =)

A friend recently made this video that delves into some themes we’ve been exploring together.

This week’s message isn’t so much a sermon, but powerful nevertheless. Bono shared this at the TED conference 4 years ago.

Read the passage here

- Paul argued with those in the synagogue – obviously there is a case for debating – interesting that the context was with other religious leaders though

- i wonder who these ‘leading women’ were who joined Paul

- mob formed against Paul and Silas for ‘acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor, saying that there is another king named Jesus – why can’t we say this today?  and if we do, why does no one seem to care?

- In Beroea – new believers – ‘examined the scriptures everyday’ – if newbies do it – shouldn’t we all?

- Paul spoke in a way that caused mystery, confusion, yet those who were intrigued and wanted to know more.  How can we learn from this?

- Paul took the time to examine the idols and gods in the city – if we took the time to examine our culture, what would we find?  in our culture, and within ourselves?

Most of you know I’m probably in over my head – and as with all substantial hopes and dreams – it requires more than one person.  I’m always looking for all sorts of help for various kingdom advancing projects.

If you or someone you know are passionate about any of the below areas, let me know.

Spiritual – Prayer, theological and practical research

Leadership – Networking, Logistics / Planning, Visioning, Passion-ing

Artistry – Music, performance, spoken word, writing, fashion, AV, graphic design, etc.

Web Development – See specific posting need here

If you’ve got a gift from God you don’t feel is being fully used, please, just drop me a note!

While we try to keep things interactive on sunday mornings, I know some of us are looking for some straight up concrete preaching to take us through the week as well.

The great thing about living in our age is that some of the best scholars, pastors, and communicators have their messages made available online.

I’ve decided to weekly post message that has personally impacted me and will hopefully do the same for you and help feed your soul.  My hope is that messages or sermons never simply tickle your insides, but move what you learn towards transformation in your own life and your interactions with others on the ‘outside’.

I will try to have a wide range of perspectives available to you as well.  Our Christian heritage is a truly rich one, and if you follow along closely you’ll hear from some amazing old-school biblical scholars to cutting-edge missionaries.

This week for starters I want to introduce you to Timothy Keller.  He’s right down the middle as a rock solid bible expositor out of  new york who also highly engages the culture.  this is his message on “Why plant churches”?

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Click the link to read the entire chapter of Acts 16

- the NT always describes Paul on the go, there are several places where he stays for a couple years, and I think there’s depth behind that, but there’s a lot of being on the move.

- Timothy was circumcised anyways – was this an attempt at becoming all things, so some might be saved?

- Who on earth checks for circumcision anyways?

- people actually come to belief through proclamation and listening

- receiving hospitality – not in a place of control

- “these men are disturbing our city” – how often do our churches get nailed for ‘disturbing’ the city by releasing the oppressed?

- did belief lead to ‘you and your household’ being saved because belief had to lead to action?  and was never a private solo affair?  How often does the beliefs you state lead towards actions?

Technology is suppose to enrich our faith, not take us away from it.

Here’s a short primer on what rss/subscriptions are – something i personally use to save time and stay on top of things. 

When you see an icon like this show up in a web page or at the top of your browser address bar – it means you can ’subscribe’ to the site.  It’s also sometimes linked or referred to as an RSS feed.  With this, I rarely visit individual websites.  By clicking on it,  you can ’subscribe’ to everything new that shows up on that web site, and it gets aggregated into a ‘reader’.  I recommend google reader

Google reader collects all the sites that i’m subscribed to and brings it together into the one site that I visit.  This way I don’t need to continually check or visit multiple sites for new content, I simply go to my reader application.

ie. If you want to subscribe to this mosaic blog, you can click on the orange icon up at the top, or you can click this ‘link‘.  Make sure you’ve already signed up for a reader or register yourself for one afterwards at http://google.com/reader

You can subscribe to my blog here, and thousands of other blog and news sites around the world this way.

That’s your faith/tech update for the week.  Hope it helps.

Read Acts 15 here

This chapter explores how a council was held in Jerusalem to discuss whether the new believers should be circumcised.

It’s amazing how much was still up for discussion.  It’s so easy to think of the early church as idyllic untainted times, but there were weight issues that still needed to be dealt with.

This passage still somewhat bothers me.  The fact that they can know that it is ‘through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are”, remove the need for circumcision and yet somewhat ‘compromise’ and still have several rules in place (v19-21), doesn’t quite jive with me.

They sound like decent rules, especially in their given context, but still…

v35 – Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.  – the ‘many others’ bit is a good reminder that there can be a community of teachers and guides.

Your thoughts?

Are there passions in your life that you’ve turned back from doing due to possible criticism?

Have you ever been mocked for an audacious dream or hope you have in your life?

How do we create a healthy community that speaks the truth in love, and encourages one another to flourish in God’s calling? What can we learn from Susan Boyle about mission and the way we interact with one another?