A community of voices
From the monthly archives:
v3 Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house…
What does this imply about who/what/where the church is?
v4 ‘those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went’ – what would this look like today? when would be a time not to scatter but to stay?
v8 ‘there was great joy in that city’ what would it look like to bring joy to an entire city?
v9-24 Simon the sorcerer – baptized believer – but wanted the power to be able to lay hands on others to receive the Holy Spirit. What did Simon do wrong?
Are there good an honorable things you long for, that you’re not ready for? that God would say no to? that would in some way trace its roots in sin?
Snippets of reflections from an anonymous mosaic member…
I’m not sure if you know but at this point in my spiritual walk, I’m facing a lot of doubts and questions. A lot of this has been stirred by questions …
To be honest, I’m not really sure how God has been talking to me lately. In some ways, I feel like He hasn’t been saying much at all. In other ways, I feel that He’s been trying to draw me back to Him, through conversations I’ve had with my family and through things I’ve come to learn. I’ve been wanting to go on a journey of discovery and ‘soul-searching’ by reading up on things, doing some reflecting, etc. The truth is, however, I haven’t started on this journey largely because I’ve been so preoccupied… I know that another reason for this is that I’m a little afraid of the implications of what I may end up finding.
In terms of my thoughts on Mosaic, I don’t feel that Mosaic is helping me all that much in my struggles with faith. I feel that Mosaic is largely geared towards well-grounded Christians and not-so-much unbelievers. I admire the mission-minded focus of our church but at the same time, I do not honestly feel that we’ve achieved what we had set out to achieve two years ago when we started out. And by “achieve” I don’t mean in terms of the size of the congregation or the number of people we’ve sent out on missions, but rather, I’m referring to the extent to which we’ve become involved with the community. From my understanding, our church is supposed to be more outwardly-focused than the traditional church. And I feel what has happened is that we’ve removed a lot of the “internal” programs characteristic of the traditional church (e.g. Bible studies, Friday Night Fellowships, etc.) but have not expanded our “external” programs (e.g. community service, outreach, etc.) as much as one would expect from a missional church.
At the same time, I do recognize that our church is different from the traditional (Chinese) churches that I’ve come to be well acquainted with, and this is something I truly admire about Mosaic.
these are my thoughts for now. I’m sure there is more I could say but just isn’t coming to mind right now. I really hope I don’t come across as overly critical or anything like that; I just really wanted to use this opportunity to express my personal feelings and give some honest feedback.
There’s lots of great re-telling of Israelite history in this chapter… if you want a quick summary of the Old Testament, Acts 7 is great to go through.
My only reflection at the moment is from one section
v39 – “Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him; instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt…”
v40 “Make gods for us who will lead the way for us…”
It is so easy to go back to what is familiar, even if it enslaves us.
We all want others to lead.
Except not just any leaders, we typically want leaders or ‘gods’ to take us where we’ve already been. That don’t call us out, and keep us in comfortable places.
When we’re not leading ourselves, we don’t need to take responsibility of our actions.
We can go with the motions, while our hearts are turned back to somewhere else.
Mosaic, you’ve likely left things behind in your journey. Possibly even good things.
But what would it mean, for each of you (yes, you) to personally lead while moving ahead forward together?
Mosaic = an environment led by the Holy Spirit… fixed on God… united in and by Christ
We try to listen for the Holy Spirit and caution ourselves not to create structures that limit the work of the Spirit
Mosaic needs to be a light in the world… we need not to hide our light within a building… within our church… within our lives.
Mosaic is a body that expects growth, struggles, tensions, and miracles.
Hello fellow mosaic people,
This is Phil. (waves hand)
Okay, I’ll be first to say it: Where have all the bloggers gone?! I understand the irony of me making such an open and bold observation, given I kinda fell off the map for half a year, but c’mon people – let’s get the dialogue going again! Lon as usual, has been doing a great service by providing regular sustenance for our blogging appetite! But all that time in the wordpress kitchen must get tiring. Good thing we got a fresh bottle of champagne on Easter Sunday to help us setup for the next course.
Anybody up for some sashimi? A little bit of floundering around, an attempt to acquire the taste for something different, and keeping it RAW. How I’ve been living my life…
If you’d be so kind to have a taste of what I’ve prepared, I’d like to do three things with this blog. (1) Apologize. (2) Explain. And, (3) Encourage.
(1) Apologies
I want to apologize for disappearing without a trace back in the fall. Knowing as tactful as you all are, I was surprised nobody came out bluntly and asked me: “WHERE the heck have you been in the last, oh i dunno, last 6 months?!?!” Most whom were brave enough to ask, would inquire in a more polished manner “so… what have you been up to?” I would deflect the question with a few quick answers to satisfy the curiosity. Oh y’know, I’ve been really busy with work… setting up my new condo… working on many side projects… and finish off the thought with the severing of follow-up questions by turning the lazy-susan with a: ”what about YOU”? I am sorry for being so distant.
(2) Explanations
Yes, it is true that I’ve been busy at work. Yes, it is true that I’ve been working on my new condo. Yes, it is true that I’ve been working on many side projects. But to be completely honest – I needed a renewal. I needed to break the cycle I was in. Coming to Mosaic was spiritually-enhancing for many months… but some time in the fall, I realized I was falling into a mould. I was becoming stagnant. I had to break out and “experience God in a new and fresh way”. And out there on my own, I dabbled in connecting with some other Christ followers, I checked out the Meeting Place, and well – I also sinned greatly out there on my own. I was thirsting for something different. But that selfish need for change manifested itself into a quest for self-actualization, compromising what God likely intended, and landed me in an awkward spot that required me to perform a self-rescue. I know my explanation probably sounds little more than a riddle of abstracts… I guess what I’m really saying is that – I wanted to go solo, but know I need help.
(3) Encouragement
I have an inkling my outwardly (sometime emotional) expressions probably make people uncomfortable. But I hope my sharing might have spark something inside you today. My hope is that somebody will come with me on a journey – out there. I know at church we all sit and stare at our feet and at the ceiling whenever Pastor Ka or Lon propose a participatory reaction. We are good at bottling up our thoughts and feelings. We like to save every last drop for ourselves. For those who have taken the Jesus Meal before, you know the comfort you feel to drink from the cup, believing the Son of God has died for your sins. But remember, as Pastor Ka rightly pointed out on Sunday, it is the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection that we should be cracking the bottles open for this renewed life. People know I like my drinks. Sinful as it may be, I’m hoping somebody will free-pour with me.
