From the monthly archives:

November 2009

John 1:1-5

by Lon on November 19, 2009

After spending a large part of the year going through Acts, we’ll begin exploring the Book of John verse by verse for the next while.

If you’d like to be assigned a chunk of scripture to reflect and share from definitely let me know, it’s quite a rich and dense gospel! Feel free to interact/critique/affirm through the comments along the way. You might want to try meditating on the Scriptures itself before reading my reflections.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.

3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

What an obscure introduction to someone completely new to Jesus! However to the Jewish audience this was written to “In the beginning” resounds with echos from Genesis 1:1. John here reveals that in the midst of the epic beginning of all things – the Word – who is later identified as Jesus – was already there.

Jesus – not just some person you see on bumper stickers or chiseled on a cross – but a unique person in all of creation – who was in the beginning with God – and in some mysterious way also described as God.

“Through him all things were made” nothing you see, no matter how broken, torn, bent, or ugly – is without the marks of Jesus somehow etched on him, her, or it. He is the epicenter of “life” – as his followers we ought to be radiating life.

We’re to be stretching out into the darkness, not running from it… in many ways perusing it – Even when rejected, facing failure, and ridiculed – just as we fail to perceive Christ time after time, yet He peruses us with his love.

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Tim Keller – Cultural Transformation

by Lon on November 19, 2009

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Sunday Children’s Time

by dimshie on November 17, 2009

Hello Mosaic,

It has been such a blessing to spend time with the children of Mosaic that it has become dangerously addictive for me. Many brothers and sisters have told me that I need to be in the adult gathering more. My response to them would always be “but being with the children is so much more fun”. I have long struggled with the notion that I might be hogging the kids and their parents on Sundays, so I asked if anyone else would be interested. Many have shied away from “taking charge” of children’s time…maybe I didn’t extend the invitation to the right people? Part of me (being a teacher) wants to make a program for the kids…the big theme based learning. But I know and have learned from teacher’s college that all learning should be child(ren) driven. Plus, at Mosaic, we are organic…or at least learning to be. So right now, all I do with the kids and their parents include things like telling bible stories, eating snack, playing outside, watch a dvd, play, make birthday cards, and/or pray.

Lately, I’ve also felt a disconnectedness when I lead praise and children’s time on the same Sunday. The two things don’t seem to quite flow for me. This is weird because I don’t believe that gathering and worship can be interrupted by a transition between the “adult gathering” and the “children gathering”. Please pray for me as the Holy Spirit teaches me how my act of worship can flow between two gatherings. After all, we are one church…one gathering…children and adults.

Thus, for now, I propose that I will be in charge of children’s time every other Sunday. Children’s time for this Sunday is still ON. I will tell the children about this on Sunday.

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Crash Ahead, Missional Leaders

by pomankwan on November 16, 2009

I was shocked to read Pastor Sandy’s sharing: “Missions Destroyed My Ministry”. It reminds of what’s happening in Mosaic. If you want know how missions destroyed his ministry, please visit this link: http://cmalliance.ca/missionsdestroyedministryp2454.php

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Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters

by Lon on November 16, 2009

I’ve gathered some men from Canada, US, and UK to group blog with me through a book called Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters.

The book explores the unique relationship between a father and a daughter. There’s something there for everyone though – the family is a core unit of the church – If you’re a dad, a daughter, or anything in-between I invite you to follow and interact with the posts there.

Affirm, disagree, comment, make questions, anything goes. It’ll be on for the next three weeks at http://solarcrash.com, join us!

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Mosaic Book Club

by Lon on November 13, 2009

We’re looking into having a book club connecting on weeknights – below is a list of potential books – you can vote on up to three choices. Feel free to leave a comment for other suggestions and preferred nights of the week.

Deadline for input is November 30th.

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Faith, Love, and Hope

by Lon on November 10, 2009

What would you like to be known for?

None of us will live forever.

Mosaic will not go on forever.

We are definitely not here to perpetuate ourselves or an organization forever.

What will go on forever is the Kingdom of God.

It’s up to us whether we want to be a part of that legacy.

In 1 Thessalonians 1:3 Paul speaks of how the church in Thessalonica is known by their faith, love, and hope.

Specifically the Apostle Paul speaks of their ‘work produced by faith‘ – What does it look like to take the counter-cultural teachings of Jesus seriously? There are great tasks that God has called us all to, but this ‘work’ will not get produced without faith. I may often speak of it in terms of ‘risk-taking’ but for those of you who may be more risk-adverse, allow me to phrase it as ‘live-living’. Again, we all die, but how many of us will truly live a life of faith?

Paul describes a ‘labor prompted by love‘ – What’s intriguing about the idea of labor is it relates to effort, not necessarily results. When I speak to others about Mosaic, people are often in awe of all the things that we have tried to articulate the gospel within the church and outside of it. And with anything worth doing, we’ll never all be on the same page, yet we continue anyways. It takes a huge amount of love and grace to support one another even in the midst of disagreements. What does it look like for us to be known by love?

Finally Paul describes the church as being marked by ‘hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” – We have such an amazing and glorious God what more do we need than what he’s already given to us in Christ? He’s our savior, our lord, our great high priest, our king, our wounded healer, and our hope. He’s our hope amid failure, our hope when we’re let down, our hope when nothing seems to work out right. With this hope we can truly be the church that is satisfied in Him alone, not a person, not an organization, not a program, but in Christ. With this hope we can be the church that isn’t here for us, but is here for the needs of a broken world. Will we go out and be known as hope to the world?

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