At times, the weekly discussion at Mosaic is almost too cerebral, delving deeper and deeper into relatively complex theological questions. Other times, like last Sunday evening, the time is completely used for fellowship and play. I don't know which use of time best characterizes our little church, but I think it is both. The idea that we can live our lives alongside one another, sharing good and bad, questioning and playing, is at the core of who we are. [cincopa AsOAXg6TVcb5]

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ²‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’^{* 3}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.” ’ ⁴Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, ⁶and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

Rob Bell explains why this time of year is all about the waiting.

Christmas is coming. It may seem like it’s way too soon to be talking about trees and lights and presents and eggnog and all that. But Christmas is the culmination of Advent, and Advent is about the church calendar and the church calendar is something we never stop talking about. So that’s what I’m writing on here: Advent. But to talk about Advent, we need to talk about sound, and then time and then Spirit. First, then, a bit about sound. If you are quiet enough in your kitchen, you will hear a noise. It is a continuous sound, a long, droning noise with no particular beginning or ending. It has very little, if any, dynamic range. It may go up and down in volume, but those changes are rarely perceptible. It is the same flat noise, and it goes on and on and on, hour after hour, day after day. If it’s loud enough, it can grate on the nerves, but otherwise it’s simply there. Making that sound, mostly unnoticed, there in the corner of your kitchen. It is the buzzing of your refrigerator. Now for another noise. I’m currently listening to the new Jónsi album (he of Sigur Rós fame), which I’ve had on repeat for a number of weeks now. From the first bleeps, squawks and chirps of the first song, the album is full of noises. Drums, voices, piano—the noises stop and start, come and go, they’re loud and quiet. Some notes sustain for a measure or two, others come and go within the second. The kick drum rumbles, the cymbals clang, the strings flutter. All those sounds work together to make something compelling, inspiring, beautiful, evocative, confrontative, urgent, hopeful, honest or peaceful—something that sounds stunning. Read the Rest on Relevant.com

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This is only the first chapter, but it is amazing. Radical by David Platt (Chapter One)

This past Tuesday, Donald Miller discussed on his blog the problem in Christianity with leaders creating and then suffering from a graceless culture. It seems Christians claim to believe in the grace of God, but then in their own judgment of one another and of others they create a system that does not acknowledge that grace--Miller uses as an example Ted Haggard, who crusaded against homosexuality before being caught in a drugs and homosexual sex scandal, not to condemn Haggard, but to point out how a leader can create the very system he or she will be subject to.

Down in the comments section is the following:

Tom says:

September 29, 2010 at 1:59 pm

Hannah, I understand. I am a youth pastor and have always valued authenticity. I try to be open with my students and parents so that they understand that I am a real person with real problems just like them. The best relationships I have had with both students and parents are ones where we can share each others burdens together. Pleas understand that when I say Youth Pastor I am not just an immature kid fresh out of college, I am a 33 year father who has been married for 9 years. Recently I was “talked to” by my senior leader about making a post on Facebook where I simply opened up that I felt lost sometimes and wished I had more formal education. I was told to be careful what I post because it didn’t inspire confidence in me to our parents. Sorry, but I as a postmodern who grew up in church, I am tired of being confident in my leadership. I am tired of buying into the idea that the elders and pastors had it together and I am just the weak one who needed to step it up if I wanted to be used by Christ. There was no greater influence on my faith then when I was able to find Christian leaders who where willing to admit that they don’t have it all together. These are people I could “do Life with”. These where the people that I actually learned from and helped me see Christ and learn to lean on him through my struggles, not to try and hide my struggles in a vain attempt to appear holy. I don’t have a problem with “ministry”. I have a problem with the “Office” of ministry. We are all called to be ministers not necessarily to peruse a career in it. I am not sure how much longer I will remain in “the ministry”. My wife and I are looking at opening a coffee house and starting a small gathering of believers who want to lean on each other and help our community. So in essence we are looking at leaving “the ministry” for “ministry."

Tom's story sounds very familiar to me. How many times have we all witnessed human frailty claimed by our Christian leaders only when claiming it served them? Why do we all persist in creating facades in our church communities--shitty facades, at that--when those are the places wherein we should be the most honest? Looking in from the outside, I wonder if Christians (especially church leadership) really believe in grace at all. I want to strive to be a person of grace, who can, then, rely on the grace of my community when I need love and support.

Colossians 2: 8-15

⁸See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.⁹For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, ¹⁰and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. ¹¹In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, ¹²having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

¹³When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

This is the scripture we read through this week. Commentary to follow.

Our gathering tonight will be @ Brady's Coffee on Rusk. We'll meet at 5pm for dinner and discussion. See ya there!

                                                                                                                       

 

In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
In the name of goodness and love and broken community.
In the name of meaning and feeling and I hope you don’t screw me…
In the name of darkness and light and ungraspable twilight
In the name of mealtimes and sharing and caring by firelight
In the name of action and peace and human redemption
In the name of eating and drinking and table confession
In the name of sadness, regret, and holy obsession, The holy name of anger, the spirit of aggression
In the name of forgive and forget and I hope I get over this
In the name of father and son and the holy spirit
In the name of beauty and broken and beaten up daily.
In the name of seeing our creeds and believing in maybe, We gather here, a table of strangers, to speak of our hopeland and speak about danger… To make sense of our thinking, to authenticate lives To humanize feeling and stop telling lies
In the name of philosophy, and theology, and who gives a damn?
In the name of employment and study and finding new family
In the name of our passion our loving and indecent obsessions
In the name of prayer and of worship and demon possession
In the name of solitude and quiet and holy reflection
In the name of the lost and the lonely and the without direction
In the name of efficiency, stupidity, and the wholly ineffectual
In the name of the straight, and the queer, and the sometimes bisexual
In the name of Mary and Jesus and the mostly silent Joseph.
In the name of speaking to ourselves, saying, “this is more than I can cope with”
In the name of touch-up and break-up and break-down and weeping
In the name of therapy and Prozac and full-hearted breathing
In the name of sadness and madness and years since I’ve smiled
In the name of the unknown, the alien, and the holy in exile In the name of goodness and kindness and intentionality
In the name of harbor and shelter and family.

At last Sunday's gathering, we looked closely at Colossians 1:15-20. These verses are some of Paul's most poetic, and feature his equation of Jesus with God the father before time. The translation below is from the Message:

15-18 We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body. 18-20 He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.