Video fun: God is...

silly. but happy. and true.

a little above where our kids are thinking, but I think good for us to think about.

what do you think?

thanks to henry zonio for posting.

Seasons of the Soul

Enjoying Matt's thoughts here

and my good friend, Erin's, here

Read and enjoy!

Eucharistic Prayers

I found a helpful list of questions to ask before giving the blessing prayer as we head to Communion. I thought these would be super helpful in getting the kids prepared to join their parents for Communion. I plan to adapt them, and come up with a few of my own, and begin using them in the coming weeks!

Preambles before the Eucharistic Prayer

This might be a set of biddings or reasons for giving thanks, spoken by children or others, before the opening dialogue. Jewish-style questions and answers such as the following might be compiled, perhaps to echo the theme of the service. A child might ask the questions, which the president or deacon might answer, and not all questions need be attempted every time.

Q Why do we give thanks and praise to God?
A Because he has created all that is, and he has given us life. He is Lord of all, and yet loves each of us.

Q Why do we remember Jesus?
A Because he was sent from God and he gave up his life for us on the cross. God raised
him from the dead so that we might see that death is not the end, but the beginning of a new life, the life Jesus showed us how to live.

Q Why do we use bread?
A Because Jesus took bread at the Last Supper. It is a sign of Jesus feeding us as we hare with others around his table.

Q Why do we use wine?
A Because this wine is a sign of Jesus' saving love, poured out for us when he died on the cross.

(or)

Q Who are we remembering and who is here with us?
A Jesus Christ the Lord who lives today.

Q Why do we take this bread?
A To show that his body was given up to death for us.

Q Why do we take this wine?
A To show that Jesus shed his blood for our sins.

Q Why is there one loaf and one cup?
A Because we are one family; we belong to each other like the parts of a body.

Q Why do we come to his table?
A He invites us because he accepts us. We are his people and we share in his
heavenly life.

Q For how long will Christians celebrate like this?
A Until Jesus comes to take us to be with God in heaven.

Whatever happens, the actions, style and approach of the president, while being accessible to children, should make clear that the Eucharistic Prayer which follows is addressed to God, in whose presence it is right to be filled with awe. The sense of mystery should not lose out to a chatty educational or instructional approach.

I really like these! I'm thinking that as the kids line up downstairs, I will choose two children to each read a question, which I will answer. I will follow this up with a prayer of blessing for Communion before we head up!

source: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/texts/newpatterns/notes/children.html

image from here

Children and Lying

A helpful post and link list for parents dealing with lying habits in their children. Click here!

A post for Erin

I have this friend Erin. We became friends in Poland. We lived in an apartment in Czestochowa with two other girls. But, Erin and I would stay up late into the night, sitting across from each other in these super ugly 80s chairs. We would talk about what God was doing in us. We would talk about how God was using our team. We would talk about what Jesus was doing in the lives of the young people we were hanging out with in Czestochowa. But, often, we would just talk about the Gospel. We talked about what we had learned to be the Good News, what it was that was so good about Jesus and what He had done. We talked about our favorite things that we had learned through the Bible, sermons, YWAM schools. Eventually, we decided, that all the quotes and scriptures and sermons we loved... they were all saying the same thing. They all taught the same one thing (well, a few things bundled together into one thing): The Gospel. We decided, then, that there was really only one teaching. And we started calling it "the one teaching." So, whenever we came across the kind of Good News that just makes your heart happy, we'd look at each other and say, "it's the one teaching."

I share this story today, because I read something today, and my mind and heart went back to those chairs in Poland.

Check it out:

"In order to live out the life God intends for us to live, we must understand and believe the gospel AND it must permeate all of life. Many Christians believe the gospel is the starting point in their relationship with God, but that they move on to something more after that. If this is the case, they are deserting the one who called them by grace and turning to another god to save them – they are no longer living in line with the very truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:6-10; 2:14). The gospel is the power of God to save everyone who believes (Romans 1:16) and to make them righteous by faith in the work of Jesus Christ, accomplished on their behalf (Romans 1:17; 2 Corinthians 5:17, 21). However, it’s not only the beginning of our Christian life, but it is also the ongoing means by which we are changed (Colossians 2:6- 7). As Tim Keller has stated, “The gospel isn’t just the ABCs of Christianity, but the A to Z.” It is the way in which we are to live everyday of our life. The reason why so many Christians fail to experience ongoing transformation is because they have forgotten what God has done for us in the Gospel (2 Peter 1:3-9)."

The Gospel is not the starting point. Oh no, it's the only thing. We could read about it, talk about it, process through it, learn about it forever. And we must. It's how we'll be changed. And 2 Peter 1:3-9 is one of the things I thought about a lot that summer. We have everything we need for life and godliness, and we need to be reminded of that a lot, so that we don't forget.

The above paragraphs come from "The Gospel Means" by Jeff Vanderstelt of Soma Communities in Tacoma, WA

Thanks Amber and Erin for letting me use this picture without asking :)

More of what I'm reading

Carla Barnhill's thoughts on children and faith here and here.

What I'm reading

Kathy Escobar's thoughts on what the church could be. Here.

Don Miller & the New Year's Day Parade

A great post from Donald Miller, telling the story of the New Year's Day Parade his friend started in San Diego. Read the post here.

Our staff got to hear Donald Miller speak earlier this year, and he told us this story. He used it as an illustration that no one in ministry should get to watch the parade, it takes all of us! He left us with the challenge to "Join the parade!" I am so thankful for everyone at Mosaic who has done so. It's awesome to be living out this life with all of you.

More of What I'm reading

Sojourn Kids has an interesting series of posts called 9 Reasons Not To “Ask Jesus Into Your Heart”

Don't worry, they believe in the power of the Gospel and in teaching it to children.

So do I, so do I.

I find their thoughts on this to be really interesting!
I especially enjoyed point 2 of this post.

What do you think?

Advent Conspiracy

If you missed the video on Sunday, or you'd like to share it with someone else, here it is.



What if we did things differently? What if we could give more, but spend less.

If you're looking for a way to get involved with clean water, try our friends at Charity:Water.

What I'm reading

Scot McKnight's thoughts on young people and church. Here.

Quote of the Day

"Faith is a gift from God.

It is not a set of beliefs; nor is it a well-developed
cognitive understanding of all things spiritual.

It is an act of grace, in which God chooses to be
in relationship with humanity."

-Karen Marie Yust, author of Real Kids, Real Faith

What do you think?

What I'm reading

Infants & Toddlers in worship. Interesting thoughts here.

Quote of the day

"In the end, it’s not about who is right and who is wrong. It is about broken images of God reaching out to other broken images of God and pointing them to the one who can make them whole again. We can’t do that from the inside of a clubhouse."

This was written by Henry Zonio in this post. You should go read the whole thing!

I was inspired, after reading this, to again think about how we at Mosaic are on the right track. We are definitely not perfect, as individuals or as a community. But, as the quote suggests, we are broken people, broken images of God, reaching out to the one who can make us whole again. May we love one another, and love our neighbors as ourselves so that, as John 13:35 says, people will look at us and recognize that we look like Jesus, that they may come to him and be transformed.

image from here

If Churches Were Parks

I read this last week and found it thought provoking:

If we tore down our church buildings and replaced them with parks, would the buildings be missed? If churches were parks, there would be trees and grass and places for pleasant walks, neighborhood families enjoying the changing seasons, and our "old ones" sitting on benches telling chlidren stories of their lives and faith.
In the fall, as the leaves changed from green to yellow, orange and red, we could invite our friends and neighbors to corn roasts and BBQs; creation - in the park. We could leave the children something wonderful in a world gone mad.
In the winter we could roll in the snow with the neighborhood children, throw snowballs, create snow sculptures, and get to know each other again as we walked under trees heavy with hoar frost. At Christmas we could string colored lights, decorate a Christmas tree, savor the story of the nativity, and sing carols under quiet stars.
If churches were parks, we would have to forsake our games of power and our dreams of empire for pleasant walks, snow frost, corn roasts, Christmas trees, carol sings, Easter pageants, and heart-to-heart talks with those who need to know why we still believe in our God. If our churches were parks, all people could gather there; they could come whenever they wished, for there would be no locked doors or security windows on our parks - no stained-glass windows to hide behind. Members of the church eating lunch in the park could strike up a conversation with a business person, university student, or shopper resting before heading home, or admire the muticolors of a group of teenagers and ask them if they are agraid of the world we have created for them, or angry because of the futures we may have taken away from them.
Of course we would find pain in our parks: lonely people, unhappy children, sullen youth. We might confront those trying to buy drugs in our parks. We might fear those who would hurt us and steal from us. If our churches were parks, we would have to confront the world outside our buildings. We would have to be those who make peace and speak of redemption and hope rather than those who hide behind fortress walls and wish the world away.
When God started the world, he put his man and woman in a park. He chose to walk and talk with his creation in a park. When we were cast out of the park, we began to build towers, empires, cities, and temples. We had to acquire and possess - not only the present but the past and the future. We found ways to control our world and other persons. It's hard to do this in a park.

Obviously the "park" image cannot be pressed too far, but it does suggest that there are certain qualities that should be nurtured in our congregations - especially when children are present. How much of the park do children find in our churches?


Taken from Children Matter, p. 149. Written by Linda Cannell

Now, don't get me wrong, I love me some contemplation and a beautiful stained glass window. But, this for sure got me thinking about and appreciating the community we share as Mosaic. A couple of weeks ago at Broadway Park we gathered for a picnic, some play time, and some time to tell our stories, and it was so wonderful to share that with all of you and just enjoy our church community at the park. But, how might we bring some of the "park" with us as we gather indoors?

John 9 Chiastic Structure

This one isn't for the kids...

Johnny had mentioned that he noticed this structure in the passage and thought it was really interesting and proved that John was really going for something with the Pharisees. Then, I found this picture, so I thought I'd share.

More interesting John 9 thoughts here.

Borrowed from here.

Praying the Psalms

My post the other day about this book got me thinking about Eugene Peterson's thoughts on the Psalms. Before he wrote The Message, Eugene Peterson was a Pastor... of a church plant, no less! He describes, in his introduction to the book of Psalms in The Message, how as a Pastor he was "charged with, among other things, teaching people to pray." He would frequently point them to the Psalms, and eventually he started paraphrasing them for people to use in prayer, leading to his now famous project of paraphrasing the Bible into what we know as The Message. What I love about Psalms for Young Children is that just as Eugene Peterson paraphrased the Psalms for adults to use in prayer, Marie-helen Delval has now done the same for children. This book is a great way to teach children to pray, using these Psalms written in words they can grasp.

Here are Eugene's thoughts on praying the Psalms:

"Faced with the prospect of conversation with a holy God who speaks worlds into being, it is not surprising that we have trouble. We feel awkward and out of place: 'I'm not good enough for this. I'll wait until I clean up my act and prove that I am a decent person.' Or we excuse ourselves on the grounds that our vocabulary is inadequate: 'Give me a few months - or years! - to practice prayers that are polished enough for such a sacred meeting. Then I won't feel so stuttery and ill at ease.'
My usual response when presented with these difficulties is to put the Psalms in a person's hand and say, 'Go home and pray these...
...Untutored, we tend to think that prayer is what good people do when they are doing their best. It is not. Inexperienced, we suppose that there must be an 'insider' language that must be acquired before God takes us seriously in prayer. There is not. Prayer is elemental, not advanced language. It is the means by which our language becomes honest, true, and personal in response to God. It is the means by which we get everything in our lives out in the open before God."

So, like I said, grab a copy of the book, and let's teach our kids to pray and to live lives of open communication before God.

image from _multifaceted on flickr.

Henry Zonio on Family Ministry

I read a really interesting post on Family Ministry here today.

His thoughts are things I've also been thinking about and mulling over. What we do with our time at Mosaic can only add to what children are learning from their parents, teachers, mentors, relatives and siblings. But, I loved what he said here:

"While family ministry programs and systems and initiatives and whatever else you might want to add are good, I don’t believe they are the answer. We, as ministry leaders, need to model for our community that church is more than just a building… that worship is more than just a church service… that everyone in God’s family is a minister and needs to be doing ministry in the greater community together as families… that all parts of our lives need to be lived out as worship… that wherever we are, we are carry the image of God as lives transformed by the Holy Spirit…"

This is something I think we are trying to teach our kids at Mosaic... something we're attempting to live out together. Super encouraging.

Scot McKnight's Prayer for the Week

After our chat tonight about the Holy Spirit and the Trinity, I stumbled onto this prayer over at Jesus Creed. Enjoy.

"Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."

Rhythm

"'All God's children got rhythm. That's the way God made us.'
Life reflects that rhythm. Sleeping & waking. Work & rest. Going to school & earning a living. Gathering as a community to worship God, being nurtured in faith & going out to shape others.
The rhythm in God's design is seen through the trajectory of growth from infancy to early childhood, from middle childhood to youth, & on to adulthood. As we minister to children we must respect, and adjust to, the rhythm of the child's development."

from Children Matter: Celebrating their Place in the Church, Family and Community

I'm reading this excellent book on kids. Today, I ran across this quote and thought it fitting. It's encouraging to know that "rhythm" is part of the way God made us. As we attempt to live our rhythms of Beautify, Listen, Eat, Study, & Send together each week, we are attempting to live out and express part of how God created us.
I was also challenged by the concept of observing the rhythms of children as they grow, & learning to minister within those rhythms. Good Stuff. Thoughts?

image from Amazon.com at above link.