Tessera Materials

Mosaic Friends,

Happy Tessera Weekend! After opening with a prayer of thanksgiving for your opportunity to gather, take time to remind each other of our Mosaic baptism/pool party celebration on August 9 at 5:30pm at Cooper YMCA. Even if swimming isn't your thing, come on out and encourage those being baptized!

Read/Reflect: Romans 8:12-25 (NIV)

Minnesota's own rock star, Prince, gave us one of the most iconic spoken introductions in music history: "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life."

Turns out, that's not bad theology.

Life is filled with joy and beauty. It's also filled with hardship, struggle, hostility, and pain. So what are we supposed to do with all of it?

Our calling is not to grit our teeth and try harder in our own strength. To borrow from Prince one more time: when "the elevator tries to bring you down," you can frantically keep jabbing at the buttons, hoping to force your way to a higher floor. Or you can remember that, as God's children, we are never riding alone.

The Spirit of God is with us in every hardship, carrying us toward the day when Christ will make all things new. When we learn to locate our lives within that larger story of hope, something remarkable begins to happen. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control don't become virtues we strain to manufacture. They begin to bloom within us as the fruit of God's life at work in us, preparing us to live faithfully in the present age while anticipating the glorious redemption still to come.

12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

• Think of one challenge you'll likely face this week. What might it look like to rely on the Spirit instead of your own strength in that situation? Which fruit of the Spirit would you most like to see flourish as a result?

Closing Prayer

Steadfast God,
teach us your way and your truth.
Root us in you alone,
help us to grow in grace and love,
that we may fulfill our role and our work
in the reign of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Giving Update

YTD Need: $185,484
YTD Giving: $180,029
Variance: -$5,455