PEOPLE OF THE STORY OF GOD
EPISODE 1
Prayer
O God,
We are gathered here, uniquely in all of history,
we particular people in this singular time and place.
We are called to be priests in your cosmic temple of Creation.
Tune our hearts to the voice of your Spirit.
Wake us to be present to You and to one another
in these shared moments we are given.
May we in our joys find grace to enter the sorrows of others.
May we in our sorrows find grace to embrace the joys of others.
Let us prize these moments and care for one another deeply–
for each of us, and our relationships to one another, are precious and eternal.
O Father, enlarge our hearts.
O Spirit, expand our vision.
O Christ, establish your kingdom among us. Amen.
Scripture
Genesis 1:27 – 2:3
Reflection
This isn’t just any old world of trees, cicadas, cotton candy skies, squirrels, lakes, walleye, oceans, whales and mountains we live within. It’s a cosmic temple! And after Israel’s one God spoke and brought form and function to his cosmic temple he moved in and rested on the seventh day. This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that? Could you build me such a resting place?” ~Isaiah 66:1
And if you have a temple created by a deity, you have priests. Every temple has priests! These priests care for and watch over the temple. They are uniquely created in God’s image. They are his icons stamped with his image, per se. They live in communion with the holy deity of this cosmic temple. They share and reflect his glory. And the opening chapters of Genesis tell the story of humanity’s first two priests. They are Israel’s parents. They initially flourished in their garden home (the inner holy of holies of this cosmic temple) as they worked, worshipped, and played in union with God. They were to guard and protect this temple as they walked with God and trusted him in all things.
Yet, as we know, that moment arrived as the chaos and enmity of the serpent entered into the story and pulled them from guarding, protecting and, ultimately, trusting. Here is where everything began to fall apart. Chaos and death entered. They instantly knew they were naked, but who told them? We feel this chaos, death and shame at work in all kinds of ways as a result. It happens in relationships, politics, economics, and even in our very lives. We don’t fully understand all these things, but we sure do feel them.
But this God who gives and gives offers a beautiful promise. He will damage the head (Gen. 3:15) of the one who brings chaos and enmity into his cosmic temple. The head of this chaos and turmoil will be vanquished, and we still live today in the light of this promise as we respond to the call to be priests working, worshipping, guarding, protecting and trusting.
At the cross, Jesus dealt a blow to the head of this chaos and turmoil. At Jesus’ return, the culmination and renewal of all things will commence.
- How is viewing creation as a cosmic temple rather than simply a materialistic world disconnected from Divine presence helpful in understanding who we are as people?
- What aspects of your work, worship and play stir gratitude in you as you live in this cosmic temple that’s been provided?
- In what ways do chaos and death at work in this cosmic temple bring you grief and heaviness during this season of life?
- How do we live in light of the hope of this chaos and death finally being vanquished at some point in the future? What kind of people are we to be?
HEART OF MOSAIC
Are you new to Mosaic or simply feeling a need to discover more of your purpose in this beautiful church family?? The Heart of Mosaic is a 4 week small group focused on helping you learn more about who we are and helping you discover how you’d like to be involved in the life of our church. These conversations will happen at 10am over the following weeks, location TBD:
Sep 29 – Stories of a Mosaic
Oct 13 – Ecumenical, Inter-Denominational, Creedal
Oct 27 – Collective of Participants
Nov 10 – Intentionality in our Movement
If you’d like to join us on this 4 week journey, please email [email protected] or [email protected].
AMAZON WISHLIST
What a joy it is to have so many incredible kids at Mosaic! We are so thankful for the life they bring to our church family and wanted to give you all an opportunity to participate in refilling/building up their supplies, especially as we approach the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year. If you are interested in contributing, click here to be redirected to their Amazon wish list.
KIDS’ WORSHIP
Starting Sunday, August 18th, we will be welcoming our K-5th graders into our opening corporate worship at Mosaic. They will join us in singing and be dismissed before the message. Mosaic’s leadership has discerned this to be a good and beautiful thing for a couple of main reasons.
1. Our Mosaic Kids are part of us. Worshipping together is a beautiful reflection of our multi-generational church family. It’s important for us to see one another, sing one another forward, and turn our hearts and minds toward Jesus together.
2. Our Mosaic Kids leaders are part of us. For Mosaic Kids leaders to worship together with all their Mosaic family on a Sunday morning is essential and life-giving to their faith.
Parents, you’ll still need to check in your K-5th graders at the Mosaic Kids check-in table when you arrive on a Sunday morning. However, your K-5th grade children will not enter their classrooms until after our opening set of gathered worship around 10:30 am. They will be dismissed and meet their teachers at the back doors of the Piedmont Park sanctuary to head to their classrooms at that time. Your nursery and preschool children (ages 0-5) can still check in and go to their classrooms immediately unless you want to have them join you for worship as well. Please share these things with your children as you help them understand the goodness of this movement. We encourage you to not just tell them what’s happening, but help them understand why it’s happening. We believe it to be a joy to share in this gathered worship across our generational spectrum. We will be welcoming one another as Christ has welcomed us.
MOSAIC GIVING
We’re a community trusting in God’s abundance as we practice our movement of receiving and extending the grace of God with one another and our neighbors. We invite you to join us in this movement of trust and generosity. You can give online here or by mailing a check to Mosaic Church, PO Box 81632, Lincoln, NE 68501.
