Mosaic's 2019 Resolution
I know. Resolutions are almost always worth the paper they are written on.
But as I began to pray for my hopes for 2019 I began to realize that I was formulating a resolution, a goal, a vision for the people of Mosaic to embrace in 2019.
So, here is it is. In 2019 the people of Mosaic resolve…
To embrace prayerful rest and to live within our limits so that we may enjoy Christ deeply, witness to the beauty of belonging to Him more persuasively, and give our lives away this year for what truly matters.
I am increasingly convinced that our ability to enjoy Christ, to delight in participating in His church, and to communicate a persuasive witness to the world is compromised by two things: prayerlessness and limitless living.
Our prayerlessness compounds the desire for control and comfort that so many of us feel. We are always attempting to insulate ourselves from the kind of life that requires God’s presence and help. We don’t want to be needy so we structure our lives around keeping control and maintaining comfort.
Our limitless living plays out in three areas in particular: how we spend our time, how we handle our money, and how connected we are to our devices and to social media. This pursuit of limitless living is really just another version of us trying to make what can only be true about God true about us.
At its root, prayerlessness and limitless living is really just us pretending to be God.
And it is an exhausting and dangerous game of pretend.
We know that we will end 2019 tiring. That is certain.
But will we end it tiring and full? Or, tiring and empty?
It is our hope and resolution that by embracing prayerful rest and living within our limits, we will be more readied to delight deeply in fellowship with Jesus, enjoy belonging to His family (the church), and communicate a persuasive witness to the beauty of belonging to Jesus and His people.
Lord, help us.
In an effort to help cultivate reflection and action in this resolution we are pointing the people of Mosaic to four practices…
1. “Only Jesus can” Prayers…
We think one of the most strategic ways to remind our forgetful hearts of our need for God in prayer and to acknowledge our limits is to pray bold “only Jesus can” prayers.
These are things we are asking the Lord to do that we know that no matter how much we work, how much we earn, or how much we try … we could never make happen on our own. He has to do these things.
We invite you to join us by grabbing an “only Jesus can” prayer card on an upcoming Sunday from the free resources table, filling it out, and putting it in one of the giving boxes.
2. Reflection
We have put together some materials that encourage, resource, and provide next steps for people looking to have prayerful rest shape the way they spend their time, money, and use of social media/devices.
These materials include scripture passages to meditate on, have links to helpful books, podcasts, a playlist of songs that focus our heart on these issues, and some next steps that can be taken.
Here is the first of those: Living within Limits: Social Media/Devices.
3. Prayer Gatherings
We believe that one of the key ways to cultivate prayerfulness in our lives is to pray together. This is why we gather monthly, outside of corporate worship on Sundays, for prayer together.
You can find out when our next prayer night is by going here.
4. Break the Soil
In April, we will be calling the church to “Break the Soil” through fasting and prayer every Wednesday in the month. Every Wednesday in April we will gather for prayer at three different times:
6:30-7:30 a.m. at Communion Co-working Space
11 a.m. - Noon at Loft City Church
8-9 p.m. - Zoom Video Conference
During these prayer gatherings we will pray our “only Jesus can” prayers together.