Gatherings

Many people want to know what a Mosaic gathering is like before they visit, and we understand why!  We are a little different at Mosaic, so it might be helpful to get a bit of an overview of what it is like to hang out with us.

Before I tell you about the actual gathering, let me explain a little bit of the reasoning behind what we do. First, we believe that everything teaches.  From the moment you walk in the front door of any church, you are being taught what they value, what they expect and what they believe.  In most cases, this is marked by friendliness and a welcoming environment.  We hope this is the case at Mosaic as well.

(When we gather at at a building, we use THE MAJESTIC)

But….this is where our environment might be a little different.  The first thing you might notice is the seating arrangement.  We do not sit in rows of chairs, there is no stage and in the middle of the room is a cross.  All the tables are oriented around the cross, as is the band.  We do have a projector and a screen, so during the music people tend to face the screen in order to see the words, but you wouldn’t really call that the “front of the room”, during the rest of the gathering.

Why do we do this?  Well, we don’t believe that “church” is a show.  We believe it people, a family, a community.  So, if we want people to understand that this is not a “show”, we ought not have a stage and all be facing in one direction.  That is not how we sit for a family meal (at least I hope not).  It is also very important to us that people understand the significance of the cross being in the center.  Even our musicians gather around the cross and face the cross.  Is this because we have some morbid fixation on the death of Jesus?  No. It is because the cross is one of the best reminders we have that Jesus loved us enough to die for us.  For Mosaic, the cross is the constant reminder that Jesus is our focus and the one that we are to orient our lives around.

I could go on and on, but instead, I will just invite you to come to one of our gatherings and see it for yourself.  Maybe you can tell us what you think we are trying to teach.

So….what is it actually like.  Well, we have a potluck brunch every time we gather at the Majestic.  Everyone brings something to share and we enjoy a meal together for about the first 35-40 minutes.  People show up at various times and no one really cares if it is at 10am (official starting time) or 10:15 or 10:25.  It is no big deal.

Around 10:30, we dismiss the children (0-3rd grade) to head down stairs for some age appropriate teaching and interaction.  Then, a few minutes after that, we spend some time singing, being quiet, writing a prayer or a psalm, praying, reading together and many other things that express our desire to listen to God and express our hearts to Him.  This can go on for 30-40 minutes.  Usually we take some time after this to hear what is going on in the community.  We call this our family business and anyone is free to make an announcement or share something that they would like the community to know about.

Following this time, we focus on our rhythm of “study”.  This summer we are starting a series called, “Understanding the OT Stories Through the Life of Jesus”.  If you want to know what we mean, come join us.

At the close of all our gatherings, we culminate with communion.  This is not just how we “end” our gatherings, it is the culmination of our time gathered as a community.  We understand the celebration of communion as a time of remembrance.  It is the ultimate reminder that everything in life must find its “center” in Jesus.  It is important to us that our teaching leads us to Jesus.  That our music leads us to Jesus.  That our interaction, our sharing of a meal and our recognition that we are being sent out in the world, all find their center in the person and life of Jesus.  By the way, we also practice open communion.  This means that we believe the invitation to eat and drink of Jesus is open to everyone.  When Jesus first invited his followers to see the bread and the wine that they shared at the meal, as a way to remember his love for them, he shared his bread with all of them, even the one that would betray him later that night.  If Jesus was willing to share a meal with someone that flat out rejected him, we are confident that he would share his “body” with those that are unsure, learning, hurt, confused, struggling, etc…  Therefore, we say, “let all who want to, come”.

I hope this helps you understand a little bit about a Mosaic gathering.  We’d love to have you join us, so you probably want to check out the summer calendar so that you know when we are gathering at the Majestic.  Oh yeah, that is another uniqueness about Mosaic.  We don’t gather at the building every week.  Sometimes we gather in homes.  Other times we go out into the community and serve others and sometimes, we just take a week off.  Why?  Remember, everything teaches!  If we truly believe that “the church” is “people”, then the Sunday gathering can’t be the most important thing.  Sharing our lives with each other and “being the church” has to be more important than the idea (false idea) of “going to church”.

Get the summer calendar HERE.

Blessings!