Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

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Do We Really Disagree?

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by Conrad Martin

I hear a lot these days about how much we disagree. Can I disagree on how much we actually disagree? I’ve been wondering over the past few years why it is that we say we disagree when it seems that we are only talking past each other, even to the point that one could say we aren’t even speaking the same language? 

Photo by Afif Ramdhasuma on Unsplash

My Sunday School class recently studied the book Winsome Convictions, co-authored by Tim Muehlhoff and Richard Langer. The subtitle of the book is Disagreeing Without Dividing the Church. About two-thirds of the way through the book, a light came on in my mind as to why we seem to be talking past each other in our “disagreements.”  The authors state that what we have actually achieved is only misunderstanding, rather than real disagreement. How can we disagree when we don’t even understand what the other person is saying? The authors don’t suggest we need to agree on issues, but we do need to understand what the other person is saying. 

The authors’ recommendation is simple: Before we can claim to disagree with another, we should be able to first state the other person’s position or side. How many times have we heard, “Wait a minute, that isn’t really what I’m saying at all?” We must first be able to state the opinion or position of the other in a way that the person can nod and say, “Yep, you got it right, you really understand me.” Once we are speaking the same language, we can move on to deciding whether or not we truly disagree. This may require several attempts at stating the other’s position, but it helps to build mutual respect and trust that we are aiming for. 

Photo by Chris Liverani on Unsplash

Stating the other person’s position in a way they find agreeable doesn’t mean that you agree with their position; however, the authors of the book do say it needs to involve both facts and feelings. They ask whether we can reach a level of understanding that can not only state the facts of the issue, but also state how the other person’s beliefs make them feel and why those beliefs make them feel that way. Perhaps we need to get to the level of understanding that we can not only state what the person believes, but also state why it is so important to them. Personally, I’m a facts guy rather than a feelings guy, but I am interested in knowing why things matter to people. 

I don’t know if this really works or not, but I’d like to give it a try. Anyone want to test this out with me? I invite conversation and correspondence, and I will try my best to say your position back to you in a way that you can say, “Yes, you understand me.” At the very least we can aim for better understanding in our disagreements and perhaps find some areas of agreement along the way.   

Conrad Martin

Conrad Martin is the Director of Finance for Mosaic Conference.

Mosaic Conference Board appoints first California member, Lucy Hannanto Parsono

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CONFERENCE BOARD UPDATES

At the March 20, 2023, hybrid board meeting (Lansdale office-based and Zoom-based) the Mosaic Conference board named Lucy Hannanto Parsono to an unexpired position. She will be filling the vacancy left by Kris Wint, pastor at Finland Mennonite Church.  Wint’s term ended when Finland congregation withdrew from Mosaic in the fall of 2022. 

Hannanto Parsono is an elder at International Worship Center in San Gabriel, CA. She and her husband, Alfred, live in Hacienda Heights, CA. They are the parents of a daughter and have three grandchildren who also live in southern California. Lucy was born on the island of Sumatra but grew up in Tangerang, on the island of Java near Jakarta in Indonesia. Lucy’s parents converted to Christianity from Buddhism, though she was raised in the church. She moved to California in the 1980s and now runs an import/export business dealing mostly with trade between the U.S. and Indonesia. 

In her discernment to join the Conference board, she felt encouraged by family and mentors who said, “This kind of work is your life.” Lucy loves to find opportunities to serve in the church and sees this as another way to serve and to learn within the Mosaic community. Lucy receives strong affirmation for her role from Leadership Ministers Aldo Siahaan and Jeff Wright and her brother, Buddy Hannanto, pastor at IWC. 

Pathway Forward Steering Team Update

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by Marta Castillo 

April 10, 2023 

The Pathway Forward Steering Team is up and running with a task that seems large … even God-sized!  Our mission is to lead a two-year strategic planning process to set a pathway within our priorities and in alignment with our vision and mission, which will serve to guide us for the following 3-5 years in our work together as congregations, conference related ministries, board, and staff.  This work will also clarify our relationship with Mennonite Church USA, with each other, and with other Anabaptist communities.  

We, the Pathway Forward Steering Team, are humbled by the largeness of the scope of the task.  We are also hopeful that our desire to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit and keep Jesus in the center of our work will be a part of God’s ongoing kingdom work in our conference.   

Our first step was to fully invite the Holy Spirit into this work. As stated in the Pathway Forward document, we “recognize the holy possibility present in living into our vision; we have committed to embodying the reconciling love of Jesus in our broken and beautiful world as a community celebrating and extending God’s grace, justice, and peace. We recognize that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we shape our relationships and work around missional, intercultural, and formational priorities with Jesus at the center of our faith.” 

We have met as a larger team, as well as in a smaller coordinating group every other week. We have also met with Grovider, our consultants, and will continue to meet with them once a month to sort out our roles and purposes and how we will collaborate as teams. 

Currently, our Pathway Forward Steering Team is seeking to frame questions for information gathering, name key Scriptures, and create an interactive and relational framework for respectful, joyful, and honest conversations around the hopes, dreams, and challenges that we have for each of these priorities:   

Missional 

As God’s people, we are sent to heal what has been broken in our relationships, neighborhoods, and the world by sharing and living out the Good News of Jesus. 

Intercultural 

As human beings made in the image of God, we acknowledge, own, and celebrate our cultural differences, allowing ourselves to be changed by the relationships we build across cultures, while we work together for racial justice. 

Formational 

As Anabaptist Christians, we are called both to know and to follow God in our lives. As we build relationships and share the Good News, we become more and more like Jesus. 

We invite you to send us forward-looking hopes, dreams, questions, Scriptures, and thoughts related to our Mosaic missional, intercultural, and formational priorities.  Email the team at pathwayprocesssteeringcommittee@mosaicmennonites.org.  

We invite you to fast and pray for us as we fast and pray for the team, the Pathway Forward, and Mosaic Mennonite Conference. 

Marta Castillo

Marta Castillo is the Associate Executive Minister for Mosaic Conference. Marta lives in Norristown, PA, with her husband, Julio, and has three sons, Christian, Andres and Daniel and one granddaughter, Isabel.

A Mosaic of Lenten Art

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  • Ambler Mennonite (PA) is focusing on people who met Jesus on his journey to the cross while exploring the question, “What are we bringing to the cross?” Each Saturday, congregants gather to build the scenes creatively with Legos. Here we see Mary anointing Jesus’ feet, while Judas condemns this “waste” of resources (John 12:1-8). Photo Credit: Jacob Curtis 
  • Bethany Mennonite (Vermont) has created a simple potter’s studio at the front of the church to portray the theme, “We are the clay; you are the potter,” from Isaiah 64:8. Each week a potter shares specific concepts that fit the theme, such as centering, clay memory, and made from the earth. Photo Credit: Gwen Groff
  • During Lent, Doylestown (PA) congregation has been reflecting on “The Fruit of Suffering.” Congregants write their struggles or losses on slips of purple paper and then tuck them into dead grape vines wrapped around the large cross.  Photo Credit: KrisAnne Swartley
  • The work of Marie Riegle, an artist from Lancaster County, PA, is on display at Methacton Mennonite Church (PA) during Lent. Made from animal bones, Can These Dry Bones Live? is based on Ezekiel 37:2-3 and features a green plant emerging from the bones. Pastor Sandy Drescher-Lehman wrote a litany that the congregation read each week during Lent. Photo Credit: Eileen Kinch
  • With a theme of “Shaped by Jesus,” Souderton Mennonite’s (PA) altar display features a desert landscape that gradually transforms with more signs of life each week.  Here we see flowing water, green plants, and birds in their nests on week five during Lent. Photo Credit: Berdine Leinbach
  • Zion Mennonite Church (PA) has a special altar display featuring a cross, a crown, and candles for Lent. Photo credit: Beth Rauschenberger
  • Junior High students Greta and Anju from Plains Mennonite (PA) created interactive Lenten response art along with their leader, Rachel. Congregants were invited to add ideas for Fasting, Praying, and Giving in the margins. Photo Credit: Heather Gingrich
  • Dark clouds and rain hang over the sanctuary of Plains Mennonite (PA) during Lent to represent the storms of life. Junior High students Heather and Greta created the display as a reminder to look for glimpses of light, hope, peace, and comfort amid life’s storms.  Photo Credit: Heather Gingrich

The Kiss of Betrayal

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By Noel Santiago

Mark 14:43-45:  And immediately, even as Jesus said this, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived with a crowd of men armed with swords and clubs. They had been sent by the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders.  The traitor, Judas, had given them a prearranged signal: “You will know which one to arrest when I greet him with a kiss. Then you can take him away under guard.” As soon as they arrived, Judas walked up to Jesus. “Rabbi!” he exclaimed and gave him the kiss (NLT). 

Can you recall any hurtful moments in your life? Have any of those moments included a betrayal? Jesus can identify with you. 

Photo by Francesco Alberti on Unsplash

In this text we see a close friend, disciple, and follower of Jesus betraying him. Earlier that day they shared a meal together and Jesus broke bread with Judas. Now Judas goes out and implements the plan he had already put in place and would receive payment for, prior to breaking bread with Jesus. This was no accident! 

This plan for betrayal called for a special signal to be used to identify the one who is to be arrested. What is the signal? A kiss. Judas had earlier informed the soldiers and temple police, “You will know which one to arrest when I greet him with a kiss. Then you can take him away under guard.”  

The kiss was not just a greeting of friendship, but a symbol of deep love, affection, obligation, covenant, and relationship. Giving this kind of kiss was a powerful symbol to everyone who saw it. Strangers would never greet each other with a kiss, for it was a greeting reserved only for the most special of relationships. 

It was this kiss, however, that was used as a signal to let the troops know they needed to move quickly to make their arrest. It would be the kiss that initiated the process leading to Jesus’ death. 

Betrayal is not first about what happens to us, it’s first about what’s in us! Betrayal causes hurt, pain, and anger.  Our first response tends to be centered around these feelings. This is not necessarily bad – it’s human.   

Photo by Stacey Franco on Unsplash

One reason for this is that we have expectations of ourselves and others. We somehow see these expectations as a sort of “contract” that has been made with life and others. When those expectations are not met or are even opposed, we suffer. What’s even more difficult is the realization that our imagination of God’s protection rarely includes the notion of suffering, pain, or anguish, let alone betrayal. It’s our response to these expectations that is the greater matter. 

The more love and hope we have invested in others, the deeper the pain of betrayal is.  If it happens at a personal level, we wonder if we will ever trust again. Our heart does “break.” It is at those crossroad moments when the breaking can forever close us down, or—sometimes just the opposite—it can open us up to an enlargement of heart and soul.  

Jesus chose this second path through which he overcame death and the grave and brought forth a renewed invitation to all humanity to be reconciled with God and others. It’s a daring journey that invites us to be healed and to help heal; to be renewed and to renew what is broken in our beautiful world. It’s in the very act of a deep betrayal by a loved one that God in Christ transforms what was meant for death into new life! 

What can be “good” about Good Friday? It’s when God’s life-giving purposes in Christ were set into motion. What good can come from the pain and hurt we experience from others? If we open ourselves to forgive and allow God to transform our pain and hurt into greater Christlikeness, then we too may experience the renewing life-giving resurrection power of Jesus in our lives.

Noel Santiago

Noel Santiago is the Leadership Minister for Missional Transformation for Mosaic Conference.

Holy Saturday Reflection: Dandelion 

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by Eileen Kinch

Photo by Maja Petric on Unsplash

You jagged leafed weed growing free
in the sidewalk cracks, the first growth after winter 

You green plant we harvest during Easter week,
vinegar salad, like the gall Jesus tasted 

You hide in broad daylight, so common we don’t notice,
white milk crushed stem trodden underfoot 

You stubborn one wilting near the grave
the one the gardener tries to uproot 

You beauty, you bitter herb
standing guard by that sealed tomb 

Eileen Kinch

Eileen Kinch is a writer and editor for the Mosaic communication team. She holds a Master of Divinity degree, with an emphasis in the Ministry of Writing, from Earlham School of Religion. She and her husband, Joel Nofziger, who serves as director of the Mennonite Heritage Center in Harleysville, live near Tylersport, PA. They attend Methacton Mennonite Church. Eileen is also a member of Keystone Fellowship Friends Meeting in Lancaster County.

Reframing the To-Do List 

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by Mary Nitzsche

I am a list maker. Having a weekly plan for how to use my time brings order and structure to my life. I maintain two lists: one for household and one for work-related tasks. Since semi-retiring a year ago, my work list has shortened while my household list has increased to include items for which I did not have or take time while working more hours. To remain sane, I learned the practice of dividing household tasks and errands among weekdays, rather than relegating everything to the weekend. Crossing off an item on my list brings me great satisfaction. What happens if I don’t get everything on my list done because I lack energy, motivation, or time?  What if an unexpected and higher priority situation emerges? Do I beat up on myself? I have learned the importance of offering myself grace to save unfinished tasks for another day without belittling or judging my self-worth or value. 

I recently listened to a podcast that reframed the “to-do list” differently. Rather than focusing on what could be accomplished to feel good about oneself, the focus was on one’s values. When making a list for the day, the question becomes: “What do I need to do today that reflects my values?” 

I share some of my values and ways they might create my “to-do list”: 

  • Living in the present moment prompts me to ask: What are one or two things that might bring me joy and delight today?
  • Connecting with others prompts me to ask: How do I want to connect with family, friends, neighbors, church family, or people I meet today? 
  • Caring for myself prompts me to ask: What will promote my well-being today?  
  • Respecting creation by how I live and act prompts me to ask: How might my living today honor and sustain creation?  
  • Expressing gratitude prompts me to ask: What am I thankful for, and how will I express gratitude today?  
  • Taking time to reflect on my life prompts me to ask: What can I learn and change in the experiences I had today or this week? How will I enact what I learn from my mistakes?
  • Living simply prompts me to ask: What is my fair share today and how will my actions and decisions reflect this balance?  
  • Serving others prompts me to ask: Lord, who are you nudging me to serve today and how can I serve them for their well-being? 

While I admit my list seems lofty and rather ideal, it frames list-making in a way that prioritizes my values. The laundry, meal preparation, cleaning, and grocery shopping needs to be done each week, but my values will guide how I carry out these actions. 

Jesus told Martha, who had a long to-do list, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing” (Luke 10:41-42a, NRSV). Jesus seemed to be encouraging Martha to focus on what she valued. I believe Jesus also invites us to give priority each day to what we value rather than on accomplishing all we can. 

What would your “to-do list” look like if it was created with your primary values in mind? 

Mary Nitzsche

Mary Nitzsche is a Leadership Minister for Mosaic Conference. She and her husband, Wayne, are Midwest natives. They have two adult daughters, Alison and Megan, son-in-laws, Michael and David, and one delightful grandson, William.

Pastor Marcos Acosta’s Curiosity Keeps Him on the Move

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by Adriana Celis

Photo provided by Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS)

Curiosity is one of Marcos Acosta’s defining characteristics. It has driven him to have an open mind, to ask questions, and to investigate new areas of study and new cultures. This innate inclination to discover the unknown has led him to explore and study different fields of knowledge, from telecommunications engineering to theology. Perhaps in the mind of a rational academic these studies have no relation to each other, but in the restless and always proactive mind of Marcos, looking for other explanations to the questions that life brings is above the general rule. For this reason, Marcos has taken the opportunity to go to many places in the world to understand new cultures, to show respect for other forms of thought and professions, and to establish new friendships with people of different races, ethnicities, nationalities, genders, and diverse beliefs.  

Life and works

Perhaps because he does not think like most people, today Marcos lives outside of his home country, Argentina. He is currently based in the United States and is married to Alexia, who is from the U.S. Marcos serves as the full-time pastor of Homestead Mennonite Church, a Mosaic Conference congregation located half an hour south of Miami, Florida; he is also an editor and writer in Spanish for Anabaptist World.  

With an enthusiastic, committed, and very competitive spirit, Marcos completed the five-year academic training program as a telecommunications engineer at the Aeronautical University Institute, located in Córdoba, Argentina. However, over the years, his desire to explore other careers grew. In 2018, he applied for the Master of Divinity program at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS).  

Marcos received his master’s degree from AMBS in 2021. Under the tutelage of Professor Daniel Schipani, he was drawn to pastoring and teaching, particularly in the areas of wisdom and pastoral ministry.  “Being wise means being someone who can reflect on the experience, and also, it means being someone who can observe the world, the biblical story, and allows learning to continue reflecting,” says Marcos.  

Teaching at SeBAH  

While pastoring, writing, and editing keep Marcos plenty busy, he will soon add yet another role to his plate. The Hispanic Anabaptist Bible Seminary, known as SeBAH (Seminario Bíblico Anabautista Hispano), has invited Marcos to a professorship. His education, pastoral experience, and passion for theology have prepared him well to teach his first course, Pastoral Theology. Marcos is honored to be able to share his knowledge and experience with the Hispanic community and with ministers from many parts of the world.  

Thanks to his varied personal, pastoral, and academic experiences, and his continuous movement in life, Marcos is well-suited to make a wide variety of contributions wherever he serves. As the Uruguayan singer-songwriter Jorge Drexler says in his song Movimiento: “We are alive because we are on the move. We are never still. I’m not from here, but neither are you. Nowhere at all. Everywhere a little bit.”  

In the same sense, says Marcos, “I think that many pastors and leaders who study in SeBAH have more experience than I do in pastoral ministry. That is very good because I believe that together we can reflect on those experiences and incorporate other resources and ideas to come out a little wiser and be able to serve better in this ministry to which we have been called by God.”  

A version of this article originally appeared on MennoniteEducation.org on 2/21/2023.