Mosaic Mennonites

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New Showroom Dedicated to the Glory of God

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On December 7, Ron Bergey, Robert Bergey, and Dale Bergey, owners of Bergey’s Electric (Hatfield, PA), a family-run business, were asked the question, “Do you commit this day to dedicate this showroom for the glory of God on earth as it is in heaven?” All three owners responded, “We do.”

Participants were invited to offer prayers and light electric candles at the dedication service. Photo by Noel Santiago.

“Upon your words of affirmation, in the company of these people, we dedicate Bergey’s Electric Showroom to the glory of God!” was then heard throughout the showroom.

The new showroom, recently opened by Bergey’s Electric, is visibly located along the heavily traveled Route 309 corridor in Hatfield, PA. As a result, new folks are discovering who Bergey’s Electric is. Ron Bergey, CEO and one of the owners, requested that pastors and prayer team members of Mosaic Conference lead the business in a dedication of the showroom.

Standing amidst washers and dryers, freezers and chest freezers, microwaves, wall ovens, cooktops, and other smart appliances, approximately 35 people, including the extended Bergey family, friends, and associates from the community, gathered for the dedication.

Bergey’s Electric invited Mosaic pastors and prayer team members to dedicate their new showroom to God’s glory on December 7. Photo by Noel Santiago.

Bergey’s Electric began in 1936 by founder Willard Bergey, grandfather of Ron, Robert, and Dale. Willard was the neighborhood “go-to” man for electric service needs when he first started the business. Willard was always ready to help families with their electrical needs. As his list of customers grew, he realized that this could be a viable business.

At the dedication, stories were shared about God’s faithfulness over the decades and especially how God’s provision would appear “just-in-time” during difficult economic times.

Pastor Randy Heacock left) and Pastor Scott Roth right) interact with family and friends at the dedication. Photo by Noel Santiago.

Pastor Randy Heacock, of Doylestown (PA) Mennonite Church, offered words of encouragement and challenge, noting that with new visibility will come new opportunities.

The main focal point of the dedication was not the appliances, but a prayer centerpiece that Sandy Landes, Prayer Minister at Doylestown (PA) Mennonite Church, and Jeannette Phillips, Mosaic Conference Intercessor, created together. The climax of the dedication happened around this prayer centerpiece. Those present could offer prayers, symbolized by small electric tea lamps that each person placed at the centerpiece.

The Bergey owners’ symbol was a 1000-watt Metal Halide lamp that was put together as a special piece. This lamp represented their ongoing trust in God for their business as well as their commitment to using their business for God’s glory.

Pastor Scott Roth, of Line Lexington (PA) Mennonite Church, offered the closing, dedicatory prayer. The prayer focused on God’s presence increasingly becoming real to all those who interact with Bergey’s Electric.

The Metal Halide Lamp was lit by the owners of Bergey’s Electric, representing their ongoing trust in God for the business. Photo by Noel Santiago.
Pastor Scott Roth leads in a dedicatory prayer of the new showroom. Photo by Randy Heacock.

Goodbye, Beloved Nicaragua

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Translated into English by Andrés Castillo

Editor’s Note: Dania Hernández is Pastor of Peña de Horeb, a Mosaic congregation in Philadelphia, PA. This is part one of Pastor Dania’s call to ministry story.

Dania Hernández finds her story in the many places she has traveled. At 20 years old, still living with her family in Nicaragua, she decided to embark on a journey of no return to the United States, accompanied by her boyfriend. Every place she traveled, every meal she tasted, every scent she smelled, every person she met, every decision she made, led her to the experiences that make up her existence.

From her resilient and moving story, she shares with us the difficult and dangerous passage across the border between Mexico and the United States. Was she aware of the danger to which she was exposed? What happened after she arrived in the United States? How would she overcome the harshest circumstances? Can forgiveness make rebirth possible?

Leaving Nicaragua, the Gallo Pinto, and Half of Her Life

Hernández left Nicaragua, and with it, half of her life. The comforting Gallo Pinto dish on Sundays, the parties with friends, the warm Christmases, the naps after lunch, the refuge of her home. The road to the US is long and strange, but at the same time exciting and wonderful; it is a mixture of sweet and sour sensations “that stir inside you,” said Hernández.

“I felt like I was in a movie,” said Pastor Dania. “For me, it was more of an adventure of youth. I was not aware of the dangers I faced, and without realizing it, I was the protagonist of the film of my life, where God took care of every step I took.”

No matter how difficult and dangerous it was to move forward on the road that would lead to her American dream, she did not hesitate for a second. In a firm and safe step together with her boyfriend at the time, she crossed the long and dangerous road along the border—a path full of thick and dense vegetation. They slept and ate in makeshift places. That didn’t matter, because she was getting closer and closer to reaching the goal they had visualized.

Sometimes during the day, she and the other group of people she was traveling with in a cargo truck were transported, while at night they were dropped off somewhere else where they had to travel long distances to get near the desert. On other occasions it was the opposite, where they walked during the day in high temperatures, fearing heat stroke. They had not yet reached the border, but Dania felt so alive, so full of faith and hope for the new life she would start.

She was finally able to reach the border. Her passage was not traumatic, but along the way she had to say goodbye to other people who could not reach that goal because death met them.

“Against all odds,” said Hernández, “we were able to reach Philadelphia, where a church brother became our support.”

Part two of Pastor Dania’s story continues next week.

Who Then is This?

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“Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”  

Mark 4:41, ESV

The disciples had just experienced a terrifying storm as they crossed the sea of Galilee. Jesus had directed them to cross over to the other side. As they began their journey, Jesus fell asleep.

A terrifying storm arose to such an extent that the disciples screamed: “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” (Matt. 8:25, NASB)

Jesus “rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” (Mark 4:39, ESV).

It’s in this context that the disciples wondered in amazement and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” (Matt. 8:27, NASB)

The Jewish people of Jesus’ day were waiting for a messiah; but the Messiah they were waiting for was a military leader, not necessarily a divine figure. In their history, they had experienced a time of freedom after the Maccabean revolt and had recently been brought under Roman rule and occupation.

When the disciples ask this question, “Who then is this?” they are doing so in the context of creation’s obedience. When Jesus raised the dead, healed the sick, or even fed 5000, the disciples never reacted this way. Why? Other prophets had raised the dead, healed the sick, miraculously fed people, but had anyone other than God, ever calmed a storm? 

In the Psalms we read that God: “… calm[s] the raging seas and their roaring waves”, “… rule[s] the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them” and “… made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.” (Ps. 65:7, 89:9, 107:29, ESV). The disciples begin to realize that Jesus had done something that in all of Scripture is attributed only to God. The question, “…who then is this…?” seemed appropriate.

The Virtual Prayer Team of Mosaic Conference has been keeping three questions before us, thanks to Leadership Minister Jeff Wright:

  • Who is Jesus? 
  • What does Jesus want us to do? 
  • How does Jesus want us to do it? 

These questions require an unfolding, ongoing conversation, and discernment in a time of cultural and societal changes. Yet, is there more to be known about who Jesus is?

Jude 1:5 (ESV) reads: “Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.”

The ESV states that Jesus saved a people out of the land of Egypt. Wait a minute, wasn’t that God who did that? What is Jesus doing there? Isn’t it God who calms storms in the Psalms? What is Jesus doing at Galilee?

After his resurrection, Jesus appears to his disciples and says, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44, ESV). Note here that he includes the Psalms in what was written about him.

Is there a sense in which we should keep inquiring to know the Jesus that both Old and New Testaments talk about? Hmmm… who then is this?

Reading Through Mark Together

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Throughout 2021, Ambler (PA) Mennonite Church has been on a journey with Jesus. Over the last 10 months, we’ve read and preached through the entire Gospel of Mark together. To celebrate our completion, we decided to read the whole story aloud, from Mark 1:1, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” to chapter 16, “So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

Not only is reading like this fun, it’s also how the early church would have heard the Gospel of Mark. It was written to be read aloud in a society with about 10% literacy. We experienced listening like the very first Christians, hearing the story of Jesus read all at once.

Nine of us gathered on a Saturday evening in the sanctuary. We had sandwiches for dinner because Mark is full of literary sandwiches. In Mark, one story is like the bread. Then it gets interrupted with another story: the metaphorical peanut butter. And then Mark goes back to finish the first story: bread slice #2.

Pastor Jacob Curtis lights a candle for each chapter read in the gospel of Mark at Ambler (PA) Mennonite Church. Photo by Randy Martin.

After our (non-literary) sandwiches were assembled, we sat around a large table and distributed Bibles, paper, and colored pencils for drawing and doodling. And then we took turns reading, chapter by chapter. We lit a candle for each chapter we read, though some of the flames went out before the women found the tomb empty in chapter 16. In less than two hours we’d read the whole book aloud.

Congregants from Ambler (PA) Mennonite Church gather to read and listen to the gospel of Mark, in one sitting. Photo by Randy Martin.

When it was over, we shared what we’d heard. We were struck by how quickly the reading went—our familiarity with the stories made the two hours feel very short. We noticed how Jesus wants to heal people and does so, over and over again. We noticed how often the disciples misunderstood Jesus, how thick they seem in Mark.

People say that preaching through the lectionary is a good discipline because you can’t cherry-pick Scriptures you like to preach. I found that preaching straight through the Gospel of Mark was an even better discipline. We agreed not to skip anything—which meant we committed to wrestling with the parts of the Gospel that are most challenging and uncomfortable.

As a preacher, I kept thinking “How did I end up with all the hard stories?” But then I listened to the sermons my co-pastor and husband, Jacob Curtis, preached, and I realized he got stuck with a pile of hard texts too. Jesus’s teaching and living and dying and rising just weren’t as nice and easy as we’d like them to be.

What struck me most as we read through the entire Gospel in one evening was how humbled I am by identifying with Jesus’s 12 disciples. Jesus’s best students and closest friends misunderstand him from beginning to end. They’re constantly shooing children away and fighting with each other for the best seat and pulling Jesus aside for private explanations. Even when Jesus is about to die and begs them to stay awake and pray with him, they just can’t do it.

Though I think I know Jesus so well, I was humbled to realize that, in story after story, I found Jesus’s words and actions unsettling and confusing—just like his first disciples.

Reflections on Time and Space

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A few weeks ago, I accompanied the Mosaic Institute preaching and teaching class on a Sunday morning “lab” to hear a sermon at Philadelphia Praise Center (PPC). Jenna Villatoro, one of PPC’s youth pastors, was preaching on the theme, “Making Space for God and Others.”

Pastor Jenna acknowledged that when she was first given the theme, she was a little taken aback. In her Euro-American culture, she was more accustomed to thinking about making time for God than making space. But as she thought about it, she realized that during the pandemic (when so many people were confined to their own space), it was important for us to somehow signal to our minds and bodies that we were transitioning into God-space.

The Sunday lab session from the first Preaching & Teaching mini-course with Mosaic Institute.

I resonated with her observations. As someone who is also from a Euro-American culture that highly prizes time, I could feel the dis-ease of considering “God-space.” It tapped into a deeply rooted suspicion of home altars and a tradition that considered church buildings to be “meetinghouses” instead of “temples” where God lives. It’s much more comfortable for me to think of making time for God than making space.

Photo provided by Philadelphia Praise Center.

Yet I am growing increasingly aware of how my cultural “common sense” can interfere with my ability to see the bigger picture of who God is and how God is working in the world. As someone obsessed with time, can I reorient myself to think about the “spaces” that make up life?

Entering into someone else’s space can be life-changing. It mattered that our class went to Philadelphia and attended a worship service that felt familiar in some respects and different in others. We heard new ideas and were challenged to become like Jesus in fresh ways. Our timetable didn’t matter as much as our presence did.

Making space for others can be life-changing. It mattered for those who hosted us that we came to them. Our presence was an affirmation that they mattered and that they had something valuable to offer to others. They shared who they were and provided opportunities for us to do the same. We could have offered time from a distance, but instead they invited us to physically enter their space.

As Advent begins, we remember how Mary made space in her body so that God could enter our space. The Maker of the Universe became a guest in the world he had made.

Like Mary, we can make space for God to enter (and change) our lives. We can make space for others to enter (and change) our lives, and we can enter into others’ space (and be changed) as well. “Making time” can often be theoretical but “making space” can only be real and tangible.

“Making time” can often be theoretical but “making space” can only be real and tangible.

Evangelical Latina theologian Loida Martell-Otero suggests that eternity is not about time, but about space. She says, “Eternity is where God is.” When Jesus came to earth, our space and God’s space collided and eternity began. Jesus then spent his whole life showing us how the Kingdom of God creates space “for those who have been told they have no place. There is a place at the table, a place at the inn, a place at the synagogue, a place at the banquet. Hay fiesta con Jesús [There is a feast/celebration with Jesus].”1

This Advent, may we make space for God and others in the busy time of the holiday season. May we watch for the collision of God-space and our space. May we be changed.

1Martell-Otero’s translation. Latina Evangélicas: A Theological Survey from the Margins (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2013), 120 & 114.

Sharing and Dreaming

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Editor’s Note: Nations & Generations Gatherings are a component of our annual Assembly gathering. These gatherings, are held for the leaders of the Global Majority (the leaders of color) in Mosaic Conference. Three gatherings, November 15 (English), November 18 (Indonesian), and November 20 (Spanish), were held via zoom this year.

I was grateful to lead the Nations and Generations group in Spanish on November 20. It felt like a gathering of family. In the same way that not enough people know the history of Black Mennonites, not enough people know the history of Latino Mennonites connected to our Conference.  

One of the things I love about these types of gatherings is that it’s a chance to share our stories and see how we are connected by faith and faithful people. We are a people shaped by story, the biblical faith story, but also the story of our culture and people. I was fascinated to learn about new connections and people.  

We spent time most of our time reflecting on the scripture and theme from Assembly, Romans 12:1-8 and mutual transformation. We noted ways that we all need each other and are all being transformed into the image of Christ.  

We concluded our time with sharing our hopes and dreams for Mosaic Conference. There were some great practical things that we as Mosaic can be working on, but two dreams stood out to me.  

First was the desire to have more Latinas on Mosaic staff. There is a large group of Latinas in South Philly and the growing mission in Tijuana, Mexico. They desire support, resources, and representation in leadership. The situation was compared to the story in Acts 6 and the words, “Pay attention to the unattended” were declared.  

The second dream was that these gatherings would one day no longer be needed. We dream of the day that Mosaic Conference would be so united as the body of Christ that we would only see “we” and “us.”  

We dream of the day that Mosaic Conference would be so united as the body of Christ that we would only see “we” and “us.”

As all of Mosaic Conference works to be mutually transformed, may it be so. 

Gathering at the Table

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Editor’s Note: Nations & Generations Gatherings are a component of our annual Assembly gathering. These gatherings, are held for the leaders of the Global Majority (the leaders of color) in Mosaic Conference. Three gatherings, November 15 (English), November 18 (Indonesian), and November 20 (Spanish), were held via zoom this year.

I am a firm believer in God’s intentionality. On November 15, I had the pleasure of gathering with a small, diverse group of people from our Mosaic Conference for a gathering entitled, Nations and Generations. Not clear with our purpose at first, I quickly realized this was transformational work in progress.

It is my belief, that by divine appointment, those who were there for this session are those that were meant to be there. There was some pain at the table and a clear need for healing. Healing from seeing and experiencing racial injustice in sacred spaces. There was sorrow and regret at the table. Sorrow and regret that was birthed out of guilt by association. Bitterness had a seat at the table. Bitterness that had grown out of years of past hurt.

There were those who wanted to forget and those who wanted to remember. Those who felt like insiders and those who felt like outsiders. There were those who had a deep desire for transparency, trust, and truth.

But most importantly, Hope was at the table. Hope … that one day we would sit at a unified table where power, resources, and decision-making are evenly distributed. Where there is no them and us. Just one nation under God for generations to come.

The Generations that make up Mosaic Conference, with all its broken pieces, need to be at the table. For the ones who want to forget, let the elders help them remember. Remember the good for its value and the bad so it is not repeated.

Needs that were identified by this Nations & Generations Gathering:

  • Shoulder tapping to gather the nations and Generations together.
  • A realization of a different language, but a unified heart.
  • Sharing of power, resources, decision-making.
  • Realization that there is a History of Black Mennonites.
  • Recognition of all the history being built within the Conference.
  • Be the change that we are talking about.
  • We must engage in honest conversations that lead to forgiveness, not sweeping it under the rug.
  • We want to learn to live the example of Jesus who invites all to the table. Meeting them where they are in their language. Jesus knew he could not reconcile with people if He looked down on them, was condescending, or patronizing. Instead, Jesus desired to know them in their context.
  • We must look at our Conference in its entirety. Those who have been around a long time, both white people and people of color, have thoughts of a truly mosaic conference. Those who have paved the way in the Mennonite faith, we need you at the table. You have valuable wisdom and knowledge to share. You bring history. All of the nuances bring life.

A Canaan or an Egypt?

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Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in Anabaptist World and is used with permission by the author.

Someone asked me: How do you explain intercultural work to people who see immigrants as a threat and are afraid their jobs and resources are being taken from them?

I answer with questions. Who owns the resources in the first place? Aren’t immigrants supposed to have an equal opportunity to work and cultivate the land?

Who owns the resources in the first place? Aren’t immigrants supposed to have an equal opportunity to work and cultivate the land?

When my two boys fight over a toy, I tell them sharing is caring. Why do we have to fight, when there is enough for everybody? Isn’t God our provider?

The US attracts so many immigrants because of opportunities for employment, land ownership, religious freedom, and adventure. Another reason immigrants are here is because the U.S. was in their home countries. From regime change to economic impact, the results have not been as beautiful as US Americans might think.

I believe in mutual transformation and intercultural exchange, but the idea of the U.S. policing the world while selling the American dream can easily dominate and become a nightmare for those who are marginalized.

When I planned to come to the U.S., it took years to make it happen. I needed to build enough wealth, property, and business ties in my country for the U.S. government to approve my visa. It’s harder for foreigners to come to the U.S. than for U.S. citizens to go to other countries.

As an Indonesian, I saw the U.S. as the world’s economic and military power, the land of the free and the home of the brave. I did not understand that this power was not a sign of God’s favor but a tool of domination, intimidation and manipulation. With this power comes a curse and not a blessing.

I remember feeling intimidated and inferior as I prepared for my visa interview at the US Embassy in Jakarta. But my struggle was nothing compared to the hardships experienced by families separated at the U.S.-Mexican border or those who have died trying to cross the desert into the United States.

US-Mexico Border from the United States side. Photo by Hendy Matahelemual.

Why is the most powerful country in the world so afraid of outsiders and foreigners? I’m not sure, but maybe with power comes the fear of losing power.

Xenophobia — dislike or prejudice against people from other countries — is nothing new. Around 1400 B.C., in Egypt, the Israelites faced the same problem. Long after the era of Joseph, the Israelites had grown in numbers, and the Egyptians felt threatened. Pharaoh commanded that all newborn sons of the enslaved Hebrews should be killed. One baby boy managed to escape the atrocity, and the rest is history. God’s chosen people gained their freedom.

When I see U.S. power and superiority, I see the U.S. less as a Canaan, a land of promise, and more like an Egypt. I think the idea of one nation under God needs to be revisited and redefined. This god that the U.S. is under — is it the God of Scripture? Or another? Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters; for [you] will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Matthew 6:24).

As an immigrant, I see hope in the church. When I came to the U.S., God brought me to a community of believers who practiced true love. This love was not just sentimentality but action — sharing possessions and resources to meet people’s needs. The sharing ranged from financial support to giving me keys to a house where I could stay during my seminary years.

I’m grateful that the God I love and serve doesn’t shut the gates of the kingdom but invites us all to come and share. Let us help all who are oppressed and marginalized, so we can bring blessings to the land.