Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Angela Moyer Walter

My Hopes and Prayers for 2024

by

by Angela Moyer Walter

It is with great hope and anticipation that I greet you, Mosaic Conference, as your Conference Moderator, in this new year of 2024. What might God do among us this year? What surprises will come our way? What joy might we experience together?  

Mosaic Conference is called to embody the reconciling love of Jesus to our communities, and we do this in a myriad of ways. 2024 is pregnant with opportunities and hopes. I hope that we bear witness to the powerful Spirit of Christ, beyond our own desires. I also hope we gather to celebrate and rejoice, as well as support one another in times of grief, loss, and hardship. My prayer for us is that we tune our hearts and minds to hear God’s voice amidst all the joys and hardships, even when that voice is a quiet whisper, and the path isn’t clear. May we trust in God’s faithfulness to us amidst the twists and turns we may experience.   

Many of us wonder how our congregation or Conference-Related Ministry fits into the larger mosaic of our Conference. We may ask, “Is my piece valued by the whole? Are some pieces bigger than others?”  

My hope is that we are reminded of Jesus’ words to his disciples when they were quarreling about who was more important.

Jesus said, “You know that…officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant.” (Matthew 20:25-26, NLT). May we all see ourselves as vital parts in the body of Christ; whether we are the digestive, circulatory, or excretory system, all are important. We need not fight over who is most important or best, but rather work together to build one another up to function as one body, the body of Christ as God has created us to be.  

God has gifted us all and through baptism, we have been grafted into this body of Christ that we call Mosaic Conference. This beautiful mosaic is not the same without each particular piece. My hope in 2024 is that we each find our place in the mosaic, while also valuing the other pieces that are different from us. 

At our Mosaic Annual Assemblies, we have celebrated God’s Chesed and Emet, powerful kindness and faithful truth. Pastor Hyacinth Stevens encouraged us at this past Assembly to take bold risks because we have the promise of God’s faithful Chesed and Emet with us. Jesus told the disciples to not put new wine into old wineskins. So, in 2024, may we embrace the new wineskins that God has faithfully provided.  

Stay tuned for the next stage of the strategic plan, which will be coming out in the next few weeks, for specific ways in which we can bear witness to Christ’s call to us. And may we listen to the ways God is speaking to us like in our drumming at Assembly to, ‘Listen to one another and play your part!” 

Angela Moyer Walter

Angela Moyer Walter is Moderator of Mosaic Conference, Co-pastor at Ripple Church in Allentown, PA, and an occupational therapist at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation. She enjoys long summer evenings with family and friends and watching the Philadelphia Phillies.

Yet We Still Declare That God Is Faithful 

by

I was raised and spiritually formed by Mennonites. God’s call to ministry came to me when I was in my late 20s. It came as a surprise and was disorienting. I do not come from a family of pastors, and I was a single woman. Yet, the spiritual foundation had been laid for me to hear God’s call and respond with faithfulness.  

Ministry has been a great joy in my life, but it has also been full of hardships. Like so many in Scripture, I testify to the faithfulness of God, the love of Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit amid those hardships.   

This has also been the testimony of Mosaic Conference. The birth of Mosaic was filled with hope. It has been an honor to be among its leadership from its beginning. We had work to do to live with integrity into this name, yet the Spirit was among us.  

The birth of Mosaic coincided with the unprecedented pandemic. Together we navigated that time, supporting and praying for one another. We chose different ways of being together and “doing church,” but we stayed connected to God and one another.  

Last year, our Assembly theme focused on the Hebrew word, chesed, meaning, the loving kindness of God which was given freely to us, even when undeserved.  This year, our theme emet builds off of that. In Hebrew, emet means powerful kindness and faithful truth. Psalms 116 and 117 remind us that God’s kindness for us is powerful; the Lord’s truth endures forever.  

We began our Pathways Forward process in 2022. During that time, our country, our neighborhoods, our churches, and even our homes have been through a lot. We have had severe weather, widening wealth inequality, episodes of hatred and violence, cultural and political polarization, and even divided family gatherings.  

Yet we still declare that God is faithful. There has been space for prayer, fasting, listening, relationship building, and dreaming together. The opportunity to live into the hope of Mosaic Conference remains.   

The Mosaic Board recently received a summary report from the Pathways Steering Team and the consultants, reporting on the focus groups’ meetings. Please take time to read this summary report. We will have the opportunity to discuss its implications at our Delegate Preparatory meetings (September 23-28) and Assembly on November 4. There will be lots of conversations to articulate who we are and to name our similarities and differences, and how they inform our missional, formational, and intercultural priorities.  

It may feel like learning to ride a bike without training wheels, full of bumps yet worth it. I anticipate needing to remember what it was like when I felt a call to ministry as a single woman; it was hard, and God was with me. Similarly to the disorienting pandemic, God will see us through.  

We knew living into the Mosaic name would require us to work at being transformed by one another through God’s power. I am grateful for the scriptures about the chesed and emet of God. It gives us strength to do the reconciling work of following Jesus through the power of the Spirit.  

We need not be afraid. We can have the boldness and courage to wait on the Lord as we heard proclaimed in Psalm 27 at Pentecost this year. May our work and lives together reflect the beauty of the quilt that has become a symbol for us and draws us back to chesed and emet, God’s powerful kindness and faithful truth. See you at Assembly on November 4th! 

Chesed Amidst Uncertainty, Fatigue, and Anxiety

by

By Angela Moyer Walter

I am a bi-vocational pastor living and ministering in the city of Allentown, PA.  I work as a healthcare provider in pediatric home care. It is hard to articulate what the past two and a half years of a global pandemic have been like for me, but I will try. 

Uncertainty is my word to describe 2020. It was challenging to figure out how to provide occupational therapy services to families via telehealth and make wise choices with my co-pastors regarding worship, ministry, and safety.   

I describe 2021 with the word fatigue. The constant and unending changes and desperation drained me. My usual places of calm and refreshment were no longer sufficient. Many things required double the energy and unexpected complications became the norm.   

When 2022 came, I experienced anxiety in a way that I never had before. It is one thing to walk alongside folks experiencing overwhelming anxiety, but it is another trying to manage your own.  

Despite the uncertainty, fatigue, and anxiety, I can testify through it all, God’s Chesed (loving kindness) has sustained me.  

At our church, Ripple, the children enjoy singing, “Jesus is the rock, the rock that lasts, Jesus is the rock that lasts. My soul has found a resting place.” When we are tossed repeatedly by the ever-changing crashing waves, Jesus is our rock. God never leaves us. God is present with us in the storm.   

I have used these images in scripture often to encourage and support others. But with the pandemic and our country’s social-political polarization over the past two years, these images have become ingrained more deeply into my own being and understanding of God.  

During this season of uncertainty, fatigue, and anxiety, many have experienced God in new and profound ways. I have found myself singing a favorite chorus recently, “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” Despite our challenges and discomfort in life, God’s continual presence changes and transforms all of us through reconciling love. 

I welcome the opportunity to gather at fall Assembly with you and celebrate chesed, God’s loving kindness that has sustained humanity though all the hardships of all time. God is good, abundant, and so gracious with us. When the world around us is in chaos, we can take deep breaths and know that God’s Spirit, ruah, is near to us, pulsing through us. This is good news! 

Think of God in a very big way.  
And if you do, that’s too small! 
You can’t think of anything more wonderful than this God. 
And you can’t figure out anything about God without a special grace. 
God is so marvelously good, there is no word for it. 
So gentle. So considerate. So kind. 
So tender – so everything marvelous. 
That is God. And whatever you say about God is far less than it is. 

– THOMAS KEATING

As we prepare for Assembly, I encourage you to read Psalm 116 in The Message. Verses 1-11 describe my experience well, and I’m not alone in that. Verses 12-14 summarize what I am anticipating at Assembly:  

What can I give back to God 
    for the blessings he’s poured out on me? 
I’ll lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to God! 
    I’ll pray in the name of God; 
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do, 
    and I’ll do it together with his people. 

Mosaic’s inaugural two years have brought challenges and celebrations, and God has been moving through it all. We have wept and prayed together, shared with one another, and learned from one another, and, Chesed has sustained us. What can we give back to God? We will lift high the cup of God’s salvation! 

Angela Moyer Walter

Angela Moyer Walter is Assistant Moderator of Mosaic Conference, Co-pastor at Ripple Church in Allentown, PA, and an occupational therapist at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation. She enjoys long summer evenings with family and friends and watching the Philadelphia Phillies.