Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Assembly 2022

Preparing for Fall Assembly – “Where is the Lord?”

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by Ken Burkholder

I’m currently reading Conrad Kanagy’s series of books entitled, “A Church Dismantled – A Kingdom Restored.”  With the bold words of a prophet, the keen insights of a sociologist, and the loving heart of a pastor, Kanagy explores the stark challenges and unique opportunities facing the Western church today.  I find these books to be stimulating, provocative, inspiring, and disturbing…all at the same time!   

Drawing parallels with God’s people in exile at the time of the prophet Jeremiah, Kanagy beckons us to regularly be asking, “Where is the Lord?” Amid our challenges, disappointments, uncertainties, and opportunities, we must be attentive to what the Lord is saying and doing among us, always asking, “Where is the Lord?” Kanagy warns against the false “mantles” of the church and cautions us against resisting the movement of the Spirit.  Rather, we’re called to actively join with the work of God’s Spirit in restoring the authentic, Jesus-centered, Spirit-filled Kingdom of God.

As we approach and prepare to gather for Mosaic’s Fall Assembly – with a theme of chesed: God’s constant, steadfast, and faithful love – I urge us, as the people of God, to continue to be prayerfully asking, “Where is the Lord?” What is the Lord saying, and calling us to, at this particular time?  Where is the Lord in our midst?  How can we actively join with the movement of God’s Spirit among us in His work of dismantling and restoration, being open and obedient to His leading?   

In continued preparations for Fall Assembly, I want to highlight a few important updates and reminders, as we seek to discern, “Where is the Lord?” 

How can we actively join with the movement of God’s Spirit among us in His work of dismantling and restoration, being open and obedient to His leading?   

KEN BURKHOLDER

Call to Prayer

Thank you to the many congregations and individuals who’ve participated in the Conference initiative of listening prayer and sharing your feedback with the Conference Prayer Ministry Team.  If you haven’t already submitted your feedback, please do so by emailing Marta Castillo.  And please keep praying for Assembly! 

Listening Task Force

The Mosaic Board appointed this group with a task of leading a conference-wide listening process and reviewing Mosaic Conference’s relationships with MC USA.  The task force is working diligently.  More information can be found here. If your Mosaic community has not had an opportunity to talk with members of the Listening Task Force, please contact any one of the following members: Aldo Siahaan, Jenny Fujita, or Nathan Good. 

The task force will share their findings and recommendations with the Mosaic Board in late September.  In early October, the Board will then provide an update on these findings, and further information, in preparation for Fall Assembly. 

Assembly Scattered

These gatherings will provide an opportunity for additional discernment, learning, and conversation prior to Assembly. Please plan now to join us in October.

Click here to register.

Assembly Gathered

Saturday, November 5, 2022; 9:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. ET at Souderton (PA) Mennonite Church.  There will NOT be a virtual option this year. Registration opens tomorrow, Friday, September 9. Please encourage all of your delegates to register!

Visit the Assembly Page to Register.

Please continue to check the Conference Assembly website for information and updates: https://mosaicmennonites.org/assembly/

Ken Burkholder

Ken Burkholder is the moderator of Mosaic Mennonite Conference and Lead Pastor of Souderton (PA) Mennonite Church. He previously served for 16½ years as lead pastor of Deep Run East Mennonite Church in Perkasie, PA. Ken is married to Karen (Frankenfield) Burkholder, and has two young adult children – Alyssa and Justin.

Chesed Amidst Uncertainty, Fatigue, and Anxiety

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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.

Mosaic Listening Task Force Update

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By Jenny Fujita

The Mosaic Board tasked us, the Mosaic Listening Task Force, with leading a listening process and reviewing Mosaic Conference’s relationships with Mennonite Church USA (MC USA). Specifically, we are to listen to each Mosaic community and ministry and provide direction for further discernment at the upcoming Assembly on November 5 at Souderton (PA) Mennonite Church.

The Mosaic Listening Task Force has met twice so far. The first session focused on sharing general reflections and questions that might be helpful to ask in the days ahead. At the second session, we focused more on reading, processing, and learning. We’ve collected and read letters sent to the Mosaic Board, notes taken from post-MC USA Delegate Assembly Listening sessions, and reflections from Listening Prayer times. These represent a combination of hopes, dreams, needs, and anxieties. 
 
Utilizing a checklist of Mosaic churches and ministries, we are checking off those groups who have shared with us and preparing to reach out to those we haven’t.  We are especially interested in connecting with those who have felt unheard, including some of our multicultural and smaller churches and organizations, as well as others who live, serve, and minister from the margins. 

If you have anything you would like to share about your hopes for Mosaic Conference, particularly in regards to our relationship with MC USA, please email Jenny Fujita at jenny@fmpr.net, and I will ensure that your comments are shared with the entire Task Force. If your church or ministry has not submitted feedback yet, we will be reaching out.  Our Task Force is creating several feedback processes to ensure that all Mosaic groups will be included and recognized by our Assembly on November 5.  Next week we will be announcing dates and locations for further opportunities to share your thoughts and ideas at “Assembly Scattered” meetings in October. 

Already we are beginning to see some themes emerge as we listen, read, and process your input, but we are not yet ready to arrive at any conclusions. We will continue to prayerfully and openly connect and discern.  Our hope is to knit together our mosaic of voices and the Holy Spirit’s leadings in a way that guides us in November and brings Mosaic’s mission and vision to life for and through all of us.

Jenny Fujita

Jenny Fujita is a member of the Mosaic Listening Task Force.  She is also the Pastor of Upper Milford (Zionsville, PA) Mennonite Church.

On Walking Before the Lord: Lessons from Psalm 116 

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By Kris Wint, Pastor, Finland Mennonite Church

Editor’s Note: Mosaic’s upcoming Fall Assembly theme is based on Psalms 116 & 117. 

I am not fond of running. Lately, however, I have found myself running four to five times a week to train for an upcoming sprint triathlon. Interestingly, the Holy Spirit has been using these training runs for more than my worldly goal of increasing physical endurance; the Holy Spirit has also been using them to teach and remind me of two foundational truths found in Psalm 116.  

First, the Holy Spirit reminds me that the way I run (or walk) matters. Psalm 116 celebrates the faithfulness of the Lord, declaring that he is gracious, righteous, and merciful (v. 5, NRSV). In verse 9, we see the psalmist’s response to this faithful God: “I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.” This word “walk” has little to do with an actual stride; rather, it implies living and behaving as God directs. Is my posture consistent with that of Jesus? 

Second, as runners know, where we run matters. Last week, the track where I normally run was closed, so I opted for plan B on a path I hadn’t run before. Unfortunately, this path had sections of loosely packed stones, obstacles, compacted grass-covered dirt, and a run-down sidewalk. Probably to no one’s surprise, it took more energy to run on these sections than on the straight and smooth track surface. “I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 116:9, emphasis mine). The word “before” indicates location in the presence of the Lord. The place where we walk matters, and when we are walking “before” the Lord, we are standing on him as our sure foundation. Are my positions consistent with those of Jesus? 

Putting the two words together, then, “walking before” describes both how and where we walk – our postures and positions. This way of walking echoes a previous command of God: “You must therefore be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn to the right or to the left” (Deuteronomy 5:32, NRS). Division is not a stranger to us. In a country divided by lefts and rights, we hear a different way being commanded for followers of Jesus. Walk straight. Do not turn aside.  

How are we guilty of turning aside? We turn aside when we find ourselves believing, teaching, and declaring unbiblical and un-Christlike theological positions. However, we equally veer off the path when we find ourselves acting from unbiblical and un-Christlike postures (see 1 Corinthians 13, Ephesians 5:1-2, Galatians 5:16-25, James 3:13-18). 

So, what are we to do when we realize that we have abandoned the posture and position of Christ?  (Spoiler alert: each of us misses the mark daily.) The only faithful response is to confess and repent. We confess to our Lord and to one another. We repent by coming back to the sure foundation, which is Christ Jesus, our Lord. I pray that we all have the courage to run this race together, walking in grace and truth, and training to move forward together with the posture and positions of Christ. 

Gracious is the Lord and righteous; 
    our God is merciful. 
The Lord protects the simple; 
    when I was brought low, he saved me. 
Return, O my soul, to your rest, 
    for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. 

For you have delivered my soul from death, 
    my eyes from tears, 
    my feet from stumbling. 
I walk before the Lord 
    in the land of the living. 

-Psalm 116:5-9 (NRSV) 

Kris Wint

Kris Wint is the Lead Pastor at Finland Mennonite Church in Pennsburg, PA and is also a Mosaic board member.