Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

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Perseverance Through Hard Times

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We will all go through hard times; the Bible says as much. But the great thing about God is that although we will go through hard times, God also says that He will be with us no matter how hard it gets.

One of my favorite Bible verses is Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” (NKJV) This verse reminds me that, at the end of the day, God knows I won’t understand everything I go through and why I go through it, but it’s ok because I was never meant to know. This verse leads into Proverbs 3:6, “In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path.” (NKJV) In these two short verses we can see that not only are we not meant to understand everything, but if we put everything we are going through in God’s hands, He will direct our path.

I saw these verses put into practice in my life in early 2017, when my father, Pastor Tomas, was diagnosed with cancer. In the beginning stages of doctor visits, a lot of things were very uncertain, from what treatment options were available to when and how many appointments my father should have. Through it all, I saw how my father maintained his faith, believing that God would provide a solution, no matter how difficult or uncertain the situation seemed.

The view from Michelle’s father’s hospital room on the 10th floor of the Advent Health Hospital, cancer building. Photo by Michelle Ramirez.

Before deciding on any treatment, my father would make sure to pray and put God first. On those long hospital nights, when it was uncertain when he would come back home, he and my mother, who was in the room with him, would always put on worship music to drown out the beeping monitors. Even after all his hair fell off from the chemotherapy, he would still have a smile of his face and thank God for another day.

Through the ups and downs of cancer, my father always put God first, just as Proverbs 3:5-6 says. This reminded me that although hard times are going to happen, it is guaranteed that our God will help us every step of the way. All we have to do is put God first and simply have faith and trust He will see us through. Although our individual struggles can seem difficult and never ending, God’s promise to us is that we will never be alone.

Pastor Tomas Ramirez (left) and his daughter, Michelle Ramirez. Photo provided by Michelle Ramirez.

Engaging Our Workplace with Our Love for Jesus

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by Scott Roth, Leadership Minister

There is a gap that happens with people as we transition from our Sunday to our Monday.  Recently I read Discipleship with Monday in Mind, by Skye Jethani and Luke Bobo, which explores faith and vocation and how to make them more of a focus in church ministries.

This topic has stirred me as a pastor and organizational leader. How do we create environments that help us to engage our workplace and our love for Jesus?  

The woman at the well (John 4) is a reminder of Jesus showing up in daily living. We also see this with the calling of the disciples as they are fishing (Matthew 4:18-22). Time and time again we see Jesus engaging people where they are.  

In their book, Jethani and Bobo explain how early church clergy would be on the church property on Sunday. Then, during the week, clergy would head out to the countryside and the villages to engage their people where they lived and worked. Wow!  Now, many churches expect the pastor to be at the church during the week, in the office, being on call and in a waiting posture. What if pastors were out of the church building and engaging the workplace?

Recently I have started this process. I invited Laurie to come to my workplace, not the church office, but to Bike and Sol, the non-profit bicycle shop where I serve as director.  We sat in the shop area as I fixed a bike.  We engaged on a variety of topics involving her life and Jesus.  People would stroll in and out and we would interact with them as well.  It was such an uplifting time.  We got to be the church to a few folks and the Kingdom was present.

Later I visited Scott, one of the owners of Bolton’s Farms, at his workplace. Not only did I get to see Scott in a different environment, but I was able to fly his drone and tour the farm. Through questions and observations, I began to understand what they did and how it operated.  I learned that at Thanksgiving, they provide meals to 5000 feasts!  This was a reality check that one of our church families was affecting 5000 homes every Thanksgiving. What does that mean for me as a pastor?  As a church?  As the Kingdom of God? 

In the book, Discipleship with Monday in Mind, we are reminded that in Genesis humans were built to work and relate. God needed to rest after creating the world. Work is not a curse. It is a part of us to live.

I want to encourage you to engage your faith with your work.  No matter what stage of life we are in, can we engage Jesus where we are?  I am not talking about making a sign for your desk or wearing the latest t-shirt to work. Instead, can we find ways for the relationships that we have in our church to also be those that happen during the week? Are we able to invite our church family to engage our work family?  Do they need to be separate?  

May you find ways this week to see Jesus in your day to day.  May you see God moving throughout your work and vocation.

Seeing With New Lenses

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by Hendy Matahelemual, Indonesian Light congregation (Philadelphia, PA)

When I was a little boy, I wanted to wear glasses. I used to play with my parents’ glasses. I would put them on, but of course, I could not see clearly.  My parents would discourage me from playing with their glasses. But I felt so cool when I did. Both of my parents wore glasses and some of my friends at school did too. So for me, glasses were cool. That’s why I was a bit disappointed knowing that my vision was just fine, 20/20, and I didn’t need glasses. That was a long time ago.  

“20/20 vision” is a term used to describe normal visual acuity measured at a distance of 20 feet. At the beginning of 2020, I was excited in my faith, believing that God would give me a “perfect vision,” but my excitement changed after the pandemic hit. Now six months have passed. Seeing God’s vision each day is not easy in 2020, or maybe we just need to see it with a new lens. 

What is God’s vision for me this year? The writer of Proverbs said, “When there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18, KJV).  I often pray, “God, I want to see what you see, I want to feel what you feel.” Sometimes I get a revelation, and sometimes I don’t. But one thing is for sure: God always gives me a new lens. God always shows me a new perspective. 

No one could predict 2020 was going to be like this: pandemic, war, police brutality, racial justice issues, wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, economic crises, and more.  No one saw it coming, but is this a new thing?  

The book of Ecclesiastes (1:9) says,  “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun” (NIV). Maybe this is right; there is nothing new.  Maybe the reason that we don’t see it is because we choose not to see it. 

Every aspect of humanity has fallen. In the era of the fastest 5G internet connection, humanity is still very slow to forgive and forget. Most humans still choose to retaliate rather than turn the other cheek. It feels like the four horsemen are just around the corner. 

My friend said to me recently, that at this particular time, she can really understand the proverb, “Ignorance is bliss.”  It’s easier for us to wear our comfortable glasses instead of wearing the glasses that see all this messy reality. God wants us to have “perfect vision,” seeing the world as this big mess that only Jesus can heal (both in Spirit and with His second coming). Or as my friend said, “There’s no Messiah without a Mess.” 

Seeing with a new lens means that we see reality as it is, fully embracing pain, fear, struggle, and suffering to the fullest before giving it to God. Sometimes seeing with a “perfect vision” means that you will have blurry vision, a vision with less clarity, due to the tears in your eyes. These tears come because you finally understand the pain, struggle, and suffering in our humanity.  

Sometimes seeing with a new lens is seeing with a grieving eye. As Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matt. 5:4, ESV).