You ever step into a moment that was so much greater, so much bigger than you ,and thought to yourself, What on earth am I doing here? Over the past year, I’ve found myself thinking that often. Last Sunday we celebrated our one year birthday as a church. It’s been a year since we launched with our very first public worship gathering. Wow.
As I looked around the room at all of the faces (more faces than legal fire capacity allows for); as I reflected on the stories represented, the life change we’ve gotten to witness, those who have found hope and life and forgiveness in Jesus, those who have stepped up and created this community with their hands and feet and love and sacrifice, I thought to myself, I can’t believe I get to be a part of this. I can’t believe I get to do this with my life.
As part of our one year celebration, we baptized eleven people. For a church that cares an awful lot for those spiritually disconnected and searching, it seemed more than a little appropriate. As I watched these men and women tell their stories, announce their embrace of God’s grace and their desire to follow Jesus, and then to hear the roar of our community cheering them on as they came up out of the water, I couldn’t help but think, God, this is too good. Are you sure you got the right guy?
My favorite moment of the morning was when Darren got up. Darren shared that he currently lives at the City Mission and had walked all the way to Mosaic to be a part of the morning. We actually hadn’t planned on baptizing Darren at all. But when he showed up bright and early to help setup and ask if he, too, could be baptized, we said, Absolutely! Getting to be a part of seeing Darren share his story, be baptized, throw his fists in the air in celebration, and then be embraced by our community ranks as one of my favorite Mosaic moments to date. (Darren is now a part of a life group and taking some of his first steps as a newly devoted follower of Jesus! He is pictured below.)
In reflecting on all we have seen God do in and through Mosaic in just the first twelve months, I am floored. I keep thinking that sooner or later people are going to figure out how much of dweeb I am and run for the hills. Who am I that I should get to do this? Who am I to serve such a wonderful group of people? I am so unqualified, so unworthy, so ‘un’ a lot of things. I am desperately in need of God’s grace every moment of every day.
But then I suppose that’s it: God really is this good. He is far greater, more loving, more gracious, more patient, more compassionate, more wonderful than we can wrap our little heads around. And if we can continue to help people come to know and experience this God and the life that can be found in Him, there is nothing that can hold this thing back.
