June 2009

Dear Friends

Soon our offices will be filled with the hustle and bustle of summer interns joining the world of Mosaic Community Development! We are so excited and blessed to have such high quality individuals eager to learn and work alongside of us for 8 weeks this summer. We know many of them are turning down higher paying opportunities and making some sacrifices to be with us this summer, and we urge you (if you happen to know or run into any of them in the Omaha area this summer) to express your appreciation to these lovely individuals.

If you’re involved in the Facebook or Twitter world, we invite you to join MCD’s Page on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter! We’d love to have your support and keep you up to date on the exciting events going on. Additionally, we want to extend a huge “thank you!” to AmeriGroup Foundation for blessing us with a contribution to our organization and for striving to “promote community improvement and healthy neighborhoods” as part of their company’s vision.

Finally, you are the first to know our secret: We are changing our name! This summer we are throwing a huge party on Friday, July 31st to celebrate and launch our new name! Keep your eyes and ears out for more clues about our name change, which won’t be revealed until July 31st! Additionally, keep your calendar clear for an art auction and neighborhood sidewalk sale to be held that Saturday, August 1st! Please come out and celebrate with us that weekend.

SupportWorks

I sat down a few weeks ago with a few of my friends over breakfast. The party was comprised of myself, a couple from a local house church and a man that I have become friends with through my years of being at Mosaic and our meal on Monday evenings. The meal was an introduction and the beginning of a SupportWorks relationship. I was nervous and protective of all those involved. I wanted to hover and make each party see how great the other was, but I resisted, prayed and allowed the Lord to move through the meeting. The essence of SupportWorks doesn’t need me to hover over it, it is simple. It is people coming together to open themselves up to relationship. Don’t get me wrong, simple and easy are not synonymous, but it was beautiful. My friend, whom I have known for a few years now, was visibly touched that people wanted to get to know him and invite him into their lives. I pray that this is the beginning of a long and healthy friendship of growth and restoration for all those involved. If you, your church, or small group are interested in hearing more about SupportWorks, please e-mail me at Katie@mosaiccd.org.

Katie Ursini, SupportWorks Coordinator

Life on the Brick

“Jesus comes for sinners…He proclaims that He has invited sinners and not the self-righteous to His table…an honored guest…a larger, homelier, less self-conscious cast of people who understand they are sinners because they have experienced the yaw and pitch of moral struggle.” ~Brennan Manning

Each month I typically thank you all for the amazing response to the needs for Monday’s LOB and for providing such a delicious meal with so many special touches. This month is no different, the nearly 100 people who attended LOB this past week left full and content, so thank you! Today, though, I also want to thank you for freeing up me and the other volunteers from cooking so that we are able to participate in LOB with very little distraction. Your provision doesn’t just feed the hungry, it allows us time to engage the guests, and gives me and so many others the opportunity to experience the radical nature of the Gospel. Permit me the chance to offer a personal reflection which comes about as the result of more time to interact with my friends at LOB.

In a time of prayer and reflection, I read the above quote. As Manning reminds me, it is on Mondays, among this motley cru of humbled and self-admitted broken people, that I (and other volunteers) experience the truth of the Gospel: That I am deeply loved by God and have done nothing to earn the restoration of a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice. For, among my friends, there are very few pretenses and little opportunity to hide myself behind a mask of self-righteousness (believe me, I’ve tried). I am continually forced to embrace my poverty and need for the Lord.

Let me illustrate. Weekly, something happens to burst my happy bubble. For instance, my relationship with H is a continual witness to her self-absorption and self-centeredness. BUT, it is also a blinding witness to my own deep selfishness as I recognize my growing frustration for her lack of care for ME. I seek to be understood and known rather than understand and know. My relationship with B taxes me with her weekly demands for my attention to her needs and sometimes passive/aggressiveness. I am forced to release my need for control of my time and energies as I either have to enter into confrontation with her or love her where she is. T’s OCD, chauvinistic comments, and difficult demands confront my need for affirmation, wanting to serve easy people who appreciate how “great” I am. G’s daily drive to remain sober – announcing to me every chance he sees me the number of days since his last binge – challenges my own hopelessness and faithlessness.

Some weeks run smoothly by my standards, but most weeks I am either in confrontation or rolling my eyes as a friend pouts in the corner. And EVERY week, multiple times, I pause and plead “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, I am a sinner.” I am forced to own my poverty, neediness, and powerlessness. I am a terrible sinner, but I am granted the ability to experience the goodness of the Lord, and it is among my bedraggled group of (sometimes unintending) vulnerable friends that I experience the Gospel. God loves this icky, needy, selfish, controlling, affirmation-hungry person. So thank you for making this possible, and, as always, please feel invited to join us for these fun and challenging meals.

Sonya Gray, Community Cultivator