Jim and Casper's Church Visit #3: Mosaic

Before we begin, I need to tell you: I'm a big fan of Erwin McManus and his books. An Unstoppable Force is probably in my top ten "Emerging Church" books. If Mosaic was around when I was in college in Southern California, I would have most definitely wanted to go and be part of an artist community like that. I'm excited because I get to hear him speak this summer.

Mosaic has several locations I believe, but their main "facility" is actually the Mayan Theater, a bar.

I thought it was very interesting to get an atheist's perspective on how they feel when they tell a Christian that they don't believe the same as them. At first, Casper describes it as having a different poker hand than what everyone else at the table is expecting, but then later changes it to what it would feel like if everyone thought he was a man, when actually they find out that he's a woman disguised as a man. At Mosaic, it actually wasn't a big deal, in fact the person that he told actually went and got the man himself, McManus. I thought it was cool that this "celebrity" pastor actually was available to talk. In my experience, when you have celebrity pastors or pastors of large megachurches, they are pretty much unavailable to the general public. I think part of it is because there is no way in a large church that this one person can meet everyone, know everyone's name, or be friends with everyone in the church. But I also think, and this is just an opinion, that when someone gets that well-known or famous or whatever, that a huge distance begins to separate them from the common people, and that in some cases, this pastor actually begins to think that they are better or more spiritual or whatever than everyone else. It was good to see that McManus is not that way.

However, it was interesting that Casper's perspective was that he really wasn't listening to him during the conversation (which was an interesting one, with a discussion about whether an atheist has a belief system or not and whether Casper would understand what's taking place because he was an atheist) but rather trying to control the conversation. This made me pause and really think about the conversations I have with people, especially at church. Do I try to control the conversation, or am I generally trying to listen to what people have to say? I remember hearing someone say once that most of the time when we are talking to people, we aren't really listening to what they have to say, we're thinking about what we want to say next.

I thought that Casper's comments about Mosaic's offering time was really profound, and I want to include it here (along with Jim's comments):

"It was both laid back and insistent. First, I thought it might not be coming. After all, these are mostly kids here with little cash. But he did it with an unusual approach."

I wasn't sure what had been unusual about the offering at Mosaic. "What did you think was unusual about it?"

"Well, he said that for those of us just visiting today, we didn't have to give anything. Then he said that the congregation only gives because they love Jesus and this church. I wondered what that implies then about those of us who didn't give: We don't love Jesus? We don't like this church? Although it seemed so lackadaisical, I think it was actually one of the most aggressive solicitations yet."

It can be dangerous to equate someone's love for God with how or what they give. Perhaps a person gives to the church, but also gives to outside organizations because they feel that those outside organizations do a better job of distributing the money to the poor and needy. Perhaps a person would give to a church but because of things that have happened in their life, they just don't have the resources available to do so. Of course you could counter with the idea that if someone gives to God first, that they will always be blessed financially. I know that has happened to people, but I also know people who have given financially and have been essentially screwed financially because of it. What was the difference? Their lack of faith? Their heart? I don't think it has to do with their love for God.

Anyway, this was an interesting chapter. I would really like to visit Mosaic. I think it would be kind of like the Element worship service that we put together every other month at my church, except probably a lot better and even more artistic.