The early part of this recording includes a new song written by Jason Houtsma. It is simply awesome!!! Check out his work at WorshipArtistry.comThis week we got to hang out with our friend and pastor at our sister Church, The Table, Bellingham. Aaron & Kate Walters, jumped into Church planting about 5 years ago and are now embedding themselves in the community of Fairhaven, by running the Firehouse Cafe. If you haven't been there yet, be sure to stop by and say hi!

This week, we had the privilege of being joined by Dr. Allen Likkel. Allen was a significant influence on the beginning of Mosaic, but more than that, he was a huge influence on our denomination (www.crcna.org) becoming aggressive to church planting in the last 15 years. His insight and passion for the Church and for continuing the mssion of God in our world is a great blessing to us and we are super thankful for his help and support.

Naturally, over time, any church or organization struggles to maintain its original vision. We "leak". Vision, passion and energy all drain from us individually and collectively, and we can easily finding ourselves wondering how we got where we.As a community, there is another dynamic that also impacts our ability to stay true to who we are called to be. As people come to Mosaic, they naturally begin to define who Mosaic is by their own experience. This is completely understandable, but if we're not careful, the result will be a menagerie of visions, rather than a clear understanding of who we are called to be as a church.

When the Preacher sums up his thoughts about life, of course it will include that it's meaningless. But, is it really? Is that the point the preacher is attempting to make? Is it all nihilism and fatalism?No, definitely not! Amidst the despair of the world as it is, there is a call to contend for what it was meant to be. Like an old man who has seen too much struggle and suffering, but still has hope, so the Preacher reminds us of what is truly important in this life.

The early part of this recording includes infant baptism and some of our music. Please be patient as the message starts about 26 minutes in. We will attempt to edit and put only the message online.We are happy to have our friend Heidi Price share again this week. Get ready from some great stories and challenging truth.

In the past couple weeks, there was a hack on an infamous cheaters website called, Ashley Madison. Their by line, is "Life's short, have an affair." Apparently millions have and many more millions have explored the idea. The hackers, far from being upstanding citizens, said they were going to release the data on these dirtbags, which they have done. The release has exposed thousands of people and is likely going to ruin a lot of marriages. How is it, that after thousands of years and millions of case- studies, that we still think following the cravings of our nature is going to bring meaning and happiness? Many of the wisest people that have ever lived have proven this theory to be false, yet it seems that our cravings are often much more powerful than our thoughts.So how can we protect ourselves from giving in to these vain pursuits, have a clear conscience and deal with stuff in our lives before it bears bad fruit. Take a listen!

Dust.... We are made out of it. It is everywhere around us and most things have it in their make up. Shane Treadway shares from his experience as dust, as a missionary and also a grad student studying anthropology.And, no matter what he says, I am no more screwed up than he is. :) Matt

This is a re-record of the discussion at Mosaic. The latter 10 minutes were not captured on Sunday, so this was redone in hopes of capturing the essence of the discussion.According to a massive Gallup study done in 2013, (gathered information from 230,000 full-time and part-time workers in 142 countries.) Gallup found that only 13% of workers feel engaged by their jobs. That means they feel a sense of passion for their work, a deep connection to their employer and they spend their days driving innovation and moving their company forward. The vast majority, some 63%, are “not engaged,” meaning they are unhappy but not drastically so. In short, they’re checked out. They sleepwalk through their days, putting little energy into their work. A full 24% are what Gallup calls “actively disengaged,” meaning they pretty much hate their jobs. They act out and undermine what their coworkers accomplish.In other words, many people feel exactly the same as the writer of Ecclesiastes. But, is this the preachers intent? Is this God's intent for our working life? Most of us spend the majority of our time and energy on our work. If you work 50 hours per week, sleep 8 hours per day, that only leaves 78 hour per week to give to those things that you find meaningful. Doesn't it make sense that the preacher and God, both want us to look at the situation regarding labor and try to recover God's original intent for our working life?

Two phrases fill the book of Ecclesiastes; "Meaningless, all is meaningless" and "Under the sun". Some have tried to explain this last phrase to mean life without God. The problem is that the preacher speaks for almost all of us, not just those that do not have God in their life. All of us, at one time or another, find ourselves relating to the struggle the preacher speaks of. Even with God in our life, the questions and sometimes, meaningless of our lives can fill us with despair.Is this the preachers intent? Simply to leave us with a more realistic view of life on this planet? Or, is there something else the preacher is trying to get at, that makes the message of Ecclesiastes good news for those who will listen?

This summer, I would like to invite us on the journey of recovering Eden through the book of Ecclesiastes, but more importantly than reading about it, I hope that we can recover some Eden through living it. There is nothing wrong with looking back at the past with fondness and nostalgia, unless we don’t learn from it. It’s one thing to wish i had been more attentive to the beautiful things that past seasons held, it’s another thing to not learn from that lesson and fail to see the beauty that this season holds.