Brothers and Sisters,
Just a few weeks ago, a significant part of our church family finished several months of studying the Ezra-Nehemiah narrative. Whether you mistook the rather large Ezra workbook as a college textbook (oops!), overheard preteens talking through the meaning of ancient walls, saw a spouse persevere through another genealogy, or joined us yourself, I can tell you that it was a challenge and a delight.
We were challenged to consider a stretch of God’s redemptive narrative that many of us were unfamiliar with. We were challenged to keep studying even during a rather long season of winter-spring sickness. We were challenged by the record of God’s astounding covenantal love to know his character more deeply so that we might worship him more fully.
We were also delighted! We were delighted to see the beauty of how every passage of Scripture is woven. We were delighted by the invitation to map the highs and lows of these narratives onto the story of the gospel, and even more delighted (and surprised!) to see ourselves in an ancient story that felt so deeply relevant.
Most importantly though, the last several months lead us to long for Jesus. At the end of this challenging and delightful Bible Study, I believe more than ever that we grew our longing for him because we looked for him.
We looked for the precursors of his ministry in the priests. We looked for his sufficiency as we discussed intricate details of rituals and sacrifice. We looked for his character in those who would point to him. We left longing all the more for Jesus as we studied, because we disciplined ourselves to look for the one who would fulfill all that we saw plainly that we could never accomplish.We felt our need and by God’s grace, we found Jesus to be the only one worthy enough to satisfy.
So what do we do now? Well, we continue to look. We are thrilled that we will study the Letter to the Hebrews in the Fall and Spring. It will be another opportunity to discipline our looking, that we might reorient our longings.
Until then, let us take every opportunity possible to look to Jesus and look again, let us look upon his kingly reign and kindly rule. In him, we find our beginning and end, our hope and confidence, our trust and rest, our provision and peace. We love him and so we look for him in the Scriptures that we might look to him in our everyday lives.
We are excited to invite the women of Mosaic to a few opportunities between now and the start of Bible Study in the Fall to continue the beautiful practice of looking to Jesus. On May 1, we are hosting our Spring Women’s Gathered which will be a night of savoring and reflecting on John 15 through guided group prayer and reflection, discussion, and connecting over dessert.
Then we will spend time in the Gospels this summer! We will gather in host homes for a “Public Reading of Scripture” which is a time to read through a selected text together, share insights, and you guessed it, eat dessert. Mark your calendars for June 5th (Matthew + ice cream) , July 10th (Mark + cookies) , and August 7th (Luke+ pie). All of this will take us right up to our now tradition of our Fall Women’s Gathered where we will look to Jesus once again by praying through the “I Am Statements” in John and respond in worship.
We love you and we can’t wait for a sweet season of looking to Jesus that we might look, long, and find him all our days.
In Christ,
Antonea Bastian
