A few people have asked me why our church is called Mosaic. That’s a legitimate question I am sure many people have wondered about , some have implied subtlety and not so subtlety that we use the name so we can be known as “hip” “trendy” and “pomo” I am not sure how they think that a church partly led by a 47 year old balding middle aged guy could ever be any of those things! The truth is that I chose the name because it’s a metaphor for church and in Scripture more often than not when describing God’s people it uses metaphor, so God’s people are described as a body, a family, a flock and an army among other things. A metaphor conveys truth through our imagination and for me a Mosaic is how I always imagined and longed for church to be. In a book called Missional Spirituality I came across a quote by Henri Nouwen that articulates that longing, the essence of the metaphor, better than I can, so I thought I would share it.

“A mosaic consists of thousands of little stones. Some are blue, some are green, some are yellow, some are gold. When we bring our faces close to the Mosaic, we can admire the beauty of each stone. But as we step back from it, we can see that these little stones reveal to us a beautiful picture, telling a story none of these stones can tell by itself. That is what our life in community is about. Each of us is like a little stone, but together we reveal the face of God to the world. Nobody can say “I make God visible” But others who see us can say “They make God visible” The authors of that book go on to say, ” Like a mosaic the Body of Christ is diverse, it contains varied gifts in varied personalties. Only together do we become a body …. We are God’s body language”

As I think about the future my deepest desire is not that we are simply called Mosaic Edinburgh but that we become a God designed and created mosaic for Edinburgh. That is, a community of individual broken lives which when viewed and experienced together makes our God visible and tangible to others and to our city. You see for me Mosaic is more than our name or even our aspiration as a church, it’s our mission.

Introduction to Mosaic Edinburgh

Mosaic Edinburgh is a new community of followers of Jesus Christ here in Scotland’s capital just setting off on the adventure of discovering what it means to be God’s people in this beautiful city. Our deepest desire as a new church is simply to live by faith, to be known by love, and to be a voice of hope. In case you are wondering the name of our community comes from our diversity and is a symbol for what we believe church is all about. Like an artist using broken pieces to create a beautiful mosaic in stone we believe that God takes our broken and fragmented lives and creates from them a beautiful Mosaic of humanity, a community called the church.

We are just a small group at the moment but we welcome people from all walks of life, regardless of where they are in their spiritual journey. Just to warn you we are a community of people who are in process. We have imperfect messy lives, but we are pursuing and experiencing a transforming relationship with Jesus and with each other. Everybody is welcome here, whatever your story, your questions, doubts or struggles. We are trying to be serious doing life together in community, being intentional about our growth and serving one another, our city and wider world. Interested? Drop us a line, we’d love to connect.