Mission
What differentiates MOSS from other outdoor groups? We are about seeking adventure but understand that by getting into wilderness the discovery is spiritual as much as physical. It is our belief that God can be found at work in creation-that there is something within us that reacts to what is experienced in the natural world.
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made..”
The inspiration for the name MOSS originated during time spent in Glacier Bay, Alaska in the summer of 1997. Here, glaciers have advanced and retreated several times and with each advance, the ice (like any other natural disaster) destroys and recreates a landscape. Slowly, with the help of mosses, lichens and other pioneer species, a complete ecosystem is reborn.
“...so favorable is this climate for the development of tree seeds and so fully do these trees obey the command to multiply and replenish the earth. No wonder these islands are densely clothed with trees. They grow on solid rocks and logs as well as on fertile soil. The surface is first covered with a plush of mosses in which the seeds germinate; then the interlacing roots form a sod, fallen leaves soon cover their feet, and the young trees, closely crowded together, support each other, and the soil becomes deeper and richer from year to year.
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Outdoors
Our mission is to facilitate a connection between our experience in nature with the Creator of All. A unique way that this happens is during an intentional period of solitude on each event, called Withdrawal Time. This is taken from the example Jesus gave us and found in the Gospels and is extremely beneficial for modern people who spend most of their time indoors and a significant amount of time interacting electronically.
“...Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.”
Solitude
MOSS has an intentionally soft approach to ministry that strives to do the hard work of producing good soil as it bridges the reaction people instinctively have nature to who we know as Creator.
“Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Service
Photography provided by Peter Paul Petretta