A couple of months ago, we moved house – a major change as both the property and area are very different from anything we have lived in before. In addition, both my husband and I are now fully retired, and though I know the time was right, I miss the church community where I was a minister a great deal. We both have plenty to do – I continue to write, he has enough DIY for a century and we are both particularly loving time with our children and grandchildren. But it is an adjustment – which he has made with ease and I am working at.
There was a particular irony, in that I had finally managed to tame our 80ft, uphill garden – as much as you ever can of course. I love gardening. I enjoy the feeling of soil in my hands, the sense of satisfaction in cherishing something to growth, and even the simple tasks such as pruning. So one of the first things I did was look at the garden for potential.
This garden is flat, which is a joy – gardening on the slope of the old house felt like you were slightly intoxicated and everything was somehow moving! This one is very small, and has only had the minimum done for some time. The result is that all around the edges are very large, old evergreen shrubs and a conifer hedge. One section has been cut back, resulting in a rather ugly set of brown broken branches where nothing will regrow – but the birds love it so it will need to stay.
In some of it, we will take out the old shrubs and build raised beds which I can fill with colour and wildlife-friendly planting. It will be a labour of love and take several years. But the back hedge – the ugly bit – will remain a haven for the many species we have already spotted who flit in to feed from a nearby wooded area and stream. Simple pleasures.
However in the centre of it is a gap. I have no idea why – perhaps it was simply pragmatic, a means to get to the back fence for maintenance. And it was to this gap that my gaze was initially and persistently drawn. What could go there? How soon can I get to a nursery? Ideas for planting buzzed around my mind like a persistent wasp.
Now, gardeners will be holding up their hands in horror reading this. The old adage is that you leave a garden a year to see what comes up, which is generally wise advice. There may be bulbs or herbaceous perennials just waiting to erupt as a glorious surprise. However I am pretty sure that is not the case here. There is deep rooted ivy all around the base of the hedge and I doubt anything could penetrate through.
Yet still I have held back. Looking at the gap, I felt for now I should not try to fill it, that it was a way God could speak to me in this new season. It is so easy, isn’t it, to not leave space in our lives, yet that very void holds the capacity for the new thing which may need to grow. This is particularly a temptation if we are reluctant to look inside, to face aging and mortality, or perhaps after these last two years are holding at bay peeking at the trauma and loss which have been so much a feature of this season. But if we simply fill every moment with activity, where will there be the opportunity to hear the gentle voice of love, to discern what may be next?
So, for now at least, I will leave that gap in the hedge.
Join Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin on Saturday, February 26th from 9:30 am-12:30 pm PT for a refreshing and contemplative journey through Lent. Prepare your hearts and minds to find the beauty in Lent’s ashes. Save the date, more details to follow!
Last week I read an intriguing article that talked about how the words we use can change the structure of our brains.
“By keeping positive and optimistic words in mind, you stimulate the work of the frontal lobe. This area includes special speech centers associated with the motor area of the cerebral cortex responsible for your motor functions. As our experiment has shown, the longer you focus on positive speech, the stronger the impact on other areas of the brain will be.” (Research Confirms that The Words We Can Say Can Change the Structure of Our Brains)
At first I thought it sounded a little naive, but then I remembered Paul’s words in Philippians 4: 7-9 here quoted from The Message
Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
8-9 Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.
Would you believe it – in the next couple of days 3 people suggested this was God’s word for my 71st year, even before I shared my thoughts with them. “Looks like God is trying to tell me something and I have been a little hard of hearing” I decided. I was sure of it when I read this article on Facebook:
The words “I see the world through the people that surround me” really resonated in my soul. As someone commented this is a great spiritual practice to transform the gloom into glory. So I thought I would try an experiment that I heartily recommend to you.
- Each morning I would look at the beauty not the ugliness. I would welcome God into the scarred places of trauma in my life and pray that I would recognize the beauty shining through the ugliness.
- II would write my own headlines for the day. When I suggested this on Facebook, I loved the headlines that appeared: Family meets together for first time in 2 years; The snow slows down the world and it is good; Covid keeps grandkids in US for 2 more glorious weeks with Nana!; Tongan volcanic eruption prompts long-term friends to reconnect. These headlines don’t change the devastation we see around us but they do help us find the inner resources to bring about change.
- Write down three good things that happen each day. This is a fun and energizing exercise – a little like the prayer of examen but with a strong emphasis on the good side of life and the recognition of the goodness of God in the midst of each day. One thing I noticed is that I started with writing 3 good things and that expanded so that now my list is at least 6 good things long.
This is not pretending that there are really no bad things happening in the world, but it does give us the inner resources to face them with more resilience and strength.
I called 2019 my year of Seeing Life Differently and was reminded of that this morning as I worked on this post. It made me want to transform Paul’s words in Philippians: “see differently as a way of life: displace worry with Christ at the centre of your life, discern the ways of truth not falsehood, transform ugliness into beauty, replace your curses with praise to God; settle into a way of life where you work for the good of all creation.”
As I wrote this today I reread the section in Howard Thurman’s biography where he talks about taking his daughters back to the beach in Florida where he spent many fun days as a child. Now (1968) it was a “whites only” beach. Instead of ranting against the injustice he explained to his daughters that they were so powerful that it took the police, the local government and changes in the law to keep them off the beach – an attitude that must have made them proud, not depressed at who they were. Perhaps we need more of that kind of an attitude too as we watch states in the US change voting laws to keep blacks and marginalized populations from voting, because it is true – these parts of the population are powerful and could change the future of this country so it is no wonder those who have usurped their power want to see their rights suppressed.
I know I could get myself in hot water by making a statement like this but part of what I realized this week as I instituted my new practices, is that in the midst of the stress and the pain and the overwhelming fatigue of our current environment, they can give me the new energy I need to work for change in a way that moves more towards God’s shalom purposes of wholeness for all creation.
I want this year to be a year of transforming the ugly into beauty and I hope you do too. Read through this poem that I wrote back in 2019 and prayerfully consider what you could do to bring about the kind of change God wants to see happen in the world.
Read life differently.
Read with love and not with hate,
with compassion and not with judgment,
with generosity and not with scarcity.
See your cup
not half full,
not half empty,
but overflowing with God’s goodness and light and life.
Read life differently.
Look for the wonder of uniqueness,
not the exclusion of sameness.
Embrace don’t reject.
Forgive don’t condemn.
Seek the Son of God.
Work diligently to know
he who is the way, the truth, and the life.
Follow his footsteps,
walk in the ways that leads to eternal life.
Christine Sine (c) 2019
We all need the Wholeness of God…this resource includes reflections and activities for coping and thriving during the COVID-19 challenges in search of shalom as well as hope for restoration during and after this period of social distancing.
A contemplative service with music in the spirit of Taize. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers.
Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756 with additional notes below:
“Wisdom of Saints” Music and lyrics by Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY)
“Nothing Can Ever” Copyright and all rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé
“Rabboni Beloved” By Kester Limner and Andy Myers, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY)
“Veni Sancte Spiritus” Copyright and all rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé
Thank you for praying with us! www.saintandrewsseattle.org
Last week Tom and I recorded a Facebook live session on Establishing a Rule of Life. Not only was it extremely popular but we had some amazing responses including the beautiful poem below by Ana Lisa De Jong. Ana Lisa commented: “Thank you Christine Sine and Tom Sine for the inspiration. Your inspiring FB live today and your Mustard Seed community is a fruitful harvest in itself.” For more information on rule of life check out this post Establishing a Rule of Life Rooted in Shalom Enjoy the recording and the poem.
MUSTARD SEEDS
Teach your children to plant trees.
Teach them to open their hands,
scatter seeds.
The world which would squeeze them to its mould,
would have them hold on tight,
bury them under its avalanche
of consumption.
Whereas breathing, living,
is found in breaking open,
pouring ourselves out.
Scattering the seed
which without there isn’t fruit.
Teach your children the beauty of creation.
That what we do makes a difference,
just in the act of doing.
The war for our children’s souls is quiet,
quiet as the drug that lulls them to sleep.
Open their hands, give them seeds.
Living Tree Poetry
January 2022
Looking for New Mustard Seed House Members
It seemed very appropriate to post this today as we are also looking for new members for the Mustard Seed House
Just a reminder for the weekend, we cannot pour from an empty cup!
So take time to actually get some rest! #RESTisHOLY
Take a walk outside, draw, play, get coffee with a friend, do something that brings you joy and refreshes you!
My birthday was yesterday, so like all good hobbits, I want to give you a gift for my birthday. As you may know, I love to pray with my coffee each day and got inspired a few years ago to PRAY WITH YOUR CUP through Holy Week. So go over to freerangeworship.com and get the free download and save it a resource to use this April.
And now, GRAB A COFFEE/TEA CUP and PRAY TODAY
Consider the cup
How is your cup today? Look at your coffee cup/mug/teacup What do you notice? Is it full? Empty? Faded? Cracked or Chipped? How are you feeling like that cup? What do you need to pour out? What do you need Jesus to pour into your cup? May be Peace or Joy? Compassion .. for yourself & for others? Energy to keep going?
What do you need in your cup today?
Jesus is with you & me in the messiness of this life.
In the chipped and cracked places.
In the empty places and the places that are stained & scratched.
Jesus loves us and is with us right where we are!
Drink that in today!
Grab a spoon!
What is stirring in you today? What does the Holy Spirit want to stir in you? As you use spoons throughout the day/week, ask Jesus/Spirit to show you what is being stirred in your life & what needs to be stirred.
A Prayer for you and your Cup…
HOLD YOUR CUP…
Lord Jesus…
Help us to be, to share and drink from
Cups of Transformation
Help us to be Cups of Resurrection
Cups of Restoration
Cups of Healing and Wholeness
Safe to drink from
We are Stained and broken, chipped and cracked…
And some may say we are not the favorite one in the cupboard or on the shelf,
But you Jesus, Love us just as we are!
And use us just the same.
Fill us Jesus with your Living Water!
Help us to share Living Water with those around us!
And bring refreshment and great flavor to our world!
AMEN
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
More details coming soon! Join Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin as they guide you through finding beauty in the ashes of Lent Saturday February 26th from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm PT.
all photos and writings by June Friesen
Ziplining has never been a dream, a hope, or an ambition of mine. However, as I meet people, especially younger people it seems that it is something that they dream of doing and when they actually accomplish it some have told me it gives them a feeling of exhilaration. Now as I was observing and taking some photos, I was also aware that this zipline (which was at an outdoor zoo) went over the outdoor lion and tiger exhibits. With this background, I thought to myself what gratitude each person must have had to arrive safely at their destination at the opposite end. I am sure you are wondering to yourself how in fact I came up with the phrase, ‘A Zipline of Gratitude.’
Colossians 3:14-16 (The Passion Translation)
14 For love is supreme and must flow through each of these virtues. Love becomes the mark of true maturity. 15 Let your heart be always guided by the peace of the Anointed One, who called you to peace as part of his one body. And always be thankful.
There are a number of verses as well as stories that contain an aspect or element of gratitude. Jesus was known to highlight those who were thankful for the things that He did in their lives such as one out of ten lepers that returned to give Him thanks for healing him. Some verses from 2nd Timothy 3 seem to fit with what my thoughts are here on gratitude.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 (J.B. Phillips)
But you must realize that in the last days the times will be full of danger. Men will become utterly self-centered, greedy for money, full of big words. They will be proud and contemptuous, without any regard for what their parents taught them. They will be utterly lacking in gratitude, purity and normal human affections. They will be men of unscrupulous speech and have no control of themselves. They will be passionate and unprincipled, treacherous, self-willed and conceited, loving all the time what gives them pleasure instead of loving God. They will maintain a facade of “religion”, but their conduct will deny its validity. You must keep clear of people like this.
Yes, I chose this passage from 2nd Timothy because all of the things mentioned here keep us from an attitude of gratitude. I also have found that when I am surrounded by people with these kinds of attitudes I can easily be drawn into the negativity of the world and life that is very prevalent in our society at large. Paul warns Timothy as well as you and I to be careful of this negativity because it lacks gratitude, purity, and love. Yet one wonders how can I ever rise above all the negativity? How can I, just me all alone, make any difference or impact on the general all-around negativity? And then I thought it is almost as difficult for some of us to move into a lifestyle of gratefulness/gratitude as it is for us to step off of a platform suspended by a body harness to fly through the air suspended on a wire – a wire suspended over wild animal enclosures no less.
In our world today there are so many things that clamor for our attention and often they are filled with negative energies that easily overtake us. When negative energy is allowed room in our lives, either mind or spirit, it begins to drain our physical energy and often our emotional energy as well. Over 20 years ago I picked up a book I happened to see advertised on television. I had no idea how this book would revolutionize my life and at first, I was rather skeptical. However, one of the disciplines was gratitude – adopting a daily discipline of being grateful, which I decided to try. Yes, kind of like standing in the little shelter high up in the air and having someone tell me, “Just let me fasten this harness on you, and then let go – you will have the ride of your life right over the outdoor animal enclosures – and I promise you all will be safe and well.” It took a bit of time to get this habit into a good practice but soon I was beginning to see all of the things that were blessings in my life. I also discovered something else – in the midst of a day if I became discouraged, I would think of some blessing I could see or feel right then – and my negative attitude was curtailed.
As I have thought about the title of this writing the last couple of months, I see how many may find it hard to even think that it is possible to do a gratitude journal. We can come up with numerous ideas: what if I forget, what if I have a really horrible, no-good day, what if I am too tired, what if I am sick, what if I am not at home and I am sure there are other excuses too. First of all, if you put it on your bed, you will see it every night and you pick it up and write in it before you go to bed. Second, when you travel, take it with you and have it be on top of your suitcase so every night when you open your suitcase you have to pick it up and, of course, write in it. Third, sometimes one may be ill, even very ill, may even be hospitalized – even then if you have a bed, warmth, drink, someone to care for you or pain killer or a treatment plan – yes, there are things to be thankful for then too.
As I stood and watched people zipline over the enclosures that contained dangerous animals, I thought of how there are people in our world that we too need to be aware of. They could be various kinds but especially those who have the potential to cause us harm whether physical, mental, emotional and/or spiritual. They are the people that we need to learn the possibility of moving over or past while maintaining an attitude of gratitude. Now, this attitude should not be one of exclusion all together but definitely one of caution. Often after the people zipline over the animals they will then walk past the pens and observe the animals in all their wonder and beauty – and be grateful for that beauty as well as their safety. Some of the people are actually the ones who work at the facility and enter the areas where these animals may be, however they use caution and techniques to keep themselves from harm and/or injury.
As I have worked with people, discipling them over the past twenty years, I encourage each person to begin a gratitude journal. I often pick up pretty journals at the dollar store when I see them so that I have some handy. Why? One of the excuses we have is I do not have a journal, or I don’t know where to get a journal. And as I invite people to join me on the ‘zipline of gratitude’ I soon find they are eager to share how it also has changed their thought patterns from negative to positive in many situations.
So, as you are wondering how to adapt to the heat of the summer or the cold of the winter, depending on which hemisphere you live in, I invite you to delve into a new adventure – take a ride on the ‘Zipline of Graitude’ – I believe you will say in the end – this sure is an enjoyable ride. Let’s do it again. And again……
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One of the gifts of the pandemic is that I have experienced the beauty and wonder of creation in totally new ways. As a Christian, I believe as Genesis teaches us, that creation is good. Yet, as a Celtic Christian, I also see creation as sacred and holy. It is a theophany, that is, a manifestation of God. I believe that we should reverence creation just as we do the scriptures, Jesus, the cross, and the sacraments. These had been theological ideas but, in my life, they did not translate into any kind of spiritual practice.
That changed in March of 2020 when I found myself spending more time outdoors. Because of church closures, I found myself worshipping in creation. I began praying and meditating among the trees. I found a special place on Camano Island, Washington where I live. I named it “Madrone Chapel.”
Madrone Chapel, Camano Island State Park
There I had a pew beneath a Madrone tree cross overlooking the sea. The light shimmering through the trees was as beautiful as any stained glass window. Angels masquerading as birds were my choir. A baptismal font disguised as a stream made me feel born anew. In the spring of 2020, I found Madrone Chapel to be a refuge inviting me to hope amidst the pandemic’s masking and closure of so much I knew and loved.
One day, I had my eyes closed in meditation when I heard a sound of rushing air and water. I opened my eyes. There was a gray whale spouting right below me. Talk about beauty and wonder! I spoke to the whale, “You are beautiful. Will you show me your fluke?” And a few seconds later it did! Then the whale began swimming south. The upper trail I was on also ran south, exactly parallel to the swimming whale. For twenty minutes, I went whale walking!
It was a moment of profound beauty and wonder. I experienced it as God and creation calling me to sink beneath the lockdown of the ravaging storyline which in my mind detailed everything that was wrong with the world and me. Instead, I paused and rejoiced that I breathe the same air as that magnificent whale. I heard the hymn of creation sing the words of the mystic Julian of Norwich, “All is well. And all shall be well. And all manner of things shall be well.”
Besides worshipping in nature, I now turn to creation for spiritual healing. A few months ago, I had a rift in a personal relationship. I had been hurt by this person and yet I knew that the relationship could not be healed until I released my anger.
I headed to a rocky beach to conduct a ritual of letting go. I decided to look for the ugliest rock on the beach that would symbolize the ugliness I had been experiencing. My plan was to throw it into the sea as a gesture of release. It took me a long time to find what looked like the perfect ugly rock. At last, I found one!
As I looked at it intently, the rock was suddenly transformed in my hand. It was no longer ugly. I became aware of just how incredibly beautiful this one small piece of creation is! I put it down and thought, “I must a find a really complex rock to represent my dilemma here.” The more I looked at the surrounding landscape, the more beautiful it all became.
Beach Rocks, English Boom Preserve, Camano Island
I had a distinct feeling of merging and becoming one with every rock. In the end, I closed my eyes and picked up one rock and gently returned it to the water. It was as if creation had heard my confession and the thoughts of my heart had been cleansed by God. I found myself in a state of peace, love and joy. Forgiveness flooded my heart and I felt compassion for the person who had wounded me.
I experienced myself as a part of creation and not apart from creation. To use the words of contemplative monk and priest, Thomas Merton, I had a “keen awareness of the inter-dependence of all living things which are all part of one another and involved in one another.” I was humbled to experience that I was also included in all living things.
God’s creation with its gifts of beauty and wonder gives me a way to move forward into this new year with joy and hope. I will continue to incorporate Celtic spirituality and my love of creation into my faith practices and also into more aspects of my life. Yes, that is something I can do.
But God does more! The Creator continues to live and love, moving in and through creation, reaching out to us here and now. God embraces us through creation. The more time I have spent simply being in God’s magnificent creation; the more I am feeling healed, that is, made whole. And such wholeness has helped me to simplify my lifestyle and make more sustainable choices. I hope even these small changes will contribute to the healing of our beloved Earth.
A friend of mine named Kristopher Lindquist wrote a chant with these words below. It is one of my prayers of gratitude and hope. May it serve as an invitation to you to discover God in and through the beauty and wonder of Creation.
“Through Creation, God is singing,
through Creation, dancing with joy.
God delights in all things.
God delights in All That Is.
God delights in us.”
Amen.
“You can infuse your life with joy, even right in the middle of winter when you need it most…”
Join Christine Aroney-Sine TONIGHT for a series of five inspiring conversations, based on her book, The Gift of Wonder: Creative Practices for Delighting in God.*
Wednesday nights from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m on Zoom
- January 19 – The Awe of Wonder (Introduction)
- January 26 – Wonder & Trauma
- February 2 – Play!
- February 9 – Reminiscing
- February 16 – The Joy of Gratitude
* We will mail you the book with your $10 registration. If you already have the book, the series is free.
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