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Godspacelight
by dbarta
BREAKFAST AT THE BEACH1
Creative PrayerEasterfreerangefriday

FreerangeFriday: The Easter Cups of Provision and Invitation

by Lilly Lewin
written by Lilly Lewin

By Lilly Lewin

EASTER CUP PRAYERS…

We are entering the 5th week of Easter. Eastertide runs til May 23rd this year when we celebrate Pentecost and pouring out of the Holy Spirit.
This week at thinplaceNASHVILLE, our house church community, we got outside and actually sat by the water at the “beach” and reflected on John 21 and Jesus cooking breakfast for his disciples.

It’s one of my favorite passages! I use it in my workshops to teach experiential worship… how to take a passage of scripture and make it interactive and multi-sensory. Each time I listen to or teach from this passage, I learn something new!
At thinplaceNASHVILLE, we practice Lectio Divina , listening to the passage read by three people and we use three different translations so we hear familiar passages in fresh ways. Lectio Divina enables the Holy Spirit to be the teacher and each person who listens receives the “sermon” they need to hear for that day.

Our house church meets on Sunday and Tuesday nights via Zoom. With two different groups, I have the gift of listening and learning from the passage twice each week. This week I was reminded of my need to drink from the CUP OF PROVISION and the CUP OF INVITATION.

BEGIN BY READING JOHN 21.

NOW GET YOUR CUP TO PRAY WITH THE CUP OF PROVISION

BLUE FISH MUG

CUP of PROVISION and ABUNDANCE

In JOHN 21, some of the disciples have gone fishing and fished all night, catching NOTHING. Then they notice Jesus on the beach and he invites them to fish on the other side of the boat. Jesus doesn’t just give Peter and his friends some fish, he provides an ABUNDANCE FISH! And not just fish, LARGE FISH! More than enough for them to have some to eat, and have some to sell to provide for themselves in the days ahead.

THE CUP OF PROVISION might also be called the cup of ABUNDANCE…

Do you and I remember that Jesus provides for us?
Do you and I remember that Jesus is the God of abundance, not scarcity?

HOLD YOUR CUP.

How has Jesus provided for you this week? This year? Take time to be thankful. Consider all the ways Jesus has provided for you throughout this last year in the midst of the pandemic.

How do you need Jesus to provide for you this week, and in the months ahead? Talk to Jesus about this.

Jesus already had fish cooking on the fire… he already had breakfast prepared for the hungry disciples who’d been up all night. He gave them breakfast and the abundant provision of the 154 BIG FISH.

Think about a time when Jesus already had breakfast ready for you. A time when you got somewhere or something happened that you just knew that Jesus had this all prepared ahead of time. How does it feel to know that Jesus knows what you need?

Are we drinking from the cup of abundance today or the cup of not enough?

As you drink from your cup today, continue to thank Jesus for his provision and make your cup a cup of abundance each day this week.

 

BORN TO FISH MUG

THE CUP OF INVITATION

THE CUP OF INVITATION

All of John 21 takes place after the trauma of the crucifixion with the uncertainty of what happens now that Jesus is resurrected. Peter returns to what is familiar, what makes sense, and what might make him some money too. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do next.

Maybe you are feeling like Peter and the disciples, it’s been a really long, weird season of COVID. Maybe you, too, are uncertain about what to do next.

IM NOT LISTENING IM FISHING

TELL JESUS where you really are today

HOLD YOUR CUP and talk to Jesus about where you are and how you are really doing and feeling. What do you notice? What are you confused or frustrated about? What are you wondering about as you look ahead to the next season? Give Jesus these things to hold.

After breakfast, Jesus reminds Peter of his purpose. Jesus reinstates Peter after his betrayals. Jesus invites Peter to fish for people again… this time inviting him to feed his sheep. He reminds Peter of his calling. And says, FOLLOW ME.

Consider what Jesus has called, invited you to do in the Kingdom of God. Take time to thank him for this. How has it changed over the years? 

What or how do you need to REDISCOVER the INVITATION OF JESUS IN YOUR LIFE?

How is Jesus inviting you to FOLLOW him again?

As you drink from your cup this week, Pray and ask how you are being invited on a new adventure with Jesus!

REMEMBER as my friend Pastor/Professor Frank Ponce says,
“Jesus has provision for the NEW REALITY he is inviting you into” and Jesus has abundant provision for the next leg of this adventure!
LIFE IS GOOD MUG

You are invited to Follow Again!

©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com


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April 30, 2021 1 comment
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TREE
Holidays

Arbor Day: Join the Timbered Ovation!

by Christine Sine
written by Christine Sine

by Laurie Klein

An annual date dedicated to celebrating trees

Say you have one day to live. This one. What would you do?

See the ocean? Meet your hero? Sky dive? 

Perhaps you’d fund a new well in an African village. You might leave notes inside your books for future readers to find. You could pre-order a single rose, to be delivered each month to someone you love.

Renowned poet W. S. Merwin declared, “I’d plant a tree.” 

When I read his answer, I pictured the literary giant’s final act taking root—literally—unfurling a legacy both sturdy and verdant. Talk about an encore.

Then I learned about his sideline.

Up until his death at 91, Merwin painstakingly restored 19 acres of wasteland in Maui, Hawaii. He and his wife regenerated thousands of native plants and trees—including one species considered technically extinct. “Putting life back into the world” enlivened him. 

Merwin, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, embodied the spirit of Arbor Day. Dropping to his knees most afternoons for 35 years, a poet considered a “national treasure” established one of the most lush and diverse palm gardens on earth. 

Today amid tropical breezes the Merwin Conservancy rustles and sways, home to the plover and Chinese thrush, whose songs join the endless anthem of arching fronds. 

Do you sense a biblical echo? “And all the trees of the field will clap their hands,” Isaiah wrote. 

Poet e. e. cummings praised “the leaping, greenly spirits of trees”—suggesting simultaneous dance, sport, and standing ovation. 

An unknown psalmist, on the other hand, compares believers to trees: “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree . . . They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green.”

And doesn’t our faith’s ongoing renewal, by its very nature, suggest countless ways to leave our hallowed, harrowing world more vibrantly fertile?

By the Master Gardener’s design, vital commonalities link trees with humanity. Attentive, generous community helps both species not only survive, but thrive. People network via language, touch, and actions. Trees hook up via roots, exchange predator warnings, share water and nutrients—especially when one member struggles. 

And we all struggle. 

Last summer, my brilliant, beloved critique partner of 25 years was diagnosed with a vicious cancer: Multiple Myeloma. And then, a brain tumor. Her subsequent treatment amid pandemic protocols has precluded our meetings. Will we have a shared future? Many a ragged sigh has since escaped me while rambling nearby woodland, where towering pines offer resinous comfort and shade. There’s also tacit collaboration: I pray aloud, and the trees absorb my expelled carbon dioxide. Within bark and heartwood inert traces linger—a shared memory of breath. 

One day, while picturing the countless reams of paper my friend and I have exchanged and recycled, I longed to meld, as Merwin had, the literary with the literal. When a writing award came my way, I invested in trees, planted in her name. Long may they and their descendants furnish paper for writers who will one day succeed us.

Now, more than ever, the earth needs trees. “Land given a chance will come back,” Merwin said. Arbor Day participants agree. The hands-on celebration dates back to 1872, when acclaimed journalist J. Sterling Morton inspired Nebraskan volunteers to plant over one million saplings, awarding prizes for the most trees planted by individuals and counties. Morton’s event caught on. His vision expanded. The following year, more states joined the effort—this time, on Morton’s birthday.

“Other holidays repose upon the past,” Morton wrote. “Arbor Day proposes for the future.”

Before long, the entire nation was involved—and thereafter, the world. I like to imagine tree limbs raised in pulsing applause for our Maker. Can’t you almost hear wind sonify the patter of aspen and cottonwood leaves? One grand timbered ovation. 

To this day, tamping a tree’s tender roots into soil remains a radical, healing gesture of hope, born of the bended knee and the outstretched hand. The overflowing cup of cool water.

Across the planet people of all ages are sowing acorns, seedlings, and saplings. We’re picking up litter. Tending the land. Afterward, sunburnt and weary, nails grimed, many will raise a glass. Perhaps an old Irish blessing will come to mind:

A toast to your coffin:
May it be made of 100-year-old oak,

and may we plant the tree together . . . tomorrow.

If not a shovel and sapling, how might you sustain greener tomorrows?

We each have this day. What will you do?

***

https://godspacelight.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/01-Blessed-Is-The-Man.mp3

Song: “Blessed Is the Man,” written and performed by Bill Klein.

  • If you photograph nature, or write nature poetry, consider submitting your work here, where part of your submission fee goes toward planting trees.
  • Visit the official Arbor Day website here.
  • You might also like A Timbered Choir: The Sabbath Poems, by Wendell Berry

Sources:

  • https://merwinconservancy.org/about-w-s-merwin/
  • https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/obituaries/w-s-merwin-dead-poet-laureate.html
  • Photo: Laurie Klein

Spirituality of Gardening Online Course invites you to connect your senses and spirit with awe and wonder in the garden.

Spirituality of Gardening Online Course

https://godspacelight.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/01-Blessed-Is-The-Man.mp3

 

April 29, 2021 0 comments
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Perspective Affects Perception 1
Uncategorized

Perspective Affects Perception

by Christine Sine
written by Christine Sine

photo above and writing by Jean Andrianoff,

Our home in the Pacific Northwest lies across the road from waterfront property. Our neighbors on the other side of the road have stunning views of Puget Sound. Our view, on the other hand, is limited to a small peek-a-boo area through the trees.

Perspective Affects Perception 2

by Jean Andrianoff

One morning recently, I walked out of the kitchen into the living room to be greeted by an intense blaze of light shining through the southeast side of the living room window as the rays of the rising sun reflected off the water. I had never before seen light coming from just that spot. My point of view at that particular moment perfectly revealed the glory of the sunlight on the water. The angle of the sun relative to the water and to the gap in the tree branches created the perfect perspective.

Perspective also matters when you attend a ballet or concert or sports event. There’s a reason tickets closer to the performance cost more. Twice in my life, I was privileged to attend a performance of the Bolshoi Ballet. The first time, I sat in the “nose-bleed” section of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, entranced by where I was and who was performing, but with only the most remote view of the performers. The second time, I was in the Thailand Cultural Center, where the Bolshoi had come to perform in honor of the Thai king’s 60th birthday. There, I could afford seats near the front, where the difference in perspective was breathtaking. I could see facial expressions and perceive the effort and skill required to create the illusion of weightlessness. From that viewpoint, I could appreciate the full glory and beauty of the performance. 

Bolshoi Ballet.

Bolshoi Ballet – wikimedia commons (public domaiin)

On this side of eternity, our perception of the glory of God is limited. As God explained to Moses, no human can see His face, or the fullness of His glory, and live. Jesus showed mankind glimpses of God’s glory, but He wants more for us. He wants us to see the full extent of that glory, a glory that we will ultimately reflect (2 Corinthians 3:18). In His final prayer for all believers, Jesus prayed: 

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24, ESV).

His desire is that we may stand with Him in Heaven where we will enjoy the perfect perspective of God’s glory as we gaze at Jesus, our perception no longer constrained by human limitations. As Jesus acknowledged, His glory is a love-gift from God. Jesus wants to pass along that love so that we may perceive His glory and, as we see it, ultimately to reflect it. 


This new bundle is on sale until May 11th and includes our best selling book, To Garden with God and The Gift of Wonder Prayer Cards.

To Garden with God and Gift of Wonder cards

April 28, 2021 1 comment
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pexels greg galas 3647545
Uncategorized

What Does Love Look Like?

by Christine Sine
written by Christine Sine

by Sue Duby,

I’ve been pondering. If you ask Chuck, I do that a lot. Maybe wondering how I can squeeze yet another flowering plant in the garden. Or how to create dinner out of what’s left in the “need to go shopping soon” refrigerator. Perhaps hunting for a new walking trail we’ve yet to discover. My mind stays busy – all day, every day!

Today, my thoughts keep looping back to a question. Not related to circumstances in the moment or things looming on the calendar. Just a question that won’t go away. I know the nudge and beckoning when that happens. An invitation by Him to pause, wait, explore a bit deeper and trust He will bring clarity. Look for reminders in the daily. So, the question. . . “What does LOVE look like?”.

Yesterday, 12-year-old grandson, Sam, came over to hang out before his basketball practice. Always a delight and I know the first question to ask… “So… what would you like for dinner?”. Always, the same answer… “Mac and cheese!!”. Not the boring old box kind. But the “we make it together from scratch” kind. It’s our thing. Cooking and experimenting as a team.

Sam never forgets to add his own request. “So, what weird thing can I try this time?”. Chuck’s pickled mushrooms in the frig rated a big “Yuck!”. Then I pulled out a ginger root and we crafted some Ginger Lemonade. Success in the making, but it earned sorry faces from the two of us. Chuck loved it!

With adventures complete, Chuck and Sam headed for the garage en route to the basketball courts. Suddenly, Sam pivoted around and ran over to me. With a spontaneous hug and “I love you, Nana!”, he left to follow Chuck. Not without a second, “Love you Nana!” before disappearing out the door.

I smiled… with a warm heart. Somehow, making cheese sauce, boiling noodles, chopping ginger and squeezing lemons filled Sam… time, attention and care. As he got filled, love spilled over to me.

With the crazy times we’re all navigating, my heart reminds me often that I want to love well in the midst. Be a place of calm in the storm. Listen to other’s stories. Guard my words. Follow His lead in encouraging others. With that, I also realize the key truth… I can’t do any of it without first understanding His love for me… and from that I will be able to love others well. I want my love to be a “spill over” of His love for me… much like Sam’s love spilled over to me.

Psalm 139 so clearly details the kind of “spill over love” He promises us.

1 You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.

  • You have searched me (you’ve checked me all out! I can’t hide anything from You)
  • You know me (such freedom in being fully known – every thought, action, secret… all of me!)

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.

  • You know when I sit & rise (watching, aware of me, never out of Your sight)
  • You perceive my thoughts (You understand my thinking… and all my pondering!)

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.

  • You understand with clarity all my movements (always watching, your eye is upon me)
  • You are familiar with ALL my ways (even things I’m not aware of!)

4 Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.

  • You know all my words before they are spoken (going before me – always)
  • You hem me in (picture a child snuggly tucked in bed for the night -safety!)
  • You lay Your hand on me (reminding me of Your presence)

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.

  • You are everywhere I ever go (there is nowhere I can escape Your love and presence with me)
  • Your hand guides me (leading the way, I’m never alone finding next steps)
  • Your hand holds me “fast” (not just a loose grip, but totally secure)

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

  • You are with me in the darkness (I’m never hidden from You; even when I can’t “see” or “feel” Your presence, You are there)

13 For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.

  • You created me… “knit” me in Mother’s womb (Your design, fashioning and creative hand… intentional and purposed)
  • Your works are wonderful (that means I am wonderful!)

15 My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

  • You watched me develop (again I’ve never been hidden from You)
  • You’ve written all my days in Your book (I can relax. You have my life, start to finish!)

Now that is some kind of love! Fills me to the brim and more… when I truly allow the truth to settle deeply in my heart. Enough for plenty to “spill over” to whomever crosses my path. As long as I remember to remember the depth and breadth of His love for me.

May we be joyful “spill over” people… all day, every day… as we continually marvel in His gracious love for each of us.

PS – Sam gave me permission to tell his story ☺


Photo by Greggalas.fr from Pexels


Spirituality of Gardening Online Course invites you to connect your senses and spirit with awe and wonder in the garden.

Spirituality of Gardening Online Course

 

April 27, 2021 2 comments
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The Dictionary of Lost Words cover
Meditation Monday

Meditation Monday – Searching for Lost Words

by Christine Sine
written by Christine Sine

by Christine Sine

Yesterday, my morning contemplation was derailed by a book… and a novel at that. It is called The Dictionary of Lost Words, and tells the story of Esme whose father is one of a group of lexicographers who are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. One day, as Esme sits under the table where they work, a word flutters to the ground. She rescues it, discovering that the word means slave girl and so begins a delightful adventure in which the rescuing of words becomes the center of Esme’s life. She realizes that the words and meaning relating to the lives of women and ordinary peoples’ experiences were often deliberately ignored by this and subsequent groups of dictionary men who consciously or unconsciously worked to shape the dictionary based on their own view of the world.

So, Esme complies her own dictionary – The Dictionary of Lost Words, a title and a story that deeply impacted me. A couple of years ago, I read another fascinating book, Landmarks by Robert McFarlane. He, too, was a gatherer of lost words, mainly, words about nature. He, too, discovered that when the Junior Oxford Dictionary, was updated a few years ago, some words were deliberately removed and others added. All those removed had to do with nature, and those added were about technology. He talked about how our loss of descriptive words for nature meant that we are losing “a literacy of the land” and, as a result, see nature more as a thing that does something for us rather than something to us so it easily becomes “more vulnerable to unwise use and improper action.” Our selective use of language, he argues, has “stunned the world out of wonder”.

As I thought about this yesterday, I was reminded that throughout history we have deliberately “lost” words and languages as an intentional way to suppress cultures and races. Terrible, you might think, but we all consciously or unconsciously “lose” words so that the world around us reflects our own world view or so that we can fit into the worldview of those in power over us. We consciously or unconsciously judge people accordingly. We love that English has become a universal language, but rarely think about the impact on other languages and their cultures. Even the English that is acceptable is shaped by those in power, once by Britain and now by America, and by white America, at that. That is the English we view as superior, we teach it at school, and we expect people to speak it in order to get a high paying job.

I must confess that when I first travelled to non-English speaking countries, I was relieved that I did not need to learn another language. I could easily and lazily communicate, unconsciously communicating my superiority to those around me. Even the English I used, grounded in a university education, was more complex and difficult to understand than what some of my colleagues used. Changing my language so that others understood me was called “dumbing down” the language. I was definitely superior. My use of words said so.

Christian world views, too, are defined by language. In conservative circles, one only calls God, Father. In more progressive circles, one calls God everything but Father.  All of us, I feel, have lost the rich array of words we could embrace to describe the Creator of the universe.

Love Your Neighbour – Create A New Dictionary of Lost Words

Has it ever occurred to you that loving your neighbour could mean loving their language as you love your own? Could loving your neighbour mean helping them rediscover their own language with pride?

Imagine how fun it could be to create a new dictionary of lost words, one that helps all of us keep cultures and nature alive and vital. Maybe one of the spiritual practices we all need for the future is to rediscover a lost word each day and then use it at least 5 times each day for the next week. Or we could help someone else rediscover a word that our superior attitude towards them has forced them to discard from their language. The challenge would be learning how to adopt that word into our own vocabulary without making our friend feel put down or ridiculed. Wow this dictionary of lost words could be quite a challenge.

Here are a few prayerful exercises for you to consider over the next week:

  1. Make a list of 10 words you used as a child but have lost from your current vocabulary. Which ones would you like to transform into “found” words? What is one step you could take to make that happen?
  2. When I left Australia and settled in the U.S I had to lose some of my favourite words like “fair dinkum, G day and arvo.  Talk to a friend from another English speaking culture. What are words they have lost in order to fit into your culture? In what ways could you help them embrace these words again?
  3. If you are white, talk to a black friend. What are words they have had to lose from their vocabulary in order to feel accepted in white society and be able to get a job? How has this made them feel? How could you learn from them about how to reintegrate these words into not just their culture but into your’s as well? If you are black you might like to have this conversation with a white friend and help them to understand what you have had to give up in order to fit into white society.
  4. In your Christian worldview what are the acceptable words for God? Speak to a friend with another Christian perspective. Make a list of 10 words that are acceptable to them that have been “lost” from your Christian world view. What do you feel you have lost by not using these words? Choose 2 of these words. What are ways that you could comfortably reintroduce these words into your language?
April 26, 2021 11 comments
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Worship & liturgy

A Contemplative Service in the Style of Taize for the Fourth Sunday of Easter

by Christine Sine
written by Christine Sine

Another beautiful Taize style service from St Andrews Episcopal church in Seattle. 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

April 24, 2021 0 comments
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Tom Earth day
Uncategorized

CELEBRATING MY 51st!

by Christine Sine
written by Christine Sine

by Tom Sine,

Celebrating my 51st Anniversary. I realize from looking at the picture that I look a little older than 51. Let me explain. This story begins on that first Earth Day, 51 years ago. We all need to celebrate this remarkable anniversary and strongly support those working for Climate Justice in the 2020s!

On April 22, 1970, I was working as the Dean of Students at Maui Community College in Hawaii. I heard an announcement that James Dator, a political scientist from the University of Hawaii, was coming to speak on the subject of America’s First Earth Day. I was curious and had no appointments so I joined 40 students and a handful of fellow staff members to hear Dr. Dator.

Dr. Dator spoke compellingly about a range of environmental and political challenges that we would face in the future. I was totally overwhelmed by his presentation. The more he spoke, the more troubled I became. As a young 30-something, I prided myself on keeping up with what we used to call “current events”. However, I had no sense that the world was changing or a host of new challenges threatening our common future.

Immediately after Dr. Dator concluded his address, 35 students started heading to a motel three blocks along the coast from where the community college was located. I joined them. They stopped at a grocery store and purchased over 50 large black garbage bags. When we reached the motel, we saw that it was beautifully situated on the beach overlooking the ocean. But we also noticed that the beach was covered with huge mounds of garbage from the accumulated waste of the past week. Apparently the motel routinely placed their garbage on the beach for the ocean to take away.

The students bagged over 50 huge bags of the garbage and brought it into the lobby of the motel. The manager of the motel immediately flew into verbal rage ordering the students to put the garbage back on the beach. They refused and we literally spent the rest of the day in a protest of this environmental pollution. By the end of the afternoon, after many heated conversations with the manager, he finally caved in and promised to secure garbage services in the future and the students transported the garbage to the dump.

The students I was with were delighted. I suddenly realized my future had just been turned upside down. Three months later, I was on a plane to Seattle to start a doctoral program at the University of Washington. My major focus was in intellectual history. However, I persuaded my advisor to allow me to create a minor area of study in strategic foresight. His approval enabled me to take courses in urban planning, business forecasting and the social management of technology. I also taught in this program for three years at the UW.

While I was very interested in intellectual history, my wake up call in Hawaii focused me with a desire to enable Christian leaders to learn with me the importance of how to:

  1. Anticipate the incoming waves of change so they and those they work with have time to respond;
  2. Research innovative ways to enable people to respond to the waves of change that are threatening the good creation and all of our lives, so we can become active agents of change-making;
  3. Reflect on their Christian values in responding to the incoming waves instead of allowing us and coming generations to allow our lives and actions to be shaped by the influence of popular consumer culture.

As I became acquainted with several of my professors at the UW, I shared with them that several states had created statewide projects to address these new environmental challenges as well as societal changes in the 80s. These included California Tomorrow and the Maine Manifesto.

We were able to secure a meeting with governor Dan Evans, the Republican governor of the state of Washington at the time. As we described some of the other state futures projects, Governor Evans started to become interested. In fact, he decided to actually launch a Washington 2000 project that started with several thousand citizens from all over the state convening to learn how citizens could participate. The two professors and I were invited to participate in that first meeting.

Another new Christian friend of mine, who had arrived in Washington the same week I did to become the President of Whitworth College, was Edward Lindaman. Lindaman had just left a position heading the Apollo Space Craft Project. His first action at Whitworth, out of his concern for the environment was to start an alternative food program for students.

Ironically, the professor for my first class at the UW was Utopia Dystopia. It was taught by Science author Frank Herbert. Frank was also glad to get involved in the state futures prime project, too.

Dan Evans asked Edward Lindaman, president of Whitworth College, to head the Washington 2000 futures project. However, it was the only state futures project that invited a citizen participation from all over the state of Washington. Remarkably Governor Evans actually used the input from citizens to change the policy in areas of environmental stewardship and other areas as well before we left office.

I finally graduated from the University of Washington with a PhD degree in history and my minor in strategic foresight. In 1981, I published my first book, The Mustard Seed Conspiracy, in which I challenge church leaders to learn from business innovators and urban planners about the importance of anticipating the incoming waves of change so they have time to respond. The book did very well as the first of my 10 books. My latest that I’ve co-authored with my friend, Dwight Friesen, is titled 2020s Foresight: Three Vital Practices for Thriving in a Decade of Accelerating Change, published with Fortress Press.

I’ve also enjoyed teaching courses on Christian Worldview at Fuller Theological Seminary at the extension in Seattle for 32 years. We always focused on the importance of not only anticipating the new waves of change but also exploring the ways that western culture has shaped our personal and societal values in ways that are often in tension with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I invite you to join me in celebrating my “51st Celebration of Earth Day”. I also invite you to support all of those working for serious climate change like President Joseph Biden, Sojourners Magazine and Young Evangelicals for Climate Action. We all need to move rapidly to work for serious climate change… so that a new generation has a hope and a future. Nothing is more important as we race into the 2020s than to work together for global climate change.

RU READY BOOK STUDY
Consider doing a study with friends or in classes using 2020s Foresight: Three Vital Practices for Thriving in a Decade of Accelerating Change. Dwight Friesen and I wrote it with questions at the end of each chapter.
>Free 45 minute webinar called “RU Ready?” to start your study
> I am available to Zoom in one of your least sessions at no charge if you book ahead.
 
THIS IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO GET READY FOR 2022 AND BEYOND!
April 24, 2021 0 comments
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Christine Sine is the founder and facilitator for Godspace, which grew out of her passion for creative spirituality, gardening and sustainability. Together with her husband, Tom, she is also co-Founder of Mustard Seed Associates but recently retired to make time available for writing and speaking.
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