It’s time to get ready for the Advent and Christmas seasons. The decisions we make over the next couple of months will determine how we celebrate this important season. We hope that you will join us for our upcoming retreat.
In The Rhythm of Life, through reflection, contemplation, and creative explorations, Christine Sine, will assist you to rediscover God’s sustainable rhythms that provide balance between work and rest, effort and waiting, doing and not doing. Using the seasons of the year and the liturgical pattern of life they gave birth to we will explore how to reconnect our lives to God’s patterns and the practices that should undergird them.
This seminar is specially designed to help us prepare for the Advent and Christmas seasons by encouraging us to cultivate our own sacred and sustainable rhythms.
Where: Mustard Seed House, Seattle
When:November 10, 9am -12noon
New Prayer Cards Available
Don’t forget to order you prayer cards. We have new prayer cards available for download or pre-order for 1 set or 3 sets and in the next few weeks will add two new sets – one for Advent and one of Celtic prayers. These have always been popular and we are delighted to have them available once more. We hope you will order yours soon.
TO UNRAVEL
When we unravel
we can find in the strangest way,
we are taking shape.
A shape we couldn’t see
when wound up tight in a ball,
all contained.
But if we unravel,
pull a thread and watch it unfurl,
dangerously loose,
we might find
it falls as its meant.
A picture to speak a thousand words.
A picture that reveals
in our unravelled form,
we’re more beautiful than we thought.
Are more valuable than we had guessed,
or had forgotten we were
before life caused us to hoard our treasure.
Yes, when we unravel
it’s as though a muscle memory comes back
to remind us of our strength.
We’re to never fear the unfurling,
or the pain that begs
a question,
to find an answer in
the twirling,
dancing thread.
The shape it makes when it lands
we recognise
as an old friend returned.
‘Could it be’, we hear ourselves ask,
‘that we have always been
what we imagined?’
As many of us head back to school this fall, here is a great post by Rodney Marsh —
I call myself a teacher… but am I? Schools have long been known to be an ‘efficient’ means of passing on facts and techniques, but ALWAYS, when we are teaching children, we pass on far more important knowledge – what it means to be ‘grown up’. Children can only learn to grow up from a grown up, but who of us qualifies as grown up? The vision of the New Testament is to “grow up into him who is the head – Christ”. This growth comes through our direct relationship in prayer with Jesus but also, in our workaday life, from those who see and treat us as the beloved child of God we are. The two keys to be a growing teacher to those learning to be human are to daily renew our connection with the source of our humanity and, with sensitivity and compassion, value those we work with.
Jesus commented on the teachers/preachers of his day –
“You can tell what they are by what they do. No one picks grapes or figs from thornbushes. A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. Every tree that produces bad fruit will be chopped down and burned.”
During Monday’s staff briefing, K Sensei spoke movingly of the reunion of the class of 2008 that she attended. She told of how the teachers had shaped the lives of these alumni during their schooling. She observed that the relationship these students had formed with their teachers was ‘life shaping’. K Sensei gave a couple of beautiful examples of how these young men and women had been encouraged, by their teachers, to become who they were. Ten years after their schooling adventure, K Sensei could see the fruit of the seeds of ‘self-belief’ planted and watered by their teachers. These examples demonstrated that the essence of the practise of teaching is the relationship between teacher and student/disciple.
The Teacher/student relationship is, like all relationships, two way – the giving and receiving of both partners. The student trusts a good teacher and a good teacher is always trust-worthy. “No printed word, nor spoken plea can teach young minds what they should be. Not all the books on all the shelves – but what the teachers are themselves” wrote Rudyard Kipling. Jesus’s saying (above) tells us that lived human virtues are essential in a teacher, since virtues are caught not taught and it is the virtues are what make us human. By our fruit we show who we are and teach our children who they can be. A good teacher is also skilled and, as an adult, sees, respects and teaches individual students at their age and stage, whilst at the same time, sensing each student’s unique capacities and needs.
An example: recently, an episode of Gardening Australia featured a Japanese master-gardener pruning wisteria. The ‘disciple’ of the master-gardener commented that, in Japan, a master does not speak, just does. It is up to the student to ask “why?”, “how?”, “when” etc.. The responsibility for learning lay with the student and a student must want to learn in order to learn. The desire to learn is not a gift that any teacher has to give. The teacher’s responsibility is to teach a person how to be a human – not fill an empty bucket!
A prayer for teachers:
Lord, give me the gift of sight. Enable me to see each child today and to be wise, strong and kind so they may grow into the person you created them to become. Amen.
A prayer for students:
Lord, I want to learn and grow. Send me a teacher who will shine a light on my path to becoming who I am. Then, help me to walk my path with persistence and courage. Amen.
By Rodney Marsh, A poem I wrote about my (imperfect) journey with learning to pray the “prayer of the heart” (meditation) and was written after reading Laurence Freeman’s Introduction to John Main Essential Writings.
The Messenger of God
In the quiet she said,
“I have a gift for you”
“Wow! I always knew I was a very important person. I deserve this recognition” (I thought)
I said, “What is it?” She said,
“A golden spade’ (Why?)
“to dig” (Where?)
“To the centre” (Why?)
“for treasure.”
“Is this true?”(I thought)
She gave me a tiny, toothpick like, fragile stick.
“This doesn’t look like the golden spade you promised me” (I thought)
“Thanks” I said,
“Dig” she said
I dug.
My toothpick is a like my Saturday Lotto ticket –
To have a chance to find the promised treasure –
I’d better keep digging, so
I dug
She came back. I said
“I haven’t made much progress”
No answer.
“How long? How far?” I said
More silence.
I dug
She came back, I said
“I might make more progress.
If you gave me a better spade.”
“You have all you need.”
“Keep digging” (She said)
I dug
My Lotto ticket motivation
began to shrink, so
“Why do I keep on digging” (I thought)
She came back, I said
“Is there really a treasure?”
“Keep digging” (She said)
I dug
She came back. I said
“I enjoy the slow, simple, repetitive, mindless practice of digging.”
“I have answered my own question.” (I thought)
“Keep digging” (She said)
I dug
“I hit rock! There is no way my toothpick will get through this.” (I thought)
She came back. I said
“You promised treasure.
You promised a golden spade
Time to give me what you promised.”
She said, “I do not have treasure but here is a golden spade.”
I tried to dig, but
With each strike of the golden spade
The rock became harder, then
The spade tarnished then corroded and
Turned into my old toothpick!
I dug on
The rock gradually chipped, crumbled and
Turned to dust.
No longer did I wonder about progress
or lack of it.
She came back, she said,
“Have you found the treasure yet?”
I said, “What treasure?”
I kept on digging
“I enjoy digging. Maybe the treasure is digging itself. I’m happy with that.” (I thought)
She came back, she said,
“Tell me about this hole you have dug”
“It’s my grave. My treasure is here.” I answered
she said, “listen”……
The trumpet will sound …the dead will be raised… we will be changed…. The mortal will be clothed with immortality…. Death will be swallowed up in victory. Maranatha. (S. Paul)
AGING
Did you hear about the girl
who through aging
grew fully
into her skin.
Did you hear
how she gave up youth
for wisdom,
and truth for wonder.
Did you hear about the woman
who had no fear
of time’s pace,
but set her own.
And did you hear her state
how youth’s
passing passage is only a foretaste
of what’s to come.
A practice,
or a preview
of the
real thing.
The problem with age
is that it’s lost on the young
and its treasures
found late.
When the skin
grown into
loses its tightness
and finds comfort in spread.
Softens
and takes up more room,
that it claims as a space
earned in a world
it belongs.
by Christine Sine
On Saturday I had the privilege of leading the afternoon liturgy for the Love Thy Neighbor Conference here in Seattle. I used two prayers for my liturgy – the one above and the one at the end of this post. I interspersed these with a time of quiet reflection.
It was a rich multicultural gathering led by Dr Leroy Barber. It was wonderful and challenging to grapple with issues of race, class and privilege and engage in a broad range of issues facing the future of the church.
Change is in the air, I realized as I looked around at this gathering of local pastors and church leaders all engaged with the desire to see unity come in the midst of our diversity. My own need for change was marked by new and compelling questions asked by presenters:
“Would your neighbourhood weep if you left?” asked Rene Notkin. Compelling words that forced me to think more deeply about what I bring to our own neighbourhood.
“What’s the last think you learned from a 15 year old?” asked Lina Thompson confronting me with the need to listen more frequently to young friends who can easily be overlooked.
“Who are the ones at the margins in your community who really understand who Jesus is?” asked Leroy Barber reminding me that Jesus is always most vividly modelled in the lives of the stranger, the outcast and the abandoned. How do I engage with such people is a question I know I need to continue to grapple with.
Notice the markers.
Change is in the air. Last week I picked up the first right red leaves of autumn. and watched the squirrels scampering furiously around gathering the last of their stores for the winter.
Change is in the air and I know I need to notice it and embrace it, not reject it.
What are the markers of change for you at this season of the year?
What needs to fall away?
The most obvious autumn change is the transformation of leaves from green to red and yellow – a bright flurry of breathtaking colour before the leaves fall stripping the trees to their bare bones.
“What needs to fall away in my life as I look towards the next season?” I wonder. It’s hard in some ways to let go of summer. I love the warmth, the riot of colourful blossoms, the beauty, the fragrance and the delightful sounds of bees and birds. I love the harvesting of tomatoes, squash and summer greens. Yet as Ecclesiastes reminds us “To everything there is a season.” Letting go and allow what needs to fall away to pass without regret is important if we are to embrace the new that God has for us.
What needs to be planted for future growth?
I am once more reminded that autumn is the best time to plant new shrubs and trees. Over the winter they may look barren and lifeless above ground, but deep down their roots are growing, reaching towards life giving water that will sustain them during next year’s dry summer months. Without this root growth future harvest will be small and spindly.
“What needs to be planted for future growth in my life?” I wonder. What are the shrubs I hope will produce a harvest in years to come that need the cold of winter to encourage deep, strong root growth?
What new buds have been formed that need to be protected?
Several years ago I was astounded to discover that the buds containing next year’s blossoms and leaves form in the autumn then wait patiently until the spring to green and grow. It is so easy to want to force new buds into bloom, like in a hot house. And sometimes we can produce spectacular blooms in this way. However I have also discovered that plants that are forced into bloom too soon will probably never recover. The blooms will be a one time spectacular display.
Is there something new in your life that needs to wait patiently in the dark until the greening season of next spring? How will you protect those buds from the coming cold?
What Is Your Response?
Prayerfully read through the prayer at the beginning fo this post. Here in the northern hemisphere we are all heading into autumn. In the southern hemisphere spring is just emerging. Wherever we are there is change in the air. Last year in our small community we painted leaves and decorated them as autumn began. I placed mine on the dining room table as a daily reminder of the changes of the season. I am getting ready to do the same thing this year. It was a wonderful way to mark the changing seasons for me, a reminder that change is indeed in the air.
What are markers of change in your life? Is there a word, a phrase, an image or perhaps something like my leaves that can act as markers of change for you? How could you display these as reminder of the changing seasons?
Take some time after you have identified your marker to pray and determine next steps for this season. At the end of your time pray the prayer below to finish your reflection time.
This week, I am in the midst of The Story Gathering here in Nashville. It’s a conference for creatives, artists, writers, etc who believe in the power of story to change the world. I love this gathering because it’s not a “Christian Conference,” but it’s hosted by followers of Jesus so there is a hopeful, life giving joy that fills the space. Yesterday we heard from a variety of story tellers and creatives. One of my heroes, Brad Montague encouraged us to get excited about the future because we are bringing good things to our world just by being in it! (see a bit of Brad below) And Kevin Carroll invited us to keep reading good books and not forget the joy and power of play! I loved that he found community on the playground and threw a red kick ball into the audience! He even gave away a stack of his favorite books! We heard from Yoko Sen who is changing the sounds in hospitals and asking people what the last sound they’d want to hear as they leave the world….and it’s not a bunch of beeping machines. We listened to the stories of film maker Abby Fuller (Netflix Chef’s Table ) who reminded us that we can break the “US vs THEM” mentality by creating empathy with our audience. Connection between people is key! We were invited to write by Allison Fallon! and to see ourselves as writers even if we write just 20 minutes, 4 days in a row, we can improve not just our mental health, but our physical health as well!
This is my second year to attend and I am once again encouraged and inspired to keep singing the song that God has created me to sing! To keep doing what I do, even when it doesn’t fit into a box or into an easy job description. One of the things I love about the Story Gathering is the creativity of the theme each year and how they bring us into a story through that theme. This year they are inviting us into the story of Alice in Wonderland, and reminding us that we too are invited to go down the rabbit hole into a world of wonder! We too, as story tellers, can bring that sense of childlike wonder to our friends, family, and to the places we live, work and lead. We can change the world by sharing good stories and telling good stories!
What story do you want to tell to the world? How do you want to tell it? Through art? Through music? Poetry? Preaching? Instagram? How can you experience a bit of story wonder this weekend? I encourage you to find a good story to watch or read. Or take time to investigate one of these speakers and be inspired! Take time to write a story of your own! Take 20 minutes and tell about your favorite childhood game (one of the questions we were encouraged to share with someone we didn’t know during Kevin Carroll’s talk) or what is your favorite food memory from childhood. Write it down and share it with a friend!
I’d love to hear your story!
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