I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. (John 15:16)
These words that Jesus spoke to his disciples really caught my attention the other day. It is strawberry season here in Seattle. Tom and I are relishing the fresh berries I pick each day from the garden. And I have to pick them each day because strawberries only last a few days. They are meant to be savoured and enjoyed in the brief few weeks of the season. Yet we want them to last. Not only do they taste good, but they are nutritional powerhouses containing not only high levels of vitamin C but also the mighty antioxidants anthocyanins, ellagic acid, quercetin and kaempferol, which all have been shown to have protective effects against certain types of cancer.1
What does “fruit that will last” really mean? It occurred to me as I picked my strawberries that they may only have a short life span but they last as long as God intends them to. They last until the next berries – usually the blueberries – are ready for harvest. They give us that spring boost of energy our bodies need, at the time that we need it. Yes we can dry them, freeze them or make preserves which maintain a goodly portion of the nutrients, but they never taste as good or provide as much nutrition as when they are in season.
What is your response?
Visit your local farmers’ market and buy yourself a basket of whatever fruit is in season. Sit and contemplate the basket of fruit. Smell it. Handle it. Eat it slowly, relishing the sweet, fresh flavour of it. From a spiritual perspective what do you think it means to bear fruit that will last? How long do you think your fruit is meant to last – a week, a month, a year? Are you like a strawberry, providing an intense but short lived seasonal burst of flavour, or are you more like an apple, able to be stored naturally without chemicals for several months?
Harvesting apples
Strawberries herald the beginning of the season with lots of other berries and perishable fruit. We don’t need them to be stored for long periods of time, unlike apples and pears which are harvested in the autumn, at the end of the harvest season. They can be stored as food for the long months of winter. Historically, fruit that could be stored would hopefully last throughout the hungry seasons of winter and early spring when no new fruit was produced.
In a world that picks green and sprays with chemicals to extend the shelf life of everything from strawberries to apples, the significance of fruit that will last is often lost on us. So much of the “fresh” produce in our supermarkets, is not fresh at all. It lasts far beyond its intended life because of the artificial chemicals that have been added. Some of it is injected with sugar and even vitamins to make it taste more “natural”.
I wonder how often we do the same thing with our spiritual fruit. We think that “fruit that will last” means it will go on for ever and so we do all we can to artificially preserve it beyond its natural season.
What is your response?
Now visit your local supermarket and buy a basket of fruit that is not in season. Sit and contemplate your basket of fruit. Handle it, smell it, and eat it slowly. Does it taste the same as you remember it tasting when it was in season?
Sit quietly in the presence of God and think about your spiritual life. What fruit have you borne that you have tried to preserve beyond its natural God ordained season? Is there fruit that has become tasteless and nutritionless because it is out of God’s season for it? What is God asking you to do with this fruit?
Listen to the song below, but instead of “breathe new life in me” substitute: “Breathe new fruit in me”
How are you planning to celebrate Pentecost his year? I mentioned yesterday that one of my concerns about this celebration is that often everything happens inside the church. As the Holy Spirit fell on the disciples, the barriers of language and culture were broken down – not so that everyone thought and looked the same, but so that everyone understood each other in their own language and culture. In God’s new kingdom culture, we don’t become an amorphous lump of homogeneity, but learn to appreciate and respect our differences.
My own understanding of this has been greatly enriched as I have listened to sisters and brothers from other cultures. I was particularly impacted by theologian Tite Tienou from Burkina Faso whom I heard speak several years ago. “All of us are on a journey wanting to understand who our brothers and sisters from other parts of the world are,” he said. He then reminded us that we are all part of the same family – God’s family – and like any family we are called to share life together as sisters and brothers. Learning to share life with people from all over the world means listening to their viewpoints, hearing their struggles and sharing their joys. And learning to share life in this way means walking together on a journey towards a deeper understanding of God’s truth and a stronger commitment to God’s kingdom ways.
Once again I have found it challenging to find out of the box creative ideas, but here are a few I have come across that might stir your imagination:
Tongues of Fire Chili Cookoff.
Faith Episcopal Church used to celebrate, after the liturgy with an annual “tongues of fire” chili cookoff. It turned into a community-wide event, with prizes based on spice level and the like. Recipes were posted on the church website. While it was not part of the liturgy itself, it was a creative way to use symbols in the life of the community–and it can’t help but transform a simple meal into a teachable moment. Unfortunately, COVID put an end to the celebration. Hopefully one day it will be celebrated again.
The Biggest Birthday Party Yet
Over recent years, churches in London have hosted community events that help to relay something of the ‘Good News’ message with people who may have no faith. They believe that Pentecost is an opportunity for the diverse range of churches in London to speak collaboratively into culture through art, music, fashion, film and dance. These community events are ‘birthday parties’ that welcome one and all.
In the last couple of years Share Jesus International co-ordinated what is becoming the biggest birthday party yet. It encourages us to celebrates the church’s birthday and highlight its heritage, diversity and positive contributions to society. Organizes also challenges churches to reach out to their communities through this event and provide creative opportunities for people outside the church to explore the Christian message.
Community Potluck
You might like to bring together people you know (or even those you don’t know) from as many cultural backgrounds as possible for an intercultural potluck celebration. Get each person to bring food and music from their culture to share and if possible to dress in traditional garb. If you don’t know people from other cultures then get everyone to bring food and music from a culture other than their own that they are familiar with.
Start the evening with a time of storytelling. Get each person to share a story about how their faith has grown through the experiences and witness of people from other cultures. Then talk about the different cultures represented in your gathering. Get each person to share which aspects of their culture they believe bear the fingerprints of God and reflect God’s kingdom culture.
Pentecost Kites
I love the idea of Pentecost kites that the Diocese of Westminster, north of London created. Pentecost Kites is a fun activity that involves first making, then decorating and finally flying kites and using the kites as a metaphor for the spirit at Pentecost. I have not tried it yet, but it looks like a lot of fun.
What are your creative ideas?
–Photo from Ministry Matters—
Pentecost is almost with us. Sunday we will be at church decked out in our best red outfits ready to celebrating the coming of the Spirit – described in scripture in so many wonderful terms – Spirit of truth, advocate, comforter, sustainer, and closely linked with the coming of peace and the outpouring of love. For many the Spirit is the feminine side of God. For others it is the equipper, and strengthener, the eternal abiding presence of God.
More than anything, for me, the Spirit is the equipper for service, the One who sends us out into the world to be God’s representatives of love and peace, of justice and reconciliation. It bothers me that so much of our celebration is confined to inside the church. This is a celebration that should be taken out into the world which is what I have tried to reflect in this prayer.
Here is another recipe that I make frequently at this season when there are more peas and bok choy in the garden than we can possibly eat is this adaptation of Phad Thai. I made this a couple of days ago for our good friends, Paul and Liz Sparks – their enthusiasm for the recipe inspired me to post it here.
I love to experiment – not just with spiritual practices but also with recipes. Just as there is no failure in the garden, there is no failure in the kitchen either, just learning experiences. Have some fun, experiment for yourself, create new recipes adopted to your tastes and to what your garden produces.
INGREDIENTS:
– 3 tablespoons Thai Sweet Chili sauce
– 1/2 cup Soy sauce
– 1./2 cup old fashioned peanut butter
– 1 package flat rice noodles , (1 lb package)
– 1/8 cup sesame or peanut oil
– 1 medium onion
– 1/2 cup bean sprouts
– 2 cloves garlic
– 1 pound bok choy
– 1 pound tofu
– 1/2 pound snow peas
– 1/2 pound broccoli florets
– 1 medium red bell (capsicum) peppers, chopped
– 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
– 1 cup peanuts or cashews
– 6 green onion
– 1 cup Shitake Mushrooms, optional
METHOD:
1. For Sauce: Combine chili sauce, soy sauce, apple cider and peanut butter. Stir until uniform and set aside
2. Noodles: Put noodles in a large pot of boiling water. Turn off heat and soak for 5 minutes. Remove from the pan, drain, rinse in cold water until cool. Cut with scissors several times to create smaller pieces.
3. Vegetables: Heat oil add onions, garlic, and bell pepper. Stir fry for about 5 minutes. Add greens, mushrooms and snow peas, stir fry 2 minutes, add tofu and stir fry an additional 2 minutes.
4. Add noodles and peanut butter mixture to the vegetables. Stir for 2 minutes.
5. Garnishes: Serve with bean sprouts, green onions, and nuts as garnishes. For those that like it hot have more sweet chili sauce and hot chili flakes available.
SERVINGS: 10
SOURCE: Christine Sine
I thought I would take a light break from all the serious stuff I have been posting and turn to a couple of new recipes I have been experimenting with. (Stay tuned for my version of pad Thai tomorrow)
A couple of days ago I posted on Facebook that I had just made pear and raspberry bread, an Australian favourite that I have been trying to replicate here in the U.S. but until now without a great deal of success. I have experimented with numerous recipes but this is the first that really tastes as good as what I get in all the coffee shops in Australia. Why American coffee shops have not discovered this really has me puzzled. This is a great alternative to banana bread and a great way to use up pears at the end of their storage life.
I adapted the recipe from one I found at Bestrecipes.com.au, but made a lot of changes and combined suggestions from a couple of other recipes I found. Hope you like it as much as I do. Enjoy. I suggest 2/3 – 1 cup sugar because I know that my American friends like things sweeter than Australians tend to make them. I used 2/3 but some of you will definitely want more.
Pear & Raspberry Bread
INGREDIENTS:
– 2 cup whole grain or wheat flour
– 2 cup all purpose flour
– 2 teaspoon baking powder
– 2 teaspoon baking soda
– 2/3 to 1 cup brown sugar
– 2 egg
– 1 cup canola oil
– 1 cup milk
– 4 pears, very ripe fresh or frozen, peeled and chopped
– 1 1/2 cup raspberries, do not thaw if using frozen
– 2 teaspoons vanilla
– 2 teaspoons cinnamon
METHOD:
1. Preheat oven to 180 C or 350 F
2. Use a blender to puree half of the pears about 1 cup. Chop remaining pears into small pieces (about 1cm²).
3. Sift flour, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon. Stir in sugar and nuts
4. beat eggs and oil together. Add to mixture, stir in milk, pureed pears and vanilla, add pear pieces and raspberries and gently sir into mixture until just combined
5. Divide mixture and bake in 2 greased loaf tins for about 50-60 minutes, until golden brown and a skewer poked in the centre comes out clean. Leave in tin to cool
SERVINGS: 24
Another great suggestion I came across is to cut each loaf into 12 pieces, freeze and then you can defrost just the number of pieces you want at a time – stops you feeling you have to consume the whole loaf at once, though that is very tempting.
This page is out of date. Please see our latest resources here.
Or, visit our church calendar page to see all liturgical resources for the church year.
The day of Pentecost is May 24th this year and it is rapidly approaching. Each year I like to post a new list of resources for special days in the lectionary like this. Enjoy and share it with your friends
This is the day when we celebrate:.
- The coming of the Holy Spirit and the infilling of Jesus’ disciples with the power to go out and change the world
- The great multi cultural gathering that we catch a glimpse of as we watch the spirit fall and suddenly everyone is able to understand each other – not all speaking the same language but able to understand each other in their own languages. Acts 2:11.
- Pentecost is traditionally the time that many churches pray for the peace of our world in which at times there seems to be so little cross cultural understanding.
So what kinds of resources do we need? First I think we need to provide our congregations with resources that help them see Jesus from other cultural perspectives. In a visual society like ours art is one very powerful way to do this. Liturgy is another powerful tool because as we read the words aloud they resonate deep within our souls and take root.
So to get yourself in the mood watch this wonderful video from Africa – it immediately took me back to some of the wonderful worship services I attended in Ghana, Togo and Cote d’Ivore when I worked on the Mercy Ship Anastasis
I have written several pentecost prayers in the past but the following litany is probably my favourite:
God, the light of your Spirit has fallen upon us,
The seal of your ownership is on us,
You have placed the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
Like tongues of fire it has renewed and restored.
In our rising and our sleeping,
In our working and our playing,
In our joys and in our sorrows,
Your Spirit’s brightness has dispelled the darkness,
In our loving and caring,
In our touching and our listening,
In our thoughts and in our actions,
God’s Spirit has brought life out of death.
Read the entire prayer here: A Prayer for Pentecost:
Living In Between Ascension and Pentecost
I have also been uploading Pentecost images on Facebook and Pinterest.
Paul Neeley at Global Christian Worship has an excellent array of articles, liturgies and songs for pentecost.
Pentecost: True Spiritual Unity and Fellowship in The Holy Spirit
10 Global Pictures & Prayers for Pentecost
Pictures & Prayers of Pentecost
‘Pentecost’ by Shadow Play Puppets
African Pentekoste by Frombach & Lantz
Gina Tuck – ‘Hymn to the Holy Spirit
Pentecost Songs: An Entire Album! from Cardiphonia
Another of his links was to this beautiful song by Keith and Kristyn Getty but I loved it so much I wanted to incorporate it in the list.
From Australia & New Zealand
The Billabong has a great list of ideas for Pentecost.
Laughing Bird Liturgical Resources
From Bosco Peters in New Zealand
Matt Stone at Glocal Christianity still has the best collection of art from different cultural contexts.
A great pentecost liturgy/reflection from Steve Taylor – a kiwi who now lives in Australia.
From South Africa
Sacredise.com always produces wonderful resources
From U.K
Jonny Baker always provides great resources in his worship tricks. You check out the general list for pentecost here.
I particularly like this link to a great Pentecost meditation by Mark Berry.
And I love these pentecost prayers and this liturgy with a Celtic flavour by John Birch
Proost is a great U.K site for worship resources. Here is the link to Pentecost resources
And if you are looking for some fun food ideas for the day check these out.
From Canada
Re-worship always provides excellent resources and this Pentecost list is no exception
From U.S.
The Text This Week has some of the most comprehensive resource lists around. Their pentecost list is well worth visiting.
Proost resources are now also available in the U.S. Here is the link to Pentecost resources
From Lent and Beyond is an Episcopal site with more great resources. I was particularly appreciative of their link to this site for celebrating Pentecost with kids.
Christine Longhurst at re:Worship also lists hymns, readings, prayers and liturgies for the season.
And a great Pentecost liturgy from Work of the People
Another good list is Resources from the Calvin Institute
A beautiful Pentecost poem from Outside the Box
And for a short meditation I enjoyed this video by Franklyn Shaefer
Or if you are looking for an introduction to the season for kids this is hard to beat
Or this from Busted Halo
Many of you have already heard that our beautiful building, at the site of the Mustard Seed Village on Camano Island, has been violated by vandals. All the windows and doors have been smashed to smithereens. We are devastated. We have had vandalism before but usually nuisance interference. This is the first time it has been malicious and deliberately destructive.
Compared to the earthquake devastation in Nepal where some of my friends are now working, and to the tornado destruction in Van, Texas where I once lived, this seems minor. However, as you can imagine we are devastated and angry, initially wanting to lash out and demand retribtion. Yet as we prayed we realized that this is not God’s path for us. Our current emphasis as an organization is reconciliation and as the chair of our Board J.Paul Fridenmaker asked, the important questions for us are: What does a gospel reconciler do? and How do we approach reconciliation when the abusers are unseen?
Our inspiration for this year’s Celtic retreat August 7-9th is St Columba of Iona, known as a great diplomat and reconciler. One of his beautiful prayers that has endured through the centuries is posted above.
It reminds me that the place we too need to begin is with silence and listening, seeking to discern what God is saying to us in the midst of our heartache.
What is your response.
I ask you to sit and listen with me this morning. Sit quietly and take some deep breaths in and out. Ask yourself: What does a gospel reconciler do? and How do we approach reconciliation when the abusers are unseen?
Future Mustard Seed Village Aerial View
Loa Tzu: “New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings…”
One of my Facebook friends posted this quote last week and it really caught my attention as I began my own process of discernment. I am sensing that we need to be open to the painful miracle of a new beginning.
The rest of the MSA team and Board have also begun the discernment process. Team member Forrest Inslee reflects:
I am convinced that, instead of the physical building being the first step, we need to establish the presence of people on the land. We need to plant the seeds of community. I think that this is an exciting and very achievable prospect. (Read more of Forrest’s thoughts here)
As part of the Mustard Seed community, we invite you to discern with us. Please take time to sit in silence and listen to God with us.
What is Your Response
Watch the video below from our last Celtic retreat and ask yourself: How do we establish the presence of people on the land and plant seeds of community?
We look forward to hearing from you as we discern and move forward together.
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