A couple of weeks ago, I spoke at a seminary class about spirituality and gardening. It was a fun class, but one question asked by a student keeps intruding in my mind. Didn’t God curse the creation after the fall? he asked, implying that it no longer reflected the glory of God and that we no longer needed to respect and look after it.
As I read through Genesis 3 which is the basis for this belief, I am struck by God’s amazing care for the humans who disobeyed him. Yes the ground was cursed (Gen 3:17-19), but it was not God who cursed it, it was the consequence of Adam’s sin. The natural created world was some how affected by by the human fall into sin and is therefore no longer paradise. Brambles and weeds grew. Human toil to produce food and care for creation increased. Nowhere however is there any implication that we are absolved from our responsibility to care for creation.
What has fascinated me in the last few weeks is a contemplation of the thorns, the thistles, and the weeds that seem to be a part of the consequences of the human fall. Some of them produce the most delicious and nutritious food we can eat, as we can see in this video
Take the humble dandelion for instance. Its leaves are often used in salads. Its root for medicinal tea and its flowers in jams and jelly. It helps break up the soil and draws nutrients up from deep within the soil. It is an amazing and valuable plant. Read more about dandelions and links to recipes here
Then there is the blackberry which grows wild prolifically throughout the Pacific NW. Its fruit blesses us with delicious pies and jams. Every year in August Tom and I travel to Mayne Island Canada with our Canadian friends Tom and Kim Balke, for a few days holiday. One of the delights of our trip is picking blackberries and wild apples to make blackberry apple crumble.
Snails are another pest that can be a delicacy for many. Ironically some people love escargot and spend big bucks to buy them and the complain about the snails that destroy their gardens.
And in many Asian countries, tarantulas, crickets and ants are all considered delicacies.
It seems to me that part of the curse we suffer from is our inability to recognize the abundance and hospitality of God in the garden that is our earth. God is a generous God who invites us to a banquet feast, not just in the eternal world to come but here in this world too. Often all we need to do is reach out and recognize the gift and accept God’s amazing hospitality.
I posted these couple of breath prayers on the Light for the Journey page this week. Their popularity encouraged me to post them here as well. I find that prayers like this are powerful ways to keep the presence of God with us throughout the day. Whenever I get anxious or uptight because there seems to be too much to do, I love to pause and recite one of these prayers while slowly breathing in and out.
This first one I wrote some years ago as a reminder of the fact that breath is something that cannot be held onto – we breathe in and fill ourselves with life, but we cannot keep breathing in unless we also exhale and share it with the world. Breath is life giving when we draw it into our bodies, but it can also be life giving when we share it with someone else as in CPR.
Breathe in the love of God,
Breathe out and share it with the world.
Breathe in the peace of God,
Breathe out and share it with the world.
Breathe in the life of God,
Breathe out and share it with the world.
Breathe in all that is of God,
Breathe out and share it with the world.
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The second prayer is a reminder that the Holy Spirit is the breath of God that breathes life into us and into all we touch. God intends that we are filled with the spirit so that we can breathe out life into the world.
Holy Spirit, breath of God,
Fill us with love for God.
Holy Spirit, breath of God,
Fill us with love for neighbour.
Holy Spirit, breath of God,
Fill us with life renewed.
Holy Spirit, breath of God,
Breathe on us,
breathe with us,
breathe through us.
Icon – jesus heals the blind man
So many of my friends seem to be ill at the moment that I have been using this litany of healing on a regular basis and thought that some of you might appreciate it too. I wrote this litany several years ago as part of the e-book A Journey Into God’s Resurrection Created World.
Loving and compassionate God,
Lord of all health and wholeness
We are fearfully and wonderfully made
Thank you for your miracle of healing
You gift our bodies with incredible means of protection and repair
Immune systems that shield and heal us
Wounds that heal, bones that knit, tissues that repair themselves
Thank you for your miracle of healing
You gift our world with plants and herbs that cure our diseases
They provide our medicines and pain killers
They form the basis of our antibiotics and antiseptics
Thank you for your miracle of healing
You gift our lives with your healing life
Your Cross that saves and redeems us
The bread and wine that draws us into your presence
Thank you for your miracle of healing
Pause to remind yourself of times at which you have experienced God’s healing presence.
Scripture readings
Psalm 139
Exodus 15: 22-27
Matthew 8: 14-17
James 5: 13 – 16
God you are the great physician but often you use others as your instruments of healing. Today we honour doctors and nurses and all that cooperate with God in the healing process in the words of Ecclesiasticus 38:1-15
Hold the physician in honour, for he is essential to you,
and God it was who established his profession.
From God the doctor has his wisdom, and the king provides for his sustenance.
His knowledge makes the doctor distinguished, and gives him access to those in authority.
God makes the earth yield healing herbs which the prudent man should not neglect;
Was not the water sweetened by a twig that men might learn his power?
He endows men with the knowledge to glory in his mighty works,
Through which the doctor eases pain and the druggist prepares his medicines;
Thus God’s creative work continues without cease in its efficacy on the surface of the earth.
My son when you are ill, delay not, but pray to God, who will heal you;
Flee wickedness; let you hands be just, cleanse your heart of every sin;
Offer your sweet-smelling oblation and petition, a rich offering according to your means.
Then give the doctor his place lest he leave; for you need him too.
There are times that give him an advantage, and he too beseeched God
That his diagnosis may be correct and his treatment bring about a cure.
He who is a sinner toward his Maker will be defiant toward the doctor.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen
Pause to pray for those who are in need of healing
Jesus you came to save and heal us
You healed the sick and raised the dead,
You touched lepers and outcasts,
Heal those we love who are sick today.
Jesus you came to save and heal us.
You stopped on the way to the rich man’s daughter,
To heal the woman abandoned and despised because of an issue of blood,
May we reach out to help all who suffer from AIDS and malaria and TB today.
Jesus you came to save and heal us
You raised a poor woman’s son from death,
And promised that one day all children will have a full life,
Be with those who have cancer and chronic illnesses today.
Jesus you came to save and heal us
You gave you disciples power to cure disease,
And sent them out to heal the sick and to preach the good news of the kingdom,
Be with those who suffer from mental illnesses today.
Jesus you came to save and heal us
May we too be worthy disciples and become your caring hands,
Anointing others with your healing balm and binging them to health and wholeness.
Give wisdom to those who suffer from allergies and food intolerances today.
Jesus you came to save and heal us, have mercy on us.
God you heal our wounds and cure our diseases. May we never take for granted your healing touch or the wonderful systems you have placed within our bodies to keep us healthy. May we never take for granted the wonder of tissues that heal and bones that knit. May we view with awe our immune systems that destroy bacteria and viruses. May we embrace with gratitude the medicinal plants that give birth to antibiotics, heart stimulants and pain killers. May we never reject the power of your body that was broken and your blood that was shed to bring us wholeness.
God of health,
God of wholeness,
God of love
Heal our bodies
Heal our souls
Heal our spirits
Redeem our lives
Go into the world knowing you are touched by the God who heals
May your life shine with the holiness of God
Let your heart be transformed by the peace of Christ
Let your ways be filled with the joy of the spirit
Amen
I wrote this litany several years ago as part of the e-book An Easter Celebration. It was also posted as part of a series on healing. Here are the other articles in the series:
What does the Bible Say About Doctors and Healing
This morning I started reading The New Parish by Paul Sparks, Tim Soerens and Dwight Friesen. It is one of the most thought provoking, tear jerking and stimulating book I have read for a long time. It gives me hope for the future of Christianity, and fills me with awe as I explore some of the new ways that God is at work in our world.
This book is full of wonderful stories of ordinary people who have changed their neighbourhoods and their world. Stories like that of Martha Rollins, a woman in her seventies who in 2001 started a ministry called Boaz and Ruth in Richmond Virginia with a team of ex-prisoners who were convicted sex offenders. By 2009 Boas and Ruth renovated over a dozen buildings and opened several small businesses. Their work contributed to a 61% decrease in crime in the neighbourhood.
There is renewal happening in neighbourhoods across the world and as the authors say
This incredible renewal is happening in large part because people like Martha Rollins and the team at Boaz and Ruth have realized their is no controlling technique, no magic code or habits of highly effective people that can take the place of practicing love, friendship and Spirit-led collaboration within the neighbourhood.
One of the challenges of this book is the reminder that relationships not knowledge bring transformation. Unfortunately, like Adam and Eve we still tend to grasp after Godlike knowledge and power at the expense of relationship. As the authors remind us, That often results in
” elevating people as leaders who are not really skilled in the very basic practice of being human, let alone the task of leadership. Just because a person is extraverted, has lots of ideas or is a compelling communicator does not necessarily mean he or she is worth following. This may not be the case everywhere, but in the parish, authority requires the fruit of the Spirit.
The invitation to rethink both how we do ministry and how we lead is such an important one. As you know, several years ago the Mustard Seed team started using the Quaker discernment process as a model for our team meetings. This has not just transformed the ways that we relate to each other but also what we do as ministry. We are a leadership team which respects and encourages the gifts of everyone involved in a project. Decisions for new projects and programmes is made collaboratively, and as often as possible in partnership with other organizations too. Maybe that is part of the reason this book resonated so much with me.
I really think that this is one of the most important books on the church that I have read for a long time. The New Parish model could revolutionize the church and our Christian communities bringing us back to be the people God intends us to be – loving and caring for each other in the places God has planted us.
This post is out of date. Please check out this updated post.
As you know I am getting ready for our annual Celtic retreat, and so am revisiting many of the Celtic prayer books on my shelves. This last week I received several requests for a reading list so it seems like an appropriate time to update my Celtic resource list. This list is part of a larger Celtic bibliography compiled by Celtic expert and spiritual director Tom Cashman.
Adam, David The Edge of Glory; Prayers in the Celtic Tradition; David Adam’s best known work provides prayer in lorica, litany, and free verse formats for personal and group usage.
Adam, David The Rhythm of Life; Celtic Daily Prayer; This book offers a seven-day cycle of prayer for individual or community use. There are segments for morning, mid-day, and evening comprised of scripture and prayers of his own origination. Tom and I have used this for years as part of our prayer rhythm.
Bradley, Ian The Celtic Way. Still the best basic overview of Celtic Christianity; often used as the text for initial classes on Celtic spirituality
______________ Celtic Christian Communities: Colonies of Heaven This more recent book by Bradley takes us into practical application of the world view and spiritual practice of the Celtic Christian church. This is a “must read” for any student of the future, emerging church.
Carmicheal, Alexander The Carmina Gaedelica; This is the classic primary source book of oral tradition collected between 1855 and 1910 by Alexander Carmichael largely in the outer Hebrides. Included are many prayer forms that stretch our 20th century definition of prayer in the Christian tradition. Some of the ”charms” and “spells” remind us of Psalms that call down God’s wrath against our enemies. There is also great depth and beauty in many prayers that have been rescued from oblivion by Carmichael. Most of these prayers are available online here.
DeWaal, Esther Every Earthly Blessing; Rediscovering the Celtic Tradition. One of the best introductions of Celtic Spirituality, containing splendid examples from Celtic poetry and other writings.
____________ The Celtic Way of Prayer This is one of my favorites which provides not just an introduction to the different aspects of Celtic spirituality but also a rich array of prayers
Fitzgerald, William J. A Contemporary Celtic Prayer Book; Perhaps the best practical guide for community daily liturgy yet. Fitzgerald is a retired American priest who reframes the Carmina for today. An excellent 7-day cycle of prayer is the books’ core. The second half provides prayer for special needs and extraordinary occasions.
_______________________ Blessings for the Fast Paced & Cyberspaced; Fr. Fitzgerald provides this extension of prayers for the hectic world in which we live today. For example, there are blessings for “the computer as I sit down to it,” for soccer moms, and for couples trying to conceive. He takes us through many routine life situations with an eye towards finding the sacred in all of them.
The Iona Community Iona Abbey Worship Book; The forward of this wonderful offers insight into the uses of these prayers, liturgies and litanies within the Iona Community and the thinking that underlies their composition and utilization. Suggestions are made for use in our communities world-wide as well. The use of these prayers offers insight into the essential theology and ethos of the Iona Community.
Newell, J. Philip, The Book of Creation; An Introduction to Celtic Spirituality This series of meditations on the seven days of creation explores aspects of God infused in the Celtic Christian ethos. Seldom does our tradition consider the wildness, the fecundity, and the creatureliness of God. But Newell does in a manner that enchants and inspires and enlarges our awareness of God in creation. Must read!
Northumbrian Community Celtic Daily Prayer; In addition to providing a daily cycle with lectionary, it also includes Complines in the tradition of various Celtic Saints, meditations, and a Holy Communion service. The latter portion offers themed and situational prayers and blessings. Two series of daily readings after the tradition of Aidan and Finian comprise the final section. This is a substantial resource.
Simpson, Ray Exploring Celtic Spirituality Founder of St. Aidan Trust, Ray Simpson offers a vision of the future as well as an exploration of our Celtic roots. Like Newell, he sees the Gospel of John as representative of the Celtic & Eastern Churches, balancing the Petrine & Pauline legs of the Christian tripod.
Sellner, Ed Wisdom of the Celtic Saints This is an excellent collection of stories and legends of various saints, including some of the more obscure. Particularly useful is the introduction identifying hallmarks of the Celtic Christian worldview.
____________ Stories of the Celtic Soul Friend ; Tracking the anamchara concept of the Celtic Christians, Dr. Sellner explores the spiritual practice of the soul-friend relationship in the Celtic church. He also follows it as an overall icon of the value of relationship in the Celtic Christian culture.
Van de Weyer, Robert Celtic Fire; A great whimsical collection of prayers and good as an introduction for those that know nothing about Celtic spirituality. I love this book which was the first gift Tom ever gave me.
Online Resources
My favourite writer of Celtic prayers today is John Birch at Faith and Worship.
And for some wonderful photos, prayers and links check out The Celtic Christian Tradition on Facebook
I have also posted a number of Celtic liturgies and blessings on Godspace. You might like to check out some of these too:
Let Us Go Forth – A Celtic Sending Out Prayer
An Irish Blessing by John O’Donohue
Irish Blessings for St Patrick’s Day
St Patrick’s Breastplate – a responsive liturgy
As many of you know this blog is part of the ministry of Mustard Seed Associates and periodically I like to update you on all that is happening in the rest of the ministry. Enjoy!
I met Stefan at an evening we hosted in collaboration with The Overflow Project at the beginning of the year. He was looking for work, and we soon had him mowing lawns, weeding gardens and transforming a neglected space into a beautiful sacred space to sit and contemplate. I am looking forward to facilitating my first retreat in this transformed oasis.
Stefan is one of the many angels unaware who have blessed and enriched our community and our ministry in the last few months. He is more than a co-worker; he has become a friend and a part of the extended MSA community, often joining the MSA staff team for lively and sometimes deeply theological luncheon discussions. I am convinced that it is around the table like this that true discipleship happens and spiritual formation is most impacting.
Last week we hosted a conversation with Chris Smith and John Pattison, authors of Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus. It was a fun, instructive and thought-provoking evening, sowing the seeds for yet more kingdom- shaped friendships. You can catch a glimpse of this in this short video, the first of three short recordings of their interview with Tom. In the last one, John turns the tables and asks Tom about his insights into the future. John is hoping to join us for the Celtic retreat in August, and we look forward to other opportunities to collaborate.
On June 1st we co-hosted a conversation with Seattle School of Theology and Psychology on the challenges facing the Millennial Generation. I kicked off the day with a fun collaborative doodling exercise that stirred our imaginations in preparation for Tom’s introduction to futuring.
MSA student intern Jon Plummer presented a thoughtful profile of Millennials, which stirred great conversation, further fueled by a panel discussion facilitated by Dr. Forrest Inslee of Millennials discussing various issues from their perspective. Small groups gathered creative ideas and Cathy Loerzel sent us all away with the desire to create new possibilities that will enable this generation to fully enter into all that God intends for them.
We hope that this is just the first of a series of collaborative discussions on challenges facing followers of Christ in the future. Keep your eyes on the MSA website for the full series of videos from this event.
Andy Wade continues to share his insights on the MSA blog. Did you know that fungi are the way of the future? Check it out in this thoughtful article on intersectionality.
The Godspace series, “Hospitality: Opening Doorways to the Kingdom” is now underway with a suggested reading list, Celtic hospitality liturgy, and guest posts by Lynne Baab and Fay Williams, and this popular post I wrote early this week. As I say in my post Communion not Conversion, Slow Church not Fast Food, when I decided on this topic I had no idea how impacting it would be on my own life. It is helping me to rethink the focus of my faith and how I practice it. Communion not conversion. Eating together, sharing life and fellowship together, this is the place where we are inspired by Christ and fed by him to go out and do his work in the world.
Plans for our upcoming Celtic retreat are well and truly under way. Our summer intern, Cory Adam Baker from Seattle Pacific Seminary, will help develop and facilitate the program. Our theme this year is “Brigid and the Hospitality of God”. Music will be provided by Matt and Sundee Frazier and the Eucharistic celebration led by Rev. John Myers of Saint Andrews Episcopal Church in Seattle.
After lunch we will dedicate our first Mustard Seed Village building – our pole barn classroom. We have ordered the windows, which will be installed mid-July, but are still looking for recycled barn siding that we can use to finish the walls. We hope that you can join us for this exciting event. Do sign up soon to take advantage of the early bird special, which runs through to the end of June.
We continue work developing our first e-course, “Reimagining How We Pray”. Listening to Millennials talk about their desire to encounter God in every part of life, and their belief that we do not need to come to church to converse with God, has convinced me of the importance of moving in this direction for enhanced online learning.
I know that some of you are still considering how you can support this project, and we do pray that you will pledge a monthly donation to help us launch it later in the year. We are also planning a kickstarter campaign to run mid-July — mid-August. If you are unable to give monthly, this would be a wonderful way to support the development of this valuable resource.
Thank you for the concern many of you expressed at the loss of my tomato starts. I am sitting here looking out on their flourishing replacements. The nursery and soil company have offered a generous settlement and will provide me with 150 starts next year, compensate me for the cost of the soil, provide a gift certificate for Sky Nursery and a donation of soil (guaranteed herbicide free) to get our Mustard Seed Village garden started as well.
The overflowing generosity of God in all we are involved in often overwhelms me. God’s provision is so often unexpected and abundant.
God bless you and thank you for your continuing support of all we do at MSA,
Christine Sine
Executive Director
MSA.
Will you open your home and heart?
Hospitality is one of those sometimes messy Christian practices. When we welcome people into our lives, the smells from bodily functions might hang around in the air. Muddy footprints might mar our floors. We might drop our masks, revealing times of irritation or stress.
Original Waterclour by Leo Boucher
But we’re saying come, we welcome you. We want to provide you a haven of rest; a place to close the room to your door when you need to; a space to converse and share. But we’re saying come, we welcome you. We want to provide you a haven of rest; a place to close the room to your door when you need to; a space to converse and share.
My husband and I are not perfect hosts by any means, but throughout our ten years in our vicarage, we’ve tried to be open and say yes when asked. It’s only in the last year or so that we have not had either a family member or an au pair living with us; that was a particular season of sharing and molding and learning. This summer seems a unique time of welcoming traveling Americans – every weekend, a new set, each with their own gifts and riches.
A few practical tips:
- Create a guide to your house. I got this idea from a throwaway line in Packing Light, a wonderful memoir about a woman who travels around the 50 states. In our guide we tell our guests about things like the wonky shower curtain (yes, it will fall on you if you’re not careful) and give them the wifi code. This also can be a repository of tourist information (especially if you live in a world-class city like London).
- Have in mind a few go-to meals. Our crock pot (slow cooker) has transformed our cooking, helping us to make easy and healthy meals. Cooking a whole chicken, for example, is now painless.
- Treasure your guest book. Our only requirement when people come to stay with us is that they sign our guest book. We love looking back over the entries, which evoke memories of the gourmet meal cooked for us by one or the Pimms we shared with another.
- Remember that they’ve come to see you (or your city), and that your house doesn’t have to be perfect. Having been raised in a very tidy home, I find this a struggle. But the visitors this summer will see by our various clutter-spots my “progress” in being able to welcome people even when there is some mess.
What tips would you add?
Washing machines at the ready, here we go!
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This post is contributed by Amy Boucher Pye for the series Hospitality – Opening Doorways To The Kingdom
Amy Boucher Pye is an American who has lived in London for a decade and a half, after marrying her English vicar. She’s a writer, speaker and editor. She blogs at www.amyboucherpye.com and tweets at @AmyBoucherPye.”
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