Death is good – leaves must die
I am sitting in my office looking out at a slowly dying world. The maple leaves whose bright red colour I have been admiring for the last week are now buffeted by the winds and falling to the ground. The squash plants are dead, the tomatoes are dying and everything is getting ready for winter. Last year I wrote this reflection on Weathering the Winter Storms. It is as necessary to be ready for the death of winter as it is for the new life of spring.
Death is a necessary part of life and that is not only in the garden. Yesterday I chatted to MSA team member Cindy Todd about the transitions we are going through and the things that have had to die in order for us to re-emerge with a newness that comes from God. “Death is good” she commented, reflecting on the fact that her business Snohomish Soap Company would never have been birthed if she and her husband had not lost jobs in Florida and decided to move to Seattle. Watching Cindy give birth, grow and bear fruit out of the seeds that were planted through the death of her old life has been inspiring. I love this video that she put together for her recent involvement in Fast Pitch.
So often death in the form of a lost job or failed expectations is necessary for God’s newness to emerge. Sometimes when we look back we are aware that God has been prompting us in new directions for a while but the security and comfort of the old holds us bound. God in love and compassion forces us to die and let go.
Jesus says: If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it. (Matt 10:39) The journey of faith is a cycle of birth, growth, fruit and death. And in the place of death we often find the seeds of new life – the longings and desires of our hearts that we have suppressed because change and radical newness threaten our comfortable status quo.
Two questions emerge for me from this reflection. First: What does God want to put to death in your life that you are still clinging onto?
For those who feel they are in a season of death: What are the seeds of newness God is planting within you during this season? What are your dreams and hopes from the past that might be birthed into something totally new at this time?
Let us gather at the table together
This is the third post in my series this week on transitioning MSA and the process I am engaged in personally as a part of that. It is very much a thinking out loud process for me, but one which I realize requires me to listen to many voices and to discern together with others what God is saying. You can check out the other posts here:
Going Through Transition – Help from Walter Brueggemann
Planning For Transition – Wisdom from the Desert Fathers and Mothers
The first posts came out of the retreat time Tom and I had at the end of last week. Since then we have participated in meetings with others who are key to this process – the MSA team and several consultants who are helping us on the way. I am excited about what is emerging – not new ministries or even a new focus but rather a new process that ignites participants with images of hope for the inbreaking of God’s kingdom and invites them into a community where together we provide tools to journey along the path towards God’s kingdom.
In the first post on Monday I wrote – The prophet offers symbols of hope for a new future. As I have wrestled with who we are currently and who we are sensing God wants us to become, this I realize is central. Interestingly the third book that I read during my retreat time was Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove’s The Awakening of Hope. What I loved about this book is its practicality – not just giving theological precepts that should shape our practice but sharing beautiful stories of how our Christian beliefs are lived out in practice. As Jonathan says we need to build community amongst believers by nurturing faith that leads to action.
Building community and nurturing faith that leads to action that too is central to who we are and what we hope to become. At this point we have identified three aspects of MSA that we believe are important elements of the process we are developing. Part of what excites me is that none of these elements require experts to speak at su, they require a recognition that all in the body of Christ have valuable gifts to bring to the table:
- Encouraging each other with images of God’s hope for the future – I think that one of our strengths in the past has been the sharing of mustard seed stories that inspire others with the the thought “I could do that”.
- Discerning together as a spiritual community – As many of you know we begin all of our meetings with a check in time – looking back and looking forward and then discussing where we sense God is moving in our midst. It is a powerful and energizing process that not only draws us closer to each other but also closer to God. This element of who we are can be adapted to any situation. It draws us into the hope of God’s kingdom and it ignites creativity within all of us.
- Fellowship and hospitality – Tom often tells people that he would rather cook for them than stand in front of them to speak. We have tended to treat it as a joke, but as we talk around the table I am beginning to realize that this too is a central part of who we are. In The Awakening of Hope, Jonathan quotes Norman Wirzba: To be reconciled to one another is to be able to gather around a table with each other without shame, celebrating the gifts to each other that we are. Table fellowship builds community, connects us to each other and to the body of Christ around the world. I am not sure at this point how this translates into all the situations we are involved in – for example how do we practice table fellowship with those who read our books and blogs but are separated by many miles?
There is much still for us to grapple with and I would very much like to engage others in this conversation. What do you think MSA should become? What has inspired or connected you to this ministry and why do you remain connected?
Some of you may have noticed that this weekly post of Facebook prayers is a little late, going on retreat will do that and so I offer no apologies. I have already posted these morning and evening prayers. Here are the remainder for last week. The richness of the prayers continues to grow and I hope that they are both stirring your imagination and enriching your prayer life.
In the fading of the sun – faithandworship.com
Let our hope be centred,
In a God who calls for justice,
And a Christ who longs for peace.
Let our faith be centred,
In a God who seeks for freedom,
And a Christ who promises release.
——————-
Lord Jesus Christ you are my heart’s true home
The beginning and the end of my journey.
You are the one from whom all light comes,
The one in whom all will find rest.
Let me trust in you and never be afraid.
——————–
Lord Jesus Christ
Let your peace settle in our hearts,
Let your love bind us together,
Let your compassion flow from our hearts,
So that all that we are and all that we do,
Becomes an act of worship toward you.
———————-
O Lord,
Into the night of stars I go…
Walking the path of silence, to sleep and perchance, to dream.
Be with me on the moonlit way, as always You are.
Be with all others under this same moon or the sun in his orbit,
as always You are.
(B.Harr, 2012 ~ www.facebook.com/HisFootsteps)
———————
Like clay in the hand of a potter,
so we are to you, O Lord!
You take the imperfect
and make from it something new,
mold us into the image
of the people you would have us be.
In your hands we are restored,
perfected Lord, by you.
In your hands we are given new life,
made useful Lord, for you
—————————-
Lord Jesus Christ your load is easy, your burden is light,
Create in us a new rhythm of life,
One that sustains and does not stress,
One that builds and does not destroy,
One that brings peace and not conflict,
Show us your path to eternal life.
———————
Seeing with new eyes
Yesterday I posted this post, about the fact that Mustard Seed Associates is in a time of transition and talked about the impact that Walter Brueggemann has had on my theology and my thinking. There are others that have helped to shape my thinking in this transition time too that I wanted to mention.
The second book I took with me was Christine Valter Paintner’s book Desert Fathers and Mothers Early Christian Wisdom Sayings. What particularly struck me is where she comments:
We often bring unconscious expectations to life. We feel disappointed when things don’t turn out as we had hoped, even when we aren’t aware we had a desire for a particular outcome. Often we are poor judges of what should happen in our lives. We bring a whole set of ego-centered habits and patterns, and we dream from the person we have been , rather than the person we are being transformed into. Our transformed self is always far beyond our own striving.
When we realize we have limited vision and that our planning minds will only take us so far, then we can begin to gently release the pressure we put on ourselves to have things turn out in a certain way. We may begin to approach life in a more open-hearted way, receiving its gifts rather than grumbling about what we would rather have had happen. (60).
When we seek to bring about change that is not a tweaking of what has existed in the past but rather something entirely new, our own planning and limited vision often does get in the way. Letting go does not begin in the planning room, it begins in the place where we seek to listen to God. I am more convinced than ever that unless we can unleash our creativity and imaginations in the realm of prayer and worship, we will never see real change that leads us into the new reality of God’s kingdom, occur. God’s new reality does not emerge fully grown, but as a baby that needs to be nurtured and fed.
I do not usually post on Sunday, but having missed yesterday thought that I would make a concession today – and with beautiful morning and evening prayers like this to share why not? These are just some of the prayers that have been shared at Light for the Journey this week – more to come tomorrow.
God circle us (c) Christine Sine
I posted this prayer to the Light for the Journey page on Facebook yesterday. Like all circling prayers it has been extremely popular.
Circling prayers are an important part of Celtic Christianity. Some help us to visualize the attributes of God we want lodged in our hearts and the antithesis of these we want to fling from us – “keep peace within and hate without”. Others, like the one I wrote above are a more general expression of our desires for a God embraced life. Like everyone else, I love prayers like this that give me a sense of God’s encompassing love, the understanding that we sit in the midst of God’s embrace and I hope you do too. They are also some of the easiest and most comforting prayers to write. So why not give it a go – don’t just read and enjoy the prayer above – write your own and add it as a comment at the bottom of this post.
Let us Wait as Children Wait
Advent is coming. The end of the liturgical year is only a few weeks away and many of us are already preparing. I know because it is time for me to work on my annual Advent mediation video.
And just as Advent is a time of preparation for Christmas, so, at least in the northern hemisphere, is this season of storing food (both physically and spiritually), slowing down and rethinking our focus. It is a time for storing up the resources we know we need to see us through a season in which our hearts ache for the coming of God’s light. Tom and I go away for one of our quarterly retreats at the end of the week and we are both already anticipating this important pause in our routines. We want to make sure that we are very ready for the upcoming season.
Part of my preparation is getting ready for the blog series that I host during Advent. This year’s theme is Let Us Wait As Children Wait. I am very excited about this, and by the number of posts I have already received can see that others are too. I hope that out of this series will not only come some thought provoking reflections (and possibly another Advent devotional book) on how we as adults wait for the coming of Christ, but also some good resources to help us focus our children on the real meaning of Christmas. As I mentioned before, one of my most popular posts during Advent is this one on Celebrating Advent With Kids. People are looking for resources – and I think not just to celebrate with their kids but because many of us want to find again that childlike enthusiasm and excitement we once experienced in our faith.
So once again this is your invitation to join in. Do you know of resources that should be added to the list for celebrating with kids? If so we would love to hear about them. Or would you like to contribute your thoughts to this series. There is still time to participate. Please email me for more details. Or, like Tom and I you may just want to spend more time reflecting on how you wait for the coming of Christ. Is it with excitement, impatience and barely contained longing or is it with worn out indifference? What are some steps you could take to change that?
As an Amazon Associate, I receive a small amount for purchases made through appropriate links.
Thank you for supporting Godspace in this way.
When referencing or quoting Godspace Light, please be sure to include the Author (Christine Sine unless otherwise noted), the Title of the article or resource, the Source link where appropriate, and ©Godspacelight.com. Thank you!