by Christine Sine
In a couple of weeks I will celebrate my 72nd birthday. It is almost 60 years since I became a follower of Christ, and as I told a couple of young friends recently my faith is much stronger, more compelling and more nourishing than it has ever been. They asked me why and it has taken several days of reflecting to be able to provide a satisfactory answer. Here are the factors I believe contribute to my strong faith. This seemed such an important topic as we enter the season of Epiphany that I thought I would share my response with you.
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- I never stop learning. One of the most vital aspects of my faith is my desire to keep learning from friends, colleagues and spiritual mentors. Honesty with those around me about my spiritual struggles, my highs and lows, then listening to their advice is a great way to continue growing in my faith. I also learn a lot from reading. The two most stimulating books I read last year were This Here Flesh by Cole Arthur Riley and Sacred Earth Sacred Soul by John Phillip Newel. Both of these books stretched my understanding of God, of who God intends me to be and of how I should act in this world.
- I know God is a mystery I will never fully understand. Like many of us I began my Christian life thinking I understood everything about God, but the longer I am a Christian the more aware I am that I will only ever be able to understand a very small part of who God is and what God is doing in our world. My life must always be open to mystery. I live in the tension of knowing questions are more important than answers. It is both liberating and restful.
- My faith is an embodied faith. I ground myself in creative practices and acts of compassion and generosity that change with the seasons and the times. To be honest, as a young Christian I quickly became bored with the ways I was taught to pray and read scripture. It was very disconnected to my daily life. It was only when I worked in the refugee camps in Thailand in the mid 80s and was confronted with the horrors of war, violence and hunger that I really started to grow. My faith moved from my head to my heart and my soul as I reached out to the needy people around me and began to realize that faith is as much about who I am and how I act as it is about what I believe.
- My faith is not just rooted in scripture, it is also rooted in the earth. When I connected my faith to my gardening and recognized how God was revealed through my sowing, planting, growing and harvesting was another milestone in my faith development. In my book To Garden with God I share some of the lessons that transformed my thinking and lodged deep in my soul. Then I started creating contemplative gardens, another step into garden spirituality and further transformed and nourished me. I shared some of this in Digging Deeper The Art of Contemplative Gardening but continue to learn and to grow in this area.
- My spiritual practices are creative and change with the seasons. It was asking the question at the heart of my book The Gift of Wonder “What are the childlike characteristics that make us fit for the kingdom?” that moved me energetically into creative spiritual practices that made me feel I had entered a new world of awe and wonder. To live in awe and wonder and the creativity it inspires within us is, I am increasingly convinced is to live close to the heart of God.
So now that we are in the season of Epiphany, what are the practices that vitalize my faith?
First, on Thursday, the Eve of Epiphany, I Chalked the Door in a fun process that will continue to bless me and hopefully others as we walk through the door that was blessed by this process.
Second, I walked around the house, blessing each room I walked through. There is something very special about living in a house which one feels is blessed by the presence of God.
Third, partly inspired by Saturday’s retreat “Following the Star Into the New Year” I created a new contemplative garden over the weekend. A wonderful stimulus to further reflection and prayer.
I have also instituted a couple of new practices for the season. In the mornings I use the Pray as You Go App which provides a beautiful 10-15 minute prayer and scripture meditation. Very enriching! I also use the weekly prayers from The World in Prayer which helps me focus beyond myself to the larger world and its needs.
What are the practices that enrich you during this season?
Looking for hospitality inspiration? We have an entire resource page dedicated to hospitality. Find recipes and reflections on numerous hospitality topics, including Celtic hospitality, prayers, and liturgies. Click on Hospitality for more!
by Tom Sine
“Resolutions That Are Good for the Soul” is a very encouraging read by Rev. Tish Harrison Warren published in the New York Times on January 4, 2023. She begins: “I love the intentionality and the thoughtfulness required to make a resolution.” She explains that she is personally drawn to resolutions that “provide the grace to try new things.” Warren contests that “The point of resolutions shouldn’t be to add another task to our busy lives…The point is that renewal is always possible, and with grace we can all try new things:we can continue to grow and change.”
Rev. Tish Harrison Warren invited a few other authors to join her in this commentary about creating resolutions for this new year. I will also include two of my favorites.
Begin the day reading about faith
“I am going to use New Year’s to try and bring the practice of beginning the day with a physical book about faith into my everyday life.”
Eboo Patel, founder and president of Interfaith America
Confront your sorrow.
“I love how ‘courage’ derives from the Latin word for ‘heart’. In the coming year, I want to courageously acknowledge specific ways in which my heart has been broken – by people, by racism, bu institutions and even by God- so that I can pursue the healing I need. If we want to be agents of healing to our hurting world, we must courageously and continuously pursue the healing of our own hearts.”
Rev. Michelle T. Sanchez, author of “Color-Courageous Discipleship” and “God’s Beloved Community“
I would like to suggest some other resolutions followers of Jesus might consider. In 2020s Foresight: Three Vital Practices for Thriving in a Decade of Accelerating Change, I pointed out that one of the most serious blind spots in many of our churches is that most of us tend to operate like “it will always be the 90s”. As a consequence, most of our churches and those we serve locally and globally tend to get hammered by change more than they should!
I also point out that urban planers and environmental planners are trained to not only anticipate new waves of change but aggressively research innovative ways to respond before the waves of change before they fully arrive. 2020s Foresight is designed as a study book to enable groups in churches to become more foresightful and more innovative.
Christianity Today reports the recent waves of change from the first waves of Covid have been devastating for many churches. According to the Barna group, one in three practicing Christians stopped attending church during COVID; and regular church attendance dropped “from 34% in 2019 to 28% in 2021” (Here’s Who Stopped Going to Church During the Pandemic, Wang & Elhage, 2023). Church leaders need to not only be concerned about declining numbers in our churches. We also need to share the extent to which our declining attendance is impacting volunteering and giving in our churches. How can we empower our neighbors locally and globally, many of whom will continue to hammered by new waves of covid as well as accelerating waves of climate change in 2023 and beyond?
I invite you to consider adopting some new years resolutions like:
Resolving in 2023 to attend a church where you feel safe.
Christine and I attend Seattle Mennonite where they voted to to maintain a mask policy to significantly reducing the risk of contracting covid as well as provide a video option. As a consequence this church has experienced very little decline in attendance and outreach..
Resolving in 2023 to increase the giving of our time and resources to significantly increase the well being of families both locally and globally as our vulnerable neighbors face daunting new challenges.
Resolving in 2023 to carve out time to be present to God in daily reflection on Scripture and prayer in increasingly turbulent tomorrows.
Resolving in 2023 to join innovative leaders in our churches who are learning to anticipate and creatively respond to the new waves coming our way in 2023 and beyond.. We have the opportunity to join those who are creatng innovative ways to both be a difference and make a difference.
For those who are interested I am available by Zoom or in person to enable those in your community to learn new ways to both anticipate and creatively respond to new waves of change that reflect the ways of Jesus. Contact me Tom Sine twsine@gmail.com
We begin a NEW SEASON of the church year today! It’s Epiphany! We celebrate the Light, Jesus, coming into all the World, for ALL THE WORLD, for EVERYONE!!! This Saturday, January 7th is Orthodox Christmas. I love both because we can keep the celebration going longer and we can retell the story of God with us again. This is especially good for those of us who felt like December 25th got here much too quickly this year or if you missed the celebration due to weather and travel messiness. So Happy Christmas and Happy Epiphany!
I love new beginnings! But I believe that before we can go forward, we need to look back and consider where we’ve been. This helps us notice what God has been up to in our life and encourages us to pay attention going forward. Below is a meditation you can do on your own, or with your family, church community or small group. I’ve included a PDF at the end that includes several photos of doors to use to consider what door you might need for the year ahead. At thinplace house church this week, we began our time together with a lectio divina listening to Revelation 3: 18-22 in three translations
“Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I’ll come right in and sit down to supper with you. Conquerors will sit alongside me at the head table, just as I, having conquered, took the place of honor at the side of my Father. That’s my gift to the conquerors!
“Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.”
After listening to the passage, we considered the doors and what Jesus is I have always loved doors! So I take photos of them when I travel. You might start a collection of doors in your neighborhood or on your adventures in the new year to remind you of the God who opens doors!
OPENING THE DOOR
MEDITATION
OPENING THE DOOR to the NEW YEAR
Crossing the threshold into what God has in store for You!
Consider this past year .
Where have you been?
How was your journey?
Was it a season of open doors or closed doors?
Was it a season of slammed doors or one of doors opened in invitation?
Talk to Jesus about this. Take some time.
What kind of door represents your last year?
Closed Doors?
Open Doors?
As you approach and cross the threshold, and as you open the door to the New Year, what do you need to leave behind?
What do you need to drop?
What do you need to drop or leave behind so you can follow more closely to Jesus?
Author CS Lewis says that you cannot receive the new gifts God wants to give you if your hands are filled with too many packages.
Are you carrying too many packages today?
What packages do you need to drop or let go of? Talk to God about this.
Allow Jesus to show you what you need to put down and what you need to let go of in order to move through the new door of the New Year.
Are you carrying too many packages?
DOWNLOAD OR PRINT OUT THESE PDFS of DOORS
DOORS A PDF.. DOORS B PDF DOORS C PDF
What is God’s Invitation?
Which door inspires you?
What is the invitation?
Which door is being opened for you?
What Is Jesus inviting you to in the New Year?
Choose a door from the PDFs
You might cut out the door and carry it with you to consider how you can open the door to Jesus this year.
Watch for NEW DOORS
As you open doors in your house, going in and out, or opening closet doors or doors at a shop/store…consider the doors Jesus is opening for you. Consider and ask Jesus to open new doors of creativity, hope, inspiration, joy, compassion for you in the New Year! Watch for NEW DOORS!
I will give him the key to the house of David–the highest position in the royal court. When he opens doors, no one will be able to close them; when he closes doors, no one will be able to open them. Isaiah 22:22
Dear Godspace community,
The Following the Star retreat with Lilly Lewin and Christine Sine is only a few days away but there is still time to sign up.
Here are three reasons to attend:
- Resolutions usually fail in the first month of a new year, but intentions can stay with us throughout the year. This will be part of the focus of this retreat.
- We need creative prompts like Lilly and Christine provide to stir our imaginations and help us discern the path ahead. God often speaks through this type of exercise.
- We need a community of like minded people who help us to shape our dreams and hopes for the future. Through interaction with both Lilly Lewin and Christine Sine as well as other retreat participants, you will find the community you need to make this happen.
Please register here and join us online January 7th for this fun retreat. Hope you can join us!
O God, you trace my journeys and my resting-places and are acquainted with all my ways.Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, but you, O God, know it altogether.You press upon me behind and before and lay your hand upon me.Where can I go then from your Spirit; where can I flee from your presence?Even there your hand will lead me and your right hand hold me fast.– The Saint Helena Psalter Version
Following The Star Into the New Year
In January we celebrate Epiphany and the coming of the Magi to visit Jesus. Like them, many of us feel we are on a long journey following a star that is sometimes bright and shining, sometimes completely hidden yet still guiding us towards Christ. 2022 taught us important lessons that will shape the coming year. We sense God wants to do something new in our lives and we want to follow in the right direction.
Join Lilly Lewin and Christine Sine online Saturday, January 7th 2023 from 9:30 am PT to 12:30pm PT as they help us reflect on the past year and take time to hope, dream and pray for the year ahead. We will engage in some fun practices like chalking the door and interact with each other in ways that strengthen our faith and draw us closer to God.
Click here to register! We are once again offering several price points to aid those who are students or in economic hardship.
by Ron Friesen
Have you ever seen a large jar of water with some lemons floating in it? I see it most often in local restaurants in Arizona. I learned this is called “lemon-infused water.” I have since learned that you can order “Cucumber-infused Lemonade” and “Pricky Pear-Infused Lemonade.”
Thinking about infused beverages reminded me of a verse in the Bible: “27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27 NIV).
“Christ in you.” (Pause and reflect – CHRIST……IN……..Me…..)
CHRIST in you. This Christ who is living in us is the Christ who is indwelt with the all the fullness of the Godhead (Colossians 1:19), a fullness that has existed from eternity past and will continue to exist into the eternal future. Most importantly, it is a fullness that exists in us right now, an Eternal Now existence and experience.
Christ is IN us. The Christ IN us is ‘the hope of glory.” It is tempting to think of this hope as purely a future hope fulfilled at the final resurrection of our bodies. Some Bible scholars suggest this understanding of the hope of glory. What if we thought of living a life filled with all the potentiality that exists in the fulness of God in us? Many Christians call this “the Spirit-filled life.” If the fullness of the Godhead exists in the Christ who is in us, then, accepting the truth that the Spirit of God resides in us is a good start to thinking about Christ IN us.
Christ is US. When we think about a God-infused life we might think of Mother Teresa of Calcutta who worked among those dying on the streets of her city. Or we might think of E. Stanley Jones, the Methodist missionary in India who courageously led Bible Studies under the watchful eyes of secret service agents of the British government. He remarked that the Gospel was so dangerous that its proclamation had to be supervised! Or we might think of the courageous Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church who, after the invasion of his country, said, “I’m not a military strategist or politician, but I assure you if we pray, if we trust in the Lord, if we look at the example of martyrs of the past and these days, we will find the answers to keep moving forward.” In the United States, there are many courageously going to our streets to feed and care for the homeless. One of them is my friend, Terri, who while dealing with a husband with brain cancer, went out each morning with her truck filled with food, blanket and clothes provide for those living under bridges and in drainage ditches. Though Terri’s husband died recently, she continues to go out each morning with her heart filled with the Christ who is in her and her truck filled with supplies.
Reading these examples, we might say, “I am no Mother Teresa or E. Stanley Jones, Archbishop Borys Gudziak or Terri.” These people only come to our attention because they faithfully lived God-infused lives which draws our attention. Each was faithful to the small task before them filled with the knowledge of “Christ in me is the hope of glory.” Their lives remind us that God always equips the called to whatever task before them. If promotion comes or recognition is received, it is only because God promotes and God honors.
You may be the widow carrying for a disabled child, the single father raising four children, the recovering drug addict who continues to battle with the scars left by years of addiction, the teenager who struggles with an abusive living situation, the businessperson who is watching their income decrease as costs rise and customers need to make careful choices as inflation causes them to review how they spend their money. Whoever we are and wherever we are, we can demonstrate that the God-infused life is the “Christ-in-me, the hope of glory” is a present-day reality.
What will our God-infused life look like in 2023?
Writing by Ronald Friesen © 2022 and photos by June Friesen
Following The Star Into the New Year
In January we celebrate Epiphany and the coming of the Magi to visit Jesus. Like them, many of us feel we are on a long journey following a star that is sometimes bright and shining, sometimes completely hidden yet still guiding us towards Christ. 2022 taught us important lessons that will shape the coming year. We sense God wants to do something new in our lives and we want to follow in the right direction.
Join Lilly Lewin and Christine Sine online Saturday, January 7th 2023 from 9:30 am PT to 12:30pm PT as they help us reflect on the past year and take time to hope, dream and pray for the year ahead. We will engage in some fun practices like chalking the door and interact with each other in ways that strengthen our faith and draw us closer to God.
Click here to register! We are once again offering several price points to aid those who are students or in economic hardship.
Rainer Maria Rilke – The Book of Hours
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