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Godspacelight
by dbarta
Small angel figurine
Advent 2022ChristmasPoemspoetryProclaiming Justice & Seeking Peace Through AdventUncategorizedWorship & liturgy

The Awe and Wonder of Christmas

by Christine Sine
written by Christine Sine

by Carol Dixon

I am not usually lost for words (my husband of 52 years can vouch for that) but this Advent I have been dumbstruck with awe and wonder as I contemplate the coming of the Christ Child at Christmas.

I didn’t feel like that at all a couple of weeks ago when I felt far away from God and was facing two emergency blood transfusions due to a seriously low blood count which had somehow been missed by the medical profession despite a number of phone calls – and I called out in my distress to my Godspacelight friends who enfolded me in their love and prayers. Thankfully the long-term outcome is good and I am due to have regular intravenous iron infusions and monthly blood checks until I see my stoma specialist in February. Throughout the scary emergency the prayers of others have enabled me to draw close to God again. So thank you all.

Your prayers and the transfusions meant I was also well enough to lead our church’s Worship on Wednesday (which we call WoW) before the Lay Preachers and Worship Leaders Advent Gathering. I based the service on John 1: The Prologue, that wonderful cosmic beginning to the fourth gospel. (If you want to read the essence of what I said you can find it in my Godspacelight reflection called The Word. Our service was also infused with music including some of the lovely Christmas songs by The Monks of Weston Priory, used with their permission and blessing, and some lovely prayers from CAFOD as well as Sheila Hamil’s wonderful song ‘In the beginning‘.

The service began with words from the first letter of John from the Good News Bible:

We write to you about the Word of life, which has existed from the very beginning. We have heard it, and we have seen it with our eyes; yes, we have seen it, and our hands have touched it. 2 When this life became visible, we saw it; so we speak of it and tell you about the eternal life which was with the Father and was made known to us. 3 What we have seen and heard we announce to you also, so that you will join with us in the fellowship that we have with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 We write this in order that your joy may be complete.

This was followed by the beautiful ancient hymn ‘Of the Father’s love begotten’ 

Of the Father’s love begotten, ere the world’s began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega, he the source, the ending he,
Of the things that are, that have been
And that future years shall see, evermore and evermore.
By his word was all created: he commanded and ‘twas done,
Earth and sky and boundless ocean, universe of Three in One,
All that sees the moon’s soft radiance,
all that breathes beneath the sun, evermore and evermore.
Let the heights of heaven adore him; angel hosts, his praises sing;
Powers, dominions, bow before him, and extol our God and King;
Let no tongue on earth be silent, every voice in concert sing,
Evermore and evermore.   [Words: Prudentius (348 – c413)]

 

We ended with Christina Rosetti’s well known poem ‘Love came down at Christmas’ to the tune Garten. 

Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love Divine,
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and Angels gave the sign.
Worship we the Godhead,
Love Incarnate, Love Divine,
Worship we our Jesus,
But wherewith for sacred sign?
Love shall be our token,
Love be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and all men,
Love for plea and gift and sign.  

 

The Holy Spirit was so strongly present during the whole service that at the end there was a kind of ‘holy hush’ as we were all held in the moment. Amazing what God does when all we have to offer him is our weakness.

Another ancient hymn that has spoken to me over the past few weeks is ‘O come, O come Emmanuel’ with its haunting melody. (There is an amazing version of it in Hebrew by Anna Hawkins on YouTube) and the verse which really resonated with me is ‘O come thou Dayspring, come and cheer our spirits by thine Advent here. Disperse the gloomy clouds of night and death’s dark shadows put to flight. ‘ There is so much tragedy & poverty and worry & complaining in our world at present which seems to sound a death knell to joy and hope it is so good to remember that Jesus is our Dayspring – our light in the darkness that nothing can put out. Joni Erickson Tada* in her book ‘A Christmas Longing’ says of this verse: ‘There’s a kind of longing in those words, isn’t there? They are words that could come right out of the depths of your heart when you feel captive by doubt or despair.  Maybe you feel your own life could be sung in a minor key just now …   But there is more to that song! A triumphant chorus which echoes ‘Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee’ That is the hope that Christmas gives.’ 

So my prayer for you this Christmas is a prayer of blessing and a song from the Monks of Weston Priory.

May love be the gift you give and receive
May peace be the wrapping that enfolds you
May hope be the flame that burns in your hearts
And joy be the blessing that upholds you.
And may the living word of God fill (y)our lives 
this Advent season and always. Amen 

© Carol Dixon 2022

Deep into the stillness of night   

Deep, deep into the stillness of night,
when the earth slept,
intense with calm and expectation,
the Dawn rose and with light of day,
Word of our God leapt from heaven,
bringing new wholeness and peace:
Emmanuel. 

Now, now shall the desert bloom
and the parched land rejoice with flower and song.
The glory of God shall be for all to see:
strength to the hands that are feeble,
courage to those clothed in fear,
our God is near. 

Opened shall be the eyes of the blind:
now the deaf shall hear and the lame leap for joy;
let sorrow flee, no longer mourning death,
filled with the joy of this new day:
God has become one with us in Jesus,
the Christ. 

© 1978 The Benedictine Foundation of the State of Vermont, Inc 

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Nativity picture by Sian Dixon aged 5

*A Christmas Longing by Joni Erickson Tada publ. by Scripture Press ISBN 1-8762059-59-7


Following The Star Into the New Year

FollowingTheStarIntoTheNewYear

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.

 

December 27, 2022 0 comments
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Advent 2022

Meditation Monday – Did Mary Call the Midwife?

by Christine Sine
written by Christine Sine

by Christine Sine

Just before Christmas I set up our Nativity set and added Jesus in the manger to my Advent garden. I also took out the Advent candles and replaced them with white ones, instantly converting it into a Christmas garden.  Where’s the midwife I pondered as I got ready to celebrate the twelve days of Christmas? Mary’s midwife is not a piece of the nativity sets we use to decorate our homes during the Christmas season, though evidently she did often appear in Ancient Orthodox and Byzantine icons of the event.

While it’s true that Luke doesn’t mention the presence of a midwife in his account of the nativity, it’s not hard to imagine that Mary was attended by one, just as Jewish mothers had been for thousands of year.

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Russian icon titled Rozhestvo Gospoda Nashego Isusa Khrista — “the Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ

It’s probable that Mary and Joseph had already been in Bethlehem for several days when Jesus was born. Luke says plainly, “And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem … And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered” (Luke 2: 4-6). There is no sense of urgency in the account, no indication that she was already in labour when they arrived.  It is probable that Mary and Joseph had ample time to prepare for her delivery and to seek out a local midwife. It is even likely that some of Joseph’s female relatives were there. After all this was his home town and whether Jesus was born in a cave where animals were kept, or in a family home, as I suspect, in a culture as hospitable as this they would not have been left to birth the baby on their own.

Like so many other figures in the gospel narrative, this midwife is never named, though Orthodox tradition calls her Salome. Sometimes she is depicted in the corner or background of the manger scene. Sometimes she’s preparing something for Mary, sometimes observing quietly, and sometimes giving Jesus his first bath! Irish tradition says that it was Brigid of Kildare who somehow travelled through time and space to be with Mary and deliver this precious child. This unknown woman, was vital to the survival of Jesus.

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The Nativity. The Virgin Mary and the Baby Jesus in a manger, with Joseph. From the Nagara Māryām, the history and miracles of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 18th century

As I sit here today, thinking of this woman, I am reminded of my early days as a physician in New Zealand when I too helped to bring babies into the world. It was the most  precious experience imaginable, one that I never tired of. So I close my eyes and imagine myself transported back 2,000 years to give birth to that special child. After all if Brigid can travel through time I should be able to as well. I imagine myself comforting Mary as she cried out in the pangs of childbirth. I imagine listening for Jesus’s first breath, and hear him give his first cry. I bath him, gently wiping off the blood and fluids of his passage through the birth canal. Then I lay him on his mother’s breast, enthralled by her radiant smile and I beckon Joseph to her side.

It is hard to believe, as we think of this tiny child, so rudely and violently expelled into the world, and now lying quietly in all his vulnerability and dependency, that he is indeed the promised saviour, the son of God. Like me, did the midwife look at his tiny body in awe and wonder filled with the joy and delight of helping to bring to birth a child in whom the divine spark was obviously present. Did she go away changed just as the shepherds and the wise men were changed by their encounter? Did she cherish the face of this child in her mind aware that he was special and would transform the world?

I love that we have 12 days in the Christmas season to contemplate the many remarkable aspects of the birth of Christ. I pray that you too will take time today to think about not just Jesus but also the woman who helped bring him into the world. I suspect she holds a very special place in the heart of God.

December 26, 2022 0 comments
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Simple nativity scene
ChristmaspoetryUncategorized

It Was Time

by Christine Sine
written by Christine Sine

by June Friesen

LUKE 2: 1-20

1-5 About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David’s town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant. 6-7 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel. 8-12 There were shepherds camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.” 13-14 At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises: Glory to God in the heavenly heights, Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

 

15-18 As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the shepherds talked it over. “Let’s get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us.” They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the shepherds were impressed. 19-20 Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The shepherds returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they’d been told!

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IT WAS TIME

It was time for a census to be taken in a great part of the world including Israel,
There was to be a counting of each person –
Not only a counting of each person
But it had to be according to their ancestral family.
It was then that Joseph needed to go to Bethlehem –
What was he to do – he was soon to be a father –
Not just a father but the father of the ‘long awaited Messiah’ –
Long awaited in the community of Israel, God’s chosen people.
What was he going to do?
How could he leave and not take his wife?
How was Mary going to be able to make this trek?
Oh my – oh my – oh my….
It was time for a baby to be born momentarily –
Mary had indicated that the time for the baby to come was going to be soon –
What if she went into labor on the way?
What if they had to stop on the way and had no place for shelter?
However – they did manage to make it to Bethlehem –
But O the crowds of people milling the streets –
They seemed oblivious to Joseph as he tried to navigate through
Hoping to find shelter and a place for his laboring wife to rest.
Yet everywhere he stopped to check
The answer was the same – ‘Full up, no room, no space at all,’
Until one man was willing to offer his barn where the animals were resting –
And Joseph responded, “Yes, we will take it.”
Joseph got Mary settled in just in time –
And then the little one soon made His appearance –
Gently Mary (and maybe Joseph helped) wrapped the baby
In the strips of cloth she had brought and laid him on a bed of hay.
And then an announcement was made to shepherds –
Out in the fields outside of Bethlehem –
That a special baby had just been born within the village.
And it was to the most unsuspecting people the announcement was first made,
To some shepherds who were quietly getting ready to rest for the night –
In the hills outside of the city – and they had no doubt a fire lit
For warmth as well as protection from predators of their sheep
When all of a sudden! It happened in the darkness of the night!
A Light – not just a star – but a brilliant light –
And then there appeared what? – An angel – 

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Who then spoke with a message just for them that night.
“I am coming to tell you now,
That in Bethlehem there has been born
A Baby who is ‘The Messiah’  – The Savior of the World –
You will find Him in a cattle barn with His parents.’
And then – WHAT – O MY!
The sky filled with many, many angels – singing in a chorus:
Glory to God in the highest –
 And here on earth –
Peace be to all of humanity.
Now it was time for the baby’s first visitors – shepherds at that –
Why wouldn’t it be that the family in Nazareth had been told to visit?
Why is it the Jewish leaders were not told to visit?
Why is it that it was shepherds – I wonder, do you?
The angel had told them to go and they would find a baby –
Not just a baby but a Messiah –
A Savior for the whole world –
What could this be? How could this be? Hmmmmm….
And so it was that they found this baby –
Yes, and they found Him with his mother Mary and father Joseph –
And they then believed what the angels had said.
It was then many heard about the shepherds’ discovery…..
Oh my, oh my….these shepherds had now found their tongues of praise,
And they no doubt were dancing and prancing – singing and shouting –
“Praise God – The Messiah is finally here. Praise be to God the Father.”
It was a time that Mary thought mindfully and deeply –
As she quieted or at least attempted to quiet her heart –
And thought – “Why/how did the shepherds outside the city know?
Why – – will others now come too, or will they just think the shepherds were dreaming?”
It was then a new beginning for God to be revealed to humanity –
And it certainly seems as if He chose a very unlikely way
With unlikely circumstances and definitely many unlikely characters –
So how would humanity respond – would they respond with an eager faith like the shepherds?
Now it is time for humanity (you and I) today to consider –
Is this really the Messiah promised to the nation of Israel?
Why was He not born to a priestly family so He could be raised in the Temple and in the proper religious instruction?
What a way for God to try to make an impression upon humanity – poor, humble and lonely birth that it was for His Son.
Now then each person is offered opportunity to discover this gift –
This one time gift that God gave to and through humanity
To make it possible for Him to once again have a relationship
Like He had planned when He created Adam and Eve in the garden.
Now it is time for humanity to consider once again –
This birth that night in the strangest of conditions
Was not just a simple event that happened –
No, it was an event that would and should change the course of our world forever.
Yes, consider if you will how you as a follower of God
Have come to believe this story for your own spirit and well-being,
Does it make a difference, really make a difference this Christmas?
Or is this Christmas just another family celebration and party?
Will you receive the angel(s) into your presence –
Will you entertain their message and song –
Will you respond to their invitation to come or
Will you think you had a dream that surely could not be real?
Will you consider that God does things His way?
Will you give God an opportunity to reveal Himself to you today?
Will you believe that God’s greatest desire today (and every day)
Is to come and live in your home, your being – and continue to bless you with His presence until life on this earth is finished and done.
Come Lord Jesus, come and be at home with me today –
Come and fill me with Your presence of love, peace and joy –
O and come and fill me with forgiveness of myself and others too –
Yes, come Lord Jesus – I receive a renewed gift of Your Presence today.
In Jesus Name, amen and amen.

All photos and writing by June Friesen. Scripture is from The Message Translation. 

December 25, 2022 0 comments
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Christmas tree lights
ChristmaspoetryPrayerPrayer and inspiration

Christmas: The dawn of love come down

by Christine Sine
written by Christine Sine

by Joy Lenton

It’s dawn on Christmas Day. A sense of anticipation builds. Children are already fumbling for their lumpy, weighty stockings and emitting excited squeals before hurrying to show their sleep-deprived parents what Santa has brought them.

Come with me to a quiet, sleepy city street. Here we find a woman who rarely surfaces early or feels remotely half-awake until coffee time or later, slowly and gently being nudged out of slumber.

She doesn’t have a child disturbing her rest, instead there’s a thrill of hope racing through her veins. A feeling of awe stirs her to rouse and remember Christmas Day has dawned. A sudden splurge of energy propels her toward the bedroom window. 

Here she spots the muted glow of street lights still visible behind the curtains. Yet something invites her to draw them back a notch and look beyond the environs of her home, the street corner, houses and trees. This is what she sees…

Dawn

She wakes with the dawn,
which is unusual
because her weary body rarely

comes alive before coffee time,
at least, but now she is drawn
to part the curtains on the day,

where she witnesses
a golden-ridged, rippled cloud
of applause echoing through the sky

as if to celebrate
this Christmas Day, this wondrous
event when Christ arrives.

It seems as if the heavens
are joining earth
in exultation, rejoicing 

in their King
being revealed to mortal eyes.
And in this glorious
display it feels like angels

are singing again,
unheard by human ears, and yet
they leave vestiges

of royal love and joy threading
like wafts of shining cotton wool
lining the acreage of sky.

Her heart lifts, too,
as she admires
the spectacle of glory clouds

and ponders on
how marvellous the first Christmas
must have been 

to its small audience,
unseen hosts
and awed participants,
while heaven touched earth

irrefutably, through a baby’s
breath, a tiny heartbeat
that still resounds—now softly
bound within her own.

© joylenton

dawn on Christmas morning clouds sky

Photo by Joy Lenton

“The Word became
a human being
    and lived here with us.
We saw his true glory,
the glory of the only Son
    of the Father.
From him the complete gifts
of undeserved grace and truth
    have come down to us.”
— John 1:14 CEV

 

A Christmas Day prayer

Dear Lord Jesus, 

Today we celebrate Your birth, how You came and dwelt among us here on earth. Although we might be overfamiliar with the biblical narrative, help us retain a sense of awe at the wonder of it all as we remember how You inhabited our humanity. 

May our hearts reignite with the anticipation, hope, expectation, awe and joy of a child on Christmas morning, one who can’t wait to unwrap the wonderful gifts You bring us. 

Help us to notice the majestic and the marvellous wrapped up in the mundane. As we go about our humdrum, ordinary days, may they be filled with a deep-seated awareness of Your gifts of joy and peace and saturated with Your grace.

May we learn to rejoice, even in the challenging and hard, because You came down to earth and You love us so much. You are with us through the good times and the bad. You live in our hearts by faith, a new life birthing made possible because of your own.

Amen

December 25, 2022 0 comments
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Christmas

Poems for the Twelve Days of Christmas

by Christine Sine
written by Christine Sine

Over the last several years we have posted numerous Christmas prayers. In fact, I realized today that with the addition of T.S. Eliot’s great reading of the Journey of the Magi there are indeed 12 poems to share. Enjoy

  • A Christmas Creed
  • Irish Christmas blessing
  • At the End of the Year – A Poem by John O’Donohue
  • Aaron Neville – A Christmas Prayer
  • Christmas Prayer by Mother Theresa
  • Christmas Prayer by Bebe Winan
  • Christmas Prayer by Henri Nouwen
  • The Mood of Christmas by Howard Thurman
  • First Coming by Madeliene L’Angle
  • Amazing Peace by Maya Angelou
  • A Christmas prayer by Christine Sine 

December 24, 2022 0 comments
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Advent 2022Christmasfreerangefriday

FreerangeFriday: The Gift of the SEASON of Christmas

by Lilly Lewin
written by Lilly Lewin

By Lilly Lewin

This year many of us in America are receiving the Gift of Interruption for Christmas due to the wild winter weather we are having. Many have had to rearrange travel plans or reschedule gatherings due to the blizzard conditions and subzero temperatures. This is so frustrating! We really don’t like interruptions and after two years of having to regroup and change things due to the pandemic, we really don’t have the bandwidth or margin needed to regroup yet again.

But what if we could be willing to receive the interruptions this Christmas, as Gifts, rather than curses?

How can we be willing to let God surprise us this Christmas? Even in the interruptions or change in plans?

For many years, I worked on a church staff at Christmastime. This meant that often the tree was decorated later than planned, or cookies didn’t get baked til after the 25th.  The church happened to be a very traditional Episcopal church where we didn’t really sing Christmas carols or decorate the church until Christmas Eve! This is because Advent is the season of the Church year that lasts until Christmas Eve. And the SEASON of CHRISTMAS begins on CHRISTMAS DAY, December 25! And since I was on staff and had to work Christmas Eve, our celebration really didn’t happen until Christmas Day and afterwards. We learned to receive the gift of the Season of Christmas.

And it really is a SEASON of the Church year, not just ONE DAY! You’ve probably sung the 12 Days of Christmas Song or at least heard it somewhere, well the 12 DAYS of Christmas are AFTER the 25th of December. The Christmas Season  runs until January 6th which is Feast of Epiphany.

SO YOU ARE NOT LATE!  YOU ARE NOT BEHIND! It is totally OK not to have everything ready or feel like you need more time! By embracing the SEASON of Christmas, you have 12 whole days to celebrate! Now you may not have all that time off from work, but give yourself the gift of doing Christmas over time rather than all at once this year. Write cards next week, deliver gifts as New Year’s presents or even for Epiphany or Three Kings Day!

Give yourself permission to celebrate the SEASON of Christmas!

What things can happen during the days after the 25th? Are you willing to let them?

And what about the Christmas spirit? maybe it’s been hard to embrace or engage in the holidays this year. That’s totally ok. Every year is different. We have seasons of our lives just as the calendar has seasons. Embrace the season you are in right now. It won’t be like this forever.  We are all in different places so that will change how we celebrate and embrace the holiday. You are allowed to be sad at Christmas. It’s totally fine to choose to be alone rather than in a group if that is what feels best to you. Listen to yourself and what your heart needs this Christmas.

Find the things that bring you joy and do those things. Eliminate the things that bring you sadness or cause you anxiety or stress. ASK FOR HELP! Don’t try to do it all yourself this week!

I am going to watch “Charlie Brown’s Christmas” which always reminds me of the REAL reason for the season.  And watch the old cartoon version of “The Grinch“because it makes me smile and our family have all the lines memorized. This morning I found the Amy Grant Christmas play list on I Tunes and listened to all her Christmas albums in a row!

MAKE A LIST of the things that bring you JOY and pick one to do each day.

TAKE TIME OUT and SLOW DOWN. EMBRACE the interruptions. OPEN THE GIFT of REST! BREATHE deeply.

TAKE TIME TO JUST BE WITH JESUS… HE came to be with YOU!FollowingTheStarIntoTheNewYearTo help you continue the Celebration, Join us on January 7th!

 

©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com

 

 

December 23, 2022 0 comments
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Mustard Seed House

MUSTARD SEED HOUSE- A CO-LIVING OPPORTUNITY IN SEATTLE!

by Christine Sine
written by Christine Sine

As you know from my posts we are big fans of Gen X& Z because a higher percentage of these two generations are much more concerned about the issues of environmental, racial and economic justice than those of us in older generations. Pew Research reports that these two generations are much more active in addressing environmental and social issues than older generations.

Over the past 30 years I have found that most church leaders love and delight in each new generation of young people. However, while they they delight in them, they often don’t realize that our newest Generations, Gen Y & Z, are much more active in working for environmental, racial and social justice than older generations. Also, they are often not aware of how much more expensive it is for Gen Y & Z to launch their lives than it was for older generations.

For example, when I attended Cascade College way back in the 50s I made enough at a modest Summer Recreation job to pay all my tuition, fees and books for a year. Students these days find that their summer jobs may help pay for some of their books but do little to reduce the costs of tuition and campus housing.

Working as professor for Fuller Theological Seminary for almost 30 years at their Seattle extension I became aware that rising college costs were dramatically increasing their school debt. In addition to this, the rising cost of housing is dramatically raising the cost for students to launch their lives after they graduate. Housing is particularly expensive in cities like Seattle.

When I went house hunting in Seattle over 30 years ago, housing was much less expensive. I was surprised to find an ancient house in Seattle that was constructed back in 1910. Essentially it is three separate 2 bedroom houses stacked on top of each other with a very large back yard.

Christine and I decided 30 years ago to transform these three ancient 2 bedroom apartments into a Christian co-living Community called Mustard Seed House. Even though rent has become quite high in Seattle we have been able to keep our rent below the going rate here.

Christine and I have so enjoyed getting to know a number of younger couples and singles who welcomed the opportunity to be a part of a Christian co-living community. What we offer to all of our co-living friends is the opportunity to share a meal every week where we also take time to reflect on our faith journey. We also share an opportunity once a month to work in our community garden together.

Last year we all harvested and shared 100 pounds of tomatoes and 400 pounds of apples. Before Covid we used to periodically host large groups of friends at events in our backyard. However, to be responsible hosts we have cut back to much smaller groups.

Christine and I decided to let all her readers know that our largest apartment on our top floor is currently available to a couple, small family  or 2 to 4 singles who would like to experience a co-living  experience in the Mustard Seed House in Seattle.

The top floor apartment is the largest of the three residences. It includes 2 large bedrooms, a small office, a kitchen with a living area and a large living room. It also has remarkable views of downtown Seattle and the Olympic Mountains and is in very good condition. Contact Christine Sine to take a tour. Many members of Gen Y & Z find co-living in places like Seattle is not only less expensive, young people tell us it is also more engaging.

Finally do let us know if you would like to view the apartment in person or have a Zoom visit.

Wishing you and you and yours a blessed Advent and a Joyous Christmas


Or attend our next retreat – Following The Star Into the New Year

FollowingTheStarIntoTheNewYear

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.

 

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Meet The Godspace Community Team

Meet The Godspace Community Team

Christine Sine is the founder and facilitator for Godspace, which grew out of her passion for creative spirituality, gardening and sustainability. Together with her husband, Tom, she is also co-Founder of Mustard Seed Associates but recently retired to make time available for writing and speaking.
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