MSA Is A Happening Place
There is so much happening at Mustard Seed Associates at the moment that it is hard to keep track. This is turning into a very busy but fulfilling season and I thought you might appreciate knowing about some of the things that keep me busy.
Last week I sat at my desk reflecting on a collage sent by a person who just finished reading Return to Our Senses. It includes the words, “Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the sight”. I feel that these are prophetic words for us in MSA. This is a happening place and I am filled with anticipation as I consider the many places in which we feel our hearts are seeing what is still invisible to our sight.
Celtic Retreat Almost Here
Our 23rd Annual Celtic prayer retreat, August 9th, is on the horizon. Monday we visited the site to clear prayer trails and cut back nettles. Matt and Sundee Frazier have written special music for the event. Andy Wade is working on new prayers for our trails, and Cory Baker, our summer intern, is helping to develop the children’s program – including ideas for making butter and a solar cooker in the afternoon. Our theme, “Brigit and the Hospitality of God”, has stirred our imagination to consider new ways to express and embrace the hospitality of God. We hope you can join us for this exciting event.
Watch our new video about the retreat and see what all goes on when we get together!
Doors and Windows Arrived at Mustard Seed Village
On Tuesday we again drove up to the island to help offload the windows and doors for our building. They should be installed by the time of the Celtic retreat. This is an amazing structure – even our insurance agent is impressed with its beauty. We appreciate your prayers as we are still looking for barn siding we can recycle to finish the walls. And if you have carpentry skills and would like to volunteer to help us finish the construction, we would love to hear from you.
There are other ways too that you might like to be involved and help us bring into reality that which is still invisible to our sight. Our Mustard Seed Village grounds manager, Doug Woods, is looking for volunteers to help maintain the prayer trails.
Introducing Our Summer Intern
I am excited to introduce our new summer intern, Cory Adam Baker, graduate student at Seattle Pacific University Seminary. Cory will be with us for nine weeks, engaged in a variety of responsibilities that incorporate practical skills with spiritual learning and outreach into the community. This is the first time we have had an intern work with us for 30 hours/week, and we are excited about the potential for the development of an ongoing discipleship program that involves a residential internship with the MSA team. Here too our hearts are speaking of something that is not quite visible to our sight. Pray with us and expect to hear more as this takes shape. And, if you are interested in an internship like this for a couple of months or a year, we would love to hear from you.
Kickstarter Campaign About to Start
Our kickstarter campaign to help fund the development of our upcoming e-course, “Reimagining How We Pray”, will be launched next week. Have you conducted a campaign like this? Would you like to give us a little advice? We are currently looking for a few people to preview the campaign and give us feedback, so let us know if you are interested.
I am particularly grateful for the invaluable help that has already been given by Chris Yaw who runs the online learning organization Church Next. His expertise has saved us hours of work in the development of this course, which is based on our popular resource, Return to Our Senses, and will explore the many ways we connect to God in ordinary life. There will be six modules in this course, each with a prayer, a short teaching video, and an interactive exercise. We believe it will revolutionize your prayer life and enable you to develop a rich and vibrant relationship with God.
Seeing into Our Hearts
At Godspace we continue the series, Hospitality Opening Doorways to the Kingdom. I am learning so much from the guest posts about the concept of hospitality and its centrality to the gospel. Many are bringing into reality things that are stirring in my heart. In case you missed some of this enriching series, the list of posts is available here.
On the MSA blog Hailey Joy Scandrette’s post, Wanted: Spiritually Fulfilling Lifestyle To Suit Idealistic Millenial, is a wonderful read and Andy Wade’s continuing insights drawn from nature, like Slime mold – Won’t Believe What Happened Next, continue to inspire and enrich my life.
And don’t forget to download our newest resources, An Introduction to Celtic Spirituality and Resources for Creating a Faith Based Community Garden, and share the links to these with your friends.
Looking Forward to What is Not Yet Visible
As we move into the second half of the year, there is much stirring in our hearts that is still to become visible. Tom is writing a new book on social enterprise and faith. Andy and I are working on another book on food, faith, and spirituality. And Kristen Carroccino, who works with us one day a week, is pulling together an exciting new devotional book based on the blog series, Coming Home to the Story of God.
Events planned for the rest of the year that you might like to put on your calendar now include:
- Justice at the Table – please note the date for this has been changed to October 18th.
- Pre-Advent retreat – November 15th
- And keep your eyes open for the launch of our first e-course, too.
This is an exciting time to be a Mustard Seed Associate. We appreciate your support and prayers as we move forward into the work God has planned for us.