Posted 9 days ago

Introducing the Mustard Seed Village: A Celtic Community for Sustainable Spirituality and Sustainable Life

by Christine Sine

Introducing a dream

We came to our 19th Celtic retreat on Camano Island August 14th 2010 with some very good news. Through the hard work of our architect David Vandervort and his staff, Island County has approved our application for land use as a residential school and retreat center. David has designed a first phase plan to create an initial facility to house 20 to 30 college students and staff.

In response to this unique opportunity the MSA Celtic Project Team is moving forward with a four prong approach:

First, we are currently negotiating a collaborative agreement with an organization that has for many years offered courses on environmental studies for Christian college students. We hope that his will be formalized in the next 6 months and expect to welcome our first group of students early in 2012 when we will offer a residentially based course in sustainable spiritual practices and sustainable lifestyles to re-imagine how to live and serve God in an uncertain future. It is probable that this first course will be based at a rental facility near the Camano property so that as many of the classes as possible can be conducted on the land.

Mustard Seed team member Cindy Todd who holds an MBA from Eastern University, will be our program coordinator. She is using her expertise to help us develop a business plan for the project, find a rental site and coordinate the use of that site. She is also providing important leadership is developing funding proposals for the project.

Forrest Inslee who directs a graduate program in social entrepreneurship at Northwest University, has volunteered to help design curriculum for the programme. We in the process of are putting together a curriculum advisory group to work on this important project.

David Vandervort and his architectural firm will continue to provide leadership in the design of a phase one facility as well as looking ahead to design a larger facility on a higher area of the land for a monastic community and retreat site.

MSA’s dream for a Celtic Community began in 1989 when Tom Sine purchased 40 acres on Camano Island, an hour north of Seattle. In increasingly uncertain times those of us who are followers of Jesus will need to re-imagine more sustainable ways to live plus rediscover a spirituality that can see us through troubled times.

We in MSA seek to create new ways respond to these growing challenges. One way we are responding is by designing a new Celtic Monastic Community that could become both:

1. a new model of a highly sustainable rural community living;
2. a new model of a monastic community deeply grounded in a Celtic Christian spirituality that reflects a love of God, of neighbor and of God’s good creation.
3. a place where students can come to learn how to create more sustainable lifestyles and spiritual practices for life and ministry in a peak oil future;
4. a site half way between Seattle and Vancouver BC where people can come and imagine new ways to live and serve God in response to tomorrow’s challenges.

This Celtic Christian sustainable community will be constructed on Camano Island as a rural counter-part to the smaller urban monastic community called The Mustard Seed House in Seattle. Both communities will share a common ethos, a common commitment to sustainable living and a common rule of life.

The Mustard Seed Monastic Village will be physically designed to both fit into its natural setting and reflect something of the spirit of a seventh century Celtic monastery. Working with our architect, David Vandervort, we also want to reflect the highest level of concern for sustainable design. We are exploring everything from rammed earth to bale straw construction, solar and wind energy and we plan to plant an orchard, garden and vineyard to provide a high level of food self-sufficiency for those who are a part of this experimental community.

The people who are a part of this community will seek to create a highly sustainable way of life with everyone sharing in routines of nurture, harvest, processing and celebration. These monastic community members will also create a more sustainable rhythm of life based around morning and evening prayers, spiritual direction, service to those in the larger community.

At the core of this new monastic community will be a deep commitment to God and to a broad spectrum of Christian spiritual practices drawing particularly on the beauty and insights of the Celtic Christian tradition. Our intent is for this community not only to be rooted in a rich spirituality and a different rhythm of life but to also seek to embody something of the values of God’s new world that is already here. In both our urban and rural communities we want to model a way of life that is simpler and more sustainable but is also offers a better more celebrative way of life than anything offered by the global mall.

We are looking for friends to join us in making this unique venture a reality. We want your ideas, your expertise and your prayers. We want to invite your participation as we grow this project forward. Let us give you a bit of the history of this project to help you understand the founding vision and the opportunities for your participation.

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Posted 14 days ago

Looking for Friends at Greenbelt UK & CCDA USA

By Christine Sine

Autumn is coming and Tom and I are on the move again – ratcheting up those water consumptive miles. So we want to make sure that every mile counts by getting together with friends at our various destinations

First a message from Tom for Greenbelt attendees… Tom Sine is looking for someone to have lunch with him at GB. He knows he has friends who will be attending but at this ripe time in life he can’t remember who they are. If you know Tom or would just like to help him with flagging memory join him for lunch near the speaker’s podium at the Grandstand on Saturday 28th at 1pm. BYOB…bag lunch that is. Or if you would like to get together at another time and make sure he doesn’t lost on the way to lunch let us know

Eliacin Rosario Cruz will also be at Greenbelt so if you are interested in connecting to him as well please let him know.

Second – Tom & I will both be at CCDA in Chicago September 7th – 11th. Again we would love to get together for fellowship, food and fun with some of our friends. So if you are going to be at CCDA and would like to get together please let me know. This is one of our favourite events of the year and we would highly recommend it to all of you.

Third – Tom & I will be back in the UK at the end of October. If you are interested in getting together or in hosting an event at that time please contact us.

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Posted 15 days ago

God’s Quiet Conspiracy in a Post-Oil Future

Tom Sine has an article out in this issue of Conspire plus a number of others on Economy of God: Your Money or Your Life” on “God’s Quiet Conspiracy in a Post-Oil Future
Comments welcome.

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Posted 16 days ago

Report from MSA 19th Celtic Retreat

by Christine Sine


Our annual Celtic retreat is over and I have finished with the clean up. It is a lot of work to set up tents, clear prayer trails, bring in water & food as well as prepare a programme. However it is all worth it and this year for me it seemed more worth it than ever. The weather was perfect and being about to share our vision for the future an exciting addition to the programme. (More about that later in the week)


As usual we were a very eclectic group – young and old from many different denominations and church backgrounds, and this year even 5 dogs to enliven our day. We camped together, worked together, prayed together and just generally enjoyed fun and fellowship together. Friday is a setup workday for those of us on the MSA team but we turned it into a celebration for Andy Wade, our MSA’s Seed Sampler coordinator who was celebrating his 49th birthday.



Our children’s programme was the best ever, with the adults joining the kids in the afternoon in making finger labyrinths which can act as a template for meditation and refreshment.

The real labyrinth made by Eliacin from branches gathered on the land was also very popular.

Tara Ward and Ryan Marsh from Church of the Beloved led us in worship and helped us focus as we read responsive prayers, meditated on scripture and shared our insights.

In the afternoon Eucharistic service we also completed a Celtic cross from materials on the land and placed rocks around its base as a remembrance of all that has gone before and as a promise of our hopes for the future.

For me the highlight of this weekend is not the retreat day on Saturday but the early morning times spent sitting quietly to pray, walking the prayer trails and drinking in the beauty of God’s creation. Since we started this retreat almost 20 years ago the land has changed. The trees have grown more majestic each year. But as well as that I have learned to identify and appreciate the small and often hidden plants that are there in abundance and often essential to the maintenance of a healthy ecosystem.

Our theme this year was building community and the scriptures revolved particularly around the need for strong and deep foundations. And the bigger the structure we plan to build the deeper and more extensive the foundations need to be. This kind of foundation take a long time to build. We feel that these last 20 years have been times for digging deep to build the foundations – first in our own lives, second in us as a core community and third in MSA itself. And my prayer is that the foundations we have built will enable us to build something that will be strong and resilient into the future.
[caption id=“attachment_3091” align=“alignnone” width=“300” caption=“Sharing the vision”]
More photos of the retreat here[/caption]

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Posted 26 days ago

August Seed Sampler

Even as we see signs of the economy breaking free of its collective depression, many are warning that this may just be a blip. The proverbial light at the end of the tunnel may well be just another train speeding in our direction. Whether or not we break free of this current cycle of crashing economies, joblessness, and despair, the reality is that we have entered a new era.2010 through 2020 will be a decade of increased volatility and uncertainty. As global markets become more and more interconnected, we experience together the economic, social, and environmental effects of our world-wide economy.

While the “trickle-down” effect of prosperity failed to materialize in the 80’s, the ripple-effect is becoming all-too evident. What begins as an economic earthquake in one region becomes a financial tsunami on the other side of the globe. Even what appears to be a tiny ripple in one country may swell in magnitude by the time it reaches the shores of another.

Some Christians have responded by predicting the end of the world, saying this is all proof that Jesus is coming back soon and we had better get our spiritual houses in order! We don’t know when Jesus is returning and it’s not really our job to be predicting the date and time. But we are called, as followers of Jesus, to be ready and to respond to the situations around us with genuine compassion, sacrificial love, and the wild imagination of our God.

In this issue is a reprint of an article written for TEAR Australia over a year ago. I’m including it as the lead article because it is still relevant today. And the fact that it is still relevant today is a poignant reminder that this is no ordinary recession. What we’re experiencing today is the result of both globalization and years of choosing short-term profits over long-term consequences.

The prayer this month comes from the heart of a long-term unemployed brother – reminding those who have “escaped” this recession that we cannot remain disengaged from the very real issues faced by those around us. Rather, as a global community of faith, we need a collective balance. Our “Reflection” piece from Pastor Eugene Cho provides hope – God knows our needs and will provide, sometimes in the most amazing ways. The Seed Shares follow with examples of how Christ places on us, as individuals and communities, both the burden and blessing of walking alongside each other; bearing one another’s burdens, and becoming the answer to prayers lifted around the world for healing, hope, and compassionate relief.

Andy Wade – Seed Sampler Coordinator

July Articles
Seed Smile | Tim Clue on Personal Finance
Seed Story | World at an Economic Crossroags – Trevor Thomas
Prayer | Prayer of the Unemployed – Anonymous Anawim
Reflection | The Crazy Provision of God – Eugene Cho
Seed Share | Laundry Love
Seed Share | Graduated Tithe
Seed Share | Responding to the Global Economic Crisis
Seed Share | Micah Challenge, UK
Resources | Resources

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Posted 28 days ago

New book by Christine Sine: Light for the Journey

Light for the Journey Morning and Evening Prayers for Living into God’s World

A Prayer Resource for Groups and Individuals by Christine Sine

Morning and evening prayers have become an important part of the rhythm of life for those of us who live in the Mustard Seed House. We seek to live the values of God’s Kingdom with a spirituality rooted in rhythms of work, prayer, hospitality, celebration, and relationship. This week-long set of morning and evening prayers has been a foundation part of this rhythm of life for a long time. And we want to share it with you.

Each day’s prayers emphasize a different theme of faith—from creation on Monday to resurrection on Sunday—leading readers through God’s story again and again. There are focusing exercises for individual prayers and reflections on the world, as well as reflections on the topic from Christine Sine.

“In the history of Christian formation literature, it has consistently been the small volume that has conveyed the greatest worth. That principle nowhere holds more true than it does here. Like the light which its title references, this manual, in its succinctness, travels broadly and illumines perfectly. Presenting both assigned prayers for each day of the week and also rich instruction in how the Christian forms a life of prayer, Sine speaks to us gently, but authoritatively. There is, in all of this, a kind of poignancy as well. We understand that Sine is writing to us not about some theory, but out of experience and about the sure knowledge of a life of prayer fully lived. Like every wise Christian teacher before her, Christine Sine understands—and persuades us—that it is in community that Christians pray most formatively and in community that we must seek to pray.”
– Phyllis Tickle, author of
The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why

Special Introductory offer $12, postage and handling $4 within US already included at checkout. For overseas please email MSA

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Posted 28 days ago

August 13 - 15 - 19th Annual MSA Celtic Prayer Retreat

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Posted 34 days ago

MSA in Greenbelt Festival, UK August 27-30

 

By Eliacín Rosario-Cruz

 

Tom Sine and I will have the fortune to join many great people at this year celebration of Greenbelt Festival in the UK. This faith, arts and justice festival have been going for 37 years. Some of their presenters in the past include, Archbishop Rowan Williams, U2 and many others.

 

From Greenbelt Website.

Attendees of Greenbelt 2010 are spoilt for choice when it comes to thought-provoking, intelligent and revelatory Talks. Firm Festival favourites like John Bell, Peter Tatchell, and Lucy Winkett appear alongside newcomers Clare Short MP, theologian Stanley Hauerwas, writer and psychologist Oliver James and Richard Rohr.

 

The following are the titles of the talks/workshops lead by Tom and I 

 

Tom Sine's talks/workshops

 

 1. Creating communities of celebration, sustainability and subversion in the shadow of the empire

 The marketers of the imperial global economy are influencing people all over the planet to live in their fables...their notions of the good life. In this session you are invited to imagine new expressions of community that are more cooperative, festive, missional and less expensive that reflect a very different dream.

 

2. Joining the new conspirators in creating new ways to make a difference in turbulent times

Don't break out the party hats yet!  The global recession may be over but the volatility isn't.  We will take you on quick tour of some of the new challenges facing us, the poor and the planet 2010-2020.  Then we will invite you join the new conspirators in creating new expressions of life, church and mission.

 

Eliacín's talks/workshops

 

1. Cultivating Liberated Spaces

In this conversation we will explore the ways in which we can create Liberated Space to break down occupation, resist assimilation and create God (soul space) alternative spaces. Together we will explore the following vibes and questions - Radical Captivation, Radical Exile, Radical Transformation. 

 

2. Abrigando Esperanzas

In Abrigando Esperanzas Eliacín will share of Latin American people's movements of hope and how their spirituality, values and practices (liturgies) serve as examples of active incarnational ways wot co-create spaces of hope and transformation

 

Tom and I together -

Fusion of Food, Faith and Culture...

In this session Tom & Eliacin will discuss the fusion of food, faith and culture while bantering about Europe’s gift of coleslaw to a deprived world.  You will be invited to join this conversation about coleslaw and colonization.  Samples of a new majority world alternative salad will be available for tasting at the close of this session.

 

  

 

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Posted 37 days ago

The Future of the City - Is It Sustainable?

by Christine Sine


We all know the verse from Jeremiah "Without a vision the people perish." I just came across this fascinating vision of what our cities could look like in the future - if we had the vision to believe that it was possible. Sustainability will always seem unattainable unless we have a vision of what it could look like. This is only one of the cool images on the Green Building Elements website that come from an exhibit that will be shown in New York later this year.

Ten of the world’s leading architects show how the integration of urban planning and transport can enable cities to thrive through population growth in a new exhibition at the Center for Architecture. “Our Cities Ourselves is a partnership between ITDP and some of the world’s most innovative architects, to help us imagine our cities freed from the devastating effects of accommodating rapid motorization,” says Walter Hook, Executive Director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP).

You can read the rest of the article and view the other architectural drawings here. There are some very creative ideas here that really help us to envision a different type of city and a different type of world that is far more sustainable than our current practices.

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Posted 44 days ago

Be a Difference & Make A Difference – Podcast by Tom Sine

 

by Christine Sine

 Here is the latest podcast that Tom has done talking about ways to make a difference and be a difference.  He was interviewed by Jonathan Blundell last week onSomething Beautiful 

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