Posted 874 days ago

Rule of Life and Celtic Project Retreat

March 9th and 10th the MSA team will be on retreat. The purpose of our retreat is twofold. First we are working on a rule of life for Mustard Seed Associates and need a quiet place to seek God’s wisdom and to discuss what we would like to see in a Mustard Seed Rule.

Why a Rule of Life?

The Celtic monastic model centred around the formation of communities (monasteries) in which the members undertook to follow a certain lifestyle and maintain a regular discipline of prayer and worship. Monks mixed manual, intellectual and spiritual labour, maintaining a balance between engagement in the world and withdrawal from it. These communities provided a focus for the life of the surrounding community as a whole. Members of the surrounding community made different forms of commitment and adhered to a variety of rules that acknowledged and affirmed their gifts and ministry.

We do not believe that everyone involved in MSA is called to live in residential communities or that we are called to take monastic vows. However we recognize that there is a need to foster a sense of shared spirituality and commitment in order to accomplish the work God calls us to. According to the Northumbria Community : A Rule of life expresses ‘who we are, this is our story’ and reminds us of those things God has put on our heart, and calls us back to the story that God has written as foundational.

The MSA team has been researching other rules of life and working to develop an MSA rule over the last six months but realize we still have much work to do. We see this development as an extremely important step in the shaping of MSA and so do not want to rush the process. It will provide a practical framework for people who are drawn to the principles of MSA both those living in MSA communities and those in the dispersed community, to embody a whole life faith through spiritual practices that are appropriate to their situation.

The Camano Island Celtic Community
As well as developing a rule of life, we will discuss the development of the Camano Celtic Community as a second residential community for MSA. Because of our conviction that we are called to reflect, albeit very inadequately, the image of our loving God and to model something of God’s shalom kingdom vision we believe we need to become a community rather than a programme based organization.

In this context the residential community at the Mustard Seed House and the future community on Camano Island will provide:

1. Our attempts to live an incarnational kingdom embodied life.

2. A community with a common purpose that can offer hospitality and an opportunity to explore a regular rhythm of prayer and worship as well as other aspects of kingdom living that are being modelled by the residential community.

3. A sacred space in which the dispersed community of MSA can gather to meet each other, to pray, to create a rhythm of regular prayer in the midst of their everyday activities.

4. Facilities in which we can develop resource and educational centers that can serve the greater dispersed community

5. A central place to gather to discuss issues facing individuals, their churches and our world now and in the future and to develop creative models that reflect something of God’s kingdom values.

At this point we have lots of ideas but no clear shape for the community on Camano Island. However we do believe it will provide:

• A place to retreat for spiritual reflection
• A place to learn about spirituality and community
• A place to experience a countercultural Celtic community
• A place to learn creative ways to develop more sustainable, cooperative lifestyle models
• A place to create new imaginative ways to give expressions to God’s new order that might make a little difference in the world.

We covet your prayers as we carry on these important discussions.

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