The Church Basement Roadshow at the MSH

By Christine Sine

 

On Monday we hosted Doug Pagitt, Mark Scandrette and Tony Jones for a BBQ lunch. They are on tour promoting their books – Soul Graffiti, The New Christians and A Christianity Worth Believing and entertaining audiences with The Church Basement Roadshow

It was fun to catch up with old friends and make new ones. I have appropriated some of Mark’s material for the urban walk at our conferences (with acknowledgment of course) and have been challenged by the way that he and his wife live and work in community. Doug too is involved in Solomon’s Porch a community church in Minneapolis. Tony Jones is the national coordinator of Emergent Village. This was the first time we had met him. I am looking forward to reading his book.

 

Puerto Rico at the MSH

For the last 2 weeks the smell of sofrito and the Caribbean cadence of Puerto Rican Spanish have invaded the top apartment of the Mustard Seed House. Eliacín and Ricci’s family from Puerto Rico is visiting Seattle for the first time. They came expected for a summer vacation and we had to passed along some of our wool sweaters to them. They will be with us until the end of June.

Advert For Those Seriously Seeking Community

Peter and Anneke Geel will be leaving the Mustard Seed House in August. Peter has been accepted into the doctoral program at Georgetown University and for some reason they aren’t very keen on commuting to Washington DC each week. We are looking for a couple who are interested in joining our small community here in Seattle and moving into our 1 bedroom basement apartment. We are looking for people who can make at least a two year commitment.

The Mustard Seed House is an intentional, intergenerational Christian community with 3 families, 2 dogs, numerous bird feeders and a worm bin. We are little like a large extended family – kids and dogs are full participants in all our activities. We are keen organic gardeners, and are particularly concerned about creation care, sustainable lifestyles and spiritual rhythms for life. Our present shared practices include a 1+ weekly dinner and check in time, weekly prayer, and a 1+ monthly garden day. As a community we offer generous hospitality to people from around the world and provide an opportunity for visitors to explore a regular rhythm of prayer and worship as well as other aspects of kingdom living being modelled by the community.

The Mustard Seed House is part of Mustard Seed Associates though not everyone in the community works for MSA. The community often hosts MSA gatherings and provides a central place to gather to discuss issues facing us now and in the future and to develop creative models that reflect something of God’s kingdom values. We are in the process of developing a rule of life that will provide guidelines for shared practices not just for those in the Mustard Seed House but for others associated with MSA as well.

If this doesn’t sound too scary and you are still interested we would love to hear from you.

For more info contact mustardseedhouse@gmail.com

Celebrating the Geels

In August Anneke and Peter Geel who live in the basement apartment at the Mustard Seed House will be heading to Georgetown University where Peter will be working on a PhD.  Peter’s interest is in Christian/ Islamic relations and so Sunday afternoon we celebrated this new step in their lives with a Middle Eastern meal for their friends.  We assembled a wonderful array of dishes including chicken kebabs, vegetarian kofta, tabbouleh salad, lamb and eggplant casserole and mezze plate.  A wonderful time of fun, food and fellowship.