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| Christine Sine |
I have lived in intentional community
all of my life - first when I moved to New Zealand to practice medicine and was
offered a place to stay by a family who formed the hub of a small intentional
community. Then I lived on the Mercy Ship for 12 years with an intentional
community of 200-400 people. It was probably that experience that convinced me
of the value of intentional community. So when Tom and I married and he owned a
triplex in Seattle forming an intentional community seemed like an obvious
decision.
What have you learned
from living as part of a community?
Over the last couple of years of Covid lockdown
I am not sure how we would have coped without the support of our small
intentional community. There were two couples, a single person, and a family with
one child, and the supportiveness we provided for each other was life-giving. Community
has also provided healing and companionship for me throughout my life. It has
been a wonderful experience
Recently the two of you
did a Facebook presentation in which you discussed the benefits of establishing
a rule of life. Would you talk a bit about the importance of a rule of life?
Tom and I established a rule of life
for ourselves which became the basis for the Mustard Seed House community about
15 years ago. To be honest, I prefer to call it a rhythm of life because it has
provided structure without confining us. In fact, it is quite liberating. Our
rule provides guidelines for our spiritual and physical disciplines. Knowing
there are certain activities that should be accomplished each day helps us
shape our days and our weeks. One of the important aspects of our rule has been
quarterly retreats where we look back and evaluate how well we have been doing
and set new goals for the next three months. This also provides flexibility so
that our practices do not become rigid.
Could you mention a few
ways in which your faith and your understanding of God have deepened over the
past few years? Especially in light of living in community?
I am increasingly convinced that we
cannot really get to know God in depth without community. God comes to us in
community - “The three in One, the One in Three - Father Son and Holy Spirit,
and we need community to represent that. My faith has grown as I have
interacted with others who have helped me find healing for broken places and
helped me express love. I think that without community we are not only very
lonely but also very selfish people. It doesn’t mean we all need to live in
community, but the closer together we are, the more we are able to learn from
others.
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| Christine & Tom Sine |
At the heart of Godspace is a community of
authors from around the world. I think that we are from eight different
countries, and each person brings a different perspective that both helps
broaden our understanding of God and God’s work in the world but also stretches
our faith, and in the process grows it. There is also a large number of people in the
broader Godspace community that post regularly on the Godspace light community
group on Facebook. Again, I think that the different points of view of each
person, and the passion that different people have for different aspects of the
Godspace vision helps us keep these aspects of faith in our front view mirror
as it were. It has been a wonderful
experience.
Is there anything else you’d
like to share?
I believe that God’s desire is to see us made
whole - not just as individuals but as a multicultural global community that
cares for each other and for creation and none of that is possible without
involvement in community.
For more information on the Godspace community, please click here.
To check out Christine's book, The Gift of Wonder, please click here.
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