CAMANO ISLAND — A rural piece of property here is slowly being transformed into a haven for spiritual renewal.
The group, called Mustard Seed Associates, is the work of Tom and Christine Sine, who have been working with Christian churches for decades to help them adapt to a changing world.
Along the way the group holds classes, gives talks and sponsors an annual retreat for discussion, prayer and celebration.
The group held its retreat earlier this month on Camano, where building has commenced on what will eventually become Mustard Seed Village, a permanent retreat and spiritual center.
“We purchased the land 24 years ago, and we’re slowly developing a 40-acre parcel on Camano Island as a center for Christian imagination and innovations,” Tom Sine said.
It will be “a hub for people of faith to generate new ways of living,” he said.
The going has been slow. There is one classroom building under construction on the land, and vandals have struck twice, breaking all the windows.
New windows are being ordered, but the Sines run their nonprofit almost entirely on charitable donations.
The annual retreat took the theme of reconciliation this year, Sine said, with a focus on healing divisions in society.
As a symbolic representation of that, they took the shattered window glass and turned it into candleholders they lit during the evening barbecue.
It was also Celtic-themed and included Irish and Scottish music, as well as studying the writings of St. Columba, and Irish abbott who spread Christianity to Scotland in the 6th century.
“There’s a beauty and a poetry to it that I just find very inviting, and a rhythm that suits all of life,” Sine said.
An early reformist with concern for nature and the poor, St. Columba provides a useful counterpoint to modern American consumerism, he added, which reinforces the mission of Mustard Seed.
A big part of Mustard Seed is in sustainability, especially gardening. The group takes its name from the biblical Parable of the Mustard Seed, commonly interpreted to mean that great things can come out of humble beginnings. Sine wrote a book on the subject in 1981, and soon after started getting correspondences from people who were inspired to build houses for drug addicts and do other good works in their communities.
“That ordinary folks can be the agents of change is good news,” he said. “People started discovering what God could do with their mustard seed actions.”
He has also been working on a book on social entrepreneurship aimed at religious organizations. Churches, he said, should be doing more with their charitable work than maintaining the status quo.
“We’re trying to get churches to move beyond two cans of corn in the food bank and start working toward real change,” Sine said.
Even though that’s a lofty goal, Mustard Seed is very much in keeping with small local works that can inspire. A major passion the Sines share is gardening, and Mustard Seed Village will have a major focus on sustainable agriculture.
“There’s a lot of people that love gardening and love God but never made the connection,” Sine said.
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_at_Herald.
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