The Mustard Seed Associates team is putting together an Alternative Calendar for 2009, and we want you to be part of it. We would like to highlight ways to celebrate the ordinary events of life–not emphasizing the negative but the positive–and giving them a Christian focus. We want to express and celebrate creativity and move beyond the consumer-oriented holidays. We are exploring the idea of promoting this calendar via web/social networks and possibly having a hard copy version, we’ll see. Imagine fellow conspirators all over the world celebrating Kingdom alternatives together.

Please pass this along to people you think might want to contribute and be part of this experiment. We are collecting ideas on:

• new celebrations
• old forgotten ones that you have recently discovered
• DIY celebrations
• religious celebrations
• seasonal milestones
• art-related events
• cultural and ethnic celebrations
• social activism
• ideas for the family 
• ideas for communities and neighborhoods
• ideas for individuals
• homegrown parties 
• ideas for community service
• anything fun and crazy 
• anything serious and contemplative

Here are are some examples of ideas that we have collected already:

• Pentecost as a multicultural feast 
• Make Something Day, thanks to Ecclesia Collective
• Advent II Homecoming: Feasting into the Kingdom
• “Stations of the Kingdom” as well as new “Stations of the Cross”
• The Mutunga Challenge 
• Prayer for Children at Risk Weekend
• Media Fast Week
• Dress-up All Saints’ Day

We would like to have the majority of your ideas collected by October 13 at the latest. 

Please send your ideas to eliacin@gmail.com with “Ideas for Alternative Calendar 09” in the subject line. Or leave a comment.