This month of November can be a melancholy month - darker days, moodier skies, fallen leaves, and days like All Saints Day, Remembrance Day, and Eternity Sunday that all point us toward facing our losses and making space for lament. A lot of us feel grief over the amount of climate-related damage is being inflicted on the earth. Our November worship gathering created space to acknowledge our grief, to name species at risk, and to turn to God for hope in the ritual of communion.

Litany of Lament
Christ, our Wounded Healer, who suffers the pains of creation, we bring to you our prayers of lament for the Earth. In your mercy, receive our prayers as we name the species of our province that are threatened, endangered or extirpated:
    Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison
Christ, our Wounded Healer, who suffers the pains of creation, we bring before you our laments as we name other environmental concerns we carry:
     Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison
Christ, our Wounded Healer, who suffers the pains of creation, we hold before you other griefs and laments that are on our hearts today:
    Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison
Christ, our Wounded Healer, who suffers the pains of creation, Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, have mercy on us. In your kindness and love, you have entrusted us as caretakers for your Creation, to live as your image-bearers in a world you created for your delight. We confess that we have turned from your will, often abusing the natural world for greedy and short-sighted purposes. Now we are facing global climate disruption and other ecological crises as a result of our rebellion. Forgive us of our sins, and the sins of our society, and our failure to care for what you created for good. In your mercy, lead us to repentance, compassion, and life. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

I have set before you life and death . . . therefore choose life. (Deuteronomy 30:19)

​Partial list of species who are threatened, endangered, or extirpated in the province of Ontario:
Eastern Tiger Salamander, Extirpated
Fowlers Toad, Endangered
Barn Owl, Endangered
Golden Eagle, Endangered
Greater Prairie Chicken, Extirpated
Lake Sturgeon, Endangered
Paddlefish, Extirpated
Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee, Endangered
Karner Blue Moth, Extirpated
Mountain Lion (Cougar), Endangered
American Badger, Endangered
American Chestnut, Endangered
Small White Lady’s Slipper, Endangered
Spring Blue-Eyed Mary Extirpated
Four-Leaved Milkweed, Endangered
Blue Racer Snake, Endangered
Eastern Box Turtle, Extirpated
Spotted Turtle, Endangered
Timber Rattlesnake, Extirpated
Incurved Grizzled Moss, Extirpated
Pale-Bellied Frost Lichen, Endangered
Piping Plover, Endangered
Grey Fox,Threatened
Butternut Tree, Endangered
Eastern Flowering Dogwood, Endangered
Red Mullberry, Endangered
Common Five-Lined Skink, Endangered
Algonquin Wolf, Threatened
Eastern Persius Duskywing Moth, Extirpated
Northern Bobwhite, Endangered
and more...

- Wendy Janzen
​

 Prayer on the last day of October    

God of Octobers, 
We thank you for this month
of clear blue skies,
of geese flying in formation,
of snakes sunning themselves 
on the path,
of squirrels busy
collecting nuts.
We thank you for 
the rich palette of colour
painted on the forests,
for the sounds of crunchy leaves
beneath our feet,
for abundant apples 
loading down branches
and scattered on the ground,
for pumpkin patches,
clusters of grapes, 
frosty mornings,
and the culmination
of the garden harvest.
God, in this holy 
season of transformation
may we be released from
the busyness and excesses of life,
so that we might learn to 
simply be present
to rest in your presence.
Amen. 

​- Wendy Janzen

Each October for several years now, right around the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, I pick the wild grapes that grow along our fence. I turn them into juice that is then used as our communion juice at Burning Bush Forest Church (and will be used at Wilmot Forest Church, too). It is a practice of gratitude, and a gift of grace, to have juice that comes from the "wild." I did not plant these grapes, and they are definitely not a cultivated variety. I rarely prune them, but every October they offer enough small little clusters to put away juice for worship. Below is my ode to wild grapes!

Wild Grapes
I open the door to the 
wide, wild, world;
crisp October air washes my face,
fresh and surprising,
awakening me to this day.
Wild vines sprawl along an
urban fence line; who planted them -
human? bird? - no one knows.
Through summer months
tendrils stretched and grasped 
for the sun, reaching further
and further, claiming new
territory each day.
Once vibrant green leaves 
alive with purpose now 
a yellowing and limp tangle. 
I move slowly, methodically,
along the row,
the vines playing a game
of hide and seek with their
tiny deep purple clusters.
Hands stained, 
fingers numb,
bowl filled,
ample left behind for 
other foragers, my heart
offers thanks for this small harvest,
grateful for this miracle,
this gift of the earth.
My mind jumps ahead
to jars of jewel-hued liquid
that will be poured out in worship,
poured out as an act of love for all.
The wild Christ,
present in the elements,
juice and bread; 
in light, earth, water, and wind,
in rituals that transform us
and unite us with all that
was and is and ever shall be.

- Wendy Janzen, 2019

Mennonites are not known to celebrate or recognize feast days for Catholic saints. We turned away from all of that during the Radical Reformation. There are, however, some gems of wisdom in the faith heritage that preceded Anabaptism, and St. Francis is one of those figures who deserves some attention.

This 13th century saint was known for his desire to imitate the life and work of Christ, for his concern for the well-being of the poor, and for his belief that nature was the mirror of God. Over the past four years that I have been drawn into leading an ecologically-oriented outdoor worshipping community called Burning Bush Forest Church, St. Francis has become an inspiring figure of faith for me.

Francis’ reverence for nature and love of animals is a helpful example of how faith informs our relationship to the earth. We are members of a community of creation and have a call to protect and enjoy nature as both stewards of God’s creation, and as creatures ourselves. Fransiscan spirituality helps to provide a beautiful perspective on our place in creation, and paints creation as revelation of God’s outpouring of love not only for us, but for all creatures.

The Feast of St. Francis marks the end of the Season of Creation, a rather new liturgical season from September 1 to October 4. The Season of Creation invites Christians around the world to honour our Creator by loving creation and each other. The Feast of St. Francis is a day that some churches offer a blessing of the animals.

In this day of climate crisis and mass extinctions, it seems important that churches and people of faith address these pressing issues from a moral and faith perspective. The worship gatherings I lead with Burning Bush Forest Church are an invitation for people to deepen their connection with the earth and with our loving Creator who breathed life into all that exists.

I wrote this prayer a year ago to celebrate the Feast Day of St. Francis, and to express my gratitude for all animals.

Creator of all that lives and breathes,
we raise up a prayer of thanksgiving for
the animals in our lives
and in our world.
For the great animals --
elephants, whales, grizzly bears, wolves, wild cats…
For the endangered animals --
bees, caribou, orcas, whip-poor-will…
For pets and companion animals --
dogs, cats, horses, rabbits…
For forgotten and unpopular animals --
rats, reptiles, fish, insects…
WE GIVE OUR DEEP THANKS.
We are grateful for a world of beauty and diversity,
for the role of each animal in its ecosystem.
Stir us to action for creatures who have
no voice or ability to
save their habitat or
affect change in our world.
May we live lightly in this world
so that our more-than-human
neighbours may also live.
With gratitude for the blessings
of this earth, and for all
God’s creatures we pray.
Amen.

- Wendy Janzen

Prayer for the Autumn Equinox
September 23, 2019

As I met with two different forest church groups on Sunday, September 22, my attention kept returning to the wind. It was stronger than a breeze: it made the treetops sway, and sometimes drowned out my voice as I spoke. It was the last day of summer, the day before the autumn equinox, and the temperature was downright hot with a serving of humidity to go with the sunshine. But the wind was not a summer wind. It was the kind of wind one experiences in autumn. It was the wind of change blowing in a new season, new weather patterns. 

We are, right now, in the middle of a week of climate action. A week when climate change is on the forefront of the news and of our minds. There was a Global Climate Strike last Friday, and another coming this Friday. There is the UN Climate Summit happening in New York. And there are countless smaller events happening all over to highlight the issues that we have for far too long pushed to the back burner. 

I hope the winds of change are blowing through our towns and cities, and through the halls of power. I pray that these winds of change are bringing with them new patterns of being and a new season of action. The equinox is a liminal space, a threshold between what was and what is yet to come. Liminal spaces are pregnant with possibility. May we have the courage to heed the winds of change. To let go of our unhealthy past, so that we are unburdened to embrace a new future that is not only sustainable for all, but regenerative for so much of what is broken. 

Here is my prayer for today:

God of the seasons, 
We come to you on this liminal day: 
The day that marks the balance 
between light and dark, 
And the turning from 
From summer’s fullness to autumn’s surrender.
We stand at this threshold, 
Full to overflowing with the goodness of summer,
Ready, yet not ready to let go of what was,
And to embrace what lies ahead.
As hard as it can be, teach us to surrender.
In this age of climate crisis and mass extinction
Help us to let go of our dependence on fossil fuels.
Help us to let go of our rampant consumerism. 
Help us to let go of our disposable lifestyle.
Help us to let go of our illusions of control.
May we surrender to your love for all the earth. 
May we trust in enough rather than
Grasping for more.
In our letting go, may we know the freedom
Of abundant life. 
Amen.

​- Wendy Janzen

​Lord God, Creator of heaven and earth:
We give you thanks and praise 
for the wonders of creation. 
You are robed in splendor, 
like maples in autumn. 
You have made your home among us 
and filled the earth with goodness. 
In you we live, and move, 
and have our being. 
Yet, we hear creation groaning, 
broken and bruised by our sinful ways. 
Forgive us, and restore shalom 
among us and all creatures of creation. 
Thank you for your love poured out 
upon the whole universe. 
Amen.

​Wendy Janzen 2018

​Prayer of Thanks

(Oct 4 was the Feast Day of St Francis, the Catholic patron saint for animals and the environment, and so as it is celebrated on or close to our Canadian celebration of Thanksgiving, here is a prayer of gratitude for animals.)

Creator of all that lives and breathes,
we raise up a prayer of thanksgiving for 
the animals in our lives
and in our world.
For the great animals - 
elephants, whales, grizzly bears, wolves, wild cats...
For the endangered animals - 
bees, caribou, orcas, whip-poor-will...
For pets and companion animals - 
dogs, cats, horses, rabbits...
For forgotten and unpopular animals - 
rats, reptiles, fish, insects...
WE GIVE OUR DEEP THANKS.
We are grateful for a world of beauty and diversity,
for the role each animal in its ecosystem.
Stir us to action for creatures who have 
no voice or ability to 
save their habitat or
affect change in our world.
May we live lightly in this world
so that our more-than-human 
neighbours may also live.
With gratitude for the blessings
of this earth, and for all
God's creatures we pray.
Amen.

Wendy Janzen 2018