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BURNING BUSH FOREST CHURCH
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Rewilding our Souls

Lament with Earth

11/18/2024

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PicturePhoto by Susan Fish




















​Our November gathering invited us into Lament. Chip read Romans 8:22-28 from the First Nations Version of the Bible, which includes these words:

"It is plain to see that all creation is still groaning in pain like a mother giving birth. And even we who have first tasted of the Spirit are groaning on the inside...
Spirit helps us in our weakness, for our prayers are often empty words, but Creator’s own Spirit groans deep within us, without words...
"


Wendy shared a quoted from Hillarie Maddox, from her substack Black Girl Country Living, Oct. 16, titled "Feeling the Earth in Our Bodies" and sent us into our wandering time with this invitation: 

As we wander today, I invite you to pay attention and tune in to signs of distress, woundedness, loss, or stress the Earth is exhibiting here in this place. Tune in, as well, to similar things you are feeling or suppressing in your body. What do the earth, your body, and the Spirit want you to know today?

We ended with Chip leading us in a ritual of symbolically dropping our 'wordless prayers or groans' into the creek. 

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Sharing Our Grief

11/20/2023

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This month we gathered together to practice lament, recognizing that grief work  helps to build our muscles for grieving when we find ourselves in the depths of grief. Though it is a vulnerable thing, lament is best done in community.

This passage from the prophet Isaiah seemed like it was written for today, as we carry grief for the violence and injustice happening in Gaza and Israel, and recognize that violence impacts both people and the more-than-human world.

Isaiah 33:7-9 (The Message)
But look! Listen!
    … men weep openly.
    Peacemaking diplomats are in bitter tears…
The peace treaty is broken,
    its conditions violated… 
The very ground under our feet mourns,
    the … mountains hang their heads…
    and the forests… ? Bare branches.


We suffer together with all creation. Wars and disasters decimate people, land, water, and the creatures who live in its wake. For our wandering & wondering time, we were invited to take time to be attentive to the heartaches and injustices of the world, of our lives, and of the land.  Where is God in the midst of grief and injustice?

Great Mystery, God of Peace, 
we stand together 
in community with all creation,
living and dying
​and longing for new life.
Receive our tears. 
Lighten our hearts. 
Heal our sorrows. 
Carry us forward. 
Amen.

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Prayer for the planet

11/21/2021

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God of the Cosmos, 
who created the circle of life, 
we give thanks and praise for this 
most beautiful, complex, and wise 
planet we live on.
We recognize the brokenness
around us and within us, 

and offer you our deep grief 
and prayers for our planet. 
In the brownness of 
this season of decay, 
we know that you are present. 
We pray for all the griefs we carry - 
for loved ones we have lost,
for our loss of connection with the earth,
for disenfranchised peoples,
for species under threat,
for drained ancient lakes,
for dammed rivers,
for strange weather patterns,
for the lack of will to ban coal,
for short sighted leaders,
for urban sprawl and new highways,
for unwanted pipelines,
for rising temperatures.

Hear our cries, and 
have mercy on us, O God.
Hold and honour our grief,
reminding us that the 
depth of our grief reflects
the depth of our love and concern.
Grant us your deep peace, 
beyond our understanding.
May the light of this 
single candle
be a beacon of hope,
a light in the darkness,
a guiding force into a new
way of living in step
and in balance with
the needs of all life.
We place our trust
in your great love for
the world, and that
we have a future
with hope.
Amen.

​- Wendy Janzen
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Sinking

7/21/2021

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Sinking...

I dive beneath dark water,
immersed and held 
briefly in
another world.
Surfacing, 
I breathe deeply.

Floating 
face to the sky,
with each exhale
I sink slightly.
I align my body to the 
sinking sun in the
hazy sky;
a brilliant orange path
glistens across the water, 
reflects fires burning
in the northwest,
points right to my feet.

My heart sinks with 
the knowledge
we are all sinking,
burning, melting
choking.

God, save us from
ourselves.
Have mercy on us.
Have mercy on the Earth,
on the trees, sky, glaciers, 
communities, and creatures…
Save us from this
path of self destruction.
Save us from sinking
into oblivion.

You are our bright light,
fresh air,
quenching rain,
enduring solace,
solid ground,
our hope beyond hope.

- Wendy Janzen
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Spiritual Practice: Wound Walk

3/28/2020

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​As we carry a lot of anxiety and a variety of different stresses these days due to Covid-19, this spiritual practice in nature may be therapeutic. Do it whenever works in your routine, but consider doing it before Easter, perhaps on Good Friday, a day of grief and lament. 

Wound Walk (adapted from "Wild Mind: A Field Guide to the Human Psyche" by Bill Plotkin)
  • Before you start, take a bit of time to ground yourself - take some deep breaths, release any tension your body is holding, and find a  place of prayerful calm within.
  • Go for a walk, and look for something in nature that looks or feels wounded. For example, a scar on a tree, a pile of garbage, a bulldozed lot, a polluted stream, an area where an invasive species has taken over... (Or, if you can't get out, look for an image online.)
  • Allow the wound you find in nature to evoke an empathetic response of sorrow or compassion in you. 
  • Sit in that place, and open your senses to it. Touch it, if you can. Speak (aloud or silently) what you observe; bear witness to the wound. Imagine what may have caused it. Pay attention to your emotions.
  • Now recall a past or present wound you are carrying - physical, psychological, social, or spiritual. Speak your story (aloud or silently) to this thing or place you are with. Or, think of speaking to the Divine Presence who is also with you, listening. Do not attempt to suppress any painful emotions - allow yourself to release them.
  • Sit together, and when ready, start to ask questions of healing and resilience. What resources can you access to begin to find healing? In what way might your wound be of service to your future resilience? Do not worry about coming to answers, but open yourself to insights or revelations that may come.
  • Close your time with a word of gratitude or prayer.
  • Consider taking time to journal about your experience.

​- Wendy Janzen
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Lament for species at risk

11/18/2019

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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
​
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Fire & Holy Places Prayer

4/19/2019

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A prayer for Good Friday

​Life-Giver of all that is and ever has been,

who meets us in our grief:
We arrive here at the end of the week,
weary, and with fires and holy places
on our minds and hearts:
the Notre Dame Cathedral,
Black churches in Louisiana,
Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque,
and forest cathedrals.
So much destruction, despair,
loss, death, and ashes.
On this Good Friday we reflect
on death and despair,
grief and loss,
sorrow laid bare like a
landscape scorched of its trees
or a community of its spiritual centre.
We feel the emptiness
in our bones, our hearts
reach across time and space
to those most closely
touched by the flames.
Spirit of Life, we know
that you grieve too. Hear
our cries, as we cry
for the brokenness in
our world and our own ability
to inflict wounds on others
and on the earth.
May our Wounded Healer
offer comfort and company as
we wait in stillness and silence
for hope to be born again
from the ashes.
Amen.

Wendy Janzen, 2019
​
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Prayer of Lament

11/18/2018

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​
A prayer of lament ~

Creator of all that is, 
Wounded Healer, 
Spirit of Life: 
Bless the tears we shed
for those we have loved and lost,
Bless the heads we bow
for public tragedies and acts of violence.
Bless the sighs we breathe 
for endangered species and habitat.
Bless the hands we wring
for the effects of climate change.
Bless us as we lament.
Cradle us as we cry.
Restore us as we look for hope. 
Amen.

​Wendy Janzen 2018

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    Author

    Reflections, poetry, prayers, photos, and resources  written by Wendy Janzen unless otherwise noted.
    ​
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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