• Home
  • About
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Reflections & Prayers
BURNING BUSH FOREST CHURCH
  • Home
  • About
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Reflections & Prayers

Rewilding our Souls

Forsaken Friday

4/7/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
A haiku written for Good Friday

O Forsaken One,
You know the depths of sorrow.
We sit with you now.


I see Good Friday pain, death, and sorrow mirrored everywhere... I saw this stump on a walk this week and the image caught me with its starkness. What have you seen that feels forsaken? Christ, the Incarnate One, is here in the world with us, in places of pain and woundedness. 
​
The invitation today is to witness it and sit with it.

0 Comments

Waiting to be seen

1/27/2023

0 Comments

 
Look up
Look around
Take out your earbuds
Put away your phone.

Let the ordinary
Beauty of this moment
You are in
Bring you pause.

This is holy ground
The Divine shimmering
Below the surface
Waiting to be seen.

​- Wendy Janzen
0 Comments

Stopped in my tracks

10/30/2022

0 Comments

 
​Today I was
stopped
in my tracks
by the sweet
earthy smell
of rotting leaves.
Heaven on earth!
A tree's offering
to the soil.
This scent tells
the curious truth:
death can be achingly,
exquisitely,
lovely.
Death is not
a final ending,
it is a transformation,
a continuum,
an outpouring
of love.
- Wendy Janzen
Picture
0 Comments

Compassion, not consumption

10/23/2022

0 Comments

 
​Thoughts for heading into municipal elections.

How do we measure progress?
We’ve gone off track,
lost our way following
stats for economic growth,
quarterly profits,
housing starts,
and GDP.
Why not measure
a city’s success through counting
how many species of insects we have,
how many people are not hungry,
how many different birds children can name,
how many stars can be seen at night,
how many green spaces there are,
how easy public transit is to access,
and how healthy the waterways are…
Let’s exchange our lawn mowers
for native plant gardens.
Dim our insecurity lights.
Talk to our neigbours.
Park our cars.
Be happy with enough,
and no more.
Draw the circle wide.
Care for the least.
Measure compassion,
not consumption.

​- Wendy Janzen
0 Comments

Bird Church

8/24/2022

0 Comments

 
​Last Sunday I went
to bird church,
or maybe
it was river church.
Either way,
I was greeted by gulls,
mallards, heron,
cedar wax wings,
and approached
by Mystery.

There were flowers
offering praise and beauty
in purples and gold.
The sky opened
space for us,
the constant flow
of the river whispered
ageless truths.

I wandered prayerfully
then returned and waited,
wondering who would
offer the benediction.
I suspected it might be gull,
perched proudly
on a rock in the
center of the river.

But, no.
Soundlessly,
a single yellow
leaf spun down
from above,
swirling to a
resting place
in front of my feet:
Go in peace.

​- Wendy Janzen
0 Comments

It is finished

4/15/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
For Good Friday

It is finished.
Cut off. Ended.
No more. Lifeless.
It's body brought down, 
but for what reason? 
What threat? 
To what end?
Laying on the forest floor. 
Humbled.  
Hollowed.
Hallowed. 
It's story,it's legacy,
it's outpouring,
is not finished.

​- Wendy Janzen




0 Comments

I am not alone

3/8/2022

0 Comments

 
To breathe the fresh morning air,
To observe the variety of tracks in the snow,
To greet the crow flying overhead,
To hear the joyful chirping of birds,
To admire the silhouette of an old tree
in front of the rising sun,
To feel the bright, warm sun on my cold skin:
This is to be alive
and to remember 
I am not alone. 

- Wendy Janzen
0 Comments

Simple Sabbath

7/25/2021

0 Comments

 
Sometimes grandeur is great - 
mountains and sunsets
and oceans and such... 
But sometimes 
all I need is simplicity -
a wildflower,
a birdsong,
a bit of blue sky,
my feet connected to 
the good earth,
the colour green,
not much to do,
someone to sit with,
a cup of coffee,
a prayer on the breeze - 
simple sabbath gifts
to fill my soul and
remind me that 
ordinary, everyday 
moments are 
holy too.  

​- Wendy Janzen
0 Comments

Sinking

7/21/2021

0 Comments

 
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
0 Comments

Sometimes

5/8/2021

0 Comments

 
Sometimes I see the world in poetry...
words shimmering like light
just behind or within
everything I see.
But neither word
nor image do justice
to the beauty, the wonder,
the deeper meaning.
​
To simply witness
is enough.
To feel in my bones
something more
is going on.
To trust this
sacred moment
and say
thank you.
​
- Wendy Janzen
0 Comments
<<Previous

    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.

    If you are an established church or institution, please consider making a donation when using these resources in addition to attribution. Thanks!

    Archives

    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    July 2018

    categories

    All
    Advent Prayers
    Autumn
    Blessings
    Confession
    Lament
    Lent Prayers
    Poetry
    Prayers General
    Psalms
    Reflections
    Spiritual Practice
    Spring
    Summer
    Thanksgiving
    Wild Lectionary
    Winter

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Reflections & Prayers