Walking through the forest at Bechtel Park in a mid-August heat wave, I noticed many signs of stress and damage on the plants in the forest. 

I respectfully found a few items that seemed appropriate to use in the making of a mandala down by our worship spot along Laurel Creek. When I make mandalas, I like the simple, repetitive nature of the circular pattern. It feels complete and whole. I also like the ephemeral nature of them - it will succumb to the elements, or to disturbances by other creatures. It is a celebration of creation, decay, and decomposition. 

As I walked back to the parking lot, I reflected on how nothing in nature is wasted. Everything that comes into existence eventually returns to the earth, offering back nourishment for new life to arise again. The circle of life.

At our March worship gathering we explored the synchronicity between the church season of Lent (which means to lengthen) and the Spring Equinox when the balance of daylight tips to longer days.

Lent is 40 days for waking up from winter’s ‘death’ to spring’s ‘resurrection.’ 40 days for wandering in the wilderness like the Israelites, slowing down and moving at the pace of our soul so we can better listen to and meet God. 

We are living in a time of chaos and events that cause a lot of uncertainty and stress. How can we use this season of Lent to wake up to and walk in life-giving light and love, anchoring us through unsettling times?

This is what the Lord says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.”
— Jeremiah 6:16
​
This month, as you find yourself wandering outdoors, ask yourself these questions: 

• What do you notice waking up?
• What wants you to slow down and notice/listen?
• Where/how is God showing up?
• What does your soul need in order to find rest? 
• How can you walk in the good way?

Our February theme invites us to reflect on the kinds of love that we and our world need at this time. We were not able to meet together in person due to a winter storm warning, but these are the readings and reflection questions we would have used. I hope you can take some time to go on your own self-guided forest church this month!

In a time of upheaval and uncertainty, how do we let love be our guide? This month we are faced with hearts, flowers, and chocolate, with poetry and cards to celebrate romantic love. But love is also relentless, fearless, courageous, bold, inclusive, generous, honest, joyful, wholehearted.
In a time of upheaval and uncertainty, how do we let love be our guide? This month we are faced with hearts, flowers, and chocolate, with poetry and cards to celebrate romantic love. But love is also relentless, fearless, courageous, bold, inclusive, generous, honest, joyful, wholehearted. How would you describe the love that you need to see in the world today?

Gathering & Grounding - Pause for a moment to ground yourself where you are. Take some deep breaths, look around, listen, feel the air and snow on your skin. Tune into a sense of the sacred presence with you.

Readings & Reflections - take these readings onto the land with you:
“Love is the greatest force in the universe. It is the heartbeat of the moral cosmos.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians 13: 6-7  

For further reading, you can look at Dianna Butler Bass's Substack post titled Love Relentlessly.

Wandering & Wondering - as you wander, or sit cozily indoors, consider these questions: 

• What message of love do you need to hear today?
• What kind of love do you think the world (or a specific being you encounter today) needs right now?
• What kind of love do you think the world (or a specific being you encounter today) can offer you?
• What examples of love do you observe happening around you, in both human ways and more-than-human ways?​

We gathered along the banks of our beloved Laurel Creek in the snowy sub-zero temperatures of January. This poem invited us into reflecting on the mind of winter, and we contemplated the similarities with the invitation in Philippians 2:5-7 to 'adopt the mind of Christ.' What do you think? What might you discover if you see the trees, creek, or creatures here on their terms rather than ours?  What might God want you do learn by regarding winter? 

Due Regard by Wallace Stevens.

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing themself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is. 

Maybe what we need isn't self-care.
Maybe what we truly need is
grounding, connection, and
entanglement with all that is.
We are not created for
independence or self-reliance.

Maybe we need to open our being
to the gift of life around us, and
remember we are not alone.
We are light and love from others
and for others, our souls nourished
by touch, reaching out in need,
receiving the goodness of 
ordinary beauty
seeping through the cracks.

Celebrate the sun shining on your face, 
water wetting your lips,
gravity hugging you close to the earth,
air filling your lungs,
honey sweetening your tongue,
birds cheering your spirit,
nighttime welcoming your rest,
friends and family surrounding you,
the Divine Presence renewing
and enlivening your spirit.

​-Wendy Janzen

​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. 

Our September theme invited us to reflect on being rooted and grounded. Daniel Berrigan, a Jesuit peace activist, once said “Don’t just do something. Stand there.” Standing in one place and not moving is a part of our work. It is a form of rootedness that leads to knowledge and intimacy and relationship. Resistance to forces of destruction can be the slow work of being present to a place in the face of a transient, fast-paced world.

Ephesians 3:16-18a (from the First Nations Version)
“My prayer for you is that from the great treasures of God’s beauty, Creator will gift you with the Spirit’s mighty power and strengthen you in your inner being… I pray that as you trust in the Chosen One, your roots will go deep into the soil of [God’s] great love, and that from these roots you will draw the strength and courage needed to walk this sacred path together with all… this path of love is higher than the stars, deeper than the great waters, wider than the sky. Yes, this love come from and reaches to all directions.” 

How can we become radically rooted to Place (this place right here where we have been coming to worship month after month, and the places where we each live), getting to know it, learning to love it, learning to love God, walking the sacred path together and making the world a better place? How can we learn from this wise old hemlock tree (pictured) whose roots are holding it upright even as the creek is eroding the soil beneath it? How do we root ourselves in love?

Our June worship gathering invited us to reflect on the light of this time of year (approaching the summer solstice) and the Light of the world.

We grounded ourselves with our eyes closed, and then opened them with the invitation to look around as if we were seeing with new eyes, noticing particularly the light and shadow, varying shades of green, texture, depth of field, and movement.

We read from Psalm 36:8-9 and John 8:12.

We also listened to a prayer by John Philip Newell (adapted by Wendy Janzen)



​Light within all light, Soul behind all souls,
as we approach the summer solstice and the turning of the seasons
we wait and watch for you. 
Your light within this day’s light
Your Soul within the human soul. 
Your Presence beckoning to us from the heart of life.
In the light of the afternoon 
Let us experience fresh shinings in our soul.
In the rich colours all around us
Let us see the variety of ways you show yourself. 
Light within all light,
Inner Flame of the universe,
Let us be aware of your light shining on us. Amen

Blessings as you celebrate this season of light!

Our monthly worship gatherings and events generally take place within the Grand River watershed. Most also take place on the Haldimand Tract. We are mindful of our relationship with Place and of our Indigenous neighbours and their ongoing story with this Land.

Here is a visual image of where we meet (near the convergence of Laurel Creek and the Grand River) with a bit of the story of the Haldimand Tract and the Dish With One Spoon wampum treaty. We want to continue to learn the truth of these lands and work toward repair.