This weekend we spent some time cleaning up trash at Bechtel Park, our regular site for worship gatherings. The park is thankfully kept pretty clean in general, but we did find a mix of trash and recyclable items that we cleaned up.
After the cleanup we talked for a bit about single-use plastic, and its impact on the environment. We reflected on two verses: Romans 7:15 "Listen, I can't explain my actions. Here's why: I am not able to do the things I want; and at the same time, I do the things I despise." (The Voice) Genesis 1:22 "Be fruitful and multiply" - a blessing given to the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, before the same blessing was offered to humans. How does our addiction to plastic prevent the rest of creation from flourishing according to God's blessing for them? To see a fuller Bible study & discussion guide Wendy created, along with an art & music video project on single-use plastics created by Rockway Mennonite Collegiate, follow this link.
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We gathered on Easter morning at twilight - the time between the two lights. The moon was setting behind us as we gathered on the east-facing slope awaiting the rising sun. The dawn chorus of birds provided music for our prelude. Our text was John 20:1-18. Step Chandler Burns, of Pastors in Exile, shared these words before we spend time 'wandering and wondering' and watching for the sunrise. "This morning, like every new day, Christ is alive among us. Each day, God is doing a new thing and inviting us to bring our faith and our questions and enter into the new life being made among us. So this morning, and all mornings, believe the gospel. The Good News is that new life is possible. Seek the new thing God is doing, whether you understand it or not. Resurrection is here and happening among us every day: the sun rises, the snow melts, the animals and birds sing to the morning, the cold gives way to the sun, the cycles of life and death keep moving. People heal and reconcile and learn and grow. Relationships mend, we’re made new. Even when we don’t want to be. Even when we’re not at our best, even when we’re hungry, angry, lonely and tired. Or when we don’t understand quite yet. This morning, you’re invited to take in the morning. Listen to the birds and the animals, the waking of the earth. Take in the new life, resurrection among us. And believe, or question it. Jesus will meet you there. May it be so." What ways are you experiencing resurrection? Where are you seeing signs of new life? Whether we believe easily, or are skeptical, Christ meets us in sunrises and in rain, in honking geese and songbirds, in our day to day lives. Halleluiah! Today is Global Recycling Day. While we try to recycle the best we can, I am aware that our recycling system is broken and misleading. Particularly concerning plastic. Less than 10% of plastic produced worldwide is recycled. Canada produces about 3.3 million tons of plastic a year, and 2.8 million tons of that ends up in landfills. Additionally, Canada ships a portion of our plastic waste to other countries to be 'recycled,' contributing to global plastic polution.
So, when I think of recycling, I think of the many other "R's" that should come first:
God, Forgive us for taking more than we give back. Remind us that everything we buy will one day be garbage. Help us repent from wasteful ways. Restore our sense of belonging and connection to the community of creation. Renew within us awareness that the earth is full of your glory. Amen. Today:
Touching on themes of incarnation and epiphany, our January worship gathering reminded us to pay attention to God’s sacred presence among us. God’s incarnation was not a one-time event. Epiphany was not a one time event. They are archetypes of how God is active and present in a variety of forms in the world - showing up in human form, in all creation, in stars, on journeys into unfamiliar territory.
Matthew 2:9b-10 “...they (the Magi) set out, and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen in the east, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.” All that the magi had to illuminate and guide their way was a star and a dream. Their journey to encounter holiness began with a burning light, with a step taken, with companions gazing in the same direction. As we stand near the beginning of this new year, what is guiding you? What are you noticing? How are you following your longing to encounter holiness? Which direction is calling you? What are you giving your attention to? Who are your companions on the journey? I've been in a bit of a writing slump. So for the month of February I took on the spiritual practice of writing one (or more) six-word sermons each week, based on time spent out in creation. I'd encourage it as a simple way to focus and synthesize your thoughts and reflections from time spent outdoors, or whenever/wherever you spend your contemplative time.
Here are the five I shared on our social media streams this month: Below the snow, seeds await spring. God's here in our winters, too. Love shines on all God's creatures. Every day let kindness burn bright. Be rooted in peace, not war. Trees are amazing neighbours! They provide us with oxygen, sequester carbon, have a moderating affect on the temperature, reduce erosion, prevent water runoff, provide shade, are habitat for many other species, and some even provide us with fruit and nuts.
Trees, just like all of creation, can offer healing and can be a window into the nature of God. Trees are so critical to life on earth; they are also a potential place for divine encounter Here are some reflection questions you can use to spend contemplative time with a tree. Go for a walk and find a particular tree or forested area that feels inviting to you. Consider how this tree or this part of the forest might be a sacred text where the Holy One can be revealed to you today... Or, reflect on what gives you a sense of grounding or rootedness... Or, perhaps you feel you need to make a confession for humanity’s destruction of ancient trees and forests, and seek forgiveness... Or, simply breathe and reflect on a sense of sacred reciprocity - giving and receiving so that all might flourish and thrive... Blessing May you live a life rooted and grounded in God’s presence. May you stand tall and strong, Bending with grace and trust in life’s storms. May you give and receive freely, Holding on to nothing for long, So that all life might flourish. May you hold space for those Around you, bearing witness to The joy and pain of life. Amen. - Wendy Janzen "Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life."
- John Muir Early this month, before Covid-19 was a concern here, I was on a walk in one of the natural areas in the city. I kept on noticing, over and over, pairs of trees that felt like thresholds. I wondered why that might be. Was there a threshold that lay ahead that I needed to cross? Little could I ever have imagined then what this month would hold. It indeed feels like we all have crossed a threshold into a new way of life. A new reality. A new way of understanding just how interconnected we all are. A new level of vulnerability. As unsettling as these times are, perhaps we are at a threshold to a new way of life. How will this crisis change us? As much as we probably all long to go back to the way things were, that is not possible. The only way ahead is to go through this together. When we come out the other side, we will have changed, and life will look different. - Wendy Janzen 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 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 |
AuthorReflections, poetry, prayers, photos, and resources written by Wendy Janzen unless otherwise noted. Archives
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