Ephemeral art to mark the autumn equinox - light and dark, blooms and seeds, transitioning from life to death. Life is not static, it is a flow of change that sometimes feels fast, and sometimes goes slowly. Today on this equinox day, we celebrate the balance that invites us to embrace it all. Take time sometime this week or this month to create your own nature mandala to celebrate the transitions of the seasons, and reflect on transitions happening in your own life. 

Thanks be to our Creator,
thanks be to our solar system,
thanks be to the plants
​who shared their beauty in this art!

March Eco-Spiritual Practice:
Spring Equinox Reflections
 
This month, the Spring Equinox falls on March 19th, a day of equal daylight and darkness, after which we move into the season of spring and the lighter half of the year. 

Here are some reflection questions inspired by the equinox seasonal transition. Take these questions out onto the land with you and observe what you notice. Use them as journaling prompts or as inspiration for some creative art (a nature mandala is a wonderful way to reflect on the season and what is in balance).

Examine the balance in your life - where is there balance (or tension) between perceived opposites?

What do you want/need more of in your life? What do you need/want less of? 

What is awakening in you? What is ready to sprout?

This month, let's celebrate our love for the earth.

Choose a particular place, being, or element and pour your heart out to them on paper. Express your feelings for the and your desires for their flourishing. Reflect on the bond between you and them and how they love you back. Consider how much God loves and cherishes them as well. 

If you wish, deliver your letter (if you used plain paper) by burying it in your compost pile or garden. Or, carry it with you, tuck it in your journal, or turn it into art and hang it somewhere you can see it and be reminded of your love. 

Our eco-spiritual practice for the month (and, indeed, for the year) is a Phenology Wheel. This is what I wrote about it for the Godspace website: 

At Burning Bush Forest Church, we meet once a month for outdoor worship, and once a month for a learning/serving/action/community building event. To supplement those events, we offer an eco-spiritual practice of the month for people to explore on their own. 
What is an eco-spiritual practice? There are a variety of ways this could be defined, depending on who you are and how you approach ecospirituality. As a Christian pastor and spiritual director, I see eco-spiritual practices as invitations to explore and deepen our spiritual lives through activities that invite contemplative connections with creation and creative or embodied expression of our response to God’s presence there. To some, they may seem far from a typical prayer practice, but as I read somewhere, anything can be a prayer when we bring that intention to it. eco-spiritual practices invite us into the wondrous, to nurture our spirit and connect with God.
The eco-spiritual practice we are currently exploring is creating a phenology wheel. Phenology is the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena, especially in relation to climate and plant and animal life. A phenology wheel is a way to record what we are noticing in the circle of the year. To make it a spiritual practice, an added element of recording the liturgical calendar or a spiritual insight connected to each month, adds another layer of paying attention. Because it is a wheel, you can begin this practice at any time of year. 
I first discovered the phenology wheel in 2016 (on the Raising Little Shoots website), the same year I founded Burning Bush Forest Church. It appealed to me as a personal practice to aid in deepening my own awareness of God’s activity and presence with me in nature as I led others in outdoor worship. I sensed that if I was going to be leading a different kind of worshiping community I needed new and different kinds of spiritual practices to ground me in my ministry. It was an enlightening experience, one that opened me to engaging with the cycles of nature in ways that also nurtured my faith.
To engage with this as an eco-spiritual practice, create your own template using whatever you have on hand – I used the back of some scrapbooking paper, a dinner plate and a ruler to create my template with a bit of trial and error (This time around I am switching to watercolor paper). Or, use this template. 
Once you have your template at the ready, turn your attention to what you notice around you each month. Take leisurely walks, gaze out the window, notice weather patterns, track the changes in daylight or moon cycles, watch for wildlife. See what captures your attention and take time to connect and reflect. 
To quote Mary Oliver’s Instructions for Living a Life, “Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” Pay attention each month to what astonishes you. What captures your curiosity? Observe the ordinary and the unusual. Then tell about it through creative expression. You may want to take pictures or keep a journal through the month to help you notice patterns or significant moments.
When the inspiration hits, or at the end of the month, pull out your template and whatever art supplies you have on hand. Use the outer part of the wedge to express what rises to the surface when you think about connecting with creation this month. Don’t worry about your artistic ability – this isn’t for show. 
Use the inner part of the wedge to somehow record what resonated with your spirit or interior life this month – a ritual, a holy day, particular words, a mood. Is there any intersection between what you are noticing and the liturgical season you are in (if you are from a tradition that follows liturgical seasons)? Does your experience bring to mind a scripture verse or line of poetry? Does it inspire a prayer? Does it have anything to show you about God’s presence and revelation in creation?  
Be playful, open-minded and open-hearted with this practice. My hope is that this practice 

• encourages you pay attention to your surroundings better
• deepens your sense of connection to your watershed and with the other creatures in the community of creation
• affects your sense of time and the changing seasons
• inspires you to see God in creation, and helps to see creation as a revelation of God’s compassionate and ongoing presence on earth.

Wherever you find yourself this month, take time to notice how or where God shows up. Last month I discovered a lovely children's book called Sometimes I Feel Like a River, by Danielle Daniel and Josée Bisaillon. It inspired me to ask the question of myself, 'what in nature do I feel like today?' It then inspired me to dig further, and see if the same metaphor could apply to God. I offer these questions to you this month as a spiritual practice.
​
Take time this month to go for a mindful walk outdoors and see what draws your attention. Using your imagination, complete the sentence 'sometimes I feel like...' (a river, the sky, a snail...). Next, do it again with this variation 'sometimes God/Spirit feels like...' 

What insights arise? How does creation mirror things about who you are or who God is? Consider recording your reflections your in a journal, maybe turn it into a poem, draw/paint a picture, or express your insights through body movement.

Here is a sample that I wrote (and you can find another in the previous post). 

Sometimes, I feel like a lake,
deep, wide, full.
I can hold it all,
I ride the waves,
I feel buoyant,
I dive deep.

Sometimes, God feels like a lake,
deep, wide, full.
God holds mystery,
crashes and churns with
intimidating indignation,
shimmers with wonder,
is fluid and calm.
I can only see a part of 
the whole of God.

Our March 19 worship gathering was a celebration of our 7th anniversary!

Our theme invited us to reflect on how the words sacred, sacrament, and sacrifice all come from the same Latin root word, sacer, which means to hallow (to make holy), to set aside (set apart), to consecrate (for divine purpose) or dedicate. We shared together in the sacrament of communion (visible signs of invisible grace). And we reflected on the sacred nature of Earth and creation (filled with God’s presence) and sacrifice - the giving of life so that new life is possible.

Here are the three readings we shared:

“The truth of the matter is, unless a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest. If you love your life you’ll lose it; if you hate your life in this world you’ll keep it for eternal life. Anyone who wants to work for me must follow in my footsteps.” 
​   - John 12:24–26a

“With my first bite of food, I think about what I am eating. I understand the sacrifice made by the plant or the animal to give me life. My life is connected to their death. There is a sacred relationship between myself and the food I eat.”
   - Randy Woodley, Becoming Rooted, 67–68

The Sacraments  
I once spoke to my friend, an old squirrel, about the Sacraments –
he got so excited
and ran into a hollow in his tree and came
back holding some acorns, an owl feather,
and a ribbon he had found.
And I just smiled and said, “Yes, dear,
you understand:
everything imparts
His grace.”
   - Daniel Landinsky, inspired by St. Francis

Take time outdoors and pay particular attention to where you encounter the sacred, and what sacraments you notice - those visible signs of invisible grace. Where do you see signs of sacrifice - the giving of life so that new life is possible?

This month Lisa Carr-Pries led our gathered worship time on Family Day weekend with an invitation to reflect on joy and play. Here is a short re-cap of her invitation for you to do on your own.

Psalm 30:9-12
You changed my wild lament  into dancing.
    You ripped off my funeral clothes
        and dressed me up in joy
    so that my whole being
    might sing praises to you and never stop.
Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

​Take time to wander and wonder, spin and smile - to consider this theme of delight, playfulness and joy. What comes to mind when you think of whimsy? What brought you immense joy as a child?  What was the last time you saw something and it took your breath away? How did that  change you?

End your wandering with this blessing:
Go from here knowing that 
That divine delights in you, 
 just as you are. 
Find delight in the Earth, 
Joy and gratitude will be your rich reward .
Amen

Grounding Practice

In the spirit of knowing that everything can be a prayer or spiritual practice when we bring that intention to it, I will be posting some short, simple practices you can try anytime in your day to ground you and connect you with the Earth and with God’s sacred presence.  ​

Take off your shoes and allow your bare feet to
connect to the holy ground you are standing on.
Stand still.
Wiggle your toes.
Feel the earth and note its temperature, texture, etc.
Imagine roots extending from your feet into the ground,
connecting, rooting, grounding you, supporting you, anchoring you.
Receive the gifts this place has to offer.
Give thanks for your feet, and for the earth.