 Earlier this week we stopped for a walk in a forest
just a bit north of here. The ferns were just coming up, and they inspired this blessing. This blessing is ancient. This blessing began millennia before you or I and will continue long after we're gone. This green blessing curls up from the soil among community of trees, ephemerals, decay. This blessing uncurls fronds to the heavens, catching the spring sunlight spring after spring after spring, holding space and keeping time with grace and purpose. Blessings of opening. Blessings of beauty. Blessings of life. - Wendy Janzen
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At our April worship gathering, in the midst of the Eastertide season, we celebrated sap rising and the sweetness of early spring. We had just come through sugaring season, when the tree sap rises up the trunks in the first warm weeks of spring, and travels down again overnight. Robin Wall Kimmerer writes, “It is said that our people learned to make sugar from the squirrels. In late winter, when squirrels are hungry, they take to the treetops and gnaw on the branches of sugar maples. Scraping the bark allows sap to ooze, and the squirrels drink it. The freezing temperature of the night causes the water in the sap to leave a sweet crystalline crust like rock candy behind. The squirrels follow their path from the day before and lick the sugar crystals. Enough to tide the squirrels over through their hungriest time of the year.” (p71, Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults) I love the knowledge shared from animal to human, and the gifts of maple trees not just enjoyed for pleasure, but as sustenance. Kimmerer suggests that the maple trees care for us, while caring for themselves at the same time. The rising sugary sap, stored all winter in the roots of the dead-looking trees, defies gravity and rises upward to feed the buds so that they can open into leaves that will make their own sugar that they will send down to the roots for storage. What is rising in you? What do you notice rising in the outer landscape around you this spring? The sweetness of maple syrup is a collaboration between the trees and the human creatures who boil it down. The sweetness is a taste of the goodness of God. Closing Blessing Blessings of the One who rises from the dead be yours. Blessings of life rising again after winter be yours. Blessings of the trees who share their gifts be yours. May you go from here with sweetness on your lips and the joy of spring in your hearts. Amen.  Hosanna whisper the hepatica, First ephemerals of the forest floor. Hosanna groan the elder beach, Succumbing to disease. Hosanna sing the nuthatches, Drowned out by the roar of traffic. Hosanna proclaim the deadwood, Offering life to others. Hosanna spoke the oak, Matriarch of this place. Hosanna shouted the stones, When the people were silent. - Wendy Janzen Inspired by Palm Sunday passage in Luke where Jesus says that if the people were silent, then the rocks would cry out, as I listened to the voices of the forest around me on a Sunday afternoon walk through Breithaupt Park. Hosanna means "save us." 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:
Our May worship gathering celebrated the season of spring planting, and the miracle of seeds, along with a celebration of Pentecost. Listening to Spring The first stanza is by Macrina Wiederkehr, the remaining stanzas are by Wendy Janzen. Invite participants to repeat the phrase “I am listening” at the end of each stanza. I am listening to seeds breaking open, to roots growing strong beneath the ground, to green shoots rising up from winter wombs. I am listening. I am listening to seeds carried on the wind, to light-as-air fluff floating and flying, to open soil ready to receive new life. I am listening. I am listening to seeds carefully collected and sorted, to gardeners preparing the land, to gardens primed for us produce. I am listening. I am listening to seeds of the Spirit, to invitations for new life to rise up, to wild wonder and imagination and hope. I am listening. I am listening to the language of Spirit, to voices of birds and squirrels and creek, to messages of seeds, sun, soil, and rain. I am listening. I am listening to the Spirit of springtime, to this season of vibrance and veriditas, to this season of praise and promise. I am listening. This year, in honour of Earth Day, we started an hour early with some activities including garbage clean-up, letter writing, forest bingo (for the kids!) and a self-guided spring ephemeral walk.
As we moved into a time of worship, we focused on celebrating the ways we are cared for by the Earth, rather than on the problems we need to fix. The Earth is amazing, and full of blessings! These two verses came to mind: "The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it." - Psalm 24:1 "Do to others as you would have them do to you." - Luke 6:31 The last chapter of Barbara Brown Taylor's book An Altar in the World is called “The Practice of Pronouncing Blessings.” She writes, “To pronounce a blessing on something is to see it from the divine perspective. To pronounce a blessing is to participate in God's own initiative. To pronounce a blessing is to share God's own audacity.” “The key to blessing things is knowing that they beat you to it. They key to blessing things is to receive their blessing.” We wandered with these invitations: Remember that we are both blessed by the earth, and we are a blessing to the earth. See what captures your attention, stop, and offer a blessing. Consider how it has first blessed you. Rather than continuing on and jumping to bless and be blessed by as many beings as possible, take time to listen and offer the gift of your attention and time. What do they want you to know? What do they have to tell you about God? What does God want you to know about them? Lover of the world,
we thank you for the gifts of the Earth and for the way Earth supports our daily lives, from birth to death. Thank you for healthy, fertile soil, and for the good food this land produces. We thank you for the abundance of fresh water we have here in our watershed, and the beauty and refreshment it brings to our lives. Thank you for clean air, for wind, for breath, and for the trees and plants that create oxygen for us. Thank you for the sun, warming our bodies, bringing growth, and providing energy. Thank you for the creatures who are our neighbours, for their beauty, resourcefulness, and roles in the ecosystem. Thank you for pollinators, seeds and flowers, fungi, mycelia, ancient forests, clouds, mountains, sandy beaches, ocean currents, gravity, the tilt of the earth, the changing of the seasons, jet streams, constellations and planets. Help us to love our place on the earth, and to be moved by our love to live lives of discipleship that reflect our love for the earth. We pray in the name of Christ, firstborn of all creation. Amen. - Wendy Janzen Ephemeral Noun: Something that lasts for a very short time. Something ephemeral. Specifically, a plant that grows, flowers, and dies in a few days. Psalm 103:15-17 As for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. April Ephemerals My eyes scan the dead brown forest floor, searching for early emerging ephemerals, joyous sentinals of spring. Something about these fleeting flowers calls me back each year to witness their being. I recite their names like a seasonal litany or an annual reunion with old friends: Hepatica Cut-Leaved Toothwort Dutchman's Breeches Trout Lily Bloodroot Virginia Waterleaf Blue Cohosh Rue Anemone Spring Beauty Trillium Thanks be to God! Yes, I see you, and I see myself. Our lives, too, are short. You show us how to live with abandon and to to let our beauty shine, trusting the Eternal One, Beginning and Ending, to provide purpose and grounding, whatever the length of our days. - Wendy Janzen A prayer, poem, and benediction for Easter sunrise.
Out of the darkness the grace of God rises like the sun hope rises like the dawn. Into all that is cold and shadowed in our lives the Light and Love of God shines. Come to us, and renew us, O God of life. - by Dirt Church Liturgy “spring song” the green of Jesus is breaking the ground and the sweet smell of delicious Jesus is opening the house and the dance of Jesus music has hold of the air and the world is turning in the body of Jesus and the future is possible - by Lucille Clifton Benediction May Creator’s love ground you, may Christ’s love rise to guide you like the sun, may Spirit’s love be a constant presence within you and around you. Christ is risen! Amen - by Wendy Janzen 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? |
AuthorReflections, poetry, prayers, photos, and resources written by Wendy Janzen unless otherwise noted. Archives
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