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BURNING BUSH FOREST CHURCH
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Rewilding our Souls

Hosanna, save us

4/13/2025

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Small white hepatica flowers among the dried brown leaves on the early spring forest floor.

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."

​

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Lent: Walking in Light & Love

3/17/2025

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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?

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Seeds & Spirit

5/21/2024

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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.

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Earth Day Worship

4/25/2024

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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?
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Earth Day Prayer

4/22/2024

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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


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April Ephemerals

4/14/2024

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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
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Easter Readings

4/1/2024

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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


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March Spiritual Practice

3/8/2024

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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?
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May Day Prayer

5/1/2023

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​Greening God,
For fresh buds on trees,
tender green shoots,
ephemerals flowering,
birds returning and nesting,
We give thanks.

Our hearts, too,
are opening, blossoming,
dancing and singing 
praise for life,
for colour, fertility,
birth and rebirth!

Amen.
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A prayer for when you wake with the birds

4/15/2023

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God, thank you for this morning.
May I be as joyful and enthusiastic as Robins.

May I enter into this day 
with anticipation and energy like Cardinals.
Provide me with what 
I need, just as you do for House Sparrows,
and let me trust that is enough.

I praise you together with my
beloved neighbours whose voices I hear this day:
Mourning Doves, Northern Flickers, Canada Geese,
Red-winged Blackbirds, Crows, and Goldfinches.
​
Amen.
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    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!

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