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Rewilding our Souls

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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Resurrection is here

4/10/2023

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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!

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A prayer for the spring melt

3/22/2023

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God of springtime,

We thank you for the strength of the sun
warming the soil and our souls.
We rejoice at the drip, drip, drip
of ice melting off branches.
We celebrate the sweet sap rising
from a winter underground. 
We listen for the songs of feathered
travelers returning from the South. 
We even smile at snow turning 
to slush turning to mud.

Bless the world rising from its winter rest.
Bless this in between, messy time.
Bless our anticipation and our longing.
Bless the melting snow as it 
seeps deep down to roots,
bulbs and seeds, all 
ready and waiting.

As spring moves in
and winter lets go,
awaken us to new life
and melt away the 
crusty, frozen places within us.
Plant in us hope,
deep and resilient hope, 
that will rise up strong
and rooted.

Amen

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Camping Prayer

5/29/2022

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Outside the flimsy walls
my body feels the chill
of this new day.
I could have stayed 
under the covers, 
cozy and comfortable, 
dozing and content.

But out here, in the open, 
I awaken - here is a 
living world where 
flowers dot the forest floor,
breeze makes trees dance,
dew sparkles on grass - 
delightful and gracious 
hosts to us visiting guests, 
gifts so easily missed by
us indoor beings.

God of wild beings and 
wild places, thank you 
for the birds and their
exquisite songs, 

the variety of green, 
refreshing mornings that 
make us feel alive,
awed and amazed
at the world beyond 
our sheltered lives.

May our encounters with
places of wild beauty
and the creatures who 
call them home
expand our hearts,
minds, imaginations.
May we be open to
your expansive presence,
and may it expand our
love and care for all creation.


May we take time to 
pay attention to and 
find delight in the lives
of those with feather & fur,
fins & scales, and learn
their names, sounds,
habitats, and needs.

May we remember you
created and blessed them, 
and that you made an
​everlasting covenant 

with the land, 
all wild creatures,
and us.

May we love the world 
in each small detail, and
also in its wonderfully
complex fullness.
May we tread lightly
and leave no trace.

Bless our summer travels
and encounters. 
May they transform 
us into new creations.

Amen

​- Wendy Janzen
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A blessing for May

5/1/2022

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Picture
Blessed be the sun's warming power
energizing all that exists.

Blessed be the joyous flowers raising
their beautiful faces to the sun.

Blessed be the the nesting birds
singing in each morning.

Blessed be the vernal ponds
nurseries of new life.

Blessed be my place within
this beloved community,
giving and receiving
the gifts of life.

​- Wendy Janzen

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April 17th, 2022

4/17/2022

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Easter sunrise prayer

Divine Presence,
Midwife of spring:
Awaken us to your
presence within and
around us this
holy morning.

May we be alive
to the mystery
and wonder of
this new day, and
be reminded that each
sunrise is a 
proclamation of
resurrection. 

Amen.

​- Wendy Janzen

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It is finished

4/15/2022

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Picture
For Good Friday

It is finished.
Cut off. Ended.
No more. Lifeless.
It's body brought down, 
but for what reason? 
What threat? 
To what end?
Laying on the forest floor. 
Humbled.  
Hollowed.
Hallowed. 
It's story,it's legacy,
it's outpouring,
is not finished.

​- Wendy Janzen




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Winds of Change

5/23/2021

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Wild Wind of the Spirit,
on this Pentecost day
we revel in the ways
your presences lives
and moves among us
and through us -
inspiring us,
challenging us,
unsettling us.
May we be open
to the winds of change,
welcoming and 
bending to new ways
of being.

May we embrace
and celebrate the 
lively and generative
energy of this day,
empowering us to be
agents of transformation
in our spheres of influence,
voices for the voiceless, 
and visionaries
for a new future.
Amen.

​- Wendy Janzen
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A Garden Blessing

5/20/2021

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God of Spring,
of roots and growth,
of vibrancy and veriditas:
Bless this time of planting.
As we dig our fingers into 
rich soil, wiggling and 
delighting in the damp
warm, earth, we remember
that we are earthlings.

Bless our connection
with the the land,
with the water that 
supports all life, 
with these seeds we 
bury beneath the surface
trusting that they will
germinate and grow
and nourish our bodies.

Bless the fertility of the earth,
the micronutrients, 
the compost, 
the earthworms, and
the pollinators.

Bless our intentions to be 
good gardeners: 
may we give and receive,
work and wait, 
with humility.

And bless these seeds:
help us to hold them
with reverence and to
see in them the promise
of sustenance and life.
Amen.

- Wendy Janzen

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    Reflections, poetry, prayers, photos, and resources  written by Wendy Janzen unless otherwise noted.
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    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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