Equinox – Celeste Wilder, Sunday, March 21st

Beginning:
This service is designed to lead you outside. Perhaps after reading it over you can remember, write down, or print the most salient points and take them outside with you. Dresses comfortably, and if possible bring a blanket or chair to enjoy sitting outside for at least 30 minutes. You could go alone, or with a dear one.

I invite you to go out in nature and find a peaceful place.

When you have arrived, be it to the beach, the forest, the meadow, take a few deep breaths. You are not alone here. Feel the air, the wind, the moisture. Feel back in time to the ancestors before you, both your own, and the indigenous people who roamed here before you. Spent a moment in gratitude for all the beings who have witnessed the seasons before you. Give thanks to the earth, the sky, the Spirit in all.

As you settle into this outside space, allow yourself to be drawn to a specific detail. Maybe a stone, a tree, a particular undulation of land. Look for a place off the beaten trail, where you can encounter the wild. Make yourself comfortable.

Invocation
Oh Spirit of this place; thank you for welcoming me here.
I come to offer myself to your awakening; to be touched by spring.
Let my heart be open to your nudging.
Thank you for all you are.

Perhaps pick up a stone, a leave, a twig. Kiss or hold this part of nature with reverence.

Contemplation
I’m drawn back to last spring at this time, when Covid awareness, spread and “lockdown” was just beginning in Canada. I remember the immense feeling of the unknown and change, as if everything was shifting so rapidly. I couldn’t have imagined the year that has unfolded, both personally and collectively. Some things have been worse than I anticipated, some much much better. What has it been like for you?

Spend a few minutes reflecting on the last year.
Allow your emotions to arise and if you feel called, speak them outloud to the place, to the rock, tree, land that you are communing with.
Is there grief? Joy? Anger? Frustration? Antsiness?
Maybe you need to move to express what you’re feeling.
It’s all welcome here, it’s all part of it.

Spend a few minutes feeling the collective sentiments of the past year.
Can you feel the collective, fear, loss?
Can you feel the surprising blessings this year has brought?
Can you feel something shifting in our communities?
Anything else?

In the Christian calendar, we are in the time leading up to Easter. We prepare to commemorate Jesus’ death and resurrection. In whatever way you understand that story, I wonder if you can feel into the universal pattern that is at play: that which is precious dies; resurrection is possible. Death, re-birth, winter, spring. Death is a part of our salvation.

As you look around you, can you see the death inherent in nature?
Maybe dead seaweed, a dead crab, a downed tree or the last of the autumn leaves.
Does this death seem tragic or integral?
What life is being nourished by this death?

Let me risk pointing out something unconventional:
One of the things I’ve noticed in the mainstream Covid information/publications/news is what appears to me as an underlying belief that death is bad, and to be avoided at all costs. I am not condoning suffering, or wishing for death for anyone, nor sickness. And, to be clear, I am really grateful that with the present and upcoming vaccines more people will be considered safe from sickness and potential death from Covid.

My impression of mainstream coverage of the pandemic though, is that it is through a lense that completely vilifies death, as if it is the worst thing that could happen and should be avoided at all costs. I find it unbalanced and inaccurate to view our world, and our decisions, through a lense that vilifies death. If we are focused on AVOIDING DEATH at all costs, we are limited from asking other questions like:
What does a good life look like?
What is truly important?
What does a good death look like?
What kind of society are we building?

As you read these thoughts, perhaps you feel your own resistance, fear and trembling. How do you feel about death?

Look around you outside, can you see the evidence of springtime?
What is being born?
Is this not all mixed in with death?

In the Christian story, is it central that someone died, and then rose again to new life. (Again, feel the symbolism if you’re not comfortable with a literal Easter story)
How is this pattern at play around you?

At the Autumnal Equinox a group of us planted bunches of daffodils in the church yard, around the Labyrinth. We planted them with hope, knowing that spring time would come. We felt a dark winter ahead (even anticipating more isolation), and trusted that spring would come on the other side (looking forward to outdoor gatherings!) The winter has been dark for many, loneliness, grief, isolation, loss.
And now spring is beckoning. The birds are singing more, the frogs have returned to their life-filled croaks. And the daffodils are coming out to play. What are you still hopeful for?

The Equinoxes are an invitation to feel the balance, the dance, the ever-going conversation between life and death, dark and light. To feel the equilibrium that requires both. The Easter story is also a epic of death and life, dying and coming back alive.

We deny so much of life if we refuse to sit with, acknowledge, and make peace with death.
At the Spring Equinox, we also remember the Autumn: that a mere 6 months from now all this life, all these new leaves and the harvest that is yet to be planted, will be coming to a close.
Amazing, eh?

I invite you to remain with your outside space for a while, perhaps offering prayers outloud for what has been and what is to come. Stretch your arms wide as if to embrace it all.

Stay for longer and see if the place has a message for you.
Be patient.

Blessing
May you feel the newness of life around you, and in your blood.
May you be comforted by the seasons, and the promise of resurrection.
May you make peace with your own death.
May you go in peace, in the spirit of all Love.
Amen

Questions for Reflection
1) In what way do I resist death?

2)What symbols could I bring into my life/home to honour this changing of the season?

3)What could I plant now that will bring a harvest come Autumn? (a friendship, literal seeds, a creative project, etc)

4)How will I be part of the newness of spring-time life?

Invitation
You are all warmly invited to stop by the physical Denman Church sanctuary for contemplation on Sunday morning between 10:30 and 12:30. The sanctuary will be open (with distancing and Covid protocols in place) for you to come and enjoy the space and light a candle.
Also, the Labyrinth is alway open, with a warm welcome to come and enjoy walking the contemplative spiral. You could bring one of the above questions into the walk with you if you wish. It’s particularly beautiful this time of year, and well worth coming to see the DAFFODILS!!

You are welcome to reply to this email if you’d like to share your thoughts,

Spring Blessings,

Celeste

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