On June 21st, The Well and members from the Wild Church Network once again held one of our ongoing Wild Belongings gatherings. We braved the hot summer heat and celebrated the Summer Solstice by holding a special service in the shaded comfort of a canopy of old oak trees. The Well’s executive director Bridget Sperduto welcomed us in with a blessing, and our little gathering with nature began.
Wild Church Network members Ellen Wiggins and Nate Thomas took turns with Bridget on sharing and reflecting on the words of Thomas Berry. They said time and again that we, including the natural world all around us, were the Face of God. The excitement of everyone gathered around and sacred love for nature and one another reverberated through the space.
Then Bridget asked us to close their eyes and open our palms. Each person received a gift that was brought earlier and placed in a basket. These gifts varied from a hen’s egg, a bird’s feather, rocks, plants, leaves, flower head, and even a budding strawberry. Opening our eyes to the gift in our hands and singing, “You are a Face of God,” reminded us that, “every being is a word of God, a book about God” (Meister Eckhart), and we are all interconnected.
Before our gathering came to an end, Ellen Wiggins encouraged us to take a Wander. Here, we took about twenty minutes to engage with the forest around us by encountering one of the trees in the grove. By taking time to listen, we came to realize what stories these trees had to share from being alive for so long. We made a new bond that in turn renewed our spirit through the gift of wisdom.
“For a lot of folks, especially those living in the city, there’s a growing longing to return to spirituality and nature, and if you ask a lot of people, ‘Where do you see God,’ I’d say eighty percent of them will give a reference to something in nature.” -Ellen Wiggins
People are hungry for ritual, for the need to be fed. Wild Belongings is just one of many ways The Well can help people connect to that need. On that day, those that gathered were fed. We all wanted to gather together to create such a sacred, moving, reverent, and comfortable space around the trees, and we did.
Our next Wild Belonging gathering is July 30th on the Gaelic feast of the harvest, Lughnasa. We hope you will consider joining us. And don’t forget to keep our future dates, Sep 25th , Oct 29th, and Dec 3rd marked on your calendars! Find out more/register here.
If you wish to know more about the Wild Church Network, click here. You can also find Wild Belongings on Facebook.