TFILLAT BHOOTZ OUTDOOR PRAYER

There is a growing movement called “Church of the Wild” https://www.wildchurchnetwork.com/  that is creating services that are not just done outdoors, but are focused on an encounter with the more than human world.  In other words, it isn’t the same service as you would do indoors just outside, but the service is rethought.  One of the founders is an ordained Christian minister, Victoria Loorz, who wrote a very accessible book about it called Church of the Wild.

This blog offers an adaptation of what she has outlined, put into a Jewish context.  Might be an hour, hour and a half total.  It needs someone who can lead the music (not me) and someone who can give an intention for the wandering in the more than human world that is at the heart of the service, just as the Amidah is at the heart of our services.

What follows are just some ideas that can be readily adapted or adjusted as desired.  This is not meant to be literally followed; it isn’t Torah m’Sinai.

OPENING

Welcome people with a few songs from the Birkot Hashachar part of the service.  So utilize one or two of Modeh Ani, Mah Tovu, Elohai Neshama, Baruch Sh’amar.

Offer a few words of welcome, including a land acknowledgement and watershed acknowledgement to situate yourself.   For instance, I would say here that we acknowledge that we are on the unceded land of the Lenni Lenape in the Brandywine River Valley.

PRAISE

Sing a few psalms of praise.  I’d probably pick something from Psalm 92 such as Tzaddik Katamar because psalm 92 is the psalm that was sung by the Levites on the Sabbath at the Temple in Jerusalem and then Psalm 150 because joy is an important experience to cultivate

SH’MA

I’d sing or do the Sh’ma because otherwise it isn’t a Jewish service.

INDUCTION FOR WANDERING

The wandering takes the place of both the Amidah and any kind of Torah service.  For the induction I’d give people a few questions that they might want to ponder as they wander, based on the Parsha of the week.  For instance, if the Parsha were Mishpatim as it was this past week, I’d do a 30 second summary of the parsha then talk for a minute about how the parsha makes the point that land and domestic animals have the same rights and obligations as humans.  I’d leave everybody with how would it change the world or your life if we truly took this teaching to heart?  Keep it short.

COMING BACK

I’d have people wander for maybe 15 minutes then come back to a shofar or a wolf call or something like that.  Then some kind of hevruta or paired sharing where they would share their experience with someone else.

SERVICE CONCLUSION

I’d conclude the service with the recitation of the mourner’s Kaddish, any kind of announcements (because every gathering must have announcements) and then singing Adon Olam before going into a potluck.  By the way, I’d recite mourner’s Kaddish even if I didn’t have a minyan (quorum) of humans or even if there weren’t any mourners present.  Why?  First, because I want to expand the concept of minyan from just humans to include the beings of the more than human world. Second, because even if I am not mourning a human being who has died for whom I would say Kaddish, there are billions of beings dying every day in the more than human world, both as part of the natural order of birth and death, and also because of human activity that damages their homes.

Mourning and praise are always appropriate and necessary parts of worship. Ending this way is a reminder of both the beauty and grief of being a human in our world.