Thick with golden-red leaves, the harbinger of autumn in Canterbury,
New Hampshire, a mosaic of tree branches rustles above and all around
the Revd Stephen Blackmer. A dozen worshippers face him. He encourages them to edge closer.
“The Holy Spirit is so very loud today,” he explains as they advance their semi-circle, hoping to hear the 61-year-old priest’s voice above the autumnal wind. Beyond the woods, the wind roars. Within this natural sanctum, the sound dulls, announcing itself steadily through leaves and branches.
Blackmer had begun Sunday afternoon service at Church of the Woods by tossing the Boston Red Sox baseball cap from his head and efficiently draping a green stole over his neck.
Like other Episcopal priests, he read from the Gospel of Luke and the book of Joel. Unlike many, Blackmer added a reflection by the Franciscan priest Richard Rohr. He led his small group in simple song and expressed gratitude for the week’s much-needed rains. He wove the day’s readings into a very brief homily on abundance and humility.
With that, he sent his small flock into the woods for 25 minutes, “to encounter God.” Some immediately disappeared into nature. Others sat or wandered. When Blackmer rang two large bells, everyone reassembled. They adorned the tree-stump altar, readied for Eucharist, with acorn tops, dried leaves, mushrooms and other mementos. They spoke of sunlight, brilliant leaves and gratitude. They passed the peace with hugs, smiles and hushed, warm voices.
Breaking the bread for Eucharist, Blackmer offered the first piece to the earth. Once everyone had sipped wine from a ceramic goblet, he poured the last drops back to the earth as well.
When the service ended, congregants helped carry everything out of the woods, their chapel.
Because if Blackmer is clear on anything, it is this: The woods are the church, the space in which seekers commune directly with the divine.
- Click here to read Heather Beasley Doyle’s full in-depth article for the Episcopal News Service.