The Seed Disperser - May 2024
In tune with the seasons
What’s in this month’s Seed Disperser
Featured this month - 5 Senses to Prayer
5 Senses to Prayer - A Collection of Experiential Prayers - Book One
5 Senses to Prayer Virtual Prayer Room
Inspiration this month - In tune with the seasons
Bulbs and seeds
Seasons of change - an interactive reflection
Climate change - world map prayers
Stroll - listen to Caroline reflect on writing this year’s Stroll
Sensory prayers for autumn and spring
Coming soon - Sensory Prayer Paths
New feature - Paywalled chat
On a personal note - Kererū in the park
Book of the month
5 Senses to Prayer
5 Senses to Prayer - A collection of experiential prayers - Book One is written by Caroline Bindon. Filled with 175 different prayers based on the 5 Senses, each prayer is accompanied with suggestions on how to use the prayer in different settings. These include for personal use, in small or large groups or setting up prayer stations. Read more about this title on our website. Use code SENSORY at the checkout to receive a 20% discount on this book.
Caroline also writes a weekly resource, 5 Senses Virtual Prayer Room on Substack. Free subscribers receive one prayer each week, while paid subscribers receive two or three prayers. The current series is called, ‘On the journey to Book 2’. The prayers each week will be included in the next book due to be published later this year.
We’re offering a 20% discount on subscription price for the Virtual Prayer Room until the end of March.
Inspiration this month
In tune with the seasons
It’s that time of year when the seasons change. Here in Aotearoa New Zealand we’re moving from summer to winter, in the season we call autumn. Throughout human history people have looked to the skies to understand seasons. The movements of sun, moon and stars have guided our understandings of seasonal shifts. The seasonal model used for most parts of the world includes four seasons, but in some places there are only two named seasons, while in other places, six seasons. Across cultures and time, there have been many different ways of measuring seasons. One thing all the seasonal models agree is there is a cyclical shift in our environment that brings about change from one season to another until the season comes around again.
In our contemporary world, many of us reading this edition of The Seed Disperser can almost get by without any deep acknowledgment of the seasons. We buy our food from supermarkets, the fruit and vegetables stacked and arranged on pallets and shelves. The hard work of planting, tending and harvesting is not ours to worry about. We live in warm and dry houses and close our windows, doors and curtains to keep the outdoors from coming inside. We drive or catch public transport to work or school, listening to songs, podcasts or books on our car radios or smartphones and only look out the window to see the traffic in front or to recognise our bus stop. We’ve learned ways to limit any impact from seasonal shifts on our daily living.
Attention, all! See the marvels of God! He plants flowers and trees all over the earth, Bans war from pole to pole, breaks all the weapons across his knee. “Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything.”
Psalm 46:8-10 - The Message
We are not removed from the seasons. This pattern, this rhythm, this cycle, this progression, is all part of God’s creation. Paying attention to the seasons keeps us in tune with creation. It’s grounding for us. It makes us stop and take notice. When we step out and pause, we allow ourselves time to see God at work in the world and in us. Taking notice of the seasons invites us to step away from the traffic of our daily lives. It takes intention to push pause on the busy activities, the stresses and strains that occupy our minds and our time. It takes intention to take respite from the people that demand our attention and the routine chores and responsibilites. We can turn our awareness of the season into a spiritual practice. This edition of The Seed Disperser invites us to pay attention to the season and to our Creator God.
The theme of this month’s Seed Disperser complements our upcoming Stroll. Our theme for Stroll is ‘Seasons of change’. Whether you’re participating in Stroll this year or you are a reader of The Seed Disperser, there are ideas in this edition for getting in tune with the season. There’s ideas for navigating seasons of change within a framework of faithful journeying with God.
Bulbs and seeds
Look at bulbs and seed. They look boring. They look dead. Unless you know better, you’d be forgiven for being surprised at the wonder they each hold. Within their exterior a full programme of growth and renewal is contained. Plant a seed or bulb in the right soil, give it the right amount of water and sunshine and it will blossom. With the support of these things, the seed or bulb will follow its own programme of growth and renewal and embark upon a regeneration adventure all by itself.
Host a planting event with a group of friends. Give each person seeds and bulbs to hold. Allow yourselves to wonder at the potential held within. Plant them and care for them. Watch them grow into their potential. Think of your own life or the life of your group. What seeds of potential is inside you. What do these seeds need to grow and flourish? What can you do to support this growth? Invite God’s involvement in the growing and flourishing of this life.
Seasons of change - an interactive reflection
Go for a walk in a place where you can experience the sights of the change of season in Spring or Autumn. As you walk, pay attention to your senses in a prayerful conversation with God.
Start with your visual sense. What can you see? What changes in the environment can you notice? How does this make you want to respond to God? If you take these visual changes and think about them as an image prompting thoughts about change in your life how would you like to respond to God? Look carefully at your surroundings, the sky, the earth, the trees, the flowers, the people, the streets, the buildings. Notice details around you and try to discern what are seasonal changes and what are constant visual impressions throughout the season. Let these visual images prompt your thoughts and prayers.
Now pay close attention to your other senses. Try to isolate each sense as you walk to notice what is going on around you in a multi-sensory way.
What can you hear? Are there different distinctive noises in this change of season? How can you turn this into a prayer about noises in your life right now?
What can you feel as you walk? Do you notice the temperature changing? How do your shoes feel on your feet? Can you touch any of the natural things around you? What textural things do you notice in this season? Turn these thoughts into a prayer too.
What can you smell? Are there distinctive seasonal smells? Allow the smells to help you remember past seasons. Pray for previous seasons of change in your life. Give thanks where relevant, or cry out to God if that feels more appropriate.
What can you taste? Perhaps on your walk you can bring in your sense of taste. If you walk is in a natural environment, maybe you can taste the air, the saltiness if you walk by the sea, the brackishness of a bush area. Maybe you can take a snack or a drink with you and stop to rest and replenish. As you taste, eat and drink, give thanks for the taste of God in your life.
Find somewhere on your walk where you can sit or stand comfortably and enjoy this season of change. Reflect on recent or upcoming changes in your own life. Name the changes aloud as a prayer of acknowledgment. Let these changes you’ve named sit with you. Ask yourself, what is God inviting? Respond in prayer.
Take something home from your walk to remind you of this time. It might be a shell, a pebble, a leaf, a photo or a sketch. Place it somewhere you’ll see it over the next few days as you get on with daily living and continue to reflect on your own season of change.
Climate change prayers
We might be living in the seasons of change of autumn or spring, but increasingly over the last few years, seasonal change has been at times chaotic and out of order. As climate change continues to mess with our understanding of the established pattern of seasonal activity, it’s hard to not take notice.
In last month’s edition of The Seed Disperser we provided some ideas for praying for our world using a spinning globe. The prayers below are focussed on climate change, but you can easily adapt these for another focus.
Here’s an idea for prayer for the world using recycled cardboard
World map jigsaw puzzle prayer
Print out a colourful world map and glue down onto a recycled piece of sturdy card. Trace shapes on the back of the card to divide the world map into 6-8 pieces. Cut out the pieces. On the back of each piece, glue a section of a prayer for climate change. Number each piece according to the sequenced order of your prayer. Hand out the pieces to individuals in your group. At a signal the first person stands and reads out their prayer then brings their broken piece of the world to a display stand and pins it in place. Invite the larger group to respond with words such as, “Lord hear our prayer.” The next person immediately follows on, with the same pattern including the group responding with the same one line response. This continues until all the pieces are in place and the broken world is made whole again.
Here’s two ideas for prayers for the world using a fabric world map
Purchase fabric panels of the world map such as this fabric. The first idea below is a prayer using the fabric to make banners. The second idea uses the fabric to make a soft huggable cushion.
World map banner prayer
Hang fabric banners of the world map around your space at a height within reach of the shortest people in your group. On a stand next to each banner provide a container holding white ribbons attached to safety pins. Invite participants to pin a ribbon onto the world map in a place where climate change has caused recent upheaval. As they pin, invite a one sentence or one word prayer.
World map cushion hugging prayer
Make a cushion from world map fabric. Fill the cushion with eco-friendly filling such as recycled fabric scraps or woollen fibre fill. Trace your finger around countries and places currently experiencing impacts from climate change. Hug the cushion tightly to your chest and pray for the needs of the world. Pray that the impacts of climate change will be cushioned by people in positions of power taking action now rather than talking or ignoring what’s happening in our world.
Notes about the cushion prayer:
The print of the world on this fabric is not very accurate… something we’ve found with other products using depictions of world maps. This invites good conversation and an awareness of our world. It doesn’t create a problem for general prayers for the world, but maybe little more of a challenge if you’re looking for a specific country only to find it’s not there or has moved!
To make the prayer cushion I used one panel of cotton drill fabric. The inner cushion is remade from an upcycled ripped cotton bedsheet, and the fill for the inner cushion is ripped strips of the same bedsheet. The buttons are also re-used from packaging and are coconut.
Stroll in 2024
This year our Stroll (previously known as Stroll for Your Soul) will be taking place from 19 May to 8 June. Instead of offering Stroll as spring focussed we’ve shifted it to reflect on Seasons of Change. We’re hosting one big Stroll bringing Strollers together from across the globe.
If you’re currently experiencing a season of change in your own life, or if you’d like to have a focus to engage with the seasons of change in spring or autumn (depending on where you live) you might be interested in this year’s Stroll. Subscribe to an individual Stroll or gather some friends and subscribe a group. If you’ve never Strolled with us previously we’d love to have you join us.
Listen here to Caroline reflect on writing this year’s Stroll and why she’s excited and looking forward to this year’s Stroll.
Use one of these buttons to register for Stroll.
Sensory prayers for autumn and spring
Bird watching prayer
Find a place to sit and watch birds. Observe the birds for several minutes. Watch their actions and listen to their bird song. As you observe them, allow yourself to become absorbed in your watching. How does the action of the birds shape your view of God? Offer these thoughts as single words of adoration and praise.
Autumn leaf walk prayer
Go for a walk and gather autumn leaves in a variety of different shapes and colours. Think about the cycle of life and how there is a season for everything. Pray for those who are tired, worn out, sick, old or dying. Pray they would experience God in their autumn moments. Pray for yourself, that you would understand there is a season for everything and be aware of the needs of others in different seasons and stages of their lives.
Daffodil cupcake wrapper prayer
In the middle of a yellow cupcake case write something you want God to help blossom and grow in your own life. Pre-cut or cut out four or five petals from yellow card and attach these to the back of your cupcake case with double sided tape. Tape your daffodil to a green coloured iceblock stick. Hold your flower. Pray a one sentence prayer. Pray God would help this thing you’ve named in the middle of your cupcake to grow and flourish in your life. As a public declaration of your faithful prayer, place your flower into a vase or tray of sand with other daffodil flowers made by others. This will create a display of prayers for growth in the lives of individuals and in your group life together.
Spring blossoms prayer
Spring is the season of new growth. In the blossoms we find on trees we see new life emerging from the winter. Take a circle of tissue paper. Think about the season of spring, and how the garden, which has looked dead all winter is now coming to life with new growth. How does this match our own lives? Are there aspects in our lives that could do with some spring growth? On the tissue circle write something in your life that you’d like God to blossom and grow within you. Give it to God by praying a prayer offering yourself to God. Fold the pink circle into quarters. Give it a twist in the corner and attach a twist-tie to it. Now attach your blossom to a bare branch or stick.
Acorn Prayers
Hold an acorn and think about the possibilities held within this tiny seed. There's nourishment for the winter ahead and a built-in mechanism for changing from a tiny seed into a majestic tree. Allow yourself to feel a sense of awe, at the way the seasons come and go. Be amazed at the way the oak tree continually works on this plan of fresh beginnings and regeneration.
Hold your acorn in your hand. (Alternatively if you can’t find an acorn, use a seed of another plant. If finding a seed is too hard, hold a leaf or branch from a different tree)
Adoration and Praise Prayer starter... God of the tiniest seeds to the tallest trees, I offer my adoration and praise to you...
Thanksgiving Prayer starter... God of hope and light, I give you thanks for the stirrings of good, the acorns of hope, happening this week...
Confession Prayer starter... God of acorns and seeds, fresh starts and new beginnings, I pray for a new beginning to be born in me...
Intercession Prayer starter... God of majestic and abundant love, I pray for those hurting right now…
Petition and Supplication Prayer starter... God of small things with possibilities, I pray for my own needs and possibilities right now....
Responding Prayer starter... God of all, I pray…
Coming soon
Sensory Prayer Paths
Launching this winter, we have a new resource available for download as a PDF with four separate editions to purchase. There is a sensory prayer path for each of the four seasons; winter, spring, summer, autumn). Each path includes thirteen interactive prayers to be set up as waypoints or prayer stations along the path.
The intention is to provide a full resource for setting up a prayer path for a group in a hall or large space, or use the material for a personal spiritual retreat.
Included are ideas for setting up the waypoints, decorating, opening paths to the public, lists of equipment required, curating a personal retreat, and a few other things. Printables including signage, maps and poster for each prayer.
Each prayer path will be available as an individual download for $10 (NZD) or download all four paths for $25 (NZD)
Pre-register your interest by sending Caroline a message so you can receive an early release copy.
New feature
Paywalled chat
Since we’ve made the move to publish The Seed Disperser through Substack, we’ve been appreciating the constant rollout of new features. The latest new feature we’re starting to use on this e-zine is a paywalled chat. The Seed Disperser will always be available for free, but for those who do support our work financially, we thought it would be nice to have a space you can connect with us and other supporters.
We’d love to engage with subscribers in this chat format. If you want to join the chat we’ll respond as soon as possible. Share your thoughts on this month’s edition of The Seed Dispersor, ask questions or make suggestions for future editions. What resources would you like to see us publish apart from The Seed Disperser and our other current publications?
On a personal note
Kererū in the park
We’ve written previously about Shakespear Regional Park located at the end of our peninsula. It’s a beautiful place and an attraction for visitors from all over the city and beyond. For many years Andrew was a trapper at the park, but after breaking his wrist a couple of years ago, he hasn’t been able to return to trapping. We still take a keen interest in the park and the work of SOSSI and enjoy taking friends and family there for visits or going for a walk ourselves.
We will likely go for at least one walk in the park during this year’s Stroll. Here’s a short video from a walk through Waterfall Gully in the summer. Can you spot the two kererū sitting on a branch?
Whatever season this edition of The Seed Disperser finds you, our prayer is that your travels will be guided by our Creator God and you will find comfort, hope and encouragement on your journey.
On the journey
Caroline & Andrew