Earthkeepers: A Circlewood Podcast on Creation Care and Spirituality · Forrest Inslee

Practices for a Wilder Spirituality: Victoria Loorz’ New Field Guide to Church of the Wild | Ep. 124

·40 min·2 clips

Loorz says the climate crisis has arrived now, and grief must be entered with courage, community, and patience.

The host welcomes Victoria back as a frequent guest and turns to her new Field Guide to Church of the Wild. The conversation treats the book as something to carry, not conquer. They walk through the field-guide format, including the playful oak-tree illustration and the chapter map built around parts of a wild church. That structure helps make the subject feel less intimidating. The host notes that the book offers an easier doorway into reconnecting faith and nature. Victoria explains that a field guide is meant to be skipped around, not read straight through. That practical shape matches the book's purpose. The discussion names the chapters as emergence, leadership, grounding, stories, rituals, cycles, saunterings, sharing, and reciprocity. Those chapters are presented as different ways of creating sacred presence in holy ground. The conversation keeps returning to the idea that everyone is already standing on holy ground. From there, it opens into the question of how spiritual life shifts when creation is treated as revelation rather than backdrop. The host reflects on people in regular indoor churches who still feel drawn to God's revelation in nature. The episode makes room for that tension without turning it into a fight. Victoria says many churches are already adopting these practices in their own rhythms, sometimes integrating them weekly or once a month. The exchange suggests that wild church practice can sit beside conventional church life instead of replacing it outright. The tone stays warm, measured, and pastorally curious throughout. It frames Earth care as a spiritual and communal reorientation, not a slogan. The closing notes return to restoring sacred relationship with place and with one another.

As heard by us

A practical invitation to read nature as a place of revelation.

Victoria Lewis returns with Field Guide to Church of the Wild, and the episode stays grounded in practical ways spiritual practice can deepen through contact with faith and creation.

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Why you'd press play

If you want a gentler, practical way into wild church practice, start here.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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