Reverend Pete Nunnally of St. David’s Episcopal Church blends faith with nature through outdoor worship sessions along Brandywine Creek, writes Jason Nark for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
As part of the growing wild church movement, Nunnally leads a monthly “Water and Wilderness Church” at Brandywine Park.
According to his website, the Mass represents a way to “worship in the wild places and graft our worship in the full, wild beauty of the wilderness.”
“I knew that if I did this, people would come,” he said.
He added that Christianity started as an outdoor religion, long before it moved into churches. Jesus’ followers walked and talked with him, gathering around him in natural settings, like rocky outcroppings or beside the Sea of Galilee.
“He was always near water,” Nunnally said.
During COVID-19, Nunnally found that, while many worshipers physically left the church, they did not leave their faith. That is when he was drawn to the wild church movement – a global effort to provide nature and climate-minded worshippers with an outlet for their faith.
“Nature sometimes speaks to people in a way that church doesn’t,” he said, “but it says the same thing.”
Read more about the outdoor worship sessions in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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