Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017, Season of Creation 1 (full size gallery)
This Sunday was the first in the program year, 2017-18. The youth played Quidditch and the adults were scheduled for Godly Play at 10am before the service.
We had 44 in church. We celebrated Alan and Wendy’s 41st wedding anniversary. Andrew spoke on his bee colony and the need to feed the bees during the winter. (Bring in granulated sugar and pint size mason jars!) The first Sunday social was after the service which featured sandwiches from Wegman’s. There was a mixtures of clouds and sun with variable weather conditions.
We started the Season of Creation this Sunday, five weeks in the middle of Pentecost that focuses on our relation to God and the environment. The Season of Creation is an optional liturgy in the Episcopal Church. We had different readings readings and a different Eucharistic prayer – "We Give Thanks". It highlights the role of God as Creator and Jesus dwelling in nature as one of us to bring us abundant life
It made it real with Hurricane Harvey devastating Houston, Texas, the 4th largest city in the US. We are collecting funds for its relief. As part of that, an anonymous donor has pledged to match the first $1,000 of donations. Thus we plan to send Episcopal Relief a check for $2,000 in the minimum.
In these first week’s readings, God, holy and transcendent, has power over all of creation. God is “worthy to receive glory and honor and power, for God created all things, by God’s will they existed and were created” (Rev 4:11). In the gospel, Jesus stills the storm on the Sea of Galilee, and the disciples are amazed and say, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” In Psalm 130, the psalmist, who is in the depths, waits on the Lord and hopes in the Lord. The readings are here.
The sermon talked about recent statements on the season of creation. It has been support by Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholemew, the latter the head of Orthodox christians. “The story of creation presents us with a panoramic view of the world. Scripture reveals that, ‘in the beginning’, God intended humanity to cooperate in the preservation and protection of the natural environment. “However, ‘in the meantime’, the history of the world presents a very different context. It reveals a morally decaying scenario where our attitude and behavior towards creation obscures our calling as God’s co-operators. Our propensity to interrupt the world’s delicate and balanced ecosystems, our insatiable desire to manipulate and control the planet’s limited resources, and our greed for limitless profit in markets—all these have alienated us from the original purpose of creation. We no longer respect nature as a shared gift; instead, we regard it as a private possession.
“The consequences of this alternative worldview are tragic and lasting. The human environment and the natural environment are deteriorating together, and this deterioration of the planet weighs upon the most vulnerable of its people. The impact of climate change affects, first and foremost, those who live in poverty in every corner of the globe. Our obligation to use the earth’s goods responsibly implies the recognition of and respect for all people and all living creatures.
“Therefore, united by the same concern for God’s creation and acknowledging the earth as a shared good, we fervently invite all people of goodwill to dedicate a time of prayer for the environment…on this occasion, we wish to offer thanks to the loving Creator for the noble gift of creation and to pledge commitment to its care and preservation for the sake of future generations
During the next five weeks, we’re going to be putting on our theological thinking caps regarding creation, and I hope you’ll find this thinking cap so useful that you’ll want to continue wearing it after this official season ends on October 4th.