Feast of Creation

 


         Ezekiel 47: 1-9    John 7: 37-39

 

At last.. the rain has come.

In a total reversal of the usual way of things, where the rain seems to come just as the schools have broken up for the summer, we had a very sunny dry summer – including just about the whole of the school holiday – and now the rain has come for a rather damp ‘back to school’ feel.

 

But this year, more than ever, we have been glad to see the rain fall. Everywhere grass was looking not just dry, but bleached white – I seriously wondered whether the grass could recover. But we’ve all noticed the green shoots appear, once the rain started to fall.

Life was just waiting for things to change.

 

The Orthodox Church has invited all churches to join them on this first Sunday of September to mark a “feast of creation” in the churches.

 

This marks the beginning of the season of creation, when we have our harvest festivals and thank God for all the gifts creation brings.

 

The Orthodox Archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew, has released a statement calling on us all to turn, to change, to reverse a lot of our thinking about how we live in our world.

 

Reversal, change, new life are all vital themes for those who try to follow Jesus Christ. So as we hear the news that this has been the hottest summer on record, and as we continue to learn more about how human choices – especially our use of fossil fuels -  are affecting the climate, I’d like us to be clear-eyed but hopeful about our place in creation.

To do that we need to reverse some of our ways of seeing things.

 

1.   Stop using the word ‘environment’ to mean the other living things around us, as if the world is like a stage for human beings.

This is an inter-connected and interdependent world. Even using a term like ‘the natural world’ suggests that there is more than one world: perhaps the world we people make – of buildings and cars and material possessions, and a ‘natural world’ – which is just there for us to enjoy.

There is just one created order, one world, and we, human beings, are just a part of the network of life, human creatures alongside all the other creatures God has made.

 

2.   Stop speaking about ‘resources’ as if things like gas and oil are just there for human beings to use, with no implications for the planet.

We know now that human activity of burning fossil fuels is responsible for climate change, due to the increase of carbon dioxide in the upper atmosphere.

We have just had the warmest summer on record.

The warmest year before 2026 was 2025.

The other years in the top five warmest summers are 2018, 2006, and 2003.

The top 5 warmest summers have all occurred in the last 13 years – since records began in 1884.

Human beings are making the planet hotter and hotter with effects for crops, sea levels, and wildlife.

 

3.   Listen to voices of others in world and be prepared to change how we live.

Christian Aid calls for ‘climate justice’ and remind us that around the world, heatwaves, wildfires, droughts, and floods are

becoming more frequent and severe, wrecking lives, homes, and livelihoods.

It’s the poorest, who have done the least to cause the climate crisis, who are paying the greatest price.

Poverty and a deepening debt crisis means poorer countries are struggling to respond.

Meanwhile, the biggest polluters make vast profits from fossil fuels.

Rich nations who’ve benefitted from fossil fuels – like the UK - are failing to deliver on their climate action and finance pledges.

 

We need to be clear-eyed – facing the truth of the situation – and be prepared to change.

But we also need to be hopeful.

 

Just as our lawns have begun to spring back to life with the recent rainfall, so the vision of Ezekiel speaks of the life and love and power of God spreading out from the temple like streams of living water, becoming a mighty river and bringing life and joy to the whole world.

Remembering that this world is a creation of God – not just a place for people to live – reminds us that God not only made this world but continues to love it and care for it, and provide the means for new life to spring up.

 

We also heard Jesus offering living water to anyone who followed him.

Jesus is offering the gift of the Holy Spirit, which refreshes us and helps us embrace change. Jesus promises that when we open ourselves up to God’s power, the Spirit will make it possible to do the things we need to do to protect creation.

 

So the best thing we can do today to celebrate this feast of creation is to pray that the Spirit of God will help us to turn around our thinking about God’s creation and make us more wise in our living on earth.

 

You have each been given a sheet of A4 paper. Don’t worry about what’s written on it – you can turn it to the blank side & we will use this paper to pray

(using a prayer activity suggested by Christian Aid in the resource for Climate Justice

here 

 

Amen.

 

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