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Week 4
Mountain Sunday [i]
Focus scripture: Isaiah 65:17–25
“Look! I’m creating a new heaven and a new earth…” Isaiah 65:17a
God is always creating things anew. Even as one thing dies, another comes to life. As plant and animals return to the earth, they nurture the growth of new beings. In this kind of world, how can we do anything but rejoice? Indeed, the prophet Isaiah declares how wonderful life can be in God’s new world. When we remember our place in Creation, and how we can support one another, life on God’s “holy mountain” – this planet – becomes wonderful beyond our imagination. Even the wolf and lion will lie down together!
It is seldom possible to look toward the mountains on a clear day anywhere and not be awestruck by beauty and strength and grandeur. It is this vision of unmatched strength and grandeur that the prophet invites us to consider as we imagine God’s “holy mountain.” The mountain is the New Jerusalem where the former things of violence, death, greed, threat, and exile are forgotten and new possibility is presented.
It is in this text commonly known as Third Isaiah (chapters 56–66) where the soundtrack changes from oracles of judgment and pessimism about how people are living to promises of restoration and peace at every level of existence. However, it is not intended to be a new heaven and new earth that comes as a result of the former creation being completely destroyed.
Rather, it suggests God’s transformation of the old into something new teeming with God’s delight and desire. Perhaps the “holy mountain” best describes this movement of the new arising up from the destruction of exile, violence, instability, and lack of relationship with God. The new takes us to whole new heights. The people are promised freedom from the threat of invasion and attack; economic stability because the land will give provision for all; and lives of blessing.
These speeches were first heard by the earliest of the people of Judah returning to Jerusalem after the exile. Everything in the city needs to be rebuilt and reimagined so as to take shape as a whole new society in what Isaiah would suggest is in obedience to God. The time is right for convincing people to be part of God’s new vision of reality.
God’s vision and promises are also relevant to contemporary readers needing to believe in God’s capacity to reform, transform, and make new that which is most wrought with harm. The holy mountain has been interpreted to mean both a realized heaven (eschatology) on earth and a realm that exists beyond our current one.
The harmony suggested by the wolf and the lamb feeding together appeals to a modern insistence on including a redemption or new heaven for all of the created order.
REFLECTING ON THE WORD
Connecting with Life
If possible go to http://vimeo.com/22439234 to see Terje Sorgjerd’s time lapse movie of El Teide, Spain’s highest mountain. Sorgjerd says: “The goal was to capture the beautiful Milky Way galaxy along with one of the most amazing mountains I know, El Teide…A large sandstorm hit the Sahara Desert on the 9th April, 2011 and at approx 3am in the night the sandstorm hit me, making it nearly impossible to see the sky with my own eyes…
“I was sure my whole scene was ruined. To my surprise, my camera had managed to capture the sandstorm which was backlit by Grand Canary Island making it look like golden clouds. The Milky Way was shining through the clouds, making the stars sparkle in an interesting way.”
Connecting with Scripture
Isaiah 65:17 and 24 describe the actions that God will take to create a new heaven and a new earth.
Connecting Scripture and Life
Woven throughout the Isaiah reading is a sense of strength. On God’s holy mountain God delights in transforming creation into something that will continually bless humanity and others in the created order.
PRAYER OF REFLECTION
Where we see limits and impossibility, O God, you see a future with promise. You invite us to dream of a time where there is justice and harmony for all the earth. Guide us to know, deeply, your imagination for us and our potential. Help us to gain wisdom from the past and yet to move into the future free from past ways of harm and destruction. Amen.
[i] Adapted from Seasons of the Spirit™ Wood Lake Publishing, Season of Creation, Year B, 2012, used with permission
Mountain Sunday [i]
Focus scripture: Isaiah 65:17–25
“Look! I’m creating a new heaven and a new earth…” Isaiah 65:17a
God is always creating things anew. Even as one thing dies, another comes to life. As plant and animals return to the earth, they nurture the growth of new beings. In this kind of world, how can we do anything but rejoice? Indeed, the prophet Isaiah declares how wonderful life can be in God’s new world. When we remember our place in Creation, and how we can support one another, life on God’s “holy mountain” – this planet – becomes wonderful beyond our imagination. Even the wolf and lion will lie down together!
- What are the dreams you have for Creation?
It is seldom possible to look toward the mountains on a clear day anywhere and not be awestruck by beauty and strength and grandeur. It is this vision of unmatched strength and grandeur that the prophet invites us to consider as we imagine God’s “holy mountain.” The mountain is the New Jerusalem where the former things of violence, death, greed, threat, and exile are forgotten and new possibility is presented.
It is in this text commonly known as Third Isaiah (chapters 56–66) where the soundtrack changes from oracles of judgment and pessimism about how people are living to promises of restoration and peace at every level of existence. However, it is not intended to be a new heaven and new earth that comes as a result of the former creation being completely destroyed.
Rather, it suggests God’s transformation of the old into something new teeming with God’s delight and desire. Perhaps the “holy mountain” best describes this movement of the new arising up from the destruction of exile, violence, instability, and lack of relationship with God. The new takes us to whole new heights. The people are promised freedom from the threat of invasion and attack; economic stability because the land will give provision for all; and lives of blessing.
These speeches were first heard by the earliest of the people of Judah returning to Jerusalem after the exile. Everything in the city needs to be rebuilt and reimagined so as to take shape as a whole new society in what Isaiah would suggest is in obedience to God. The time is right for convincing people to be part of God’s new vision of reality.
God’s vision and promises are also relevant to contemporary readers needing to believe in God’s capacity to reform, transform, and make new that which is most wrought with harm. The holy mountain has been interpreted to mean both a realized heaven (eschatology) on earth and a realm that exists beyond our current one.
The harmony suggested by the wolf and the lamb feeding together appeals to a modern insistence on including a redemption or new heaven for all of the created order.
REFLECTING ON THE WORD
Connecting with Life
If possible go to http://vimeo.com/22439234 to see Terje Sorgjerd’s time lapse movie of El Teide, Spain’s highest mountain. Sorgjerd says: “The goal was to capture the beautiful Milky Way galaxy along with one of the most amazing mountains I know, El Teide…A large sandstorm hit the Sahara Desert on the 9th April, 2011 and at approx 3am in the night the sandstorm hit me, making it nearly impossible to see the sky with my own eyes…
“I was sure my whole scene was ruined. To my surprise, my camera had managed to capture the sandstorm which was backlit by Grand Canary Island making it look like golden clouds. The Milky Way was shining through the clouds, making the stars sparkle in an interesting way.”
- Describe a time when you were on a mountain or hill, what did you sense at that time/moment?
Connecting with Scripture
Isaiah 65:17 and 24 describe the actions that God will take to create a new heaven and a new earth.
- What needs to be transformed/re-created in our time? How might this be accomplished?
- In terms of the eco systems and life cycles of creation, is this image of a transformed and ideal world realistic? Why or why not?
- What “former things” (if any) need to be forgotten in order for us to thrive in the future?
- In what ways do the verses in Isaiah point to a God who creates not only at the beginning of time but continually through history?
Connecting Scripture and Life
Woven throughout the Isaiah reading is a sense of strength. On God’s holy mountain God delights in transforming creation into something that will continually bless humanity and others in the created order.
- What parts of the passage invite you to a sense of delight or a vision of possibility?
- How might you, individually and as a faith community be a part of God’s new vision of possibility?
PRAYER OF REFLECTION
Where we see limits and impossibility, O God, you see a future with promise. You invite us to dream of a time where there is justice and harmony for all the earth. Guide us to know, deeply, your imagination for us and our potential. Help us to gain wisdom from the past and yet to move into the future free from past ways of harm and destruction. Amen.
[i] Adapted from Seasons of the Spirit™ Wood Lake Publishing, Season of Creation, Year B, 2012, used with permission
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Week 3 –
Sky Sunday[i]
Focus Scripture: Psalm 19:1-6
“Heaven is declaring God’s glory…”
The unbridled praise of God’s creative power in Psalm 19 helps to counter the negative imagery of Jeremiah 4:23–28. Yet, while this latter passage speaks of Earth having no hope, still God proclaims, “I will not destroy it completely.” Even in the midst of God’s anger and despair at humankind – often for ways we have abused Creation – still God does not abandon us, or the Earth which is our home. Indeed, we can look to the heavens and feel the power and presence of God.
Gazing up at the sky expands our call to look to the heavens and cosmos around us to see both the beauty of God’s creation and the urgent call to see how our actions and activity are felt in the entire atmosphere within which we live. Take a breath, and feel the wondrous presence of God in that air, offering you the gift of a moment of being.
As we continue to focus on creation, the sky becomes integral to remind us of the mystery and vastness of the cosmos, of which we are a part. The daily changes that the sky presents to us parallel the changes that each of us experiences and takes part in.
Setting aside time to focus on the wonder of our Skies provides an opportunity for us to reflect on our fragile atmosphere from which comes the air we breathe, the rain and the wind that shape our lives and our landscapes, as well as so much beauty.
Psalm 19:1–6 Whereas declares God’s handiwork. The words of this Psalm keeps us looking to the sky, atmosphere, realms around and above us for instruction on knowing God. Instead of human words and speech we are called to notice how images in the cosmos speak to God’s presence and power. It is the testimony of nature which invites us to that relationship beyond ourselves.
Reflecting on the Word
Connecting with Life
We all share the same sky, the same atmosphere. The air that we breathe connects us.
Connecting with Scripture: Psalm 19: 1-6
Connecting Scripture and Life
Sociologist Reginald Bibby from the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, claims that in modern society people can be good without God but that belief in God helps. He suggests religion instils values important to society and provides a unique sense of hope in the face of death.
PRAYER OF REFLECTION
Creator God, you desire to be in relationship with us, and for us to be awestruck by your beauty. May our attention move upward and outward to notice you and your handiwork in the sky, in the stars and in the warmth of the sun. May we be reminded that you delight in all of creation and speak beyond words. Guide us to respond and to be claimed by wonder, connection, to you and each other. Amen.
[i] Adapted from Seasons of the Spirit™ Wood Lake Publishing, Season of Creation, Year B, 2012, used with permission
Sky Sunday[i]
Focus Scripture: Psalm 19:1-6
“Heaven is declaring God’s glory…”
The unbridled praise of God’s creative power in Psalm 19 helps to counter the negative imagery of Jeremiah 4:23–28. Yet, while this latter passage speaks of Earth having no hope, still God proclaims, “I will not destroy it completely.” Even in the midst of God’s anger and despair at humankind – often for ways we have abused Creation – still God does not abandon us, or the Earth which is our home. Indeed, we can look to the heavens and feel the power and presence of God.
- How do you feel God present in the sky?
Gazing up at the sky expands our call to look to the heavens and cosmos around us to see both the beauty of God’s creation and the urgent call to see how our actions and activity are felt in the entire atmosphere within which we live. Take a breath, and feel the wondrous presence of God in that air, offering you the gift of a moment of being.
As we continue to focus on creation, the sky becomes integral to remind us of the mystery and vastness of the cosmos, of which we are a part. The daily changes that the sky presents to us parallel the changes that each of us experiences and takes part in.
Setting aside time to focus on the wonder of our Skies provides an opportunity for us to reflect on our fragile atmosphere from which comes the air we breathe, the rain and the wind that shape our lives and our landscapes, as well as so much beauty.
- How do we live in thankful relationship with this life-giving blanket that wraps around Earth, and reminds us of God’s steadfast presence and call?
Psalm 19:1–6 Whereas declares God’s handiwork. The words of this Psalm keeps us looking to the sky, atmosphere, realms around and above us for instruction on knowing God. Instead of human words and speech we are called to notice how images in the cosmos speak to God’s presence and power. It is the testimony of nature which invites us to that relationship beyond ourselves.
Reflecting on the Word
Connecting with Life
We all share the same sky, the same atmosphere. The air that we breathe connects us.
- What spiritual practices take you out of self- preoccupation and into a deeper sense of relationship to others?
- What actions or relationships have changed in your life from a deeper call to live in the wisdom of God?
Connecting with Scripture: Psalm 19: 1-6
- When are the moments in your life when you have the deepest sense of the heavens declaring the glory of God?
- How has your experience of such expansiveness called you to live differently?
Connecting Scripture and Life
Sociologist Reginald Bibby from the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, claims that in modern society people can be good without God but that belief in God helps. He suggests religion instils values important to society and provides a unique sense of hope in the face of death.
- In what ways does Christian practice nurture these characteristics in you?
- To what extent do you think having these characteristics averts disaster in your life and in the life of the planet?
- How might religions take a greater role in calling the world to pay attention?
PRAYER OF REFLECTION
Creator God, you desire to be in relationship with us, and for us to be awestruck by your beauty. May our attention move upward and outward to notice you and your handiwork in the sky, in the stars and in the warmth of the sun. May we be reminded that you delight in all of creation and speak beyond words. Guide us to respond and to be claimed by wonder, connection, to you and each other. Amen.
[i] Adapted from Seasons of the Spirit™ Wood Lake Publishing, Season of Creation, Year B, 2012, used with permission
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Week 2:
HUMANITY SUNDAY:
LEARN MY STORIES![i]
Focus Scripture: Genesis 1:27 - 28
“God created humanity in God’s own image…”
Creation of humans should not be seen as separate from other elements of creation. Rather, God created human beings as a part of an overall plan that included stars and rivers, animals and trees, night time and day, as well as people. We are intrinsically part of God’s world. And we are called to have “dominion” over creation. Dominion, though, does not mean we are rulers – rather, it means we are called to be God-like. As God cares for even the minute details, so are we called to care for each thing, large and small.
It introduces metaphor and suggestions on the relationship of Creator to human and human to Creator. The first thing the text describes is that humans are made in the likeness or image of the Divine. Humans are the first and only creatures described as having divine characteristics. Up until the writing of this text any image for God was avoided by the Israelites. But this was not a graven or fixed image like some used by the Near Eastern religions that surrounded them. It was, rather, a living image. The role of the human made in God’s image was to mirror God to the world and to care as God cares.
It was not unusual for a king to be seen as someone who was a representative of God, but this text describes and extends this role to all humanity. Therefore humans are given power to take up God-given responsibilities. This means being in relationship with and caring for the rest of God’s creation. The word dominion (Hebrew rada) expressed in this passage is one that has been under debate for many centuries. Some believe it puts humans at the top of the hierarchy, giving humans power and authority over all other creatures. The verb (rada) however, suggests the task is one of care-giving and nurturing, not exploitation. Humans should relate to the world as God would – helping the world along with its full potential.
This description of humans also reveals more about the characteristics of God. The fact that God creates in God’s image means the divine is revealed rather than hidden or concealed. God is not removed and ordering from afar but rather is engaged in relationship with creation. God shares power with others in the ongoing act of creation.
Verse 28 describes God’s blessing of humanity which includes God giving power, strength, and potential. God also commands that humans be “fruitful and multiply.” This addresses the real concern of the time of the need to populate the earth. These were details important at the time of the development of the poem, during a time of exile, but the essence when God gives them power and authority is to take the responsibilities seriously. In our modern context it may not be that we need to multiply but there are new situations which require humanity to participate in creation’s full potential.
Reflecting on the Word
Connecting with life
Calls to humans to change their lives for the sake of Earth, its creatures and natural elements come from many different directions: wildlife agencies, nature itself, governments, religions, and environmentalists.
Connecting with Scripture
“Let us create” in verse 26 refers to a divine or heavenly council.
Verse 27 talks about males and females being created simultaneously. Both carry the image or likeness of God.
Connecting scripture and life
“Humans have driven fellow creatures to extinction, dammed the great rivers, torn down ancient forests, poisoned the earth, rain and wind, and ripped holes in the sky.”
PRAYER OF REFLECTION
Creator God, You call us to remember our humanity because in knowing ourselves, we know you more fully. May we be reminded that we are your creation and that you call us to responsibility and delight in our potential. In the beauty around and within us may we embrace your ways and remember our kinship with all creation. Amen.
[i] Adapted from Seasons of the Spirit™ Wood Lake Publishing, Season of Creation, Year B, 2012, used with permission
HUMANITY SUNDAY:
LEARN MY STORIES![i]
Focus Scripture: Genesis 1:27 - 28
“God created humanity in God’s own image…”
Creation of humans should not be seen as separate from other elements of creation. Rather, God created human beings as a part of an overall plan that included stars and rivers, animals and trees, night time and day, as well as people. We are intrinsically part of God’s world. And we are called to have “dominion” over creation. Dominion, though, does not mean we are rulers – rather, it means we are called to be God-like. As God cares for even the minute details, so are we called to care for each thing, large and small.
- How have you lived your life – as a ruler of creation or a compassionate servant?
It introduces metaphor and suggestions on the relationship of Creator to human and human to Creator. The first thing the text describes is that humans are made in the likeness or image of the Divine. Humans are the first and only creatures described as having divine characteristics. Up until the writing of this text any image for God was avoided by the Israelites. But this was not a graven or fixed image like some used by the Near Eastern religions that surrounded them. It was, rather, a living image. The role of the human made in God’s image was to mirror God to the world and to care as God cares.
It was not unusual for a king to be seen as someone who was a representative of God, but this text describes and extends this role to all humanity. Therefore humans are given power to take up God-given responsibilities. This means being in relationship with and caring for the rest of God’s creation. The word dominion (Hebrew rada) expressed in this passage is one that has been under debate for many centuries. Some believe it puts humans at the top of the hierarchy, giving humans power and authority over all other creatures. The verb (rada) however, suggests the task is one of care-giving and nurturing, not exploitation. Humans should relate to the world as God would – helping the world along with its full potential.
This description of humans also reveals more about the characteristics of God. The fact that God creates in God’s image means the divine is revealed rather than hidden or concealed. God is not removed and ordering from afar but rather is engaged in relationship with creation. God shares power with others in the ongoing act of creation.
Verse 28 describes God’s blessing of humanity which includes God giving power, strength, and potential. God also commands that humans be “fruitful and multiply.” This addresses the real concern of the time of the need to populate the earth. These were details important at the time of the development of the poem, during a time of exile, but the essence when God gives them power and authority is to take the responsibilities seriously. In our modern context it may not be that we need to multiply but there are new situations which require humanity to participate in creation’s full potential.
Reflecting on the Word
Connecting with life
Calls to humans to change their lives for the sake of Earth, its creatures and natural elements come from many different directions: wildlife agencies, nature itself, governments, religions, and environmentalists.
- Where and in what ways do you see Earth and its creatures being nurtured to full potential?
- What might be the particular details of your context that need this kind of care?
Connecting with Scripture
“Let us create” in verse 26 refers to a divine or heavenly council.
- What might this say about God and God’s creating?
Verse 27 talks about males and females being created simultaneously. Both carry the image or likeness of God.
- Do you think this suggests different ways the two carry God’s likeness?
- Why or why not?
- Are there different roles in the tending of God’s creation?
- If so, what?
- Imagine you are Earth or an Earth creature other than human. What is your response to the reading?
- How do you feel?
Connecting scripture and life
“Humans have driven fellow creatures to extinction, dammed the great rivers, torn down ancient forests, poisoned the earth, rain and wind, and ripped holes in the sky.”
- What are some local endangered species?
- What is needed to serve and preserve in these situations?
- Genesis 1 reminds us that humanity is created in the image of God. Do you consider yourself alive with the divine power?
- In what sphere of your life is that most obvious?
PRAYER OF REFLECTION
Creator God, You call us to remember our humanity because in knowing ourselves, we know you more fully. May we be reminded that we are your creation and that you call us to responsibility and delight in our potential. In the beauty around and within us may we embrace your ways and remember our kinship with all creation. Amen.
[i] Adapted from Seasons of the Spirit™ Wood Lake Publishing, Season of Creation, Year B, 2012, used with permission
![Picture](/uploads/2/4/0/0/24003878/4477979.jpg?346)
Week 1
Planet Earth – Love Me![i]
Focus Scripture: Genesis 1: 1-25
“…and God saw that it was good.”
~Genesis 1:10b
Some people may find aspects of the first creation story in the Bible a little surprising. Notice that there is something that already exists before the story starts – water. Notice, too, that repeatedly God marvels at the creation (such as at the end of verse 10). Notice how the world is created with purpose and majesty. Lastly, note that this is simply one story about creation that the Bible gives us; Genesis 2, Psalm 8, and Proverbs 8 all present other views. This helps remind us that the Bible is not a science book, but a wonderful collection of tales about God’s activity through history, and love for all creation.
- How do you experience God present in creation?
- How do you experience God present in your own life?
This text puts all the intricate design of creation back in the hands of the Creator. Creation is not a one-time act but rather comes to life in God, so God is both distant and intricately involved. Creation is not autonomous. The literary structure of the text is one that moves from the cosmic to the mundane. It begins with the creation of light and sky then moves to Earth, to vegetation, to seed to the plunging depth of the ocean – including even the sea monsters. With our modern perspective it might be the same movement we see with Google maps, starting from our satellite view of the earth and zooming in at every stage, closer and closer to a street view. The image calls forth both a deep reverence for planet Earth and its blue and green swirling beauty, and a connection with all of the intricacies in our daily life or “street view.”
The fact that this comforting liturgical text begins the Bible is an invitation to reverence. It is a call to begin our understanding of God’s story as one infused with God’s ongoing presence, with God speaking the first word in what will be an ongoing dialogue throughout history. It is a premise from which other good news is possible.
Reflecting on the Word
Connecting with Life
The creation story in Genesis 1 was written to speak to a people in a time of exile and despair to reassure them of God’s presence and design in creation.
- In our current place in history what is the greatest source of despair and hopelessness?
- What do you see in creation that reassures you of God’s presence or God bursting forth with life?
In this creation story, Earth is described as already there, when God began creating.
- What is the condition of Earth according to verse 2?
- Where is God and what is God doing?
Check out different biblical translations of verses one and two. The NRSV translates verse two as being a clause to verse one. Other translations make them two separate verses and acts. The Message takes this a bit further and starts verse one with: “First this:”
- Does one version or another make a stronger suggestion of God’s existence before the universe? How so?
- Some suggest that it is the light that illumines everything else that God does. Which “day” or event of creation feels most like God is creating order out of chaos?
Earth is the source of life for vegetation and living creatures of every kind and Genesis 1:14–19 tells of the creation of the sun, the moon and the stars, to give light to Earth and provide the seasons and cycles to sustain the life of Earth.
- As you read Genesis 1:1–25 and consider Earth as a character in the story of creation, what is your understanding of Earth and its role?
Read
"Feel the Pulsing of God"
Moment One – The Beginning
1. Feel the pulsing of God
silent, steady and slow
in the dark and the deep,
while Earth waits down below.
Feel the pulse!
Feel the pulsing of God!
Moment Two – Light
2. Feel the pulsing of God
in the darkness of night,
as the morning breaks forth
in a shimmer of light.
Feel the pulse!
Feel the pulsing of light!
Moment Four – Earth
4. Feel the pulsing of God
in a labour of birth,
parting waters to watch
the arrival of Earth.
Feel the pulse!
Feel the pulsing of Earth!
Moment Five – Vegetation
5. Feel the pulsing of God
In the brown and the green,
Stirring seeds from the soil
So the bush could be seen.
Feel the pulse!
Feel the pulsing of green!
(From In the Ten Moments of Creation by Norman Habel. Used by permission.)
After every day of creating, God delights in what God has made.
- Does this inspire you to find the same delight as God?
- In what ways do you feel yourself as part of God’s delightful creating?
- When do you feel most that way and when do you feel removed from God’s word pulsing in you?
PRAYER OF REFLECTION
Through your word and your design, O God, you call us back to a place of wonder and awe. You call us to remember we are part of the abundance of your creation, from tiny molecules to divine light. Each and every being reflects your DNA and reminds us that you continue to create and delight in what you have created. With these gifts, move us from despair to hope; from taking things for granted to a place of deep reverence. Amen.
[i] Adapted from Seasons of the Spirit™ Wood Lake Publishing, Season of Creation, Year B, 2012, used with permission
![Picture](/uploads/2/4/0/0/24003878/3591913_orig.jpg)
The Season of Creation[i]
Aqua, the blue green colour of the planet Earth when viewed from outer space, invites us into the Season of Creation, and the pulsing of God’s spirit that moves in and through all creation. During this four week season we experience the deep impulse of God’s word which calls forth creation, and stirs life. We affirm our kinship with everything God has created and is creating, are made conscious of the crisis of human domination, and encouraged to live in and toward a vision of new heavens and new earth.
Celebrating the Season of Creation[ii]
By Norm Habel
The Season of Creation is a season of the church year that is now being celebrated in a number of countries around the world. Around the year 2000, the Season of Creation was being developed in Australia, especially through the Uniting Church. At the very same time, a parallel season called the Time of Creation was being developed in Europe by the ECEN (European Christian Environmental Network). Increasingly churches recognize the need for us to spend some time thinking about creation, our place within it, and how we are to interact with it. According the Season of Creation website (www.seasonofcreation.com) we are encouraged to “celebrate Earth as a sacred planet filled with God’s vibrant presence.”
Why a Season of Creation? There is a growing concern in Christian communities about the ecological crisis and the way we have been treating Earth. One of the most effective ways to focus this concern, we believe, is through worship. By concentrating our worship on God’s creation we are more like to find ways to heal rather than exploit our planet.
Our goal is a ministry in which we are not only called to serve and sustain life, but recognize how creation serves and sustains life. Our vision is to celebrate Christ as personal redeemer and also as the cosmic power at work renewing and healing a suffering creation.
How best might we celebrate the Season of Creation?
Traditional ways of naming the Sundays of a season did not seem appropriate in the face of our ecological crisis. So it was decided to name the Sundays in terms that immediately evoked a connection with creation. We chose titles such as Forest Sunday, Planet Earth Sunday, Cosmos Sunday, and Ocean Sunday. Worshippers around the world are free to modify or expand the Sundays with names that fit their creation contexts. It is great to invite artists to transform the place of worship into a forest, the cosmos, or the ocean.
A set of readings for the Season of Creation has been prepared for the proposed three-year lectionary cycle, corresponding to the liturgical sequence of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Each set of readings has a focus not only on the domain of creation given in the title of that Sunday but also on the spiritual agent or impulse involved in the continuing process of creation, namely, the Spirit in creation, the Word in creation, and Wisdom in creation.
Especially important for any Bible study, reflection, or preaching from the readings for a given Sunday is a willingness to read texts from the perspective of Earth, whether that be a domain or living creatures of Earth. We have in the past, only read from the perspective of humans or God. But as Earth beings we are invited to read with a sensitivity to Earth or our Earth kin and seek to hear their voices in the text.
The Season of Creation is an opportunity to grow in faith, not only as servants of Christ but also as children of Earth. Through worship in this season we can also reorient our faith so that we unite with Earth and our kin on Earth in praising the Creator, discerning the presence of the cosmic Christ, and being genuine partners of the Spirit who groans with creation and renews all life on our planet.
Norman Habel is Professorial Fellow at Flinders University, actively involved in social justice and ecojustice issues, initiator of
The Earth Bible Series and Season of Creation (www.seasonofcreation.com), editor of
Exploring Ecological Hermeneutics and author of An Inconvenient Text
[i] Seasons of the Spirit [TM], SeasonsFUSION, Season of Creation, Pentecost 2, 2012
[ii] Ibid
![Picture](/uploads/2/4/0/0/24003878/2311036_orig.jpg)
Way of Awe and Wonder:
Rays of the Divine Presence[iii]
Out of the cold waters of the South East, two and a half miles from the coastline off Beachport (South Australia) I was touched by the hand of God. It happened like this. I was taken out in an Abalone fishing boat and my mate Mick said, “Drop over the back of the boat just here.” In my warm wetsuit I eased myself over the back of the boat and sailed down ten or fifteen feet and then stopped motionless in the water. I remained suspended in time and space for several minutes, or perhaps longer, perhaps a lifetime. I was caught up in the wonder of the sea world. Just below me a huge Ray glided through the water with a slow and entrancing motion. Beneath the Ray were the rocks where perhaps crayfish lived and sea grasses were stirring gently on the bottom. I was caught up in the wonder of it all. For a moment time stopped, my heart stopped, my breathing stopped. I was caught up in an ecstatic moment of meeting God in creation. Though this was more than twenty years ago, to speak of it, and to remember it, takes me back to that moment. After so many years it still offers me a place and a space to reflect on the glory of God made visible in creation. Who would have thought a stingray could carry so much grace, incarnate so much majesty?
The first theologians we are likely to encounter are curious children. Their theme is “why” and their curiosity and energetic love of life boundless. To watch a two-year-old fascinated with a flower, a grub, a smiling face, is to see the face of God. As adults, if we are lucky, and maybe brave, we will see in our lover’s eyes something of that first miraculous appreciation of being alive and in love with the world.
Theologians are those who seek to understand, to appreciate, to make some sense of the incredible fact that a whole immense, wondrous cosmos exists and we are part of the whole.
Love it seems delights in the particular and appreciates the whole in new ways. A rose grower is filled with delight at a splendid specimen of her favourite variety. A young man delights in newfound love. In moments of joy the whole world opens up to our delight, the earth sings and the wind murmurs its love to us.
Yet we know there are shadows and the bitterness of death. Does knowing it will finally end make each moment of love even more precious?
It was this refrain of delight and appreciation that captured the writer of Genesis whose refrain is “and God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:1–31). No doubt other creation traditions have their own way of opening us up to this realization.
Age, weariness, cynicism along with the ironic and superficial spirit of the age can rob us of this deep appreciation of the beauty resplendent all around us.
Great artists are consumed by beauty and their struggle is to share it with us. Artists share in the work of the Creator. Surprise and shock can be tools of artistry. Even death, for all its terror and tragedy, can be a moment of beauty for those who appreciate courage.
Films and television, video games and the world of advertising sometimes capture, captivate and delight us; sometimes leaving us sad at the distortions they portray. We can be filled with a longing for the way things could be, if a deeper beauty and a more permanent love could rise to the surface. We can hear echoes in a brief affair of a tremendous lover who loves with a never-ending love.
Are we the co-creators of the One whose utter delight is our delight? Is there One who dances beyond the stars and whose very joy is to extend our minds and imaginations beyond the furthest realms of the almost infinite depths of the cosmos? Is the awe and wonder, captured in a moment with a stingray, a promise, a down payment of awe and wonder that never ends? Is the Creator infinitely delighted with us as we capture those moments of delight in creation?
We are immersed and enmeshed in creation. We breathe the same air and walk on the same earth as all living creatures. While we delight in baboons and long to play with platypuses, we know that it is with our own kind that the deepest and longest delight is to be found.
In the stories of people, both the heroic and the simple, there is much to leave us gasping in wonder at humanity’s capacity for live and love. Moments that evoke these feelings are to be treasured and the stories told as long as humanity wanders this world.
We need, it seems, to be continually repeating and re-enacting our deepest moments. The great human themes of life, love, courage, belief and perseverance are told over and again in our storytelling culture. Today that may often by electronic means; poetry, drawing, painting, dance, song, sculpture, nonetheless we are a storied people. In this way we keep alive our joy and wonder in who and what we are. The Jewish people wrote psalms. Christians gather to beak bread and tell stories. Our rituals work to keep alive the memories of the times we were touched by the hand of God. Some of these rituals are formally religious. Do we not all need to keep alive a two-year-old sense of how wonder-filled life is? Our rituals will be the better for a sense of awe and wonder.
Tony Densley, contributor to Sparks of the Cosmos by Margie Abbott, RSM. Used by permission.
[iii] Seasons of the Spirit [TM], SeasonsFUSION, Season of Creation, Pentecost 2, 2012
Rays of the Divine Presence[iii]
Out of the cold waters of the South East, two and a half miles from the coastline off Beachport (South Australia) I was touched by the hand of God. It happened like this. I was taken out in an Abalone fishing boat and my mate Mick said, “Drop over the back of the boat just here.” In my warm wetsuit I eased myself over the back of the boat and sailed down ten or fifteen feet and then stopped motionless in the water. I remained suspended in time and space for several minutes, or perhaps longer, perhaps a lifetime. I was caught up in the wonder of the sea world. Just below me a huge Ray glided through the water with a slow and entrancing motion. Beneath the Ray were the rocks where perhaps crayfish lived and sea grasses were stirring gently on the bottom. I was caught up in the wonder of it all. For a moment time stopped, my heart stopped, my breathing stopped. I was caught up in an ecstatic moment of meeting God in creation. Though this was more than twenty years ago, to speak of it, and to remember it, takes me back to that moment. After so many years it still offers me a place and a space to reflect on the glory of God made visible in creation. Who would have thought a stingray could carry so much grace, incarnate so much majesty?
The first theologians we are likely to encounter are curious children. Their theme is “why” and their curiosity and energetic love of life boundless. To watch a two-year-old fascinated with a flower, a grub, a smiling face, is to see the face of God. As adults, if we are lucky, and maybe brave, we will see in our lover’s eyes something of that first miraculous appreciation of being alive and in love with the world.
Theologians are those who seek to understand, to appreciate, to make some sense of the incredible fact that a whole immense, wondrous cosmos exists and we are part of the whole.
Love it seems delights in the particular and appreciates the whole in new ways. A rose grower is filled with delight at a splendid specimen of her favourite variety. A young man delights in newfound love. In moments of joy the whole world opens up to our delight, the earth sings and the wind murmurs its love to us.
Yet we know there are shadows and the bitterness of death. Does knowing it will finally end make each moment of love even more precious?
It was this refrain of delight and appreciation that captured the writer of Genesis whose refrain is “and God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:1–31). No doubt other creation traditions have their own way of opening us up to this realization.
Age, weariness, cynicism along with the ironic and superficial spirit of the age can rob us of this deep appreciation of the beauty resplendent all around us.
Great artists are consumed by beauty and their struggle is to share it with us. Artists share in the work of the Creator. Surprise and shock can be tools of artistry. Even death, for all its terror and tragedy, can be a moment of beauty for those who appreciate courage.
Films and television, video games and the world of advertising sometimes capture, captivate and delight us; sometimes leaving us sad at the distortions they portray. We can be filled with a longing for the way things could be, if a deeper beauty and a more permanent love could rise to the surface. We can hear echoes in a brief affair of a tremendous lover who loves with a never-ending love.
Are we the co-creators of the One whose utter delight is our delight? Is there One who dances beyond the stars and whose very joy is to extend our minds and imaginations beyond the furthest realms of the almost infinite depths of the cosmos? Is the awe and wonder, captured in a moment with a stingray, a promise, a down payment of awe and wonder that never ends? Is the Creator infinitely delighted with us as we capture those moments of delight in creation?
We are immersed and enmeshed in creation. We breathe the same air and walk on the same earth as all living creatures. While we delight in baboons and long to play with platypuses, we know that it is with our own kind that the deepest and longest delight is to be found.
In the stories of people, both the heroic and the simple, there is much to leave us gasping in wonder at humanity’s capacity for live and love. Moments that evoke these feelings are to be treasured and the stories told as long as humanity wanders this world.
We need, it seems, to be continually repeating and re-enacting our deepest moments. The great human themes of life, love, courage, belief and perseverance are told over and again in our storytelling culture. Today that may often by electronic means; poetry, drawing, painting, dance, song, sculpture, nonetheless we are a storied people. In this way we keep alive our joy and wonder in who and what we are. The Jewish people wrote psalms. Christians gather to beak bread and tell stories. Our rituals work to keep alive the memories of the times we were touched by the hand of God. Some of these rituals are formally religious. Do we not all need to keep alive a two-year-old sense of how wonder-filled life is? Our rituals will be the better for a sense of awe and wonder.
Tony Densley, contributor to Sparks of the Cosmos by Margie Abbott, RSM. Used by permission.
[iii] Seasons of the Spirit [TM], SeasonsFUSION, Season of Creation, Pentecost 2, 2012