Read: Genesis 1:1-5

Reflect: In an increasing number of Christian congregations, the first Sunday of September is observed as the Feast of Creation. This isn’t a new thing – Eastern Orthodox Christians have celebrated the whole month of September, a whole Season of Creation, for more than a thousand years. During this time, we lift up the creative work that God has done, is doing, and continues to do within the entire cosmos. It is not the creation that we worship, but the God who creates, sustains, and heals it.

In this time in history, when our human capacity for doing great harm as well as great good is at an all-time high, we do well to walk humbly with God and with the planet that is our home. Consider these words of Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1197 AD) Benedictine abbess, composer, writer, mystic:

A Reflection on our Present Plight

The high,

the low

all of creation

God gives to humankind to use. If this privilege is misused,

God’s Justice permits creation to punish humanity.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, you move through all creation with sighs too deep for words. Open our hearts to listen to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. Speak through your church to rebuke the forces that seek to exploit your planet. Join our human prayers with the voices of all creation and move us to honor you by preserving the gifts of nature that reveal your glory. Amen. (from All Creation Sings, p. 47. ©2020 Augsburg Fortress, used by permission.)