Many people, in the month of September, focus on creation. This month runs from the Eastern Orthodox starting the liturgical year on September 1 and prepares for the feast of St Francis on October 4.
This site is committed to the three year lectionary (RC) and its derivative, the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL). Rather than departing from that lectionary, resources will be provided here that can be used to have a particular focus. Care of creation can also be a thread in hymns, songs, prayers, preaching, teaching, images…
The historic 1989 encyclical letter (link off this site) of the Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I urged Christians to observe September 1st as a day of prayer for the protection of the environment. Another great starting resource for Christians and people of goodwill is the encyclical of Pope Francis, Laudato Si’. For Christians, creation is not merely an academic discussion about evolution or not – it is now, much more, seen as an essential part of mission, in partnership with others who share concern for “our common home”.
Here are resources from the Anglican Communion Environmental Network.
And from the Church of England Environment Programme.
Here are resources for the Season of Creation coordinated by an ecumenical steering committee, which was formed to help Christians around the world fulfill the purpose of the season.
The lectionary for year B (2024,…)
A creation reading of the lectionary for the Sunday between 28 August and 3 September:
Song of Songs 2:8-13 Nature and its beauty is the primary metaphor here: the mountains, the hills, a gazelle, a young stag. winter, the rain, flowers, the earth, turtledove, land. The fig tree, the vines, and blossom.
Deuteronomy 4:1-9 The strong connection between the land and God’s will for us.
Psalm 45 More images of the beauty of nature and of beauty as described in comparison with nature.
Psalm 15 A hill that is holy…
James 1:17-27 Again, the primacy of nature in imaging our life: first fruits, produce, implanted…
Mark 7:1-23 our relationship with nature, with creation, with food, and how this expresses our deeper realities.
A creation reading of the lectionary for the Sunday between 4 and 10 September:
The Proverbs reading underscores that we are all creatures. Whether we claim more or less of creation, in fact none of us (but God) is over creation – we are all within it. In fact, our shared creature-hood is part of needing to treat other creatures equally, justly.
God’s mountains are a powerful metaphor for stability in Psalm 125.
The Isaiah reading has a number of images from creation, with a central focus on the importance of water.
Psalm 146 shows our connection to the earth, reinforces that it is God who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and also has a consequence on the responsibility to share.
Some of these threads are also woven into the text from the letter of James. Once again there is the acknowledgement of our duty to share and care within the creation God graciously gives.
The natural environment of Tyre, Sidon, the Sea of Galilee, and the region of the Decapolis form the frame for Mark’s story of a a Gentile woman, of Syrophoenician origin, to take on Jesus at his own craftsmanship of astute, witty repartee. Here, too, the question comes down to who can share in what of God’s natural provisions. The surprise in this text is that it is Jesus, for a change, who does not “win” this particular debate.
A creation reading of the lectionary for the Sunday between 11 and 17 September:
The Proverbs reading uses images certainly familiar to many, “panic strikes you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind”; we are reaping the consequences of our actions (and inactions), we are “eating the fruit of our way”.
Psalm 19 is a wonderful proclamation of God’s creation.
The James text is littered with creation images and ideas (including how we humans harness and use, and, hence, possibly abuse creation): horses, strong winds, forests, fire, fresh water, fig trees, olives, and grapevines. It includes a text that is open to significant discussion and debate: “every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species”. When does “subduing” (וְכִבְשֻׁ֑הָ) and having “dominion over” (וּרְד֞וּ) creation (Gen 1:28) become destructive?
The Gospel reading has a wonderful creation-season question: “what will it profit them to gain the whole world”
A creation reading of the lectionary for the Sunday between 18 and 24 September:
The Proverbs reading speaks of many things we humans need and use from nature, from creation: wool, flax, food, ships, vineyards, fruit, linen, bead.
The Wisdom of Solomon has
For he created all things so that they might exist;
the generative forces of the world are wholesome,
We now need to take great care with verses such as
make use of the creation to the full
It is actually a good example of the danger of ripping a verse out of context. The text is clearly a text contrary to God’s will. The text continues:
Let us oppress the righteous poor man;
let us not spare the widow
or regard the grey hairs of the aged…
‘Let us lie in wait for the righteous man,
because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions;…
Jeremiah’s passage uses the metaphor of the destruction of creation.
Psalm 1, again, using creation images reinforces this significance.
As does the James text. Sowing and bearing fruit is an underlying paradigm, which we know to be a reality not just within creation, but in our relationship with it.
We have just celebrated the Holy Cross, the lens through which we view reality and the expression of how we should live, turning upside down conventional understandings and approaches. The Gospel reading today reinforces this conversion. Our living of “subduing” (וְכִבְשֻׁ֑הָ) and having “dominion over” (וּרְד֞וּ) creation (Gen 1:28) may change in the light of Jesus.
A creation reading of the lectionary for the Sunday between 25 September and 1 October:
Psalm 124 speaks of the power of water, the precariousness of birdlife (as a representative of life generally), the predatory nature of humanity, and God as maker of “heaven and earth”.
Numbers presents the human yearning for bounty in creation.
James images the need for water and the difficulties of drought.
Mark also shows the positive and negative possibilities of water and other elements of creation.
A creation reading of the lectionary for the Sunday between 25 September and 1 October:
Psalm 124 speaks of the power of water, the precariousness of birdlife (as a representative of life generally), the predatory nature of humanity, and God as maker of “heaven and earth”.
Numbers presents the human yearning for bounty in creation.
James images the need for water and the difficulties of drought.
Mark also shows the positive and negative possibilities of water and other elements of creation.
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