A creation reading of the lectionary for the Sunday 19 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.
Resources beyond this site:
Textweek
Resourcing Preaching Down Under
Girardian Lectionary Reflection
