​SEASON OF CREATION

Because I keep careful track of these things, I know that I have preached at Christ exactly once since July 5. Between the Fourth of July holiday weekend and the Labor Day holiday weekend, I’ve been away for four Sundays (youth trip, moving my dad from the hospital, family wedding, moving my oldest child to college) and have watched Eliana, Bishop Gronberg, and a team of Abby Morton and Noah Bruns preach on three of the four other weeks I was here. I know everyone did a great job. But I’m antsy. I’m afraid I’ve become undisciplined.
 
So to get back on track, I’ve planned a Season of Creation worship and preaching series for the next five weeks, emphasizing God’s loving action in Creation and our creative, faithful response to the gift of existence.  
 
This week we kick things off with a relatively new holiday observed by the wider church, the Feast of Creation in Christ. We hear the words of John’s Gospel, that “all things came into being through” the Word of God who became human as Jesus of Nazareth. We remember that we are connected through Jesus Christ not just to God and to each other, but to everything else that comes from God’s free act of creation.  
 
But it’s not just God’s creative power that we will focus on in this season. We will reflect on the ways our human capacities can reflect God’s creation through our own creativity. That’s a big theme of our adult learning opportunities this fall, where we have the chance to explore art-making, music, and the gift of our bodies in yoga, as well as more traditional topics like Bible study and a general introduction to the faith and life of the church. All of that starts on September 13, when worship will focus on Creative Forgiveness with the happy story of Joseph reconciling with his brothers and the harsh story told by Jesus of a man who refuses to forgive a debt.  
 
On September 20, we’ll hear about Creative Equality in a famous story Jesus tells about workers in a vineyard. What power gets unlocked when everyone receives what they need? 
 
On September 27, the readings instruct us in Creative Faith, as we are asked where authority comes from and what we can do with it.  
 
And we’re wrapping this season up on October 4, the festival of St. Francis of Assisi, with the subject of Creative Discipleship. Francis pioneered a new way to live out the calling God placed on his life, reminding us that we can always create something new.  
 
Ever since I returned from my art-focused sabbatical, I’ve been thinking a lot about creativity. We spent the spring talking about paintings, including some of the paintings I visited and studied. Now we are invited to create and nurture our own work, whether that is art-making, tending our bodies with yoga, claiming a deeper relationship with music or Scripture, or turning over a new leaf in our life of faith. I hope you’ll be there for all of it! 
 
See you in church! 
Pastor Ben 

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