This is who we are #SeasonofCreation


This is the third week in the ecumenical world-wide Season of Creation; an annual opportunity to stop and take stock of our relationship with God’s creation and our response to climate change. This year’s theme is “Jubilee for the Earth”. As described in Leviticus 25, the Year of Jubilee pushed the restart button; with land returned, debts forgiven, and slaves freed. We need to push the restart button today. Climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic are symptoms of our broken relationships with each other and with creation. As we imagine a world beyond this pandemic facing up to the effects of climate change, we are invited to imagine and work for a just and sustainable world built on God’s compassion, generosity, and justice.

This is not just about our actions. It is about how we see ourselves in relation to God, each other, and God’s gift of this world. This season reminds us that God is creating and sustaining all that is. The scripture readings remind us of God’s justice, compassion, and generosity; and that in Jesus God’s love is restoring and renewing creation. In Jesus we become image bearers of divine compassion, generosity, and justice. Our identity as followers of Jesus is to be those who join God’s creating, renewing, and restoring work. We ae invited to see our world and ourselves as part of the reign of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, as Jesus describes in the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount.  We are part of God’s reign of justice and peace for all, including our common home, God’s gift of this world.

Our readings this morning from Exodus 16: 2-15, Romans 8: 18-27, and Matthew 20: 1-16 remind us how hard it is to live this identity. The pull of broken relationships is strong. Too easily we forget we are made in the image of the just and loving God. Like the Hebrews in the desert, we too easily return to slavery. So once a year the Season of Creation invites us to reflect on how we caretakers of God’s creation;  to see that our well-being is interwoven with its well-being; and to rejoice in this opportunity to care for our common home and the sisters and brothers who share it, living God’s peace and goodness to all. Because this is who we are.

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