Join us for Cn Tim Clayton's sermon: Creation Tide 3: Genesis 3, The Goodness of Creation
Creation Tide Season:
One of the deeply Christ-like examples we find in the creation stories in Genesis and God's message for us to "care fo the Earth", is in the word, "shamar". If you read the literal Hebrew mechanics, shamar (used in Gen 2:15) is the exact same word used in the famous priestly blessing: "The Lord bless you and keep [shamar] you." Translating it conceptually, it literally means to care for something protectively, the way a loving guardian keeps watch over someone.
The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (Eastern Orthodox) proposed in 1989 that September 1st (the first day of the Orthodox Church year) should be observed as a day “of protection of the natural environment”. In 2016, Pope Francis declared 1 September an annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. This was expanded in Europe to be a season — Creationtide — going from September 1st until October 4th (the Feast of St Francis), and has been adopted in many churches around the world, including some in the Anglican Communion.
Join us as Tim takes us through Genesis chapter 3. The story of this chapter of Genesis is where things go awry. But what if there's more to it than things going wrong? When we break that communion with God and Creation, what happens next? Historically, Protestants put the emphasis on the "fall", and the Orthodox Church puts the emphasis on the "expulsion", with all of the work we are committed to in Creation within our community and parish, how does this affect us?
"Until Western Christianity recognizes that human use is not the only purpose for the Earth, then we will continue to have an ecological crisis"
In this insightful sermon, Tim reminds us that "the way forward is actually a heart thing". Are we waiting for escape? or are we a people with a hope? The early church was motivated by hope. The proclamations of the earliest christians was "there is a human who has defeated death."
A hope not an escape. The earliest christians proclaim the goodness of creation as an inherent part of declaring the glory of God. Tim also shares some fascinating stories from around the world of people working together in the goodness of creation.
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May the Peace of God be with you today.
