Reflections on the Season of Creation

The Rev. Susan Zencka

Frame Memorial Presbyterian Church

Stevens Point, WI.

The Season of Creation has impacted me profoundly. It has also been a great gift to our congregation. I first started celebrating it with my congregation after realizing (during a continuing education event with Prof. Larry Rasmussen) that the increasing illiteracy regarding the natural world was impacting the ability of people to read and understand the Bible. I had felt that it was important to reorient our folks more substantively to an appropriate theological appreciation of the natural world.

I take as my central inspiration Psalm 19, which seems to suggest that the created world may be revelatory. What can we learn of the Creator from Creation? And so for three years, we have explored this, and are now in our 4th Season of Creation.

They have been:

2006: Planet Earth, Rivers, Trees, 4 Compass Points/4 basic elements, Humanity, Cosmos

2007: Ocean, Grasses, Storm, Fauna, Wetlands, Ecojustice (Blessing of Animals on Fauna day)

2008: Forest, Wilderness, Lake, Sun & Moon, Symbiotic Relationships, Land

2009: Planet Earth, Sky, Chaos, Desert, Humanity, Mountain (Blessing of the Animals on Humanity Day, Oct. 4 - St. Francis)

This year, Chaos Sunday will also be Jazz Sunday.

Last year and this year, as we introduced a Practice-Based Christian Education curriculum, our children learned about Creation Care during September (they then shifted during the year to Stewardship, Pastoral Care, Worship, Fellowship, Spirituality and Mission). These themes are layered in the curriculum over the Biblical material which is on a 3 year scope and sequence, with the Gospel each year connected to the lectionary Gospel. The Season of Creation has been a significant part of this process, and our congregation has found it to be very meaningful.