Creationtide Week 4
Join us for Mother Jen Keifer's sermon:
Creationtide: God of Oaks and Rivers, of Bees and Soil

We continue our look at Creation's central position in the Gospel
Jen invites us to pause. To take a breath. To take a moment and connect with Creation.

When we pause in front of an Oak Tree we are invited into stillness, we are invited back into "wonder". When we pay attention to the life of a tree, we are pulled out of the abstraction of Empire. This is how scripture invites us to look at Creation. Not as backdrop, not as scenery, not as material, rather as a witness to God's ongoing work. The scripture is full of this kind of imagery. Trees clap their hands, rivers lift their voices, mountains rejoice, even the rocks cry out.

from our reading today in Psalm 19
The heavens are telling the glory of God;
     and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
 Day to day pours forth speech,
     and night to night declares knowledge.
 There is no speech, nor are there words;
     their voice is not heard;
 yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
     and their words to the end of the world.

And in the gospel of Luke chapter 19
Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying,
“Blessed is the king
     who comes in the name of the Lord!
 Peace in heaven,
     and glory in the highest heaven!”
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

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.

Why is this important? How does this relate to me? 
Join us as Jen walks us through this part of our sermon series during Creationtide.

Trinity-Summer by the Sea!
This June through September join us on Boston's North Shore in Magnolia, Gloucester; just north of Manchester by the Sea.

We will meet at 9 am in the Union Congregational Church chapel by the sea.
3 Norman Ave, Gloucester, MA

Check out all the information on our Events page:
https://www.trinitynorthshore.org/events

Follow the purple signs for Trinity North Shore along the main road. Park anywhere along the Magnolia neighborhood streets.

Or join our Sunday Morning services online at https://www.trinitynorthshore.org/services

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