13 Pentecost/Year C – Sept 7, 2025
Track 2 Scriptures: Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Psalm 1; Philemon 1-21; Luke 14:25-33
Rev Julie Platson
Opening Prayer: (Feasting on the Word: Worship Companion)
God of wisdom, by your Spirit speak this day a word of life, and plant in us the power of righteous love; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
The next several weeks, through Oct 4, you will hear some reflections, prayers, questions to consider, tied into our worship services for this special season of creation set aside each year from Sept 1-Oct 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi.
*From the Season of Creation: A Celebration Guide for Episcopal Parishes:
We begin by asking this question:
Why is it important to mark the Season of Creation?
2 simple answers were noted to summarize that loaded question in the intro in the guide:
(1) Because of our Gospel call to grow in faith as we affirm that God in Christ loves, redeems, and sustains the whole of Creation, not only human beings.
(2) Because of the urgency of climate and ecological crisis and the need for a bold, prophetic response.
So, we don’t mark this season to just check off a box that we talked about creation for a few weeks…
It goes much deeper than that…it’s a time for us, personally and collectively, to discern, in this time and place of our lives…how we are being called to spiritually grow and respond to the current needs of the whole creation…
And we set aside this time to celebrate and proclaim that the good news of God in Christ, is indeed, for all creatures and the whole Earth.
Today’s readings give us a place to begin by setting our intentions.
We have an opportunity to begin anew to choose life for all of creation...not just for today, but for future generations to come: to choose life so that you and your descendants may live…to choose life as we center our lives around loving God, and walking in his ways, that lead us to love our neighbors as ourselves…
In today’s gospel reading…Jesus seems to be speaking to the importance and the urgency of the need to set our intentions, by choosing life, by making choices that enable the *liberation and healing of all God’s people, God’s whole creation.
And as we choose life, a way of life and walking in the way of love as Jesus is striving to teach us and show us…that means we, as followers of Him, need to give up some things, some possessions, habits, privileges, comforts and wealth, that are barriers to the *liberation and healing of all God’s people, God’s whole creation…
I recently watched a Netflix series that shared the personal stories of those who had lived (and died) in the climate disaster, Hurricane Katrina…which happened 20 years ago. I confess, I don’t recall a lot of details about the impacts of the hurricane on the people there, and on the natural environment there. I watched the news for a time, participated in prayer vigils, and donated to Episcopal Relief and Development. And as often happens….big news stories like that are often are forgotten (by those of us not close to the crisis) after just a couple of years.
But it wasn’t until I heard some of the personal stories, and viewed some of the news footage of the hurricane and the floods, that I was able to understand a little more fully, this many years later, the long-lasting impact of such a climate disaster on the most vulnerable people among us, and how our personal and collective choices as a society, and our stubbornness to acknowledge the harm and destruction we often cause to the land, its creatures, human beings, and our refusal to change the things we can for the well-being of all people, all of creation…keep us from living into the dream of God’s beloved community, that he intended for all of creation…from the very beginning….when he called it good…very good.
That’s a place for us to begin again, to confess the ways we are contributing to the current climate crisis, and the ways our choices are impacting our neighbors, not only our human neighbors, but all of creation. And to ask ourselves: am I, are we, living in such a way, that enables the liberation and healing of all God’s people, God’s whole creation?
As a body of Christ that gathers together here in the church and in the community, the Gospel calls us to grow in faith as we affirm that God in Christ loves, redeems, and sustains the whole of Creation, not only human beings.
And to grow means there will be changes, there will be things we let go of, new understandings that inspire us, there will be times of struggle, times of uncertainty, times of despair and grief for the sacrifices we will make on behalf of the well-being of all creation.
But, in all of that, in death and in life…we have hope. We have hope that enables us to choose life…
In the forward section of the Green Bible, these words speak to our hope as we grow in our faith and our call to act on behalf of all creation:
Christian hope is in the renewal (Mat. 19:28) and restoration (Act. 3:21) of all things. Our participation with God in creating a more just and habitable world and living more gently on Earth is how we share in what Archbishop Desmond Tutu calls the “supreme work” of Jesus Christ, who reconciles us to God, one another, and God’s whole Creation. The good news of God in Christ is for all creatures and the whole Earth.
Let us pray: The Creation Collect of the Day
Grant us, O God, the courage to choose Jesus’ way even at great cost, bearing our cross and releasing our possessions, for the liberation and healing of your world; through Jesus Christ the Wisdom of Creation, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
hymn at conclusion of sermon/all sing: (LEVS II) 144 – Where he leads me
1 I can hear my Savior calling, I can hear my Savior calling,
I can hear my Savior calling, “Take thy cross and follow, follow me.”
Where He leads me I will follow, (x3)
I’ll go with Him, with Him all the way.
2 I’ll go with Him through the garden, I’ll go with Him through the garden,
I’ll go with Him through the garden, I’ll go with Him, with Him all the way.
Refrain
3 I’ll go with Him through the judgement, I’ll go with Him through the judgement,
I’ll go with Him through the judgement, I’ll go with Him, with Him all the way.
Refrain
4 He will give me grace and glory, He will give me grace and glory,
He will give me grace and glory, And go with me, with me all the way.
Refrain