Illuminations on the Season of Creation readings for Sept. 14, 2025 (Storm Sunday)
Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1695), oil painting by Ludolf Bakhuizen (1630-1708). Indianapolis Museum of Art. (Click image to enlarge.)
Storm Sunday
“You make the clouds your chariots, you ride on the wings of the wind and you make the winds your messengers” –Psalm 104:3-4
First Reading: Job 28:20-27
God Discovers Wisdom
Where can wisdom be found? According to the poet in Job, God discovered wisdom embedded in nature, even in the elements of the weather, when God was creating the cosmos.
Psalm: Psalm 29
God in the Storm
Thunder, in this Psalm, is described as the voice of God, a powerful force that strikes Earth with great force, while the beings in the heavenly temple respond with the cry of “Glory”!
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:21-31
Christ, the Wisdom of God
According to Paul, the wise in the world cannot grasp the message of Christ crucified. Ultimately the crucified one is also the source of life and the Wisdom of God.
Gospel: Luke 8:22-25
Jesus knows the Way of the Storm
The stilling of the storm not only demonstrates Jesus’s capacity to perform miracles, it also demonstrates that he is in tune with nature and knows “the way” of the storm, its inner nature.
The Season of Creation, September 1 through October 4, is celebrated by Christians around the world as a time for renewing, repairing and restoring our relationship to God, one another, and all of creation. The Episcopal Church joins this international effort for prayer and action for climate justice and an end to environmental racism and ecological destruction. The 2025 theme is Peace with Creation. In celebrating the Season, we are invited to consider anew our ecological, economic, and political ways of living.