Tag Archives: Season of Creation

Season of Creation:
Flora and Fauna Sunday

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Illuminations on the Season of Creation readings for Sept. 7, 2025 (Flora and Fauna Sunday)

The Peaceable Kingdom

The Peaceable Kingdom (c.1833), oil painting on canvas by Edward Hicks (1780-1849). National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (Click image to enlarge.)

Flora and Fauna Sunday
“Wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds! Praise the Lord!”
–Psalm 148:10

First Reading: Job 39:1-8, 26-30

The Kingdom of the Wild
God shows Job the kingdom of the wild, over which Job as a human has no control, but where God’s Wisdom and nurture are ever present. Each part of nature has its ‘way,’ a reflection of Wisdom.

Psalm: Psalm 104:14-23

Survival and Celebration in the Wild
God not only nurtures and sustains all creatures of the wild, but also joins with them and us in celebration.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:10-23

The Wisdom of the Gospel
The Wisdom of God may be evident in creation. The wise of the world may search for wisdom. The message of the Gospel, however, which may seem folly to the wise of the world, is the ultimate wisdom.

Gospel: Luke 12:22-31

The Kingdom of God
The kingdom of God and the kingdom of the wild complement each other, says Jesus. God provides for all and wills for all species to survive and thrive.

Season of Creation 2025

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.

Season of Creation: Ocean Sunday

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Illuminations on the Season of Creation readings for Aug. 31, 2025 (Ocean Sunday)

La Pêche miraculeuse (The Miraculous Draught of Fish)

La Pêche miraculeuse (The Miraculous Draught of Fish, c.1618-20), oil painting on wood by Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678). Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg, Alsace, France. (Click image to enlarge.)

Ocean Sunday
We worship with the surging seas
“Let the sea roar and all that fills it!” –Psalm 96:11

First Reading: Job 38:1-18

The Mysteries of Creation
In this portrait of God creating the universe, Earth is constructed like a grand edifice, the ocean is born like a baby and restrained with boundaries, while down below lie domains called the deep and the realm of the dead. Earth with its oceans is a complex of profound mysteries designed by the Creator.

Psalm: Psalm 104:24-26

A World Created by Wisdom
The whole world is formed by the Wisdom of God, thereby giving it all its integral parts, laws, design, and purpose. That world even includes domains where God ‘plays’ with wild creatures in the ocean.

Second Reading: Ephesians 1.3-10

The Cosmic Christ
In Jesus the Christ, we not only face the eternal mystery of forgiveness and salvation, but also the truth that, as the cosmic one, Christ gathers all things together and unites the cosmos. The cosmic Christ fills the universe!

Gospel: Luke 5.1-11

Facing the Deep
When Peter and his friends catch no fish, Jesus asks them to take a risk and cast into ‘the deep’, the realm of the unknown. An even greater risk faces the disciples when they one day catch humans with a new message.

Season of Creation

Season of Creation 2025

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.

Season of Creation 2025

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Season of Creation

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.
–Season of Creation Celebration Guide, The Episcopal Church

The Season of Creation challenges us to reorient our relationship with creation. While the challenge may have been provoked by the current ecological crisis and a growing awareness of our place in the web of creation, the origins of our re-orientation lie deep in our Christian tradition, especially our biblical heritage. We are challenged to return to our biblical roots to rediscover our intimate connections with creation. We return to see ourselves again as part of the very Earth from which we are made.
–Season of Creation, Uniting Church in Australia

We will publish a series of Season of Creation Illuminations alongside our standard Revised Common Lectionary Illuminations during this season.