The Season of Creation is is a worldwide, ecumenical celebration. Over the next four Sundays we will have the opportunity to join our siblings in the ecumenical family in prayer and in action for the healing of our world. You can find out more about it here.
This first Sunday is focused on peace with our neighbors.
St. John’s Land Acknowledgement states that “Jesus charges us to be Good Neighbors and do what needs to be done.” In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus asks who is our neighbor? He illustrates who is our neighbor with the parable of the Good Samaritan.
During a faith formation offering where we discussed this parable, our rector, Jered, asked: where God was in this story? The Samaritan? The victim? Certainly not the priest or the Levite or the robbers!
My answer was that God was the horse. Without the horse all the good intentions of the Samaritan to help would have gone for naught. He would not have been able to have gotten the victim to lodging where he could heal.
During the Season of Creation it is important that we remember that our neighbors are not just the people next door. They are the plants and animals all around us.
Jesus would go into the wilderness to commune with God. We might think of the wilderness as a desert, but it really is just a place not occupied by people—a wild place, not a cultivated place. Jesus found God there.
A week ago I was with my grandson. He is a normal 16-month-old boy: full of energy and very active. We went to the Lisbon Garden and he transformed. He was awed by all the plants around him. He was still full of energy, but he was more connected to his surroundings than he had been in the city.
Take time this week to find a bit of wilderness and find God in plants and animals. Our neighbors!
