Season of Creation Sermon

 

Theme

Becoming God’s Balm for Creation

 

Texts

Jeremiah 8:18–9:1

1 Timothy 2:1–7

Luke 16:1–13

Introduction

The Five Marks of Mission

Friends, the Anglican Church describes its calling through what we call the Five Marks of Mission.

 They were first shaped in the 1980s, refined in the years that followed, and today they guide our life together.

•       To proclaim the good news of the kingdom.

•       To teach, baptize, and nurture new believers.

•       To respond to human need by loving service.

•       To transform unjust structures of society.

And the most recent; to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and to renew the life of the earth.

This fifth mark brings us here, to the Season of Creation.

It reminds us that caring for the earth is not optional.

It is mission.

It is gospel.

Valencia Floods Story

And we know why this matters. Just last October, Valencia was hit by devastating floods. Torrents of water poured through streets. Cars swept away. Families evacuated. Homes and shops ruined overnight. And yet… in the middle of the chaos, people rose up. Neighbors helped neighbors. Churches opened their doors. Rescue teams worked without rest. Communities began to rebuild. That story is not only about Valencia. It’s about all of us. Floods, droughts, storms, heatwaves; creation is groaning. And that is why the church keeps this season: to listen, to lament, to act.

Jeremiah’s Cry

Jeremiah gives us words for such a time:

“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.  For the brokenness of my people I am broken.  I mourn, and horror has seized me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?” Do you hear his grief?  He does not stand apart. He feels it in his body: my heart is sick, I am broken. The harvest and the summer in his world, those are seasons of abundance. But they have slipped away. Opportunity lost. The people are not saved. And so he asks: Is there no balm? Is there no healing to be found? Jeremiah teaches us that the people’s unfaithfulness wounds not only their society but the land itself. And the prophet weeps because land and people are bound together.

The Other Readings

Paul in 1 Timothy says: Pray for everyone; for rulers and those in high positions. Why? Because wise leadership matters for the common good. In this season, that means praying for decisions about water, farming, tourism, and energy. That they may serve life, not greed. And Jesus, in Luke 16, tells of a shrewd manager. Not honest, but decisive. When crisis came, he acted. Jesus’ warning is sharp: You cannot serve God and wealth. The ecological crisis presses that very question: whom will we serve? Possessions, or the living God?

Mallorca’s Wounds

And we do not need to look far.Mallorca is full of beauty but also of wounds. Our aquifers run low, and saltwater pushes in. Our Posidonia seagrass, the lungs of the Mediterranean, is scarred by anchors and pollution. Tourism brings blessing, but also strain; mountains of waste, sewage spills, beaches closed.  Heatwaves grow harsher. Storms grow stronger.

Add to this:

    Plastic pollution washes up on our shores and chokes marine life.

•       Air pollution and noise from endless flights and cruise ships wear down both land and sea.

•       Loss of farmland as urban sprawl eats into fertile soil, and younger generations struggle to keep traditional farming alive.

•       Forest fires in our hot, dry summers threaten homes, habitats, and the very air we breathe.

•       Housing and land pressure from speculative development squeezes local families and drives unsustainable growth.

All of these together tell us: Creation is wounded.  Our island is at risk. And so Jeremiah’s words ring true:

The harvest is past.

The summer is ended.

And we are not saved.

But still he asks: Is there no balm in Gilead?

 

Becoming the Balm

Yes, there is a balm.

 But it comes through us.

When we pray for leaders and for our island.

When we act shrewdly with what we’ve been given: saving water, reducing plastic, protecting seagrass, travelling more lightly.

When we stand together for policies that protect the earth before profit.

 When we prepare to help each other in crisis, as Valencia did.

The balm is not magic.

It is God’s healing, poured out through human faithfulness.

Conclusion

So, beloved: let us not waste another harvest.

Let us not let another summer end while the wounds remain untreated.

Let us become God’s balm for Mallorca, for the Mediterranean, and for creation itself.

For the brokenness of our people, we are broken.

But by God’s Spirit, we can also be healers.

Amen.