From today we join in with an exciting new festival! For the very first time we celebrate Creation in Christ! Our theme for today is the wonder of creation. This kick-starts the season of creation which will run from now until our Harvest Festival on 4th October. There will be a different aspect of creation each week.

Our Gospel story today is Matthew 8:23-27

Awe and wonder filled the disciples as they realised that even the movement of the sea and the winds are elements of God’s creation, and that Jesus was the embodiment of all creation.

Lots of things remind us day by day of the awesomeness of creation, as well as the wind and the waves:

Like the universe! All those stars! Many of you may have watched the eclipse recently whether through special glasses or the filter of a sieve;

Or the various landscapes in the world from mountains to deserts, icecaps to tropical forests;

Or the diversity of humankind;

Or closer to home, the lake district, Snowdonia and the fabulous Wales, Yorkshire dales and moors, seascapes of Cornwall, the lochs and glens and wildness of Scotland, and of course our wonderful Norfolk;

Or the variety of trees in the woodlands;

Or fields of potatoes, wheat and beet;

Or curlews and sea birds, raptors and robins, pheasants and doves;

Or foxes and badgers, deer and hares, stoats and shrews;

Or butterflies and bees, humming bird moths and ladybirds;

Or poppies and cornflowers, buddleias and roses;

Or the amazing grass in our lawns, which shrivelled and died in that heat wave but is growing green again already!

Or dogs and cats, puppies and kittens;

Or kindness and love seen in action;

Or the awesome pleasure of seeing a new baby;

And the fantastic fact that all of these things benefit us in so many ways. Did you know that there’s a shrub which reduces the pollution of our car emissions?

Everything in nature helps us to appreciate the awesome wonder of God. In turn, we are transformed as we connect with God. We ourselves become a new creation, filled with joy and peace and love.

I will leave you to wonder: 

Which amazing aspect of God’s creation do you connect most with the word ‘Wonder’?

Julie Rubidge, Lay Minister