Sermon for September 6, 2026
Creation in Christ Sunday
John 1:1-5; Psalm 148; Acts 17:22-28
Rev. Karl-John N. Stone
On our trip through Norway, we usually traveled by train, bus, or ferry. Most of Norway is very rugged and mountainous, similar in some places to Maine and New Hampshire, while other parts of the country feel more like Alaska. The most famous features of Norway are the fjords—narrow inlets, surrounded by tall mountains; some of them are over 100 miles long and over 4,000 feet deep. We took a cruise through two of the fjords, and saw hundreds of waterfalls tumbling down from the mountains. Each bend in the mountains brought something more stunning and beautiful than whatever came before it, and when we got off the ferry I almost needed a neck massage from all the looking up and around, side to side, back and forth!
There’s a section of Norway along the southwestern coast where most tourists don’t visit, known as “Jaeren”. There you won’t find towering mountains and fjords and waterfalls, but when our train rolled in we found a windswept coastal plain, flat and open almost as far as you can see, with some smaller-scale mountains rising in the distance. This is the agricultural heartland of Norway, and is famous for producing some of the creamiest butter and milk chocolate you’ll ever taste. The landscape in Jaeren may not be quite so dramatic as the fjords, but it is beautiful in its own way.
No doubt, you’ve also experienced such a variety and diversity of beauty in your own travels, and that is mirrored in what we find all throughout God’s creation. Our Psalm for today, Psalm 148, takes us through all that variety and diversity: angels and heavenly hosts; sun, moon, and stars; deep waters and sea monsters; fire, hail, snow, fog, and wind; mountains, hills, fruit trees, cedars; wild beasts and cattle; creeping things and flying birds—and finally, people! We are just one part of all that God has made; just one part of all the good stuff that God keeps in existence. Yet despite the vast differences in God’s creation, Psalm 148 shows us that all of them have something in common: the command to praise the Lord! “Let them praise the name of the Lord, whose name only is exalted, whose splendor is over earth and heaven.”
When we think of “praising the Lord”, probably what we’re thinking about is offering our own worship to God. Maybe we also imagine what the saints and angels in heaven are doing, as well. Psalm 148 asks us to look even deeper and wider. From outer space to ocean deeps; from the weather systems we love to complain about, to the landscapes we look at in awe; even the worms you dig to go fishing, or the birds you watch flying from the trees in your backyard—all of them, in their own way, have been invited by God to offer their praise to the Lord; to open themselves to the goodness of the One who put them into being.
The gospel of John teaches us that God’s work of creation happened through Christ. John opens his gospel with these famous words: “In the beginning was the Word [the Word is another way to say Christ], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He [Christ] was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” Today we are observing a new festival of the church year: “Creation in Christ Sunday”. This day of worship and praise has been developing over the course of many years, with input and support from most denominations of Christian churches around the world. Sure we’ve focused on God’s creation before, so why should we focus specifically on creation “in Christ”?
Well, the easy answer is that it’s right there in the gospel of John, not to mention the Nicene Creed. But even more than that, it’s a core truth that the Holy Spirit revealed to those who wrote the gospel and the creed. God’s work to save us from sin and death didn’t begin only after Jesus was born, or only on the cross (even as the cross is the sign that God has no limit as to how far he will go to save us). To celebrate Creation in the Christ through whom all things came into being, is to celebrate that God has always had our salvation in mind. Christ’s saving work was already present from the very beginning of creation—and therefore, salvation is not only for us human beings—salvation is a promise for everything God has brought into existence. As the book of Revelation promises: a new heaven and a new earth; in Christ, all things will be redeemed!
And because “all things came into being through Christ”, therefore everything that exists must be in a relationship to God who gave it being. God fills, surrounds, and embraces everything God has created, and God is doing so at every moment. Nothing can ever escape God’s loving presence; no one can ever flee from God, no matter how hard we try. In Acts 17:28 St. Paul even quotes an ancient poet to make the same point: “In him we live, and move, and have our being.” It’s like the fish swimming in the ocean—do they even notice the water, when it’s the water that constantly surrounds them on all sides as they live, and move, and have their being?
The fish in the ocean is like creation in relation to God. We are like the fish, and God is like the ocean. Yet how often are we oblivious like the fish, and fail to notice the presence of God simply because God is always behind, above, beneath, and all around us? When we do forget, the good thing is that God has marked creation with such an amazing variety and diversity, that there’s always something beyond ourselves, something different in the world, that’s waiting to offer a reminder of God’s presence. Everything God has made is invited, in its own way, to offer praise. And when we open our hearts to the praise coming from creation, it leads us back to God. Amen.