This year for the month of September, we are starting something new at Highland Hills. We will be joining with brothers and sisters in Christ from across denominations and all across the world to celebrate the Season of Creation. You know you're onto something special when Christians in different denominations and different continents can agree—we can barely get two Baptists to agree to anything.
One of the unique aspects that sets our church apart from all the others in Macon, Georgia, is our beautiful and expansive grounds. We are a people who have long appreciated God's beauty all around us—just look at the amphitheater! From Mary Willingham's thoughtful landscape designs to the trail that surrounds our grounds, we have this incredible gift of creation at Highland Hills.
These five weeks of worship will allow us to thoughtfully and worshipfully consider God as creation, God's creation, and our role within it. This is a season in our church marked not only by our thoughts and our worship, but also by our actions. We will have quite a few ways to put our theology into action through a community feast on September 15, through a grounds care day in partnership with the Boy Scouts on September 22, guided trail walks and worship in the amphitheater on September 29, and closing the season with a special St. Francis day pet blessing service on Wednesday, October 2.
I am really excited for this season of worship, because even as I write this, I look out on to the church grounds and see people walking our trail, butterflies visiting various flowers, and birds flitting about our grounds. We really are so lucky to be surrounded by God's creation, and I don't want to take advantage of that gift. May we walk through this season remembering to:
Go forth confident in the hope in which you have been saved:
praise God in all creation:
follow Christ through whom all things are made:
in the power of the Spirit become a beacon of hope to the world:
and the blessing of the Creator God,
the Eternal Father, the Risen Son, and the promised Holy Spirit
bless you that you might be a blessing to others today and always. Amen.