We begin the Season of Creation with Van Gogh’s Sower in the Morning Sun, which he painted in 1888. Inspired by Jesus’ parable, the artist pictures the sower sewing on rocky ground, having crossed the path where some seed has fallen. The  birds of the air fly in to devour it.

Behind the sower is the good ground ripe for harvest, but the sower doesn’t see it. He’s intent on the rocky land before him.                                         

The  morning sun filling the sky with yellow light is the sun of creation, the everyday sun, beginning its journey from one end of the skies to the other. ( Psalm 19) Like a bridegroom, like an athlete, it’s on its course. “Nothing is hidden from its heat.”

The sun is also Jesus Christ. He is the Sun that never sets.

The church’s morning prayer often reminds us that Jesus Christ is the Sun that fills our day, though we may be hardly aware of his presence, like the sower in Van Gogh’s painting.

Let us give thanks to our Savior, who came into this world as God’s presence among us. –Christ, King of Glory, be our light and our joy. Lord Jesus, you are the rising Sun, the first-fruits of the future resurrection grant that we may not sit in the shadow of death but walk in the light of life. Christ, King of Glory, be our light and our joy. Show us your goodness, present in every creature,  that we may contemplate your glory everywhere. Christ, King of Glory, be our light and our joy. Do not allow us to be overcome by evil today,  but grant that we may overcome evil through the power of good. (Sunday, Morning Prayer)

In the Season of Creation we bond with creation and advocate for its needs.  Let’s remind ourselves of its beauty this month and ask how to care for its needs.

Sunday, “the day of the sun”, is the most important day of our week. We need to rediscover its beauty and our “Sabbath Rest.” For these first days of September let’s look at the sun, source of earth’s life,  through the eyes of the painter Van Gogh.  

Water is another cornerstone of creation. It pervades  creation and  blesses us with new life in  Baptism. 

September 8th is the Feast of the Birth of Mary. Her name identified the plants and flowers that bring healing and joy to the human family. We will  remember them in the days of September.

 September 14th, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, is a day when “all the trees of the forest shout for joy.”