A Song of Faith for Creationtide
A sermon preached by Revd Sophie Ferguson
Sunday 6 September 2026
Well, we just got back from our family summer holiday to one of our favourite places. It is one of those holiday destinations that we always return to because when we arrive, we can instantly relax because it’s of huge convenience and comfort that we know where most things are, the local shop, best places to eat, the local beach and how to actually use the car parking payment machine! A home away from home.
We arrived at our holiday destination, and we returned to one of our most loved Churches to meet some old friends, it came as a shock to us this year, that when we walked in the Church there had been a radical change to the interior of the building. Everything felt different and well changed!
We are creatures of habit after all, and as I get older, I realise, that those familiar things in one’s life can be so comforting in an ever-evolving world. Alas, this was a small change in the grand scheme of things, but it made me think about the canticle we heard this morning from our Epistle 1 Peter, a Song of Faith because it speaks about things that are perishable, things that change and the unperishable word of God that does that change.
We have been working through the secret songs of scripture for our summer sermon series, and today I am bringing this to you at the tail end of summer, on the threshold of a new season.
Today marks the start of Creationtide. Creationtide is the time dedicated in our worship to consider God as Creator and Sustainer of all life. As we enter in autumn, things around us are changing. For one thing, the grass is now greening and of course those lovely autumn leaves are appearing.
So, this song of Faith, this canticle today on the theme of faith and with a strong emphasis on the power of the resurrection, is an invitation to think about moving through cycles of growth, change, dying back and renewal. It is not a canticle with rich imagery about rolling hills or oceans, or dry deserts or angels, rather it is a song about the confidence in a God who raised Christ from the dead. It is about an imperishable, unchangeable hope.
Firstly, let consider the changing world around us
We have just lived through an extraordinary period of heat and drought.
This summer, England and Wales experienced their driest July on record, and by August almost three quarters of England had been declared to be in drought.
We have seen dry fields. Low rivers. Parched gardens. Struggling crops. Trees and plants under stress. And behind these immediate experiences lies the much larger reality of a changing climate. The words from 1 peter have been lifted off the page “the grass withers and the flowers fall”
Sometimes looking at creation, we cannot see hope. We see what is changing and broken.
We see what is threatened and what is being lost. And I ask myself, where is new creation breaking in? I cannot see much good change happening around me.
Changes, whether they are changes in the world around, or in our own lives, they can either be good for us, the changing seasons, new beginnings, new jobs, new schools, a change in our habits or lifestyles…
or they can be unexpected changes, things that can really knock us sideways, a loss of comfort, a death, a retirement, a new illness perhaps.
So, I can’t stand here and simply say, its Creationtide let’s celebrate creation in its glory and wonder, let us all be joyful because changes are good. That may sound completely off kilter with our lived reality, especially in the face of the climate emergencies and the flash flooding we have seen in the news this week
And yet, we have our gospel reading. And we have Thomas coming into the frame. Thomas’s story is found in the Gospel of John is a very human story about grief, disappointment doubt and faith. Thomas had difficulty believing in something he could not see. His friends had seen the risen Christ, but he needed proof. He wants to see the wounds. Thomas had been through something devastating. He had placed his hope in Jesus. And then he watched Christ die. So, when the disciples tell him that Jesus is alive, Thomas cannot simply switch his hope back on. Something had radically changed and He needed to see that what was true.
And he isn’t rejected or scorned for asking for proof from Christ. Jesus comes to him. Meets him in his doubt and shows him the wounds. The risen Christ still bears the wounds, but the wounds did not have the final word. This takes up back to our canticle, God raised Christ from the dead.
So why does this matter in Creationtide? It matters because Christian hope does not mean pretending that the earth is not wounded.
It is speaking in hope and faith that the wounds of the earth do not have the final word. There may be unspeakable horrors happening within our planet but if we believe there is no hope, we can become paralysed. I know then I retreat to my home comforts.
But the Song of Faith from the New Testament today is a song rich in confidence in Christ. It is not a naïve song of faith, because it comes from a community living in a world of uncertainty, pressure and suffering. The Christians to whom Peter writes knew that the world was not as it should be. They knew what it was to feel vulnerable, to be different, and to live without knowing what the future would bring.
And yet Peter does not invite them to put their hope in circumstances remaining unchanged. He directs them instead towards Christ: the one who suffered, who died, and whom God raised from the dead.
This is the hope of the resurrection: not that the wounds will be denied, but that they will not have the final word.
As the season changes around us, we are reminded that change is woven into creation itself. Summer gives way to autumn. The abundance of growth gives way to letting go. The landscape will change. Yet we know that this is not the end of the story.
And so perhaps the question for us is not whether we can prevent change, or whether we can see clearly what lies ahead. Thomas could not. The first Christians could not. Nor can we.
The question of putting Faith in God is a huge challenge, amid all that changes around us, can we place our trust in the One who does not change. Into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading.
It is a song of confidence, not because everything around us is secure, it is a song of hope, not because we can already see the new creation, but because we trust the God who is bringing it about. May we have the courage to face honestly the wounds of our world; and the fragility of humankind.
For Christ is risen.
A Song of Faith.