At the beginning of the month the Season of Creation commenced with the World Day of Prayer for Creation, which is a relatively recent development in the liturgical calendar.
The Season of Creation encourages us to experience faith differently and to learn the Bible and our theology anew; renewing our relationship with our Creator and all of creation through celebration, and commemorating how God created the world.
The season runs from September 1 to October 4 and invites us to ‘metanoia’ – a profound change of mind, heart or way of life, a genuine conversion toward a Creation-based vision of God, nature, and our neighbour.
In 1989 Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitros I proclaimed September 1 as the Orthodox Day of Prayer for Creation and subsequently, the World Council of Churches extended the celebration until October 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi.
Each year, the Ecumenical Steering Committee suggests a theme and provides resources to guide the celebration of the Season of Creation.
The theme for this year is based around the cries of the prophet Amos, found in Amos 5:24 “let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (New International Version).
As the people of God, we must work together on behalf of all Creation, taking up climate and ecological justice, and speaking out with, and for communities most impacted by climate injustice and the loss of biodiversity.
The prophet Isaiah proclaims that we need to “listen carefully, [God is] about to do a new thing, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? [He] will even put a road in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43: 19 (Amplified Bible)
The thing is, our biodiversity is being lost at a rate not seen since the last mass extinction. The futures of young people are threatened by the cascading impacts of the loss of biodiversity and a changing climate.
This year, Christians around the world will mark the Season of Creation through repenting of our collective mistakes of the past, as it is incumbent for us to work for the Earth’s healing and renewal in this time of crisis.
You see, as we look around the world that we have come to know the urgency grows and we must make visible peace with the Earth and on Earth, at the same time that justice calls us to repentance and a change of attitude and actions.
Future generations will never forgive us if we miss the opportunity to protect our common home. We have inherited a garden; we must not leave a desert for our children.
(Joint statement from Pope Francis, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury.)
Therefore, as Christians we need to acknowledge a call to deepen our theological reflection and spiritual awareness of Creation, and engage justice on behalf of nature and our neighbors.
Attending to Creation in liturgy, prayer, scripture, and spirituality may be one of the most significant theological shifts in contemporary Christianity, and is certainly one of the most needed.
We all have a part to play in making this world a better place not only for us, but also for our children, and our children’s children. So, as we each join the river of justice and peace with others then hope is created instead of despair.
The International Social Justice Commission has created a free resource ‘Go and Do Something‘ which is full of practical ideas for action, prayer points and facts, for people of all ages who want to ‘go and do something’ to make the world a better place today.
It covers the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with topics including; poverty, hunger, health, education, the environment, inequalities, development and consumption.
The SDGs recognise a lesson The Salvation Army learnt many years ago – people and communities need to participate in their own development and the goals are universal, for every nation, for all people, everywhere.
Goal 13 looks at Climate Change and the need for us all to ‘take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts’, which can be done through:
Strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to climate‐related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.
Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning.
Improve education, awareness‐raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning.
Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change‐related planning and management in least developed countries and small island developing States.
These and many of the other SDGs align with the Season of Creation, as they focus our minds, hearts and way of life on the importance of the earth which God created for us to look after. We each have a responsibility to make this place a better place for future generations.
This is the first year that the Salvation Army in Aotearoa (NZ), Fiji, Tonga and Samoa territory has celebrated the Season of Creation as a denomination and they have created a range of resources that can be used to prepare a message for your Corps (church). There is also a study guide written by Colonel Richard Munn for use in small / life groups and resources for Children and Youth.
As I’m writing this I’m listening to an album by the United Progressive Fraternity entitled ‘Planetary Overload Part 2: Hope‘, which was released only a couple of months ago.
It is the third ambitious album by the group revolving around the environmentally conscious themes of previous albums, moving on from the stark warnings and lamentations of ‘Part 1: Loss‘ with a message full of Hope.
Check them out 🙂
The thing is, there are a myriad of ways that you and I can help stem the tide of climate action, many of which are simple, inexpensive and timely – But what are you prepared to do? Check out this link for some suggestions.
If you’d like more information about the Season of Creation check out the Mission Resources Hub, leave a comment below, or email me. Alternatively you can check out the following:
- Salves on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/tsa.salves
- Salves on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/tsa.salves/?hl=en
- You may even like to consider becoming an Eco-Corps – https://www.ecochurch.org.nz/
You can also check out a range of resources from different denominations that celebrate the ‘Season of Creation‘ here.
Blessings ’til next time 🙂
The life and times of Perry... 