A Time to Pray for Creation

Bishop Nicholas has joined ecumenical leaders around the world in commending the Season of Creationtide, which started on 1 September and runs until 4 October, St Francis’ Day.

“The season of Creationtide”, said Bishop Nicholas, “is a time for Christians throughout the world to pray, reflect, and act on issues related to the care of all of Creation, the environment and the world in which we live.”

Among other worship events to take place during the season, the Archbishop of Canterbury is hosting a special Taizé Online Service on 19 September at 3 pm UK time. Participants will come from around the world and the service will invite deeper communion within our Christian family and our Earth community. Anyone with an internet connection can join: find out more here.

Dozens of resources for prayer and ideas for action are available online.

The Church of England’s national environmental campaign, Shrinking the Footprint, has a website with resources for worship and biblical reflection specifically tailored to an Anglican context at creationtide.wordpress.com.

There are even more resources at the ecumenical and international Season of Creation website at www.seasonofcreation.org.

Join 500 people across 7 dioceses in the South West of England in receiving daily reflections at ecochurchsouthwest.org.uk/creationtide/.

The idea of a Season of Creation was originally devised by the Oecumenial Patriarch in 1989, with Pope Francis giving the idea significant impetus in the past few years. It is supported by Christians of every imaginable denominational and theological perspective, united in prayer to Christ who is the Lord of us all, and service to God’s creation which has been gifted to us all.

It is appropriate that the Pope and the current Oecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew, commended this year’s campaign in a joint letter, in which they said:

“...we fervently invite all people of goodwill to dedicate a time of prayer for the environment on 1 September.  On this occasion, we wish to offer thanks to the loving Creator for the noble gift of creation and to pledge commitment to its care and preservation for the sake of future generations. After all, we know that we labour in vain if the Lord is not by our side (cf. Ps 126-127), if prayer is not at the centre of our reflection and celebration. Indeed, an objective of our prayer is to change the way we perceive the world in order to change the way we relate to the world. The goal of our promise is to be courageous in embracing greater simplicity and solidarity in our lives.

We urgently appeal to those in positions of social and economic, as well as political and cultural, responsibility to hear the cry of the earth and to attend to the needs of the marginalized, but above all to respond to the plea of millions and support the consensus of the world for the healing of our wounded creation. We are convinced that there can be no sincere and enduring resolution to the challenge of the ecological crisis and climate change unless the response is concerted and collective, unless the responsibility is shared and accountable, unless we give priority to solidarity and service.”

Read the full text of the letter here.