Season of Creation
1 September to 4 October is Season of Creation.
From September 1 to October 4, Christians around the world are praying and caring for creation. It’s the “Season of Creation”. The beginning and the end date of Season of Creation are linked with the concern for creation in the Eastern and the Western traditions of Christianity, respectively.
September 1st was proclaimed as a day of prayer for the environment by the late Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I in 1989. The Orthodox church year starts that day with a commemoration of how God created the world. On 4 October, Roman Catholics and other churches from the Western traditions commemorate Francis of Assisi, known to many as the author of the Canticle of the Creatures.
The proposal to celebrate a "Time for Creation" during these five weeks was made by the Third European Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu in 2007. The following year, the WCC Central Committeeinvited churches to observe "Time for Creation" through prayers and actions. In 2015, Pope Francis has designated September 1st as a World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation for the worldwide Roman Catholic Church as well.
Throughout the years, major Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, and Anglican organizations have joined to encourage the 2.2 billion Christians worldwide to pray and act on ecological issues.
In 2016, Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew I released their special messages for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, kicking off the month-long Season of Creation celebrations. Both leaders used strong language to stress the urgency of the ecological crisis and the need to take action on climate change. Their special messages are available here.
The Season of Creation is facilitated by the World Council of Churches, the Global Catholic Climate Movement, ACT Alliance, the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network and the Anglican Communion Environmental Network.
Join the World Day of Prayer for Creation on Facebook and share your own prayers!
Liturgical resources
- Ecumenical Season of Creation website.
- Worship resources for the four Sundays produced by Eco Congregation Scotland on behalf of the Church of Scotland.
- Sustainable September resources from the Uniting Church in Western Australia.
- Educational resources for all ages from Creation Justice Ministries.
- Prayers, songs and texts on climate, spirituality and peace with the Earth available in English, French, German, Kisuaheli and Bahasa Indonesia on the website of the United Evangelical Mission.
- Multilingual brochure "God’s creation – a house of life for all" published by the Evangelical Church in Central Germany in cooperation with partner churches from Slovakia, Sweden, Tanzania and the United States.
- Season of Creation eucharistic prayer in English, Portuguese and other African languages, by the Anglican Church of Southern Africa Environmental Network. See also their revised Season of Creation resource collection (pdf).
- Sermon notes, intercessions, group study and harvest festival ideas by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (in English with Welsh and Irish translations).
- Resources including a set of worship service outlines by the United Church of Canada
- Resources collected by the Anglican Communion Environmental Network
- Resources provided by Let all Creation Praise
- Exegetical and liturgical resources collected by the Network of Earthkeeping Christian Communities in South Africa (in English and Afrikaans)
- Prayers, blessings and meditations collected by the European Christian Environmental Network (in a variety of languages). See also their Time for Creation dossier.
- Readings, sermons, songs and other liturgical resources are also available on the Australian website Season of Creation.
- Worship, teaching and prayer material by the Uniting Earthweb
- Prayers and liturgies, preaching and educational resources by the Canadian Green Churchproject (in English and French)
- Prayers by the Christian conservation organization A Rocha.
- Season of Creation resources by Rev. Dr Jason John of the Mid North Coast Uniting ecoministryin Australia
- Creationtide collection compiled by the Diocese of Rochester in the Church of England
- Resources in Swedish by the Christian Council of Sweden
- Documents by the Globalization and Environment unit of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy (in Italian)
- Outline of the ecumenical prayer service at COP21 prepared by the Council of Christian Churches in France
- Prayers related to the Sustainable Development Goals
- Outline of a prayer service on the theme of creation held at the Ecumenical Centre on 22 April 2013
- See also the Ecumenical Water Network's reflections and resources from the Seven Weeks for Water.
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