“I encourage Anglicans around the world to pray for the unity of the Church, as we follow Christ’s call to protect and renew what God has entrusted to us.”
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby
Each year, tens of thousands of Christians around the world celebrate the Season of Creation, which runs from September 1st, the World Day of Prayer for Creation, to October 4th, the feast of St Francis of Assisi. This year’s theme is “Hope and Act with Creation” and many excellent resources – detailed below – are available to help you mark this special time.
Ahead of this year’s Season of Creation, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has written, “In the face of the climate crisis, protecting God’s Creation is a spiritual imperative for Christians throughout the global Church. The Season of Creation has inspired us to come together in prayer and action – to safeguard, sustain and renew the life of the Earth. That is why, inspired by the Orthodox Church’s leadership, the Anglican Communion enthusiastically supports this ecumenical season. I encourage Anglicans around the world to pray for the unity of the Church, as we follow Christ’s call to protect and renew what God has entrusted to us.”
Other faith leaders, including Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, also commend the Season of Creation in this year’s ecumenical celebration guide. Patriarch Bartholomew writes about the importance of this being a joint endeavour, saying, “This sense of ecumenical conviction and Christian unity is paramount not only because we have been commanded by our Lord ‘that we may be one’ (John 17:21), but also because we cannot and should not hope to address climate change without working closely with one another. As we have repeatedly stated, ‘we are all in the same boat.’ Creation care is a collective mandate and responsibility.”
An online prayer service will be held on September 1st (at 9:00 New York / 15:00 Geneva / 21:00 Manila), with contributors including Archbishop Marinez Bassoto (Primate of the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil) and Revd Dr Rachel Mash (Green Anglicans and Anglican Communion Environmental Network).
The Communion Forest is featured in the resources and is the inspiration for the icon painted by Bob Mash. The painting appears on the front cover of the preaching and liturgical resource written by six female bishops from across the Anglican Communion: Bishop Olivia Graham, Diocese of Reading, UK “Act with Creation”; Bishop Dalcy Dlamini, Diocese of Swaziland with Canon Thandekile Zulu “Act in Solidarity with the Poor”; Bishop Rose Okeno , Diocese of Butere, Kenya “Act with the Spirit”; Bishop Eleanor Sanderson, Diocese of Hull, UK “Act with Wisdom”; Bishop Magda Guedes Pereira, Diocese of Parana, Brazil “Act in Partnership”; Bishop Vicentia Kgabe, Diocese of Lesotho with Rev Dr Twum Darko “Franciscan Spirituality”.
Further resources
A host of other resources has been created across the Anglican Communion to celebrate the Season of Creation and creation care more generally:
- The Episcopal Church has a wonderful set of resources and a podcast on the liturgy through a social justice lens.
- The Scottish Episcopal Church has some wonderful liturgies.
- The Church of England has some great resources here.
- Scottish Eco-congregations has some very creative multi-media resources (from last year but still relevant).
Why does the Anglican Alliance care about the environment?
The Anglican Alliance exists to connect, equip and inspire the worldwide Anglican family to work for a world free of poverty and injustice and to safeguard creation. The integrity of creation is under severe strain as a result of the triple environmental crises of climate change, environmental degradation and biodiversity loss. Environmental degradation and climate change are also major factors driving poverty and migration and are therefore cross-cutting issues that are part of each of our three pillars of relief, development and advocacy. Safeguarding creation is therefore one of the five priority areas of the work of the Anglican Alliance.
