We have special focus on the Season of Creation, celebrated from the 1st of September to the feast of Holy Hermit St Francis of Assisi on the 4th of October each year. We pause our Holy Hermit Remembrance at worship to fully focus on the season.
The theme for 2024 is "To hope and act with Creation."
In the letter of Paul the apostle to the Romans, the biblical image pictures the Earth as a Mother, groaning as in childbirth (Rom 8:22). Francis of Assisi understood this when he referred to the Earth as our sister and our mother in his Canticle of Creatures. The times we live in show that we are not relating to the Earth as a gift from our Creator, but rather as a resource to be used.
And yet, there is hope and the expectation for a better future. To hope in a biblical context does not mean to stand still and quiet, but rather groaning, crying, and actively striving for new life amidst the struggles. Just as in childbirth, we go through a period of intense pain, but new life springs forth.
More resources can be found at the Season of Creation website.
There is an app available for download to Apple and Android devices:
- Season of Creation on the App Store (apple.com)
- Season of Creation - Apps on Google Play (for andriod)
As a prayer activity you might visit the Threatened fauna of Australia - Wikipedia to pray over all the at risk species in Australia. The 7th of September is National Threatened Species Day - WWF-Australia.
You may also like to check out:
- SoCDevotionsScreenVersion.pdf (qct.org.au)
- Daily-Prayer-Creation-1.pdf (anglican.org)
- Anglican Communion Environmental Network,
- A Song for the Season of Creation – St Bride's Church (stbrides.com)
- Communion Forest – Sustain and Renew
- Podcast - Prophetic Voices: Preaching and Teaching Beloved Community – TECcast (episcopalchurch.org)
Here is a fantastic reflective music album for this season too, from The Porter’s Gate:
Triune God, Creator of all,
We praise you for your goodness, visible in all the diversity that you have created, making us a cosmic family living in a common home. Through the Earth you created, we experience love and nourishment, home and protection.
We confess that we do not relate to the Earth as a Mothering gift from you, our Creator. Our selfishness, greed, neglect, and abuse have caused the climate crisis, loss of biodiversity, human suffering as well as the suffering of all our fellow creatures. We confess that we have failed to listen to the groans of the Earth, the groans of all creatures, and the groans of the Spirit of hope and justice that lives within us.
May your Creator Spirit help us in our weakness, so that we may know the redeeming power of Christ and the hope found in him. May the groans of the Spirit birth in us a willingness to serve you faithfully, so that we may hear and heal Creation, to hope and act together with her, so that the first fruits of hope may blossom.
Loving and Creator God, we pray that you will make us sensitive to these groans and enable us to have the same compassion as that of Jesus, the redeeming Lord. Grant us a fresh vision of our relationship with Earth, and with one another, as creatures that are made in your image.
In the name of the one who came to proclaim the good news to all Creation, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Creator of All,
From your communion of love life sprung forth like a mighty river and the whole cosmos came into being.
On this Earth of overflowing love, the Word was made flesh and went forth with the life-giving waters proclaiming
peace and justice for all creation.
You called human beings to till and keep your garden. You placed us into right relationship with each creature, but we
failed to listen to the cries of the Earth and the cries of the most vulnerable.
We broke with the flowing communion of love and sinned against you by not safeguarding the conditions for life.
We lament the loss of our fellow species and their habitats, we grieve the loss of human cultures, along with the lives
and livelihoods that have been displaced or perished, and we ache at the sight of an economy of death, war and
violence that we have inflicted on ourselves and on the Earth.
Open our ears to your creative, reconciling and sustaining Word that calls to us through the book of Scripture and the
book of creation. Bless us once again with your life-giving waters so that the Creator Spirit may let justice and peace
flow in our hearts and overflow into all creation.
Open our hearts to receive the living waters of God’s justice and peace, and to share it with our suffering brothers and
sisters, all creatures around us, and all creation.
Bless us to walk together with all people of good will so that the many streams of the living waters of God’s justice
and peace may become a mighty river all over the Earth.
In the name of the One who came to proclaim good news to all creation, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Creator of All, From your communion of love your Word went forth to create a symphony of life that sings your praise.
By your Holy Wisdom you made the Earth to bring forth a diversity of creatures who praise you in their being. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
You called human beings to till and keep your garden. You placed us into right relationships with each creature so that we could listen to their voices, and learn how to safeguard the conditions for life. But we turn in on ourselves and away from our co-creatures. We close our ears to the counsel of our fellow creatures. We fail to listen to the cries of the poor and the needs of the most vulnerable. We silence the voices of those who hold the traditions that teach us to care for the Earth. We close our ears to your creative, reconciling and sustaining Word that calls to us through the Scriptures.
We lament the loss of our fellow species and their habitats that will never speak again. We grieve the loss of human cultures, along with the lives and livelihoods that have been displaced or perished. Creation cries out as forests crackle, and animals alike flee the fires of injustice that we have lit by our unwillingness to listen.
In this Season of Creation, we pray that you would call to us, as from the burning bush, with the sustaining fire of your Spirit. Breathe upon us. Open our ears and move our hearts. Turn us from our inward gaze. Teach us to contemplate your creation, and listen for the voice of each creature declaring your glory. For “faith comes from hearing.”
Give us hearts to listen for the good news of your promise to renew the face of the Earth. Enlighten us with the grace to follow the Way of Christ as we learn to walk lightly upon this holy ground. Fill us with the hope to quench the fires of injustice with the light of your healing love that sustains our common home. In the name of the One who came to proclaim good news to all creation, Jesus Christ. Amen.