WCC News: Season of Creation opens with prayers to “let peace and justice flow”

The Season of Creation officially began with a global ecumenical prayer on 1 September. The online global ecumenical prayer marked the start of Season of Creation 2023. Photo: Marcelo Schneider/WCC 1 September 2023 World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Jerry Pillay shared prayers and readings. “Your spirit hovered over the face of the primordial waters and was breathed into humankind after you made us equally in your image,” he read. “We have devalued the fine ecological net that you wove with so much love. We have uprooted your tree of life and sold it as logs.” Suzana Moreira, from Brazil and co-chair of the Season of Creation ecumenical steering committee, opened the service, citing this year’s theme “Let justice and peace flow,” inspired by the image of a mighty river.  The live-streamed prayer drew participants from every corner of the globe. “We have been living the preparation for this season since January this year, preparing the streams of our plans, our activities, our communities to flow together now into the celebration that begins Sept. 1—the Feast of Creation and ends October 4— the Feast of St Francis of Assisi,” Moreira said. “Many the creator Spirit guide our hearts, minds, and hands in the Season of Creation this year.” Three leaders from the global South shared reflections on the theme, touching upon the actions we must all take to address the climate emergency, the wisdom of Indigenous people, and our responsibilities in ensuring God’s will is fulfilled. Sarah Eulitz, World Student Christian Federation-Europe, read an intercessory prayer live from the European Christian Environmental Network Assembly, which is currently convening. “We pray for all victims of war and violence,” she prayed. “We pray for areas where climate change has led to drought and conflict over water and other resources is taking place.” Pillay began the closing segment of the prayer with a reading focused on the earth: “The fragrance of the grass speaks to us,” Pillay read. “The faintness of the stars, the freshness of the morning, the dewdrops on the flowers, speak to us.” A closing song, “Mighty River,” by the Laudato Si animators, offered some lively reminders to defenders of nature. “Never forget the earth,” they sang. “We are part of a single human family.” Watch the recording of the online global prayer Learn more about the Season of Creation WCC's work on Care for Creation and Climate Justice Video: WCC invites you for the Season of Creation 2023 See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 352 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland

Welcoming the Season of Creation

The environmental work of the Presbyterian Hunger Program is grounded in Scripture, Reformed theology, General Assembly policies that call us to care for creation, including the 1990 foundational policy “Restoring Creation for Ecology and Justice,” and prayer.

September 1 is the World Day of Prayer for Creation and the start of the Season of Creation. This day of prayer was established by Patriarch Dimitrios I for the Orthodox in 1989, and was  then embraced by major Christian European churches in 2001 and by Pope Francis for the Roman Catholic Church in 2015 when he issued a new statement for the day of prayer, calling for a “renewed and sound relationship between humanity and creation”.

The Season of Creation ends on October 4, the Feast of St. Francis and the traditional day for the Blessing of the Animals.

Today, Christians around the world unite to pray as one. On World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, the Hunger Program offers the prayer from Laudato Si’ below.

A Prayer for Our Earth

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe

and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love,

that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live

as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God…

Bring healing to our lives,

that we may protect the world and not prey on it,

that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts

of those who look only for gain

at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,

to be filled with awe and contemplation,

to recognize that we are profoundly united

with every creature.

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Download a 2-page Season of Creation 2020 Calendar from the Green Churches Network.

WCC NEWS: Webinar on Season of Creation: “New Rhythms, New Hope”

As a new Season of Creation celebration guide was released, a 8 June webinar on “Jubilee for the Earth: New Rhythms, New Hope” offered reflections from diverse Christian traditions that illuminated a way forward through caring for our planet.

The webinar was organised by the World Council of Churches, Anglican Communion Environmental Network, Christian Aid, European Christian Environmental Network, Global Catholic Climate Movement, Lausanne Creation Care Network, Lutheran World Federation, World Communion of Reformed Churches, and World Evangelical Alliance.

Five panelists and more than 800 participants sparked a rich online discussion that continues to enlighten people across the world.

“The COVID-19 context inspired us to slow down and reflect on how this new life should be connected to the rest of the creation,” said Rei Lemuel Crizaldo, a panelist from the Philippines who serves with Micah Global. He shared how churches in the Philippines are practicing life-giving agriculture in their backyards, cultivating a deep spirituality as well as feeding communities. He stressed that churches should pay attention to the ones who have been safeguarding Mother Earth for hundreds of years - indigenous people.

Bringing a perspective from Costa Rica, Ruth Padilla deBorst gave the inspiring example of Casa Adobe as an alternative community striving to live in just conviviality with one another and with the nature. “We have to abandon the status quo and resist the spirit of consumerism” which has shaken the balance of the web of life, she said. “Living justly together as part of a planetary community requires a counterculture reaction…We need to reflect on vital questions such as: what is life for? What is good life?”

Representing the Vatican Dicastery for Integral Human Development, Fr Joshtrom Kureethadam thanked God for providing the Biblical concept and practice of jubilee as a strategy for restoring right relations with nature. “It is about kairos which is an invitation for ecological conversion,” he reflected. “The celebration of jubilee should begin with the acknowledgment of our sins against the land, sea, air…and all creation.” He suggested that church action for jubilee should be “creative action that is led by the Holy Spirit… concrete, practical, and visionary…[as well as] participative.”

Martin Kopp with the Protestant Federation of France shared “nine and half theses” on the jubilee theme. Emphasising the primary responsibility of wealthy nations and wealthy people to make necessary changes in lifestyles and consumption, and calling for radical changes in prevailing economic systems, he proposed the critical need to embark on an economy of de-growth. “While the COVID-19 crisis has upended many lives, the unprecedented government actions to address the crisis also reveal that jubilee is possible,” he said.

The fifth panelist, Ruth Valerio, director of global advocacy at Tearfund, based in the United Kingdom, gave a prerecorded input. “Life is to be lived in community” where “all people are equal,” she said. If we are going to see jubilee for Mother Earth, “we cannot return to black skies by business as usual...We must reboot the economy.”

Season of Creation 2020 Celebration Guide, “Jubilee for the Earth,” now available – WCC news release 28 May 2020

Download the Season of Creation 2020 celebration guide

Learn more about Season of Creation

WCC's work on Care for Creation and Climate Justice

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 350 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC acting general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, from the Orthodox Church in Romania.

Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press
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