Preparing for Creation Time

Eco-Congregation Scotland has published material for use by congregations during Creation Time 2016, which runs from 1 September - 4 October (Feast of St Francis). The material comes from an ecumenical writing group, and follows the theme, 'Followers of Jesus, Caring for Creation'.

What is Creation Time?

In 1989 the Ecumenical Patriarch suggested that 1 September, the first day of the Orthodox Church's year, should be observed as a day "of protection of the natural environment". Ten years later the European Christian Environmental Network (ECEN) widened this proposal, urging churches to adopt a Time for Creation stretching from 1 September to the feast of St Francis on 4 October and this was endorsed by the 3rd European Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu, Romania in 2007, which recommended that the period "be dedicated to prayer for the protection of Creation and the promotion of sustainable lifestyles that reverse our contribution to climate change".

Since 2008 churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) has compiled a programme of resources to encourage and assist churches to observe Creation Time. These include suggestions on a variety of ways in which churches, groups and individuals could choose to focus on a creation theme at this particular time of the year.

Downloadable resources at: www.ecocongregationscotland.org/materials/creation-time/

World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

Last year, Pope Francis designated 1 September as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation in the Catholic Church. The day of prayer, the Pope said, gives individuals and communities an opportunity to implore God's help in protecting creation and an opportunity to ask God's forgiveness "for sins committed against the world in which we live". Pope Francis said he was instituting the prayer day for Catholics because he shares the concern of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who initiated the 1 September prayer day for the Orthodox Church in 1989.

CAFOD has prepared resources for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation 2016 at: http://cafod.org.uk/News/Campaigning-news/World-Day-of-Prayer

Columban JPIC service for the World Day of Prayer for Creation 1 September 2015 at: www.columbans.co.uk/news/world-day-of-prayer-for-creation-an-ecumenical-service/