Time for Creation
- Reforestation project in Tanzania. © Sean Hawkey/ACT
1 September to 4 October is Time for Creation.
The beginning and the end date of Time for 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 Committee invited churches to observe Time for Creation through prayers and actions.
Liturgical resources
- Outline of a prayer service "Peace and Justice for Creation" held at the Ecumenical Centre on 1 September 2011
- Resources provided by Let all Creation Praise
- Booklet by the Student Christian Movement of India
- Resources including a set of worship service outlines by the United Church of Canada
- 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.
- Collection of liturgies and prayers by the Green Church Project (in English and French).
- Sermon outlines, intercessions and harvest festival ideas by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (in English with Irish and Welsh translations).
- "Il respiro delle foreste", a Time for Creation brochure in Italian, as well as other liturgical and study material on creation care are available on the website of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy (Federazione delle Chiese Evangeliche in Italia)
- See also the Ecumenical Water Network's reflections and resources from the Seven Weeks for Water 2011 and previous years.
