Churches Together produce new resource pack for Creation Time

	Old beech trees in the New Forest, England. Photograph from EnjoyEngland.com

The ecumenical organisation Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) has put together a programme of resources for use in 'Creation Time', which runs for five weeks from the beginning of September until October 4.

This is one of a number of initiatives stemming from the Third European Ecumenical Assembly in Romania in 2007, in which it was recommended that the five-week period “be dedicated to prayer for the protection of Creation and the promotion of sustainable lifestyles that reverse our contribution to climate change."

The start date coincide with the start of the Orthodox liturgical year on 1 September - which the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch has already invited all Christians to observe as a day of thanksgiving and petitions for creation - and Creation Time then covers the period within which many European churches traditionally celebrate harvest, concluding on the feast day of St Francis on 4 October.

The Churches Together in Britain resources include sermon materials, liturgies, group study ideas and action ideas, designed for a wide range of ages. They come with a choice of two five-week frameworks. One is based on the Lord's Prayer, and the other on the Revised Common Lectionary. The materials are flexible, so it is possible either to follow the whole five weeks or dip into the material and use it as required.

The resources contain links to many Christian organisations that have already developed useful study packs and liturgical materials on environmental issues.

The Hope for Creation resources are available as free downloads from www.ctbi.org.uk/creationtime. A Welsh language version of the sermon materials will be available by early August, and an Irish language version later in the summer

Revd Bob Fyffe, General Secretary of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, says, "We encourage churches to begin planning now for Creation Time, and we hope that what we are offering will help them to do so. There is here a rich resource to meet the needs of clergy and congregations looking for ideas for harvest, as well as more in-depth material for worship and study use throughout Creation Time and beyond."

“Hope for Creation! That's what British and Irish Churches have at a time when many scientists and campaigners are painting an apocalyptic image of a future dominated by climate change, and some find it difficult to have any hope at all,” said a spokesperson for CBTI. “The Churches are not burying their heads in the sand, and they recognise the need to deal with and pray about the ecological problems that face humankind.”

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