| |
|
 |
Creation Tide - a time for Christians to celebrate and protect nature
September 1, 2014:
The annual Christian season of Creation Time (or Creation Tide) marks the period between the Orthodox New Year (September 1) and St Francis’ Day (October 5). It is a time for Christians to contemplate the link between their spirituality and the need to care for God's creation.
This year's Creation Time theme is ‘God, Whose Farm Is All Creation' and helpful resources are available from Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and Eco-Congregation, Scotland (via Christian Ecology Link).
The Operation Noah team has also prepared sermon notes and prayers.
Origins of Creation TimeIn 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".
In the 25 years since its beginning Creation Time has become an important part of the annual cycle of festivals for many Christian communities around the world, marked by reflection on the spiritual importance of caring for nature and a commitment to practical action to help improve the condition of the natural world around us.
People's Climate March - September 21, 2014
During the 2014 Creation Time period UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon will be holding a climate summit in New York on Tuesday September 23 and religious organisations have been urged to join in a variety of actions in relation to this important event. In New York itself there are plans for a major gathering - The People’s Climate March - on September 21 with linked events across America and the rest of the world. In the UK there are plans to organise a march in London on the same day and the Christian organisation Operation Noah is one of the partners in co-ordinating this.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
