Daily reflections
Some years (but not all), we send out daily reflections for the period of Creationtide - 1 September to 4 October - or during a Lent Carbon Fast. If you wish to receive these…
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Season of Creation 2020
In 2020 we did not send out daily emails.
Creationtide, or the Season of Creation, is the period in the annual church calendar, from 1st September to 4th October, dedicated to God as Creator and Sustainer of all life. Here are 5 brilliant new resources to help us in our worship and actions next month (and beyond!).
1. “Jubilee For The Earth – 2020 Celebration Guide” – an international ecumenical guide with ideas for events, prayers, study, worship, and thinking on the Jubilee themes of social, economic and ecological balance. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ARDojjURVRIYzj8EHlx4tlo9eaDo-bfh/view
2. Climate Sunday resources – a wealth of links for music & hymns, readings, sermons, etc, encouraging us to have at least one dedicated Sunday in this period focusing on climate https://www.climatesunday.org/resources
3. “A Time for Creation - Liturgical resources for Creation and the Environment” – texts from Common Worship and newly commissioned material from the national Liturgical Commission, chaired by the Bishop of Exeter. Available from 30th August. https://www.chpublishing.co.uk/books/9781781401859/a-time-for-creation
4. Energy Footprint Tool – a national and diocesan request for every church treasurer to fill in this very simple online return by end September, please. It will tell your church what your “carbon footprint” is, based on 2019 energy bills and size/attendance. This benchmarking is a vital first step towards becoming carbon net zero. https://exeter.anglican.org/environment/
5. Subsidised Energy Audit – the next step to identify, quantify and prioritise tangible and specific opportunities to reduce energy use, costs and carbon emissions in your church or building. See here for more on what, why, how, highly subsidised costs cost, etc! Closing date also 30 September. https://www.parishbuying.org.uk/categories/energy/energy-basket/audit
Season of Creation 2019
In 2019 we did not send out daily emails.
The Church of England provides a lot of resources for Creationtide on its website. You might also like to look at this Season of Creation website for inspiration and materials, and Green Christian have a long What’s On list.
Creationtide 2017: ‘Inspiring Earth’
During Creationtide 2017 and 2018, we sent out emails with reflections and resources each morning from 1 September to 4 October.
‘Creationtide’ or the ‘Season of Creation’ is the period in the annual church calendar, from 1st September to 4th October, dedicated to God as Creator and Sustainer of all life. It is a time that encompasses many harvest festivals in our region and ends with the feast of St Francis of Assisi. As Christians, we acknowledge that the environment is our common home, and we need to tread more gently on the earth and care for our shared planet. This is a special time for us to recall our relationship with the Earth and the Holy.
“Celebrating Creationtide marks a shift in the Christian understanding of our relationship to creation under God. The consequences of teaching over recent centuries that humanity has been given domination over creation are clear in the complex environmental crisis we now face. It is important that Christians rediscover older traditions of a godly relationship of humanity to the wider created order. The Season of Creationtide is a time for Christians throughout the world to pray, reflect, and act, on issues related to the care of all of Creation, the environment and the world in which we live.” — The Rt Revd Nicholas Holtam, Bishop of Salisbury and the Church of England’s lead bishop on the environment.
This year we invited you to join us in daily prayers and reflections. As through Lent in previous years, we sent an email each morning with ideas and resources between the 1st September and the 4th October. In 2017 we explored the theme of ‘Inspiring Earth’, which as Bishop Holtam said offered “sustenance to enthuse us in our ministry for the whole inhabited world.”
Further information and liturgical resources on Creationtide are available on the Church of England and Green Christian websites.
