Season of Creation, a call for great thanksgiving
Communion Sunday celebrations and more.
Sunday, October 2nd is the last Sunday in the Season of Creation series. I hope your faith community found a way to celebrate, perhaps with the whole 5 week liturgy, or maybe with prayers, songs, and/or communion.
I want to lift up a communion liturgy written by Rev. Paul Mitchell for October 1, Communion Sunday. If you didn’t yet celebrate a creation communion, you can still do so—any time at all. For, Jesus spoke of your hopes and desires for us and for our reconciliation in stories of mustard seeds, grain, vines, trees, and pastoral flocks.
Below, find a round-up of what is happening in the faith community as we celebrate the final Sunday of this creation season. (Find round-ups also for week one, week two, and week three.)
A faith + mangroves event for sustainability and fellowship. From Interaksyon, Caritas Philippines brings ‘Bike for Kalikasan’ to Batangas. The second year for this event, organized by Caritas Philippines and the Lipa Archdiocesan Ministry on Environment (AMEn), where bikers will pilgrimage through mangrove forests.
Blessing of the Animals. In the US, this is calendar perfection, as churches are invited to follow the teachings of St. Francis in blessing God’s creatures on the final Sunday of the Season of Creation. A lovely, local church event and we celebrate with The Church of the Good Shepherd in Maine. From the Sun Journal, Blessing of the Animals to be Held in Rangeley.
A call for reconciliation with creation. A shout out to the Episcopal Conference of Malawi for an inspiring short video speaking to the sanctity of life, and God’s call to the faithful to care for the earth and each other. More must be done to address the suffering caused by climate change. “Season of Creation Documentary”: Church Officials in Malawi Call for Justice for Creation.
Campus Creation Celebrations. Raise it up for Central Kentucky’s Bellarmine University. They are wrapping up a full week of events, including a plant give-a-way. From The Record, Bellarmine observes Season of Creation with week of events.
Representing! The Mayor opened the Eco Fair at the Amesbury Methodist Church in Salisbury, UK. From the Salisbury Journal, Methodist church to host Amesbury Eco Fair. Included will be recycling information, clothing exchange, fairtrade shop, and XR.
Young Lutherans to the Vatican. Pilgrims and clergy gathered in St. Peter’s square to participate in an ecumenical prayer vigil led in part by the Taizé Community. Prayers raised included prayer for creation. From the Lutheran World Federation, Young Lutherans head to Rome for ecumenical prayer vigil. Special attention was paid to young adults who attended. Thousands of young adults regularly pilgrimage to stay with the brothers of the Taizé community every year in France.
Words to carry us into Thanksgiving. I close with a reflection by Archbishop Chris Harper, national Indigenous archbishop of the Anglican Church of Canada. We are called to waken from sorrow and greed with a prayer for gathering the true treasures of this God-given life. Published in the Anglican Journal, On being thankful in a time of anxiety and loss.
Richenda
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