Dear Good Samaritans,

On Sunday we will begin an intentional period of five weeks that the church has set aside to ponder the incredible gift of God’s creation. We will wonder together, have contrition for the ways that we have used and abused creation, rejoice in the beauty and splendor all around us, and generally remember that everything we see and touch is from God and at the moment of creation God declared it “good.”

The celebration of this Season began in 1989 when Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I established September 1 as a Day of Prayer for Creation for the Orthodox Church. The World Council of Churches extended the celebration to October 4th, the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi.

Since then, the Episcopal Church’s General Convention of 2022 declared: The 80th General Convention of the Episcopal Church recognized climate change as “an all-encompassing social crisis and moral emergency that impacts and interconnects every aspect of pastoral concern including health, poverty, employment, racism, social justice, and family life and that can only be addressed by a Great Work involving every sector of society, including the Church.”

This season strives to draw us in deeper to the mystery of God’s creation as well as recognize humanity’s role as caretakers and lovers of this creation.

These weeks will be a little different from normal. We will have a second lesson from a source other than the Bible that was approved by our bishop. Additionally, there is a new text for the Lord’s Prayer that addresses God as Holy One instead of mother or father. In doing so, it drives home the fact that God is all genders and no genders at once time. And, in changing the words, however slightly, it reorients us to the prayer and makes us better listeners to what we pray. There will also be other sections of the liturgy that definitely take on a more creation-focused flair.

I hope you will use this time, during the very long season of Ordinary Time, to be refreshed in God’s working in the world around us as well as deepening your commitment to caring for the earth for all future generations.

Peace,

Fr. Chris