From the Season of Creation website
We know that religious people too often don't play well with others. Not only do they scrap with folk from other religions, Christians will insist that their doctrine or sacraments or aversion to either of these makes them superior to others "in house."
So, here's good news that somehow escaped my attention until yesterday. An international seminar has been taking place in Assisi, Italy, to establish a date for an ecumenical Feast Day of Creation. When I look at the list of participating Christian communions and organizations I figure that at least two-thirds of Planet Earth's Christians, probably 1.5 billion or more, are represented.
The United Church of Canada has been observing what we call Creation Time in September and early October for years now. The RCs call it the Season of Creation and the Anglicans Creationtide (my favourite) and this too is a really hopeful development. To observe a common Feast Day of Creation would be a common celebration to get these weeks underway. Our Christian biblical story begins with the Creation accounts in Genesis and concludes with the "new heaven and new earth" of Revelation. It would be wonderful if we would be able to overcome the things that divide us for the sake of a common good.
It's also heartening to see that this is happening in the birthplace of St. Francis, the patron saint of ecology. Francis was the namesake of the late Pope Francis whose love for Creation resulted in the environmental encyclical called Laudato Si (Praise Be to You): On Care for Our Common Home.
It would have been nice if all these Christian entities had just jumped on board a Zoom call to ask "our we all good on this one?" rather than spending years in discussion, but I shouldn't quibble. Here is the description of this conference provided by the Lutheran World Federation.
2nd Feast of Creation Conference 4 Apr – 8 May 2025
Assisi meeting to promote Feast of Creation Day
This 2nd Feast of Creation meeting is organized by the Roman Catholic Church’s Laudato Sì Research Institute, in partnership with LWF, the World Council of Churches, the World Methodist Council, the Anglican Communion and the World Communion of Reformed Churches.
It brings together church leaders, liturgists, scholars, scientists and other experts to promote the establishment of a Feast of Creation Day, likely to be on 1 September following the Orthodox tradition, that will be observed ecumenically. The goal is for it to be integrated into the liturgical calendar of the world communions with common lectionary texts for the day and other liturgical resources that will be produced.
The conference will explore the history of Christian engagement with the creation story, described in the book of Genesis, in the context of the growing climate justice movement. The Feast is placed in the context of the Nicene Creed and encourages an intensified study of the role of the Trinity in creation.
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