Today, 1st September, is the start of Creationtide or the Season of Creation, which runs through Saturday, 4th October. It is the church season dedicated to God as the Creator and Sustainer of all life. There are TWO themes running in parallel this year, from the Church of England and from the SeasonofCreation.org website by A Rocha UK.
Rev’d Steve Hollinghurst is the Mission Enabler for the environment for the diocese. He said today, “This Creationtide, we’re encouraging all our churches to ‘pray with their feet’ and take action on behalf of our environment. We’re sharing here a couple of key resources: The Great Switch for Creation is a campaign from the Church of England to help churches to switch to greener energy tariffs. And the Season of Creation website has lots of resources for churches to use throughout Creationtide, in their services, to help congregations to celebrate God’s gifts and think about the environment. The outdoors and the beauty of our landscapes here in this diocese are a key motivator for people, and it's a great opportunity for churches to connect more deeply with people beyond the traditional Harvest celebrations. Our Forest Church, Muddy Church and Messy Church Goes Wild programmes are great ways to engage with families and younger children, and there are links at the bottom of this page to help with this.”
The Great Switch for Creation
The national church's big campaign for Creationtide is called The Great Switch for Creation. It urges churches to switch their energy supply to a Green Energy Tariff. The CofE has carried out extensive work to create a new definition of what makes an ethical green tariff and the campaign will aim to cut through 'greenwashing' and encourage churches to make a faith-based pledge to help combat climate change.
Switching to a green energy tariff is a small but powerful step our churches can take to reduce their environmental impact and help the Church overall move towards NetZero. By choosing an ethical green energy supplier, we are:
- Ensuring our churches can be a beacon of hope for everyone;
- Actively increasing investment in renewable energy;
- Supporting ethical companies working hard to reduce carbon emissions, addressing global climate injustice;
- Demonstrating our faith in action.
The first step is for PCCs to make the Pledge to Switch to a Green Tariff, and then to record that Pledge on the CofE website.
The Church of England environment team has researched and vetted various so-called Green Energy Tariffs to weed out those which are merely 'greenwashed' and find ones which are genuinely greener and which also meet the Church's ethical standards. All the information including OFGEM-approved definitions of 'green tariffs' is available on the campaign presentation. There is a useful video from the NetZero team included in the presentation, which churches may want to share with their congregation, to initiate the discussions about switching to a greener tariff.
Churches may also want to share the Green Energy Tariffs provided by the national church with their congregations and communities, if they are also interested in switching their home energy suppliers.
COMMS RESOURCES FOR THE GREAT SWITCH: There are lots of graphic resources available in this presentation from the CofE which churches can use to publicise their pledge to switch, including ready-made social media posts to which churches may add their own logo and accompanying message. There are options to download assets or pop straight into Canva to use and customise them, if your church uses Canva.
Here at the diocese, we would love to know if your church joins The Great Switch, so if you do, and you post about it, please tag #HerefordDiocese in your posts, which we can then like and share to amplify your message, and you can also email us to let us know about your pledge, or if you have questions about using the campaign assets.
Season of Creation Resources
The theme from A Rocha’s SeasonofCreation.org is Peace with Creation. It focuses on the justice-related aspects of care for Creation, exemplified in this quote from the late Pope Francis in relation to climate change: “Listen to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor, who suffer the most. The urgent need for interventions can no longer be postponed.” It also draws on Isaiah 32:14-18. The prophet Isaiah pictured the desolated Creation without peace because of the lack of justice and the broken relationship between God and humankind. This description of devastated cities and wastelands eloquently stresses the fact that human destructive behaviours have a negative impact on the Earth.
Our hope as the People of God remains that Creation will find peace when justice is restored.
To hope in a biblical context does not mean to stand still and quiet, but to act, pray, change, and reconcile with Creation and the Creator in unity, metanoia (repentance), and solidarity.
For churches wanting to bring the contemplative and celebratory elements of the Season of Creation into their worship and activities over the next month, find resources such as service plans, prayers, poems, worship songs and children's service ideas on the A Rocha UK SeasonofCreation website.
A Rocha UK is also hosting a webinar https://arocha.org.uk/event/webinar-what-does-peace-with-creation-look-like/ on September 2nd specifically to help churches celebrate the season. Book your place via Eventbrite. This webinar will be recorded and available online to watch afterwards if you have registered. A Rocha recommends registering for the event even if you are unable to attend, so they can send you a link to the recording a few days after the event.
Events in the Diocese
Learn more about this and other environmental actions happening in the diocese, as part of our commitment to the 5th Mark of Anglican Mission, at one of our two remaining Bishop's Teaching Events for this Year of Engagement, in Ledbury on 13/9 and in Ross-on-Wye on 8/11. You can also find out more about our support for Forest Church, Muddy Church and Messy Church Goes Wild by contacting our Intergenerational Mission team.
Something to get you started
You can join the Creationtide Morning Prayer led by the World Council of Churches, all next week, 8th-12th September.The Anglican Communion Environment Network (ACEN) is joining with the World Council of Churches to lead morning prayer over Zoom every day next week.
You can join each day on this Zoom link
Monday, 8th Sept, 7.30am - ACEN steering committee members
Tuesday, 9th Sept, 7.45am – Anglican Church of Southern Africa
Wednesday, 10th Sept, 7.45am – Church of South India
Thursday, 11th Sept, 7.45am – Diocese in Europe
Friday, 12th Sept 12, 7.45am – Pacifica Region
ENDS