Last year at the global gathering of the Anglican
Communion (ACC) a resolution was passed: ‘in the
light of alarming ecological trends observed
worldwide we request that the provinces take the
following action: to consider the inclusion of a Season
of Creation in the liturgical calendar”
JAEI
SEASON
OF
CREATION!
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, it gives
me great pleasure to introduce to you the
first Season of Creation Newsletter from our
JAEI desk in the Diocese. As you know,
Provincially, September is a month where
we celebrate Season of Creation.
I humbly request that we should all join in
this most important calling of looking after
our God given creation.
+Steve
What is The Season of Creation?
The Anglican Church is taking care for creation
seriously. Our fifth mark of mission is “To strive to
safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain
and renew the life of the earth”
As the Anglican Church we have different Seasons in
our Liturgical Calendar, we remember God the Son at
Christmas and Easter, we remember God the Holy
Spirit at Pentecost, but when do we preach and teach
about God the Father, the Creator?
The Season of Creation was first adopted in 1989 by
the Greek Orthodox Church and the concept has
rapidly spread to other denominations. Since then
churches internationally have taken initiatives to
develop materials for the ‘Season of Creation’ or
‘Time of Creation’. Most commonly is it celebrated
between Creation Day (Sep 1st) and the feast of St
Francis of Assisi on October 4th.
ACSA has taken this call seriously and you will now
find readings for the Season of Creation in your
lectionary.
(Taken from Green Anglicans News)
In his foreword to the Season of Creation Books,
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba says:
“My prayer is that this resource [the Season of
Creation Books] may enhance our worship of
God, deepen our comprehension of God as
Creator, and broaden our understanding of our
calling to be faithful stewards of creation. In this
way, I hope that we will be encouraged to work to
overcome the threats to our planet that come
through human selfishness and be strengthened
in our commitment to care for the whole intricate
web of life of which we are part, for, as the
Psalmist says, ‘the Earth is the Lord’s and all that
is in it’ (PS 24:1)
Caring for the environment has been identified as
one of ten priority areas for action at Provincial
level, as a part of our Vision for our church. Yet
our vocation to be faithful stewards of all that God
has entrusted to us is not new, being rooted in the
creation accounts with which our Bible opens.
Here we read that God ‘formed man from the dust
of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life ... and put him in the Garden of Eden
to work it and take care of it’ (Genesis 2:7, 15)
Sadly we have not done a great job of taking care
of God’s good gifts. Instead, all too often we bring
about lasting damage. Now we are faced with
environmental degradation, climate change and in
many places, soaring food prices and falling food
security. These resources remind us that with
God’s help, we can rediscover his vision for living
in harmony with the world in which he has places
us.”
During the Season of Creation (1 September – 4
October) we are afforded a great opportunity to be
able to take a long hard look at how we treat our
precious Planet Earth that our Father God has
entrusted to us, and in asking forgiveness for our
apathy, greed and non-caring attitude, we can
investigate ways and means to work towards
improving not only our attitudes, but the situation as
well.
Season of Creation
Books
These books – Book 1 & 2 - are
available to purchase as hard
copies from the Publications
Department at R30 per copy (plus
postage) –
publish@anglicanchurchsa.org.za; or
you can download a free copy from
 www.jaei.org.za
 www.greenanglicans.org/resources/liturgical/
(here The Season of Creation Eucharistic Prayer is
available in Afrikaans, isiZulu and Setswana)
(Season of Creation Book 3 will be available shortly)
Thinking out of the
box!!!
Hold a Special
Environmental Service
during September!
 Have a special Environmental Liturgy &
hymns/songs (see Season of Creation books for
approved
Liturgies)
(visit
www.jaei.org.za
Resources download of the Books and also
Hymn/songs ideas)
 Do a skit/playlet about the environment instead of
the Sermon (visit www.jaei.org.za Resources for
ideas)
 Have and impromptu litter pick up in place of the
Sermon
 Hold your Service outdoors – in the Church
grounds, in a local park or Nature Reserve
 Ask everyone to wear green or something green
to the Service
 Have an “unplugged” Service – switch off the
electricity and rely solely on candles light and
unaccompanied voices or guitars for music
 Have the children make posters the week before
and bring them into the Church for the service
 Organise a flower festival
 Have and Animal Blessing day on the 5th October
(St Francis Day)
 Plant trees (Season of Creation coincides with
Arbor month)
 Invite someone to speak about the environment in
place of a Sermon
 Hold a debate/discussion about the environment
in place of a Sermon
These are a few suggestions, but you will be able to
come up with many more! ......
INVITATION
Eco-Congregation Sharing Morning ....where
Eco-congregations share their experiences and
“Let’s get wild about Bats!” – with speaker:
Julio Balona of the Gauteng Bat Interest Group



Date - Saturday, 23 August 2014
Time - 08:30 for 09:00 – 12:30
Venue - St Francis of Assisi, Parkview
Cnr Tyrone Ave and Roscommon Rd,
Parkview
If you hold any prejudice at all about bats – those
incredible, awesome, astonishing, extraordinary,
staggering, mind-blowing, fantastic, remarkable,
tremendous .... (you get the picture!) ...... furry little
creatures – come and be amazed at what you’ve
been missing!!!
Please RSVP by 18 August to noeleen@jaei.org.za
How is YOUR Parish celebrating for
Season of Creation?
Here is an invitation for you to let us how your Parish
celebrated the Season of Creation. Send a short
report (preferably with photos) through to JAEI
(noeleen@jaei.org.za) and the two most original
celebrations will receive a copy of Season of
Creation 3 once it is available!
Have you considered becoming an EcoCongregation?
Becoming an Eco-Congregation is a response to our
faith commitment. It weaves caring for the world and
creation into all aspects of life and work in a
congregation. It encourages three core areas of
involvement:


Ecological Spirituality
Stewardship of the Earth’s bounty

Local and global community action:
JAEI in partnership with SAFCEI has a programme
that Parishes can follow in order to become an Ecocongregation. Contact Noeleen at JAEI to find out
more! (noeleen@jaei.org.za)
Find out more about JAEI
*** Are there workshops, outings,
trainings etc that you’d like JAEI to
offer? Let us know! ***
Fiona Maskell (Chair) -mvmafm@mweb.co.za
Noeleen Mullett - noeleen@jaei.org.za
Tim Gray – tim@jaei.org.za