Every year, from September 1 to October 4, Christians around the world observe the Season of Creation, a time to renew our relationship with God and all that God has made. These dates are anchored between two holy days: the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on September 1 and the Feast Day of St. Francis on October 4. One marks the global Christian community’s united prayer for creation; the other honors the patron saint of ecology who preached to birds and called the moon his sister and the sun his brother.

The Season of Creation was born out of ecumenical partnership, first embraced by the Orthodox Church and later adopted by the World Council of Churches, the Catholic Church, and an expanding chorus of Protestant traditions. It’s now the widest expression of Christian unity in the world. And yet for many churches in the U.S., it’s still unfamiliar liturgical territory.

I believe it’s time for that to change.

We need a liturgical season for this moment—a time in the church year to bring to the altar our grief for the groaning creation, our hope for restoration, and our commitment to justice. 

Just as Lent invites repentance and Advent invites anticipation, the Season of Creation invites reorientation: toward the Earth that grounds us, the communities that sustain us, and the Creator who formed us from the dirt. It’s an invitation to theological imagination—an invitation to remember that our faith is one where matter matters. In this season, we are called to love creation as God loves creation.

This year’s global theme is “Peace with Creation,” grounded in Isaiah 32:14–18. It’s a passage that begins in desolation—deserted cities and forsaken palaces—yet ends in hope. That hope comes not through naive optimism, but through justice. “The effect of righteousness will be peace,” writes Isaiah, “and the result… quietness and trust forever.” It’s a gritty hope, forged in the wilderness, dependent on the Spirit of God being poured out, and connected to our partnership with God in the restoration of the world.

In a world where, in the words of another major prophet, “we look for peace but find no good,” the Season of Creation is not a retreat from the chaos but a call to action. As the global Season of Creation Committee puts it: “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, and solidarity.”

That word—metanoia—is key. Repentance is not just about turning away from sin but turning toward a new way of life. It’s a turning toward God with creation. Toward a world where justice dwells in the wilderness and righteousness abides in the fruitful field. That kind of peace—shalom—is not merely the absence of conflict, but the presence of right relationship among all of God’s creatures.

This Season of Creation, your church is invited into that work of reconciliation and reorientation. There are simple and meaningful ways to begin:

• Incorporate Season of Creation prayers and liturgies. You can find a wealth of resources in this year's Season of Creation guide.
• Preach with creation in mind. The lectionary texts for September offer rich opportunities to reflect on God's presence in the created world. Let the forests, rivers, and creatures be your co-preachers. Find The Green Lectionary Podcast as a source of research and inspiration.
• Join public witness opportunities. Creation Justice Ministries is hosting Witness With Creation events across the country to bear prophetic testimony in the face of climate injustice.

• Worship outside. Let creation not only be the topic of your worship, but the sanctuary for it.
   

  In these difficult days, when the consequences of our ecological sinfulness are so present, it would be easy to wall ourselves off from grief. But the Season of Creation gives us another option: to open ourselves to the Spirit being poured out in the wilderness. To receive the invitation of Isaiah’s vision. To walk the road of metanoia. To find, somewhere along the way, a deeper peace with creation—and with the Creator of it all.

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