Ms. Mitchell is eminently qualified to speak firsthand on what is happening to creation. Her book Sea Sick describes how the ocean is “undergoing vast chemical changes at the hand of man and why that matters.” While the climate crisis grabs news headlines, the crisis in the oceans should. As she says, “some of the carbon dioxide we are putting into the air by burning fossil fuels is being absorbed by the ocean. That puts it into a state it has not been in for millions of years: more acid, warmer, and more prone to vast oxygen-deprived dead zones. At risk is the very structure of life in the ocean and therefore on the planet as a whole.”

While she was doing the research for Sea Sick, Ms. Mitchell began giving talks about her adventures and discoveries. These were so powerful and profound she was commissioned to write a play. Franco Boni and Ravi Jain of The Theatre Centre in Toronto worked with Ms. Mitchell to write Sea Sick. The Play. She performed this play in venues across Canada, Europe and beyond over several years to critical acclaim, including a Dora Award nomination. Ms. Mitchell will no doubt present a compelling message encouraging EarthSong participants to listen and, we hope, to hear the voices of creation.

A Season of Creation has been celebrated annually by Redeemer, Bloor St. over the past six years. This liturgical season is a time for us to delight, with joy and humble gratitude, in our experiences of the immense beauty, detail and surprises of creation; to lament for the harms we have inflicted, knowingly or unknowingly, to fellow humans, entire communities, species and ecosystems; to repent for our own destructive and wanton treatment of the Earth’s resources; to hope we have the resolve to step forward and, listening to the voices of creation, work together tirelessly to care for our common home.

After the EarthSong service launches Redeemer’s Season of Creation, the Sunday 10:30 a.m. liturgies during October will expand on the theme: listen to the voices of land; the voices of air; the voices of water; and what we have learned from listening to the voices of creation. Join us for any or all of these services. For full details, visit www.theredeemer.ca.

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One Toronto parish, the Church of the Redeemer, Bloor Street, is making ambitious plans of its own. From Sept. 23 through Oct. 14, Creation Matters @ Redeemer invites you to join with them and with Christians around the world to pray and reflect during a “Season of Creation.” Shifting the observation of the season a little later so as to encompass the Thanksgiving weekend, Redeemer has planned evening and morning services, music, panel discussions and guest speakers, including National Indigenous Anglican Bishop Mark MacDonald, Primate Fred Hiltz, and former United Church of Canada moderator Bill Phipps. For more details, see www.theredeemer.ca.

“Season of Creation” is a time to celebrate and give thanks to the Creator for the lakes, rivers, ravines, trees, and parkland we enjoy; for the abundance of food and the rich diversity of living things sustained by the Earth. It is also a time to consider how individually and collectively we are carrying out our baptismal promise to “safeguard the integrity of God’s creation and respect, sustain and renew the life of the Earth.”

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