Diocese marks creation season with service

On a sunny Saturday afternoon in downtown Toronto, Anglicans from across the diocese gathered at St. James Cathedral for a first-of-its-kind event. While many parishes have observed the Season of Creation in their own communities for several years, the Eucharist on Sept. 21 marked the first diocese-wide worship service to observe this annual ecumenical movement.

The Season of Creation encourages Christians around the world to observe the period between Sept. 1 (the World Day of Prayer for Creation) and Oct. 4 (the feast of St. Francis of Assisi) as a time of particular prayer for the Earth. In 2019, General Synod passed a resolution adopting the Season of Creation in the Anglican Church of Canada and encouraging dioceses and parishes to participate.

Organized by the Bishop’s Committee on Creation Care, the service featured a mix of musical styles, from traditional choral arrangements to an Indigenous mass setting, led by musicians from Redeemer, Bloor St. Along with readings from scripture, the congregation heard “Remember,” a poem by Joy Harjo, the United States’ first Indigenous poet laureate. Bishop Andrew Asbil presided.

As the service got underway, three teenagers – Joaquin and Mikhail Getfield Francis of Holy Trinity, Thornhill and Gregory Conliffe of St. Martin in-the-Fields – shared stories of times they’ve connected with God through creation, as well as their thoughts about the role the Church might play in addressing the climate crisis.

“When it comes to the concerns of the planet, the Church needs to promote more peace,” one of the young people said. “To try and make sure that peace will be contagious and will be granted throughout the world.”

To reflect the many watersheds of the diocese, worshippers were invited to bring water from their local watershed to pour into a font during the service. Elder Laverne Malcom then blessed the mingled water in Anishnawbemowin and offered a prayer drum song.

In her sermon, the Rev. Susan Spicer, co-chair of the Bishop’s Committee on Creation Care, acknowledged the need to mourn the forest fires, droughts, catastrophic floods and heat waves that are ravaging God’s creation.

“I expect that many of us are grieving for what has been lost – the places we once loved where creation no longer flourishes as we knew it,” she said. “This, we know, is a spiritual crisis. And unless we can grieve for our planet, we cannot love and serve it.”

The path from grief to joy travels through lament to hope and action, she said. “The spiritual practice of communal lament helps us name what has been lost. It keeps us mindful of the suffering we encounter daily. It assures us that we are not alone in our grief. The prophets of Israel taught us to lament – lament the desolation of the world – and yet allow it to lead us to hope.”

The hope we are called to, she continued, is rooted in the biblical vision of a new creation and leads us to action, inspired by our sacred story. “Prayer transforms hope into action. It empowers us to do the work that Jesus did, of tending and protecting and loving and serving all our kin,” she said.

She reflected on the stories of Anglicans across the diocese who are responding to the climate crisis with compassion and creativity by planting pollinator gardens, growing fresh produce for food banks, greening their buildings, hosting repair cafés, advocating with local politicians and providing Christ-centred climate education.

“We say our prayers every day, and then we enter the world that waits on our doorstep, going out to serve, to do what we can, knowing that the Spirit is with us, empowering us to bring the healing, transforming love of our creation to our neighbours and our kin in this wounded and still wondrous world,” she said.

The diocesan Season of Creation celebrations continued with Hiking Church events in Mississauga, west Toronto, Peterborough and Nottawasaga. These events combine walking and worship in creation, often including gathering songs and prayers and a Eucharist celebrated outdoors.

More information and resources on creation care in the diocese are available at www.toronto.anglican.ca/creationcare.