Eco Comment – Happy New (Academic) Year!

And another long summer holiday is over. Next month sees the return to school, college and university for many children, students, support staff, teachers and lecturers. Parents will possibly be heaving a sigh of relief, mixed with the concerns as to whether their offspring are fully prepared for what the new term will bring. Those who work in school will have probably already taken part in an INSET day due to the calendar making the start of term fall at the very beginning of the September.  

So starts a rite of passage, a new beginning, and in the church the start of Creationtide or the Season of Creation. 

The period from the 1st September to the 4th October and this year has been dedicated to God as Creator and Sustainer of Life. 

 ‘Creationtide is originally an Eastern Orthodox initiative but has now spread widely among Anglican, Roman Catholic and Protestant congregations together to pray and work for the protection of the environment that sustains everyone.’ (churchofengland.org – 08/08/2016 Press release Church of England commends Creationtide resources.) ‘Pope Francis gave a major boost to the profile of Creationtide when, speaking before nearly 2 million people at the World Youth Day in Krakow (2016), he declared 1 September an annual ‘World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation’. The Rt Revd Nicholas Holtam, Bishop of Salisbury and the church of England’s lead bishop on the environment, said: “Celebrating Creationtide marks a shift in the Christian understanding of our relationship to creation under God. The consequences of teaching over recent centuries that humanity has been given domination over creation are clear in the complex environmental crisis we now face. It is important the Christians rediscover older traditions of a godly relationship of humanity to the wider created order.’ 

Canon Vicky Johnson, (then) Residentiary Canon at Ely Cathedral, added: 

“For Christians, the earth does not belong to us – it belongs to God, and therefore deserves our respect and care. This is an ancient understanding – reading Psalm 24, for example, it is clear that it goes right back to the worship in the Temple in Jerusalem almost 3000 years ago. 

“The growing concern about creation and the environment has made the church aware that it needs to garner its liturgical resources to give full expression to this in worship and prayer. The care of our environment, and attentiveness to the created order, are central to the Church’s mission, which calls us to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.” 

Please excuse me quoting verbatim such a big piece from another source but it describes what we mean by the season of creation, and it still stands. Possibly it is even more relevant so many years later. We’re still fighting similar battles to persuade those with power that they should devise better strategies to look after, if not mend the damage that we humans have done to the earth. It is particularly telling that ancient scripture states that we do not own the earth. We are effectively the caretakers and in more recent times we haven’t been taking as much care of the earth as we should. I considered returning to the educational theme and drawing comparisons but thought it might be contentious.

So, to finish. A New Year equals New Year resolutions. I always think that these are easier in the still bright(ish) daylight hours of September than in the cold, dark days of January. Having spent so many years in education I still buy an academic diary so psychologically those clean pages present an opportunity to start afresh. I can suggest in writing so many ways in which I might rethink my thoughts and actions to benefit both myself and others. I can also pray that I’ll keep some of the decisions made so that they create a more sustainable lifestyle which has long lasting results. Hopefully they’ll last longer than the season. We can compare notes and results over the next 5 weeks.

Susan Morgan
Eco Group