“Each year from September 1 to October 4, the Christian family unites for this worldwide celebration of prayer and action to protect our common home. It is a special season where we celebrate God as Creator and acknowledge Creation as the divine continuing act that summons us as collaborators to love and care for the gift of all that is created. As followers of Christ from around the globe, we share a common call to care for Creation. We are co-creatures and part of all that God has made. Our well-being is interwoven with the well-being of the Earth.”
– Season of Creation Ecumenical Steering Committee
Season of Creation Resources
NEW Perennial Liturgical Guide
Creation Care in the Diocese of Maine
What is your parish doing to educate, advocate, and celebrate during the Season of Creation (Sept. 1 – Oct. 4)? Send the details to Director of Communications Susan Sherrill Axelrod and we’ll share them here.
All Saints, Skowhegan
The Season of Creation is celebrated by Christians around the world as a time for renewing, repairing and restoring our relationship to God, one another, and all of creation. The Episcopal Church joins this international effort for prayer and action for climate justice and an end to environmental racism and ecological destruction. The 2025 theme is “Peace with Creation.” It emphasizes the need for harmony between humanity and the environment. In celebrating the Season, we are invited to consider anew our ecological, economic, social and political ways of living. All are invited to join in our several Creation Care events. For more information and to confirm date and time, since some events are outdoors, please contact All Saints’ rector, the Rev. Jack Fles by email or at (207) 441-9747.
Friday, Aug. 15 – “Earth Keepers” bi-monthly Zoom – a fellowship group from 20+ Episcopal Maine churches. Learn about what others are doing. Hosted by rector Rev. Jack Fles
Date to be announced, weather dependent – Potluck Lunch and pollination garden tour at the home of Jim and Nancy Veredese
Sunday, Aug. 23 – Climate Garden Party at the home of Peter Garren and Jean Ann Pollard
Sunday, Sept. 7, 10 a.m. – World Day of Prayer for Creation Sunday
Sundays, Sept. 7 and 28, save the dates – After church, in the basement, potluck lunch, viewing and discussion of Creation care documentary films, “Buy Now” and “Our Oceans”
Saturday, Oct. 5 – Third Annual Cider Press Sunday at the home of Nick and Ashley Pairitz
Sunday, Oct. 5. – Blessing of the Animals; bring your creature(s) or a photo
Monthly – “Citizens Climate Lobby” By Zoom or in person. Contact Bonnie Sammons for information.
Emmanuel Lutheran Episcopal Church, Augusta
For five weeks Emmanuel will be celebrating the Season of Creation with a focus on Creation Care at service and additional events to engage our connection with all that God has made. You are welcome to join some, all or none of the additional events as you are able and please feel free to invite friends and neighbors. For more information please contact Rev. Ben Cooke: [email protected]
Tuesday Sept. 2 through Sunday, Oct. 5 – Stations of Creation displayed in the church
Wednesdays at 10 a.m., Sept. 3 through Nov 19 – Celtic Eucharist in the Fellowship Café.
Sunday Sept. 7 – 9 a.m., worship using the Eucharistic Prayer for Maine by Rev. Martin L. Smith; 10:45 a.m. What is Season of Creation talk
Saturday, Sept. 13. (rain date Sept. 20) 1 p.m. – Prayer Walk in Vaughn Woods, Hallowell, stopping at various points to pray and consider how God is speaking to us through being in nature.
Sunday Sept. 14, 9 a.m. – Worship using setting 11 from All Creation Sings
Sunday, Sept. 21, 9 a.m. – Worship using Eucharistic Prayer C
Sunday, Sept. 28, 9 a.m. – Worship using setting 11 from All Creation Sings; 10: 45 a.m. Mystery of Creation poetry sharing
Sunday, Oct. 5, 9 a.m. – Celebration of the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi; 10:45 a.m. Blessing of the Animals
St. Bartholomew’s, Yarmouth
Starting this Sunday (Sept. 7), St. Bart’s will once again join our Christian siblings around the world in recognizing the Season of Creation. This year’s theme is “Peace with Creation.”
The Season of Creation guidebook notes that “Peace is more than just the absence of war. In the Hebrew Bible, shalom represents a far deeper concept—one that extends beyond the absence of conflict to the full restoration of broken relationships…This restoration encompasses our relationship with God, ourselves, the human family, and the rest of Creation.”
For us at St. Bart’s, the Season of Creation is both a time to marvel at the beauty of nature and an opportunity to acknowledge the ways we have misused and depleted many of the earth’s resources; both a time to pause in wonder and awe, and a time to commit to restoring our relationship with all that God has created as is so wonderfully stated above.
There’s something different about this place!
You’re right! As you walk into the Sanctuary on Sunday morning, you’ll notice that we have reoriented the seats to face the widows overlooking our yard and Memorial Garden. Those who designed our building did so very intentionally to include big windows with glimpses of God’s great creation. The Worship & Music Committee felt we could take advantage of our moveable seats and intentionally reorient ourselves to glimpse the very things of nature we’re praying for each Sunday.
Peace with Creation – Peace Pole
It’s possible you’ve seen them before – tall poles with either four or six sides with the words “May Peace Prevail on Earth” written on them in English and other languages. Those are Peace Poles! They started in Japan in the 1970’s and have spread to over 200,000 locations all over the world.
According to the Peace Pole Project, Peace Poles “serve as reminders to cultivate peace in thought, word, and action while symbolizing humanity’s shared desire for a world at peace and in harmony with all of creation.”
As we celebrate the Season of Creation with the theme “Peace with Creation,” we invite you to help us create our own Peace Pole! David Platt has cut an eight-foot cedar pole, and during the Season of Creation Nancy Gunzelman and Tasha Gerken-Nelson will assist you in helping us paint it and add your own prayers for peace.
The first two weeks we’ll give the pole some color – colors that inspire a sense of peace and peacefulness. You’re invited to add a stroke or two color as an expression of your prayer for peace. Then, towards the end of the Season of Creation we will add the word “Peace” to the poll in a variety of languages and draw symbols that express peace to you.
Once the pole is finished, we will plant it in the garden as you approach the front door to the church as a symbol of our congregation’s prayer for peace – “a world at peace and in harmony with all of creation.”