Churches Observe New Feast of Creation

For the first time in more than 40 years, churches worldwide have a new festival in their shared calendar of worship. On Sept. 6, they observed the Festival of Creation in Christ (also known as the Feast of Creation). It centres on Christ’s role in the act of Creation, marking the natural world as sacred and inviting worshippers to reflect on their relationship with God as Creator.

The addition of a new festival is a rare event — the last time it happened was in 1983. It’s a rigorous process overseen by the Consultation on Common Texts (CCT), an ecumenical body of liturgical scholars and representatives from more than 20 denominations in the United States and Canada, including The United Church of Canada. The CCT curates the Revised Common Lectionary used to guide Christian worship around the world, and it recently approved a three-year trial of the Feast of Creation.

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Marked annually on the first Sunday in September, the observance draws on an older tradition: the Eastern Orthodox Church has kept Sept. 1 as a feast day honouring God’s Creation since the eighth century. In 1989, Orthodox leaders invited “the entire Christian world” to join them in response to growing environmental concerns.

Rev. Alydia Smith, identity and mission network co-ordinator for the United Church, is secretary of the CCT. She helped bring the proposal from an ecumenical gathering in Assisi, Italy, a few years ago to the CCT’s approval of trial readings this spring, calling it a rare experience. “We all had equal stakes in the game,” Smith says, describing how Roman Catholic cardinals, Orthodox clergy and Protestant ministers worked together as equals. “We realized that a faithful response to the climate crisis includes us lifting up the relationship between Creation and Christ.”

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The next two years will allow time for feedback on the trial readings and the creation of new worship resources from an ecumenical working group led by Smith and CCT colleagues Lisa Hancock and Rev. Cheryl Lindsay. If adopted permanently, the feast would join Christmas, Easter and Reign of Christ Sunday on the liturgical calendar.

Says Smith, “Five years from now, no matter what church you go into, people will be talking about our relationship with a God who is, who was and is creating.”

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