Suggestions for Use

The materials for the Season of Creation may be used with great flexibility. They offer resources for four Sundays in the church year—suggested lectionary lessons for the season, worship guidelines, liturgies for each of the four Sundays, ideas for sermons and children’s lessons, spiritual insights, and a theology for celebrating God the Creator.

● These resources may be used as an alternative option for four successive Sundays in the church year. Our suggestion is that they be used for the four weeks in September (during the lengthy Season of Pentecost) leading up to World Communion Sunday and the celebration of the day commemorating the life of Saint Francis (October 4). .

● We encourage you to use these materials in ways that best suit your context. We are field-testing these materials in the three-year cycle. Because we are experimenting with them, we encourage you to do the same.

● You may want to choose other Sundays on which you celebrate the season, say in July or on overlapping Sundays in September and October. You may find that only two Sundays or even one Sunday works best for your situation. You may want to use one of the suggested liturgies on Rogation Sunday.

● The liturgies are offered for your use in whole or in part. You may wish to edit the liturgies to your context. You may want to incorporate pieces of the suggested liturgies into your standard service, such as the lectionary lessons, the prayers, the confession, a litany, and so on. We encourage congregations to consider using the liturgies as they stand. At the same time, we want you to be flexible in adapting the materials for your use.

● We also encourage you to use the opportunity of these Sunday worship services to stimulate the commitment of your congregation to care for creation. Draw upon the spiritual resources to encourage a deeper relationship with nature on the part of members. Hold adult forums led by local experts or study the Social Statement on Caring for Creation from your denomination. Identify the folks in your congregation who may be interested in forming an Earth Ministry Committee. Choose to do a project that involves people directly in creation-care. Consult the resources in the Green Congregation Program on this site. There are many additional websites that have resources for earth-care projects.