Season of Creation Sept 1 - Oct 4

Jubilee for the Earth 

In Leviticus 25:8-12 we learn about “jubilee”, a year that came every 50 years. During the Jubilee year, property that had been taken for unpaid debts would be returned to the families who originally owned it. In addition, the land would rest and there would be no reaping, planting or harvesting; the fields would be open to everyone to eat whatever grew.

“Jubilee for the Earth: New Rhythms, New Hope” is the theme of this year’s Season of Creation, September 1 – October 4. This is a very fitting theme for a year when COVID-19 social distancing and travel restrictions have upended our lives and lessened our impact on the earth. As we look forward to a time beyond COVID-19, “New Rhythms, New Hope” helps to center our thoughts on the direction in which we should be headed.

September 1 is chosen as the first day of the Season because it is the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. The Season ends on October 4, the Feast of St. Francis and the traditional day for the blessing of the animals.

The World Council of Churches offers a celebration guide for the 2020 Season of Creation. The guide is intended for you to learn about the Season and to help your church celebrate it. There are several resources for prayer, practice, action and advocacy, some that can be used virtually this Season. More can be accessed through their website.

Another website, Let All Creation Praise, offers scripture readings for years A, B, and C, liturgies, sermons and commentaries. The Season of Creation is an optional season for the church and an opportunity to emphasize God as Creator and our human obligation to care for the earth and all that is in it. Ideally, we would intentionally include elements of honoring God’s creation in every worship service and not just a few times during the year.
 

Trainings for Presbyterians to divest from fossil fuels

Learn How to Divest from Fossil Fuels

In this time of global uncertainty, it is still clear that God calls us to love God, each other, and all creation with our whole selves -- acknowledging that where our treasure is, there our hearts are also. Join us for two trainings on how to do that work through divestment from fossil fuels at a presbytery level and through individual pensions.
 
For the last seven years, we have focused on asking the General Assembly to vote in support of divesting the Board of Pensions and the Presbyterian Foundation from fossil fuels. 
 
This year commissioners would have had a choice between divesting from three fossil fuel companies (Exxon, Marathon, and Valero) or from the industry as a whole. But, General Assembly did not take up this vote. Instead, commissioners were faced with the impossible task of meeting online to attempt to do the bare bones of the work of the church. The votes on divestment at the General Assembly level were postponed. 
 
We are taking the ask to divest from fossil fuels to presbyteries and hosting two trainings in the next month:
 
The first --on August 19-- will be an opportunity to join us for a conversation and training about how to work with your presbytery or congregation to divest from fossil fuels. Register here.
 
The second -- on September 2-- will be a time to organize to ask the BOP to offer a truly socially responsible fund. Register here.
 
Join us. Together we are for creation.
 
The rev. abby mohaupt is the moderator of Fossil Free PCUSA, a project of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. With the steadfast support and collaboration of Presbyterians for Earth Care, FFPCUSA has spent the last 7 years organizing as part of the movement to divest from fossil fuels.