Today, 1 September, is the day (in the southern hemisphere) which marks the beginning of Spring. My nose and eyes had already alerted me, some time ago, to this turn-of-the-seasons. But now, it’s official. And to further reinforce this moment, today in Australia is Wattle Day, in celebration of the golden wattle (Acacia pycnantha), whose bright yellows flowers are prolific from August through to January.
Of course, there’s are many other signs of the coming of Spring downunder. The days are lengthening, the warming sun is strengthening its heat, the grass and flowers—and weeds!—are returning from their wintry hibernation, and (at least in the town where I live) there is a string of local community events that are planned for these pleasantly warm weeks. We have already had Run Dungog and Sculpture on the Farm. Ahead, there lies the Dungog Tea Party, Ride Dungog social bike rides, a new art exhibition in one of the local galleries, the Dungog Rumble for hot rod cars, and then the Dungog Show early in November.
However, alongside the seasonal change, there’s also an ecclesial significance to today. In 1989, the Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I (then head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, pictured) declared 1 September to be a day of prayer for the natural environment. In 2008, the World Council of Churches invited all churches to observe a Time for Creation from 1 September to 4 October—the day which had long been kept as the feast day for St Francis of Assisi.
Francis, of course, is probably the most popular Catholic saint in the world. He is the one who preached to the birds; blessed fish that had been caught, releasing them back into the water; communicated with wolves, brokering an agreement between one famous ferocious wolf and the citizens of a town that were terrified of it; and used real animals when he created the very first, live, Christmas nativity scene. As a result of these, Francis is the patron saint of animals and the environment. And he is the inventor of the familiar nativity scene.
Every 4 October, Francis of Assisi is remembered in churches around the world—along with Clare of Assisi who, like Francis, came from a noble family, but decided to renounce it all to live a life of simplicity with Francis and his brothers. Unlike Francis, who was a mendicant, Clare lived an enclosed life of poverty and prayer, leading a community of women who shared the same vision.
In 2019, Pope Francis (pictured) adopted the Season of Creation for Roman Catholic worship. It runs from 1 September to 4 October. And so, in many churches around the world, the whole of September is now designated as a time to focus on Creation—a truly ecumenical festive season, involving Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Protestant churches alike.
Recently the Rev. Dr Elizabeth Smith (Anglican priest and well-known hymn writer) attended an internal colloquium which was exploring the adoption of a Season of Creation by all mainstream denominations. She described the impetus for such a gathering in this way: “Christians have joined the growing chorus lamenting the climate crisis and its effects on nature and on vulnerable humanity, especially the poor. Energy is coalescing around liturgical acknowledgement of the value of ‘creation’—both God’s creative action and the universe it produces.”
She then noted that “Ecumenical efforts are pressing toward a feast or season that raises both the act and fact of creation to the praise and thanksgiving of assemblies across denominations, from the Orthodox and Catholics where the initiatives began, to Anglican, Reformed, Lutheran, Methodist, and Pentecostal fellowships and associations.”
Let us hope that this initiative moves from “a good idea” to “a practical implementation” of that good idea! It will be good to have a formal liturgical accompaniment, ecumenical and international, to the signs of the change of season that is all around us.
The Uniting Church in Australia has produced resources to assist in the celebration of the Season of Creation at https://uniting.church/season-of-creation-2025/
An Informed Faith 