Clergy Notes – Sept 18, 2016

September 1 has been declared by the major Christian Churches as World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and there is a growing observance of the period from then until St. Francis’ Day, October 4, (and perhaps in Canada to include Thanksgiving) as a Season of Creation. It is in this context that we look forward to welcoming the Revd Laurel Dykstra and Salal + Cedar next Sunday.

For some time now “To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth” has been one of the Marks of Mission of the Anglican Communion. In June last year Pope Francis issued his encyclical Laudato Si’, with its subtitle On Care for our Common Home, calling upon all peoples of the world to take “swift and unified global action” in response to consumerism, irresponsible development, environmental degradation and global warming. This past week, on the World Day of Prayer, Pope Francis in his message Show Mercy to our Common Home invited “individual believers and communities to reaffirm their personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore his help for the protection of creation as well as his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live. God gave us a bountiful garden, but we have turned it into a polluted wasteland.”

In these coming weeks you may care to use Pope Francis’ Prayer for the Care of Creation:

O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned
and forgotten of the earth,
who are so precious in your eyes.

God of love, show us our place in this world
as channels of your love
for all the creatures of this earth.

God of mercy, may we receive your forgiveness
and convey your mercy throughout our common home.

Praise be to you!
Amen.

Fr. Kevin