This year’s theme is “Peace With Creation.” Bishop Prof. Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee, reflected that climate change needs a response that reaches not only our minds, but also our hearts and souls, so we can change our lifestyles and our vision of the good life. “The Bible calls it metanoia,” he said. “If it is true that the modern ecological crisis has deep spiritual roots, it is of enormous importance when all the big Christian traditions on this globe unite in responding to it.” The Season of Creation is such a response, added Bedford-Strohm. “And the global Decade for Climate Justice Action that the WCC has just launched at its central committee meeting in Johannesburg will give a further push to our ecological commitment,” he said. “I am convinced that we as churches being deeply locally rooted in parishes all over the world and, at the same time, sharing a global responsibility through our faith in the triune God can make a difference in encouraging the global spiritual reorientation that we so desperately need!” Most Rev. Hosam E. Naoum, Anglican archbishop of the Diocese of Jerusalem, makes the tie between peace for the world and peace for all creation. “Dear Christians from across the globe and across communities, I greet you from Jerusalem, the city of the Resurrection, with a special invitation to join the Season of Creation,” he said. “In the midst of violence and as war continues in this Holy Land, we pray for peace, justice, and love to unite people. We pray for peace in the city of Jerusalem, for people in the Holy Land, and for people in the world.” The biblical text for Season of Creation 2025 is Isaiah 32:14-18, in which the prophet Isaiah pictures the desolated creation without peace because of the lack of justice and the broken relationship between God and humankind. This description of devastated cities and wastelands eloquently stresses the fact that human destructive behaviours have a negative impact on the Earth. “To be at peace with creation is to dwell in harmony with God’s life-giving presence in all things. The Season of Creation calls us to a deeper communion with the Earth, embracing our role in God’s unfolding work of love, healing, and reconciliation for the whole of creation,” said Dr Hefin Jones, member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches Executive Committee. Nora Antonsen, Church of Norway, described the hope behind Season of Creation 2025: that creation will find peace when justice is restored. “There is still hope and the expectation for a peaceful Earth,” she said. “To hope in a biblical context does not mean to stand still and quiet, but to act, pray, change, and reconcile with creation and the Creator in unity, metanoia, and solidarity.” The symbol for Season of Creation 2025 is the Garden of Peace, characterized by a dove carrying an olive branch bringing life to the Garden of Peace. In the biblical story of the flood, the dove plays the role of the blessed messenger. The dove sent out by Noah returns to the ark with a fresh olive branch in its beak, signalling that the flood is receding. Event page: Opening prayer service Season of Creation 2025
Season of Creation 2025 | 
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