Time of Creation 2019. The priority of climate change

The Time of Creation - The liturgical period observed throughout the world to reflect, pray together and act for the protection of Creation - began on September 1st

Rome (NEV), September 7, 2019 – The theme of waste and sustainability was chosen this year by the Globalization and Environment Commission (GLAM) of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy (FCEI) to celebrate the Time of Creation, the ecumenical liturgical period which runs from September 1 to October 4. Its first steps started with the European Ecumenical Assembly in Graz (Austria), in 1997 involving Christian churches of every tradition throughout the world.

For the occasion, the GLAM prepared the dossier “In the society of God there is no waste. Questioned by the priority of climate change “, inspired by Psalm 118.22:  ”The stone that the builders had discarded has become the cornerstone”. The dossier contains biblical, liturgical and homiletical materials; information sheets and articles. Wide and interesting in-depth materials for the accompaniment to the liturgy make up the dossier that also counts on the presence of numerous data that tell of a climate change and the urgent need for a reconversion of the way of producing and inhabiting the Earth: “In these years the climate change has continued to be considered in fact an externality to be mitigated and to adapt to – says the dossier – and has not been taken as a datum that requires an urgent conversion, and so the problem acquired ever greater dimensions, with incalculable and unpredictable consequences”.

In the Introduction,  expressing its concern about the environmental situation, the GLAM states that “for a pilgrimage of justice and peace towards creation, we need to think of an economic system no longer centered on the profit of a few, but on the needs of each person and of the environment, respecting the times and spaces of life that are not those of the market. At the service of life, therefore, the economy must immediately say no (up to the boycott) and yes (beyond the testimony), which must be different from the dominant ones, and not be content with relegating sustainability to certified market niches that in these years have not produced adequate economic policies”.

The commission also indicates the necessary measures in Italy to “take seriously and walk together” on the road to reconversion: “turn the page with respect to a development model that is still based on overbuilding, which speaks of a circular economy but it does not practice it, a development based on the unlimited growth of goods and services and declares to implement an energy transition while participating in war missions to defend geopolitical interests and the supply of fossil energy”.

Time for Creation is a liturgical period observed throughout the world to reflect, pray together and act for the protection of Creation, and is born from the calendar of the Orthodox patriarchate which, since 1989, has dedicated September 1, the beginning of the new liturgical year, to this theme.