04/09/2026
FEAST OF CREATION IN CHRIST 2026
1 September to the 4 October
At the 2022 Assembly in Botswana, it was agreed to celebrate the “Season of Creation” also known as the Feast of Creation in Christ the first Sunday in September or any other suitable Sunday during September. Although this celebration has its roots in the Orthodox church since the medieval years, it was in 1989 that the Orthodox church Patriarch invited the global church to become part of it.
After decades of ecumenical celebrations of the “season of creation” and the World Day of Prayer for creation, it was agreed in March 2024 to explore the proposal to elevate the observance to become a liturgical feast in the calendar of western churches. Since then, the World Council of Churches and many world communions, including the Council for World Mission (CWM), from whom we borrowed most of the material, have passed resolutions to observe the Season of Creation. During 2926 the Feast of Creation in Christ became officially part of the lectionary calendar and readings.
This is not a Christian world environmental day, but it is a Christological feast. The feast draws attention to a dimension of Christology, missing from most liturgical calendars: “In the beginning was the Word …. All things came into being through Christ … John 1: 1-3”. The eternal logos sustains the universe (Hebrew 1: 3) and in Christ all things are held together. (Colossians 1: 17).
The feast of creation is an ecumenical feast and since its adoption as being part of the liturgical year with other feasts like Easter and Christmas, we want to encourage all local churches to celebrate this occasion, and where possible do it ecumenically.
We have published selected resources to be used by the different ministries on the UCCSA website and https://uccsadenomination.org.za/ and feast of creation website https://www.feastofcreation.com/ . Some of these resources include the following:
A Poster to enlarge and display in the church or distribute electronically, a liturgy and special hymns to use during worship services and a children’s ministry lesson and ideas for ministries to participate in the celebrations. We also want to encourage members to participate in the World Day of Prayer for creation on the 1st September 2026. https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_egcndEyITiqhCPXUq6mSUA?utm_source=chatgpt.com #/registration. Suggested hymns can be found at https://atyourservice.arocha.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Songs-Hymns.pdf. Please note “SoF” stands for Songs of Fellowship and “MP” stands for Mission Praise.
May the Lord God bless you all as we renew our commitment to care for creation.
COMPILED BY: THE UCCSA ECO- JUSTICE UNIT LOL
