Forests and trees – Time for Creation in the UN International Year of Forests
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17: 7–8
Creation time, celebrated each year from 1st September to 2nd Sunday in October, is an invitation for Churches and Christians in Europe to focus attention on the gift of creation. This year UN has declared as the International Year of Forests. This is a good moment to highlight the role of the forests in the creation. It is about the beauty and the threats of the forests. Forests are an indicator of how we treat the earth. It can be treated well and provide us with timber and paper, biomass and fresh air. It can be a place for us to recharge our spirituality. Forests can be a sign of hope or it can warn us that we are on the wrong track when they become “sick” from acid rain, climate change or deforested by human.
We are all a part of the creation and we depend on the creation. Lately we as humans have started to in scary way deplete the natural recourses. We are living in a world full of hope and despair, longing for the future and fear for what to come, cynical selfishness and compassionate solidarity.
It is all there around us in the news and in our everyday life. Sometimes we despair and sometimes we think that another world I possible.
We have all got the gift of life to have and to share with each other.
ECEN invites and encourages each year Churches and Christians all over the continent to celebrate the Creation Time. For a number of years ECEN has produced liturgical materials which offered to its members and friends as a reference and guidance in worship activities over the Creation Time. This year we would like to invite for celebration of Creation Time in another way. Instead of sending out a material with prayers, hymns and reflections we would encourage everybody to share their services, prayers, hymns, actions, reflections etc. on ECEN website. Today we can easily share what we are doing. It can be texts but we can also use pictures or film clips.
This is an invitation to everyone that celebrates Creation Time to contribute and share with each other prayers, hymns, liturgical texts and reflections you will use in Creation Time 2011. We will welcome as well photos from actual celebration of Creation Time in your churches. Material you would like to share via ECEN website can be sent to the e-mail: ecen
cec-kek [dot] be.
Over the website we can inspire each other and share the joy of the creation and the concern for the shared life of the earth.