Well, I must say, I’ve had a wonderful Season of Creation, and I hope you did too.
As many of you will recall, the theme for this year’s Season of Creation was “Living Water,” inspired by the prophet Ezekiel’s vision of a riverbank of plenty fed by waters flowing from the sanctuary. As part of my reflections on Ezekiel’s vision over the summer, I thought a lot about interconnectedness, the importance of relationships to well-being, and the positive impact we have when the Living Water flows through us into creation. I didn’t go into the Season with a specific intention, but I definitely found myself being more present in my relationships—both with people and with nature.
And this year’s Season came with something new: the Feast of the Creator.
In 2025, the Anglican Church of Canada adopted the “Feast of the Creator” as a Major Feast within the Season of Creation (celebrated on September 1, transferable to a Sunday within the Season of Creation). The Feast of the Creator doesn’t replace the Season of Creation; rather, it enriches the Season with a strong theological reflection on the origin of the created order in God. The Season focuses on the created order—everything visible and invisible all around us—whereas the Feast focuses on the work of God as Creator.
We are not alone in our celebration of this Feast. The adoption of the Feast of the Creator sees the Anglican Church of Canada join an emerging ecumenical consensus around such a Feast, which has been celebrated by the Orthodox Church on September 1 for over 1,000 years.
Indeed, the Feast is gaining momentum across the Anglican Communion, with the most recent gathering of the Anglican Consultative Council—one of the four “instruments of Communion”—passing a resolution encouraging adoption by member churches of the Communion. And adopt it they have: the Feast has already been adopted (under slightly different names, such as the Feast of Creation) by the Church of England, The Episcopal Church (United States of America), and the Anglican Church of South Africa, to name a few.
The Feast is gaining local momentum, too. Over the course of this year’s Season of Creation, I had the pleasure of celebrating it with two parishes: Bay Roberts / Coley’s Point and the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. Although they celebrated it on different Sundays, these parishes (and possibly others across our three dioceses) came together with millions around the world to celebrate and explore the act of creation and God’s role as Creator.
And next year there will be even more Newfoundland & Labrador parishes joining the celebration. At its recent Synod, the Diocese of Eastern NL passed a motion recognizing the Anglican Church of Canada’s adoption of the Feast and encouraging its celebration across the diocese.
As someone who was involved in the preparation of the motion and background materials for Synod, I’d like to recognize Canon Tom Mugford, Archdeacon Christine Lynch, and Angela Woodward for their work in developing and presenting the motion. And, just as importantly, I’d like to recognize all the members of Synod for their thoughtful consideration of the motion, both during the Synod and leading up to it. As we head for the horizon, the theological understandings gained through our celebration of the Feast will better equip us to care for creation and support others in their faith journeys.
If you didn’t have an opportunity to celebrate the Feast this year, fear not—next year will be here before you know it. I look forward to celebrating it together with you during the 2027 Season of Creation.
For more on the ecumenical efforts related to the Feast of the Creator / Feast of Creation, check out:
For trial Feast of the Creator liturgical resources form the Anglican Church of Canada, visit:
https://www.anglican.ca/wp-content/uploads/trial-use-feast-of-the-creator-june-2026.pdf
To join the AnglicanENL Creation Care & Stewardship e-mail list, visit:
http://eepurl.com/jxfG3-/
For other Creation Care & Stewardship resources, visit the AnglicanENL Creation Care & Stewardship webpage at:
https://anglicanenl.net/creation-care-stewardship/