The 2024 symbol - “The first fruits of hope” - is inspired by Romans 8:19-25 Photo: Season of Creation
Celebration Guide offers resources for ecumenical worship, group activities and advocacy
(LWI) – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) will join the global ecumenical family in the annual Christian celebration of the Season of Creation under the theme “To hope and act with Creation.”
The season’s 2024 Celebration Guide is now available as a free resource for congregations, communities and individuals, to be used from 1 September to 4 October. This year’s symbol is “The first fruits of hope,” inspired by Romans 8:19-25.
The guide offers a global calendar of events, instructions and ideas for organizing worship including ecumenical prayer services, local education encounters, and creation walks or pilgrimages among other activities. There are also suggestions on participating in the joint advocacy initiative to support the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.
It features reflections by church leaders from around the world, inviting Christians to join in prayer and action for creation. “Creation cries out in suffering,” as the relentless rise in global temperatures causes loss of biodiversity, lives, livelihoods, and whole communities, LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt states in her message. She refers to the 2023 Thirteenth Assembly commitments to highlight “that as churches in ongoing reformation, we are called to work for peace in the world: between people, countries, and with the whole of creation.”
This year’s focus is a strong reminder of the call to participate in God’s mission to care for creation, and in the Spirit’s work of renewing the face of the earth
Rev. Dr Eva Harasta, LWF Program Executive for Global Lutheran Theology
Rev. Dr Eva Harasta, LWF Program Executive for Global Lutheran Theology is a member of the ecumenical steering committee that put together the Celebration Guide. “This year’s focus is a strong reminder of the call to participate in God’s mission to care for creation, and in the Spirit’s work of renewing the face of the earth,” she said. It is an invitation “to repent and to follow our calling as messengers of hope amid the groanings of creation under unjust systems that destroy the very living conditions for humanity itself and for our fellow creatures, and disrespect the dignity of human beings,” she added.
Find out more in the 2024 Celebration Guide, available in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, with German to follow.
