Some thoughts as we begin the Season of Creation hearing Matthew 18

Last Tuesday was ‘The Feast of Creation in Christ’, an Eastern Orthodox gift. This has long marked the beginning of their new liturgical year, commemorating the great mystery that everything was created through Christ. In 1989 the Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I offered this day to the wider church as a Day of Prayer for Creation. The World Council of Churches has since extended this celebration to October 4th, the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi in what is now known as The Season of Creation. This ecumenical season calls us as followers of Christ worldwide to reflect on our common role as caretakers of God’s creation, to see that our wellbeing is interwoven with its wellbeing, and to unite in prayer and action to care for our common home.

The theme for 2026 is "Living Water" and is inspired by Ezekiel’s vision of a life-giving river flowing from God, urging us to focus on ecological healing, hope, and the deep interdependence of humanity and nature.

 

This Sunday’s Gospel (Matthew 18:15-20) is set within a bigger conversation. It begins with his followers asking who was the greatest and Jesus placing a child on his knee. This whole conversation can be read as Jesus showing profound concern for the vulnerable "little ones" who are harmed while others profit. Who might be the “little ones” today? Maybe here in Aotearoa we might include children and young people living in poverty, older people unable to afford the basics, and those forced into homelessness.

In this season, that care extends to all the “little ones” who suffer because of pollution, bio-diversity loss, and climate change. This might include both our Pacific neighbours and global communities devastated by climate change, intensifying storms, floods and droughts, and this week collapsing glaciers in Nepal. It also calls us to remember the non-human species threatened by our human actions.

May this month be a time for us to grow in faith, affirming that God in Christ loves and sustains all of creation; and to pray for and offer a bold, prophetic response to our growing ecological crisis.