This month IPC friends celebrate Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year 5782)- a “shmita year” and the Season of Creation--the annual Christian celebration of prayer and action-both opportunities to care for our common home.

This year marks a special year on the Jewish calendar, called Shmita or Sabbatical year, which marks the seven year cycle of Jewish holidays. Historically, the Shmita or Sabbatical year, was a time to let land be fallow, resting from agriculture. For us today it presents a wonderful opportunity to reflect and act upon how our land is being cared for. For the Jewish people, this is literally the celebration of creation. It is a time of year when Jews around the world take stock in the year past and then, for Yom Kippur, they atone for their sins by asking forgiveness and make amends from those they have wronged. Certainly, all of us can take this as an opportunity to start with a clean slate. Each of us can decide what changes we can make to improve ourselves and our relationship with the environment. You can learn more about these Jewish tradition here on the Chabad and Hazon. To all we wish a L’Shana Tova Umetukah ([a] good and sweet New Year)!

This time of year is also the Season of Creation, an annual Christian celebration of prayer and action for our common home. During the 2021 Season of Creation, from 1 September through 4 October, hundreds of thousands of Christians will be uniting around the theme, “A home for all? Renewing the Oikos of God.”  Oikos is the Greek word for "house" or "household" so this year's Season of Creation invites people of faith to celebrate our "common home" of earth of which we share and care for the whole web of life. 

Many Christian denominations including Episcopalian, Catholic, Lutheran, Orthodox and Reformed are participating in this celebration.  Resources for these as well as Interfaith and Ecumenical (all Christians) can be found here.  They include a Celebration Guide, Liturgical Resources and Sermon Guides and Social Media Kit, all available for free download. 

In addition to those above, some denominational offer specific resources:  (some from previous years that are still relevant!)

United Methodists celebrate the Season of Creation also offer these 7 Ways to Celebrate the Season of Creation(2020)
United Church of Christ

These celebrations are wonderful ways to inspire, engage and mobilize your congregation to act on behalf of a clean, green and healthy common home for all life!