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Beloved in Christ,
 
Happy Earth Week! Earth Day has broadened to Earth Week, Earth Month, and Earth Season. I know that environmental stewardship is never far from the hearts and minds of this congregation. You all are so good about sorting trash, using LED lightbulbs, keeping things turned off when they aren’t in use, and conserving water and other natural resources. Thank you for that!
 
This year, there are also new ways we can serve God, while being mindful of the gifts of God’s Creation. As you’ve noticed in worship, there are intentional efforts to reach out beyond our small community to partner with others who are also interested in doing this work. That effort will continue to grow throughout the spring and summer and we will see a new church holiday added to the calendar in the fall. The World Council of Churches, partnering with Christian denominations around the world has been hard at work for several years to develop a new “Feast Day” to be celebrated on September 1 each year, called The Feast of God, the Creator.
 
Feast Days aren’t something we Methodists talk about frequently. Feast Day is a kind of technical term for church holidays like Easter, Pentecost, Reign of Christ Sunday, and Ash Wednesday. They are the large observances that Christians around the world mark with rituals and prayer and celebration of one kind or another. The last Feast Day to be added to the Christian calendar was in 1925, over 100 years ago, when the Reign of Christ Sunday was added. This new Feast Day may not be observed by everyone right away but it will have effects for Christian practice for centuries to come. This year is the first year it will be observed and I’ve been serving on the planning team for the worship materials for United Methodists. I’m working with people from around the world to understand how to make the United Methodist worship materials consistent with the intent for the Feast and also uniquely Wesleyan. Last week, I attended a webinar that was 90 minutes just to learn the important features for a Call to Worship for the Feast!
 
One of the things that is important to note is that “God the Creator” references all three persons of the Trinity. The first person of the Trinity, generally thought of as the Creator, is referenced in Genesis. However, in John 1, Jesus is identified as having been present as the Word Incarnate, even as far back as the creation of light. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is the creative force that is still creating. All three persons are involved in creation so the new Feast will be Trinitarian in nature.
 
This September, we will study the texts that have been selected by the ecumenical committee for this year’s Feast throughout the month. I am working with other local faith leaders to determine how and where and when to also recognize the feast itself. For US churches, there will be the consideration of how to encourage celebration of the Feast with Labor Day also on the secular calendar near then. However, with this being a world-wide celebration, the date of September 1 was selected because it is the date on which the Orthodox tradition already understands Creation to be most closely tied to their calendar. Therefore, it’s an opportunity to understand that our reality as Christians is so much larger than our reality as Christians in the US.
 
I look forward to sharing with you more as plans develop and I hope you will mark your calendars so you can always say you were part of the first ever Feast of God the Creator. The first webinar that we’ll be having about the Feast is on May 21 at 10 am. If you’re curious, register here: https://umcreationjustice.org/movement-cafe/.

With gratitude and grace,
Pastor Laura