A special season of services, events and webinar debates highlighting the accelerating global climate and environment emergency, will be presented at York Minster throughout September and October – the Season of Creation (or Creationtide), the period in the annual church calendar dedicated to God as creator and sustainer of all life.
The season will also anticipate the crucial COP 26 UN Climate Change Summit in Glasgow (31 October – 12 November), regarded by many as the final wake up call for world leaders to follow through on their commitments protect the environment to avert a catastrophic climate crisis.
Canon Maggie McLean, Canon Missioner at York Minster said: “There can be no doubt that the global climate emergency is the most serious challenge of all time and it is getting closer and closer to home.
“We have put together this season of events and special services to reflect on the climate challenges we face together and explore how we can respond faithfully through prayer and action. Speakers from across the world will consider our place in creation, explore theologies of creation and will consider the climate emergency as the primary justice issue of our age.”
York Minster will also host a section of the 1.5mile long scarf (symbolic of the catastrophic impact of a 1.5 degree increase in the earth’s temperature) that is being knitted, crocheted, stitched and crafted by the Stitches for Survival crafts movement for the COP 26 negotiators. The scarf contains messages for the negotiators and leaders urging them to take meaningful action for climate justice. The scarf will be displayed in the Minster from 7th September until 29th September and will then continue on its journey to Glasgow for the summit.
On Monday 20th September a group of walkers from the Young Christian Climate Network (YCCN) are due to arrive at the Minster for a special Evensong Service. The group, part of a UK churches’ pilgrimage relay to the COP26 summit, is seeking to encourage young Christians across the country to connect and campaign for climate justice. The YCCN pilgrimage relay route includes 10 ‘residency’ cities (Exeter, Bristol, Reading, London, Birmingham, Manchester, York, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow) and a stops in smaller locations on the way.
The full programme of services and events for York Minster’s Season of Creation is listed below with Zoom links for the webinar events.
York Minster’s Events and Services for the Season of Creation
Thursday 9th September at 7.30pm - Webinar
ANY EARTHLY USE? CAN THE CHURCH MAKE AN EFFECTIVE RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE?
Speaker: Andy Atkins
Andy will explore a Christian response to climate crisis and reflect on whether the church can make an effective response to climate change.
Biographical details
Andy is Chief Executive Officer of A Rocha UK, a Christian organization engaging communities in nature conservation. He has been described as ‘one of the leading environmentalists’. He most recently led Friends of the Earth. Andy previously worked with Catholic international development charities CAFOD and Progressio, then set up Tearfund’s policy and campaigns work. He was a founder of the 2005 Make Poverty History campaign.
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86204096026?pwd=cFFRUml4MXYwNldCdENBeTRCRGVhQT09
Passcode: 466654
Telephone: 0203 481 5237
Webinar ID: 862 0409 6026
Passcode: 466654
Thursday 16th September at 7.30pm - Webinar
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE CLIMATE
Speaker: Canon Rachel Mass
In this second of our series of looking at issues of Creation and Climate we will be joined by Rachel Mass from our link dioceses in South Africa. Rachel will bring a global perspective to our understanding of environmental change sweeping across our world.
Biographical details
Canon Rachel Mass is the provincial Environmental Coordinator for the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (South Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Angola and Mozambique). Known as the ‘Green Anglicans’ the movement has spread to Central Africa and East Africa and is now in 12 countries. She is the secretary of the Anglican Communion Environmental Network and on the steering committee of the Ecumenical Season of Creation steering committee. She is a priest in the Diocese of Cape Town at Eluvukweni Church in Crossroads. She was awarded a Lambeth award - the Order of St Augustine - for her services to the Anglican Communion in the area of the fifth mark of mission - care for creation.
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87395173785?pwd=Z0pJcWl1anNLcFdmMGxHQkJqZHlHZz09
Passcode: 260563
Telephone: 0208 080 6591
Webinar ID: 873 9517 3785
Passcode: 260563
Monday 20th September at 5.30pm – Special Service
SERVICE FOR THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN CLIMATE NETWORK PILGRIMAGE TO COP26
We will welcome young people from the Young Christian Climate Network to a special service of Evensong as they embark upon on the next stage of their pilgrimage journey to the COP 26 Summit in Glasgow.
Thursday 23rd September at 7.30pm Webinar
A THEOLOGY FOR CREATION AND CLIMATE
Speaker: The Revd Dr Peniel Rajkumar
Peniel will reflect on the need for a theology for Creation and Climate, and considers how Christians might consider these important issues.
Biographical details
The Revd Dr Peniel Rajkumar was appointed as the Global Theologian for USPG in a unique position that seeks to further the agency’s theological engagement with the world church. Peniel has a wealth of experience in facilitating ecumenical relationships as Programme Coordinator for Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation at the World Council of Churches. He has held teaching positions at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey and the United Theological College in Bangalore, and has written extensively on Dalit theology, missiology and interfaith dialogue.
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86266839360?pwd=NW9PUnlqUDJBWkxIdE8yaEp4UCt0dz09
Passcode: 608051
Telephone: 0208 080 6592
Webinar ID: 862 6683 9360
Passcode: 608051
Church of England Webinar
LET ALL CREATION SING: WORSHIP, PRAYER AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Monday 27th September 4.00pm.
Speaker: Canon Vicky Johnson, Precentor, York Minster
Vicky, who oversees worship, liturgy and music at the Minster will enable us to bring together God's beautiful creation and our worship and prayers.
To book go to: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6v34qHYmTY-TMzSR3Yf4LQ
Thursday 30th September at 7.30pm – Webinar
PLANETARY THEOLOGY
Speaker: Professor Peter Scott
Professor Peter Scott reflects on the planet which we inhabit, and how we view our place in the created universe.
Biographical details:
Peter is the Director of the Lincoln Theological Institute, a centre for advanced research in religion and society at the University of Manchester and a member of the Center of Theological Inquiry (Princeton, USA) and part of its enquiry in Astrobiology. Peter is Chair of the European Forum for the Study of Religion and the Environment and Co-Investigator for the ESRC-funded project 'Life on the Breadline: Christianity, Poverty and Politics in the 21st Century City'.
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86271855471?pwd=ckxvbjFUZDNHREtnTWUxbkpHNkMwUT09
Passcode: 677869
Telephone: 0203 901 7895
Webinar ID: 862 7185 5471
Passcode: 677869
Sunday 3rd October
YORK MINSTER’S SERVICES FOR CLIMATE SUNDAY
11am – Choral Eucharist
In this special service we welcome The Revd Jan Nobel, the Diocese of York Environment Officer and through our prayers, hymns and readings give thanks for the gift of creation and pray that we may be worthy stewards of it.
4pm - Evensong for the Eve of St Francis. Treading lightly on the earth
‘Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff.’ What do we really need to travel well? On the Eve of St Francis, we consider how we can walk the way of Christ and live in harmony with the created order.
Thursday 7th October at 7.30pm – Webinar
RE-WILDING OUR FAITH: CONTEMPLATING THE BOOK OF NATURE
Speaker: The Revd Dr Sharon Jones
From earliest times, we looked to the heavens and contemplated the Creator. From Hildegard of Bingen to Teilhard de Chardin, Sharon’s webinar will be an opportunity to walk alongside Christian mystics who have taken seriously the call to read the Book of Nature. Together we will contemplate how the stories we tell about creation shape our relationship to the universe, each other and the divine.
Biographical details
Sharon Jones is a priest and writer whose doctorate explored the theology of story. She is chaplain to the University of Birmingham and Lead Chaplain for Higher Education for the Diocese of Birmingham.
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87472325035?pwd=dW1oRGpkaW1RNlhMQTRlK3N1MTNrUT09
Passcode: 026693
Telephone: 0203 901 7895
Webinar ID: 874 7232 5035
Passcode: 026693.