Creation Season? ... WTH?

One of my dearest friends told me today of something afoot in the Episcopal Church to create a new liturgical season and this modify the Church's liturgical year. It's been called "Creation Season". As a conservative (I know, this has political connotations, but for me it doesn't) Episcopalian, I see this as yet another attempt to infect the Church with revisionism.

We as a Church are entering very shaky, scratch that, dangerous theological territory when we begin to make our worship focus on the creation rather than the creator. This resolution is problematic on many grounds.

What's worse is the Archbishop of Canterbury who proclaims himself Orthodox is purported to be supportive of this. This is a bit comical considering the same Archbishop has been busy chastising the Episcopal Church for being governed the way it is. Reeks of hypocrisy.

Here's the resolution from the Diocese of Newark (home of the revisionist Bishop John Spong ... that's another blog post). My comments are under each paragraph.


The Diocese of Newark will be presenting a Resolution to General Convention about the formation of a Creation Season.

It reads:

DRAFT
Resolution to the 76th General Convention
Anaheim, CA, 2009

WHEREAS: God the Creator has made the universe with all its marvelous order, its atoms, planets, galaxies and the Earth with its infinite complexity of living creatures, and

WHEREAS: Our Gracious God has filled all living creatures with plenteousness, and has blessed human beings with the task of the stewardship of the creation upon Earth, and

WHEREAS: Since 1991, many Episcopal Churches in the United States have celebrated a "Creation Cycle of the Pentecost Season" to honor God the Creator with worship, music and praise for these gifts of life, and

• The provision above appears to be contradicted in later statements. It seems like we will be honoring creation, not the creator.
  

WHEREAS: The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Willams, has joined ecumenical leaders the world over in calling for the celebrating of liturgical period annually to recognize the human role as workers to preserve God's Creation, therefor be it

• This statement presents a very risky theological statement. This liturgical period celebrates the "human role". Funny considering that no other liturgical season focuses on the creation. How does God fit into all this? Or does He?

RESOLVED: That the 76th General Convention of the Episcopal Church commends to dioceses and congregations the celebration of a liturgical Creation cycle of at least four weeks in length at an appropriate time during the liturgical year, for the purpose of affirming the sacredness of God's creation, and of spreading an understanding of environmental stewardship and ecological justice, and be it further

• This is yet another problematic, anthropocentric statement. At the very least, this is a misguided yet somewhat noble attempt to teach about stewardship of God's creation. However, this could also mean a full fledged endorsement of idolatry which is contrary to Christian teaching. Why not give thanks to God's creation? And out of our gratefulness to God for his creation we ought to take care of it?
  

RESOLVED: That the Music and Liturgy Commission of the Episcopal Church be encouraged to consider a form for such a Creation cycle to be included in the next issue of the Book of Occas-ional Services, and be it further

RESOLVED: That the convention affirms the work of the Episcopal Ecological Network in its efforts to establish "Green Teams" in congregations, and to make available resources for the
celebrating of a Creation Cycle throughout the Church.