Season of Creation

The Salvation Army’s Environmental Sustainability Working Group, ‘Salves’, is a group of five passionate people committed to keeping care of creation in front of Salvationists across the New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa Territory. Every year during September, Salves supports the ecumenical prayer and action initiative ‘Season of Creation’. This year’s theme is To Hope and Act with Creation and content is drawn from Romans 8:22, where the Apostle Paul depicts the earth as a mother groaning in childbirth.

‘The times we live in show that we are not relating to the Earth as a gift from our Creator, but rather as a resource to be used. And yet, there is hope and the expectation for a better future. To hope in a biblical context does not mean to stand still and quiet, but rather groaning, crying, and actively striving for new life amidst the struggles. Just as in childbirth, we go through a period of intense pain, but new life springs forth.’ (www.seasonofcreation.org)

Salve member Captain Rachel Montgomery reminds us that ‘We are part of all that God has made, and he entrusted the care of the earth and everything in it to us as stewards and guardians.’

Furthermore, The Salvation Army International Social Justice Commission (based in New York) not only recognises environmental degradation as one of the most pressing issues of our day but highlights the disproportionate effect the state of the environment has on the most vulnerable in society, especially when it comes to health, wellbeing, housing and freedom of choice. Be it polluted waterways affecting drinking water and fish to people having to relocate their homes from land prone to flooding, Salvationists are invited to consider how important care for creation is, and how human wellbeing is interwoven with the wellbeing of the earth.