Peace Ministries joined in this year’s Season of Creation, a time of prayer, reflection, and action for our common home.
The Season of Creation provides an opportunity to renew our relationship with God and all creation. It invites us to pause, reflect, and consider how we are called to care for the world around us.
The season began September 1, on the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and ran through October 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology.
The theme for the 2026 Season of Creation was Living Water. Inspired by Ezekiel 47:9 and 12, the passage describes water flowing from the Temple of God—at first a tiny stream that grows deeper and, as it does so, brings life to dead areas and restores fertility to damaged or barren ecosystems. Through this living water comes healing. We, too, are invited to receive new life by stepping into the water, becoming part of God’s river of life, and taking part in the healing of creation.
Water, as we know, sustains all life. Yet clean and safe water is not equally accessible. Our waterways and ecosystems face growing environmental challenges, and the effects of ecological damage are often felt most profoundly by vulnerable communities.
Living Water calls us to recognize our interconnectedness and to immerse ourselves more deeply in the work of caring for and renewing creation.
At Peace Ministries, care for creation is part of our mission of peace through justice. Our core values call us to care for and be stewards of creation. Caring for our common home is also caring for our neighbors, especially those who are most affected when access to clean water, healthy environments, and other essential resources is threatened.
As stated in A Covenant of Peace with Earth: CSJP Land Ethic, 2017: “Ecological sustainability is one of the most urgent religious and moral challenges of our time. This challenge calls us to conversion of heart and change in behavior as individuals and community.”
Advocating for water is a daily mission for our sponsored ministry Waterspirit, which focuses on ecology and spirituality. Through education, reflection, action, and celebration, it deepens appreciation for water and its place in the community of life. Waterspirit also increases understanding of water issues and empowers people to participate in water protection and preservation.
“Living Water is a call to spiritual purification. But Living Water is also a call to tend to the world around us,” says Waterspirit Program Manager Scott Carlin. “We can only survive if the world, in its natural beauty and bounty, is thriving. In our world, we celebrate the human and watch the desolation of nature. Living Water should be a grand adventure to turn away from that path of destruction and build a world to the mutual benefit of people and nature.”
Season of Creation challenges us to reflect on what we can change and how our faith can move us to action. But it doesn’t have to require a heavy lift. We can give thanks for creation and pray for vulnerable communities; learn more about our connection to water and creation; make a practical change, like conserving water and reducing waste; or get involved in a local cleanup.
May the Living Water flow through us, renewing creation and bringing hope, healing, and peace to our world.
Resources are available on the Season of Creation website, and you can learn more about the work of Waterspirit by visiting waterspirit.org.