Sept 13th 2026 Pentecost 16 Ezekiel 47:3-6a

Reflection:
“Christians need to recover a fuller understanding of creation. Creation is not only
scenery, resource, or backdrop for human life. It is the living community of life itself:
rivers and reefs, mangroves and forests, fish, birds, soil, watersheds, ocean currents,
and the many relationships that make life possible. To speak of creation in today’s world
is therefore to speak about biodiversity, and about the place of human beings within that
web of life. The crises of our time make this unavoidable. Climate change, biodiversity
loss, pollution, and the wider reality of crossing planetary boundaries all reveal how
deeply damaged our relationship with the Earth has become. They also reveal the limits
of any theology that imagines people as apart from biodiversity rather than part of it.

The Season of Creation is therefore a call to ecological conversion: a turning of mind,
heart, worship, and practice towards renewed relationship with God’s creation. In this
regard, our SUP journey has been developed in line with the Season of Creation 2026
theme, Living Waters, as a call to renewed understanding from theological, ecological,
and cultural perspectives. It invites churches and communities to reflect on oceans and
rivers, on water as gift and sacred trust, and on people as belonging within biodiversity,
not standing outside it.”

Rev. James Bhagwan – General Secretary of the Pacific
Conference of Churches