Season of Creation Week 3

September marks the end of summer and summer vacation for school children. September also is the month of the Season of Creation, that time of the church year to focus on creation and ask ourselves what more we can do to take care of it.

The flipside of creation is climate change which is impacting all of God’s creation. Here in Seattle, we can smell climate change in the air in the form of smoke from nearby forest fires. In fact, on Sunday, we received an urgent email from Pasado’s Safe Haven, an animal sanctuary we support located in Sultan, Washington that is home to over 200 dogs, cats, and farm animals, many victims of abuse. The email shared that Pasados might need to evacuate their animals because of the fire just east of Index and they needed help cleaning out the temporary shelter in Monroe to where the animals would be evacuated. So Suzanna and I drove to Monroe and pitched in for the animals.

One way to address climate change is to lessen your carbon footprint by going meatless for one day a week. And this simple act will benefit the animals, the environment, and your health! It’s easy: start with a breakfast of oatmeal and fruit. For lunch, there’s good old peanut butter and jelly (even better: sub out jelly for a banana) or perhaps veggies and hummus. Dinner can be as simple as pasta with a marinara sauce. Throw some cannellini or great northern beans into the sauce for extra oomph and a nice hit of plant protein. For greater impact, sub out cow’s milk for soy, almond, or hemp throughout the day. 

Check out additional recipe ideas at  tinyurl.com/no-meat-mon, tinyurl.com/epicurious-vegan, and tinyurl.com/pcrm-starter-kit or our presentation on switching to a more earth-friendly diet. 

At St John the Evangelist, we will be celebrating the Season of Creation with these events:

1. Wednesday, Sept 28 at 7pm. Stations of Creation at St John’s. Join us for a special stations of the cross centered around creation.
2. Sunday, October 2 at Noon. Annual Blessing of the Animals at St John’s. This is a wonderful event to bring your pet for Father Crispin’s special blessing. More details forthcoming.

Please mark your calendars for these events and consider going meatless for one day through October 4 when the Season of Creation ends. Working together, we can help take care of our common home.  

Paul Litwin