I am being asked about “The Feast of Christ in All Creation” which is mentioned as an option in the NZ Anglican Lectionary booklet with two possibilities for when to celebrate this (#Anglican Church of Or!): either this Sunday (16 November) or the following Sunday (23 November 2025).
In summary:
There’s no reasoning provided for it, no readings, no resources, no propers (collect, sentence,…). It’s a purely NZ Anglican thing. I wonder if it’s simply an idea to avoid the masculine “King”.
The first reference I can find to it is in the 1998 NZ Anglican Lectionary booklet, at the start (page 5) under the title “Days designated by Resolution of General Synod”:
General Synod 1986 approved and encouraged the celebration of
the Feast of Christ in All Creation,
on the last or second to last Sunday before Advent,
and/or
A Spring Festival of Praise to the Creator,
during the spring season.
It also asked for suitable worship material to be provided. Refer to Rogation Days note.
There is no mention of anything under the “Rogation Days note”. I cannot locate any “suitable worship material provided” on the official website of this Church. I can find nothing in the latest editions of the books For All the Saints. Nor can I locate even any allusion to this in the much-expanded, not-approved-by-General-Synod A New Zealand Prayer Book He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa 2020 (or its revision 2024).
Someone must know why “General Synod 1986 approved and encouraged the celebration of the Feast of Christ in All Creation”. Was this a reaction against the masculine monarchy imagery inherent in “Christ the King”? [And why would the common alternative, “The Reign of Christ”, not be good enough for that?] Someone must know why it then took 12 years before it was even mentioned in the NZ Anglican lectionary booklet. And why General Synod’s request “for suitable worship material to be provided” was never actioned (that would not have been a big ask)? [I get the impression that communities which celebrate this feast are choosing readings etc with a Concordance, Google search, or chatgpt].
The same questions can be asked of “A Spring Festival of Praise to the Creator”.
In any case, this is an outstanding example of the diminishment of Common Prayer and why I, from time to time, refer to NZ Anglicanism as “The Anglican Church of Or”. Last Sunday (9 November), amazingly the NZ Anglican Lectionary booklet suggested all four liturgical colours (G, R, W, or V) and options of RCL Continuous (with options within that) or RCL Related or Common Worship Times and Seasons readings (with 8 readings to choose from – this last gives 40,320 options for reading combinations; I think I have that right). This Sunday (16 November) we have already covered, with the Feast of Christ in All Creation alternative to the different RCL options (not forgetting an alternative title that drawn from another source: “2nd Sunday before Advent” and the possibility of celebrating “A Spring Festival of Praise to the Creator”). And the following Sunday (23 November), the Anglican Church of Or celebrates Christ the King, The Reign of Christ, Sunday before Advent, Aotearoa Sunday, or alternatively… the Feast of Christ in All Creation (and the possibility of celebrating “A Spring Festival of Praise to the Creator”).
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image source: Sarah Lea West Art
