All Saints' Anglican Church Season of Creation 2025 highlights
Contributed by All Saints’ Anglican Church Dunedin.
Tree Planting
On Saturday 20 September All Saints' once again went to South Otago to plant 145 trees on the farm of Gore Anglican parish members Bill and Debbie Paterson on Landslip Lane. 15 people from All Saints' parish and the Student Christian Movement of Otago spent the day planting trees from locally-sourced endemic seeds and seedlings (southern kowhai, red tussock, pittosporum, beech) to regenerate native forest in an area where they are replacing felled conifers. Both of the planting sites were riparian, surrounding small waterways. It was wonderful to see the trees we had planted around a pond on the farm four years ago growing up and looking healthy.
Riverside Clean-up
For our second action in this year's Season of Creation a small group of five joined local waste management advocate Tom McAlpine from All Saints' (in the blue and black striped shirt) to clean up our little portion of Te Awa o Owheo (aka The Leith) just round the corner from All Saints' Church. We also cleaned up some rubbish in the notoriously badly managed student quarter in Castle Street. Our whakairo in the church depicts "Hakui Mere Tapu o Ōwheo", "Honorable Mary of Ōwheo" and it makes sense to us to turn our attention to protecting Te Awa o Ōwheo as part of who we are as a parish. But as our river runs through the Dunedin North student quarter this is a big challenge and will require some ongoing commitment.
Before our riverside clean-up we shared this prayer together:
Loving God,
We give you thanks for the lifegiving power of these waters of Te Awa o Ōwheo,
and for all that is fed by them.
We ask for forgiveness for the human failings that have led ourselves or others to damage or pollute this corner of your Creation.
Send your Holy Spirit to empower us with patience and grace as we work to offer healing in this place.
We pray that whatever meagre effort we offer today may help us care for this awa and in turn for the harbour, Te Awa o Ōtākou, the coastal waters, Te Tai o Araiteuru, as they flow out into Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa.
We offer thanks for the health of your mighty oceans and pray that tomorrow those great lungs of your earth may breathe a little more freely.
In Jesus' name we pray,
Amen
