Celebrating the Arts at CONVOCATION 2021!

Celebrating the Arts

at Convocation 2021

We Are God's Soil:

Spiritual Leadership in a Climate-Changed World

Thursday, September 30 – Friday, October 1

Online Sessions • Guided Offline Sessions

with optional pre-events on Wednesday, September 29

$50 • Individual registration

$30 • Bangor Theological Seminary alumni discount rate

Learn more

“Art heightens our awareness of the

divine presence that is all around us.”

— Michael Bauer, Arts Ministry:

Nurturing the Creative Life of God’s People

CONVOCATION 2021 is fast approaching — just a little more than two weeks away! — and one of the things we're excited about is the way this year's gathering will be infused with the arts:

A Pre-Convocation Evening of Song & Poetry // Wednesday evening, Sept. 29, from 7-8 pm (Eastern). Join us for this one-hour gathering, hosted by our Executive Director, Allen Ewing-Merrill, and our Program Director, Nicole Diroff, and featuring our Convocation musician Pax Ressler. More details will be coming soon!

Climate Change Theatre Action // Thursday evening, Sept. 30, from 7:00-8:30 pm (Eastern). On Thursday evening during Convocation, we will host an interactive evening of readings and performances of short climate change plays in collaboration with Climate Change Theatre Action. Read more about this below.

And we'll incorporate the arts, along with contemplative practice and conversation, throughout the two days.

In his book, Arts Ministry: Nurturing the Creative Life of God's People, Michael J. Bauer has written, "Artists engage our imaginations as they take us on a tour through the alternative world of meaning they have constructed. In this imaginary world, it is possible to envision new relations between people, new relations with the environment, and new relations with the divine. Old habits of mind and behavior are suspended, and we can re-envision what it might be like to live in a world of justice and peace, in a city whose main street is the "river of the water of life" (Rev. 22:1). As the facts on the ground in our own world become more violent and life itself becomes more tenuous, it is increasingly important to be able to envision these other possibilities."

Join us for Convocation 2021, where we will envision other possibilities. Our two days together will include online sessions for learning and reflection, as well as intentional, self-guided, offline sessions for reflection and integration, which will weave together to facilitate learning, nurture respite, and deepen community. With a line-up of brilliant, thoughtful, spiritually grounded presenters and leaders, Convocation 2021 will inspire and challenge us to root our spiritual leadership in the common good and in the sacredness of our planetary home.

Convocation 2021 • Arts Evening

Climate Change Theatre Action 2021:

Envisioning a Global Green New Deal

Thursday, September 30, 2021 • 7:00 - 8:30 PM (Eastern)

Click below to watch a brief video invitation!

This year, as part of Convocation, we will team up with Climate Change Theatre Action and Friends Council for National Legislation to enjoy and engage with a series of short plays written by playwrights from around the world, under the theme “Envisioning a Global Green New Deal.”

Founded in 2015, Climate Change Theatre Action brings together 50 professional playwrights every other year, representing all inhabited continents as well as several cultures and Indigenous nations, and commissions them to write five-minute plays about an aspect of the climate crisis. Our Thursday evening session will feature several of them.

Engaging the imagination while deepening empathy and understanding of others is what good theatre does best. The short plays, performed live, will allow our minds and hearts to expand — will invite us to envision other possibilities! — as we consider the call of spiritual leadership in a climate-changed world.

Note: if you would like to take part in this event by reading or taking a part one of the plays, please contact Peterson Toscano at peterson@thebtscenter.org.

Climate Change Theatre Action launched in 2015 to coincide with the United Nations Paris Climate Conference, and has returned every other year since. The 2019 cycle of plays included 220 presenting collaborators in 28 countries, engaging over 3,000 artists and reaching an audience of roughly 26,000 people. We look forward to being part of this year’s offerings.

To learn more about the theory and spirit behind CCTA, we invite you to listen to Peterson Toscano’s latest Citizens Climate Radio podcast episode with Chantal Bilodeau, the mastermind behind it all, and Zoe Svendsen, who wrote Love Out of Ruins, the MadLib style play we’ll be engaging, where everyone is invited to add their own details.