November 30, 2021

Dear friends,

Two days ago, we celebrated the first Sunday of Advent, which marks the beginning of the Christian liturgical calendar. While it may seem strange, in the northern hemisphere at least, to begin a new year when the days continue to shorten, the next four weeks represent a time of anticipation, a longing and waiting for a renewal of hope at Christmas.

This year, especially, there is an anticipation in the air, as many families gather to celebrate the holidays for the first time since the pandemic began. And there is heartache, as well, for all that we have lost, for all that we continue to lose. Yet our faith asks us to live in hope – not a false or superficial hope, but one rooted in an understanding of the redemptive possibilities of imagination, of connection, and of an economy of justice.

In this season of anticipation, we invite you to join us for several public offerings — our next gathering for Lament with Earth on December 9 as well as Stories of Grief and Courage, our public conversation with Hannah Malcolm and Anupama Ranawana on December 16. If you find yourself looking ahead to the new year, we have two exciting course offerings for education and exploration: Wildness and Spirituality for the Common Good and Spiritual Leadership for a Climate-Changed World. And, should you find yourself longing for a dose of coziness in the cold, the video for our Fireside Chat with Victoria Loorz is now available for viewing.

As we light our candles, be they for Advent or Hanukkah (or both), may we hold space for the healing of all of creation, for the challenge and solace our faith can provide, and for the imaginative stories we carry with us that inspire us with visions of what is possible.

With all best wishes,
Rev. Ash Temin
Communications Manager, The BTS Center
Lament with Earth
Thursday, December 9 • 7:30-8:30 pm (Eastern) • Online
Winter Event: Festivals, with the Element of Fire
“The holidays... invite us not so much to dispel the darkness with light, but to enter the darkness with whatever light our consciousness brings. It is there in the darkness, as frightening as that might be, where we truly meet our spiritual selves. It is within the darkness, the unknown, that our creativity and our hope and our promise take root and have their home.” (Charles Blustein Ortman)

Festivals are times of miracles. Both the Christian story of the birth of Jesus and the Hanukkah story of the oil for the lamp point to unanticipated, and unplanned, miracles. And so many of the festivals involve candles or lights of some kind. How might we, even in our lament, make room for the inbreaking of the miraculous? What is illuminated differently by the candles of the advent wreath, or menorahs, or by solstice bonfires?

This is the second of five events we have planned with The Many. You can view the video of the first event here.
Stories of Grief and Courage
a conversation with Hannah Malcolm & Anupama Ranawana
Thursday, December 16 • 4:00-5:15 pm (Eastern) • Online
On Thursday, December 16, we invite you to join us in a conversation with Words for a Dying World: Stories of Grief and Courage from the Global Church editor Hannah Malcolm and contributor Anupama Ranawana. This anthology weaves together a rich tapestry of diverse experience, all focused around the question of how we grapple with ecological grief in a way that is particular to our location and moment.

As we come to terms with what it means, and will mean, to live in a climate-changed world, many of us are just beginning to understand our ecological grief and its connection to our places and our privileges. It takes practice and patience to meet our own grief and the grief of others with courage and compassion. And understanding these griefs through a theological lens will inform our spiritual leadership now and in the days to come.

This event is part of The BTS Center’s ongoing season of programming around ecological grief, which has included a book study of Words for a Dying World during the month of November. All are welcome, regardless of participation in other programs.

We hope you will be part of this vital conversation around ecological grief and its role in our faith communities.
Spiritual Leadership for a Climate-Changed World
Spring 2022 Online Course
In partnership with the Maine School of Ministry
“I used to think the top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change. I thought that with 30 years of good science we could address those problems. But I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy... and to deal with those we need a spiritual and cultural transformation...” — James “Gus” Speth

Climate change is no longer the science community’s prediction for the future — we are now living in a climate-changed world. This reality raises provocative questions, challenges, and responsibilities, especially for people whose worldview has been formed by a Western perspective, and in particular for spiritual leaders. We are pleased to be offering this course in partnership with the Maine School of Ministry as an opportunity for spiritual leaders in the Global North to engage those questions, navigate those challenges, and embrace those responsibilities in their particular contexts.

Over the course of four months, students will engage assigned readings and other multimedia resources, form and share personal reflections, participate in four day-long facilitated sessions featuring guest presenters, and complete a final project. This course is designed for self-directed students whose learning needs are related to their professional roles as ministers — ordained and non-ordained, clergy and laypersons, leaders of traditional religious communities and other communities of practice.

Our present reality is a tumultuous reality. While we may not be able to smooth out the complications, this course will provide accompaniment and a community of mutual learning to form and inform how leaders might embody their vocation of spiritual leadership for a climate-changed world.
Wildness and Spirituality for the Common Good
Spring 2022 Online Course
In partnership with the School of Global Citizenry
As Susan Griffin writes in Woman and Nature: “We are nature. We are nature seeing nature. We are nature with a concept of nature. Nature weeping. Nature speaking of nature to nature.” With that conviction in mind, this course offers the opportunity to consider how a thoughtful relationship with wild nature bolsters our ability to do good work in the world.

Throughout this five-week online course in partnership with the School of Global Citizenry, we will examine ideas of wilderness, experiment with ways of connecting with wild nature, and explore the integration of these insights and practices into your personal and professional context. That means that you, as an expert in your life and work, are a key part of this curriculum.

In order to journey together in the shared project of building a global culture of compassion, we must each show up with our own creative commitments. After all, it takes a host of efforts to make a beautiful world. That’s why we begin with the assumption that each learner is a vital part of the ecology of justice, eager and willing to contribute to the common good.

This course is ideal for social and civic leaders, clergy, laity, and seminarians seeking continuing education units or valuable and relevant professional development credits. Others who benefit from this course include chaplains, nurses, therapists, coaches, consultants, small group leaders, directors, and educators. Two CEUs are available upon completion.
The BTS Center | 207.774.5212 | info@thebtscenter.org | www.thebtscenter.org
 Our mission is to catalyze spiritual imagination with enduring wisdom for transformative faith leadership. We offer theologically grounded programs of continuing education and spiritual formation, including workshops and retreats, learning cohorts, public conversations, and projects of applied research.