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May 16, 2024
Dear friends,
These days, so many of us are holding so much — from personal trials and sorrows to the great suffering of the world and all beings therein. We hold the blooming of the world alongside the chaos and destruction, the joy of warmer, longer days in conversation with our grief at the loss of so much to human violence and climate change. And, in the midst of it all, we hold each other in community, knowing that our salvation lies in the love of one another and the world.
We are grateful to each of you for being a part of the community that we are co-creating alongside one another. As we at The BTS Center continue to cultivate spaces for holding all the complexities of life and faith in a climate-changed world, we have some beautiful offerings coming up in the next weeks and months. We hope these spaces will offer solace, delight, and connection.
Next week, on Wednesday, May 22, we'll be offering a public conversation with renowned climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, author of Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World. This is one of our long-awaited and much-anticipated spring events. We sincerely hope you'll join us for an evening of thoughtful conversation about Collective Honesty and Complicated Hope with Dr. Hayhoe and an incredible panel of conversationalists.
This week is the last call to register for our first Green Teams Gathering, in person in Cape Elizabeth, Maine this Sunday! We're anticipating a lively gathering with thoughtful presentations and time for connecting with others doing (or interested in doing) congregational climate work. If you're in reach of Southern Maine, please join us!
And there is still time for the young people in your life to register for Climate Justice Camp, a new and unique offering at Pilgrim Lodge on beautiful Lake Cobbosseecontee in West Gardiner, Maine in late July. Please let any high-schoolers (or high school parents) in your circles know about this special opportunity for fellowship, community, and fun!
We wish you all the blessings of spring!
With best wishes,
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Join us for these Upcoming Online Programs:
Collective Honesty and Complicated Hope: An Evening with Katharine Hayhoe
- Wednesday, May 22 • 7.00 - 8.30pm (Eastern) • Online
- Don't miss this gathering! Now is the time to register!
- A public conversation with acclaimed climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, featuring conversationalists Rev. Dr. Jim Antal, Rabbi Laura Bellows, and William Morris and event musician Rev. Liz Fulmer
- Presented in collaboration with One Home One Future
Introducing Climate + Faith: A Resource from SALT / A Leadership Commons Open House
- Thursday, May 23 • 12.15 - 1.00pm • Online
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A conversation with Matthew Myer Boulton, Creative Director and Producer of SALT, focusing on their resource, Climate + Faith
- Part of our Leadership Commons Open House series
Join Us for these Upcoming In-Person Programs:
Green Teams Gathering
- Sunday, May 19 • 2.00 - 5.00pm (Eastern)
- In person at Cape Elizabeth United Methodist Church in Cape Elizabeth, Maine
- An opportunity for those engaged in congregational climate work to gather, connect, and learn
Climate Justice Camp at Pilgrim Lodge
- Sunday to Saturday • July 21 - 27, 2024
- At Pilgrim Lodge, a ministry of the Maine Conference, United Church of Christ, on beautiful Lake Cobbosseecontee in West Gardiner, Maine
- For campers entering grades 9-12 and new high school graduates
Opportunities and Offerings from Our Partners:
Summer Book Study: Earth & Soul
Craigville Theological Colliquy
- July 8–12, 2024 • Craigville Retreat Center, Cape Cod, MA
- An ecumenical gathering of pastors, teachers, seminarians, and lay leaders
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2024 Theme: Ecotheology: Christian Responses to the Global Climate Crisis
- Our own Executive Director, Rev. Dr. Allen Ewing-Merrill, is the keynote speaker!
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Collective Honesty and Complicated Hope
An Evening with Katharine Hayhoe, Climate Scientist
Wednesday, May 22 • 7.00 - 8.30pm Eastern • Online
Registration fee: $15
Scholarships available. Contact Program Director Nicole Diroff at nicole@thebtscenter.org to inquire.
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Now just around the corner, The BTS Center, in collaboration with One Home One Future, is thrilled to offer a special evening event with renowned climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, author of Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Call for Hope and Healing in a Divided World, and a leading voice in connecting the data of climate change with faithful and meaningful responses.
Dr. Hayhoe has been called “one of the nation’s most effective communicators on climate change” by The New York Times and one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People, and she’s been celebrated as United Nations Champion of the Earth. Besides all that, she serves as chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy and as Professor in Public Policy and Public Law at Texas Tech University — and somehow she finds time to write books! You can view her TED Talk here — it is well worth a watch!
Dr. Hayhoe will be joined by a panel of wise conversationalists who will engage with one another around how we face with honesty what is happening, how we hold faith and climate science in conversation with one another, and how we embody complicated hope as we respond to the intersecting crises of our day. We hope you will join us for this vital conversation!
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What We're Reading, Listening To, and Wondering:
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We're wondering: What are you holding these days, and who or what is helping you in the holding?
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A final word for your reflection:
“Much of the oxygen we breathe comes from plants that died long ago. We can give thanks to these ancestors of our present-day foliage, but we can't give back to them. We can, however, give forward. When we are unable to return the favor, we can pay it forward to someone or something else. Using this approach, we can see ourselves as part of a larger flow of giving and receiving throughout time. Receiving from the past, we can give to the future. When tackling issues such as climate change, the stance of gratitude is a refreshing alternative to guilt or fear as a source of motivation.”
— Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone, Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We're in With Unexpected Resilience and Creative Power
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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.
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