January 5, 2024

Dear friends,

These early days of January feel like a returning — back to our usual (or perhaps new) routines after the holiday season — but also of the light which is, slowly but surely, lengthening the days here in Maine. We hope that you have enjoyed rest and nourishment over these past weeks and that the new year brings goodness to you and all.

As we enter January, The BTS Center team is also returning from our December Programmatic Pause, a time which was rich with new ideas, connections, and momentum for the work to come. We have so many amazing programs upcoming, from our annual Committed to Listen MLK Day event, hosted with the Maine Council of Churches, to our EcoSpiritual Leaders Course, to new cohorts for our Chaplaincy Circles and Group Spiritual Direction Circles. We hope you'll make one or more of these offerings a part of your new year plans.

In late December, we also released the latest episode of our Climate Changed podcast. You won't want to miss this deep and insightful conversation with Ray Buckley — click here to listen now! We have two more episodes upcoming in the second season — subscribe now on your favorite platform so you never miss an episode!

And while we still have a long time before summer returns, we know that many of you begin making plans early. This year, we're thrilled to be offering a Climate Justice Camp for teens in partnership with Pilgrim Lodge in West Gardiner, Maine. Registration is now open, so please spread the word to any high schoolers you know!

We wish you a gentle returning to your winter rhythms, and we look forward to seeing you at a program soon!

With very best wishes,

Join us for these Upcoming Programs:

Committed to Listen: MLK Day 2024

• Monday, January 15 • 12.15pm (Eastern) • Online
• Organized by the Maine Council of Churches in partnership with The BTS Center
• Featuring musician Joshua Long

Taste of EcoSpiritual Leaders Course

• Thursday, January 11 • 1.00 - 2.00pm (Eastern) • Online
• Join us to learn more about our upcoming EcoSpiritual Leaders Course with Kimberly Knight — no commitments; just a chance to get a taste!

EcoSpiritual Leaders: Encounters with Wholeness Course

• February – April 2024 • Online
• For spiritual leaders serving in congregational or community settings
• The second offering of our EcoSpiritual Leaders course, guided by Kimberly Knight

Conversation Circles: Earth and Climate Chaplaincy

• Four Circles meeting February – August 2024
• Facilitated by Rev. Alison Cornish, Gabrielle Gelderman, Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner, and Rev. Steve Blackmer
• For chaplains seeking to engage with one another around a variety of topics, including climate grief

Ecology and Faith in Christian History

• A course from our friends at Maine School of Ministry
• Four Saturdays • February – May 2024 • Online
• Taught by Rev. Holly Morrison and Rev. Dr. Stephen Hastings
• Registration closes January 12

Lament with Earth

• Wednesday, February 21 • 7.30 - 8.30pm (Eastern) • Online
• Co-hosted by Creation Care Alliance

Climate Justice Camp at Pilgrim Lodge

• Sunday to Saturday • July 21 - 27, 2024
• At Pilgrim Lodge in West Gardiner, Maine
• For campers entering grades 9-12 and new high school graduates

In our latest episode of the Climate Changed podcast, we explore how to navigate love and responsibility in a rapidly changing world, particularly in the face of climate change. We're honored to have Ray Buckley join us for this conversation. Ray is a teacher, storyteller, author, and poet of Lakota, Tlingit, and Scots descent. He brings a unique blend of cultural and spiritual wisdom, particularly the profound understanding of what it means to be in "good relationship" with the Creator, fellow human beings, and all of creation. Click here to listen now!

What We're Reading, Listening To, and Wondering:

• We're reading The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth by Elizabeth Rush

• We're listening to The Great Simplification podcast with Nate Hagens

• We're wondering what the common good means to you and how it impacts your responses to climate change — email us at info@thebtscenter.org and let us know your thoughts!

A final word for your reflection, from a friend of The BTS Center:

The ecological crisis is a spiritual crisis. It’s not just about nature and bees and the birds and the trees and the toads. It’s also about human beings and how we live as spiritual beings in a physical reality. And so, with all due respect to Elon Musk and everyone buying a Tesla, we’re not going to curb climate change with Teslas alone, when the operating system of billions of people is consumer-driven.

The only force in the world that changes this operating system of consumerism is religion and spirituality. The root issues we’re talking about are greed, short-term thinking, egoism, seeking pleasure in the physical.

The spiritual solutions to those are humility, long-term thinking, caring for other people and creatures, and simplicity. The only institutions in the world that can deliver that are religious institutions.

— Rabbi Yonatan Neril, Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development

The BTS Center | 207.774.5212 | info@thebtscenter.org | www.thebtscenter.org

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