May 2, 2024

Dear friends,

Yesterday brought us the first day of May — a day celebrated in Celtic traditions as Beltane, a festival heralding life and fertility and abundance, a time to be grateful for new life emerging. May Day is also a celebration of workers and laborers who have fought for a more just and equitable world. As we hold these different observations in mind, we are struck by the confluence of the longing for a world in which all beings may flourish.

Our work at The BTS Center is focused on that vision of flourishing, as we offer programs and spaces for deep honesty about our climate-changed and suffering world so that we may compassionately and collectively work toward a future of abundance for all. This spring, we are excited to bring you more opportunities to join us in this work.

We're thrilled to 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, on Wednesday, May 22. We 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.

Also this month, we have another conversation from our Climate Conscious Chaplaincy Initiative, this one exploring Spiritual Caregiving and Ecological Grief, presented in collaboration with Chaplaincy Innovation Lab. These conversations have been robust and thought-provoking spaces in which to explore what it means to accompany one another in this climate-changed world.

There is still time to join our book study on Singing the Psalms with My Son: Praying and Parenting for a Healed Planet, starting next week! And we'll be offering our first Green Teams Gathering, in person in Cape Elizabeth, Maine in just a couple of weeks. If you're within reach of Southern Maine and are involved (or would like to be) in congregational climate work, this in-person offering might be for you!

We wish you moments of abundance this spring and beyond.

With best wishes,

Join us for these Upcoming Online Programs:

Singing the Psalms with My Son: A Book Study

• May - June • 5 weekly sessions • Online
• NOW IS THE TIME TO REGISTER!
• Two options for days and times each week
• Offered in collaboration with Lutherans Restoring Creation and Moms Clean Air Force

Spiritual Caregiving and Ecological Grief: Perspectives and Practices for Chaplains

• Tuesday, May 14 • 12.00 - 1.00pm (Eastern) • Online
• With presenters Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner and Rev. Scott Hardin-Nieri
• Presented in collaboration with the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab

Collective Honesty and Complicated Hope: An Evening with Katharine Hayhoe

• Wednesday, May 22 • 7.00 - 8.30pm (Eastern) • Online
• A public conversation with acclaimed climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, featuring conversationalists Rev. Dr. Jim Antal, Rabbi Laura Bellows, and William Morris
• With 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
• A conversation with Matthew Myer Boulton, Creative Director and Producer of SALT, 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

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.

This May, 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!

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!

All episodes of Season Two of Climate Changed, The BTS Center's podcast, are now available for listening! Listen to Climate Changed wherever you get podcasts or head over to our Podbean page to listen to all of the episodes from both Season One and Season Two! On our webpage, you'll find links to all the episodes as well as descriptions, full transcriptions, and specially developed discussion guides which you can use in your congregation or community setting.

Season Three will be premiering in September — we are looking forward to bringing you another vibrant season with exceptional conversations and more inspiring content!

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

• We're reading Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future by Patty Krawec

• We're listening to "We are the Great Turning: Love, Courage, and Connection in the Climate Crisis" podcast

• We're wondering: How are you experiencing the place in which you live during this season of spring?

A final word for your reflection:

"What could we accomplish if we stood together and faced the danger? What seeds might we plant today that will one day take root above our bones? What if the future was better than the past? What if it was beautiful?"

— Jacquelyn Gill, from "The Asteroid and the Fern" in Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility, edited by Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua

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

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