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August 12, 2022

Dear Friends,

All over the country and the world, temperatures are soaring in heatwaves and extreme weather events. Here in Portland, we broke a record for high temperature last weekend, and we're in the midst of a drought that is withering plants, animals, and people alike. We are feeling the effects of climate change, even as we in New England are still spared the worst of the extreme weather.

As we grapple with anxiety and grief, and as we crave coolness and relief, we at The BTS Center also find our spirits rising — rising not quite like the temperatures, but with community, commitment, and resilience. Last month, we hosted a beautiful concert with Halcyon String Quartet which helped us to look deeply into the reality of what is while also buoying our hopes for what could be. And we continue to be inspired by each of you to rise to the work before us.

Though our rhythms for August are a little slower, honoring this heat and the rest it requires, we also feel our energy beginning to rise for a slate of autumn offerings that we hope you will find as enlivening as we do. In late August, we'll gather for a Listening Party for our podcast, Climate Changed. Then in September, we'll partner with the Maine Council of Churches to bring you a public conversation with author and theologian Carter Heyward discussing her new book on white Christian nationalism. And we hope you will save the date as we look forward to Convocation 2022 in early October — we have an incredible lineup of speakers and leaders to bring us into the space of imagination and collective liberation for a climate-changed world.

Wherever you are physically, emotionally, and spiritually, we hope you find rest, nourishment, and the strength to rise to meet the challenges at hand.

With best wishes,
The BTS Center Team
We hope you will join us for one or more of these offerings:
What we're reading, listening to, and engaging:



  • We're pondering how we honor and interpret the silences between us — and the differences between silence and silencing
Please enjoy this Earthbound Practice, created by Tyler Mark Nelson, who served as our Summer Intern this year. We are so grateful for Tyler's contributions, and we wish him well as he returns to his studies at Yale Divinity School!
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.