Join us for Convocation 2021, coming soon!

Convocation 2021

We Are God's Soil:

Spiritual Leadership in a Climate-Changed World

Thursday, September 30 – Friday, October 1

Online Sessions • Guided Offline Sessions

$50 • Individual registration

$30 • Bangor Theological Seminary alumni discount rate

Scholarships available

Learn more

“A cloak of loose, soft material, held to the Earth’s hard surface by gravity,

is all that lies between life and lifelessness.”

— Wallace H. Fuller, PhD, soil scientist, 1975

In just two and a half weeks, we will gather for this year's Convocation. Plans are coming together, and anticipation is building! We want to invite you to register today!

As a special preview, today we want to share with you our Convocation theme song — a brand new composition, lovingly crafted by this year's Convocation musician, Pax Ressler, just for this event. Click below to listen to "The Soil," accompanied by a visual interpretation prepared by Peterson Toscano, and let this be your prayer:

God, let it grow in me.

Send down your rain and light.

And with your help we’ll be the soil

to bring the world to life!

The Soil

by Pax Ressler

composed for The BTS Center

for Convocation 2021

Scientists tell us that soil is the top layer of the earth’s surface, consisting of rock and mineral particles, enriched with decayed organic matter, inhabited by living organisms, aerated with gases, having the capacity to retain water.

Soil by itself does not act — rather it forms the fertile container, the nutrient-rich vessel, the arable ground within which other things can grow.

Soil is both teeming with life and essential for the sustaining of life.

And yet, rather than embracing God’s directive to steward the earth — to care for it, to preserve and protect it, to prioritize our fundamental interdependence with all living things and with the earth itself — instead, without much thought, we’ve settled into resource-depleting ways of living that keep us caught in a pernicious cycle of domination, extraction, and consumption.

Incorporating music, the arts, and contemplative practice, Convocation 2021 will inspire and challenge us to ground our spiritual leadership in the common good and in the sacredness of our planetary home. We look forward to this blend of online and offline experiences, which will weave together to facilitate learning, nurture respite, and deepen community.

During this year’s Convocation, we pray that God will till the soil — us — and plant seeds for a future that is not our own.

Meet our Keynote Speaker

Rev. Mariama White-Hammond is a pastor, advocate, facilitator, and farmer whose work spans issues and sectors as she seeks to create a more just and sustainable world. She was recently appointed Chief of Energy, Environment, and Open Spaces for the City of Boston under Mayor Kim Janey. In that role she oversees everything from Archeology to Animal Control. In particular, she is focused on what Boston can do to combat climate change, reduce environmental inequities, and protect Boston’s urban ecosystem for everyone to enjoy. In addition, she is the founding pastor of New Roots AME Church, a multi-racial, multi-class community that is innovating new ways of doing church... read more

Meet our Convocation Musician

Pax Ressler (they/them) is a non-binary performer, music director, and composer working at the intersections of theatre and music, arts and advocacy. They believe in the power of communal song to help articulate our shared values and stir us towards action. Pax is a passionate advocate and organizer of the non-binary and trans theatre community in Philly and a gardener of the Genderfunk Philly Instagram @genderfunkphilly, featuring Philly’s trans and non-binary theatre talent. Pax recently wrote and released an album of non-binary love songs entitled “Change” and has written choral music for ensembles across the country since 2009. Pax serves as the Minister of Music at Tabernacle United Church in West Philadelphia.