You are invited:
Convocation Reimagined
ENGAGED HOPE
Grounded Leadership in an Era of Ecological Emergency
September 24-25, 2020
Online + Offline components
We are so excited to invite you to Convocation Reimagined — the 2020 edition of The BTS Center's annual Convocation, for the first time ever in digital space, coming up September 24-25.
Our theme this year is an important and timely one: "Engaged Hope: Grounded Leadership in an Era of Ecological Emergency." Registration is live, and we hope you will join us!
Today we want to highlight our keynote speaker, Sherri Mitchell – Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset, a Native American attorney, teacher, activist and change maker, who will be our distinguished guest and teacher for the opening session on Thursday, September 24, beginning at 12:30 pm (Eastern).
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Meet Sherri Mitchell
Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset
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Sherri Mitchell – Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset is a Native American attorney, teacher, activist, and change maker who grew up on the Penobscot Indian Reservation (Penawahpskek). She speaks and teaches around the world on issues of Indigenous rights, environmental justice, and spiritual change. She is the author of the award-winning book, Sacred Instructions; Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change, and is the visionary behind the global healing ceremony Healing the Wounds of Turtle Island, which has brought people together from six continents with a commitment to heal our collective wounds and forge a unified path forward.
Sherri is the founding director of the Land Peace Foundation, an organization dedicated to the protection of Indigenous land, water and religious rights, and the preservation of the Indigenous way of life. She is an alumna of the American Indian Ambassador Program and the Udall Native American Congressional Internship Program. Her rights-based work has earned her the Mahoney Dunn International Human Rights and Humanitarian Award, the Spirit of Maine Award for International Human Rights, and the Peace and Justice Center’s Hands of Peace award.
Sherri has been a longtime advisor to the American Indian Institute’s Traditional Circle of Indian Elders and Youth and was a program coordinator for their Healing the Future Program. She has also served as an advisor to the Indigenous Elders and Medicine People’s Council of North and South America for the past 20 years and is a consultant and Advisory Committee member for Nia Tero’s International Indigenous Land Guardianship Program.
Sherri works at the intersections of our times, where she artfully weaves complex concepts into one unifying whole. Learn more at https://sacredinstructions.life
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Convocation grows from roots dating back more than 100 years — a highlight of the year for our predecessor, Bangor Theological Seminary, since 1905, and still today a highlight! — but this year, following public health guidance, we’re moving online. Over the course of two days in September, we’ll gather for online sessions, and we’ll log off for some intentional, self-guided, offline sessions, returning to digital space for continued learning and reflection. We look forward to this blend of online and offline experiences, which will weave together to facilitate learning, nurture respite, and deepen community.
Convocation 2020 invites spiritual leaders, faith communities, and change-makers to embrace a transformative response to the current climate crisis. If anything, COVID-19 has revealed even more clearly the ways in which “business as usual” threatens the sustainability of the planet and the health and well-being of all life. This global pandemic and the broader challenges of global climate devastation call for spiritually grounded leaders who adopt an intentional, embodied practice of hope — leaders who dismiss the paths of denial and despair and choose to live in a state of active engagement. This kind of hope is deeper than passive optimism — it is a way of being in the world, rooted in faith, expressed in action, and sustained by contemplative practice.
A gifted line-up of presenters — ecological innovators, spiritual guides, and ministry practitioners — will confront the flawed values of Western culture that prioritize individualism, consumerism, and unrestrained growth, while calling us to just and sustainable practices that protect the common good and honor the sacredness of our planetary home. Incorporating music, the arts, and contemplative practice, Convocation Reimagined will lead participants to a deeper, more spiritually grounded engagement with God’s Creation.
Plans are coming together for a really meaningful gathering — a mixture of online and offline components that we hope will be intellectually stimulating, spiritually enriching, and community-building. We hope you will set aside both days — see the schedule here — and plan to participate fully.
And to add to the fun, for all who register by September 14, we will be mailing a "BTS Box" with supplies and surprises to unwrap along the way, which we hope will enrich the Convocation experience.
Please help us spread the word by forwarding this message to a friend, a family member, or a colleague who might be interested. And please register today!
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Convocation is an annual gathering sponsored by The BTS Center, the missional successor to the former Bangor Theological Seminary. With roots dating back to 1814, The BTS Center exists today to catalyze spiritual imagination with enduring wisdom for transformative faith leadership.
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Allen Ewing-Merrill
Executive Director
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Nicole Diroff
Program Director
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Our mission is to catalyze spiritual imagination with enduring wisdom for transformative faith leadership.
We equip and support faith leaders for theologically grounded and effective 21st-century ministries.
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