iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Today, we begin a month-long book study on Reading the Bible on Turtle Island: An Invitation to North American Indigenous Interpretation. Many thanks to The Damascus Project for this partnership, bringing together a community of spiritual leaders decolonizing their faith.

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The newest issue of Murmurations is out! Fall 2026's Climate Chaplaincy quarterly newsletter is penned by Rev. Alison Cornish, Chaplaincy Initiative Coordinator. She has an announcement to share with you, along with • Interviews with chaplains in outdoor spaces • Provocative artwork

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

An invitation at once instinctive and provocative, issued by our Director of Applied Research, Ben Yosua-Davis: "What if the place where you live is more than its population demographic units, economic concerns, or human stories? Could it be greater than the sum of its architectural and geographic

thebtscenter.substack.com

Consider the soul of your place.

By Ben Yosua-Davis

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

This week, we kicked off the 2026-2027 EcoPreacher Cohort, a community of encouragement, learning, and more. EcoPreachers are everywhere, with all kinds of climate concerns on their hearts, and already birthing impact in all kinds of ways.

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Congratulations, Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner, on becoming a '26-'27 Obama Foundation USA Leader! Rabbi Ora is among a small group of change-makers who will receive leadership training and mentorship to further their impact. You can hear more about Rabbi Ora's eco-chaplaincy in the first session of

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

A climate-changed world is one that beckons us to exercise new and renewed care-giving skills. We invite you to join a learning community for spiritual care providers that is both warm and rigorous. We begin on Oct. 19! Learn more & register: thebtscenter.org/navigating/

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

In a piece for Atmos, journalist Katie Hill journeys to Machias, ME, to explore a climate-changed community confronting its wreckage and threats, even while it remains divided on whether climate change is occurring. "I’m still struck by how insanely unromantic this all seems. I came to Machias

atmos.earth

Come Hell or High Water | Atmos

How a small town on the Downeast coast of Maine became a poster child for building climate resilience in conservative, rural America.

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The headlines of this summer are more than a story about wild weather. They're verses of lament by a world struggling for survival. Preachers: you are called for the privilege and discomfort of this time. Join a year-long community of learning and support for preachers who endeavor to speak the

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

If you listened to our Climate Changed podcast episode with Norma Wong last season, you know that Norma is gifted with necessary instructions on becoming a good ancestor. You can see Norma Wong speak on October 14 at Bates College in Lewiston, ME. Author, podcast host, Native Hawaiian and Hakka

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

In this special off-season episode of Climate Changed, we're sharing an episode of Refugia, a podcast hosted by our good friend and colleague, Professor Debra Rienstra. Debra, who joined us on Season 2 of Climate Changed, explores the biological concept of "refugia": habitats where life

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

If you missed Passamaquoddy Language Keeper Dwayne Tomah's keynote address this past spring at Green Teams Gathering: You can hear him at First Congregation Church, UCC in South Portland and via livestream on Facebook and YouTube for an in-worship conversation on Sunday, September 27.

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

TOMORROW (Friday, September 11) is the registration deadline for Convocation 2026: Sacred Soil. This year's gathering of eco-spiritual people will take place on the beautiful grounds of The Ecology School in Saco, ME. Come experience a day of deep connection, wisdom, and spiritual refreshment.

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

"Limiting overshoot" is what the U.N. Environment Programme's latest report asks of us – not how we achieve the Paris Climate Agreement's goals, but how we live courageously and morally in a world where we cannot avoid climate catastrophe. If you're feeling compelled to preach for the life of

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

At Convocation this year, we're eager to build mycelial connections between you, your spiritual communities, and organizations in our bioregion. We're so grateful that these organizations said yes to being present at Sacred Soil. Learn more about Convocation or register: convocation2026.org

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Blessings of Creationtide! For many in Christian traditions, this is a season of invitation into deeper oneness with creation. If you've been itching to preach about the eco-spiritual, then this is your time. Not just a one-day celebration of flowers, but a wide-open buffet of climate emotions and

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Each day of the 2026 Season of Creation (9/1 - 10/4), you can receive a devotion via email from our friends at #Episcopal Path to Creation. They'll highlight keystone species in Canada's Province One #EcoRegion, and will include a photo, a brief description, thoughts on how the species reflects

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Says Rev. Julian DeShazier (also the hip-hop artist J.Kwest) for the @ChristianCentury: "sometimes—maybe especially during these trying times—what we need most isn’t a sermon but a conversation, a chance to talk or yell or cry. It’s a reminder that my vocation as shepherd isn’t always about

christiancentury.org

I’m learning to let go of ‘preaching pretty’

Some Sundays, my congregation needs a word that’s more raw than...

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

If your heart is hurting, aching to make sense of the suffering that is and is to come from a climate-changed world: our hearts are hurting, too. From the @associatedpress: "Shova Shrestha, 33, has spent more than a day seeking word of her husband, Rajan Shrestha. She said his phone rang when she

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Our final Fiction Book Club gathering of the summer is tomorrow, Thursday, August 27 from 11:30am – 1pm ET. Come snag some time with Rev. Alison Cornish (our Chaplaincy Initiative Coordinator) and Autumn Brown (Host of our Climate Changed podcast) as they discuss this month's book:

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

There's more than one way to be an impactful preacher. The EcoPreacher Initiative is in its third year, and a powerful line-up of presenters, facilitators, and homileticians are ready to help you hone your gifts as a preacher for such a time as this. Learn more about the EcoPreacher Cohort,

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Our friends at @Waterspirit are hosting an upcoming 10-week climate grief support group. If you're curious but unsure if this is right for you, Waterspirit is also offering two info sessions where you can meet and have questions answered by the group's facilitators. More info and registration:

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

This year's EcoPreacher Cohort will feature wisdom and teaching from powerful preachers eager to help you hone your own craft. One of this year's presenters is Rev. Dr. Catherine E. Williams, Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship & Director of Chapel Worship at the Lancaster, PA, campus of

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

On September 18, Our friends at Center for Earth Ethics will be at the historic Riverside Church, hosting a free, powerful event: “Immorality of Inaction: Voicing Truth on Climate." Speakers will include Al Gore, Bishop William Barber II, Wanjira Mathai, and others. Their messages will be

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

The Maine Monitor's Delger Erdenesanaa reports on Team Zostera and Bowdoin College's seagrass meadow restoration efforts, in which The BTS Center is privileged to take part. Says our friend and Passamaquoddy Language Keeper Dwayne Tomah: “The language is how we view the world. People, in general,

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

We recently partnered with the Maine Conference of the UCC and Pilgrim Lodge to put on a week-long youth summer camp, Justice Together, where young people deepened their roots at the confluence of spirituality, justice, and friendship. Today, we're delighted to share with you a poem written

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Our friends at Creation Justice Ministries host a rich collection of resources for preachers responding to the Christian mandate to love God and love neighbor by loving creation. As Season of Creation approaches, find inspiring sermons, instructional articles, and more at the link in the comments.

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

"There are some world builders who will build bridges. There are some who will be holy detonators. There are some who will get to excavate things that we weren't expecting to uncover." The provocation of spiritual imagination is an open invitation: you have a place in building the future. So,

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Leah Penniman of Soul Fire Farm is a spiritual leader with hands-on experience in the connected practices of healing land, building community, and planting the seeds of tomorrow. Leah is one of many wise and dynamic experts you'll get to learn from at Convocation 2026 at The Ecology School in

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

This Sunday at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, our friends at Queerly ME are hosting a summit on accessibility in outdoor spaces. Summiting Outdoor Accessibility is organized and led solely by people with disabilities to present a pathway towards progress that is centered on lived experience.

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

For our third Fiction Book Club gathering, we're diving into the modern classic from the “grand dame of science fiction" – a prescient story about a young girl in a climate-changed world fighting for survival in the year 2020 – then the future, now eerily similar to our reality. Facilitators

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

New episode of Climate Changed is here! This is part 1 (of 2) of our recap + reflection on this season. You'll hear: • Listener voicemails • Some highlights from Season 4 • Peterson, Nicole, and Ophelia talk about public accountability, spiritual imagination and world-building,

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Essayist Rebecca Solnit writes for The Guardian: "It’s as if we launched a war against nature, and that has turned place after place into something that resembles a war zone. The climate movement is a peace movement, a movement to end this war and its casualties. "We often talk about what

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

EcoPreacher is a community made to build you up as a preacher: a year-long cohort with expert guidance and stirring provocations. This initiative is a partnership with Creation Justice Ministries + Lexington Theological Seminary). The 2026-2027 Cohort starts next month! Learn more + register:

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

This week is Reading Week at The BTS Center – five days of intentional learning and exploration for our staff. We take this opportunity to learn from what you're learning, read what you're reading, and expand our radius of curiosity. Here are some of the books we're reading this week.

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

If you don't already know of her, we want to introduce you to the incredible Dr. Jerusha Matsen Neal: Homiletician in Residence for the 2026-2027 EcoPreacher Cohort. In her role with this year's EcoPreacher Cohort, Dr. Neal will be one of your guides and advocates, her ministry a powerful testament

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

@yaleclimatecomm's latest report, #ClimateChange in the American Mind: Beliefs & Attitudes, is full of interesting and actionable findings for preachers, #spiritualcare providers, and climate advocates. This is just one of them. • In your faith communities, what language

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

1. For better and for worse, there is no single story. 2. If we can honestly meet grief, then we can honestly meet joy. 3. Story is multidimensional, not a straight line. Read more: thebtscenter.substack.com/p/the-story-... #climatejustice #ecospirituality #climatechange #creationcare

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Our friend Wendy Cliff, interfaith chaplain, is co-facilitating a restful retreat through the Sherri Eckert Foundation for environmental leaders in service of land, water, climate, ecosystems, and community well-being. The retreat will be held in western Oregon this December and includes guided

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Rev. Nicole Diroff, our Interim Executive Director, speaks poignantly in this Letter to the Editor for the Portland Press Herald about how climate change will increasingly test our ability to offer welcome and be the ones welcomed. The murder of Johan Sebastián Guerrero in Biddeford was a failure

pressherald.com

Our humanity is being tested by ICE | Letter

We are not only the ones to open our doors; we may also someday be the ones who knock.

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

It was about a year ago when Glenn Page (executive director of COBALT) said to us, "You HAVE to read this book." Tomorrow, Glenn is joining The BTS Center's Rev. Ash Temin + Rev. Nicole Diroff for tomorrow's exploration of Elif Shafak's award-winning novel, 'There Are Rivers in the Sky.'

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Friendship with a side of conflict. Appropriation vs. becoming more human. Fugitive practice (and reference to Autumn's book due out this fall!). Autumn and Nicole expand on Autumn's conversation with Francis Weller (psychotherapist, writer, soul activist) in this episode brimming with

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

EcoPreacher co-leader Rev. Dr. Leah Schade writes in a letter to the Lexington Herald-Leader: "This year, scientific forecasters point toward a volatile convergence of climate change and a “Super El Niño” cycle. The projections are stark:

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

“In English there is no verb 'to river.' But what could be more of a verb than a river?” – Robert Macfarlane Plunge into a dynamic conversation next week with Rev. Nicole Diroff + Glenn Page (Executive Director, COBALT) on Elif Shafak's award-winning saga, 'There Are Rivers in the Sky.'

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

A message honoring Johan Sebastian Guerrero + Maine-based resources: from Acting Executive Director Rev. Nicole Diroff + Board Chair Rev. Dr. Andi Lloyd. ... "To those who say that ICE agents targeted the wrong individual: there is no “right individual” who should’ve been the victim of

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

In this new episode of Climate Changed, Autumn Brown speaks with psychotherapist, writer, and soul activist Francis Weller about grief, ritual, imagination, and what he calls “the long dark.” Francis invites listeners to consider that the climate-changed world is not a short crisis we will

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

The world is asking for moral witness. That weight was never meant to be carried alone. Join the fourth EcoPreacher Cohort: a year-long community for preachers ready to sharpen (or discover!) a climate-conscious, justice-centered voice. Thursdays, 4–5:30pm ET • Sept 24, 2026 – June 10, 2027

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

The BTS Center is hiring! We're looking for a Director of Leadership Formation (full-time) and a Communications Associate (part-time) – both located or willing to join us in the Portland, ME, area...

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is believed to have been the model for the U.S. Constitution. It is the longest-lasting and oldest known participatory democracy of our species, and it is still alive today. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is comprised of six nations engaged in peaceful, generative

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

During this #heatdome smothering the U.S.+Europe, pray for those on whom our food depends: #farmers, #farm workers, animals, caretakers, drivers, other distributors, mechanics, + more. What is our theology asking of us in service to these on whom our lives depend? uscatholic.org/articles/202...

uscatholic.org

A theology of food must prioritize those who labor to produce it

In the face of climate change, sub-standard labor conditions for farmworkers, and global food instability, we need a liberation theology of food.

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The BTS Center @thebtscenter.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Pattie Gonia, drag artist and climate activist, utilizes joyful performance to point people toward one another and the places they love. Our lament is important, as is our grief. And when we're emotionally earnest about the climate crisis, we can be surprised by joy nestled in their midst, too.

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