Green Teams Gathering

The seasonal rhythms of the calendar year offer guidance for living balanced and whole lives. As we gather on this first full day of Summer, this immersion experience will explore some of what this season has to teach us. What particular gifts does Summer offer that help us notice and nurture the seasons of flourishing in our individual lives and the lives of our congregations? We will engage in a four directions prayer and other practices that can help us attend to Summer’s wisdom as we move through this season.

Wanda Stahl is a spiritual guide, retreat leader, educator, and consultant who has worked in a variety of congregational, denominational, and academic settings. Until 2022, she served on the faculty and as Director of Contextual Education at Boston University School of Theology where her favorite moments were engaging with students exploring questions of meaning, purpose, and vocation. Wanda has completed programs in Individual Spiritual Guidance, Contemplative Prayer Group and Retreat Leadership, and Group Spiritual Direction through the Shalem Institute in Washington DC. In 2021, she completed the year-long Seminary of the Wild Earth EcoSpirituality Certificate, an experience which deepened her already strong connection to the Earth as a source of wisdom, guidance, and healing for navigating these challenging times. Wanda has been a follower of Jesus since she was a teenager, grounded especially in contemplative and Wesleyan streams of Christianity. While ordained in the Methodist tradition, she has guided and mentored people from a variety of faith traditions and spiritual expressions. Wanda is the mother of two young-adult daughters who are among her best teachers. She lives in Southern Maine where she is nurtured by time near the water and walks in the woods. Wanda also enjoys reading, cooking, solving puzzles of various kinds, and watching the birds at her feeders.

Embodying Activism invites Green Teams Gathering participants to deepen their engagement through the body. In this workshop, we’ll explore movement, reflection, and presence as tools for grounded, values-driven action. Rooted in collective care and courageous practice, we’ll consider how the body can be a site of resistance, renewal, and connection. Come ready to move, witness, and imagine new ways of showing up with integrity and purpose in the face of today’s challenges.

Brian J. Evans is a Citizen Artist, reimagining art-making through interdisciplinary practice and social engagement. Blending disciplines, professions, and identities, he explores “moments of suspension” in the spaces between, believing the Embodied Arts reconnect us to our shared humanity. Rooted in courageous vulnerability and intentional equity, he honors the mentors and ancestors who paved the way, striving to give back and uplift communities through transformative artistic expression.

This workshop is for folks who love talking about the environment, folks for whom talking about the environment is new to them, and for anyone who recognizes the need to talk about climate change and how that affects our daily living. As a suicide survivor, what helps me choose to stay in this burning world is to find the things I love that are worth staying for. This space is for folks to celebrate parts of our environment that helps us wake up in the morning. Engage in interactive discussion and poetry. How do you celebrate being alive on this earth?

Maya Williams (ey/they/she) is a religious Black multiracial nonbinary suicide survivor who was selected as Portland, ME's seventh poet laureate for a July 2021 to July 2024 term. Maya received a MFA in Creative Writing with a Focus in Poetry from Randolph College in June 2022. Eir debut poetry collection Judas & Suicide (Game Over Books, 2023) was selected as a finalist for a New England Book Award. Their second poetry collection, Refused a Second Date (Harbor Editions, 2023), was selected as a finalist for a Maine Literary Award. Their third poetry collection, What's So Wrong with a Pity Party Anyway?, was selected as one of four winners of Garden Party Collective's chapbook prize in 2024. Maya was one of The Advocate's Champions of Pride in 2022, and one of Maine Humanities Council's recipients of the Constance Carlson Public Humanities Prize in 2024. You can follow more of eir work at mayawilliamspoet.com

The "Mindful Walking and Sketching in Nature" workshop is an immersive experience designed to foster a deep connection with nature through mindfulness and creativity. Participants will engage in guided meditation to center themselves and cultivate awareness of their surroundings. The workshop incorporates techniques in blind contour drawing, encouraging attendees to let go of perfectionism and embrace spontaneity in their artistic expression.

As participants walk and explore the natural environment, they will learn to observe the intricate details of their surroundings, enhancing their appreciation for the beauty of nature. Materials for sketching will be provided, making it accessible for all skill levels, from beginners to seasoned artists. This workshop is a unique opportunity to relax, reflect, and express creativity while building a stronger bond with the natural world.

Kat Logan is a passionate Maine native whose artistic journey is deeply intertwined with the natural beauty of her home state. Residing in Wiscasset, she divides her time between her vibrant art studio and painting en plein air, capturing the essence of Maine’s landscapes. A graduate of the University of Southern Maine, Kat studied both art and music, and currently serves as the musical director at Popham Chapel. She shares her soulful music throughout New England and teaches both art and music classes, fostering creativity in her students. Kat has previously owned art galleries and an art supply store, collaborated with renowned folk musicians like Gordon Bok, and contributed to a Grammy-nominated CD. Beyond her artistic endeavors, she leads spiritual gatherings that encourage participants to connect with their intuition and embrace meditation, blending her love for art, music, and spirituality in meaningful ways. For more information about Kat and her work, visit her website at www.katlogan.com

This workshop, a collaboration between COBALT/Team Zostera and The BTS Center Green Teams, will explore the potential spiritual and ritual dimensions of seagrass conservation and restoration in Casco Bay, Maine. Drawing on COBALT's focus on a deeper sense of place and engaging communities in the regeneration of place, the session will connect participants with the vital role of seagrass meadows as Nature Based Solutions, acknowledging their importance for carbon sequestration, essential fish habitat, water quality, and supporting species across a wide range of coastal ecosystems. The workshop will leverage concepts central to COBALT's work, including the integration of indigenous wisdom, and the session will facilitate reflection on human-nature connectedness. Methods include dialogue sessions inspired by COBALT’s successful work restoring seagrass ecosystems and co-creating ideas for potential rituals and spiritual dimensions related to the process of restoration. 

For over 40 years, Glenn Page has been working on coastal/ocean/watershed issues at the interface of science, policy and practice. A restoration ecologist by training, his research and practice has been focused on understanding complex social-ecological systems and how to enable broader engagement in the process of large-scale change and transformations toward more sustainable forms of development. He was the founding director of Conservation at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, where Vice President Gore officially recognized him as as Environmental Hero.  Currently, he is the President/CEO of SustainaMetrix and founder of COBALT (Collaborative for Bioregional Action Learning and Transformation) which are both focused on “navigating in the Anthropocene.” One program called “Team Zostera” has successfully piloted seagrass restoration in Casco Bay and they are working on integrating spiritual dimensions to this critical work. He has served as a pioneer in the field of assessment and measurement, such as developing frameworks for understanding governance response to coastal ecosystem change and how to co-create transformation pathways at a bioregional scale. He is now leading an international process on how to transform the use of digitals twins for navigating the phases of transformation into a “Living Atlas for Bioregional Regeneration" with partners from the Stockholm Resilience Centre as well as a long list of partners across the globe.

What is "power" and how do we use it to affect true change in ways that are both faithful and in keeping with our principles?  We will explore the three "faces" of power: narrative power, people power, and legislative power, and explore fundamental organizing skills that support us in faithfully building and wielding our collective power to create a more just and radically loving world.

After serving the First Universalist Church of Auburn for over 20 years, the Rev. Dr. Jodi Cohen Hayashida began a new ministry organizing a statewide movement called Multi-faith Justice Maine under the auspices of the Maine People's Alliance. In addition, she serves on the board and Public Policy Committee of the Maine Council of Churches, serves as tri-chair of the Maine Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, and works with the harm reduction community.

In these times of climate turmoil and deep instability, the rich traditions and practices of our faiths can act as the ground in which we root — for wisdom, for connection, and for discernment. Engaging with the uniqueness of our watersheds — the flora and fauna, the sights, smells, and textures — as spiritual texts allows us to deepen our relationships with the other-than-human beings with whom we share our home.

Based on the ancient Christian practice of Lectio Divina, a deeply relational and contemplative process of reading a particular text, Lectio Terra invites us to engage with the natural world as a source of divine revelation and wisdom. In this group, we’ll explore the process of Lectio Terra — spending time silently in nature and then sharing our experiences and learnings as a group.

Ash Temin serves as the Communications Manager at The BTS Center. She also offers spiritual direction through her independent practice in Portland, Maine. Ash is a graduate of the University of Virginia (BA), the Irish School of Ecumenics at Trinity College Dublin (MPhil) and Harvard Divinity School (MDiv). Her time at both the ISE and HDS sparked a passion for ecological theology and prompted her to begin delving more deeply into the experience of ecological grief. Prior to moving to Portland, she served as an Acting Associate Pastor at Hope Central Church, a UCC/DOC congregation in Boston. She also has worked as a hospital and hospice chaplain, an adjunct professor, and a freelance editor.

After time spent living in Texas, Virginia, Colorado, Ireland, and Massachusetts, Ash is grateful to make her home in Maine, where she spends part of most days walking on the shores of Casco Bay. When not absorbed in work, she can be found cooking, laying in her garden hammock, hiking in the woods, playing in the ocean, or reading a book with a cat on her lap.