Lament with Earth
Five seasonal events honoring the pain of loss through the liturgical year
“We know and feel in our bones that something primal is amiss. Our extended home is being eroded. It is essential that we stop and recognize these losses...to respond with sorrow, outrage and apology at these places touched by so much loss.”
— Francis Weller
So many of us know this truth voiced by Francis Weller. And yet, we have so few opportunities to express our sorrow, fear, sadness and yes, even despair about a future of life in a climate-changed world. It takes courage to touch the places inside ourselves where these truths live — those thoughts and feelings that likely keep many of us up at night, but are too often held inside us, in a space both alone, and lonely.
To create space for these feelings, The BTS Center — together with The Many, an extraordinary group of songwriters, spoken word artists and liturgists — has created Lament with Earth — five seasonal events featuring original music, poetry, rituals, images, scripture and videos to reflect different seasons of loss through the liturgical year. These events are interactive, inviting you to pray and sing along. You are invited to bring your own sense of loss and sadness. We lament together, and also share that which has been a balm to our grief, strengthening us for the work we know awaits us.
Dates:
7:30 pm - 8:30 pm (Eastern) • Online
October 23, 2024
December 4, 2024
February 5, 2025
April 2, 2025
June 4, 2025
An Invitation to Support Hurricane Relief Efforts in Western North Carolina through our partner, Creation Care Alliance
Meet our Co-Creators
The Many is a unique creative collective making music, spoken word and communal gatherings that embrace faith and doubt, hope and lament. The songs The Many give us, with lyrics born from scriptures, from headlines, and from their own experiences, are not head-in-the-clouds “worship songs.” These are not songs about a God who only loves some of us. These are feet-on-the-ground, heart-in-hands, scars-revealed, wild and holy songs of resistance and restoration.
The Many – with lead singers Darren Calhoun, Christa Sangster and Kristina Sinks, along with musician/producer Gary Rand and wordsmith Lenora Rand – all come together around their shared love of music and commitment to honest expressions of faith, peace-making, racial, economic and climate justice, and LGBTQ+ inclusion.
More than anything, The Many are here to remind us that we aren’t alone, that God so loves every one of us, and we all belong here.
TheManyAreHere.com
@themanyarehere
With roots dating back to 1814, The BTS Center is a private foundation in Portland, Maine, building on the legacy of the former Bangor Theological Seminary.
Today The BTS Center seeks to catalyze spiritual imagination, with enduring wisdom, for transformative faith leadership by offering theologically grounded programs of continuing education and spiritual formation, including workshops and retreats, learning cohorts, public conversations, and projects of applied research, all focused around spiritual leadership in a climate-changed world.
