A brief update this month, as Lent and Holy Week have placed heavy demands on my life and work, and I have prayed and learned with others who are praying through Ramadan. Such a busy and holy season this is!
My project held a two-part version of the workshop at St. Francis Cabrini in Minneapolis this month, which taught me that we could break the process into two parts — one in which we do the basic story circles, and one in which we work with the digital materials. I think one benefit of this approach is that participants had time between the two parts to search for images they wanted to use. I think one disadvantage is that we lost some of the relational momentum that came from moving directly from the story circles to the creation of digital media.
Most of March has been Lent for those of us who are Christian, and now as I write this the Triduum (three days) of the Easter season are about to start. I have been busy planning retreats in South Dakota and Montana for the next two months, and helping people continue to work on their digital stories from past workshops.
One surprise for me in all of this is how much people want to continue to refine their stories before releasing them into the world. I need to think about how to support people sharing in a “not yet perfect” way!
A few resources that I came across that you might enjoy include:
Rick Lindroth’s Rutlen Lecture at Luther Seminary, entitled “Science, Truth, and Christian Faith in a Time of Eco-Crisis” is now available at YouTube
It’s not too late to join in the 2024 EcoFaith Summit in Minnesota which will take place on April 6 — either in person or online — around the theme of “Cross Currents in the Flood: building Arcs Together for a Livable Planet”. Larry Rasmussen in the featured speaker, and there will be a host of workshops available
You can also register for a live stream of the national Faith+Climate Forum, to be held April 16.
If you are looking for concrete curricular resources to engage around Earth Day, I want to recommend –again — Heidi Ferris’ work at “Growing Green Hearts” — and also, let’s celebrate that she recently defended her EDD dissertation and we can now call her Dr. Ferris!
And that’s it for now. More to come,
blessings for the season,
Mary