The Care and Nurture of Clergy in Apocalyptic Times
Spring in the Green Mountains of Vermont bursts forth in a riot of fiddlehead ferns, dandelions, march marigolds, and leafy horizons. It is so beautiful that it is easy to forget the fact that climate change is impacting life here. We are used to tough winters here, but this year it kept thawing and re-freezing, and the maple sap ran earlier than ever before. Last July we had terrible floods which left our roads looking like monsters had eaten them for breakfast and meant that homes and businesses along our waterways were badly flooded. We are all praying it won’t happen again this year, but who knows when the next flood, drought, fire, or heat wave will strike, and where?
Sometimes it feels as though we are living in apocalyptic times. It isn’t only climate change that threatens our future, but violence, income inequality, and political divisiveness. Whether left, right or center, Clergy of all kinds find themselves caught in the strains of many currents. Clergy are expected to be hope-bearers, connecting each life to the divine in all. They are expected to rise above somehow, keeping our collective sights on what is possible beyond all suffering. Yet clergy-people are just as human as everyone else, and they feel all of the anxieties and cares that others feel.
Clergy are invited to register here to join the Rev. Dr. Sarah Lammert, LeaderWise Staff Consultant, for six 45-minute Wednesday sessions this summer for the Care and Nurture of Clergy in Apocalyptic Times June 26, July 3, 10, 17, 24 and July 31 at 12 Eastern/11Central/9 Pacific. Find registration information and more details here.
