Presented by Sam King & Nancy Wright
What does it mean to be descended from the stars? How might awareness of our cosmic origins help us fulfill our role in a living Earth community?
This program will offer an immersion into Journey of the Universe, an Emmy Award-winning film weaving together science and spirituality to tell the epic story of cosmic evolution. We will explore the influence of the Jesuit paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, with special attention to his ideas of matter-spirit, cosmogenesis, and the emerging noosphere. We will also trace the legacy of the great cultural historian Thomas Berry, considering his visions of a New Story, the Universe as “a communion of subjects,” and the Great Work of birthing an Ecozoic Era of human-Earth flourishing.
Participants will be invited to take part in an outdoor Cosmic Walk, an embodied ritual created by Sr. Miriam MacGillis, tracing the 13.8 billion year story of the Universe.
At a time of ecological crisis, we will explore the implications of a Journey worldview for issues of climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental justice.
The program will conclude with discussion of how our “shared dream experience” can unleash the vision and creativity needed to restore the well being of the Earth community.
COST | $75, lunch is included
We’re honored to offer scholarship opportunities to programs and retreats, creating opportunities for everyone. Please call (860) 567-3163 to find out more.
The health and safety of our guests and staff are of paramount importance to us. We follow the COVID-19 guidelines provided by the State of Connecticut and the CDC. If Wisdom House is forced to close to comply with the guidelines issued by the State of Connecticut or the CDC, we will return all funds received to date.
Sam King is an educator, writer, speaker, and environmentalist. He serves as a Research Associate for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, and Project Manager for the Emmy Award-winning Journey of the Universe film and multimedia project, curating a monthly newsletter and hosting the Journey of the Universe: 10 Years Later podcast. As Director of Integral Ecology for the Marist school network, he works with youth leaders across the country to promote education and action on climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and environmental justice. An avid gardener, forager, and outdoorsman, he lives on ancestral Quinnipiac land in New Haven, CT.
Rev. Dr. Nancy Wright received a Masters of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary, NYC, a Masters Degree in Environmental Conservation Education from New York University, and a Doctorate of Ministry degree in Transformational Leadership, focused on watershed leadership, from Boston University School of Theology. She worked for a total of nine years at two ecumenical agencies with a focus on stewardship of Creation: CODEL (Coordination in Development), which fostered international leadership in sustainable development through 38 Christian organizations, including Lutheran World Relief; and, then, Earth Ministry, in Seattle. The Lutheran congregation she served in Burlington, VT, for sixteen years, created the Congregational Watershed Manual https://vtipl.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CongregationalWatershedManual-InterreligiousEdition-Jan2019.pdf. Currently she is Pastor for Creation Care at the New England Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Her thinking and world-view heavily influenced by Thomas Berry and Teilhard de Chardin, she coauthored (with Fr. Donald Kill) Ecological Healing: A Christian Vision (Orbis 1993) and articles on Christianity and Environmental Justice and Eco-Spirituality. She is a Certified Forest Therapy guide.