The Cosmic Walk with Sam King
The Cosmic Walk is an embodied ritual experience of the 13.8 billion year journey of the Universe. In this practice, Sam King (MAR ’22) will guide participants as they walk across a 138-foot, spiral-shaped rope marked with the major transformations necessary for life to emerge on Earth. Created by Sr. Miriam MacGillis of Genesis Farm, the Cosmic Walk is designed to evoke conscious communion and care for our blue-green planetary home.
Sam King is the Project Director at Journey of the Universe and Director of Integral Ecology at Marist School Network. Previously, he received his Master of Arts in Religion and Ecology with a certificate in Educational Leadership and Ministry from Yale Divinity School.
Tours of the Living Village
In this time of climate crisis, YDS is building a regenerative student residential complex. Giving back to the environment more than it takes, the Living Village dares to answer one of the most profound theological challenges of our time and sets new standards for sustainability. The Divinity School’s Living Village will be the largest living-building residential complex on a university campus. Designed to meet the Living Building Challenge, the most aggressive standard for sustainable buildings today, it serves as a key component of Yale’s Planetary Solutions initiative.
Tours will be offered of the Living Village during our afternoon workshops. Capped at 15. If you are interested, please register in advance.
Image credit: Bruner/Cott
Coastal Futures: A conversation with Willis Jenkins, Matthew Burtner, and Karen McGlathery
Join us for an exciting interdisciplinary conversation ranging across science and ethics, environmental conservation and music, with Dr Willis Jenkins, Matthew Burtner and Dr. Karen McGlathery, centering their work with the Coastal Futures Conservatory. This is a rare opportunity to interact directly with them ahead of their event, Liminal: Coastal Science in Sacred Music, that will be held later in the evening of February 21st.
THE COASTAL CONSERVATORY connects arts, humanities, and public engagement with sciences of coastal change. Since 2017 we have been working with scientists at the Virginia Coast Reserve (VCR), an NSF-supported Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site, to create integrative understanding of the dynamics reshaping coasts. The Conservatory began from a humanities lab grant funded by the Mellon Foundation through the University of Virginia, won subsequent funding from the Center for Global Inquiry and Innovation (CGI2) and the Environmental Institute at UVA, and is now a regular component of the VCR.
"Bright Wings of Refuge: Fostering Ecologically-Committed Faith Communities through Creative Arts with Hannah R. Anderson and Nicole Kelly Vickey
The “Bright Wings of Refuge” workshop invites participants into a contemplative eco-spiritual practice that can be employed in faith communities to foster reflection on divine and human roles in creation and preservation through creative arts. Come create with us, and gain practical guidance for inspiring faithful, creative communities with strong ecological commitments that reflect God’s own roles as Creator and Refuge.
HANNAH R. ANDERSON is an author from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia whose writing focuses on nature and spiritual formation. She is currently pursuing an MDiv at Duke Divinity School with a focus on theology and art. NICOLE KELLY VICKEY is a pastor and poet in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado with a MEM from the Yale School of the Environment. A former community-based conservationist with The Nature Conservancy and current MDiv student at Duke Divinity School, Nicole seeks to foster faith communities that are diverse, resilient, and deeply connected to the natural world.
Birding and/as Paying Attention with Prof. Molly Zahn
People go birding for all kinds of reasons, but increasingly birders are noticing (and talking about) the ways birding can constitute a sort of contemplative practice. Whether we think of it as contemplation, mindfulness, spirituality, fostering connection, or simply being aware of the natural world and other-than-human beings around us, birding is a great way to foster the art of paying attention. This workshop begins with an introduction to birding as a practice, followed by a short walk through nearby campus locations to see what avian life we can find. No experience necessary.
MOLLY ZAHN is Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible at YDS, where her research focuses on the transmission and interpretation of sacred texts in early Judaism. Her love of birds and birding goes back to her childhood in central Wisconsin, and has continued wherever she has found herself since. She joined Yale’s faculty in 2022 after fourteen years at the University of Kansas, where she developed a deep appreciation for the prairie landscape and for North America’s central flyway.
American Art Song with Teresa Eickel, soprano, Stephen Scarlato, piano, Judith Stillman, piano, Kelly Watkins, trumpet
The first set of music is a cycle of four songs by composer Michael Ching, set to poetry by Bloomfield, CT poet and renowned climate activist, Karim Ahmed. The Silent Evergreens is a piece that reflects on and connects the miracle of the birth of the planet with the recurring miracle of spring’s first arrival in March. The cycle conveys the timelessness and preciousness of creation, while also expressing its fragility.
The second song set, Everywhere is Archipelago, consists of four poems by five-time Pulitzer-nominated poet and former CT State Poet Laureate Margaret Gibson, set by composer Emerson Eads. Everywhere is Archipelago takes the listener on a journey of connection to the planet and wildlife through the first three poems, From the Very First Not A Thing Is, Dirt, and Coyote. The final poem, Global Warming is a grief-stricken call to action to address climate change before it is too late.
The third set of music is a trio for spoken word, trumpet, and piano, entitled Vanishing Act Composed by RI-based pianist, composer, and conductor Judith Stillman, Vanishing Act is a haunting musical accounting of biodiversity loss. The mournful music of the trumpet supports the powerful spoken word poem, which urges us to save what we have left, even while we grieve what we have lost.
Please jois us for a short recital featuring the perspectives of composers and poets on the topic of our fragile planet, our connection to it, and our responsibility to save everything we can. Performers: Teresa Eickel, soprano, Stephen Scarlato, piano, Judith Stillman, piano, Kelly Watkins, trumpet
