AM23

"Like so many of us, McKibben grew up believing—knowing—that the United States was the greatest country on earth. As a teenager, he cheerfully led American Revolution tours in Lexington, Massachusetts. He sang “Kumbaya” at church. And with the remarkable rise of suburbia, he assumed that all Americans would share in the wealth.

But fifty years later, he finds himself in an increasingly doubtful nation strained by bleak racial and economic inequality, on a planet whose future is in peril.

And he is curious: What the hell happened?"

Global Ministries!

Workshop: Be a Storm. On political formation in Christian-evangelical churches: an exercise of popular and communitarian Bible reading in the Colombian context.

Description: Through an exercise of popular and communitarian Bible reading we will be sharing experiences of political formation of christian-evangelical communities in Colombia that have been affected by the armed conflict. This political formation process considers the impact that the conflict is having on the different territories and biodiversity where evangelical-pentecostal communities are a part of.

Connecting the dots between The Environment, Covid and Community- Prof. Fred Taylor (he/his) (Antioch University)

These last three years have challenged our sense of community in many ways, and they have also offered tremendous opportunities to "connect the dots" and explore on a deeper level the questions Bill McKibben is posing for us. In this discussion-oriented workshop, we'll be exploring a variety of connections between the environmental crises we face as a planet, with the challenges covid has presented for us. How have we faced these interrelated challenges in our personal lives and our faith communities?

In particular, we'll explore how Arundhati Roy's idea of "the pandemic as a portal" invites us to explore new connections between our health as persons, the health of our communities (church and otherwise) and the health of the planet. How might we view these crises as opportunities for moving through these "portals" into new ways of visioning our lives as faith communities, and as advocates for environmental and racial justice? How in our personal lives and the lives of our faith communities, have we already begun to explore these connections?

Christian Theology & Meaning in a Transhuman Age: Let’s begin the Conversation

Rev. Robin Junker-Boyce (she/her), First Congregational Church of Thetford

Futurists at elite universities consider this the most exciting time in history.

Their eschatological hope is to increase safety, decrease crime and end suffering as we know it. In the transhumanistic age, having merged humans with machines, we will no longer be subject to the capricious biological onslaughts due to aging, mental illness, disease, and just plain difficulty. Workplaces will be more efficient, you will be your best self, and the promises of happiness will be endless. As nanotechnology rapidly obtains more and more brain function data, AI will soon decode complex human thoughts. Duke University futurist and legal ethicist Nita Farahany believes these discoveries are extraordinarily exciting. At the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2016, she stated, “The promises of being able to access your own brain, change your own brain, and even potentially access the brains of others is extraordinarily exciting. What we can do as we start to harness what has traditionally been in the black box of our brains is incredibly terrific. But it’s also a little bit terrifying.”

Join me for an introductory discussion about the implications of advanced nanotechnology on cognitive liberty, bodily sovereignty, human privacy, and the theological implications of a rapidly advancing transhuman society. We will overview Nita Farahany’s work as presented at Davos 2023 (moderated by Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic). We will define and discuss terms like - singularity, brain transparency, cognitive liberty, AI safety, neuroethics as it relates to the right to privacy of thought, and more.

Come with your wisdom, your questions, and your fondness for what it means to be human. I hope to connect our conversation into a larger dialogue with global interfaith theologians and ethicists confronting this challenging issue.

To prep for the workshop or to consider your level of interest, please read or watch the following:

Video Lectures:

Ready for Brain Transparency? Nita Farahany, a futurist and legal ethicist at Duke University, speaking at Davos 2023- Moderated by Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic.

Brain Transparency, Nita Farahaney, Davos 2016

Technology, Theology and Spirituality in the Digital Age by Dr. Antje Jackelen - Archbishop of the Church of Sweden (December 9, 2020)

How Police Are Using High Tech to Fight Crime - Short clip from 2018

Bill Mckibben’s moving speech, Being Good Enough, at Stanford’s Singularity Summit (2006)

Books:

The Battle for Your Brain, by Nita Farahany (debut in March)

McKibben’s book Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age

Blue Collar Ministry with Cass Poulos

A quote from John Adams, written in 1790 speaks to poverty which existed in the
fledging country:
The poor man’s conscience is clear; yet he is ashamed…He feels himself out of the
sight of others, grouping in the dark. Mankind takes no notice of him. He rambles
and wanders unheeded. In the midst of a crowd, at church, in the market…he is in
as much obscurity as he would be in a garret or a cellar. He is not disapproved,
censured, or reproached: he is not seen. (Rank, One Nation Underprivileged, 142).
Class is often swept under the rug…a dirty secret few want to explore. But
working-class folks exist in our churches. Their goals in child rearing are different
than middle- and upper-class people and they speak and understand the world
differently. Come and see!

Justice and Witness Ministries

with Rev. Debbie Ingram (she/her) of Vermont Interfaith Action

Racism, Climate Change, LGBTQ+ Rights, Reproductive Rights, Gun Violence: poverty;
hunger; homelessness; access to healthcare, safe housing, education; livable wages; clean air
and water. All of these justice issues may have more in common than you think.
Do you or your congregation feel alone in your work to Do Justice; to respond to the needs of
those who suffer.  Do you know what your neighbor church in the VT Conference is doing
to alleviate suffering?  What issue(s) are they are focused on?  It may be you have more in
common than previously thought. Are you interested in finding ways to collaborate rather than
duplicate, extend efforts rather than burnout.
This workshop is offered so as to explore the intersectionality of that which undermines the
ability for healthy, productive bodies, minds, and souls.   At the same time we will learn
how individual churches within the Vermont Conference are addressing these issues, and the
ways in which greater collaboration and intersectionality among the congregations might
enhance efforts currently often replicated.
Along with sharing what your church is doing, take part in a activity that offers a visual in how
the problems we seek to alleviate and our churches are connected.

The Vermont Conferences 228th Annual Meeting will be connecting the dots between creation justice, economic justice, environmental justice, and LBGTQ justice.

Our workshops this year are so abundant they will happen TWICE.

Our keynote speaker is Bill McKibben (pictured here) whos new book "The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon" was just released.

“I’m curious about what went so suddenly sour with American patriotism, American faith, and American prosperity.”

But fifty years later, he finds himself in an increasingly doubtful nation strained by bleak racial and economic inequality, on a planet whose future is in peril.

And he is curious: What the hell happened?"

Saturday Workshops!