025: The Priest of the Woods and the Fullness of the Earth with Stephen Blackmer

“But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.” – Luke 5:16 Stephen Blackmer is founding executive director of Kairos Earth and chaplain of Church of the Woods. Steve comes to this with 30 years of conservation experience, having founded and built conservation organizations including the Five Rivers Conservation Trust, Northern Forest Alliance and Northern Forest Center. A midlife shift led him to Yale Divinity School and ordination as a priest in the Episcopal Church, carrying the question in his heart and mind: “How can being a priest deepen my work to conserve the Earth? What does the Christian tradition …

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024: The Contemplative Hint: Seeking to Say the Unsayable within Christianity with Rev. Dr. Peter Traben Haas

“Ministers and their congregations must instead consider what need there may be for churches as temples for contemplation and meditation, stripped of the courthouse furniture of stalls, pews, pulpits, lecterns and other equipment for throwing the Book at captive audiences.” – Alan Watts Rev. Dr. Peter Traben Haas is the author of several books, including Centering Prayers: A One  Year Daily Companion for Going Deeper into the Love of God. Peter runs the website contemplativechristians.com and the Facebook group Contemplative Christianity. Peter is steeped in the Christian contemplative tradition, passionate about bringing the contemplative mind into church communities and the …

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023: The Generous Cadence of the Singer of Solitude: Kevin Dann on Henry David Thoreau (Author of Expect Great Things: The Life and Search of Henry David Thoreau)

“Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.” – Henry David Thoreau Kevin Dann is a historian, naturalist, and troubadour, and author of ten books, including Expect Great Things: The Life and Search of Henry David Thoreau; Bright Colors Falsely Seen: Synaesthesia and the Search for Transcendental Knowledge; Across the Great Border Fault: The Naturalist Myth in America; and Lewis Creek Lost and Found. Dann has taught at Rutgers University, University …

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