This one-day workshop introduces a simple yet profound process: how to prevent or peacefully resolve differences by connecting with another person’s feelings and needs. You may also connect more deeply and authentically with your own feelings and needs. This approach, used world-wide to resolve disputes, is also known as “Nonviolent Communication”, or “NVC”, developed by Dr. Marshall Rosenberg. Workshop content: The purpose of Constructive Communication “Power Over” vs. “Power With”: the intention behind the model The Jackal and the Giraffe: How life stances affect the language we use The four steps of......

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Rev. Dr. Magaret Bullitt-Jonas The Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas is an Episcopal priest, author, retreat leader, and climate activist. She serves as Missioner for Creation Care in the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts and the Southern New England Conference, United Church of Christ. Her latest book, co-edited with Lea Schade, is Rooted and Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis. Her website: RevivingCreation.org Preaching Gospel Hope in a Time of Climate Crisis Climate change is called the moral challenge of our time, yet many preachers avoid discussing it. Through......

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Dr. Matthew R. Anderson A workshop for congregational pastoral care providers, ministry students, and clergy. Matthew R Anderson (PhD McGill, 1999) is an ordained Lutheran minister. For almost 20 years, he taught New Testament, Pauline letters, and Theology in Film classes at Concordia. Recent works in biblical studies include “Paul and Pauline Letters” (Wiley Encyclopedia of Ancient History), “The Historicity of Acts 20.16 and a Shavu’ot Setting for the Pauline Collection” (under review with NT Studies), and “’Aware-Settler’ Biblical Studies: Breaking Claims of Textual Ownership” (Journal for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies). Topics will......

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Turning the Text: Midrashic Biblical Imagination for Preachers and Congregations How might we approach the biblical texts used in preaching and worship with a holy, open, even playful imagination that can inspire courageous, engaged and faithful living in a North American religious climate in which the Bible has often been weaponized, idolized, or even abandoned? One approach is with a midrashic biblical imagination, which has its roots within the Bible itself, and among its earliest Jewish rabbinic interpreters. Midrashic imagination “turns and turns the text” (Pirkei Avot 5:22) with an openness to the polyvalence of biblical......

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