• Alison and Allen reflect on their personal callings—from a childhood love of carpentry to a life of teaching and pastoring
• The BTS Center’s unique framing of vocational discernment: spiritual leadership for a climate-changed world
• A theological and interfaith understanding of calling as active, evolving, and collective
• How congregations and chaplains are responding to climate change in ways that are embodied, compassionate, and spiritually grounded
• An invitation to discern not just what you are called to do, but who you are called to be

• Frederick Buechner’s Definition of Calling: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” https://www.frederickbuechner.com/
• Refugia Faith by Debra Rienstra – framing congregations as spiritual refugia in a climate-changed world https://debriarienstra.com/refugia-faith/
• Claiming Your Call for a Climate-Changed World — A program led by The BTS Center in collaboration with: Creation Justice Ministries, Anabaptist Climate Collaborative. https://thebtscenter.org/claiming-your-call-for-a-climate-changed-world/
• Chaplaincy Innovation Lab (Partnered with BTS Center on climate chaplaincy programming) [https://chaplaincyinnovation.org]

Grounding: How do we make space for both sorrow and joy?

In this tender and tactile episode, Jessica David steps out of her hosting role and into practice leadership, guiding listeners through a deeply personal ritual that blends lamentation and gratitude — with help from candles and beans. Drawing inspiration from her love of list-making, Jessica offers a sensory-rich experience for naming griefs and exaltations, helping us hold the complexity of life in a climate-changed world.

Main Practice: This episode’s practice invites listeners to physically express emotions using small, everyday objects. With humor and heart, Jessica guides us through a sequence of lamentations and exaltations — statements of grief and gratitude — placing one object down for each.

Through this embodied ritual, we’re reminded that:

• Grief and joy often coexist
• Tactile practices help us stay grounded in the moment
• Honoring loss is itself a sacred, healing act
• Even impermanent gestures can hold deep meaning

This practice is accessible, creative, and well-suited for individuals, groups, and even children — with plenty of room for improvisation and personalization.

• A candle and lighter (optional but recommended)
• A flat surface (floor, table, ground)
• Two types of small objects (8 of each)
  • One type represents grief or lamentation
  • The other represents gratitude or exaltation (Examples: beans, stones, buttons, leaves, shells)

Next Steps:

• Try the practice using what you have on hand: beans, buttons, shells, or stones
• Explore it alone or with a group
• Consider bringing it to your faith community, youth group, or a climate-related gathering

Share your experience with us: Email: podcast@thebtscenter.org Text or Call: 207-200-6986

Revisit the earlier practices in this series, offered by Madeline Bugeau-Heartt, Ash Temin, and Peterson Toscano.

Meet the Guest / Host: Jessica David is a Harvard Divinity School student and intern at The BTS Center. She is a curious and courageous spiritual leader who finds meaning in honest conversations, tactile rituals, and community-based exploration of climate, faith, and care. She’s also an excellent list-maker and lover of beautiful beans.

Peterson Toscano is the producer of the Climate Changed podcast and a longtime collaborator with The BTS Center. A skilled storyteller, performance artist, and climate communicator, Peterson brings creativity and depth to every episode. Learn more at his website, PetersonToscano.com

This episode concludes our Behind the Scenes mini-series — four practices for spiritual grounding in a climate-changed world. Learn more at: thebtscenter.org

How do we hold space for what feels unanswerable?

In this episode of the Behind the Scenes Edition, host Jessica David welcomes Madeline Bugeau-Heartt, Program Associate at The BTS Center, to guide us through a contemplative practice. This episode isn’t about solving anything — it’s about embracing what feels impossible.

Main Practice: Madeline shares a guided meditation that invites listeners to sit with the “impossible questions” — the ones that don’t have tidy answers, especially in the face of climate uncertainty. Born from personal experience and deep spiritual reflection, this practice reframes uncertainty as sacred, not something to be avoided, but something to be honored.

Key themes include:

• Holding profound uncertainty with reverence
• Embracing not-knowing as a spiritual act
• Honoring the questions that shape us
• Cultivating bravery, not certainty

Listeners are encouraged to move outside (if possible), settle their bodies, and gently bring their impossible questions into presence, not to “figure them out,” but to tend to them as holy.

Next Steps: Try this practice again — or share it with a friend. Reflect on your impossible questions: What are they whispering? Journal. Walk. Breathe. Notice what unfolds.

Share your experience with us: Email: podcast@thebtscenter.org Text or Call: 207-200-6986

Keep journeying with us — the next episode in this series features a practice led by Jessica David.

Meet the Guest:

Madeline Bugeau-Heartt is a Program Associate at The BTS Center. A graduate of Harvard Divinity School and NYU Tisch, she brings her background in experimental theater, farming, and caregiving into her work. Madeline is passionate about creating spaces for radical imagination, deep embodiment, and joyful resistance, especially as we navigate life in a climate-changed world.

Meet Our Host:

Jessica David is a Master of Divinity candidate at Harvard Divinity School, founder of Local Return, and President & CEO of Rhode Island Community Investment Cooperative. With 20 years of experience working at the intersection of people and place, Jessica focuses on the intersection of spirituality and money, supporting community wealth-building and strategic organizational development.

This episode is part of our Behind the Scenes edition — a mini-series offering spiritual and embodied practices from The BTS Center’s team. Learn more at: thebtscenter.org