We are all, as Kahlil Gibran noted, the “sons and daughters of life longing for itself.” But our consumer culture often conflates longing and desire, as if longing could be satisfied by purchases, progress or possessions. What is the nature of longing and how do we respond to it? What does our longing point us toward? And what would happen if we let ourselves belong to our deepest longing? Free but RSVP by email requested. 

We “become human beings by making commitments, by making promises,” said James Luther Adams. Quoting fellow theologian Martin Buber, he called humans the “promise-making, promise-keeping, promise-breaking, promise-renewing creature.” What does our capacity for promise-making and covenant mean and how does it shape our human identity, our communities of faith and our role in creating new realities in the world? Free but RSVP by email requested. 

“I’d rather learn from one bird how to sing,” wrote e.e. cummings, “than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.”  As we enter the season of lengthened nights, we reflect on the gift of wonder and how we keep it alive. Free but RSVP by email requested.