NUMC Adult Faith Formation Schedule 2026
The schedule focuses on the Hope for Creation pilot project involving several upper Midwest UM congregations in shared study, prayer, and design of climate action ministries. Other classes focus on Missions and Justice initiatives.
HOPE FOR CREATION. A Four-Part Series with Hildegard of Bingen — Season of Easter 2026
4/12: Session 1 “In the Beginning, All Things Were Green:” New Greening for creation and the soul
The medieval mystic Hildegard of Bingen gave us a word for what we feel when spring breaks through after a long winter: viriditas, the greening life force, the very “greenness of God’s finger,” woven into every living thing at creation’s dawn. We begin here, in wonder and welcome, letting Easter’s promise enter into the body, the garden, and the soul.
4/19: Session 2 “Stitched Together with the Stars:” Hildegard’s Vision of a Living Cosmos
For Hildegard, creation is an orderly, interconnected weave in which humanity is called not to dominate but to become co-creators in God’s garden, to act as partners in what she named opus cum creatura, the sacred work done with creation rather than against it. This session introduces her astonishing cosmology and asks: what does it mean to truly belong to this world?
4/26: Session 3 “We Can No Longer Keep Going:” Crisis and Lament
Nine hundred years ago, Hildegard gave voice to the earth itself crying out — winds and waters lamenting in their own voices that human greed had ground creation like a mill, leaving it starved for justice. In this session we hold what is hard to hold: the grief of a wounded creation, and the ancient practice of lament as the first honest step toward hope.
5/12: Session 4 “Hasten Toward Justice, Return to Green:” Hildegard’s Call into “Cosmic Partnership”
For Hildegard, redemption is not escape from creation but creation’s renewal. We begin with a moral and spiritual turning that allows the greening power to flow again through body, soul, and all creation. We close the circle where we began, now understanding viriditas not only as gift but as calling: a practice of justice, healing, and holy partnership with the living world.