Loss and Restoration: in Life and Faith

This workshop will be a live webinar through Zoom. A Zoom link will be included in an email sent to you after registration. Not able to attend on this date? Ask us how you can access a recording of the webinar.

This free webinar is presented in partnership with Landis Communities, as their virtual 2021 Annual Clergy Breakfast. Although we can’t meet in person to share a meal this year, we hope that this reimagined time of fellowship and Conrad’s input brings our local clergy hope amidst the disruption.

The past year has been a year of loss and grief. We lost loved ones, income and job security, and the normal routines and moorings of our lives. We experienced extensive stress and anxiety, both individually and collectively. The pandemic also dismantled all of our socially constructed realities around church. We stopped singing, stopped meeting in person, altered how communion was taken, and rethought all of our ministries. The past year has revealed that much of what we thought was meaningful and important wasn’t, and showed us what we truly valued.

Rarely is the world so drastically disrupted, and rarely is there such an opportunity for renovation. Conrad Kanagy sees this massive reworking of our world as a reflection of the Grand Excavation Project of Isaiah 40 – lowering mountains, raising valleys, and making crooked paths straight.

Conrad Kanagy’s personal journey mirrors that of the current church. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in middle-age. This massive disruption in his life, identity, and plans brought grief and losses, but also some gifts. He will reflect on his journey with Parkinson’s and the parallels to this moment in history for the church, world, and individual self-formation. Amidst the disruption, God is a God of restoration.

This free workshop will be a meaningful time for pastors and others in ministry to grieve and hope, to hold disruption and restoration, to see gifts in losses.

Conrad Kanagy is a Professor of Sociology at Elizabethtown College and has served in ministry for 20 years. Four years ago, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. This diagnosis was a major impetus for change in his life, calling, and ministry. In May, 2020 he created a podcast entitled “A Church Dismantled–A Kingdom Restored,” which draws on his personal life, ministry, research, teaching experience and more. Conrad anticipates a sabbatical this Fall, to further develop the current podcast as well as to create a new one entitled “Aging at Mid-Life: Meaning, faith, and renewal.”

Conrad has suggested several episodes of his podcast for interested registrants – available here. Please feel free to listen to those which interest you the most.