Resources for adult formation related to race and diversity

Virginia Theological Seminary's Building Faith blog shared these resources for adult formation and discipleship that relate to race and diversity:

 

Sacred Ground is a film-based dialogue series on race & faith. It is a small-group curriculum designed in 10 parts with documentary films and readings that focus on Indigenous, Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific American histories as they intersect with European American histories. This curriculum is part of the larger  Becoming Beloved Community commitment within The Episcopal Church to racial healing, reconciliation, and justice in our personal lives, our ministries, and our society.

 

White Privilege: Let's Talk - A Resource for Transformational Dialogue is an adult curriculum that's designed to invite church members to engage in safe, meaningful, substantive, and bold conversations on race. 

 

GCORR Real Talk is a series of conversations with community and faith leaders to discuss and uncover the disparities of race, ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic status that are deeply embedded in our social fabric.  

 

Vital Conversations 1: Realities of Race and Racism is a video-based series featuring contemporary theologians, sociologists, laity, clergy, and other thought-leaders dealing with challenges of race, culture, and oppression in the Church and world today.  

 

One Body Many Members: A journey for Christians across race, culture and class is a faith-based journey of discovery to learn, share and proclaim God's intention of oneness among people of every racial, ethnic and class background. How do we find that unity in a world as diverse as ours? How can we build up "one body" as strong as that?

 

Implicit Bias: What We Don't Think We Think is an on-demand online course for anyone who is interested in learning and teaching others about implicit bias. The course is designed to be done at your own pace with pieces for individual work, group work, and optional sermon preparation. 

 

You can find many more resources on the Justice & Advocacy page of the diocesan website.

Practitioners of Gratitude: A new Facebook group for challenging times

The ECW's United Thank Offering (UTO) Team of the Diocese of Virginia invites you to join a new Facebook group called Practitioners of Gratitude. Find us on Facebook, join, and then simply share a brief reflection on moments for which you are, or have been, thankful during COVID-19. Your simple reflection has the power to significantly increase your well-being and your connection to God.

 

Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what we receive, whether tangible or intangible. With gratitude, we acknowledge the goodness in our lives and the very source of that goodness: our amazing God.

 

The practice of gratitude helps us experience more positive emotions, relish good experiences, feel more alive, improve our health, deal with adversity, express more compassion and kindness, and build stronger relationships. Practitioners of Gratitude will tell you that the overflow of gratitude is contentment. Realizing God's abundant goodness, even on the hard days, is a gateway for joy.

 

Post your gratitude entry in our online, easy to find Facebook journal today and please consider making a gift of any amount to the United Thank Offering. 100% of what is collected this year will be given away to support Episcopal/Anglican ministries directly responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn. Be sure to note that your donation is from the Diocese of Southern Virginia. https://unitedthankoffering.com/give

Chanco open to families - plan your vacation with us!

Normal Camp Chanco 2020 operations may be suspended, but family fun at Chanco is not! Chanco is open for families to enjoy one of our retreat houses with full kitchens, retreat lodge bedrooms, or our campsites. Canoeing, kayaking, swimming and paddle boarding are awaiting you on the James River at Chanco. Farmer Matt's Scavenger Hunt, fishing, hiking, stargazing, and bonfires are also fun outdoor activities you can enjoy with your family at Chanco this summer! Don't wait - Chanco is an affordable and fun family vacation available to you all summer! For more information or to make your reservation to visit our magical woods, please contact us at 888-7CHANCO (888-724-2626) or hospitality@chanco.org today!

Bishop Haynes' pastoral letter on the death of Mr. George Floyd

I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies... Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.   (Amos 5:21-24)

 

We cannot continue to be silent. Too long we have refused to receive the breath of the Holy Spirit. Martin Luther King, Jr. said "There comes a time when silence is betrayal." In our silence we have dismissed the the indiscriminate killing and violence levied on people of color, and especially African-Americans. Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd are just the latest of a long list of people of color, known and unknown who have died because of our silence.

 

In that great hymn of the church, "Breathe on me, Breath of God" we ask God to Fill us with life anew that we may love as God loves and do what God would do. And yet our Black brothers and sisters cannot breathe. The breath of life is being choked out of them. The knees which bear down on their necks are our knees of White privilege, institutional and systemic racism. "I can't breathe!" is something they have been trying to tell us for a long time. Our brothers and sisters can't breathe. But we CAN breathe! And because we can breathe, it is time for us to stand up, give voice to their lament and outrage and voice to our lament and outrage. They can't breathe, but we can; and we must breathe and speak so that our breath can send out the word that what we have seen and heard IS UNACCEPTABLE.

 

If we remain silent, we will have betrayed our community. This is not a call to polarization. This is not about pitting the police as villains and the people they are trying to arrest as the good guys. We are all beloved children of the God in whose image we all are created. But we are all pre-disposed toward actions of evil; and it is toward those actions that we can no longer be silent. The cry for justice must be sounded out by all to whom the breath of life has been given.

 

Many will say that words are not enough; and indeed they are not. They must be coupled with action that is constructive and supportive of all life. The words that go out on our breath must be matched with actions that support our Baptismal promises to persevere and resist evil, to repent of sin, to proclaim the Good News of God in Christ, to seek and serve all persons loving our neighbors as ourselves, and to strive for justice and peace among all people, respecting the dignity of every human being. If we abandon these promises, we have walked away from God.

 

But what can we do? We can begin to look at ourselves and to root out every trace of our own racism. And it exists within all of us. This idea distresses us, because we want to be good people, and the idea of racism is abhorrent to us. But it exists. And the sooner we begin to shine the light on it, the sooner we will be freed from its oppression; and then, maybe then, our brothers and sisters of color will also be freed. The Episcopal Church, in its efforts towards "Becoming Beloved Community," has developed a curriculum called Sacred Ground. Many churches are beginning to offer opportunities to participate in this curriculum. If your church is one of them, please let the Diocesan office know. If you would like to find a group, please contact us, and we can help connect you. Our group on racial reconciliation, Repairers of the Breach, is working to update resources and action steps. Stay tuned through the Diocesan website, diosova.org.

 

I invite you to recall the Parable of the Good Samaritan. That wounded person is currently on the side of the road. That person cannot breathe. Are we going to stop and take action, or are we going to keep walking? What will we do so that one day everyone will be able to breathe.

 

Yours faithfully in Christ,

+Susan

Presiding Bishop Curry's word to the Church: "When the cameras are gone, we will still be here"

"Our long-term commitment to racial justice and reconciliation is embedded in our identity as baptized followers of Jesus. We will still be doing it when the news cameras are long gone."  

 

On May 30, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry issued a Word to the Church on the death of Mr. George Floyd and the Church's commitment to the work of racial justice and reconciliation. 

 

Read Bishop Curry's Word to the Church here.    

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In an opinion piece in the Washington Post on May 31, addressing the killing of George Floyd and violent protests in Minneapolis, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry wrote that "Love looks like all of us - people of every race and religion and national origin and political affiliation - standing up and saying 'Enough! We can do better than this. We can be better than this.'"

 

You can read Bishop Curry's message here.

CE-Net online gathering June 11

Join the Christian Education Network (CE-Net) for a Zoom meeting/conversation on Thursday, June 11, from 6 to 7 p.m. We'll get a chance to check in before we focus our time sharing and brainstorming on a "Different Kind of Summer" for formation.  

 

For this online gathering, whether you use a computer, phone or tablet, make sure your device has video capability and microphone enabled. Click here to register. 

Ridley Scholarship applications still being accepted

Ridley Scholarships are still available for fall 2020. The Ridley Foundation of the Diocese of Southern Virginia awards scholarships to undergraduate college students who are Episcopalians associated with a parish in Southern Virginia, are enrolled full-time, and maintain a 2.5 or better GPA. Scholarships are need-based, but are payable directly to the student (therefore do not affect already-existing scholarship aid from the college). All students who meet the criteria and file the application properly will receive some aid. Click here for complete information. Applications for Fall, 2020 awards will be received until June 20.