St. John’s and First Congregational Church of Ashfield completed their first Sacred Ground Circle in July of 2022.
What is Sacred Ground?
Sacred Ground is a film and readings-based dialogue series on race, grounded in faith. Small groups are invited to walk through chapters of America’s history of race and racism, while weaving in threads of family story, economic class, and political and regional identity.
The 11-part series is built around a powerful online curriculum of documentary films and readings that focus on Indigenous, Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific American histories as they intersect with European American histories.
This series is open to all, and especially designed to help white people talk with other white people. Participants are invited to peel away the layers that have contributed to the challenges and divides of the present day – all while grounded in our call to faith, hope and love.
Creating safe, sacred space for uncomfortable truths and the sharing of our lives requires preparation, commitment and norms to which we all will agree. Participation is necessarily limited to 10. Our circle will be largely focused on “white work” – confronting the sin of white supremacy embedded in our history, in our institutions, and in ourselves. As you prayerfully consider the introductory material here, consider also the commitment of your time.
Prep for each class will involve watching a video, reading an article, and/or a few chapters of a book — approximately 2 hours.
Curriculum created by Katrina Browne, creator of the documentary, Traces of the Trade
- A set of documentary films and short videos, available for free to registered dialogue groups via streaming in a password-protected area on the Episcopal Church website
- A set of readings, also available for free to registered dialogue groups as PDFs in a password-protected area
- Participants will also need to acquire or borrow two assigned books
Questions?
Reach out to Annie or Vicki or any of the participants who offered comment on the Sacred Ground experience.
“The experience of discussing the painful truth of our shared American history in a community of listeners with big hearts has opened me up to wanting to know more – to not run away from painful truth. The excellent reading and video homework was essential to going deeper in the process of removing layers of my defenses about my own prejudice. I feel like I am an eager beginner, and I am learning about courage.“ Caroline Mack
“A wonderful growing experience among amazing people.” Sara Jonsberg
“What we didn’t know before, we just didn’t know–in a colonizing culture where history is told by the winners (enslavers, owners, rulers, elite, land and resource grabbers), the voices of those whose lives and cultures have been stomped on are often unheard. Now that we know, and know better, we can do better. Sacred Ground offers an opportunity to know better, in a circle of loving learners.” Leslie Fraser
“The Sacred Ground material is eye-opening and heartbreaking. It repeatedly broke open what I learned in school to reveal new painful, powerful, and transformative truths. I am very grateful to have had the chance to digest the videos and readings with friends from both churches, where we could hold each other as we did the work of re-learning.” Ann Gibson
“The Sacred Ground series was very important to me and I see it as part of the building blocks needed to personally confront racism in my own life as well as examining it in all its systemic forms in our world. It was helpful to do this kind of work with loved ones from our faith communities due to the difficulty of some of the readings and other resources.” Hetty Startup
“You have to do the homework, and it takes time, but once you’ve done it, you automatically get an A+ for Satisfaction, for Expanded Vision, and for Loving the Other.” Sherrill Hogen
“Sacred Ground is a brilliant eleven-week program of readings and videos, designed to open our hearts, minds, and souls to the legacy of racism that we all own. For me it was deeply humbling and truly life-changing.” Susan Bagg Todd
“Sacred Ground is a spiritual journey where I learned to leave space around that which made me uncomfortable or upset knowing our class time was a safe place to explore and learn.” Sue Craft
“I learned about the origins of white supremacy and the ways it has impacted non-white communities over the centuries. I also learned about the Christian church’s role in the oppression of non-whites. Being with other pilgrims like myself made the readings and films deepen my learnings and understanding.” Annie Cheatham
“Life-changing.” Nancy Boyd