Prophetic Indigenous Voices - discussion questions

Following each of the videos produced by the Anglican Indigenous Network, the Anglican Communion Environmental Network, and the Anglican Alliance found HERE, we encourage your groups to use these discussion questions.

Aotearoa/New Zealand/Polynesia

“Mutual custodianship” - what possibilities does this phrase open up for you? When we put the idea of interdependence together with a custodial role, what new light do you receive on the human role in ecological sustainability?

“Mana” is the power of fecundity, the healing power of the universe, a capacity that is related to intention and the act of cultivating. The theological reflection suggested that mana may increase when we take the step of restraint, related to the idea of keeping sabbath. What does restraint and the increase of mana suggest to you?

What possibilities of being a partner or ally come to you from the account of the Polynesian young adults and their disaster preparedness/response work? 

Unspoken in this video offering is the possibility of “loss and damage,” the prospect of the total inundation of Pacific islands and their cultures. What might be the response around the Communion to the disaster of loss on that scale?

The Aotearoa/New Zealand/Polynesia video offering wove beautiful images of mountains, rivers, Moana, and many species, together with a number of hymns. Placing theological reflection within this web of nature and music - how do you respond to this form of offering?

One of the primary focus areas for the new Commissioner of the Environment is promoting theological education around climate change and environmental justice. What about in your own context, is such education available to you? Is this kind of education helping shape your clergy and lay leaders? 

Africa

What caught your attention in the video from Africa? What was the most arresting idea you heard? 

What would “memory work,” the recovery of traditional wisdom including knowledge of native seeds, plants, and agricultural products look like in your context? Are there other kinds of “memory work” that need to be done in your community?

Bishop Elinah in Swaziland spoke at length about the experience of women and girls in a colonized economy and culture. What did you feel and think hearing her account? 

What doors are opened for you in thinking about Christ as our “ecological ancestor?” How does expanding the idea of ubuntu to include all of life, beyond just the human family, strike you?  

Amazon  

What surprised you the most in today’s video from the Amazon? Why?

Bishop Marinez told us at the beginning of the video that the main voices we would be listening to would be those of Indigenous women from the Amazon, non-Christian voices. This is different from the voices at the center of the two previous videos, from Oceania and from Africa; in those videos we heard from Indigenous Christians. How did this life-world location (Indigenous, non-Christian, women) affect the message you heard? What surprised you in these prophetic messages today, from these particular prophets? 

The Indigenous women from the Amazon spoke of the important role women have in what we often call Creation Care. Women also bear a disproportional brunt of climate change effects. What did you think and feel about these messages about women, the Earth and climate change? 

Each week of the Advent eco-racism series has shown us more and more the shared worldview of Indigenous people that all of life is interconnected, interdependent. How is this like or unlike your own worldview? Has your worldview changed with respect to interconnectedness over time? If so, how and why?

The Arctic 

What stood out to you about this video from indigenous people in the Arctic? 

Colleen Swan of Kivalinah said that it is essential to understand the spirituality of her people, as the spirituality, the economy and the laws are all interconnected. If you reflect on your own spirituality how connected or disconnected is it from the economy and the legal structure in which you live? 

Princess Daazrhaii Johnson called on her listeners to have a personal plan to protect the planet. What would be/is your plan? 

Bernadette Demientieff said that her ancestors called on her and her people to protect the land, to not give up, but to “do it the right way.” What do you understand her to mean by the “right way?”

If you have seen all or some of the other three videos in this four-part series, what common threads have you seen between them? 

Youth Ministry Call Prayers from 12/1/2020

A Four Direction Prayer from the Episcopal Church Office for Ethnic Ministries

Let us turn our hearts to the West
From there the Thunders bring us cleansing rain
Grandfather God, heal us and our relatives 

Let us turn our hearts to the North
Winter comes to us from there and calls us to rest
Grandfather God, restore our strength 

Let us turn our hearts to the East
The morning Sun begins each day there
Grandfather God awaken us and help us to walk with a renewed life 

Let us turn our hearts to the South
Where the warm winds come from to give us comfort and joy
Grandfather God soothe our aching souls 

Let us turn our hearts to the Sky
From there our Creator sees all around us
Grandfather God help us to trust you to lead us 

Let us turn our hearts to the Earth
From there quiet wisdom comes to teach us
Grandmother God hear us as we pray

Sigh of Relief 

Again Jesus said to them, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so also I am sending you.’ When He had said this, He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ 

– John 20:21-22

Preparation

This can be done lying down, sitting, or standing. Relax your neck, roll your shoulders, and gently shake your arms until you are comfortable.

Sequence

Inhale slowly through your nose fully using your diaphragm, bringing your breath all the way to the bottom of your belly and to the top of your chest. Raise your  chin towards the ceiling as you breath in.  With your in-breath you are saying “yes” to life and to the presence of God.  

Pause for a second at the peak of your in breath and allow your chest and shoulders to relax.

Keep your full attention on the felt sense of your breath. Let your breath go, exhaling through your mouth, allowing gravity to release your out-breath. Sometimes it is helpful to give voice to your sigh.

Repeat this three times.

--Taken from “Inward Journey: Spiritual Practices” (Second Breath Center )

A Christian Tai Chi Collect for Wellness and Healing: from the Episcopal Church Office for Ethnic Ministries

I am a child of God; 
I stand on His holy Word, 
I’m embraced by His motherly care and I breathe His Holy Spirit. 
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I push out negative thoughts; I take in positive thoughts. 
I push out sickness; I take in good health. 
I push out poverty; I take in prosperity.
I push out hatred; I take in love. 
I push out fear; I take in faith. 
I push out despair; I take in hope; 
I push out sadness; I take in joy. 
I push out divisions; I take in reconciliation.

And now, I will share the Good News 
to my family, 
my relatives, 
my friends, 
my neighbors, 
here and all over the world. 
In Jesus’ Name.
Amen. Amen. Amen.

A Franciscan Benediction

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers,
half truths and superficial relationships
so that you will live deep in your heart. 

May God bless you with anger
at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people and the earth
so that you will work for justice, equity and peace

May God bless you with tears
to shed for those who suffer so that you will reach out with your hands
to comfort them and change their pain into joy

And may God bless you with the foolishness
to think that you can make a difference in the world
so that you will do the things which others say cannot be done.

Thanksgiving Resources

Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Day: An Alternative View – this short article provides a refocusing for churches on how we celebrate Thanksgiving and two ways of moving forward through land acknowledgement and truth-telling. 

Thanksgiving Is Complicated: How will you get ready? Building Faith offers this excellent article with resources to help you and your faith community prepare for Thanksgiving Day.

For more on land acknowledgements, check out this article ‘Land Acknowledgment’ is a first step toward justice for our Native American neighbors from Read the Spirit.

Advent, Racial Justice, and Healing in December 2020

Here are some newly released Advent resources with a focus on Racial Justice and Healing.

December 3 | Resurrection in Advent: The Church as Post-Election Listener and Healer

12 noon PST via Zoom. Free (with option to buy a ticket in support).
Click here to register.  

Join in a dynamic conversation on being Christian in the public square in the wake of an historically divisive election. Rowan Williams states in this classic text Being Christian that “the Christian life is a listening life.” How do we set up spaces to listen to the convictions and concerns of those with whom he disagree? What is the role of prayer in preparing for, participating in, and walking (in love) away from hard conversations? How can we practice evangelism in a country with such defined and defended tribes and segregated communities? 

Teaching and Preaching: Churches Revisioning Unity in Christ through the Holidays

Churches Uniting in Christ (CUIC), an ecumenical multi-lateral dialogue among ten Protestant faith communions in the USA announces the release of new, ecumenical resources for local congregations to utilize during the upcoming holiday season. The resources are designed to help local churches experience Thanksgiving and Watchnight (New Year’s Eve) through the lens of racial equity.
Read more: https://tinyurl.com/y6pyhs38

 Preparing to Become the Beloved Community curriculum revised for Advent 2020

New and updated Advent and Christmas resources for congregations, dioceses, and communities of faith are available, with additional resources coming soon. Available now: Preparing to Become the Beloved Community Advent curriculum; Way of Love Digital Invitation Kit; updated Journeying the Way of Love Advent calendar and curriculum; AdventWord 2020; Episcopal Migration Ministries Refugee Prayer Vigil. And be sure to sign up for daily Advent and Christmas emails. Find Advent and Christmas resources from The Episcopal Church here.
Read more: https://tinyurl.com/yy5nzf73
In Spanish here: https://tinyurl.com/yxquddpt
In French here: https://tinyurl.com/yy8a59x7

The Promise of Advent webinar series

Amplify Media is offering four on-demand, free workshops for the season of Advent. “Hope, faith, joy, and peace” - these Advent messages are needed this year more than ever before as people struggle with continued health concerns related to COVID-19, unprecedented loss, and a divided culture.  How can church leaders imaginatively plan for this beloved season without the traditions of its typical events and rituals? This series of interviews discusses church leaders’ hopes and concerns around Advent planning and help resource and inspire leaders struggling with planning and staying spiritually focused on Advent’s promise of redemption.

Keith Terry Body Music Workshop Notes

Keith Terry developed the Body Music workshop material and instruction provided.  The content and methods are proprietary to Keith.  While you are welcome to teach Body Music to others using his methods and choreography, please credit Keith Terry; however, you may not publish it as your own, or use his image or video material without his further express permission.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS OFTEN USED IN KEITH TERRY’S WORKSHOP: 

Additive Rhythm -  compound rhythms created by combining units of ones, twos, threes and fours.

Body Music – that music created by the body via clapping, slapping, snapping, stepping and vocalizing

Composite Rhythm – the “new” rhythm created as the result of mixing rhythms or pulses

Crosspulse – two or more time signatures or meters playing simultaneously while maintaining their own pulse

Divisive Rhythm – where does the rhythm fall on and around the downbeat

Double-Time – Twice as fast

Half-Time – Half as slow

Konnakol – Mnemonic syllables from South Indian music

Phasing – One rhythm with two or more starting points, like a round or canon 

Polymeters – multiple meters, two or more time signatures or meters playing simultaneously, while sharing a pulse

Polyrhythms – two or more rhythms playing simultaneously

Pulse – consistent beat, each sound having equal duration, or equal value

Rhythm – patterns created by a mix of long and short sounds

Solkattu -- Compositions created using Konnakol syllables 

Syncopation -- That part of the rhythm on the upbeat, as opposed to the downbeat

If you want to go deeper -- develop skills, focus, timing and rhythmic concepts -- check out Keith’s instructional DVDs, videos, articles, and his 

Rhythm of Math book - hard copies and downloads.   There is also  a lot of Keith's music — CDs and downloads,  at the Crosspulse website store: https://crosspulse.com/shop/ 

Recently Launched: Body Music Mini-Lessons

Work with Keith Terry on short Body Music activities.  Mini-Lessons include Video and Notation.  This first launch contains lessons that already exist on Keith's four Body Music Videos, available here a la carte. While all lessons are suitable for a General audience of anyone interested in the art form, we will be adding material directed specifically to Teachers who want to learn how to lead Body Music activities, and for Students to directly follow, as a contained activity. You can sort Mini-Lessons by level, key words, and intended audience. More added each month.  

Explore and have fun!  

More Body Music Resources:

Curated Body Music Videos Playlist:

This is a curated playlist of Body Music videos from around the world from the International Body Music Festival (IBMF) family of artists, and beyond. There are 81 vids (performance, traditional and contemporary, educational, archival), in no particular order: https://bit.ly/32SdUdX  

New videos will continue to be added.

 IBMF Online Marathon 2020

On June 13, the IBMF produced a 12-Hour Online Body Music Marathon, featuring live-streamed artists from around the planet, engaging with an audience of 180,000 viewers/listeners, in the midst of a growing pandemic. 

The 2020 International Body Music Festival 12-Hour Online Body Music Marathon is archived on Facebook. To watch, go here:  

https://www.facebook.com/InternationalBodyMusicFestival/videos/259779825337291

Ideas for Advent & Christmas 2020

As we all contemplate these next liturgical seasons in our virtual spaces, I have been thinking of ways to engage virtually. Instead of mourning what we cannot do this season, let’s focus on the way that virtual church provides new gifts. There is an intimacy that can be created on zoom – especially as people share a part of their homes and life that is not usually seen together when we meet at a church building. There are also new opportunities not limited by distance or cost. This is the year of acknowledging what we have lost, and what we have gained.

Advent

Maybe more than any other year, this year we need the season of Advent to be spiritually rich with time for both sorrow and joy. Families with children often have many ways to celebrate and mark the season, but don’t forget about the adults in congregations who may be facing a season without visiting family and may be feeling more isolated than ever. Here are suggestions:

-       Have an Advent study! There are many resources available, but this is often a staple of our adult formation that feels even more important now. Advent is a Pilgrimage according to this article. Or take a virtual pilgrimage to the Holy Land during Advent with this Episcopal Church. I especially recommend Living Well through Advent 2020: Practicing Hope from Living Compass. Printed books are offered for free this year as well as the downloadable leader guide, or sign up for daily emails instead of books.

-       Family faith formation in Advent is also crucial. Candle Press has a wonderful, free downloadable Family Advent resource. Here is an article on Advent at Home in Community from a church that couldn’t meet in its building so created Advent gatherings while apart. There are lessons for all of us this year.

-       Here are some fun ways of connecting faith at home with outreach with these really fun ideas like sidewalk chalk and Christmas rocks.

Advent Traditions:

-       Utilize an Advent Calendar! Perhaps encourage the whole church to participate in Advent Word, or download a calendar such as this one to color in, or use the Presiding Bishop’s Way of Love Advent calendar. Click here for even more Advent calendar ideas.

-       Encourage people to make Advent Wreaths at Home – however they want to make it – using 4 candles and any other set up they want to create. Provide prayers for each week and encourage your community to share photos of their creations.

-       Use a Creche set! Encourage everyone to set up a creche set in their home. Each week of Advent different figures can be set out or added and the magi can slowly be moved around the room where they can “arrive” at the manger on Epiphany. Here is a downloadable creche set to color and cut out.

Enhancing our Virtual Advent & Christmas in the Liturgy

-       Have a theme each week of Advent and encourage participants to create virtual zoom backdrops for each week of Advent according to the theme.  

-       Have members share a photo of their Advent Calendars or creche sets. These could be put into a slide show to play during prelude or postlude. Perhaps those that are separated from family members would contribute a photo to a slide show for prayers set to music as a time to remember those we are separated from. 

-       Even if we aren’t in our church buildings, show a photo of the creche set up in the church, and move the wise men closer each week. The photos will help us understand the journey and take it with each other.

-       On Christmas Eve, have everyone bring a candle with them to light during Silent Night. Everyone can be instructed to turn down their lights and light a candle at the same time while Silent Night is sung or played. Click here if you are looking for short, intergenerational services especially for families with young children that include everything for free.

-       Have a virtual Christmas or Epiphany Pageant!  Scripts can be sent out ahead of time and parts assigned to all ages. Let folks come up with their own costumes – and a shepherd’s head covering, a tinsel halo, or crown will do – and perhaps send out virtual backdrops for the different “scenes”.  Or have families record different scenes and send in, then put together for a pageant.  Another idea is to send out parts of the story and have people put together photos or a film to illustrate it using Legos, a diorama, a creche set, or live action. Click here for more ideas. And for even more resources on virtual pageants, this site is great.

-       Perhaps more than ever, this is a good year to have a “Blue Christmas” service as many people face the loss of loved ones to Covid and other tragedies this past year. Godspace has suggestions for meaningful remembrances in 2020 as well as the Clergy Leadership Institute liturgy resources. The Episcopal Church has a page dedicated to The Good News of Lament which offers many great resources. I especially recommend Trauma Informed Priorities for Adult Christian Formation.

Virtual Coffee Hour and Social Outreach

-       Use a discussion prompt at the virtual coffee hour each week to encourage people to share family traditions. Perhaps these are family stories of Christmases past, a tradition for celebrating the season, or perhaps a special food of the season. 

-       Have a virtual recipe swap with cookie recipes, or some other family recipe. Perhaps someone would offer to record themselves doing a cooking demonstration of something that makes the season special for them.

-       Pick a service project as a church that allows folks to get involved, even when social distancing. Perhaps a collection of some sort for a local group. It might also work well to have a project that everyone can work on. Click here for ideas during a pandemic.

Celebrating Epiphany

-       Looking ahead and continuing the celebration through Epiphany, I recommend this idea of Epiphany Bags and Chalking the Door.

Nothing is Going to Be the Same (and that’s okay)

We are living in unprecedented times. I’m sure this has been said many times before, but now seems truer than ever. We are living through a pandemic unlike anything anyone alive has ever seen, widespread economic instability, rancorous political division, an education system turned upside down, a nationwide uprising for racial justice, heatwaves, lightning strikes, bigger than ever forest fires, and now blood red skies and toxic air. It would be unusual if you were not feeling uneasy, stressed, or overwhelmed in some way.

In the midst of all of this, our churches are continuing to offer services and programs online and to navigate through all the regulations and restrictions around gatherings. This September doesn’t look like any other September in the history of our church experience. So don’t try and do everything the way you have always done it – it’s okay to let go of our traditional programs or schedules.

Instead, focus on what gives life to your community. From the earliest days, the church has gathered – and sometimes in great difficulty, persecution, and stress – to share sacred story, to remember what Jesus taught, and find meaning in those words for their own lives. We are still doing that, and our power as a community lies in this sharing and finding refreshment and renewal in prayer and in the spiritual practices that have shaped religious communities over centuries. Technology is simply the tool that is allowing us to have these times together, but it is our prayer, and story, and teaching that are shaping us and creating space for God to speak to our battered souls at this difficult moment.

So church won’t look the same this fall, and that’s okay. But God is present in the midst of us – even when 2 or 3 are gathered on zoom. May your gatherings be blessed, and may the word of God dwell in you richly.

- Amy

Resources for Sacred Ground Groups

From Amy Cook:

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 10-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. Sacred Ground is part of Becoming Beloved Community, The Episcopal Church’s long-term commitment to racial healing, reconciliation, and justice in our personal lives, our ministries, and our society. 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.

Carol Campbell at The Diocesan Resource Center at St. Thomas in Sunnyvalehas the following resources available for you to use alongside the Sacred Ground curriculum.

Expected Reading:
Jesus and the Disinherited, Howard Thurman
St. Thomas Library

Waking Up White, And Finding Myself in the Story of Race, Debby Irving,
St. Thomas Library

Suggested Reading:
America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America, Jim Wallis,
St. Thomas Library

Healing Our Broken Humanity: Practices for Revitalizing the Church and Renewing the World, Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Graham Hill,
St. Thomas Library

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism,
Robin DiAngelo,
St. Thomas Library

When you can, please buy these books directly from the author or a small, independent bookseller online.
Or, California residents can obtain a library card from any California library at no cost; however, this card requires the applicant to physically enter the library. See each library’s website for additional information.

Talking about Race

Resources on Race for Formation within Families 

First Step – Anti-Bias and Anti-Racist Household Self Assessment for White Christians written by Lucy Breidenthal of the Church of the Heavenly Rest in New York City.

Jennifer Harvey was a speaker at the 2018 Forma Conference. Her book Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America serves as a guide for parents to navigate these times. She spoke with NPR on May 31st. For a deeper dive into her book, Dr. Harvey was a guest on May 21, 2020 on the Integrated Schools podcast.

Children’s story books are a great way to have difficult conversations with your kids. Embrace Race offers resource lists for children and youth around race.

Finally, Books for Littles has a step by step guide for parents to begin talking about race complete with books to read with your kids and questions to ask.

Resources for Adults
Books:
Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the U.S. by Rev. Lenny Duncan. Part manifesto, part confession, and all love letter, Dear Church offers a bold new vision for the future of Duncan's denomination (ELCA) and the broader mainline Christian community of faith. The book includes a discussion guide.

How To Be An Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. Instead of working with the policies and system we have in place, Kendi asks us to think about what an antiracist society might look like, and how we can play an active role in building it. The website includes a discussion guide for book groups.

Me and White Supremacy: A 28-Day Challenge to Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad. This book leads readers through a journey of understanding their white privilege and participation in white supremacy, so they can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on black, indigenous and people of color, and help other white people do better, too.

I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown. This is an illuminating look at how white, middle-class, Evangelicalism has participated in an era of rising racial hostility, inviting the reader to confront apathy, recognize God's ongoing work in the world, and discover how blackness--if we let it--can save us all.

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, PhD. This book explicates the dynamics of White Fragility and how we might build our capacity in the on-going work towards racial justice. Website includes a reader's guide.

Seeing my Skin: A Story of Wrestling with Whiteness by Peter Jarrett Schell is a personal journey of a priest’s understanding of his Whiteness widens into an invitation to wrestle with larger cultural issues of race and belonging.

When you can, please buy these books directly from the author or a small, independent bookseller online.

PodCasts:
Seeing White- Scene on Radio host and producer John Biewen takes a deep dive into the subject of whiteness, along with an array of scholars and regular guest Dr. Chenjerai Kumanyika, in this fourteen-part documentary series, released between February and August 2017.

1619 from the New York Times- A podcast companion to the groundbreaking 1619 Project published by the NYT in August of 2019 that aims to reframe the country's history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.

Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast features movement voices, stories, and strategies for racial justice. Co-hosts Chevon and Hiba give their unique takes on race and pop culture, and uplift narratives of hope, struggle, and joy, as we continue to build the momentum needed to advance racial justice in our policies, institutions, and culture.

Church Level Faith Formation for Talking About Race

Sacred Ground is a film-based dialogue series on race and faith  published and supported by The Episcopal Church. If you would like help setting up a webinar or presenting this in your congregation, contact Amy Cook. 

Learning for Justice (formerly known as Teaching Tolerance has put together a solid compilation of lessons and learning resources for teachers that specifically name race, racism, and police violence. 

Since we cannot visit anytime soon, the National Museum of African American History & Culture has put together and excellent set of tools to inspire conversation. They have sections for teachers, parents, and individuals. 

The Thoughtful Christian has some free lessons as well as well-curated books and downloadable lessons for purchase.