ATTENTION PLEASE! We are in the process of updating all A SACReD Journey online resources. While most resources match the updated curriculum, there are some misalignments across the modules. We apologize for any frustration or complication this adds to your facilitation of the ASJ Curriculum. We aim to have all modules updated by early April. If you have questions please reach out to Kentina Washington-Leapheart: [email protected]. Thank you for being with us on this journey! 

• Playlist

• “I wonder…” – Wonder to yourself: How could this be different? (What would you advocate or work toward to make this different?)
• “I see…” – What RJ issues do you see happening in your example? (How is the RJ framework lacking in this example? To which tenet does your item relate?)
• “I think…” – What do you think is happening in this situation? (Think about what systems of oppression or traditional religious teachings you suspect are at work)

Read the full spell.

adrienne maree brown, “Radical Gratitude,” Pleasure Activism (Chico, CA: AK Press, 2019), p. 401-402.

Alternative Opening:

Offer a prayer or reading from your own tradition that invites people to be open to different experiences, or select one from the bank found on the Resource Page.

• Have each participant share their name and pronouns. What is one word or sound that represents how they are feeling/arriving? Following the check-in, ask for 1 or 2 people to share any themes or pressing content that came up from their RJ Show & Tell discussions.
  

What is Transformation (noun from Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Transformation implies a “major change in form, nature, or function.”

What things need to transform or change in you to open up your capacity and ability to work for Reproductive Justice?

To get us thinking more about what gets us to personal transformation, we are going to watch/listen to an example of a person navigating their own transformation. As you are watching/listening to this media, keep these things in mind:

• What had to shift in and around them for change to happen?
• Pay attention to where fear and shame appear in their stories. Notice how it participates in their transformation.

CONTENT WARNING

This content includes and may bring up transnational adoption, purity culture, religious trauma, incarceration, murder, sexual violence, medical violence, and racial violence. These may bring up painful feelings or memories for participants. Please care for yourself in this session. If you need to step away or take a break, please do so.

1. Podcast: Decolonize Yourself (Spotify) “E1: Decolonizing the Mind with SooJin Pate” [17:26]
2. Video: TED “Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable,” Luvvie Ajayi Jones [10:54]
3. Video: TEDx Talks “Surviving Purity Culture: How I Healed a Lifetime of Sexual Shame,” Linda Kay Klein [14:12]
4. Video: The Redemption Project “Felix Rosado” [15:54]

Please take out your journals and write down or draw your initial thoughts and questions about the media. I will set the timer for 3 minutes to give you time to reflect. After your reflection time, we will further discuss this piece together.

• What stands out to you about this story?
• What made the person want to transform?
• What relationships supported or hindered the transformation?
• What made the transformation difficult? What blocks or struggles were encountered?
• How did shame play a part in this transformation?

This is a creative reflection exercise. You can journal and/or use the artistic materials provided to consider and respond to the following questions. You will have 10 minutes to complete this activity. After that, I will ask you to find 1–2 people to partner with and share your answers to Questions 4 and 5 only. Here are five questions to journal about:

1. How have you experienced reproductive (in-)justice in your personal life and story? How does that experience connect to why you wish to participate in this work now?
2. What are the range of emotions you have around being an instigator for Reproductive Justice? (i.e., What are you excited about? What are you afraid of? What are you nervous you might mess up?)
3. Where do you have shame around reproductive and sexuality issues? How might that shame be affecting your ability to transform?
4. What needs to transform in your personal beliefs, behaviors, biases, or habits to more deeply commit to the work of Reproductive Justice? What support/resources do you need to support you in that shift?
5. In the most concrete, day-to-day terms, where/how do you think you are most energized to deepen your personal practice of Reproductive Justice commitments? What are your next best opportunities over the next 6 months?

Participants should each take about 2 minutes to share their responses to Questions 4 and 5. Following that time, ask for volunteers to answer this debrief question: How did it feel to share your commitments with your partner(s)?

1. Prepare your RJ Show & Tell item.
2. Journal and reflect on the following questions:
   1. Thinking about today’s session on personal transformation, how is your immediate community working toward your commitments to Reproductive Justice?
   2. How is your immediate community undermining your commitments to Reproductive Justice?
   3. How is your immediate community discovering growing edges in your commitments to Reproductive Justice?
3. Read the 4 short case studies that provide examples of internal transformation at the local level. Find the links on the Resource Page. Think about the change occurring and what allowed it to happen. Facilitators, make sure to email the links to the group ahead of Module 8.
   1. Case Study 1: The Presbyterian Outlook “Pennsylvania church surrenders part of the proceeds of the sale of its manse to the Lenape people”
   2. Case Study 2: Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle “Jewish tradition meets sustainability: Pittsburgh synagogues go solar”
   3. Case Study 3: United Church of Christ “UCC churches see Reproductive Justice as key ministry in 2022”
   4. Case Study 4: Anabaptist World “How a congregation came to pay reparations”

A Prayer of Connected Commitments

Facilitation Note: Bring the ball of yarn to the circle

Today’s content invited us to reflect on our personal transformation and where we are being invited into new or different actions in order to deepen our commitment to Reproductive Justice.

As you join the circle, identify one concrete commitment that you will share with the whole group. Once gathered, each person will be asked to share your commitment, and then pass a ball of yarn. One of you will start with the ball of yarn, share your commitment, and then invite someone else to share by saying their name and passing or tossing the ball of yarn to them.

MAKE SURE TO HOLD THE STRING BEFORE YOU PASS IT.

We’re making a web. Each person continues this pattern, holding onto a piece of the string as the ball is passed around the room. If the ball is passed back and forth across the circle, your group will have an interconnected web of commitments. Before releasing the yarn, invite a few final reflections from the group. Ask: How does it feel to see all of our commitments connected like this?

Finally, invite folks to cut the yarn they are holding in their hands so each person can take a piece as a reminder of their commitment.

Alternative Closing

Offer a prayer or reading from your own tradition or select one from the bank found on the Resource Page.