Module 8

Materials

8.1 SACReD Curriculum Community Scan – pdf

8.2 A SACReD Journey Action Plan – pdf

Gather – Pre-Class Work – RJ Show and Tell

Write the prompt before the session begins: 

  • “I see…” – What RJ issues do you see happening in your example?
  • “I think…” – What do you think is happening in this situation?
  • “I wonder…” – Wonder to yourself: How this could be different?

Ground – Opening and Check In

Opening Lectio Divina

  • Round 1: Listen to the reading of the text. Note any words or phrases that catch your attention. 
  • Round 2: Pay attention to the words or phrases that caught your attention. Consider what those words or phrases mean to you. 
  • Round 3: Think about how the words or phrases are calling you to act. 
SACReD Principles 

We affirm the following SACReD guiding principles: 

  • All creation is good and includes a beautiful diversity of sacred bodies, sexualities, and reproductive journeys.
  • The dignity of sacred bodies and the moral agency of all people deserve respect, including the bodily autonomy and agency of women, queer people, gender diverse people, people with disabilities, immigrants, Indigenous populations, and people of color who have often been denied this respect. 
  • Pregnancy can be unintentional, but parenting is a sacred journey that requires intentional discernment. Prayerful decisions to have children, to not have children, or to end a pregnancy are equally moral.
Check In
  • Introduction instructions in the chat: Name, Pronouns, What is one word or sound that represents how you are feeling or arriving?
  • Are there any themes or pressing content that came up in your RJ Show and Tell discussions or the lectio divina opening?

Study – Community Scan

Review Community Scan Worksheet 8.1

Small Group Discussion

In your group, choose one of the four tenets to review with your group members. Discuss the following questions: 

  • If you found work occurring around the issue, where do you see an opportunity for your local community to plug into the larger movement? 
  • What relationships are already there?
  • What relationships are needed (could be current relationships that need to be leveraged differently)?
  • What questions still need answers or information found?
Large Group Report Out (5-10 minutes)
  • Take 5-10 minutes for each group to report back to the group major themes from their time together. Keep note of the major themes on a whiteboard or chart paper for the group to see and reference.

Engage – What is your Action Plan?

8.2 A SACReD Journey Action Plan – pdf

SACReD’s Commitments

This community commits to: 

  • Creating loving, justice-seeking faith communities where shame, judgment, and stigma for diverse reproductive decisions and journeys have no place 
  • Supporting the work of parenting and the healthy growth of children in safe, sustainable, and nurturing communities. 
  • Advocating for equitable access to the full spectrum of comprehensive reproductive healthcare as a moral and social good, and supporting the fulfillment of reproductive moral agency and flourishing for all.
SACReD Congregations Designation Process
  1. Dialogue: Reproductive Justice and racial justice values alongside congregational values
    • What is the congregation’s starting point with its social justice values?
    • Where are the existing understandings of reproductive issues and intersectional justice?
  2. Theology: Articulate beliefs, principles, values, and moral commitments within the congregation’s faith tradition that are compatible with the principles of liberation ethics and Reproductive Justice
  3. Education: Equip congregation for adoption of the Principles and Commitments and living into compassionate care and justice for sacred bodies throughout congregational and community life
    • A SACReD Journey Curriculum is a requirement
    • Engage other educational supplements as appropriate to enhance SACReD’s curriculum and/or equip particular areas of ministry, before and/or after designation
  4. Vote: Officially vote as a congregation to affirm and adopt SACReD’s Affirmations
    • This process varies by the governance and bylaws of each community.
  5. Concrete Action: Live out what the congregation has been equipped to do through
    • Worship
    • Education and Programming
    • Direst Service
    • Pastoral and Spiritual Care
    • Organizing and Advocacy
  6. Accountability Loop: Engage with SACReD program team for mutual evaluation and growth
  7. Re-Designate: Every 3 years

For more information and guidance about becoming a SACReD Congregation, reach out to [email protected].

Debrief Questions: 
  • How was that activity for you? 
  • What are some of the concrete actions you named? 
  • Which does the whole group feel are most pressing?
  • Are you clear on the next steps needed to achieve the actions?

Send – Closing

Stay in touch with SACReD via

Reflection Prompts: 

  1. What are valuable learnings and/or experiences you have had during this course?
  2. Do you feel better prepared to commit to Reproductive Justice, including ongoing assessment and self-reflection? How so? (or why/ why not?)
  3. Where are you most excited to deepen your practice of your commitments?

One Word + Gratitude Circle

We are going to go around the circle and voice two things. 

  1. One word or sound that describes how you feel leaving this space
  2. For what and/or whom are you grateful, specifically related to this learning journey? 

Sending Forth

It Is Our Turn to Carry the World, 
adrienne maree brown
https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/01/20/it-is-our-turn-to-carry-the-world/

a community safety ritual: write down or bring to mind the names of those you commit to protecting, specific names, and targeted groups of people. it can be a long list or a short one, it just needs to be a true commitment for you. 

we are each other’s safety 
right now, and every day
decide who you will protect
yourself, your own and who else

it’s time to cover all that we love
land, creature, place, person
intertwine your roots with mine
in this way our lives become miracles

there will be strangers
they will become comrades
we will each say our needs
we will learn to let community come closer

every part of us is a shield
our words, our trust, our hearts
our bodies in action
and the freedom to think for ourselves

we are the adaptation
no oppressor can imagine
our love is water – form-shifting power, river, vapor, life
we flood each other with belonging

we are building our stamina
we dream of the real world
we carry god, and see god, in each of our faces
your holiness is not too heavy, not for me

our attention and courage 
show us the next stand to take
the next hill on which to hold each other
and if needed, the next hiding place: survive!

our imagination and memory
find the wisdom of our ancestors
find our future in the rubble
find the seeds in our songs

we choose our freedom
we keep each other’s souls intact
safer than any cage of empire
we know something better is coming

we are each other’s safety 
we see each other’s freest selves
we will hold on tight, in public, in private
over and underground

and we will never let go 
we will never let go 
we will never let go 
we will never let go 

now take that piece of paper and memorize it – that is your spell of community safety. when you have it in your tongue and bones, bury it into dirt you love so the earth holds this commitment with you, with us.

axé oooo, ameen, amen, aho, and so it is

Additional Resources

These are optional supplements intended to support participants and facilitators on A SACReD Journey.

Abortion Justice Playbook – All* Above All https://allaboveall.org/resource/abortion-justice-playbook/