RevGalBlogPals includes clergywomen, members of religious orders, and women discerning a call to Christian ministry, as well as supportive clergy and lay people. Our online settings, from this blog to Facebook, also include men as well as people who do not identify as either male or female. Our criteria for membership are 1) support of… Read More
RevGals Anti-Racism Project: Intentional Reformation
I was born in 1954, in northeast Ohio, the same year as Brown v. Board of Education. My school district integrated with little fanfare, or so it seemed to me, by the time I was in middle school. I think my early understanding of race was mixed up in my privileged understanding of vocational and… Read More
RevGals Anti-Racism Project: Intersectionality and the Women’s March
Over the past few weeks, there has been a lot of discussion in our Facebook group about intersectionality and the Women’s March held last Saturday. Today we’re sharing excerpts from posts by members of our community, with their permission. Alicia Crosby, Co-Founder at the Center for Inclusivity in Chicago, blogs at Chasing the Promise, where… Read More
RevGals Anti-Racism Project: “Waking Up White” wrap-up
We’re wrapping up our discussion of “Waking Up White” by Debby Irving this week. You are invited to reflect on the questions here, or at our Facebook group, or to join us for a Zoom video chat at 2 p.m. Eastern (US) today. We commend to you the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s new resource developed to be… Read More
RevGals Anti-Racism Project: Waking Up White, Week 7
Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. – Jesus, John 8:32 The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable. – James A. Garfield Denial of white privilege (or any privilege) is putting your social comfort over your neighbor’s ability to live in truth. – Julia Seymour… Read More
RevGals Anti-Racism Project: Waking Up White, Week 6
I caught this Pokemon the other day with my son. The thing that I noticed was its attack/defense moves are transform and struggle. In the game, I could not really care less about these things (don’t tell my kid, please!), but the idea of these as primary motions made a connection in my brain with Debby Irving’s… Read More
RevGals Anti-Racism Project: Waking Up White, Week 5
Where were all the black moms and children? Three blocks from my house sat Rindge Towers, three enormous subsidized apartment buildings full of families of color. Why weren’t we going to the same playground? Were they, like the First Night boy, uncomfortable around crowds of white people? Were my friends off-putting to them? Was I?… Read More
RevGals Anti-Racism Project: Waking Up White, week 4
“People were good. My family was good. I was good, right?” Here we have the crux of the problem that white people have with racism. We have been taught that racism is bad…but we are not bad people, and the people we know are not bad people, so therefore we cannot be racist. In chapter… Read More
RevGals Anti-Racism Project: Waking Up White, Week 3
This week in our discussion of Debby Irving’s Waking Up White, we address Section 3, “Why Didn’t I Wake Up Sooner?” Irving builds the case that as white Americans, we lack a vocabulary for race. We have been encouraged, sometimes consciously and other times unconsciously, to identify others *by* their race while considering ourselves to… Read More
RevGal Anti-Racism Project: Waking Up White, Week 2
This week covers “Midlife Wake-Up Calls”, chapters 6-11 (approx. 40 pages). How do you feel about pain? Let’s assume that, in general, you don’t like pain. Which bothers you more- the idea of you being in pain or the idea of someone else being in pain? Do you have additional questions, perhaps is the person… Read More
RevGalBlogPals 