In November 2008, First Church Somerville was given a grant of $7500 from the Barnes Fund to carry out a series of activities and events that would invite reflection, exploration and conversation on race and systemic racism. With this funding, and with a group of committed church members, we planned and presented the following activities:

• A “kick off” worship service on MLK Sunday
• An all-day workshop on systemic racism and spiritual leadership
• A 9 week Study Circle
• A evening panel on racism and whiteness
• An evening of arts and entertainment on themes of race, racism and whiteness
• 3 movie nights

Meck Groot, our consultant for this journey, gave the sermon at our January 18th service, introducing our church community to the ideas and plans for our project. A podcast of her sermon is available here. In Feburary, Meck also led a day-long workshop on systematic racism and spiritual leadership, attended by more than 20 church members.

Folks at the day-long Leading from Spirit workshop

A Study Circle also convened in February for church members to examine more closely their relationship to race, racism, whiteness, and spirituality. The group met in person as well as online, with their leader, Meck, providing resources for members in between sessions. These materials are available here.

In March, the SCOR steering committee held an Evening of Arts and Entertainment designed to offer a place for the expression of creative and performance arts that addressed race, racism, and whiteness.

Folks at the Creative Expressions on Race event

The SCOR steering committee then held a panel discussion for the church as well as the larger community. This took place in April and brought several fantastic panelists in to speak about their own experiences with race.

For more information about First Church Somerville’s Sacred Conversations on Race project, you can review the report submitted in September 2009 here. For additional questions, please go to our Contact page and send an email to First Church.