SisterReach Faith News!

Empowered, Invested & Committed to Reproductive Justice

Vacation Body School a SUCCESS!
(And other Great News)

Special Thanks to Rev. Dr. Rosalyn R. Nichols and Freedom's Chapel Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) for hosting the inaugural meeting of SisterReach Vacation Body School! Because of their willingness and vision, young people from Freedom's Chapel and all across Memphis were able to benefit from age-appropriate, comprehensive reproductive and sexual health education; learn more about healthy relationships through an inclusive faith lens and make new friends.

Thanks also to Memphis Says No More for providing posters and wristbands to help our youth speak out against sexual and domestic violence!

Vacation Body School (VBS) Is designed for faith communities and faith-based organizations that recognize the need for young people to have the most accurate and complete information about their bodies possible in order to make the best decisions for themselves.

VBS is a two to three day (evenings or weekends) Comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health, Healthy Relationships and Self-Management learning community for 6th-12th graders. Designed to fulfill the need that is lacking in our schools' sex education programs for age-appropriate, scientifically accurate and comprehensive information about:

Reproductive Anatomy
General health and hygiene
Healthy relationships
Reproductive and sexual health (Including abstinence education)

VBS is offered as a community-wide education and enrichment event on a monthly basis.

SIGN UP TO HOST TODAY or contact our Interfaith & Outreach Coordinator, Rev. A. Faye London at afaye@sisterreach.org for more details.

Volunteer for VBS

Want to be a part of VBS? Become a SisterReach volunteer for the event! To find out more about VBS volunteer opportunities and register as a volunteer, click the button below!

Volunteer for VBS!

SisterReach Faith Partners Stand with Memphis' Fight For $15 at National Workers' Convention

A Reflection from Rev. Faye

SisterReach is always proud to stand with other organizations in Memphis and across Tennessee to fight for the flourishing of our most vulnerable neighbors. This past weekend, two SisterReach Clergy Covenant Partners, Rev. Earle J. Fisher, pastor of Abyssinian Missionary Baptist Church in Memphis and Rev. Dr. Andre E. Johnson, pastor of Gifts of Life Ministries and I were offered the opportunity to stand in solidarity with our Memphis $15 community leaders at the National Workers' Convention and attend a closed-door clergy meeting with Rev. Dr. William Barber of the Moral Monday Movement..

It does not escape my attention that, having the choice of any clergy in Memphis, our partners at Memphis $15 chose three SisterReach affiliated ministers. I don't lift this up to pat SisterReach on the back. Our Clergy Covenant Partners were chosen to accompany Memphis $15 on their own merit. What is clear to me, however, is the gravity of the responsibility of being a truly justice-centered minister. It reached home for me in this moment that the harvest is indeed plentiful and the workers are indeed few. Even as we waited excitedly for the meeting with Dr. Barber, each of us had at least two or three other ways that we must show up to serve the people on our minds. We had sermons to write, actions to coordinate, scholarly articles to submit and other Memphis justice organizations to attend to.

I do not think any of us would have had it any other way, but it reminds me how much work there is to be done. Isaiah 58:9-12 reminds us that:

9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
    you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.
If you remove the yoke from among you,
    the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
10 if you offer your food to the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
    and your gloom be like the noonday.
11 The Lord will guide you continually,
    and satisfy your needs in parched places,
    and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
    like a spring of water,
    whose waters never fail.
12 Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
    you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
    the restorer of streets to live in.

If we are truly called to act for justice in our state by the instructions in this passage, there is more work to be done than a small group of dedicated ministers can carry alone. If we are to be repairers of the breach, people of faith must act together, putting minor differences aside for the sake of us all.

Within the next few weeks, in solidarity with the Moral Revival Movement, Memphis $15 will make a call to action for our entire state to make moves for justice. As people of faith, we MUST answer in the affirmative and band together for our neighbors by committing for the long haul.

The door for change is open, so let's get started now. Become a SisterReach Covenant Partner or Faith Community Partner TODAY and sign the Moral Revival Higher Ground Moral Declaration to be kept up to date on all of the faith and justice work and resources provided by both organizations!

Become a SisterReach Faith Partner

Sign the Higher Ground Moral Declaration

SisterReach Offers RJ Worship and Study Resources Online!

In the coming weeks, keep an eye on our Interfaith Advocacy Page for a new section of liturgical resources. With help from our Covenant Partners from across the country, SisterReach faith will offer prayers, litanies, discussion guides and sermon prep help on issues related to Reproductive Justice. These resources will be updated regularly, so you will want to stay tuned. Can't wait? Here's a preview...

TRUST BLACK WOMEN: A LITANY FOR WORSHIP[1]

One Voice: It is with the voice of Deborah, Judge, leader, warrior that we declare…

Many Voices: We MUST Trust Black Women to lead.

One Voice: It is in the voice of Jael, wife & strategic fighter that we declare…

Many Voices: We MUST Trust Black Women to FIGHT and fight alongside them for what their families need.

One Voice: It is in the voice of Tamar, Daughter of David, unprotected, undervalued, raped and discarded that we declare...

Many Voices: We MUST Trust Black Women when they seek protection or speak out and protect each other from sexual and relationship violence from strangers, friends OR family.

One Voice: It is in the voice of the Shulamite of Song of Songs, Black and Beautiful, owning her body and her passions that we declare…

Many Voices: We must Trust Black Women to exercise bodily autonomy and support their fully valuing themselves as whole, beautiful and embodying the Image of God.

One Voice: It is in the voices of Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, the daughters of Zelophehad who advocated for themselves to gain the inheritance that would preserve their family that we declare…

Many Voices: We MUST Trust Black Women to articulate their needs in order to change laws that exclude, abuse or oppress people based on gender.

One Voice: It is in the voice of the hemorrhaging woman, bent, bowed, broken, yet bold enough to press through a crowd and touch a healer that we declare…

Many Voices: We MUST Trust Black Women to determine and access their healthcare needs on their own terms regardless of socio-economic status or location.

One Voice: It is in the voice of the Syrophoenician woman who, desperate for her child’s healing, spoke boldly to Jesus himself and changed her circumstances and Jesus’ perspective that we declare…

Many Voices: We MUST Trust Black Women to push back against those in authority who would deny their needs by belittling, judging and dismissing them. Their voices and their truth have the power to change minds and hearts.

One Voice: It is in the voices of the wailing women, bearing witness to pain and death that we declare…

Many Voices: We MUST Trust Black Women who mourn the deaths of their loved ones at the hands of a system that seeks to consume Black bodies and mourn with Black women when those consumed Black bodies are female or femme.

One Voice: It is in the voices of the women who went to the tomb on the third day—still mourning, still serving—and found that Jesus was no longer there; these women who were the FIRST to proclaim the Good News that we declare…

Many Voices: We Must Trust Black Women to navigate their own faith journeys and proclaim a Good News that includes themselves as active and whole. In the spirit of these first proclaimers of the Gospel of radical love and acceptance of ALL of God’s children, TRUST BLACK WOMEN because Black Women are the Image of God.

[1] Biblical references in this text: Judges 4, 2 Samuel 13, Song of Solomon 1, Song of Solomon 8, Numbers 27, Mark 5, Mark 7, Jeremiah 9, Mark 16, Matthew 28

Check Out Media from Our Faith Partners!

With Body, Voice and Signs: Reflections of a Memphis March

by Dr. Andre Johnson

Let's Talk About All of It

by Rev. Earle J. Fisher

BECOME A SUSTAINING PARTNER

This year, SisterReach celebrates FIVE years in October of doing Reproductive Justice work in the state of Tennessee. For as little as FIVE dollars, you can become a Sustaining Partne r investing in this important work to ensure that years from now, SisterReach is able to continue serving marginalized women and girls in Tennessee and their families.

Want to give more? Awesome! You can do that too!

Become A Sustaining Partner

SisterReach | 901.222.4425 | 901.222.4441| www.sisterreach.org