A Brief Description of Our Religious Education Program
High Street Church offers a Lifespan Religious Education Program that includes Children’s RE (Religious Education) classes for grades Pre-K through 12th grade during the Sunday worship service. High Street offers three age level groups every Sunday, Preschool (K3-K), Lower Elementary (1st-3rd grade), and Upper Elementary (4th-6th grade)
Welcome to November’s packet on “What Does It Mean to be a People of Memory?!”
As I turned to this month’s theme, my mind went to my Ghanaian sister-in-law, Asantewaa. One of the meaningful gifts she has given me was introducing me to the concept of Sankofa. Here’s a simple description:
“Sankofa is a word in the Twi language of Ghana that translates to “Go back and get it” (san – to return; ko – to go; fa – to fetch, to seek and take) and also refers to the Asante Adinkra symbol represented either with a stylized heart shape or by a bird with its head turned backwards while its feet face forward carrying a precious egg in its mouth. Sankofa is often associated with the proverb, “Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi,” which translates as: “It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankofa#cite_note-1
For me this boils down to the idea that we should reach back and gather the best of what our past has to teach us, so that we can achieve our full potential as we move forward. Whatever we have lost, forgotten, forgone, or been stripped of can be reclaimed, revived, preserved, and perpetuated.
After the term made its way to the United States, African-American scholars embraced Sankofa to structure and inspire their work. In fact, in our own UU culture, the “Sankofa Special Collection” at Meadville Lombard Theological School tells the story of UU’s of color.
This month, we, too, are using this idea of reaching back to structure our sessions. All four are about reclaiming and remembering of things of great value:
- Reclaiming an honest history
- Remembering those who have gone before and the guidance they have for us today
- Remembering and noticing all of life’s gifts that lay all around us
- Remembering our values in a world where buying stuff is more important than being good people.
It is our hope that this packet helps you and those you minister reclaim and remember many of your own stories and treasures (and maybe even parts of yourself) long forgotten. Thanks, as always, for letting us partner with you in remembering the stories which build wholeness for all.
In gratitude,
Katie, on behalf of the entire Soul Matters Team
Katie Covey
DRE for Soul Matters
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