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WomanKind was founded by women to give women a safe space to explore topics of faith in a supportive, encouraging environment. To preserve the special experience of WomanKind, the events on February 23 & 24 are open to women only.
| Friday, February 23 | |
| 6:00 p.m. | Registration and Reception |
| 7:30 p.m. | Keynote: The Reverend Neichelle R. Guidry, Liaison to Worship and Arts Ministries, Office of the Senior Pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago, and author of Curating a World: Sermonic Words from a Young Woman Who Preaches |
| 9:00 p.m. | Adjourn |
| Saturday, February 24 | |
| 8:15 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. | Registration and Coffee |
| 9:00 a.m. | Hymn Sing |
| 9:30 a.m. | Keynote: Sara Miles, founder The Food Pantry , former Director of Ministry at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco, and author of Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion, Jesus Freak: Feeding Healing Raising the Dead, and City of God: Faith in the Streets |
| 11:15 a.m. | Workshops, Session 1 ** |
| 12:30 p.m. | Lunch and Book Signing |
| 1:30 p.m. | Workshops, Session 2 ** |
| 2:45 p.m. | Holy Eucharist: The Reverend Emily Scott, ordained Evangelical Lutheran pastor and founder of St. Lydia’s, a Dinner Church in New York, Preacher and Celebrant |
| 4:30 p.m. | Adjourn |
| ** These workshops will be offered in the morning and the afternoon. Please select your preferences on the registration page when you indicate the registration you desire. | |
Emily Scott
“The world begins at a kitchen table,” writes poet Joy Harjo. Perhaps the revolution begins at the table too. Emily Scott, former and founding pastor of St. Lydia’s Dinner Church in Brooklyn, will share stories drawn from eight years sharing a “sacred meal” around the tables and St. Lydia’s. What does it mean when communion is a meal, cooked with human hands, and shared at the tables? How does it change our experience of the Eucharist, and our relationship to hunger? At the table, the St. Lydia’s community developed a set of practices that equipped them to turn toward their neighbors, build relationships across boundaries, and work together for justice. This workshop will explore the power of practice in forming a justice-focused congregation, and how these practices might be explored in a wide variety of church settings, like yours!
Danita Rountree Green
Martha Rollins
Inspired by the vision of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in his “I Have a Dream” speech that one day “the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood, two women (with different backgrounds but share the same history) have come together at the table. But can descendants of slaves and of the enslavers form rich and lasting relationships? How are they promoting racial equality and social justice at their own dinner tables? Join Coming To The Table-RVA Co-conveners Martha Rollins and Danita Rountree Green as they explore the challenges of reaching across racial, political and societal lines together. Coming To The Table-RVA is part of a national organization committed to racial healing and social equity. Coming To The Table’s vision is for a just and truthful society that acknowledges and seeks to heal from the racial wounds of the past by: Uncovering History, Making Connections, Working Toward Healing, and Taking Action.
Martha Bourlakas
Please come to this workshop hungry. Hungry for words. Hungry to share the significant meal memories of your life. Hungry to hear and connect with the stories of others. In sharing our stories about the meals of our lives, we will distill the important words and themes of authentic Christian hospitality, far more buttery and divine than secular definitions of hospitality. We will chew on the individual and corporate roles we have in bringing more Christian hospitality into the world. We will work on a menu of ways to create food community and hope for people who desperately need to share a bounteous meal with people who love.
Dana Corsello
This workshop will explore the theology of the Last Supper through scripture, literature, and film as a means of feeling true intimacy with God and by extension with one another.
Ana Hernandez
How can we be God for one another? How can we hear one another into speech? In this workshop we will learn to use simple chants as icons of divine presence. We'll begin by finding and nurturing God within, then look for it in those around us. We will find places of comfort and repose, and also begin to negotiate the places where we may not be very comfortable at all! When we show up as our authentic selves, listen deeply, and encourage one another, channels of grace and play appear, co-creation and possibility walk into the room and our hearts open to one another. When we make time to reflect on our lives as images of divine presence, we find ways to make more love. We become divine love as we join one another in attending to the sense of how we come together, by reflecting on the stories we tell ourselves, and by learning to make our lives a continual offering.
Brenda Brown-Grooms
Elaine Ellis Thomas
When waves of white supremacists, white nationalists, and Ku Klux Klan descended on Charlottesville in the summer of 2017, it took a broad cross-section of the community, including faith leaders, to plan and execute the counter protests. People came together across age, class, ethnicity, religion, and race to proclaim that hate has no place here. Pastors Brenda Brown-Grooms and Elaine Ellis Thomas helped lead the coordinated efforts to stand in the breach between the sowers of hate and those they sought to harm. Throughout the experience, people stayed grounded in prayer, trust, collaboration and courage. Come to the workshop to learn how what happened in Charlottesville became a symbol of love over fear.
Phoebe Roaf
The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah lived during a period of great upheaval in Israel's history. He experienced the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, a time of intense suffering for his people. While Jeremiah lamented the sinfulness of his generation, he also conveyed a sense of hope for the future. In this workshop, we will explore the parallels between life during the time of Jeremiah and our lives as 21st century Americans. What does God's judgment look like? What does God's justice look like? Where are the signs of hope in today's world? Together we will consider how to remain faithful to God's priorities and have a sense of hope for the future.
WomanKind was founded by women to give women a safe space to explore topics of faith in a supportive, encouraging environment. To preserve the special experience of WomanKind, the events on February 23 & 24 are open to women only.
| Friday, February 23 | |
| 6:00 p.m. | Registration and Reception |
| 7:30 p.m. | Keynote: The Reverend Neichelle R. Guidry, Liaison to Worship and Arts Ministries, Office of the Senior Pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago, and author of Curating a World: Sermonic Words from a Young Woman Who Preaches |
| 9:00 p.m. | Adjourn |
| Saturday, February 24 | |
| 8:15 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. | Registration and Coffee |
| 9:00 a.m. | Hymn Sing |
| 9:30 a.m. | Keynote: Sara Miles, founder The Food Pantry , former Director of Ministry at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco, and author of Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion, Jesus Freak: Feeding Healing Raising the Dead, and City of God: Faith in the Streets |
| 11:15 a.m. | Workshops, Session 1 ** |
| 12:30 p.m. | Lunch and Book Signing |
| 1:30 p.m. | Workshops, Session 2 ** |
| 2:45 p.m. | Holy Eucharist: The Reverend Emily Scott, ordained Evangelical Lutheran pastor and founder of St. Lydia’s, a Dinner Church in New York, Preacher and Celebrant |
| 4:30 p.m. | Adjourn |
| ** These workshops will be offered in the morning and the afternoon. Please select your preferences on the registration page when you indicate the registration you desire. | |
Emily Scott
“The world begins at a kitchen table,” writes poet Joy Harjo. Perhaps the revolution begins at the table too. Emily Scott, former and founding pastor of St. Lydia’s Dinner Church in Brooklyn, will share stories drawn from eight years sharing a “sacred meal” around the tables and St. Lydia’s. What does it mean when communion is a meal, cooked with human hands, and shared at the tables? How does it change our experience of the Eucharist, and our relationship to hunger? At the table, the St. Lydia’s community developed a set of practices that equipped them to turn toward their neighbors, build relationships across boundaries, and work together for justice. This workshop will explore the power of practice in forming a justice-focused congregation, and how these practices might be explored in a wide variety of church settings, like yours!
Danita Rountree Green
Martha Rollins
Inspired by the vision of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in his “I Have a Dream” speech that one day “the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood, two women (with different backgrounds but share the same history) have come together at the table. But can descendants of slaves and of the enslavers form rich and lasting relationships? How are they promoting racial equality and social justice at their own dinner tables? Join Coming To The Table-RVA Co-conveners Martha Rollins and Danita Rountree Green as they explore the challenges of reaching across racial, political and societal lines together. Coming To The Table-RVA is part of a national organization committed to racial healing and social equity. Coming To The Table’s vision is for a just and truthful society that acknowledges and seeks to heal from the racial wounds of the past by: Uncovering History, Making Connections, Working Toward Healing, and Taking Action.
Martha Bourlakas
Please come to this workshop hungry. Hungry for words. Hungry to share the significant meal memories of your life. Hungry to hear and connect with the stories of others. In sharing our stories about the meals of our lives, we will distill the important words and themes of authentic Christian hospitality, far more buttery and divine than secular definitions of hospitality. We will chew on the individual and corporate roles we have in bringing more Christian hospitality into the world. We will work on a menu of ways to create food community and hope for people who desperately need to share a bounteous meal with people who love.
Dana Corsello
This workshop will explore the theology of the Last Supper through scripture, literature, and film as a means of feeling true intimacy with God and by extension with one another.
Ana Hernandez
How can we be God for one another? How can we hear one another into speech? In this workshop we will learn to use simple chants as icons of divine presence. We'll begin by finding and nurturing God within, then look for it in those around us. We will find places of comfort and repose, and also begin to negotiate the places where we may not be very comfortable at all! When we show up as our authentic selves, listen deeply, and encourage one another, channels of grace and play appear, co-creation and possibility walk into the room and our hearts open to one another. When we make time to reflect on our lives as images of divine presence, we find ways to make more love. We become divine love as we join one another in attending to the sense of how we come together, by reflecting on the stories we tell ourselves, and by learning to make our lives a continual offering.
Brenda Brown-Grooms
Elaine Ellis Thomas
When waves of white supremacists, white nationalists, and Ku Klux Klan descended on Charlottesville in the summer of 2017, it took a broad cross-section of the community, including faith leaders, to plan and execute the counter protests. People came together across age, class, ethnicity, religion, and race to proclaim that hate has no place here. Pastors Brenda Brown-Grooms and Elaine Ellis Thomas helped lead the coordinated efforts to stand in the breach between the sowers of hate and those they sought to harm. Throughout the experience, people stayed grounded in prayer, trust, collaboration and courage. Come to the workshop to learn how what happened in Charlottesville became a symbol of love over fear.
Phoebe Roaf
The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah lived during a period of great upheaval in Israel's history. He experienced the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, a time of intense suffering for his people. While Jeremiah lamented the sinfulness of his generation, he also conveyed a sense of hope for the future. In this workshop, we will explore the parallels between life during the time of Jeremiah and our lives as 21st century Americans. What does God's judgment look like? What does God's justice look like? Where are the signs of hope in today's world? Together we will consider how to remain faithful to God's priorities and have a sense of hope for the future.
