SACRED GROUND – THIRD CLASS TO BE OFFERED!
In 2021, the Church Council joined with the Vestry of Grace Episcopal Church to participate in the program Sacred Ground. Sacred Ground is a film-based dialogue series on race and faith which focuses on Indigenous, Black, Latino and Asian American histories as they intersect with European American histories. Sacred Ground is a spiritual journey grounded in the Christian faith.
This past March, a second class started that includes about 20 participants from both Peace First and Grace Episcopal. They will be concluding their journey in July.
A third offering of Sacred Ground will begin in September. This again will be offered to members of the congregations of Peace First and Grace Episcopal and will be broadened to invite members from other churches in Astoria and the community at large. We will be doing 10 session starting on Sunday, September 18 from 12:30 to 2:30. These will be every other week, until December 11 where we will break for Christmas and then begin again on January 8, ending February 5.
The classes are led by Pastor Steve of Peace First and Pastor Carren Sheldon of Grace Episcopal along with congregational members who have participated in the first two classes. “Transformative” has been a frequent adjective used to describe the experience of participating in Sacred Ground. We hope you will consider participating this Fall.
More information to come!
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ANTI-RACISM TEAM

How do we, people of faith who are committed to the work of recognizing, naming and deconstructing racism in our church and world, begin to understand the lives of others with whom we have very little contact? How do we understand what is happening in our country related to race and social unrest? How does learning about the history of our area help us build healing relationships? How can we share what we learn with our congregation and community?

These questions and others helped form the initial discussions of the Anti-Racism Team (A-RT) at Peace First. Here are some of the ideas and actions that we will explore and further develop:

• We have created a resource library for adults and children. This resource library is conveniently located in the church so that congregational members can find books of interest that may be checked out.
• We've formed a book club to read and discuss books on anti-racism.
• Writing reviews of books in our library to share with the congregation.
• Hosting movie nights and suggesting movies that can be watched at home.
• Inviting speakers, many of whom are in our local area.
• Developing ecumenical partnerships to join us in combating racism in our churches and community.
• Providing anti-racism training for congregational leadership and the community.
• Meeting with law enforcement to discuss anti-racism and how we can form partnerships.
• Building a healing relationship with our Chinook neighbors.
• Continuing conversations with Consejo Hispano to build relationships with our Hispanic neighbors.

Trough prayer, study and conversation the A-RT endeavors to think critically, act faithfully and follow the compassionate and peaceful path of Jesus as we learn of the many forms of racism in our church and society.

We will be meeting monthly on the second Thursday of each month at 6:30pm at the Peace First Lutheran Uppertown campus.

ALL ARE WELCOME. Please join us!