What Is Your Story?

An Exercise in Exegeting the Self

1. Recall the first time you were “othered” or rejected for being you. What happened?
    
2. What did your family teach you about race/ethnicity?
    
3. What did your family of origin teach you about gender and sexuality?
    
4. How has your understanding of racial/ethnic identity changed over time?
   How has it remained the same?
    
5. How has your understanding of sexuality and gender changed over time?
   How has it remained the same?
    
6. Talk about “class” in your story. Where have you been “othered” or where have you “othered” another because of class differences?
    
7. When did you first “other” another for their race/ethnicity, gender, or sexuality?
    
8. Is there something that needs to be confessed, forgiven, or changed around race, ethnicity, or class in your life?
    
9. Is there something that needs to be confessed, forgiven, or changed around gender and sexuality in your life?
    
10. If life in your faith community is an ongoing story, what is the title of the current chapter? What is the title five years from now? Write three episodes that must happen to change the story.