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On September 8th, family and friends joined Dick and Phyllis Tholin to celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary with a time for sharing and song in the Wheadon sanctuary followed by dinner in Sherin Hall. One highlight of the event was the presentation of a banner to Wheadon representing the song “We Are Dancing Sarah’s Circle.” We are grateful for the wonderful banner, created by Jan Graves with strips of fabric donated by family and friends, is a symbol of the Tholin’s shared vision of community and church.
Phyllis explains, “Carole Etzler wrote the words to ‘We Are Dancing Sarah’s Circle’ as a feminist alternative to the images of spirituality in the well-known ‘We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder.’ The ladder image portrays the spiritual journey as a solitary endeavor on a vertical (hierarchical) plane. Climbing the ladder brings one closer to God and, presumably, farther away from earthly things and from those less spiritual beings on the rungs below. The refrain ‘Soldiers of the Cross’ presents a self-righteous and militaristic understanding of the Christian life.
“Sarah’s circle represents a shared journey. The circle and horizontal plane suggest mutuality and unity, yet each participant claims his/her unique experience and is respected for it. On the way, as brothers and sisters, we support each other, draw from the past and build bridges to the future.”
The words as written to the familiar Jacob’s Ladder tune are:
Verse 1. We are dancing Sarah’s Circle (3X)
2. We will all do our own naming (3X)
3. Here we seek and find our history (3X)
4. Every round a generation (3X)
5. Birth to death and death to birth now (3X)
6. On and on the circle’s moving (3X)
Refrain: Sisters, brothers all
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