“Clinging to Seriousness: Rethinking Life’s Purpose”

Ruminations on the purpose of one’s life.

Facilitator: Sara Drew

Musician: Jean Heinrich

“Day of the Dead”

You are invited to bring pictures and memorabilia of your loved ones who have passed on. We will create a community display of remembrance for this special service.

Facilitator: Jan Modica
Musicians: Bill Chelton

“WWDD: The Gospel of Dolly Parton”

There’s a social media post going around that goes something like this:

I’m just tired of everything being political.

So am I.

I’m tired of whether a child gets lunch being political.

Whether a sick person gets medicine being political.

Whether a family gets to stay housed being political.

Whether clean water is worth protecting being political.

Maybe everything feels political because we turned basic human decency into something you have to vote for.

And it’s that last sentence I can’t stop turning over in my mind: Maybe everything feels political because we turned basic human decency into something you have to vote for.

And I’m thinking I’m not the only one. As I’ve watched America and the world grieve the loss of Dolly Parton for days, I’m sure I’m not the only one who understood that our grief was not only for the loss of a tremendous human, but also for the loss of someone who felt like the last decent person we could all agree was a decent person.

Facilitator: Rev. Marti Keller
Musicians: Craig Rafuse

“The Muskogees and How Their Past is Present”

Every Sunday the First Existentialist facilitator recites our mission statement in our Celebration of Life. It ends with, “We also acknowledge that in the 1800s the Muskogee-Creek people were driven from this land, and we support justice for all indigenous people.” Who were the Muskogees? How are the devastating challenges they faced (right here where we live) and the choices they made in the early 1800s related to grave problems and choices we all struggle with today?

Facilitator: Sara Drew
Musicians: Mick Kinney

“Two Spirits”

An invitation to celebrate Pride and Indigenous People’s Day by honoring truths our ancestors knew about and the sacredness of the queer community.

Facilitator: Rev. Marsha Mitchiner
Musicians: Charli Vogt

“Small is Good. Small is All.”

“Small is Good. Small is All.” is the first principle of adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy. It encourages us to not be carried away by overwhelm and sadness, but rather to find the smallest positive step we can take, and then take another one and another one. Sara will talk about small things that matter even in the midst of devastation and how we can begin to recognize these tiny moments and the ripple effects they are responsible for.

Facilitator: Rev. Marti Keller
Musicians: Bill Chelton

“Celebrating 50 Years!”

Facilitators: Rev. Marsha Mitchiner and Libby Ware
Musicians: E-chorus, Big Light Band (Shanti Price, Harold Torres, Jean Heinrich) and Jeremy Glass

“The Days of Lilacs – Kumla Manor, Sweden”

This  talk will follow Lili Baxter’s talk last year about her  grandmother Laura, who she is named after. It will focus on her parents, Holocaust refugees from Poland, who found each other again in Sweden after the war, and Lili’s own earliest beginnings in Kumla Manor. She returned to Kumla Manor and its flowering lilacs in June.

Facilitator: Sara Drew
Musicians: Mick Kinney

“I Feel Like Ranting About Reconstruction Era: Here We Go Again”

The Reconstruction Era after the Civil War was the most significant period for generating plans to fix this country’s previous woes. The experiences of the movers and shakers of that era, through to the Civil Rights Movement, provided blueprints on ways of building a country that is diverse, equitable and inclusive. Let us learn those lessons from the past and heal the weakest places in order to keep moving this country forward.

Facilitator: Charlene Ball
Musicians: Craig Rafuse