“The Power of (Existential) Friendship”

The role of Other in our lives is powerful, including the important relationship of friend. Some of the latest medical research reveals that the number and quality of our friendships may have a bigger influence on our happiness, health and mortality – let alone emotional well-being – than almost anything else in life.

Rev. Marti Keller has been a parish, community and social justice minister for more than 23 years. Her “Jewnitarian” involvements include co-editing “Jewish Voices in Unitarian Universalism,” and other UUA publications around the Jewish source of our living tradition. She has been the President of UUs for Jewish Awareness and is currently a board member. She is part of a ministerial team launching an online Mussar Jewish values program in 2022. She is also past vice president of the Society for Humanistic Judaism and serves on the advisory team for the international Secular Synagogue.

Facilitator: Robert Stewart

Musician: Susan Ottzen

“Recalculating Route: Reflecting on Our Spiritual Journeys”

Rev. Kimble Sorrells is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, with a ministry in
contemplative practices focused on equipping us with the peace and resolve to be justice makers in the world. They are also a Registered Yoga Teacher and draw on this and other spiritual traditions to inform their ministry. As a Bi-vocational minister, Kimble also works with Lifeline Animal Project as the Community Programs Manager, guiding caseworkers as they assist pet owners in times of challenge.

Kimble has experience in variety of ministry settings. They have worked in LGBTQ advocacy for many years including as staff for Reconciling Ministries Network and the Atlanta Pride Committee. They currently serve on the Mayor’s LGBTQ Advisory Board and work primarily in advocacy with the Transgender community.

Facilitator: Jan Lister

Musician: Dr. Jean Heinrich

Who Am I? Who Do I Want To Be?

In these polarized and trying times, it can be hard to listen to our better angels and easy to
fall into angry, vindictive thoughts. But is that who we want to be? How do we remain
compassionate toward people who are doing horrible things? How do we remember the
common humanity we share, even with our enemies? How can we resist being dragged
down by the world, and remain true to who we are?

Patricia (Kim) Palmer serves the Emory University Woodruff Health Sciences Center as the Manager of Research Projects in Spiritual Health. She is a board-certified chaplain with over five years of clinical experience and earned an M.S.P.H. in Epidemiology from Emory University as a Transforming Chaplaincy Research Fellow. She is ordained in the Unitarian Universalist tradition and serves as an affiliated community minister for a congregation in Roswell, Georgia. She is currently engaged in a multi-year, multi-study research effort to investigate the effect of Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT) on chaplains and the effect of CBCT-adapted interventions on patient and provider outcomes, and she is exploring the possibility of a part-time return to clinical work as a chaplain.

“Three Words: Ruminations on the Past and Future”

Anthony Knight is the President & CEO of The Baton Foundation, a Georgia nonprofit organization that serves the emotional, intellectual and cultural needs of Black
boys in grades five through nine. Before founding the Foundation, Mr. Knight worked for twenty-two years as a museum educator and consultant.

Mr. Knight has extensive experience with and interest in African-American history and culture, public and living history, informal education and Black youth. Mr. Knight’s work with The Baton Foundation reflects his ongoing interest in the issues and practices related to the collecting, preservation and interpretation of information about and material culture from the African Diaspora.

Mr. Knight’s undergraduate work was in Spanish and English (Ohio Wesleyan University), and his graduate work was in museum education (The George Washington University). Mr. Knight also holds a degree in Spanish-to-English translation from the Núcleo de Estudios Lingüísticos y Sociales, Caracas, Venezuela. Mr. Knight is a New York City native.

• Facilitator: Jan Lister
• Musician: TBA

“A Flower Doesn’t Talk”–Zen Easter

Chris Glaser has enjoyed his silence since ending his blog, “Progressive Christian Meditations.” With so many voices, so much tumult, and such stress in the world today, silence refreshes us, offering mindfulness of what is truly vital, as in “life-giving.” Join Chris in this new life and rebirth meditation as we listen for what truly renews us.

It’s always a good time to be a Unitarian and to be a Universalist, as it helps us view everyone in the same light. But with the “existential threats” to our democracy, to our health, and to our planet, we need all the more to value the moment we have to live, to love, to participate in our community, and to preserve this beautiful earth and all who live on it.
After publishing a dozen books, serving a series of progressive parishes, and ten years writing a blog called ‘Progressive Christian Reflections,” Rev. Chris Glaser retired earlier this year to embrace a kind of spiritual silence. http://chrisglaser.com; http://chrisglaser.blogspot.com

• Facilitator: TBA
• Musician: Kathy McGuire

“Singing: An Act of Resistance”

Join us for a spirited Sunday Celebration of Life Service featuring songs, readings, poems celebrating singing for vitality and spirit renewal.

This will not be a “normal” Sunday Service (as if any of them are).

Instead of a featured Speaker, we will have readings, poetry, and songs lead by the e-band and SoBAD* Singers.  We will unveil and use our new songbook.

Singing is very important to our Congregation.  Indeed, singing is very important to the world!

*SoBAD …. Songbook Addendum Development committee:

Our Fellowship Minister, Rev. Marsha Mitchiner, has served the Congregation for over two decades, since ordination by us, following her study with Lanier Clance. She counsels, connects, and contacts members and friends, and for those who need it, performs the laying-on of hands in her role as a massage therapist. Many of us can vouch for the quality of her work, and appreciate the wisdom, restraint, and compassion she brings to the job of caring for our Congregation.

• Facilitator: Wade Marbaugh
• Musician: William Chelton

“Rule-breakers and Foremothers: African American Women Reformers Before the Civil Rights Era”

Libby Ware is an antiquarian bookseller and author of the award-winning LUM (SheWrites Press, 2015). She and her wife Charlene Ball (as Lily Charles) cowrote Murder at the Estate Sale (Black Opal Books, 2020) and the forthcoming
Murder at the Book Fair. Libby lives with her dog, Grover, about a mile from Charlene.