First Existentialist Congregation
An independent member of the Unitarian Universalist Association
With gentle reflection and heartfelt humor, Abby will share a little of her life, from childhood to the present, and the influences and circumstances that shaped her commitment to embrace a life of kindness and fairness.
Facilitator: D. Patton White
Musician: Kathy McGuire
I would like to live long enough to experience a country where I am fully accepted as a Black woman and a Southerner — that I may finally heal from my personal psychological scars dating to Jim Crow segregation. I want to know what it is like not to feel a visceral reaction for survival whenever I sense the revulsion of a White supremacist, whose roots of hate were instilled during the origin of what would become the US. These roots were imbued in the Doctrine of Discovery created by the Catholic church in 1493, giving White men permission to destroy the lives and culture of anyone who would not convert to Christianity. I feel angst that such thinking continues to rule who I am. I want to know what it would be like as a Black woman, only six percent of the US population, not to be thought of as the savior of democracy. I am exhausted and my shoulders hurt from moving that boulder of social change, although I will never stop doing my part to build a country where my existence matters.
Facilitator: Charlene Ball
Musician: William Chelton
We celebrate Juneteenth to mark the date that the final African slaves were freed. We will look at the importance of freedom in its relationship to independence.
Facilitator: Marsha Mitchiner
Musician: Jean Heinrich
Facilitator: Wade Marbaugh
Musician: Craig Rafuse
Resilience, natural strategies, and community are part of why we’re still here.
Facilitator: Cindy Lou Who
Musician: Alan Brown
Dr. Arri Eisen has had the privilege of teaching a diversity of students – Emory undergraduates, Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns, US Air Force cadets, MDs and PhDs – across two centuries and many disciplines, from basic science to the humanities, engaging leaders such as Jimmy Carter and the Dalai Lama. He will offer some stories and reflections from these experiences that have convinced him there is hope.
Facilitator: Patton White
Musician: Mick Kinney
In this two-person discussion/debate, Leon will take the agnostic/atheist position: “As god disappeared, the universe grew more awesome and fascinating and my life became more relaxed, peaceful, and loving.” Rick will argue his heathen perspective: “God is. We have choices.” It is a matter of semantics.
Facilitator: Libby Ware
Musician: Jean Heinrich and the E-Chorus
How did we reach a point where our ways of life and livelihood threaten irreversible damage to the biosphere we depend on to survive? We got here by forgetting what indigenous people have always understood: matter and spirit are one, and life on the material plane is a spiritual path. Our best guide on this path is the Earth itself and its community of species. If we walk or sit in any place that remains wild, listening quietly, we can begin to hear it speaking to us from inside, from the depths of spirit, where we too remain wild, and enter a personal relationship with the world that nurtures and sustains us.
Facilitator: Marsha Mitchiner
Musician: William Chelton
“An Inside Look at Motherhood”
Three members of First Existentialist Congregation tell about their experiences as mothers.
Facilitator: Sara Drew
Musician: Jean Heinrich
Hunger and poverty are considered “wicked problems” by social scientists. How might we journey in our understanding of hunger and poverty and be moved to meaningful action?
Facilitator: Wade Marbaugh
Musician: Snake Oil Medicine Show Band with Craig Rafuse