“Watch Night:  Waiting for Freedom”

“On December 31, 1862, many enslaved waited in praise houses and churches on the Sea Islands to hear if the Emancipation Proclamation would become real. The first day of 1863 became the first day of freedom for many forced into bondage throughout the Southern states. The New Year’s Eve Watch Night service has been celebrated ever since that day to commemorate the end of slavery.”

Althea Sumpter is a researcher/scholar who uses her expertise as an ethnographer to document cultures and preserve the Southern story of the United States. Using as a prototype the oral histories she has collected from Gullah Geechee elders in her own culture, she teaches ways to research the cultural history within a community, along with methods to use documentation technology to memorialize and preserve those stories for future generations. She holds a Doctor of Arts in Humanities degree (African/African American Studies and New Media Technology) from Clark Atlanta University, as well as Bachelor and Master of Media Arts degrees from the University of South Carolina.

With extensive experience in the media production industry and an Emmy-nomination, Sumpter has taught digital media production and scriptwriting at Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, Clark Atlanta University and The Art Institute of Atlanta. She is a member and past chair of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission, created by Congress in 2006. Her research and her work can be viewed at altheasumpter.com.

Facilitator:  Libby Ware

Musician:  Kathy McGuire

“Holiday Thoughts – Little Women and Why It Matters”: 

“One of the most famous holiday lines in a novel may be this one, ‘Christmas won’t be Christmas without any present,’ grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.

In this 150th anniversary year of the publication of what has been described as equal parts thinly disguised family memoir, complex social chronicle, and young adult novel. we will look at its American Christmas holiday messages, what is said and still says about growing up female– and whether it will survive the 21st century as a popular classic book.”

Marti still ranks Little Women among her favorite books, and arguably her first favorite book, has seen most if not all of the film adaptations, and is eagerly awaiting Greta Gerwig’s much anticipated remake with Meryl Streep, Saoirse Roman, and Timothee Chlamet, scheduled for a Christmas 2019 release.

Marti Keller graduated from David Starr Jordan Junior High in Palo Alto, California, and went on to degrees in journalism and theology. This is her 20th year as a Unitarian Universalist parish and social justice minister. She is the consulting minister for the UU Fellowship of Auburn, Alabama and the minister with the Unitarian Universalist Women’s Federation for whom she carries the gender equity and justice portfolio. She is a published poet and creative non-fiction author, and the project director for Decatur Haiku, a year of focus on this Japanese micro verse form.

Facilitator:  Jan Lister

Musician:  Alan Dynin

“Light in the Darkness:  A Meditation on Winter Holidays” 

Kim is a graduate of Candler School of Theology (Emory University) and Berry College, and is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. Prior to Saint Mark, they have served as a hospital chaplain and worked in homeless services through their time in Americorps. Kim has special interest in using spirituality and contemplative practices to equip us with the inner peace to be justice makers in the world. Kim is also a Registered Yoga Teacher and draws on this and other spiritual traditions to inform their ministry. Outside of their formal employment Kim serves as chair of the Spiritual Leaders Committee for the Transgender Health and Education Alliance (THEA), and is a member of the Atlanta Coalition of LGBTQ youth.

Facilitator:  Rev. Marsha Mitchiner

Musician:  Alan Dynin

“Power, American History, and Black Bodies”

 

Facilitator:  D. Patton White

Musician:  Aviva and the Flying Penguins

Love, Sex and Existentialism:  

Glenda Corwin, Ph.D. is a psychologist in private practice in Atlanta, and specializes in lesbian sexual issues. She is the author of Sexual Intimacy for Women: A Guide for Same Sex Couples, which has led to many opportunities to speak with a variety of audiences on the topic of enhancing intimacy in long-term relationships. Her background as the daughter of missionaries in Colombia gives her deep appreciation for diversity of cultures, languages, and human connections.

Dr. Corwin writes for the Huffington Post: Gay Voices, for the e-magazine Epochalips, as well as her own blog on www.DrGlendaCorwin.com. She presents frequently at professional conferences, and is a regular guest on Barb Elgin’s Lesbian Love Talk radio program.

Facilitator:  Robert Stewart                                                                        Musician:  Jez Graham

How to Win Friends and Influence Congress on Climate Change. 

A native of Decatur, Henry Slack is a mechanical engineer who recently retired after 27 years in EPA’s Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) program in Atlanta. He is a regular attender of the Religious Society of Friends meeting (Quakers). He earned a B.S. from Rhodes College in Memphis, and an M.S. from Georgia Tech. You might also have seen him bicycling in town, as he pedals around a hundred miles each week.

Facilitator:  Marsha  Mitchiner                                                                 Musician:  Alan Dynin

On September 23, 2018, Rev. Angela Denise Davis will speak at First Existentialist on the topic “On Death.” Angela Denise Davis, M.Div., M.S., is an ordained minister, writer, public speaker, and digital media creator interested in the life tasks of work and spiritual issues located at the intersection of race, class, gender, sexual identity, and disability. Her call in life is to facilitate conversations and theological reflections along the fence line of those differences. She is a black, blind, lesbian clergywoman who understands how all of her identities gift her presence in the world. She wants to share what her presence in this world brings, and celebrate the gifts of others as we hold space for the emergence of peace and grace in the world. In May 2010, she founded a spiritual collective called Sister Harriet. This was a spiritual landing pad for “holy rollers, heretics, heathens, hell raisers, and all other persuasions.” In addition to monthly gatherings, Sister Harriet offers listeners inspiring messages via a weekly podcast. Angela is also the creator, host, and producer of the ZAMI NOBLA Podcast, a bi-weekly digital offering targeted at black lesbians 40 years and older. Angela speaks to educational institutions, communities of faith, conferences, and organizations on topics ranging from personal motivation, career development, spiritual reflection, spiritual activism, social justice, LGBT and religion, Black lesbian health and well-being, and disability awareness and advocacy. In addition, she will wax poetically on all things related to the ukulele if given the chance. She is a graduate of Clark Atlanta University where she earned a B.A. in Art. She also holds a master of divinity from Vanderbilt University Divinity School, and a master of science in rehabilitation counseling from Georgia State University. The service facilitator will be Robert Stewart, and the musician will be Bill Chelton. We hope you can attend.

September 16 ~ Dr. Pauline Rose Clance “Founder’s Day, Celebrating Our Beginning”.

Dr. Pauline Rose Clance has served as the Chair of the Clinical Program and the Psychotherapy Program at Georgia State University; as well as an Associate Director of the Psychotherapy and Behavior Therapy Clinic. Her awards include: the Georgia Author of the Year Award in Non-Fiction for the Impostor Phenomenon, Dixie Council of Authors & Journalists Woman of the Year Award, Division F of the Georgia Psychological Association; and the Mentor Award, Georgia Psychological Association Division. Dr. Clance was honored as Eminent Women in Southeastern Psychology by the Southeastern Psychological Association. She was also elected President of the Southeastern Psychological Association and is a Fellow of the Psychotherapy Division, American Psychological Association.

Facilitator – Patton White

Musician- Jez Graham.

Give Peace a Chance! Venezuela

The full title of Dr. Akinyele’s talk, at the First Existentialist’s Sunday Celebration of Life, is “Give Peace a Chance! Venezuela and the Continuation of the Monroe Doctrine in the 21st Century”.

 

Akinyele Umoja is a Professor and the Chair of the Department of African-American Studies at Georgia State University. Umoja is the author of We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance and the Mississippi Freedom Movement, named the 2014 Anna Julia Cooper/ C.L.R. James Award for the best book in Africana Studies by the National Council of Black Studies. We Will Shoot Back also earned the 2014 PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature. He is the co-editor of the Black Power Encyclopedia, released (June 30 2018) and editor of a special issue of the journal The Black Scholar on the legacy of his comrade; revolutionary activist, attorney, and elected official, the Honorable Chokwe Lumumba. Umoja’s research has also been featured in several journals and anthologies.

Professor Umoja is also very engaged in social justice advocacy. Umoja is a co-founder of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. He received acknowledgement from the National Conference of Black Political Scientists (1998) and the National Council of Black Studies (2008) for his grassroots activism. Due to his civic engagement and scholar-activism, Umoja was inducted into Selma, Alabama’s Hall of Resistance in the Enslavement and Civil War Museum during the annual Bridge Crossing and Jubilee Celebration. Other inductees into the Hall of Resistance include author Sonia Sanchez, and scholar-activists Asa Hilliard, Maulana Karenga, Ray Winbush, and legendary Hip Hop artist Tupac Shakur.
Facilitator: Charlene Ball

Musician: Aviva Vuvuzela (http://www.avivaandtheflyingpenguins.com/)

Social Period before and after the service – come have Pastries & Coffee with Friends.