First Existentialist Congregation
An independent member of the Unitarian Universalist Association
Drawing from pagan, Jewish and Native American resources, we will explore the idea of spiritual compass points and how to use them to help us as we wander ” in the wilderness” that is this current time of Covid.
Anthony Knight is the Founder, President & CEO of The Baton Foundation—a Georgia nonprofit organization that serves the emotional, intellectual and cultural needs of Black boys ages 10-17. 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.
Rev. Angela Denise Davis, M.Div., M.S., is a ukulele instructor, workshop facilitator, ordained minister, and public speaker. Her work as a minister focuses on how the fusion of art and spirituality can enlarge the ground beneath our feet and enrich the ways we move in personal and social spaces. In addition, she is also the creator, host, and producer of the ZAMI NOBLA Podcast. 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.
Janna Nelson currently lives with her husband, Scott Hooker, and her younger son, David Nelson-Hooker in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they have now lived for almost six years. They moved there after 40 years in Atlanta to be closer to family, and they have always preferred the New Mexican climate and open skies and country.
For Janna, it is a return to a land and people of her youth. Born the youngest of six in rural Alabama in 1958, she moved with her family to New Mexico in 1963. Her father, a Southern Baptist missionary, and the family spent the next seven years in various locations on the Navajo Reservation before moving to Albquerque. Witnessing and being part of several traumatic and life changing events left her a seeker.
She moved with her parents to Atlanta in 1975 and culture shock ensued. Due to accessibility issues with high schools at that time, she took a GED and went to Clayton Junior College, then GSU, taking whatever she wanted, working various interesting jobs until she started working at Sevananda, where she worked for seven years. During this time she had her older son. At age 25, she returned to GSU and graduated with a teaching degree three years later, starting a career in education that was deeply satisfying. She also started performing music solo and with others, starting her lifelong partnership in song and love with Scott.
She discovered First Existentialist Congregation in 1981 and it was the first place that felt open enough for her mind and spirit, as she had left religion behind at this point. After years of involvement in various aspects of the community, she entered into a five year Existentialial Ministerial Studies Program with Rev. Lanier Clance and was ordained as a minister by the Congregation in 1999, which she continued to serve in a varying capacity until moving to Albuquerque in 2014. She is delighted to see the flourishing of this intentional community and still calls it as one of her homes.
The broken US immigration system is harming many of our neighbors here in Georgia, with high immigration court bond amounts, local cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and inhumane detention centers and deportations that break up families. Join us to hear how you can help fight this crisis, and witness the testimony of a young adult asylum-seeking immigrant from Jamaica.
Dr. Jean Heinrich, practicing clinical psychologist and musician, humbled human being:
“I’ve been struggling with how to embrace existentialism and Easter in our pandemic zeitgeist. Like all existentialists, realizing it’s a personal thing, I’ve landed on Dawning. Dawning, beginning, becoming, actualizing. Remember Camus’ writing (Return to Tipasa), “In the middle of winter, I at last discovered that there was in me an invincible summer.” Invincible, a strange word to use in the midst of our virus humbling vulnerability, and yet highlighting the power of the human spirit in our ability, as free agents, to choose kindness, generosity, courage.”
Please tune in to our live-streaming of this spoken-musical word on First Existentialist Congregation of Atlanta Facebook page 11:00 EST, Sunday, April 12th.
Ellis Leon Clymore was born on a farm outside of Chelsea, Oklahoma on Nov. 21, 1935. His family moved around a lot before settling in Oklahoma from the 5th grade through 2 years of college. The family became members of the Church of Christ when he was about 12. He went to Church of Christ related colleges in Oklahoma and Arkansas. He met Lou at Harding College, Arkansas. They were married in Sept., 1958 and they left for Zambia, Africa in Dec., 1958. Three children were born in
Lusaka, Zambia. They moved to Malawi and stayed there in evangelistic work for 5 years. They returned to California in 1972. Leon was pastor of the Church of Christ in Riverside, California for 6 years, then resigned and became a computer programmer. They moved to Atlanta in 1979 and have lived here since. Leon went to Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur for 3 years. Then he became a minister/administrator in the Atlanta Union Mission, becoming the founder/director of the recovery program for men at the Mission, having been certified as an addiction counselor. He retired in 2004. Then later began teaching English to immigrants for 8 years, part-time. He fully retired in 2015. He and his wife were members of the Oakhurst Baptist Church for 20 years (Lou still is there). They have 3 adult children and 6 grandchildren, all living around the metro Atlanta area (except their son and wife who are living and working in Antigua, an island in the Caribbean.) Leon enjoys reading theology and novels, playing pickleball, exercising, studying Spanish and helping Lou in the garden.