“A Better Understanding of Veteran Needs – A Framework for Mental Wellness”

Veterans are a specialized and vulnerable population. Veterans have served our country in peace time and war time, and all have experiences unique to them that shape their worldview and indelibly influence their lives. This brief talk will provide insights on some of the uniform characteristics of veterans so people interacting with veterans can have a better understanding of meaningful ways to engage with them. More profoundly, the talk helps veterans to identify that help is available when life presents challenges, triggers, and bumps in the road. The talk underscores that life is worth living and that each person matters regardless of the topsy turvy-ness of life being life, full of wonder and surprises yet to be revealed. Ultimately, the talk presents the opportunity for individuals receptive to hope and healing to find purpose in one’s journey, which stands to reveal deep and profound existential value.

Facilitator: Marsha Mitchiner
Musician: Jean Heinrich

“Day of the Dead Service”

This coming Sunday, Nov. 2nd, we will celebrate Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. This is a time we remember family and friends who have left this world.

Please bring pictures/ mementos of lost loved ones, pets included.

We will have an altar up front.

Facilitator: Jan Lister
Musician: Kathy McGuire

“Blessing Your Enemies”

How do we bless people who willfully hurt others?

Facilitator: D. Patton White
Musician: Bill Chelton

“The Craneridge Boys and the Case of the Abandoned Camp”

Tom Bell will be sharing some thoughts about mystery and curiosity.

“It could’ve been the scene for a post-apocalyptic film. All these mysterious yet ordinary artifacts of once vibrant living: abandoned, it seemed, suddenly and unexpectedly, years, maybe decades ago. Comfortably appointed cabins, all warm woods and plush leather, with magazines of another time left on the tables. Rusting cars abandoned in the trees. A creek-fed swimming pool filled nearly to the rim with silt and muck. Yet not another soul in sight. What was this place? And who had once come here? Why had they left, and why had they left so much behind? The mystery was magical, and our curiosity burned like the summer sun.”

Facilitator: Rev. Marsha Mitchiner
Musician: Mick Kinney

“Does Marriage Make a Difference?”

Facilitator: Sara Drew
Musician: Craig Rafuse

“The Parable of Grandmother Laura”

The story of my grandmother Laura during the Holocaust and what I have learned from her act of obstinate courage and love.

Facilitator: Charlene Ball
Musician: William Chelton

“Imani Rituals: African Spirituality for Unitarian Universalists”

UU congregations must be culturally pluralistic to become a religious home to all who cross their threshold. Imani (Swahili for “faith”) Rituals, a book that was recently published by Skinner House, coauthored by Dr. Tony Stringer, Ayanna Kafi, and Rev. Duncan Teague, centers the African American experience and the African Diaspora as the inspiration for rituals to enrich religious and spiritual life for UUs  Dr. Tony and Rev. Duncan will discuss what motivated them to write this book and how it can enrich your UU religious life.

Facilitator: Cindy Lou Who
Musician: Craig Rafuse

“Founder’s Day: Learning from Lanier”

Four congregation members, Rev. Marsha Mitchiner, Jean Heinrich, Bill Laney, and Bill Read, tell us what they learned from Rev. Lanier Clance.

Facilitator: Rev. Marsha Mitchiner
Musician: Jean Heinrich and Shanti Price (Magic Flute)

“Lesson #1 from My Time in Prison”

One of the most challenging and impactful experiences of my life so far was serving as an intern chaplain at the Arrendale Women’s Prison in Alto, Georgia in the fall of 2019 until Covid hit in 2020. In a place where so much of our societal pain and suffering converge – where there is so much work to be done within and outside the walls – my first and biggest lesson was a paradoxical epiphany.

Facilitator: Roelf Slopsema
Musician: Charli Vogt