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. Marsha speaks once each quarter, and helps smooth the functioning of the Congregation innumerable times in between.
“Connection and Choice: Ask yourself, ‘Does it Dance?‘”
“Does it dance? Does it affirm life here and now?”(from Friedrich Nietzsche cited in article by Kimerer LaMothe,www.bigthink.com, April 15, 2021)
Consider ‘connection and choice’ as a privilege, for sometimes we have freedom to choosewhere and when we will connect and, sometimes we do not. Even so, freedom remains tomake a choice about “how,” a choice about our values, thoughts, attitudes, and guidepostquestions. We do have freedom to choose how to respond to circumstances and thatfreedom needs to be nourished. Please join my considerations and, a lovely question toguide one’s choices, “Does it dance?”
Dr. Jean Heinrich, longtime member of the First Existentialist Congregation, is a moving human being, musician, licensed clinical psychologist, sometimes philosopher and dancer.
Kate is an ordained UCC minister, yoga teacher, writer and speaker. Six years ago, she moved from her beloved Atlanta community of 32 years to live closer to her 96 year-old mother in Ohio.
Always an avid dancer, she’s resumed international folk dancing in Columbus and is a docent at the Columbus Museum of Art. She has missed all of you and looks forward to (virtually) sharing her reflections on life these days with you soon.
Shelby Smith is an existentialist pagan who likes reading fiction, being in gardens (and occasionally gardening), riding her bike and hanging out with her family. In non-pandemic times, she’s been known to frequent thrift shops and enjoy a beer at the local watering hole. For now, she’s working at home in her daytime job at Emory University and her all-the-other-times job as a mom.
Pandemic isolation has had a deep impact on mental health and community dynamics. How can weshow up with authenticity – virtually and in person — as we continue to exercise caution due toCOVID-19. Rev. Erin Walter will reflect on spiritual resources for mental health and our calling tocommunity care, drawing inspiration from music, Mr. Rogers, and more.
Rev. Erin J. Walter (she/her/hers) is a minister, activist, and musician based in Austin and winner of the 2017 Sermon Award from the UU Women’s Federation. A former YMCA director, Rev. Erin is the singer/songwriter for band Parker Woodland, whose music you’ll hear in this service. She serves as a board member for the Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry and the Affiliated Community Minister of Wildflower (Unitarian Universalist) Church in Austin. You can find more about her music and ministry at ErinWalter.com.
“The Journey to Heal My Community – Dishwasher to Doctor: Healing Hearts,Inspiring Minds & Changing Communities”
Dr. Heval Kelli
As a young Syrian Kurdish refugee washing dishes in a restaurant to support his family, Heval Kelli could not know that many years later he would be a distinguished fellow in cardiology at a university less than one mile from where his journey in the United States began. Facing a steep language learning curve, a monthly rent payment, and mountains of dirty dishes, Heval knew things could be much worse. He and his family fled persecution in Syria where his father was beaten and imprisoned by the police.
As members of the Kurdish minority, the family had few choices and paid a smuggler to get them out. His family arrived in Germany in 1996 and lived in refugee camps until 2001. A circuitous route of migration finally brought them to the United States two weeks after 9/11 where they were assisted by members of All Saints’ Episcopal Church in their adjustment and resettlement in Clarkston, Georgia. Through a network of caring community members, Heval was introduced to Dr. Omar Lattouf, an Emory cardiothoracic surgeon who took an interest in mentoring him through his undergraduate pre-med work at Georgia State University and his admission to Morehouse School of Medicine where he graduated cum laude and was selected by his classmates to receive the “Most Inspiring Person” award. He finished his internal medicine residency training at Emory University, earning recognition as resident of the year as well as honorable distinctions in social and in-patient medicine. Dr. Kelli was awarded the Katz Foundation Fellowship in Preventive Cardiology at Emory University where he completed his cardiology fellowship in 2020. Dr. Kelli and his wife Dr. Abdullah are among the first Kurdish American cardiologists in the United States.
“Finding Justice in an Unjust System: The Beverly Dowling Story.”
“I’m thinking through a new book on kidnapping and slavery, and I’ve found someinteresting stories, some of which rather defy our expectations about the nineteenthcentury.”
Dr. Robert Baker
H. Robert Baker is Associate Professor of History at Georgia State University and is the author of Prigg v. Pennsylvania: Slavery, the Supreme Court, and the AmbivalentConstitution (2012) and The Rescue of Joshua Glover: A Fugitive Slave, the Constitution,and the Coming of the Civil War (2006). His scholarly articles have appeared in the Lawand History Review, Common-Place, and the Journal of Supreme Court History. He holds a Ph.D. in History from UCLA, where he studied with Joyce Appleby. He has received a Fulbright Fellowship and has also been a fellow at the Institute for Constitutional Studies. He also writes about wine, law, and contemporary culture for the blog Tropics of Meta.
“We Begin, Again, in Love: Renewal, Resurrection, and the 7th Principle”
Rev. DiAnna Ritola
In the past several years many UU congregations have begun honoring the Jewish HighHoly Days each autumn with the responsive reading “We forgive ourselves and each otherand begin again in love,” from A Litany of Atonement, written by UU minister Rev. RobEller-Isaacs. These holy days occur near the fall equinox, which is the time when the darkhours of the day begin to surpass the light hours here in the Northern Hemisphere. As wejoin together on this Easter Day, it feels fitting that we honor spring’s longer day-lighthours with a reminder to renew our commitment to love and healing, to begin the resurrection of the growing season with reconnecting to the Earth and the web of life that surrounds us. We are not separate from the Earth, and we are called to connect with all lifein service, love, and a commitment to mutual well-being.
Rev. DiAnna Ritola is an Interfaith Minister and a Dianic Wiccan priestess. Her community-based ministry centers on spiritual counseling for trauma, intimate relationships, and sexuality along with rituals to honor life events and passages. DiAnna lives in NYC with her wife, Michele, two dogs (Brigid and Finnbar) and a cat (Lilith), and is doing her best to transform her small yard into a food and flower oasis. In May 2020, she published her first book Mismatched Luggage: Unpacking Your Sexual Baggage for Your Spiritual Journey. Her website is www.DiAnnaRitola.com
“To Tell the Truth:A celebration of Women’s History Month”
Kathie deNobriga
A founding member of Alternate ROOTS, a service organization for community-based artists in the South, deNobriga served as ROOTS’ executive director and planning/development director for ten years. She continues to serve on the board, working on various committees as needed, and sharing the institutional memory of 40 years of continuous membership.
Raised in Kingsport TN, deNobriga holds an M.A. in Theatre (Directing) from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC, and a B.A. with honors in Speech Communications and Theatre Arts. Her early employment included directing and managing community theatres in Smithfield and Sanford, NC and performing with The Road Company, a professional ensemble in Johnson City, TN. DeNobriga was a Visiting Artist for two years for the NC Arts Council, and a Fellow in the Rockefeller Foundation’s Next Generation Leadership program and in the Rockwood Leadership Institute.
She is now a consultant, specializing in strategic planning, building organizational capacity, designing staff/board retreats and guiding creative conflict engagement. She trained as a mediator at the Atlanta Justice Center and is a board member for Arts & Democracy and Alternate ROOTS. She served two terms as Councilmember and one as Mayor for the City of Pine Lake, where she lives with her wife Alice Teeter, published poet and bon vivant.
