Christmas Eve Service
We will use Christian Christmas themes and the birth narrative to talk about the possibility and potential of a child being born and a new generation.
Stephen Robinson is originally from Carrollton, Georgia and has lived in Columbia, SC since 2004. He is the Clinical Pastoral Education Program Manager for Prisma Health Midlands and Chaplaincy Manager for Prisma Health Hospice and Community. Stephen has been an ACPE Certified Educator since 2008, and an ordained minister since 1994. He earned a B.A. in English from the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, GA and his M. Div. from the McAfee School of Theology of Mercer University in Atlanta, GA. He is an ordained minister and a chaplain endorsed by the Humanist Society of the American Humanist Association.
We will use Christian Christmas themes and the birth narrative to talk about the possibility and potential of a child being born and a new generation.
We’ll be using the poem “Gate A-4” by Naomi Shihab Nye to talk about not waiting for hope but answering the call to be hope. Advent and Hanukkah tend to look externally for hope and we shall strive to find ways to embody it.
We will explore the teachings of the Haudenosaunee federation, with a particular emphasis on their spirituality of gratitude.
We will recognize the Indian holiday of Diwali, the Festival of Lights. Diwali is a celebration of the hope of good overcoming evil, and we will talk about ways to avoid despair and cling to hope.
We will celebrate our Day of the Dead by remembering loved ones who have died. You will have a chance to celebrate their lives and honor their memory in a special ceremony of remembrance. You are also welcome to bring a photograph or some other … read more.
In honor of Yom Kippur, we shall be focusing on a theme of forgiveness. How to give it to yourself, and how to offer it and receive it from others.