Fall Worship Service Celebrates "The Bounty Within"
In a worship service that combined the gifts of the individual with the strengths of the community, Skyland Trail clients, alumni, family, staff and friends gathered November 20th for the annual Fall Worship Service and Alumni Celebration.
Led by Pastoral Counselor Rev. Adam Garner, MDiv, LAPC, with help from Pastoral Counseling Interns Sarah Watson and Julianna Jones, the service focused on "The Bounty Within." This communicates the seasonal themes of external harvest while connecting it to the archetypal concepts of personal tragedy and gratefulness, says Garner. "The Bounty Within" was also chosen because of its potential to translate beyond the physical/concrete meaning of bounty to the emotional and spiritual understanding of what it means to have something of worth to offer to one's community.
In celebration of the season, guests were asked to bring food items to give to the less fortunate. Those items were collected during the service and placed in a mandala, which is Sanskrit for circle and represents the community. The mandala this year was created using items representative of fall, and also helped represent the theme of "The Bounty Within."
"The worship service was a beautiful snapshot of how the community at Skyland Trail operates to support one another," says Garner. "It was a joy seeing so many clients, families, alumni, staff and supporters participate in intentional community through the worship service and then celebrating our many alumni. I feel very fortunate to be a part of such a community of healing and hope."
Following the service was the Alumni Celebration, which featured testimonials from Skyland Trail graduates. Lynn F. was one of several former clients who shared updates and encouraging words.
"My hope in sharing my story with you today is that I am an example of a person living with a mental illness, holding a full-time job with a private math tutoring business - with one psychiatrist and two therapist and AA meetings," Lynn says. "It is because of the friends I have made at Skyland, the tools they taught me and my incredible treatment team that I now stay on my medication and risk being in relationships with people, again. Skyland Trail truly offered me hope and changed my life forever."
Music Therapist Glenn Weinstein worked with clients to provide music for both events. The service featured group singing and a solo, and the alumni celebration showcased a drum performance as well as a song, "Schizophrenic Blues," written by a Skyland Trail client. Adjunctive Therapies Coordinator Shelley Danser, Recreation Therapist/LEAP Coordinator LaShandra Miller and Art Therapists Susie Sherrill and Helen Goldberg also helped organize the event.
