Date
27/12/2025
Time
10:00 am - 12:30 pm
Location
Harmony in Diversity Gallery (HDG) seminar room
Ministry of National Development (MND) Building Annexe B, 7 Maxwell Road, #04-05/06
Singapore
Join us at Secular Assembly!
The Assembly by Humanist Society Singapore is a monthly gathering of humanists, freethinkers, atheists, agnostics and other like-minded people.
This month’s Assembly is held in collaboration with Harmony in Diversity Gallery (HDG). Before the Assembly, there will be a optional 45mins tour of HDG.
Registration is required, please do so at: https://www.eventbrite.sg/e/secular-assembly-a-non-religious-christmas-celebration-of-winter-solstice-tickets-1976281224342
Schedule of Assembly on 27 Dec 2025 (Sat)
- 10:00-10:45am: optional HDG gallery tour. Please arrive 10mins early to find your way to the gallery, instructions below.
- 10:30-11:00am: we invite participants not attending the HDG gallery tour to bring their books to our open library / book exchange outside the seminar room and mingle.
- 11:00am – 12:30pm: Assembly session. Please arrive early for registration
- 12:30pm: End of Assembly, optional lunch (out of pocket) at Lau Pa Sat. Follow our Telegram channel to see where we sit.
Topic of the month: Embracing Your Protagonism
As the year draws to a close, communities around the world turn to story, symbolism, and shared traditions to make sense of the year gone by. For freethinkers and the non-religious, the Winter Solstice and secular Christmas season offer a meaningful moment to gather, reflect, and reconnect. At this December Secular Assembly, we explore how narratives—ancient, modern, festive, or personal—shape the way we see ourselves and our place in a complex world. In a warm and welcoming community setting, we celebrate the light returning after the longest night, and the human capacity to create meaning through reason, compassion, and imagination.
In Embracing Your Protagonism, Melvin Lim, President of the Society, invites us to consider: if life were a game, what kind of lead character would you be? Drawing on storytelling traditions, year-end mythologies, and even lessons from narrative games, Melvin will guide us through practical ways to understand our strengths, “buffs,” and “debuffs,” and how to take intentional steps toward becoming the protagonist in our own stories. Join us for an uplifting morning of reflection, music, and humanistic community as we close the year together and look ahead with renewed agency and purpose.
Assembly brief
In the 1 hour, there will be: short sing alongs, a short talk, sharing of personal stories, moments for reflection and gratitude, and more.
Light refreshments (packet drinks) will be provided. Assembly will start on time, please arrive 10-15mins early.
Speaker and topic will be shared a week before each assembly, sign up and block your calendar early!
Assembly participants singing and dancing to Singalongs, Sep 2024
Assembly background
A typical Assembly program consists of (in no particular order) and lasts about 1 hour:
- Songs – pop songs, or even songs of religious origin if they are lovely to listen and sing to
- Speakers– on science, history, or current affairs to get you thinking and discussions going
- Reading – This could be a poem or other short piece, related to the talk or not
- Doing Your Best – Someone shares a personal story about something going on in their life. It could be something they have been grappling with, striving at, succeeded with, failed but learned from, or are involved with that’s worth sharing. It’s about reminding each other that we’re all trying the best we can.
- Moment of Reflection – Invite the group to do a short reflection e.g. 2 minutes.
- Life Happens – Invite the group to share highs and lows in their life.
- Gratitude – Invite the group to express gratitude to their loved ones and others in life
- Announcements
Collaboration with Harmony in Diversity Gallery (HDG)
The Harmony in Diversity Gallery (HDG) was developed by the Ministry of Home Affairs in collaboration with community partners and organisations like the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO). The Gallery aims to promote an appreciation of Singapore’s rich religious diversity. It hopes this will foster a spirit of give and take, mutual respect and understanding, necessary to nurture and strengthen the religious peace and harmony we enjoy today [in Singapore].
Photo of Assembly participants taking part in the HDG gallery tour, Sep 2024
HDG Seminar Room
HDG gallery
Directions to HDG
HDG is located at MND Building Annex B, Maxwell Road. It is on the 4th level above Amoy Street Food Centre. You can:-
(i) take MRT to Tanjong Pagar MRT Station (Exit G )and 5 minute walk towards Amoy Street Food Centre, access HDG at the 4th floor via lift A or B on the ground floor of Amoy Street Food Centre
(ii) take MRT to Maxwell MRT Station (Exit 2) and 10 minute walk along Maxwell Road towards Singapore City Gallery towards Amoy Street Food Centre and access HDG via lift A or B on the ground floor of Amoy Street Food Centre
(iii) take MRT to Telok Ayer MRT Station, (Exit A) and 10 minute walk towards Amoy Street Food Centre, access HDG at the 4th floor via lift C at the other end on the ground floor of the Amoy Street Food Centre where the AXS/ATM machines are located
(iv) self-drive and public parking is available at URA Centre East Wing via Kadayanallur Street or MND Complex Annex A car park. MND’s car park can be accessed from Maxwell Road and is located on the same level as HDG
(v) alight at Amoy Food Centre (proceed to lift A and B or lift C ) or at MND Carpark if they are arriving by taxi/Grab
Registration
Participants must register and receive confirmation to attend the event. https://www.eventbrite.sg/e/secular-assembly-a-non-religious-christmas-celebration-of-winter-solstice-tickets-1976281224342
