Welcome to the 2026-2027 service year at Chequamegon Unitarian Universalist Fellowship! CUUF currently gathers differently in the summer, and I wanted to dedicate this column to sharing reflections from the impactful summer services.
June 7: Our Congregational Life Consultant from the Unitarian Universalist Association, QuianaDenae Perkins, shared two days with the fellowship helping to facilitate activities and discussions about where CUUF came from and where we are going. Given feedback that only meeting twice per month made building community difficult, QuianaDenae asked if we thought we could add one more service or program each month which didn’t add staff time to help build community. This has turned into the new pilot of adding a lay-led contemplative service on the 3rd Sunday of each month. QuianaDenae also shared her message, “Running on Faith.” The children’s book she shared has become one of my favorites: Her Fearless Run:Kathrine Switzer’s Historic Boston Marathon by Kim Chaffee (Author), Ellen Rooney (Illustrator).
July 19: Together with the UU Fellowships in Houghton, MI, Marquette, MI, and Thunder Bay, Ontario, Chequamegon UU Fellowship had a Lake Superior Day service. Each fellowship shared a part of the service. It was so well received there’s interest in making this an annual event. One unexpected outcome was hearing from our UU kin in Thunder Bay, Ontario about how healing the service was for them after all of the harmful policies and rhetoric against Canada which has come from the U.S. As we explored and celebrated the water that connects us and the shared values which sustain us, Lake Superior Day was truly a blessing for us all.
August 9: In partnership with the League of Women Voters of Ashland and Bayfield Counties, the We the People All Poetry Service was well attended and powerful. A celebration of life was held for the Voting Rights Act, complete with an obituary, eulogy, and cremation. We envisioned a new Voting Rights Act in Wisconsin with transparency, fairness, and common sense to decrease barriers to voting. Below is one of the readings shared at the service:
My Symphony by William Henry Channing (1780–1842), Unitarian Minister
To live content with small means.
To seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion.
To be worthy not respectable,
and wealthy not rich.
To study hard, think quietly, talk gently,
act frankly, to listen to stars, birds, babes,
and sages with open heart, to bear all cheerfully,
do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never.
In a word, to let the spiritual,
unbidden and unconscious,
grow up through the common.
This is to be my symphony.
I’m looking forward to gathering together again in September to continue to ground ourselves in the common good in this unique and beautiful place we call home.
In fellowship,
Rev. Stacy Craig