Our Minister's Reflections
Reflections From Stacy Craig’s Desk
Thank You!
Thank You to the Chequamegon Unitarian Universalist Fellowship for conferring me into Unitarian Universalist ministry and providing a service of ordination celebration. Below is the chalice reading I wrote and shared at the end of the service:
When I say go in peace,
I mean the kind that starts in us.
The intentional cultivation of awareness
that suffering and harm happens.
Yet we can control our response: standing up to injustice, replying with kindness, even having happiness.
The peace that is hard work
and worth working for.
When I say go in care,
I mean that we don’t have to hide
our imperfections, we witness,
accompany, and comfort through struggles; amplify blessings and celebrations
as the interconnected web that we are
and that is cared for by us all.
When I say, go in love,
I mean the ultimate reality
of being as beloved. I mean the love
that cannot be destroyed. I mean the love that lives inside me and you and is all around if we just let it shine.
Go in Peace. Go in Care. Go in Love.
In Gratitude, Rev. Stacy Craig
Being Saved
We had lost two dogs in as many years. Life was chaotic with work and school, and the travel each required. The last thing I wanted was a new dog, but Alan was committed. He spent time with the litter and shared pictures of his pick, Ringo. “He’s the one who snuggles the most,” Alan explained his decision. The high energy puppy who came to live with us brought a special gift. He is an intuitive healer who has made me his special project of care.
There are many examples of Ringo’s healing nature. Once I sprained my ankle and Ringo slid into the space between my leg and pillow to help prop it up. He has never done this again, despite me kicking up my feet from time to time. The day he got in my face and began sniffing my eyes, my nose, and my sinuses I had just started feeling a little ‘off’. Ringo was acting so concerned I took a COVID test. It was positive. His early warning prevented me from spreading it to others. A final example is when I had panic attacks. He laid his chin on my leg and just stayed there, no matter how long it lasted. He channeled some kind of calm that he doesn’t exhibit any other time of his life, and this became my most effective treatment.
I can say without irony that Ringo saved me. He helped the pieces of my heart restitch together after they had been shattered by a trifecta of life events. I’ve recently stumbled upon several movies that have a similar message, and this has caused me to reflect on my relationship with Ringo and to also consider what it means to be saved.
The short clip called “The Three-Legged Dog that Saved My Life” shares the story of Marne, who was in a traumatic car accident. He adopted Tripod, a dog who had a leg amputated after a different car accident. Marne had been suffering from panic attacks and depression after his accident, and no therapies had helped. He reflected, “I was broken and he was broken” when he and Tripod got together. He credits Tripod with teaching how to love, how to show emotion, and how to be forgiving. He called Tripod a miracle, an angel, and reflected that when he realized Tripod’s presence in his life “transcends all human understanding,” that he had peace for the first time in his life. The documentary Wildcat tells the story of an English army veteran suffering from extreme PTSD and depression. He works on a wildlife rehabilitation project in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest where he fosters an orphaned ocelot. Early in the film, he remarks, “I am saving him while he is saving me.”
Salvation is the deliverance from harm. In my Christian upbringing, I was taught salvation comes through faith in Jesus where one is delivered from sin. In my own life and in the stories I’ve mentioned, people were in need of saving, but not because they had done something wrong or because of sinful nature. Life had dealt anguish, as it does to so many, and in that anguish, a different kind of savior appeared. They shared unconditional love, walked alongside, became teachers, and provided healing. Some call them angels. I realize some may find this use of being saved sacrilegious, but I’m not proposing any kind of conclusion about salvation. I’m just relating these experiences, lifting them up as a place to find wonder and gratitude, for salvation that comes in different ways.
May you take time today to say thank you for all that loves you back together when things fall apart.
Dear New Year,
I greet you with gratitude for peach freezer
jam and bright sweet moments the whole winter long.
I greet you with hope that this is the year we address climate change with humanity’s gifts of consciousness and kindness extended to strangers yet to be born.
I greet you with love for the soul home I’ve found at this fellowship and the work we do together.
—Stacy Craig
Creating Harmony
I recently read about how habits help us to live happier, more productive lives because whole segments of our lives don’t have to be thought out. If every morning we get up and have the exact same routine, there may be hours before the taxing and vexing decision-making processes and ever present ‘this is good for me but I don’t feel like doing it’ battles get waged in brains. This idea resonated with me because before the pandemic, I had routines. During the pandemic, I created new routines. Right now, the only thing routine is that there is no routine. Things aren’t ‘back to normal’ but they are still different from a year ago.
What I’ve figured out is that it is not balance I’m needing, but harmony. Balance is giving up one thing for another, while harmony is having all of the things work together.
How do we find harmony? Start with reflecting on values and, once those are clear, consider how your life is actualizing those values. Begin to trim the things that don’t, add the things that do, and imagine or tell the story to yourself about the life you want to live. As we move into a time of year when the night far outlasts the day, when the call to quiet contemplative evenings is interrupted by the continuous advertising and pressure to save-big-buy-it-all-repeat-repeat!, may you find some simple routines that bring meaning and harmony to your days. If you want to quadruple the impact, have a routine of reaching out to someone every day with a card, call, or text reminding them you care or asking how they are doing. Whatever it includes, may harmony become your new routine.
In peace, Stacy Craig
Doubling Down On Hope
There is a communal clergy thread right now processing a faith response to the active shooter hoax that put the Ashland schools and hospital into lockdown on October 20. Know that if you were terrorized or traumatized by this day, you are not alone. There were at least three communities, including Ashland, which were targeted on this one day alone.
Here and elsewhere, people are asking why would someone do this? While answers are scarce, we know that people who sow fear often do so to create mistrust and division. They know the power of hope and kinship and work to find the most terrifying way to dampen these down. It could be someone who believes that if people stop believing in hope, they will be apathetic and won’t vote or join movements to make change.
So, I am doubling down on hope and resisting the narrative that says that schools and hospitals in lockdown are part of a normal reality. While there isn’t a communal event planned at this time, area clergy are holding space in their congregations and fellowships, acknowledging this happened, naming the anxiety and terrors it evokes, and taking time to name all those who work hard, day in and day out, to keep communities safe and well.
Please know that if you would like to meet for prayer or processing I am available. As we explored at the All-Poetry Service this year, peace is not the absence of violence, but a very precious and hard-earned outcome of being in community together, of staying in communication, and acting with compassion.
In peace, in hope, in solidarity, Stacy
Autumn Greetings to You!
As colors of autumn appear, I am reminded that change can be beautiful. Even change that includes discomfort and loss, that ushers in a new season of longer nights and colder mornings, may bring gifts and perspective. Letting go can be gentle, like a falling leaf that becomes the hummus for new growth to spring from.
As we gathered back on the campus of Northland College for the first time in two years, I felt very emotional. There’s been so much change. Thank you to all those who innovated and adapted, stored equipment at their homes and in their cars, and gave and gave again to see this fellowship through to this point when we begin living into the hope that we shared that someday we would be able to gather in person again on the campus of Northland College.
Over the summer, the CUUF Board finalized a new Memorandum of Understanding to hold services on campus for the foreseeable future. Worship services will be both online and in person in the Alvord Theater. We gather with an awareness that COVID-19, while still in our midst, no longer poses the same life-threatening risks to large group gatherings. At each service, you’ll be asked to sign in for contact tracing in the event that a significant exposure occurs. We will follow our regional data and when cases are low or medium services will include singing and hospitality and masks will be optional. If regional cases are high or very high, we will adapt services, such as asking everyone to mask, adapting congregational singing, and encouraging social distancing.
As the liminality of the fall season continues to unfold, may your slippers be warm, may your tea bring comfort, and may the changes we’ve experienced sink in and be sources of new growth.
In peace and fellowship,
Stacy Craig
Each year, it feels summer goes too fast. Then the last two weeks of August arrive, and time for another swim, another visitor, another picnic, and all those fresh veggies at farmer’s markets—and, it’s not too much, not too little; it’s just enough. As the Chequamegon Unitarian Universalist Fellowship enters its annual cycle of services, which begins with a communion with water in September and concludes in a celebration of flowers in May, I look forward to re-gathering with you all in the coming season!
Over the summer, I worked on deepening into Unitarian Universalist history and polity (organizational structure and governance). From religious tolerance in Transylvania to the Transcendental movement to movement building today, there are a lot of stories that can guide and inspire, so some of these themes may show up in messages I share. Also, for the past year, your CUUF Worship Committee has been working to engage speakers and topics related to disability justice. This movement promotes the ways our unique bodies are part of expressions of diversity and brings awareness to the often-unconscious bias referred to as ableism. This is where able bodies are perceived as good and disabled are seen as lesser. As I’ve learned more about the disability justice movement, I’ve been reflecting on how the physical spaces where we gather, the songs and liturgy we use, and the philosophies we express contribute to or deter from creating beloved space for the diversity of our embodied existence. If you have feedback, ideas, or concerns related to accessibility in any way, please reach out to me or your CUUF Board members.
I have completed the final requirements for UU Fellowship—the UU equivalent for ordination—and I will present to their panel on September 30. Positive thoughts and prayers appreciated on that day! After wrapping up my work with Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Duluth in May, I learned that another UU community on the shores of Lake Superior was looking for ministry support. It all fell into place and for the coming year, I’ll continue as half-time minister of our fellowship and begin as a quarter-time minister for the Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. There will be some opportunities to learn with and from this fellowship in similar ways as we did with Duluth last year. I spend the first weekend of each month in Houghton and am looking forward to continuing to connect and explore watershed ministry.
As we sang at the All-Poetry Service in August:
Deep peace of the rolling waves to you, deep peace of the shining stars.
Deep peace of the blowing air to you, deep peace of the quiet earth.
In community, Stacy Craig
Thank You!
Thank you.
Thank you for an amazing 2021-2022 service year. We started again on the shores of Long Lake, sharing stories of connections to water. Our services moved up and down the shore of Chequamegon Bay, going virtual as needed, ending at The Club in Washburn for the Annual Flower Service. It was an adventure, to say the least. Over seventy-five volunteers helped create the worship services and special events over the year. I can’t even fathom a guess at the number of hours they contributed. It wasn’t perfect. But it was full of heart, which makes it better than perfect. It took care and thoughtfulness, innovation and a bit of grit. It was, at times, exhausting for many, while also growing conviction and generosity. What is this fellowship we create together? In times that seem impossible even to get by, the Chequamegon Unitarian Universalist Fellowship shows signs of thriving. Thank you. It is truly something remarkable to witness and be a part of.
This summer is a time when committees take a break or begin planning for the year to come. We’ll have simpler services once per month along with small group gatherings. Summer is also a time when I meet with individuals or families to get to know your interests and hopes for the fellowship, along with any joys or concerns you may want to share. If you would like to get together for a visit, don’t hesitate to reach out.
At the end of May my supervised ministry internship with UU Congregation of Duluth is complete. Instead of working a second position, I’ll be using June and July to complete the final requirements for the UU’s Ministerial Formation Committee, which includes writing several essays, reports, and finishing the required reading list (22 more books to go!). I present to the committee in late September for Full Fellowship in Unitarian Universalist ministry.
This summer I feel a deep calling to be present in the moment. These past few years and the potential for the future of our world are too complicated to attach to. One breath at a time…one day at a time… in fellowship with you all. Sounds like a recipe for satisfaction, no matter what comes.
In peace and gratitude,
Stacy Craig
April 2022
In early March, I received a belated graduation gift from my family: a trip to Snow Lodge in Yellowstone National Park. I honestly had no idea what I was getting into.
Yellowstone is approximately 60 miles long by 50 miles wide, or almost 3500 square miles. And in winter, the road is only plowed to Mammoth Hot Springs, located just inside the park’s north entrance. To go further, one goes on skis, snowmobiles, or takes a snowcoach—a converted bus for driving on snow. There are limited trips in and out each day, meaning if you get to the only open site in the interior, Snow Lodge near the Old Faithful Inn, you are one of a few hundred people in this entire expanse.
So there I was, on the Yellowstone Caldera, in winter, with my geyser-a-holic mother. There was no crowd, no traffic, no noise. It was just us in this apocalyptic-like scenery, where formations of all kinds hiss, gurgle, and erupt to let heat and water out of the earth. We adventured to features under the stars to use the senses of smell and hearing to get to know different formations. My favorite was red spouter, a mudpot that sounded like the ocean. One morning we hiked to Morning Glory hot spring and found that the slanted morning light hits the walls of the pool so one can see translucent blue far below the surface. We also learned that morning how quickly one could become trapped in the middle of a bison herd on the move. On a ski to Lonestar Geyser, I saw a pine marten eat a mouse beside me on the trail. My blisters and bruised toes are almost healed, but the memories of wildness and wonder, and especially of earth’s formations under the big night sky, are still vibrant.
We happened to be there on the 150th anniversary of the park. It was a poignant reminder of the impact of what we are capable of when we lead while looking beyond our own time. It’s something I’m holding close as Earth Day approaches. I’ve had the privilege of working with UU Ministry for the Earth for the past few years, and I sat in on their Earth Day service planning meeting this week. As part of their theme—Spring for Change: A Season for Sacred Activism—they are providing a free virtual worship service on Earth Day, Friday April 22, at 11 a.m. The service includes a commissioned hymn and the composer shared that she believed in Pete Seeger’s statement that the right song at the right time can change history. She is putting that energy into developing the song. You can learn more about the service and sign up to view it at:
https://www.uumfe.org/resources/spring-for-change-2022/worship/
In spending time in the raw power of earth’s formations and working with UU Ministry for Earth and the UU at the UN Intergenerational Spring Seminar, I’ve never been more aware of the implications of a warming planet. And although it will take all of us, I’ve never been more hopeful that we can weather the storms of climate change and shift into a community that believes in safeguarding the future earth that generations will inherit in 150 years. I have been to one of those promised lands, and it is good.
In peace, Stacy Craig
March Is Upon Us
March is the month when we celebrate New Member Sunday, offer Get to Know UU sessions, and hold the ritual of signing the collective book at the New Member Service, this year on March 27. If you are exploring CUUF as a spiritual home or want to deepen your relationship with the fellowship, please take a look at the article Pathways to Belonging in this newsletter. In the words of Thich Nhat Hahn, “The larger your beloved community, the more you can accomplish in the world.”
We will be returning to in-person worship in March. Services will be at The Club in Washburn and will also be live-streamed online. Please don’t feel obligated to come in person. If you are not ready to be back in person, or if your health prevents this, we will do our best to provide a high quality and interactive live stream experience as well. We tentatively plan to use this format and location through the end of the service year in May. We will be innovating along the way to keep learning and improving the worship experience for everyone.
March is usually when the sap begins to run, when the black bears birth cubs deep in the den, and the first hues of mud season begin their brown displays. It is when we celebrate National Day of Unplugging (March 2), International Women’s Day (March 8), World Water Day (March 22), and International Transgender Day of Visibility (March 31). It is also the start of the Sacred Season of Activism through UU Ministry for Earth—see uumfe.org for more information.
Wherever this month finds you, with whatever hopes, dreams, or aspirations, remember to go slowly, stay connected, and take it one breath at a time.
In peace,
Thank You!
Thank You to the Chequamegon Unitarian Universalist Fellowship for conferring me into Unitarian Universalist ministry and providing a service of ordination celebration. Below is the chalice reading I wrote and shared at the end of the service:
When I say go in peace,
I mean the kind that starts in us.
The intentional cultivation of awareness
that suffering and harm happens.
Yet we can control our response: standing up to injustice, replying with kindness, even having happiness.
The peace that is hard work
and worth working for.
When I say go in care,
I mean that we don’t have to hide
our imperfections, we witness,
accompany, and comfort through struggles; amplify blessings and celebrations
as the interconnected web that we are
and that is cared for by us all.
When I say, go in love,
I mean the ultimate reality
of being as beloved. I mean the love
that cannot be destroyed. I mean the love that lives inside me and you and is all around if we just let it shine.
Go in Peace. Go in Care. Go in Love.
In Gratitude, Rev. Stacy Craig
Being Saved
We had lost two dogs in as many years. Life was chaotic with work and school, and the travel each required. The last thing I wanted was a new dog, but Alan was committed. He spent time with the litter and shared pictures of his pick, Ringo. “He’s the one who snuggles the most,” Alan explained his decision. The high energy puppy who came to live with us brought a special gift. He is an intuitive healer who has made me his special project of care.
There are many examples of Ringo’s healing nature. Once I sprained my ankle and Ringo slid into the space between my leg and pillow to help prop it up. He has never done this again, despite me kicking up my feet from time to time. The day he got in my face and began sniffing my eyes, my nose, and my sinuses I had just started feeling a little ‘off’. Ringo was acting so concerned I took a COVID test. It was positive. His early warning prevented me from spreading it to others. A final example is when I had panic attacks. He laid his chin on my leg and just stayed there, no matter how long it lasted. He channeled some kind of calm that he doesn’t exhibit any other time of his life, and this became my most effective treatment.
I can say without irony that Ringo saved me. He helped the pieces of my heart restitch together after they had been shattered by a trifecta of life events. I’ve recently stumbled upon several movies that have a similar message, and this has caused me to reflect on my relationship with Ringo and to also consider what it means to be saved.
The short clip called “The Three-Legged Dog that Saved My Life” shares the story of Marne, who was in a traumatic car accident. He adopted Tripod, a dog who had a leg amputated after a different car accident. Marne had been suffering from panic attacks and depression after his accident, and no therapies had helped. He reflected, “I was broken and he was broken” when he and Tripod got together. He credits Tripod with teaching how to love, how to show emotion, and how to be forgiving. He called Tripod a miracle, an angel, and reflected that when he realized Tripod’s presence in his life “transcends all human understanding,” that he had peace for the first time in his life. The documentary Wildcat tells the story of an English army veteran suffering from extreme PTSD and depression. He works on a wildlife rehabilitation project in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest where he fosters an orphaned ocelot. Early in the film, he remarks, “I am saving him while he is saving me.”
Salvation is the deliverance from harm. In my Christian upbringing, I was taught salvation comes through faith in Jesus where one is delivered from sin. In my own life and in the stories I’ve mentioned, people were in need of saving, but not because they had done something wrong or because of sinful nature. Life had dealt anguish, as it does to so many, and in that anguish, a different kind of savior appeared. They shared unconditional love, walked alongside, became teachers, and provided healing. Some call them angels. I realize some may find this use of being saved sacrilegious, but I’m not proposing any kind of conclusion about salvation. I’m just relating these experiences, lifting them up as a place to find wonder and gratitude, for salvation that comes in different ways.
May you take time today to say thank you for all that loves you back together when things fall apart.
Dear New Year,
I greet you with gratitude for peach freezer
jam and bright sweet moments the whole winter long.
I greet you with hope that this is the year we address climate change with humanity’s gifts of consciousness and kindness extended to strangers yet to be born.
I greet you with love for the soul home I’ve found at this fellowship and the work we do together.
—Stacy Craig
Creating Harmony
I recently read about how habits help us to live happier, more productive lives because whole segments of our lives don’t have to be thought out. If every morning we get up and have the exact same routine, there may be hours before the taxing and vexing decision-making processes and ever present ‘this is good for me but I don’t feel like doing it’ battles get waged in brains. This idea resonated with me because before the pandemic, I had routines. During the pandemic, I created new routines. Right now, the only thing routine is that there is no routine. Things aren’t ‘back to normal’ but they are still different from a year ago.
What I’ve figured out is that it is not balance I’m needing, but harmony. Balance is giving up one thing for another, while harmony is having all of the things work together.
How do we find harmony? Start with reflecting on values and, once those are clear, consider how your life is actualizing those values. Begin to trim the things that don’t, add the things that do, and imagine or tell the story to yourself about the life you want to live. As we move into a time of year when the night far outlasts the day, when the call to quiet contemplative evenings is interrupted by the continuous advertising and pressure to save-big-buy-it-all-repeat-repeat!, may you find some simple routines that bring meaning and harmony to your days. If you want to quadruple the impact, have a routine of reaching out to someone every day with a card, call, or text reminding them you care or asking how they are doing. Whatever it includes, may harmony become your new routine.
In peace, Stacy Craig
Doubling Down On Hope
There is a communal clergy thread right now processing a faith response to the active shooter hoax that put the Ashland schools and hospital into lockdown on October 20. Know that if you were terrorized or traumatized by this day, you are not alone. There were at least three communities, including Ashland, which were targeted on this one day alone.
Here and elsewhere, people are asking why would someone do this? While answers are scarce, we know that people who sow fear often do so to create mistrust and division. They know the power of hope and kinship and work to find the most terrifying way to dampen these down. It could be someone who believes that if people stop believing in hope, they will be apathetic and won’t vote or join movements to make change.
So, I am doubling down on hope and resisting the narrative that says that schools and hospitals in lockdown are part of a normal reality. While there isn’t a communal event planned at this time, area clergy are holding space in their congregations and fellowships, acknowledging this happened, naming the anxiety and terrors it evokes, and taking time to name all those who work hard, day in and day out, to keep communities safe and well.
Please know that if you would like to meet for prayer or processing I am available. As we explored at the All-Poetry Service this year, peace is not the absence of violence, but a very precious and hard-earned outcome of being in community together, of staying in communication, and acting with compassion.
In peace, in hope, in solidarity, Stacy
Autumn Greetings to You!
As colors of autumn appear, I am reminded that change can be beautiful. Even change that includes discomfort and loss, that ushers in a new season of longer nights and colder mornings, may bring gifts and perspective. Letting go can be gentle, like a falling leaf that becomes the hummus for new growth to spring from.
As we gathered back on the campus of Northland College for the first time in two years, I felt very emotional. There’s been so much change. Thank you to all those who innovated and adapted, stored equipment at their homes and in their cars, and gave and gave again to see this fellowship through to this point when we begin living into the hope that we shared that someday we would be able to gather in person again on the campus of Northland College.
Over the summer, the CUUF Board finalized a new Memorandum of Understanding to hold services on campus for the foreseeable future. Worship services will be both online and in person in the Alvord Theater. We gather with an awareness that COVID-19, while still in our midst, no longer poses the same life-threatening risks to large group gatherings. At each service, you’ll be asked to sign in for contact tracing in the event that a significant exposure occurs. We will follow our regional data and when cases are low or medium services will include singing and hospitality and masks will be optional. If regional cases are high or very high, we will adapt services, such as asking everyone to mask, adapting congregational singing, and encouraging social distancing.
As the liminality of the fall season continues to unfold, may your slippers be warm, may your tea bring comfort, and may the changes we’ve experienced sink in and be sources of new growth.
In peace and fellowship,
Stacy Craig
Each year, it feels summer goes too fast. Then the last two weeks of August arrive, and time for another swim, another visitor, another picnic, and all those fresh veggies at farmer’s markets—and, it’s not too much, not too little; it’s just enough. As the Chequamegon Unitarian Universalist Fellowship enters its annual cycle of services, which begins with a communion with water in September and concludes in a celebration of flowers in May, I look forward to re-gathering with you all in the coming season!
Over the summer, I worked on deepening into Unitarian Universalist history and polity (organizational structure and governance). From religious tolerance in Transylvania to the Transcendental movement to movement building today, there are a lot of stories that can guide and inspire, so some of these themes may show up in messages I share. Also, for the past year, your CUUF Worship Committee has been working to engage speakers and topics related to disability justice. This movement promotes the ways our unique bodies are part of expressions of diversity and brings awareness to the often-unconscious bias referred to as ableism. This is where able bodies are perceived as good and disabled are seen as lesser. As I’ve learned more about the disability justice movement, I’ve been reflecting on how the physical spaces where we gather, the songs and liturgy we use, and the philosophies we express contribute to or deter from creating beloved space for the diversity of our embodied existence. If you have feedback, ideas, or concerns related to accessibility in any way, please reach out to me or your CUUF Board members.
I have completed the final requirements for UU Fellowship—the UU equivalent for ordination—and I will present to their panel on September 30. Positive thoughts and prayers appreciated on that day! After wrapping up my work with Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Duluth in May, I learned that another UU community on the shores of Lake Superior was looking for ministry support. It all fell into place and for the coming year, I’ll continue as half-time minister of our fellowship and begin as a quarter-time minister for the Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. There will be some opportunities to learn with and from this fellowship in similar ways as we did with Duluth last year. I spend the first weekend of each month in Houghton and am looking forward to continuing to connect and explore watershed ministry.
As we sang at the All-Poetry Service in August:
Deep peace of the rolling waves to you, deep peace of the shining stars.
Deep peace of the blowing air to you, deep peace of the quiet earth.
In community, Stacy Craig
Thank You!
Thank you.
Thank you for an amazing 2021-2022 service year. We started again on the shores of Long Lake, sharing stories of connections to water. Our services moved up and down the shore of Chequamegon Bay, going virtual as needed, ending at The Club in Washburn for the Annual Flower Service. It was an adventure, to say the least. Over seventy-five volunteers helped create the worship services and special events over the year. I can’t even fathom a guess at the number of hours they contributed. It wasn’t perfect. But it was full of heart, which makes it better than perfect. It took care and thoughtfulness, innovation and a bit of grit. It was, at times, exhausting for many, while also growing conviction and generosity. What is this fellowship we create together? In times that seem impossible even to get by, the Chequamegon Unitarian Universalist Fellowship shows signs of thriving. Thank you. It is truly something remarkable to witness and be a part of.
This summer is a time when committees take a break or begin planning for the year to come. We’ll have simpler services once per month along with small group gatherings. Summer is also a time when I meet with individuals or families to get to know your interests and hopes for the fellowship, along with any joys or concerns you may want to share. If you would like to get together for a visit, don’t hesitate to reach out.
At the end of May my supervised ministry internship with UU Congregation of Duluth is complete. Instead of working a second position, I’ll be using June and July to complete the final requirements for the UU’s Ministerial Formation Committee, which includes writing several essays, reports, and finishing the required reading list (22 more books to go!). I present to the committee in late September for Full Fellowship in Unitarian Universalist ministry.
This summer I feel a deep calling to be present in the moment. These past few years and the potential for the future of our world are too complicated to attach to. One breath at a time…one day at a time… in fellowship with you all. Sounds like a recipe for satisfaction, no matter what comes.
In peace and gratitude,
Stacy Craig
April 2022
In early March, I received a belated graduation gift from my family: a trip to Snow Lodge in Yellowstone National Park. I honestly had no idea what I was getting into.
Yellowstone is approximately 60 miles long by 50 miles wide, or almost 3500 square miles. And in winter, the road is only plowed to Mammoth Hot Springs, located just inside the park’s north entrance. To go further, one goes on skis, snowmobiles, or takes a snowcoach—a converted bus for driving on snow. There are limited trips in and out each day, meaning if you get to the only open site in the interior, Snow Lodge near the Old Faithful Inn, you are one of a few hundred people in this entire expanse.
So there I was, on the Yellowstone Caldera, in winter, with my geyser-a-holic mother. There was no crowd, no traffic, no noise. It was just us in this apocalyptic-like scenery, where formations of all kinds hiss, gurgle, and erupt to let heat and water out of the earth. We adventured to features under the stars to use the senses of smell and hearing to get to know different formations. My favorite was red spouter, a mudpot that sounded like the ocean. One morning we hiked to Morning Glory hot spring and found that the slanted morning light hits the walls of the pool so one can see translucent blue far below the surface. We also learned that morning how quickly one could become trapped in the middle of a bison herd on the move. On a ski to Lonestar Geyser, I saw a pine marten eat a mouse beside me on the trail. My blisters and bruised toes are almost healed, but the memories of wildness and wonder, and especially of earth’s formations under the big night sky, are still vibrant.
We happened to be there on the 150th anniversary of the park. It was a poignant reminder of the impact of what we are capable of when we lead while looking beyond our own time. It’s something I’m holding close as Earth Day approaches. I’ve had the privilege of working with UU Ministry for the Earth for the past few years, and I sat in on their Earth Day service planning meeting this week. As part of their theme—Spring for Change: A Season for Sacred Activism—they are providing a free virtual worship service on Earth Day, Friday April 22, at 11 a.m. The service includes a commissioned hymn and the composer shared that she believed in Pete Seeger’s statement that the right song at the right time can change history. She is putting that energy into developing the song. You can learn more about the service and sign up to view it at:
https://www.uumfe.org/resources/spring-for-change-2022/worship/
In spending time in the raw power of earth’s formations and working with UU Ministry for Earth and the UU at the UN Intergenerational Spring Seminar, I’ve never been more aware of the implications of a warming planet. And although it will take all of us, I’ve never been more hopeful that we can weather the storms of climate change and shift into a community that believes in safeguarding the future earth that generations will inherit in 150 years. I have been to one of those promised lands, and it is good.
In peace, Stacy Craig
March Is Upon Us
March is the month when we celebrate New Member Sunday, offer Get to Know UU sessions, and hold the ritual of signing the collective book at the New Member Service, this year on March 27. If you are exploring CUUF as a spiritual home or want to deepen your relationship with the fellowship, please take a look at the article Pathways to Belonging in this newsletter. In the words of Thich Nhat Hahn, “The larger your beloved community, the more you can accomplish in the world.”
We will be returning to in-person worship in March. Services will be at The Club in Washburn and will also be live-streamed online. Please don’t feel obligated to come in person. If you are not ready to be back in person, or if your health prevents this, we will do our best to provide a high quality and interactive live stream experience as well. We tentatively plan to use this format and location through the end of the service year in May. We will be innovating along the way to keep learning and improving the worship experience for everyone.
March is usually when the sap begins to run, when the black bears birth cubs deep in the den, and the first hues of mud season begin their brown displays. It is when we celebrate National Day of Unplugging (March 2), International Women’s Day (March 8), World Water Day (March 22), and International Transgender Day of Visibility (March 31). It is also the start of the Sacred Season of Activism through UU Ministry for Earth—see uumfe.org for more information.
Wherever this month finds you, with whatever hopes, dreams, or aspirations, remember to go slowly, stay connected, and take it one breath at a time.
In peace,
Reflections From Stacy’s Desk
Thank You!
Thank You to the Chequamegon Unitarian Universalist Fellowship for conferring me into Unitarian Universalist ministry and providing a service of ordination celebration. Below is the chalice reading I wrote and shared at the end of the service:
When I say go in peace,
I mean the kind that starts in us.
The intentional cultivation of awareness
that suffering and harm happens.
Yet we can control our response: standing up to injustice, replying with kindness, even having happiness.
The peace that is hard work
and worth working for.
When I say go in care,
I mean that we don’t have to hide
our imperfections, we witness,
accompany, and comfort through struggles; amplify blessings and celebrations
as the interconnected web that we are
and that is cared for by us all.
When I say, go in love,
I mean the ultimate reality
of being as beloved. I mean the love
that cannot be destroyed. I mean the love that lives inside me and you and is all around if we just let it shine.
Go in Peace. Go in Care. Go in Love.
In Gratitude, Rev. Stacy Craig
Being Saved
We had lost two dogs in as many years. Life was chaotic with work and school, and the travel each required. The last thing I wanted was a new dog, but Alan was committed. He spent time with the litter and shared pictures of his pick, Ringo. “He’s the one who snuggles the most,” Alan explained his decision. The high energy puppy who came to live with us brought a special gift. He is an intuitive healer who has made me his special project of care.
There are many examples of Ringo’s healing nature. Once I sprained my ankle and Ringo slid into the space between my leg and pillow to help prop it up. He has never done this again, despite me kicking up my feet from time to time. The day he got in my face and began sniffing my eyes, my nose, and my sinuses I had just started feeling a little ‘off’. Ringo was acting so concerned I took a COVID test. It was positive. His early warning prevented me from spreading it to others. A final example is when I had panic attacks. He laid his chin on my leg and just stayed there, no matter how long it lasted. He channeled some kind of calm that he doesn’t exhibit any other time of his life, and this became my most effective treatment.
I can say without irony that Ringo saved me. He helped the pieces of my heart restitch together after they had been shattered by a trifecta of life events. I’ve recently stumbled upon several movies that have a similar message, and this has caused me to reflect on my relationship with Ringo and to also consider what it means to be saved.
The short clip called “The Three-Legged Dog that Saved My Life” shares the story of Marne, who was in a traumatic car accident. He adopted Tripod, a dog who had a leg amputated after a different car accident. Marne had been suffering from panic attacks and depression after his accident, and no therapies had helped. He reflected, “I was broken and he was broken” when he and Tripod got together. He credits Tripod with teaching how to love, how to show emotion, and how to be forgiving. He called Tripod a miracle, an angel, and reflected that when he realized Tripod’s presence in his life “transcends all human understanding,” that he had peace for the first time in his life. The documentary Wildcat tells the story of an English army veteran suffering from extreme PTSD and depression. He works on a wildlife rehabilitation project in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest where he fosters an orphaned ocelot. Early in the film, he remarks, “I am saving him while he is saving me.”
Salvation is the deliverance from harm. In my Christian upbringing, I was taught salvation comes through faith in Jesus where one is delivered from sin. In my own life and in the stories I’ve mentioned, people were in need of saving, but not because they had done something wrong or because of sinful nature. Life had dealt anguish, as it does to so many, and in that anguish, a different kind of savior appeared. They shared unconditional love, walked alongside, became teachers, and provided healing. Some call them angels. I realize some may find this use of being saved sacrilegious, but I’m not proposing any kind of conclusion about salvation. I’m just relating these experiences, lifting them up as a place to find wonder and gratitude, for salvation that comes in different ways.
May you take time today to say thank you for all that loves you back together when things fall apart.
Dear New Year,
I greet you with gratitude for peach freezer
jam and bright sweet moments the whole winter long.
I greet you with hope that this is the year we address climate change with humanity’s gifts of consciousness and kindness extended to strangers yet to be born.
I greet you with love for the soul home I’ve found at this fellowship and the work we do together.
—Stacy Craig
Creating Harmony
I recently read about how habits help us to live happier, more productive lives because whole segments of our lives don’t have to be thought out. If every morning we get up and have the exact same routine, there may be hours before the taxing and vexing decision-making processes and ever present ‘this is good for me but I don’t feel like doing it’ battles get waged in brains. This idea resonated with me because before the pandemic, I had routines. During the pandemic, I created new routines. Right now, the only thing routine is that there is no routine. Things aren’t ‘back to normal’ but they are still different from a year ago.
What I’ve figured out is that it is not balance I’m needing, but harmony. Balance is giving up one thing for another, while harmony is having all of the things work together.
How do we find harmony? Start with reflecting on values and, once those are clear, consider how your life is actualizing those values. Begin to trim the things that don’t, add the things that do, and imagine or tell the story to yourself about the life you want to live. As we move into a time of year when the night far outlasts the day, when the call to quiet contemplative evenings is interrupted by the continuous advertising and pressure to save-big-buy-it-all-repeat-repeat!, may you find some simple routines that bring meaning and harmony to your days. If you want to quadruple the impact, have a routine of reaching out to someone every day with a card, call, or text reminding them you care or asking how they are doing. Whatever it includes, may harmony become your new routine.
In peace, Stacy Craig
Doubling Down On Hope
There is a communal clergy thread right now processing a faith response to the active shooter hoax that put the Ashland schools and hospital into lockdown on October 20. Know that if you were terrorized or traumatized by this day, you are not alone. There were at least three communities, including Ashland, which were targeted on this one day alone.
Here and elsewhere, people are asking why would someone do this? While answers are scarce, we know that people who sow fear often do so to create mistrust and division. They know the power of hope and kinship and work to find the most terrifying way to dampen these down. It could be someone who believes that if people stop believing in hope, they will be apathetic and won’t vote or join movements to make change.
So, I am doubling down on hope and resisting the narrative that says that schools and hospitals in lockdown are part of a normal reality. While there isn’t a communal event planned at this time, area clergy are holding space in their congregations and fellowships, acknowledging this happened, naming the anxiety and terrors it evokes, and taking time to name all those who work hard, day in and day out, to keep communities safe and well.
Please know that if you would like to meet for prayer or processing I am available. As we explored at the All-Poetry Service this year, peace is not the absence of violence, but a very precious and hard-earned outcome of being in community together, of staying in communication, and acting with compassion.
In peace, in hope, in solidarity, Stacy
Autumn Greetings to You!
As colors of autumn appear, I am reminded that change can be beautiful. Even change that includes discomfort and loss, that ushers in a new season of longer nights and colder mornings, may bring gifts and perspective. Letting go can be gentle, like a falling leaf that becomes the hummus for new growth to spring from.
As we gathered back on the campus of Northland College for the first time in two years, I felt very emotional. There’s been so much change. Thank you to all those who innovated and adapted, stored equipment at their homes and in their cars, and gave and gave again to see this fellowship through to this point when we begin living into the hope that we shared that someday we would be able to gather in person again on the campus of Northland College.
Over the summer, the CUUF Board finalized a new Memorandum of Understanding to hold services on campus for the foreseeable future. Worship services will be both online and in person in the Alvord Theater. We gather with an awareness that COVID-19, while still in our midst, no longer poses the same life-threatening risks to large group gatherings. At each service, you’ll be asked to sign in for contact tracing in the event that a significant exposure occurs. We will follow our regional data and when cases are low or medium services will include singing and hospitality and masks will be optional. If regional cases are high or very high, we will adapt services, such as asking everyone to mask, adapting congregational singing, and encouraging social distancing.
As the liminality of the fall season continues to unfold, may your slippers be warm, may your tea bring comfort, and may the changes we’ve experienced sink in and be sources of new growth.
In peace and fellowship,
Stacy Craig
Each year, it feels summer goes too fast. Then the last two weeks of August arrive, and time for another swim, another visitor, another picnic, and all those fresh veggies at farmer’s markets—and, it’s not too much, not too little; it’s just enough. As the Chequamegon Unitarian Universalist Fellowship enters its annual cycle of services, which begins with a communion with water in September and concludes in a celebration of flowers in May, I look forward to re-gathering with you all in the coming season!
Over the summer, I worked on deepening into Unitarian Universalist history and polity (organizational structure and governance). From religious tolerance in Transylvania to the Transcendental movement to movement building today, there are a lot of stories that can guide and inspire, so some of these themes may show up in messages I share. Also, for the past year, your CUUF Worship Committee has been working to engage speakers and topics related to disability justice. This movement promotes the ways our unique bodies are part of expressions of diversity and brings awareness to the often-unconscious bias referred to as ableism. This is where able bodies are perceived as good and disabled are seen as lesser. As I’ve learned more about the disability justice movement, I’ve been reflecting on how the physical spaces where we gather, the songs and liturgy we use, and the philosophies we express contribute to or deter from creating beloved space for the diversity of our embodied existence. If you have feedback, ideas, or concerns related to accessibility in any way, please reach out to me or your CUUF Board members.
I have completed the final requirements for UU Fellowship—the UU equivalent for ordination—and I will present to their panel on September 30. Positive thoughts and prayers appreciated on that day! After wrapping up my work with Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Duluth in May, I learned that another UU community on the shores of Lake Superior was looking for ministry support. It all fell into place and for the coming year, I’ll continue as half-time minister of our fellowship and begin as a quarter-time minister for the Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. There will be some opportunities to learn with and from this fellowship in similar ways as we did with Duluth last year. I spend the first weekend of each month in Houghton and am looking forward to continuing to connect and explore watershed ministry.
As we sang at the All-Poetry Service in August:
Deep peace of the rolling waves to you, deep peace of the shining stars.
Deep peace of the blowing air to you, deep peace of the quiet earth.
In community, Stacy Craig
Thank You!
Thank you.
Thank you for an amazing 2021-2022 service year. We started again on the shores of Long Lake, sharing stories of connections to water. Our services moved up and down the shore of Chequamegon Bay, going virtual as needed, ending at The Club in Washburn for the Annual Flower Service. It was an adventure, to say the least. Over seventy-five volunteers helped create the worship services and special events over the year. I can’t even fathom a guess at the number of hours they contributed. It wasn’t perfect. But it was full of heart, which makes it better than perfect. It took care and thoughtfulness, innovation and a bit of grit. It was, at times, exhausting for many, while also growing conviction and generosity. What is this fellowship we create together? In times that seem impossible even to get by, the Chequamegon Unitarian Universalist Fellowship shows signs of thriving. Thank you. It is truly something remarkable to witness and be a part of.
This summer is a time when committees take a break or begin planning for the year to come. We’ll have simpler services once per month along with small group gatherings. Summer is also a time when I meet with individuals or families to get to know your interests and hopes for the fellowship, along with any joys or concerns you may want to share. If you would like to get together for a visit, don’t hesitate to reach out.
At the end of May my supervised ministry internship with UU Congregation of Duluth is complete. Instead of working a second position, I’ll be using June and July to complete the final requirements for the UU’s Ministerial Formation Committee, which includes writing several essays, reports, and finishing the required reading list (22 more books to go!). I present to the committee in late September for Full Fellowship in Unitarian Universalist ministry.
This summer I feel a deep calling to be present in the moment. These past few years and the potential for the future of our world are too complicated to attach to. One breath at a time…one day at a time… in fellowship with you all. Sounds like a recipe for satisfaction, no matter what comes.
In peace and gratitude,
Stacy Craig
April 2022
In early March, I received a belated graduation gift from my family: a trip to Snow Lodge in Yellowstone National Park. I honestly had no idea what I was getting into.
Yellowstone is approximately 60 miles long by 50 miles wide, or almost 3500 square miles. And in winter, the road is only plowed to Mammoth Hot Springs, located just inside the park’s north entrance. To go further, one goes on skis, snowmobiles, or takes a snowcoach—a converted bus for driving on snow. There are limited trips in and out each day, meaning if you get to the only open site in the interior, Snow Lodge near the Old Faithful Inn, you are one of a few hundred people in this entire expanse.
So there I was, on the Yellowstone Caldera, in winter, with my geyser-a-holic mother. There was no crowd, no traffic, no noise. It was just us in this apocalyptic-like scenery, where formations of all kinds hiss, gurgle, and erupt to let heat and water out of the earth. We adventured to features under the stars to use the senses of smell and hearing to get to know different formations. My favorite was red spouter, a mudpot that sounded like the ocean. One morning we hiked to Morning Glory hot spring and found that the slanted morning light hits the walls of the pool so one can see translucent blue far below the surface. We also learned that morning how quickly one could become trapped in the middle of a bison herd on the move. On a ski to Lonestar Geyser, I saw a pine marten eat a mouse beside me on the trail. My blisters and bruised toes are almost healed, but the memories of wildness and wonder, and especially of earth’s formations under the big night sky, are still vibrant.
We happened to be there on the 150th anniversary of the park. It was a poignant reminder of the impact of what we are capable of when we lead while looking beyond our own time. It’s something I’m holding close as Earth Day approaches. I’ve had the privilege of working with UU Ministry for the Earth for the past few years, and I sat in on their Earth Day service planning meeting this week. As part of their theme—Spring for Change: A Season for Sacred Activism—they are providing a free virtual worship service on Earth Day, Friday April 22, at 11 a.m. The service includes a commissioned hymn and the composer shared that she believed in Pete Seeger’s statement that the right song at the right time can change history. She is putting that energy into developing the song. You can learn more about the service and sign up to view it at:
https://www.uumfe.org/resources/spring-for-change-2022/worship/
In spending time in the raw power of earth’s formations and working with UU Ministry for Earth and the UU at the UN Intergenerational Spring Seminar, I’ve never been more aware of the implications of a warming planet. And although it will take all of us, I’ve never been more hopeful that we can weather the storms of climate change and shift into a community that believes in safeguarding the future earth that generations will inherit in 150 years. I have been to one of those promised lands, and it is good.
In peace, Stacy Craig
March Is Upon Us
March is the month when we celebrate New Member Sunday, offer Get to Know UU sessions, and hold the ritual of signing the collective book at the New Member Service, this year on March 27. If you are exploring CUUF as a spiritual home or want to deepen your relationship with the fellowship, please take a look at the article Pathways to Belonging in this newsletter. In the words of Thich Nhat Hahn, “The larger your beloved community, the more you can accomplish in the world.”
We will be returning to in-person worship in March. Services will be at The Club in Washburn and will also be live-streamed online. Please don’t feel obligated to come in person. If you are not ready to be back in person, or if your health prevents this, we will do our best to provide a high quality and interactive live stream experience as well. We tentatively plan to use this format and location through the end of the service year in May. We will be innovating along the way to keep learning and improving the worship experience for everyone.
March is usually when the sap begins to run, when the black bears birth cubs deep in the den, and the first hues of mud season begin their brown displays. It is when we celebrate National Day of Unplugging (March 2), International Women’s Day (March 8), World Water Day (March 22), and International Transgender Day of Visibility (March 31). It is also the start of the Sacred Season of Activism through UU Ministry for Earth—see uumfe.org for more information.
Wherever this month finds you, with whatever hopes, dreams, or aspirations, remember to go slowly, stay connected, and take it one breath at a time.
In peace,
Congratulations to Stacy!
Chequamegon Unitarian Universalist Fellowship’s new minister, Stacy Craig, will graduate with high honors on May 3 with a Masters of Divinity, Church Leadership and Religion and Theology, from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in St. Paul, Minnesota. She will be completing a Clinical Pastoral Experience (CPE) this summer as part of that program. This will include working with restorative justice in the prison system and with people working through addiction and recovery through The Recovery Church in St. Paul. A CPE is a supported experience where Stacy will be immersed in difficult work to find her own struggles and to build empathy and pastoral care skills for others while also learning to care for herself while doing difficult work.
Stacy’s course of study at United Theological Seminary has been challenging and inspirational. She has deepened her knowledge, expanded her search for the truth, and made lifelong connections. Her studies, though concluding soon at United Theological, will continue as she pursues the road to ordination over the next couple of years. Though the actual graduation ceremony is delayed until spring of 2021, let’s help Stacy celebrate her huge accomplishment now!