Aug. 12, 2026

“Your life is the poem.”
~ Naomi Shihab Nye

Beloveds,

One of our congregation’s cherished practices is “Summer Song”-- the practice of filling our Sunday pulpit with volunteers from the congregation willing to share their thoughts, expertise, personal experiences, and wisdom during the months of July and August. 

Every year, I am (almost) sad to take vacation during July, because I will miss so much. And every year in August, I am glad not to have missed all the goodness of Summer Song. Every summer, we are gifted with a wide variety of topics presented by people we know and love, and every year we remember and reflect throughout the year on what we’ve learned together. The poet says that your life (singular) is the poem, but my experience of Summer Song is that our lives–collectively and in conversation with each other–are a magnificent poem. 

I am grateful for the speakers who volunteer their thoughts, preparation time, and presence, and I am in awe of this congregation which gathers over and over again to listen, support, affirm, and be challenged by each other. 

Yours in the poetry of community,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

P.S. If you’ve ever wanted to know more about creating worship for Unitarian Universalists, please consider participating in Worship Well, a new online (Zoom) program created by the UUA, designed to equip lay leaders with a variety of skills for leadership in worship. Look for the announcement below, and click through to read more and get detailed information. If you are interested (no experience necessary!), please let me know by next Wednesday (8/19/26), as we hope to assemble a team who will participate together.