UU Wausau

Coffee & Collage
2025-03-01 08:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago)
Distilling the Essence of Lent

Join us for a slow morning of casual Coffee and Collage on Saturday, March 1st, in the sun-filled atrium from 8am-1pm. As always, join our monthly group theme or work on anything that inspires you!

This month’s theme, inspired by Lent, invites us to shed what is unnecessary to uncover what is most essential. Through the art of collage, you’ll start with a busy, cluttered design representing life’s distractions, then gradually refine it to reveal a central image, word, or symbol that captures what matters most to you this season.

Perfect for artists, crafters, and creative beginners alike, this gathering is open to adults and high school-aged youth. All you need to bring is your creativity and a willingness to explore.

What to Bring:

We’ll provide examples, gentle guidance, and a few supplies to get you started. Participants are also encouraged to bring materials from home to use or share for the day at the community resources table! Suggested items include:

Old magazines, books, and newspapers

Photographs to integrate

Daily calendar quotes

Old or blank greeting cards

Poetry books for inspiration

Preferred markers or water-based paints

Old artwork you’d like to upcycle

Textured items: thread, netting from oranges, etc.

What to expect during this casual community art hangout:

8 am-9 am: Early Bird Community Set-up!Feel free to arrive at your convenience. We’ll be brewing coffee, putting out supplies, setting up tables, and art’ing together as people show up.

9 am-12 pm: Casual Coffee & CollageLet the creativity begin! We’ll officially start at 9am. Connect with others (or enjoy creative solitude) as you work on your collage piece.

12 pm-1 pm: Community Clean-up!Return supplies and pick up your personal space. If your schedule and physical ability permit, volunteer to help put away tables, chairs, and community supplies!

Creativity Matters
2025-03-11 19:00 - 20:30 | UU Wausau, 504 Grant Street, Wausau, WI, 54403, United States
Trust

March’s Creativity Matters theme is “Trust.” This month, we’ll explore how trusting your creative instincts can help quiet self-doubt and navigate the inner voices that hold you back. Join us as we dive into the power of trusting yourself and your process!

Projects of the Month

We will have supplies for Project Options C, E, and G from the monthly Creativity Matters packet*

Trust Your Art to Another: Collaborate with a fellow participant to co-create a piece of art, trusting each other’s creativity.

Circles of Trust: Craft an artistic representation that symbolizes the trust in your relationships.

Make a Fake: Recreate a piece of artwork, adding your own creative twist, and trusting creativity is built on those who came before.

*Don’t have a copy of this month’s Creativity Matters guide? Sign up to be part of the mailing list or reach out to our Director of Religious Education for a copy!

What is Creativity Matters?

Our Creativity Matters group helps community members engage in monthly themes and explore spiritual growth through creative expression.

It’s all about allowing our intuition and imagination to guide us, not just our logic and reflective minds. Think of it as making room for your right brain to dance with your left brain.

Creativity Matters is a high school and adult group designed for everyone — no experience or artistic skill is required! Just bring a playful spirit and adventurous attitude.

Creativity Matters
2025-04-08 19:00 - 20:30 | UU Wausau, 504 Grant Street, Wausau, WI, 54403, United States
Joy

April’s Creativity Matters theme is “Joy.” This month, we’ll explore how creative practices can help us connect with and cultivate joy in our lives. Together, we’ll practice embracing joy through art and reflect on how joyful creativity enriches our emotional well-being, builds stronger connections, and invites more light into our daily lives. We hope you’ll join us in this exploration and discover new ways to bring more joy into your world!

Projects of the Month

We will have supplies for Project Options B, D, and F from the monthly Creativity Matters packet*

Joyful Words Collage – Find a selection of words that bring you joy – Buzz, Boom, Lollipop, Squeegee – and use them to create a joyful collage.

Creativity of Childhood Joy – Reconnect with joy through the creativity of your childhood with some of your favorite childhood mediums and art toys (fingerprinting, playdoh, construction paper, etc.)

Joy through Sumi-e – Also called black ink painting, is a Japanese meditative art form that invites the artist to connect with the energy and symbolism of what they paint. One of its central images, the orchid, embodies the joyful energy of summer, freedom, beauty, and peace. Try your hand at the orchid form with one of our tutorials or create your own joyful black ink masterpiece!

*Don’t have a copy of this month’s Creativity Matters guide? Sign up to be part of the mailing list or reach out to our Director of Religious Education for a copy!

What is Creativity Matters?

Our Creativity Matters group helps community members engage in monthly themes and explore spiritual growth through creative expression.

It’s all about allowing our intuition and imagination to guide us, not just our logic and reflective minds. Think of it as making room for your right brain to dance with your left brain.

Creativity Matters is a high school and adult group designed for everyone — no experience or artistic skill is required! Just bring a playful spirit and adventurous attitude.

Learn. Practice. Share.
2025-05-04 18:30 - 20:00
A Three-Session Meditation & Mindfulness Community

In times of uncertainty – whether facing personal challenges, transitions, or the shifting landscape of our world – we can come together as a community to build resilience. Mindfulness and meditation offer powerful tools to navigate these moments with clarity and compassion.

In our first gathering, we’ll meet each other, share where we are in our meditation practice, and create a space of trust and support. We’ll explore how mindfulness is not just a seated practice, but a way to meet each moment with attention, kindness, and presence.

Each session will include a period of silent meditation with gentle guidance, followed by time to share your experience with fellow participants.

We have two more sessions ahead—see the dates below for details, and join us as we continue this journey together!

About Your Hosts

Lisa Stein is a recent addition to the UU Wausau community, having returned to Wausau in early 2023 after living in Madison for 34 years. She is grateful to have been welcomed by a fellow member and now attends with her son and his family, who are also new to the area. Lisa is a retired educator with a background in bringing mindfulness meditation and wellness practices to teachers, students, and school communities. She currently teaches a program called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).

Jeanine Knapp moved to Wausau in 2020 and quickly became an active participant at UU Wausau, engaging in Soul Matters, social justice initiatives, and Drum Club. Jeanine has practiced meditation on and off since 2010, and she studies in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh.

Learn. Practice. Share.
2025-05-11 18:30 - 20:00
A Three-Session Meditation & Mindfulness Community

In times of uncertainty – whether facing personal challenges, transitions, or the shifting landscape of our world – we can come together as a community to build resilience. Mindfulness and meditation offer powerful tools to navigate these moments with clarity and compassion.

In our second session, we’ll address the stress and anxiety that often accompany personal transitions and the external challenges we face. Together, we’ll explore strategies to recognize and reduce these feelings, learning techniques for greater peace of mind.

Each session will include a period of silent meditation with gentle guidance, followed by time to share your experience with fellow participants.

We have one more session ahead—see the details below, and join us as we continue this journey together!

**Note: We recognize this falls on Mother’s Day, and we’re open to adjusting the schedule based on feedback.

About Your Hosts

Lisa Stein is a recent addition to the UU Wausau community, having returned to Wausau in early 2023 after living in Madison for 34 years. She is grateful to have been welcomed by a fellow member and now attends with her son and his family, who are also new to the area. Lisa is a retired educator with a background in bringing mindfulness meditation and wellness practices to teachers, students, and school communities. She currently teaches a program called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).

Jeanine Knapp moved to Wausau in 2020 and quickly became an active participant at UU Wausau, engaging in Soul Matters, social justice initiatives, and Drum Club. Jeanine has practiced meditation on and off since 2010, and she studies in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh.

Creativity Matters
2025-05-13 19:00 - 20:30 | UU Wausau, 504 Grant Street, Wausau, WI, 54403, United States
Imagination

May’s Creativity Matters theme is “Imagination.” Together, we’ll explore how imagination fuels our creativity by helping us dream up new ideas, experiment with artistic expression, and see the world through fresh eyes. Whether through painting, writing, movement, or making something entirely unexpected, we’ll tap into the playful and powerful ways imagination sparks creative expression.

Projects of the Month

We will have supplies for Project Options A and C from the monthly Creativity Matters packet* and for a “What if” collage project:

Put Your Head in the Clouds: Bring your own cloud pictures or pick from our collection. Use your favorite art materials to trace, add details, and color in the shapes or characters your imagination uncovers.

The Squiggle Game: Created by Donald Winnicott, this exercise invites you to draw a random squiggle and use your imagination and your favorite art supplies to turn it into something meaningful.

What If Collage: Choose or create a “What if…” prompt to spark your imagination, such as “What if the sky were made of dreams?” Next, explore our materials to craft a collage, adding your own details or drawings to bring your “What if” to life.

*Don’t have a copy of this month’s Creativity Matters guide? Sign up to be part of the mailing list or reach out to our Director of Religious Education for a copy!

What is Creativity Matters?

Our Creativity Matters group helps community members engage in monthly themes and explore spiritual growth through creative expression.

It’s all about allowing our intuition and imagination to guide us, not just our logic and reflective minds. Think of it as making room for your right brain to dance with your left brain.

Creativity Matters is a high school and adult group designed for everyone — no experience or artistic skill is required! Just bring a playful spirit and adventurous attitude.

Learn. Practice. Share.
2025-05-18 18:30 - 20:00
A Three-Session Meditation & Mindfulness Community

In times of uncertainty – whether facing personal challenges, transitions, or the shifting landscape of our world – we can come together as a community to build resilience. Mindfulness and meditation offer powerful tools to navigate these moments with clarity and compassion.

For our final session, we’ll explore how loving-kindness meditation can become part of our daily lives. You may recognize its beautiful melody from our Sunday services—now, we’ll practice extending compassion to ourselves and others, deepening our sense of connection and care.

Each session will include a period of silent meditation with gentle guidance, followed by time to share your experience with fellow participants.

About Your Hosts

Lisa Stein is a recent addition to the UU Wausau community, having returned to Wausau in early 2023 after living in Madison for 34 years. She is grateful to have been welcomed by a fellow member and now attends with her son and his family, who are also new to the area. Lisa is a retired educator with a background in bringing mindfulness meditation and wellness practices to teachers, students, and school communities. She currently teaches a program called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).

Jeanine Knapp moved to Wausau in 2020 and quickly became an active participant at UU Wausau, engaging in Soul Matters, social justice initiatives, and Drum Club. Jeanine has practiced meditation on and off since 2010, and she studies in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh.

Learn. Practice. Share.
2025-06-01 18:30 - 20:00, 2025-06-08 18:30 - 20:00, 2025-06-15 18:30 - 20:00, 2025-06-22 18:30 - 20:00, 2025-06-29 18:30 - 20:00, 2025-07-06 18:30 - 20:00, 2025-07-13 18:30 - 20:00, 2025-07-20 18:30 - 20:00
Mindfulness/Meditation Community

A Drop-in Summer Series in a mindfulness/meditation community. Please join us.

In a world that often feels uncertain and overwhelming, the power of stillness, connection, and mindful presence becomes more important than ever.

You are warmly invited to join a supportive mindfulness and meditation community — a space to pause, breathe, and grow stronger together. Whether you’re new to meditation or have an existing practice, this is a welcoming circle for all who seek peace, clarity, and resilience.

Together, we will explore:

Guided meditations to calm the mind and center the spirit

Mindfulness practices to help navigate daily stress with compassion

Community sharing to remind us that we are not alone

This is not about perfection. It’s about showing up — for yourself and for each other — with kindness and intention.

Let’s meet in stillness and rise in strength

Where: First Universalist Unitarian Church of Wausau, 504 Grant St., Wausau, WI 54403

When: Sundays 6:30 – 8:00 pm, weekly

Who: Everyone is welcome, no experience necessary

What: Each 1.5 hour session is designed to include building of community, sharing/discussion on topic or theme, and practicing mindfulness with gentle movement and stillness

If this speaks to you, we would be honored to have you with us. Feel free to invite others who may benefit.

Your hosts are Lisa Stein and Jeanine Knapp

Lisa Stein is new to the UU Wausau community, having returned to Wausau early in 2023 after living in Madison for 34 years. She is grateful to have been invited to the UU by another member and now attends with her son and his family, who are also new to the area. Lisa is a retired educator who brought mindfulness meditation and wellness to teachers, students, and school communities. She teaches a meditation program called Mindful Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).

Jeanine moved to Wausau in 2020 and has been a part of UU Wausau since that fall when Soul Matters groups met virtually; Jeanine was a Soul Matters group participant for 3 years. She participates in social justice activities and attends Margaret Jerz’s Drum Club. Jeanine has had an on/off meditation practice since 2010 and studies in the Tich Nhat Hahn tradition.

Creativity Matters
2025-06-03 19:00 - 20:30 | UU Wausau, 504 Grant Street, Wausau, WI, 54403, United States
Freedom

June’s Creativity Matters theme is “Freedom.” Together, we’ll discover how freedom fuels creativity by opening the door to endless possibilities and true self-expression. Freedom encourages us to break boundaries, trust our unique voices, and create boldly, without fear or limits.

Please note: starting in June, Creativity Matters will be meeting on the first Tuesday of the month.

Project Options

We will have supplies for Project Options C, D, and E from the monthly Creativity Matters packet*:

Inner Critic: Get freedom from inner critic. It can be harsh and loud, but giving it a name and a face can help loosen its grip. Draw, paint, or collage your inner critic as a person. Give it a face, a name, imagine its size, clothes, and expression, and add word bubbles.

Four Values: Freedom isn’t just about fewer limits, it’s about staying true to what matters most. Choose your top four core values, find an object or person that represents each one, create or find an image of them, and hang them on a wall in your home.

Escape Decision Fatigue: From illustrator Wendy MacNaughton, this exercise uses simple rules to ease decision fatigue and invite creative flow. By giving up control, we shift from directing the process to collaborating with it. Sprinkle red chili flakes (or similar small items) onto a blank page. Let them fall naturally. Outline each flake where it lands, then enjoy the meditative practice of filling in the negative space with black ink.

*Don’t have a copy of this month’s Creativity Matters guide? Sign up to be part of the mailing list or reach out to our Director of Religious Education for a copy!

What is Creativity Matters?

Our Creativity Matters group helps community members engage in monthly themes and explore spiritual growth through creative expression.

It’s all about allowing our intuition and imagination to guide us, not just our logic and reflective minds. Think of it as making room for your right brain to dance with your left brain.

Creativity Matters is a high school and adult group designed for everyone — no experience or artistic skill is required! Just bring a playful spirit and adventurous attitude.

Creativity Matters
2025-07-01 19:00 - 20:30 | UU Wausau, 504 Grant Street, Wausau, WI, 54403, United States
This summer, Creativity Matters invites us to explore the season through creative practice. Summer opens the door to looseness and spontaneity – longer days, shifting routines, and the joyful unpredictability of adventures big and small. In the midst of that playful chaos, we’re invited to slow down and reconnect with ourselves, with others, and with the world around us. Creativity becomes a way to delight in the messiness, to notice unexpected beauty, and to celebrate how connection often shows up in surprising, imperfect, and wonderfully human ways.

Chaos

July’s Creativity Matters theme is “Chaos and Order.” Together, we’ll explore how creativity lives at the intersection of these forces, how chaos can spark new ideas, and how order can give them form. Creativity often begins with a messy swirl of thoughts, feelings, or inspiration, and through intention and structure, we shape that into something meaningful.

Project Options

We will have supplies for the following projects*, or you are welcome to bring your own:

Blind Date with Collage: Let the chaos inspire you as you create a collage by choosing images, materials, and words from your pre-selected collage kit, no planning needed!

Controlled Chaos Painting: Lean into the creative freedom of chaos by covering a canvas with spontaneous brushstrokes, drips, splatters, and layered textures. For contrast, mask off a section and add lines or other structured shapes to highlight the tension between chaos and order.

Order to Chaos Poetry: Start with a poem or another written work. Take it apart, rearrange it, tear it, scribble on it, paint over it, or add bold colors and images. Remake it in your own chaotic vision.

*During the summer months, we will not have Creativity Matters packets, but you can sign up to be part of the mailing list to start receiving them in the fall.

What is Creativity Matters?

Our Creativity Matters group helps community members engage in monthly themes and explore spiritual growth through creative expression.

It’s all about allowing our intuition and imagination to guide us, not just our logic and reflective minds. Think of it as making room for your right brain to dance with your left brain.

Creativity Matters is a high school and adult group designed for everyone — no experience or artistic skill is required! Just bring a playful spirit and adventurous attitude.

Dinners for 9
2025-07-18 18:00 - 21:00, 2025-08-09 18:00 - 21:00
Join us for Dinners for 9, an evening of delicious food and meaningful conversation designed specifically for adults to connect, beyond surface-level socializing and small talk. These intimate gatherings bring together nine people for a shared meal and guided small group conversation, offering a wonderful opportunity to nourish both body and soul.

Summer Dinner for 9 Dates:

Friday, July 18 at 6 PMLocation: the historic DC Evervest mansion. Theme: Community

Saturday, August 9 at 6 PMLocation: lakeside home on Lake Dubay Theme: TBD

Registration is required.

Sign Up Here

Coffee & Slow Stitch Collage | Summer Art Hangout
2025-07-26 09:00 - 12:00
Join us for a slow morning of casual Coffee & Slow Stitch Fabric Collage, on Saturday, July 26th, in the sun-filled atrium.

Slow stitch fabric collage — or the art of selecting, arranging, and combining diverse elements into harmonious chaos — is an overlooked meditative and spiritual practice.

This gathering is open to adults and high school-aged youth, whether you’re an artist, crafter, or curious beginner. We’ll provide examples, gentle guidance, and supplies to get you started. Participants are welcome to bring materials from home to use or share for the day at the community resources table!

Ideas include:

Fabric scraps

Embroidery thread

Beads & buttons

Retired clothing & towels

Safety pins

Yarn

Lace

Felt

Learn. Practice. Share.
2025-07-27 18:30 - 20:00
UPDATE: for the month of August, Learn. Practice. Share – a mindfulness community will be taking a pause. Classes will resume on Sunday September 7, 2025.

Mindfulness/Meditation Community

A Drop-in Summer Series in a mindfulness/meditation community. Please join us.

In a world that often feels uncertain and overwhelming, the power of stillness, connection, and mindful presence becomes more important than ever.

You are warmly invited to join a supportive mindfulness and meditation community — a space to pause, breathe, and grow stronger together. Whether you’re new to meditation or have an existing practice, this is a welcoming circle for all who seek peace, clarity, and resilience.

Together, we will explore:

Guided meditations to calm the mind and center the spirit

Mindfulness practices to help navigate daily stress with compassion

Community sharing to remind us that we are not alone

This is not about perfection. It’s about showing up — for yourself and for each other — with kindness and intention.

Let’s meet in stillness and rise in strength

Where: First Universalist Unitarian Church of Wausau, 504 Grant St., Wausau, WI 54403

When: Sundays 6:30 – 8:00 pm, weekly

Who: Everyone is welcome, no experience necessary

What: Each 1.5 hour session is designed to include building of community, sharing/discussion on topic or theme, and practicing mindfulness with gentle movement and stillness

If this speaks to you, we would be honored to have you with us. Feel free to invite others who may benefit.

Your hosts are Lisa Stein and Jeanine Knapp

Lisa Stein is new to the UU Wausau community, having returned to Wausau early in 2023 after living in Madison for 34 years. She is grateful to have been invited to the UU by another member and now attends with her son and his family, who are also new to the area. Lisa is a retired educator who brought mindfulness meditation and wellness to teachers, students, and school communities. She teaches a meditation program called Mindful Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).

Jeanine moved to Wausau in 2020 and has been a part of UU Wausau since that fall when Soul Matters groups met virtually; Jeanine was a Soul Matters group participant for 3 years. She participates in social justice activities and attends Margaret Jerz’s Drum Club. Jeanine has had an on/off meditation practice since 2010 and studies in the Tich Nhat Hahn tradition.

Creativity Matters
2025-08-05 19:00 - 20:30 | UU Wausau, 504 Grant Street, Wausau, WI, 54403, United States
This summer, Creativity Matters invites us to explore the season through creative practice. Summer opens the door to looseness and spontaneity – longer days, shifting routines, and the joyful unpredictability of adventures big and small. In the midst of that playful chaos, we’re invited to slow down and reconnect with ourselves, with others, and with the world around us. Creativity becomes a way to delight in the messiness, to notice unexpected beauty, and to celebrate how connection often shows up in surprising, imperfect, and wonderfully human ways.

Interconnection

August’s Creativity Matters theme is “Interconnection.” This month, we’ll explore how creativity helps us notice the threads that connect us to each other, to the world around us, and to our own inner lives. How art invites us to see how seemingly separate pieces can come together to form something whole, how it helps us find beauty in both our individuality and our shared belonging, and how it reminds us that the connection between them isn’t about perfection, it’s about honoring every part of the story.

Project Options

We will have supplies for the following projects*, or you are welcome to bring your own:

Scrap Collage: Create a collage from scraps and found materials, and as you arrange and layer your pieces, notice how separate elements come together to form a connected whole.

Personal Puzzle Art: Decorate blank puzzle pieces to represent the many facets of yourself – your interests, quirks, identities, favorite things, and even your rough edges. Each piece reflects how each part of your unique story connects to form the whole you.

Mandala Weaving: Create a vibrant mandala by weaving fabric scraps, yarn, and string through a plastic mesh disc. As you layer colors and textures in circular patterns, you’ll build a design that symbolizes how individual threads come together to form a connected whole.

During the summer months, we will not have Creativity Matters packets, but you can sign up to be part of the mailing list to start receiving them in the fall.

What is Creativity Matters?

Our Creativity Matters group helps community members engage in monthly themes and explore spiritual growth through creative expression.

It’s all about allowing our intuition and imagination to guide us, not just our logic and reflective minds. Think of it as making room for your right brain to dance with your left brain.

Creativity Matters is a high school and adult group designed for everyone — no experience or artistic skill is required! Just bring a playful spirit and adventurous attitude.

Art & Soul Saturday | Summer Art Hangout
2025-08-16 09:00 - 12:00
Harvest of Creativity

Inspired by the themes of Lammas and the turning of the Wheel of the Year. Join us for a morning of creativity and connection in our sun-filled Atrium, on Saturday, August 16, at 9:00 AM.

As summer reaches its peak and the first harvests begin, this gathering invites us to reflect on the fruits of our efforts—creative, personal, or communal. Inspired by the season’s warmth and richness, we’ll use natural materials to explore what abundance looks and feels like in our lives today. Participants are invited to incorporate found nature items into their artwork as a way to connect more deeply with the season.

Art & Soul Saturday is for artists, crafters, and creative beginners alike and is open to adults and teens. We’ll provide examples, gentle guidance, and a few supplies to get you started. Participants are encouraged to bring materials from home to use or share at the community resources table!

Some suggested items:

Pressed Flowers

Dried Leaves or Grasses

Seed Pods or Helicopters

Feathers

Shells

Pebbles

Bark or lichen

Corn Husks

Learn. Practice. Share.
2025-09-07 18:30 - 20:00, 2025-09-14 18:30 - 20:00, 2025-09-21 18:30 - 20:00, 2025-09-28 18:30 - 20:00, 2025-10-05 18:30 - 20:00
Mindfulness/Meditation Community

A Drop-in mindfulness/meditation community. Please join us.

In a world that often feels uncertain and overwhelming, the power of stillness, connection, and mindful presence becomes more important than ever.

You are warmly invited to join a supportive mindfulness and meditation community — a space to pause, breathe, and grow stronger together. Whether you’re new to meditation or have an existing practice, this is a welcoming circle for all who seek peace, clarity, and resilience.

Together, we will explore:

Guided meditations to calm the mind and center the spirit

Mindfulness practices to help navigate daily stress with compassion

Community sharing to remind us that we are not alone

This is not about perfection. It’s about showing up — for yourself and for each other — with kindness and intention.

Let’s meet in stillness and rise in strength

Where: First Universalist Unitarian Church of Wausau, 504 Grant St., Wausau, WI 54403

When: Sundays 6:30 – 8:00 pm, weekly

Who: Everyone is welcome, no experience necessary

What: Each 1.5 hour session is designed to include building of community, sharing/discussion on topic or theme, and practicing mindfulness with gentle movement and stillness

If this speaks to you, we would be honored to have you with us. Feel free to invite others who may benefit.

Your hosts are Lisa Stein and Jeanine Knapp

Lisa Stein is new to the UU Wausau community, having returned to Wausau early in 2023 after living in Madison for 34 years. She is grateful to have been invited to the UU by another member and now attends with her son and his family, who are also new to the area. Lisa is a retired educator who brought mindfulness meditation and wellness to teachers, students, and school communities. She teaches a meditation program called Mindful Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).

Jeanine moved to Wausau in 2020 and has been a part of UU Wausau since that fall when Soul Matters groups met virtually; Jeanine was a Soul Matters group participant for 3 years. She participates in social justice activities and attends Margaret Jerz’s Drum Club. Jeanine has had an on/off meditation practice since 2010 and studies in the Tich Nhat Hahn tradition.

Creativity Matters
2025-09-09 19:00 - 20:30 | UU Wausau, 504 Grant Street, Wausau, WI, 54403, United States
Building Belonging

September’s Creativity Matters theme is “Building Belonging.” Together, we’ll explore how creativity helps us feel at home within ourselves and connect more deeply with others. Belonging invites us to show up as our full selves, share our stories, and create connections that nurture both self-understanding and community.

Project Options

We will have supplies for Project Options B, D, and E from the monthly Creativity Matters packet*:

The Selves You Allow to Belong and the Selves You Don’t: Use the medium of your choice to creatively represent the parts of your personality you’ve welcomed in, as well as the parts you’ve kept at bay, ignored, or hidden. This exercise is less about “getting it right” and more about practicing self-compassion and recognizing the aspects of yourself that could use a little more acceptance and care.

An Article of Clothing That You Belonged To: Clothes we belong to are the ones that help us hold close the sweet and special times of our lives. Choose a piece of clothing from your past that you belonged to, and use the medium of your choice to bring it back to life, capturing the feelings, colors, and moments it represents.

The Places Where We Experience Sacred Belonging: We all have special places where the world feels sacred and we experience a sense of belonging and connection. For this exercise, you’re invited to create your own piece, inspired by Taylor’s “placemaking” series of circular watercolors with hand-drawn elements. You can follow her approach or use it as inspiration to find a color scheme and include details that capture not just the place itself, but the feeling of connection it gave you.

*Don’t have a copy of this month’s Creativity Matters guide? Sign up to be part of the mailing list or reach out to our Director of Religious Education for a copy!

What is Creativity Matters?

Creativity Matters is a drop-in small group for teens and adults to slow down, connect, and explore monthly spiritual themes together through art and imagination.

It’s less about skill and more about play, allowing intuition, reflection, and creativity to guide us. Think of it as a gentle space where your right brain gets to dance with your left.

Each gathering offers time for sharing, creating, and simply being together. No experience is needed. Just bring your curiosity and a playful spirit.

Art & Soul Saturday
2025-09-20 09:00 - 12:00
Layers of Autumn

Join us for a peaceful morning of creativity and connection in our sun-filled Atrium. Inspired by the themes of Mabon and the richness of the season, we’ll explore what it means to reap the rewards of our efforts, creative, personal, and communal, through mindful art-making.

Together, we’ll create mixed-media pieces that honor both our thanks for the abundance of this season and the quiet preparation for the darker months ahead. Like the season itself, our art may be a little messy, textured, and layered, echoing the way nature scatters leaves, seeds, and color in abundance.

This session is an opportunity to slow down, reflect, and celebrate all that we’ve grown and gathered this year.

Art & Soul Saturdays welcomes artists, crafters, and creative beginners alike, and is open to adults and teens. We’ll provide examples, gentle guidance, and a variety of supplies to help spark your process. Participants are also welcome to bring materials from home to use or share at our community resource table!
