Dear Friends, I’m sharing Lummi, Jay Julius’ gracious response to our invitation to the following book at our Sunday, Oct 11 service. With synchronicities and availability, Jay agreed to come. Those attending witnessed an honest and heartfelt engagement with those attending. Because the recording online was edited for copyright and time, it lost the continuity and the flow of the morning.
I hope you will read the Chalice Lighting we chose from the book, not realizing that Richard Solomon was a beloved mentor of Jays, who lived with him in the last months of his life.
Nor did we know that the video of Salmon Woman story was a story totem pole, carved by Jewell James that contained Salmon Woman, salmon, and the bear that Jay later called into his talk.
Nor did we know that the video of Dana Lyons singing “The Salmon Come Home Again and Again” would lead Jay to weigh into it visually, because he said all those pictured, salmon, bear, orca, trees, water, WORKED TOGETHER to create and care for the world we live in.
He talked about place-based culture, and about obligations to nature made in times immemorial. His messages hit home and unlike any other presenter there was a standing ovation.
Speaking of place-based lives, he told us that he was leaving the next day to go to Scotland, the islands and the wild environment of another place-based culture. He went there to get far away from the trauma and noise we are all facing now. We hope he is finding PEACE and BREATH in this intermission. We are grateful that he made time to speak truth, and gratitude.
Last, the transcription allows you to stop and focus on points Jay made as he spoke that go by so fast if you just watch the recorded share.
Beth
Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship
In the Spirit of Right and Respectful Relations With Salmon Nations
Honored Speaker: Jay Julius
with Rev. Sunny McMillan & Beth Brownfield
October 11, 2026
Circular Button Blanket wall hanging with form line salmon and chalice
Consigned with Lummi Artist Bruce Pierre
The book IN THE SPIRIT OF RIGHT AND RESPECTFUL RELATIONS: Conversations about Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being in Nature, former chairman of the Lummi Nation and President of Se'Si'Le (our grandmother) non-profile, Jay Julius, writes of building "a bridge not of sympathy, but of understanding and empathy, so that non-Indigenous people can stand with the Salmon Nations in our fight to protect this place we call home." Native American Connections (a BUF Social & Environmental Justice Action Team) and BUF are honored to welcome Jay Julius to speak on October 11, with an SEJC Collection for Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association (NSEA). Join us as we build that bridge of understanding and empathy.
The entire service was edited for time, and copyright protections
Left out was a Chalice Lighting Reading of recently deceased Richard Solomon, once a revered Tribal Chair and mentor to many, especially Jay Julius. Also left out were two short videos of The Story of Salmon Woman, and another video of Dana Lyons singing “The Salmon Come Home” filmed on an Alaskan River
GATHERING MUSIC: Imagine John Lennon,
Navajo Prelude for Piano Connor Chee
Chalice Lighting: author Richard Solomon (NOTE: Important in Jay’s address)
The Salmon People aren’t hardly here no more.
We need to talk to them
We need you Salmon People, life-giving relative.
You gave up your lives so we can live.
It is important for or people, about who we really are
We sit in the lap of Mother Earth
Learning all there is to learn,
Not all at once,
But built up over a lifetime, every day.
We need to keep learning.
Top never quit learning.
Land Acknowledgement Listening to Jay we made adjustments to BUFs Land acknowledgment.
We acknowledge that these lands and these waters are the traditional territories of the Lummi and Nooksack Peoples.
Their presence is imbued in these Mountains, Valleys and Waterways and Shorelines.
May we honor and nurture our relationship with Original Nations and Peoples, our neighbors, and the shared responsibilities to their homelands where we all reside today.
Shared Explanation Beth Brownfield
We contemplate the lands that the Lumm and Nooksack People’s ancestors inhabited since time immemorial, before time.
The Lummi are referred to as “The Saltwater People” or “The Salmon Nation People.” Their traditional lands are rooted in the San Juan Island archipelago and parts of Vancouver and Fidalgo Islands. These include Swinomish, Samish, Suquamish, Stillaguamish and Lummi, Lhaq’temish.”
The ancestors of the Nooksack Indian Tribe whose name refers to “always bracken fern roots,” highlighting their ancestral ties to the inland flora. The Nooksack were mountain-and-river-dwelling people who occupied the entire watershed of the Nooksack River. Its reach extended from the high mountain-and-river-dwelling people.
Both Lummi and Nooksack ancestors were culturally and linguistically distinct.
Lummi’s presence is imbued in their traditional territory in the San Juan archipelago, and parts of Vancouver and Fidalgo Island. The Nooksack Indian Tribe is imbued in the high mountains and rivers. Both nations adapted to their place based traditional territories, from time immemorial, to maintain their lifestyle where they hunted, gathered roots and berries, fished, harvested sea fare, and lived in different habitats and waterways, adjusting culture and practices according to their place-based identity.
We nurture our relationship with the Original Nations and Peoples, and the shared responsibilities to their homelands where we all reside today. We must creatively create a relationship that is culturally authentic, right and respectful. Jay said our neighbors are not all Coast Salish Peoples. They are Island Peoples, and River and Lakes Peoples.
Time for All Ages The Legend of Salmon Woman and her Children
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOHIHXnUh2E 3.12 minutes (Referred to by Jay in his address as a foundational obligation to Salmon Woman)
Featuring images of the Salmon Woman Totem, carved by the Lummi House of Tears, 1997 (Bellingham, WA) *As told by “Cha-das-ska-dum, Which-ta-lum”, a revered member of the Lhaq’ te mish nation. (Sorry about the commercial in the video, wait a few seconds and press, skip.)
Social & Environmental Justice Collection Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association (NSEA) Speaker and dedicated special collection.
Offertory Dana Lyons Salmon Come Home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNd4_oMxZcE (Jay responded foundationally to this video as it displayed salmon, bear, river, orca, forest, the beings that came first and worked together as ONE for the good of ALL) It was filmed in Tyonek, Alaska on the Chuitna River.
Beth Brownfield’s introduction to Jay Julius
I met Jay Julius on Memorial Day, May 27, 2013, at the front door to our Unitarian Fellowship. By the time we entered the sanctuary I knew Jay would be a friend and an inspirational mentor of mine.
Jay was here that day with Jewel James, to speak to County religious leaders and activists regarding the proposed Coal Terminal at Cherry Point, a former Lummi Village site and burial ground.
Jewel and Jay spoke their truth in their own way regarding Lummi Nation’s protection of their history, culture, and obligations to nature to 86 religious representatives in the morning, and to a crowd of approximately 250 activists representing 44 Action groups in the evening. The evening was powerfully electric with unanimous agreement that Lummi should lead the Fight Against the Proposed Coal Terminal, instead of the action groups working separately in their own isolated silos and dissimilar strategies.
Following, under the directions and messaging, from Lummi Nations Sovereignty and Treaty Protection office the broader community provided profound support with their resources and specific undertaken tasks.
Jay is a fisherman, as was his father and grandfather. He has been Former Tribal Chairman and Councilman at Lummi Nation. He was a the Tribal Councilman of Lummi Nation during the proposed coal terminal fight and assumed the leadership along with Jewell James in the Lummi Sovereignty and Treaty protection office. Jay has organized and executed Tribal, local, regional and national campaigns. He is a bridgebuilder; he uses empathy and storytelling to bring people together.
His non-profit Se’Si’Le utilizes Indigenous ancestral knowledge for the benefit of our Mother Earth, Indigenous lifeways, and for future generations—and to promote the understanding of Indigenous ways of knowing the nature of Nature. SeSi’Le is the Lummi Indian word for “our grandmother.” With great pleasure and admiration, Jay Julius.
FOLLOW visually JAY’S PRESENTATION. Also attached is a transcription by AI of his share. The transcription is inaccurate in the information about Jays genealogy of at least 4 generations as to correct place and ancestor’s names.
FAST FORWARD: 31:30 When Jay begins his sharing. Jay ends his sharing 58:40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OByvcaRn37Q (This is the edited version of the service leaving out much of what was included in the whole service of importance and tied to the theme of Right and Respectful Relationship. Those parts are included in this email. Please watch and listen to them before watching Jay’s remarks)
Oct 14 Rev Sunny McMillan’s response to Sunday Oct 11 Service
On Sunday, October 11, BUF welcomed former Chairman of the Lummi Nation and President of the nonprofit Se’Si’Le, Jay Julius, as our honored speaker. During his talk, Jay shared with heartfelt intensity the pain and grief he and other Indigenous Peoples of the Salish Sea experience around the devastation to their ancestral lands, waters, and the more-than-human life that inhabits them.
Jay wrote the Foreword to the book we referenced several times during the service, In the Spirit of Right and Respectful Relations with Salmon Nation. He reports that people often ask, "How can I help?" In his words:
Think about what it means to be human. We live in a time of war against the common good. But our people know that the common good is about community, civility, and common human decency. And we know our common destiny depends on understanding what it means to be human in the spirit of right and respectful relations.
In the Spirit of Right and Respectful Relations: conversations about Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being in Nature.
The book promotes dialogue with Indigenous Peoples to increase understandings, build relationships and momentum, and inspire action to support, protect, and restore our region's imperiled lands, waters, life, and lifeways. This book was inspirited from a gathering on Orcas Island where those present spoke from the heart and the mind on raising up Indigenous voices, narratives, and knowledge to help others re-imagine their relationship with Nature and preserve our shared earth. ONLINE: search for the title @ Braided River Press, Amazon Prime, etc. $17.95
Oct 15 Rev Sunny McMillan’s response to Monday’s Indigenous People’s Day, Oct 12 at Lummi Nation.
On Monday, October 12, I attended the Indigenous Peoples' Day event at Lummi Nation. Not surprisingly, I ran into many BUFsters at the event, including most of our youth group, accompanied by their parents. There was delicious smoked salmon—enough to feed the crowd of hundreds—donated by the Swinomish and Upper Skagit Tribes and catered by Seawolf Surf N Turf. There were blessings in song by the Lhaqtemish Canoe Family. I even stayed later than planned for part of the Jam Out, where various groups drummed and danced late into the evening.
The theme of this year's event was "Answering the Call of Our Ancestors," and most of the speakers were youth and young adults, including a panel of K-12 students. When asked, "What do you want your elders and non-Indigenous folks to know?" I heard again and again: "We want them to know we are still here; our culture is still here; and we are still fighting."
Throughout the event, I had in the back of my mind Jay's words from the Sunday service and the book: "Think about what it means to be human." We are in chaotic and challenging times. But the evening was an opportunity come together in shared humanity, community, and culture—to be reminded of what it means to be human. Thank you to Lummi Nation for making such an event possible and extending the invitation to all and thank you to BUF's Native American Connections Team for making Sunday's service so meaningful.