Today At Our Fellowship

Thursday, January 29, 2026

This Week @ AUUF

Thursday, January 29

6:30 – 8:00 pm Choir Practice Sanctuary

Friday, January 30

12:00 – 2:00 pm Freethinkers in Person Only Room 7

Saturday, January 31

8:30 – 10:30 am AA-Slap Happy Group at AUUF Social Room

Sunday, February 1

9:00 – 10:15 am The Forum

11:00 am – 1:00 pm HS Youth Group

Room 7

11:00 am – 12:15 pm Sunday Worship Live at AUUF & on Zoom

12:30 – 2:00 pm The Alliance - At AUUF

Sanctuary

4:00 – 5:30 pm Anchorage Friends Meeting Sanctuary & Social Room

Monday, February 2

Tuesday, February 3

2:00 – 4:00 pm Knitting Group

Room 7

4:30 – 6:30 pm Forum Planning (Library and Zoom) Library

5:30 – 6:45 pm Anchorage Against Christian Nationalism - All are welcome

Sanctuary

Wednesday, February 4

3:30 – 5:00 pm Connections Team Meeting on Zoom Library

5:00 – 6:30 pm CYRE Team Meeting - In Person & Zoom

Library

7:00 – 8:30 pm Building & Grounds Meeting - Zoom

Thursday, February 5

5:30 – 7:00 pm Anti-Racism Team Meeting Library & Zoom

6:30 – 8:00 pm Choir Practice

Sanctuary

Friday, February 6

12:00 – 2:00 pm Freethinkers in Person Only Room 7

The Forum

Sunday February 1, 2026, 2026 9:00 AM

IN- PERSON and on Zoom

Click here to join on Zoom.

Sunday Worship Service

Sunday February 1, 2026 11:00 AM

IN- PERSON and on Zoom

Click here to join on Zoom.

Soup Sunday

February 8

Soup Sunday is planned for after the Multi-Generational Service on Sunday, February 8. It's the perfect time of year for a cup of warm soup and time for fellowship in the social hall following the 11am service. We need yummy soup, bread, desserts and a couple of crews to set up and clean up.

If you'd like to sign-up to help in any way you can use this this link.

Thank you for your consideration!

The Hungry Book Club

February 10 at 2:00 pm

The AUUF Book Club will meet on February 10 at 2:00 pm in the Fellowship library. The book for discussion in February is a novel, The Next Ship Home by Heather Webb. Those who come enjoy a lively discussion of the book over snacks. March 10, our book discussion will be on Buckeye by Patrick Ryan.

All are welcome.

News from Rev. Lise

Dear Ones,

As many of you know, at the moment I'm at the Institute in Albuquerque, NM. This is a once every three year opportunity for UU religious professionals to delve into a deeper topic of their choosing to help enrich their ministries. When the Institute finishes on Friday I'll then go to visit my sister-in-law and her family who live in NM. Nelson is already there, hiking up a storm. I'll be back late on Thursday, Feb. 5 and see you on Sunday, Feb. 8, if not before.

In the meantime, I wanted to share my sermon from last week that described my experiences in Minneapolis last week. It has been good to hear that the Trump administration is getting enough feedback they are changing some of their approach. We need more changes however. Anyway, here's my sermon and I hope you have a good week.

Blessings, Rev. Lise

Resist with Love (and Support AUUF)

This is going to be a different kind of stewardship sermon, because, if you didn’t know, I made a quick trip to Minneapolis this week.

As I write, it’s Saturday morning and I’m sitting in the restaurant of the hotel where I’ve stayed the last two nights. While eating my breakfast I’ve been watching people come in, chat, eat, leave, seemingly go about their everyday lives. At the same time, I’ve been continuing to monitor my Minnesota clergy Signal chat. If you aren’t familiar with Signal, it’s an encrypted texting system that many folks are using for security reasons. At first there were messages about delayed flights due to the cold, questions about how we could help if we were stuck here for a while--you know, a bunch of overachieving UU ministers wanting to DO something. Then, someone posted that an observer was shot, and maybe killed. An hour later I found this confirmed on the NYTs app.

I keep reminding myself to pause and breathe. I need to go walk to settle the butterflies in my chest and stomach, AND I need to write this message. So simply breathing in place until I leave for the airport will have to do.

Two youngish white men, late 20s, early 30s, are sitting at the bar in front of me. They have short, well kept hair and I wonder if they might be off-duty ICE officers. There’s really nothing that is making me wonder this except that they have short hair. They look like regular, kind, reasonable people. But so did the ICE officers I saw intimidating a pregnant Latina woman on Thursday. Have you heard that story yet? Okay, deep breaths.

First off, I decided Sunday night to answer the clergy call that the group MARCH sent out on Friday. MARCH stands for Multi-faith Anti-Racist Change and Healing, and it’s an organizing collaborative. They’ve been working to support their community in Minneapolis in the midst of the ICE invasion since ICE arrived in December. They have been observing and notifying their neighbors when ICE comes near. They follow ICE in their cars so ICE knows they’re being watched. They blow whistles on corners, in parking lots, anywhere that ICE agents may get out of their vehicles in order to abduct or intimidate someone. MARCH folks provide food, medicines, diapers and other necessities to folks who are too afraid to leave their homes for fear of being abducted. On Thursday, the morning we all first gathered together, one of the organizers was late because she was delivering breast milk to a three-month old baby whose mom had been abducted a few days before. These folks are operating on their deep knowledge of the inherent worth of every individual. They’re operating on the fact that no human is illegal. They are operating on and resisting with love.

And the folks who work through MARCH are exhausted. Exhausted. So on Thursday, January 15 they decided to ask for help—much the way that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asked clergy to come to Selma, AL in 1965. And help came. By Thursday morning, one week later, over 700 clergy from all faiths and from all over the country including 200ish UUs answered their call.

But back to my story about the innocuous looking ICE agents.

Late Thursday morning a few hours after all of us had gathered together, those of us who were willing and able were asked to get on buses to go to a neighborhood in south Minneapolis to observe ICE activity for an hour. We loaded ourselves into three buses of about 50 people each. On the bus, we were told to stay in pairs and stay safe. At all times, clergy were asked to discern their needs regarding safety and to act accordingly. We were told that if a certain action seemed too risky, for whatever reason, that all types of help would be welcome and there were many folks, we could take shifts. So, my friend James and I headed in search of a place we thought ICE agents might be. I saw a small L-shaped strip mall with obviously immigrant ethnic businesses in it. The parking lot wasn’t very full, but we decided to go explore. We had been told that even if we didn’t see any ICE agents, we could visit shops, talk with people and maybe buy something as a show of support. Out of the nine businesses located in the strip mall, six were closed. One of the three that was open was keeping their doors locked.

If this story is sounding familiar, you may have read it on AUUF’s or my FB pages. It’s worth retelling again—many times.

As we crossed the parking lot, James noticed a dark colored Suburban with four people inside. They were parked so they had a full view of the mall. One of them was absent mindedly playing with his buff, pulling it up over his mouth and nose, then down again, as one does. Both James and I felt a rush of anxiety. Should I pull out my whistle and start blowing now? What should we do? Would that antagonize the agents or needlessly scare people? We were new to this and didn’t know for sure if they were ICE agents. Maybe they were harmless. We hailed two more clergy over for support and the four of us stood on the sidewalk in front of the stores, talked, watched and waited.

Please click here to read the entire article.

Stewardship Sunday

A message from Doug Eby - AUUF Treasurer and Board Member

This Sunday January 25th is Stewardship Sunday and the AUUF community will gather at 10am for a single meeting time rather than the usual 9am and 11am times. The following four weeks is when we all will make any changes we decide to make in our contributions to help keep AUUF going financially - leading to the responsible development of our next year’s fiscal year budget. We are a member organization who does not receive outside money, and gives, in fact, to the national organization the amount they request to support their budget (about $20K/year) and so, our ongoing functioning depends on the giving of our members to pay for the staff we depend on, and the costs of the facility we meet in. Our budget is just over $450,000 a year, with a deficit of right around $60,000, so we need lots and lots of generous giving from all of you!! We don’t expect any large changes up or down in costs next fiscal year (July to end of June). Everyone needs to give something - the attached table/suggested giving guide lists $20 per month as the least amount (2%) - for those who’s post-tax income is under $20,000 a year - and $3-4,000 per month (7-10%) for those making $500,000 a year after taxes. For a household/pledging unit with a post-tax income of $150,000 a year, the recommended monthly giving range is $500/month (4%) to $1250/month (10%). We also need you to invite friends and neighbors to give us a visit and consider joining AUUF! We will thrive better as a somewhat larger group.

We have moved to an ongoing giving system where your monthly giving will continue until you change it or end it (similar to what public media and other non-profit organizations generally do now). If you prefer to give once annually, quarterly, or some other way (stocks, RMD’s, etc.) we will work individually with you to accommodate your preferences. Once a year we will do this special Stewardship Sunday - and report what is happening with our budget and where we stand in terms of current total giving/revenue - and ask you to consider whether you can comfortably give more.

At present we pay a full-time minister, full-time Director of Religious Exploration, a nearly full-time combined Administrator/Music Director, a part time Communications Coordinator, and a part time AudioVisual expert. We also, of course, depend on very large numbers of volunteer hours to keep AUUF organized and working well. The past few years have seen us significantly increase our pay levels to pay more equitably, and more closely match similar positions in our larger Anchorage community - and we are committed to keeping up each year with cost of living increases. We have not seen a proportional increase in giving per pledging entity compared to our increased costs, and so we encourage you to raise your giving fairly significantly if that is possible for you without creating significant difficulty for you. Your prepared forms we have created provide increases options of 5% (just keeping up), 10% (help with upwards pay adjustments), and 15% (helps cover for those who are unable to increase giving without hardship). Any other option is welcomed and a line is provided for you to fill in some other number or gift.

We think that we offer a community of caring, like-minded people in search of deeper meaning and truth and community - and impact on social justice issues - and that the type of welcoming community we offer is even more important to maintain in the current political and economic climate in Alaska and the U.S. We ask that you consider prioritizing the AUUF community with your giving and think about the direct impact on our members - and all of the work your fellow community members do for the good of the larger community.

Click here to see a video from our RE kids.

AUUF Religious Exploration January 2025 Updates

Click here to read.

Calling all High School Seniors

Do you have a High School Senior who is interested in participating in the Bridging Ceremony at AUUF of Sunday, May 10? Contact Jenn Bluntach at dre@anchorageuuf.org

More information can be found about what the Bridging ritual is at this link.

Grades 10-12 OWL postponed until Fall 2026

Due to low enrollment, Grades 10-12 OWL is postponed until Fall of 2026. Watch for an upcoming Forum where we will offer information on the OWL program and Religious Exploration at AUUF.

Peace Camp 2026- Peace Around the World

Peace Camp 2026 prep is underway! We will be offering two weeks of Peace Camp- June 1-5 and June 8-12. We have amazing teen cabin leads and volunteers at AUUF that make this camp happen. If you are interested in helping with Peace Camp in any way, for any amount of time, please contact Jenn Bluntach at dre@anchorageuuf.org. New helpers encouraged and welcomed! We need adult help/supervision in many different areas- check-in/check-out table, lunch buddies, adult bike riders, morning workshops, before and after camp child care etc. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Peace Camp. We'd love for you to be a part of this special event!

Registration for campers will become available in March. Watch for more details...

Volunteer Hospitality Slots for all Sundays in 2026 are available on the Sign-Up Genius

Please consider signing up ahead of time to help make AUUF a warm and welcoming community. We need greeters, zoom ushers and ESPECIALLY Social Hour volunteers to keep our kitchen tidy and clean. If Connections ends up doing dishes all the time, they will have a hard time staffing the welcome tables as they should be doing. Below is a link to the Signup Genius which includes downloadable directions on what to do. All you need is an email address and you will be sent an automatic reminder 2 days ahead of time.

Thanks to all who continue to help!

JANUARY HALF PORTION FOR SOCIAL ACTION:

PAYMENT IN LIEU OF TAXES (PILOT)

Payment to the Municipality of Anchorage for essential services provided to the Fellowship.

You can contribute in person at our Sunday services or online by visiting anchorageuuf.org click on Donate/ Pay on the home page. Enter your donation under “Half-Portion for Social Action."

Go to anchorageuuf.org

Click on Donate/ Pay

ON of the home page.

Enter your donation under

“Half-Portion for Social Action”

As ICE escalates its presence in Minneapolis and across the Twin Cities, communities are facing fear, disruption, and state violence at an alarming scale. More than 2,000 ICE officers are currently deployed in the region, and the harm unfolding there is not accidental or isolated. It is the result of policies that criminalize immigration and enforce borders through fear, surveillance, and force rather than care.

In response, Side With Love has created a Minnesota Resource Kit to help.

View the MN Resource Kit