First Sundays for Families at the Fellowship: Daring Greatly!

Come at 9 am to be part of the All-Ages Pop Up Choir (no experience/reading skills necessary). Service at 10 am. Youth have the option to stay through our Time for All Ages storytime and then head downstairs to work on an art project connected to the sermon's theme with our child care provider.

Writing in the shadow of the Holocaust in the years after the Second World War, German-American philosopher Hannah Arendt said: “The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.”

While many of us prefer to avoid using the word evil, I am reminded that the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was very much drawn to our liberal faith tradition when he was a student of theology at Boston University. However, he saw our tradition’s willingness to turn our faces away from evil forces – combined with our lack of a clear-eyed theology of evil – as inadequate to support the movement for civil rights and human dignity that he was working with others to build.  

This month, many of us will focus our attention on the awe-inspiring resilience, resistance and moral strength of Black people in the United States of America, as we learn more about and celebrate Black History. Many of us will also be trying to make sense of the murder of a young mother, Renee Nicole Good, in Minnesota, by a federal ICE agent. 

Whether or not you use the word evil to describe some of what is happening today, I hope you will join us as we connect with our own moral clarity and courage, so we can dare together greatly in 2026.

I hope to see you Sunday, February 1!

With love beyond belief, Barbara

---

Spiritual communities come in all shapes and stripes. If you're looking for a group of folks who live by deed, not creed, then come check out the Gorge Fellowship at our First Sundays for Families services.

What is First Sundays for Families? Every first Sunday Service of the month is geared towards engaging young minds and hearts with age-appropriate topics along with an all-ages pop up choir open to all early comers. Sermons are based on our theme of the month with a story exploring that theme for kids, along with a Children’s Guide who will give kids the opportunity to play and engage downstairs while the service finishes up. Service begins at 10 am, but come at 9 am to join the Pop Up Choir for People of All Ages. No need to be able to read music or words, just come at 9 am to learn the song and then sing during service!

We are also collecting responses to our Family Needs Survey. If you can please fill out our survey and share this link with other local families, it will go a long way towards informing our future family-focused programming. LINK: tinyurl.com/HRFAMILIES

More information on the Gorge UU Fellowship (MCUUF) can be found at gorgefellowship.org