Category Archives: Philosophy of Church

The Cullor Covenant

Posted on October 24, 2021 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

This pandemic season has been challenging for so many of us, in really significant and serious ways, and also in some small yet persistently annoying ways.   I have a confession that’s more in the latter category to share with you.  Which … Continue reading →

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Tomorrow Land

Posted on January 6, 2020 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

Reading: The House Called Tomorrow by Alberto Rios  Just over three years ago, we convened an impromptu evening service – the night after the national election.    People poured in to social hall for the potluck meal we invited before the … Continue reading →

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Progressive Christians Ruined Me (Or, Everything Changes When You Know Their Name)

Posted on May 7, 2019 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

All I could think, as I headed into my second day of the machine of Rethink Leadership and the Orange Conference (a mostly-evangelical Christian leaders gathering) was: Progressive Christians have ruined me.  Before seminary and my classmates – those brave … Continue reading →

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Sundays

Posted on April 21, 2019 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

Sometimes, on Sunday evenings, I feel in my body, the sense memory from my senior year of high school of the hours after a swim meet, or a tennis match, or a calculus test. Growing up these were the markers, … Continue reading →

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The Lure of the Local

Posted on October 8, 2018 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

Part 1: Community in Place and the Longing for Home  For a couple of years, in what now feels like another lifetime, I oversaw a new play development program with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in Boulder. New plays were a … Continue reading →

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The Plunge

Posted on September 10, 2018 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

When I was a kid, some of my friends had a cabin on a lake, where just off to the side there was a place you could go, and jump off the ledge into the water below.  I’d watched my friends … Continue reading →

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Pass It On – on faith formation & mentorship

Posted on February 19, 2018 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

Teacher Parker Palmer calls the place where we begin muttering miserable, unrepeatable things at the radio, or at our social media feed – that place that many of us are way too familiar with these days – he calls it … Continue reading →

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Say Yes – Stewardship and Celebration Sunday Feb 4 2018

Posted on February 16, 2018 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

We are here today because many people  over many generations said yes. We could go back further, but I want to start with the yes that came 120 years ago, almost exactly – January 2nd, 1898. A small group of … Continue reading →

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We were made for these times

Posted on August 1, 2016 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

There’s plenty going on in the world, in our country, in our state, and in most cases, in our individual lives – that would justify feelings of overwhelm, of denial, of heightened anxiety and reactivity.  And yet lately, I’ve been feeling … Continue reading →

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Three Things (or, simplicity redux)

Posted on July 29, 2016 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

I’m guessing it’ll come as no surprise to most of you that I like to pack my days as full as possible. I’ve been like this my whole life – in 4th grade my teacher started an anonymous advice box … Continue reading →

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