Tag Archives: Change

Lifewords

Posted on October 15, 2023 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

Twenty four years ago this week, I was on a flight to Portland to meet up with my parents. I had words I needed to say to them for the very first time. Words that were too big for an email or a … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons | Tagged Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, Beginnings, Change, Coming Out, Communication, Dementia, Endings, Humanity, identity, Labels, LGBTQ, Listen, Listening, Memory, Othered, Othering, Sermon, Sermons, Silence, Speech, Transformation, True, Truth, Words | Leave a comment

Good Walls: Boundaries as Acts of Love

Posted on September 13, 2023 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

Reading: From Prentis Hemphill, On Boundaries For me, there is a big love [that exists regardless of me]. [Which means,] there are people I have boundaries with that I’m like, “I don’t know if I love you but there’s a big … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons | Tagged Boundaries, Boundary, Change, Community, Covenant, Diversity, Justice, Liberal, Sermon, Sermons, Tolerance, Trump | Leave a comment

The Gift of Rebellion – Hanukkah 2022

Posted on December 21, 2022 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

First, a Reflection from Rev. Sean Neil Barron “Rebellions Are Built on Hope” Gretchen said she was preaching on Rebellion, our conversation was something like this: “The simple gift this week is rebellion.” “So, you are preaching about Star Wars.” … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons | Tagged Change, Differentiation, Faith, gender, Hanukkah, Hope, Jew, Jewish, Judaism, Parker Palmer, Rebellion, Rule-Breaking, Self-Differentiation, Sermon, Sermons, Stories, trans | Leave a comment

More Than Enough

Posted on October 30, 2022 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

Reading: The Church Where Everything Goes Wrong by Elea Kemler Sermon: More than Enough Like a lot of teenagers, my daughter really does not love getting up in the morning. Instead she loves her cozy bed, and the sweet dark of … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons | Tagged Abundance, Change, Church, Community, Covenant, Emerson, Enough, Faith, God, Grace, Love, pandemic, Post-pandemic, Recovery, Resilience, Sermon, Sermons, Theology, Transcendentalism, Transcendentalists, Trauma | Leave a comment

Bearing Witness

Posted on October 23, 2022 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

This week, one of my parents’ friends experienced a tragedy. Their daughter – who was my age, died suddenly, from a hidden medical issue they failed to uncover in time. My parents live far away from me, as do their … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons | Tagged Bearing Witness, Change, Community, Compassion, ethics, Faithfulness, Global Justice, International, Justice, Network, Pain, Partnership, Resilience, Sermon, Sermons, Stories, Suffering, UUSC, Witnessing, World | Leave a comment

The Dream of the Perfect Plan

Posted on October 9, 2022 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

It was February 1990, when the South African president Frederick Willem de Klerk made a shocking announcement: he would be releasing Nelson Mandela after 27 years in prison, and he would legalize Mandela’s political party and all other opposition parties for … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons | Tagged adrienne maree brown, Change, Co-Creation, Collaboration, Perfection, Planning, Plans, Sermon, Sermons, Shaping Change, South Africa, Strategic Plans, Threshold, Transformation, Trust, Wholeness | Leave a comment

Thresh(holding)

Posted on September 25, 2022 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

When I was a young adult, I had a very close friend who I spent so much time with,every day, for months, and years. We worked on projects together, laughed, and learned together, we taught each other about life. Through our relationship, … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons | Tagged Change, Karen Hering, Pause, Richard Rohr, Rosh Hashanah, Sabbath, Sermon, Sermons, Slow Down, spiritual practice, Thresholding, Thresholds | Leave a comment

The Doorway Effect

Posted on September 18, 2022 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

Reading: Door Face, by Doug Powell It was a normal, regular workday, almost 17 years ago. Carri and I both had busy jobs – I was the director of a large in-home personal care agency, and she was a community … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons | Tagged Change, Memory, Sermon, Sermons, Thresholds, Transition, Trust | Leave a comment

Losing, and Finding Your Religion

Posted on July 11, 2022 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

It was 2007 when I could keep it in no longer. I’d avoided the issue long enough. I’d downplayed my feelings, guarded my intuition. I’d kept a lot of my favorite things and even my friendships, on the down low. … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons | Tagged Change, Church, Faith, identity, Ministry, Open Heart, Progressive Church, Religion, Religious, Religious Identity, Religious Injury, Role of the Church, Sermon, Sermons, Transformation, Unitarian, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist, Universalist, UU, Vulnerability | 1 Comment

The Deal on Those Days, a sermon for the UUA General Assembly June 2022

Posted on June 29, 2022 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

It was March 2020, you know the week. I’m sitting in my home office. Just a few feet away, my two teenagers are in the living room “homeschooling.” A few feet from them, my partner is at the kitchen table. It is … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons | Tagged Change, Church, Collaboration, Covenant, COVID, Diana Butler Bass, Ecclesiology, Mission, Partners, Partnership, Promise, Sermon, Sermons, Unitarian Universalism, Vision | Leave a comment