Tag Archives: Christianity

Recognition / Seen – Easter 2023

Posted on April 9, 2023 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

Reading: Luke 24:12-32 Sermon My best friend from high school reached out to me last week. We’ve stayed in touch loosely over the years over Facebook, but not in any consistent way. She was in our home town for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons | Tagged Affirmation, Anagnorisis, Belonging, Black, Christianity, Closet, Compassion, Democracy, Diversity, Easter, Friends, Grief, Growing, Growth, Gun Violence, identity, Inclusion, Inclusivity, Jesus, Life, Love, Neighbors, Perepetia, Race, Racism, Recognition, Resurrection, Revolutionary Love, Sermon, Sermons, Sikh, TDOV, trans, Trans Joy, Transformation, transgender, Unitarian, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism, Universalism, Universalist, Valerie Kaur, Visibility, Visible, Whiteness | Leave a comment

Outgrow Your Ghosts

Posted on November 22, 2021 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

Listen to this sermon and one of my favorite conversations I’ve had in a while – with my colleague Sean Neil Barron on the Foothills Deeper Podcast. Reading: The S-I-Z-E of Your Soul Sermon: Outgrow Your Ghosts In second grade, … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons, Theology | Tagged Atheism, Christianity, Construction, Covenant, Diversity, Healing, Jesus, Past, Religion, Religious, Sermon, Sermons, Theology | Leave a comment

Into the Dawning Day

Posted on April 5, 2020 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

This choice – this paradox of life – is at the heart of the Christian calendar this week. What is known as Holy Week. Next Sunday is Easter –which gets all the attention of course, but for me, today, a day known … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons | Tagged Abundance, Beauty, Christianity, Forgiveness, Fragility, Gratitude, Jesus, Journey, Lent, Loss, Love, Mortality, Palm Sunday, Presence, Sermon, Sermons, Surrender | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Blog Reflections, Justice, Personal Stories, Philosophy of Church | Tagged Christianity, Christians, Colleagues, Evangelical, Interfaith, Jesus, Justice, Ministry, Orange, Religion, Religious Injury, Youth | 4 Comments

The Savior Next Door – Easter 2019

Posted on April 22, 2019 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

They came in the very early morning hours. In the stillness of the deep dawn, when light and dark were equally everywhere. Mary, Mary Magdalene, Salome, maybe other women – came to anoint their friend, their teacher with all the … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons | Tagged Caring, Christianity, Comfort, Compassion, Easter, Grief, Grieving, Help, Jesus, Kindness, Mr. Rogers | Leave a comment

True Lies – An April Fool’s Day Easter Sermon

Posted on April 14, 2018 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

Before the sermon we explored the Gospel of Mark’s telling of the empty tomb, and the idea that the truth of a story isn’t as important as the truth in a story. Then, we read Wendell Berry’s Manifesto: Mad Farmer’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice, Sermons, Theology | Tagged Christianity, Creatitivy, Easter, Facts, Gospel, Imagination, Jesus, Sermon, Sermons, Theology, Truth, Worship | Leave a comment

Re-Creation and Reconciliation – Easter Sermon 2017

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

Reading – from Louise Erdrich’s The Painted Desert Sermon – Re-Creation and Reconciliation – Easter Sunday 2017 Perhaps it is predictable that my favorite part of the Jesus story is the moment that many orthodox preachers would call his … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons | Tagged Christianity, Easter, Grief, Grieving, Healing, Jesus, Life, Reconciliation, Sermon, Sermons, Stories, Truth | Leave a comment

Christmas Eve Homily 2016

Posted on December 29, 2016 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

Text: Luke 2:1-19 Homily: The Radical Story of Christmas – Mary, Jazz and Turning the World Upside Down It starts with being counted. Whether or not they wanted to make the journey, it didn’t matter. They had to go. … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice, Sermons | Tagged Christianity, Christmas, Hospitality, Justice, Liberation, Mary, Risk, Transformation, Vision | Leave a comment

Giving Up the Ghost

Posted on August 23, 2016 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

Reading from Christine Robinson’s essay, “Imagineers of Soul” Sermon Preached August 21, 2016 The audio version of this sermon can be found here. A few years ago, my colleague Robin Bartlett, who grew up Unitarian Universalist, preached a sermon she … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons | Tagged Christianity, Faith, Faith Formation, Healing, Religious Injury, Sermon, Sermons, Shame, Theology, Unitarian Universalism | Leave a comment

The Light of Morning – Easter Sermon 2016

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

Here is the audio podcast of this sermon. Poetry: Maya Angelou’s On the Pulse of Morning (from the line “Lift Up Your Faces, you have a piercing need…”) Reading: Luke 24 from the Message Bible Imagine it with me, this … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons, Theology | Tagged Beginnings, Christianity, Creativity, Death, Easter, Grief, Jesus, Joy, Life, Loss, Resilience, Resurrection, Theology, Transformation, Women | 1 Comment