Tag Archives: Memory

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

The Gift of Memory (Dec 2022)

Posted on December 4, 2022 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

Sometimes I think about my daughter’s childhood as a matter of three phases: We are now, perhaps obviously, in phase three. The annual nativity play at Foothills only became an annual tradition in my third year here, when Gracie was 10, but by … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons | Tagged Bible, Christmas, Cole Arthur Riley, Collective, Community, Exodus, Healing, Holidays, identity, Memory, Past, Selfhood, Sermon, Sermons, Solstice | Leave a comment

Queer More Than Memory (or, the closets made from the words we didn’t yet have)

Posted on October 20, 2022 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

This post is a companion piece to a post I wrote in February 2015, “A Conversation Begins with a Lie…” Like a lot of moments in my life, I recently realized something important while listening to the Indigo Girls. Carri … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog Reflections, Personal Stories, Sexuality | Tagged Aging, Be More Gay, Bisexuality, Coming Out, Delight, Free, Freedom, Gay, Genderqueer, Growing Older, Indigo Girls, LGBTQ, Memory, Middle Aged, Monogamy, Non-Binary, Nostalgia, Poly, Polyamorous, Power, Queer, Queer Joy, Queerness, Sexualities, Sexuality | 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

Our Ghost Stories

Posted on November 7, 2021 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

From about third grade until about eight grade, I spent a week each summer at Camp David Jr. on Lake Crescent in Washington State. I loved everything about camp,especially canoeing on the clear lake, and the camp fire stories and songs … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons | Tagged Family, Fear, Ghosts, Grief, Haunted, Haunting, Heal, Healing, History, Loss, Memory, Past, Recover, Recovery, Regret, Remorse, Sermon, Sermons, Tragedy, Transformation | Leave a comment

A meditation on Marie Howe’s What the Living Do

Posted on October 31, 2021 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

What the Living Do by Marie Howe Johnny, the kitchen sink has been clogged for days, some utensil probably fell down there. And the Drano won’t work but smells dangerous, and the crusty dishes have piled up waiting for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Meditations, Theology | Tagged Absence, All Souls, Cycle of Life, Dead, Death, Dying, Grief, Life, Living, Loss, Love, Loving, Meditation, Memory, Mortality, Presence, Sorrow | Leave a comment

Roots of Resilience: We’ve been here before

Posted on May 10, 2020 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

There’s a phrase I’ve heard a lot in the past few months: we are living in an unprecedented time. And in a lot ways – it’s true. No one in our congregation was alive in 1918 for the Spanish Flu…so none … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons, Theology | Tagged Ancestors, History, Hope, Hopelessness, Margaret Wheatley, Memory, Pema Chodron, Resilience, Surrender | Leave a comment

Reunion, a Sabbatical Story

Posted on August 12, 2019 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

What does it mean to meet again? After months, or years, or decades, to encounter another that we have not seen, or kept fully in touch with, especially one we once knew well, one we were close to, who knew … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog Reflections | Tagged Family, History, Intimacy, Memory, Recognition, Relationships, Reunion, Sabbath, Sabbatical, Time | 1 Comment

For Memory

Posted on December 11, 2017 by Rev. Gretchen Haley

Reading: For Memory by Adrienne Rich Sermon, “For Memory” Over the Thanksgiving holiday, two of my longest dearest friends came to visit with their new soon-to-be adopted 8-year-old son. We all met as undergrads, and even though in the last 20 years we … Continue reading →

Posted in Sermons | Tagged Christmas, History, Holidays, Hope, Memory, Time, Tradition | Leave a comment