Unfolding Faith: Sermons from Foothills Unitarian

Radical Neighboring

In this moment, we are called to inhabit one of the most ancient stories: the story of being good neighbors to each other, in love and in protection.  Rev. Elaine explores how being a neighbor is more than a moral concept—it’s an ancient, relational practice that calls us to listen with humility, cross lines of difference with compassion, and remember our deep interconnection with one another. "Won't you be my neighbor?"

The Old Story Needs Your Cooperation

There is an old story that has a hold on us, and it needs our cooperation to stay alive. The old story that says "nothing changes". The one that says "stay in your lane". It can't survive without you. Which also means, it starts to break the moment you stop repeating it. 
This message from Rev. Sean is an invitation to practice. Not heroism, but faithfulness in the struggle. Small moments of being willing to tell the right story wrong. To say the right thing though your voice may shake and crack. So that when it matters most, when your neighbor needs you, when the stakes are real, you've already been exercising the muscle. 
Courage isn't something you find alone. It's something we practice together.

More Than One Story

This Sunday we honor Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and bear witness to the many layers of story in the present moment. Rev. Gretchen along with members of the congregation, weave the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with first-person accounts from the Civil Rights era, testimony from the present moment, scripture, poetry and song.You will hear the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Claudette Colvin, Carin Mrotz, Mamie Zwadie King- Chalmers, Matt Suarez, Hollis Watkins, Aurora Levins Morales, Susan Raffo, Rev. Ashley Horan, The Gospel of Matthew, and Carol, a current resident of Minneapolis. You can find a full transcript of the readings and watch the whole service here: https://foothillsuu.churchcenter.com/episodes/597762

Finding Our Way in the Dark

Rev. Sean opens the "New Story. New You" series with “Finding Our Way in the Dark.”
A good story can inspire someone to action, provide hope to get you through a hard time, or help us empathize with an unfamiliar perspective. But a well told story can also dehumanize, sew doubt, or spread fear.
"The thing about stories, is they don’t just describe what is, they prescribe what’s next." 
Listen as Rev. Sean reflects on the power stories have to shape how we experience the world, the ways we view the people and events around us, to what we believe the future holds.What story do you have inside of you?

Fire Ceremony - Releasing In the Turning

We must release before we can receive. We open the new year with our annual Fire Ceremony—a powerful ritual of letting go. Before the new direction becomes clear, there is always a threshold: a space where the old stories, habits, and burdens must be set down so that something truer can take root. Through fire, reflection, and shared intention, we will name what no longer serves us and create room for what is waiting to emerge. Come ready to loosen your grip, to trust the unknown, and to begin again.
If you would like to participate in the ritual element, we recommend you gather the following items before listening: Small piece of paper Pen/pencilBowl of Water Stone or other heavy object There will be prompts to write, followed by music. The music is your cue to take the paper you've written on, and put it in the water, symbolically or literally destroying it. 

Listening in the Turning

Between the noise of holidays, pause to listen to that still small voice within. Community Minister and Hospice Chaplain Rev. Roger Butts will guide us into the contemplative practice of listening—listening to our own hearts, to one another, and to the call of the holy. In the quiet few days after Christmas and before the new year, we’ll make space to hear what we might otherwise miss: the wisdom that speaks only when we are still.

Christmas Eve 2025 - Come, Let us Adore

Joy is not something we force into being, nor is it a reward waiting on the other side of certainty or peace. Rev. Gretchen reminds us this Holiday Season, that joy comes to us as an invitation, as a gentle summons to pause, to turn our gaze toward what is tender and new, and let ourselves be interrupted by wonder. Adoration is the courage to give our full attention to life as it is unfolding, to kneel before the sacred beauty that appears even in fragile forms. Joy does not deny the darkness, but shines within it—quiet, embodied, and faithful—asking only that we draw near and allow ourselves to be changed.

Winter Solstice - Resting In the Turning

There is no growth without rest. No healing. No liberation. Rev. Gretchen invites us to rest in the darkness, and reminds us that the light can return. She’ll explore what becomes possible when we stop forcing growth and trust the hidden transformations happening beneath the surface.
 
In winter, roots strengthen, bodies recover, and the world prepares for beginning again. On this Solstice Sunday, we turn toward the wisdom of the longest night—the sacred invitation to surrender, renew, and let the earth do its quiet work within us.