Unfolding Faith: Sermons from Foothills Unitarian

Turning Point USA

You’ve spent years believing that if you just told the truth clearly enough, people would see it—but now that logic feels broken, and it’s breaking something in you, too. When the old tools stop working, faith invites us to grieve what’s gone and still step forward, learning to speak truth in a way that reshapes the ground we stand on.

The Crack in Everything - How we respond to Evil

We want to believe heaven is already here, on earth. In beauty, and nature; in generosity and creativity; and in human goodness that still surprises us in its abundance. But then....we read the headlines, we feel the heartbreak, and we experience the harm - and all of these ideas feel hollow.
So, as Eleanor Shellstrop (from TV's The Good Place) might say....is this the bad place?And if so, how do we live faithfully here - in what Parker Palmer calls the "tragic gap,"  between the world as it is and the world as it could be?
These are the questions at the heart of this sermon from Rev. Gretchen.

At Sunrise (Rev. Elaine)

Life shifts under our feet in ways we didn’t ask for— relationships strain, identities evolve, and structures and expectations that once felt right can start to feel confining. 
It’s easy to mistake the pain of breaking open, growing, and becoming as a sign that something is wrong.  
This message from Rev. Elaine invites us to discern whether the strain we feel is the cost of becoming or the cost of staying too small.

After the Fall

What happens after we mess up—after we hurt someone, fail ourselves, or cause harm, intentionally or not? 
We can either spiral into shame—or we can turn toward growth. Shame disconnects us from belonging, but growth deepens it.
This Sunday, Rev. Gretchen Haley continues our Broken | Open series with wisdom from the Jewish High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Together, we’ll explore how to find meaning and belonging—even after we fall short.
✨ A creative story for kids and youth✨ Gorgeous music to ground and lift us✨ Belonging, even in our brokenness

Broken/Open to Lament

Lament is the cry of the heart that says: “This pain matters.”It doesn’t try to fix, defend, or explain. It witnesses. It gives voice to the grief, anger, confusion, and sorrow we so often carry in silence.Across traditions - from the Hebrew psalms to Buddhist stories, from African American spirituals to modern poetry - lament has always been a way to be fully present in life as it really is.Together, we’ll learn how lament can connect us, comfort us, and remind us: whatever you’re carrying, you don’t carry it alone.You can expect a space for all-out whining and collective sighing, maybe even some stomping of feet. And of course powerful music from Julie Koenig the whole way through it all. Most of all, the invitation to both share and witness all that we are holding, in community. Let's do this, together.Link to Book of Laments: https://simplebooklet.com/bookoflaments#page=1

BeWilderment

Feeling entirely lost? Confused? Sometimes, right when the map fails, the real path begins. This Sunday: bewilderment, whirling, and the possibility that being lost can be the place where we are ultimately found.  Rev. Gretchen will be preaching, Christopher Watkins Lamb and Julie Koenig will be leading music, Rev. Elaine will be reading a wild poem about a crab, and many of us will be twirling. Maybe including you? Hope to see you there! 

It’s Not Just You

Do you ever get the feeling that you are having an experience NO ONE could ever understand? Something too hard, too embarrassing, too messy....these feelings can make us feel so alone, and so isolated. But what we have learned (especially those of us whose job it is to meet people in these challenging moments) is that these moments that feel unique to you, are often the exact things that other people are struggling with too. 
This Sunday, Rev. Elaine shares from her experience as our lead minister for pastoral care to remind us that the place where you feel most alone is often your place of deepest belonging.  

We Are Not Who We Were, Thank God

You don’t become a different person overnight—but staying in long-haul relationships has a way of slowly confronting who you were and calling out who you’re becoming. This message from Rev. Gretchen looks at how deep, lasting connections reshape us over time in ways quick fixes never could.