The Foothills Deeper Pod: Recent Episodes
Foothills Unitarian Church
Sermons, meditations, and conversations from Foothills Unitarian Church. Featuring Rev. Gretchen Haley, Rev. Sean Neil-Barron, Rev. Elaine Aron-Tenbrink, and special guests!
If we assume that democracy and pluralism are fundamental to our society, then we must also assume that anything anti-democratic or anti-diversity is a threat to our society. It is the fundamental paradox of tolerance that is playing out across our nation, not to mention in our families and in our friendship circles.
In this episode, we explore the limits to our acceptance, the necessary accountability in our inclusion, and how boundaries can be acts of love.
A 10-minute meditation to stay present in the face of discomfort. Led by Rev. Gretchen Haley. Adapted from Recovery Dharma.
Join us for an enlightening conversation featuring Reverend Sean-Neil-Barron, Beckie Wagner, and Dr. Scott Denning. In this episode, we explore the profound empowerment that Earth-based spirituality offers. Learn how connecting with the Earth and the universe around us can ignite our sense of agency in shaping our lives. By remembering and centering our relationship with nature, we can reconnect with our inherent creative power.
Rev. Gretchen breaks down the concept of the Holy Spirit and its relevance in Unitarian Universalist theology.
Why do bad things happen? And where is God in the suffering? In this week's Deeper pod, Rev. Gretchen explores theodicy and the gift of awe and a mysterious God.
Through open conversation, Revs. Sean and Gretchen introduce process theology which explores God as evolving and unfolding.
We delve into the heart of queer theology, exploring how the metaphor and experiences of trans and nonbinary people provide profound insights into understanding the Divine's very nature.
Get people talking about the biggest challenges we face, and eventually, the conversation turns to mental health. So why does one of our community's leading neuropsychologists and family therapists believe this is exactly the wrong place to focus our conversation, instead advocating that we turn our attention to belonging?
In this episode of The Foothills Deeper Pod, we welcome Dr. Janina Fariñas, Founder and CEO of the award-winning La Cocina. La Cocina is a nonprofit practice-based Latine training institute that has offered no-cost, culturally affirming mental health services to Latine adults, youths, children & infants since March 2017.
Rev. Gretchen and Dr. Fariñas will share in a live dialogue considering the ways lack of true belonging and mental illness are tied up together and the real meaning and source of mental health.
Rev. Gretchen Haley explores the practices and pitfalls of Intercultural Belonging together.
In this episode, Rev. Sean confesses a teenage indiscretion and the lessons it taught him about what it means to belong, to have true relationships, and to be forgivable. He also teaches us five questions to help us build meaningful relationships.
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This episode kicks off a new series called Sit By Me: Belonging is an inside job all about how true belonging starts from within.
Learn more about our Sit By Me series at https://foothillsuu.org/sitbyme
This special 20-minute episode features an interview with Foothills Unitarian member and creative Steve Sedam all about embracing play and creativity and how inspiration finds us.
View Steve's Flower Ceremony illustration: https://youtu.be/Mz8ad_9vbhQ
In this special episode of The Foothills Deeper Pod, we bring you an important update on the state of trans, queer, and non-binary rights, both nationally and within our local community. Reverends Sean Neil-Barron and Gretchen Haley, two influential voices advocating for equality and social justice, discuss what's happening at the policy and the personal level and why it should matter to us all. From the potential reverberating effects on our public education system to government institutions to far-reaching social programs, Rev. Sean and Gretchen dive into why we all need to pay attention to what's happening with LGBT+ rights now, regardless of where we live.
Welcome to our new series Time Well Wasted. Together, we're exploring those things that help you feel alive, connected, and filled with joy – and yet have no real purpose other than that! Together, let’s lean into those things that take us entirely out of the producing mode and into fun mode. Let’s remember that our worth has nothing to do with our work.
In this episode, Rev. Gretchen will help us dive into those things that bring us so much joy but also make us feel shame when we share them with others. What's that about? And how can we release our guilt and shame and lean into our joy?
Where does powerful and healing change begin? With a ten-point plan? Or in the sheer force of our individual will? The changes that rock our world the most often begin in a perhaps surprising realm: the imagination. Though it may be tempting to write off dreaming as naive or superfluous, our willingness to dream is critical if we are going to shape our world and our lives for the better. In this episode, we explore techniques for catching an inspiring vision.
We welcome special guest Kathleen Rude, author and senior facilitator of the Work That Reconnects (a group process that fosters resilience).
Kathleen guides us in accessing our resilience and inner strength, shifting our overwhelm, fear, outrage, and grief in these challenging times into compassionate presence and inspired action. Even though we may feel that we don’t have enough or aren’t capable enough to make a difference in our troubled world, our “not enoughness” can be just enough to bring about change.
For week two of our Active Hope series, Rev. Sean takes us to our starting place. In the face of challenges and dreams that seem impossible, where do we begin?
This is the first episode of our active hope series, where we're exploring the work of environmental activist, author, and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy.
To kick things off, we're drawing on the story of Easter, Trans Day of Remembrance, and the recent expulsion of Tennesee state legislators to examine how we might move our society towards a pivotal moment of transformation by truly recognizing all our fellow humans as kin.
We are called to serve, help, and work for justice. We dedicate time, energy, and resources to making our church, community, and world a better place. And, yet, our time is limited. Someone else will need to pick up the work someday. Someone will come next... won't they? In this episode, Rev. Gretchen explores our responsibility for mentoring another generation who will take our place in the great work.
Rev. Elaine continues our exploration of how we serve one another, sharing how even when we might feel we have nothing to offer, there is a role for us to play. When our lives feel too busy, joining the team and serving may actually be the antidote.
We're kicking off our new series, Terms of Service: The fine print of community. In this episode, Rev. Sean shares how mutual aid is a powerful tool for care and an essential component of spiritual life. Then, Rev. Dr. Sheryl Johnson joins Rev. Sean for a conversation about how the finance and stewardship practices of many congregations espouse neoliberal values and entrench white privilege and what we can do to change that.
2:13: Rev. Sean's sermon "No Masters, No Flakes"
27:04 Conversation with Rev. Dr. Sheryl Johnson
Find Sheryl Johnson's Book here: https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9781506482965/Serving-Money-Serving-God
Rev. Sean Neil-Barron, Rev. Gretchen Haley, and religious educators Lauren Farley and Eleanor VanDeusen answer questions about gender submitted by community members.Some questions we answer are:
How can we center all the different needs in the fight for gender equity?Will we be targeted for taking a pro-trans and nonbinary stance?How are cis-gender kids affected by movements focusing on gender-expansive kids?
In this episode, we empower you with talking points to counter right-wing gender propaganda.As Unitarian Universalists, we believe that we are all connected and that when the dignity and liberation of some are threatened, we are all called to act. So how can we respond to the wave of anti-trans, anti-nonbinary legislation that is sweeping the country? How can you, as one person, combat this wave of hate and harm? By starting with a seemingly small thing. Your voice. Your voice matters. Rising up and raising your voice can change a heart, a mind, and even save a life.
Even those of us deeply committed to gender liberation can find ourselves stuck in the sticky web of gender roles. How might we move towards greater freedom – for ourselves and for all of us? Rev. Elaine explores the strangeness of gender roles: the things that don’t fit, the things that actually (and perhaps weirdly) do, and how we might move with our anger, our curiosities, and our pleasures.
Plus an intro to gender creative parenting!
Let's talk about men. We know traditional conceptions of masculinity are outdated but there aren't any handholds for thinking about masculinity in a new way. So this week, we explore how we become better men - how we can invite ourselves into a more nuanced relationship with what it means to be a man.
We also tackle WHY - in the midst of so many pressing contemporary issues - we're taking the time to focus on gender.
Leading queer theorist and nationally recognized author Kathryn Bond Stockton joins us to tell a strange story, with import for everyone. Why did a queer, trans-feeling, non-binary, going-to-be-gay kid need to become Evangelical for a spell so as to return to Unitarian values? Beginning with thoughts about what God is, this talk ties together words and kisses—for us all.Plus Rev. Sean welcomes guest Evin Carvill Ziemer to tackle our gender box. Ask a question at https://foothillsuu.org/genderquestions.
3:54 Sermon24:36 Answering our Gender Question Box.
As Unitarian Universalists, we proclaim that all genders are sacred and all people are worthy of love and belonging. But living that commitment requires us to learn, unlearn, and deepen our practice of true radical inclusiveness. This episode, we're kicking off our new series GenderFluent during which we'll work together to become more:
- Curious about gender – yours and other people’s – without judgment or assumption
- Conversant learning new vocabulary and ways of thinking and talking about gender. No longer letting fear of missteps stop important conversations.
- Courageous to speak up and fight back against ideas, laws, and policies that tightly define gender or dehumanize trans and nonbinary people. Courageous to affirm your gender, whatever it is, and to embrace others.
Conversation between Sean & Gretchen about gender: 8:16Sermon "Strange but Sacred": 26:13A Prayer for Gender Freedom: 1:25
How can we manage regret and the desire to have a do-over? Revs. Elaine and Sean guide us in navigating these human experiences.
Time is in us. We feel time. And yet, what if the way we experience time is not natural or objective? Time is not inherently linear and unidirectional, as is often experienced in the Western world. Standardized, uniform time was an invention, or rather, a construction during a curious confluence of 19th-century mechanical innovations and European colonial ambitions. So what purpose does the Western construct of time actually serve?2:04 Rev. Sean Neil-Barron's Sermon "Land Before Time"22:44 Rev. Gretchen Haley joins Rev. Sean for a conversation to unpack her unexpected emotional reaction to his sermon
A 7-minute mini-sermon on Dr. Martin Luther King's Beloved Community and Unitarian Universalists' ultimate commitment to love.
We're kicking off a new series called Time Management for Mortals. This week, Rev. Gretchen preaches on the 125th anniversary of our church and guides us in exploring the hopefulness that can be found in our shared history.
Learn more about Time Management for Mortals at foothillsuu.org/time.
A 15-minute ritual for releasing what no longer serves you and setting intentions for your path forward.
Rev. Sean explores the history of the American Christmas celebration.
Learn more by reading "How The Unitarian and The Universalists Invented Christmas" by Susan Jean Ritchie.
"The frontier of the rebellion is everywhere..." Rev. Sean kicks us off with a special star wars mini-sermon. Then, Rev. Gretchen draws on Hanukkah and the Maccabean Revolt to explore how making small choices to rebel daily can build our capacity to take a stand on a larger scale.
Revs. Sean and Gretchen guide us in exploring how by being present to the painful or challenging parts of our life, we can witness, allow, and partner with the transformative work that is always ongoing.
Also, enjoy a bonus conversation between Revs. Gretchen and Sean about wrestling with which winter holidays to celebrate and the intersection of honoring pluralism and holding space for the religious trauma that some may have when arriving at Unitarian Universalism.
This week we're kicking off a new series, Simple Gifts. Let's dive into some honest talk about this time of year and explore some tools for navigating the season. Together, let's remember the best gifts of this season arrive not when we add on but when we let go. This week, Rev. Gretchen explores how memory can be a tool for hope.
Rev. Sean guides us in a special Taize Vespers-inspired podcast to help us center, restore and connect with our spirituality.
A special episode unpacking and processing the aftermath of the murder of five people at Club Q through a queer lens.
With Rev. Sean Neil-Barron, Rev. Gretchen Haley and Charlie Williamson, who is a lifelong UU and works at the Pride Resource Center at CSU.
As we face a society that continues to fuel hatred against LGBT+ people, how should love respond?
Learn more about the Foothills Unitarian Be More Gay movement at bemorelove.org
Revs. Elaine and Sean share some ways you can bring some intention into your holidays and love this celebratory season.
Rev. Sean guides us in exploring how subversiveness and mischief play can unlock delight in the ordinary.
Tools for dealing with death and grief that help us connect more deeply with life.
1:50 Reading from Unitarian Universalist Minister the Rev. Kate Tucker about what to expect when a loved one dies.
4:45 Rev. Elaine Aron-Tenbrink shares about navigating the loss of someone we love.
11:53 Rev. Elaine talks with Rev. Sean Neil-Barron about Joanna Macy's work, which comes from Engaged Buddhism and natural systems ecology, to help us orient ourselves in the natural systems.
35:00 Katie Watkins shares her experience at the Halloween Lizzo concert.
Join our email list at https://foothillsuu.org/newsletter
We do not need to strive or reach for something else, somewhere else, someone else – everything we need is here, and it is more than enough.
Join us this month in Everyday Delights. Every day in November:
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Notice something delightful.
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Be present with it. Take a photo of it, write a haiku about it, make a video about it, OR write a short (400 words or less) essay about it). You can choose to do something different every day, or do the same practice the whole series.
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Share your delights (as you’d like) on social media with #everydaydelight and tag Foothills Unitarian (@foothillsuu on instagram and @FoothillsUnitarianChurch on Facebook).
We can’t wait to share in delight across our whole community!
Rev. Sean returns to tease out the promise of beginnings and the importance of trust as we step beyond our thresholds.
We welcome back Rev. Sean to the podcast and hear about how releasing his original sabbatical plan led to a fuller and deeper plan - as Rev. Gretchen calls in her sermon (also in this episode), a more whole plan.
We all make up stories about the future. It's human nature to wonder and worry about what is to come - to try and fill the unknown. Rev. Elaine Aron-Tenbrink guides us in how we can be partners in receiving the "stranger" of whatever future is emerging.
Rev. Gretchen offers tools to slow down and pause during transitions instead of just rushing through the discomfort of change.
In life there are always going to be thresholds, both those we can see and those we can't see, yet, but are headed our way. In this week's episode, we're learning to relax and make friends with change instead of fighting to get through it. Change isn't just a place of loss, it's also a place of joy and abundance. We're especially looking at the doorway effect, which is the phenomenon that people tend to forget as they go through doorways.
The river is a place of community, connection, and a source of life for us all. Just as you cannot step into the same river twice, you also cannot step into the same congregation twice. This week's episode invites us to renew our most sacred promises to ourselves, to one another, and to life itself.
0:00 Church construction update 11:37 Rev. Gretchen's Sermon "Shall we gather by the river" 24:44 Discussion
This week's episode is an invitation to connect with your true self and to deeply engage in the soul work that lives at the core of the spiritual life. Special guest Rev. Kelly Dignan guides us in a meditation designed to help us invite the divine spark within us to shine and guide us through our days.
What does it mean to be a Unitarian Universalist? Rev. Gretchen explores in this week's episode.
New to Unitarian Universalism? This podcast episode is for you! Join us as we explore what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist.
In this episode, Rev. Elaine speaks with Foothills members Mary Klecan and Teri Ashley about an experience that challenged their understanding of themselves as open-minded Unitarian Universalists. What do we do when we encounter the limits of our wide theological embrace? What does our discomfort have to teach us?
Chalice lighting words by Mary Klecan: 2:31 Chalice lighting words by Teri Ashley 5:26 Conversation with Mary and Teri: 7:42 Closing words 21:26
What does it mean to be a religious community that welcomes diversity? And what are the limits of that welcome? Sometimes people say that Unitarian Universalists can believe anything they want or that anything goes. But that is a myth. Boundaries in our faith help create safety and a deeper sense of belonging and meaning-making for us all.
In this week's episode, Rev. Gretchen Haley explores the gifts and the limits of being an intentionally diverse religious community.
In this week's episode of The Foothills Deeper Pod, Rev. Kristen Psaki shares about The Spirit of Psychedelics. The psychedelic renaissance is here. Fifty years into the "War on Drugs" plant medicines and psychedelics are slowly shedding old stories and resurfacing as powerful allies. What lurks in the shadows of this renaissance and what role might psychedelics play in our personal and collective healing?
For a lot of people these days, the idea of being "religious" feels off-putting. It brings up images of a shaming or judgmental old-fashioned community. More and more people are identifying as spiritual but not religious and will talk about finding God in nature or journeying on their own spiritual path.
It's just that sometimes, those same people find themselves loving being at church - for example, the Foothills Unitarian Church. This can cause a little bit of an identity crisis...like, am I a person who is religious? Is this a religion? And...how will I tell my friends?
This July and August as we get at some of these foundational questions and help name and articulate a different way of being religious that is grounded in liberation and hope for our world today.
Kick off this exploration with a story from Cheryl Hazlitt, a long-time Foothills Unitarian member, about her family's history with religion and what it means to her to be religious. (4:38) Then, we'll dive into Rev. Gretchen's sermon Losing (and Finding) Your Religion. (14:05)
Take 10 minutes out of your day to connect, ground, and cultivate love and peace with Rev. Elaine's guided meditation.
Last Sunday, Rev. Gretchen Haley delivered a sermon to thousands of Unitarian Universalists worldwide at General Assembly 2022 in Portland. She called on us to remember the power of people, of local churches and of our promises to each other. She invited us to remember that it is because of us - the people that make up the church, that form the ministries and the small groups and show up on Sundays - that Unitarian Universalism exists. And most of all, to remember that we are big enough to not only survive but to impact the world. Listen to Rev. Gretchen's sermon (and a bonus conversation with Rev. Elaine!) in this week's episode.
This week is all about reproductive freedom, liberal religion, and sexuality education. Rev. Gretchen Haley, Rev. Elaine Aron-Tenbrink, and Our Whole Lives (OWL) sexuality educator Kelsey DiAstra talk about how reproductive rights intersect with Unitarian Universalism. What does it mean for a congregation to take a stance on abortion? Why do we teach sexuality at church?
Three Foothills members, Joyce Trujillo, Doug Powell, and Nikki Roe Cropp, shared their stories of finding meaning and purpose. We are humbled by these members' vulnerability, spiritual grounding, and strength, and are so grateful you can hear their stories.
Every person contains contradictions and complexities beyond what you might ever imagine. Even you. There are parts of ourselves that lay dormant or emerge at different stages of our lives and can come as a big surprise when they do. One of the gifts of a diverse, multi-generational community is that through relationship we can better see and know the fullness of our own stories and the fullness in others. Rev. Gretchen explores our ability to grow and shift in a short homily about learning to play pickleball and Rev. Elaine speaks with leaders of the Foothills' Slightly Senior Sisterhood, a long-sustaining and integral group of 50+ women at the church.
Special guest Rev. Kelly Dignan offers practical tools for finding our resilience when we get thrown off-kilter.
What is the eagle to your weasel? In this episode, we're talking all about the experience of feeling a call to something new - the experience of taking a big leap into a more authentic life even when saying yes to this new thing feels unbearably awkward or scary.
1:12 Excerpt from essay by Annie Dillard called "Living Like Weasels"
2:57 Rev. Elaine Aron-Tenbrink's sermon "Living Like Weasels"
20:50 Conversation with Foothills member Sally Harris about her call and experience to create a safe space at our church for non-binary, trans, gender-expansive kids and their families. Sally also answers questions about our Be More Gay campaign and the pronoun pins our church now offers alongside our nametags.
Rev. Gretchen Haley explores how to respond to the uncertainty that arises in moments of transition and digs into how focusing on the now and grounding in community can be life-steadying.
Rev. Gretchen Haley explores the question of legacy, and our role in passing on our faith and values as if our lives, and our children's lives, depend on it. Because they do.
Whether we are parents or not, we all have a part in shaping the next generation's future. Whether we mean to or not, we are creating their inheritance. What sort of world do we intend for our children to receive from us? What sort of values and practices and ways of making meaning and finding hope do we want them to cultivate?
24:25 Rev. Gretchen's sermon 43:55 Revs. Elaine and Gretchen envision an intergenerational community at Foothills Unitarian and discuss the barriers to getting there
Rev. Sean explores radical hospitality and how church feeds the part of all of us that yearns to belong in a community - woven through past and present - that holds our whole selves.
6:07 Rev. Sean's sermon 26:08 Guided meditation with Rev. Elaine 29:03 Abortion rights response and resources
Read Rev. Gretchen Haley and Rev. Elaine Aron-Tenbrink's response to the threat on abortion rights.
Rev. Gretchen delivers an Earth Day message inviting us to practice the pause where we can both honor what’s been lost and lean into co-creating a joyful life.
2:31 Rev. Gretchen Haley’s sermon Earth Seeds
20:28 Foothills member Beckie Wagner reflects on her journey out of despair
25:21 Rev. Sean closes our Regeneration series
Learn more about Be More Gay at https://foothillsuu.org/bemoregay
Amid a cultural moment when queer people are facing cruel and unjust treatment across the U.S., Rev. Sean shares an Easter message of queer Jesus - someone accused by the crowd of perverting a nation (11:11).
Revs. Gretchen and Sean discuss why Rev. Sean chose to preach on queer Jesus and how queerness is liberating for all people regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity (0:25 and 33:46).
Sermon Transcript
Rev. Elaine Aron-Tenbrink guides us in exploring how we can move through ambiguous loss and pandemic social atrophy by attuning ourselves to what is alive. When we embrace observation and follow the threads of what is alive and beautiful, here and now, we begin to imagine something new to hope for.
1:31 Reflection from Rev. Meg Riley read by Rev. Sean Neil-Barron 5:56 Rev. Elaine Aron-Tenbrink's sermon "Aligning with Aliveness"
What do we do when we feel so stuck or in despair that moving forward doesn't feel possible? Rev. Sean explores how we can find hope through doing.
5:28 Rev. Sean Neil-Barron's sermon "Hope is a Verb" 34:53 Closing song: "Hope with Our Hands"
What do we do when - despite our best efforts - we feel like progress isn’t happening or we’re even moving backward? It’s normal to want to hide and disconnect when life gets messy and hard, but in this episode, Rev. Gretchen offers an alternative path. She explores how through reconnection we can bring ourselves, our relationships, and our world back to life.
5:20 Response to recent anti-trans, anti-queer legislation
11:43 Rev. Gretchen’s Sermon
31:10 Revs. Gretchen and Sean discuss the sermon
Does living your best life mean that you've got it all figured out? Does it mean all pleasure and no pain? Does the concept of no pain even make sense in the world where joy and beauty are so often entangled with disappointment and struggle?
Rev. Elaine digs into these questions and more with long-time Foothills members Lynn Young and Bob Bacon. They explore how we can hold the tension of being both awake to suffering and open to beauty and joy.
Rev. Sean draws on East Asian philosophy and religious traditions to explore how embracing flow can help us live our best life.
This week on the podcast we're diving into a new series called "Your Best Life," exploring how we don’t need to have it together, to do it together. What our consumer society tells us we need to live our best life is a lie... so what the heck does it mean to live your best life? Join Revs. Sean and Elaine as they explore a possible answer to this big question.
2:49 - Reading from No Cure for being Human by Kate Bowler
6:12 - Conversation with Revs. Sean and Elaine
In the final week of our series Re-Assembly Required, which is all about repairing broken relationships, we're zooming out to focus on communal relationships — specifically, the relationship between settlers and native peoples. Rev. Sean interviews indigenous activists Christinia Eala and Elissa Tivona about Hughes Land Back. Land back movements seek to restore stewardship of land to indigenous people, and Hughes Land Back specifically seeks to return the former site of Colorado State University's Hughes Stadium.
We all share the longing to be known and embraced for who we are, messy parts and all. Yet, humans are experiencing loneliness at record levels (and this was true even before the pandemic hit!). So what is it we really want in friendships and how can we find it? Rev. Gretchen draws on friendship research to help you start opening up and forming deep, authentic friendships no matter your walk of life (2:03). Then Rev. Sean converses with his close friend and fellow Unitarian Universalist minister Rev. Joe Cherry about patterns and experiences within their friendship and friendships generally (24:19).
Rev. Sean interviews couples therapist Jennifer Dunkle on how we can simplify conflicts to make them more productive. We distinguish solvable and perpetual conflicts and explore how unpacking our personal histories can help with navigating conflicting values and goals.
Rev. Christopher Watkins Lamb explores the hit movie Encanto through the lens of Gretchen Rubin's four tendencies (The Obliger, The Upholder, The Questioner, The Rebel) to help us better relate with the inner and outer characters that make up our lives.
Rev. Gretchen explores the mechanics of a good apology and how whole-hearted attempts at repair have the potential to heal and set us all free. Rev. Elaine also guides us in a prayer that integrates the four parts of a good apology.
This week we continue our series on how to strengthen relationships. Rev. Elaine joins Rev. Sean to guide us in exploring the loneliness many of us are experiencing during the persistent pandemic.
Rev. Sean Neil-Barron talks with Dr. Dan McKanan, Ralph Waldo Emerson Unitarian Universalist Senior Lecturer at Harvard Divinity School. They explore how the current trend of increasing economic inequality affects progressivism across religion and politics, how people rise up seeking to come to terms with America’s white supremacist and colonialist legacies, and the complex place that Unitarian Universalism occupies as a progressive religious tradition that is primarily made up of white folks. What is our role to play in movements for change?
In "Fix You," Rev. Gretchen reminds us that we are each worthy of having thriving relationships... but in pursuit of that goal, we may attempt to fix others instead of going where change really begins: inside ourselves. Join Rev. Gretchen as she explores the work of relationship expert Esther Perel to help us start bringing the vibrancy back to our relationships.
Kick off the new year with “Step Zero” - what do you do before you begin? Originally delivered in January 2018 by Revs. Gretchen Haley and Kristen Psaki, this message from the vault explores what we need to let go of before we can move forward.
This week we pull from the archives for a little humor and a little practice. First, we revisit Rev. Sean's "Cereal: From This American Rice" then we dive into a contemplative practice to help us move through stress.
Waiting is a given, but how we wait is up to us. Revs. Gretchen and Sean explore how to develop patience in a culture that emphasizes immediate results and in a pandemic time when the wait never seems to end.
What would happen if you released the idea that there's never enough time? What if you stopped trying to master time and instead found freedom in its limitations?
This week, we're kicking off our December series: Make Room, because this Holiday season we're inviting you to make room for joy, love, hope and being present to the moment. This first week of Make Room, Rev. Gretchen Haley draws on the story of Hanukkah, the cold war, Y2K, and the great resignation, to explore what it means to be prepared.
This week we turn the tables and Rev. Gretchen welcomes Rev. Sean as our guest to explore intergenerational inherited ghosts.
Rev. Gretchen draws on religious traditions, current events, and the Thanksgiving story to explore what it means to acknowledge the ghosts of our past - our past selves, our past beliefs, our past ways of being - and tend fully to the harm, while not letting go of the hope.
Rev. Elaine teaches how naming our shame can be life-giving and life-saving, and Foothills' Member Erin Valenti-Nelsen shares her experience of healing after being raped.
This week on the podcast we launch a new series - Living with Ghosts. This whole series we'll deal with our individual and collective past - how we can come to terms with the past so we can live into the future.
This week we talk about death and memory. Participants in Foothills Unitarian's Thoughtful Endings class, share their experiences with end-of-life directives and explore how life and death are interconnected and inform each other.
Money can be uncomfortable to talk about, but that doesn't keep money from impacting us. Which is why in this week's episode we're addressing money head-on.
Reflect on how relationships are essential to your life. How can you intentionally hold space for others and build relationships that allow each person to be themselves without attempts to fix or change one another? Featuring Rev. Gretchen, Rev. Elaine, and Rev. Sean.
Revs. Elaine and Sean kick off our Essential series, where we're taking a deep dive together into asking what matters most in this life? What is the essence of being human? In this time with so many distractions and a premium put on staying busy and achieving productivity, how do we remember what is most essential? How do we consciously live lives that reflect our understanding of what is most deeply important?
This week on the podcast, we invite you to listen in on a sermon on the tensions of individualism and community. You’ll also hear a conversation between Revs. Sean and Gretchen about some of the questions the sermon raises and the heartbreak and the hope of choosing community and the common good rather than reverting to individualism or tribalism.
Rev. Gretchen speaks with birth doulas Sarah Lopez and Vita Malama about their experiences accompanying people through the birthing process and transforming grief and pain into growth, resilience, and connection with the beauty of life.
A conversation with Rev. David Williams about the grief and trauma that we are all carrying, loving our enemies, and finding hope in the actions of people combating evil through their lives.