Rev. Gretchen Haley
Senior Minister of Foothills Unitarian Church, Ft. Collins, CO
presents a virtual sermon for BBUUC:
“Tough Love Saves Us All”
Beth Curtis, Worship Leader
Dr. Gary Smart, Accompanist
Mike Ludwick, Guest Musician
Unlike partial communities that seek to put limits around love or duty, the Beloved Community is that community that keeps drawing the circle wider and wider still. It is a loyalty that is based not in our sameness, but to the Love that holds us across our differences. To call this Love holy, to pledge our allegiance to it. Which in turn requires a critical awareness of our own tribe, and our own trauma.
About our Guest Speaker:
Rev. Gretchen Haley has an audacious ambition for the liberal church, believing in its capacity to transform lives and our world by way of hyper-local relationships and partnerships that inspire the unleashing of courageous love. As Senior Minister of Foothills Unitarian Church in Ft. Collins, Colorado, she oversees worship, community resourcing and outreach, and the intersectional work of our justice teams. She also serves as chief of staff, and ministry lead to the Board. In all of these, she is inspired by the commitment of the countless people who show up to do the sometimes-messy work of the church, and who are leading us to live into their mission for Northern Colorado as it is growing and changing. Her ministry is infused with her relentless curiosity about most things, especially the big stuff of theology, the beauty of creation, the magic of collaboration, and the joy of pop culture. Rev. Haley moved to Colorado from Washington state over 20 years ago for grad school in theatre and knew immediately that she would never leave. She finds solace in the trails in and around Fort Collins and is obsessed with her two dogs, Charlie and Archer. She and her amazing partner, Carri, have 2 teenagers, Gracie and Josef, who both relish and resent being “preacher’s kids,” and who keep her grounded, frustrated, inspired, and humbled, every day.
About our Guest Musician:
“Firepit” Mike Ludwick taught himself to play guitar as a teenager, cutting his teeth on the Beatles and Bob Dylan. During the 2011 Occupy Movement when Robert E. Lee Park (now Emancipation Park) in Charlottesville, Virginia, was being occupied by citizens, he played around a firepit until the park was cleared by police, leaving him with his nickname. Music has been a life-affirming spiritual practice for him, dedicated to bending the arc of moral universe toward justice, love, and peace.