Foothills Unitarian Church

The world is so beautiful - and in the beauty we see the fullness of what is broken. Our living practice invites us to answer the call of beauty, which is justice. This Sunday as part of our Beyond Belief series, The Rev. Mary Katherine Morn joins us at Foothills to dive into that invitation - that tug toward wholeness, even (especially) when everything feels broken - and the tools that love and beauty offer us as we hold this work in community.  The Rev. Mary Katherine Morn has led the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) as President and Lead Executive Officer since 2018, and has been in faith-based leadership and justice work for over 30 years in Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, and far beyond.

Join us as we explore the spiritual practice of hope-making—where faith isn't belief or proof, but the stubborn insistence that we belong to each other, and we're not letting go. In June, Rev. Sean addressed UU General Assembly, where the Liberal Religious Educators Association asked him to share how we approach social change here at Foothills. How we do the work when everything feels like it's breaking. In this service, as part of our Beyond Belief series, Sean brings pieces of that sermon home. Because we need to remember how to make hope follow us when the way forward disappears under our feet. How to trust that what emerges through raw, real relationship will transform us through trust, rupture, and repair into something the world desperately needs. Rev. Sean Neil-Barron // July 13, 2025

In our series that starts this Sunday, Beyond Belief: The Living Practice of Unitarian Universalism, we aren’t offering easy answers or spiritual platitudes. We're asking, what if faith isn't about believing the right things, but about living with courage, curiosity, and radical love? This Sunday, join Rev. Elaine as we begin the series "Beyond Belief: The Living Practices of Unitarian Universalism" with a dive into what we really mean when we say “everyone is worthy of love and belonging, without exception,” and how we got there as Unitarian Universalists. Come for the questions that won't let you go.  Stay for the living practice of our faith that emerges through the struggle. Rev. Elaine Aron-Tenbrink // July 6, 2025

Allowing yourself to receive information that explodes nearly everything to which you’ve dedicated your life takes tremendous courage. Rev. Shawna Ambrose knew she had to do it, even though it meant letting go of a proudly held identity, a way of understanding the world, a mode of serving the greater good with pride, and connections with family and community. Witness Shawna’s story of military service transforming into a powerful commitment to the anti-war movement.   June 29, 2025

Sometimes, life in religious community can feel like an experience of exile in the exact place where we most deeply yearn to belong.  Roger Butts, Unitarian Universalist minister, shares his own journey of coming to peace with his Christian background.  Telling of a journey through shame and alienation, Roger shares how he finally found a way to living with his heart wide open. June 22, 2025

June 15, 2025

There are moments that cleave our lives into before and after. For some of us, those moments arrive gently, like dawn breaking slowly over familiar landscape. For others, they crash in like lightning—sudden, illuminating, impossible to unsee. In this installment of our Tell It Like It Is series, Jamal Skinner, founder and Executive Director of the Fort Collins Cultural Enrichment Center, shares one of those lightning moments with us: the day he realized that teachers and people in authority were treating him differently because he's Black. We know that undoing racism isn't just political work or social justice work—it's deeply spiritual work. It requires us to confront the lie that some people are worth more than others, to dismantle the systems that separate us from our fundamental interconnectedness. When we work to create spaces where every person can flourish in their full humanity, we're participating in the sacred act of building beloved community. June 8, 2025

We crave growth and transformation – and yet, we will go to great lengths to avoid actual change. We want to know one another more deeply – but when someone else’s truth challenges our worldview, our first move is often to start building a defense of our own position. Join Rev. Elaine in leading with curiosity and holding your certainties a little more softly as as Lucrecia Medrano, local leader and co-founder of the harm reduction and recovery groups at the Yarrow Collective, offers us the gift of her truth – a story of recovery from addiction, of liberation and de-colonizing recovery.  When Lucrecia found that a Western model of recovery also snuffed out the spark in her heart, she kept following her inner wisdom — even when it diverged from the advice of the experts.  Lucrecia found healing and liberation on a path that defied conventional norms, yet made all the difference. After taking in her story, Lucrecia joins Rev. Elaine for a time of conversation and reflection.  *Lucrecia Medrano (she/her), a prou

Today, Rev. Sean asks a question that can feel impossibly complex to some of us - Can you be a UU conservative? When politics feel like a litmus test for belonging, it’s easy to confuse shared opinions with shared faith. But Unitarian Universalism calls us to something deeper: a covenant that holds space for disagreement, tension, and the holy work of staying in relationship anyway. Rev. Sean Neil-Barron // May 25, 2025

Today we explore the ways the Earth is constantly inviting us to move from being observers to full participants in the vibrant, living world...but are we ready to receive the invitation? Coming alive may demand everything from us, but we receive everything in return -  if only we're able to truly hear the call. Rev. Christopher Watkins Lamb // May 18, 2025

We’ve been taught to find the sacred in what’s far away — untouched trails, quiet forests, pure air — but what if holiness is right here, tangled in the places we share, the bodies we inhabit, and the carbon we exhale? This week, we’re diving into that story that lives beyond dualisms. A story that is about much more than carbon, but about the spiritual life, and the common good, and about life in community. Rev. Sean Neil-Barron // May 11, 2025

Folk tales are more than just entertainment. They contain within them seeds of wisdom that help us live with purpose and meaning. In accompanying a sister on a quest to rescue her eleven brothers, what will we learn about ourselves? Join Rev. Christopher Watkins Lamb in an immersive, musical morning as we discover how the Danish tale of The Wild Swans connects us to awe and inner strength.  Rev. Christopher Watkins Lamb // May 4, 2025

Today, we’re diving into the spiritual gifts of awe — that sacred pause that draws us out of ourselves and into the vastness of everything. We’ll remember together that awe isn’t a luxury, but a core human experience that offers us healing, connection, and guides us towards right action.  In these times when despair and disconnection encroach, practicing awe is more essential than ever. Rev. Elaine Aron-Tenbrink // April 27, 2025

This Easter Sunday, we began our new series Earth Magic, rooted in the messy, relentless wisdom of the living world. Rev. Sean began with the Easter story — not the sanitized one, but the version that ends in silence, in fear, in the ache of what’s still unresolved. Because if you’ve looked around lately, you know: we are living in the middle of unfinished stories. The story of justice. The story of democracy. The story of who gets to belong — and who still doesn’t. Rev. Sean Neil-Barron // April 20, 2025

When caregiving feels invisible, impossible, and isolating, the truth is still this: you were made to care and be cared for. You are part of a sacred human story—one of mutual belonging and deep connection—and your love, your presence, your compassion, are not only enough; they are holy. Rev. Elaine Aron-Tenbrink // April 13, 2025

Home isn't built with bricks, borders or bureaucracy -- it's built with truth, and too often that truth threatens the systems built on silence and fear. You were made for more than quiet compliance; you were made to live fully, love boldly, and name who already belongs. You have something powerful to offer: the audacity to tell the truth in a world that profits from forgetting it. Rev. Sean Neil-Barron // April 6, 2025

How do we plan for and shape the future using only our limited knowledge of the present? How do we resist the temptation to think that there is one singular strategy or person who can right the ship of our society in these complex times? Join Rev. Elaine Aron-Tenbrink for a special conversation with social ethicist and lifelong activist Dr. Sharon Welch, in exploring a way forward that calls us into telling stories of our mistakes, experimenting with diverse solutions to complex problems, and embracing unpredictable and unforeseen consequences as the norm. Rev. Elaine Aron-Tenbrink // March 31, 2025

Jonah's story isn't just about a runaway prophet - it's about the relentless call of love, the uncomfortable grace that refuses to be contained, and the transformation that happens when we finally face what we've been avoiding. You were made for something more than comfort, more than certainty, more than the walls you've built to keep love at bay. You have something valuable to offer - a voice that shakes the foundations, a truth that refuses to be silenced, and a calling that won't let you go. Rev. Sean Neil-Barron // March 23, 2025

Esther didn’t choose power, but when the moment came, she had to decide: would she risk everything for a greater good? We confront privilege, sacrifice, and the call to step forward—not for ourselves, but for the liberation of others. Rev. Elaine Aron-Tenbrink // March 16, 2025

The world is full of voices telling you what time it is - who's in charge, what matters, and where you stand - but how do you know who's holding the clock? You weren't made to simply follow someone else's timing; you were made to discern the moment for yourself, alongside others. This message invites you to see beyond your own perspective, embrace the wisdom of community, and step into the shared work of shaping the world - because democracy isn't about getting your way, it's about finding the way together. Rev. Sean Neil-Barron // March 9, 2025