Celestial Lands

Every Fourth of July I begin my day the same way, I read the entirety of the Declaration of Independence. It is a yearly reminder to me that this nation was founded on the spirit of liberalism, and that to be a liberal (a true liberal) in this nation is to keep the foundational spirit of our country alive. Conservatives may wrap themselves in the flag… liberals can wrap themselves in the Declaration.

Every time I read the Declaration, I am amazed by how it embodies the liberal spirit of relationship ahead of rulership, the liberal spirit of principles ahead of beliefs, the liberal spirit of the good of all ahead of personal good. I am amazed by how controversial it is. I am amazed by who signed it.

The men who signed the Declaration (on August 2nd, not July 4th) were not wealthy men, they were middle class. Only a few would have been considered millionaires, and they barely. They were not “elder statesmen”, for their average age was around 33. Ben Franklin was the old man of the group. They were not visionary idealists, as their stripping the condemnation of slavery out of Jefferson’s original draft shows. They were flawed, normal, middle class men. But they were liberals. Radically so.

By signing the document in early August, each of the signers was signing their own death warrant, and they knew it. I’m sure a few groaned at Ben Franklin’s morbid jest as they signed, “We must all hang together, or we will assuredly all hang separately.”

Signing that document did not begin the Revolutionary war; it had been waging for over a year. The outcome of the war was far, far from assured. When George Washington read the document to his troops on July 9th of 1776, they were still in training in New York. Very soon thereafter, the British Army landed on Long Island and spurred this untested force into the only military maneuver they could execute well… retreat. Washington reported that he seemed to be losing whole regiments to desertion in the face of the enemy advance.

So, signing that document really could have led to them all being hung, whether they “hung together” or not. No amnesty in the aftermath of a lost war would have spared those who committed treason against the crown so egregiously.

I believe that the Declaration of Independence is a primary example of one side of Liberalism… and that is Liberalism in Opposition. We liberals can be very comfortable with this role, of opposing the “history of repeated injuries and usurpations”. In this mode (which modern liberalism has been in for almost 40 years) we love the thought of dedicating to the cause “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor” because all that we risk is ourselves.

It is a comfortable place for us to be, in opposition.

But, this is only one half of what it means to be a liberal. What happens when you win? What happens when we who have set our self-view, our tactics, our understanding of the world in opposition suddenly find ourselves not in opposition, but in governance?

One of the most tragic things that can happen to a liberal opposition organization or movement is to win.  Then, we find we have nothing to oppose but ourselves.  Look to the later life of Thomas Paine as an example of this tragedy.  He spent the rest of his life seeking what he could oppose.

It is not that liberals cannot govern… we certainly can. But we have to realize that it takes a 180 degree shift in tactics, relationships, and purpose to govern from what it takes to stand in opposition. In the aftermath of the American Revolution, we saw what happens when liberals fail to make that shift and try to govern while remaining in opposition… we call what resulted the “Articles of Confederation”, and a more flawed form of governance would be hard to find in human history.

So, this Independence Day, as the movements that keep alive the liberal spirit in our nation are facing the very real (and possibly tragic) condition of being asked to set aside their opposition and accept the mantel of governance, perhaps we should set aside our readings of the Declaration, and begin to really and truly find inspiration in the document those same liberals produced when they had to accept the mantel of governance… the Constitution of the United States.

The Constitution is a flawed document, lacking the purity of principle and purpose that rests in the Declaration. It is a document that reflects painful compromises and half measures, that only begins to live up to the promise and vision that Jefferson saw when he put pen to paper. Yet governance is about compromise, it is about finding the mean between us, and about holding that mean together.

For if we liberals cannot, in the next few years, find a way to govern… then the ideals we have long fought for the opportunity to put into place “will assuredly hang separately”.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Yours in Faith,

David

It was an amazing and enlightening experience for me at this General Assembly, in that I spent much of my time in uniform as a Chaplain Candidate. I was in uniform so much, some people might think I wear it often. In fact, I purchased the class B shirts just for General Assembly… I rarely get the uniform out when I am not training, and then it is mostly the daily work combat uniforms, known as ACU’s.

I still have to get the little book out to remember where all my ribbons and pins go.

But as I stood at our booth at GA, I was treated to a cross-section of our faith. The time in the booth went by so fast, because I was constantly speaking with people either interested in the resources we were providing for congregations, or just interested in what a UU was doing in military uniform. I had a few individuals assume that I was just some recruiter the Army had sent, being so desperate for soldiers they were even looking for them at UU events. These people were quite shocked that I was actually a UU seminarian, and that I was not there to recruit anyone.

There were a few people who would not look at me in my uniform, but this happened less than I expected. It happened less than the few times I have been on the University of Chicago campus in my uniform. There were a few people who stopped just to tell me that they were pacifists, and that they opposed the war. For the most part, they followed this with something about supporting the troops, but they wanted to respond to what was a perceived challenge of their beliefs by the uniform. A few were quite surprised to know that, out of uniform, I am working with the CSAI core team on Peacemaking.

Mostly though, those who stopped had a different reason entirely. They stopped to tell me about their military service, or the service of their spouse, or in the case of one earnest gentleman, the service of every person in his extended family who had ever served, going all the way back to the American Revolution. A few stopped me in the hallways to tell me that they wish they had a UU chaplain when they were in the military. There were a few stories from Vietnam vets that were heart wrenching and touching, about how hard it had been to stay in our churches. There were stories of spouses and what it was like to live with a veteran. There were stories of children serving in the military, and parents who were worried for them. There were stories of lost friends, of experiences in the military that led someone to UU faith, of beliefs lost and principles found.

It was almost as if these stories had no other outlet, no other way that these earnest people could share these stories within this faith… until they saw a UU in uniform. The other Chaplain Candidates and Chaplains had similar experiences.

While I thank all of these wonderful people for sharing their stories, it makes me wish that these stories could be shared in all of our churches, not just at GA when there are finally some Military Chaplains around.

Yours in Faith,

David

Sitting here in the Ft. Lauderdale Airport, I have found my first reliable and generally useful internet connection of my entire time at General Assembly. It was not a problem I noticed very much, because I was so busy at GA this year it was actually a blessing to not be able to answer email.

I will write about the experience in more detail later, in probably several articles over the next few days… but I wanted to share the experience of sitting here in the airport gate wearing a chalice polo shirt.

As I was looking for hymn numbers on my computer to send to our Pianist for next Sunday (since I now have email), I noticed a DRE friend of mine sitting with his back to me. We began talking about GA and general things UU while working on our computers. A few other UU’s from New England heard us talking and joined in, as they too were waiting on their flight. When I could not find a hymn number, someone pointed out that Jim Scott was across the way, shaking hands with another group of UU’s.

I don’t know what it is about the solidarity that occurs at GA. There are no signs we usually wear to tell when we are surrounded by brothers and sisters of faith. But for this one moment, in this public place, I had a feeling of what it might be like to live and work and travel surrounded by those who share this faith I love with me.

It was a good feeling.

Yours in Faith,

David

Yesterday, the U.S. Army reached a milestone, as the first ever female soldier was nominated to become a General, the Army’s highest rank. Lt. General Ann Dunwoody was nominated by Secretary Gates to take over Army Materials Command. Her nomination awaits only senate confirmation before she pins on that fourth star.

Lt. Gen. Dunwoody will be the first four star General in all of the military services, not just the Army, in the history of our nation.

In the military there has been a glass ceiling with regards to high general officer rank. It has been an unstated requirement that to receive a fourth star, and often even a third, a general officer had to have served in combat units. As women are barred from serving in combat line units, this has prevented them from gaining the necessary command experience to be considered for the top levels of General Officer ranks. Currently, there are only two three star Generals in the Army who are female, of which Dunwoody is one.

Lt. Gen. Dunwoody said “I grew up in a family that didn’t know what glass ceilings were. This nomination only reaffirms what I have known to be true about the military throughout my career - that the doors continue to open for men and women in uniform.”

It is part of my practice on this blog to salute our military when it transcends itself. So, to the Army and to Lt. Gen…. soon to be Gen. Dunwoody, this lowly Second Lieutenant wants to send out a loud and thunderous AIRBORNE!!!

Yours in Faith,

David

This year will be the first year in the last three that I will be able to attend the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly, held this year in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Last year I was at the U.S. Army Chaplain School, and the year before that I was in the midst of my Clinical Pastoral Education (hospital chaplaincy) program at the University of Tennessee Medical Center.

Every time I had been to General Assembly in the past, it was either before or just after I had begun seminary. I was a congregational leader and a church administrator, but there were few requirements on my time. I was able to go to GA, attend the plenary sessions, go to almost a dozen workshops, attend worship, and even find some time to relax with friends and acquaintances. In those years, attending General Assembly was my summer vacation.

I have had to do a bit of a mental shift this year, and realize that the last thing this General Assembly is going to be for me will be a vacation. As I set out my schedule for GA, every hour is blocked with meetings, staffing a booth, co-leading a workshop, and then more meetings. The only workshops I am attending I am either co-leading or I am part of the organization behind the workshop. Most of my meals are reserved for meetings.

Now, I’m not complaining, I swear! I set up these meetings, and in every case I am happy for the opportunity to sit down in person with people I have been working with through phone and email the last two years. Most of the meetings revolve around UU Military Ministries issues and programs, and a few around the new book coming out that I have a chapter in.

As my wife and I were driving up to the Great Lakes Naval Station yesterday (to pick up something for GA) she asked me if I would be willing to take a driving vacation to visit her sister later in August. Before, I was thinking of my “Summer Vacation” as going to Ft. Lauderdale … but now, I think I will need a vacation from the vacation… So, a sixteen hour car ride each way to Cullman Alabama it is, to see my new nephew-in-law.

Yours in Faith,

David

A conversation yesterday at church reminded me of an earlier conversation I had at the Chaplain School with a very conservative and angry evangelical preacher and fellow Army Chaplain candidate. In that conversation, he mentioned that he had now heard two Unitarians preach, and neither of us had preached about Jesus, so why were we being allowed to wear the cross on our uniforms (I was not wearing one yet, but George Tyger was).

My mind works in odd ways, and sometimes it is to a challenge like that that I give my best answers, and then I spend months understanding why that answer was a good one. This was one of those moments.

I said to this young man “I am not called necessarily to preach about Jesus, but to preach like Jesus.”

I don’t know what he thought of that, because he angrily went away and we did not speak about it again. I do know that I have spent a lot of time over the last 9 months on this idea… the difference between being a worshipper of Jesus and of being someone called to live “In the Tradition of Jesus.”

I am reminded by a reading in our hymnal by the Rev. Clinton Lee Scott… “Always it is easier to pay homage to our prophets than to heed the direction of their vision”. It is easier to deify Jesus and to worship him, than to accept the challenge to try to change the world… to live with the kind of vision he did, and allow that vision to transform your life.

When Jesus preached to his gathered congregations, he did not focus on scripture (although he used scripture to illustrate his points). He did not extol people to follow the law. He did not preach a message based in fear.

When Jesus preached, he preached a gospel of love and hope based in the religious understanding of his culture. He used story, parable, and real life examples to call people to attitudes of right relationship and social justice. He challenged the powerful, and befriended the powerless. In any way he could, he tried to model his teachings in his own life and in the lives of his disciples. Sometimes he took his ministry to the streets, and in at least one occasion he performed and act of social protest in the gates of the temple itself. When his vision of the future “Realm of God” called him to sacrifice, he accepted it.

That is the vision, the example, and the hope that I feel called to follow. I say that I am a Christian, but not in the way that most Christians today mean. I am called, not to blindly venerate and follow teachings written down thousands of years ago (to become a modern day scribe or Pharisee), but to allow a heart transformed by love and compassion to embrace the wider world for Tikkun Olam… the repair of the world. I am called to make the Sermon on the Mount real, both in my preaching and in my life. I am called to the kind of deep spiritual practice and life of reflection and prayer that once called Jesus to the top of a mountain to commune with the divine. I am called to place that vision of the “Realm of God”… of the world made whole… above my own concerns, my own interests, and perhaps above my own life.

That is what I mean when I say I am a Christian.

I am not called to be a worshipper of Jesus… I am called to be a minister in the Tradition of Jesus.

Yours in Faith,

David

How can we as Unitarian Universalists best work towards a world where violence is no longer a viable option for humanity, not only as Nation-states but also in our personal lives? How can we work to finally “lay down our sword and shield”?

It will not be done through internal discussions within our Association, nor will it be done through demonstrations and statements that create boundaries between ourselves and the rest of the world. This is how I perceive the original wording of the Study Action Issue on Peacemaking.

“…should the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) reject the use of any and all kinds of violence and war…and adopt a principle of seeking just peace through nonviolent means.”

Before I begin to answer the questions I began with, let me first situate myself within this discussion. I have been a soldier, and I am becoming a Chaplain. I am the child of a soldier, the grandchild of a sailor, and the great-grandchild of a Medal of Honor winner.

I believe that there is no such thing as “Just War”. The concept simplifies one of the most complex aspects of human nature, this drive to solve problems with violence, carried out among nation-state actors. It is a political sophistry that can be used to justify anything, and it is misdirection that seeks to put responsibility for war on temporary political situations. The execution of war is never for political reasons (no matter what those nation-states may say) but rather it is an extension of the need for violent conflict that rests within every human soul.

There has also never been any lasting thing that we could point to and say “See, that is what Peace is like”. Even when we humans are not actively fighting a war, we are preparing for one. Even if we were not preparing for war, many of us are fighting wars within our own hearts and lives… the wars we fight without are an expression of the wars we fight within.

War is the last form of hell I still believe in. I have walked through that hell in Latin America, and through the aftermath of that hell in Bosnia. I served as a soldier in the “War on Drugs” in the early 90’s, and as a Peacekeeper in Bosnia in 1996-1997. But that hell of war exists within families, within communities, and within each human as well as on the physical battlefields in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Columbia, Palestine, and indeed around the entire world.

To know more where I am situated in relation to war, please read my sermon entitled “Embedded War”.

The change from a culture based in war to a culture based in peace begins, not with political action, protests, or statements by religious associations… but with personal spiritual practice. If war without is an expression of war within, then the first step in changing the culture of war is to foster that inward change in a growing number of people. I believe that fostering the spread and deepening of religious spiritual practices of inward reflection and contemplation is the first step in creating a culture of peace.

With a growing movement of deeply reflective spiritual practice, the atmosphere will then be right for a cultural shift in what are the guiding principles of our society, away from principles based in conflict and advantage, and towards principles based in interdependence, compassion, and respect. By shifting the foundational principles upon which society is based, we change the dynamic that feeds a culture of war.

Third, and probably the most important step in creating a culture of peace, is the creation and expression of a coherent and detailed vision of what a culture of peace will be like. To motivate and captivate people, we must give them a message not of obligations and fear, but of hope and dreams. We must show what the world will be like when war and violent conflict is no longer the primary form of human interaction.

It is the vision of a world made whole that will inspire cultural change. The key to changing this dynamic of human nature is a change in the human heart, and that does not come from rational argument but from our deepest emotional selves. Creating that vision is a religious responsibility. There are plenty of political peace activists… we need to live our religious vision as prophets.

In essence, I believe the answer to how to create a world in which violence is not used comes not from making a statement, but from living our faith. It comes from being willing to be evangelistic about our Unitarian Universalist faith, not to create more Unitarian Universalists, but to help create better humans. It comes from creating a culture of reflective spiritual practice in our own movement, and then inspiring that practice in others. It comes from both living and promoting our principles and ideals, both as an association and as religious individuals living in society.

I became a Unitarian Universalist because I believe its principles and values, combined with the religious impulse within humanity, to be the last best hope we have to save ourselves from the many ways we are courting disaster as a species.

If we want to create a culture of peace, then let us practice peace within our own spirits first, then within our families, within our congregation, within our communities, within our religious association. Only when a growing number of us adopt peace as a way of life will we begin to change the culture of the world in which we live. Not through words or statements, but through the spiritual practices of our lives, through the living and promotion of our ideals and principles, and through an articulated and promoted vision of what the world will be like in a culture of peace.

Yours in Faith,

David Pyle

Recently, the media have connected with several stories regarding enlisted soldiers who have conducted themselves in Iraq in ways that bring into question the religious motivations behind their service. In one story, a soldier at a checkpoint was handing out proselytizing coins that ask, in Arabic, where someone is going to spend eternity, and on the back was John 3:16:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life”.

In another recent but unrelated story, a U.S. Army sniper practiced his skill by shooting thirteen rounds into a Koran.

Now, let me just say that soldiers and sailors do not always think very clearly… remember that even the sergeants are often under 30, and that they live in a somewhat closed community. Sergeants often speak of the need to “Warrior Proof” any situation, by clear training, instruction, and simplified tasks… not because soldiers are not intelligent… they certainly are. But because of the maxim from Clausewitz: “Everything in war is simple, but even the simplest thing is difficult.”

There is a new phenomenon among our military, known as “The Strategic Corporal”. If I were to re-state it, I might call it “The Strategic Private”. With modern communications, with a globalized world, with military units operating in smaller and smaller elements, and with the omnipresence of the media, we now face a situation where ethical and moral decisions that once would have rested in the hands of officers are now being made by 21 year old corporals, and even 19 year old privates.  These decisions can affect the fate not only of their missions, but of nation-states. 

And yet, we are only now beginning to envision what kind of ethical and moral training those privates and corporals should receive. Officers who go through ROTC, OCS, or our Academies receive fairly extensive training in Military Ethics, Host Nation Relations, and Civil Affairs. This was great, when we could depend on an officer being called upon, in that tactical split second situation, to make such ethically and morally charged decisions.

When the moral and ethical training that a soldier receives comes from their church and not from the military, then it is understandable how they would believe that handing out coins to save the souls of Muslims could be considered ethical behavior. We need to teach our soldiers not only not to do such things, but to give them the ethical basis to understand why.

There are no bad soldiers… only bad leaders and trainers.  Providing such ethical training is a part of my call to ministry. 

Yours in Faith,

David

Last night, as I listened to the speech of Barrack Obama acknowledging his clinching the nomination of the Democratic Party for the office of the President of the United States. As a preacher, I am always fascinated by his ability to gather an audience together, and bring them along with him on an emotional rollercoaster. As a former intelligence analyst, I keep my attention on the words that are said, and the implications behind them.

I also seek to gather from many sources, so I listened to the Rush Limbaugh and the Laura Ingram shows on the radio today. I was struck by how in disarray the conservative republicans seem to be. I was struck by how they feel betrayed by the current administration, as if it were not conservative enough, and that lack of conservatism is the cause of the parties current problems, and the reason for the nomination of John McCain. I was struck by how both commentators were not commenting on Obama all that much, but rather focusing their ire on the more moderate Republicans. I was struck by how the divisions over their candidate may be even deeper than divisions between supporters of Obama and Clinton.

I have said before on this blog that, as a military officer, I do not think I should publically say who I am going to vote for in this race… but anyone who knows me can probably guess. But what I have sensed in this election is that one side is finding a vision of hope, and the other has nothing to grasp onto but fear.

I was struck last night by one line above others in the speech, in which Barrack Obama promised that his campaign, and the Democratic Party would not use politics and tactics based in fear as a tool. If he keeps to that, it will be an even greater watershed in American political history than a Black man running for President.

The use of fear abounds in our culture today. We have almost come to worship fear. It is fear that I hear coming from media sources about what will happen to the Democratic party if Hillary does not become the VP (a really bad idea for Obama under the “Quayle Theory of Vice Presidential Selection”). It is fear that drives so much of the passion behind environmentalism, behind our opposition to war, behind many of our calls for “Justice”. For many, fear is the primary motivation behind the religious impulse. For both conservatives and for liberals, fear is often one of the first motivational tools that we reach for, it is what our politicians work with, and it is what we use to “keep people in line” at all levels of society.

Why? I believe it is because it has been decades since we, as a society, have tried to articulate a comprehensive vision of the future, a vision of the society we wish to live in, a vision of who we wish to be as a nation. We speak about the future, but we have not done a lot of thinking about the future beyond the next election cycle. This short-term vision is the single greatest weakness of federalist representative democracy.

We wonder why our hearts race when Barrack Obama says “This is the moment…” It is not because he is saying anything new, but rather our emotions jump because by saying that, he is implying that he does indeed have such a vision of the future. Not only is he implying that he has such a comprehensive vision of a world made whole, he is saying that he can share it with us… that we can become partners in that vision.

And we so desperately want, as a people, to become partners in a vision of an America that is just, an America that once again can lead through persuasion instead of force, an America that provides for its citizens, an America where equality includes opportunity, an America that operates from a culture of abundance, an America where justice is served equally… and so much more.

If there is a role for those of us of Liberal Faith in this election cycle, it is to become co-creators of a detailed, specific, and inspiring vision of the future of a world made whole… and to help share that vision with the world, and invite them to come along.

A vision of hope, and not of fear.

 Yours in Faith,

 David

Though I have hinted at it several times, I have not specifically mentioned on this blog the current turbulence occurring at my seminary, the Meadville Lombard Theological School. I have not done so for several reasons, not the least of which being that I love my school. I chose to attend Meadville Lombard for wonderful reasons, most of which have not changed. I do not want to do anything that would harm my school. Though I may not agree with the procedures and decisions of the administration, I do believe they are acting from the best of intentions.

In all honesty though, I have also not spoken of this directly for fear that doing so could jeopardize some decisions currently before the administration that will determine whether or not I can graduate next spring. I am also aware that my posting this will be considered, in the words of one staff member “airing the school’s dirty laundry”. My intent is not to air laundry, but to model transparency, and to allow the voices of our student leadership to be heard in the wider UU community. One of the things we of liberal faith need to model is how we deal with the imperfections of our institutions, which arise from the imperfections of our own human natures. I believe that we do this in part through transparency.

After reading the prophetic voices of my fellow students, and receiving requests that I use this blog to give those voices a wider access (including from Dr. Tim Barger, the editor of “The Stairwell Wall”), I have agreed to post the most recent edition of “The Stairwell Wall” and to call attention to it among those who read Celestial Lands. The stakeholders in this institution of this Liberal Faith are far and wide, and the voices of its current students need to be heard. I love my school so much that giving voice to truth on its behalf is a risk I have to take.

It has also been hard, on this blog which is my public practice of reflection, to not mention a controversy that has been weighing so heavily upon my spirit these past few weeks. 

Click here to read the edition of “The Stairwell Wall”, at the request of Celestial Lands and Dr. Tim Barger…   
Yours in Faith,

David