Posts belonging to Category Principles and Purposes
Posted by Rev. David on June 2, 2011
One of my developing ecclesiological theories is that the church, especially the liberal church, serves among its many purposes as the laboratory for being a whole, full, and religious human being. The liberal congregation is the container, the laboratory where we are able to learn how to engage one another in right relationship. It is [...]
Categories: ecclesiology, liberal faith, Principles and Purposes
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Tags: beliefs, church leader, church leadership, faith, ideals, leader, leadership, leadership development, liberal, liberal faith, Ministry, relationship, religion, soldier, turning values into virtues, unitairan, Unitarian, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist, Universalism, UU, UU Principles, values, virtues
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2 comments
Posted by Rev. David on October 27, 2010
Something that regular readers of the Celestial Lands might have picked up on… and something that anyone who has been in a congregation I have served as a minister probably could not have missed… is that I love our congregations. I love the congregations of this Liberal Faith Tradition we call Unitarian Universalism. One of [...]
Categories: liberal faith, Principles and Purposes, UU Movement
| Tags: center, glowing coal, liberal faith, Ministry, Prophetic Voice, theology, unitairan, Unitarian, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist, UU
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Posted by Rev. David on February 6, 2010
One of the common responses to Unitarian Universalism that I found among my military chaplain colleagues is the belief that we UU’s have no morality… when in reality I have found that few people carry a heavier moral burden than the Unitarian Universalist. Even among UU’s I have heard it said that we have “Ethics, [...]
Categories: God, Principles and Purposes, Social Engagement, theology, UU Movement
| Tags: burden is light, carry the cross, cross, ethics, moral, moral burden, morality, religious responsibility, responsibility, unitairan, Unitarian Universalist, Universalist, UU
| 1 comment
Posted by Rev. David on October 4, 2009
It has been said that how we express the chosen faith of our adulthood greatly depends on attitudes and concepts that hold deep meaning for us as children. We often form our adult faiths in rejection of those childhood forms, or we transform them into new and deeper meanings. The roots of what, how, and [...]
Categories: God, Principles and Purposes, Prophetic Voice, theology, Worship
| Tags: Buddha, holy ghost, holy spirit, Jesus, pentecostal, pentecostal Unitarian, pentecostal universalist, pentecostal UU, Unitarian, Unitarian Universalist, Universalist
| 5 comments
Posted by Rev. David on September 26, 2009
There are many different “models” we use to try to describe and understand this living, growing religious faith we call Unitarian Universalism. The most common one is to describe us as a “non-creedal” faith, saying that we are a church that sets no creed or dogma for membership. While that may be true on the [...]
Categories: God, Ministry, Principles and Purposes, UU Movement
| Tags: define unitarian, define universal faith, define universalism, define UU, modern unitarian, post-modern, post-modern religion, post-modernism, postmodern, postmodern religion, postmodern unitarian, postmodern universalism, postmodern universalist, postmodernism, religion, religious movement, Unitarian Universalism, Universalism, UU
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Posted by Rev. David on August 29, 2009
In the five years of my formal study for the UU Ministry, one of the most passionate topics has been the growing idea of Covenant in Unitarian Universalism… second in passion only to arguing about having young children in worship. Recently, the debate about covenant has become passionate in the UU Blogosphere again, beginning with [...]
Categories: Blogging, Defining Religious Langauge, History, Principles and Purposes, Prophetic Voice, Social Engagement, theology, UU Movement
| Tags: covenant, faith, hope, passion, peacebang, place of covenant, purpose of covenant, unitairan, Unitarian covenant, Unitarian Universalism, Universalism, Universalist, Universalist covenant, UU covenant, UU Principles, UU vision, vertical covenant, vision, vision of Unitarian Universalism, visionary
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Posted by Rev. David on August 13, 2009
Recently, in private conversation, on this blog, and among radio hosts I listen to, there has been conversation about why the liberal churches do not get involved in certain national policy issues… and each time I hear that call I cringe. Though I have friends in several of our UUA Advocacy Offices and social justice [...]
Categories: Ministry, politics, Principles and Purposes, UU Movement
| Tags: , church activism, church activist, church in politics, church politics, faith based activism, faith politicians, minister in politics, minister public policy, mission of church, policy, politics, prophet, prophetic, prophetic church, public policy, public policy church, purpose of church, purpose of religion, religious activism, role of church in politics, vision
| 14 comments
Posted by Rev. David on June 21, 2009
With my passions, my history, and my hopes for the future is was probably inevitable that I would spend this weekend tied to my television and computer, following the limited amount of information that is coming out of Iran. As a former intelligence analyst, I can trace the political and social patterns that are occurring [...]
Categories: Patriotism, politics, Principles and Purposes, Prophetic Voice
| Tags: American Exceptionalism, anti-exceptionalism, city on the hill, Iran, Iranian, Neda, protests, revolution
| 2 comments
Posted by Rev. David on February 19, 2009
Last Night (February 18th) I faciliated an evening workshop at the UU Society of Geneva, IL about deepening our understanding of the Unitarian Universalist 7 principles by looking at them through the lens of another traditions ethical guidence. As I said that night, I think this could be done with many different moral and ethical [...]
Categories: Ministry, Principles and Purposes, Principles as Spiritual Practice, Spiritual Practice
| Tags: Abiding Questions of Free Congregations, David Pyle, faith, precepts, Unitarian Universalism, UU Principles, workshop
| 3 comments
Posted by Rev. David on February 3, 2009
There are many hopes that I have for Liberal Faith, and for Unitarian Universalism specifically, but the greatest of these is that we dare to dream. Not necessarily as individuals, for I have met dreamers aplenty in our congregations. No, my hope is that we learn to dream, to vision together what we want this [...]
Categories: Principles and Purposes, Prophetic Voice, UU Movement
| Tags: beloved community, dream, dreaming, faith, hope, kingdom of god, liberal faith, right relationship, Unitarian, Unitarian Universalism, visioning
| 1 comment
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