“Science is, at least in part, informed worship.”
Category Archives: History
Theodore Parker
“Look at the facts of the world. You see a continual and progressive triumph of the right. I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience … Read more →
Only in the Creation — Sermon by the Rev. David Pyle
Last preached on September 29th, 2013 Our theme for this past month has been creation, and through that theme we have explored imagination, creativity, the building of beloved community, and how it is a fine line between creativity and foolishness. We explored the roots of human creativity as resting … Read more →
By Their Groups Shall You Know Them — Rev. David Pyle
Last preached September 23rd, 2012 Sermon “By Their Groups Shall You Know Them” Rev. David Pyle In the late 1960’s, when the Soviet Union was at the height of its power, Unitarian professor and theologian James Luther Adams attended a meeting of the American Philosophical Association in Boston. … Read more →
The Real Meaning of the Thanksgiving Story
On this day, Thanksgiving Day, I think we are remembering the wrong message. I think our society has taken the wrong meaning from the mythologized story of starving pilgrims, a coming hard winter, and Native Americans who shared. We give thanks to God, or to some sense of the Universe … Read more →
So… What Comes After the Revolution?
It is far easier for us humans to know what we are against than it is for us to know what we are for. Learned responses and internal morality can tell us if we are “against” something that we experience in our lives. We can know that we do not … Read more →
Religion and the Four Great Fears
My dear friend, Chaplain the Rev. Seanan Holland visited us this weekend, and as usual he and I got into one of our hours-long rolling discussions about Life, the Universe, and Everything. This time in particular, we were rolling around the origin and nature of religion, the fundamental flaw in … Read more →
Individuality and the American Dream
I’ve been thinking this past week about a class I took during my undergraduate degree, called “Political Thought in American Film”. It was class in my minor that combined two things I love, politics and movies… how could I resist? Specifically, I’ve been thinking about two films we watched in … Read more →
Soldiers and War Memorials
This Sunday, I preached a “sermon-in-dialog” with Roy Wedge, a member of the UU Fellowship of Midland, a Vietnam era Air Force Veteran, and a singer/songwriter. Below is the final section of that sermon, written and preached by myself, telling the story of the last time I visited the National … Read more →
Osama bin Laden and Unrealistic Hopes
These last few days, I have been on a trip to attend a U.S. Army Chaplains training conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. I have been in hotels, airports, and restaurants in my military uniform, sometimes with other Army Chaplains, but often on my own. For these several days, I have had … Read more →
Is Libya a “Growing-Up Moment” for the United States?
For all our power in the world, the United States is still a very young nation. Unlike the modern states in Europe, in Asia, and in the Middle East, we do not stand upon thousands of years of history in the location where our nation is. Because of our youth … Read more →
Being a Reluctant Radical — Sermon by Rev. David Pyle
Last preached on March 13th, 2011 Reading Excerpt from “Unitarian Christianity” by Rev. William Ellery Channing Also known as the Baltimore Sermon, this excerpt is from the ordination sermon of Rev. Jared Sparks in 1819, and is considered by many the official birth of American Unitarianism. We indeed grant, that … Read more →
A Short “I Told You So”
I wish I could say I did not know this was going to happen. I really wish I had been wrong. I really wish that my theory that the power of Mass Protests to significantly affect political realities is expirational had been proven wrong. I wish that mass protests still had the power … Read more →
What Turned a Conservative into a Liberal?
I regularly have conversations with conservatives, both political and religious conservatives. Sometimes that is through my work as an Army Chaplain, sometimes through my work as a liberal minister in a fairly conservative town, and sometimes it is through people from my past who seek me out to ask me … Read more →
The Expiring Cultural Power of Mass Protest Movements
What gives mass protests their power? Is it the will and voice of the people? Is it the power of the ideals that motivate them? Is it the amount to which they adopt civil, peaceful, resistance methods? Is it their hope for the future? Or when they represent a broad … Read more →
Shocked that our Nation is Shocked
Last Saturday, when our nation learned of the tragic shooting in Tucson Arizona of 20 people, including the killing of Federal Judge John Roll and the wounding of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, I was in a Board Retreat with my congregation’s Board of Trustees. None of us learned of the shooting … Read more →
Just Go Home
I know, I get in trouble with someone when I delve into pure politics here at Celestial Lands. But I just can’t help myself. I’m not even completely serious about this one, because for the Democratic Leadership in the U.S. Senate and House to do what I am about to … Read more →
The Journey from Conservative to Liberal
I remember a day in seventh grade when I came home all excited to tell my parents that I had discovered that I was a Liberal. We had been studying the American political system in social studies class, and in our textbook was a little box that showed the typical … Read more →
I Am an Appalachian-American
Yesterday, I was driving home from an ordination in Rockville Maryland, and I took a route that carried me through the Appalachian Mountains of Western Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania… and I felt at home. I felt at home in a way that is hard to describe. As I spent … Read more →
Decoration Day — Sermon by the Rev. David Pyle
Last preached on May 30th, 2010 Reading General Order Number 11, Washington DC, May 5, 1868 General John Logan General Order No. 11 Headquarters, Grand Army of the Republic Washington, D.C., May 5, 1868 I. The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose … Read more →
The Political Right and the Road to Damascus
I have spoken before about what I believe is happening on the far right of American politics today, and from the public and private responses I know it is one of the more controversial topics I engage here at Celestial Lands. I speak as someone who traveled in those far-right … Read more →
Let Us Dare — Sermon by the Rev. David Pyle
Last preached on January 24th, 2010. “How Dare You People Bring THAT MAN Here!?!” shouted the man at the young taxi driver. “How dare you people bring THAT MAN here without our permission!?!” Though it had been three years since “that man” had come, the young taxi driver knew … Read more →
Sermon “Let Us Dare” by David Pyle
I do not often post my sermons directly to the Blog here at Celestial Lands, but something is moving me to share this one here this morning. Perhaps because I have been so disappointed and depressed over some recent events in American Political History that this sermon, written a year ago, … Read more →
Symbols, Pre-Conceptions, and the Construction of Reality
In the discussion of a recent article of mine on the growth of the myth of a post-racial America, it became clear to me that the article depends upon a particular understanding of the nature of reality as we human beings have constructed it, and that I had never articulated … Read more →
A Soldier’s Dream: Captain Travis Patriquin and the Awakening of Iraq
On December 6th, 2006, a friend, military partner, former roommate, and man I owe my life to was killed by an improvised explosive device in Ramadi, Iraq. His name was Travis Patriquin, and he and I served in the 7th Special Forces Group as enlisted and support soldiers (he as … Read more →
Vision is the Vertical in our Covenant
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 … Read more →
Senator Edward Kennedy, 1932-2009
In the family and community in which I grew up, Teddy Kennedy was symbolic of everything that was wrong with America. I remember long rants of my father about all the Kennedys, but Teddy specifically, whenever his name came up in the news or in conversation. I knew almost nothing … Read more →
“I Want My Country Back!”
Among all of the things said at the recent teabag/anti-health care reform/birther protests, I have felt emotionally moved by the individuals who, in tears and in anger, have shouted or cried something along the lines of “I want my country back!” or “I feel my country is being taken away … Read more →
Why We Can Not Ignore the “Birthers”
I have been reticent to write about this, because I know that my take on this issue could be seen as “fear-mongering”, and I truly do not intend it to be. One of the legacies of having been a counter insurgency, counter terrorism, and counter narcotics intelligence analyst is that … Read more →
He’s Still An American Soldier
In the center of the Soldier’s Creed, the center of the Warrior Ethos taught to every U.S. Soldier from the first day of basic training is the phrase “I Will Never Leave a Fallen Comrade”. Apparently some have forgotten that. Yesterday I was flabbergasted when I heard a “Military Analyst”, … Read more →
Returning Home, Warriorship, and the Society for Creative Anachronism
The morning after I came home from serving as a Peacekeeper in Bosnia, a friend knocked on my door at some early hour. I wanted to sleep in, but he had another plan. There was something we absolutely had to go do, something he had become involved in that he … Read more →
Biblical Literalism and Out of Context Scripture
When I first learned of reports that certain high level government reports from soon after 9/11 had been framed using Judeao-Christian scripture, I was neither surprised nor outraged. Perhaps I have become desensitized, but it is little more than I have come to expect from that time in our nation’s … Read more →
The Myth of Objectivity
I have a colleague here at seminary who shares with me several things, including that we both name our cats after Gods, and that we both have Bachelor’s degrees in History. Yet, we have a fundamental disagreement about the method of the study of history. He was trained to try … Read more →
The Failure of Mass Protests and the Political Right
I have written several times in the last few years about how the era of effective mass protests is over, how governmental and business power structures have become immune to them. In the late 60’s and early 70’s, such tactics were so new that they actually did change policy at … Read more →
The Prejudices around a Personal God
If there is any issue about my personal faith where I have found others have both the most assumptions and the most confusion, it has been around my theological stance of having a personal relationship with God when God does not have a personal relationship with you. I believe I … Read more →
The Political Assumptions of Progressivism
I have found that most of the people who identify as some kind of religious “progressive” have done at least some basic work around the worldview and assumptions that they are implying by linking their religious faith so clearly with the concept of progress. While it is not the kind … Read more →
The Vanquished
The field does not look the same as it did this morning. This morning, it was peaceful and orderly, with waiving grasses across small rolling hills. The sun came up from the east across the orderly lines, in glittering gold and ovals of wood. The horses were restive, bursting with … Read more →
It’s More Complicated than White
This past week, I have been taking a January Intensive course (a semester’s worth of lectures and class time crammed into one week) taught by the Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed. He has a new book out, In Between, but his most well known work is Black Pioneers in a White Denomination. … Read more →
Unitarian Church of Evanston IL Spied Upon by Army Intelligence
In doing some research into the history of the Unitarian Church of Evanston, Illinois during the era of the Civil Rights Movement and the opposition to the war in Vietnam, I have come across a little known and courageous moment in American history. It is a moment that touches three … Read more →
The Journey Up Diamond Head
I would like to tell you all a story about my father. I’m not certain why I feel compelled to write this story, but I woke up having dreamed about it. My Dad was my hero as a child. He was a career Sergeant in the Army, and later … Read more →
Stuck in Opposition
One of the most destructive things that can happen to an opposition movement is that it is asked to govern, to accept the mantel of responsibility. It does not matter whether this movement is a religious tradition, a non-profit activist group, or a political party. It has even happened with … Read more →
Thank You, America
I simply want to say this… Thank you America, for my new Commander-in-Chief. I know, I have till wait to January to unwrap him… But it’s exactly what I wanted… Merry Christmas Yours in Faith, David
The Foundation of My Identity
This essay is a class assignment for Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed’s class “Afro-Americans and the Unitarians, Universalists, and the Unitarian Universalists.” It is an attempt to locate myself with regards to race, both in heritage and in belief. My first memory of my “nana”, my father’s grandmother, is from when I was ten … Read more →
There is Help… There is Hope
“I have found myself unable to sleep, waking up at three o’clock in the morning in a cold sweat, with nightmares of oil platforms and hunting rifles, only to rush to my computer to check Pollster.com” — Anonymous Liberal “My boss is noticing my productivity is down, but I just … Read more →
Now I’m Really Concerned
It might come as a surprise to some of you now, or who know me now, but for years I was an avid listener and dare I say fan of right wing talk radio. In my office and workshop I nearly forced my crew to listen to Rush, G Gordon, … Read more →
Connected to the History
There is a joke I have heard told among Christian ministers. At an interdenominational seminary, a new Presbyterian professor of Church History gave an assignment for the first day of class, for each student to come to the course with a three page paper on what they knew of “Church … Read more →