Posted by Rev. David on June 27, 2012
Oh Lord, Is this really where we are? A man once said, “I believe, but help my unbelief”. I’m not sure I ever understood, until I myself had to cry out to you, Is this really where we are, oh Lord. Are we really as far from the Kingdom of God as it sometimes seems? [...]
Categories: Equality, liberal faith, Prophetic Voice
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Tags: activism, Birmingham Jail, Christian, Equality, faith, hope, Jesus, justice, lament, liberal faith, Maricopa Jail, military chaplain, prayer, Prophetic Voice, psalm, psalmist, Spiritual Practice, standing on the side of love, theology
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Posted by Rev. David on February 14, 2012
I remember something that my Drill Sergeant said to me, my first day of Basic Training some 20 years ago, when I was an 18 year old private at Ft. Leonard Wood Missouri. We were all in one of our first formations, and he asked us if any of us would like to take a [...]
Categories: Equality, Military, Military Chaplaincy, Prophetic Voice, Religious Freedom
| Tags: Alliance Defense Fund, chaplain, chaplain religious freedom, Chaplains Alliance for Religious Liberty, David Pyle, election, Equality, Forum on the Military Chaplaincy, free exercise of religion, Military, military chaplain, military religion, military religious freedom, Ministry, politics, Prophetic Voice, religion, Religious Freedom, responsibility, soldier, Unitarian Universalist, Universalist, UU, UU Military
| 3 comments
Posted by Rev. David on November 18, 2011
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 like the way our banking [...]
Categories: History, liberal faith, Patriotism, politics, Social Engagement
| Tags: activism, clergy, Equality, History, hope, justice, liberal, liberal faith, liberalism, occupy, occupy clergy, occupy movement, occupy protest, occupy wall street, politics, populism, populist, Prophetic Voice, relationship, responsibility, revolt, revolution, revolutionary
| 3 comments
Posted by Rev. David on October 17, 2011
In the fall of 2011 I was honored to attend the first ever OutServe Leadership Conference. This was the first time for this organization of LGB persons actively serving in the military to gather publicly, since such public gatherings and recognition was made possible by the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Harass, Don’t [...]
Categories: Equality, Faith, liberal faith, Military, Military Chaplaincy, Ministry, Pastoral Care, Religious Freedom, Social Engagement
| Tags: activism, bi-sexual, chaplain, David Pyle, Equality, Evangelism, faith, Forum on the Military Chaplaincy, gay, GLBT, hope, justice, Las Vegas, lesbian, LGB, lgbt, liberal, liberal faith, Military, military chaplain, Ministry, Outserve, politics, Prophetic Voice, relationship, religion, responsibility, Service Members Legal Defense Network, SLDN, soldier, unitairan, Unitarian, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist, Universalism, Universalist, UU, UU Military, UU Principles
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Posted by Rev. David on October 3, 2011
In the last few months, I have heard the word Oligarchy being bandied around on the edges of American political circles. In the Tea-Party wing, they are using it as a new word for “Hollywood Elite” and “Liberal Media”. On the semi-far left it is being used to refer to corporations and the wealthy. In [...]
Categories: Patriotism, politics
| Tags: activism, bureaucracy, bureaucrat, David Pyle, democracy, election, Equality, federal, federalist, feudal, feudalism, feudalist, governance, government, governmental systems, History, justice, liberal, liberalism, liberty, military junta, monarch, monarchy, oligarch, oligarchic, oligarchy, politics, Prophetic Voice, relationship, Republican, responsibility, technocracy, technocrat, totalitarian, tyranny, tyrant
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Posted by Rev. David on September 30, 2011
Recently, there has been some chatter in UU Ministerial and Lay-Leadership circles around the upcoming plans for the Unitarian Universalist Association “Justice GA” in Phoenix Arizona, focusing on how it is planned for those who attend to do far more learning and bearing witness on the issue of immigration, than doing direct action or service [...]
Categories: Equality, General Assembly, Prophetic Voice, Social Engagement, UU Movement
| Tags: activism, bearing witness, David Pyle, Equality, GA, GA 2012, General Assembly, immigration, justice, Justice GA, liberal, liberal faith, liberalism, migrant rights, paternalism, Phoenix, politics, Prophetic Voice, unitairan, Unitarian, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist, Universalism, Universalist, UU, UUA
| 3 comments
Posted by Rev. David on April 27, 2011
In my weekly pastoral letter to my congregation here in Midland Michigan, I spoke of a feeling that I have. It is a feeling I know makes no rational sense, but I have long believed that feelings are not necessarily supposed to make rational sense. They are the soul trying to tell me something. Let [...]
Categories: Ministry, Patriotism, politics, Prophetic Voice, Social Engagement
| Tags: activism, California, David Pyle, Emergency Financial Managers, Equality, faith, justice, liberal, liberal faith, liberalism, Mackinac Center, MI, Michigan, Ministry, politics, Prophetic Voice, protests, Rachel Maddow, responsibility, Snyder, social justice, social witness, unions, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist, UU Fellowship of Michigan
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Posted by Rev. David on March 9, 2011
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 to convince politicians they represented [...]
Categories: History, politics
| Tags: activism, budget, election, Equality, faith, Gov. Walker, History, justice, liberal, liberalism, politics, responsibility, scott walker, union, union busting, walker, Wisconsin, wisconsin budget, wisconsin protests
| 4 comments
Posted by Rev. David on January 24, 2011
I have had some wonderful and amazing conversations, both in person and online, in relation to my recent article on Gun Control, Militias, and the Second Amendment. I can always tell when I’m doing “good work” when people respond passionately and personally to an article, some in favor of what I have proposed, and some [...]
Categories: liberal faith, politics, Prophetic Voice, Social Engagement, UU Movement
| Tags: act, act local, activism, Equality, faith, justice, liberal, liberal church, liberal faith, liberalism, lobby, politics, progressive, Prophetic Voice, protest, responsibility, social justice, think global, Unitarian, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist, Universalism, UU
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Posted by Rev. David on December 9, 2010
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 characteristics of a Conservative and [...]
Categories: History, liberal faith, Patriotism, politics, UU Movement
| Tags: conservativism, democrat, Equality, History, liberal, liberal faith, liberalism, Military, politics, progressivism, Prophetic Voice, Republican, Unitarian, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist, Universalism, UU, UU conservative, UU democrat, UU Principles, UU republican
| 5 comments
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