Posted by Rev. David on October 26, 2012
When I was at the U.S. Army Chaplain’s School at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, there was a day in class that we were responding to hypothetical counseling situations. One of the scenarios presented to us was that of a young woman who came to us for counseling after having been raped. She did not know [...]
Categories: God, liberal faith, Military Chaplaincy, politics, theology
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Tags: abortion, chaplain, conservative christian, conservative christianity, faith, fundamentalist, fundamentalist christianity, God, Jesus, justice, liberal faith, military chaplain, mourdock, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, politics, Prophetic Voice, rape, theology
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4 comments
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
| 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 March 30, 2012
One of the aspects of a Clinical Pastoral Education Residency that was most valuable to me was spending a year with ministers from other religious traditions, being required to have deep discussions about theology, about pastoral care, and about our life experiences. It not only helped me to broaden my own horizon, but it also [...]
Categories: liberal faith, theology
| Tags: book, Christian, David Pyle, faith, God, good and evil, hope, justice, liberal, liberal christian systemic theology, liberal faith, nature of god, religion, Rev. Pyle, Spiritual Practice, systemic theology, theology, Unitarian, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist, Universalism, Universalist, UU, UU systemic theology, write a book
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Posted by Rev. David on February 17, 2012
One of the first essays I ever wrote in seminary, and the first essay I ever had published, was on the need for Unitarian Universalism to develop integrated spiritual practices that can be shared and engaged by large groups of Unitarian Universalists. In that essay, I make the case that someone could make a spiritual [...]
Categories: Faith, Principles as Spiritual Practice, Spiritual Practice, UU Movement
| Tags: Abraxis, faith, Humiliati, liberal faith, Ministerial Sisterhood, Ministry, monastic order, relationship, religion, religious order, Spiritual Practice, unitairan, Unitarian, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist, Universalism, Universalist, UU, UU order, uu practice, UU Principles, UU Spirit, UU spirituality
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Posted by Rev. David on January 28, 2012
What it means to be a Unitarian Universalist has been on my heart this last week. Not surprisingly, considering that many UU’s are currently thinking about similar things in reaction to the recent white paper from Rev. Peter Morales titled “Congregations and Beyond”. I know there is a lot behind that paper that is not [...]
Categories: ecclesiology, Faith, liberal faith, UU Movement
| Tags: church membership, congregations and beyond, dan hotchkiss, David Pyle, faith, governance and ministry, liberal faith, liberalism, Peter Morales, politics, Prophetic Voice, relationship, religion, religious identity, responsibility, unitairan, Unitarian, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist, Universalism, Universalist, UU, UU identity, UUA
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Posted by Rev. David on January 20, 2012
Break not that circle of enabling love, Where people grow, forgiven and forgiving, Break not that circle, make it wider still, Till it includes, embraces all the living. –Hymn 323, Singing the Living Tradition Recently, the conversation has begun again about what makes a Unitarian Universalist. Are you only a Unitarian Universalist if you are [...]
Categories: Evangelism, Ministry, UU Movement
| Tags: activism, church growth, church outreach, David Pyle, Evangelism, faith, hope, justice, liberal, liberal faith, liberalism, Ministry, Peter Morales, Prophetic Voice, relationship, religion, religious movement, religious tradition, responsibility, unitairan, Unitarian, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist, Universalism, Universalist, UU, UU movement, UU Principles, UUA
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Posted by Rev. David on December 5, 2011
Unitarian Universalists are almost always surprised when they see me wearing the Christian Cross on my Army Chaplain uniform. Perhaps they should not be, given the Christian ancestry of our two founding denominations, but they are. Reactions have ranged from mild curiosity to outrage to some deep pastoral need. On several occasions, those reactions have [...]
Categories: ecclesiology, Military, Military Chaplaincy, Ministry, UU Movement
| Tags: chalice, chaplain, chaplain symbol, Christian, cross, David Pyle, faith, flaming chalice, Jesus, liberal, liberal faith, Military, military chaplain symbol, Ministry, religion, soldier, unitairan, Unitarian, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist, Universalism, Universalist, UU, uu chapalin, UU Military
| 9 comments
Posted by Rev. David on November 24, 2011
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 taking care of us for [...]
Categories: God, History, Turnings
| Tags: American, Christian, compassion, faith, indians, justice, meaning, meaning of thanksgiving, native americans, native peoples, pilgrims, relationship, responsibility, thanksgiving, thanksgiving indian, thanksgiving tribe, theology, tribes, wampanoag
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Posted by Rev. David on November 11, 2011
When I reflect on the few years after “coming home” from Bosnia, the years before some friends and a veteran counselor helped me to “get my head back on straight”, I realize that I had more than my share of luck. I was lucky to be in a university that had a large and experienced [...]
Categories: Military, Turnings, Veterans
| Tags: activism, Bosnia, chaplain, Chrys Parker, combat stress reaction, David Pyle, faith, History, homeless veteran, homelessness, hunkered in the bunker, justice, Military, military chaplain, Prophetic Voice, ptsd, relationship, responsibility, veteran, Veteran's Day, war
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Posted by Rev. David on November 7, 2011
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 Friedman Economics, a mathematical definition [...]
Categories: Faith, God, History, liberal faith
| Tags: Christian, faith, fear, fear of death, fear of humans, fear of nature, fear of people, fear of uncertainity, four great fears, fundamentalism, great fear, History, Jesus, liberal, liberal faith, liberalism, meaning of religion, politics, relationship, religion, religious fear, responsibility, theology, types of religion, war
| 3 comments
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