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 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 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 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 11, 2011
Over the last few weeks, I’ve had some hesitancy to write about my thoughts on the “Occupy Wall Street” protests, and the reaction to them that is happening in the more conservative ends of our country. The reason for my hesitancy is that this is a place where my theoretical understanding of what is (and [...]
Categories: politics, Social Engagement
| Tags: activism, american communism, american populism, american socialism, chicago protests, conservative, corporate greed, election, Glenn Beck, History, hope, insurgency, justice, k street, liberal, los angeles protests, mass protest, new american revolution, new york protests, occupy k street, occupy wall street, police violence, politics, populism, power of mass protest, Prophetic Voice, protest, relationship, responsibility, revolution, violence, wall street, wall street protest
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Posted by Rev. David on June 5, 2011
The following were my words at the Tribute and Celebration of the ministry of Rev. Barbara Pescan, at the Unitarian Church of Evanston, on June 4th, 2011… I remember a day at General Assembly in Ft. Lauderdale in 2008. A few weeks after Barbara had sprinkled some pixie dust on me and I had magically [...]
Categories: Ministry, Turnings, UU Movement
| Tags: Barbara Pescan, Bill Sinkford, David Pyle, faith, GA, General Assembly, hope, human in ministry, justice, liberal, liberalism, Military, Ministry, relationship, religion, responsibility, Rev. Pescan, Rev. Sinkford, theology, UCE, unitairan, Unitarian, Unitarian Church of Evanston, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist, Universalism, Universalist, UU
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Posted by Rev. David on May 30, 2011
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 War Memorials in Washington DC. [...]
Categories: History, Military, Veterans
| Tags: chaplain, fear, History, hope, Korean War Memorial, lincoln memorial, Memorial Day, Military, military chaplain, national war memorials, unitairan, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist, Universalist, UU, Vietnam memorial, vietnam wall, war memorials, WWI memorial, WWII memorial
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Posted by Rev. David on May 4, 2011
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 an experience happen over and [...]
Categories: History, Military, Patriotism, politics, Turnings
| Tags: 911, al Qaeda, bin Laden, chaplain, David Pyle, death, death of Osama, fear, hope, killed, liberal, Military, military chaplain, Ministry, Navy Seals, Osama, Osama bin Laden, politics, Prophetic Voice, responsibility, Seal Team Six, soldier, terror, terrorist, Usama bin Laden
| 6 comments
Posted by Rev. David on March 17, 2011
This is a repost of an article from each of the last two years. This is a hard time of year for me. I guess we all have these times of the year, where the past experiences of our lives fill up the time we spend living today… times in which what we live is [...]
Categories: Care of the Soul, Turnings
| Tags: berevement, birthday, birthdays are hard, dad, David Pyle, father and son, father's and son's, father's death, grief, happy birthday, hope, loss, Lynn C. Pyle, Lynn Pyle, Military, MSG Pyle, relationship, responsibility, soldier, St. Patrick's Day
| 5 comments
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