Posted by Rev. David on May 17, 2012
I have received multiple requests for copies of the homily that I presented at the UUA Pacific Southwest District Assembly this year, and instead of continuing to email it out, I thought I would publish it here at Celestial Lands. The task was to reflect on what “Beyond Borders” meant to me and my ministry”. [...]
Categories: Military, Military Chaplaincy, Ministry, UU Movement, Veterans
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Tags: beloved community, chaplain, liberal faith, Military, military bridgebuilder program, military chaplain, Ministry, radical hospitality, responsibility, soldier, unitairan, Unitarian, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist, Universalism, Universalist, UU, UU Military, UU Principles, UUA, war, welcoming
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5 comments
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 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
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Posted by Rev. David on September 17, 2011
I want to give thanks to my colleague Christian Schmidt for being one of two inspirations for this post, through a question he posed to me in a comment on my article on our denomination’s feelings about supporting ministries. It is a topic that I have thought about engaging many times in many different ways, [...]
Categories: ecclesiology, Faith, liberal faith, Ministry
| Tags: assistant minsitry, chaplain, chaplaincy, faith, liberal faith, ministerial search, Ministry, parish ministry, relationship, responsibility, Tom Berg, unitairan, Unitarian, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist, Universalism, Universalist, UU, UU Church of Ventura, UUA, uua search, UUCV
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Posted by Rev. David on July 2, 2011
I think this topic is becoming a regular 4th of July weekend tradition of mine, mainly because I have had it with the idea that unless someone is a Fox News watching, gun toting Tea-Party Republican they are not a “Real American”. Beyond the fact that such definitions of “Real American” often do not include [...]
Categories: God, liberal faith, Military, Patriotism, politics, Prophetic Voice, Religious Freedom
| Tags: chaplain, David Pyle, faith, Jesus, liberal, liberal faith, liberalism, Michelle Bachmann, Military, military chaplain, Ministry, Patriotism, politics, Prophetic Voice, religion, Rep. Akin, Rep. Bachmann, Rep. Michelle Bachmann, Rep. Todd Akin, soldier, tea-party, Todd Akin, unitairan, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist, Universalism, Universalist, UU, UU church Midland, UU Military, UUA, UUFOM
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Posted by Rev. David on June 26, 2011
I want to say on Celestial Lands what I said in person to many people about the overall “theme” for this General Assembly. In my most humble opinion, the overall theme was not the 50th Anniversary of the UUA. It was not where we will be as a religion in another 50 years. It was [...]
Categories: General Assembly, liberal faith, Spiritual Practice, UU Movement
| Tags: compassion, congregational polity, connection, David Pyle, faith, GA 2011, General Assembly, General Assembly 2011, Gini Courter, justice, Kaaren Anderson, Karen Armstrong, liberal, liberal faith, Prophetic Voice, relationship, Spiritual Practice, theology, unitairan, Unitarian, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist, Universalism, Universalist, UU, UUA, UUA General Assembly
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Posted by Rev. David on March 7, 2011
Last week I attended the First Year Minister’s Seminar at the UUA Headquarters at 25 Beacon Street in Boston. The program was great… it was good to hear directly from the many different UUA staff offices, and the conversation I had about my theory of social justice with a senior UU Minister in the second story [...]
Categories: liberal faith, Ministry, UU Movement
| Tags: 25 Beacon St., chaplain, colleagues, David Pyle, faith, First Year Ministers, generations of ministers, liberal, liberal faith, military chaplain, ministerial colleagues, ministerial relationship, Ministry, relationship, religion, unitairan, Unitarian Universalism, Universalism, Universalist, UU, UU Ministers, UUA, UUMA
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Posted by Rev. David on March 21, 2010
This weekend I am writing several of the essays to move me toward becoming a U.S. Army Chaplain. Yesterday I posted my essay to the U.S. Army. Today I post the draft of my essay to the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. I look forward to the thoughts and feedback of any of the denziens of the Celestial Lands [...]
Categories: Military, Military Chaplaincy, Ministry, Social Engagement, theology, Turnings, UU Movement
| Tags: committee on military ministry, Military, military chaplain, Ministry, Unitairan Universalist, Unitarian, Universalist, UU, UU military chaplain, UUA
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Posted by Rev. David on November 12, 2009
One part of preparing to see the Ministerial Fellowship Committee of the UUA is to write a paper detailing the Theological Context of my Ministry (in 2 pages… you try it sometime!). Not only have I shared this paper privately with some mentors and colleagues, but I also shared it with the interfaith group of [...]
Categories: Deism, God, Ministry, theology, UU Movement
| Tags: Buddhist, Christian, David Pyle, emergent theology, MFC, Ministerial Fellowship Committee, theology, Unitarian, Universalist, UUA
| 8 comments
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