“If I have a faith at all, it would center on human possibility, specifically the potential for human beings to educate each other to do “good”. Not that we’ve done it yet, but that we could, is what keeps me in the optimist camp and away from the despair of … Read more →
Category Archives: Faith
James Whitehead
“Faith is the enduring ability to imagine life in a certain way.”
Joanna Russ
“Faith is not contrary to the usual ideas, something that turns out to be right or wrong, like a gambler’s bet: it’s an act, an intention, a project, something that makes you, in leaping into the future, go so far, far, far ahead that you shoot clean out of time … Read more →
Marian Wright Edelman
“My faith has been the driving thing of my life. I think it is important that people who are perceived as liberals not be afraid of talking about moral and community values.”
Martin Luther King, jr.
“Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
Michael Dowd
“Faith in God, if it doesn’t include trusting Reality, is an impotent faith. If having “faith” does not mean trusting time, trusting the wisdom of the Whole, then such faith will not give me courage, grant me peace, and ground my action in the world here and now. It most … Read more →
Helen Keller
“Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.”
Barbara J. Winter
“When you come to the edge of all the light you know, and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of two things will happen: There will be something solid to stand on or you will be taught how to fly.”
Michael Dowd
“Faith and trust are synonymous; faith and beliefs are polar opposites.”
Kahlil Gibran
“Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking.”
Shifting Sands — Sermon by the Rev. David Pyle
Last preached on April 5th, 2012 Sermon “Shifting Sands” Rev. David Pyle I’ve said before that one of the best parts About being a Unitarian Universalist Military Chaplain Is that I often get to discuss faith and theology With minister’s who are far more conservative than myself. I love … Read more →
What Would a UU Religious Order Look Like?
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 … Read more →
The Center of a Liberal Faith Movement
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 … 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 →
The Role of Faith for the Military Chaplain
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, … Read more →
Ministry is Big, so Have Faith
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 … Read more →