Welcome to the Wayside Pulpit!

I am in the process of developing a second site here at Celestial Lands, one that is dedicated fully to theology.  This site, the Wayside Pulpit, will be for everything else… as if I had stuck a pulpit by the side of the road.  Celestial Lands began in 2004 as an archive and journal for me (Rev. David Pyle) to collect and store all of my religious essays, quotes, sermons, and Unitarian Universalist worship materials in one, searchable location.  It was inspired by the journals that Ralph Waldo Emerson kept throughout his life.  The collection of quotes, book notes, essays, and sermons that Emerson kept in his journals was the inspiration for much of his later writing.

I hope one day Celestial Lands will serve a similar role for me.

Emerson spent 5 years simply indexing his journals, but due to the miracle of modern technology, the programs that run Celestial Lands make the journal easy to search, and also allow me access to all of my writing no matter where I am, through the internet.

There are many sections to the Celestial Lands, from my Articles on Liberal Religion, Military Chaplaincy, and Politics, to the Sermons I have presented for Unitarian Universalist and Military congregations, to the Worship Web, where I have collected quotes, readings, chalice lightings and other liturgical elements.  Soon, I will re-post the collection of some hard to find classic religious writings in the Celestial Lands Library.

If you participated in a group I was in or led, and I said I would create an online location for us to share resources or contact information, please click the “Connections” link at the top and scroll the list till you find your group.

I (Rev. David Pyle) am a Unitarian Universalist Minister and a U.S. Army Reserve Chaplain.  I have served UU congregations in Illinois, Michigan, and California… and have served as a Hospital and Hospice Chaplain in Illinois.  I have served U.S. Army Reserve units in Michigan and California as both a Battalion Chaplain and a Combat Support Hospital Chaplain.  I currently serve the 71 UU Congregations of Northern Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Central and Eastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, and Washington DC as the District Executive of the Joseph Priestley District of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.

Though Celestial Lands primarily exists as a resource for me and for the congregations I serve, I love to hear back from people.  If there is a comment section to to an article, that is an invitation to respond… although I reserve the right to choose whether your comments are posted publicly or not.

Once again, Welcome!

Books I have essays in …