Announcing the new Church of the Larger Fellowship Military Ministry Website!

It is my honor and privilege to invite Military Affiliated Unitarian Universalists (and indeed all Unitarian Universalists) to visit the new Military Ministry Website, sponsored by the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF).



http://clfuu.org/military

We hope it will become a place for those of us of liberal faith with a connection to the military to build community with one another, to connect with serving Chaplains and Chaplain Candidates, to post resources, and to share our stories. At times, it is hard to be a military member in Unitarian Universalism, just as it is hard to be a Unitarian Universalist in the military. Our hope is to bring those military members and their families whose service keeps them away from our congregations into community with Military Affiliated UUs who find a home in the congregations of our faith.

A Military Affiliated UU is someone who identifies as a Unitarian Universalist who is a military servicemember, a military spouse, a military veteran, a military family-member, a Department of Defense employee, a military contractor, or the friend of any of these who wishes to build community with other Military Affiliated Unitarian Universalists.

The Church of the Larger Fellowship began during World War II, as a way for Unitarian Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines to stay connected to their faith while they were serving overseas. Though Unitarian Universalists may disagree on issues of war and peace, our faith supports all of those who serve, who have served, and their families.

We would like to thank the Church of the Larger Fellowship for making this ministry a part of their vision, and we look forward to working with them in the years to come in partnership on this important ministry. Specifically, we would like to thank the Rev. Jane Rzepka, Lorraine Dennis, and Andrea Fiore for their help and support in putting this online presence together.

Come, come whoever you are….

Yours in Faith,

David Pyle
1LT, USAR Chaplain Candidate
MOD Minister, Great Lakes Military Ministry

Is this a "dead blog"

There hasn't been any new posts on here in over six months. Did the military do a purge of all UU's and miss me? Is there a new online forum for military UU's? I've been looking online for a while to see if there is any new activity somewhere but so far nothing.

Retiring from Navy and from Congregation Leadership - At Loose Ends

Hello everyone,

I haven't looked at this blog in a while and need to catch up. I am going on separation leave from the Navy in about a week and have also just "retired" from two years as President of my Congregation - so as you can imagine I am doing a bit of soul searching.

As a Congregation President, I focused a lot on church business, fundraising, "growth" (all four kinds), building consensus, and on vision / strategy development. As a result, I kind of lost sight of why I joined a UU congregation in the first place. I was looking for two things - a compassionate community to which I could "come in from the cold" of an increasingly harsh world and also a place in which I could explore my growing awareness of social injustice - to include the injustice of war and social and economic inequality.

Instead, as a church leader, I found myself in what I (only half jokingly) refer to as my "third command". Now that I am done with that, I am reflecting on what I am doing in the UU community. I am wondering where we as a faith community are going with regard to issues of war and peace, and social injustice. I know that the UUA has a peacemaking focus for the next few years but I am wondering what issues we are embracing and how deep is our commitment to them. My contact with our district and with the UUA has been mostly concerning issues of church management, growth, and money. All of the efforts in these areas are important but only if those efforts support accomplishing something greater in the world.

I have been inspired recently by President John F. Kennedy's 1963 American University speech (http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkamericanuniversityaddress.html) as well as by President Jimmy Carter's statement about war: "War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children." My hope is that UU's can be at the forefront of realizing the vision these two men have.

So, not so much as "military UU's" but as UU's who happen to be in the military, what are your aspirations for our faith community? What would you like us to achieve and be known for in the next 20 years. I'd really be interested in your thoughts.

Thanks.

Tom Beall

The ACLU, Prayer, and Annapolis

The American Civil Liberties Union has requested that the US Naval Academy stop it's moment of silence prior to the brigade's noon meal. ACLU considers this a form of mandatory religious practice in violation of midshipman civil rights according to the July 29, 2008 issue of Christian Century weekly newspaper (page 17). To me, the Civil Liberties Union is going too far. Perhaps a moment of silence does make some midshipmen uncomfortable, but an important part of the curriculum at the US service academies is to take students out of their zones of comfort. Standing in respectful silence is a duty an officer of our armed forces must perform at times, and what with the rigor, by design, of academy life standing for a moment of silence might seem to be a vacation.

Who's the guy with the beard?

As you might have heard, I recently retired after 20 years in the Marine Corps. I had a unique and very enjoyable retirement ceremony, and would like to share the story with you here.

The typical Marine retirement consists mainly of the retiring officer telling the story of the retiree's military career, saying what a great guy he is, and pinning on a medal. Then the retiree gets to talk, thanking his family, boss, coworkers, etc. Then everyone eats BBQ or chicken wings, and talks about work until it's time to leave.

Being anything but a typical Marine, of course I wanted my ceremony to be different. First of all, no BBQ. I've been to so many retirements where I ate a coleslaw sandwich (or the like), I decided to have my reception catered from a vegetarian restaurant. Second, rather than talk, I wanted to play my guitar and sing. Finally, I wanted my Marine friends to hear about the rest of my life outside the Corps.

So I invited four close friends from my "other lives" - Bull Run UUs, The Shambhala Center of Washington D.C, the Capitol NVC Organizing Team, and the Men's Council of Washington D.C. - to talk after the Colonel had his say. And there was a twist - I asked them to relate how they experience their relationships with me, rather than talk about my activities and accomplishments. My desire here was to paint a picture of a human being as well as a human doing.

It was everything I wished for - Reverend Nancy, Larry, Jeanne, and Duane all spoke from the heart, and I experienced great joy in bringing together so many diverse people in one place. This was really an opportunity to practice integrity - no chance to play any role but "I am" with people from every corner of my life in the room.

Once everyone had spoken, I had little to say. I gave flowers and gifts to my loved ones, spoke my gratitude and appreciation for all who had spoken, and performed an original song in honor of my contractor buddies (now fellow contractors). Then we ate vegetarian food, drank organic juice, and talked about UUism, buddhism, NVC, and men's work until it was time to go home.

Funny thing, all the Marines seemed to leave right away - I guess they missed the BBQ and beer.

Unitarian Universalist Military social network?

While listening to NPR a few weeks ago I heard about Ning.com where people can create their own social network (think Myspace or Facebook but on a smaller scale). I thought how cool it would be to start a UU Military network. I would start it myself but I'm about to rotate back to sea duty and it's a new construction ship so I really won't have the time to manage a site. Is anyone interested? I was thinking that a "social network" might get some more hits especially among the younger members.

A Friendly Footprint...

A proposal for action to aid Iraqi school children, sent to UU's in the Military by Richard Anderson of the Boone NC UU Fellowship:

On May 13th at 6:33 am, my son called me via satellite phone from a small village in Iraq. He was exasperated with the conditions he found on the ground. He described the village his unit was based in as total squalor but his greatest disappointment was the condition of the school. The students had neither pencils nor paper, few books and no games or sports equipment. Our Church, the Boone Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship has taken on the mission to provide school supplies for distribution by the Marines on the ground. As a church, we can buy at a discount and avoid the added expense of sales tax. We can also get uniformity in the supplies, which makes shipping and distribution easier. This is a volunteer run effort with no administrative costs and will not be used to promote or publicize the church. We are merely the vehicle for this assistance. Your contribution is tax-deductible and you will get a statement at the end of the year. Make checks payable to the church. Please help out our bookkeeper by writing “Will’s Kids” or “Friendly Footprint” on the memo line of your check. Send donations to:

Boone Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship
381 E. King St.
Boone, NC 28607