On Mortality
Podcast: Download (6.2MB)
Subscribe: More
Until I turned forty-six, it was easy to imagine that growing old was something that happened to others, that death was a long way off. While I hope death is a long way off, I’m coming to accept that it will happen to me, that none of us—no matter how healthy or fit—will escape it and that, much as we might wish, we won’t be able to choose our departure.
Listening For Our Song
Podcast: Download (2.7MB)
Subscribe: More
I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument while the song I came to sing remains unsung.
—Rabindranath Tagore
On sabbatical in East Africa, I heard a story of a people who believe that we are each created with our own song. Their tradition as a community is to honor that song by singing it as a welcome when a child is born, as a comfort when the child is ill, in celebration when the child marries, and in affirmation and love when death comes. Most of us were not welcomed into the world in that way. Few of us seem to know our song.
Making a Fist
Podcast: Download (1.1MB)
Subscribe: More
For the first time, on the road north of Tampico,
I felt the life sliding out of me,
a drum in the desert, harder and harder to hear.
I was seven, I lay in the car
watching palm trees swirl a sickening pattern past
the glass.
My stomach was a melon split wide inside my skin.
From Your Minister
Podcast: Download (6.0MB)
Subscribe: More
I began attending the Quaker Meeting close to my apartment on Sunday mornings. Week after week I sat with them. Nope, no awakening for me there. Probably a good thing, too, because I wouldn’t have had a clue what to do with it. But at one of those Meetings I heard about a daylong workshop on Indian Treaties.
REsources for Living
Podcast: Download (4.5MB)
Subscribe: More
What does it take to become enlightened? What is required in order to awaken to the truth of the universe? How do you go from your ordinary “I wonder if we’re out of milk?” frame of mind into a higher consciousness? The world’s most famous story of awakening is the story of how Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha.
REsources for Living
What if you had x-ray vision like Superman? What would you use it for? Of course, real x-rays let you see through skin and muscle to the bones underneath, but they wouldn’t let you look through the walls of buildings to see what the villains were up to inside. But never mind. It’s our game of pretend, and we set the rules.
Everything We Need
Podcast: Download (817.9KB)
Subscribe: More
We already have everything we need. There is no need for self-improvement. All these trips that we lay on ourselves—the heavy-duty fearing that we’re bad and hoping that we’re good, the identities that we so dearly cling to, the rage, the jealousy and the addictions of all kinds—never touch our basic wealth. Read more →
Commentary on “A Veteran’s Day Confession for America”
War is toxic—tragedy, waste and profiteering are an inevitable part of even the so-called “good wars.” War is sin—as defined by theologian Paul Tillich: “a three-fold separation: separation among individuals, separation of man from himself, and separation of all men from the Ground of Being.” War is toxic and war is sin—not only for the soldier who fights the war, but also for the society who authorizes the war-making in a foreign land and then is all too often separated (geographically, intellectually, and emotionally) from the death, injury and contamination that are the tragic consequences of war.
Christians believe all of us fall into sin at one time or another and these sins directly or indirectly harm others and reduce our own integrity and spiritual strength. “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Unitarian Universalists often reject words like “sin.” Yet most Unitarian Universalists are Americans – we belong to a war-making society. War-making societies across cultures and generations have practiced rituals of purification and cleansing in order to assuage this toxicity, remedy sin, and facilitate healing and wholeness. The Christian tradition offers a ritual of purification and cleansing called confession. “If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Unitarian Universalists would do well to consider Tillich’s view of “sin as separation” and reflect on how war separates us from the “Spirit of Life” and the essential principles that define our faith: the inherent worth and dignity of every person; justice, equity and compassion in human relations; the goal of world community; and respect for the interdependent web of existence of which we are all a part. To ignore or disregard the fact of sin just because we don’t like the word is unrealistic and self-deceptive because sin causes great harm to individuals and society. While some alumni of the Catholic Church may have knee-jerk reactions to confession, the ritual of confession is not foreign to Unitarian Universalism, as evidenced by the confessions found in our hymnal, Singing the Living Tradition, and the words of the 2010 Creating Peace Statement of Conscience: “our faith calls us to create peace, yet we confess we have not done all we could to prevent the spread of armed conflict throughout the world.”
As a Unitarian Universalist Minister deployed to Afghanistan as an Army chaplain, I faced the daunting challenge of being a good steward of our heritage in the combat zone and bringing the prophetic witness of our principles to bear on the military institution. As a member of the Profession of Arms in service to the Nation I also felt an obligation to provide spiritual leadership to the people of the United States, many of whom have been all too separated from the consequences of our war-making over the past decade. I wrote “A Veteran’s Day Confession for America” to address this harmful separation, facilitate purification and cleansing, restore connections, and reconcile us to right relationships. Jesus taught, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted; blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:4, 8). There is nothing I want more than for God to bless America and for God to bless our troops. My hope is that if more people will embrace confessions like this one we might actually secure these blessings.
Disclaimer: All entries to CLF/Quest Military Ministries page reflect the personal views of the contributor. The views expressed here are in no way to be construed as an individual or individuals speaking in their official capacities for the agencies, departments, or service branches they serve in. This is not an official publication of the Department of Defense, the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force, any government agency, or any other organization.
Freedom and Responsibility
In our society we are so wired to think in an individual way, that somehow our life is not intertwined into the lives of others. We are taught that we can make our own decisions and do what we need to do to be successful and happy. I’m just not sure that is truly possible. I am unsure if any of us can ever truly be free. In order to be completely and totally free, our actions, values, and behaviors would have to have no impact on others or this world. Or, alternatively, we would have to take into consideration all the consequences of those actions, values, and behaviors.
Take, for instance, the snowstorm that hit the Northeast a few weeks back. The governor of Massachusetts declared a state of emergency and enacted a driving ban across the state. My Facebook feed was riddled with people complaining that their civil rights were being impeded because they were not allowed to drive in the blizzard. Come on, people! If the governor is asking you to stay off the roads during the biggest snowstorm since the blizzard of ’78, can you at least consider the consequences of not listening?
The reality is that many people don’t listen to those requests or demands. As a result, first responders like fire and police personnel are put in harm’s way to deal with accidents, abandoned vehicles, and other tragedies. Oftentimes, it is these same first responders who have to report to scenes where people are seriously injured or even killed because they are living out their life and its “freedoms.”
What it comes down to is the element of responsibility that coincides with freedom. This is the same case in our free faith of Unitarian Universalism. Yes, we are free to search for truth and meaning, but we are called to do so in a responsible way. A lot of times we get caught up in the use of certain language for the divine, or expressions of faith, or viewpoints on issues, and don’t take the time to really talk about them. We are easily offended and don’t always pause to listen to the people around us. It is in these times that we are not being responsible in our search for truth and meaning.
Of course, there are also times when we do take that time, or create that space to talk honestly about such things. I believe that is where freedom exists. When we create a space and atmosphere that allows for the free and honest sharing to occur, we are practicing our faith in a responsible way. We are acknowledging that while we are entitled to our own beliefs, opinions, and values, we are also expected to respect those of others. Because when it comes down to it, my freedom shouldn’t be at your expense. When we seek to understand and respect one another, we can both be free. May it be so.
Reintegration
Remember the saying about how long it takes to get over a break up? What is it, something like divide the time you were together in two? So, if you were dating for a year, it should take about six months to get over the person.
Wouldn’t it be nice if life worked that way? Well, realistically, anyone who has been through a bad break up knows that these equations just don’t work.
What if we applied the same equation to a deployment? It should have taken three months for things to be back to normal after my wife got home, right? Not so much.
It’s funny, you know. People talk about the “new normal” after a deployment. Military families are taught about the adjustments and sacrifices that everyone makes during a deployment. We talk about how to make that “reintegration period” smoother.
