This week, The BUF Weekly arrives in your inbox on Veteran's Day. As we acknowledged in this past Sunday's service, our Unitarian Universalist (UU) faith tradition has a complex history with the military and war. In the UUA's 2010 Statement of Conscience on "Creating Peace," the Association writes:
For Unitarian Universalists, the exercise of individual conscience is holy work. Conscientious discernment leads us to engage in the creation of peace in different ways. We affirm a range of individual choices, including military service and conscientious objection (whether to all wars or particular wars), as fully compatible with Unitarian Universalism.
Rev. Jennifer (Jen) Miles was the perfect person to speak to this complexity on Sunday, as we honored Veteran's Day. Rev. Jen is a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, a military chaplain, and a UU—and she honestly and bravely acknowledged those identities do not always sit together easily in her. She also shared about her work as a military chaplain, as well as some history about UUs who changed the military for the better. You can check out the recording of her talk on BUF's YouTube channel—it garnered quite a bit of positive feedback!
Rev. Jen also happens to be a BUFster, and we are excited that she is currently seeking UU fellowship and affiliation with BUF as a Community Minister. As Rev. Tessie Mandeville (also an affiliated Community Minister at BUF) explained, in our UU tradition, "a Community Minister is one whose main service to others takes place in the larger community, beyond the walls of the congregation," and "you will find hundreds of UU Community Ministers doing their work as military chaplains, community organizers, spiritual directors, and pastoral counselors." Among other activities around BUF, Rev. Jen is now part of the Taizé team. If you have not yet met Rev. Jen, we encourage you to introduce yourself.
Seeing Rev. Jen and all the other veterans among us stand to be recognized on Sunday was a powerful moment. As we honor Veteran’s Day, may we remember the UUA’s Statement of Conscience on "Creating Peace," which says: “For those among us who make a formal commitment to military service, we will honor their commitment, welcome them home, and offer pastoral support.” To all the members and friends of BUF who have served, we honor your commitment, and we welcome you.
Rev. Sunny, minister