Welcome

1. Welcome Facilitator Guide: 1

2. UU-Military Bridge Builder KitFacilitator Guide Provided by the Church of the Larger Fellowship Facilitator Guide: 2

3. Acknowledgments • Church of the Larger Fellowship • UU Military Chaplains • UU Ministers and Lay-members • UU Church of Birmingham • Arlington Street Church • Community Church of New York UU • UU Congregation of Central Nassau Facilitator Guide: 3

4. Facilitating theBridge Builder Program • Concerned about whether you are best suited to facilitate this program. • Like other ministry, a humble open approach will offer the needed credibility. • Invite veterans to participate. • Resources: books and essays in the kit. • Maybe lack of knowledge/experience is part of the call to do this ministry. Facilitator Guide: 4

5. Your Goals for the Bridge Builder Program • Possibility of many hopes and goals: • Exploring peace and war in UUism, • Ministering to veterans in our congregations, • Ministering to spartners*/families of deployed service people, • Reach out to veterans in your community. *Spartner: used informally in the military to indicate married and non-married partners. Facilitator Guide: 5

6. Worship: Celebration Of Life Caring Community Religious Education Moral Discourse/Action Where Does this Program Fit in Your Congregation Gilbert Model: Dimensions of Church Life Facilitator Guide: 6

7. Considerations for Forming Goals • Matching your goals to your congregation. • Grounding • Roots in Unitarian Universalism? • Fit • Resources, aspirations, and ability match up? • Accountability • Striving for right relationship with veterans and family members? • Opportunity • Available for local action, tie in with neighbor action, consistent with wider strategic aims? Facilitator Guide: 7

8. Forming Goals: Grounding • Traditions around peace, war, and military (make a list, you may be surprised) • Who are the veterans in your congregation. Be prepared to meet new ones. • Congregational participation in CSAI or other study of peace and war. • What history in your congregation can serve as the foundation for your goals? Facilitator Guide: 8

9. Forming Goals: Fit • Guests from district and other churches. • Possible conflicts? How to respond. • Expressed desires in congregation. • Prevailing attitudes regarding military. • The theme of bridge building: • Coexistence is possible, • Unexpected cooperation and understanding, • Willingness to preserve the conversation. Facilitator Guide: 9

10. Forming Goals: Accountability • Veteran or spouse to help plan. • Feedback on the program. Facilitator Guide: 10

11. Forming Goals: Opportunity • Almost certain to discover trauma and pastoral need. How to respond? • Is there a military facility nearby? • Family Readiness Officer • Military Chaplains • Is there a “Vet Center” nearby? • People within your congregation. Facilitator Guide: 11

12. Encountering Trauma • From experience • Longtime members reveal military service. • Some for the first time. • Veterans reveal previously unspoken details. • Including the moral burden of killing. • Trauma survivors • September 11th, • School shootings, • Notorious events in war (Abu Ghraib, Cambodia). • Survivor guilt surfaces. • Grief over loss of friends, loved-ones, strangers. Facilitator Guide: 12

13. Handling Revelations • Little things count… • Ask a caring member to sit by a distraught person. • If appropriate, ask the trauma survivor about generativity… • What good were they able to create from this event? • What can they offer others? • Acknowledge the community of care that now surrounds them. • Acknowledge that by sharing, they have helped others understand and empathize. Facilitator Guide: 13

14. Pastoral Care • Role for pastoral care team? • Are veterans willing to share stories? • Written or spoken testimony. • Role for small group ministry? • Including veterans. Facilitator Guide: 14

15. Encountering Resistance • Thesis: The quality of our ethical response to the problem of war and our pursuit of peace hinges on the quality of our description/understanding of war. Facilitator Guide: 15

16. The Experience of Being Military in UUism • Like many other of our constituencies, military members may feel marginalized. • Lifting up the blessings and challenges of all of our diversity. • Theological, Political, Occupational. • Exposing class, diversity, and prejudice in our congregations. • Military UUs live/work in a diverse setting. Facilitator Guide: 16

17. Can a Person Be Military and UU • Short answer: Yes. • Long history of military service: • Ethan Allen, John Murray, Julia Howe, Jenkin Jones, many others • UU history is tied to American history • We share much, right up to the point of difference. • Military personnel seek spiritual homes like everyone else. • We may find many points of cooperation in understanding war and peace. • UUA has never been a peace church. We do not have the theological foundation of other peace churches. • Being respectful in asking will preserve the conversation. Facilitator Guide: 17

18. The intersection of our commitments Some toes may get stepped on. These are opportunities for us to pause, reflect, and slowly explore our values. Examples P&D TF table. Anti-recruiting. Litany of those killed. Expectation to represent the military. Assessing Your CongregationHow inviting is your congregation to military people and their families? Facilitator Guide: 18

19. Leading Part One • The first 30 minutes • Introducing the Bridge Builder program, • Participant introductions, • Making safe space by covenanting, • Chalice lighting. • Balancing lecture and participation, • Part 1 is meant to be informational. • Ending with hope, • Extinguishing the chalice. Facilitator Guide: 19

20. Leading Part Two • Introducing Part 2 • Reconnecting with Part 1, • Participant introductions, • Naming our experience of Part 1 • Revisiting safe space and your covenant, • Chalice lighting. • Where two worlds intersect, • Part 2 is meant to be conversational. • Ending with gratitude, • Extinguishing the chalice. Facilitator Guide: 20

21. Leading Part Three • Discernment of Parts 1 & 2 • At least three possible topics: • In-reach, • Outreach, • Moral discourse on peace and war. • Assessing Grounding, Fit, Accountability & Opportunity. • Realizing your success. Facilitator Guide: 21

22. Guiding Thoughts • This is a first step. • Not everything can or should be done at once. • Prophetic action requires multiple perspectives. • The legacies of Clausewitz and Erasmus can be seen as mutually enlightening. • Even a small audience will have a variety of needs and interests. • Be ready to offer care during the program. Facilitator Guide: 22

23. Conclusion • War changes the identity of people and communities. • It is a difficult topic, • Intensely personal, • Poorly defined in our public media. • There is an ideological gap between the legacies of Clausewitz and Erasmus. • An opportunity for ministry, • Building a bridge between UUs and the military. Facilitator Guide: 23

24. Questions and Comments? Facilitator Guide: 24

25. We are glad to be here, thank you for inviting us. Facilitator Guide: 25