UU-Military Bridge Builder Kit Facilitator Guide

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Welcome
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UU-Military Bridge Builder KitFacilitator Guide

• Provided by the
• Church of the Larger Fellowship

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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

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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.

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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.
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Where Does this Program Fit in Your Congregation
Gilbert Model Dimensions of Church Life
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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?

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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?

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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.

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Forming Goals Accountability

• Veteran or spouse to help plan.
• Feedback on the program.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Pastoral Care

• Role for pastoral care team?
• Are veterans willing to share stories?
• Written or spoken testimony.
• Role for small group ministry?
• Including veterans.

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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/understan
  ding of war.

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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.

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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.

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Assessing Your CongregationHow inviting is your
congregation to military people and their
families?

• 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
• PD TF table.
• Anti-recruiting.
• Litany of those killed.
• Expectation to represent the military.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Questions and Comments?
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We are glad to be here, thank you for inviting us.