So, as we celebrate the Memorial
Day holiday this weekend, I want to ask, how should Christians support our
troops?
At this point, a caveat is in order.
I have been ordained in the United Methodist Church for over 30 years, and
I have served in multiple parishes, as well as ministering in other, non-parish
ministry settings. I have been blessed
with very rich and varied experiences in ministry. However, I have never served in the military,
either as a Chaplain or as a typical serviceman. As a result, I bring very little experience
or expertise to this question.
So, in order to help inform my reflections on this question, I sought
out another pastoral colleague: Rev.
Douglas Brown, who is a military chaplain, currently assigned to the VA Eastern
Kansas Health Care System in Topeka.
During our Sunday services, I will share several video clips from my
time talking with Chaplain Brown.
However, essentially, Chaplain Brown pointed out that the first step in
supporting our troops was simply to find out what they need.
First, ask military personnel what they need. What a simple response and, yet, it is also
very incisive and profound. I think that
frequently well-being Christians assume that they already know what the troops
need—the same is true when we are trying to support others in other contexts. Sometimes, it seems to me that the slogan, “Support
Our Troops” gets high jacked for political purposes by people on various points
of the political spectrum. That’s just wrong. We should always put supporting our troops above
politics. Chaplain Brown is absolutely
correct: If we are genuinely concerned
about our troops, we should first ask them what they need.
The scriptural foundation for my reflections on supporting our troops
is 2 Samuel 22: 1, 29-38. This passage
occurs at the end of 2 Samuel and it is a royal psalm of thanksgiving by King
David, as he reflects back upon his life as a warrior and a king. The psalm occurs in three parts. In the first part, David gives thanks for God’s
deliverance throughout his life. The
second part lifts up the importance of moral virtue and working for
justice.
The third part, which begins with our passage at verse 29, is a song of
victory. As the biblical scholar Bruce
Birch observes, this section “celebrates both the success of human action and
the enabling power of God that makes such actions effective.”[i] This victory song is permeated with exultant affirmations,
“I can crush…I can leap over a wall…I pursued…I did not turn back…I consumed.” Yet, continually interwoven through the triumphant
affirmations is the acknowledgement that, ultimately, all victories are made
possible by God. The epitome of this
interweaving of triumphal affirmation of David with acknowledgement of God’s
empowering presence in David’s life, occurs in verse 36, where David says simply,
“…your help has made me great.”
I want to suggest that this scriptural text forms an important context
for reflecting on how Christians should support our troops. Christians should bring a unique perspective
to the question of supporting our troops.
Our perspective differs from the perspective of fellow American
citizens because we are persons of faith.
Perhaps one of the most important ways in which Christians can support
our troops is by remembering them in our prayers. But, in addition to that, our Christian faith
asks us to see support for our troops within the context of living faithfully
for Jesus Christ.
When I met with Chaplain Brown in preparation for this weekend, he also
shared with me a speech by General Douglas MacArthur, which he has found
especially meaningful. It was MacArthur’s
acceptance speech, when he received the prestigious Sylvanus Thayer Award in
1962. Among the passages that Chaplain
Brown shared, I was especially struck by these words by General MacArthur
towards the end of his speech. Speaking
to the West Point cadets, he said: “This
does not mean that you are warmongers.
On the contrary, the soldier above all other people prays for peace, for
he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.”[ii] As MacArthur suggests, in addition to praying
for our troops, another important way in which we can support them is by
working for peace with justice, so that our troops are not continually placed in harm's way.
Helping our troops with their needs after service; praying for our
troops; and working for peace with justice so that our troops are not placed in
harms’ way are just three ways in which Christians can support our troops. I have some other suggestions, which I will
make during my messages this weekend.
Join us this Sunday (May 25th), as we commemorate Memorial Day and
reflect on how we as disciples of Christ can genuinely support our troops. Our church is located at the corner of
Main and Dawson Streets in Meriden, Kansas.
We have two worship services, which are both now on Sunday:
Ø Our
classic service starts on at 10 am on Sunday mornings.
Ø Our
contemporary service starts at 6 pm on Sunday evenings.
Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.
[i]
Bruce Birch, commentary on 1 and 2 Samuel in The New Interpreter’s Bible, volume 2 (Nashville, Abingdon Press,
2002), CD-ROM version.
[ii]
General Douglas MacArthur, “Thayer Award Speech – Duty, Honor, Country” given
12 May 1964 at the West Point Academy, New York. Accessed online at http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/au-24/au24-352mac.htm
on 23 May 2014.
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