Benediction

O Almighty and gracious God, today as we close our remembrance of this dreadful day on which many things changed, our thoughts and our prayers go out to each and every family member or friend who has lost a loved one in this long war on terror. We recall those who stepped forward and became heroes as they ascended stricken towers to assist the wounded and fearful, many of whom never came home. We remember those struck down where they worked in the pentagon. We recall those heroes who sacrificed their lives in a field in Pennsylvania as they took back their plane. Lord we pray for the families of all those who grieve.

And our thoughts turn not just to that day but to these past ten years. We give thanks for our nations’ heroes who have raised their hand to defend our constitution and our nation. We give thanks for our allies who with us have made great sacrifices in this noble struggle for liberty. And we remember the fallen and their wives and husbands, their children, their mother’s and fathers. We remember the folded flags presented into the hands of loved ones who would rather have back their warrior but never will. Be with these families as they grieve. We remember those who are right now in harm’s way still fighting for liberty against our enemies. We pray for their safety. We pray for success and victory in their mission. And most of all we pray for peace and for the transformation of human hearts and minds from hatred to love and mutual appreciation. But until that day fill us with resolve and endurance to remain steadfast and faithful in this noble struggle until that day of peace comes.

Send us forth to serve. Watch over our forces in battle, watch over our families in our absence, bless those who mourn and bless our great lands.

In the name of the One True God we pray… Amen

Benediction
Sept 11 Remembrance Ceremony, RAF Molesworth
9 SEP 2011

Ghosts

July 25th I found myself in lovely Charlotte North Carolina waiting for my return flight to London and back to work. I've been home in the mountains of East Tennessee for a week and a day (thanks to a broken plane that extended my leave by a day).

In some ways it was a week of communing with ghosts. I spent an afternoon visiting my father's grave in Tazewell Virginia and my great grandfather's grave in Richlands. It was haunting to walk the grounds and streets where so many of my relatives lived and where I as a child had visited often -only now all that remains are the hallowed grounds of family graves.

Perhaps that is why as I drove around my old haunts amongst the rolling hills of East Tennessee with memories flowing through my mind, I felt as a ghost visting old familiar places but where life has moved on and is only now a shadow of what once was. I saw only one person that I knew from my past other than my family, an assistant manager at Kmart who helped me find a job once many years ago.

But life does move on and we have new additions to our family including a most beautiful great niece who brought a lot of light to our family gathering. It may the last time that my brother and I are together with our mother as her health is failing. I bid farewell to her this morning with focus as it may very well be the last time I see her in this world. But she has surprised me before fighting back from great weakness. While her body is frail, she has always had a depth of stubborn resistence to the realities of life and a strong spirit.

I have made it a resolution that I shall do all I legally can do to hinder the cigarette industry that directly contributed to the death of my father and has now robbed the vitality from my mother to the point that she and her life is only a shell of what once was.

Even the community has changed and in some ways is only a shadow of what once was. The city of Kingsport has gobbled up the surrounding county neighborhoods filling their coffers with new taxes and their schools with new bodies. Band camp was starting this morning at my old high school so I stopped for a minute to watch. Twenty-five years ago we fielded 350 people in our band. Today I counted 25. And they looked so young.

In the midst of so much change I am amazed at home much the community has remained the same. Homes look much the same. The Reedy Creek park has changed little and a run or walk there continues to be therapy for the soul. (Though I did see a wild black ferrit for the first time). I logged 35 miles on that trail this week and made lots of friends from the community of ducks that reside there thanks to some old bread. The ridge lines remain the same though there seemed to be more timber in the fields than in the past. Mom's neighbors remain the same - though bit more gray around the ages - so I fit right in.

A Significant Death

Today is a remarkable day. I woke to a beautiful sunrise in England and to the profound news that Osama Bin Laden was killed by U.S. Navy Seals this morning. It has been more than ten years since he declared war on the United States. There is rejoicing in many parts of the world, but I find myself sober and reflective.

I remember where I was and what I was doing that fateful Tuesday morning Sept 11, 2001. I remember the memorial service we held that night at Trinity Lutheran Church in Cincinnati. I soon started to research coming into the Air Force as a chaplain but the course of my ministry would postpone that decision until 2005. But this "long war", this "global war on terror" was on my mind and in the end moved me to join - to become part of the line to defend our nation from Osama and his ilk, indeed to defend justice and freedom.

Part of me wonders why it took so long to bring justice to Osama. Part of me wonders if it might have been wiser to capture him and bring him to justice in a public court of law. I read a comment by someone that now we can say "mission accomplished". But this long war is far more complex than just the life or death of this one man. He was this war's catalyst but it has grown much bigger than him, and in my opinion, had already grown much larger and beyond him.

I think it may not have been wise to kill him to early. Like a hydra, to make a martyr of him in the early days could have created many more impassioned leaders and a much bigger monster to slay. President Bush and our military went for the body, not the head. For myself the mission was accomplished every single day there was not a terror attack on the United States. Every single threat which was discovered and stopped was mission accomplished.

Yes the battle in Afghanistan rages, but think of it -- those who used Afghanistan as a harbor were so quickly devestated and unable to strike our nation again. What harm was Osama able to do after we moved to action in the fall of 2001? It has been a long road. One where pundits debate wisdom and morality. But what do we see. Iraq on its way to being a free nation - still has its problems -but no longer a threat to her neighbors nor under the thumb of a dictator. We see mass popular movements toward freedom and justice coming to birth.

Yes it is messy and the war rages on for it is more than just seeking the head of one man or stopping the heart of one man. This war is more about winning the hearts and heads of our entire human race. Liberty for all. Justice for all. Peace for all. A tall order. For there are still those out there moved by hatred. A shooting killing Air Force personnel in Germany. Another in Afghanistan. Families grieve.

I find it hard to celebrate a death - for I grieve at the necessity that exists within humanity that it is necessary to inflict death to preserve life. But in this case it was just.

I find it hard to celebrate this death for I doubt it will go far in changing hearts and minds. We isolated his influence and ability to strike our nation years ago. Osama had been isolated and locked down in his little compound limited to issuing a few statements now and then - the real battle leaders of terror had moved on. So I doubt this will change the reality of this war very much - for it has already moved far beyond Osama bin Laden.

I do fear that if we think the war is over because the life of Osama bin Laden is over and we quit - he may have given the final thing he could to advance his cause - turning himself into a martyr.

But perhaps the time has come to remove this symbol of where it started - now that new things are in the works and people in the Middle East are themselves calling for justice and freedom.

Time will tell.

I've seen this war up close and personal. I've been fired upon in Iraq as rockets pounded our base. I've held the hands of wounded and carried the dead. I've buried our dead in the hallowed sanctuary that is Arlington when they were killed by terrorists. I've walked the sacred ground where victims from the Pentagon rest. I've walked the sacred ground in Pennsylvania where the first American heroes gave their lives to prevent what might have been an attack on the White House or the Capitol Building. I've counseled those who had to deal with the loss of friends and comrades. I've counseled couples whose marriages were strained by repeated deployments. I've blessed those going out of the wire into harms way and given thanks when they safely returned. These young men and women are the truest of heroes, the truest of servants, for in the end it is their blood that pays the price for liberty and by their wounds of body and soul is justice preserved.

It is a long war. It suspect it is far from done. Every day justice stands and freedom endures is "mission accomplished".

Serenity

God grant me the courage to change the things I can change,
The Serenity to Accept what cannot be changed
And the wisdom to know the difference.
--R. Niebuhr

I often use this well known quotation for my counselees -- but over the course of these years of serving as a military chaplain I've modified it a bit. I will tell them courage should be for that which not only "can" be changed but "should be changed".

Now after living in Enland through fall, winter, and coming into a gorgeous spring I find myself thinking the second line could be expanded as well to include: the spirit to revel in what is good and not be tarnished by what is bad.

There is a beautiful serenity about the English countryside that is reflected in the lives of most of the Britons I have met thus far. Here one finds a modern country that has all that our advanced modern technologically enhanced society offers but still yet has managed to preserve its historic culture without trampling all over nature.

In my neighborhood there are a cluster of small efficient newer homes, of which I occupy one. The focus is on quality not square footage. We have a small garden and solarium and time spent there is good for the soul. Nearby are homes from more ancient days with thatched roofs and low ceilings. There is one rinky dink McDonald's in town. We've been there twice. Wasn't all that nourishing in any capacity to be truthful. But there are dozens of quaint pubs each with its own special personality. The best food I've had in the past year has been in these establishments.

This is a land where flowers, animals, and people bloom and grow together. Rare is it that I see litter on the streets or in the fields. Neighbors talk to neighbors. A moment of refreshment is just a short walk away to the nearest park or preserve. God's creation is on display for one to relish and even signs of human habitation compliment rather than overcome the landscape.

History

It is Good Friday. Today, we commemorate the start of the most important days in history - the days God most fully revealed His heart and our destiny. Today we remember the death of Jesus, who was the Creator God Himself come in living flesh to seek out a people who had traveled far from Him. And though they put Him to death, He forgave them. Sunday we shall remember and celebrate His resurrection - the triumph of life over death, mercy over judgment, creation over destruction, goodness over evil.

Blessed Holy Day to you.

RIF

RIF Reduction in force. Dreaded words for officers in the United States Air Force. Yesterday I learned that yes indeed chaplain may be faced with being asked to leave the Air Force because we are over strength. A 10% draw down of the office corp is coming. So this year it looks like I'll face my first RIF board and learn if I continue to have the privilege of serving as a chaplain in the world's finest Air Force.

As I read the words that chaplains were to be considered it hit home as to why this is so important to me and why it doesn't surprise me. See the reason we are over strength is that officers are staying in the Air Force beyond what one would think. Some say that is because the economy is bad and perhaps that is part of it. But I truly believe a great deal more is at play than just people wanting a job. The people I work with, officer and enlisted, don't just want a job... they want their job -- this job. I can't speak for them but I know why I love my job.

First it is plain and simple the people I work with. I have never worked with a finer group of men and women in my life than I find at every single duty station where I have served.

I was recently asked to take charge of our unit's physical training program given I have some history and success with physical training. The Air Force recently instituted changes that have made our physical training test more demanding and our folks have stepped up. Every week this winter they have inspired me as at O'dark thirty they have gotten up and while most people are still in bed and joined to run and workout. Because of the nature of this particular group, most are over the age of 40 and yet they can run circles around the typical young adult. How many folks are out running 2-4 miles on a regular basis before dawn? Every single one of my airmen. Then they go to work and turn in at full pace worked packed 8-14 hour days (depending on the day and the demands of the job). Many of these guys are at their stations getting the job done 7 days a week. Dedication. Hard work. Production. They are amazing.

But beyond this they serve as an inspiration -- not just the one's in uniform but our extended Air Force family -- our civilian employees and our families. When one of my chapel ladies came down with cancer the biggest challenge that presented itself was finding a way to plug in all the folks who stepped forward to enfold this family in their arms and to help. From food, to child care, to transportation, to singing Christmas carols on the doorstep... there was no doubt this family would have anything they needed so they could concentrate on getting Mom well. With my airmen this is not the exception... this is the standard.

I love my job because I love these people.

This week sometime we will remember one of our fallen airmen... a young 20 year old man, Christoffer Johnson, who when the time for deployment into harm's way came, stepped forward and volunteered to stand the line between evil and liberty. He was killed while on patrol in the desert in a vehicle accident. A true loss of a noble heart.

I love my job because I get to serve with these people and I get to serve these people. I've been invited into the lives of those grieving the loss of loved ones, and those struggling to hold their marriages together through financial difficulty and long separations. I've celebrated with families when blessed with the news of coming little ones and I've joined folks together in marriage. I've laid to rest thousands of veterans with honor and I've had the honor of praying for a multitude of retirements, promotion ceremonies, WWII squadron reunions, laid wreaths at the graves of fallen soldiers in Arlington, and prayed to remember the fallen at Kohbar Towers. I've preached all over the US, in South Korea, in the United Kingdom and in Iraq. I've prayed for soldiers as they geared up to patrol the streets of Kirkuk and airmen as they moved out to take their post on the perimeter in the midst of the desert. I've prayed with EOD troops who lost a comrad and held the hands and prayed for those who came to our hospital as their first step home after being wounded. I've carried my brothers on their first steps home when they have fallen and stood with my fellow warriors rendering salute as the plane made its taxi to take our fallen home. I've done marriage enhancement seminars, played with military youth, talked about the difficulties of parents who go to war with these kids. I've conducted suicide prevention briefs and divorce recovery groups. I have stood in the presence of giants like Col (ret.) Norm McDaniel who came and spoke for me last year at our National Prayer Breakfast in Korea.

I remember when I was a young man and not certain where I was going praying to God that I didn't ask for an easy path just a possible path and one that would make a difference. I love my job because every days I am invited into the lives of my fellow service members to make a difference and with them -- we do make a difference.

I would miss my job if asked to leave. I would miss these people. It would be especially hard to leave in the midst of a war when it is not yet finished. Too much is at stake. But if I am asked to separate I will be thankful that I've had six years, the best six years thus far of my life, to serve with the finest folks doing the most important thing that can be done in the world right now.

Light in the darkness

On a cold Christmas Eve in an ancient land in a cold stone building, built many hundreds of years ago one small candle shown out to light the surrounding darkness. It was Christmas Eve. And thousands packed the magnificent cathedral of Ely to join with the gifted voices of the choirs of this Christian community to praise that vital event of the birth of the Messiah. Here was no generic holiday celebration. Thousands brave the cold of this unheated but beautiful building to join in worship, thanksgiving, and reflection of the beginning of the most significant event to shape human destiny: the birth of a redeemer. It was humbling to be a small part of that assembly.

Thankful

God has not promised riches but I am thankful for all that He has enriched me with including my family, my friends, and the privilege of serving as a chaplain to some of the finest people I've ever known.

God has not promised health and vitality but I am thankful that for being 45 years old and slightly broken from an old injury that I am in good health and able to do what I need to do.

God has not promised justice nor liberty but I am thankful that I am a citizen of a nation that holds liberty as its greatest virtue.

God has not promised the faithful of His church will have it easy in this world but I am thankful that I can gather with my brothers and sisters in Christ and worship in freedom and teach my daughters the great wonders of the grace of God.

What God has promised is to be with us. And so as we draw from Thanksgiving into advent, the time of expectant waiting, and into the celebration of Christmas I am most thankful for Emmanuel -- God with us -- for in the infant child of Jesus, God became flesh and opened salvation for all who would receive Him.

And I am thankful for the service at St. Paul's Cathedral in London this past Thanksgiving that reminded me of what God has promised and to be thankful for the bounty when it comes but to be more thankful for the presence of God for bounty if all too often temporary and trouble may arrive on the morrow.

Encouraged

President Abraham Lincoln was a great man. A visionary. A leader. A humble servant of our nation. It is most encouraging to know he was also a great man of faith in God. In an age when I often here from some that the Christian faith is about "fairy tales" it is worth remembering that the Christian faith was at the core of this great man. His faith defined and shaped how he viewed himself and how he viewed his fellow human beings. His faith in God gave him strength to endure through the great struggle that was the Civil War. As we draw near to Thanksgiving it is fitting to remember his proclamation of thanksgiving and not be blind to the role his faith played in his life and through him in the life of our nation:

By the President of the United States of America. A Proclamation. The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth. By the President: Abraham Lincoln William H. Seward, Secretary of State

Wishing

There have been some beautiful days here in England. The locals have told me that the weather has been more temperate than it normally would be for this time of year. It is 0530 and in an hour I'll be forming up for unit PT. I wish this morning was a beautiful day.

But it isn't. It is cold -- 43 degrees...and rainy. And windy, blustery actually. So, PT this morning probably won't be much fun.

I wish it were different. But wishing doesn't make it so.

It is amazing though how often we live as though wishing did make it so. I am a called and ordained Christian minister (of the Lutheran confession). I say that upfront because I believe in integrity. I believe folks have a right to know where someone is coming from. So getting back to my point about wishing something were so doesn't make it so.

Now sometimes having a dream is good. When I was 24 and weighed 320 I dreamed about not weighing 320 -- and that helped motivate me to do something about it.

But there are some things I know that can't change. Sometimes I think it would have been cool to live in a different place and time and I daydream about this or maybe write about it (yes, I am one of many who are working on a book). But that doesn't make it so. I live here in 2010.

There have been times I wished my bank account had something else to say. But wishing didn't make it so.

There were times I wish I had a day off, but again truth is truth.

Sometimes I have read things in the Scripture and thought boy I wish that were different. If I were God I might have done things differently. But in spite of our wishes (and often our actions and presumptions) we are not God nor gods. God is our creator. And the Bible says what it says. And I believe that the Bible says what God has to say to us. And I believe he means what He says.

Yes, sometimes I don't fully understand. I was having a discussion with a fellow minister last night about a particular item on which the church is divided. If left up to me I would side with that individual. But it isn't left up to me. Wishing something were different doesn't make it so. There are times when dealing with God and reality that you have to accept what is given and trust. God is our Creator. I figure since He made us He knows something about how we are designed to fit together.

But the world is fallen and things aren't goign as designed. Sickness was not part of the original design. I have family who are fighting cancer. As I get older there are days I feel mortality in my bones. I've lost friends. I've seen first hand the damage that sin does to the lives of people from those who were sexually assaulted or fallen victim to substance abuse, and it goes on and on. Not part of the original design. Flawed. Fallen. Sinful. I remember talking to one alcoholic who has what is probably an inherited (as it runs in his family) predisposition to an overwhelming desire for alcohol who wavered between feeling worthless one minute to blaming God for creating him that way. Neither is true. The truth is that sin has effected us all - to some it has a much bigger impact and to some lesser -- but it effects us all (and it is fatal as we all die). Not part of the original design but true. Wishing it were different doesn't make it different. Pretending sin isn't sin doesn't make it not sin. Blaming God for creating us this way and using that as an excuse to live it out rather than recognizing it for what it is doesn't change it.

Truth is truth. God's Word says truth and I believe God knows what He is talking about.

But there is reason to dream and to hope. Because that same Word offers hope in the gift of Jesus and the promise of everlasting life. Yes it is faith. Yes it is hope. Yes is a dream I hope and believe will come true. Dreams can come true -- I did loose 160 pounds. Things can change. Miracles do happen. But in the case of everlasting life it is not just an empty hope that runs against all evidence - it is a hope that clings to God's Word. God's Word speak truth and I believe God knows what He is talking about.

So in the fall of life -- with winter ahead -- I believe spring is around the corner. So what are a few colder dreary days. The truth of "now" cannot overcome the promise of spring.

Excited

After two months we are settling in well into our new home and our new chapel community. I am very pleased to discover a large enough group to begin having a Lutheran based liturgical service on Sunday mornings as well as having a number of folks who need junior confirmation. So October 31st, Reformation I'll hold my first service and confirmation will start on the 25th.

There truly are a great bunch of folks in our chapel community here. Caring, devoted, gifted and giving. Last night our ladies hosted a big chili dinner for all our dorm residents, single airmen, sailors, soldiers and marines who live in dormitory type housing. Great food, well attended and much appreciated.

Alconbury is looking like it is going to be one great place to do ministry.

10 years

Ten years is not such a long time. Ten years ago I was serving as a parish pastor in Cincinnati and working as a hospital chaplain part-time at the University of Cincinnati Trauma Center. Ten years ago today I felt a renewed kinship with my fellow sailors as I had served in the United States Naval Reserve until just a few years before. For ten years ago today was the cowardly evil attack by Islamic terrorists on the USS Cole that resulted in 17 deaths, numerous injuries, grieving families and friends and signaled what we now know was the opening salvo in what has been called the Long War and the War on Terror. Ten years ago today Bin Laden followed through on his threats and our lives have not been the same.

I remember. Before 9/11 was the USS Cole. I remain resolved.

Ten years now and counting. I claim only to speak for myself, but I remain resolved. Against evil there can be no quarter given. Against evil their can be no retreat and no surrender for evil is without mercy. Evil knows not one shred of compassion. It knows only desire for domination and destruction. Evil has one goal: to deliver slavery or death. Sad is the necessary day when free men of courage and honor must unsheathe the sword and go to war, but what else can a free society do when to sit idly by is to invite slavery or slaughter.

There is always a cost. A dark, dreadful, painful cost to action that can only be superseded by the cost of inaction.

Today I pray for the families: the parents, the wives and husbands, the children, all family and friends whose lives were torn by the loss of loved ones because evil reached out to destroy. Today I pray a prayer of thanksgiving for those honorable men and women who stand the line against the onslaught of evil knowing their blood may be the next to be shed. Today I pray for victory and for peace -- but real peace, not the peace that might momentarily come from hiding averting one's eyes until it is too late.

Today I remember these words:

For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.
Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority?
Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good.
But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.
For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.
(Romans 13:3-4)

And so I pray too for our leaders and our forces that we may never forget why we must fight, though necessary it is, we take no pleasure in unsheathing the sword and we are ready to fight and die if necessary not for dominion but for freedom, for the good.

First Month

A beautiful sunrise welcomed my family to the United Kingdom as we approached Heathrow International Airport.

We have been in the UK a bit over a month now. We have learned the art of navigating round abouts and the British banking system. I've been out to our large sister base at Lakenheath and also Mildenhall. We've wondered around Cambridge. Just this morning I had some great spicey Indian food with some a good friend and his wife who I know from Iraq. The last of my personal possessions arrive tomorrow. Ministries are starting to spin up and I'm getting into the groove of ministry here.
It took us about two weeks to find our home of the next few years - a quite cozy place tucked away in the community not terribly far from base.

One key highlight of the past month, I was honored to be invited to attend the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain commemoration held here. A sunset retreat with flyover by a Spitfire, it was memorable and solemn. It reminded me that here on this land the battle for liberty and indeed one might argue civilization itself, hung in the balance in those days.