In the past month, a member of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church died, who was a veteran of the second World War. He was present on D-Day, which we are commemorating the 75thanniversary of this week. His first combat mission was offering air support for the D-Day landings. At age 19, he was responsible for navigating a crew of six safely to and from the target, amidst enemy aircraft, anti-aircraft fire, and the general chaos and tension found in the midst of one of the most significant operations of the war. The average B-26 bomber crew (a bomber whose affectionate nickname was “The Widowmaker”) survival rate was 25-30 missions. This member, by age 20, had flown sixty-six (66). A second member of Grace who died a couple of years earlier was in the Navy in the Pacific. He served on the U.S.S. Missouri battleship, which sustained multiple hits from enemy aircraft at Okinawa, and survived travel through a typhoon with 80 mile per hour winds, and waves 100 feet tall. Such was the severity of that storm that a nearby cruiser was split in two by the force of the waves. He was 19 years old in that storm, and at age 20 witnessed the surrender of Japan tendered on that ship in 1945. In the Bible of the D-Day veteran, was as bookmark in Psalm 116: “I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call upon him as long as I live…The snares of death encompassed me; I suffered distress and anguish. Then, I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I pray, save my life!...Return, O my soul to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.” One could imagine the meaning of those words in a tin can 10,000 feet above the ground over enemy territory on D-Day. And the words of Psalm 139 in the Bible of the navy veteran: “O Lord, you search and know me, where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven you are there, if my I make my bed in Sheol, the depths of the earth, you are there…” One can imagine what those words of scripture might mean to a sailor in the engine room of a battleship riding 100 foot waves up to the sky, and then down to the ocean depths. There’s the bleak joke that has been often shared that everyone, in the foxhole of war, becomes religious and quick to prayer. But the lives of these veterans indicate differently: their prayers were not merely for rescue, but a trust in a God that is present and active and at work in this world, even if at times that activity is mysterious, and not full of easy answers. It also showed in the way they lived their lives, and gave word to what was important in their lives. The D-Day veteran was a regular in both a breakfast and a lunch group of guys, ROMEO’s (Retired Old Men Eating Out). He shared that their discussions – well, many times the debates the group often got in – politics, daily life, religion, contained disagreements a-plenty, but their friendships remained strong. If there were any troubles with health, family, or other distress, these friends were among the first to respond. In the Church, we celebrate Pentecost Sunday on June 9th. It’s the ”birthday of the Church,” when the Holy Spirit rested on the disciples who were told to wait for power on high in order to give witness to the world of God’s desire to make the world right through Jesus Christ: that God is present and active and at work in this world, and that that makes all the difference. The book of Acts, which records the story of Pentecost, goes on to describe all the surprising ways God’s faithful people are led – to new people, to new situations, to surprising new conclusions about what’s important to God and what is not. These World War II Veterans, once 19 and 20, are now in their ‘90’s, if still alive. I give thanks for their example of faith in this living, active God, that what WE do FOLLOWS from what GOD is doing, and that God makes a way forward for the sake of life, even when there doesn’t appear to be any. The Bible gives thanks for the wisdom of those who are older and wiser. There’s no more appropriate time than today to follow in their faithful example.
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AuthorPastor Paul came to Grace to serve as our Pastor in October 2012. After a first career in product and graphic design, he was ordained in 1993, and has served as a parish pastor in Virginia and South Carolina. He is married to Jill and they have two daughters, one at Roanoke College and one at James Madison University. Archives
December 2021
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