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Response
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Here or Abroad, Nazarene Chaplains - Poised to Respond in Times of Crisis
Pray for your Nazarene chaplains. No time tests the fiber of a chaplain more than times of National emergency. Because chaplains are literally on the front lines, they are expected to perform in situations often too overwhelming to imagine. Fire, police, and military chaplains are exposed to physical dangers as they bring comfort and consolation to dying and wounded people. Army chaplains, for instance, have the second highest death rate of any Army branch of service. Only the Infantry Branch has a higher death rate.
In the annuals of history, there are some amazing acts of bravery on the part of chaplains. None is more remarkable than the story of four chaplains. During World War II, on February 3, 1943, a convoy of three ships and three escorting Coast Guard cutters passed through "torpedo alley" about 100 miles off the coast of Greenland enroute to Germany. On board the USS Dorchester, a U.S. Army troopship, were more than 900 men. At about 1:00 a.m., German torpedoes hit the Dorchester filling the ship with smoke, oil, and ammonia. As the ship went down in the icy North Atlantic waters, the four chaplains were the first on deck and immediately began calming the men by handing out life jackets, offering words of assurance, and praying. When they ran out of life jackets, they took off their own and put them on the waiting soldiers without regard to their own safety. Approximately 27 minutes after the initial blast, the ship went down. Survivors last saw the four chaplains standing arm-in-arm on the hull of the ship praying for the care and safety of the men. Almost 700 died at sea that night, making it the third largest loss of its kind in World War II.
To read the full moving story of the four chaplains, click on:
www.homeofheroes.com/brotherhood/chaplains.html
National news has chronicled in recent weeks the terrific work of fire and police chaplains. One fire chaplain in New York actually lost his life while administering pastoral care. Behind the scenes, but of equal importance, is the superb work of hospital chaplains who go from hospital bed to hospital bed in times of crisis.
Often unforgotten, are the families of chaplains. They worry and fret when they see their spouse, parent, son, or daughter in harms way. At this very moment there are chaplains either deployed into hostile territory or getting ready to go. For each deployed chaplain, an anxious family awaits.
No one bears the scars and pain of war more than service personnel. The political arm of government declares war, but the military is the entity charged with conducting war. As a result, military personnel pay a great price to ensure the preservation of our freedoms. They are often separated from their families, they are placed in harms ways, and sometimes they pay the ultimate price and are killed or wounded in conflict.
Please pray for your 900 Nazarene chaplains and service personnel and their families during these coming weeks and months. They proudly represent Christ and the Church of the Nazarene in life's most difficult situations.
--Chaplain Dwight Jennings, Chaplaincy Director, Chaplaincy Services
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