Brethren Serving as Chaplains in the US Armed Service

Does the work of military chaplains passively support the system of war?

It is clear that the military has established a special place for leaders of faith to support the spiritual needs of men and women in the United States military, but why haven’t the Brethren taken part in this ministry. It is an unconventional combination of skills and training which would prepare a person for such a call, but a combination that obviously exists. Answering a call to minister to the very needy…men and woman in the military who may be exposed to absolutely dreadful circumstances, seems to be as valid a call as any.
Ministering to individuals who are facing their mortality every day. Ministering to individuals whom are required to follow orders, which they may or may not agree with. Providing ministry to individuals who may have taken a life in war does not overtly seem to support the system of war. However, there are a lot of questions still to be answered. How else would an individual get to the “front line” to provide such ministry? Are military chaplains required to train with weapons? Are military chaplains required or expected to bear arms if or when confronted by the “enemy”? Are chaplains permitted to demonstrate passive non-resistance?

Currently, the US military is in great need of chaplains from ANY denomination. Citing an article from the 2/5/08 USA Today, “To persuade more ministers to enter the military, the Guard started a special recruiting program two years ago. Recruiters troll for prospects at church conferences, seminaries and major ministries. The Guard offers new chaplains a $10,000 signing bonus and $20,000 to repay student loans. There's also a $30,000 bonus for chaplains who stay in for a second six-year tour.” At a time when jobs are difficult to find, one that offers a signing bonus is hard to pass up.

And so in the absence of chaplains from denominations which openly support war and military service, it appears that some Brethren have considered answering this call. The Brethren enjoy a rich tradition of stepping up as volunteers in times of hardship and misfortune in addition to the rich tradition of “peace witness”. So, why not answer the call to military chaplaincy? If an individual has studied and understood the Brethren example of peace witness and still feels compelled to serve as a Chaplain, how can one argue that this individual is wrong? A common analogy to this dilemma is that we do not condone drug abuse, but we do minister to drug abusers. Although tarnished by their actions, they are not unforgiveable. Expressing love and compassion will likely help them to heal and to understand their misgivings, however, this ministry may be provided by a public citizen or a “civilian”.

Many Brethren have or are serving in the military and may, at worst, get the “cold shoulder” from fellow congregants upon their return from service. But this is the exception. Most will smile, hug and express gratitude for the service to our county, without hinting at our personal disapproval if it does exist.

However, could it be that we Brethren, do not want to encourage individuals to join the military with the comfort of knowing that a caring pastor will be there to help during difficult times. Is it a “tough love” mentality in which Brethren are making a statement by their absence? “If you choose to fight, we will not stand by to give you support for the fight.” Brethren have instead demonstrated peace witness, through conscientious objection or through alternative service.
As an alternative to military chaplaincy, why not provide ministry to the youth who are considering joining the military, prior to their induction. There is currently no draft system in the United States, so those who are fighting in wars are “conscientiously accepting” the concept of war as they have volunteered to be part of the system.

It is my personal opinion that one who decides to become a military chaplain is supporting the military machine as it has come to be known. They will undoubtedly become one more mouth to feed, one more unarmed officer to protect and one more uniform to be made and cleaned, and cleaned and cleaned. In addition to the salary paid, each active service member costs about $2100 per day. That is one expensive ministry.

HOME COOKING, HEALTHY RECIPES FROM NEW COMMUNITY PROJECT

The value of cooking one’s own food from scratch has a deeper value than simply reducing food costs. Understanding what is in your food and where those ingredients come from can help to promote a healthier lifestyle and more enjoyable meals. I find cooking to be a healthy, creative outlet and a good family activity. I am always looking for new and interesting recipes to try for our family meals. We encourage you to try some of these simple, healthy and tasty recipes provided through the New Community Project. I have tried the Vegan Banana Bread and it is outstanding. Later this Fall, we look forward to trying the Pumpkin Soup.

Vegan Banana Bread
5 or 6 overripe bananas
egg substitute (1/3 cup flour, 1 1/3 cups water)
3 cups flour
½ cup sugar, maple syrup, honey, or date sugar
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1/3 cup oil
½ tsp vanilla
a pinch of salt
In a heavy saucepan, whisk 1/3 cup flour and 1 1/3 cup water over medium heat for 10 minutes. Let cool, then add sugar, bananas, vanilla, oil, and mush it all up. In a separate bowl, sift together 3 cups of flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Sift together with the wet mix, blend well and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25-35 minutes.

Pumpkin Soup3-4 pound pumpkin
1 T butter
1/4 cup finely minced onion
1 t prepared mustard
13 ounce can low-fat evaporated milk
2 slices of rye bread cubed
Salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste
1/2 cup (packed) grated Swiss Cheese
Preheat oven to 350. Prepare the pumpkin as if making a Jack-O-Lantern (cut off top and scoop out seeds and strings). Rub the inside of the pumpkin with soft butter. Add all of the remaining ingredients. Cover the top of the pumpkin with foil and replace the lid. Place on a baking tray and bake until the pumpkin becomes tender, about 2 hours. To serve, scoop deeply to bring up pieces of pumpkin from the sides and bottom into the soup.

For more healthy recipes, please go to…http://newcommunityproject.org/recipes.shtml

Conflict

CONFLICT

Why do we avoid discussing and resolving conflicts? If the conflict is avoided and ignored, will it go away?

Do we simply fear “upsetting the apple cart” and possibly escalating the conflict? Do we want to avoid being an antagonist?

Are we afraid that tempers may flair? Are we afraid to start “something”?

Are we afraid of voices becoming loud?

Are we afraid that we may say something that we might later regret?

Are we afraid of what we might hear in return?

Are we afraid that we may become physically injured by someone who may disagree?

Are we afraid of irreparably damaging our delicate relations with others?

Do we fear that nothing will be resolved through discussing the conflict but yet contention will remain?

Are we afraid that we may discover difference and not know how to handle it?

Do we fear relationships that challenge our personal comfort zone?

Are we afraid to have a meaningful discussion? Can we disagree and still love each other?

Are we too proud to listen to reason? Is it possible to learn from a conflict?

Are we too selfish to see how our conflict affects those around us, like second hand smoke?

Is it not in our best interest to iron out the wrinkles so that the conflict does not continue to fester through generations?

SUBMITTED BY Todd A. Thomas
Peace and Justice Committee, Atlantic Northeast District Church of the Brethren

Amish Grace: Writing the Story of a Tragedy-Dr. Donald Kraybill

Monday, November 8th - 7:00PM Hershey Public Library
Folow the link for more info and registration

How to Build a Garden–Third of Three Articles from the New Community Project

By Beth Schermerhorn and Tom Benvento
New Community Project


Any good organic gardener will tell you that the key to a successful garden is good, healthy soil. A healthy soil is home to an abundance of nutrients, minerals and living organisms that make plants strong. Strong plants are less susceptible to pests and disease and are more likely to grow faster and produce more food. All of the bugs, worms, and microorganisms make up about half of soil’s weight. We depend on them to survive.

As spring approaches, now is the time to start thinking about your garden. Here are a few examples of things that we do at New Community Project’s Muddy Bike Urban Garden to build healthy soil, conserve water, have fewer weeds, and allow nature to do some of the work for us!
When designing our garden beds, we try to use nature as our example. One thing that nature teaches us is that plants do not grow in rows. Because of this, we design keyholes into our pathways, which create unique and beautiful gardens!

Keyhole design allows for a clear distinction between path and garden bed, keeping us off the beds so they stay nice and fluffy. It also allows us to access more of the garden with less path and works with the ergonomics of our bodies so that we aren't straining to bend and lean as much. Keyhole gardens can be designed like many patterns found in nature—or design one of your own!

Another technique that we use a lot is sheet mulching or lasagna gardening. We love it because it protects and uses the natural function of worms and microorganisms to break down organic matter. Sheet mulching also utilizes materials and resources that are often thrown to the wayside. Finally, sheet mulching conserves water, reduces weeding significantly and is composting right in the garden, saving us lots of time!

Here is a step-by-step guide to building sheet-mulched garden bed.

1. Once a design has been made, use a shovel or other tool to break up the top layer of soil and grass. This loosens the soil for plant roots to enter, helps with water percolation and fluffs it with oxygen.
2. After you have formed your beds, apply a 1-2 inch layer of compost, manure or any “green” materials (food scraps, green grass clippings). We recommend compost if building in the spring and manure in the fall so the manure has time to break down before planting. (Droppings from our rabbits are a ready source of nutrients for our gardens.) Water well, so that it feels like a wrung out sponge.
3. Next, lay down a layer of cardboard or newspaper over the entire bed space. Make sure not to leave any gaps and to overlap pieces by at least 6 inches. Water well.
4. Finally, lay down a thick layer of leaf mulch, straw, wood chips or any “brown” materials. This should be 6-8 inches thick. Water well.

When it is time to plant, part your brown materials, cut through the cardboard or newspaper (although if you do this in the Fall, the earth life has done this for you by Spring), and plant away!

Finding lots of materials is important. Our city has a fall leaf pickup where material is mulched and free for city residents. Check with your city to see if they do the same. Cardboard is everywhere! Save your own and build relationships with nearby restaurants and grocery stores to collect cardboard. They are usually more than happy to give it away. Build connections with local farmers too. They are often desperate for someone to collect manure. Collecting all of your materials before you begin is key to sheet mulching.

We have been extremely satisfied with the results from sheet mulched gardens. By mimicking the way nature works, we are allowing her to continue to heal and help us create beauty with functionality. In the end, it can be healing for ourselves too.

Happy gardening!

Learn more about the New Community Project at www.newcommunityproject.org

Earth in the Balance - Second of Three Articles from the New Community Project

Caring for the Earth–like it's the only one we have

Understanding: a matter of seeing relationships

The more we learn about planet earth, the more we see the interconnectivity of life. Humans often deny this—but we do so at our peril. How are we affected by the well-being of other parts of the ecosystem?

* When Passenger Pigeons became extinct, they no longer consumed acorns and other nuts, leaving these to deer mice, which promptly flourished—and with them, mouse ticks, which transmit lyme disease.

* One- third of bat species are endangered. As bats decline, insects thrive. Farmers must then use more pesticides to combat the insect invaders, which in turn leads to even fewer bats (99 percent of pesticides miss their target and enter the environment; pesticides kill 67 million birds and bats annually in the US).

* Sharks kill an average of 4-5 humans per year, we kill 50-70 million of them annually—usually for their fins. Without this keystone predator in the seas, mid-level predators such as skates and rays over-populate and then over-consume their resource base—shrimps and scallops. This has dramatically reduced the harvest of these seafood favorites in many coastal areas.

* The world’s oceans absorb 25-30 percent of the CO2 released by burning fossil fuels. The excessive carbon is now causing seawater to become highly acidic. One consequence: coral cannot form, and shellfish (lobsters, clams, etc.) cannot form shells in overly-acidic water—they are already gone from some areas of the ocean.

* Over 100 of the 150 most-prescribed pharmaceuticals in the US are plant- or animal-based, and most originated in tropical forests. These forests are disappearing at a rate of some 50,000 square miles per mile per year. (Cattle ranching is the primary cause of deforestation in the Amazon.)

Estimated total number of plant and animal species: 10-100 million. Number that have been indentified and named: 1.8 million. Estimate of species extinctions per day: 50-100. Comparison to historic extinction rate: 1000 times higher.

Eminent biologist E.O. Wilson suggests these steps to preserve the planet’s biodiversity: Protect more land, especially remaining frontier and old-growth forests; rehabilitate lakes and river systems; make conservation profitable (eco-tourism; carbon credits, etc.); increase the capacity of zoos and botanical gardens to breed endangered species; support population planning.

What can you do? Raise or purchase organic foods; eat lower on the food chain; help the New Community Project save Amazon rainforest; visit the Amazon and the arctic on an NCP Learning Tour to experience species diversity—and threats to it; support girls’ education to lower birth rates; reduce fossil fuel use.

Article submitted by NCP Director: David Radcliff -- Contact him at dradcliff@newcommunityproject.org

Justice—or Just Us - One of Three Articles from the New Community Project

Burma: Trouble in Paradise

Burma is the largest country in southeast Asia, used to be one of the world’s leading rice exporters, gave birth to a UN General Secretary (U Thant) and Nobel Peace Prize winner (Aung San Suu Kyi), possesses precious gems, petroleum, extensive forests, good farmland—and yet the majority of its 53 million people live a hand-to-mouth existence of poverty and repression, and its Nobel Laureate is under house arrest.


The main problem is a military government with little respect for its people or concern for the opinion of the outside world. While US sanctions have cost thou-sands of jobs, the regime still does plenty of business with its neighbors, including Thailand and China.

“My dream will come true”

In cooperation with our partners and with community leaders, NCP will be providing $11,000 in aid for tailoring and thatch-making projects for women’s groups, and for a reforestation initiative to provide seedlings of the Pin Sein tree to hill tribe communities where deforestation is rampant. The tree grows quickly, sends up new shoots when cut for firewood, and its leaves are both medicinal and the base for a favorite sour soup. NCP also hopes to send $5000 in scholarships for children from the delta whose families are still recovering from 2008’s Cyclone Nargis.

Article submitted by NCP Director: David Radcliff -- Based in Elgin, IL, David travels widely around the U.S. doing presentations in schools, congregations, youth events, community settings, and regional and national gatherings. His areas of emphasis are living responsibly with the earth, living respectfully and justly with our neighbors, and generally confronting the culture of consumption for our own spiritual health and for the good of the planet, its people and coming generations. David is a graduate of Bridgewater College and Bethany Seminary (MDiv, DMin [peace studies]); teaches courses at Elizabethtown College in the areas of globalization, environmental care, and poverty and hunger; leads Learning Tours to the Arctic, Amazon, Nepal, Burma, Sudan, and Central America; received the 2008 West/Whitelow Humanitarian Award from Bridgewater College; and has traded in his car for a bicycle. Contact him at dradcliff@newcommunityproject.org