\u201cThe power of the pulpit lies not in taking a specific position but in providing a vocabulary, ways of thinking, and challenges to the governmentality of the contemporary state,\u201d (p. 336).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
[1] Immediately after the Pulse nightclub violence, Orlando, Florida, 12 June 2016, where 49 individuals were killed and 53 injured, I jotted notes into my smart book, seeking an informed pastoral response to the violence of that day.\u00a0 Knowing that future times of national trauma would occur, I listed theological and moral perspectives (importance of prayer and lament; persistence to \u2018stay hand of evil;\u2019 gratitude for 24\/7 prayer chapels; affirmation of God\u2019s presence though appearances may deceive; care for outliers, refugees, those on the margins; \u2018we the people\u2019 citizenship identity…) that could apply in times ahead.\u00a0 The entries continue to help form ordination-vow-keeping guidance for troublesome times.<\/p>\n
[2] U.S. Coast Guard Academy Professor of Government, Professor Melissa Matthes (Ph.D. University of California Santa Cruz, MDiv. Yale Divinity School) and author of this stimulating text, provides pastors, Chaplains, and Religious Support Team members with a resource that affirms our unique identity, encourages awareness of pitfalls and responsibilities we bring in times of overwhelming need, and builds confidence in our distinctive callings. \u00a0She outlines how, in times of national catastrophe, \u201c…Americans have turned to their clergy in an attempt to understand the dissonance, to reconcile their faith and their citizenship, and to find a way forward,\u201d (p. 2).\u00a0 Armed Forces and Veteran Affairs Chaplains are especially positioned to fulfill this trust.<\/p>\n
[3] Professor Matthes draws from hundreds of sermons, primarily mainline and evangelical\/fundamentalist Protestant, with selected Jewish, Catholic and Muslim perspectives included, to discover themes that we\u2019ve proclaimed to reassure, reorient, and comfort our listeners.\u00a0 Throughout, she argues that we are at our best when we look to scripture for lasting theological and transcendent truths to apply to the crises of the moment, rather than fall prey to paralysis, silence, a relinquishing of responsibility to others, or becoming champions of set government agendas\/amateur news commentators with a religious bent.<\/p>\n
[4] When Sorrow Comes<\/em> examines sermons of six eras.\u00a0 Immediately after Pearl Harbor, preachers seemed to feel secure in their ecclesiastical identity, and tended to press home the importance of Christian principles rather than nationalist calls to action.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 There was an emphasis on the worldwide nature of the Christian enterprise.\u00a0 Churches could serve as leavening agents for decency, unity and peace, in the midst of the \u201cnecessary injustice\u201d of war within a fallen world.\u00a0 Words from clergy of interned Japanese Americans are especially valuable.\u00a0 Their themes of hope run counter to commonly assumed narratives of passive docility and resignation.<\/p>\n [5] With John F. Kennedy\u2019s 1963 assassination, many pastors assigned a martyr role to the President.\u00a0 Pronouncements of collective guilt (\u201cWe all killed Kennedy\u201d) arose due to a perceived national climate of hatred and failure to love.\u00a0 Moral responsibility in some part was assigned to individual and institutional church members.\u00a0 Sermons advocating more prayer, greater generosity, and faith in God sought to hearten and comfort listeners.\u00a0 In the face of anxiety about how America would fulfill world responsibilities due to the sudden loss of their beloved President, the church was cast as a patriotic institution offering direction and hope.<\/p>\n [6] By the time of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s assassination on 4 April 1968, the civic stature of many Protestant churches seemed in decline.\u00a0 A climate of \u201cexistential despair\u201d appeared to engulf the nation.\u00a0 A sense of resignation and defeat stammered forth from the pulpits of many white, male, Protestant ministers.\u00a0 African American pastors more readily addressed issues of racism, the seeming absence and mystery of God\u2019s presence, lament, belief in the power of redemptive suffering, and a \u201cget up and carry on\u201d spiritual steadfastness in words that flowed from Biblical texts.<\/p>\n [7] Chapter Four, \u201cThe Church of the National Tragedy,\u201d appraises sermons in the aftermath of the 1992 uprisings following the jury verdict in the Los Angeles police beating of Rodney King, and the 19 April 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.\u00a0 Following the Rodney King judgment, mainline Protestant pastors often focused on a need for \u201claw and order,\u201d and granted increased power to civic authorities. These sermons offered little to help national mourning, failed to understand causes for citizens\u2019 grief, and seemed unable to address factors leading to racial violence.\u00a0 On the other hand, sacred orations streamed from African American church rostrums with renewed articulation of themes that had been central to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — uprisings of the disenfranchised as \u201cpublic grief of the unheard;\u201d seeing the opposition not as \u201cenemies to be destroyed but sisters and brothers to be won in fellowship and understanding;\u201d being activists allied with the working poor; the shared humanity of all God\u2019s children; and the importance of justice, love, wisdom, and compassion for one another.<\/p>\n [8] In the wake of the 1995 Oklahoma City Murrah Federal Building bombing, (which followed the FBI Waco Branch Davidian siege (Feb-Apr 1993), many pulpiteers fostered a \u201cChurch of the National Tragedy.\u201d\u00a0 First responders were canonized as \u201csaints.\u201d\u00a0 Sermons nurtured a \u201cTeddy Bear…therapeutic God\u201d culture to enable parishioners to feel better, leading to a loss of church authority, and collapse of \u201c…the sacred and the secular into one undifferentiated mass\u201d (p. 210).\u00a0 A \u201cChristianity coiled with psychology in a way that reduced Christianity to a form of self-help\u201d too often became the norm (p. 220). \u00a0Few addressed culpability, how American Christians might have contributed to nurturing the racist, murderous individuals responsible for such brutish violence.\u00a0 Lacking were sermonic burdens expressing sacrifice, cross, suffering, resurrection, and solace during overwhelming grief.<\/p>\n [9] Many sermons immediately after 11 September 2001, lamented the loss of national innocence, while often looking past individual grief.\u00a0 Shock and anger took precedence over sadness and mourning of the dead.\u00a0 Some very visible and media-savvy sermonizing became entwined with national identity, wherein American \u201cchosen-ness by God\u201d morphed to America becoming \u201cGod\u2019s Celestial Army\u201d to rid the globe of terrorism. \u201c[I]nterests of the state [became] the umbrella under which God flourished\u201d (p. 115). Meanwhile, other types of homilies focused on theological perspectives and scripture-gleaned steps to manage grief, comprehend the enormity of loss, and seek measures toward reconciliation.<\/p>\n [10] Professor Matthes\u2019s final chapter, \u201cThe Enduring American Crisis–Sermons from the Newtown Shooting to Black Lives Matter,\u201d uncovers sermonic themes that, while providing many noble and therapeutic sentiments, nevertheless express little theology or in-depth scripture exposition.\u00a0 Needs to be addressed within white Protestant circles included: God\u2019s justice in the face of unspeakable and persistent evil–in the world and our human hearts; our collective American reluctance to linger with grief; violent deaths of Black citizens (Ferguson, Trayvon Martin, Charleston, George Floyd…) as shared-humanity-American losses rather than parochial sadness.\u00a0 In contrast, the rich proclamation traditions in African American Churches declared God\u2019s \u201c…identification with the lost, downtrodden, and the violated at the center of the Christian theological tradition,\u201d (p. 297).\u00a0 These sermons emphasize reliance upon God because we need God\u2019s help and daily intervention, and they proclaim an expectation that God will come through–fulfilling divine purposes with or without the state.<\/p>\n [11] Practical benefits for Religious Support Professionals willing to wrestle with this book include:<\/p>\n [12] First, there are a number of sermons and articles referenced that can complement \u201cgo to\u201d resources in time of disaster or calamity.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 For many, these accounts can serve as exemplary\/challenging models claiming the power of the pulpit \u201cwhen sorrow comes.\u201d \u00a0All offer prophetic, compassionate and scriptural insight for times of loss.<\/p>\n [13] Second, supervisory Chaplains can uncover a rich source of instruction, training and awareness.\u00a0 Topics treated by Professor Matthes offer reflective analysis from a variety of faith traditions.\u00a0 When treated thoughtfully, When Sorrow Comes <\/em>promotes a maturing in worship leadership and a refining of one\u2019s pastoral identity as an Armed Forces or VA Medical Center Chaplain.\u00a0 The possibility that one of our Armed Forces\u2019 prestigious pulpits (Carlisle, Annapolis, Leavenworth…) could be a place where such promising biblical proclamation not only can take place, but is eagerly encouraged and anticipated by leadership, could provide an invigorating restoration–through web and social media distribution–of preaching across our Chaplaincies.<\/p>\n [14] Lastly, the text inspires us to reclaim our unique faith group and religious callings.\u00a0 We\u2019re encouraged to educate ourselves and our parishioners week-by-week–through proclamation, counsel, prayer and liturgy–in the majestic theological truths and mysteries so attendant to scriptural understanding.\u00a0 The necessity of self-sacrifice, discipline and humility in the face of ruin and adversity; realities of the cross, resurrection, and stubborn evil; in-depth theological understandings of suffering, mourning, grieving–especially within real world, overwhelming loss; endurance, stamina and patience; courage, inner-power and strengthening resources provided by the God of the scriptures; such gospel proclamation embraces the finest of our sacred vocations.<\/p>\n [15] The author\u2019s analysis throughout this nuanced and in-depth book invites discussion, reflection, and application for us as Chaplains.\u00a0 We may debate her findings, and challenge\/critique the views presented.\u00a0 Yet Dr. Matthes provides us with a balanced reference work that inspires extended conversation and study.\u00a0 Open, honest dialogue can result.\u00a0 Our people are better served in the process.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n