New Column From Norris Burkes

Subject:
First column of December 2017


Column:

A Shopper's Prayer

After four months of European travel, my wife and I made our return to the United States during Thanksgiving week – just in time for Black Friday shopping deals.

I confess to feeling a little "culture shock." During our travels, we gained some appreciation for European homes that tend to be smaller, older and not generally overstuffed with the latest materialistic comforts.

However, as I wandered through Walmart Thanksgiving night to find pajamas, I wondered how I would find peace amidst the frenzied pressure to buy more stuff.

I have always been a rather enthusiastic shopper, but since I no longer own a home and already have too many heavy suitcases, I need to curb my enthusiasm.

Given my predilection for buying – especially new-fangled electronics – I sought to slow my shopping last week by reframing the "The Lord's Prayer" and refocusing on the words. By doing so, I found some relief from the manic materialism of our culture.

Take for instance, the opening salutation, "Our Father." Repeat it with me in the tone of a small child who is seeking help from a loving parent. The words assert that God alone is the giver of all good things, not credit cards and shopping malls.

The next words, "who art in heaven," may sound like the description of a detached deity, but they imply a God who is watching over us. We needn't try to fill our inadequacies via our purchasing power. Our money can't buy our world, so why do we try?

"Hallowed be thy name." There seems little that is hallowed today. However, when we seek holiness in God, we discover that our desire to merge the sacred into a holiday wish list diminishes.

"Thy Kingdom come" doesn't mean that we're sitting around waiting for God to come to us. It means that we must invite the presence of God into our lives. It means that God's presence always outshines the pretense of presents.

"Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven."

Seeking God's will in our lives is not pursuing an earthly plan. Simply put, I've never seen a hearse towing a U-Haul trailer, so I don't think God wants us to accumulate many more earthly goods than are useful for heavenly purposes.

"Give us this day our daily bread." The phrase helps us remember that if God has given us our daily bread, shouldn't we be helping others?

For example, we don't need to buy something for us if it means a neighbor doesn't have food or a place to keep it. We don't need to give our children trinkets if the single mom at the Goodwill doesn't have enough to buy her children clothes.

We can't help everyone. As Jesus said, "The poor will always be with you." But God doesn't put needy people in front of us only because they need help. He puts them there because we need help, too.

"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." This plea for forgiveness reminds us that God forgives our selfish ways and that our overspending transgressions of the past don't have to be repeated today.

"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." This phrase tells us that we are powerless before our shopping addictions, and we can overcome them only with God's help.

Protestantism adds the closing line, "For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory forever."

However, Catholic and Protestants join together with a hearty "Amen." in the closing. The word "amen" simply means, "Let all of this be so!"

May you find the joys of the season this year and know a truly meaningful Christmas.
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Email: comment@thechaplain.net. Voicemail (843) 608-9715 Twitter @chaplain Read past columns at www.thechaplain.net.

 

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New Column From Norris Burkes

Subject:
Column for fourth week Nov 16


Column:

If You can See, you Must Say

Recently, we've been outraged to hear of the sexual harassment charges against some prominent and respected men.

While it's no surprise to hear about Charlie Sheen's dalliances, we're beyond dismayed to hear about such men as Charlie Rose. While Bill Clinton had his accusers, nothing prepared us for the indictments against the likes of Bill Cosby.

The epidemic finger pointing hasn't even escaped the Senate. Anthony Wiener will soon begin his 21-months prison sentence. In the meantime, accusations fly about Senator Al Franken and Senate candidate Roy Moore.

"What's to be done?" We ask.

The answer became more than obvious to me as I walked toward Time Square last week.

At a busy intersection, I noticed what seemed to be an abandoned bag. I asked a man standing about ten feet away, "Is this your bag?"

He said it was, so I moved on.

I was, of course, following the advice of the national anti-terrorism campaign, "If you see something, say something."

The Times Square encounter suggests how we might adapt the slogan to address sexual harassment in our workplace.

"Can it be so simple as to just say something?" you ask. Yes, it can be effortless – particularly when we address harassment that is so glaringly obvious as was the unaccompanied bag.

Still, it is admittedly hard when we are required to oppose it in everyday living.

For instance, what do you say when a co-worker whispers a word about a woman's dress or your relative comments about a person's anatomy at a holiday dinner party?

I pose these questions because I believe sexual harassment has a simple beginning. It often begins in innocuous conversations at a neighbor's house or office party. Those conversations degrade and someone mutters a sexually inappropriate comment. Not wanting to seem a prude, we take a sudden and silent interest in our shoes.


I believe we can condition ourselves to say something by planning our response. We can say something like, "Dude, that ain't right." Or, "If she were my sister, I wouldn't appreciate that."

I know it can be scary to speak out. You don't know if anyone is going to back you up or exclude you from feature social events because they see you as prudish or judgmental.

Yes, the price of calling someone out can be your personal embarrassment. But the price grows exponentially when a particularly boorish person receives not a single word of resistance.

Most of us are likely familiar with the 18th century Irish orator, philosopher and politician Edmund Burke, who said: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

In the past, we've excused our silence, insisting that we don't want to appear judgmental. Yet today, in the 21st century, our silence stirs an echoing effect. The more we remain silent, the louder the oppression rings.

In the future, we should adapt the national anti-terrorism campaign for daily living - "If you see or hear something that's not right, say something."

Don't let anyone put you down as being hypercritical or narrow-minded. We should follow this advice no matter who the offender is -- your parish council president or even the president of the United States.

Moreover, stay positive and apply the advice of the Apostle Paul found in Ephesians 4:29: "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

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Email: comment@thechaplain.net. Voicemail (843) 608-9715 Twitter @chaplain Read past columns at www.thechaplain.net.

 

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New Column From Norris Burkes

Subject:
Column third week Nov 2017


Column:

Pastor Prays to be Teachable

Some years ago, I was sitting in my chaplain's office at the VA hospital in Sacramento when a local pastor stopped by to introduce himself.

"I'm Brother So-and-So," he said, giving me a hand-pumping shake. "I'm spirit-filled."

If you are unfamiliar with church language, "spirit-filled," is a term broadly used by charismatic Christians. Loosely speaking, this adjective describes a higher step beyond "born-again."

Truthfully, I have lots of wonderful charismatic friends. And most of them will tell you that if a person demonstrates the traits of "spirit-filled," there's no need to self-identify.

Suffice it to say, I wished Mr. Brother-Pastor had kept walking the hall. But instead, the tall, broad and aging man sat down and proceeded to recite his resume.

He talked about the prison ministry he ran and boasted of the meals he delivered to the homeless. He buzzed about the radio preaching he did in Fresno and the television ministry he ran in Bakersfield.

In between each story, he paused to wait for my "amen," but alas, I offered only a polite nod. He talked so long and so fast, I was having trouble hearing the spirit.

He added endless details about the many years he served as a pastor and the hospital visitations he did. He confessed that he pitied me because "we both know government chaplains can't talk about God as freely as a pastor."

And somewhere in the midst of his pontification, he told me he was praying God would make him "teachable." If he noticed my smirk when he spoke the word "teachable," he didn't say. Instead, he abruptly assumed a kneeling position and told me he was going to pray for me.

That's when I decided to answer his prayer and offer him a teachable moment.

"Wait just a minute," I said, and motioned him off his knees.

"How do you know what to pray for?"

"Huh?" he said.

I asked him this because he seemed to be offering his prayer not so much as a gift, but as a way to establish his authority. Pastor Pray4U seemed ready to thank God for blessing me by his visit.

I continued. "Well, a few minutes ago you mentioned you were praying God would make you teachable, so let me share something with you."

He gave me a glassy stare, as clueless as a calf lookin' at a new gate.

"When I visit patients, I always ask them how I can pray for them. I ask them what they want me to pray for. Would you like to know what you can pray for me?"

With that, he leaned back in his chair and spread his hands open on his lap.

"You're right, chaplain," he said. "What should I pray?"

I asked him to pray for my new supervisor, and then asked that he pray for God to comfort the families of the two hospital employees who'd unexpectedly died the previous week.

He shook his head, unsure what to say.

However, he eventually prayed, just not in the tone I'd expected.

In the face of real needs, his prayer became much less pretentious, his tone much more humble and contrite. But most of all, his personal prayer was also answered. This "spirit-filled" pastor had become, gratefully, much more "teachable."

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Email: comment@thechaplain.net. Voicemail (843) 608-9715 Twitter @chaplain Read past columns at www.thechaplain.net.

 

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New Column From Norris Burkes

Subject:
VetDay column -- Corrected version


Column:

PREVIOUS VERSION HAD TYPOS -- USE THIS CORRECTED VERSION


Brave Actions Inspire Faith

As I spend Veteran's Day on a cruise ship to Florida, I can't help but feel an astonishingly greater appreciation for those who serve in the armed forces.

I boarded the ship in Southampton, England, the same port where millions of combat soldiers went to the front of both great wars. The port was the primary target of enemy planes, and became the most bombed city in Allied territory.

One of those soldiers was Army Chaplain Reverend Herbert Butler Cowl, whom I've come to know through the acquaintance of his granddaughter, Sarah Reay. Last month, Reay shared her grandfather's story during my weekend with Baxter's Battlefield Tours.

At the outbreak of World War I, Chaplain Cowl volunteered to serve as a Wesleyan Army Chaplain. He was attached to the Durham Light Infantry where he faced the stark reality of Flanders and France on the Western Front.

Sarah barely knew her grandfather, but she discovered his voice in his letters stored in the family attic. These letters begin in Herbert's childhood and continue through to the war's end in 1919. They pulsate with the value of faith and define the delicate balance between serving God and swearing allegiance as a captain in the British Army.

In an August 1915 missive, Cowl writes to his parents:

"Sometimes as I cross a bit of rising ground between here and Headquarters, where the country is open, and the road only lined by an endless avenue of huge polled witch-elms, I stand in the darkness; watch the probing searchlights flicker on to the clouds and hear those grim far off voices speaking death. It is a new sound; it is another world; and it calls to unprecedented scenes and experiences. God grant as we march into it all, that there may arise a man in me that is sufficient to this new occasion!"

After a few months at the front, Cowl sustained a severe wound during enemy bombardment and had to be evacuated by stretcher to the hospital ship, Anglia.

As Sarah told his story, my mind drifted to a predictable end where the good chaplain is settling into a post-war Parrish assignment.

Not so. A massive explosion rocked his hospital ship when it hit a German mine in the Channel. Miraculously, the chaplain found the strength to rise from sickbay and toss life rafts to those souls thrown overboard.

Cowl escaped only to face the most difficult battle of recovery. He'd sustained a broken jaw and damaged throat, threatening a chaplain's most vital tool — his voice. Surgeons told Cowl that his speech would recover, but he would never preach again.

Cowl proved them wrong. Though unable to return to the front, he recovered well enough to continue his chaplain service on the home front with soldiers returned from battle. with returning soldiers.

In one letter home to his parents, he described some of the soldiers as "...the heroes of the hour and very well they knew it, but for all their pathetic disfigurements and their ghastly wounds, they were the gayest company I remember meeting."

For his exemplary gallantry, Chaplain Cowl was awarded the Military Cross, but more astounding, he was the only chaplain in World War 1 to receive the Military Cross Medal for his action on board a ship during the entire war.

Twenty years later, the humble Methodist minister found himself in the center of another battle—the Second World War. Rather than seek a safer place, he stayed in London through the Blitz, preaching his lessons of resilience to a new generation.

Now, as I stand on the windy deck overlooking the vast and chilly Atlantic, I'm keenly aware of how much safer our world is because of the service of millions of veterans. They gave their blood and their lives and deserve our continued thanks.

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Read more in Sarah's book 'The Half-Shilling Curate, A Personal Account of War & Faith in 1914-1918' or visit her website www.halfshillingcurate.com

Email: comment@thechaplain.net. Voicemail (843) 608-9715 Twitter @chaplain www.thechaplain.net.

 

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New Column From Norris Burkes

Subject:
Veteran Day weekend column


Column:

Brave Actions Inspire Faith

As I spend Veteran's Day on a cruise ship to Florida, I can't help but feel an astonishingly greater appreciation for those who serve in the armed forces.

I boarded the ship in Southampton, England, the same port where millions of combat soldiers went to the front of both great wars. The port was the primary target of enemy planes, and became the most bombed city in Allied territory.

One of those soldiers was Army Chaplain Reverend Herbert Butler Cowl, whom I've come to know through the acquaintance of his granddaughter, Sarah Reay. Last month, Reay shared her grandfather's story during my weekend with Baxter's Battlefield Tours.

At the outbreak of World War I, Chaplain Cowl volunteered to serve as a Wesleyan Army Chaplain. He was attached to the Durham Light Infantry where he faced the stark reality of Flanders and France on the Western Front.

Sarah barely knew her grandfather, but she discovered his voice in his letters stored in the family attic. These letters begin in Herbert's childhood and continue through to the war's end in 1919. They pulsate with the value of faith and define the delicate balance between serving God and swearing allegiance as a captain in the British Army.

In an August 1915 missive, Cowl writes to his parents:

"Sometimes as I cross a bit of rising ground between here and Headquarters, where the country is open, and the road only lined by an endless avenue of huge polled witch-elms, I stand in the darkness; watch the probing searchlights flicker on to the clouds and hear those grim far off voices speaking death. It is a new sound; it is another world; and it calls to unprecedented scenes and experiences. God grant as we march into it all, that there may arise a man in me that is sufficient to this new occasion!"

After a few months at the front, Cowl sustained a severe wound during enemy bombardment and had to be evacuated by stretcher to the hospital ship, Anglia.

As Sarah tells his story, my mind drifts to a predictable end where the good chaplain is settling into a post-war Parrish assignment.

Not so. A massive explosion rocked his hospital ship when it hit a German mine in the Channel. Miraculously, the chaplain found the strength to rise from sickbay and throw life rafts to those souls thrown overboard.

Cowl escaped only to face the most difficult battle of recovery. He'd sustained a broken jaw and damaged throat, threatening a chaplain's most vital tool — his voice. Surgeons told Cowl, that his speech would recover, but he would never preach again.

Cowl proved them wrong. Though unable to return to the front, he recovered well enough to continue his chaplain service on the home front. with returning soldiers.

In one letter home to his parents, he described some of the those soldiers as "...the heroes of the hour and very well they knew it, but for all their pathetic disfigurements and their ghastly wounds, they were the gayest company I remember meeting."

For his exemplary gallantry, Chaplain Cowl was awarded the Military Cross, but more astounding, he was the only chaplain in World War 1 to receive the Military Cross Medal for his action on board a ship during the whole war.

Twenty years later, the humble Methodist minister found himself in the center of another battle - the Second World War. Rather than seek a safer place, he stayed in London through the Blitz, preaching his lessons of resilience to a new generation.

Now, as I stand on the windy deck overlooking the vast and chilly Atlantic, I'm keenly aware of how much safer our world is because of the service of millions of veterans. They gave their blood and their lives and deserve our continued thanks.

-------------------------------------------
Read more in Sarah's book 'The Half-Shilling Curate, A personal account of war & faith in 1914-1918' or visit her website www.halfshillingcurate.com

Email: comment@thechaplain.net. Voicemail (843) 608-9715 Twitter @chaplain www.thechaplain.net.

 

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