New Column From Norris Burkes

Subject:
Independence Day column 2018


Column:

Defending The Constitution isn't Magic

As a chaplain, I find no greater meaning for Independence Day than in our constitutional right to freedom of worship.

I had first-hand experience observing this right challenged during my 2009 deployment as a USAF Protestant Chaplain in Balad, Iraq.

One afternoon the Senior Chaplain, Richard Hartwell, invited me to his office to introduce me to a chapel visitor. The man, a sergeant in his mid-30s, said he and his friends were being persecuted for their religious beliefs.

He explained how vandals had recently scribbled inflammatory words on the wall of their meeting place.

Now, the sergeant said, they needed to find a new and secretive place of worship.

"Why not meet in our chapel?" I asked.

My boss nodded at the sergeant, inviting full disclosure.

"We are a small circle of Wiccans," the sergeant said.

In case you're wondering, some Wiccans, but not all, are witches. Honestly, they are known as a peaceful bunch and are recognized as a legitimate religion.

They take their traditions from pre-Christian history, but became a religion as recently as the mid-1900s. They practice so-called "white magic" and recognize male and female deities. They aren't devil worshipers, as the vandals likely believed them to be. Wiccans don't even believe in the devil.

If you question why Protestant chaplains should come to the aid of a pagan group, you wouldn't be alone. After all, Wiccans are a far cry from my Baptist brand or my boss' Methodist practice. Hartwell and I shared reasonable tension over the idea of helping Wiccans.

But we also shared a pledge called the oath of office. During the 28 years I served as a chaplain, I solemnly swore at least five times to "…support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

"Defend the constitution?" you may ask. Exactly how does a chaplain defend the constitution when the Geneva Convention prohibits him from carrying a gun?

I find the answer in the constitutional amendment that kicked off this whole Land-of-the-Free stuff. It's numeral 1 -- "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

"Yes, sergeant," my commander promised. "We will help you find a place, a conference room perhaps, or a large office. We want you to be safe."

In our next staff meeting, Hartwell elicited suggestions from his 20-person chapel staff regarding a place for the Wiccans. He made it clear that if we exclude room for any faith, we exclude room for all faiths.

He challenged his commissioned officers to "faithfully discharge the duties of the office…" by safeguarding the Wiccan's first amendment right to freely exercise their religion.

Our boss told us that chaplains must defend the constitution by protecting the religious rights of all, even those we disagree with. We would stand with the Wiccans, he promised. We would support the atheist. And, according to Geneva Convention, we would even allow an enemy combatant his place of worship.

"Had Hartwell been bewitched?" you ask. Why stand with those whose faith practice is so drastically different than ours? Because at the end of the day if we refuse to stand with them, we will most surely stand alone in future days.

By the way, our chaplains came up with an easy solution for the Wiccans. We found an understanding commander who allowed the group to meet inside his conference room during off-duty hours.

Simple solution. No magic to it.

Contact norris at comment@thechaplain.net or @chaplain or (843) 608-9715

 

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New Column From Norris Burkes

Subject:
4th column for June 2018


Column:

WEARING YOUR FAITH ON YOUR SLEEVE

Last week I met a man wearing a shirt from Belgium.

Since I'd recently returned from Europe, I asked if he'd ever been to Belgium.

"Never," he said. "My sister was there and bought this shirt for me."

"What a poser," I thought.

There ought to be a law that prevents people from wearing event T-shirts or tourist T-shirts if they haven't actually "been there, done that and then bought the T-shirt."

I'd be glad to apply the law to people who wear faith-based clothing, too. You know the kind I'm talking about. I affectionately call the shirts "fish shirts." They're imprinted with the stick figure of a fish, reminiscent of Jesus' encouragement that Christians would become "Fishers of Men."

Modern marketers have shaped faith symbols into every conceivable product. I've seen T-shirts that pun popular advertising campaigns. I've even seen cross-shaped candy on a stick. (I hope that doesn't imply that faith is for suckers.)

We display our faith on gaudy jewelry which seems contradictory to the poverty in which Jesus lived. The popular "Jesus" bracelets beg the question — would Jesus spend $29.95 on a gold-plated wristband?

Others display their faith on their car with praying Precious Moments characters, or pithy bumper stickers, or fish-shaped outlines. My only concern is that I'm fairly sure God isn't looking to publicize his views on a gas-guzzling Hummer or a speeding Prius.

Don't get me wrong — I've got a few "fish shirts" myself, but the problem arises when they don't reconcile with how I'm living. For instance, if I wear a "Jesus Loves You" shirt, but lose my temper with a sales clerk, the T-shirt message is muted. Or in the words of the Apostle Paul, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal."

The other problem with these commercial displays of faith is that sooner or later someone feels the necessity to express their counterpoint in the same way. For instance, have you seen the little Darwin fish symbols that eat the Christian fish?

In the 2012 election campaign, the American Atheist group put up billboards calling God "sadistic" and Jesus "useless" (portraying his image on toast). They did this because they believed that Christians have been intrusive with their faith for centuries and turnabout was fair play.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was an early 20th-century German theologian who warned against the cheapening of grace, so I think it's worth reposing the argument — Do we cheapen and discount our faith when we become a sloganeer? Do we subject faith to ridicule when we plaster it on cars and shirts?

I'm not saying it's not OK to occasionally don a shirt that tells people whose side you are on. No. My biggest fear in public displays of faith is that we become like those people who wear shirts from places they've never been as we proclaim our faith by wearing crosses we've yet to bear.

It's easy to confuse what we display externally with what we have internally. If we possess something then we will always do whatever we want with it — sell it, alter it, display it and even hide it.

But if we have the kind of faith that possesses us, then faith becomes something we are, not something we wear. And that is always a game-changer.

———————-
Contact norris at comment@thechaplain.net or @chaplain or (843) 608-9715

 

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New Column From Norris Burkes

Subject:
Column for third weekend in June 2018


Column:

Dropping my Pretense in the Gym

Have you ever noticed a resemblance between the church hypocrite and gym hypocrite?

It's said that the church hypocrite is a "Seasonal saint" who comes to church only on Christmas and Easter. They come to be seen in their finest new clothes.

Much like those at the church, the gym hypocrite thinks only about fitness after the big eating holidays. They work out in their designer fitness clothes only to look good for the swim suit season.

During a 1999 deployment to Saudi Arabia, I lived the life of a gym hypocrite. I only worked out to stave the effects of my daily gorge of mess hall food.

One cool day in January, instead of dressing in shorts, I walked to the gym in a new matching two-piece work out suit. It was Super Bowl Sunday and only a few people were in the gym. The machines were wide open so I flew from one to the other working on my "Body by Jake."

Within a few minutes, I peeled off my workout jacket. Still hot, I plopped myself in front of a huge factory fan. Yet for some reason, the fan could not muster enough bluster to cool this gym customer, so, I put my thumb in the waistband of my runners pants and slid them down to my knees.
 
There, sitting on that bench, I was suddenly much cooler than I had expected. The hair on my thighs, whose numbers are astronomically high, were vibrating like palm leaves in a hurricane. Looking down, I recalled that I had opted out of wearing gym shorts underneath. There displayed in full length mirrors, I saw much more of my body than was reasonable to expect in a public place.
 
Needless to say, I couldn't have pulled those pants up any faster than if I were sitting atop a fire ant hill.

So, what did I learn?
 
First, if you are going to pull your pants down in a public place, make sure there is a distraction in the room - preferably a football game or breaking news on the TV will stear all eyes away from your geekish, farmer-tanned, legs.
 
Second, mom was good to advise you to always wear good underwear. What if you have to go to the hospital or if you decide to pull your pants down in a public place?
  
But, last and most important, there will always be hypocrites in both the church and the gym. I suppose that's why I spend so much time in both and include myself as among the best of them.

But I think that's ok because I see hypocrites as people who understand the tension of their discrepancy. They realize they are not who they should be, so they keep trying to be what they ought of be. In short, they don't give up on themselves.
 
Hypocrites want badly to be someone better than they have been. So they choose to live with criticisms from those who will inevitably catch them with their pants down.
 
They live with the frustration of being one thing while striving to become another. They hope someday to morph into the honest likeness of the person they are currently pretending to be.

If my gym experience taught me anything it's that if I must forgive and overlook the faults of others lest I risk becoming the biggest hypocrite of all. That's why when people complain of too many hypocrites in the gym or the church, I never miss the opportunity to tell them that we have room for one more – you. 

Perhaps I will see you at the gym next week? If so, I promise you won't see too much of me.

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Contact norris at norris@thechaplain.net or (843) 608-9715 or @chaplain

 

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New Column From Norris Burkes

Subject:
2nd column of June 2018


Column:

Faith and Six Other F-Words to Live By
 
The Baylor freshman two rows in front of me asked our English Composition instructor only one question — "Do you accept late term papers?"
 
"It can be late under two conditions," said Mr. Walls.
 
"First, I must find the completed paper in your cold, dead hands."
 
Nervous chatter blanketed the room.
 
"And the second condition?" I asked.
 
"Your body must be facing in the direction of my office."
 
"I suppose that's an example of hyperbole?" I asked.
 
Walls smiled. He'd taught us well. "Late papers will be marked with the F-word — Fail. No excuses."
 
Besides freshman term papers, there are at least seven areas in life that offer little excuse to fail. In my book "Thriving Beyond Surviving," I call those things "Faith and the other six 'F-words' I live by." Examine my list and tell me if you have more to add.
 
1.         Fun. I keep "fun" in my agenda by watching comedies, reading comics and playing board games with friends. I write, read, enjoy theaters and museums, ride zip lines and attend the state fair. I do these things because fun releases natural "feel-good" hormones called endorphins. These endorphins combat stress and are therefore good for those I love and for those I serve.
 
2.         Fitness keeps me thriving. I golf. I go walk through my neighborhood and hike through national parks to find waterfalls or songbirds. In 2012 I added distance running to my activities. Running marathons and half marathons stretch me beyond the physical limits of what seems possible.
 
3.         Finances. My wife and I retired on public pensions supplemented with a modest IRA; so yes, this chaplain appreciates money. However, the most precious thing money buys is time: family time; beach time; travel time. At 61, I now know that I don't have to buy everything I want. I don't need the latest technology, the coolest cars or the largest house. Those things will count for nothing when I die. My money is spent on the people I love and places that hold meaning for me.
 
4.         Flight. I love to travel, but in keeping with the "F-word" pattern, let's call it "Flight." I work hard to reduce my unnecessary expenses so I can tour, trek and travel. My wife and I have visited 25 countries to discover that we're not the center of the universe and that the USA has many attributes as well as faults. When I can't afford travel, I find the water of a nearby lake, beach or waterfall. For me, water is a "God spot" where I inhale the sights and sounds that renew my connection with my Creator.
 
5.         Family.  My best experience of family is with my wife, children and grandchildren; but these days, "family" has multiple meanings. "Family" can be an endearing term, but if you've been abused, you'll need to look for family elsewhere. Look for family where you find belonging—maybe at the gym, office, church or even civic club.
 
6.         Faith. No surprise here, right? Yet even for a chaplain, faith is like a good marriage, it requires work. For me, faith is something that embraces me and keeps me from falling when all else fails. Faith is the grip the parachutist feels when his harness tightens. Faith is the grasp the trapeze artist knows as she hangs in midair only to be snatched by a skillful partner. It's a clutch that embraces you from just beyond the edge of darkness. It's an authority that knows its way through darkness because it comes from the light. When I keep the faith, faith keeps me.
 
7.         Forgiveness. Memorizing the Lord's Prayer is child's work. Living the Lord's Prayer is fraught with difficulty. It all seems to depend on forgiving others as we want to be forgiven. That's a pretty tough prescription; but I believe it's the most effective cure.
 
Make a commitment this week to discard your excuses and improve the "F-words" in your life. When you do, please email me and share your plans so we can encourage each other.
 
Contact norris at comment@thechaplain.net or (843) 608-9715 or @chaplain. His book "Thriving Beyond Surviving" is available on Amazon or at his website, thechaplain.net
 
 
 

 

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