The answer is a simple and obvious one, but we’d probably not think of this immediately.
The answer is in the Military. (#2 is prison, BTW)
Tomorrow I head to Washington, D.C. to a think tank with the Archdiocese for Military Services to discuss young adult ministry with those in our Armed Services. Mark Moitoza (Who is the Director for young adult ministry in the Archdiocese) and Bishop Joseph Estabrook (an auxillary who serves as the Episcopal Moderator for NCYAMA) extended the invitation and it gives me an opportunity to not only participate in a worthwhile project, but also allows me to take a brief vacation in our Nation’s Capital with my wife over the 4th of July Weekend. Hence, blogging may be light over the weekend.
I’m looking forward to this. Those young people who serve our country are often facing precarious situations–especially those who get deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. One of the big issues to face is simply that setting up some kind of peer ministry is what is needed, but then, everyone gets deployed to different places and the entire thing falls apart. Some out of the box thinking is needed here and I’m excited to be thinking with people about this and figuring out ways to keep our military personnel connected to the church.
So today, pray for us and for our military personnel. No matter how we feel about war, we will always need people to defend our country and keep us safe from harm. We need to support these young people with our prayers. And so we ask God to keep them safe from harm and if one should fall in service of our country, may God hold that solider in the healing balm of his arms. Amen.