GOODBYE SOLDIERS
Today is Memorial Day, and I'm thinking about being a kid in a little town where every soldier was a hero.
In the years after World War II our town was filled with heroes. They returned from the war primed with noble ambition and confidence. The terrible things they had seen drove them toward excellence - dreaming of a better world. The soldiers I knew literally turned their lives over to the nation.
Now they are dying - veterans' cemeteries bury eleven an hour, five days a week, year round. But for most of the 20th century, the world belonged to those soldiers and veterans who fought in the most brutal war of modern time.
One of the seldom discussed results of World War II is what combat did to the faith of men. The truth is, more came back as believers than doubters. The theological seminaries were packed with men whose faith would change the world.
Filled with disgust over divisions, those veterans came into the ministry wanting to pull various Christian denominations together, wipe out petty differences and join in a victorious church that embraced change and encouraged unity.
I remember Clarence who lived down the block from my family home. He was not much to look at, sort of tall with hair that stuck out every way but smooth.
But Clarence came back from World War II with a schedule. First on the agenda was marriage to his sweetheart, Glenda. Then he had a plan to buy a home and fix it up. Babies came next and membership in the Methodist church. By the time he was thirty years old he was on the city council, looking at the future of an entire town.
Then suddenly he gave it all up and went into the ministry. It took him eight years of study, but by the time Clarence was forty he was standing in a pulpit and driving a congregation toward excellence.
Now, the Christian church is at a new crossroad. Attendance is down, people are cynical, contributions are dramatically off and it looks like every little church on the face of the earth is entering into the last days.
Sure, there are big churches where ministers draw six-figure incomes and the coffers are always full of donations. But most congregations are struggling to stay alive. Pastors are tired of conflict and criticism from parishioners. They want better pay and shorter hours. The mission is dimmed. All around the United States church leaders are speculating about the future.
I wonder what a depleted roster of clergy will do to the church. Will the church fade without trained leadership? Or will it flourish under renewed laity who are not looking for rewards? Does a congregation have to employ preachers, or is it possible to allow them to rise up from within the church?
I know this: I don't want another war to stir the noble intentions of young men and women. This time we must fight our holy crusade without the help of guns.
Clark D. Morphew
Posted For 5-29-02