The
Bishop's Notebook Archive
Iraq
click here to go to: Archive Topical Index
The
Bishop's Notebook, 13 June 2003
“On
Monday our annual east coast conference convenes and it has
an odd feel to it. We are all looking forward to what Bishop
Dick Grein will share with us about priesthood and chaplaincy
but we will do so while brothers and sisters are still under
fire in Iraq. I expect the intercessory prayers will be as
earnest as our attentiveness to the study. Pentecost days,
like the days immediately after Christmas and Easter allow
us to practice what the feast intends. After all, there had
to be a day after Pentecost...”
Read
More
The Bishop's Notebook, 06 June 2003
“The
picture of recently returned Navy chaplain Tony Bezy with
his family on the front porch says it all. They’re coming
home! Tony does say that homecoming has its rough edges though:
transitioning from MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) to eating
a cheeseburger and fries takes some effort. Navy chaplain
Jeff Seiler is recently home and so is Navy chaplain Jeri
Hinson. Both are looking forward to spending a long liberty
with their families...”
Read
More
The Bishop's Notebook, 23 May 2003
“This
week's Notebook is a letter from Baghdad sent by Chaplain
Frank Wismer. Chaplain Wismer is an Army Reserve chaplain
who was mobilized in January 2003 and recently arrived in
Iraq. His letter tells of his unit's mission in Iraq and his
impressions of the people and life there...“
Read
More
The Bishop's Notebook, 16 May 2003
“During
this time we have been encouraging our chaplains to keep in
touch and let us know what is happening in their daily lives
during their deployments around the world and here at home.
They provide us with a glimpse of the many facets of the work
of a military chaplain during war and its aftermath. They
also serve to connect our chaplains with one another and their
families no matter where they are...“
Read
More
The
Bishop's Notebook, 09 May 2003
“Chaplain
Cravens is a Naval Reservist living in Lincoln, IL. On March
26th, he accompanied a Marine Casualty Assistance Call Officer
to notify the parents of Marine Pvt. Jonathan L. Gifford,
of Decatur Ill., that their son was missing after his squad
vehicle was ambushed near An Nasiriyah on March 23. The area
was hotly contested for some time after the initial engagement,
and it was more than two weeks before it was confirmed that
Pvt. Gifford had been killed...”
Read
More
The Bishop's Notebook, 25 April 2003, Friday in Easter Week
“But the 489th is going. Reese disappears
and I find out later that he has been asked to offer communion.
These sporadic deployments by "essential" units
make up an unseen part of the Iraqi campaign and begins to
have all the trappings of the War in the Balkans: rotations
for an indefinite period of time. It adds to the noble picture
of untiring service by these people... ”
Read
More
The Bishop’s Notebook, Maundy
Thursday, 2003, Enroute to Fort Hood, Texas
“The generosity and grace of God is that
redemption is not a formula. It springs from the heart of
the believer and is met by divine mercy. Making awfully sure
one really gets the hardship of what Good Friday means can
become its own god. Easter is still coming and we are triumphant
with Jesus Christ in a Resurrection which gives evidence to
both truths...”
Read
More
The
Bishop's Notebook, 04 April 2003, Reflections from our Chaplains
in Southwest Asia
From
LCDR Jerome A. Hinson CHC, USN
“What I do is not glamorous. I rise at
0415 to the sound of the call to prayer from the mosque across
the street. While saying Morning Prayer, I wonder about how
God hears the prayers I utter in concert with those offered
across the street. A short while later I walk the 20 minutes
or so it takes me to get from my quarters to our base. It
is cool in the predawn. The only people about are workers
from Pakistan or India. They come to work as indentured servants
in various jobs such as construction and street cleaning.
I reflect on the strangeness of this land as I enter the gates
of the base...
“
Read
More
The
Bishop's Notebook, 04 April 2003, Reflections from our Chaplains
in Southwest Asia
From CDR
Jeffrey H. Seiler CHC, USN
“I
have just returned from Umm Qasr for a few days. I will return
north from Kuwait to join the forces there through Easter.
I am very keenly aware of the responsibility that I and all
chaplains in this theatre have to be the symbols of sanity
and normalcy in a world that often does not make sense. The
events here have had a way of stripping away all that is unnecessary
and bring us face to face with ourselves and God... ”
Read
More
The Bishop's Notebook, 01 April
2003, Day 13 of the war
“What irony to live these Lenten days,
a time when we think of Our Lord in the desert, and simultaneously
follow this route of war through the sand. Jesus’ holy
identity was tested and formed there and perhaps ours will
be too. The desert lends itself to this exploration, even
to newcomers... “
Read
More
The Bishop's Notebook, 28 March 2003
“O God, as we pray to you in these days of
war may we be sustained by your gracious and ready help. Bless
these medals and grant that those who wear them may, with
hearts open to your love and by the invocation of your Holy
Name, be guarded in body and soul and given strength for the
days ahead; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen...”
Read
More
The Bishop's Notebook, 22 March 2003
“Bleary-eyed, we are manning the phones
24/7 from now until the end of the war. Among other things
listed on the event board passed from each watch to the next
are the casualties experienced. The Christ the Lord Chapel
here at the Church Center is providing a prayerful vigil throughout
these hostilities...”
Read
More
The Bishop's Photo Notebook, 21 March 2003
“ECUSA Chaplain Jeff Seiler aboard a
British Naval vessel in the Persian Gulf, is introduced to
the ship's captain...“
See
More
The Bishop's Notebook, 28 February 2003
“The human risks of a ground war also are
higher for U.S. troops. Near the tank range, on an isolated
stretch of desert, Navy Chaplain Bernard Bezy conducts a 10-minute
Sunday church service for the crews... Yelling Bible verses
over the roar of the tanks, Bezy, in fatigues, flak jacket
and a colorful prayer stole, offers the two-dozen men communion
from a small silver box set on the tailgate of a troop transport
truck and leads them in a prayer of confession and forgiveness...”
Read
More
The Bishop's Notebook, 21 February 2003
“ The
eeriest sight was one CH Roy Hoffman and I discovered at Camp
Pendleton. It was a large, vacant parking lot amidst billets
and a dining facility, haunting evidence of a deployed marine
division. 'A few weeks ago this place was bustling.' Roy said...Yesterday
a marine said to me, 'This is a time to load up on prayer.'
Indeed it is...”
Read
More
