Corporal Clarence Bonney at Camp Crowder, Missouri, before deployment to Burma
My father, Clarence Bonney, served his country for four years during World War II, much of it at a jungle airfield in Burma. As the man in charge of maintaining the field’s electric generators, he worked under dangerous circumstances to support airplanes “flying the hump” to deliver supplies to our troops in China.
Today I want to thank Dad and all the other veterans of our armed forces, who sacrificed their time, their health, and in some cases their lives, that others might live in freedom.
Faith and Freedom
As a Lay Speaker/Servant in the United Methodist Church, I had the opportunity to lead Sunday worship services this morning at my home church and our sister church a few miles away. Preparing for my Veterans Day message, I was struck by the parallel between the service men and women who put their lives on the line so the rest of us can live in freedom, and Jesus Christ, who gave up his own life so that we might live eternally in freedom from sin. Workers in Christian missionary service, as well as those in the military service, can be called into harm’s way, even to death.
To make that point more personal, in place of the traditional Gospel reading and sermon I chose to portray the Apostle John speaking as a traveling preacher in the year 44 A.D., eleven years after the crucifixion of Jesus. In this dramatic monologue, John reflects on the recent execution of his brother James, the first of the twelve apostles to be martyred, and on what James’s death meant to their family’s faith.
You can find that monologue, along with my Veterans Day youth message and other elements used in this morning’s worship services, on my Resources page.
Blessings to all who serve God and country!
From a proud wife of a Veteran and a proud mother of a daughter who gives of herself in evangelizing God’s messages to us in her every day life, by songs and stories. May God bless you, Linda.
Thanks, Ma!
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We must take care to remember the tension in comparing the Christian to the military member: only one carries a weapon in defense of the mission. To forget this fact does a disservice to our King. ~ emrys
Thanks for your insight, Emrys. My little article focused only on the aspect of placing oneself in harm’s way for the sake of others’ life and freedom, which is a parallel between military veterans and Jesus/missionaries/martyrs.
Your “fact” is interesting food for thought. Given that the Bible shows past instances when the King of Heaven did call on his people to take up weapons, do you discount the possibility that he does so today or could do so in the future? A pacifist Jesus is a nice ideal, and people of faith should always be peacemakers, not warmongers or terrorists or oppressors. But I would not presume to deny the Almighty’s sovereign right to use whatever means he sees fit.