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Church Pastor Prepares For War

Pastor Paul Wynn of the New Covenant Church, St. Peters, gives his son, Andrew Wynn, 11, a hug during a picnic held in Paul's honor at Laurel Park. Wynn was called to active duty as an Army Reservist and will be heading to Iraq. The parishioners gave a farewell picnic on Sunday in his honor. U.S. Army Chaplains serve both God and country by answering the call to serve our nation's Soldiers in the challenging, diverse, and ever changing environment of the Army. While the benefits and pay of an Army Chaplain are often much better than that of civilian clergy, the requirements and stakes are much higher! Army Chaplains are our nation's Soldiers who minister to our nation's sons and daughters, and their families. Like any Soldier, they must endure the hardships, separations, and deprivations of those whom they serve. Like any Minister, they must provide dynamic and genuine ministry with a shepherd's heart. If you choose to answer the call, you will accompany Soldiers all over the world as they carry out their missions. And while you minister to the Soldiers, you and your family will be enriched as you are exposed to new places, new peoples, and new cultures. Your faith will be enriched, challenged, and strengthened as you carry out your duties as the spiritual leader in the spiritual community known as the Army. While Soldiers are at the heart of a chaplain's ministry, as an Army chaplain you will also be responsible for caring for the Soldiers' families, and may often find yourself serving the spiritual needs of Sailors, Marines, or Airmen. Whether it is leading worship and preaching, administrating the sacraments, counseling young couples, establishing education classes and youth groups, or working with parish and congregational advisory groups, the Army Chaplain is never spiritually AWOL. The Army is a pluralistic environment. Rabbis, Ministers, Imams, Pastors, and Priests serve Soldiers with conviction and commitment. If you choose to become an Army Chaplain you will be expected to observe the distinctive doctrines of your faith while also providing the means for others to observe their faith. As an Army Chaplain, you will never go it alone; all Army Chaplains are paired with an enlisted Chaplain Assistant. Together you and your Chaplain Assistant form what is called the Unit Ministry Team or UMT. An Army UMT is inseparable in duty.

If the Rev. Paul Wynn never returns from the war in Iraq, he wants his wife and children to know he served God and his country. Wynn's church sermon Sunday was the last he'll deliver for a while. The pastor at the New Covenant Church of St. Peters and the father of five children leaves Tuesday to begin 12 to 18 months of military service in Iraq. "It's a big, big if," Wynn, 36, of O'Fallon, Mo., told his children recently, "But if something does happen to me, I want you to always remember your dad did the right thing."

The 1990 West Point graduate and former Army football punt returner will spend the summer months in Farmington. Mo., where he'll begin training to lead a unit of 120 soldiers. This fall, he'll go to Fort Sill, Okla., before being deployed to Iraq. Wynn, a major, will lead a crew that supplies food, fuel, water and equipment to soldiers fighting on the ground in Iraq.

After returning from active duty in the Persian Gulf War, Wynn lived with his wife, Sandra, in England while attending Bible college. After finishing school, Wynn returned to Missouri and has served various positions in the church, including youth pastor, Bible training coordinator and full-time pastor for the past 18 months.

He said he felt compelled to rejoin the Army Reserve after the terrorist attacks on the United States. He knows it will be a challenge to leave his wife and his five children, Emily, 12, A.J., 11, Amanda, 7, Joe, 3, and Noah, 1. Wynn's 37th birthday will be Friday, and his 15th wedding anniversary July 14.

On Sunday, Wynn choked up in his sermon, a story about the day his son A.J. hit an inside-the-park home run in his youth baseball game three summers ago. Wynn also delivered a lyrical farewell to a congregation of about 150 people by quoting lyrics from some of his favorite classic rock and pop songs.

Sandra Wynn, 37, is proud of her husband and says, "If there's anyone I'd want fighting for me and this country and my children, it's him." However, she acknowledges that she worries about him, particularly because they have had five children since he served in the Persian Gulf War. "All the same stuff is coming back to me, but it's new and different," she said. "You have to take it day by day. Otherwise, you'll drive yourself crazy."

After Sunday's service, the celebration moved to Laurel Park in St. Peters, where friends and family had a picnic to honor him. Paul Wynn's arrival was met with a fury of applause, cheering and whistling.

Wynn said in an interview that he reconciles the conflict between Christian values of peace, love and forgiveness with wartime violence and bloodshed because he believes the military operations in Iraq are part of a larger war on terrorism that is moral. "If left unchecked, if left without a sense of balance, if there is no restraint, people would get crazy killing each other," he said. Longtime friend and church member Brien McCarthy, 42, of St. Charles, says Wynn's tenacity and big heart come from his athletic background. "He's a man who's committed to God, his family and his church and always has been," McCarthy said.

Joel Currier. Church pastor prepares for war. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 07/03/2005

Just War

Does Jesus oppose war?

The Christian church is not a theocratic nation (Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world; otherwise, my servants would fight"), but Christians ideally should live within national boundaries to seek the well-being of that nation. Sometimes, they may be called upon to defend that nation's existence (or that of another vulnerable nation) against an aggressor's attack.

Contrary to what many believe, Jesus' words about "turning the other cheek" after someone hits you on the right cheek are dealing with personal insults, not with acts of violence or force. Rather, Jesus said, "When insulted, be willing to take another insult." Assuming that persons in Jesus' time were generally right-handed, a hit on the right cheek is a back-handed slap, which even today in the Middle East expresses a gross insult. This idea of a slap as an insult is seen in Lamentations 3:30: "Let him give his cheek to the smiter and be filled with insults." This slap would be roughly equivalent to spitting in someone's face in our society.

Jesus is not saying, "Don't defend yourself when you are attacked" or "Don't help a woman who is being raped" or "Don't defend your country when it is being attacked." He is not negating the judicial principle of an "eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth"; he speaks against the abuse of that judicial principle to justify personal retaliation or vengeance.7

When is war just?

Although there are some pacifistic Christian groups which I respect, I believe good biblical reasons can be given for advocating a just war as a last resort to bring about lasting peace: Governments, when operating as they should, must bring order and punish evildoers. God approves of this arrangement, as Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Pet. 2:14 indicate. Even though war is never neat and innocent civilians will be killed, the Judeo-Christian tradition is realistic in recognizing human self-centeredness and sinfulness which may necessitate force to keep evil from spreading its tentacles further, to restrain violence.

If a war is ever to be fought, its principles should be just, keeping in mind both human beings as made in God's image and the reality of human sinfulness:

1. Just Cause: The only morally legitimate reason to go to war is for self-defense (or for defending a nation in moral need of defense) - or if there is very strong reason for a preemptive strike (e.g., a "rogue nation" with "dirty bombs"): "If this rule were universally followed there would be no aggressors and no wars."
2. Just Intent: The only morally legitimate goal in war is the restoration of peace, with justice for both friend and foe: "Vengeance, subjugation, and conquest are unjustifiable purposes." Sometimes there may be "unintentional effects" (killing civilians) which accompany the intended effect of restraining violence.
3. Last Resort: "war should be entered upon only when negotiation, arbitration, and compromise, and all other paths fail; for as a rational being man should, if at all possible, settle his disputes by reason and law, not by force."
4. Lawful Declaration: Only a lawful government has the right to initiate war. Only the state - not individuals or parties within the state - can legitimately exercise this authority.
5. Immunity Of Non-Combatants: "those not officially serving as agents of the government in its use of force, including POW's and medical personnel and services, should not be permitted to fight and are not to be subject to violence."
6. Limited Objectives: Since the goal of war is peace - not the destruction of the enemy nation's economy or the destruction of its political institutions.
7. Limited Means: "only sufficient force should be used to resist violence and restore peace." "Sufficient" does not necessarily mean decisive victory.

C.S. Lewis, writing during WWII, said that "war is very disagreeable." Be that as it may, evil and aggression are a reality, and we may be doing more harm by ignoring or not stopping evil. He said that a society of pacifists won't remain pacifistic long!

Only liberal societies tolerate Pacifists. In the liberal society, the number of Pacifists will either be large enough to cripple the state as a belligerent, or not. If not, you have done nothing. If it is large enough, then you have handed over the state which does tolerate Pacifists to its totalitarian neighbor who does not. Pacifism of this kind is taking the straight road to a world in which there will be no Pacifists.

Jesus said that those who are peacemakers are blessed - not just peacekeepers, but those who actively seek to unite parties at odds with one another. In the Christian faith, this is best exemplified by Jesus, in whose death we see, in the words of St. Paul, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself."

Paul Copan. Jesus, Religions, and Just War. EveryStudent.

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