Launch Sunday IV                                                                      Psalm 131

Mashpee May 25, 2008                                                            John 15:12-17

“What Greater Sacrifice?”

          When I first started in the ministry, a Methodist Pastor, who was about to retire presented me with a stack of 3X5 index cards, each of which contained a sermon illustration.  I kept those cards for ten years and finally discarded them after using virtually every one of them in sermons.

          As I was planning today’s service, I thought about one of them that contained the story of four chaplains in WW II. I remembered the basic account but I needed help.  Thanks to the efficiency of modern search engines for the internet, I found online at HomeofHeroes.com, just exactly what I needed:  “The True Story of the Four Chaplains.” Today’s message is a paraphrase of that account.

          We travel back in time to November of 1942 to the campus of Harvard University and the School for Chaplains.  Four men are about to meet and form an incredible relationship which will later become most apparent as they face a crucial decision at sea.

          First, there is Methodist Minister George Fox who is an Army Chaplain from Vermont who enlisted the same day his son Wyatt enlisted in the Marine Corps.

          Next is the Rev. Clark V. Poling, a Dutch Reformed Minister, who had been serving in New York and whose father had served as a chaplain in WW I.

          Third is Army Chaplain Alexander Goode, a Rabbi who had been serving in the Navy Chaplain’s Corps before the start of the war.

          The fourth chaplain in this story is Father John P. Washington, a Catholic Priest who had been serving parishes in New Jersey.

          Providentially, while in Chaplain’s School these four men form a strong friendship which will later enable them to make a huge decision in unison.

          We now move ahead to January 23, 1943.  The U.S.A.T. Dorchester leaves New York for an Army Base in Greenland.  As if the ice flows and gale force winds are not enough of a threat, the ship would be navigating in waters nicknamed “Torpedo Junction.”  On the average, 100 allied ships a month are being sunk by German torpedoes, a number unimaginable for us today.  The ship is filled with 920 men, including the four chaplains.

          Below the icy-cold decks are men jammed into tight quarters which, in fact, are hot from the sheer heat of bodies.  The men are ready to end the journey and when word comes on February 2, they are only 150 miles away and they rejoice.  But, not for long because word also comes that their three Coast Guard escorts have detected with their sonar the presence of an enemy submarine.

          The ship’s Captain knows that the prudent thing to do is to prepare the men for the worst.  He orders the soldiers to sleep fully clothed and with life jackets.  Some of the men comply while many others are simply too hot and find the order unreasonable. 

          One hour into a new day, Feb. 3, the German U-Boat Captain gives the command to fire.

          A second torpedo is launched with deadly accuracy and within minutes, the ship begins to sink and a night of living hell begins to unfold.

          Immediately the four Chaplains move to assist the panicked and wounded men.  Each of them guides disoriented men out of the hold onto the Deck.  They speak comforting words to men who suspect that they are about to die. 

          Tragically, life boats float away without passengers.  Some capsize due to the understandable and panicked overloading.  There is precious little time to make decisions and to respond appropriately. 

          Within twenty minutes of the two explosions the Dorchester is about to go under.  The Chaplains open lockers and pass out life jackets; they direct men and speak calmly to them words of reassurance.

          Suddenly, the distribution of life jackets stops.  The lockers are empty.  The Chaplains without hesitating take off their life jackets and place them on men closest to them, understanding fully that without them they are surely doomed.  Time is up.  There is nothing else to do. 

          Those who have managed to land safely in a boat are able to hear above the crash of the waves and the howling of the wind, an ancient Hebrew Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer recited by the four Chaplains who are about to enter their watery grave.  They cling to the railing praying and singing, ministering to the men for whom there is no hope.  Their arms are linked together in unity.  One survivor later says, “It was the finest thing I have ever seen this side of heaven.”

          On July 4, 1960 by Act of Congress the “Four Chaplain’s Medal” is created.  On January 18, 1961, the same medal is given posthumously to the families of our four heroes.

          In today’s reading from the Book of John, Jesus says, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

          This weekend our country honors all those men and women who have given their lives for us.  There are no politics here.  There is no commentary on government policies and we fully realize many others in lands around the world have also given their lives for their own causes.

 We simply take time to remember and honor those people who have died in service to this country, a country that allows freedom of worship no matter how we define our God. 

The second stanza of our opening hymn concludes the story far better than I could express by calling for an end to all that would lead people in the first place to resort to war.  Can we as a nation under God lead the world to a new day and a new age?

Lead us forward into freedom; from despair your world release,

that, redeemed from war and hatred, all may come and go in peace.

Show us how through care and goodness fear will die and hope increase.

AMEN