From: Barb Kavouras Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 10:29 AM To: Confessional Lutherans in Missionary Boldness Subject: CLIMB: Chaplain's Field Report 4-25-02 Chaplain's Field Report Staten Island, NY Fresh Kills Landfill Thursday April 25, 2002 Dear Friends, This report comes to you from the basement/laundromat of Mt. Manresa Jesuit Retreat House in Staten Island New York. Here, fifty something, pure New York, Fr. Jack Ryan ("just a humble janitor" as he calls himself) and his cadre of authentic servants provide all the simple wants of life to anyone and everyone. No questions. No charge. An example you ask? Kavouras: Father, who do I pay for the hundred, legal-size, two sided copies I just made on your photocopier? Ryan: Fahggedabowdit. Kavouras: No Father I'm serious, this all cost. Ryan: Relax. (briefest of pauses) Can I get you anything? Kavouras: (in a daze, but quick to learn the terse NY style) I'm good. (The blink of an eye - Phillip is gone and this Ethiopian quickly shakes his head, wonders what just happened. Moves on. Work to do.) Thanks for teaching this old dog a new trick, Father. Since September 11th, Mount Manresa has provided food and lodging to thousands of visiting safety forces assisting in the recovery operation. Oh and they do retreats too. Each of the seventy rooms, doubles and singles - ("Joette find the chaplain a single if you can" - this as he carried in one of my suitcases on Tuesday) has a bed, wing chair, desk with chair and a sink. Lamp and one electrical outlet. No phone, tv or radio. Common shower and restroom. Everything is clean, simple and adequate - a welcome relief from the pampered life to which we've become accustomed. The laundromat consists of one washer and one dryer (no coins needed). Both times I've used them, I've had to take someone else's wash out and put it in the dryer, then fold it to get mine into that second phase. All in all a nice little system, welcome relief from the daily hustle and a chance to sit in silence and do my reports. Today we did the main Service which came as part of the Texas Barbecue. The entire operation, except for security for a few other necessities, was shut down to give all a chance to attend both. This is the first time since the beginning that this has happened. The Service held in the mess tent was well attended. All 100 seats were occupied and there were an additional 50 to 60 people standing. The Service will be posted on the website http://safetychaplain.tripod.com and the Sermon will be included at the end of this report. Five of the Baytown's Finest acted as my ushers and handed out Service folders at the beginning and sermon manuscripts at the end. For fifty minutes, the Law and Gospel were presented by means of liturgy, hymns, prayers, Scripture and preaching. Once the dismissal was given and a moment of reverent silence observed, Deputy Inspector Luongo asked everyone to be seated for a moment. At that time, he publicly thanked us for the Service and the special lunch and asked the men to show their gratitude with a round of applause. Judging from that very hearty and very long show of appreciation I think all was well received and we have much for which to thank God - that even in this miserable garbage dump, this valley of dry bones, the life-giving Spirit of God lifted up human hearts from the miry clay to the very gate of heaven with His Gospel. Again my special thanks goes to Pastor Bill Wrede who came all the way from Long Island to play organ for this Service. On short notice, he was able to borrow a keyboard, and amplifier and make the long drive (in miserable weather today) with his visiting family in tow and grace us with the beauty of song. As I've said many times before, I doubt that we could effectively conduct theology without the gift of sacred song. God grant that through our humble efforts raw souls were soothed. Before we get to the sermon, I'd like to convey one more story. The FBI command post from where I work shares some of its space with the two airlines involved in September's events. Since first arriving, I noticed one of the airline people on scene always calling me 'Pastor' instead of 'Chaplain'. I suspected and later confirmed that he was a Lutheran since very few people use that form of address. We talked a good bit about the events, and about digital photography, and in the course of our conversation he began to tell me some personal concerns and worries that he had. I was able to listen, and on the basis of God's Word afford him aid in his distress. In the course of the conversation, I don't remember exactly how, he subtly inquired if he might receive communion. Not wanting to interfere with his usual pastoral care I asked if he was a regular attendee at his congregation. He assured me that he was, but made clear that he would never pass up an opportunity to receive this wondrous gift, especially as he was carrying some heavy burdens. What could I do but thank God for such a beautiful and simple faith and feed it in the best way possible? Not with my meager meanderings but the body and blood of Christ, in with and under the bread and wine, given for us Christians to eat and to drink, for the forgiveness of our sins, for life and for salvation. We used the private communion service for the sick found in the Agenda. Before we began, I explained that though he was not ill, the sorrows of life can make us feel as sick as any germ; but when our faith is strengthened by God's Word even the pressures of life can seem like heaven. To this he readily agreed, and God's medicine for the soul was administered to his joy and to this humbled and *grateful* chaplain's privilege. But if the Heavenly Father is anything like Father Ryan, I know what He'd be telling me right now in clipped Brooklynese - Fahggedabowdit. Can I get you anything? And now the sermon. Thanks for reading. Rev. Dean Kavouras, Chaplain FBI Cleveland Division Cleveland Safety Forces "Jesus lives the victory's won, death no longer can appall me. Jesus lives death's reign is done, from the grave Christ will recall me. Brighter scenes will then commence, this shall be my confidence." TLH 201. __________________________________ In The Valley Of Dry Bones Staten Island, New York April 25, 2002 by: Chaplain Dean Kavouras Title: Can these bones live? Text: Ezekiel 37:11-14 Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are completely cut off.' Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the LORD God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD." Fellow Redeemed of Christ, May He who is able to breath living breath into dry bones invigorate you today by His Holy Spirit and give you a vision like Ezekiel's of opened graves and restored lives! Today we have a question before us and a very strange one at that, "can these bones live?" But lately I'm sure we've all been asking some very strange questions. Can these bones live? Is there any hope after a disaster such as this? Is there any future worth living for and looking forward to - for without a tomorrow, today has no meaning, and we might as well all just lie down and die right here and right now, and mix our bones in with theirs. Can these bones live? Can anything good come out of this monstrous criminal act larger than the combined experience of every policeman here has ever seen. This overt act of war.of which most our sleepy nation is still ignorant - but of which you are not. Of which you know every grisly detail down to the last shoe, the last wallet, the last diaper, the last badge, the last bone. You who have breathed the dust of this place.and of these people.and have incorporated it into your own being.and become one with them in the strongest way we could ever use those words; you who have lived and worked and wondered and cried and anguished and become numb of soul, in this valley of dry bones. Son of man, can these bones live? That's what God most High asks Ezekiel! Son of man, can these bones live? And poor, awestruck, dumbfounded, burned out, "critical incident stressed" Ezekiel replies "Oh Lord God you alone know". That's what he said. But you and I know what he had to be thinking. What do you mean can these bones live? Do I look like a genius? What do you mean God by asking can these bones live? Can the Trade Towers come back together and transport themselves back to Manhattan, and re-assemble themselves; and can all the lives and all the sanity (such as it was) be restored, like some kind of backwards running video tape? What do you mean, Can these bones live!? Have you the Great Sane One also taken leave of your senses? Never the less the question stands. And it reaches out over 2,600 years of history; over mountains and oceans; cultures and theologies and today God asks Staten Island: can these bones live? But by that question, which God answered in the affirmative when He raised Christ from the dead - by that question he invites us to put our trust in Christ Jesus who is the Living God, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Firstborn from among the dead, the Resurrection and the Life, all things which He has become for us. Can these bones live? Is this all we will ever know, one war after another; one homicide scene after another; brutal act after brutal act; blackness built on darkness built on blood stacked on death? Dear friends what we behold before us in this 'valley of dry bones' is the wages of sin. Just one small example of where man always ends up when he worships false gods, 'chooses his own lifestyle' and asserts himself against the paths of Righteousness revealed for us in the Word of God. The results can rise no higher than this; and such arrogance is storing up for itself the fullest measure of divine wrath; and what we see here is only a paradigm of the future sinful men can expect apart from Christ Jesus the Savior and His redeeming love for us all. Can these bones live? Is there hope for the future? Do we have a reason to live and to move and to have our being, when this might be the first of many scenes to which we will be called to give our lives up to? Can these bones live? Not divorced from God's revelation in Scripture. For human wisdom can teach us nothing about morality, nothing about life and nothing about life everlasting. Can these bones live? Not if we focus on them, or on our own personal disasters, instead of looking to the One who is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God by Him, Jesus Christ our dear Lord and Redeemer; whose Spirit in Baptism washed us clean of every sin, clothed us in Christ's Righteousness and established an unbreakable covenant with us that He would be our God and we would be His people for all time and in eternity besides. He is the key to life; the key to joy; the key to peace; and the key to hope. He truly is: Our God; our Help in ages past; our Hope for years to come; our shelter from the stormy blast; and our eternal home (TLH 123). It is He and no other who invites you today: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Mt 11:28-30)" Can these bones live? Ezekiel had a vision, we read it a few minutes ago. What I'm about to say is at this time only a vision for us as well. But because of God's promise we will one day possess in fact what we now hold only by faith. For the same Lord who spoke to Ezekiel is faithful. He is faithful and He is able. He is able and He is willing to fulfill our expectations and make "all things new" (Rev. 21:4). Can these bones live? Yes but only because other bones, holy bones were crushed. Only because 2000 years ago there was a place similar to this one; a place also scattered with bones; a hill far away called Mt. Calvary but which everyone called "the place of the skull". The place of the skull, a 'valley of dry bones' where the people were brought to die, slow, ugly and excruciating deaths for crimes committed against the empire. There divine blood was shed for sinful men. There the eternal Son of God, bearing the sin and sadness and misery and death of all mankind.died the most unjust death of all history to free us from our sins! And though Jesus had done nothing wrong, nor was any guile found in His mouth, He willingly died this shameful death to give Light and Life and Hope to all mankind. Not for crimes He had done against the state, but for crimes we have done against God, against our neighbor, and against all that is good and right and holy and true. It was your sins for which He suffered, your guilt for which He felt the whip and the thorns and the spear and the nails. As Isaiah tells us "the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Is. 53:4) But this should not frighten us or make us sad, because on Calvary our Lord Jesus Christ was gladly and lovingly paying the enormous price for human sin, setting us free and with His own blood, and making us fit to live with Him in His glorious and heavenly home. Can these bones live? The Life and the Death and the Resurrection of Christ our God answer that question in the affirmative. But He has done more besides. He commanded that this good news be published and preached to sinful man, so that at the cross, God's mercy seat, sinners might always find hope. He's given the Church, the Scriptures, the cleansing waters of Baptism and His Body and Blood in the Eucharist so that we would never go, even for a single moment, without the forgiveness of sins and living hope for a bright future. We don 't need to wonder as Readers Digest wrote a few months ago, "where to find God in uncertain times". All times are uncertain without Christ! But wherever Scripture's Gospel is preached and the Sacraments administered according to the Gospel, there we find the Father of all mercies and God of all comfort (2 Cor 1:3). There we find all that our wounded souls need to be healed from what now oppresses us. Can these bones live? Jesus answers that question in the affirmative when He says: Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live (John 5:24-25). Can these bones live? As Christ rose from His grave all who put their trust in Him will likewise rise from theirs, this is why Easter is the holiest day of all, because Christ is our Head and what happened to the head, will also happen to the members. Apart from Him there is no life, only an eternity of what you see before you today. But with Him there is resurrection from the dead, and nothing, not even the grimmest death can have the final word over your life. This is the Gospel, this is the Good News which the Church has preached for thousands of years. Though we have no power within ourselves to believe it or maintain it, the Holy Spirit has created faith in us, and He sustains it in good times and in bad; awake or asleep. It is He who will open your grave and usher you into the goal of all humanity, heaven. The place of everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness. So call on Him moment by moment, day by day, to give you sanity and peace and comfort and forgiveness for your many sins, and hope and strength to do your work - and vision to keep your eyes on the heavenly prize which Christ Jesus has won for us all. Don't depend on yourself, your own strength, your own good works, your suffering, your emotions or your pain - those don't buy anything in the heavenly economy - the Strong One has given Life to you already and He will never let anyone pluck you out of His hand. And know that the Living God, Christ Jesus your Lord is with you! He's with you on the sifters and in the fields; in the trailers and the tool sheds; the check points and the command posts. He's with you when you come here and when you go home each day. He promises: I will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5). He encourages you: be strong and courageous; do not be discouraged, do not be terrified, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9). And Christ Jesus our Lord promises: Behold.I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Mt 28:20). So continue on in faith in Christ and know that your weary bones will live! Know that the One who is ALL-Mighty will bring you into your own land; a land flowing with milk and honey; a land of eternal day where we need no light, nor lamp nor sun for Christ will be our Light. The LORD has spoken it, and He will do it. Your bones will live. 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