Transcript
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It was 85 years ago tonight at 11 o'clock that the guns fell silent on the Western Front, and the world's first great war came to a close. For years it was known as Armistice Day, now it's Veterans Day because other wars have intervened since then, and it
is fortuitous, I mean it is fortuitous that on this day we should have our annual recognition of and celebration of the ministry of Christian women and men who serve in the armed forces of our country as chaplains to the sailors, the soldiers, and the marines. It is a special pleasure for me this morning to welcome back not only an alumna of this institution but one who graduated during my time here. I'm beginning to recognize them now,
and this is a very, very good feeling. Lieutenant Margaret Kibben is the chaplain in the United States Navy. She is a graduate of Goucher College and Princeton Theological Seminary in the class of 1989. She was, I believe, the first naval chaplain assigned to the United States Naval Academy and served there, if you've ever been to the Naval Academy in that beautiful chapel and conducted her ministry there. She has, since graduation, married Major Timothy Kibben in the
United States Marine Corps. Good choice, marines. I was once a marine but I was not a major. When I joined they offered me the commandant's office and I said no, I'd rather start at the bottom and work up and they said that'll be fine with them. But it is a wonderful privilege to welcome back to this campus Lieutenant Margaret Kibben who will lead us in our chapel service this morning. Margaret, welcome home. Might I say that
I've come full circle. Back in 1982 I sat in the pew knowing full well I was going to come into military chaplaincy and upon graduation in '86 I was able to fulfill that dream which had been in existence for quite a long time and I can't thank you all enough for inviting me to be here in this pulpit. It hasn't gotten any shorter. So I better keep my heels on. There are two scriptures for today, both
of which come from the Gospel of Matthew. The first comes from the 15th chapter in the 21st verse. Hear the word of the Lord. Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, Have mercy on me, son of David. My daughter is tormented by a demon. But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged
him saying, And send her away, for she keeps shouting after us. He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But she came and knelt before him saying, Lord, help me. He answered, It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs. She said, Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. Then Jesus answered her, Woman, great is your
faith. Let it be as you wish. And her daughter was healed instantly. The second passage comes from the 25th chapter of Matthew. Hear again the word of the Lord. When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of glory. All nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he
will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. Then the king will say to those on his right hand, Come, you are blessed by my father, and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was naked, and you gave me clothing.
I was sick, and you took care of me. I was in prison, and you visited me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you in sick and in prison and visited you? And
the king will answer them, Truly, I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you have done it unto me. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let us pray for a moment. Gracious God, help us to hear your word as it speaks to us individually, as each of us have come to understand, or are coming to understand what your call
to ministry is all about. Be with us then as we hear your word for us, not only today, but daily throughout our lives. We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. Well, maybe they were afraid that I was going to be casting pearls to swine or giving the children's bread to the dogs. But when I announced to my classmates that I was going to be a Navy chaplain, quite a few of them made quite a fuss.
A few of them thought, well, this is not how we think you ought to conduct your ministry, and were in some ways downright hostile about it. Others were merely curious. Those who were hostile were having difficulty with the idea that I would willingly go into the military. Whether it was to perform ministry or not, the whole idea of the military was just foreign and, in fact, terrible to them. Now, these were people I would label, for
lack of a better word, peace activists who regularly made trips up to Groton, Connecticut to protest a nuclear submarine in Groton at Electric Boat. Now, they were very sincerely committed to their causes, and for that I respect them. But when it came down to their decision for my ministry, I had a little difficulty. It was evident that the bottom line of their argument was that if I were willing to wear a uniform, then somehow I supported
the nuclear destruction of the world. I never quite got that connection there, but that's how they made it clear to me. And the other camp, and if you'll pardon the military analogy, were those who just hadn't had a whole lot of exposure to military people, and the whole idea of wearing a uniform was foreign to them. And the idea that I would actually willingly, again, take orders from some boorish, staid, gruff senior officer was just foreign.
And why would anyone costume themselves in the same outfit every day with no choice? And then the questions that came from these folks were best. They were like, well, what if your commanding officer ordered you to stand on your head for hours? Would you do it? Well, I won't tell you what the answer is. I'll let you think on that. There were questions like that. Interestingly enough, many of the questions and many of the comments had
little to do, however, with ministry. There was much discussion about my and others' career choice who chose to go out of parish ministry, but nary a second thought to those who chose to go into First Presbyterian Church somewhere. I'll have to even tell you, this is probably my favorite story about seminaries, that I was even quoted in Monday morning. Or shall I say misquoted, because what happened was I came back from chaplain school all fired up
and really excited, wearing my uniform, I see some ensigns there, they know exactly what I'm talking about. I was really excited about this idea of ministry in the chaplain corps, especially since I had planned it for so long. And I wanted to tell the story about this Marine Corps colonel who was not a very nice guy. In fact, he had led this terrible inspection, and it was very nerve-racking for those of us who are chaplains.
We're not real into inspections and that kind of things to our fault, but in any case, after the inspection, he gathered us all together. There were about a hundred of us, and he proceeded to share his theology with us, which was, God is a man of war. Coming from Princeton, that surprised me a little. I had never heard that one. And I came back to Princeton that fall and shared that story with people, thinking that they
would say, wow, what a challenge you have in your ministry, that you're going to be running up against these people. What a challenge you have for you. That's really exciting. No, that's not quite how they reacted. In fact, they somehow misinterpreted what I said to be something like, that's what the military felt, and that if we were to be chaplains, we had to feel that way too. Well, the bottom line is, and all of this, is
that the impression I got from my colleagues, and I must say even from my home presbytery, which isn't very far away, so I should be careful what I say, but why was I leaving the ministry? You laugh. It was a question. Well, I knew I was leaving conventional ministry. I was leaving whatever norm there is for ministry. But I kind of felt like Jesus, because I was bringing the word not just to the children, but to
the strangers as well. From that time in my life on, I have always wanted to somehow formulate what constitutes ministry. Now, let me say at this point, I kind of feel like I was preaching my first sermon at P.R.O.1, and I wanted to say everything, all those things I had learned for how many ever years of my life that was, all those theological truths I had learned, I wanted to pack them all into
one sermon. I kind of want to do that to you today, but I realize you have a class. But there are so many different things to share with you that I want to tell you all the things that I've learned and all the things that I've discovered and the things I hope to learn. I want to tell you what I believe constitutes chaplaincy. And I want to tell you so much that I'll just have to wait
until lunch. But I do want to recount for you two incidents. The first, I happened to be in a room with two older women, and they were discussing things that I guess they know each other relatively well, and they started to say things about this one woman, how unhappy she was. Now, this woman wears a very dour look anyway, so it didn't surprise me when she said this. And you may think I was eavesdropping. I was
actually trapped. There was no way I could not hear this conversation, though I did tilt my head a little. But the one woman, the other woman, who seemed to have a more pleasant demeanor, said, you know, I think you would be happier if you went to church. And the other woman said, why would I want to do that? The church is full of hypocrites, and the congregations aren't much better. You're a little slow, but you got
that. And the other woman said, well, that may be so, but I think God will help you feel better if you have a relationship with him. The second incident were two young men who were at their workplace, and they were talking about daily things, and eventually they got into a discussion about God. And the one said to the other, I don't know how anyone can believe in God because innocent people are killed every day, children and
nice people, and I just don't understand how anyone can believe in God. And the other one said, I don't know either, but I know somehow God has a plan, even for tragedies. Well, the second incident took place on a ship in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Two sailors, oh, 19, 20 years old, were talking with each other about some pretty heavy topics. The first happened in a local hairdresser, civilian, and I used these two incidents,
which could have about five sermons out of them, but I used these to share with you two things that have come clear to me in my ministry. The first of which is people everywhere are looking everywhere for God. Yes, they're in your pews at your field ed church and your home church, and they're in the pews that are even here in chapel. They're at churches, yes. They're looking for the words, the answers from ministers, yes, from
Scripture, certainly. But one of the things that has come home to me clearest in these seven years of ministry is that they're looking elsewhere, too. They're looking for answers at hairdresser's shops and on decks at sea and at places of business and at water fountains. They're looking for God in the trees and they're looking for God in the air and they somehow see God in their tears and in books and on the air advice. They're looking
everywhere for God. The second thing is that we as ministers need to be aware of that. We as ministers need to be aware that sometimes we need to step out of the pulpit, yes, in the pews, but sometimes we need to be at the hairdresser's shops and at places of business and in the heat of the engine rooms and the bottoms and the bowels of the ships. We need to be in the bitter cold of lookout
points. We need to be with our congregations when they're not here in the warmth and the grace and the love of a church. We need to be there so that we know where they're looking and what they're looking for and also that by the grace of God and our calling, the Holy Spirit will minister to them in their specific situations and answer their very specific questions. That, for me, constitutes ministry. Your average sailor or marine, and
I kind of want to tell this to my classmates, most of whom are here, though I see one or two, your average sailor or marine is not caring a whole lot about defense spending. They don't really care what's happening at Electric Boat. They really don't care a whole lot about the latest decision in Congress. I'm here to tell you that. What they are looking for also, I need to tell you this too, they're not looking a
whole lot about answers about church or liturgical seasons and salvation, really. They're not priorities to a lot of these folks that we as military chaplains are ministering to. Their priorities are how to pay the bill, how to take this teeny weeny little check that most of us would just spend at the grocery store. They're taking this check and spending it for a whole month with rent and child care and a car payment and, oh, don't forget
the rent of furniture that they always take care of buying. Your average sailor is looking to figure out how to, or marine or airmen or soldier, how to learn a trade, how to stay out of trouble. In their spare time, God might be a passing question out on the fantail or in the field. Might I also share with you that the average American citizen doesn't think much about some pretty basic theological issues here, which we banter
around like buzzwords. Your average American citizen doesn't really, your average person doesn't spend a whole lot of time thinking about God except when they reach a crisis, and then they have no ability to articulate what they're looking for. And so anything we try to throw at them that we may have learned in seminary that are words larger than oh, four or five letters is Greek to them. The danger we run into is that I think we
misinterpret what Jesus was saying to that Syrophoenician woman when he says, I came for the children of Israel. We interpret that as license for us, like the disciples did, and we attempt to affect where and when the gospel will be preached and to whom. We decide who is supposed to listen and who is not supposed to listen. It's really easy and really gratifying and encouraging to find those people in your congregations who are just eager for
the gospel. It's wonderful to find those people who are just following on your coattails, just waiting for the latest pearl of wisdom to drip from your mouth. It's really great and tempting to hook on to those people. And it's also pretty obvious that we were sent to care for the people who maybe are not quite so with it, who aren't so all put together, but who are really needy. It's pretty obvious that we're there for the
people who just obviously cannot do anything for themselves. But what about the people on the periphery? You notice that Jesus didn't walk away from that woman. Even though the disciples encouraged him to ignore her, what he did was give her the opportunity to express her faith, and then he ministered to her once he'd given her that opportunity to speak. I'm talking about those same kind of people, the ones who aren't real loud, one way or the
other, the ones who get lost in the pew if they even show up, the salt of the earth, the dogs, the hard workers, the ones who are going home if they do come to church, trying to figure out words like salvation and repentance and dogma and Samaritan, and not coming up with anything but a big old question mark. I'm talking about those people who are just trying to figure out the answers somehow. What's going on in
the pew is a very important question. But one of the things, the thing that I have discovered about my ministry in the Chaplain Corps is that a lot of the ministry doesn't happen in the pew. It happens at the hairdressers, again, the workplaces, the living rooms, at casual encounters. Now I'm not trying to recruit you, though I'm sure that there are people with big old white badges who would be more than happy to do that, but
I want to introduce you to a unique angle of ministry that doesn't happen just in military chaplaincy, but everywhere, to the angle that says that sometimes we can get out of these robes and out of our committee meetings and walk the everyday life of our congregations. Imagine sitting down sometime with a cup of coffee with one of your congregational members where they work. Now I know most of you can't gain access to IBM, but imagine if
you could, pick one of those members in your field ed church or your home congregation or just somebody you know who's a peripheral person. Imagine going into their daily life where their desks are cluttered with the dailiness. Imagine just talking to them about, oh, things. I guarantee you, within minutes, you'll be talking about the burden of that dailiness. Within minutes, theological questions you never even dreamed of here will come up. I guarantee you that you will
represent God's presence right there. It doesn't take a gothic structure. It doesn't take paneled offices, necessarily. Some people like that. That's okay. But sometimes ministry can take place in gray-hulled vessels in the middle of the Adriatic. I do need to share one story with you. Easter, I was at sea this year. I've never been away for Easter. I've always been at a home or a family thing. And Easter, by the way, in the real world,
is not a big deal. And I wanted to have a sunrise service on the ship. And so I did. I had to find a nice place. We ended up on the Signal Bridge, which is at the top of the ship, if you will. And there we were at sunrise. Chaplain, you've got to be kidding me. You want to get up at 5:30? Sure, why not? That's when the sun rises. Well, in any case, there we
were. And it was gray. And it was misty. And I was trying to play the piano with frozen fingers. A portable piano. But there were 40 people in the middle of the Adriatic. Communist countries around us in a vessel designed for combat. Saying, he is risen! He is risen indeed. I don't know if it was as meaningful to them as it was to me. But I do know that in my ministry, in the middle of the
Adriatic, in the Mediterranean, or in the yards, or out in the field, that I have been able to allow, to be an instrument of God speaking to them right where they are. They didn't have to come to me. God came to them. They are each the children of God. And in this ministry, I have hoped that I might be able to share some bread from that table. Amen.
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Haven't we heard the charge? Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, after causing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is the insurance, ours as well. Lo, I am with you always. Keep it, the end of the day. Join me, and don't stop. Amen.
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