Sullivan UMC—J. Michael Smith

Member update:

• Ron Weaver had surgery this afternoon and came through fine.  He’s been in quite a bit of misery for a few days and this should get him up and going soon.

Around the Church Today

We had about 8 or so people attend the Bridging Table at noon today for orientation.  I’ll be hosting the evening orientation on the same subject in a few minutes.  Interesting conversations and input from everyone.

Earlier today I moderated a Zoom meeting for about 40 people (military chaplains, social workers, pastors from around the country) on Moral Injury.  My roommate from seminary spent his entire ministry as a chaplain in the Army, retiring a few years ago.  In his retirement, he felt a call to begin working on the phenomenon of “Moral Injury” suffered by combat warriors.  

Moral injury is different from a physical injury or an emotional wound such as PTSD.  It involves the injury to your conscience in the wake of killing or wounding another person in combat, when seeing others you care about being injured or killed while you escaped, or when feeling betrayed by the government or superiors who sent you into battle in the first place.

Dave (my former roommate) was wounded himself in Iraq and was present as a chaplain for several tours in combat zones in both Iraq and Afghanistan.  The Zoom meeting this morning brought people together to talk about his work and consider ways in the future to better be in ministry to combat veterans.