Retired Chaplain Urges Return to Nation’s Values
(Editor’s Note: The following is a reprint of an article which recently appeared in the Redstone Rocket army newspaper)
By KARI HAWKINS Staff writer, Redstone Rocket (karihawk@knology.net)
On the eve of the nation’s Thanksgiving celebration, a decorated Vietnam chaplain said it is time for Americans to get back to the basic principles of God, family and country that are the foundation of the United States.
“We must restore the integrity and deep faith that we’ve lost,” said Dr. Robert Crick, a retired Army chaplain who was awarded the Legion of Merit, two Bronze Stars with Valor and several other medals for his combat service in Vietnam and who now serves as the director of the International Chaplains Commission in Cleveland, Tenn.
Speaking to a gathering of Soldiers and civilians at the Thanksgiving Prayer Breakfast at the Officers and Civilians Club, Crick said the nation must not allow the faith of its forefathers to be lost to the younger generation.
“Who’s praying for this generation?” he asked.
When a nation is praying for its leaders and its young people “truth will prevail, goodness will be lifted up and thanksgiving onto God himself will be more important than anything else we do or say … Go back to the essentials of your faith. Stand up and be counted, and your kids and grandkids will be the recipients of your courage and conviction,” Crick said.
The breakfast opened with spiritual music sung by guitarist Lance Gilbreath and the national anthem sung by Dwayne Jones. Retired Navy Capt. Joe Baldauf read Deuteronomy 8:6-9 and Hebrews 13:15-16, both passages reiterated in Thanksgiving remarks made by Redstone commander Maj. Gen. Jim Myles and Crick.
Although times are tough, the economy is bad, friends are hurting and people are suffering from medical conditions, Myles said Americans should “stop and thank the Lord for blessings.”
He said everyone should take a moment on Thanksgiving to think about where they were seven years ago when a terrorist attack took the lives of thousands of Americans on U.S. soil, and about how that attack today still affects the lives of all Americans, particularly Soldiers.
“There are so many family members who have said goodbye to their Soldier three times since 2001 … Think about what it would mean to your life if that occurred. Thanksgiving is a wonderful opportunity to think about those who are making some significant sacrifice for all of us,” Myles said.
In his speech, Crick picked up on Myles’ comments by saying Americans living in today’s complex world should come together in prayer.
“There’s not a single core value among any of us. We are people of multiple values,” he said. “At a football game on Saturday afternoon or in church on Sunday morning, we wear a different uniform of values.
“Prayer brings us back to the very core value of what life’s all about. The simple reality is you are a child of God.”
Prayer gives people the power and strength to face challenges, he said. As a young chaplain leaving for Vietnam, Crick remembers saying goodbye to his 5-year-old son, who said “Dad, we’re praying for you.”
That powerful image remains with Crick as a source of strength, even though his son is now grown and the Crick family now includes grandchildren. Today he prays America will return to a simpler time when prayer was a part of everyday living.
“Our world is in deep trouble,” he said. “We need leaders with deep moral conviction and with a personal relationship with God. If this world ever needed men and women of conviction, we need them today.”
Crick recalled serving with the 82nd Airborne when it transported hundreds of tanks to Europe in 1961 as the Berlin Wall went up.
“I lived through that long, difficult, painful Cold War,” he said. “And, then, in 1989, the Berlin Wall came down. I watched what military power and might couldn’t do. Brick by brick, stone by stone, that wall came down with prayer.”
Christianity thrives today in Eastern Europe because of those people of faith who continued to worship in the “underground church” during their days behind the “iron curtain” of Communism.
Crick retold the Old Testament story of Nehemiah and the persecution of the Israelites. He also told the Vietnam story of Hill 875 at the Battle of Dak To and Army Chaplain Charles Watters, who rescued wounded Soldiers in the face of enemy fire and who died while tending to the wounded. He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.
Today, “God wants to put us back on the potter’s wheel … He wants us to return to Him with courage and conviction,” Crick said. “There’s a type of thanksgiving courage that I hope this country comes back to. There’s nothing more relevant today than to have a man of God with that kind of courage and conviction.”
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PRAYING FOR NATION— Decorated Vietnam chaplain Dr. Robert Crick addresses Soldiers and civilians attending the Thanksgiving Prayer Breakfast on Nov. 26 at the Officers and Civilians Club (Photo by Kari Hawkins) |
