Southland Christian Ministry Training
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By Ian, on December 8th, 2011%
 There are times when I wonder what I am really doing as a chaplain in the Royal Australian Air Force. It is all too easy to feel overwhelmed by the needs of the people who come to me for help, and frustrated by the fact that I do not have the power to “fix” their problems. Sometimes that results in me questioning whether God made a mistake in calling me to this ministry! Yet, when I get to that point, God sometimes sends me a message. No, I did not hear a voice or see a vision, but God spoke to me through a prayer that crossed my desk. Prayers of the saints are not part of my tradition, but the following from St Francis of Assisi got me pondering:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much to seek to be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
If you are struggling with life then maybe this is worth pondering for you as well, and if you are touched by it, I challenge you to pray it!
Chaplain Ian S Whitley
By Ian, on March 14th, 2011%
 For those of you that are not religiously inclined you may not know that this week is the start of Lent. Maybe (like one member I spoke to) you noticed a mark on your boss’ forehead and tried to be ‘helpful’ only to be told that it was Ash Wednesday! Whoops!!!
I don’t come from a tradition that celebrates Lent, but here is a quick guide to what it is all about. I’ve summarised it in three points:
- Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter. It is a time of preparation and carries with it the idea of self sacrifice and austerity. It is an opportunity for self examination and repentance as symbolised by the ash. For the purist the ashes are the burnt remains of the woven crosses (or the palms) from last year’s Palm Sunday.
- The purpose of all this is to stop and review your life, to cut down the ambient noise, by going to the desert (at least in a figurative sense) to be able to hear God’s word more clearly, and get serious about prayer!
- Finally there is an aspect of giving to others who need help. There seems to be so many appeals for support and so many natural disasters, and it is easy to get compassion fatigue, but his period of Lent is to remind us in a concrete way that in reality we have so much more than most people in the world today.
Lent is an opportunity to rethink,  to seriously reflect on who we are, where we are going and what we have been given. The key is to pause long enough to hear what God might be trying to say, no matter what your denominational label! If you want to start Lent on the right foot, why not join with God’s people at Church this Sunday.
Chaplain Ian S Whitley
By Ian, on February 28th, 2011%
 Today I was reminded of how much I rely on my photocopier. The one in the Chaplain’s centre is normally so reliable that I don’t even think about it but over the last few days there have been an increasing number of paper jams, mis-feeds and frustrating delays that has got at me! Yet, when I paused to think about it, I was reminded that they haven’t really been around all that long. I can remember the first one I operated, and had to justify its use since the cost was so high! At that time I was operating a monster duplicator, wax sheets, messy ink drums and a minimum print run of about 50! Before that it was a strange machine that you had to feed copious amounts of methylated spirits to get even a very poor copy! I am even old enough to remember doing multiple copies on a typewriter, with carbon paper…so what?
All of us here at RAAF Wagga are in the business of duplication. When we work with recruits, trainees and subordinates, our role is to teach them to be like us, to reproduce ourselves so that they adopt our practices, our values and our skills. Do we do that just in the classroom setting? NO! So much of what we teach is through our example, how we react to situations, and even how we behave in our free time both on and off the base. Take a moment to reflect…how good a duplicator are you? Is that what you want?
Some of my experiences this week have highlighted the fact that we sometimes expect a higher standard of others than we expect of ourselves, yet such a system is doomed to fail because no matter how we discipline people or force them in a particular direction, they seem to continue to become like their role models – for better or for worse!
The problem is not the photocopi er – but US! If the original is faulty we can’t blame the copy! But if you get the original right you will get right copies. So instead of pointing the finger at others get your own act together. Without pushing the metaphor too far, the answer is not to blame the weather, the paper, or another operator but to get the serviceman out to give it a service! In human terms the manufacturer is God Himself, so take the time go get to know Him.
Chaplain Ian S Whitley
By Ian, on February 20th, 2011%
 What does it take to become a hero? My aging mother, now 88 years old has spent her life telling and collecting stories. I recently heard one that got me pondering, I had probably heard it before but this time it coincided with her acquiring some handwritten letters which gave this story a new level of credibility.
James Cornwall was born about 1836 and apparently while only a young boy joined the Royal Navy. He probably served on several ships learning his trade, but we know for sure that he served on three: HMS Fox, HMS Ajax and HMS Cossack because three letters have survived.
The one from HMS Fox is dated 26 May 1853 and details the action he saw in Burma, and was sent from Rangoon. The next was dated 26 July 1854 after he had transferred to the HMS Ajax and his involvement at the beginning of the Crimean war. The third is from the HMS Cossack dated 11 Feb 1855, in which he complains about the cold, and hopes for an early end to this war because “it is killing work”.
Although the spelling is a bit vague, it would appear that he spent quite a bit of time in the Baltic Sea around Kronstadt and Helsinki. The HMS Cossack was a brand new steam corvette with 20 guns which was originally being built for the Russians, but with the outbreak of the Crimean War in April 1854, she was confiscated, renamed HMS Cossack, and launched on 15 May 1854.
On 5 June 1855 the HMS Cossack was shelling a small outpost on Aland, an island near Helsinki and the enemy forces on shore raised a white flag in surrender. A boat was despatched under the command of midshipman James Cornwall. As they approached the shore the enemy opened fire killing all the crew except one, who miraculously escaped. When the boat drifted out of range of the shore, the one survivor was able to row back to the ship with his slain shipmates, who were then buried at sea.
 A lock of James Cornwall’s hair was sent back to his mother, which was then enclosed in a memorial broach and ring engraved with his name and date of his death, and the comment aged 19 years.
Why bother telling this story? Obviously it is part of my family heritage, but also it is a reminder that God calls each of us to walk a different path. I don’t know if James died a heroic death but I do know that he laid down his life doing what he knew was right. This proud tradition of the RN has been passed down to anyone who serves in the armed forces and every day when young seamen join a boarding party to check a refugee boat, near Ashmore Reef, or young soldiers do a patrol in Afghanistan or young airmen fly in a C130 on a humanitarian rescue mission, they take that same risk. Is that “heroic” no, it’s just part of the job and typifies the Defence values we own. What values guide your life?
Chaplain Ian S Whitley
By Ian, on October 20th, 2010%
BACKGROUND
I have known Mike Frost for about twenty years. We met at Morling Theological College and completed our B.Th. together, and even then he was a high flier. He is a qualified teacher, an expert communicator, a gifted artist and an effective leader with a keen mind which has only improved over time. He has authored several books, is a sought after speaker in Australia, NZ, USA, Canada and the UK, and for all his criticism of the established western church, has chosen to stay in it as Professor of Evangelism and Missions at Morling Baptist Theological College in Sydney.
OUTLINE
The book is neatly divided into four parts namely:
1. Dangerous Memories, of who we are and the fact that:
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- God will rescue his exiles,
- Jesus was a radical exile, and
- Jesus is our example!
2. Dangerous Promises, covering the ability to
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- Be authentic,
- Serve a cause greater than ourselves,
- Create community,
- Be generous and practice hospitality, and
- Work for righteousness.
3. Dangerous Criticism, because we have an obligation to critique the host nation in terms of:
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- Injustice,
- The environment, and
- Oppression.
4. Dangerous Songs covering:
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- Worship at the altar, and
- Revolution – Jesus Ain’t My Boyfriend!
REFLECTION
I read this book while on exile in the Middle East Area of Operations, as a member of the Australian Military, surrounded by an Islamic host nation, and cooperating with might and force of the US military machine. Obviously, my context may have influenced my receptiveness to this message, but I firmly believe that the western church needs to be rocked out of its complacency to see the implications of being part of a Post-Christian world as Mike Frost paints it. He describes his purpose in these words:
“This book is for the many people who wish to be faithful followers of the radical Jesus but no longer find themselves able to fit into the bland, limp, unsavoury straitjacket of a church that seems to be yearning to return to the days when ‘everyone’ used to attend church and ‘Christian family values’ reigned”.
That is me! Maybe that is why I am a military chaplain and not the pastor of a church! The culture of the Australian Defence Force is unmistakedly “Post-Christian” and in this book Frost gives some very helpful tools to work with in that environment. His foundation is solidly Biblical yet he is not limited to the traditional interpretations of scripture that have encouraged the church to align itself with power and authority.
Mike’s style of writing is easy to read, thought provoking, and dare I say entertaining! He uses stories from a wide range of sources from “Watership Downs” to “the Simpsons” and is as comfortable discussing the merits of Renaissance art as ecological issues of the 21st century! There is deep theological interaction with past and present authorities yet without losing touch with the practical implications of how we do theology in a Post-Christian world. We are exiles here but we have an ongoing role to play, which does not involve hiding in a Christian ghetto and praying for the end to come!
So what should we be doing? In Mike’s words “Hold on to the dangerous memories of God. Keep making those dangerous promises. Keep practicing that dangerous critique of the host empire. Keep singing those dangerous songs. Our day will come.”
If you are prepared to have your cage rattled – read this book. It is a mere 327 pages of hard hitting challenge to the status quo. It is a breath of fresh air for those of us who minister outside the established church (though ordained and recognised by it) who continually grapple with exilic issues that our colleagues ministering inside the church can’t even see! This book has given me some helpful tools to help me survive and flourish in exile, while reminding me the pitfalls of getting too comfortable here.
Chaplain Ian Whitley
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