The Veteran Ministry Network of the Heartland Conference offers several resources for your consideration as we near Veterans Day. The first is an 11-day remembrance of those who have completed suicide. It is called The Daily Liturgy of the Witness Tree. This simple liturgy includes hanging 22 dog tags per day on a tree outside of your church, beginning November 1st through November 11th. The 22 tags remind us of veterans who have completed suicide or as is sometimes called “killed after action.” This remembrance has been shown to be of great benefit to families who have lost a family member in this way. Information about how to do the witness tree liturgy and where to get dog tags can be found by clicking the buttons above. For further information contact Rev. John Schluep at warriorsjourneyhome@gmail.com.
The Heartland Conference Veterans Network invites churches to consider a ministry to veterans carrying moral injury.
Honoring and Celebrating Veterans is wonderful, but there is more to be done. Churches are a place of love and forgiveness that can facilitate recovery from the moral and spiritual injury for Veterans.
Please join us on our Zoom gatherings and hear about upcoming presentations by completing this form.
Church Educational Resources
How can congregations engage in a vital ministry with veterans? This presentation by Rev. Mark Roeder entitled “More Than Thank-You” outlines the wisdom from Coming Home, Ministry that Matters with Veterans and Military Families Zachary Moon.
Rev. Mark Roeder served on active duty in the Regular Army, Infantry for 4.5 years, and 1.5 years in the in-active Army Reserve. 1974 – 1980. His service included being a commissioned Infantry Officer in the 172nd Arctic Infantry, and in The Third US Infantry (The Old Guard) in Washington, D.C.. He is currently in process of publishing a book titled “A Cord of Three” written specifically for clergy, pastoral care providers, chaplains, Stephen Ministers, Hospice and Palliative Care providers, etc. “A Cord of Three” will be available by the end of August 2025.
The Veteran Ministry Network of the Heartland Conference offers several resources for your consideration for Veterans Day. The first is an 11-day remembrance of those who have completed suicide. It is called The Daily Liturgy of the Witness Tree. This simple liturgy includes hanging 22 dog tags per day on a tree outside of your church, beginning November 1st through November 11th. The 22 tags remind us of veterans who have completed suicide or as is sometimes called “killed after action.” This remembrance has been shown to be of great benefit to families who have lost a family member in this way. Information about how to do the witness tree liturgy and where to get dog tags can be found by clicking the buttons above. For further information contact Rev. John Schluep at captainjms1951@gmail.com.
Recommended Reading List
Please consider reading a few of these books.
Easy Reading
A comprehensive work on the mythological foundation and understanding the archetypal warrior. Divided in three sections, it is a must-read foundation.
Sebastian tells his story of military service and the healing of the invisible soul wound.
An excellent work on the “Just War” concept, and the invisible wounds that veterans often carry.
A refreshing concept of a practical Christianity blending in a good way Earth Medicine practices and animism.
I found this to be in kinship with Sebastian Jungers work, Tribe. Wood describes in detail the bond between veterans serving in combat and the brotherhood of trust, the rush of adrenaline, and the intimacy of trust.
Dr. Shelly Rambo describes the acceptable narrative of war stories that society wants. This “socially acceptable” story is not the truth of war. O’Brien served in Viet Nam as an infantryman conscripted in to service. Read this to understand.
An excellent book of Claude’s search for inner peace and healing from the invisible wounds of war.
This book by Thich Nhat Hanh is not thinking outside the box; rather it expands our box.
Advanced Reading
A guide to the concept that ‘forgiveness’ is not easy or cheap. It challenges the substitute atonement theology that someone else died for our ‘sins’. Perpetrators need to accept responsibility for harming others.
Jonathan Shay coined the term, “moral injury”. A good compliment to Ed Tick’s War and The Soul. Wars change, warriors do not.
Dr. Rambo provides well researched and a solid theological framework of the resistance of trauma events and treatments. Healing is possible, but it requires patience, disclosure, community, and ritual. The spiritual emergency is also a spiritual opportunity.
Dr. Rambo sees the wounding as a soul wounding that we are invited to enter as healers. From the invisible wounds healing emerges our “medicine” to be given to the world
“Moral injury results when soldiers violate their core moral beliefs, and in evaluating their behavior negatively, they feel they no longer live in a reliable, meaningful world and can no longer be regarded as decent human beings.” Dr. Brock provides insight and wisdom which may motivate us to re-think how we do ministry.
Humans are not instinctive killers, so, why do we kill one another? How does military training “condition” young men and women to become something that is not natural?
This is hard and important work. Please join our Zoom gatherings and watch for other learning opportunities.
