The above is the opening line from the Oscar-winning movie, “Flags of Our Fathers”. The movie tells the story of the battle of Iwo Jima, during the Second World War, and in particular the raising of the American flag, as captured in the iconic photography of Joe Rosenthal. It is a poignant, striking and powerful slice of cinematography, and nobody except for the most hard-hearted could fail to be moved by the brutality of war and the disastrous effects it has on the lives of both those on the frontline and their families and communities.
Following the lives of those men who were treated as heroes for their part in the raising of the second flag on Iwo Jima, the movie centers around the story of John “Doc” Bradley , a corpsman. For the uninitiated, myself included, the corpsman was the trained medic, the person responsible for the patching up of the wounded before they were able to be evacuated from the frontline. A thankless and extremely dangerous responsibility, the corpsman was often a prime target for the Japanese, who knew that by killing him they would cause another ten soldiers to die before they could receive medical attention for their injuries. The corpsman would be running from foxhole to foxhole, stemming the flow of blood from fresh wounds, calming the injured soldiers down, calling for the runners to bring the stretchers needed, all the while trying to escape injury himself.
In the work we are involved in, there is also a desperate need for corpsmen. Corpsmen who will walk and stand with hurting, broken people in their crises, bringing peace into the trauma, stemming the tide of destruction that sin and Satan have wrought in the lives of those created in God’s image, those who despite their infinite worth have been beaten, bruised and battered by life and its injustices. Corpsman who understand the effects of childhood trauma, of drug and alcohol addiction, of personality disorders, of educational inadequacies, of family and community breakdown, and who, in understanding, are prepared to dive into the mess of mankind and bring hope, healing and wholeness to those who are “sat upon, spat upon, ratted on”. And corpsmen who will point people to the place of healing, whether that be the doctor’s surgery, the psychiatrist’s office, the addict’s group, the prayer ministry room or the family meal-table.
But where are the corpsmen? Where are the people called, equipped and enabled by God in the fields often wrongly deemed as less spiritual than the traditional missionary/pastor/apostle/evangelist roles? While grateful for those who have sacrificially come to provide counsel, training and much needed support and encouragement in these areas, we still cry out for corpsmen on the ground, in situ ready for the times of desperate need, the crises, the times when the body lacks the understanding it needs to serve our students as fully and deeply as God desires. Is our understanding of God, His ways and His mission so lacking as to limit the call to “the spiritual” ? Or are there other reasons why the call to go to the ends of the earth with the good news of the Kingdom of Jesus often seems to go unheeded?
As Jesus looked out over Jerusalem, seeing a people oppressed, downtrodden and directionless, he called his disciples to pray for workers. That prayer is still being prayed today, that God would mobilize His body to release workers of all kinds into the harvest field. Will the “corpsmen” hear the call and come?
“For God’s sake....”
