Bryan's Blog

On Power and Control “But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.’” [1] I have to confess; this sermon has been all over the place. Originally, I thought the emphasis would be that Jesus had broken the law of Moses. As the local rabbi had said, “Hey, the sabbath is about resting, not about doing magic tricks!” And, the punishment for working on the Sabbath was pretty severe,   Exodus states, “Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.” [2] Apparently, there is a controversy about whether healing was considered working back then, but any kind of punishment for relieving someone’s suffering seems a bit draconian. It’s almost as bad as punishing someone for leaving food and water in the desert for migrants seeking a better life or extending the period children can be locked up in cages...

“Do you think that I have come to bring peace on the earth?  No, I tell you, but rather division!”   [1] Normally, I preach on the Gospel lesson.  I almost always preach on the Gospel lesson, and believe me, I had an almost overwhelming desire to preach on these words of Jesus, and the obvious parallels they have, in word if not in spirit, to political climate in America in the last several years. I decided to let the opportunity pass because the reading from the  Letter to the Hebrews , contains one of my favorite passages of scripture: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us . . ." I'm not usually an obsessive type.  I have the attention span of a gerbil.  I don't ordinarily get fixated on one thing and stay with it day after day, month after month...

I went to Vietnam in September 1968, straight out of flight school on orders to join the 1 st Cavalry Division. However, at the replacement depot at Cam Ranh Bay I was reassigned to the 23 rd Infantry Division (AMERICAL), headquartered in Chu Lai, in I Corps, south of Danang. At Chu Lai I was further assigned to the 123 rd Aviation Battalion, and to F Troop, 8 th Cavalry (Blue Ghost), a true air cavalry troop, consisting of OH-6A (Cayuse) observation helicopters, AH-1G (Cobra) gunships, and UH-1H (Huey) utility helicopters. I was assigned to the lift platoon, consisting of the latter. As an air cavalry troop, our primary mission was reconnaissance. The OH-6As would seek out the enemy, flying low and slow to check out particular areas. Two AH-1Gs would be following the scout birds at about 1,500 feet above ground level (AGL), ready to put suppressive fire on anything the OH-6As turned up. Finally, a UH-H with a squad of our infantry platoon would be at 2,000 feet AGL to...