Mitch Lewis

Our friend, fellow Soldier and brother in Christ David Frankenhauser died this week after being struck by a bus in Seoul. He was only a few weeks away from retirement and from the opportunity to return to his family he loved. David was on the staff here until he was selected for promotion to colonel. He moved to Seoul last year to take a new job better suited to his new rank.

David was a devoted Christian and while he lived in Daegu he was a regular member of our congregation. I think he showed up for chapel on the first Sunday he was in country and he immediately looked for opportunities to become involved. He sang in the choir, played his harmonica with the praise band, attended Sunday School and regularly participated in the men's fellowship.

David's heart was filled with love for Jesus and he wanted everyone to know it. He was gentle, quiet and respectful of all, but he welcomed opportunities to talk about the one who had saved him. The love of Jesus so filled his heart that he wrote songs to tell others about it. David was the perfect example of 1 Peter 3:15:

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15)

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It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of Father Richard John Neuhaus, a Catholic priest and founder of of the journal First Things. His essays were always deep and thought provoking. First Things online has reprinted "Born Towards Dying" which he wrote in February 2000.

Neuhaus was born into a Missouri Synod Lutheran home. At some point he moved from the LCMS to the ELCA and became the pastor of St. John the Evangelist, an inner-city church in Brooklyn. Reports say that he was a socially liberal activist until Roe-v-Wade cracked his world view. He then began a journey that led him to Roman Catholicism and he became a prominent voice for a more conservative view of Christian life in the world. His most well known book is The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America. He was also a board member of the Institute for Religion and Democracy.

He completed his conversion to Catholicism in 1990 and immediately became a prominent leader within the church. With Charles Colson he wrote Evangelicals and Catholics Together: Toward a Common Mission. Father Neuhaus wrote about his conversion to Catholicism in "How I Became the Catholic I Was," also reposted by First Things following his death.

American Protestantism seems to have two broad streams of intellectual energy right now: emergent and neo-Calvinist. Father Neuhaus' resurgent Catholicism represented a third, equally powerful stream of American Christian thought. His religious influence was as significant as a Brian McLaren or a John Piper. The church will miss his important voice.

I have fought
the good fight
I have finished the race
I have kept the faith
2 Timothy 4:7

The flags on Fort Leavenworth flew at half-staff yesterday in honor in honor of Colonel Thomas H. Felts, who was killed along with Specialist Justin R. Garcia in an IED attack in Baghdad on November 14. Colonel Felts was a fellow in the School of Advance Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth, but had been on temporary assignment for most of the past year as an advisor to the Iraqi Army.

I attended Colonel Felts' memorial service yesterday morning at Main Post Chapel. The chapel was packed with his fellow students, neighbors and chapel members who knew him as a Soldier, a husband, a father, a friend and a brother in Christ. He was remembered as a strong but humble man of faith, love and courage. He and his family have been deeply involved in the chapel community, and it was great to see the members of their Sunday School classes and youth group surround them with love on such a difficult day. The love of friends and neighbors even brought some smiles to the faces of the family members as we shared a post-service meal together. I imagine that's what Colonel Felts would have wanted, because I know that's what I would want. More than anything else, should my family ever find itself in the same situation, I want my family to be happy and whole again.

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Hundreds of Soldiers and civilians on Fort Leavenworth braved a cold north wind last Friday morning to pay tribute to Corporal David Unger, one of the 100+ U.S. service members killed in Iraq this month. CPL Unger was buried at the Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery after a funeral in the Fort Leavenworth Main Post Chapel. David had a close connection with many members of the chapel community. His mother coordinates watch care for all of the chapel congregations and activities, and long-time chapel members had often seen David in the child-watch areas of the chapel, helping to tend the children. Several of our young adults "grew up with him" through the years in the Leavenworth school system.

Despite our proximity to Kansas City, Leavenworth is really a small town with a strong sense of community, and the community turned out in force. Visitation took place at Leavenworth High School, where people stood in long lines to pay their respects to the family. Across the street, a small band of hateful protesters briefly lofted vicious signs and shouted vulgar epithets in an attempt to wound the family even more deeply. They were far outnumbered by members of the Patriot Guard Riders and local veterans groups, so that the family could be shielded from their hate.

On the day of the funeral, the people of Leavenworth lined the route from the funeral home to the gates of the fort. On post, hundreds more lined Grant and Pope avenues to honor our fallen brother. About 20 minutes before the funeral procession arrived, I walked the route from the Grant Avenue lake to the chapel, speaking to people along the way. At one point, I heard a voice say, "Chaplain Lewis, do you remember me?" I did remember her. She works on post. About this time last year, I helped notify her that her son had died in uniform at an Army post in the United States. We buried her son in the same cemetery in which CPL Unger would be laid to rest. Like David, her son had deep Leavenworth roots, having been born at the military hospital that sits between the chapel and the cemetery. Despite what must have been a painful reminder of her own loss, she stood under grey skies in the chilling breeze to comfort another grieving family.

Thank you, people of Leavenworth. Your demonstration of solidarity and respect honored CPL Unger and surrounded his family with love.

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