An adequate thank you?

This is a little late, since it has to do with our Mountain Lake experience. I don’t have a particularly convincing excuse, other than to say it’s been a hectic couple of weeks.

In between Youth Escape ‘08 (August 2-4) and our visit to Manson, IA (Aug. 8-10), we took a little jaunt up to Mountain Lake, MN. Now before I go any farther, I heard someone from Mt. Lake say “It’s actually more of a hill and a pond, but they drained the pond back in 1910 anyways so it doesn’t really matter.” So all that to say, certain members of the Seeds group were expecting the rugged beauty of Northern Minnesota, which wasn’t the case, because the Mt. Lake economy is primarily agricultural and the geography matches.

This was the second time I’d led a Civilian Public Service (CPS) story-telling time. The first had been while in Shickley, and it was really interesting hearing and comparing the stories of the Shickley men with men from Mountain Lake. In Shickley (a former MC/Old Mennonite church, for those of you who are interested in that sort of history), alternative service was the expectation. There were one, maybe two men, who went into the military service as combatants. The rest either did CPS or noncombatant service, with the slight majority doing CPS. Some of this probably had to do with the MC model of structuring church life. The conference and the bishops tended to have more power in the churches, and because Shickley had a bishop located in the congregation, there was a very clear center of power. Shickley also had a fairly lenient draft board. The chairman of the draft board ran the grain elevator in Martland, where many Mennonite families would have taken their grain. He was very understanding and sympathetic, and for the most part the Mennonite conscientious objectors (CO’s) were treated respectfully. It also probably helped that Mennonites were a minority in the community, so the draft board did not have any problems filling its quota.

The Mountain Lake churches come from a GC (General Conference) background, and the GC’s placed more authority in the individual congregations. Because of this arrangement, this tended to allow for greater diversity of beliefs among GC churches, and the amount of CO’s varied greatly from church to church. This was the case in Mt Lake, where many Mennonite men joined the military, some were non-combatants, and others chose CPS. CPS was not the “norm” in Mt. Lake, and for the young men who chose it (Willard Friesen and Jake Dick), there was not broad-based church community support. From the way the men told their stories, it sounded like the churches took the “hands-off” approach towards young men from the congregation, with a slight push towards CPS.

I don’t intend to say that the CPS’ers received no support. That’s obviously not the case. But what I’m trying to say, and I think Jake and Willard would agree, is that the CPS’ers felt supported by pastors and family members, but not always by the “church,” as such. With so many men choosing military or non-combatant service, it was hard to speak and act unanimously as church in support of any of the three choices (CPS, noncombatant, or regular army).

Another interesting reflection would be on how the church response to World War II and alternative service sixty years ago has shaped congregational life and strengthened/weakened traditional Mennonite peace theology. That’s a conversation for another time.

Talking with CPS men has been one of the most rewarding things about this summer. Hearing their stories of sacrifice, it’s impossible not to be moved by their stories of sacrifice (Jake Dick says that when he left for CPS, this was the only time he ever saw his father cry). Unlike later service opportunities like PAX, I-W, or VS, CPS was unprecedented and unknown, and the people involved did not know what to expect. They were paid next to nothing, often unappreciated, sometimes heckled and harassed, and usually did menial manual labor. It’s been interesting, however, to hear from these men how CPS shaped them and prepared them for a lifetime of service to the church. Many of the CPS’ers I talked with have been involved with church service organizations or mission work their whole lives, and they can trace this to their CPS years.

I have two regrets about the CPS meetings. One, because the “Seeds” group is so busy this summer planning and organizing, I’ve really had to focus on the stories of the CPS men. This means that I’ve had little opportunity to hear from women of that generation, some of who did their own service, others who had to be separated from husbands for an extended amount of time. These stories are an important aspect of CPS, and one that I’ve been unable to work on.

My second regret also has to do with time and energy. The CPS men have been very open and honest and willing to share with their stories with me. I take notes, but I’m unable to record the interviews in any sort of systematic way. So I wonder if it’s even fair for me to be gathering these stories at all, because I’m not a trained historian, and at this point, I do not have the knowledge or the time this summer to synthesize and write these stories for a broader audience. I don’t feel like I’m doing justice to their stories by only leading a 75-minute session on a Sunday afternoon. Yes, it is something, and maybe better than nothing, but this generation has served the church for almost 90 years now…and is a 75-minute session really an adequate thank you? I don’t think so.

Well, anyways, if nothing else, I’ve learned to be more appreciative of my grandparents generation, the CPS generation, thankful for their years of leadership and service. And I hope our churches can express this to them, before they’re all gone.