Why We Are A
 "M*A*S*H Unit"

   Once upon a time, in pop culture if not in real operating rooms, "surgical" meant bloody, messy work with metal tools cutting through skin and bone. The television show "M*A*S*H" depicted that kind of surgery. Hawkeye, B.J. and the other doctors worked like factory workers against time and wounds and sickness to put war-torn bodies back together. In the Army, the real mobile army surgical hospitals that were the inspiration for "M*A*S*H" are being phased out. The real-life 43rd became the 4077th on MASH.

  The mobile part of the unit's name meant that the hospital followed the front, never far from the fighting. In the mountains of Korea, the carnage never ceased. When the U.S. Army reached the Chinese border, the Chinese army joined the fray and chased the American forces back down the peninsula. Soldiers poured into the mobile hospitals with all manner of horrible wounds, many to die and many more to be rebuilt but never again whole.

   The Korean War saw a rapid new build-up of American military forces that had been reduced after WW II.  The medical build-up was timely, for between July - December 1950, United Nations forces suffered nearly 62,000 casualties. 

   Medical support expanded even further in 1951. The Korean War resulted in the first systematic use of helicopters for evacuation of casualties from the battlefield.  The rugged, often mountainous terrain and the poor, insecure road network in wartime Korea made overland movement difficult.  The improvised pods and litters proved far from ideal. Loading and unloading the patient was an awkward process, since he had to be taken from the standard Army field litter, lifted onto a blanket, and then placed into the Stokes litter.  Some patients with certain types of casts, splints, and dressings could not be moved by helicopter due to the confined space of the Stokes litter.

   All in all, the MASH Unit served as a group of dedicated people serving a group of hurting soldiers.  I found two distinct similarities in the MASH Unit and our Church Family in Bethany, New York. 

First Reflective Point Of Similarity:

*  The MASH Team had a passion for those hurting…

  We are a church with a “Passion For The Hurting Today” regardless of what a person looks like, feels like, what they read, what they do or basically who they are – period.  And as the Bible teaches us, each of us in the church as a “Believing Christian” are ourselves soldiers, soldiers for the cause of Christ (2 Tim. 2:3).  We deal in "Spiritual Wounds" rather than physical ones experienced in Korea.

   We are here to support and build people up, not tear them down or belittle them.  People get enough of this type of treatment in their daily living and they certainly ought not experience it in the church.  I don’t know about you, but I have had some terrible experiences in the church, it even had me to the point of leaving, leaving for good.  In fact at one point I stated to my wife, “This cannot be what Christianity is supposed to be.”  I was so frustrated by the behaviors of those “churched.” 

   Well let me share some refreshing news - there is a significant difference in what Man calls Church and what God intended as Church. 

   Again, I found that God intended us to be supportive of one another; to teach others what it is to live a wholesome God filled life, to embrace one another regardless of any past or current pains prevailing against us.  I found that man’s church many times revolved around the things we see in our daily work places and communities; a feeling for needed power, prestige, doing things for peer affirmation and even being apart of behaviors which clearly hurt another intentionally.  Confusing huh?  Not really… 

  Whenever God is the main focus of anyone’s life there is peace and purpose even while we become progressive and bogged down by daily living.  The church is to be that place that we take in the wounded from daily living and bathe them in the comforts of God and provide a shoulder for another to lean on; to cry together, share together and extend a hand of assistance when times warrant.  We feel better in the church because there is a major reduction of conflict and pain; we feel better because our focus on God has us serving others – and when we do that, we feel uplifted and renewed at heart.  Now, don’t get me wrong, even the follower of Christ messes up, but there is an extreme difference in the two scenarios.  We as followers can be forgiven and have our penalties erased for our sins as the Bible clearly teaches that the penalty for sin is death and he who knows Christ personally has life (Romans 6:23), yet it does not allow us free reign to do whatever we choose as God has definite consequences for pour behaviors as does a parent for their own child.  

Second Reflective Point Of Similarity:

 *  The mobile part of the unit's name meant that the hospital followed the front, never far from the fighting.

   As the MASH unit was always close by, the church also needs to be amongst its community ready at a moments notice to aid the hurting and those in need.  We live in a very different world from years gone by, with our culture in a “Moral Free-Fall” without any chute attached…  It is up to the church to be available, visible, equipped and manned to be that place of refuge for all! 

   Bottom line, we at Bethany Center Baptist are essentially a “Non-Denominational” church (We are non-denominational because we accept all people of various faiths.  One does not have to be from Baptist or any other particular churched background to fit into our family) with a Mission to:

Reach – Teach – Mend – Send... 

people equipped for the next day with:

HOPE and ASSURANCE for their FUTURE…

May God Bless You !!!  Pastor Bob