june 2012
CityLight.org 43
and wounded along with the clarification
of God's call upon his life to care for them,
a vision began to elucidate itself. In par-
ticular, Fr. Hager has a clear sense that he
is called to care for those ministers and
chaplains who are amongst this group.
The vision includes a group of similarly
called Christians and ministries partner-
ing together, but a specific group of set-
apart people from them to form a Gos-
hen community. This community is to be
semi-monastic and ecumenical, but is set
apart (consecrated and avowed) to prayer,
hospitality and the Ministry of Reconcili-
ation. The vision also includes a set-apart
place, a Goshen place, to be a city of ref-
uge and safe-haven in which prayer and
h o s p i t a l -
ity would
empower a
holy habita-
tion; in which
Ministers of
Reconciliation
could be used
as vessels by
Holy Spirit for
the healing of
the members
of the body of
Christ.
If you, as a
reader, have a
sense of reso-
nance in any way with what you have
read--the purpose of this article has been
accomplished. It is written to be like a
net cast into the body of Christ in order
to draw us together with those Christians
in business, government and ministry who
would like to partner. The labor of two [or]
more laboring together is far greater than
that of two or more laboring apart. Sadly,
the Western church tends to operate in the
latter mode. Goshen is also to be a place
of radical discipleship and training, and a
catalyst for the healing of the church. As
a microcosm of the entire body, what Holy
Spirit is able to do in our midst will be-
come a window through which the whole
church can see that what Jesus has called
us to is not some "unattainable ideal," but
rather the One body we read Him praying
for in John 17.
Presently, we are in need of land and build-
ings. If you personally, or you know some-
one, who might resonate with this call to
mission have either that you would like to
donate or make available, please contact Fr.
Hager. Over the past year, Fr. Hager, who
is a Chaplain in the US Army Reserve, has
been successful in building bridges across
the US Army Chaplaincy. This includes
the endorsement of a Chaplain Brigadier
General, to establish a work in conjunction
with the US
Army Center
for Spiritual
L eadership
to p ro v i d e
spiritual care
for Chaplains
and Chaplain
A s s i s t a n t s ,
m e m b e r s
of Unit Min-
istry
Teams
(UMTs). Most
of the care
provided Sol-
ders/Warriors
affected with
Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD) psycho-social
and the spiritual aspect is generally an-
cillary. UMT members care for Soldiers
deploying, while in theater (at war) and
after they return home. Like all chaplains,
they preach "self-care" to their Soldiers
and others, but largely due to the increased
demand and operational tempo, they fail
to take time out to care for themselves or
their families.
POC: Fr. James Hager II 803-609-4343
fatherjimhager@yahoo.com
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