As Sun Rises on Easter, Marines Put Down Weapons for Prayer

Preferably, the Easter service would have been held on the roof so that worshipers could watch the sunrise.

But that could have exposed the Marines at this forward base to gunfire and rockets launched by anti-American insurgents, with whom they have been fighting for a week.

So Navy Lt. Scott Radetski, Protestant chaplain for the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, decided to hold his service in the airy third-story landing of the apartment building that the Marines were occupying as they prepared for what might be a final push toward insurgent strongholds. About 6 a.m., as the sun rose on another warm day, the Marines rested their weapons and prayed.

The building’s residents have been relocated, given money by the Marines, and assured that the U.S. would pay for any damage to their tiny homes in the rundown complex teetering on the edge of squalor. Built in the city’s northeast corner during Saddam Hussein’s reign, it probably has never been the site of an Easter service.

The unusual venue, though, did not seem to trouble Radetski.

“It’s not the building,” he said. “It’s the people. God calls us his living stones.”

As Radetski, 42, a submariner before becoming a chaplain, began reading from Scripture, the Islamic call to prayer from a nearby mosque wafted through the air, a fresh reminder of the cultural and religious complexities embedded in the U.S. military mission in Iraq.

The ad-hoc congregation for Radetski’s service was small. Many Marines were dug in closer to the fighting; others had been patrolling all night.

Some Marines are devout Christians. Others found that their uncertain circumstances prompted them to attend the short service, where crackers from prepackaged meals were used as Communion wafers.

“I’m not really all that religious,” said Sgt. Jason Revell, 22, of Virginia Beach, Va. “But it’s Easter and we’re out here, so I thought I should say a prayer, to stay safe.”

Last week, Radetski’s Palm Sunday message likened Marines to Jesus entering Jerusalem, where some laid palm fronds in his path and others plotted to kill him. For Easter, Radetski chose the story of the disciple Peter.

“Peter was a very zealous man,” Radetski told his audience, sitting in the dust and dirt of the landing. “I’d say he was a good Marine, a hard charger.”

The Bible teaches that Peter betrayed Jesus. But Jesus had his own Marine-like qualities, Radetski said. “God lifted him up,” Radetski said. “He will leave no one behind.”

There were other services later. The chaplain made plans to visit the Marines closest to the fighting, who have been under fire nearly continuously.

“I want to visit Echo and Fox companies and bring the Word to them,” Radetski said. But there were concerns that snipers and small-arms fire would make it too risky for the chaplain to go.

“Inshallah,” said the chaplain, using a common Arabic phrase -- God willing.