Wednesday night residents of Clearwater and the surrounding area gathered at St. Luke’s Catholic Church to thank and honor the men and women who serve the community.
The idea for the service originated with Pastor Steve Timm from Rejoice Lutheran Church, who has served as a professional military chaplain as well as a volunteer chaplain for law enforcement and firefighters.
“As a soldier I received a warm welcome home and the thanks of my community when I returned from deployment, and I wanted to expand that gratitude to everyone who serves in uniform,” said Timm. “That desire to say thank you has only grown over the last several years as it has become tougher and more dangerous to serve in law enforcement and first responder roles.”
He and Father Dennis Backer share a commitment to their churches working together, so Timm pitched the idea to him during one of their monthly lunches. Backer was excited about the service and volunteered to host it at St. Luke’s.
As they wanted everyone who serves in uniform to know they were invited, they spread the word of the service through their congregations. They also personally invited the Clearwater Fire Dept., the Clearwater American Legion, the MN National Guard and the Wright Co. Sheriff’s office.
“We believe everyone we are honoring has a calling from God to serve the community,” said Timm. “That service matters to us and to God himself.”
The Wednesday night service included commemorative readings for International Firefighter’s Day, National Police Week and Memorial Day.
Following prayer and scripture readings, Timm spoke of his military chaplain history and told anecdotes of his experiences.
“If you talk to any of them and use the word hero they’ll say, ‘not me, I was just doing my job,’” said Timm. “From the community of Clearwater and the Christian community we want to tell you just doing your job matters to us.”
The children in the audience were invited to come up, and then a representative from the fire department, the sheriff’s office and veterans were invited up individually to explain to them what they do for the community.
Afterwards the children put their hands on the representative’s shoulders to help Timm bestow a communal blessing.
Attendees gathered after the service to share refreshments and personally thank the men and women in uniform that attended the service. Each serviceperson was given a gift bag made by Sunday School students.
Timm and Backer hope the service will become an annual event.
