Published in Winter 2020 edition of Our Northern Illinois District
By Jenny Scott
As your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.” Psalm 48:10
Reverend and Lt. Col. James Buckman, pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Lake Forest, witnessed for Christ this past October through December in Antarctica, a place many would indeed call the ends of the earth. He was lead chaplain for a group of scientists, civilians, and military personnel gathered there under the agency of the National Science Foundation.
Pastor Buckman, who was deployed through his ongoing service in the 109th Air National Guard, is hardly new to mission work. He spent the first ten years of his life in Nigeria, West Africa, where his parents served as missionaries. He’s also served as Chaplain in other far reaches of the world, including the Middle East and Bosnia.
In Antarctica, Pastor Buckman was responsible for the First Amendment rights of all participants, whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or atheist.
“I was there to ensure their moral, safety, and religious freedom. Every person there could talk to me in confidence, and I shared many one-on-one conversations and prayers with them. It was one of the highlights of my trip that I was able to witness to people who were not saved, and talk to them about grace.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
Of course witnessing to a group of nonbelievers and people of other faiths wasn’t always easy.
“You need to be on your ‘A’ game, always prepared to give an answer for the hope that lives in you,” said Pastor Buckman. “However you have to do so with gentleness and respect. You have to be convinced of what you believe and communicate that in a winsome way.”
There are three primary research stations in Antarctica: McMurdo (the largest, housing around 1,000 people), the South Pole, and Palmer. Buckman did most of his work at McMurdo Station, situated in a cove on the backside of a volcano on the south tip of Ross Island.
“We had daily worship or Bible study at The Chapel of the Snows for 10 weeks, with no altar guild or church secretary,” he joked. Though he followed the LCMS liturgical format in services, everyone was welcome, and Pastor Buckman made copies of his sermon along with Bible citations that everyone could take home for study and reflection.
When he wasn’t preaching, or rigging the steeple on the chapel so people could hear the sanctuary’s music as they walked by, he kept busy volunteering in the kitchen and the bakery. He also helped to survey the Phoenix Airfield, visited NASA’s LDB (long duration balloon) facility, flew in the cockpit of a C-130 for a resupply mission to the South Pole, and was a DJ at McMurdo Station where he played religious music on Sunday mornings. Though definitely a man of many hats, Pastor Buckman never stepped outside his role of chaplain.
“But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.” (1 Peter 1:15)
Another exciting experience for Pastor Buckman was flying to Christchurch, New Zealand on the way to Antarctica to pick up the Erebus Chalice from the Anglican Cathedral and deliver it to The Chapel of the Snows, where it is kept every year for the season. The silver and gilt chalice, which serves as a symbol of exploration and the promise of cooperative international research, was gifted to the National Science Foundation by Betty Bird, whose great-granduncle was an early explorer of Antarctica.
He also visited Robert Falcon Scott’s Discovery Hut, which is literally frozen in time, with food tins, boxes, and seal pelts and carcasses from Scott’s time there.
Though it was austral “summer” in Antarctica, the weather was usually far from balmy. It could get as cold as 30-40 below plus 20-30 knot winds. Incoming planes land on 300 feet of ice that sit on top of the Ross Ice Shelf.
Antarctica is actually a desert, so it’s very dry with blowing snow. However that harsh landscape is also a thing of great beauty.
“The blue ice was beyond words, just so amazing to look at. We also had sun 24/7. I will never see God’s creation in the same way again.”
Pastor Buckman is grateful to his family and Faith Lutheran Church who supported him so completely in this mission.
Visit http://www.facebook.com/BuckmanSouthPole for an account of his fascinating journey.