A Memorial Day Prayer
This morning I will be offering the invocation and benediction at a Memorial Day Observance in the city of Troy, Michigan. In this prayer I seek to honor the memory of those who died in service to country, even as I offer a prayer for peace. This is the invocation that will begin the observance.
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God of
peace,
We come here
today to remember women and men who gave their lives in service to this country.
We remember them and their sacrifice with grateful hearts.
We also come
to this place to remember loved ones who have died and no longer walk with us.
They may not have died in service to country, but they have come to our minds
and hearts this day. We give thanks for their lives and their influence on our
lives.
We not only gather
to remember those who have died, we also wish to remember families left behind.
We remember and offer our prayers for family members who grieve their loss of
loved ones
—parents, spouses, children, siblings.
We come to
lay wreaths in their honor.
We salute
the bravery of those who served this country, always hoping that when they are
deployed they will return home safely, but always knowing that a different fate
might await them and us.
Even as we
remember those who died in service to country, we also come here today, hoping that
one day such sacrifices will not be necessary. We look forward to that day,
when, as the prophet declared
—Swords will be beaten into plowshares and spears into
pruning hooks.
As we gather
here today as a community, sharing different faiths, different ideologies,
different ethnicities, may the example of those who gave their lives defending
ideals of liberty and justice for all, inspire those of us left behind, to
pursue these ideals, and build bridges of understanding and hope in this
community and beyond. Amen.
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