A Memorial Day Prayer --- 2024

Today is Memorial Day, which is part of a long weekend that serves as the unofficial beginning of summer. We may barbecue and enjoy the outdoors with family and friends. We may do a bit of shopping since there are always lots of sales. Often lost amid the revelry and spending is the real reason for this holiday. The day was set aside as a day of national remembrance for those who gave their lives in service to the country.  

With that purpose in mind, I have been offering the invocation and benediction at the Troy Memorial Day observance. I now do so in my role as a volunteer chaplain for the Troy Police Department, a role I have had since 2016. In the spirit of this day and in remembrance of those who have given their lives, I offer my invocation for the day.

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Holy One, 

As we do each Memorial Day, we gather to remember the women and men who gave their lives in service to this country. While we send our loved ones off to serve, we live with the hope that they will return to us safe and sound. But that’s not always true. Too often lives are cut short in death. Even if these deaths have not affected us personally, these deaths have impacted their families and friends who must continue on with life without their loved ones. They likely carry with them grief at their loss, grief that will not go away quickly if ever. While we may give thanks this morning for their service and sacrifice, may we also remember the grief felt by those left behind.

                As we stop this morning to remember those who lost their lives and acknowledge the loss felt by family and friends, we ask that you would show them your compassion and healing grace. We pray also for those families who have yet to find closure because their loved ones are numbered among the missing in action. May they also find comfort in your presence.

                We pray also for those who have returned home injured and disabled, including those who experience mental distress and moral woundedness because of their service. May they know your love and experience your healing grace.

                As we come to lay a wreath in honor of those who died in service to their country, may we salute the bravery and commitment of all who have answered the call to serve their country knowing that they might not return home alive. Grant them continued courage as they pursue their endeavors.  

We who gather here today represent different faiths, ideologies, and ethnicities. In an age when division and polarization are present across the land, we ask that you would help us set aside our differences so we can remember those who have died and join together in building bridges of peace. As the prophet Isaiah declared:

[God] shall judge between the nations

and shall arbitrate for many peoples;

they shall beat their swords into plowshares
                and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
    neither shall they learn war anymore.

(Is. 2:4)

May this work of peacebuilding that Isaiah describes start with those of us gathered here this morning. May this calling spread forth from this place, so that the sacrifices made on our behalf might not be in vain and we might see the day when loved ones no longer need to be sent into harm’s way. Amen.