Almighty God, we commend to your gracious care and
keeping all the men and women of our armed forces at home
and abroad. Defend them day by day with your heavenly
grace; strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give
them courage to face the perils which beset them; and grant
them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
keeping all the men and women of our armed forces at home
and abroad. Defend them day by day with your heavenly
grace; strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give
them courage to face the perils which beset them; and grant
them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
On this Memorial Day as we give thanks for the lives of those who died in the service of their country may we also pray that the values they died to uphold -- liberty and justice for all -- might guide our leaders to right decisions and faithful actions here at home and to seeking ways to make peace rather than wage war abroad.
ReplyDelete(P.S) And I invite your prayers for my son, James William, on active duty in the U.S. Army.
James William shall have my prayers, Susan, as will they all.
ReplyDeleteAnd in regard to episcowatchers comment, I commend him or her. I have honored our soldiers also on my site, and I am not deliberately plugging my site at the cost of yours. The more we know about those we honor, the more respect we show. My entry as well as Susan's will be a good counter to the blather on this conservative blog you mention.
Apologies Susan if my post is inapprorpriate.
I thank everyone for their prayers for those in our Armed Forces, and those who gave their lives in service to our country.
ReplyDeleteMy nephew, a U.S. Marine, just returned from his second tour of duty in Iraq. He is physically safe, but the emotional toll he has paid cannot be described. Constantly on guard in Fallujah for snipers and bombs, he now has come home to the woman he married last summer, and the child who was born while he was in Iraq, and is afraid to be touched by either.
My nephew was terrified to go back for his 2nd tour of duty. He is home now, but others are still there. More are on their way over. Whether they are soon to go, already there, or safely back home, they all need our prayers.
Since I mentioned my nephew, and gave a very brief glimpse of what it was like for him, I'll share this link to a Time Magazine photo essay that appeared in a November issue of Time. My nephew is the Marine in Photo #2 (with the little boy).
http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/fallujah_back/
And James William is in my prayers!
OK, so long links don't work here!
ReplyDeleteYou can visit Time.com and do a search for Falljuh, One Year Later. That will get you to the photo essay.
Rev. Susan,
ReplyDeleteI'm also praying for James William, as well as the other concerns that you mention.
Peace of Christ,
Chip