Prayer for Memorial Day

Prayer for Memorial Day

 

Almighty God, strong to save,

            we remember the brave men and women

            who have given their lives on the land, in the air, and upon the sea

            in defense of our freedom and liberty,

            from the minutemen killed at Lexington or Concord,

            to the brothers killed from both the North and South in the Civil War,

            from the greatest generation who gave their lives during World War II,

            to the Active Duty troops and National Guard men and women

                        killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As we remember and memorialize those who have died,

            may the day serve to memorialize them not through words engraved into stone

            but gratitude burned into our  hearts and minds.

 

God of earth, sea, and sky,

            we also pray that you will guard the brave women and men

            who are this very moment risking their lives for our country

            as they serve in foreign lands.

Give them compassion for enemies who also fight for patriotic causes.

And keep our sons and daughters,

            our husbands and wives,

            and our brothers and sisters

from hate that hardens,

            or from scorekeeping with human lives.

Though they must be at war, let them live for peace,

            as eager for agreement as for victory.

Encourage them as they encourage one another,

            and never let hard duty separate them

            from loyalty to your Son, our Lord, Jesus the Christ.

 

Note:  I have been using this prayer for some time, slightly redacted every year.  I have been using it so long that I have perhaps lost touch with some its original sources.  There are obvious allusions to the Navy Hymn, “Eternal Father, Strong to Save”, #562 in The Presbyterian Hymnal, as well as phrasing drawn from a prayer “For Those in the Military” #65 page  818 in the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship.

Welcome to My Neighborhood: Ridgewood Memorial Day Parade

People who have not lived in New York City probably think it is one huge nameless, faceless, mass of humanity. At least that is what I used to think until I moved here nearly two years ago. In the past twenty months I have learned that the New York City is really a bunch of little cities, communities and neighborhoods. I know that Ridgewood is not unique, but Ridgewood is what I know best. Earlier today, if I had not known better, I would have thought I was in small town America, not a neighborhood of the largest borough of the country’s largest city.

Sitting inside the house I could hear the drumbeats even as they were approaching from blocks away. As soon as I realized that what I was hearing was the sound of marching bands in a Memorial Day parade processing eastwardly on Myrtle Avenue, I put the leash of my dog Hermes, grabbed my camera, and we went out to watch. The photo essay I have posted on Picasa is some of what I saw. There we no clowns in tiny cars or beauty queens on the backs of convertibles, no Shriners ridding mini bikes or floats promoting the latest whatever, just a lot of uniformed and plain clothed men and women, girls and boys, veterans and scouts displaying lots of American flags and pride as most of them marched in disciplined formation.

I think that in some ways what I watched could be considered part of the liturgy of civil religion minus the rhetoric. People were working to show their pride in being the mother, father, brother, sister, son or daughter of an American service man or service woman. Some of those marching were probably active duty. Some might have been ROTC. Many of them were probably children or grandchildren of immigrants, perhaps even the children or grandchildren of veterans who once fought and perhaps even died for another country, perhaps even a country at war with the United States. But today they were marching for America and as Americans to remember other Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice for this country.