The Following prayer is by guest contributor Rev. Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia.
Let us pause to honor, thank, and remember all who served in the military, living or dead.
Speak or comment below the names of veterans you know, including yourself if you served in the military.
Jesus, we hear your words, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13, NRSV)
Jesus, we are grateful for those who are like you, those who sacrifice and serve for a greater good. Strengthen all we have mentioned and thousands more who put the welfare of others ahead of their own safety.
Help all military personnel to serve with honor, wisdom, and compassion. Guard them against hard-heartedness, despair, and evil.
Bring help and healing to all who still struggle in body, mind, and spirit because of what they have experienced.
Strengthen and bless military families, especially when they are separated one from another. Console and comfort military families, especially those who continue to grieve loved ones who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Surround us all with your protection. Fill us all with your grace. Lead us all with your truth and light.
Micah 4:1-4 NRSV
In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised up above the hills. Peoples shall stream to it, and many nations shall come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away; 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 any more; but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
God of All, it is your will for the nations to seek you and to know you.
It is your will for us to live together in peace, provision, and equity.
End the selfishness.
End the mistrust and misinformation.
End the violence.
Bring wholeness and hope to every system, relationship, and person broken by war.
Empower us all to pray and work for your promised peace.
Give us the courage to act and your wisdom to know what to do.
We ask this in the strong name of Jesus
Our Savior, our Lord
The Prince of Peace
Who taught us to pray…
Conclude with the Lord’s Prayer