Greetings for a safe and relaxing Memorial Day weekend! We remember the intent of the holiday, and call to mind our loved ones in the armed services who have died. May this beautiful prayer bring reflection and peace to your holiday observances.
In Times and Places of War
Great God of justice and peace,
we cannot ask you to bless guns and bombs
and landmines and poison gas;
we cannot claim your blessing on dictators,
on the power-hungry, on the nation which chooses war.
But we plead for your blessing
on those who are defenseless,
those who wait for loved ones to come home,
those who give loyalty and comradeship when death is near,
and those whose vision is untouched by bitterness.
Desperate days, fearful nights, horrors beyond telling
and so many caught up in it who have no passion for war.
Bless all peacemakers in this broken world,
give them courage, patience and hope;
they are children of God indeed.
—Bernard Thorogood, retired Uniting Church Minister, Australia
From 600 Blessings and Prayers from around the World. Geoffrey Duncan, ed. Twenty-Third Publications. 2001.
