Memorial Day Prayer

ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, in whose hands are the living and the dead; We give you thanks for all your servants who have laid down their lives in the service of our country. Grant to them your mercy and the light of your presence, that the good work which you have begun in them may be perfected; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.  (BCP)




An invocation for Memorial Day Observances
by Rev. Jennifer Phillips

God our Comfort and Strength:

Be with us in your mercy and love as we remember all those who have given faithful service to our country, and especially those who have given their lives on our behalf; we pray you:

hold in your perfect light and love those who laid down their lives generously in military service;
keep vigil with those who bear the outward or inward wounds of war;
give your mercy to those who carry burdens of conscience or troubled memory;
gather into your everlasting arms those who may die on this day;

lift up all those who grieve for loved ones who died in the armed services and for those who are missing in action; lend strength to the families who bravely watch and wait;
guard and protect those in the path of danger and any whose hearts are troubled;
grant wisdom, courage, and restraint to those who bear authority under the pressure of peril;
give us at home compassion toward those who are turned from right action or kindness by the brutality and grief of war;

hear our thankful remembrance of those who labored, and who still labor, in support of our troops overseas and at home;
receive our thanksgiving for medics and nurses, chaplains and counselors, and all those who have tended the souls and bodies of those in service;
and grant that we may never forget the many whose brave, sacrificial, and faithful service built up the heritage of liberty we enjoy.

These we remember! For these we give thanks!We pray in your most Holy Name. Amen.