On this day our memories may be so painful that we cannot live with them. Yet we cannot, we dare not live without them. Let us pray* that we may never forget, but always remember before God that in his sight war is evil and that, to all who experience it, war is hell.
Silence
For leaders who send the young to war,
that their judgment be sound
and their motives be pure,
Let us pray.
Hear our prayer.
For soldiers who lay down their lives for others,
that the love which inspires their sacrifice
may be fulfilled in the love poured out on our behalf.
Let us pray.
Hear our prayer.
For soldiers who have been maimed or brutalized by war,
that our love for them may make their scars of no consequence
and make their brutality yield to the tenderness of returning love.
Let us pray.
Hear our prayer.
For those who have been left behind,
that they may live on the strength of the love that they knew,
Let us pray.
Hear our prayer.
For those who suffer most from war,
that the homeless, the orphaned, the hungry, and the innocent
may help us turn from warlike ways to accept God's gift of peace,
Let us pray.
Hear our prayer.
Silence
Gracious God, help us never to forget that war is evil and war is hell. Help us to honor its dead and to pray for its victims who live on, through him who for our sakes laid down his life, Jesus Christ.
Amen.