Friday, January 19, 2018

A Memorial Day Prayer

       Almighty God, Maker of the heavens and the earth, King of kings, Lord of lords. Creator of all men, and Father of all spirits:
       We worship Thee this day as the source of all our benefits and blessings. We thank Thee for our conscious lives, for our republic, for our homes, which are the foundations of the republic; for our churches and our schools, and for all the moral forces which have shaped the nation of which we are a part.
       We thank Thee for the literature, the just laws, the sciences, the liberal benefactions, the mutual human trust, and the generous impulses which procure and preserve amity and peace among civilized  peoples.
       We thank Thee for the manliness, courage, devotion, and conscientious convictions which made possible our brave men and heroic women in the years when armies took the field against us, and dared to assail that for which our forefathers suffered and died.
       We thank Thee for our noble mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters, and for their undying patriotism and love manifested when they sadly but gladly permitted their fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons to leave their dear ones to the care of God and risk their all upon the field of battle.
       While we are assembled here today, may God make vivid, emphasize, and impress upon this great congregation a sense of the priceless value of all that for which women have suffered at home, and of that for which men were willing to yield all save their sacred honor.
       Pardon all our sins; remit the guilt of that in our national laws or habits or indulgences for which we may have become responsible through our ignorance or by our indifference to the bounden duties
of citzinship.
       Revive within us a just appreciation of all that which by Thy blessing has preserved the nation until this day. Re-awaken us to the conditions upon which God will alone continue our national life.  We pray Thee to increase the number of our honest. God-fearing office-bearers, and to graciously rebuke and remove from power all those who have abused their sacred trusts.
       Grant Thy special blessings upon the family whose heroic husband and father is named by every voice in the nation today. May our grateful memories rival even this bronze in commemorating heroic
and patriotic deeds. We pray Thee to stimulate our gratitude toward all those who fought for the republic, and to quicken the spirit of genuine patriotism in every American heart.
       Impress each one of us with the sense of personal responsibility for our homes, for our nation, and for the continued existence of Christian civilization upon the earth.
       Help us to serve Thee by serving our fellowmen, and in the end bring us to the better kingdom above through Him who hath loved us and gave Himself for us. Amen. Delivered at the unveiling of
the Logan Statue, by Rev. Arthur Edwards.

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