God of our mothers and our fathers, we give thanks for those who dreamed of a land of liberty and justice for all … a land where a human being was the equal of a king, and everyone enjoyed the fullness of opportunity – to be all they could be, to dream without limit, to worship without coercion, and to live and believe freely.
We thank you, O God, for this good and great land called America. You have blessed us bountifully, and we are grateful.
We call to mind on this Memorial Day weekend our highest virtues and our best principles … we commemorate our thoughts today to the young women and men who laid down their lives in duty, and those who served beside them – all who wore our nation’s uniform; who served with distinction and valor, who left home and fortune to heed the call of country.
We bless their memory, and we bless those who returned home safely, carrying within them the secret memories of war and its many sorrows.
LORD God Almighty, save our nation from the worst instincts of nationalism …
The love of power and the rattling of sabers …
Help us be strong, and to practice the gentleness of strength …
Give us an understanding of other peoples and nations …
A wise sympathy for other points of view …
Help us, we pray, to take our place in the family of nations …
Remind us, O God, that to such nations who have received so much, much more is required …
Judge us according to our wealth, O God.
Judge us according to actions, O God.
Judge us according to the freedom we grant to the stranger within our land.
Judge us with a firm hand, that we might take these occasions to reflect on our character, our vision, our loyalties, our dreams – and rise to the highest and the best in our American character.
Now bless us, we pray, in the remains of the day … fill our worship with your Holy Spirit and endow our hearts with the fullness of Christ.
And with gratitude and peace, we pray together the prayer Jesus taught us: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done …
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