Читать книгу Worship Anthology - S. Craggs - Страница 26
ОглавлениеRAF Remembrance Day Service
REV. CAROLINE TAYLOR
St Athernase Church in Leuchars has as its neighbour RAF Leuchars. This prayer was shared at a joint Remembrance Day service at which RAF personnel and their families were present as well as ex-Air Force and Army personnel and civilians.
Photographs
In frames on the mantelpiece or bedside table
Attached by magnets to the fridge
Sent by e-mail
So many photographs, Lord, all of them depicting people who are loved.
Photographs
of men and women in uniform of a style which betrays that they weren’t taken yesterday
of recent passing-out parades showing the optimism and confidence of youth
jet, ship or tank, bleak desert, icy mountain or ruined city in the background.
Combat gear, khaki, Air Force blue, number 1s, off-duty casual
So many photographs, Lord, all of them depicting people who are loved.
And today we remember those whose photographs we treasure because of the good memories they evoke,
even as we sigh for what might have been:
Those who went to war and didn’t come home;
those who came back but not as we had known them;
those who met their deaths on the home front;
those who struggle still to live with their battle scars, emotional or physical.
May your love surround them all, dear God.
And we remember women, children and men in the thick of conflict even as we pray. Keep them safe.
This morning, we include in our prayers the waiting ones at home; those who live daily with the worry of what might happen. For the children who are too young to understand but who know the military life of a father or mother. Surround them all with your peace, Lord.
And we pray for ourselves, dear God, that we, who bear your Son’s name, may be channels of your peace; that the Church be a sign of hope in a divided world.
Like those who have given themselves in the service of their country, we give ourselves to your service, wholeheartedly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ in whose name we offer these prayers. Amen.
