Veterans' Day Prayer for Peace

Creator of All Light,
Giver of Wisdom,
Protector of the Helpless:
give to us peace in our time, O God.

We remember today the men and women
who have served in the armed forces of our country,
on this day the guns stilled
ending a terrible war.
May we bring those guns to silence again;
may our lasting tribute to them
be a renewed dedication to peace.

May we consider the human costs
of our decision to battle
that endure long after combat ends.

May we remember the wounds of war
that linger in the memories of all who witness
the red rage of conflict,
and find no refuge from its grip.

May we honor our veterans' offering
of toil, time, and safety
by embracing them in all their needs.

May we never ask more of them
than we are willing to offer of ourselves,
and seek to serve them
as they have served our country.

May the rattle of the saber
be confined to the parade ground;
may those who have slept in tent, billet, or trench
never lack a roof of their own at home.

May we bear any burden
for those who have offered their lives in sacrifice,
and do all in our power
to heal any wounds they have borne.

Give us the wisdom and will
to hunger for peace
that the guns again cease
and red fields of battle
become golden fields of abundant grain.

May we revere our veterans,
and be willing to sacrifice at home
as they have in foreign fields,
dedicating ourselves to equality and fellowship
in whose name they have served.

May we serve the causes of peace and justice
as devotedly
as they have offered their lives in warfare.

Give to us peace in our time, O God.

Amen.

Photos, from the top:
1) Paul Cummins's installation for Remembrance Day, 2014, "Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red," consisting of 889,000 glass popppies installed at the Tower of London, from NPR.
2) Another view of that installation from Reuters.
3) A child in terror from the War in Afghanistan (known as Operation Enduring Freedom from 2001-2014 and Operation Freedom's Sentinel from 2014 onward), our longest-running conflict ever, from archives.
4) Lt. Col., now Senator, Tammy Duckworth, who was wounded while serving as a helicopter pilot in Iraq in 2004, from DailyKos.
5) A tank and burning oil fields from Operation Desert Storm, 1991, from CNN.
6) Marine Cpl. Catherine Broussard in Afghanistan's Helmand Province in 2010, by Paula Bronstein for Getty Images.
7) The 688th Postal Battalion, the first African American unit in the Women's Army Corps, 1945, from military archives.
8) Vietnam Women's Memorial, Washington DC.
9) Korean War Memorial, Washington, DC.
10) Corpsman Richard Barnett holding an Iraqi child, 2003, from Damir Sagol for Reuters.
11) Crossing the dividing line between North and South Korea, Korean Conflict, from military archives.
12) Quote by Admiral Chester Nimitz, World War II Memorial, Washington DC.