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Memorial Day Prayer 2016 at American Legion Griswold Post 79, Madison, CT - Pastor Greg Scalzo

Invocation delivered at the Madison, CT Memorial Day Ceremony at The American Legion Griswold Post 79

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father

We pray this morning for Your blessing and Your protection
upon our assembly.

Father, we are so thankful for the many blessings You have
poured out upon our nation. And we are especially grateful
for the freedoms we have. No other people in history have
enjoyed such freedom for such a continuous period of time.
Freedom to live our lives, to raise our families, to do the jobs
and engage in the enterprises we choose, to live and worship
in the freedom of conscience. What a blessing.

But the price of this freedom was not and is not cheap.
There was great cost. And so, today we remember together
as a people and before Your holy throne, the brave men and
women who put on the uniform of our nation to keep us safe
and to keep us free—those who have passed from this world
into the mercy of Your glorious hands.

The cost was great. All of them sacrificed valuable years of
life in service to our nation. But some sacrificed
everything—their very lives given on the field of battle in our
defense. And we commemorate them today. For others the
cost was loss of limb, injuries and wounds, some physical,
some scars deep on the heart and mind that would be with
them the rest of their lives.

And so, what do we say? How do we respond to such a great
price paid for freedom? Father, please help us to never take
for granted this great gift we’ve been given and to never
forget the sacrifices that were made. But with hearts of
appreciation, help us to tell the next generation about the
uniqueness of this land, about the value of living life in
freedom and not under tyranny, and about the dedicated
servants—frail humans who became valiant, noble
defenders: O Heavenly Father, that in their memory we
would be a virtuous and righteous people. That we would
see our freedom not as a license for selfish desires, but as a
great responsibility to be cherished, preserved and used for
the good. And so that this great nation would not perish
from the face of the earth.

Almighty God, we need Your power and Your presence to
accomplish this, and I ask for such as a servant of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen


© 2016 Gregory J. Scalzo