Memorial Day Prayer 2015 on the Madison, CT Green – Pastor Greg Scalzo

Invocation delivered at the Madison, CT Memorial Day Ceremony at the town Green

Almighty God, Our Heavenly Father

We remember today those service members of all the armed forces who are no longer with us but have passed from this world into Your just and merciful hands. Some gave their very lives, dying in their service to this country.

But they did not do so as so many other warriors in history, who sought plunder, or power, or to enlarge their domain. Instead, they laid down their lives for something noble and good and beautiful. They sacrificed for the idea of a special nation—one such as had never existed before in the annals of human history. They offered themselves for America—a blessed, unique land where every individual enjoyed unprecedented freedom; yet a land whose people did not use that freedom recklessly or as libertines, but were keenly aware of the great responsibilities they had to each other and before You. A country where each could worship freely as he or she saw fit; yet not a godless country, but one where churches and synagogues dotted every town. A land of diligence and self-reliance, and yet one where neighbors were always quick to help and share. A land of laws and governing bodies, yet a land where each citizen had a say and, by constitution, a part in that rule.

And these brave defenders saw their service of protection of this exceptional nation as a sacred trust. If any self-benefit could be found in their motives it would be this: that they fought and died so that their families and their children and their children’s children would be raised in a safe and good land, where both body and character would be fed and prosper. America to them was more than just a territory or government—it was a dream fulfilled, it was a consecrated people, and it was home.

And so Father we owe them a great debt. And we are deeply comforted by Your assurance of a world after this world. We knew some of them as family and friends; but there are so many more throughout the generations, going back even to the founding of this nation, that we have never met, yet whose lives profoundly impact each of us here today.

And it is my prayer that to honor their memory, to fulfill their mission, and preserve the fruit of their sacrifice, that our country would be that special nation—the noble and good and beautiful America, she who is blessed by You and blesses You in turn by her virtue and righteousness.

I ask this as a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen