Exeter Memorial Day Prayers, 2018

Father God, we thank You for the precious lives of our fallen heroes who died in the defense of this land. We bless Your Name for the sacred truths that informed the founding of our great nation. Chief among them is our dependence upon You as our “Creator,” the Great Author of “Divine Providence,” and the “Supreme Judge of the world.” As the signers of the Declaration of Independence pledged their “lives,” their “fortunes,” and their “sacred honor,” to defend their loved ones and to stand for what is right and good, and as those who lost their lives at sea gave the last measure of their devotion for us and for future generations, we remember today that there are truths worth living for and even worth dying for, and we commit ourselves to follow in the footsteps of the One Savior who gave His life for His friends, in Jesus' Name. Amen.

Creator God, as the founders of our town so many years ago committed their names to the hope that we would “live quietly and peaceably together in all godliness and honesty,” we ask for your aid on this Memorial Day as we would honor the fallen, the captives, and the missing with reverence and true appreciation. We ask for Your blessing upon our speaker this morning and for those who will listen to the words he has prepared that we might be rightly moved in ways of life that would be true and right, in Jesus' Name. Amen.

Judge of All the Earth, we know that You alone are the Source of all our rights and freedoms. You have called men and women to protect and defend this nation from enemies foreign and domestic. We here today are all the more aware of the cost of freedom. We consecrate this ground again in Your presence, and thank You for the gift of those who gave their lives for us. May we honor them and You not only today, but as long as we have breath. Thank You for the privilege that we have of living a life of liberty in a dangerous world. May we forever be inspired by those who have come before us who have displayed what it means to lay day their lives for their neighbors. And now may the blessings of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be upon those gathered here, and upon this town of Exeter, this state of New Hampshire, and these United States of America. In Jesus' Name. Amen.