A Veterans Day Prayer

Rev. Jeffrey Symynkywicz, November 9, 2008

To re-member is to reconnect; to bind up again that which has been severed. When we remember, we begin the process of making ourselves whole once again—as individuals, and as a people.  We rejoin ourselves to the land of the living and the Spirit of Life.

It is good to remember those who have come before, those who gave their lives that we might enjoy freedom and the blessings of this good land. The best way to remember these dear souls is not to glorify war, but to work for peace; not by glorifying war, but by counting honestly its cost; not by glossing over its evil, but by facing honestly its harsh and painful and haunting memories.

The heart of Veterans Day lies in our hope that the sacrifices which others have made were not senseless or futile or devoid of meaning—but that this sacrifice stood for something abiding and true, and that it was rich with meaning. What that meaning is—what it will be—depends on us.

So as we stand again at this day, let us pause for a moment in our busy lives—pause, and remember that nothing worthwhile is ever without cost, and that life is always lived on the border between joy and tragedy.

May we remember that our lives are bound with those who have come before in an indivisible garment of destiny. May we remember that the field of memory and the field of hope, together, form an indivisible human landscape, a sacred realm of time and space which we all share together, for all time, in all eternity.

From the flowing river of their memory may there arise the wonderful and life-giving fountain of our hope.

Amen.

jbs
11/9/08

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