Opening Prayer
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09/11/2024
Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben
Holy and eternal God, on this 11th of September, we remember a clear blue sky and a nation at peace. As that memory is now shattered by the destruction that followed, we pray the wisdom to claim Your eternal promises in our country's remembrance of that tragedy.
Like grass are our days, that flourish like flowers in the field. The wind passes over them, and they are gone. And so, in an instant, our country was robbed of its sense of security and bereft of thousands of its citizens, swept away by the winds of war.
We pray that Your steadfast love, O Lord, which is from everlasting to everlasting, to rise from the wreckage of that defining day in history. Bless the sacrifice of too many of our sons and daughters who gave their lives to defend the freedoms assaulted on that bucolic day and the decades that followed. Heal the enduring grief of countless families. Bring peace upon our world which remains in upheaval.
Remind us again of Your compassion for Your children. Freedom, by Your grace, is still to be found in You. Peace and justice, in Your mercy, are ours to preserve and uphold.
Ennoble us as a nation, each children of Your creation, with the assurance that our hope still rests in You alone.
God, bless America and receive our prayers as we offer them in the strength of Your name. Amen.
Psalm 103:15–17