Veterans Day

 

Today, November 11 is Veterans Day but we originally called this, “Armistice Day.” On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month (i.e., November 11, 1918, exactly 102 today), the truce was declared that ended World War I, then known as “The Great War” and “the war to end all wars.” “Armistice” is from the Latin arma (“arms”) and sistere (“stand still”). Initially Congress said this this day, “should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations.”  What a powerful statement for this year.  Today, you can start with thanksgiving.  I give thanks for my dad who served in the Navy, my father-in-law who was also in that branch, for those who wore the uniforms of the Army/Air Force/Marines, for members in our church who worked at the Pentagon, those who left family to go to Iraq or Afghanistan, and those who are stationed around the world right now.  I give thanks that service to our country comes in many forms from medicine (those working on a vaccine right now) to teaching to leadership to fixing the potholes in the roads and making sure there is clean water from our faucets.  We need many gifts of many people to make our communities function (which is really what politics is about).  After you make the list of thanksgiving, I invite you to pray.  Pray for our veterans, especially those who live in pain physically and emotionally.  Pray for the medical staff around the world.  Pray for those who are on the front line of this virus in stores and classroom.  Pray for our leaders.  Pray for your neighbor, especially the one you struggle to love.  Then, listen – lean into God’s prayer for you today.  Finally, find a way to exercise peace.  What a great invitation that we can live today.  Peace found in our words and actions.  

In honor of my dad’s service, I close with the prayerful words of the hymn “Eternal Father Strong to Save,” which is often called, “The Navy Hymn”.

Prayer: please pray/sing with me:

Eternal Father, strong to save,

Whose arm doth bond the restless wave,

Who bids the mighty ocean deep

Its own appointed limits keep;

O hear us when we cry to Thee

For those in peril on the sea.

Amen.