Veteran's Day

Remembering St. Luke’s on Veterans Day Weekend

Special Worship, Sunday, November 13, 2022 – 3 PM.
We will begin and end at the Flag Pole.

One of my treasured possessions is the prayer book my Grandfather carried during his service in the Army, island hopping in the South Pacific. He was not active in his faith following his active duty, but the book is well worn. I used it when I officiated his funeral.
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There is an Evangelical Lutheran Worship Prayer Book for the Armed Services designed specifically for military personnel, their families, veterans and chaplains, published by Augsburg Fortress.

Eric Wester, ELCA pastor and former assistant to the presiding bishop of the ELCA and director, Federal Chaplaincies, Washington, D.C. said when he served, “In our office, we get at least one call per week asking, ‘What can we do to support our troops?’ Individuals and congregations who send copies of the prayer book for our chaplains to pass on to others help sustain faith in Christ for those serving in uniform.”

The features of this special prayer book include:

• Morning and evening prayer for individual use
• Prayers for many service-related contexts, including preparation for missions, confronting crises, grieving fallen companions, life circumstances during deployment, and more
• Corporate worship services with resources from Evangelical Lutheran Worship and the ELCA’s full-communion partner churches
• Affirmation of baptism for returning veterans
• Prayers for congregations whose pastors serve as chaplains or whose members are deployed
• Twenty-six psalms for a variety of circumstances
• The words to 65 hymns and songs, including an expanded section of national songs

I invite you to prayerfully consider making a financial gifts to the ELCA Bureau for Federal Chaplaincy Ministries for the purchase of prayer books that can be shipped according to your wishes or sent to chaplains in deployed settings, military medical facilities and pre-deployment sites as troops head “out the door” and “down range.” The prayer books are also sent to basic training and “boot camp” sites for new recruits. Please indicate that your gift is to be used to purchase a prayer book to donate.

ELCA Bureau for Federal Chaplaincy Ministries
218 D Street SE, Suite 100
Washington, DC 20003

Let us close with one of the prayers from Evangelical Lutheran Worship: Prayer Book for the Armed Forces.

Almighty and ever-living God, we give you thanks for the men and women who have served and defended our country and the values of freedom and justice we hold so dear. Help us be mindful of the sacrifices they made and the hardship endured by their families and friends, so that we never take for granted the privileges they have secured for us. Hear us, we pray, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen. (PBAS, p. 66)