Below are some worship resources which you are welcome to use at no charge. Please just use a copyright acknowledgment "Copyright Lisa Frenz 2008. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission."
Be sure to update Afghanistan & Iraq numbers
These numbers were found at:
using http://www.samueljohnson.com/blog/archives/0801b.html and http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2005/050412-gone-to-war.htm to figure out the numbers (i.e. Afghanistan is 16% of the total for the combined Iraq/Afghanistan numbers. This is derived from the "currently serving" numbers: 27,000/168,000 = 16% .
http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/
Please note: it is not easy to find the "serving" numbers for the current conflicts. If you can find a better site, let me know.
Order of Worship
Prelude
Welcome
Song: In Deepest Night
Text: Susan Palo Cherwien (c) 1995 Susan Palo Cherwien, admin. Augsburg Fortress
Tune Name: NICHOLS, Music: Emily Maxson Porter
1 In deepest night, in darkest days, . . .
there is the song of God.
2 When friend was lost, when love deceived, . . .
there are the tears of God.
3 When through the waters winds our path, . . .
there is the love of God.
Reading: John 15:9-13
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.
Reading:
Such hearts--ah me, how many!--were stilled ...; and to us who remain behind is left this day of memories. Every year--in the full tide of spring, at the height of the symphony of flowers and love and life--there comes a pause, and through the silence we hear the lonely pipe of death. Year after year lovers wandering under the apple trees and through the clover and deep grass are surprised with sudden tears as they see black veiled figures stealing through the morning to a soldier's grave. Year after year the comrades of the dead follow, with public honor, procession and commemorative flags and funeral march--honor and grief from us who stand almost alone, and have seen the best and noblest of our generation pass away.
But grief is not the end of all. I seem to hear the funeral march become a paean. I see beyond the forest the moving banners of a hidden column. Our dead brothers still live for us, and bid us think of life, not death--of life to which in their youth they lent the passion and joy of the spring. As I listen , the great chorus of life and joy begins again, and amid the awful orchestra of seen and unseen powers and destinies of good and evil our trumpets sound once more a note of daring, hope, and will.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., "In Our Youth Our Hearts Were Touched With Fire" [An address delivered for Memorial Day, May 30, 1884, at Keene, NH, before John Sedgwick Post No. 4, Grand Army of the Republic.]
Song: Live in My Love (from "Bread of Life") vs. 3 - cantor verse /congregation refrain
Text & Music: Jeremy Young (c) 2000 Augsburg Fortress
Tune Name: LIVE IN MY LOVE
Refrain
Live, live in my love. . . .you'll rise from the dead,
lovers and friends in a world without end.
Thanks to Jesus, we will be together
again when we've gone through our lives, . . .all are children of God.
And we'll rise from the dead, doing as Jesus has said. Refrain
OR
Solo: Hot Gates (Christopher Torr)
London Paris Rome Berlin . . .
Chorus:
I can see a fiery, fiery glow
Even as the sun is sinking low
I can see a Horseman on the run
O my Daughter, O my Son.
Dunkirk Dover . . . Berchtesgaden Stalingrad Chorus
Carthage Dresden Babylon . . . Armageddon Thermopylae Chorus
There’s another song that will be sung . . .
There’s another city I’ve been told
Where the streets are paved with gold.
Listing of Casualties:
(excludes Civil War)
P: We remember and honor those whose lives where given in service to us:
C: The 184,000 who served in the Revolutionary War and the 4,435 who died in that service.
P: The 286,703 who served in the War of 1812 and the 6,765 who died in that service.
C: The 78,718 who served in the Mexican War and the 13,283 who died in that service.
P: The 306,760 who served in the Spanish-American War and the 2,446 who died in that service.
C: The 4,743,826 who served in World War One and the 116,708 who died in that service.
P: The 16,353,659 who served in World War Two and the 407,316 who died in that service.
C: The 5,764,143 who served in the Korean War and the 33,651 who died in that service.
P: The 8,744,000 who served in the Vietnam War and the 58,168 who died in that service.
C: The 467,539 who served in the Persian Gulf War and the 268 who died in that service.
P: The 320,000 who served and are serving in the Afghanistan War and the 492 who have died in that service.
C: The 1,680,000 who served and are serving in the Iraq War and the 4,021 who have died in that service.
(includes Civil War)
P: We remember and honor those whose lives where given in service to us:
C: The 184,000 who served in the Revolutionary War and the 4,435 who died in that service.
P: The 286,703 who served in the War of 1812 and the 6,765 who died in that service.
C: The 78,718 who served in the Mexican War and the 13,283 who died in that service.
P: The 3,500,000 who served in the Civil War and the 530,000 who died in that service.
C: The 306,760 who served in the Spanish-American War and the 2,446 who died in that service.
P: The 4,743,826 who served in World War One and the 116,708 who died in that service.
C: The 16,353,659 who served in World War Two and the 407,316 who died in that service.
P: The 5,764,143 who served in the Korean War and the 33,651 who died in that service.
C: The 8,744,000 who served in the Vietnam War and the 58,168 who died in that service.
P: The 467,539 who served in the Persian Gulf War and the 268 who died in that service.
C: The 320,000 who served and are serving in the Afghanistan War and the 492 who have died in that service.
P: The 1,680,000 who served and are serving in the Iraq War and the 4,021 who have died in that service.
Note: Civil War numbers are the total of both Union and Confederate soldiers. Also, they are a compromise between various numbers from various sources. In other words, nobody really knows and the numbers are an estimate - somewhere between the high estimates and the low ones. LF
Reading:
“If you are able, save for them a place inside of you and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go.
Be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not have always. Take what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own.
And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind.”
Major Michael Davis O’Donnell, 1 January 1970, Dak To, Vietnam, Listed on February 7, 1978 as Killed In Action, March 24, 1970
Scripture Reading
Gospel Reading
Message
Song: Death Be Never Last (from "Dancing at the Harvest") vs. 1(opt. vs. 2,3)
Text & Music: Ray Makeever (c) 1993 Ray Makeever, admin. Augsburg Fortress
Tune Name: DEATH BE NEVER LAST
1 We walk in light of countless faces. . . night in endless ages' run
Refrain: Turning eyes now to their shining . . . Death be now but never last.
2 When sorrow's heavy hand has weighted . . . laden on the bed of pain Refrain
3 When joy returns with laughter singing . . . thanks to God for those now gone Refrain
P: Today, we particularly remember your saints in light, our loved ones, our friends, our neighbors, our veterans who have died. As we share our memories of them with each other we ask your peace and comfort enfold us. Their absence among us leaves a hole which we ask that you fill in our hearts and lives. Come, Lord, Jesus and be with us now as we hold up in joyous celebration the lives of:
___________________ (Names of those who have died in the armed forces)
Others may be named by the congregation
A: For these your servants,
C: We thank you, Lord.
The congregation may take a time for sharing of memories
P: Lord God, you are our hope and our confidence. Into your hands we commend the souls of ___________________(names of those who have died) trusting in your infinite mercy that you will reunite us all on that great day when the dead shall rise in Christ to live with you forever.
C: Amen.
OR (if not using the “sharing of memories”)
P: Today, we particularly remember your saints in light, our loved ones, our friends, our neighbors, our veterans who have died. As we share our memories of them with each other we ask your peace and comfort enfold us. Their absence among us leaves a hole which we ask that you fill in our hearts and lives. Come, Lord, Jesus and be with us now as we hold up in joyous celebration the lives of:
___________________ (Names of those who have died in the armed forces or were veterans and have died.)
Others may be named by the congregation
A: For these your servants,
C: We thank you, Lord.
P: Lord God, you are our hope and our confidence. Into your hands we commend the souls of ___________________(names of those who have died) trusting in your infinite mercy that you will reunite us all on that great day when the dead shall rise in Christ to live with you forever.
C: Amen.
Song: When Memory Fades Vs 3
Text: Mary Louise Bringle, b. 1953. Text © by GIA Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Arr. © 1932 A
Music: Finlandia 111011101110, Jean Sibelius, 1865-1957; arr. Gunnar J. Malmin, Corncordia Hymnal, 1931.
Within your Spirit, . . . Held in your heart, our deathless life is won.
The Lord’s Prayer
Playing of Taps
NOTES:
Scripture:
Mt. 10:29-32
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven;
John 15:9-13
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.
Psalm 116
I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications.
Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish.
Then I called on the name of the Lord: "O Lord, I pray, save my life!"
Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful.
The Lord protects the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.
Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
I walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
I kept my faith, even when I said, "I am greatly afflicted";
I said in my consternation, "Everyone is a liar."
What shall I return to the Lord for all his bounty to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord,
I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones.
O Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant, the child of your serving girl. You have loosed my bonds.
I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice and call on the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people,
in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!
1 John 3:1-3
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
Quotes from recent wars:
WWI: In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
The name of John McCrae (1872-1918) may seem out of place in the distinguished company of World War I poets, but he is remembered for what is probably the single best-known and popular poem from the war, "In Flanders Fields." He was a Canadian physician and fought on the Western Front in 1914, but was then transferred to the medical corps and assigned to a hospital in France. He died of pneumonia while on active duty in 1918. His volume of poetry, In Flanders Fields and Other Poems, was published in 1919.
WWII: Director Steven Spielberg made "Saving Private Ryan" as a tribute to D-Day veterans. He wanted to strip the glory away from war and show the younger generations what it was really like. The reviews have praised the movie and the special effects that graphically show the blood and horror of the D-Day landing.
The young men who lived through those first waves are old men now. Many have asked themselves, every day for more than 50 years, why they survived. It is an unanswerable question.
These men left us with a simple request. You can hear that request in the movie. In the film, a squad of rangers is sent behind enemy lines to save a man whose three brothers have been killed in battle. Higher Headquarters want him shipped home to spare his mother the agony of having all her sons killed.
After they had found Pvt. Ryan and heading back to the American lines when one of the rangers is wounded and dying, he asks Pvt. Ryan to bend over so he can whisper to him.
"Earn this," he says.
This is the request of all the young men who have died in all the wars - from Normandy to the Chosin Reservoir to Da Nang to the Gulf . . . . Earn This. Earn the sacrifice that they have made.
What you are doing to earn their sacrifice. Some of you will have the opportunity to serve in the armed forces in the future. All of you have the opportunity to be good citizens; to obey the law; to contribute to society; and above all, respect and thank those who have served and who are still serving their country.
From: SALUTING AMERICA'S 20TH CENTURY HEROES
Written and presented by COL William A. Thomas, Director of Plans and Operations, Directorate of Joint Operations, Georgia Department of Defense, to students and faculty of Putnam County Middle School, November 10, 1998
Against twin enemies who believed they were genetically, racially, theologically and institutionally superior to all others in the world, those Americans and their allies proved them not only wrong, but foolish. In a 45-month long battle against the conceit that moral superiority can be declared, those Americans across the sea and at home in the United States – many of you who have made it here today – proved that true human morality can only be demonstrated – by deed, by sacrifice and ultimately by mercy.
Remarks of Tom Hanks, National WWII Memorial Dedication, May 29, 2004
"It's a picture of tired and dirty soldiers who are alive and don't want to die; of long, darkened convoys in the middle of the night; of shocked, silent men wandering back down the hill from battle; of jeeps and petrol dumps and smelly bedding rolls and C-rations; and blown bridges and dead mules and hospital tents and shirt collars greasy black from months of wearing; and of laughter, too; and anger and wine and lovely flowers and constant cussing. All these it is composed of, and of graves and graves and graves."
Ernie Pyle, HERE'S YOUR WAR
Korea: “I have just left your fighting sons in Korea. They have met all tests there, and I can report to you without reservation, they are splendid in every way. It was my constant effort to preserve them and end this savage conflict honorably and with the least loss of time and minimum sacrifice of life. Its growing bloodshed has caused me the deepest anguish and anxiety. Those gallant men will remain often in my thoughts and in my prayers always.”
General Douglas MacArthur, April 20, 1951
Such hearts--ah me, how many!--were stilled twenty years ago; and to us who remain behind is left this day of memories. Every year--in the full tide of spring, at the height of the symphony of flowers and love and life--there comes a pause, and through the silence we hear the lonely pipe of death. Year after year lovers wandering under the apple trees and through the clover and deep grass are surprised with sudden tears as they see black veiled figures stealing through the morning to a soldier's grave. Year after year the comrades of the dead follow, with public honor, procession and commemorative flags and funeral march--honor and grief from us who stand almost alone, and have seen the best and noblest of our generation pass away.
But grief is not the end of all. I seem to hear the funeral march become a paean. I see beyond the forest the moving banners of a hidden column. Our dead brothers still live for us, and bid us think of life, not death--of life to which in their youth they lent the passion and joy of the spring. As I listen , the great chorus of life and joy begins again, and amid the awful orchestra of seen and unseen powers and destinies of good and evil our trumpets sound once more a note of daring, hope, and will.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
"In Our Youth Our Hearts Were Touched With Fire"
[An address delivered for Memorial Day, May 30, 1884, at Keene, NH, before John Sedgwick Post No. 4, Grand Army of the Republic.]
No, Freedom Isn't Free
Copyright 1981 by CDR Kelly Strong, USCG (Ret).
I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.
I heard the sound of taps one night,
When everything was still
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That taps had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free.
Remembering...
c 2001 Jessica F., 3rd Grader, Academy Elementary School, Madison, Connecticut.
Red, white and blue
For those we knew
Who marched off to war.
We honor them now
And show them how
Their bravery we can't ignore.
Heroes of war,
They were so much more,
Father and brother and friend.
Flags at half mast
For those of the past
To whom our gratitude we send.
We place flowers on the graves
Of those who were brave,
We salute them far and wide.
Seeing poppies galore
While our hearts soar,
remembering proudly those who have died