Lord, we turn our troubled hearts toward you,
hoping that in our stillness and in our waiting,
You might speak to us a word of steady hope.

Reveal to us the many claims of duty
And let us claim the courage to fulfill them.

Let us keep faith
with the soldiers who fight for our country,
gathering them in our large embrace,
celebrating their honor, their courage, their mutual devotion.
Return them to us safe and unscarred.

Let us keep faith
with the people of Iraq,
remembering our common humanity,
recognizing their suffering, grieving with them,
and dedicating ourselves to their free flourishing.

Let us keep faith
with the leaders of our country,
and with our fellow citizens,
bound as we are
by the reciprocal duties of free citizenship.
Help us, O Lord, to speak with honesty
and listen with respect,
and live together in democratic covenant.

O Lord, we turn to you in search of a compelling vision
of the world made whole, and all her people free.
Let us keep faith
with your ultimate reconciling purpose,
and let your Holy Spirit inspire our hearts to wider love,
And give gentle guidance to the work of our hands.
Amen

-Rev. Thomas Schade