From Don's Desk

From now until Easter is the holiest, most sacred, most wonderful, most meaningful time of the year for many followers of our Lord, including me, and the busiest for many pastors, including me, but I can’t get the tragedy of war and the victims of war out of my mind and my heart. In that spirit I share with you:

A GRAMPA'S WAR PRAYER

    May God the Father Who created you, Jadon Donald Carlson (+), Brandon Michael Mang (+) and Cameron Matthew  Mang (+),  may our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died on the cross for you to redeem you and make you His own, may the Holy Spirit Who lives in you since your baptism (+),  bless you and keep you this day and every day until the ending of days.
    Three years ago the President of the United States made it clear that our nation was going to war. The next morning your grandmother and I prayed for the Camerons and Brandons and Jadons of the world with heavy hearts. Grandma's eyes were red with tears as we realized that many Brandons and Camerons and Jadons would be hurt and killed and bereaved in the days and weeks and months that were to come. We were terribly shaken when it dawned on us that boys the same age as Cameron and Brandon would be combatants, and some would blow themselves up in suicide attacks and some would be used as human shields.
    I haven't been able to get that out of my mind these three years. I am sad. Very sad. Lord, have mercy. Let us pray:
    Our Father, Father of all nations and of all peoples, Father of mercies, I prayfor the Jadons and Brandons and Camerons of the world. I pray for American children, and I pray for Iraqi children.  I pray for all the children whose bodies have been and continue to be and will be blown to smithereens by bombs and other explosives, whose little bodies have been and continue to be and will be shot through with bullets, whether the bombs and the bullets are ours or those of  other nations in the "coalition of the willing" or those we demonize as our enemies. I am sad. Very sad. Lord, have mercy.
    Generous Father in Whom there is no shadow of darkness, I pray for the Brandons and Camerons and Jadons whose daddies and mommies and brothers and sisters and uncles and aunts and grandmas and grandpas will die. I grieve for the hugs and kisses they will never get from them, because they are dead, for all the cuddles and snuggles they will never get from them, for the hours they will not be able to play with them or learn from them, because they are dead. I am sad. Very sad. Lord, have mercy.
    Oh, God Who is love, I pray for the Camerons and Jadons and Brandons who will go hungry, who will not have clean water to drink, whose homes and hospitals and schools will be destroyed, whose neighborhoods will be without electricity and any semblance of safety and security. I am sad. Very sad. Lord, have mercy.
    Father, our Father, Heavenly Father of all the Jadons and Camerons and Brandons of the world, it would appear that we are committed to killing and maiming and mutilating more and more of the Brandons and Camerons and Jadons of the world, American and Iraqi, to protect and expand what we call the American way of life. The last I heard, over 2,000 Americans have already died in this war, and how many thousand have been injured, and estimates of Iraqi's killed (from all war-related causes) range from 30,000 to over 100,000 (our government doesn't give us that information).  I don't have the words to say how sad I am. It helps me to know that you are even sadder, that Your Fatherly heart breaks as Your human children suffer and die in their stupid, insane wars. I'm pretty sure You wept when Pharaoh's army drowned in the Red Sea, even as You wept over the bitter servitude of Your people in the land of bondage. And I'm pretty sure You are  weeping now for all the Jadons and Brandons and Camerons of the world, American and Iraqi and Palestinian and Israeli, all the sons and daughters of the world who die prematurely, who suffer unconscionably, who exist, but never really have a life. I am very sad. It helps to know You are sad too. You do know what it feels like, don't You. You lost a son didn't You. On a cross. Why do we have to keep crucifying Your human children over and over again on a cross we keep making for ourselves? Lord, have mercy.

Note:    This prayer was originally written to be offered at a worship service at Bethel Lutheran Church, Encino, California in March of 2003. The prayer was revised after Memorial Day weekend. 2005. At that time my grandson Jadon Donald Carlson had just celebrated his fifth birthday and grandsons  Brandon Michael Mang and Cameron  Matthew Mang were fifteen years old and had just been confirmed in their home congregation in Littleton, Colorado.


                ~Don