With Gratitude and Honor

 

Gracious God, on this Memorial Day weekend,

we remember and give thanks

for those who have given their lives

in the service of our country.

When the need was greatest,

they stepped forward and did their duty

to defend the freedoms that we enjoy,

and to win the same for others.

 

O God, through your son, our savior Jesus Christ,

you yourself have taught us

that no love is greater than that

which gives itself for another.

These honored dead gave the most precious gift they had,

life itself,

for loved ones and neighbors,

for comrades and country – and for us.

 

Help us to honor their memory

by caring for the family members

they have left behind,

by ensuring that their wounded comrades

are properly cared for,

by being watchful caretakers of the freedoms

for which they gave their lives,

and by demanding that no other young men and women

follow them to a soldier’s grave

unless the reason is worthy and the cause is just.

 

Holy One, by the power of your Spirit,

 help us to remember that freedom is not free.

There are times when its cost is, indeed, dear.

Never let us forget those who paid so terrible a

price to ensure that freedom would be our legacy.

Though their names may fade with the passing of generations,

may we never forget what they have done.

 

Help us to be worthy.

May their sacrifice service your Glory and our Good.

O God, help us to be worthy. Amen.

 

Adapted from the United Church of Christ, Worship Ways

 

 

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ABOUT OUR CLERGY

On November 4, 2012 we bid farewell to our beloved Rector, Rev. Susan Esco Chandler as she ventures beyond St. James to spread her amazing gifts to others!
We are grateful to have been blessed with her ministry in this good place.  Rev. Susan will be greatly missed, but her spirit will always remain with us.

In February we were joined by the Rev. Deborah M. Woodward, who will serve as our Interim Priest, to guide us for a year or so while contemplate where we are as a parish and how we hope to grow.  During this transition, we will carry out a thoughtful search process to find the right Rector to lead us for the future.

Rev. Dee, as we call her, was ordained in the Diocese of Massachusetts in 1987 and has served a number of parishes here, as rector, priest-in-charge, and interim priest. She has also served in New Zealand as a consulting priest in the Diocese of Christchurch. Rev. Dee and her husband Jim live in Milton but blessedly have a pied a terre in Haverhill which allows her to be with us.