Before I came to Charlottesville, St. Paul's Memorial Church had set aside Monday at noon as a time to pray for peace. These prayers began sometime after the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq started, and that is now going on seven years -- longer than World War II. The prayers are meant to be just that -- prayers for peace. The attendance on Mondays has waxed and waned, and there are weeks when there is only one. Yet whomever is there is praying for all of us, praying that wars may finally cease, that violence may end, that voices may lower, that swords may be beaten into plowshares, and that we may find peace at the last.
O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an
instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life:
Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly
suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior
Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
So it is that I joined the prayers for peace yesterday, Monday in Holy Week. A handful of us sat in the church, not exactly in silence because the sounds of traffic outside and voices inside echoed throughout the building (it is amazing to me how well sound carries in our building). We sat together, listening and longing for peace to come into our midst.
About 25 minutes into our time together, Darren Ball, a member of our Vestry, a father of two young sons, began to read the names of American soldiers, sailors and Marines who have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since the beginning of the year. Every Sunday, we pray for those who have died in the last week in service to our country in these wars, and we pray for them by name in our prayers for people.
Darren read the entire list for 2010 so far. Then we ended with a Eucharist that was, to say the least, somber.
Below are the names of those Americans who have died this year in these wars. We could add other names of soldiers from other countries and civilians caught in the cross fire, and we could add the names of our nation's enemies. The list could be very long.
Please take a few moments to remember these soldiers, sailors and Marines from our country, people who represented us and gave the last full measure of their devotion to our country. Please take a few moments to say their names -- out loud -- and pray for their families, for the people they loved who they left behind, for the lives and dreams they left unfinished, and for the Iraqis and Afghanis who have died or been injured in these conflicts. Pray for peace.
Week through January 7
Brushaun Anderson
David Croft
Michael Jarrett
Anton Phillips
Brian Bowman
Joshua Lengstrof
John Dion
Bradley Smith
Jason Hickman
Mark Juarez
Jacob Meinhert
Nicholas Uzenski
Week through January 20
Gifford Hurt
Jaime Lowe
Matthew Ingham
Geoffrey Whitsitt
Daniel Merriweather
Lucas Beachnaw
Kyle Wright
Christopher Hrbek
Robert Donevski
Michael Shannon
Adam Ginnett
Paul Pena
Thaddeus Montgomery
Week through January 31
Scott Barnett
Gifford Hurt
Carlos Gill
Zachary Smith
Daniel Angus
Timothy Poole
Jeremy Kane
Xin Qi ("Gin Ki")
Week through February 5
Scott Barnett
Zachary Lovejoy
Daniel Whitten
Michael Freeman
David Thompson
Marc Paul Decoteau
Rusty Christian
David Smith
Week through February 13
Adriana Alvarez
Adam Ray
Dillion Foxx
David Hartman
Matthew Sluss-Tiller
Mark Stets
Week through February 19
Sean Caughman
Alejandro Yazzie
Noah Pier
Guy Mellors
Jason Estopina
Jacob Turbet
John Reiners
Jeremiah Wittman
Bobby Pagen
Week through February 27
William SpencerCollect for Tuesday in Holy Week
Daniel O'Leary
Billie Grinder
Marcus Alford
Scott Barnett
Marcos Gorra
Matthais Hanson
Eric Ward
Adam Peak
J.R. Salvacion
Christopher Eckard
Michael Cardenaz
Gregory Stultz
Joshua Birchfield
Kielin Dunn
Jeremy McQuery
Kyle Coutu
Larry Johnson
Week through March 5
Nigel Olsen
Vincent Owens
Carlos Aragon
Ian Gelig
Matthew Huston
Josiah Crumpler
William Ricketts
Week through March 13
Aaron Arthur
Lakeshia Bailey
Garrett Gamble
Jason Kropat
Jonathan Richardson
Nicholas Cook
Alan Dikcis
Anthony Paci
Week through March 19
Richard Jordan
Erin McLyman
Steven Bishop
Adam Brown
Robert Gilbert II
Glen Whetten
Jonathan Porto
O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an
instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life:
Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly
suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior
Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
List compiled from iCasualities.com
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