Remembrance Day 2023
A prayer for Remembrance Day

A video prayer is available for Uniting Church members and communities to mark Remembrance Day this coming Sunday, with the national commemoration to take place on Saturday 11 November.

11am on 11 November marks the moment guns on the Western Front fell silent in 1918 after more than four years of continuous warfare.

Squadron Leader Chaplain David Kelly, Uniting Church minister and Defence Force chaplain, offers a greeting, prayer and blessing from inside the Chapel of the Resurrection at the RAAF Base in Townsville, Queensland.

The short video resource can be used flexibly, in part or whole, and in gathered or personal worship or online. You can watch below or download it directly from Vimeo. A version of the prayer can be read below.

In the Uniting Church there are about 40 chaplains serving across the navy, army and air force, with about half of these full-time.

In marking Remembrance Day, Uniting Church members and communities are encouraged to remember those who have died in war and to pray for Defence Force members past and present, and for the ministry, service and spiritual leadership of Defence Force chaplains.

A prayer for Remembrance Day

Lord and giver of life, ground of our being,
our rock and our fortress, our stronghold and deliverer,
in you we take refuge.

We remember the people who have died in service of this country;
in training,
in active service and
when the wounds of body, mind and spirit have overwhelmed them.

We remember the families and communities, impacted by bereavement.
We uphold those who continue to carry the burdens of that loss,
the family branches cut away too soon and the communities diminished.

We pray too for the colleagues in the Defence Force
who recall the mates that did not come home
and the ones who were never the same after they returned to civilian life.

We remember the men and women who continue to serve in the Australian Defence Force,
at this time, at home and abroad.

May the reminders in ceremonies and memorials in towns and cities
prompt us to give thanks for that sacrifice
and to commit ourselves to find fresh ways of resolving conflict.

Lord, we pray for governments and military leaders
who make decisions that commit their people to trouble and strife.

We pray for the people who engage in the slow and patient work of diplomacy.

Lord, have mercy on our broken and divided world.
Lord, help humans to put aside the greed and prejudice
that leads to acts of aggression and declarations of war.

We pray for those parts of the world where conflict spills out into the streets
and where civilians can no longer feel safe;
where children experience brutality and trauma,
and parents feel helpless to protect them.

We pray for humanitarian organisations that bring relief
and for those displaced persons and refugees who flee to an unknown future.

We pray that as we remember those who have died,
may we pledge ourselves to pray that peace, security and safety
will be restored to the troubled and damaged regions of our world.

Lord, help us to continue the ministry of reconciliation entrusted to us by Jesus Christ our Lord,
and may it find expression in our life together in families, communities and around the World.
Lord hear our prayers in the name of Jesus the Prince of Peace,
the one who brings light to all the dark places. Amen