It will be my honor to give the invocation tonight for the Schaumburg Township Veterans Recognition Dinner. I am proud to be a citizen of the township and serve as president of the township Human Services Fund. I am very thankful for the many veterans who have served our country well and reside in our communities. The invocation I have prepared for this evening is available below.
Heavenly Father,
We thank you this evening for the veterans of our nation’s Armed Services. We know that they have fulfilled a role ordained by you to protect the good and to punish the bad.
We are thankful for their sacrifice for our country as a whole and for us here in this room as individuals. We are thankful for their willingness to leave behind family, friends, and relative safety for the work of defending our freedoms. We thank you for those who have sacrificed their health in this service. We pray that you would grant strength to them. We thank you for those that have made the ultimate sacrifice of the giving of their life in service for our country. We pause in grateful remembrance of their actions. God we know that the sacrifice of their lives is emblematic of the words of Jesus found in the Gospel of John – “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.” We thank you for their example of love and sacrifice. We pray for those veterans who served along side fellow soldiers that have died. We ask that your hope and love would be made especially real in their life as they carry this unique burden.
God, we thank you for the sacrifice of the families who have sent loved ones out from their homes into an unsure future of military service. We thank you for their love and support. We pray for those families within our township who at this very moment have loved ones serving in the military around the world. We pray that you would provide these families with comfort in the absence and confidence in the worthy service of their loved ones.
God we pray for those that are currently serving in our military at home, abroad, and in combat zones. We ask that you would give protection to these men and women. May they find their hope in You.
God we thank you for Schaumburg Township and its leaders who desire to honor worthy citizens. Tonight we specifically thank you for those who are being honored. We thank you for their specific service. We thank you for your providential hand in bringing these individuals to be citizens of our township.
We pray that our time together in sharing a meal, conversation, and the ceremonies to come would both honor our veterans and You.
May you bless us, and keep us, may your face shine upon us. Amen.
I trust my invocation prayer will be honoring to God and to the veterans present this evening.