Praying For Our Troops On Easter
By GordonTaylor Posted in Spotlight Blogs | War — Comments (10) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
As I write this it's nearly 7 PM on the eve of Easter in Iraq. In 5 hours it will be Easter Sunday in Iraq and approximately 30 minutes earlier it will have been Easter Sunday in Afghanistan. Our Christian brothers and Sisters in harms way in these countries will wake to more of the same, sand, heat, dust and terrorists. Their families, especially those with children, will awake to the glee of the little ones discovering what the Easter Bunny brought them, and mom or dad telling them they must wait until after church to have that chocolate. "But mom [dad] pleaseeeeee, just one little marshmallow egg, please?"
Of course, mom or dad will cave in quickly and the smiles will be 10 feet wide. In the back of her [his] mind the worry will be buried for a while, "can't let the kids see this on Easter Sunday." The thoughts, the worry are real and yet the pride is overwhelming as well. Every wife or husband that has a spouse deployed in country is as proud as punch of the job they are doing.
There will be a lot of praying this weekend, in and out of chruch, praying for our troops to have a safe and peaceful Easter Sunday, even though we know they won't be able to relax and enjoy that home cooked Ham dinner.
Please, if you have a spare knee, join me in asking for thanks for the protection of our troops and thanks for them brining us OUR safety on this most precious day.
By the way, one of the most memorable events during the Greek Easter celebrations my family engaged in, of course, is the ceremonial roasting of the lambs. I have an uncle in my family who is a true Greek Orthodox patriarch, and one of the most astonishing things to participate in as a child was preparing the lambs (we usually had two, because he would gather literally scores of members of his extended family together for the day) and roasting them over open-fire pits in his backyard.
I guess in a sense it seems bizarre in this PETA-driven, politically correct day and age that roasting lambs is an act of reverence, but it was something that we prepared for diligently. We'd rise at about 5:30 in the morning to dig the pits, prepare the fire, and erect the traditional apparatus. As a young child, you never forget being asked by your parents and older relatives to help carry the lamb across the yard, hoist it onto the rotisserie, and the time spent in shifts over the next several hours slowly roasting it.
Very tasty, too. My aunt was an absolute master at seasoning the lamb. And of course during the preparation everyone took part in the egg hunts. Just a beautiful day.
Greek Orthodox Easter and Roman Catholic Easter coincide periodically. This is one of the years in which they do.
And for those who have issues with the church, whatever that church might be, you can pray, too. He is Everywhere.
1 COR 15:32
AMEN BROTHER GORDO
MORE LATER IN GC EASTER BLOG
Mike Gamecock DeVine @ The Charlotte Observer
Starbucks: Coffee, good. Cups, bad, but
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
don't always mention the troops in every public prayer. It seems to me that during most of my 70s childhood and 80s young adulthood when most wars were cold, that rarely was a prayer uttered in Church when the leaders of the nation and the armed forces were not lifted up to God.
This became less so in the 90s to be sure, but then returned in spades after 9/11 for awhile.
I attribute the change to liberal agenda Christians and the timidity of conservative Christians.
I am in neither of those groups. I ALWAYS pray for the President, the troops and American victory in every public prayer. I have to pray to not get puffed up with pride or with anger at those that don't.
I think it is a disgrace that liberals let politics mis-inform their prayers and possibly even a further disgrace that non-liberal Christians that love America and want us to prevail in the wars fear the PC police more than they love their country.
Glad I got that off my chest, because while I found this routine in non-Baptist churches in Atlanta, I have been a bit surprised to find the same either liberal contempt; conservative timidity; OR MAYBE WORSE simply lukewarm forgetfullness.
Many Americans have simply tuned the war out and forgotten 9/11.
Its a disgrace.
Thanks Gordo, for reminding us.
Mike Gamecock DeVine @ The Charlotte Observer
Starbucks: Coffee, good. Cups, bad, but
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
However, most of us here at RS don't count ourselves among the timid.
Our good brothers and sister at The Presidential Prayer Team don't either.
This is a great group of Christians, over 1.2 million strong, that pray every day for our leaders and our troops.
Give them a look see, the site is truly worth a visit.
Managing Editor
is that most here are not the Timid!
Mike Gamecock DeVine @ The Charlotte Observer
Starbucks: Coffee, good. Cups, bad, but
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
our troops and their families. Amen.
May God bless the souls of the 6 US Soldiers who died today, Easter day. They did not die in vain.
To me, Easter Sunday is the most beautiful and reverent day of any in the calendar. When I was a boy I celebrated both Roman Catholic and Greek (Orthodox) Easter with my family and my extended family and I still remember those times as the most peaceful and truly holy days of my childhood -- when all of the disparate members of our contentious family came together for a day of reflection, blessed peace, understanding, and worship -- even among the members of our family who were atheists or agnostics. Sitting around the table with relatives who yesterday you might have fought bitterly with was a true respite, and a constructive pause, and Easter was the day that brough everyone together for that.
May God bless everyone tomorrow.