prayer and thanksgiving in Iraq
I found I prayed a great deal in
Iraq
, usually at night when I was trying to go to sleep.
Prayer, however, wasn’t always a nighttime exercise. One afternoon in July, while walking down a sun-blistered street in
Baghdad
, I prayed a silent, open-eyed prayer.
I prayed that there were no snipers in the buildings rising above both sides of the road. . . . That sunlit street had the feel of a Psalmist’s shadowed
Valley
of
Death
.
In nightly prayer, I thanked God for making it through another day. I thanked God for the men and women I served with. I prayed for my wife and children. I also prayed for the people of
Iraq
, particularly the children I’d see in the streets of
Baghdad
. . . .
I wore a cross and a mezuzah on my dog tag chain.
Bishop George Packard, the Episcopal bishop for the Armed Forces, gave me the
St. George’s
cross when I visited him in his
New York
office last March.
After he gave me the cross, he held my hand and offered an arresting prayer: He thanked God for giving me the opportunity to serve. He also prayed for safe passage and safe return.
Two
Texas
neighbors gave me the mezuzah. Inside the mezuzah, on a miniature scroll, was the Hebrew "Traveler’s Prayer" (tefillat haderech).
"May it be Your will, Eternal one, Beloved of our ancestors, to lead in peace and direct our steps in peace, to guide us in peace to support us in peace and to bring us to our destination in life.
“Deliver us from the hands of our enemy and lurking foe, and from robbers and wild beasts on the journey, and from all kinds of calamities that may come to and afflict the world, and bestow blessing upon all our actions.
“Grant me grace, kindness and mercy in Your eyes and in the eyes of all who behold us. . . . Hear the voice of my prayer for You hear everyone’s prayer.
“Blessed are You Lord, who hears prayer.”
. . . In his prayer, Bishop Packard compared a military tour to a dangerous journey. The Traveler’s Prayer also recognizes the danger and terror as it asks God to guide us in peace.
What a terrible paradox, but what a necessary prayer — to ask for God’s peaceful guidance in a world of war.
It will be the greatest thanksgiving when all of our servicemen and women return, and all of us live in genuine peace.
(Hat tip: Glenn Reynolds)
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Bay
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