CU Ministry Director Delivers Opening Prayer
By Anne Kerhoulas
Christian Union Martus Ministry Director Cory Lotspeich had the honor of delivering the invocation at the University of Pennsylvania’s Veteran’s Day commemoration service. Lotspeich, who is a US Marine Corps veteran, was asked by the University to pray for the gathering and was delighted to be able to serve and represent Christian Union at the event.
Veterans Day, formerly known as Armistice Day, is commemorated in history as the day the Great War (WWI) ended. It is memorialized to celebrate peace.
On June 4, 1926, Congress passed a resolution that the “recurring anniversary of [November 11, 1918] should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations.
Lotspeich prayed,
“Thank you Father for the peace we do have. We also petition you for the peace we are yet to have. We pray this especially for the veteran community—for their families and loved ones.
Father, thank you for the symbol of service and sacrifice that our veteran community represents. We pray that you would look favorably upon their valiant efforts of service and sacrifice. We remember, today, their fortitude, courage, and commitment to an ideal higher than themselves; for the love of their brother and sister beside them in service.
Father, we hold the veteran community before you this morning and ask that you would work in their life for your glory. Many of our veterans have come home, yet we still see them on the battlefield. Father, we pray that you would bestow mercy and compassion on them. We particularly pray for their peace: peace of heart, mind, and soul. We pray that your Holy Spirit would minister to them now, even as we are praying—we pray peace for them, for their families, and their loved ones.
Father, we thank you for the peace we are blessed to have, and the peace worldwide, that has been bought with the service and sacrifice of our veteran community. For this, Father, we praise your great name. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.”
The ceremony, which is typically a flag-raising ceremony held outdoors, was moved indoors due to rain. Nevertheless, the gathering was a moving and deeply encouraging event.
Lotspeich, who is in his second year of service at Penn with Christian Union, hopes to launch a Bible course devoted to ROTC students, a demographic he is uniquely equipped to lead.
