Eternal God,
On this day we pause to remember
The devastating power we have crafted from your creation.
We remember people attacked by bomb blast or rocket attack
In Folkestone and Guernica,
In Warsaw and Rotterdam,
In London and Coventry,
In Pearl Harbor and Wake Island,
In Hamburg and Dresden,
In Pyongyang and Hanoi,
In Baghdad and Tel Aviv,
In Oklahoma City and Bali,
In Belfast and Madrid,
In Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
In places whose names have been lost,
Whose people we have forgotten.
Hold those who have died in your love.
Strengthen those who still struggle with wounds.
Comfort family members who grieve.
Pour your Holy Spirit anew upon the human family
That the day might come when
Bombs and rockets and all weapons of war
May be beaten into implements of healing and wholeness.
Through Jesus Christ we pray.
Amen.

Located on England's southeastern coast, Folkestone was the first city to be attacked by bombers. On May 25, 1917, German Gotha biplanes bombed Folkestone causing 95 civilian deaths and wounding an additional 195 civilians.

Please feel free to adapt the list of cities in ways appropriate for your worshiping community.

This prayer was inspired by a litany written by Dwyn M. Mounger, pastor of First Church, Oak Ridge, Tenn., for Hiroshima Day 1995 and published in the July 24-31, 1995 issue of Presbyterian Outlook.