How will your congregation mark Memorial Day?: A Liturgy for Adventist Peace Sabbath, May 23

The Adventist Peace Fellowship has designated May 23, 2015 as the first annual Adventist Peace Sabbath.  May 23 is the Sabbath before Memorial Day in the U.S. calendar and so an occasion when some churches in the United States devote part of their service to honoring those who have served in the military.  In view of the Adventist tradition's official stance of conscientious objection in times of war, and in view of the sacrifices and heroism of countless noncombatants and pacifists throughout history (including many Adventists), we are urging all Adventist churches to treat this day as an occasion not for glorification of military victories or military service but rather for somber remembrance of the terrible loss of human lives in war, including both combatants and innocent civilians.

We are also urging all Adventist churches to draw inspiration from the five Adventist congregations that have already passed resolutions to be known as official Adventist Peace Churches.  May 23 is a Sabbath when Adventists can bear creative witness in our worship life to the good news of Christ's peace.  We are very happy to share with all pastors and churches an Adventist Peace liturgy, "Let Us Be Peacemakers", (created by APF members Yi Shen Ma and Maury Jackson with input from Nicholas Zork) that includes Scripture readings, hymns, and prayers focused on themes of peace and justice.  The liturgy is already formatted for printing as a PDF document and can be downloaded here:

https://adventistpeace.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/adventistpeacesabbathservice.pdf