The Anglican Orthodox Church SM
founder: the most rev. james parker dees, a.b., b.d., d.d. • founded November 16, 1963
2228 Wilkesboro Hwy • P. O. Box 128 • Statesville, North Carolina 28687- 0128
Telephone 704.873.8365
Email: aocworldwide@gmail.com Web: www.aocinternational.org
The Most Rev. Jerry L. Ogles — Presiding Bishop
Veteran’s Day Message from the Desk of the Presiding Bishop 11 November 2023
11 November 2023 Anno Domini
Veterans Day is not simply a single day to be mindful of those who have Offered their very lives as a potential sacrifice for the freedoms that we enjoy as a nation. They have forsaken the warm hearth of home and family to travel to far flung lands and even wars in order to make our freedoms, and even those of others, assured. The loved ones wait at home and constantly dread every knock at the door that may inform of a lost husband, wife, son, daughter or spouse. The families of veterans deserve the same thanks we offer up for the veterans themselves. Those who keep the home fires burning, watching and waiting, serve just as surely as does the soldier in his service.
Today is a time to reflect on who we are, or are becoming, as a nation. Are we the same men and women who sacrificed their fortunes and sacred honor to secure our liberties in 1776? Are we the persevering people who cut trails in the western wilderness, built homes from the dust of the earth, persevered through the ice and snows of shivering cold and relentless heat? Are we the same people who are still willing to take up arms in defense of home, family, and Liberty? I think not. We have become lazy, self-centered, without compassion, and disdainful of self-reliance. We prefer the government to replace our God in Heaven by offering us free stuff at the expense of honest working men and women. It is even more reprehensible to contemplate what we shall become if we continue on the primrose path of wokeness and social engineering.
There is, however, one class among us who are yet ready and willing to lay their lives on the line to preserve our freedoms and to preserve us a nation peculiar in those freedoms among all other nations of the world – the veteran and the present-day soldier at arms. I offer this prayer which I delivered yesterday at our city’s celebration of Veteran’s Day:
“O Father and Sovereign of all who call upon thy name, thou art the God of Battles and the grantor of all victories. We thine unworthy servants gather here today to honor our veterans of every war from Concord Bridge to Fallujah and beyond; as well, to honor those who still serve in the military ranks of our nation to preserve us a free nation among the nations of the world. Thou art our God and our Strong Fortress from the day of our founding as a nation until this very day, to guide our nation in the way of Righteousness and in the exercise of the blessings of Liberty. We pray for all our veterans that thou wouldst grant them the mercy of peace and love in the sure knowledge that they have upheld the principles and spirit of our true religion in the service God and Country, and in the sure knowledge of duty faithfully performed. We pray also for thy blessings upon those loved ones whom the veteran left behind to keep the home fires burning. They who watch and wait serve as well and are entitled to our prayers for comfort and felicity as well as those who have served in time of war or peace. WE acknowledge that all our Liberties are granted by your beneficent hand. We pray that thou wouldst make us a more worthy people to enjoy those freedoms for we ask it in the name of thine own well-beloved Son, Jesus Christ. AMEN”
In Christ Alone during Season of TRINITY,
† Jerry L. Ogles, D.D.
Presiding Bishop.
Anglican Orthodox Communion Worldwide & Chancellor, Faith Theological Seminary
