Is there is a liturgy for blessing weapons of war?
Responses:
Your right hand, O Lord, is glorious in power;
your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. (Exodus 15:6)
O Lord our God, who defends your people from all their enemies: you have called N. into the armed service of his country. Bless + this sword as a symbol of his office, that he who carries it may be reminded of his duty to protect the people he is commissioned to defend and to preserve the peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Another:
That’s way over the top for me. I’d drop a hymn book on the floor in protest if I heard that. V: They shall beat their swords into plowshares;
R: And their spears into pruning-hooks O Lord our God, whose Son said those who live by the sword shall perish by the sword, bless the scabbard and museum cases where this sword and all weapons of personal destruction belong; comfort those whose words bring glad tidings of peace, through Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. Amen.
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And here’s a genuine example, albeit from the English Coronation rite, rather than from a normal military context:
Coronation Rite:
Then the Lord who carries the Sword of State, delivering to the Lord Chamberlain the said Sword (which is thereupon deposited in Saint Edward’s Chapel) shall receive from the Lord Chamberlain, in lieu thereof, another Sword in a scabbard which he shall deliver to the Archbishop: and the Archbishop shall lay it on the Altar and say: Hear our prayers, O Lord, we beseech thee, and so direct and support thy servant Queen ELIZABETH, that she may not bear the Sword in vain; but may use it as the minister of God for the terror and punishment of evildoers, and for the protection and encouragement of those that do well, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Then shall the Archbishop take the Sword from off the Altar, and (the Archbishop of York and the Bishops of London and Winchester assisting and going along with him) shall deliver it into the Queen’s hands; and, the Queen holding it, the Archbishop shall say: Receive this kingly Sword, brought now from the Altar of God, and delivered to you by the hands of us the Bishops and servants of God, though unworthy. With this sword do justice, stop the growth of iniquity, protect the holy Church of God, help and defend widows and orphans, restore the things that are gone to decay, maintain the things that are restored, punish and reform what is amiss, and confirm what is in good order: that doing these things you may be glorious in all virtue; and so faithfully serve our Lord Jesus Christ in this life, that you may reign for ever with him in the life which is to come. Amen.
Then the Queen, rising up and going to the Altar, shall offer it there in the scabbard, and then return and sit down in King Edward’s Chair: and the Peer, who first received the Sword, shall offer the price of it, namely, one hundred shillings, and having thus redeemed it, shall receive it from the Dean of Westminster, from off the Altar, and draw it out of the scabbard, and carry it naked before her Majesty during the rest of the solemnity
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And another:
‘There are some things that a pastor should refuse to do.’
Discussion
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