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On the Second Sunday of Easter (March 30), we added a specific intercession to the Prayers of the People relating to the continuing war in Iraq.

As a part of this petition, we are reading, in chronological order, the casualty list of U.S. service personnel, fifteen names per week. On the day we began this practice, I noted to the congregation that at the rate of 15 names per week, we would finish reading all the names in late May 2013. Over the past four Sundays, we have read 60 names. During that same period of time, there have been another 30 U.S. casualties. Hence, the number at the top of this post.

In addition, nearly 800 coalition service members (494 from the U.S.) have died since the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) in 2001.

We are also praying for the nameless victims of war everywhere. Currently the number of civilian casualties in Iraq -- noncombatants killed as a byproduct of U.S. military action and those who have died as a result of the civil upheaval since -- vary widely, somewhere between 82,000 and 91,000 according to one source.

The total of all of those casualties represent almost two times the population of Wauwatosa.

Pray (and work!) for peace.