A Prayer For Election Day

In Proverbs,
we are reminded
that Wisdom is a thing

in which you delight daily.
In the life and teachings of Jesus,
we are reminded
that loving others
is one and the same
as loving you.

As we as a nation,
a nation who boldly proclaims
across the face of our currency
that “In God We Trust,”
approach yet another
election cycle,
we ask that you
might inspire in us
a deep seated desire
to delight in wisdom
rather than focus
on party lines.

May we be moved
to a compassion for others
as a way of expressing
our love for you.

May our hearts and minds
teach our eyes to see
the voting booth
as a way to express
our undying devotion
to a better world –
a world less cluttered
with the unnecessary
pitfalls of the powerful –
a world less littered
with the entrapments
of consumeristic competition –
a world less defaced
with the bastardization
of the beautiful diversity
your Creation contains.

Prayerfully we hope
to be moved into action.
Knock us out of our
sometimes overly complacent
perspectives of the importance
of an individual vote.
Compel us toward
a fully engaged electorate
who demands an equal
engagement from those elected.

Plant in us
a seed of biblical justice.
Teach us to nurture and grow it.
Teach us to never hide it
under a bushel.
Inspire us to plant it
in our town squares,
publicly proclaiming the value
of every individual
in our society.
And with it
grown in us
and in our nation
an expectation that our
elected officials
be active reflections
of that same justice.

Keep all of this in our hearts
as we approach
the voting booth this week.
May our choices
be predicated on
a desire to build
a better nation,
a true light on a hill,
a nation that holds these words
to be self-evident
that all people were “created equal
and that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these
are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

May we not forget
that in the creating of this nation,
our Founders were inspired
in its establishment to remind us
“that whenever any Form of Government
becomes destructive of these ends,
it is the Right of the People
to alter or to abolish it,
and to institute new Government,
laying its foundation on such principles
and organizing its powers in such form,
as to them shall seem most likely
to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Never let us forget,
that the voting booth
and an active electorate
are our first line of defense.
In a nation that has created
people out of corporations,
and “voice” out of dollar bills,
remind us that,
for now,
our Declaration of Independence
and our Constitution
still tip the balance of power
to “We The People.”

May we wield that power
with grace and love
and biblical justice
based in equality,
but…
may we wield it
boldly,
assertively,
and on behalf of all people.
May we do so in numbers so massive
that our voices be heard
and in standing up
may we alter the course
of this great nation –
re-establishing the pursuit
of Life, Liberty and Happiness
for ALL
rather than solely for the powerful.

Let us not leave these words
on this page,
heard only in our hearts
and never put into action
in our lives.
Rather let us be
the voices in the the Wilderness
that the United States as become –
let us be the ones
proclaiming a higher way
where all flesh may know
that it is valued,
it is cared for
and it is loved.

Amen.

 
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