Prayers For Our Country

But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.  Do not lie to each other . . . Colossians 3:8-9

At the start of a new year we begin with shots in Tuscon bringing grief, recriminations, calls for reconciliation, and bewilderment.

Lord, help us to be a better people than we are.

Help us to seek wisdom over partisan power, justice over greed, forgiveness over hate.  Help us to be honest with ourselves and with others, both as to what we think we know and what we do not.  Comfort all who grieve for the victims of violence.  And as we mourn, fill us also with compassion for those whose mental illness goes untreated, those who cannot find work, those who struggle to find food and shelter, and those who only fear the future.  Turn us from fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy.  Turn us towards kindness, patience, self-control, and the desire to live together in peace. (Galatians 5:19-23).  Equip us to find new ways of living together and new ways of sharing and service.

Show us your ways, O Lord, teach us your paths; guide us in your truth and teach us, for you are God our Savior and our hope is in you all day long. Ps. 25:4-5

We can be a better people than we have been.  Help us to change O Lord.

Amen

Tags: compassion, country, justice, peace, self control, USA, violence, wisdom

This entry was posted on January 20, 2011 at 12:59 pm and is filed under politics, Prayer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.