Prayers For Our Country

“And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”  Romans 5:5

On this inaugural day, which is also the anniversary of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the 5oth anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington, we pray with hope that the divisions caused by factionalism and fear will cease to constrain us and that we will have the courage to take up the work of healing.

Let us seek, as Lincoln urged in his second inaugural, a “just and lasting peace among ourselves” and work together “with malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right”.

Help us O Lord to listen to and to learn from each other, for as  Martin Luther King, Jr. taught us, it is from other points of view that  “. . . we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition.”

Because wisdom is found in listening (Pr. 1″5), help us attend to your word:  “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.”  (James 1:19).

Grant us courage, compassion, and self-control as we move forward, O Lord.

Amen.

Tags: country, courage, hope compassion, politics, Prayer, self control, United States, USA, wisdom

This entry was posted on January 21, 2013 at 8:41 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.