Lord, guide us to a new era of care, compassion, and community.
Help us to realize that wealth is not merit,
Oppression is not righteous, and
Inequity does not help us prosper.
Let us overcome fear, reject hate, and find the strength to pursue your ways of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.*
Guide us O Lord. Amen
* Galatians 5:22-23.
On this July 4, thinking about the freedoms we currently enjoy and the challenges we face, we offer this prayer from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer:
“Almighty God, to whom we must account for all of our powers and privileges: Guide the people of the United States in the election of officials and representatives; that, by faithful administration and wise laws, the rights of all may be protected and our nation enabled to fulfill your purposes; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen”
And may we engage as citizens with all of the seriousness and effort, and the care and compassion, that good self-government demands, so we might live in peace and prosper together, one nation, indivisible. Amen
You can find past July 4 prayers here:
“. . . The only thing that counts is fully expressing itself through love.” Galatians 5:6(b)
On this day Lord we remember and ask you to heal our country.
Free us from our hate, bitterness, anger, and resentments.
Help us to forgive, to reach out to our neighbors, and accept them as we accept ourselves, that together we might find a way forward.
A way of hope, of prosperity for all, a way of peace.
Heal us O Lord.
Amen
“. . . We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act.” Daniel 9:18-19
O Lord help us to be better than we are.
Quick to forgive and slow to anger (James 1:19-21), seeking the still and quiet space where we might hear your voice.
Give us the will and wisdom to seek out truth, to turn away from those who cause deceit to prosper (Daniel 8:25),
from those who use your name and dishonor you with their actions (Matthew 15:8).
Restore in us a vision of one country, working together, towards liberty and justice for all.
Raise among us those who will lead with love and compassion and calming words,
so that we may be at peace and together find our way.
Guide us O Lord.
Amen
related past prayers:
Lord we thank you for our freedom and your many gifts.
O beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain.*
We thank you for opportunities to grow and for a prosperous land. Help us to share so that all might thrive.
For purple mountains majesty, above the fruited plain.
We thank you for the beauty and abundance with which we are surrounded. Let it inspire and encourage us to reach out to others and share your love.
America, America, God shed his grace on thee.
We thank you for your forgiveness and mercy. May we extend that to others, forsaking tribalism, factionalism, and hyper-partisanship. Help us to love our neighbors as ourselves. (Luke 10:25-37; Galatians 3:26-29).
And crowned thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.
We thank you Lord for the many diverse peoples that make up our country. May we see the richness of your creation in this diversity and resist those who would exploit our differences and sow division.
Help us Lord to use our freedoms wisely, overcoming evil with good and serving one another with love. (Romans 12:21; Galatians 5:13).
Guide us towards peace, O Lord.
Amen
*italicized lines from the hymn America The Beautiful
Other July 4 Posts:
He has risen
giving us hope
that we too can love sacrificially,
strengthen our communities,
pursue justice, and
survive oppression,
together.
Hope
that we can change the world for our children – all children.
Hope
that they might thrive, finding
food, water, shelter, and opportunities to use the talents God gave them,
together.
Hope
that we might move towards love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control,
and away from the politics of power and control.
He has risen.
Alleluia!
Amen
The light shines in the darkness.
Help us to see.
To understand.
To share your truth.
To act in love.
To pursue peace.
Our hope is in that light.
The light shines through the darkness.
Amen
Lord, let your love flow in us and through us.
Heal us.
Help us.
Equip us to share your love.
To reach beyond ourselves.
To find a better way.
Guide us with your love O Lord.
Amen
We await O Lord, your justice.
The promise that our mourning will end,
Our fighting will cease,
And both the oppressed and oppressor will be freed to a new way,
A way of compassion, of truth, of caring and love.
And we rejoice in the knowledge that the time for justice will come. Is. 25:9.
Amen
Help us find peace O Lord.
Peace within us.
Peace among us.
Peace through us.
Guide us with your vision.
“The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the yearling together, and a little child will lead them . . .
They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” (Is. 11:6-9).
Amen.
Prayers For Our Country 