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.
Almighty God, you proclaim your truth in every age by many voices: Direct those who speak where many listen and write what many read, that they may do their part in making the heart of this people wise, its mind sound, and its will just. Help us discern and hear your truths. Amen
Adapted from The Book of Common Prayer.
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
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
Today’s prayer borrows from Psalm 83
See how the enemies of democracy are astir.
With cunning they conspire against your people; they plot against the freedoms you cherish.
“Come” they say. “Let us destroy this diverse nation, let democracy be no more.”
With one mind they plot together; they form an alliance against us.
All those who lie, those who deny justice, those who seek power at our expense,
Make them like tumbleweed, O Lord, like chaff before the wind.
As fire consumes the forest, or a flame sets mountains ablaze, so pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your storm.
May their efforts perish in disgrace.
Cover their faces in shame, and let those who seek your love, your compassion, your mercy prevail.
Amen
On this 4th of July Lord help us pause and see how much we have to lose if we lose our democracy.
Move us away from the resentments, and divisions that enable the slow creep of autocracy.
May we recognize how much we use our shared freedoms of thought, expression, and association, and the vibrancy those lend to our communities.
Help us protect these for both ourselves and others, slowing the corrosive attacks on views that differ from our own, and challenging appeals to hate and fear.
For the growth of tyranny in its many forms will eventually threaten even those of us who enjoy quiet neighborhoods, regular schedules, good food, and adequate pay.
Without change, even we will some day awake and look at the wreckage and wonder, how did we go astray?
O Lord, do not abandon us to our sinful ways.
Awaken us, guide us, and help us to be better than we are.
Amen.
Today’s prayer is from Psalm 72, v. 12-14
For he will deliver the needy who cry out,
the afflicted who have no-one to help.
He will take pity on the weak and the needy
and save the needy from death.
He will rescue them from oppression and violence,
for precious is their blood in his sight.
Amen
The prayer today incorporates a paragraph from Across That Bridge by Congressman John Lewis.
“[N]o matter how tarnished or weak the flame, when the forces of darkness seem like they are about to consume us, we will ourselves to survive, and we begin to stand in the center of our inner light and invite its power to clear away the darkness that has clouded the soul.”
Help your light shine in us and through us Lord, that we might find a better way to live and work together.
Amen
Today’s prayer borrows from and adapts the hymn “O Holy Ghost, Creator Blessed”.
Holy Spirit, please protect, guide, and comfort our children as they bear the burden of our political obsessions and resentments.
Help us to see and repair the damage we have done that we might leave them a better democracy and country.
Come Holy Ghost, Creator blessed, and in our hearts take up your rest.
Come with your love, and heavenly aid, and heal the world which you have made.
Heal our hearts O Lord.
Amen
Prayers For Our Country 