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.
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
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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
When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do? Ps. 11:3.
Lord please give us the wisdom to see the damage being done to our democracy by those who would mislead, deflect, disrupt for the sake of disruption and power, and deny the humanity of others.
Give us the courage to learn, witness, to speak up and out, to protect the right of all to vote and be heard.
Help us to connect to our fellow citizens and commit to their well-being.
Lord, help us renew and nurture our country’s ideal of liberty and justice for all.
And as we engage, defend, and rebuild may we trust in your mercy and justice, and follow your paths, committing our efforts to your wisdom and guidance. (Pr. 3:5-6; 16:3)
Help us Lord to resist tyranny in all of its forms.
Amen
Today’s prayer is adapted from Psalm 15.
Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?
He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart
and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman,
who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps his word even when it hurts,
he does not take unfair advantage of those in need, and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things will never be shaken.
Lord help us to find hope in your word, and to choose leaders who follow your path of humility, wisdom and peace.
Amen
Lord, we know you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. (Nehemiah 9:17).
Stick with us, and guide us Lord, despite our quarrelsome ways.
Give us the humility to seek out different points of view, to find the wisdom in others. (Proverbs 15:22)
Turn us from those who feed hate and fear and resentment, and towards those who are willing to come together, reason together, and find a path forward together.
Help us to be both merciful and just, ensuring the accountability necessary to protect our future.
Put us on the path of a peace founded on empathy, equality and good governance, for we know this brings both joy and prosperity.
Help us to repent, to learn from our sins, and to be better than we are.
Amen
Thank you Lord for our democracy holding and a peaceful transfer of power.
Help us to recommit to democratic values,* repair our foundations, and rebuild.
Turn us from the sins of anger, hate, factionalism, and resentment. (Galatians 5:20)
Lead us in your paths of justice, kindness, and mercy. (2 Chronicles 7:14; Ps. 25:4-5; Galatians 22-23)
May we, in the words of our Vice President,** emerge from our trials with new wisdom, imagining new possibilities. Help us to open our hearts to one another.
May we, with your help, be so zealous and successful at pursuing your justice and peace that we, like Hezekiah and his people, find ourselves rejoicing at the speed of our progress. (2 Chronicles 29:36).
Amen
*As identified in the National Council For The Social Studies C3 Framework: honesty, mutual respect, cooperation, attention to multiple perspectives, equality, liberty, and freedom.
**Paraphrased from Vice President Kamala Harris’ remarks at the Covid-19 Memorial Service, January 19, 2021.
We are a broken and grieving people O Lord.
Broken relationships, broken promises, broken bodies, broken lives.
We are broken Lord, although not beyond repair.
Please let your grace shine through and in our broken places.
Help us to repent O Lord, and to walk in your ways.
Give us wisdom, give us courage, give us humility, give us integrity, give us compassion, give us mercy, give us love.
Help us to discern fact from folly, and turn us from false gods.
Heal us O Lord, and give us hope.
Amen
Prayers For Our Country 