Prayer for the Nation by Amanda Tyler
(A portion of her pastoral prayer in online worship, Nov. 8, 2020.)
First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, DC
Loving and present God,...
We give thanks for the peaceful conclusion of our long election season. We are grateful to the people who ran for office across our country at every level of government, for their campaign workers, for the poll workers and volunteers who make our democracy function. We know you are with both the celebrating and the disappointed and that you call us to love our neighbors as ourselves, even those – especially those – who vote differently than we do. Forgive us for treating our brothers and sisters as political enemies. We pray that we may seek peace and reconciliation while continuing to insist on and work towards justice. We pray for our country and our leaders – current and future – during this long period of transition.
We ask for the wisdom, courage and fortitude to look beyond the exit polls and final vote tallies and seek ways that we can further your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Let us not grow discouraged but inspired to be counter-cultural agents of change. We pray that we may have hearts of compassion and the energy to offer our help to our neighbors, those we encounter each day – those who are experiencing grief, loneliness, food insecurity, homelessness, violence, oppression, trauma, hopelessness. Grant us the resolve and the stamina to not grow hopeless ourselves, to transform our love for you and your creation, into action and advocacy to change the systems that cause injustice in our world. We pray specifically for the strength to continue anti-racism work as we seek to dismantle systems built on white supremacy.
We ask forgiveness for the times that we become so fixated on our national identity that we forget our place in a global community of your children. We pray for the victims of natural disasters around the world this week. We pray specifically for the people of Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala, in the wake of devastation of Hurricane Eta. We continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Turkey who are recovering from the earthquake and aftershocks.
We give thanks for your enduring prayer, that you taught us to say, that centers our attention on you and binds us to Christ-followers around the world. And so we pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever.
Amen