Post-Election Prayer
Every other week, Center for Christian Civics hosts national conference calls to pray for our country's politics and the way it affects our church communities. This prayer is a companion to our Election Day Prayer Call, held on November 8.
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”
Lord of Hosts, you command your people to know the land you've carried them into, and to care for it, pursuing its peace and stability. However my brothers and sisters in Christ and I may feel about how last night's election ended up, I recognize that we have a mandate from you to be your Son's hands and feet in the world, healing wounds, caring for the disregarded, mending broken hearts and restoring the withered to vitality and strength. In every church, in every neighborhood, in every town or city, and in every state, this might look different, but there are also obvious wounds across the nation, gashes in the fabric of the society you commission your people to care for. If your Kingdom is going to be felt, we know that we must not shy away from these challenges.Yet we are often complicit in making the problems around us worse, whether we realize it or not. We are sorry for the times we wished people who disagreed with us would just go away, or quietly acquiesce for the sake of our comfort. And we are sorry for our impatience, the times we've felt like the land you've called us into isn't worth your grace or our effort. Turn our hard hearts into hearts of flesh and give us opportunities to practice the disciplines of listening, of patience, of forbearance, and of generosity of spirit. This is frequently difficult but always necessary to living out your truths well in this land.As the election fades and we move toward the new year and beyond, we ask you to prepare us for the work you would have us do demonstrating the Fruit of the Spirit in our communities and in our country. We want to seek the peace and well-being of the cities into which you have sent us, not just for our own well-being, but for the sake of testifying to your ability to build up, empower and promote flourishing. We want to make you visible, make your name renowned, and make broken hearts grateful for your presence.We pray these things in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, who is coming in glory.Amen.