A Prayer for the 2016 Election

O God of all peoples, lands and nations, we join with the nations to sing our celebration of our homeland.  We praise you for the gift of this great country and the freedoms and privileges we have here.

We offer our thanksgiving for all our ancestors who envisioned these freedoms, expressed their passion for freedom, and sacrificed for freedom.  They did not give up.  They did not cease to struggle or abandon hope.  They did not forget that one day they would be free at last.  We ask in the midst of the week ahead that you will move us with the same courage that they witnessed.

Remind us, O God, as we enter the polling places that before we are democrats and republicans that we are children of God, called to seek justice and embody kindness and humility. 

Remind us, loving God, that while it is good to have political convictions, that we need to recognize and remember that there are people of faith all over the political spectrum, and that just because someone may different convictions than we do that it does not make them any less of a child of God.  

We confess that this election has not always brought out the very best in all of us or the very best in our nation.  We pray that moving forward we might find ways to be united in our common good, that we might be undivided and that we might seek liberty and justice for all.

Amen.