Today is the first Thursday in May, and for decades has been designated as a Day of Prayer for our country. Heaven knows, in the midst of this pandemic, there is nothing our land needs more than prayer for health and healing!
It’s important to pray for our country, important to ask God for guidance for those who lead our land. And so, today, I ask you to join me in prayer for the United States of America.
I pray as a Christian; I pray as a Christian who believes that God welcomes all. I pray as a Christian who believes that the welcoming God asks only one thing of us, and that is to live in love with our neighbors. Love God, love neighbor, love self.
And so I pray:
God, on this day, I pray for my country.
I pray for the United States of America.
I pray for every inhabitant. . . those who were born here. . .
those who chose, often at risk of life, to come here, to be part of our great experiment.
I pray for those who vote, for those who won’t vote, can’t vote.
I pray for those of us who have jobs, and those who don’t.
I pray for those of us who have medical insurance, and for those who don’t.
I pray for those of who, today, are healthy, and for those of us struggling to survive this virus.
I pray for people who live in apartments, ten to a room,
and for those who rattle around 20000 sq. foot houses.
I pray for families with food and with no food.
I pray for those who sacrifice to make it better
and for those whose selfishness and obstinacy endangers us all.
I pray for America.
I pray for those who serve and save – the health professions, the first responders.
I pray for those who serve in our military.
I pray for the mayor of my little city, and the select board in your town.
I pray for our governors, our state legislators, our federal legislators.
I pray for our courts, our judges, for the continuation of the rule of law in our land.
I pray that we might turn away from the assumptions that create prejudice, that lead us to think that a black man running must be a thief, and so it’s all right to kill him.
I pray that we might turn away from the belief that my way is the best way,
that you’ll be ok when you’re just like me.
I pray that we might remember who we are, and live faithful to the promise of our land. for we were made to be people of love.
We were formed to care for one another.
We were charged to be generous, to reach out to serve need.
As Americans, we are bound together by that intention –
not by our birth, for that is not the only way to be American;
not by our color, or our background, or our gender preference or who we want to marry. We are bound together by the vision of a land where all are created equal,
where we will give of our abundance to help those in need.
God, send down your guiding hand upon us that we not forget your vision. Let this country be what we aimed to be, a land of liberty and justice for all, tempered with the mercy of caring people.
Amen.
To Believe is to Care. . . To Care is to Do 