A Prayer for the Day After the Election

Our gracious and almighty Father,

We praise you for your powerful presence in our lives and in our world.  We praise you for your faithfulness through all of time.  We praise you for your relentless pursuit of us as your children and your blessing upon all who follow you. 

We recognize your almighty wisdom and power and your ultimate control over all things.  You know the stars in the sky and the hairs on our heads.  You are intimately in tune with your creation. 

We thank you for the amazing privilege of living in a free and democratic nation, blessed with incredible resources and talent. 

Ours is a nation of great blessing and potential, a gathering place for the nations of the world who have chosen this as their home.  We boast of great diversity; diverse people, backgrounds, cultures, beliefs, and ideologies have made this nation what it is today, a nation of opportunity for all. 

Yesterday we exercised our freedom to elect the leadership team for our nation. 

Because of our great diversity, some of us woke up happy today while others are disappointed. 

Father we ask you to unite us in support for our newly elected leaders.  We pray that you will grant them the ability to serve with wisdom, courage, and integrity as they represent us and govern our nation.  We pray that you will open their eyes and hearts to see our greatest needs as a nation and set the priorities for our government.  We pray that you will not allow the trivial to distract them from the significant and profound needs of our nation and our citizens.

Father we pray for your blessing upon each leader.  We pray that each of our representatives may be surrounded by wise and godly people who will provide good counsel and encouragement.  We pray that they may know your hope, wisdom and mighty strength as they govern our nation.

We also pray Father that you will unite our churches in support of our nation. 

That you will not allow the trivial to distract us from the significant and profound ministry that you have called us to: to love one another and to be your witnesses. 

May all our prayers, comments, and interactions with our elected officials be seasoned with love and respect and may we continue to uphold them in our prayers.

Father we also pray for those who campaigned hard but did not win.  Many men and women took great risks to present themselves, their views, and their opinions to gain our support.  May we learn from them, their love for our country and their commitment to their values.  Help us to show love and respect to those with whom we may not have agreed.

Thank you, Father, for our new leaders.  We commit them to you. 

We also commit ourselves to you: to uphold our leaders in prayer, to love, honor, and respect them, and to engage with them when we support their decisions and when we need to voice our opposition. 

Father help us to demonstrate the love and grace that you have shown to us in all our interactions with our leaders and our neighbors.

“God keep our land, glorious and free, O Canada we stand on guard for thee."

Amen.