7 Election Day Collect Prayers
Starting on October 28, I committed to writing seven Collect Prayers connected to Election Day 2020. I wrote them in response to specific events of the particular day, such as my visit to the local polling station in order to vote early and the kind service of poll workers that I experienced that day, and to things that I observed in the news as well as on social media. Here they, in the order in which they were written, and I am more than happy for people to make use of them in their personal or communal contexts.
A COLLECT PRAYER FOR PEACEMAKERS:
O God, you who are the lover of concord, we pray that we might not become needlessly anxious over the political tempests that rage across the landscape of our country but rather trust in your sovereign care, so that we might remain a peacemaker to friend and stranger alike. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
A COLLECT PRAYER FOR POLL WORKERS:
O Lord, you who come to us as a servant, we pray today for all who serve as poll workers. Bless them with joy, protect them from harm, and shield them from all technological failures, so that they may fulfill the good work that you have called them to do. In your name. Amen.
A COLLECT PRAYER FOR DISAGREEMENTS WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS:
O Lord, you who tell us to turn the other cheek, we pray that our disagreements with family, arguments with friends, and troubling encounters with strangers will bring out the best, not the worst, in us so that we might be living emblems of your gracious kingdom in a chronically and regrettably graceless time. In your name. Amen.
A COLLECT PRAYER FOR THE LOVE OF TRUTH:
O Lord, you who come to us as the Truthful One, keep our tongues, we pray, from bearing false witness against our neighbor and guard our mouths from lies, and nourish within us a love for the truth wherever we may find it, so that we might be a people who bear your name. In the name of the One who comes to us full of truth and grace. In your name. Amen.
A COLLECT PRAYER FOR OUR WOUNDED COUNTRY:
O Jesus, you who are the Wounded Healer, we offer to you our wounded lives, our wounded communities and our wounded country and ask that you would heal them, so that we might know you as the One who daily bears our burdens and who consoles the brokenhearted. In your name we pray. Amen.
A COLLECT PRAYER FOR UNITY OF CHRIST’S DIVIDED BODY:
Lord Jesus, you who prayed that we might be one as you and the Father are one, grant us the grace this day to extend the right hand of fellowship to fellow saints across political lines, so that a watching world may see that your Spirit’s power is far greater than all the fracturing powers that would keep us separated and suspicious of one another. In your name we pray. Amen.
A COLLECT PRAYER FOR THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:
O Lord, to you whom all our loyalties are due, we pledge allegiance this day to the Lamb of God and to the upside-down Kingdom for which he stands, one holy nation, under God, the Servant King and the Prince of Peace, with liberty and justice for all without remainder. In the Triune Name we pray. Amen.
