Election Day button 2
We’re doing a Day of Prayer and Unity on Wednesday, Nov. 7th — aka the day AFTER Election Day. The purpose of this day is to offer a space for Christians to come and pray for the nation and also to pray for unity after a divisive Election Season. Our plan is to open our sanctuary for drop-in prayer guided by liturgy we’re providing and then celebrate Holy Communion as a congregation at 5:15 that evening.
Below is the liturgy we’ll provide to guide the prayer time for people who drop in. Please feel free to borrow this for your congregation or alter it accordingly to better fit your context. May we all have grace and seek peace in the coming days…
Day of Prayer and Unity
Mulberry Street United Methodist Church
Macon, GA
November 7th 2012
Centering Prayer
Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires, known, and from you no secrets are hidden. Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name; through Christ our Lord, Amen.
[Silence]
Psalter Reading
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord and all the families of the nations shall bow before him. For kingship belongs to the Lord he rules over the nations. To him alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship all who go down to the dust fall before him. My soul shall live for him; my descendants shall serve him they shall be known as the Lord’s forever. They shall come and make known to a -people yet unborn the saving deeds that he has done. Take my voice and let me sing always only for my king!
(Based on Psalm 22:27-30)
Prayer for Our Nation
Eternal God, you have made all the peoples of the earth for your glory, to serve you in freedom and in peace: Give to the people of our nation a zeal for justice and the strength of patience and mercy, that we may use our freedom in accordance with your gracious will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
[Silence]
Prayer for Unity
Holy Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you have called us to be united together as your Body as a witness to a divided world. Remind us that your ways are not our ways. Let those who follow your Son Jesus Christ be a peaceable people in the midst of conflict and division. Send your Spirit of peace, justice and freedom upon us, break down the walls of political partisanship, and make us one; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
[Silence]
Gospel Reading
John 15:9-14
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.
[Silence]
Prayer of St. Francis
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
Sending Forth
Go forth in the grace and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ; go forth in the strength and love of God the Father; and go forth in the sustaining and abiding presence of the Holy Spirit – today, tomorrow, and forever. Amen.