Vote Faithfully Sunday: November 3rd, 2024

O God, we pray for every candidate running for office. Give each person deep humility so that they can listen and be present to the needs of the most vulnerable in their community.

O God, we pray for each election worker and judge, who volunteers to enact fair elections at every poll site as they serve their community in this meaningful way. Give them your compassionate wisdom to treat each voter with the dignity and respect of your image in their personhood.

O God, we pray for the family members of all candidates, who didn’t choose to run but stand in support of their loved one. Give them courage as they encounter intense scrutiny in their personal lives for the sake of this campaign.

O God, we pray for all journalists committed to reporting the truth of all elections. Give them a curious mind and heart for the good of our democracy.

O God, we pray for faith communities and nonprofit organizations that seek to offer compassion, integrity, and a non-anxious presence to their community. Give them the assurance that you are with them during this election process.

O God, we pray for those who are eligible to vote but have been purged from voter rolls or are incarcerated in states that prohibit felons from voting. Give them your comfort that their vote and voice matters.

O God, we pray for the issues weighing heavily on the minds and bodies of the most vulnerable. Give our neighbors your presence so that they know that you are with them always.

O God, we pray for those brimming with rage, who are prone to express themselves in violence. Give them your peace to know that we all seek substantive solutions to our community’s challenges.

O God, we pray for JD Vance, Tim Walz, Donald Trump, and Kamala Harris, in these last days of their campaign. Remind them that, as they are created in your image, you call them to lead from that core of your being for the good of our democracy.

Protect them and grant them your peace for those who don’t win the election so that we may have a peaceful transition on January 20, 2025.

It is in your love that we pray, Amen.

Holy Author of Life,

We pause to breathe your Spirit in and we pray for all bodies.

Bodies ravaged by legislation removing choices.

Bodies needing care that has been villainized and vanquished.

Bodies healing from physical, emotional, spiritual, medical and political assault.

Bodies shamed and stigmatized for their size, their shape their color, their experiences.

We pray for love for all bodies.

We pray for love for bodies of all ages.

We pray for love for queer, cis, intersex, disabled and non-disabled human siblings in bodies descended from cultures around the globe,

We pray for love for all bodies, created in your image, breathed into and proclaimed very good.  Amen

On this All Saints Sunday, we honor our ancestors, who came before us to ensure our right to vote.

For our Black civil rights ancestors, who were imprisoned and beaten, while always demanding that Black voters matter.

Chime rung. May their memory be honored as we vote.

For our Queer Saints, who demanded that their identity, personhood, and gender identification matter as voters in our country.

Chime rung. May their memory be honored as we vote.

For our Female Suffragist Saints, who persisted until the 19^th amendment was ratified and every woman could freely vote.

Chime rung. May their memory be honored as we vote.

For our LatinX Saints, who defied literacy tests and taxes in order to vote

Chime rung. May their memory be honored as we vote.

For our Disabled Saints, who demanded that accessibility be provided for every voter.

Chime rung. May their memory be honored as we vote.

For our abuelas and grandparents, who taught us that our vote reflected our faith in action and made a way out of no way to vote in every election.

Chime rung. May their memory be honored as we vote.

For all the saints, who have come before us, we honor their sacrifice and memory every time we vote. Amen.

Loving God,
Give rise to a new day
Covering our country
With a generous grace
Often in short supply,
Forming us anew The
As a people able
To live honorably
And lovingly.

Grant us a breath
From strident speeches
And angry narratives
Characterizing the other
As something less
Than one of Your beloved,
All of us given birth
By You for self-giving love.

Help us see in each other
A sibling otherwise unknown
Save for the pause
You offer to clear our eyes
Our hearts and our minds
Of everything preconceived
That blinds us to the beauty
Often hidden in the one
We may perceive as enemy.

Instead, form in us
A humility and a hope
Born of Your power
To cultivate a new creation
Out of every chaos
Your creatures create
Resistant to Your vision
Of the full flourishing
Of every human being,
Bearing each other up
In common concern
For each precious person.

Yes, Love, form us anew
For this of You
Especially in these days,
That Your vision
Of beloved community
May be resurrected in us.

And let it be good news
Not only for us
But also for others
Throughout the world
Equally loved by You.

Lord, prepare us to be a Sanctuary!

As we sing our meditation, we pray that you would embody your sanctuary of peace, justice, and liberative love to surround us through this election.

Lord, prepare us to be a Sanctuary!

We live in a town that is extremely polarized. And yet, you call us to be a sanctuary for those who may feel afraid or unwelcomed in this polarized climate.

Lord, prepare us to be a Sanctuary!

Prepare us to be a Purple Sanctuary as we live amongst red and blue voters in our church, neighborhood, and family. Remind us that we are all created in your image.

Lord, prepare us to be a Sanctuary!

We take pride that we are a purple community reflecting your ideals in how we live, work, play, and pray together.

Lord, prepare us to be a Sanctuary!

Help us to model for our neighbors how to respect each other’s differences while supporting the rights and vote of every person.

Lord, prepare us to be a Sanctuary!

In the moments of fear, anger, anxiousness, and vitriol, help us to lower the emotional temperature of our beloved community so that the good of all may be served.

Lord, prepare us to be a Sanctuary!

For the most vulnerable, who have been harmed or abused by the rhetoric of extremist views, give us courage to be a sanctuary church of refuge and healing.

Lord, prepare us to be a Sanctuary!

For the issues that weigh most heavily on people’s minds and hearts, help us to serve as a beacon on the hill of thoughtful conversation.

Lord, prepare us to be a Sanctuary!

For the places where white supremacy exists on our community, help us to dismantle these oppressive systems so that you justice may flourish in reconciliation and healing.

Lord, prepare us to be a Sanctuary!

Prepare us, O God, to be a purple sanctuary of your peace, justice, and love for our community and your creation. Amen.