• A Prayer for Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut

    Eternal God,
    hear your diverse people
    as a world unites in prayer and compassion
    for the people of Newtown Connecticut.
    We pray for all involved in the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
    Bless with your kindness those who speak to the broken-hearted.
    Bless the teachers, paramedics, medical staff and police
    with courage, skill and wisdom.
    Bless those who mourn.
    Bless those who grieve
    and comfort the bewildered.
    Help us each to build a world safe and fit for children.
    Amen. Amen. Amen.

4 responses to “How shall we pray for our elected representatives?”

  1. Meg Rosenfeld Avatar
    Meg Rosenfeld

    I’m reminded of a remark which Senator Dianne Feinstein (D- California–which happens to be my home state and political party) made regarding our current President, to the effect that it would be better if we could help him to be a good president than if we merely got rid of him. Oh, my, did that ever provoke angry outpourings! At the time, I was attending a parish retreat, so it seemed appropriate to mention during a group discussion that this nice elderly Jewish lady was actually quoting Scripture and saying that “God desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live.” This didn’t go over very well, but there you are. God bless our elected politicians, indeed.

  2. Gordon Avatar
    Gordon

    Amen. We don’t usually pray for the Queen, but we often pray for politicians and leaders. Good challenge about MEPs and those who make international government – EU, Council of Europe, UN etc – work.

  3. Kathleen Jowitt Avatar

    Amen. I’m wondering whether this point works in reverse, as well: “If collectively, as a people, we had been more thankful for the EU, would we have prayed more for its welfare?”

    If, collectively, as a people, we had prayed more for the welfare of the EU, would we have been more thankful for it? Might we have felt more like a part of it? It’s difficult to know the answer to either formulation.

  4. Rob Avatar
    Rob

    this Sunday I was the lay intercessor at morning Eucharist at our church. In preparing the prayers, I looked at the last ones I had done, in Mid November, and used this one virtually unchanged as it seemed as relevant now as then.

    “In our country, political leaders are struggling to agree terms for our exit from the European Union. Our politics seem ever more polarised and confrontational, and it seems that any possible outcome could cause further strife and division.

    Almighty Father, we pray for all who have important decisions to make, and especially for our own country at this time.

    Guide the decisions of those who govern so that they may strive for justice, freedom, peace and the common good.

    Give those of us who are governed wisdom, love and courage, and the resilience to find ways to grow and flourish, whatever the future may bring.

    Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Posts

  • Apophatic

    That last blog entry about the Election is an example of an apophatic blog entry. Not many of them about in the blogsphere.

  • So well behaved

    I'd just like you to note how good I am being at not blogging anything about the Episcopal Election in this diocese.Lead us not into temptation.

  • Firefox

    I know that this is a bit geeky, but I do want to recognise the significance of the Firefox launch today.I'm using Firefox rather than Internet Explorer for almost all my web-browsing now and I recommend it wholeheartedly.

  • Back to Glasgow

    Back to Glasgow last night – to the Episcopal Cathedral for the second time in a weekend. This time it was to go to the launch of a new collection of music from the Iona Community. Well, actually, it was a collection of quite old music from the Iona Community, but stuff that has not…