Prayer in the Wake of Political Violence

Prayer offered at the beginning of worship on Sunday, July 14, 2024.

O God our help in ages past and our hope for years to come, we are shaken today, because once again violence is our story.

We pray for former President Trump, and we are grateful he did not succumb to political violence. For violence is not a tool of democracy.

We are shaken today, because today is like few others and also because today is like every day. We pray for this nation that we love, and we lament that violence is so common. We lament it is so easy for us to hate each other. It is so easy for us to dismiss each other. It is so easy for us to determine who has a right to exist and who does not. It may be easy, but it is not faithful.

This world is in love with violence, a violence that threatens the best in us, so renew in us a commitment to the Christ, who calls us to turn the other cheek, to love our neighbor, to love our enemies. And if loving our enemies is not easy, it is faithful, and it is wise, because our children’s future depends on the people who will choose peace over violence.

You have dreams for our children, O God, that they may live in justice and peace, that they might grow to be neither destroyers nor the destroyed. O God, our help in ages past and our hope for years to come, let us live toward that day.

In the name of the Prince of Peace we pray. Amen.

          By Tom Are Jr., Interim Pastor