A prayer for Election Day 2016

On this day in the United States, we go to vote. Some of us have already done so. All of us are awaiting the results of the tallying that will shape our communities and our country in the coming years.

This election season has felt as long as the Biblical 40 years. We have felt like the Children of Israel, battered on every side, even by the people who would like to be our leaders.

This season in our history has not brought out the best in most of us. While democracy is an amazing thing, even a gift from above, sometimes the process of pitting people against each other results in less than truth, less than the love you told us to have for our neighbors.

We’re sorry. We’re sorry for the yelling, those posts on Facebook, for the unkindness.

This election has shown the deep anger, the deep dissatisfaction in this country. It’s shown in new ways the historic divides between races and the growing gaps between economic classes.

We won’t all agree on who should lead us. We don’t agree on how to solve our problems. We don’t even always agree on the problems.

We’re scared, perhaps more scared than hopeful right now. We’re weary of the ads and the way conversations have been happening.

We want to hang in there together in this big, beautiful country where no one group has all the answers. Show us how we need each other as we work toward something than bigger than all of us.

Help us to try to do good for and with each other.

Help us to at least be kind, to try to understand each other. For those of us who call ourselves Christians, help us to be examples of loving our neighbors as ourselves, even if we’re honestly mad as hell and can barely stand our neighbors.

Help us to practice these things today, on Election Day. We’ll really need your grace tomorrow as we start to live with the results.

Humbly,

Your children