On this Election Day, Ever-Reigning God, I pray for your forgiveness.
Forgive me for those moments when I have allowed myself to become too cynical to recognize the goodness of a country that allows its citizens the freedom to elect its leaders. Forgive me for being so eager to demonize certain political candidates, platforms, and philosophies that I fail to listen for the truth that they might bring to the public conversation. Forgive me for becoming idolatrous about my own political views at the expense of my capacity to love the people around me whose views are different than mine.
Deliver me, O God, from the things that would cause me to vote in the wrong spirit:
Deliver me from my weariness of political rhetoric, that I might identify rightly the issues that matter the most to me.
Deliver me from my anger over disparaging and oppressively negative political commercials, that I might respect the personhood of each candidate instead of allowing myself to be directed by their bad press.
Deliver me from my squeamishness about the political signs and posters that will greet me as I walk into my church’s basement to vote.
Deliver me from a corruptive social apathy, that I might come to a healthier view of our government’s role in the ordering of society.
Deliver me from fear concerning the future, that I might vote with a sense of assurance about the steadfastness of Christ’s Lordship.
Deliver me from spiritual myopia, that I might discern afresh the truth that, irrespective of which political party holds the upper hand in the governance of America, the politically-independent Lamb of God will remain upon the throne.
Make your presence known this day, O God, to the various political candidates and their families. Bring strength to all who are endeavoring to provide hospitality and organizational leadership in places of voting around the nation. Inspire humility and integrity within the hearts of those television and radio personalities who will share with us election results throughout the day and night.
Manifest your redemptive grace in our flawed political processes, that, throughout this day, hope might triumph over despair, encouragement over cynicism, and integrity over manipulation.
Pour out your Holy Spirit upon your Church this day, thereby enabling its people to celebrate the fact that their primary citizenship is to be found in a Kingdom that never has to be defended with an army, that never has to be stifled by a troubled economy, and whose eternally-reigning Lord never has to be re-elected.
Grant that my vote today will be nothing less than a prayerful act of hope, rendered in the assurance of your stubborn refusal to abandon the world that you so beautifully created.
I pray this in the name of Jesus the Christ, Lord of all creation and the Savior of the world, whose inescapable presence transforms even a voting booth into sacred ground.
Amen.