What's Tony Thinking

A Prayer for Election Day

A Prayer for Election Day, November 8, 2022

O God, whose mercy is from everlasting to everlasting, we come — finally — to this election day.

We confess that we’re having a bit of a hard time remembering what a precious thing voting is . . . badgered as we are by those who play upon our fears; depleted as we feel by the sheer volume of anxious rumor and apocalyptic rhetoric.

We give thanks for the decent people who have put themselves out there as candidates, and who in doing so have reaped a whirlwind of invective and insult. Sustain them and their families, deliver them from evil.

Smite the indecent candidates (you know who they are, I only have guesses). those who will say anything to get votes or applause or clicks, and whose God — whatever else they may say — is power. Deliver them from evil, too.

For voters who find obstacles placed in their path, we pray, giving thanks for their persistence, courage and resolve. May their efforts be rewarded and their dignity upheld.

We especially pray for election officials who do their job with honesty, decency and care. Keep them safe and sound and able to do their work. Protect their homes and families.

We remember the people who have given their lives so that all Americans might vote and be ruled by law not by men. Make us worthy of their sacrifices.

For fair elections, we pray. Let every vote be counted, once, and keep the vote inviolate from conniving state legislators, calculating lawyers, unjust judges and anyone else who would supplant, alter or mess with the vote.

Strike down those who make baseless and self-serving claims of voter fraud. It doesn’t have to be a lightning bolt, but maybe laryngitis or a bad case of the flu would be good.

When this election renders its judgment, help us however it goes, to respect it — but also not to confuse it with your own.

By faith allow us to rise up on November 9 and in succeeding days  in courage and hope. Keep us from despair and deliver us from evil. Amen.