Election Time - A Prayer
Holy God,

 Form us with loving resolve

 To bear Your light and hope

 Into a season fraught

 With fear and despair.

Form our thoughts

 With Your alive Word of Love

 Able to fashion new creations

 Out of every crushing chaos.

Mold our hearts 

 Into vessels of grace

 Sorely needed in every time

 But especially needed

 In this present moment.

Fashion our words 

 With a grace that celebrates

 And builds up the beloved other

 Forming space for thriving

 Of body, mind and spirit.

Strengthen our resistance

 To everything within and around

 That dares to diminish 

 Your vision of a world made new

 Where everyone joyfully thrives.

Transform the world 

 Again and again and again

 With Your Holy Christ-love,

 And break down every division,

 Giving space for new beginnings

 In answer to every death

 Daring to claim the final word.

Raise in us Your resurrection,

 Always offered as Holy gift

 Calling us forward in love

 For the good of the other

 Planting your just peace

 Throughout the whole creation.

Yes, bless us for this 

 High and Holy calling

 Revealed with Your 

 Spirit-born Christ-light

 Able to dispel every night

 Of our misguided making.

And may Your deep love form us, 

 Heart, mind, body, and soul

 Into a resolution of grace

 Able to heal the world.

-DMLH, November 2024