Praying for the Country We Love
Praying for the Country We Love
Every Fourth of July, I find myself holding two things at once. Gratitude for what is beautiful about this country—the land itself, the aspiration toward liberty and justice, the extraordinary mix of people and stories that make up this improbable nation. And grief for the distance between that aspiration and our reality. Both are honest. Both belong in our prayers.
This is not a political observation. People across every political perspective share both the love and the grief. We differ, sometimes sharply, on causes and solutions. But the longing for a country that works—for everyone—is something I hear in nearly every conversation.
PATRIOTIC PRAYER
The prayer tradition I find most helpful in moments like this is the practice of lament. Lament is one of the most underused forms of prayer in contemporary Christianity, even though the Psalms are full of it. Lament is not despair. It is a cry to God that trusts God is listening—and that refuses to look away from what is broken.
Psalm 85 is a patriotic lament, really. "Show us your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us your salvation… Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps." It holds grief and hope in the same breath.
A PRACTICE FOR THIS MONTH
This July, I invite you to try a prayer of lament and hope. You might do this on a morning walk, sitting on your porch, or quietly before bed.
Name one thing about our country that grieves you. Hold it honestly before God. Don't rush past it. Then name one thing about our country that still gives you hope. Let both be real. Then close with this: God of justice and mercy, continue your work. And use me.
Parker Palmer writes that "violence is what happens when we don't know what else to do with our suffering." Prayer is one way of knowing what to do with it—transforming it from something that hardens us into something that opens us.
Go make peace, my friends. We need it.
Pastor Leanne
Photo attribution: Lucas on Unsplash
Community Presbyterian Church
32202 Del Obispo
San Juan Capistrano. CA 92675
949-493-1502
info@sjcpres.org