The choir has begun our prayer with these words of humility:
O great God of highest heaven, occupy my lowly heart.
Own it all, and reign supreme, conquer every rebel power.
Let no vice or sin remain that resists Your holy war.
You have loved and purchased me; make me Yours forevermore.
O God, who cherishes us, we bring our prayers before you.
You know our illnesses, our griefs, our fears, our uncertainties,
and we humbly hold them in silence before you.
SILENCE
We thank you for the possibility of a new kingdom, a new way of living.
For you promise to free us from all that holds us captive,
to release us from every oppression,
to open our eyes to a new realization of your favor.
So we pray freedom for those held in the captivity
of addiction, poverty, depression, and every illness.
For those who live in uncertainty–
when the way forward is not clear–
we pray that, in the time of waiting,
you would assure them of your year of favor,
that you would give them peace and calm
and a holy settledness in the not-knowing.
Remind us that the dificulties of life do not represent your disfavor;
for life is often just dificult.
Your promise is for favor, and your promise is forever.
We pray for this unsettled time of transition in our country.
Remind us that your promise is for favor, and your promise is forever.
We pray for those who are blinded by sin, blinded by pride.
You promise to restore our sight.
May none of us resist the holy war that you wage for our good.
For we know that your weapons are mercy, compassion, grace, and love.
For the peaceful kingdom to be born, for the year of favor to be ushered in,
it will not be born by power and authority as the world views those things.
But the Kingdom of Peace prophesied through Isaiah
and lived through the person of Jesus will be born
through the power and authority of mercy,
through the power and authority of humility,
through the power and authority of love and compassion for all people,
even enemies, even our enemies.
We pray for all leaders in our country —
political leaders, business leaders, academic leaders,
leaders in every home and family–
that they would exercise mercy.
For you promised that in doing so we would receive mercy.
We pray that our country would learn to work for
and not against your peaceable Kingdom;
for those who work against it are doomed to fail.
Just as Jesus claimed Isaiah’s prophecy for himself,
may we claim the same prophecy
and accept the same calling for ourselves.
Let the Spirit of the Lord rest on us.
Let the Spirit of the Lord fall throughout this good country.
From the White House to the State House to the jailhouse to this house,
may your spirit fall on us,
so that we may judge the poor with righteousness,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.
For that is how people filled with your Spir
help to usher in the peaceable kingdom.
Then will the wolf live with the lamb,
and the leopard lie down with the kid.
Then will Russia live in peace with Ukraine;
then will Israel live in peace with Gaza.
Then we will live in peace with our enemies.
And those with the humility of a little child shall lead us to that end.
We pray in the name of the One who is the righteous branch
that grew out of the stump of Jesse, the stump of death itself,
and continues to this day to bring life and favor out of dark, dead places;
even Jesus Christ, the One who taught us to pray, saying:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.