An Election Day Prayer

Years ago, when camping with my parents in Wyoming, my father asked me to accompany him to see the stars one evening.   Having grown up within the sprawl of Los Angeles in Southern California, I reluctantly tagged along. At best, I might see the dull glow from a solitary star or two.

But when my father led me beyond the campground’s perimeter, I was abruptly overcome by a vision that remains some fifty years later.  As I looked upwards, the night sky’s brilliance suddenly lept before and far from me.   I gasped in amazement, seeing the Milky Way as it stretched across the heavens for the first time.   The night sky’s bluest of blues was dazzling, punctuated by shades of purple, fuchsia, and coral hues.  

But that fateful night, it was the stars that held my imagination.  

Sovereign God of All Creation: On this election day, when palpable uncertainty and the fear of violence hems in from every side, where false claims of victory and disinformation threaten to hijack the vote, and mayhem is poised to breach our cherished institutions and sully whatever integrity remains: remind us again and again, that our origins emerged not from the fear that distorts our vision, but from the stars themselves.  

So, let us seize our birthright, Divine Maker, not with notions of grandiosity but from the surety that comes in knowing that You alone, O God, are our Creator and Keeper.   So that today and in the days to come, may our eyes be focused on the horizon before us, knowing that your fierce love and power will always lead the way.   We ask this in all the holy names of God.  Amen.

[1] Origins by Neil deGrasse Tyson, American astrophysicist and author

Author: Jessica McArdle

These are dark and corrosive times. As a writer and ordained minister with the United Church of Christ, I use prayer, poetry, reflection, and scripture to re-align our embattled spirits with the uniqueness and urgency of our God-given identity and call. View all posts by Jessica McArdle