Praying for Wisdom

On Monday, August 24, I had the honor of praying the invocation for the Board of Mayor & Aldermen Meeting at Collierville Town Hall. Below is the prayer that I offered for our leaders, our town, and for all those in attendance. Please join me in praying for all our elected officials, that God would give them the wisdom needed to navigate these trying times.

God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God of Hagar and Ishmael, God of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus...

We pray to you this night seeking guidance and wisdom, asking for you to reveal your path, for our town, state, and nation.

We pray that you might direct the hearts of our Mayor and Aldermen, just as you channeled streams of living water within the hearts of your people.

As Israel’s kings sought out the wisdom and counsel of prophets, may our leaders attentively listen to the prophetic voices you lift up this evening.

Reveal to us brave visionaries who speak up and speak out on behalf of your people and draw our attention to the least of these, for we know that whatever we do for the least of these we in truth do for you, Lord.

Help us to hear the concern of parents as their children return to school, show us the faces of those who have struggled financially over the last five months, and offer us solace as we mourn for the lives of those lost to COVID-19 as well as systemic and institutional racism.

Remind us of this fact which theologian Tom Oden shares, “We do not live a solitary existence as if in an individualistic bubble, but in a community called to social accountability. The sin we knowingly do contributes to the burden of sin dispersed through the whole society.”

Almighty God, we repent of our sin and the sins of our fathers; may we seek out your preferred future, and may you flood our atmosphere with oceans of justice and rivers of righteousness.

You are a good and loving God, slow to anger and quick to love. Bless my neighbors and bless this meeting, so that right and equitable relationships might be built, that wisdom would be proclaimed as each tongue speaks justice and truth.

We pray for this and much more in the name of the one true God: Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer. Amen.