Prayer for Confluence in the Course of Elections

God of all, in all, through all,
we, clinging to the safe shores of our understanding,
we believe You work in time.
Believers and non-believers alike argue about how You
intervene in time or if You do?
We ask now, Your Presence, in this fluidity of time,
as we face national elections.

Steer us forward, please God, out of the muck of partisan politics,
away from the siren call of wars on many fronts, and guide us
toward a future that deploys diplomacy before it deploys anything or anyone else.
Author of lives, into this river of time, we pray that the right president might be chosen to guide this country well past problems and promontories around the next bend.

God, we ask You for guidance through this passage, this election.
We ask You to be present with those awaiting election results,
that win or lose, they might feel Your direction in their lives, might feel
the pull of Your current to the wider expanse, the bigger picture.
Remind winners and losers this week of the scope of time,
the appearances of horizons that shift and change, that things,
like images way out ahead, resolve in time.

You make rivers flow where there was desert,
may justice have momentum of much water.
You make water spring from dry ground,
may we work for peace, to bubble up out of dry places,
washing out traces of acrimony.

Within the watery expanse of this week, states will be pronounced red or blue,
as will towns. This week electoral college votes will be tallied; students quizzed
on U.S. government. Within the rapids of returning results, remind us our civic duties do not end with punching chads behind a curtain. Likewise, when newly elected officials consider their new work, may we consider ours. Pilot us through the days to come we pray. Thank you. Amen.