A Resource Packet for Pastors, Educators, and Congregations

These worship resources are designed to assist congregations in an election year. The Prayers, Confessions, Charges and Blessings are taken from the Book of Common Worship. The bracketed numbers are the references used by that worship resource.

The Affirmations of Faith are sections taken out of our traditional confessions. The confessional excerpts reflect our long history of speaking truth to the powers of State as well as to the powers of the church. These paragraphs can be used as confessional statements or affirmation of belief during worship. The suggested hymns are from the Presbyterian Hymnal and the Hymnbook (red). It is our hope that these resources will help each of us to be prayerful and participatory as CHRISTIAN & CITIZEN.

Suggested Scripture for Sermons and Bible Study

Prayers for our Country and Government Personnel

For Our Nation
(Woodrow Wilson 1856-1924)
Almighty God, ruler of all the peoples of the earth, forgive, we pray, our shortcomings as a nation; purify our hearts to see and love truth; give wisdom to our counselors and steadfastness to our people; and bring us at last to the fair city of peace, whose foundations are mercy, justice, and goodwill, and whose builder and maker you are through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [727]

For Our Country
Almighty God, you have given us this good land as our heritage. Make us always remember your generosity and constantly do your will. Bless our land with honest industry, sound learning, and an honorable way of life. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Make us who come from many nations with many different languages a united people. Defend our liberties and give those whom we have entrusted with the authority of government the spirit of wisdom, that there might be justice and peace in our land. When times are prosperous, let our hearts be thankful; and, in troubled times, do not let our trust in you fail. We ask all this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [728]

For Government Leaders
O Lord, our governor, your glory shines throughout the world. We commend our nation to your merciful care that we may live securely in peace and may be guided by your providence. Give all in authority the wisdom and strength to know your will and to do it. Help them remember that they are called to serve the people as lovers of truth and justice; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [729]

For State and Local Governments
Almighty God, bless those who hold office in the government of the state/city/town, that they may do their work in a spirit of wisdom, kindness, and justice. Help them use their authority to serve faithfully and to promote the general welfare; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [731]

At the Time of an Election
Under your law we live, great God, and by your will we govern ourselves. Help us as good citizens to respect neighbors whose views differ from ours, so that without partisan anger, we may work out issues that divide us, and elect candidates to serve the common welfare; through Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen. [732]

Prayer of Confession from the Book of Common Worship
Merciful God, in your gracious presence we confess our sin and the sin of this world. Although Christ is among us as our peace, we are a people divided against ourselves as we cling to the values of a broken world. The profit and pleasures we pursue lay waste the land and pollute the seas. The fears and jealousies that we harbor set neighbor against neighbor and nation against nation. We abuse your good gifts of imagination and freedom, of intellect and reason, and have turned them into bonds of oppression.

Lord, have mercy upon us; heal and forgive us. Set us free to serve you in the world as agents of your reconciling love in Jesus Christ. Amen. [70]

Almighty God, you love us, but we have not loved you. You call, but we have not listened. We walk away from neighbors in need, wrapped in our own concerns. We condone evil, prejudice, warfare and greed. God of grace, help us to admit our sin, so that as you come to us in mercy, we may repent, turn to you, and receive forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Amen. [71]

Merciful God, we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart. We have failed to be an obedient church. We have not done your will, we have broken your law, we have rebelled against your love. We have not loved our neighbors, and we have refused to hear the cry of the needy. Forgive us, we pray. Free us for joyful obedience; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [72]

Affirmations of Faith
WE BELIEVE WE ARE CALLED – “To honor father, mother, princes, rulers, and superior powers; to love them, to support them, to obey their orders if they are not contrary to the commands of God, to save the lives of the innocent, to repress tyranny, to defend the oppressed, to keep our bodies clean and holy, to live in soberness and temperance, to deal justly with all men in word and deed, and finally, to repress any desire to harm our neighbor, are the good works of the second kind, and these are most pleasing and acceptable to God as he has commanded them himself.” BELIEVING THIS MOVES US TO ACT. (The Scots Confession, Chapter XIV, 3.14)

WE BELIEVE—“God, the Supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be under him over the people, for his own glory and the public good, and to this end, hath armed them with the power of the sword, for the defense and encouragement of them that are good, and for the punishment of evildoers.

It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of a magistrate, when called thereunto, in the managing whereof, as they ought especially to maintain piety, justice and peace, according to the wholesome laws of each commonwealth, so, for that end, they may lawfully, now under the New Testament, wage war upon just and necessary occasions.” BELIEVING THIS MOVES US TO ACT. (Westminster Confession of Faith 6.127-128)

“Fear god. Honor the Emperor” (I Peter 2:17). WE BELIEVE—“Scripture tells us that, in the as yet unredeemed world in which the church also exists, the State has by divine appointment the task of providing for justice and peace. [It fulfills this task] by means of the threat and exercise of force, according to the measure of human judgment and human ability. The Church acknowledges the benefit of this divine appointment in gratitude and reverence before him. It calls to mind the Kingdom of God, God’s commandment and righteousness, and thereby the responsibility both of rulers and of the ruled. It trusts and obeys the power of the Word by which God upholds all things.

We reject the false doctrine, as though the State, over and beyond its special commission, should and could become the single and totalitarian order of human life, thus fulfilling the Church’s vocation as well.” BELIEVING THIS MOVES US TO ACT. (Barmen Confession 8.22-23)

WE BELIEVE—“God’s redeeming work in Jesus Christ embraces the whole of man’s life: social and cultural, economic and political, scientific and technological, individual and corporate. It includes man’s natural environment as exploited and despoiled by sin. It is the will of God that his purpose for human life shall be fulled under the rule of Christ and all evil be banished from his creation.” BELIEVING THIS MOVES US TO ACT. (The Confession of 1967, 9.53).

WE BELIEVE—“The Church exists within political communities. Throughout its history the church has struggled to be faithful to God in political situations: under persecution, or as an established arm of the state, or in separation from it.

God rules over both political and religious institutions. We must confuse neither with the kingdom of God. We must not equate the Christian faith with any nation’s way of life or with opposition to the ideologies of other nations. We hold Christians to be law-abiding citizens unless the state commands them to disobey God, or claims authority that belongs only to God, or claims authority that belongs only to God. We must not allow governments to impose Christian faith by legislation, nor should we demand undue advantages for the church. The church must be free to speak to civil authorities, neither claiming expert knowledge it does not have, nor remaining silent when God’s Word is clear.” BELIEVING THIS MOVES US TO ACT. (A Declaration of Faith, Chapter 7 (5))

WE AFFIRM THAT—“We trust in God the Holy Spirit. In a broken and fearful world the spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in Church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace.” BELIEVING THIS MOVES US TO ACT. (A Brief Statement of Faith, 10.4)

Litanies of the People

For all who fear God and believe in you,
Lord Christ, that our divisions may cease,
and that all may be one as you and the
father are one, we pray to you, O Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

For the mission of the church,
that in faithful witness it may preach the gospel
to the ends of the earth, we pray to you, O Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

For the peace of the world,
that a spirit of respect and forbearance
may grow among nations and peoples,
we pray to you, O Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

For all who live and work in this community …,
we pray to you, O Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

For a blessing upon all human labor,
and for the right use of the riches of creation,
that the world may be freed from poverty, famine,
and disaster, we pray to you, O Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

For the poor, the persecuted, and all
who suffer; for refugees, prisoners and
all who are in danger; that they may be
relieved and protected, we pray to you, O Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

For our families, friends, and neighbors;
that, being freed from anxiety,
that may live in joy, peace, and health,
we pray to you, O Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

Wisdom of God
I, wisdom, dwell in prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion.
    The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.
    I have counsel and sound wisdom, I have insight, I have strength.
By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just;
    By me princes rule, and nobles govern the earth.
I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me. (Proverbs 8:12-17)

Charge and Blessing to the People
God has shown you what is good.
What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8).

As God’s own, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, and patience, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, and crown all these things with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony (Col 3:12-14).

Go forth in the name of the Lord. This is God’s charge: to give us our allegiance to Jesus Christ and to love one another as he commanded (I John 3:23).

Suggested Scripture for Sermons and Bible Study

Joseph Plans for the Lean Years
Genesis 41: 14-36, 53-57

The Ten Commandments
Exodus 20: 1-17

Criteria for Leadership
I Samuel 10: 20-25, 16: 1-13
Leader’s Need for Wisdom
I Kings 3:1-15

Hear the Desire of the Meek
Psalm 10: 12-18

When Leaders Fail to Deliver Justice
Isaiah 10: 1-4
Vision of Community
Isaiah 32: 16-18

With Harshness You Have Ruled
Ezekiel 34: 1-10

Faithful Leadership
Daniel 6:1-9

What Happens When Justice Is Denied?
Hosea 10: 13-14

Establish Justice
Amos 5:14-24

Speaking Truth to Power
Amos 7: 10-17

When Leaders Fail to Speak
Micah 3:1-4, 9-12

Laborers and Fair Wages
Matthew 20: 1-16

The Summary of God’s Law
Matthew 22: 37-40

The Responsibility of a Nation
Matthew 25: 31: 46

God’s Reversal of the Social Order
Luke 1: 46-55

The Rich Ruler’s Responsibility
Luke 18: 18-30

Weeping for the City
Luke 19: 41-44

The Believers Pray for Boldness
Acts 4: 23-31

Duties of Civil Authorities
Romans 13: 1-7

The Purpose of Law
Galatians 3: 1-29, 4: 1-7

God’s Single Commandment
Galatians 5: 1, 13-15

Christ as Head of Every Ruler
Colossians 2: 6-10

Evil Authority
Revelation 13: 1-10

Visions of a New Order
Revelation 21: 1-6, 22: 1-5

Suggested Hymns

The first number corresponds to the Presbyterian Hymnal, and the second to the Hymnbook.

111 Good Christians All, Rejoice and Sing
216 (37) O sing a new Song to the Lord
252 (5) O Lord, You Are My god and King
291 (511) O God of Earth and Alter
293 (101) This Is My Father’s World
332 Live Into Hope
343 Called as Partners in Christ Service
346 Christ, You Are the Fullness
371 Lift High the Cross
374 Lord, Make Us Servants of Your Peace
405 What does the Lord Require
408 (507) Where Cross the Crowded ways of Life
420 (358) God of Grace and God of Glory
423 (496) Jesus Shall Reign Where’er the Sun
427 Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service
429 Lord, You Give the Great Commission
492 Baptized in Water
525 Here I Am Lord
564 (510) O Beautiful for Spacious Skies