Presbyterians gather online to pray for their nation, their neighbors and their legislators
As a 10-year budget framework is debated in the Senate, a ‘Gathering of Hope’ draws a crowd of 160
LOUISVILLE — On short notice Monday evening, more than 160 Presbyterians and others gathered online to pray for the nation and for Congress as it struggles with President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which will remove nearly 12 million Americans from their health care coverage over the next decade and increase the national debt by $3.3 trillion, add 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to help the president with his goal of deporting some 1 million people each year, and cut back everything from food assistance to green energy incentives.
The 11 fellows working this summer in the PC(USA)’s Office of Public Witness and Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations helped put together the “Gathering of Hope” service that included prayer, song, Scripture and meditation.
The Rev. Jihyun Oh, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly and Executive Director of the Interim Unified Agency, welcomed those in attendance to “a place of hope and love and hopefully some joy as we gather together even in the midst of these times, a space of listening and praying and connecting with one another.”
“Seeing your faces gives me a sense of hope and joy,” Oh said. “God has called us to be a community of faith together and to be in prayer for the world God loves.”
“We can be assured,” Oh said, “that God’s goodwill is for the good of God’s beloved world. We pray for one another, holding each other in hope and steadfast in our faith.”
In her prayer, Oh thanked God for “the body of Christ you have called into being to be your hands and feet in this world.”
“Despite the worries and anxieties and fears of the time, help us to be grounded in this community of faith, in your promises and your goodwill for us,” she prayed.
“As Presbyterians, we have the longstanding tradition of recognizing that a budget is a moral document,” said the Rev. Christina Cosby, OPW’s Representative for Domestic and Environmental Policy Concerns. The nation’s budget “impacts hospitals, the neighbors we rely on daily, the people sitting in our pews, the clergy tending to our flocks.” She thanked those on the call “for keeping watch with us” and “for recognizing the moral courage needed each moment by us and by our policymakers.”
Olivia Phelps, an OPW fellow, read Matthew 26:36-39, Matthew’s account of Jesus praying in Gethsemane. Grace Kromke led the group in a meditation prayer, breathing in and out phrases including “God is with us/We are not alone” and “Hope is not a solitary act/We share our burdens and hopes.”
“Grant us the courage to speak against the injustices of our world,” Kromke prayed. “Let our work be guided by your love. May we know that we are loved by one another and boundlessly loved by you.”
During the online offering, Alex Pickell, yet another fellow, offered four prompts and asked the people gathered to offer brief answers.
To the question, “What are you bringing into this space?” answers included compassion, anxiety, dread, numbness, deep sadness, shame, empathy, care for immigrants and radical hope.
Question 2 was, “What does it look like to trust God’s consistency when the world feels unpredictable?” Among the answers were “it feels like showing up,” “feeling held” and “gaining security out of deep fear.”
Pickell then asked about who might be impacted by today’s decisions.
Responses included classmates, grandparents, “even those in power,” the most vulnerable, the alien among us, Creation, and “my rural community.”
Finally, worshipers were asked where they are finding hope. Those places included in community, in people showing up to protest, “in my church family,” in God’s promise, in striving for justice and in small things.
A fourth fellow, Isabella Shutt, shared some resources Presbyterians can use to help make their perspective known in the Capitol, including OPW’s Voter Voice. The PC(USA)’s advocacy work can be followed here, here here and here.
The Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, the denomination’s Director of Advocacy, thanked the participants and those gathered. “We know our lives are connected by our Christian faith and also by our Presbyterianism, a church committed to being Reformed,” Hawkins said. He offered special thanks to the 11 fellows, who are, among other tasks, creating worship services focused on advocacy that congregations can use. “Please know the church is in good hands,” Hawkins said. “We desperately want more young people involved in the lives of our congregations and our denomination.”
Hawkins ended the online gathering with a prayer thanking the Almighty for being “a God who is not detached from what human beings experience every day. You are intimately involved in the suffering of your children.”
“We pray for a turnaround in people’s hearts, so we have a budget that looks out for those who are struggling in life,” Hawkins prayed. “Under the banner of Jesus Christ, we are all one people. Every child born shares this image and likeness, and is worthy of your love.”
“Hear the prayers we pray with one voice as we remember you are one God and we are one people. May all of God’s people say amen.”
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