(I should say that I'm not trying to convince anyone else not to vote, or in fact that I won't vote next year...and I may give in to the grim looks on the portraits of Washington and Lincoln and register, yet. And I do thank everyone who took the time to comment and email me, and I'm glad to have such concerned family and friends! You all bless me very much. This post isn't a rebuttal of your position--you all may be right at that--my yesterday's post was just a cry of frustration in the wilderness. Also, it's hard as heck to register to vote here.)
Turn with me, as the pastors I grew up with would say, to the book of 1 Timothy:
1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior…” -1 Timothy 2:1-3
You can read the verses in context here. (And you should. I could be making this all up, you know.)
Let's move on to a happier topic, shall we?
(I include this video solely for the line: "May God bless and keep the Tsar...far away from us.")
Turn with me, as the pastors I grew up with would say, to the book of 1 Timothy:
1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior…” -1 Timothy 2:1-3
You can read the verses in context here. (And you should. I could be making this all up, you know.)
So what we have here, to my mind, is a command to pray for our political leaders at every level--"kings and all those in authority". This I think encompasses presidents ("kings") on down to policemen, city council members, and bosses ("all those in authority").
We also have a reason: "that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness". The question naturally arises, would "peaceful", "quiet", "godly" and "holy" be how the onlooker would describe our lives? Not so much?
(I wanted to post a clip here from the old movie "A Man for All Seasons" where Thomas More is praying with his wife and daughter and says, "and God bless our lord the king"--i.e., Henry VIII--and the wife and daughter sort of hesitate before grudgingly adding, "and God bless our lord the king." But it seems like no one on Youtube shares my feelings about what constitutes pivotal movie scenes, so you will just have to imagine it. Thomas was wearing a hat.)
We also have a reason: "that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness". The question naturally arises, would "peaceful", "quiet", "godly" and "holy" be how the onlooker would describe our lives? Not so much?
Sometimes we have the tendency to think that our lives mainly depend on us--that if we want a more peaceful life, for instance, we should quit our jobs and move to the country, where we will raise goats and commune with our souls.
And it turns out, looking at the passage, that the peace in our lives sort of does depend on what we do, but not in the way we thought it did. It depends, essentially, on our obedience. Are we actually praying for all these people the way we're asked to?
I'm not claiming it's easy to pray for men and women that you don't know, or that you believe to be scoundrels. It's even difficult to remember to pray for leaders you like, let alone the ones you'd rather not have anything to do with. But this is a command, so the difficulty doesn't excuse us.
I'm not pretending like I don't struggle with this, but I'll share a few things that have helped me.
1. When you're making a more Official sort of petition--i.e., you are leading a group in prayer, saying a blessing for a meal, or something like that--include a general prayer covering for your leaders. Something like this, from the Book of Common Prayer, but probably a lot less formal and without the thous:
2. When you are making your usual daily petitions--I don't repeat prayers meaninglessly, hoping to get the Lord's attention, but there are certain things I pray for every single day, like my kids, my husband, the salvation of certain people, safety, and so on. I'd be willing to bet that if you pray, you have some things you pray for almost every day as well. You can include the president and other leaders in these petitions, even in a very general way:
Incidentally this helps us to speak respectfully of our government, even when we think (as frequently happens) that they are scoundrels. If we can treat even scoundrels respectfully because of the office they hold, without excusing their wickedness, that's a good thing; and it makes their wickedness show up more clearly.
3. When there is a national crisis, war, or other trouble--many people don't need prompting to pray in these circumstances, but again our prayers tend to stop at our own front yard. We pray (and we should) that our sons and daughters won't go to war, that we will be safe, that we will have enough to eat. But we need to also remember to pray that our leadership will be motivated by wisdom and justice instead of greed and self-preservation.
4. Whenever you notice a particularly bad example of our decadence--granted, it's hard to pick and choose these days, but let's keep it political and say you should probably pray more for your leaders when the government is in the midst of a scandal. In that situation it's more tempting for people to behave wickedly in an attempt to hang onto what they think they're losing; shouldn't we pray for genuine repentance and brokenness? If it could happen for Nebuchadnezzar, surely it isn't out of the realm of possibility for a congressman or two.
I have to tell you, I know only a few Christians (although I know some of them who do pray read this blog and have been exhorting me to vote--;) ) who pray regularly for our leaders. Sign a petition? Sure. Donate? Awesome. Forward emails? Every day. Commit to pray for our leaders every day for a year? Crickets.
And again, I'm not claiming I have this nailed down. Some days I'm doing good to remember to yell "Thank You, Jesus, for this food!" before the kids manage to snarf their dinner. This is something I need to improve on, as well. But I know it can be done, and I know it has to be done. Because our country needs prayer, and not just at flagpoles and on Sunday mornings.
That's my talk for today. Bless you, and stay safe at the polls. I'd vote early, in fact, if you're in a state where you can.
Cheers,
Breanna
I'm not claiming it's easy to pray for men and women that you don't know, or that you believe to be scoundrels. It's even difficult to remember to pray for leaders you like, let alone the ones you'd rather not have anything to do with. But this is a command, so the difficulty doesn't excuse us.
I'm not pretending like I don't struggle with this, but I'll share a few things that have helped me.
1. When you're making a more Official sort of petition--i.e., you are leading a group in prayer, saying a blessing for a meal, or something like that--include a general prayer covering for your leaders. Something like this, from the Book of Common Prayer, but probably a lot less formal and without the thous:
"O Lord our Governor, whose glory is in all the world: We commend this nation to thy merciful care, that, being guided by thy Providence, we may dwell secure in thy peace. Grant to the President of the United States, the Governor of this State, and to all in authority, wisdom and strength to know and to do thy will. Fill them with the love of truth and righteousness, and make them ever mindful of their calling to serve this people in thy fear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen."
That's a lot of thous. But you can see what I like about it--it reminds us that God is in control of the nation, asks for the leaders to both know and do God's will, and to be mindful of the responsibilities of their office under God--and then it wraps up by reminding us again that God is in control, because we have a tendency to forget.
2. When you are making your usual daily petitions--I don't repeat prayers meaninglessly, hoping to get the Lord's attention, but there are certain things I pray for every single day, like my kids, my husband, the salvation of certain people, safety, and so on. I'd be willing to bet that if you pray, you have some things you pray for almost every day as well. You can include the president and other leaders in these petitions, even in a very general way:
"Lord, please bless and keep the President, the government, and my local leaders, that they would seek and do Your will and that You would be glorified by their actions, and also by mine."
Incidentally this helps us to speak respectfully of our government, even when we think (as frequently happens) that they are scoundrels. If we can treat even scoundrels respectfully because of the office they hold, without excusing their wickedness, that's a good thing; and it makes their wickedness show up more clearly.
3. When there is a national crisis, war, or other trouble--many people don't need prompting to pray in these circumstances, but again our prayers tend to stop at our own front yard. We pray (and we should) that our sons and daughters won't go to war, that we will be safe, that we will have enough to eat. But we need to also remember to pray that our leadership will be motivated by wisdom and justice instead of greed and self-preservation.
4. Whenever you notice a particularly bad example of our decadence--granted, it's hard to pick and choose these days, but let's keep it political and say you should probably pray more for your leaders when the government is in the midst of a scandal. In that situation it's more tempting for people to behave wickedly in an attempt to hang onto what they think they're losing; shouldn't we pray for genuine repentance and brokenness? If it could happen for Nebuchadnezzar, surely it isn't out of the realm of possibility for a congressman or two.
I have to tell you, I know only a few Christians (although I know some of them who do pray read this blog and have been exhorting me to vote--;) ) who pray regularly for our leaders. Sign a petition? Sure. Donate? Awesome. Forward emails? Every day. Commit to pray for our leaders every day for a year? Crickets.
And again, I'm not claiming I have this nailed down. Some days I'm doing good to remember to yell "Thank You, Jesus, for this food!" before the kids manage to snarf their dinner. This is something I need to improve on, as well. But I know it can be done, and I know it has to be done. Because our country needs prayer, and not just at flagpoles and on Sunday mornings.
That's my talk for today. Bless you, and stay safe at the polls. I'd vote early, in fact, if you're in a state where you can.
Cheers,
Breanna
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