Christ Lutheran has put together a special service to Pray for our Nation next Monday, November 2 at 12 pm at our Providence campus and I urge you to join us. You can either attend in-person or worship online much like you would on Sunday morning. Register online for in-person HERE

Speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, God both commands His people to pray for the nation where they live and says that our prayers make…a WORLD of difference. 

“This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon…Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jeremiah 29:4-7)

Note, the nation that Israel is being told to pray for is BABYLON. Read: not their homeland, not even a place they chose to live. In a similar way, as followers of Jesus Christ we are foreigners in this world as the writer of Hebrews says (11:13-16). Empires and leaders come and go, and we worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. At the very same time, Scripture is clear that you and I have a responsibility to this world and to this nation that we temporarily call home.  

We can cast our vote. We can run for elected office. Lutheran Christians have always believed that we are truly summonsed to be “IN but not OF the world.” So be in it. Vote your conscience based on what you feel will best help the nation as a whole. Yet one of the most powerful actions we can engage in as believers is to pray. 

Martin Luther preached in his sermons on John’s Gospel, “We Christians must understand that all worldly rule and power, until its time is run, is based on an ordinance or command of God and on the prayer of Christians. Those are the two pillars that carry the whole world.” 

Hear that? Luther says that when you pray, your prayers help to support the world and sustain it. I hope you’ll remember that whether the candidates you’ve voted for win or lose next week. At a very divided time in King David’s life, one of his leaders put things in perspective when he said, “Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The LORD will do what is good in His sight” (2 Samuel 10:12). 

Do not loose heart, dear people of God. The LORD is going to do what is good. You may not always understand how God is at work or why things are happening a certain way, but God is acting. Be strong. Pray bravely for our Nation. Live as a faithful citizen to the best of your ability. Then place everything else in the hands of God. Hope you can be with us next Monday, November 2.

Peace,

Pastor Drew