Noting that the reactions to yesterday’s presidential election are wide-ranging and will play themselves out across our country, in our communities, and in our churches, Bishop Hughes offers us a prayer she has relied on in challenging times. (Time: 4:50.)
Video Transcript
This is Bishop Hughes in the Diocese of Newark, and it is the day after Election Day. America went to the polls yesterday, and a decision was made, and Donald Trump will be the 47th president of the United States. Today, the reactions are wide-ranging. For some, this is a joyful moment filled with excitement. For others, this is a shocking turn of events and creates massive confusion. And for still others, this is a sad and terrifying moment in the history of our nation.
All of these reactions are playing themselves out across our country, in our communities, and will also play themselves out in our churches. We are a wide variety of people with a wide variety of reactions, and that is who we are, and we are in this together.
I find in these situations when there are so many reactions that everyone is having, including my own, it helps me to pray. And there’s a prayer that I’ve been praying now for months. It’s from the Prayer Book, sits in the middle of Morning Prayer on page 100. It is the Collect for Guidance. I began praying it early this summer, as my father’s health started to decline rapidly and we knew his death was imminent. I kept praying it after he died, and in the grief that followed. I continued to pray it when I returned back to work, and as the election campaign reached its level of intensity, this prayer became more and more important to me. Let me pray it with you right now.
Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
There are two things I love about this prayer. First, that we ask God to have the Holy Spirit guide and govern us to do that very thing that she does so well. We tend to think the Holy Spirit is one who comes along to confirm us and let us know that we have done the right thing and we have gotten our way. But actually, the Spirit’s work is far more intense and purposeful with us. The Spirit very often, is guiding and governing us, helping us to make the right decisions, to move in the right direction, giving us some guidance about when to speak and when to listen. The Holy Spirit’s work is to keep us constantly moving on the pathway to God’s goodness, and that takes guidance and governance. That is the first part of the prayer that has meant so much to me.
And the thing that we ask for in the prayer is that the Spirit will guide and govern us, so that we will not forget God. That no matter what we face, no matter how complicated or confusing, that whatever it is that we are in the midst of, that we will not forget God, and that we are always walking in God’s sight.
These two things, that the Holy Spirit is guiding and governing us, so that we will always remember God and remember that God is walking in our sight, are going to be important to us in the coming weeks and months.
I want to invite you to join me in praying this prayer every day. It’s a short one. It’s easy to remember. I often use my own words, but I come back to the one in the Prayer Book. But it helps us to remember, and I think that is what I get, so much comfort from it, and confidence from it. It helps me to remember, I’m not on my own. We are not on our own, whatever the situation. We are always walking in God’s sight.
Let’s pray together one more time.
Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
And God bless you.
