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January 19, 2009
What to Pray for a New President
Seeking God's blessing for a pluralistic, conflicted, and divided nation.
by Mark Labberton
There is no better time to renew our commitment to "pray for our leaders," than the start of a new presidential administration. Barack Obama needs our prayers and we should give them freely and eagerly no matter how we may have voted.
I know our president needs prayer, because I know I do. My own life and pastoral leadership depends on prayer. I am aware that much of the blessing in the life of our church unfolds because of the prayers of people united in seeking God's way. Blessings are not earned by prayer, nor should blessings be presumed because of prayer. But I do believe prayer increases our readiness to live humbly, wisely, and courageously.
These are also the qualities our new president needs. After a divisive campaign, an extraordinary economic collapse, a period of ecological vulnerability, and a time of war and global instability, our president and our nation need humility, wisdom, and courage. Wherever we or our congregations may be politically, these three qualities should guide our prayers for the leaders responsible for our nation and our world. Leadership that is lacking in any of these three will be far less constructive than these trying times demand.
Our president needs the humility to live and lead in dependence upon God, practicing a clear estimate of our human and national limitations. Few qualities are more characteristic of Jesus than his willingness to serve in dependency on the Father, "emptying himself and taking the form of a servant." Humble servant leadership is the essence of Jesus' power. Let's pray that as a new season of presidential leadership begins, Barack Obama will live before God with a clarified awareness of who he is and who he is not.
When we lead our people to pray for our national leaders, we are praying for them to be wise. That means that they will be men and women led by the truth, who will act with discernment and justice. We may be tempted to pray that certain policies or political ideologies are enacted by the government, or for the authorities to establish our own utopian vision. This kind of prayer mistakenly treats the United States as a theocracy.
Instead, we should be praying for leaders to have the wisdom to seek the shalom of the city, country, and world. This kind of prayer asks God to grant leaders the power and authority that allows people and communities to thrive. It is neither a prayer that overreaches nor under-reaches.
When we lead our people to pray for this new administration, we also need to pray that President Obama, and everyone in government, will have courage. Given the social, economic, environmental, and security threats today, we could accumulate a pile of fear-inducing situations to rival Everest. This is an exceptional time when our leadership needs the strength of character and will to seek, say, and do what is right.
When we pray for a pluralistic, conflicted, and divided nation like our own, we should recognize that we are not just praying for the church, for the community of God's people. Instead, we are stepping into our role as faithful exiles, surrounded by a widely varied people, who seek God's life-giving love, mercy, and justice, especially for the marginalized and for our enemies. We cry out to God for his shalom to be poured out upon others. That will be the evidence to the world that the blessing we seek isn't just for ourselves, but that we truly care for all peoples, tribes, and nations.
When we pray for these things - humility, wisdom, and courage - we are stepping beyond our own party affiliation or preference, beyond the bickering of the campaign, beyond the places where divisions are real and substantial. We are seeking instead to be prayerful partners of God's shalom that comes, at least in part, through governments, civic leaders, and even presidents.
Comments
I've searched the archives to see if any previous post has suggested that we pray for our President. Ther is a lot of criticism of the 43'rd President but no gracious requests for prayer for him and our country that I could find. If there has been one, could you please re-post it? Thanks.
Posted By: Melody | January 19, 2009 7:04 PM
I think no matter how we voted, we all need an Inaugaration Attitude Check. Where is our hope? Not in government. Yet still, we are called to pray...and submit. Yikes! For a full post, check out Red Letter Believers at:
http://redletterbelievers.blogspot.com/2009/01/inauguration-day-attitude-check.html
Posted By: David Rupert | January 19, 2009 8:12 PM
Humility, wisdom and courage is a desirable thing, especially for a president. We should not neglect, however, to pray for his salvation.
Posted By: Richard Miller | January 20, 2009 3:20 PM
Melody,
The great thing about prayer is that you can always start today, even if you weren't doing it before.
Posted By: James | January 20, 2009 4:10 PM
Pray for the previous President?
Is someone really wondering that?
Wasn't it the evangelicals who took credit for re-electing the guy in 2004?
I'm sure there was a lot of praying going on for him.
Please. Whenever there is some kind of implicit or explicit sign of supportiveness for the unapproved political party then that kind of sanctimonious tripe gets trotted out.
If the prayer sticks in your throat a little when you obey the Scriptures and pray for the President it sure says a lot about you and absolutely nothing about the President.
yeeesh.
Posted By: Nathan | January 21, 2009 8:05 PM
Nathan
Melody's question is not whether readers of Ur prayed for George Bush. She asked whether the editors and featured writers of Ur ever suggested prayer for him in the way they have for the new President. It is a legitimate question. I don't recall them ever doing so. Maybe I missed it.
Sanctimonious? Look in the mirror.
Posted By: RDM | January 22, 2009 5:51 PM
Regarding the question of why the editors here didn't encourage readers to pray for George W. Bush: the answer is simply because Out of Ur didn't exist when he took office or started his second term. Quite simply, Obama has been the focus of so much attention on the blog because any in-coming president would have been. I'm sure you'll hear far less about him in a month.
Posted By: Brandon | January 23, 2009 8:26 AM
I thought it was okay to ask questions in the postmodern world. Sorry to have offended some of you. My bad.
Posted By: Melody | January 23, 2009 4:56 PM
I don't even know where to begin...
Melody,
Who said anything about how asking questions wasn't ok? Who said anything about the pro's or con's about postmodernism?
Yeeesh. So much for robust conversation...
RDM,
Yeah, cuz the rhetoric of the evangelical community with respect to politics hasn't been heavily weighted toward an almost unreflective support of a mixed-bag presidency.
It must sound like sanctimony when your community gets deserved critiques instead of being the ones pointing the finger all the time.
I don't get why this is how it always plays out. A heavy handed, critical and alienating attitude gets communicated toward the culture and when evangelicals get called on it they cry foul as if they've been "above board".
Can someone explain this to me?
Posted By: nathan | January 24, 2009 9:01 PM
Frankly, I always thought this did a good job:
19. For the President of the United States and all in Civil Authority
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 (or Commonwealth), 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. Amen.
(Episcopal "Book of Common Prayer" 1979)
Posted By: Jim E. | January 25, 2009 11:33 PM
Nathan,
Yes I'll explain. Melody asked a specific question.
You responded with broad shallow rhetoric lacking substance.
I defended Melody with a specific answer.
You responded with broad shallow rhetoric lacking substance.
Posted By: RDM | January 27, 2009 10:06 PM
Thank you, RDM.
Your substantive response was incredibly illuminating.
Thanks for not addressing the actual issues.
Anyone else want to try?
Posted By: nathan | January 29, 2009 3:35 PM
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