A Prayer for Our Country, Its Leaders and Its Citizens – reconsidered in 2025 – by David Abernethy

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=61704

open_content_license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license date_src_start: 2025-05-04 date_src_end: 2025-05-04 languages_meta: [{"name":"English","code":"eng","standard":"ISO 639-3"}] scripts_meta: [{"name":"Latin","code":"Latn","standard":"ISO 15924"}]

Date: 2025-05-04

Last Updated: 2025-05-04

Categories: 🇺🇸 United States of America

Tags: 119th Congress, 21st century C.E., 47th President of the United States, 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer

Excerpt: A prayer for America, its government and leaders, and its citizens, which I first posted in 2020, and reconsidered now in 2025, to speak to the challenges our country and public life today. . . .

Content:
A prayer for America, its government and leaders, and its citizens, which I first posted in 2020, and reconsidered now in 2025, to speak to the challenges our country and public life today.
Contribute a translation Source (English)
Our God and God of our ancestors,
accept with mercy our prayer for our country,
for its leaders, and for ourselves, its citizens.
Bless those we have chosen to lead our country
with the wisdom and courage to act justly
and to serve the needs of all,
not just the few.
Teach them
that the true aim of public service
is not personal profit
or the gratification of ego
but pursuit of the public good.
Grant them
the patience and understanding
to treat with dignity and respect
those who criticize or disagree with them.
Remind them
that every citizen is entitled to a voice,
in the voting booth
and in the public square.
Strengthen their resolve
to pursue the policies that we have chosen
to meet the challenges of this moment in our nation’s history,
and also to preserve the principles and institutions
that have sustained our nation at every moment in its history.
Help them understand
that the true promise of our country will not be realized
until full justice and dignity are afforded
to all who dwell in this land,
no matter the color of their skin,
where they were born,
whom they love,
or how they serve You.
Bless us with the insight and will
to fulfill our responsibilities as citizens.
Inspire us to stand up
for what we believe to be right
and oppose what we believe to be wrong,
while treating with courtesy and respect
those who, in good faith and from love of country,
hold views different than ours.
Help us to understand
that it is our duty as citizens
to protest the laws and official actions we believe to be unjust,
but also to respect and observe the valid laws properly enacted
to protect us and our communities.
May it be Your will
that all Americans come together
to replace division with unity;
violence with peace;
insult and contempt with civility and respect;
selfish pursuits with devotion to the needs of all;
and baseless hatred of every kind with the tolerance and love of neighbor
commanded by Your Torah.
And may it be Your will also
that all of us come to understand
that these things are not the promised results
of divine intervention in our country’s affairs,
but blessings we must work for together every day.
And let us say Amen.

 

Contributor: David Abernethy

Co-authors:

Featured Image:
Pennsylvania_Memorial_Gettysburg_PA1
Title: Pennsylvania_Memorial_Gettysburg_PA1
Caption: The Pennsylvania Memorial at the Gettysburg battlefield, Pennsylvania (credit: Acroterion, license: CC BY-SA)