ACTS of Prayer for Our Country
Dear Friends,
The fireworks have moved far away (McKinney’s Red, White, and Boom Celebration is at Towne Lake this year). We already had our outdoor picnic and celebration on Memorial Day weekend. And so, for the first time since the original building was built, we will have no 4th of July picnic tomorrow at St. Andrew’s. I suppose this makes a little more space for our country, whose independence we celebrate, to be the object of our prayers rather than the reason for our party.
You may be familiar with the ACTS acrostic as a pattern by which to shape our prayers. ACTS stands for four types of prayer: Adoration (in the sense of worship), Confession (admitting what is wrong), Thanksgiving (being grateful and naming why), and Supplication (asking for things). Let’s think about how these might relate to our country:
A(doration): We do not worship our country, and so adoring the United States in that way is not appropriate for us as Christians. That would be idolatry. It is good, whenever we come to God, to remember that we worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (three guys who didn’t have a country), the God of Israel, the God of Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem, the God of Greece, the God of Rome, the God of medieval Europe, the God of India, the God of Africa, the God of the Caribbean, the God of China – the whole thing!! And yes, of course, the God of the United States too. That’s the God we adore.
C(onfession): As great as it is, our country also has plenty of things to confess. A long history of racism, excessive trust in material wealth, grave disparities, an angry and divisive spirit… we won’t articulate all the same things, but confession is always worth doing: it opens us up to God’s grace and new ways forward.
T(hanksgiving): What an enormous blessing it is to live here, to have the freedoms and comforts that we enjoy, and to have the opportunities that are set before us. We can also thank God for the people who have served in the military, in the government, and as leaders socially, artistically, and commercially.
S(upplication): What is your prayer for our country today? For peace? For wisdom in our legislative halls? For our leaders? For a recommitment to our ideals? For opportunities for our young people? Surely you can go on and on… do so!
And whatever, beyond prayer, you do to celebrate this day, may you do so with safety, grace and joy. May God bless America.
In Christ,
Fr. Andrew
