by Sarah CR Clark on Nov 2, 2020

God of wisdom 

send your spirit to move across this land

this mighty, lauded, stolen, stunning land

send your spirit wherever we gather in lines 

long lines winding 

waiting

some waiting for hours

to speak.

Send your spirit to lift up our voices

that each one becomes many and strong

the spanish, the mandarin, the somali, the english, the hindi, the arabic, the ojibwa,

together- our nation’s voices

one nation, indivisible 

Bless the ballots, the volunteers, the pens, the polling places themselves. 

Bless the election judges, that their eyes remain clear. 

Bless the clocks, that they move slowly with time for everyone. 

Bless the postal workers, who sort and deliver our vote.

Bless the lawn signs which will eventually come down. Bless the t-shirts, the endless approved-by-some-

campaign commercials, and those red ‘I voted’ stickers. 

Bless the journalists and news anchors. Bless the election staffs who have forgotten how to breathe and

the candidates who can’t stand still. Bless their families who wait in some back room somewhere,

watching the tv to learn their future.

Send your spirit to this place where families are divided and neighbors are hostile and everyone feels

righteous but we’ve forgotten how to hold each other.

Send your spirit to the small towns, the bursting cities, the homeless camps, and to citizens voting around

the world.

And then, God of peace

be with us while we wait to hear the results

in our anxious moments, in the spinning, while we filter rumors, and scroll nervously for electoral

college counts. 

Be with us when we ignore posts on facebook

and be with us when we post annoying things on facebook

be with us when they demand recounts and lawsuits and make threats

be with us when it becomes exhausting and tomorrow feels infinitely far away.

God of peace, be with us. 

Send your healing spirit to move across this land

this mighty, lauded, stolen, stunning land 

this land that is Home. 

Remind us that you are in the midst of us all, that you call each of us ‘Beloved’ and that 

neither life nor death, nor angels or rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from your love.