by Ken Sehested
One: Give our elected officials your justice, O God.
All: And your righteousness to all who follow them in office.
One: May they judge your people with righteousness, and give justice to your poor.
All: Infuse again our legislative councils with backbone worthy of their duty, with wisdom exposing folly, with integrity subduing deceit.
One: Restore civil virtue to civil service, privileging truth over tenure, bridled tongue supplanting partisan feud.
All: May every mountains and valley, every plain and lowland, yield prosperity for all.
One: May every river and stream, every headwater and delta, bestow its refreshment to soil and soul alike.
All: May our leaders speak up for those whose voices have been silenced, whose work has been outsourced, whose dignity has been diminished by market madness.
One: Renew in our commonwealth the dream of the common good, warranted by your uncommon grace.
All: Whet our appetites for the day when all shall be welcomed to the table of bounty.
©ken sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org
—Ken Sehested, Circle of Mercy 2.19.06 [REV 12.29.16]