Prayer written for the upcoming 2025 Federal election by Dr Mick Pope
Creator God, Word of God, Spirit of God,
You create a world of wonder and delight, order out of chaos, so that all creatures and all people might flourish.
You call the nations to do justice and to use even scales in trade. You call for a flourishing earth by giving it Sabbath rest from our economic activity.
You plead the case of those in need, those without an income, and for the refugee and asylum seeker.
You declare that debt should be forgiven, that poverty should not be passed on from generation to generation, and that land taken should be returned.
You call for swords to be beaten into ploughshares, that war should cease, and no one profit from the shedding of innocent blood.
Yet human greed takes more than it needs. Human indifference ignores the plight of the powerless and downtrodden. Human superiority ignores the cries of the earth.
We don’t always know what we should know or do what we should do.
We are thankful for people of good will who seek a life in politics, and for the institutions and laws that make for a system that can do good. We thank you for our parliamentary democracy. May it be a mechanism for enabling flourishing.
May our politicians seeking election be committed to the flourishing of land, sea, sky, flora, fauna, and peoples.
May they seek the flourishing of those who have inhabited these lands for time immemorial.
May they seek the flourishing of those who come across the seas fleeing violence and persecution.
We pray for the welfare of our politicians, for wisdom for our politicians, for empathy for our politicians, and for their desire to see all things flourish.
For these things, and for all things dear to our hearts we implore you, Creator God, Word of God, Spirit of God.
Amen.
___________________________________________
Please credit Dr Mick Pope when sharing this prayer.
Mick Pope has a PhD in meteorology and a Masters in Theology from the University of Divinity. He has written three books on theology and climate change, and is currently working on publishing his Masters. Mick is a member of Common Grace’s Creation and Climate Justice team.