Worship Resources in an Election Year

My sister recently sent me that Paul Harvey "Prayer for America" that's been circulating. Pretty offensive. Here are some alternatives!

Worship Resources in an Election Year: A Resource Packet for Pastors, Educators, and Congregations
http://www.pcusa.org/washington/christiancitizen/worshipresources.htm

These worship resources are designed to assist congregations in an election year. The Prayers, Confessions, Charges and Blessings are taken from the Book of Common Worship. The bracketed numbers are the references used by that worship resource.

The Affirmations of Faith are sections taken out of our traditional confessions. The confessional excerpts reflect our long history of speaking truth to the powers of State as well as to the powers of the church. These paragraphs can be used as confessional statements or affirmation of belief during worship. The suggested hymns are from the Presbyterian Hymnal and the Hymnbook (red). It is our hope that these resources will help each of us to be prayerful and participatory as Christian & Citizen.

Example: Book of Common Worship [732]
At the Time of an Election
Under your law we live, great God, and by your will we govern ourselves. Help us as good citizens to respect neighbors whose views differ from ours, so that without partisan anger, we may work out issues that divide us, and elect candidates to serve the common welfare; through Jesus Christ the Lord: Amen.

Suggested Scripture for Sermons and Bible Study
Joseph Plans for the Lean Years (Genesis 41:14-36, 53-57)
The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17)
Criteria for Leadership (I Samuel 10:20-25, 16:1-13; I Kings 3:1-15)
Hear the Desire of the Meek (Psalm 10:12-18)
When Leaders Fail to Deliver Justice (Isaiah 10:1-4; Vision of Community - Isaiah 32:16-18
With Harshness You Have Ruled (Ezekiel 34:1-10)
Faithful Leadership (Daniel 6:1-9)
What Happens When Justice Is Denied? (Hosea 10:13-14)
Establish Justice (Amos 5:14-24)
Speaking Truth to Power (Amos 7:10-17)
When Leaders Fail to Speak (Micah 3:1-4, 9-12)
Laborers and Fair Wages (Matthew 20:1-16)
The Summary of God’s Law (Matthew 22:37-40)
The Responsibility of a Nation (Matthew 25:31-46)
God’s Reversal of the Social Order (Luke 1: 46-55)
The Rich Ruler’s Responsibility (Luke 18:18-30)
Weeping for the City (Luke 19:41-44)
The Believers Pray for Boldness (Acts 4:23-31)
Duties of Civil Authorities (Romans 13:1-7)
The Purpose of Law (Galatians 3:1-29, 4:1-7)
God’s Single Commandment (Galatians 5:1, 13-15)
Christ as Head of Every Ruler (Colossians 2:6-10)
Evil Authority (Revelation 13:1-10)
Visions of a New Order (Revelation 21:1-6, 22: 1-5)

"Forgiving God, we confess that we are a fearful people. Too often, we walk through the abundance of your world afraid that there is not enough. We covet what little our neighbors have. We hoard and yet squander the goodness of your creation. We make of ourselves earthly titles and names, as though human honor was itself a finite commodity.
Have mercy on us. Gently ease our grip, and open our hands and our eyes that we, trusting in your righteousness, may truly live out the heart of all commandments: to love our neighbors as ourselves. In doing so, we honor You and put You first in our lives.
O God of majesty, when we gather to worship you, disquiet us, with your peacemaking Holy Spirit quietly insisting, “Know justice, know peace.” As your Son broke bread and gave it to thousands, so call us anew to a peace marked by a just distribution of your abundance, until that day when no one shall hunger nor thirst any more, through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
O God, our foundation - Jesus became known as ‘the rejected stone', but we pray that You - who are the cornerstone of our hope, may be to us not a stumbling block. Build us up instead into a household of justice and peace. Guide us by Your law and fill us with Your grace, that in giving back to You the gifts of creation - and in sharing them with others - we may live out Your way of peace in your world. Through the Prince of Peace, we pray: Amen." (another from PCUSA)

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These are less denominational:

"Lead us from death, to life... from falsehoods, to truth... from despair, to hope... from fear, to trust... from hate, to love... from war, to peace... Let peace fill our hearts, our minds, our actions, our faith - for the countries, our world, our universe." [World Peace Prayer]

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I AM AMERICA: A Nation's Prayer http://www.prayersamerica.org/Contents.html

I am America.

I am her Heart that yearns to breathe freely, unfettered by the bonds of deception and the undercurrents
of will that seek to deter her from her true course and destiny.

I am the hearts of her people - those who believe, always, in America's bright promise, who weep with dismay when there appears to be no way for it to manifest.

I am the vision of tomorrow that lives, forever, within America's heart - her knowledge that there IS a way for human beings to live together as One: freely, deliberately, joyfully, lovingly.

And I am the sorrow that wells up in the human breast, when that joy and that unity dissolve in the presence of dissension and discord.

I am the breath of Hope that is given to those who look to America's shores from afar, who hold her sweet promise as a dream they may one day realize.

And I am the yearning of those in need, who seek to rebuild their lives on the vision of tomorrow.

I am liberty and I am hope, and I am the future for humanity, established in sacred trust, empowered by divine ordinance, blessed by the forces of Light, pursued within every heart, and looked to by those whose lives were given in service to the ideal of America.

I am the flame of unity and of love that is eternally America's heart - I AM her promise and her destiny.