October 28, 2026
May your kingdom come.
May your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:10
“I often say that a vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children.”
Rev. Raphael Warnock
What is a prayer? Something we talk about with our confirmation students and our own kids is prayer. We frame it as a conversation with God. This is a bold claim to make. Firstly, a conversation requires an audience, a willing and participatory one. Otherwise, it’s a monologue. And secondly, the expectation and experience of a conversation requires listening and hearing, the willingness to hear a response and the belief a response is forthcoming, verbally, by messenger, or through action.
We also talk about the Reformed understanding that prayer is not strictly personal. Prayer, as a practice, reorients our hearts and minds to the communal dimension of faith and the full body of believers. To pray for anything we hope, want, or need is to recognize the impact of our petition. The farmer who prays for rain on Saturday must recognize how many athletes are praying for clear skies. The man who prays to get a specific job recognizes that prayer is also for someone else NOT to get it. The prayers we make for more time with a loved one may be in opposition to our own prayers for an end to their suffering. Every prayer must be made with awareness and compassion.
Likewise, the votes we cast are, as the Rev. Warnock suggests, a type of prayer. We can pray for ourselves and our loved ones, but as believers, we are required by our Lord to pray with an awareness of everyone impacted by our hopes, our intentions, and our petitions. When we pray and when we vote, it cannot be for selfish motives, but with hope for God’s will to be revealed and made real. The orientation of our hearts to love, to compassion, and for God’s purposes is an ongoing spiritual practice that is difficult and important. Our prayers cannot be, must not be, for us alone, but always for the last of these. So, we must never seek our own purposes when we head to polls, but always to submit a prayer that reflects our devotion to God and God’s kingdom come.
Prayer
May your kingdom come and your will be done. Make my heart one for your world and your people, so what I seek to do and serve is your calling on my life. Amen.
Rev. Brian Daoust
Associate Pastor for Mission & Youth
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