Prayers for the nation as the health care vote approaches

So I should be heading off into what's left of a beautiful day off to get some errands done -- now that the laundry is folded -- and before shutting down my laptop checked Facebook to see if I'd heard from either of my kids today and saw these ... from the Huffington Post.

And so I decided the errands could wait a few more minutes but the prayers couldn't.

Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners.

Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues.

Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and
peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth.

In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

And now I'm off to the grocery store ... grateful for the Book of Common Prayer and a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that ALL are created equal ... even if not everybody's gotten that memo yet.