A Service of Prayer for Our Nation
October 17, 2024
Cecil B. Day Chapel
The Carter Center
453 John Lewis Freedom Parkway NE, Atlanta, GA 30307-1406
We live in an increasingly divided society. How can people of faith help us to ease these divisions and guide us to more peaceful ground?
"It’s our shared responsibility as leaders and laity to do what we can to see that the divisions in our community and our country are addressed and that we have conversations about them.
- Paige Alexander, CEO, The Carter Center
"If we but centered our efforts not on division, but on our shared dignity, to move beyond our personal fears and our anxieties and our frustrations and to live out a love that is not selective but inclusive of all."
- Rev. Dr. Kevin Murriel, Senior Pastor, Cascade United Methodist Church
"Participating in democratic activities is a sacred duty…voting is a way of partnering with God in the work of tikkun olam— of repairing the world."
- Rabbi Ellen Nemhauser, Union for Reform Judaism
On October 17, 2024, the Georgia Democracy Resilience Network hosted a "Service of Prayer for Our Nation" in the Carter Center's Cecil B. Day Chapel. The event brought together senior faith leaders from a number of denominations in Georgia to speak on the role of faith in our increasingly polarized communities. The faith leaders discussed ways to come together around common values and ease the divisions existing within our communities and country.
"We can embrace difficult conversations and also learn how to have them. We can listen, understand, and humanize our differences when we can't harmonize them, we can move as a community of trusted leaders from the path of anger to a path of love."
- Dr. Rashad Richey, Senior Advisor, Georgia Democracy Resilience Network
Paige Alexander, CEO, The Carter Center
Rev. Dr. Kevin Murriel, Senior Pastor, Cascade United Methodist Church
Rabbi Ellen Nemhauser, Union for Reform Judaism
Soumaya Khalifa, Executive Director, Islamic Speakers Bureau
Rev. Dr. Randy Rainwater, Senior Pastor, Grace New Hope
Aashritha Kudumula, ICM Youth Advocacy Intern and Rev. Cassandra Henderson, Executive Director, Interfaith Children's Movement (ICM)
The Right Rev. Rob Wright, Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta
The Right Rev. Rob Wright, Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta
Watch The Full Event Here
Sample Prayer for Our Nation
Loving and Gracious God,
We give you thanks for this, our cherished nation that you have entrusted to our care for our children and generations to come.
We live in a time of disharmony and are troubled by our growing divides. We pray for the unity and protection of our country.
Remind us that no matter our beliefs or our views, we are all made in your image, even those with whom we disagree. Together, let each of us commit to seek harmony and reject division. Let us be inspired by the better angels of our natures.
Help us as people of faith to remember our calling to peace and to find the wisdom to make our places of worship into places of healing. Let us reunite in a common commitment to our shared democratic norms and the rejection of violence.
Give us the courage to help ourselves and others to the path of respect and love.
Give us the strength to listen to those with different views so we may better understand their hopes and fears.
Give us an open heart to find common ground and, where we cannot, to disagree well.
We pray for our leaders so they may guide us with love and wisdom for the betterment of all.
These things we ask in the name of all that is holy and good.
Faith Forward Democracy is part of the Georgia Democracy Resilience Network, which is supported by The Carter Center.