City Called Heaven

Blessed are you, Lord of heaven and earth. In mercy for our fallen world you gave of yourself, your only Son, that all those who believe in him should not perish, but have new and everlasting life. We pray for our nation, and look to you for deliverace from all evil. Let us not despair, nor be deceived that vengeance is a solution. Help us to know that the urge to hurt, to dominate, to destroy is not only evil, but only breeds further ills. In Jesus the Christ, we see and follow your example to heal and not to harm, to accept rather than inflict suffering. We pray for all who run for elected office, especially Joseph and Donald. Watch over and protect those who seek positions of leadership, and all who participate in the political process, that your will for them and for us be done. Heal our nation, and disrupt the plans of all who seek to do violence. Let us instead seek the change of heart and mind that draw us closer to one another and to you, in the name of Jesus, our hope an

The Star-Spangled Banner famously ends with a question. "O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?" It has ever been the question, and is pointedly so now. Some may hear this as a question about the flag: is it still flying? But it is more importantly a question about us, about this nation. Is this land still a home to the free and the courageous? Is this the land where all are equal under the law, where we believe that everyone deserves basic decency, and which is still seeking a more perfect union? The cult of Trump/MAGA, the insurrectionists and those proclaiming retribution, have a very bleak view of our present, and an awful vision for our future. They know how to tear down, but not how to build up. On the last day of the Constitutional Convention, September 18, 1787, Elizabeth Powell asked Benjamin Franklin, "Have we got a republic or a monarchy?" "A republic, if you can keep it.&qu