Chapel service unites Presbyterians in prayer following Nov. 5 elections

Worship leaders invite PC(USA) national staff to pray for the nation as a ‘people of hope, justice and reconciliation’

by Emily Enders Odom | Presbyterian News Service

The Rev. Dr. John Wilkinson

LOUISVILLE — As the plaintive strains of “Be Still, My Soul” filled the Presbyterian Center, worshipers gathered for prayer, both online and in the chapel, on the morning following the national election.

“Election result or no, we will gather in prayer, scripture and song to be encouraged and energized,” wrote the Rev. Dr. John Wilkinson earlier in a message inviting PC(USA) national staff members to attend the weekly chapel service. “We are called to pray for our leaders and to love our neighbor.”

In introducing the nature and structure of the 30-minute service, Wilkinson, the director of the PC(USA)’s Ministry Engagement and Support, explained that because the Presbyterian tradition and practice of morning prayer doesn’t include a sermon, he would be leading the gathering in a time of extended prayer around the themes of hope, justice and reconciliation.

Worship leaders Tonia Trice, HR Generalist; Laurie Griffith, Associate Director, Constitutional Interpretation, Office of the General Assembly; and Rev. Edwin González-Castillo, Director of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, joined Wilkinson in reading selected scripture passages and excerpts from the PC(USA) Book of Confessions. The Rev. Dr. David Gambrell, Associate for Worship, provided music for the service.

Before inviting worshipers to pray with him, Wilkinson offered a brief statement of purpose, beginning with quotes from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Confession of 1967.

“The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state,” read Wilkinson citing King. “It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority. But if the church will free itself from the shackles of a deadening status quo, and, recovering its great historic mission, will proceed to speak and act fearlessly and insistently on the questions of justice and peace, it will enkindle the [people’s] imagination.”

Wilkinson then set out to pray for “our deeply, deeply divided nation — for all who will be pleased with [Tuesday’s] outcome and those who will be disappointed,” and to pray for those serving in elected office.

“John Calvin called them ‘magistrates,’” Wilkinson explained. “Calvin believed that magistrates are God’s representatives on Earth and have a duty to enforce the law and act in the people’s best interests … that they might lead us, the consenting governed, in the way of peace. We recommit ourselves to peace and reconciliation, even though they may be elusive.”

Wilkinson also referenced his current work in financial stewardship as a lens through which he frequently views the world. He called the gathering to embrace a “stewardship of citizenship, which includes this moment and how we live into it … God calls us not out of the world but into the world to be the hands and feet of Jesus.”

In his prayer, Wilkinson took care to “lift up all who received difficult news this week, our colleagues and friends,” referring to Tuesday’s announcement about the reconfiguring of ministry work in the new Interim Unified Agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the accompanying reduction in force.

“We remember their work with deep gratitude in this silent moment,” Wilkinson prayed.

An uncharacteristically subdued chat feature on Zoom — which began with one online worshiper asking, “How does one scream in the comments section” — included mostly expressions of thanks as the service concluded.

“Prayers and deep gratitude for this community of purpose, pain, and promise,” wrote one worshiper in the chat. “This is a hard week and a hard day; it’s good to gather together.”