Praying Backwards for McCain and Obama

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So, who did you vote for/are you going to vote for? Actually, I’m not really interested in the answer to that question. I’m much more interested in “Who are you praying for?“

Sitting in the mountains of NC last week for a team retreat, Jeremie said something that you just don’t hear much these days. We were watching some of the political coverage and he said, “I want to get behind whoever is elected.“ He wants to try his best to support the next president because most people probably won’t. They’ll hold tight to their convictions and to the passion they had voting for their candidate and will sit back, pick apart and complain when their candidate doesn’t win.

If the election is going to be as close as people are making it out to be, then that means that roughly half of us will come out of tomorrow with a chip on our shoulder - a big “Don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for _________” chip.

Perhaps you’ll be the exception. Maybe you’ll be one of those who lay claim to a greater authority than the man in the oval office and whose higher allegiance transcends American politics. And you’ll try - because it is hard to learn to get behind someone you don’t fully believe in.

But what about today? Who are you praying for now?

Carlos Whittaker, aka RagamuffinSoul[dot]com, is challenging people to gather together tonight and to pray backwards for the candidates. That is, if you’re a McCain supporter, then pray for Obama. Likewise, if you’re an Obama fan, then pray for McCain. From Carlos…

I have not seen division like the one I see within the American church walls, ever.

I think we need to hold tight to our moral and spiritual values, but the division that is in the air right now is MASSIVE.

We have the technology to hide behind our 140 characters at a time or anonymous blog comments or venom filled blog posts.

We are saying things to each other that we would never say in person.

I honestly believe God himself is looking down upon his church and crying.

So what should we do?

We should pray.

Those who are voting for Obama should pray blessings over McCain.

Those who are voting for McCain should be praying blessings upon Obama.

We should stop moaning and complaining about inexperience, Alaska, taxes, teenage pregnancy, terrorists, wardrobes, racism, and Katie Couric.

We in turn need to pray.

We are going to turn off the news, open our Bibles, and pray for our leaders.

PRAY NONPARTISAN
1. Pray that our leaders would grow in Faith. In their relationships with Jesus Christ.
2. Pray for their marriages.
3. Pray for their children.
4. Pray for those around them.
5. Pray for their emotional and physical health.
6. Those on the left pray blessing on McCain, those on the right pray for Obama.

If you want to join in on the prayer meeting, simply click the banner below. Whether you join in or not, though, I challenge you to begin today to “pray backwards.“

Posted 11.03.2008

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rational thought shared their voice on 11.03.2008:

Happy that you are praying, but point one:

Pray that our leaders would grow in Faith. In their relationships with Jesus Christ.

is totally wrong, church and state need to be separated. I am a christian, but believe that religion (whatever the faith) needs to be left out of politics. Otherwise we will see America go down the path of many Middle Eastern countries that have been perverted in the name of faith in order to suppress it’s people.

It is important that whatever faith you subscribe to helps form the person you are and your life in general, but leaders need to be free from faith based decisions in order to govern with a fair and balanced, and most of all RATIONAL approach to what is best for the country.

Overall this message of backwards praying is one of the most sensible discussions I have seen as of late from any religious group and it affirms my own faith as well as comforts me to know that not all Christians are walking the path towards ignorance and fundamentalist values.

Thank

Chris shared their voice on 11.03.2008:

@rational: Whether or not their faith plays into public policy is a different discussion in my mind. For McCain & Obama, both, they have expressed a faith in Jesus Christ and in that we should be praying for growth. I think there is a position on whether we pray that faith impacts their decision process, but that is not a discussion point Carlos is addressing here.

I totally agree that this is a sensible discussion in a time with the mixture of faith & politics becomes anything but rational. Thanks for sharing!

A more rational thought shared their voice on 11.04.2008:

It’s a shame that someone tries to make religious / political comments on an unrelated topic from praying for our candidates on such an important day. Since the definition of being a Christian is someone who trusts Jesus for every part of this life and the next, it would seem that removing one’s self from their beliefs in order to make ‘rational’ decisions pretty much negates the whole point of being a Christian in the first place. We all make ‘faith based decisions’ - either from our faith in God or from our faith that there is not One. I would rather make a ‘faith based decision’ from my absolute belief that God is Who He says He is. I, for one, am praying over both candidates and their families on this historic election - and used my faith to make that decision about politics today.

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"Thin Places" are rich in Celtic tradition. They are the places in our lives where the divine and the natural worlds come so close together that we can catch a glimpse of God. For the Celtics these places were very real - places within creation where we could physically go. The Thin Places in our own lives are those moments where the space between us & the Kingdom is thin, when we are introduced to a greater glimpse of Who He is through our experiences and through the stories of others.