Yeah, I see the yard signs. I see the text messages from numbers I don’t recognize. I can’t turn away fast enough from the television commercials. A presidential election is approaching. But as I try to summon the energy and imagination to pray into it, my heart keeps taking me in another direction.

I don’t want to pray for the nation. I want to pray for our neighborhoods. I don’t want to pray for candidates. I want to pray for communities. I don’t want to pray for political platforms. I want to pray for the people who visit the pumpkin patch, or the haunted house, at Sewickley United Methodist. I want to pray for the people who volunteer in the patch and the haunted house.

Lord, let us see each other. Let us listen to each other. Let us value each other. Let us lift each other. Let us bridge the divide this election is creating. Healing comes through community. Hope comes through community. Unity comes from community.

Join me. On October 6, as the sun sets around 6:54 p.m., from wherever you are, with whoever wants to join, let’s pray for our communities. Let’s pray for the places where you live, work, worship, shop, gather, visit, and remember.

Pray for the neighbors you know and the ones you haven’t met yet. Pray for the schools and churches, the libraries and hospitals. Pray for the police and fire departments and all of our first responders, the professionals and volunteers. Pray for the businesses, the grocers and garages, the retailers and restaurants, those who produce and provide, those who heal and nurse, those who work from home, and those who come to our home.

Pray for peace. Pray for patience.