The following transcript was taken from a pastoral prayer during morning worship on June 28, 2026 at Christ Covenant Church:
This past week, the Presbyterian Church in America had its annual General Assembly. So, this is the largest denominational gathering to conduct the business of the church, 2300 commissioners met in Louisville, Kentucky. It was a good assembly. I'm sure you can find good summaries online in the in the days ahead, and even people from our own church and own session were well represented and did really admirable work in the courts of the church. One of the overtures that passed was overture 66 as amended and here's what it states: “Therefore, be it resolved that the 53rd General Assembly encourages all congregations in the Presbyterian Church in America to give thanks to the Lord for the United States of America as we approach the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding.” So, with that encouragement, gladly, let's now turn to the Lord in prayer with that as our theme.
Our loving heavenly Father,
We praise you for all the blessings we have in Christ, for redemption, for forgiveness, for righteousness, for wisdom, for the assured hope of eternal life. You have seated us in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You have given us an inheritance that cannot fail, cannot be taken away. You have already enrolled us as citizens in the New Jerusalem. Here we have no lasting city, but you have promised to us a better city and an abiding one. May we ever be mindful of our truest and most important citizenship.
And yet, in your providence, your good providence, you have placed us in this earthly land as we make our pilgrimage to the heavenly promised land. We are a congregation in the Presbyterian Church in America. And we would be remiss, oh Lord, if we did not give thanks to you, the giver of all good gifts, for the many pronounced blessings you have given to this country and through this country to your people, the church. We think of your providence in bringing about the events of 1776, assembling together a group of men, imperfect men, sinful men, and yet in your providence to bring together someone like George Washington with honor and fortitude. To bring the eloquence of Thomas Jefferson; the passion of John Adams; the support of his wife Abigail; the earthly wisdom of Benjamin Franklin; to bring them and so many others together for the founding of this country. We think especially of earnest Christians like John Witherspoon, Roger Sherman, Patrick Henry. We think of African-American founding fathers of that generation like Pastor Richard Allen. We give thanks too for the many Scots-Irish Presbyterians right here in Charlotte who fought and who labored for freedom in this place. For bringing together this assembly of persons with education and gifts and political theory and the strength to lead others in battle. Surely this was by the hand of your good providence. And you have infused into this country, with all of our continuing faults, you have given to us many Christian ideas and at the founding key Christian men to play a part in our establishment, many key Christian principles and assumptions.
And even, Lord, that you would give as many pastors looked in the 1770s and 80s with thanksgiving for the surprising victories you gave to the patriot cause, fleeing New York, crossing the Delaware. Surprising victories at Trenton or Saratoga or right down the road at Kings Mountain. They interpreted these as your providential intervention on behalf of the new republic.
And so, we look 250 years later and we also give thanks. We give thanks, though it is surely a man-made document, for our Constitution that we might be a nation governed not by the whims of men and women but by words and statutes, by the rule of law, by a limited government. We give thanks for the First Amendment, for the provision in the Constitution to secure the blessings of liberty. We think of the words of our own confession which says it is the duty of civil magistrates to protect the person and good name of all their people in such an effectual manner as that no person be suffered either upon pretense of religion or even of infidelity to offer any indignity, violence, abuse or injury to any other person whatsoever. And to take order that all religious and ecclesiastical assemblies be held without molestation or disturbance. Surely it has been an imperfect record. And yet, we give thanks for the many blessings that we have had, and the church of Jesus Christ has enjoyed in this land because of those freedoms.
We give thanks for the 12 Presbyterians who signed the Declaration of Independence 250 years ago. We're grateful for the acknowledgment in that document, the founding document of this country, that we have a creator God, and that our rights do not come from government, but oh God, they come from you. That there is an equality of persons before you, and that you have given to this country at various times and places in your good ordering the courage to fight against totalitarianism, especially in the last century.
Oh Lord, we reflect and we are not ignorant of the many sins that you have in your mercy borne with us as a nation. Sins of slavery and Jim Crow, abortion, sexual immorality, debauchery, violence, greed, hypocrisy, false teaching, false religion. And yet, in your kindness, you have caused us to persevere as a nation and even to flourish so that there is no nation on the earth with more prosperity, more military strength, more protected freedoms. There are more evangelical Christians and more churches where the gospel can be heard in this country than in any other nation on earth. This is a gift from your hand. More missionaries come from this country than from any other. The size of the church in America, its wealth, its theological resources, its training centers, its colleges, its seminaries, its protections under the law are unique among all the nations of the earth. And every one of those blessings comes from your hand. Oh Lord, if your Son, the Lord Jesus, should tarry, and it would be good for the cause of the gospel in the world, we pray that you might grant our nation another 250 years. We ask that you forgive our many sins. Give us leaders better than we deserve. May we not squander all the gifts and inheritances that you have given us. Hear our prayers, O Lord. Heal our land. As the hymn writer confesses, so do we, “We long to see thy churches full. That all the chosen race, that is your elect people in Christ, may with one voice and heart and soul, sing thy redeeming grace.”
We offer these prayers and petitions in the strong name of Jesus Christ, the only King and Head of his Church. And all God's people said, Amen.
