Daily A Better Political Imagination

Dear God of Love and Justice,

Leviticus 19:34 tells us, "The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt." Lord, those words cut straight through every partisan talking point and cable news headline. You didn't say "love the foreigner if they came through the right channels." You said love them as yourself — because You remember what it felt like when Your people were strangers in a land that didn't want them.

Father, forgive us for letting political platforms shrink our imagination down to the size of a bumper sticker. Your kingdom is so much wider than any ballot. You are El Roi — the God Who Sees — and You see the Guatemalan mother washing dishes in a restaurant kitchen at midnight so her daughter can study nursing. You see the Syrian father teaching his son to ride a bicycle in a strange new neighborhood. You see every face that we have turned into a statistic.

Holy Spirit, set our hearts on fire the way You did at Pentecost, when every language was spoken and every nation was welcome at the table. Give us what no campaign promise can deliver — a political imagination baptized in agape, that stubborn, self-giving love that crosses every border we construct.