For use at the time of a Parliamentary or Civic Election

For use at the time of a Parliamentary or Civic Election.

Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, guide, we beseech thee, the minds of all those who are called at this time to exercise the duty of electing fit persons to serve in Parliament [or, in the Council of this County or City or Town]. Grant that the issue of their choice may promote thy glory and the welfare of this people; and to all those who shall be elected, give the spirit of wisdom, courage, and true godliness. And this we ask in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

It is general election day in the United Kingdom. The above prayer is from the Church of Ireland BCP 1926. A very similar prayer was provided in the Prayer Book as Proposed in 1928 and in the Canadian BCP 1962. How does the prayer shape our understanding of a parliamentary election?

Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom ...

It is a deeply Hookerian introduction to the prayer. As Hooker declares:

The boundes of wisdome are large, and within them much is contayned ... As her waies are of sundry kinds, so her maner of teaching is not meerly one and the same. Some things she openeth by the sacred bookes of Scripture; some things by the glorious works of nature: with some things he inspireth them from above by spirituall influence, in some thinges she leadeth and trayneth them onely by worldly experience and practise - LEP II.1.4.

In petitioning that "the fountain of all wisdom" would guide us in the choices made at a general election, we are recognising that the wisdom involved in choosing Members of Parliament is "of sundry kinds". The moral discernment involved in making choice of those who will "serve in Parliament" will draw from across these ways of wisdom, not the least of which is "worldly experience and practise". We are therefore also mindful that - in Hooker's words - the Scriptures do not contain or determine "all thinges lawfull to be done". Rather, the "direction of natures light and ... the rule of common discretion without thinking at al upon scripture" (II.8.6-7) shape our moral discernment as we approach the ballot box, knowing that these ways of wisdom are from the One who is "the fountain of all wisdom", to guide our common life in the polity.

... the duty of electing fit persons to serve in Parliament

The language of 'duty' rather than 'right' with regards to voting in a parliamentary election is particularly appropriate. To vote in an election to the House of Commons is to have a share in the government of the realm. 'Duty' rather than 'right' describes such a responsibility, of choosing a Member of Parliament who will wisely serve the public good. In the famous words of Burke:

Parliament is not a congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests; which interests each must maintain, as an agent and advocate, against other agents and advocates; but parliament is a deliberative assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole; where, not local purposes, not local prejudices, ought to guide, but the general good, resulting from the general reason of the whole.

The choice of "fit persons" will be in light of our discernment of "the general good", a discernment shaped by the above understanding of the ways of wisdom.

... thy glory and the welfare of this people

How is is a parliamentary election concerned with God's glory? A narrow, sectarian, and theologically impoverished vision of God's glory - as standing over and against the practical concerns of life in the commonwealth - will, of course, be entirely misleading, contradicting what has been said about both wisdom and the general good. When, however, the glory of God is rightly understood to be reflected in the wise, good, just, and peaceable government of the commonwealth - promoting and securing "the welfare of this people" - we can perceive the relationship between "thy glory" and a parliamentary election. For this reason, we give thanks unto God for just government, the due ordering of the commonwealth, and the peace of the realm. In the words of the Apostle, "the quiet and peaceable life" in the commonwealth is "good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour".

... to all those who shall be elected, give the spirit of wisdom, courage, and true godliness

That those elected to the House of Commons should have the "spirit of wisdom" we might, perhaps, quite readily understand and affirm. But what of "courage" and "true godliness"? Courage is certainly required by Members of Parliament: the courage to challenge that which is wrong and unjust; the courage to challenge interests which do not serve the general good; the courage to identify and oppose those forces which threaten the peace of the realm. 

It is, however, the petition for "true godliness" which might make us baulk. Is it a petition for a confessional parliament? It is not and certainly would not have been understood to be such in 1926 (nearly a century after the 'Constitutional Revolution' in the United Kingdom). To pray that Members of Parliament - as those legislating for the realm - would have "true godliness" is to petition that they would be faithful to their vocation and duties as those who are "minister[s] of God to thee for good ... for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing" (Romans 13:4 & 6). That is, that they would legislate and govern in a manner worthy of the truth that this vocation and these duties flow from "the fountain of all wisdom".

The prayer 'For use at the time of a Parliamentary or Civic Election' has a theological richness and depth of meaning missing in many contemporary alternatives (that is, where such a prayer is actually included for use with contemporary forms of Morning and Evening Prayer). Parliamentary elections - and their equivalent in other constitutional orders - are moments of national and communal significance, marking and shaping the life of the commonwealth. Meaningful, weighty prayers in the church's liturgy are called for at such moments. Meaningful and weighty, as opposed to both the banal and the partisan, in order that the church would pray that, through Members of Parliament seeking the general good, the life of the commonwealth might reflect the hope of the ancient prophet: "they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid".