Rev Joe Wright's Prayer, 1996

The following prayer was delivered January 23, 1996 by the Rev. Joe Wright to open the legislative session in the Kansas House of Representatives.

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and seek your direction and guidance. We know your Word says, “Woe to those who call evil good,” but that’s exactly what we’ve done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.

We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it moral pluralism.

We have worshipped other gods and called it multi-culturalism.

We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.

We have abused power and called it political savvy.

We have coveted our neighbors’ possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.

Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by you, to govern this great state. Grant them your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of your will. I ask it in the name of your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen

[Rev. Wright is the pastor of the Central Christian Church of Wichita. You can find this prayer on their church website.]

At the time he prayed the prayer, the response was immediate. A number of Kansas legislators walked out in protest. It was not Rev. Wright’s intention to upset anyone – he merely prayed a prayer that acknowledges sin as sin.

He is right. We have lost our equilibrium. God is a God of love, but His love includes discipline and judgment. He draws us to Himself, forgives us, then turns us 180 degrees to a new life in Christ.

The 'pumpkin time of year' is an excellent time for the reminder that, just like the pumpkin, He cuts us open, scoops out everything that doesn't contribute to our being a light - - then places His light inside us and sets us out to be light in the darkness....