As is tradition, Wednesday morning's state Senate session will open with a prayer.
But the prayer planned for Wednesday was previously rejected by the House because of one word.
Pastor Gerry Stoltzfoos of Gettysburg was invited to open a House session with prayer but his use of the word "Jesus" was considered offensive by House leadership.
The chamber's policy is to keep prayers non-denominational.
"I was shocked when they came back and said it's offensive," said Stoltzfoos, of Freedom Valley Worship Center. "Jesus is offensive in our culture? Come on. Have we really become that group of people?"
Stoltzfoos declined to edit his prayer for the House and was then invited to pray in the Senate chamber, where he will be allowed to reference "Jesus."
Below is his prayer in its entirety.
Preamble: I am painfully aware that there are many here today, who have embraced beliefs systems other than mine. I am not here to say that everyone ought to believe as I do. But I can only pray to my God. If you believe in some other power, I invite you to address yours as I address mine.
Our Heavenly Father,
You have given us today, and for that we thank you.
You have allowed us to live in a great nation and given us meaningful work to do. You have even trusted us with a momentous time in history, when the decisions that we make will decide the direction, the tone, and the meaning of so many lives that will live with our decisions. We are humbled by our role, and deeply moved by the implications of what we do. You have given us meaningful opportunities to make the lives of others better, and for that we are in need of your wisdom, your guidance, and perhaps even your intervention if we lose our way in the details, or somehow lose sight the precious people that we serve.
As we go about our work today, we ask you to guide and direct this work for the good of mankind. Allow us to create a world that treats people well, and fosters true greatness in our people. Give us your great grace to see and admit our mistakes, and grow in our abilities to serve those we are charged to serve. Help us recognize and encourage great ideas, even when they are not our own, or convenient for our own careers.
Our desire is not so much that you bless the work of our hands, but that you would involve us in the those things that you are already blessing. Help us to form a government and a system that allows the created greatness of the human spirit to soar. Help us to imagine solutions, and to create room for people to create solutions of their own. Help us to make it possible for our constituents to build lives and families of meaningful and productive satisfaction.
As those who are charged with the formation of the possibilities of greatness in our communities, forgive us where we have fallen short ourselves. Forgive us where our own poverty in our own hearts, has caused us to see the potential of people poorly, and lead from a place of our own smallness. Help us be honest and forthright in dealing with our own weaknesses, so that our weaknesses do not spill over into other people's lives through the decisions that we make.
And Lord, grant us a sense of awareness that all that we have and all that we are come from you, and that we mere stewards of it. Help us to remember that one day we will stand before you and give an account of how we served and how we lived. When we do well, give us humility in acknowledging that you have generously given wisdom. Help us to honor you in all that we do, Oh God.
For those of us who are Christians, we pray in Jesus name.
Amen. -WGAL
But the prayer planned for Wednesday was previously rejected by the House because of one word.
Pastor Gerry Stoltzfoos of Gettysburg was invited to open a House session with prayer but his use of the word "Jesus" was considered offensive by House leadership.
The chamber's policy is to keep prayers non-denominational.
"I was shocked when they came back and said it's offensive," said Stoltzfoos, of Freedom Valley Worship Center. "Jesus is offensive in our culture? Come on. Have we really become that group of people?"
Stoltzfoos declined to edit his prayer for the House and was then invited to pray in the Senate chamber, where he will be allowed to reference "Jesus."
Below is his prayer in its entirety.
Preamble: I am painfully aware that there are many here today, who have embraced beliefs systems other than mine. I am not here to say that everyone ought to believe as I do. But I can only pray to my God. If you believe in some other power, I invite you to address yours as I address mine.
****************
Our Heavenly Father,
You have given us today, and for that we thank you.
You have allowed us to live in a great nation and given us meaningful work to do. You have even trusted us with a momentous time in history, when the decisions that we make will decide the direction, the tone, and the meaning of so many lives that will live with our decisions. We are humbled by our role, and deeply moved by the implications of what we do. You have given us meaningful opportunities to make the lives of others better, and for that we are in need of your wisdom, your guidance, and perhaps even your intervention if we lose our way in the details, or somehow lose sight the precious people that we serve.
As we go about our work today, we ask you to guide and direct this work for the good of mankind. Allow us to create a world that treats people well, and fosters true greatness in our people. Give us your great grace to see and admit our mistakes, and grow in our abilities to serve those we are charged to serve. Help us recognize and encourage great ideas, even when they are not our own, or convenient for our own careers.
Our desire is not so much that you bless the work of our hands, but that you would involve us in the those things that you are already blessing. Help us to form a government and a system that allows the created greatness of the human spirit to soar. Help us to imagine solutions, and to create room for people to create solutions of their own. Help us to make it possible for our constituents to build lives and families of meaningful and productive satisfaction.
As those who are charged with the formation of the possibilities of greatness in our communities, forgive us where we have fallen short ourselves. Forgive us where our own poverty in our own hearts, has caused us to see the potential of people poorly, and lead from a place of our own smallness. Help us be honest and forthright in dealing with our own weaknesses, so that our weaknesses do not spill over into other people's lives through the decisions that we make.
And Lord, grant us a sense of awareness that all that we have and all that we are come from you, and that we mere stewards of it. Help us to remember that one day we will stand before you and give an account of how we served and how we lived. When we do well, give us humility in acknowledging that you have generously given wisdom. Help us to honor you in all that we do, Oh God.
For those of us who are Christians, we pray in Jesus name.
Amen. -WGAL
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