Opening Prayer for the CO House of Representatives around Presidents' Day 2/22/24

 

Our God and God of all people:

God of the rich

God of the poor

God of the refugee

God of the soldier

God of the homeless

God of the comfortable

God of those who have no God…

 

Today would have been my mother’s 98^th Birthday.  It also happens to be the birthday of our nation’s 1^st president, George Washington. Last Monday, our country celebrated President’s Day where we commemorated the leadership, dignity and Vision inspired by both Presidents Washington and Lincoln.

Our First President understood the necessity of coming together in unity against a common enemy.  He led the fight for our Independence and blazed a trail of Democracy that has continued to be an inspiration around the world for 248 years.

 

Lincoln came to power during a terrible period of national divisiveness.  He stood up to injustice and bigotry and forced our nation to come to a bloody self-reckoning that almost destroyed our Union. He paid the Ultimate Price for his steadfast belief in Humanity’s embodiment of Divine aspiration. 

My mother was born in Leipzig, Germany – just before Hitler came to power.  She and her parents narrowly escaped the horrors of the Holocaust and came to our country as refugees – I stand here today as a testament to God’s grace and the high ideals for which Washington, Lincoln and so many others fought and died.

 

Today, we as a nation are as divided as we have ever been. The fractured nature of national and regional discourse should be a cause for great concern. As we prepare to remember our greatest Presidents, we pray that we also might continue to strive to emulate them and all that they stood for.

This morning, we pray for our leaders of the Great State of Colorado that they might work together to legislate and forge new bonds of connectivity with our highest national values.

 

Guide them as they work, O God – not as partisans, but as partners – transcending pettiness and finding holiness in this august chamber. Let all debate be for the sake of a greater good.

 

Bless all who come to this place:  elected officials, advisors, administrators, those who keep order and those who come simply to observe the magic and the messiness of creating laws.

 

We thank you for the opportunity to make a difference.

We thank you for extraordinary leadership.

We give thanks for the privilege to live freely in our nation.

 

AMEN