This isn't your traditional public-records/original document post, but it does give you a peek inside the workings of the the Pennsylvania state Senate.
You may have seen news stories that an Adams County pastor, Gerry Stoltzfoos (right), had been invited to open the June 23 session of the House with a prayer. But when his words were reviewed beforehand, he was asked to take the word 'Jesus' out -- because the House prefers nondenominational, interfaith prayers.
Stoltzfoos declined, and the story took off. The Senate -- which doesn't have the same policy as the House regarding prayers -- asked him to open the June 29 session, with no special requests.
Here is the full text of his prayer (thanks to Hanover Evening Sun reporter Erin James for providing it):
You may have seen news stories that an Adams County pastor, Gerry Stoltzfoos (right), had been invited to open the June 23 session of the House with a prayer. But when his words were reviewed beforehand, he was asked to take the word 'Jesus' out -- because the House prefers nondenominational, interfaith prayers.
Stoltzfoos declined, and the story took off. The Senate -- which doesn't have the same policy as the House regarding prayers -- asked him to open the June 29 session, with no special requests.
Here is the full text of his prayer (thanks to Hanover Evening Sun reporter Erin James for providing it):
"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 of the precious people that we serve.
As we got 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 in 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 are mere stewards of it. Help us to remember that one day we willl 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."
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 of the precious people that we serve.
As we got 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 in 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 are mere stewards of it. Help us to remember that one day we willl 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."
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