The Prayer of Repentance

I received an emailed copy of a prayer, attributed to have been made by Pastor Joe Wright at the opening session of Kansas Senate. I did a bit more research and found the original prayer.

I don’t agree with all of what he said; but I believe it is worthy of sharing. I am far more liberal, more inclusive, than him in my theology, as a United Methodist. I would not speak in absolutes, as he does in many of the lines of his prayer. There are many statements I would dispute, or at least word differently. I do, however, worry about our country, when we seem to drift into coarseness and away from the religious ideals that guided our nation’s founding, and especially when we decide that torture is acceptable, ever.

We are to be in the world but not of the world. We are to love our neighbor, even our enemies, as the story of the Good Samaritan teaches us. We are to care for our brothers and sisters, the least, the last, the lost. We should set our sights on God, not false idols and things of this world.

With all of the above in mind, this is the text of the original prayer, verbatim unedited, delivered January 23, 1996 by Central Christian Church (Wichita, KS) Pastor Joe Wright to the Kansas House of Representatives in Topeka. See the link to this prayer at: http://centralcc.org/NewsNow/JoeArticles/JoeRepentancePrayer.html

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 multiculturalism.

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 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.