Jeff and Kathy, my brother and his wife, sent the following to me by e-mail the other day. I sent it to several people in my address book but thought I would post it too. I think it is a good message and would like it to spread.

This Pastor has guts!
Thought you might enjoy this interesting prayer given in Kansas at the opening session of their
Senate. It seems prayer still upsets some people. When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new
session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is
what they heard:

"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction
and guidance. We know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good," but that is exactly what we
have done. We have
lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We confess that we have ridiculed the
absolute truth of Your Word and called it Pluralism.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

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 politics.

We have coveted our neighbor's 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, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and
bless these men and women who have been sent to direct us to the center of Your will and to openly
ask these things in the
name of Your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen!"

The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In 6
short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone
calls with only 47 of those
calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this
prayer from India, Africa, and Korea. Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio
program, "The Rest of the Story," and received a larger response to this program than any other
he has ever aired.

With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so
that we again can be called "one nation under God."

I like what he has to say and hope anyone who reads this will repeat the last paragraph of Rev. Wright's prayer often, in these times of such unrest and turmoil.

Love

Mary