Arise... Shine: Joe Wright's prayer

by Nilda Gregorio

Joe Wright is Senior Pastor of Central Christian Church in Wichita, KS. 

Pastor Wright had been invited to serve as the House's guest chaplain by Rep. Anthony Powell, a Wichita Republican who was also a member of Wright's church. Accordingly, Pastor Wright composed a prayer, read it at the opening of the legislature on January 23, 1996 and departed, unaware of the ruckus he had created until his church secretary called him on his car phone to ask him what he had done.

Reportedly, one Democrat walked out in protest, three others gave speeches critical of Wright's prayer, and another blasted Wright's "message of intolerance." House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer (also a Democrat) asserted that the prayer "reflects the extreme, radical views that continue to dominate the House Republican agenda since right-wing extremists seized control of the House Republican caucus last year." Rep. Jim Long, a Democrat from Kansas City, said that Wright "made everyone mad." But Rep. Powel, who had invited Wright in the first place, claimed that the House Democrats were only trying to make political points with their criticism and affirmed that he supported the theme of the prayer.

Pastor Wright said afterwards, "I certainly did not mean to be offensive to individuals, but I don't apologize for the truth." His staff stopped counting the telephone calls that came from every state and many foreign countries after the first 6,500. Wright appeared on dozens of radio shows and was the subject of numerous TV and print news reports, and his prayer stirred up controversy all over again when it was read by the chaplain coordinator in the Nebraska legislature the following month. Wright later explained, "I thought I might get a call from an angry congressman or two, but I was talking to God, not them. The whole point was to say that we all have sins that we need to repent - all of us... The problem, I guess, is that you're not supposed to get too specific when you're talking about sin."

The prayer as delivered on January 23, 1996 by Pastor Joe Wright to the Kansas House of Representatives:

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. Lord, 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 worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism;
We have endorsed perversion and called it 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 self-esteem;
We have abused power and called it politics;
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, Oh 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.

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