Prayer for Michigan Senate

This is the prayer that was offered for the opening session of the Michigan Senate June 15, 2010. It was delivered by Patrick Mead, the preaching minister at Rochester Church of Christ, a very dynamic church in the suburban Detroit area. This is a prayer that all legislative bodies should hear and heed.


Dear Lord and Father of Mankind, we approach you this day and ask you for guidance. We remember that you promised to give your servant, Solomon, anything he asked for and he earned your approval by asking not for riches or power or fame but for wisdom.

Father, we ask you for wisdom for our State has entered troubling times. Good, decent, hard working people have found themselves out of a job and unable to find another one. People are losing their homes. Pensions have evaporated and a spirit of fear has entered our hearts. Our prayer is that You will guide the decisions made in this chamber in such a way as to bring peace, freedom, and security to our families and our State.

Father, turn our hearts from the petty and mundane to matters profound and wise. Let us not look first to our own careers and our own position but, rather, let us examine the matters placed before us to see what is right, what is good, what is decent, what is honest, and what is honorable. And when we find what is honorable, help us to have the courage to choose that path regardless of any pressures placed on us by our own weak hearts or by the machinations of others.

We are mindful of the fact that we are all here today because of the blood of others. Others wore the uniform of this nation and gave up families, homes, loved ones, safety, career, and riches in order to serve a higher calling. We honor them and we thank you for them, Father. Help us to never forget that their tribe continues to this day. To this day, good and faithful men and women are in the field, under fire, under harsh conditions, serving people they will never meet. Bless them. Protect them. Bring them home soon in victory and honor. Bring them home soon whole and healthy.

Let those in this chamber never forget the sacrifices that have allowed them to be here. I pray that they will never use the people they serve in a dishonorable way. Never let them climb for position on the backs of those they are supposed to serve. Never let them gain power and influence by using the money and labor of others for their own purposes. Let them treat the people they serve, their labor, and their hard earned money and goods as sacred things; a sacred trust to be treated gently and with much care and prayer.

Let us see their faces. Let us feel their beating hearts. Let us feel the sweat on their faces. And let us deal with them and with our state in a way that allows us to stand before you one day without fear, certain that we have loved the least among us, that we have served all with pure motives, and that our hearts are pure before you. Bless this house and bless the State of Michigan, we pray.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

If you would like to hear more of Patrick Mead's teaching, you can find the Rochester Church website here.