On the first day of every regular session of the Texas Legislature since 1973, Texas Impact has held an interfaith celebration of public witness on the South Steps of the Texas Capitol. Public prayer and intention-setting offer an opportunity to affirm deeply held, widely shared values and hopes for our communities.
Call to Public Witness
A Celebration to Welcome the 89th Texas Legislature
Tuesday, January 14, 2025 | 10:00AM | South Steps of the Texas Capitol
Welcome
Rev. Leslie Jackson, Sr. Pastor, St. Peter United Church of Christ, Houston
Sanjay Khalasi, Baps Hindu Mandir
Centering Community
Chaplain Usama Malik, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Imam Moujahed Bakhach, Alhedayah Academy, Fort Worth
Saranjeet Singh, Sikh Faith, Central Texas
Grounding Ourselves in Humility and Gratitude
Rabbi Nancy Kasten, Faith Commons, Dallas
Bhante Jayadhammo and Bhante Punyadha, Buddhist Faith
Samani Aarjav Pragya, Jain Faith
Affirming Individual and Collective Responsibility
Maha Iskandar, Baha’i Faith, Irving
Dr. Natasha Demehri Kathuria, Zoroastrian
Elevating Compassion
Proclaiming Hope
Kim Mabry, Texas Impact Board, Houston
Abel Vega, Rio Texas Conference, United Methodist Church, San Antonio
Commissioning Ourselves to Work for Justice
Rev. Erin Walter, Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry, Austin
Invocation for the Legislature
Sending Forth
Rabbi Neil Blumofe, Congregation Agudas Achim, Austin
Readings
Possible Answers to Prayer
Your petitions—though they continue to bear just the one signature—have been duly recorded.
Your anxieties—despite their constant, relatively narrow scope, their inadvertent entertainment value—nonetheless serve to bring your person vividly to mind.
Your repentance—all but obscured beneath a burgeoning, yellow fog of frankly more conspicuous resentment—is sufficient.
Your intermittent care for the sick, the suffering, the needy poor is sometimes recognizable to me, if not to them.
Your angers, your zeal, your lip-smackingly righteous indignation toward the many whose habits and sympathies offend you—
these must burn away before you’ll apprehend how near I am, with what fervor I adore even these, the ones who rouse your passions.
by Scott Cairnes
Prayer of Welcome
It was revealed in the Holy Qur’an (Muslims Holy book) Ch.6: V.54, that:
ف قل سلام عليكم، كتب ربكم على نفسه الرحمة
“Say: Peace is upon you. Your Lord has inscribed for Himself (the rule of) Mercy.”
Let us Pray
Our Lord! We thank You for the Joy and privilege to pray together.
You are the Lord of heaven and the earth, and You are the Mercy
of all mercies.
Our Lord helps us to be the instrument of your love, so others may
experience your presence through our good deeds.
Make this city and our whole nation of America a place of hope,
peace and security, because You are O Lord, the source of
peace and from You the peace comes.
Our Lord, put not upon us a burden greater than we have strength to
bear. Pardon us and grant us all protection; have mercy on us.
Help us to be the instrument of YOUR love, so that others may
experience Your presence through our actions.
Our Lord gives us wisdom and the courage to face and indeed
embrace suffering whenever we encounter it.
Lord, You have promised to help us in our time of trouble and
need. We rest upon Your word.
Our Lord, guide us all to speak and to stand for the truth and
justice, for hope, security and freedom for all.
We ask you Lord for the goodness of our gathering today and its
people.
Our Lord Do not lead us into temptation but deliver us all from the evil
one. Help us to be strong and patient.
Help us to serve our nation, our cities and save our lives.
Whatever our circumstances, Allow us all, to stand in the circle of
Your light and love, and share it with others.
In your name we prayونسألك .. …باسمك اللهم ندعوك….
Amen…. آميييين…….
JAYA PARITTA – The Victory Protection
ARCHBISHOP ROMERO PRAYER
(Prophets of a Future Not Our Own)
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church’s mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about:
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.
Baha’i Prayer for America
O Thou kind Lord!
This gathering is turning to Thee.
These hearts are radiant with Thy love.
These minds and spirits are exhilarated
by the message of Thy glad-tidings.
O God! Let this American democracy
become glorious in spiritual degrees
even as it has aspired to material degrees,
and render this just government victorious.
Confirm this revered nation to upraise
the standard of the oneness of humanity, to promulgate the Most Great Peace, to become thereby most glorious and praiseworthy among all the nations of the world.
O God! This American nation is worthy
of Thy favors and is deserving of Thy mercy.
Make it precious and near to Thee
through Thy bounty and bestowal.
Litany for the Social Creed
God in the Spirit revealed in Jesus Christ, calls us by grace to be renewed in the image of our Creator,
that we may be one in divine love for the world.
Today is the day
God cares for the integrity of creation, wills the healing and wholeness of all life,
weeps at the plunder of earth’s goodness.
Today is the day
God embraces all hues of humanity, delights in diversity and difference,
favors solidarity transforming strangers into friends.
Today is the day
God cries with the masses of starving people, despises growing disparity between rich and poor, demands justice for workers in the marketplace.
Today is the day
God deplores violence in our homes and streets, rebukes the world’s warring madness, humbles the powerful and lifts up the lowly.
Today is the day
God calls for nations and peoples to live in peace, celebrates where justice and mercy embrace, exults when the wolf grazes with the lamb.
Today is the day
God brings good news to the poor, proclaims release to the captives,
gives sight to the blind,
And sets the oppressed free.
Reflecting on Values
Every discussion, every decision about the use of our institutional resources or power is a reflection of what we value.
Our recognition of the interdependent web of life of which we are all a part, of the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and of the call to promote justice, equity and compassion in human relations compels us to honor our common humanity, our shared responsibility, and our commitment to all who are part of the One.
May it be so.
Invocation for the Legislature
Let us pray.
Creator of Us All:
Since you made us and we are Your children, help us to act like brothers and sisters.
We are ordinary people
Gathered in extraordinary circumstances
To help create laws that will touch every living creature in this great state:
Lobbyists and lumbermen; oil field hands and office workers
Herefords and Santa Gertudis; Longhorns and Aggies; Highland Parkers and Dime Boxers;
Lawyers, doctors, engineers, cotton pickers, road builders, migrant workers
Corporate giants and dependent children of the unemployed; armadillos and golden cheeked warblers.
When the back rooms fill with tension and the lobbyist buffets bulge our waists and dull our sensitivities… And when pressure and deadlines push us to the breaking point…
Remind us that Your ultimate and resolute involvement in history
Always comes down on the side of Love, Justice and Mercy
Especially for the poor…the lame…the oppressed…and the orphan.
And when we find it uncomfortable to live with Your priorities, perhaps we will not so lightly invite you to be present among us.
Bless the members of the Texas Legislature, the lobbyists, their secretaries, the pages, the sergeant-at-arms, the doorkeepers, and all who labor in this place. May the work of our minds, hands, and hearts be offered as our sacrifice of love to You.
And we all say Amen.