Rev. Heacock's 1981 Senate Invocation

Excerpted from an invocation delivered by Rev. Jack Heacock, senior pastor of First Methodist Church of Austin on January 13, 1981.

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Since you made us all, 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 on every living creature in this great state:

Lobbyists and lumbermen
Oilmen and office workers
Herefords and Santa Gertrudis
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 whooping cranes.

When You came into the world in person,
You deliberately chose to enter through a poor family:
Mary and Joseph . . . who had such little clout
That they could not afford advance reservations at the
Bethlehem La Quinta.

When the back rooms begin to fill with smoke
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 undocumented alien . . .
The oppressed . . . those with handicapping conditions . . . the
fatherless.

And when we find it uncomfortable to live with Your priorities,
Perhaps we will not so lightly invite You to be present among us.

But here we are, all set to go.

Bless the members of the Senate, the Lieutenant Governor, the
Lobbysists, their secretaries, the pages, the sergeant-at-arms, the
doorkeepers, and the visitors in the gallery.

May the work of our minds, hands and hearts be offered as our
sacrifice of love to You.