Letter to the Editor
God calls us to pray and care for all people, without exception.
The Rev. Dr. Leanne Simmons, pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Bismarck, answered that call recently when she was invited to give the opening prayer at the Feb. 8 floor session of the North Dakota Senate.
“Creator of the universe and all people therein,” she began, “You who formed humankind in Your image, placing them in this world in all their diversity — differing colors, genders, races, ethnicities and language. We praise You for the splendor of Your creation and the love that motivated Your hand on this Earth.”
Regrettably, two members of the Senate turned their backs on that prayer. As Simmons was praying, Sen. Janne Myrdal of Edinburg and Sen. Mike Wobbema of Valley City glanced at one another and simultaneously turned their backs to the podium from which she was speaking.
The legislators said later that they felt they were being lectured about their support for various bills restricting transgender North Dakotans, and that Simmons was inappropriately lobbying from the pulpit.
In reality, we have all prayed that prayer, or something very similar to it, hundreds of times. For generations Christians around the globe have offered prayers for the meek and lowly, the vulnerable and marginalized, the persecuted and imprisoned, the shunned and neglected, the governed and the governors, Christian or Muslim, Jew or Gentile.
This is at the core of our Christian belief system, that we should first love God and then our neighbors, all of them, as ourselves.
Noticeably absent from Simmons prayer was any mention of any bill, resolution or issue now under consideration by our state’s legislators.
Noticeably present was praise to God for the splendor of his creation and for the love with which he created it.
We are grateful to Simmons and to all church leaders who volunteer their time and expertise to pray each day with and for our legislators, their work and our citizens.
Further, we pray that civic life and discourse in our state, nation and world will be guided by the principles modelled by Jesus Christ, including careful and respectful listening, striving to understand the insights and experiences of others, being mindful of views not represented, and focused on comprehending and achieving the common good. One can only hope that the words of the prophet Micah ring throughout the remainder of this legislative assembly: “He (God) has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” As people of faith across the varied and beautiful North Dakota landscape, may it be so.
The Rev. Craig A. Schweitzer, Bismarck, bishop of the Western North Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Rev. Tessa Moon Leiseth, Fargo, bishop of the Eastern North Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America