Senate will come to order. The
invocation this morning will be offered by Pastor Kent Clark
of the Grace Centers of Hope in Pontiac, Michigan. Pastor
Clark is a guest of the Senator from the 12th District, the Honorable
Michael Bishop. Would our guests in the gallery
please rise for the invocation and remain standing afterwards
for the Pledge of Allegiance. Pastor Clark. Thank you. Let us pray. Our Father, our God, Creator
of heaven and earth, Redeemer of mankind, in less than 24 days
we will acknowledge that 2,000 years ago the infinite God came
to earth in the form of an infant. You condescended to this earth
and stooped to our level. You were Emmanuel, God with us. Are you still with us? Many of
us in this solemn assembly clearly understand why you are not speaking
to us. You, as in the days of the weeping
prophet Jeremiah, are like a man who has turned to stone. Our
president has said we are not a Christian nation. And some
of us here this morning do not wear that as a badge of honor,
but of shame. Lord, since you've been banned
from America, things just haven't been the same. Since you've been
gone and without your forming hand, we have degenerated into
chaos. We know that you know that since
you've been gone, life has lost its sacredness. Lord, since you've
been gone, the institution of marriage, the family, the building
block of a solid society, the social glue that holds society
together has disintegrated. We know that God in the family
is its brightest ornament and its best security. Lord, since
you've been gone, men and women have lost their sense of parenthood,
and we have 800,000 children in America without a mother or
father. Since you've been gone, the state has been attempting
to be apparent and it's not working. Lord, since you've been gone,
we've taught our children that there is no creator, that they
are nothing but the accidental formation of gas and dust, that
they have no real purpose in life. While you've been gone,
we've tried to substitute the multiplicity of material things
for you, and it seems our children no longer have a point of reference.
and cannot cope with the pains of life and are killing themselves
and one another. Lord, since you've been gone,
our prisons are filled, our churches have emptied. Dear God, many
here this morning in this Senate would like to invite you back.
Please keep us from ruin. We know that a sparrow does not
fall to the ground without your notice. We know that a nation
cannot rise without your aid. We know this morning that the
spiritual weapons of this great nation are our most powerful
resource in peace and war. We know that neither the wisest
constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness
of a people who refuse to acknowledge the existence of God. Our confidence
this morning is not in big government, but in a big God. If you will
accept our invitation to revisit our country, We promise we will
never disengage ourselves from the culture in which we live.
We have learned our lesson that entitlement programs do not work.
Big government passing out checks has failed to solve the social
ills that plague us. Guide the thoughts and decisions
that are made in this chamber today and in the days to come.
Bless and protect our men and women in the armed forces and
around the world. Hold back the enemies of liberty
and God Bless America. Stand beside her, guide her through
this night with a light from above. Amen.