Reverend Dan Gerrietts, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Mason City, gave the opening prayer in the House and Senate on January 23, 217. He and his wife, Molly, were the guests of Rep. Sharon Steckman and Senator Amanda Ragan. Reverend Gerrietts shared these words in his heartfelt prayer:
O God, amid all the turmoil and changes of the world your love is steadfast and your strength never fails
Bless our land with just and courageous leaders, with honesty in the workplace, with compassion between neighbors, and with truth in public discourse.
I lift up before you all who govern this state, and those who lead our counties and cities.
Give them your wisdom
and your thirst for doing right –
that there might be
justice for the oppressed
mercy for the poor
and unity in our land.
Where anxiety is infectious and widening, grant peace and reassurance.
Where impossibilities close every door and window, grant imagination and resistance.
Where distrust twists our thinking, grant healing and humility.
And where spirits are tired and frustrated, grant soaring wings and a renewed vision of the life you have for us and for all people.
These things we ask, O God, through your grace and love. Amen
