County Commissioner Tommy Calvert was part of our 175th anniversary kickoff press conference in February, and extended that celebratory support by inviting Pastor Eric to offer the invocation prayer for the Bexar County Commissioners Court on April 20, 2021. How are you praying for our community leaders? https://youtu.be/asircnZZcRk
Text of Pastor Eric’s prayer:
Most High and all-loving God-
Before we begin today’s work, we pause to give you thanks. You are the source of life and love, hope and peace, and we thank you for the fresh start and possibility of this new day. We recognize your care for every square inch of creation, and we pray that all of us – especially these your servants – would join in loving this county we call home, just as you love this place and people.
With the Psalmist in Psalm 72, we ask that you would give our leaders your justice and righteousness, your wisdom and courage. Help this Commissioners Court to listen – first of all to you, to the whole community, and to one another. Help them also to speak, especially to amplify the voices of those in our community who are the most vulnerable and rarely heard. As we seek to live as good neighbors, as familia together, we pray for their families. We lift up each agenda item and each county department and employee represented here today. We pray that our agenda would follow your agenda that we live united as your beloved community.
As Travis Park Church celebrates our 175th anniversary this year, I’m reminded of our roots with some of our earliest worship services happening in the Court House. We all inherit such a great legacy of service and community. We pray that we would leave this place even better than we found it, passing to the next generations a legacy of mutual care and unity that celebrates our diversity and bridges the divides.
We also bring to you our lament and grief in these times of suffering. With the nation’s eyes on the George Floyd case today, we pray for the part we have in addressing racial injustice in our community, and we pray for our law enforcement and criminal justice system. We pray for our ongoing COVID response in yet another way so many have had to say “I can’t breathe.” We pray for migrant people and especially unaccompanied children, that all would find shelter and hospitality in our community. We pray for those facing addiction and mental health challenges. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Sheltering God, I believe you are in the homecoming and home-making business. Bless all of us who call Bexar County home, and help us join you in making Bexar County a healthy and flourishing home for all. Grant these your servants everything they need – most of all servants’ hearts – that they would fulfill their important role in your making our county a better home for all of us.
All truth is your truth, and people come to know you and your will in many ways. I offer this prayer in the way and name of a brown-skinned Jewish homeless migrant, your son Jesus. Let all your people say Amen. And Amen.