Invocation by Rep. LeFavour

Since the beginning of humankind people have looked up to the sky, down to the earth, out to the sea or inside themselves to pray. Muslin, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, the list of religions is long and made complicated by the many houses within each and the specific tenants each holds up highest, and most holy or sacred to its faith.

Wars have been waged in the name of religion -- for power over lands and over people, for power over the hearts inside each of us.

In the end, more powerful than swords, arrows, guns, bombs or jet planes is our ability to see each other for our inherent value, for the beauty within each of us, our ability to bond and love and care for those we may not know --simply because they are in need.

Most sacred in each religion is some form of power to bind diverse people to a common cause. For some of us, what is sacred lies around us each day, in the eyes of a child who has written a poem, the glint of morning light falling on water, the scent of earth thawing in spring, the first blades of grass like a mirage on brown hills, the perfect splendor of a wheat field as it dries to yellow gold, the awesome power of a mountain of granite climbing from a lake into the sky, the sound of elk calves calling to their mothers at dusk, the glimpse we catch looking into a house from the outside, warm orange light and children laughing, the spark in an older woman’s eye, the kindness of neighbors who reach out, bring food, blankets, gifts, or spend hours in labor or listening to support those facing loss or hard times.

This part of our hearts that binds us, makes us generous and unwilling to cause harm, that which makes us look for what is most beautiful in those we do not know, -- this human generosity is likely sacred to each of us here – sacred to us and to the faith traditions we follow.

In the eyes of most religions, people are not born evil or wrong. We are each children born innocent but molded and shaped by what kindness others show and by the maze of doors we are allowed or not allowed to walk through.

May we treasure that innocence and our common desire to make our communities, our towns, cities, state, nation -- and yes, even the world beyond our boarders -- a better place for each who inhabits it. May we honor a set of values that never holds any human being or nation aside as an "other" or as evil without first knowing the heart and life that each has lived, the events that have shaped and molded each daily choice that each man, woman and child has had to make.

May every child in our state have ample food on their tables, a warm house to come home to, someone with dedication and TIME to listen carefully as they grow older, when ever, night or day, that they are sad, lonely or simply scared.

Please join me in a moment of silence so that we each may reflect or pray for that which is most sacred to us and our own faith traditions.

In the name of that which guides each of you. May you each, and those you love and care for --be well.