Prayers in the US Senate

I decided to give the Bonnar's of New Brunswick a few days before I wrote more about them. This is the time of year when I go through many of the old books in my collection to remind myself why I bought them and to enjoy revisiting them. Just yesterday, in the very back of my office closet among other old books, I found "Prayers Offered by the Chaplain, Rev. Frederick Brown Harris at the Opening of the Daily Sessions of the Senate of the US During the 87th and 88th Congresses, 1961-1964". I recalled immediately why I purchased the book. The years 1961-1964 were very important to me. I graduated from high school, got married and started college. I was young and impressionable and extremely impressed by President John F. Kennedy. It was of course in 1963 when President Kennedy was killed.

As I went through the book, I looked for the prayers surrounding November 22, 1963, the day he was shot. There was a prayer offered in the morning before news of the shooting was reported. After receiving the news, Rev. Harris offered this, "Our Father, Thou knowest that this sudden, almost unbelievable, news has stunned our minds and hearts as we gaze at a vacant place against the sky, as the President of the Republic goes down like a giant cedar green with boughs goes down, with a great shout upon the hills, and leaves a lonesome place in the sky.........
Hold us, we pray, and the people of America, calm and steady and full of faith for the Republic in this tragic hour of our history........."

The prayers of the next few days were speaking to the loss the Nation felt with the death of President Kennedy. On November 27, 1963 the prayer was refocused, ".....We beseech Thee to strengthen the heart and mind, the hands and lips of our colleague, Lyndon Johnson, as this day to a listening world he sounds the trumpet of his inaugural hope and purpose......"

As I went through the book, I saw a pattern that Rev. Harris offered in his prayers. The first was one of focus. He was asking Senate members to focus for the day on a particular item of significance. Next, he was presenting an upbeat and optimistic approach to thinking. Because he was a man of faith, he was seeking strength for the Senate members from God or whomever each member might reach out to. It was an encouraging and motivating journey I made through the book.

After reading it, I did an internet search for "Prayers in the US Senate". I found many comments, most were negative. There were comments about separation of church and state, comments stating that the legistlative day should not be started with prayer and many comments about having had Hindu prayer in the Senate and other comments about states that have banned prayer in their Senate. Instead of being called "Prayers" perhaps if the message presented by the Chaplain of the Senate was called, "Food for Thought" or the "Thought of the Day" without the reference to God, those who are displeased with the daily focusing of the thoughts of US Senators might find the ritual more acceptable. Then if one wants to offer those words and thoughts to God, they could do that privately.

If you find a copy of this book, I recommend reading it. It was published in September 1964 by th US Government Printing Office and noted as Senate Document No. 104.